this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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If you guys are interested in hearing the IT directors Ted talk from 2014 here it is https://youtu.be/f8Co37GO2Fc

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

There once was a school that ran Linux

"Not so!" cried so many cynics

Robert Maynard put Linux in

it made the cynics heads spin

so fast they ended up at the clinics

[–] [email protected] 69 points 8 months ago (3 children)

If you actually look up the school it is really cool. They literally give students full root access to there local machines and encourage learning. That is a bright contrast to the world of locked down Chromebooks and high surveillance

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh man, I would have learned so much so fast by breaking stuff and having to fix it. It's how I learned what I know now, just later. This is fantastic

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The one rule (from what I read) is that students need a usable system for class. So you can't experiment too much outside of a virtual machine.

You still have root but they politely ask you not to let experimentation get in the way of class.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

That's pretty cool yeah.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This just reminded me of a thing from my high school (many years ago). They had windows machines that were somewhat locked down, but I discovered a trivial way to bypass the restrictions on changing the desktop wallpaper. So naturally I set the background image to a screenshot of the desktop, and then hid all the actual icons.

On another timeline, the staff would have approached this with "Huh that's clever. You fooled us and we thought the computer was broken. Please don't do that, but also let's channel your creativity somewhere useful."

Instead I got a monologue about breaking things and was banned from the computer lab for a week. Soured me on school and such for a while.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You just got to be a bit more stealthy. When I was in middle school I figured out that I could completely bypass group policy if I unplugged the network cable at the right time.

When one of the school IT person questioned me I just said, I do not know why it looks like that. I also never shared my secret

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

That's a nice find.

You just got to be a bit more stealthy.

Yep, but that's not the lesson the school should be teaching, at least for it's best interest. Fostering white hat attitudes would probably work out better. Instead I learned the authorities were idiots that can't be reasoned with.