John Goerzen
jgoerzen@floss.social
<p>Hacker, dad, pilot, amateur radio operator, activist, guy that is susceptible to new hobbies. Former president of Software in the Public Interest.</p><p>I live miles from the nearest paved road in <a href="https://floss.social/tags/Kansas" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Kansas</span></a>.</p><p>Interests: <a href="https://floss.social/tags/rust" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>rust</span></a> <a href="https://floss.social/tags/debian" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>debian</span></a> <a href="https://floss.social/tags/linux" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>linux</span></a> <a href="https://floss.social/tags/pilot" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>pilot</span></a> <a href="https://floss.social/tags/flying" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<
Posts
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The last version of #Windows I personally used regularly was version 3.1. After that, it was OS/2, FreeBSD, and then #Debian, which I have stuck with since 1996. So when I was installing Windows 98 on my old K6-3/400 machine last night, it was probably the first time I had ever installed Windows 98. Much to my surprise and amusement, one of the installer&#39;s splash screens touted built-in support for Usenet newsgroups. Probably for both the first and the last time. 1/
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I was down to 10MB free on the 130MB drive in my 486SX/25 (I&#39;m the original owner of it!). I had a nice 8GB drive sitting around. Oh the horrors of getting DOS to see more than 500MB, sigh. It&#39;s fun to play with things I haven&#39;t used in decades. But it&#39;s also a reminder of some of the reasons I switched to Linux, and how much better hardware and software is now. Spent a few hours deconflicting IRQs and DMAs for my SoundBlaster 16 earlier in the week, too.
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In which I attempt to have a nuanced discussion about #AI and #LLM, which I will probably regret. But whatever, I don&#39;t think that black-and-white thinking tends to be useful. So grab a cup of your beverage of choice and settle in for a reasoned conversation. https://changelog.complete.org/archives/44740-ai-in-debian-the-vote-proposals-and-nuance
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Yes, the guy that resurrected UMN #gopher is at it again. This time, I've made the first new #Kermit release in 15 years! https://changelog.complete.org/archives/44456-celebrating-45-years-of-kermit-with-the-first-new-c-kermit-release-in-15-years-and-working-with-a-decades-old-c-codebase This protocol, originally for serial lines, lives on and I use it as a powerful ssh wrapper daily. I added a modern test suite, fixed a ton of bugs, added IPv6 support. And, rather to my surprise, ENJOY...
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Long before #LLMs, two of the biggest uses for #AI were (and still are): To show us ads we don&#39;t want to see (on the web) To block ads we don&#39;t want to see (in email) Funny how so many uses of AI are to make things we don&#39;t want. Maybe in the future we&#39;ll burn a bunch of gigawatts with the ad-blocking AIs fighting the ad-injecting AIs, all to capture the attention of humans. Or, who am I kidding, they&#39;ll probably be fighting to capture the attention o...
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In which I try to look at #AI with a balanced frame of mind: https://changelog.complete.org/archives/42503-artificial-intelligence-shades-of-gray I also discuss building a LLM email classifier using solar-powered local models, which a useful degree of success. I&#39;m neither a cheerleader nor a doomsayer. More a tinkerer.