I want to show my appreciation for linux

Posted by Dismal-Reference-606@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 15 comments

My interest in computers generally started when I was 7, with an old laptop running Windows 7. it was slow and all but somehow I learned how to install programs and stuff using it but I quickly got curious about how everything actually worked. That curiosity led me down a rabbit hole.

Before I even understood what Linux was, I was already deep into Android modding and iOS jailbreaking. I had reached 9 years old, I was flashing custom ROMs and unlocking bootloaders of old android phones lying around and what I didn’t realize at the time was that all of this came from Linux and an open-source mindset. the idea of freedom, control, and pushing devices beyond what they were "supposed" to do kinda fascinated me

Eventually, I discovered Linux itself. That completely changed how I saw software. started by running Ubuntu on old laptops, to eventually learning how to compile kernels and getting frustrated. Linux taught me about how computers work beyond just windows.

As I got deeper into it, I started exploring embedded devices and hardware-level mods. I’ve repurposed old routers with openwrt; experimented with running lightweight distros on raspberry pi and even built a server from an old laptop. I’ve also done hardware mods just for the challenge like building Hackintoshes (which taught me about EFI) and opening up devices to replace Wi-Fi cards, BIOS chips, or even reflash firmware manually. I’ve bricked and fixed my fair share of devices, but that's how I learned by breaking things and figuring out how to recover them.

Now, I run an Arch Linux server and media server. Almost every device I own has run Linux at some point. If i see Macos or Windows anywhere it'll kinda piss me off about how Microsoft or Apple doesn't allow freedom to users Everything I have done isn't even the tip of the iceberg of what linux is but seriously i think linux is the coolest thing.

This entire post sounds kinda weird but Im really grateful. I’m super thankful for the Linux and open-source community. They’ve built tools and shared knowledge that helped me learn all of this on my own. I’m only 13, but Linux and hardware modding have already taught me more than I ever expected and I’m just getting started.

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__cplusplus2@reddit

I pretty much don't use any kind of social media, in fact, this is my first post on this account. But I just had to say how impressive this really is and share my story. This post really makes me question if I have any chances.

I think I got my first laptop at the age of 8. Around that time, I also learned how to use a soldering iron. At some point, I somehow acquired an Arduino board (I don’t remember how), and I learned how to write in C/C++. From that point on, it was mostly that. Along the way, I also designed and soldered some PCBs (including SMD components). I modified FreeRTOS to suit my needs (on an ATmega2560, with some assembly), and I wrote a file system with fragmentation and other features (linked-list style, although I didn’t even know that concept existed back then). I also did some plugin coding in Java for PaperMC Folia, but I don’t really like languages that keep you away from raw memory. I even hosted some things after managing to get a public IP. There’s a lot I’m omitting, I’m a bad writer, and probably nobody is going to read it anyway.

Now, I’m 17. Just about a week ago, I learned about palera1n and tried it. I’ve been using Linux for a few months, and this is relevant cuz it shows how far behind I am. After reading this post, I am wondering what to do next and where to find people like me, or much better than me, like in this example. Right now, I’d say ChatGPT is probably my best friend.

One last thing: English is not my native language, so I bet there is a thousand things written incorrectly in this message. Also idk how this gets received but I hope it doesn't sound braggy, I think it won't, there is 13 year old better than me, there is nothing to brag about.

I’ll probably delete this post at some point. I know I’m overthinking it, but I always end up questioning myself when something I post doesn’t get the response I expect. Yeah, the last thing wasn't last.

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AppropriateOven5470@reddit

Never too late to start! Also old timers have to constantly learn since the landscape doesn't stand still..

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Nervous-Diamond629@reddit

Your English is pretty impressive for a non-native speaker. Just a few grammatical quirks.

Pineapple-Due@reddit

As an old head I'm so happy to read this post. I've been feeling like computing is such a solved problem at this point that the curious hobby aspect of it might be dead. But it sounds like it's still there and you're deep in it.

Stay curious and there's no end to what you can discover.

Vivid_Development390@reddit

You sound like mini-me 🤣 Only I had much slower hardware to deal with. Old hardware can be fun though. You have complete access to everything.

I didn't have money for an assembler when I was kid, but managed to get ahold of the 6502 opcode values. You could just POKE the data into RAM from basic, and then jump to that location (yes, I assembled the code into binary by hand). Change 2 bytes in a hardware register and now your code is executed every vblank!

One of the machines I had was an old Atari 8-bit. It could do 16 colors, but can't set which colors, and they all must be the same brightness. It also had a mode where you could get 16 brightnesses of any 1 color (typically grey). Well, every vblank I set the color register and screen location in RAM so it would constantly flip through 3 screens. One with the color set to red, one to blue, one to green. Now you have 4096 colors, but enough flicker to cause a seizure.

On the Atari ST platform, someone cane up with an ecen cooler hack. Every hblank they would have a routine that would change the color register values of the 16 on-screen colors up to 3 times per scan-line. It has to be carefully timed using NOP loops so that the registers change at the exact moment. So, while it draws in color register 5, swap out the color for register 6, when its drawing in color 6, swap out register 5. Then since the Amiga said "we have 4096 colors and you only have 512", they added a screen swap at vblank to shift between two screens where the colors were only 1 bit apart (and only on colors where the LSB was set), which gave some flicker, but minimal

It teaches you how to optimize the SHIT out of stuff too. A few cycles here and there on modern hardware won't even show on a benchmark. On an old machine, it can be the difference between working and not working.

If course, now we can do all that virtually now ... https://mtmc.cs.montana.edu/

FedMellow@reddit

peak person in our sub rn honestly im kinda same except the hardware mods

BinkReddit@reddit

I had reached 9 years old, I was flashing custom ROMs and unlocking bootloaders of old android phones

You've got a bright future ahead of you in tech kid! Shoot for the moon!

Dismal-Reference-606@reddit (OP)

currently in secondary school, Hoping to get cybersecurity or devops course for higher learning

CorrectDiscernment@reddit

You will do great, and if you continue to work towards it you will definitely be accepted into a cybersecurity or DevOps course, or whatever you want to pursue. Even very selective courses, even if you screw up your final exams in high school – in this field nothing can really stop you, just slow you down. If you do great in high school you may be offered advanced options right away. If you drop out of high school, you can study software engineering at a technical college, and go into industry or continue education or both. I’m covering the range here, most likely it will go somewhere in between.

I looked at your post history - wow people have been rude to you. It would be great if we could all remember that we might be responding to a technical question from a twelve year old, and nobody benefits if the kids get scared off. You handled it well.

Keep building, keep learning, stay free.

emad07306@reddit

What would you advise for someone who's a complete beginner at Linux please thank you?

Rogermcfarley@reddit

https://labex.io/linuxjourney

i would probably start with ubuntu or linux mint. Its user friendly and the folks over at the forums are friendly. you should also start with simple c programming or python. for more advanced stuff there's arch linux

Thanks any resources please 🙏

r/linuxfornoobs is a good starting point. Ubuntu and Linux mint

roundart@reddit

Love it!