As a developer, I use LLMs as sort of a search engine, I ask things like how to use a certain function, or how to fix a build error. I try to avoid asking for code because often the generated code doesn’t work or uses made up or deprecated functions.

As a teacher, I use it to generate data for exercises, they’re especially useful for populating databases and generating text files in a certain format that need to be parsed. I tried asking for ideas for new exercises but they always suck.

I actually played all of Talos Principle using only a 5 button mouse when I broke my arm a few months ago. I mapped W and S to the side buttons, jump to the middle click, and the game is actually perfectly playable with this controls.

I realized that people didn’t really give a shit about me and just used me for my skills. I was always there for them when they needed me, but when I asked them for anything they were always busy or had some excuse. I started using the same excuses on them and they all disappeared almost immediately.

I still help people of course: some close friends, some colleagues, my students, but I no longer show myself to be competent in certain things so I can avoid parasites.

Generally speaking, Linux needs better binary compatibility.

Currently, if you compile something, it’s usually dynamically linked against dozens of libraries that are present on your system, but if you give the executable to someone else with a different distro, they may not have those libraries or their version may be too old or incompatible.

Statically linking programs is often impossible and generally discouraged, making software distribution a nightmare. Flatpak and similar systems made things easier, but it’s such a crap solution and basically involves having an entire separate OS installed in parallel, with its own problems like having a version of Mesa that’s too old for a new GPU and stuff like that. Applications must be able to be packaged with everything they need with them, there is no reason for dynamic linking to be so important in Linux these days.

I’m not in favor of proprietary software, but better binary compatibility is a necessity for Linux to succeed, and I’m saying this as someone who’s been using Linux for over a decade and who refuses to install any proprietary software. Sometimes I find myself using apps and games in Wine even when a native version is available just to avoid the hassle of having to find and probably compile libobsoletecrap-5.so

I tried using VS Code but the fact that it’s not fully open source (VSCodium has limitations) bothers me a lot, as does the presence of telemetry.

I like some of the convenience features, like having a file picker when you’re writing paths, my students use it a lot, but I’m sticking with Kate.