utopiah

I'd clarify that the shear customizability of Linux is optional.

Take a SteamDeck with SteamOS versus a RPi with e.g Debian.

If you "just" play with the SteamDeck and you don't tinker, well, it "just works". In most, even though not all, normal situations, e.g plugging a screen, pairing a BT headphone, mouse, keyboard, etc it is solid. It has no problem even while using a compatibility layer like Proton for games themselves made for Windows. It even enable some tinkering thanks to its immutable OS and let the player switch to desktop mode. Not everything works but my personal experience since it's been out has been pretty much flawless.

Now, take a RPi, with just as stable hardware, with Debian, even stable, and put on it some IoT device, make some weird modifications for it, try a bunch of stuff, remove package, tinker more, chances are it will still work. Tinker more, make stranger modifications to the point it becomes unstable. Is it Linux itself? I'd argue it's not. I'd argue that instead because we CAN tinker we sometimes do then forget that it's not the same context as something expected to run without hiccup because it's been limited to basically the same verified usage.

So... IMHO Linux is even better than it is, we just shouldn't confuse weird (and important) tinkering with how it can be actually used day to day.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain.

I did notice CTF on the description so I imagine "escaping" it is "harder" than with containers. I recently participated to SplinterCon which included a "block-a-thon" (cf day 2 of https://splintercon.net/brussels/ ) to try to escape a limited environment, approximately simulating the limited Internet access of some political regime. It might be interesting in that context too.

Could also be interesting then to distinguish which defaults are changed compared to Docker ones or examples for which nsjail is currently preferred.

No and to be honest without a clear comparison with the advantages AND disadvantages with the most popular solutions, e.g containers with implementations like Docker or Podman, I don't think I ever will.

Obviously it's nice to have alternatives which I bet can be interesting in specific use cases but without a way to understand in which specific situations it would be worth investing to learn the tooling, principles, etc then I would, naively, stay with the status quo.

TL;DR: any comparison vs Docker?

Indeed, I'd buy a Bluetooth keyboard instead.

Linux is not replacing Android tablets any time soon for casual use by non-techies.

Meanwhile PineTab 2 is used nearly daily here, at home and while traveling, by non-techies.

I'm not saying anybody is fine with a Linux tablet... but if the applications (not "apps") one actually uses function properly on it, no reason that it would gather dust.

PS: tinkered with a Banana Pi BPI-F3 with SpacemiT K1 8 core RISC-V and for that architecture specifically I would wait just a bit more, also why I didn't get a PineTab V RISC.

lol, yes I just saw that :D No worries, thanks for sharing it there then!

Well I'm not. I have a different setup due to working in VR. I did use for myself and others a RPi as a desktop for few tools and as long as you stick within what's acceptable for its performance, it's really nice, such a compact setup. The RPi I use at home and at work are headless servers for e.g DLNA, IoT, backups.

If I didn't work in XR or play (BG3, EldenRing, etc) then I imagine I would find a RPi 4 sufficient for most of my tasks.

Thanks for sharing back such detailed instructions! I hope you will like it and inspire other to try. I've been using it for years now https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Tridactyl after Vimperator and really enjoy browsing this way.

Right, thanks, fixed even though I don't believe one can run Linux on it. Made me curious about FUZIX though https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/how-to-get-started-with-fuzix-on-raspberry-pi-pico/

The trick is do the opposite, namely bring vim everywhere, e.g using Tridactyl you can bring some behaviors to the browser and, in this very textarea from lemmy, if I press Ctrl+i I get gvim, when I exit it, the content is back in the textarea and I can reply. Vim everywhere.

All Raspberry Pis (~~except~~ even the Pico) are ARM devices so... yes I've been using Linux on ARM for years. It's been smooth sailing both as desktop or 24/7 home servers except for few very rare packages that aren't build for that architecture and then themselves have dependencies making it hard but overall as time passes and there are ARM processors everywhere it's only getting easier. I have not tried on Apple Silicon but here also support only seems to get better.

PS: also been using the PineTab 2 nearly daily and less frequently PinePhone and PinePhone Pro, all on ARM, also only Linux, all good.

Honestly a very imperfect alternatives but that's been sufficient for me for years is... NextCloud of documents.

There are few dozen documents I need regardless of the device, e.g national ID, billing template, but the vast VAST majority of my files I can get on my desktop... which is why I replied to you in depth rather than actually doing it. I even wrote some software for a "broader" view on resuming across devices including offline, namely https://git.benetou.fr/utopiah/offline-octopus as a network of NodeJS HTTP servers but ... same, that's more for the intellectual curiosity than a pragmatic need. So yes explore with VMs if you prefer but I'd argue remain pragmatic, i.e what you genuinely do need versus an "idealized" system that you don't actually use yet makes your workflow and setup more complex and less secure.