zwolbers

What's frustrating is there's a half decent operating system underneath all of this crap. I don't know how much can be attributed to a corporate license, or if our IT department is just working miracles, but on my work laptop there's no bloatware, no spyware, and it boots and loads programs quickly (for Windows).

I have no intention of moving away from Linux on my machines, but this is the most I've enjoyed Windows since 7 (or maybe even XP).

Then I try to use my dad's computer and I want a douse it and myself with bleach.

Just to chime in with another alternative - if you're open to using Linux, you might want to look into Viewport Panning with X11 [0].

It allows you to setup a larger virtual desktop that you can then pan around. Instead of moving your head around, you could instead just shift the viewport. Might be more convenient than a larger screen and/or monitor arms assuming you also setup zoom/display scaling.

By default, you pan by moving the mouse to an edge, but iirc you can setup key bindings and/or gestures.

[0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution#Panning_viewport

Personally, I have vi mode enabled for anything that uses readline. Some of my friends, though, have been reluctant to use it since the prompt doesn't indicate which mode it's currently in.

But... That changed with recent versions of readline, which introduced 'show-mode-in-prompt' [0]. It's somewhat limited - it only prints an indicator at the beginning of the last row of the prompt. You can, however, change what text is displayed. I use it to emit escape codes that change the shape of the cursor (similar to vim itself) [1].

[0] https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Readline-...

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Readline#Editing_mode

Take this post with a grain of salt - I've never worked directly with a DER. Hopefully others can correct me where needed.

> So these software engineers would be referred to as Systems and Equipment Engineering leads in this case?

I suppose you could say so, however my understanding has always been that DERs are highly specialized. "Systems and Equipment" covers a wide variety of aircraft components; I would think that's more of a category than a title. As a software engineer, on a project level, we've always simply referred to them as "The DER".

While DERs certainly have a background in engineering, they don't actively help create the product - I wouldn't classify them as a "Engineering Lead". When it comes to designing something, its safety is derived from different internal groups with different goals continuously evaluating each other's work. At each level, everyone signs off on the work they performed or reviewed. As I understand it, the DER oversees all of this, and on a technical level, is ultimately responsible for convincing the FAA everything is safe. On the software side of things, whenever there's a release, a DER has to sign off on it.

In aviation, DERs (Designated Engineering Representatives) fill that role [0]. They are responsible for ensuring rules/regulations are met, and need to sign off on everything before it's sent to the FAA.

[0] https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/designees_...