"MB" wrote in message ...
On 03/10/2019 15:25, Martin Brown wrote:

I don't see the problem. It is your loss.

Sign up to it using a sacrificial email address if like me you do not
want to hand your primary one to such an organisation.

I often want to contact somewhere to get information but there is only
contact is through Facebook so need to be able to give an EMail address
for them to reply. I don't want to keep setting up "sacrificial"
addresses and they might want to contact me again later or even be slow in
replying.

Many seem to exist in a little bubble of Facebook, Instagram etc without
contact with the rest of the Internet which is obviously what the owners
of these sites want.

I remember years ago, an article somewhere with someone going on about how
useful they were because they could contact the rest of their family.
They did not seem to understand that people have been doing that for years
without having to use someone like Facebook.

but times have changed

years ago "the family" would all live in the same general area and visit
each other frequently

now they will be spread over 100s of miles

tim

On 06/10/2019 20:21, tim... wrote:
but times have changed

years ago "the family" would all live in the same general area and visit
each other frequently

now they will be spread over 100s of miles

EMail and other systems on the Internet work over hundreds of miles
without needing to use Facebook. I mentioned in another message, I have
been in regular contact for 20 or 30 years with an old college friend
who now lives in California and never used Farcebook.

MB wrote:
On 06/10/2019 20:21, tim... wrote:
but times have changed

years ago "the family" would all live in the same general area and visit
each other frequently

now they will be spread over 100s of miles

EMail and other systems on the Internet work over hundreds of miles
without needing to use Facebook. I mentioned in another message, I have
been in regular contact for 20 or 30 years with an old college friend
who now lives in California and never used Farcebook.


FB is more than email. It includes videos, video calling, comment threads,
etc. It's a better way of linking groups than email.

On Thu, 26 Sep 2019 21:16:14 +0100, Vir Campestris wrote:

On 26/09/2019 18:50, MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 26/09/2019 16:20, Chris Green wrote:
In uk.telecom.broadband tim... wrote:
They were examples of devices that use the internet but aren't
computers
or
mobiles - which was the definition of being an internet user.

They are computers surely, just not 'visible to the user' computers.
In much the same way you can claim (or deny) that Microsoft based
'computers' are commonest, given that virtually all 'hidden'
computers like routers, smart TVs, streaming devices, NAS' etc. are
Linux based.

I suspect that virtually all hidden computers (electronic doorbells,
alarm
clocks, cooker controllers, TV remote control) are bares bones systems
with
no OS at all

I think you'd be surprised.* Writing an application (even a simple
one) on a system with 'no OS' is non-trivial.* It's *much* easier with
an OS.

And mostly, it's Linux.


In my experience most of those small devices use an OS designed for the
job.

Linux has heavy requirements;

Uh, yeah, which is why it will run much older machines than windows will.
"With lower system requirements for Linux distributors than Windows,
switching to Linux is a great way to rejuvenate an old computer. This is
because Linux requires less hard drive space thereby putting a lesser load
on your computer's CPU."

it won't run straight out of ROM,

?

for example, and it requires an MMU.

MMU is a physical component of the computer system, typically part of the
CPU.

Andy

On Tue, 15 Oct 2019 14:59:28 +0100, Martyn Barclay
wrote:

Linux has heavy requirements;

Uh, yeah, which is why it will run much older machines than windows will.
"With lower system requirements for Linux distributors than Windows,
switching to Linux is a great way to rejuvenate an old computer. This is
because Linux requires less hard drive space thereby putting a lesser load
on your computer’s CPU."

I've had as many as nine separate installations of different versions
of Linux on the same 60GB SSD. This was just for fun on a spare
computer to see what was possible, but the normal setup on my main
computer is Windows and Linux Mint in a dual-boot arrangement, so I
can easily compare the two systems, including versions of some of the
same software applications, on exactly the same hardware. Linux does
everything - installations, backups, loading times - noticeably
faster than Windows. It's not even necessary to make any measurements
in order to be sure of this. Occasionally the difference is quite
dramatic, as with the loading time for Gimp, for example, but
everything in Linux just feels more brisk and responsive. This is not
what I would call an indication of greater demands on the hardware.

it won't run straight out of ROM,

?

Yes it will. You can make a bootable installation on a USB thumbdrive,
and it doesn't even need to be a very big one either.

Rod.

On 06/10/2019 09:55, MB wrote:
On 03/10/2019 15:25, Martin Brown wrote:

I don't see the problem. It is your loss.

Sign up to it using a sacrificial email address if like me you do not
want to hand your primary one to such an organisation.

I often want to contact somewhere to get information but there is only
contact is through Facebook so need to be able to give an EMail address
for them to reply.* I don't want to keep setting up "sacrificial"
addresses and they might want to contact me again later or even be slow
in replying.

You can keep on using the same one for a while until it becomes totally
overloaded with spam. I give all untrusted contacts a sacrificial email
address on my domain and then cull any that get sold on.

In a more innocent era of the internet I used my primary email address
everywhere. That was until the great Swenfest of 2003 when I woke up one
morning to find over 1GB of hostile binaries in my inbox and even on a
fast cable line it was a chore to delete them using a script.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swen_(computer_worm)

After that I have always used distinctly private and public personas and
never give an untrusted correspondent a permanent contact.

Many seem to exist in a little bubble of Facebook, Instagram etc without
contact with the rest of the Internet which is obviously what the owners
of these sites want.

They are comfortable there and can mostly do what they need to do for
their business with little effort.

I remember years ago, an article somewhere with someone going on about
how useful they were because they could contact the rest of their
family.* They did not seem to understand that people have been doing
that for years without having to use someone like Facebook.

Facebook is just a more modern take on emails with attached pictures but
presented in a web friendly manner with a push notification for friends.

It helps small societies, church groups and village halls have a "free"
online presence without the need for a webmaster or hosting services.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown