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The only realistic approach is to train on a limited data set which is probably less usable than the comibnation of a custom RAG + one of the many available LLMs.

Also many people/kids don't have access to proper "productive" systems anymore, since the whole computing and electronics industry shifted to make "consumer"-devices like smartphones or laptops made for netflix, gaming and spotify.

Breaking the barrier to build a custom system, install linux (or developer tools for Windows, MacOS) is already a complex AND costly task. It was just way simpler in the late 90s and 00s to get something working.


Almost everyone was anti AI first until they a) found out about agents b) found out about how to deal with halluciation and context management c) best practices in tests, prompts, skills.

Last year I wrote a gist to collect tweets to record the approximate date when known industry people made the change https://gist.github.com/rmoriz/133d6aaf759ee9341bea0029f03bd...


It's a top to bottom approach. Get the UI/UX working, make incredible marketing, sort out the technical foundation later. Excellent executed from a strategic point of view. Let's see if Arch is the best foundation for such a project. I don't know.

Personally, I hope, Debian isn't shutting the door on LLM-supported coding to improve their legacy tooling. I believe we have a very short window to use almost-free LLM fixing internal debt and outstanding issues with our FOSS setup.


Over the past 30 years I have witnessed multiple approaches to try and capture the normies. Ubuntu was the first one to try and market a "just works" approach, introducing a graphical package manager that looked like the play store or apple store; Mint was trying to clone the Windows or MacOS appearance. Then there was the Compiz frenzy, that was selling graphical features as eye candies. They all had their reason to exist.

Omarchy, on the other hand, is this close to be a scam: marketed as "the AI distro" just because it has a keyboard shortcut to launch claude-code or codex basically. "opinionated" because it ships with a default desktop manager and a default text editor, just like any other freaking distro out there. Not to mention the fact that it's financed by people who have nothing to do with FOSS.


As far as I see Omarchy is not meant for everybody but for developers. Not a general purpose distro that copies Windows or Mac like functions. I remember MacOS becoming relevant for developers in 2002/3 long time before it became mainstream (again). By putting money behind it, they could indeed put pressure on some features currently missing in other OS and distro.


> marketed as "the AI distro"

Where?


the tag line for the distro on it's home page.

> Beautiful, Fun & Agentic Linux

'agentic' linux


There is no incentive to build a reliable product that can‘t compete in price. People are trained to consume and throw away. People are getting used to throw away cloths and household appliances after 1-3 years.

Miele once built washing machines that outlast 30 years. They offered spare parts and regional service hubs. But the market decided to just buy the 50% cheaper ones every 5 years.


In the last 25 years, German companies got into "reliability engineering". Which is the art of adjusting your drawings in such a way that every component lasts exactly as long as it has to, and not a second longer.

Which is why back in the day, there were some car/washing machine/tool brands and models that seemed to last forever. Whereas now the current models last exactly their warranty/leasing period.

Edit: Other manufacturers do this, too. But for them, it's often coming from the other side of the reliability curve, so they are improving, the ones that were better back then are getting worse.


What I'm trying to understand is why Toyotas can still make great cars at prices comparable, if not inferior, to Germany's (at least here in the US). There's a quality gap there. I don't understand why German cars used to be great looking AND reliable but no longer.


Toyota builds cars that a private person might want to buy. Their market is real people who want to keep the car for longer, pay for their own maintenance and maybe even do their own oil changes. And who maybe want to put some kids in the back seat and stuff the trunk full of their shopping.

Many German manufacturers (esp. the "premium" ones) don't build for people. They build mostly cars that get leased as company cars. So price isn't that much of an issue, longevity beyond the 4 year leasing term isn't a problem, excessive maintenance isn't a problem since it'll be included in the lease. Oh, and the trunk is just for a laptop bag and the overnight clothes for that one passenger anyways, so nobody cares it's impractically small.

Also, from what I know, design cycles for German cars are relatively long. A model won't just be changed, at least not once per year (as USians seem to expect to the dismay of German manufacturers). While this is great for cost-optimizing the manufacturing process and might be nice because replacement parts are easier to find, this has a downside: Japanese car makers practice continuous improvement, meaning that a change can go in at any time, as long as it seems advantageous. So maybe they learn more quickly from their past mistakes and overall build a more solid engineering experience through this continuous fiddling...


They still do. But as you said,most people go for the 300€ product and not Miles 900€ one. I had the chance to tour their electronics production lines in Gütersloh, Germany a few years ago which were top notch, almost automotive standard, and they told me, that they plan, develop and manufacture for 18 yrs lifetime. Not sure how long the cheaper products last, any experience?


The problem is that even if you want to pay a premium, you can't be sure you're getting a better, more reliable product. It's safer to gamble on the economy option and replace as needed.

If you inflation adjust prices of mid-range major appliances from the 80s they'd be massively expensive today. The price differential is the quality that has been engineered out of all products to be competitive.


Yeah, even if you look up reviews of a particular model, chances are the manufacturer doesn't make that one anymore (it's over a year old!) and just has some seemingly-identical one with different failure modes.

I'd love to buy quality products (and do when I can!) but it's really hard to get good information as a buyer.


30 years ago, when the train broke down, you got a clear statement what happend and what will happening next. Nowadays everyone is treated like a small child. They just tell the obvious leaving the people hanging in uncertainty hence people get mad and question everything without understanding the cause (because they don’t get that information)


And the insurance conditions are based on DIN/EN, VDE, TÜV and others. If you have bodies that create rules, they will never stop creating rules because it is their job to create rules. Something that started great to reduce unnecessary harm became a red tape monster slowing down everything.

Nobody gets elected or paid to reduce that in a sane manner (not: Chainsaw, Doge)


In Germany everything has rules and most things have mandatory insurance. It‘s usually not covered by insurance to stop outside of a bus stop to take passengers. Rudeness or inflexibility is mostly caused by rules to limit liability. Bus drivers are not allowed to drive backwards with passengers e.g on a road blockage. There are several stories about 30+ min delay until a second driver was summoned to help.


Keep in mind that OP is a trained professional with a good education and dealing with Germans in a professional environment. I guess all people with an academic background or comparable. It changes a lot when going outside of this „bubble“ for both sides. Working class blue collared ppl are less open and also a lot of untrained immigrants that hoped to chase a dream now working as Uber drivers or food couriers.


This is not entirely true. They are a registered non-profit club. They will lose their non-profit status if tax authority finds violating them https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/__52.html

Then they are just a (commercial) club that has to pay taxes.


tarsnap, restic, borgbackup and others are your friend. When you do your own backup, you know it works (well, you have to).


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