this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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The future of AI in Ubuntu [Except it's Blockchains instead of AI] (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 day ago by brianpeiris@lemmy.ca to c/linux@programming.dev
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I think one helpful trick when thinking about AI hype is to replace mentions of "AI" with "Blockchain" to see how silly it all sounds.

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[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev -1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

The future of AI in Ubuntu [Except it's Internet and Slackware in 1996 instead of AI and Ubuntu in 2026]

As 1996 progresses, internet-based tools are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Adoption across the tech industry has been mixed, both in terms of which projects are embracing "Web" technologies, and in how companies are structuring their adoption. As a result, I'm frequently asked about what Slackware will do (or not) to incorporate networks.

In this post I'll detail how the internet will play a part in Slackware's future, my framework for classifying internet features in the OS, and how Slackware is currently approaching adoption internally, because I think that will help paint a picture of our intent.

The bottom line is that Slackware is ramping up its use of Internet tools in a focused and principled manner that favours open network tools with license terms that feel most compatible with our values, combined with open source contracts. Internet features will be landing in Slackware throughout the next year as we feel that they're of sufficient maturity and quality, with a bias towards private networks by default.

Internet features in Slackware will come in two forms: first as a means of enhancing existing OS functionality with networking in the background, and latterly in the form of "Internet native" features and workflows for those who want them.

[–] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

And replacing it with "fart" sounds even more silly. You're not proving anything with this.

And I actually think Canonical's approach makes sense. They're not directly benefiting from the AI tools. They're just making it more accessible for users.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Yes, the tech industry has a new hammer and everything looks like a nail, but the reality is, LLMs are finding far more purchase than blockchains did. I wholeheartedly agree that you should not be forced to use an LLM when you don't want to, much less have any app run one locally without consent, but to suggest LLMs have similar usefulness to blockchains is just ignoring reality. This isn't the crypto bubble, this is the dotcom bubble. It would be more like replacing all the instances of "AI" with "the internet" or "computers".

[–] potatoguy@mbin.potato-guy.space 38 points 1 day ago (4 children)

At each and every step of this idiotic "we will put LLMs in everything", I'm becoming more of a luddite.

My pc is working fine with artix and xfce on x11 (not that garbage xlibre), even DoT is working with stubby, why the hell do I need this shit?

Today the server goes systemdless too.

Sorry for the rant.

[–] brianpeiris@lemmy.ca 44 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The Luddites didn’t hate machines. They were gifted artisans resisting a capitalist takeover of the production process that would irreparably harm their communities, weaken their collective bargaining power, and reduce skilled workers to replaceable drones as mechanized as the machines themselves. Their struggle has been tragically warped into a caricature when it is more relevant than ever.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/06/the-luddites-were-right

[–] potatoguy@mbin.potato-guy.space 10 points 1 day ago

Exactly.

Computers are means of production, just now that they're advancing, like they did with all other industries.

The capitalists are taking control on what they think is theirs, this machine is only useful to give money to them, and the code we write to build it is now being taken control by these LLMs, to destroy our power over what we build. If this situation change, to them taking every bit of control by the LLMs being what is advertised to everyone, the workers and people that use everything that's built by or for computers will just be these factory workers of before. A LLM don't say no, it does what who controls it says, on our computers or on any computer.

Edit 2: Just like with the factories, instead of building on what we think is the best way, the LLMs build it for us, a machine for us to just throw things at it. This is easier to control than a senior dev that doesn't like that what he builds, and how he builds it, bombs people.

I'm not against completely open models (training data and weights), just that these corporate and capitalist models are the total control over the means of ~~production~~ computation.

Edit: And Canonical and Red Hat are companies, like any other, and participate actively on this.

Hobsbawm in the age of revolutions talk about this change, with the scientific and industrial revolutions, just like now with the "tech" revolution and now the LLMs.

[–] jlow@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago

👆

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Nothing to be sorry about, I think quite a few out there appreciate a good rant. It wasn't even a long rant, just a short one.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

http://9front.org/ is right there.

Your computo could be so good.

[–] potatoguy@mbin.potato-guy.space 3 points 22 hours ago

I'm sorry, after linux there's only GNU Hurd for me. I can't cheat on it.

[–] morto@piefed.social 4 points 22 hours ago

A similar thing has been happening to me as well, and I find it quite funny. I used to be a tech enthusiast, but the more the big techs force things on me, the more radical and "anti tech" I become. For example, I used to advocate for digitization of everything, now I want things to have the less tech possible. I used to advocate for ecommerce and digital money, now I want to use cash and go to physical small shops. Social media is more and more invasive, so I came to the fediverse. I used to want to use recent and powerful hardware, now I don't really care and just want not to give them more money. To have an idea, sites have been getting barely usable on my phone, so instead of getting a new one, I disabled javascript, and they load really fast now while I avoid the ones that won't load. I also have been spending less and less time with "tech" and doing other activities instead. I even feel better than before

[–] criss_cross@lemmy.world 16 points 22 hours ago

This statement reads like it was generated with blockchain.

[–] morto@piefed.social 10 points 23 hours ago

That works because since there's almost nothing objective about the usefulness and applications of ai tools, those announcements are written in such a generic tongue (maybe even written using ai?) that words can be replaced by another and change nothing, just like that

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Also replace it with cloud to make it sound like 2015.

[–] audaxdreik@pawb.social 3 points 15 hours ago

The "Cloud to Butt" extension appeared around 2013 and I think that's about when things started to go downhill quickly.

I was a tech enthusiast back then already running my own homelab and I think myself and a lot of others began to see that the cloud wasn't really so much a tech advancement as a marketing gimmick. The new thing to shove into all other things. The cloud is just someone else's computer and having a coffeepot connected to it isn't really a new, innovative piece of tech, is it?

Smart phones felt big, but since then a lot of consumer tech feels like it lacks true innovation and follows on the cloud pattern. We'll be stuck in the cycle until it's broken

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or Internet of Things, to make it sound like 2016.

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Oh! Oh! What about THE METAVERSE!?!

Man fuck the metaverse. Everyone I met hyping it hadn't used VR once in their life.

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

You met someone hyping the metaverse? Do you hang out in Menlo Park?

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 2 points 19 hours ago

No, just a few people in corporate culture in the early 2020s. Too much time in linkedin and not doing useful work.

[–] ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca 6 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah. Debian it is.

Goodbye Ubuntu. It's been a good run. 2004-2025.

[–] deafboy@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

All the announcements about the AI from the linux distribution maintainers should be read as "We're going to fix some of the things that should've worked in the past but didn't"

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm currently thinking about switching to MX Linux, which is basically Debian (even with the official Debian repositories) in a modern KDE theme and some cool additional software (from an own separate repository).

The only gripe I had with it so far is that it doesn't come with apparmor enabled by default, which can easily be manually installed.

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 hours ago

I recently put Debian KDE on a gifted Windows 11 Lenovo tablet that's quite underpowered. It's pretty nice. MX is tempting, though.