Thought of this the other day. I bet a lot of us are like this, because in today’s world a lot of things we used to tinker with are gone (electronics are made to be single use and unfixable, cars are proprietary and can rarely be modified or worked on without many many thousands of dollars now, etc).

Sure, there are still hardcore electronics projects going on and people doing massive restoration projects and such, but i consider them basically geniuses, not just tinkerers who enjoy messing around and learning in their spare time while working 50 hours a week.

Im glad linux gives us a space to exist!

  • bluGill@fedia.io
    43·
    4 days ago

    Most people didn’t want to work on cars, they just couldn’t afford someone to file the points every few months and so were forced to as a part of owning a car. Filing points doesn’t make you a haker.

    • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      4·
      4 days ago

      You’re exactly right, it doesn’t, but it makes you one to tinker on things and figure out how they work. I never would have leanred cars if i wasnt poor and had to repair my own (plus i enjoyed it anyways and made a lot of friends doing it) .As I originally stated, im not a genius engineer or programmer, I only have so much energy to spend tinkering.

    • Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pubEnglish
      31·
      4 days ago

      …file the points?

      Change the oil, maybe

      Replace the air filters, could be

      File the points?

      The fuck car is this? Do you drive a longhorn steer to work?

      • tychosmoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        Any car before electronic ignition became more popular. My first two cars (purchased already old) had them and I’m old but not ancient. If you had a mass production car built in the 1970s or earlier you probably had this in the distributor. The points eroded due to the high voltages and would get a pitted surface, causing problems with ignition timing and that could be bad. It’s a wear item, so file them to dress them up a bit until you can’t any more. Then replace them. But when you file or replace you’ve got to adjust the points and check the timing (edit:) dwell again.

        Both electronic ignition and later the ECU (plus developments in materials science) improved the lifespan of spark plugs too. This is why there were so many tune-up shops in the old days. You needed to regularly check the plugs, points, timing, oil and filters. Plus all the other things that didn’t last or remain in adjustment as long back then as they do now.

      • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        You sound very young, ha!

        But im the outlier since I grew up with cars and none of that is foreign to me. People would balk at how you drive a model T vs a new computer car.