Gareth HalfacreeNov 24, 2023

Dear Microsoft. Here is a list of things I want the Start Menu to do:

* Show my installed programs
* Search my local files
* Provide access to system settings

Here is a list of things I do *not* want the Start Menu to do:

* Show the weather for a randomly-selected town near my network's public IP infrastructure
* Show tabloid headlines
* Show programs I *don't* have installed
* Search the web via Bing
* Show adverts(!)
* Attempt to engage me in conversation with a hallucinating LLM

Thanks.

Show threadGareth HalfacreeNov 24, 2023
Why yes, I have been having to handle a Windows 10/11 system today, why do you ask?
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist HAS ALSO MOVEDNov 24, 2023

@ghalfacree

I moved to Ubuntu the day Bill Gates decided my version of Windows needed to be upgraded. He chose to upgrade the very moment the webinar I was leading started, leading 30+ participants hanging there, wondering what was happening.

I have never regretted deciding that my laptop belongs to me and not to that multi-billionaire.

Show threadGareth Halfacree

@NovaNaturalist I moved to Linux approaching three decades ago, back when it was *really* important you knew the refresh rates of your CRT monitor or you'd risk blowing the flyback transformer with a bad X config entry...

I don't miss Windows, but I also don't miss that!

Nov 24, 2023 at 3:06pmWeb
Show thread@ NovaNaturalist HAS ALSO MOVEDNov 24, 2023
@ghalfacree thankfully I remember DOS so the Ubuntu terminal didn't terrify me. But things have got even better since I made the switch in 2016.
Show threadFugue State Machine MotoNov 24, 2023
@ghalfacree @DelilahTech @NovaNaturalist LOL I was *so scared* about adjusting mode lines after that one apocryphal story about the guy with the imploding CRT!
Show threadAndyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyNov 24, 2023
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist my first foray was about 25 years ago. It's so much easier now.
Show threadPeter Jakobs ⛵Nov 24, 2023
@ghalfacree
Oh gosh yeah! I forgot all about that but yes, creating an X config in those days was nightmarish @NovaNaturalist
Show threadEloshaNov 24, 2023
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist @pjakobs Ahh, why? Just restart XF86Setup 30 times over and over until it finally grants at least non-accelerated VESA modes on your barely compatible graphics card. 😁
Show threadAndreas, DJ3EI, he/himDec 6, 2024

Way back, I found myself more sensitive to flicker than most. So I hand-crafted my X configuration to trade resolution for refresh rate. (Of course, reading the monitor spec.) Personally, I loved the ability to personalize my experience!

@elosha @ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist @pjakobs

Show threaddragonfrogDec 7, 2024
@dj3ei @elosha @ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist @pjakobs oh I remember the computer labs full of CRTs flickering at 65 Hz, lit with cheap overhead fluorescent tubes flickering at 120 Hz for a 5 Hz "beat note".
Show threadOzzie D, NP-hard  Dec 7, 2024
@dragonfrog @dj3ei @elosha @ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist @pjakobs O I remember those days and the strange headaches they induced... now reading this, it feels like a draft from the first page of Neuromancer.
Show threadarclightNov 25, 2023
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist Those were the days; I don't miss them at all. Glad Slackware is still kicking though :)
Show threadIvan G.Dec 7, 2023

@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist

the refresh rate of the monitor, i remember the first time i was setting it! I was worried to break my monitor (since i was told that a wrong refresh rate could cause damage to the monitor).

Btw what @NovaNaturalist you are asking, is basically what the start menu was originally supposed to do! But yeah i moved to linux 20 years ago, and well my life has been much better since then! I think last windows i had installed for dual boot was windows 7! :)

Show threadDalimil Gala 🇨🇿 🥥Dec 23, 2023
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist I should have noted down the date I deleted Windows 98 from dual boot and went fully Debian. It must have been around 2003.
Show threadEllenor Bjornsdottir   Jan 9, 2024
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist this energy? https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/ubuntu-ruined-my-monitor-430171/
Show threadtessaraktFeb 11, 2025
@ghalfacree @NovaNaturalist When I started, there was already some tool for modeline detection ...