Moving on is never easy. I believe I first installed a version of Suse Linux in 1997 (5.1? 5.2?), about a year after getting my first email account. It seems like forever ago. Over the weeked I broke down and did what I had been putting off for more than a year—upgrading from 15.2. It didn’t go well. I have a functioning system, as you can see, but a lot of stuff is broken, compared to what I had put in place over years. I need a system that doesn’t require workarounds, that just does what I want with the tools I prefer. I don’t have time to sort things out like I used to do. So, after something like 27 years I’ll be moving on—maybe tonight, hopefully not later than tomorrow. I need to be sure the transition will be smooth. Most likely I’ll switch to Linux Mint, although there are a few other options. I feel like I’m not leaving Suse, that Suse left me.
All that got me reflecting on life before the internet. Hard to believe how limited our sources of information were, the way we were often fed misinformation to keep us in line with the ruling class narratives. We weren’t all gullible, but digging for facts, evaluating perspectives—it all took a lot longer.
I’ll try to catch up a bit today and then get the new system up and running tonight. Just so you all know. This comes at an inconvenient time, but then that’s why I’ve procrastinated so long in the first place. It’s always inconvenient.
Thanks Mark, I know I’m a much more informed person since finding you. Your remarks about “being fed the news” are so true. Greg Gutfeld did a funny and truthful takedown response to the airhead Taylor Lorenz bemoaning the loss of the LA times and others as the death of “journalism”. Even in my early naïveté I laughed at the talking heads of the MSM bemoaning the untrustworthyness of bloggers and then podcasters who were “stealing from their rice bowl.”
I really do appreciate all your work, thank you.
I've made the move! Everything looks good. The only thing left to do is to set up my RSS reader, but that can wait till tomorrow.