It takes work to be the master of your own computers. It’s work worth doing, because you won’t like the alternative.
Neither rent-seeking tech nor digital advertising are anything new, but it feels more grim than ever nowadays. Windows 11 comes with ads in the start menu, for fuck’s sake. You want to offer me a game pass subscription. You want me to say McDonalds to open My Documents. You want me to use my webcam to scan the Pepsicode on the bottle to gain verified Pepsicoins that I can use to unlock 24 hours of Adobe Pepsishop. Cool! I’m not doing that. I refuse to feed myself to that future.
I know there are other ways. Linux ways. I’ve had a Raspberry Pi 400 for about a year and a half now, hooked up to the tv and acting as media centre. I took the tiny little Windows 7 Starter Edition netbook that bravely served as my daily computer through sixth form and the first year of uni, and put Pi OS on it to make it a portable typewriter. I have designs on Pi-Holeing the house. I could do that by just following guides – but just skimming the surface is no longer enough for me. I can only really have a computer under my control if I understand how it works.
So, I’m properly studying the basics of Linux and computer networking. Cisco offers free, self-paced online courses, so why not? I’m having fun with it! It’s nice to sit down and learn something new without the academic stress. By the end of the free courses, I should have enough of a grounding that I can follow guides and understand what the steps are actually for. That’s the sort of knowledge you need to be able to control and fix your own computer. In the same vein, I like being able to cook my own food and sew my own clothes. It’s worth putting the work in for.
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