
A few drawings about Linux - josephscott
https://jvns.ca/blog/2016/11/10/a-few-drawings-about-linux/
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vkou
The file/syscall abstraction breaks down when we want to do something as
simple as copy and pasting from a spreadsheet to a text editor. This is not a
slide that should be surrounded by happy people!

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lisivka
I opened LibreOffice Calc and pasted spreadsheet it into Writer window without
a problem. :-/ I even able to edit it.

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mwfunk
Well sure, I would hope so- if copying and pasting from one LibreOffice
application to another didn't work that would be an even worse state of
affairs.

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lisivka
Yep, pasting from Google spreadsheet into Notepad does not work. Hope is lost.
:-(

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_RPM
Comparing Windows to Linux. I find Linux much more simpler. Is this by design?
Why does Windows seem much more complicated and complex? Compare the Windows
API to Linux API.

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234dd57d2c8db
I think there's many reasons for this, but the top couple are imo:

\- Linux trusts their users to know what they are doing. They do not build
layers of abstractions to make things "easy". These abstractions create
complexity and just get in the way, especially if you know what you're doing
technically.

\- There is significant influence on the technical decisions by nontechnical
people for business, personal, and political goals. Quarterly profits are the
main motivator for Windows development. If it turned out that abandoning
Windows would make Microsoft more money, they would do it. With Linux, the
incentive is to have a "good" operating system. Money is important in the
sense that it keeps Linux dev healthy, but making money is not the primary
objective of the project.

\- Because money is the main motivator, Windows is beholden to the people with
the most cash. Often this is large enterprise organizations which make poor
technical decisions. Microsoft in turn, must provide support for these
technical decisions, forcing Microsoft itself to make poor technical
decisions. I'm sure Windows developers would love if everyone stopped using
old crufty tech from 2001, but since there's a lot of money riding on that
tech, the show must go on.

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arximboldi
I don't think that money is the problem here. Most Linux development is also
money driven and most kernel developers nowadays are doing it to pay their
bills. In a way, money can be a confirmation, to some degree, that you are
actually providing value to someone.

In my opinion, the key is that Linux is libre software.

Windows has to deal with lots of old drivers and userland software that are
arcane binary blobs. In the Linux world, most software running on it is libre
and the community can evolve it to work with newer systems. This is specially
true for drivers, since most drivers are GPL and kept in the kernel source
tree. This promotes a healthier relationship between the companies and
individuals involved where, through shared ownership, everybody is on the same
boat.

~~~
234dd57d2c8db
Yes, but why does windows have to deal with old drivers and userland software?
Because they are paid to do so! It is a business, if they didn't make money on
it, they wouldn't do it.

On Linux, if no one wants to maintain the old driver, it doesn't get
maintained and the manufacturer does it or people stop using it and use
something else. Poof no more old driver!

Agreed on libre software, wouldn't be possible without that of course. But I
think money has had a large impact as well.

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nichochar
These are amazing! So descriptive and easy to remember, I love learning stuff
this way, thanks for making them!

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partycoder
Note that hard disks are not aware of files. Files are a file system
construct.

Your disk is like... music disks. You seek to a position, read... and when you
read the position advances.

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omribahumi
Another signal that can't be caught is SIGSTOP

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dri_ft
I thought I knew a thing or two about linux, but I had no idea about /proc.
Neat!

