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!
Even outside of this, film has been seeing a resurgence in the photography world lately, and even in the more general art world, you can still pick up some crayons and some blank paper relatively cheaply and go to town with that, for example.
On top of Linux being a thing for computing and PCs not becoming as locked down as Apple devices or even mobile devices in general, yet, there’s going to be some level of ownership over your stuff for the foreseeable future.
This also extends to older cars which can still be tinkered with by the owner while those are still emissions-legal.