Bonum Certa Men Certa

Controlling Your Computing

2020 figosdev

Index



Control key
Chapter 2: Controlling Your Computing



Summary: "We at least want our software to be free, and for a while, that was possible. We want software to be free again, so let's talk about what made it free, what made it less free, and what could hopefully improve in the future."

In the early 1980s, freedom was a tan-coloured plastic slab that featured several cables and dark brown keys. I never owned a Commodore 64, but I did learn to code in BASIC on a PC.



The C64 connected to cables for power, video output, and possibly a floppy drive or low-speed modem for communicating with the world outside your home. When you switched it on, it would load a BASIC interpreter from a ROM chip. This was typical of 8-bit machines from the era.

"Far too much software is written around the idea that the designers know best. Which is funny, because most of us have never even met."If you had a floppy drive, you could save and load programs with it -- you could even purchase games made for the C64, which were typically more elaborate than something you would want to type in. There were magazines featuring simpler programs to type in and try out. Nobody could stop you from changing them, though they did not typically come with a license that allowed free redistribution.

The machine I'm typing this on is also a plastic slab covered in dark-coloured keys.

Keyboard grey



I know this drawing is unreasonable, but it gives you the idea -- flat, covered in buttons, with a space for a trackpad (which is missing; it was beginning to be an annoyance so I simply removed it). Not shown are four cables: for the mouse, monitor, Ethernet and power.

I didn't buy the computer this way; it's a laptop, it had a screen attached. I used it with the screen until that didn't suit my purposes anymore; when I get tired of a folding screen (or if it breaks) I may just remove it as well. Hence the C64-like form factor.

"What I don't want is Windows, which it came with. I actually removed it in the first 30 minutes I owned the thing."Ideally, computing should work this way as well; if you really don't like a feature, you should just be able to remove it. The machine is less portable now (at least while in use) but when I put it front of a larger screen, I don't have to worry about folding the laptop screen out or putting it somewhere that it isn't in the way. Its closer to what I want, rather than what the designers wanted.

The designers might explain that I have other options that make more sense to them; I could put it off to the side and use an external keyboard. And that's nice -- but I prefer this keyboard to my external, otherwise I would be using that.

I am well aware that I had other options than removing the screen. And I've actually used several of those options previously, out of not wanting to go to the extra trouble. But the thing is, this is my computer. The designers don't own it or have to use it -- I do. And my obligation on how to use my computer is to myself, not to them.

Far too much software is written around the idea that the designers know best. Which is funny, because most of us have never even met.

"At the very least, I want to be able to type things and save files — I usually want a machine to able to get on a network as well."If I were to design this machine for someone like myself, I would have made the screen easier to remove and reattach. You would be able to get the screen in a plastic case, rather than one designed to go into a plastic case; it would have a thin cable on the outside, and an external connector (like a desktop monitor) -- and you would be able to remove the hinges without opening the rest of the laptop.

Most laptops wouldn't be made that way though, because it would add to the cost and people wouldn't want to save the difference. Instead, they pay a lot more to fix it if it breaks. Regardless, I managed to detach the screen and get the thing back together. Sometimes Free Software works this way; lately it doesn't work that way often enough.

They do make a few portables that have detachable screens, but the screen isn't really what detaches -- what it really disconnects is the keyboard. The screen is still attached to the part that does the computing; this converts it to a tablet, but (unlike this machine) all the parts that do the computing are packed too tightly together.

Besides, I got this thing because nobody wanted it anymore, and they didn't even want to bother to sell it online. I got it for less than $100.

If I want to turn this machine on and have it do anything, there's no chip with BASIC on it -- it needs an operating system. At the very least, I want to be able to type things and save files -- I usually want a machine to able to get on a network as well.

What I don't want is Windows, which it came with. I actually removed it in the first 30 minutes I owned the thing.

"A computer running Windows is a computer that Microsoft has more ownership of than the person who bought the computer."Windows and MacOS are not yours -- you don't control updates, Microsoft and (maybe) Apple do. You can't copy and share them, you cant make changes and share those either. A computer running Windows is a computer that Microsoft has more ownership of than the person who bought the computer. So if you want your computer to really be yours, you first have to remove the stuff that Microsoft put there. And that means you need to be able to install different software in its place.

Not everybody feels ready to do this -- it's an adventure, and it doesn't always work the way you hope. Even before I installed anything, I was running a different OS off a USB stick -- this gave me some idea of what it would be like to install something other than Windows. We've gone from running BASIC from a chip to booting a completely different OS from a chip -- only now the chip is in a fob that you can attach to your housekeys.

Although we eventually want equipment that we are free to design, modify and share, manufacturing costs and industry processes still make this mostly prohibitive. We at least want our software to be free, and for a while, that was possible. We want software to be free again, so let's talk about what made it free, what made it less free, and what could hopefully improve in the future.

But first, let's talk about the role that education plays in making you less free.

Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain)

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
 
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day