Have you ever found yourself pondering the age of your Linux system? Perhaps you’ve inherited a computer or are curious about when you first set up your trusty Linux machine.

In the linked article, they show you a straightforward and efficient method to uncover the installation date of your Linux system using just a single command, as well as a few other options too.

One of the most universal methods is to use: stat / | awk '/Birth: /{print $2 " " substr($3,1,5)}' or you could even just type stat /.

My system is Manjaro Linux, so it has been rolling along for a while I see, from 16 June 2017. I realise too why it was that date specifically, as it was the start of a long weekend in South Africa, so I'd probably allowed myself a clear 3 days to set it all up before going back to work again after the weekend.

Since 2017 I had changed my main boot drive to a SSD drive, so I must have just cloned the Linux drive to the SSD (not being Windows this would just work without complaining about hardware changes).

See https://linuxiac.com/how-to-find-linux-os-installation-date/

#technology #Linux #opensource

Have you ever found yourself pondering the age of your Linux system? Perhaps you’ve inherited a computer or are curious about when you first set up your trusty Linux machine.

In the linked article, they show you a straightforward and efficient method to uncover the installation date of your Linux system using just a single command, as well as a few other options too.

One of the most universal methods is to use: stat / | awk '/Birth: /{print $2 " " substr($3,1,5)}' or you could even just type stat /.

My system is Manjaro Linux, so it has been rolling along for a while I see, from 16 June 2017. I realise too why it was that date specifically, as it was the start of a long weekend in South Africa, so I'd probably allowed myself a clear 3 days to set it all up before going back to work again after the weekend.

Since 2017 I had changed my main boot drive to a SSD drive, so I must have just cloned the Linux drive to the SSD (not being Windows this would just work without complaining about hardware changes).

See https://linuxiac.com/how-to-find-linux-os-installation-date/

#technology #Linux #opensource

Have you ever found yourself pondering the age of your Linux system? Perhaps you’ve inherited a computer or are curious about when you first set up your trusty Linux machine.

In the linked article, they show you a straightforward and efficient method to uncover the installation date of your Linux system using just a single command, as well as a few other options too.

One of the most universal methods is to use: stat / | awk '/Birth: /{print $2 " " substr($3,1,5)}' or you could even just type stat /.

My system is Manjaro Linux, so it has been rolling along for a while I see, from 16 June 2017. I realise too why it was that date specifically, as it was the start of a long weekend in South Africa, so I'd probably allowed myself a clear 3 days to set it all up before going back to work again after the weekend.

Since 2017 I had changed my main boot drive to a SSD drive, so I must have just cloned the Linux drive to the SSD (not being Windows this would just work without complaining about hardware changes).

See https://linuxiac.com/how-to-find-linux-os-installation-date/

#technology #Linux #opensource

I was on many of these networks, but something I see fairly common across many of them, is they were acquired or shut down by other large social networks.

I suppose if you are a big social network, you have the clout and money to buy out the competition more easily. The irony of it is that many of the big social networks themselves appear to have a vacuum inside them, where the number of user accounts is not the same as the daily active users. It's rumoured that Facebook may already have more dead user accounts, than for the living. Big social networks have a lot of infrastructure and staff to support, which gets paid by advertiser revenue, so I suppose they need to keep showing the numbers and posting the adverts, and don't worry too much if the users are not actually actively using the platform.

The thing is with social networks, for users it is about the social part, so they want to see posts from friends and about things that interest them. The network effect holds many back from joining new networks. But it should also be remembered that when Google, Facebook, etc started up their networks, they were actually open networks, often using protocols like XMPP to connect with friends even outside that network.

I hope that we go back to more interoperable social networks, so that users can switch networks or servers, without losing their friends. Maybe that will also allow smaller networks to coexist next to larger social networks, and provide more variety and choice for users.

See https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/defunct-social-media-platforms

#technology #socialnetworks

I was on many of these networks, but something I see fairly common across many of them, is they were acquired or shut down by other large social networks.

I suppose if you are a big social network, you have the clout and money to buy out the competition more easily. The irony of it is that many of the big social networks themselves appear to have a vacuum inside them, where the number of user accounts is not the same as the daily active users. It's rumoured that Facebook may already have more dead user accounts, than for the living. Big social networks have a lot of infrastructure and staff to support, which gets paid by advertiser revenue, so I suppose they need to keep showing the numbers and posting the adverts, and don't worry too much if the users are not actually actively using the platform.

