Nostr notes by tallship

# 16.0 Alpha 1 has arrived...People ask me how come I often ...

2026-09-08T03:33:12Z

#

16.0 Alpha 1 has arrived...People ask me how come I often don't know these things... It's simple really. I'm on kernel-generic-7.2.4-x86_64-1 running #Slackware -current and don't actually bother to look up from the work I'm doing cause 16 is just a distro's version number, but 7.2.4 is a kernel. Officially, Slackware 16.0 Alpha is available w/the Linux huge 6.18.x kernel while 7.2.4 is in /testing.

Me, I'm just rolling along in production as I have been for close to 30 years now w/ Slackware - current looking back on the next upcoming release like it's something from yesterday lolz.

I do the same thing on #Debian (14/Testing/Forky) I just upgraded my kernel to 7.1.12+deb14-amd64 - so I'm not running that far behind the ultra-bleeding edge of Slackware, or what Arch and Gentoo users are either.

Anyway, you're going to hear more about the upcoming Slackware 16 release as the weeks go on and if there's one thing I can advise you of it's don't get caught up in the guessing game bullshit - Patrick will release it matter-of-factly w/o any fanfare and pretty much all bets will be wrong. The most you can do is to ask, "Is it soup yet?".

So **[here's the thread, and Patrick's response](https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/16-0-alpha-1-feedback-4175766785/#post6647875 )** to the OP (who's running 7.3-RC1)

#tallship #FOSS #Linux #distros
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# The world's first social network?I think the following ...

2026-08-01T23:51:06Z

#

The world's first social network?I think the following block will suffice to speak for itself. Most of you reading this will have no idea what's going on, and that's a shame, really.

Anyway, when you *'finger'* it out, feel free to finger me at SDF.org or tilde.team ⛵

> From L...@SAIL.Stanford.EDU Mon Feb 19 21:32:35 1990
> Received: from cayuga.cs.rochester.edu by sol.cs.rochester.edu (4.0/q) id AA13568; Mon, 19 Feb 90 21:32:33 EST
> Received: from Sail.Stanford.EDU by cayuga.cs.rochester.edu (5.59/q) id AA20402; Mon, 19 Feb 90 21:32:26 EST
> Message-Id: > [> Kl$B...@SAIL.Stanford.EDU](mailto:Kl$B...@SAIL.Stanford.EDU )
> Date: 19 Feb 90 1831 PST
> From: Les Earnest > [> L...@SAIL.Stanford.EDU](mailto:L...@SAIL.Stanford.EDU )
> Subject: re: Greetings...
> To: col...@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU
> Status: R

> [In reply to message sent Mon, 19 Feb 90 16:02:17 EST.]

> I'm glad that you are enjoying the C3 articles. I need to write another
> one soon.

> Here is a response to your conjectures, mostly regurgitated from an
> article that I posted on Human-nets in 1985. Feel free to forward it to
> alt.forklore.computers, or I can post it there if you prefer. I haven't
> been reading that newsgroup, but a quick look indicates that maybe I
> should.

> Finger was named for the act of pointing. I recall that sometime after it
> became popular I received a message from a system administrator who
> thought that it should be renamed so that users would not have to use a
> "dirty" word. I gave his request all the consideration that it deserved.

> I created Finger around 1971 to meet a local need at the Stanford
> Artifical Intelligence Lab. People generally worked long hours there,
> often with unpredictable schedules. When you wanted to meet with some
> group, it was important to know who was there and when the others would
> likely reappear. It also was important to be able to locate potential
> volleyball players when you wanted to play, Chinese food freaks when you
> wanted to eat, and antisocial computer users when it appeared that
> something strange was happening on the system.

> The only tool then available for seeing who was running on our DEC-10
> computer was a WHO program that showed IDs and terminal line numbers for
> people who were logged in. There was no information available on people
> who were not logged in. I frequently saw people running their fingers
> down the WHO display saying things like "There's Don and that's Pattie but
> I don't know when Tom was last seen." or "Who in hell is VVK and where
> does line 63 go?"

> I wrote Finger and developed the supporting database to provide this
> information in traditional human terms -- real names and places. Because
> I preferred to talk face to face rather than through the computer or
> telephone, I put in the feature that tells how long the terminal had been
> idle, so that I could assess the likelihood that I would find them there
> if I walked down the hall.

> The program was an instant hit. Some people asked for the Plan file
> feature so that they could explain their absence or how they could be
> reached at odd times, so I added it. I found it interesting that this
> feature evolved into a forum for social commentary and amusing
> observations.

> Finger was picked up by a number of other groups with DEC-10 computers
> that were connected to Arpanet -- software flowed in all directions around
> the net in those days. It later migrated to Un*x, probably via U.C.
> Berkeley. Somewhere along the line the idea arose to provide a network
> Finger service. I don't remember who suggested that but it seemed like a
> good idea at the time so I stuck it in. Some other anxious people wanted
> to be able to verify that their mail was delivered to specific addressees,
> so the Mail feature was also added.

> While I was somewhat surprised by the popularity of Finger, it has not
> been as successful as an earlier program that I invented -- the spelling
> checker. It too was created to fill a personal need that many others
> apparently share. We didn't think about commercial development and
> software protection in those days, but if we had we probably could have
> made something out of it. On the other hand, I enjoyed the comradery
> of those gentler times and have no regrets.

> -Les Earnest (L...@Sail.Stanford.edu)

tl;dr: Yeah, in case you're wondering, and would like to kick the tires and take it for a spin, on Debian it's as simple as:<code># apt update
#apt install finger
</code>

if you want to play with the daemon, that would be available to you by installing either efingerd or cfingerd. For #Slackware users, **[finger is already installed HERE](https://docs.slackware.com/slackbook:basic_networking_utilities#finger )**, and the daemon is just #fingerd; finger listens on port 79.

Enjoy! 👋🤠

#tallship #FOSS #finger #social_networking

Hi Jason! How's the work in this project proceeding? It's ...

2025-09-12T06:52:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…nx8m
_________________________

Hi Jason!

How's the work in this project proceeding?

It's been a while and I wanted to circle back, see how funding and scanning are going, if there's updates, and also whether there's anything additional to this project that I can boost or showcase in an upcoming article to raise awareness and perhaps garner some additional support or interest in the #Fediverse community.

Kindest regards,

Bradley

Yes there's https://Fedilab.App - Even #Fedilab itself ...

2024-09-17T01:25:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…ygcx
_________________________

Yes there's https://Fedilab.App - Even #Fedilab itself supports #PeerTube, and you can get them all at F-Droid too 🤘🤠🤘

These #Android applications indeed support the commenting/reply and plussing/reacting just like any other #Fediverse app does/should too :)

I hope that helps, enjoy!

#tallship #FDroid #FOSS #ActivityPub #TubeLab

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