Investigating Linux

Bill Gates didn’t become the richest man alive because he was a great computer scientist, he got rich because he owns the software. Everyone who uses Microsoft software has to pay for it. You’re renting the software, rather than buying it. You depend on Microsoft. Microsoft owns and controls the software.

Same with Apple or any other proprietary software, such as Adobe Creative Cloud. There’s nothing really wrong with that. I’m just saying; in order for you to truly prosper, you need to own your own means of production.

So, I’m still going to keep track of the BSD software. However, Linux is far more advanced in its development and especially in its market penetration. I will start using System76 and its Pop-OS!. Pop-OS! is another Ubuntu derivative. KDE works fine with Pop-OS!.

The main reason I like System76 is that they’re a hardware company. They build computers with Linux installed natively. I like that. My next computer will probably be a System76 computer. Maybe System76 will finally produce a viable Linux smart phone.

I’ve been thinking about the subject of this website. My stories are short stories about subjects that will take months, if not years, to learn.

Take the time to learn C. Linux is written in C. Learn the language of Bash, and maybe even upgrade to ZSH. Bash is the default shell, I prefer ZSH. I started using it when I first started learning how to use Linux and I’ve been using it ever since.

Start with Bash or ZSH, which is your shell. For KDE, Konsole is your terminal. Vim is a high performance text editor that can run in your terminal.

Your shell is a user program that runs in your terminal. It is a command language interpreter that translates the commands you type into your terminal, written in Bash or ZSH scripts, into binary commands that your system kernel can understand.

So, your shell is the program you use to tell your computer what to do. Bash or ZSH is the language you use to communicate with your computer. Vim is a very powerful text editor that enables you to create, delete and otherwise edit files on your computer. Your shell and Vim are two different programs that can run in your terminal.

Read the manuals and experiment with these tools. Learn how to set up your .bashrc or .zshrc and .vimrc files to get your tools configured the way you like them. Investigate the plugins and get the ones you like installed. This process is going to take weeks, months. You’ll be learning new skills and abilities for as long as you use computers.

Learn how to hold your tools correctly. Get familiar with them. Learn how to work fast, work smart and work safely. Speaking of working safely, this little snippet is one of the first things I add to my .bashrc or .zshrc file:

prompt before overwrite

alias rm=’rm -i’
alias cp=’cp -i’
alias mv=’mv -i’

It tells your shell to ask you if you really want to do that, before you destroy a file.

Once you get familiar with the control of your computer, then start investigating some of the other languages you will be using. I suppose that what language you start with will depend on what you intend to do with your computer.

I started studying HTML and CSS first, because I was interested in building websites. I think I will recommend that you start with learning C. They say Python is easier and a good place to start. However, Linux is written in C. Unix is written in C.

C and Unix are the two tools that came out of AT&T’s Bell Labs during the 1960s and 70s. It was part of the government antitrust action against the AT&T telephone monopoly. The government declared AT&T to be a government regulated utility and forbid them to be involved in any business other than telephone service. They had to give any computer science or technology away for free, to anyone who asked for it.

Apple, BSD and Linux are all spin offs from that big breakup. Google’s Android is another, more recent spinoff from AT&Ts Unix operating system. Microsoft’s MS-DOS and Windows are based on DEC’s CP/M operating system. I like these big companies making all these cool toys and tools, but I don’t like being controlled by corporations, any more than I like being controlled by the government.

We need the government to regulate commerce well. Cultivate a system that is fair to everyone, on every level. The government should break up any monopolistic enterprise. The government should foster free enterprise. Monopolies are not free enterprise. They are a way for an exclusive group of people to take advantages over everyone else.

Everyone wants to be important and everyone is important. Wanting to be more, or even less important, than anyone else is a character defect. All crime, war and even a lot of disease is cause by people wanting to be more or less important than anyone else. This is so important that God sent Moses to order the Pharaoh to “Let My people Go!” from the imperial pyramid, the social hierarchy that men have created.

Own your own means of production. Including the software on your computers. I like modern civilization and technology. Well, not everything about it. But, I like our modern civilization in general. I like the progress we are making. I just do not like the social hierarchies and the economic inequalities that are so obviously affecting our society.

I’m encouraging you to be mindful of your own private property, instead of trying to get rid of private property owned by big businesses. Business is a good thing. It is our means of production. It is how we produce our food and shelter. The unalienable right to life, liberty and property are universal human rights, which we should all require our servants, the government, to protect.

The government is not the source of these rights. These rights and responsibilities are inherent in human nature and we create governments to secure them for all people. No bullies allowed, anywhere on earth, forever.

Take the time to learn C, C++ and then Python. I like Python better than PHP because, although PHP is more popular for web development, Python is more popular for computer programming in general. You can build websites with Python. You can also build artificial intelligence with Python, which is very interesting.

So, learn C and C++ to learn the basics of computer programming. And then focus on Python. HTML, CSS and Javascript are some other languages you will need to learn. Whether you start with Python and then learn the web development tools, HTML, CSS and JavaScript or learn the web development first and then learn Python is up to you.

I learned the web development tools first. I’m recommending that you investigate Python first. Get familiar with C, C++ and Python first, then investigate the web development tools, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They will be relatively easy to learn. Learn how to use JSON and NodeJS to build all kinds of things with JavaScript.

One last computer science language I recommend, because I like KDE, is QML. You’ll have to decide whether you like the GTK tools or the Qt tool kit. The Gimp Tool Kit is part of the GNU operating system that was being developed in America when Linux Torvalds released the Linux kernel. Now, GTK is the framework for the Gnome desktop environment. Qt is the framework that KDE is built with.

GTK and Qt both work well with the Linux kernel. They seem to work fine with each other as well. GTK tools like Gimp, work seamlessly with KDE. I’ve also installed KDE tools, like Dolphin, on the Gnome desktop and had no problems.

All these languages are building blocks you can use to build your own private artificial intelligence system that works for you and not for some corporation or for the government. Your artificial intelligence is just a small, important part of your holistic home office.

Cultivate a well balanced, professional ecosystem in your home office. Take care of yourself. Pray to God for guidance and meditate. Practice Qigong. Eat fresh whole food, not processed food. I take supplements, like vitamins, to make sure I get all the nutrients I need. I take Echinacea and sometimes Astragalus, whenever I start feeling the slightest bit sick. Lots of vitamin C is good for you.

Don’t take any mind altering drugs, unless a doctor prescribes them. Don’t gamble. Do not litter. Clean up after yourself. Help people. Help people get where they are going, every chance you get. Have fun making the world a better place.