The thing is with social networks, for users it is about the social part, so they want to see posts from friends and about things that interest them. The network effect holds many back from joining new networks. But it should also be remembered that when Google, Facebook, etc started up their networks, they were actually open networks, often using protocols like XMPP to connect with friends even outside that network.

I hope that we go back to more interoperable social networks, so that users can switch networks or servers, without losing their friends. Maybe that will also allow smaller networks to coexist next to larger social networks, and provide more variety and choice for users.

See https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/defunct-social-media-platforms

#technology #socialnetworks

I was on many of these networks, but something I see fairly common across many of them, is they were acquired or shut down by other large social networks.

I suppose if you are a big social network, you have the clout and money to buy out the competition more easily. The irony of it is that many of the big social networks themselves appear to have a vacuum inside them, where the number of user accounts is not the same as the daily active users. It's rumoured that Facebook may already have more dead user accounts, than for the living. Big social networks have a lot of infrastructure and staff to support, which gets paid by advertiser revenue, so I suppose they need to keep showing the numbers and posting the adverts, and don't worry too much if the users are not actually actively using the platform.

The thing is with social networks, for users it is about the social part, so they want to see posts from friends and about things that interest them. The network effect holds many back from joining new networks. But it should also be remembered that when Google, Facebook, etc started up their networks, they were actually open networks, often using protocols like XMPP to connect with friends even outside that network.

I hope that we go back to more interoperable social networks, so that users can switch networks or servers, without losing their friends. Maybe that will also allow smaller networks to coexist next to larger social networks, and provide more variety and choice for users.

See https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/defunct-social-media-platforms

#technology #socialnetworks

News aggregator SmartNews is today launching a new feature that it hopes will help combat the anxiety associated with regularly consuming negative news — something often referred to as “doomscrolling.” Instead of encouraging impulsive scrolling through its headlines, the app’s new feature called SmartTake claims to offer a selection of uplifting stories, editor’s picks, useful articles and calming graphics in a single destination.

Their SmartTake tab is meant to feature more interesting and less shocking tales.

I've not heard of this app before, and I tend to rely mostly on my 30+ RSS feeds for my news, but I do support getting quality news sourced from actual news media sites vs from social media feeds.

It seems it may not work 100% yet, but they certainly seem to have put a lot of effort into it over the last year, trying to achieve their aim. We do need to encourage any effort to try to get some more positive spin on our days.

See https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/19/news-aggregator-app-smartnews-latest-feature-aims-to-tackle-doomscrolling/

#technology #news #positivenews

News aggregator SmartNews is today launching a new feature that it hopes will help combat the anxiety associated with regularly consuming negative news — something often referred to as “doomscrolling.” Instead of encouraging impulsive scrolling through its headlines, the app’s new feature called SmartTake claims to offer a selection of uplifting stories, editor’s picks, useful articles and calming graphics in a single destination.

Their SmartTake tab is meant to feature more interesting and less shocking tales.

I've not heard of this app before, and I tend to rely mostly on my 30+ RSS feeds for my news, but I do support getting quality news sourced from actual news media sites vs from social media feeds.

It seems it may not work 100% yet, but they certainly seem to have put a lot of effort into it over the last year, trying to achieve their aim. We do need to encourage any effort to try to get some more positive spin on our days.

See https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/19/news-aggregator-app-smartnews-latest-feature-aims-to-tackle-doomscrolling/

#technology #news #positivenews

News aggregator SmartNews is today launching a new feature that it hopes will help combat the anxiety associated with regularly consuming negative news — something often referred to as “doomscrolling.” Instead of encouraging impulsive scrolling through its headlines, the app’s new feature called SmartTake claims to offer a selection of uplifting stories, editor’s picks, useful articles and calming graphics in a single destination.

Their SmartTake tab is meant to feature more interesting and less shocking tales.

I've not heard of this app before, and I tend to rely mostly on my 30+ RSS feeds for my news, but I do support getting quality news sourced from actual news media sites vs from social media feeds.

It seems it may not work 100% yet, but they certainly seem to have put a lot of effort into it over the last year, trying to achieve their aim. We do need to encourage any effort to try to get some more positive spin on our days.

See https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/19/news-aggregator-app-smartnews-latest-feature-aims-to-tackle-doomscrolling/

#technology #news #positivenews