• immich - photo gallery, sync, analysis, and sharing. A private server is a bit to install, but worth it.
• AntennaPod - Podcasts
• HeliBoard - keyboard. One feature is to move the cursor via the space key.

Clearly you know of lot about this. Here are some comments for the next human.

Deny all modules seems more possible than a whitelist approach. To deny all, the command is likely “sysctl kernel.modules_disabled=1”.

Whitelisting is harder. One could store a list of all loaded modules on a working system. Store a list of all kernel modules currently installed on the system. Compare the lists and remove from the “all” list the “running” list (grep will do this) and write it to the blacklist file.

The problem with the Whitelisting approach is that it needs to run after every kernel module install (which is doable).

If the above is the case, then someone must have automated this already, but I cannot find it quickly. (I checked Debian’s package repository.)

I agree with you regarding availability, and I find your comment interesting. I often find phone models of interest that are only available in Europe or the East. Phone selection in the USA is often terrible.

I want to push back on this part:

Only if Microsoft acquires a major CPU chipmaker.

In the USA, and other parts of the world, a small number of Billionaires are buying up everything. A small number of wealthy people could each own a part of the supply chain and for it on the vast majority.

For extra enforcement, add in a legal or cultural push for reporting or shunning violators through the media companies owned by that same group.

Just adding links for the lazy…

Clipper Chip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/usa/clipper.htm

The computers in the store, yes. I expect all computers in the store to be phones and the cell company will verify.

Open Source computers will be more important. Might need to brush up on wire wrapping… (Implication being that chip supplies might become dedicated to only those manufacturers that lock the product down.)

Elsewhere in this thread. Anyway, here is what I had said:

There are “electric truck” conversion books from the 1970s. (Only trucks as they used lead acid batteries, which are still extremely heavy for useful amounts of stored energy.) This indicates it is not extremely complex, though possibly still very complex. (My reason for this assessment is from reading a few of them, but never implementing any of it.)

Anyway, here is a title to look for, from 2011, " The electric vehicle conversion handbook : how to convert cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles : includes EV components, kits, and project vehicles" by Warner, Mark, ISBN: 9781557885685 1557885680.

2021’s “Convert It!: A simple step-by-step guide for converting any classic car into an electric vehicle.” by Ron Toms, ASIN B093CH8HR7.

Neither are from the 1970s, but both are likely more useful anyway. There are also likely others that I cannot immediately find. I have read neither, yet.

Likely a lot. I posted elsewhere, but there were books on this in the 1970’s.

There are “electric truck” conversion books from the 1970s. (Only trucks as they used lead acid batteries, which are still extremely heavy for useful amounts of stored energy.) This indicates it is not extremely complex, though possibly still very complex. (My reason for this assessment is from reading a few of them, but never implementing any of it.)

As for a detailed answer on the rest: I have no idea.

Just a reminder that “kit cars” exist. Their existence makes the idea of “open source” cars seem more reasonable to me in that one does not need to make a large company, it is possible (though likely not profitable or cheap) to be a small car company.

From “the monitor goes dark”, it would be helpful to split monitor issues from computer issues. When the computer becomes unresponsive, do any “non-monitor” functions still work? Does the DVD-drive tray eject or does audio continue to play? Any other details? Do any other lights on the computer stay on, like keyboard and mouse lights?

If the issue is primarily the monitor, then splitting between the physical monitor and the video card would also be helpful.

How old is the hardware?

When you say “nothing is logged”, is the hard shutdown logged or anything after the time of the event? Or does “nothing is logged” mean the normal items are logged, but nothing of interest is logged? Some issues, especially hardware ones, stop the computer from logging.

Story: I once had a 15+ year old computer do something similar. The screen would go dark, but the lights on the keyboard stayed on. I had to hard power the system off and sometimes on boot the monitor wouldn’t work. A monitor swap didn’t fix the issue, but a USB video card did. The video card had failed. (Looking up what I think the interconnect was, the system may be 20 years old at this point.) NOTE: The system was not functional long term with a USB video card due to how the BIOS in the system handled the two video cards.

theres so many things to do with a pc that i dont know where to start

Pick the first project that you think of and chase it down. If it sucks, then reformat the drive and do something else. Video game systems and file servers are great. So is installing a different OS on each, just to experience the differences side by side.

Do NOT continue “analysis paralysis”.

Apt-cacher-ng doesn’t tend to expire automatically. It can be configured to keep the last version regardless. https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~bloch/acng/html/maint.html#extrakeep

One can also use a cache to hold deb and rpm files requested by the machines. (Works great when running hundreds of systems.)

I like “apt-cacher-ng”. It will do deb and rpm. https://wiki.debian.org/AptCacherNg

https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~bloch/acng/

Edit: better link

Offline repository caches for Linux have been a thing for decades. People absolutely pass binaries to friends.

Flatpac may not be suitable, but that is only one way to get software on Linux.

Pretty much every Windows machine I’ve ever owned after a certain year requires you to type in your Bitlocker key, including my first-gen Surface Go from 2018.

This is interesting. I had a work computer require this ~4 years ago, but not one of the three since have (personal and different employers.)

It is complicated. There are several options, each with tradeoffs in functionality, compatible software, and performance.

A simple method is to use one system as a desktop, and SSH into the others as “headless”.

Other options include making a K8s or HPC cluster (there are other cluster types).

Spreading a single set of communicating processes requires a low latency interconnect. Something better than Ethernet, like Infiniband. But many programs don’t support that.

For the out of the loop, but also lazy;

Android app that reveals installed apps which may be leaking your location data.

You put lots of time and effort in. Now it will be discarded due to decisions of others.

Sad and/or disappointed feelings are normal.

Take care of yourself.

Phrasing.

A Linux maintainer wants to keep quality high. Objects to adding complexity to codebase.

Right or wrong, we want the maintainers focused on quality and maintainability.