Re:SDF Public Access Unix System
by KirinDave on Sunday August 06, 2017 @12:40PM
(#14941998)
> I guess there's some piece I am missing, though, because while interesting, I am also underwhelmed by it.
I'm a relatively new member of SDF, and I can tell you my experience and rationale.
From the "underwhelming" perspective, SDF and anything like it is what you make of it. If you aren't the sort to see a system like this and question the possibilities, then really nothing other than the relatively sparse (but very colorful) community will hold your interest.
The actual kinetic experience is humorously nostalgic. I need a .kshrc file and a .profile. I need to remember how to work with terminals that still assume in some universe ^H is useful. I need to be careful about structuring and writing data because SDF sometimes has pretty bad I/O issues.
For me, not only is it interesting to see this sort of social media platform (loosely bound by legacy services and shared hardware, not a more manufactured theme park like this website), but it's a challenge. I'd like to host some writing content and I'd like to do that from the ground up in a way that is possible from SDF.
Maybe that's just an exercise in nostalgia (certainly it reminds me of the first blog software I wrote in 2001, a series of perl scripts using the file system as a database, to share stories with my university classmates). Maybe it's a technical challenge worth walking through (we're so used to... you know... unlimited space and hardware dynamically scaled and readily available to first world budgets). Making something work on SDF demands consideration to the system. If it breaks anything you'll be thrown off. That used to be the norm for shared computing when I was a kid (and I was nowhere near the programmer I am now; I got thrown off a few systems for tight loops without backoff), and I'd like to see how capable I am now.
So maybe you'll also like watchbuilding. It's a nice change of pace from tankbuilding. And one of the locals is talking to me about how they're a hobbyist radio operator working on mesh networks via radio and the entire subject is fascinating. So there is that.
I'm a relatively new member of SDF, and I can tell you my experience and rationale.
From the "underwhelming" perspective, SDF and anything like it is what you make of it. If you aren't the sort to see a system like this and question the possibilities, then really nothing other than the relatively sparse (but very colorful) community will hold your interest.
The actual kinetic experience is humorously nostalgic. I need a .kshrc file and a .profile. I need to remember how to work with terminals that still assume in some universe ^H is useful. I need to be careful about structuring and writing data because SDF sometimes has pretty bad I/O issues.
For me, not only is it interesting to see this sort of social media platform (loosely bound by legacy services and shared hardware, not a more manufactured theme park like this website), but it's a challenge. I'd like to host some writing content and I'd like to do that from the ground up in a way that is possible from SDF.
Maybe that's just an exercise in nostalgia (certainly it reminds me of the first blog software I wrote in 2001, a series of perl scripts using the file system as a database, to share stories with my university classmates). Maybe it's a technical challenge worth walking through (we're so used to... you know... unlimited space and hardware dynamically scaled and readily available to first world budgets). Making something work on SDF demands consideration to the system. If it breaks anything you'll be thrown off. That used to be the norm for shared computing when I was a kid (and I was nowhere near the programmer I am now; I got thrown off a few systems for tight loops without backoff), and I'd like to see how capable I am now.
So maybe you'll also like watchbuilding. It's a nice change of pace from tankbuilding. And one of the locals is talking to me about how they're a hobbyist radio operator working on mesh networks via radio and the entire subject is fascinating. So there is that.