[beachy]

Linux is indeed wonderful, but there's a lot to be said for dealing with things at a simple level when your goal is to e.g. measure voltages, turn LEDs and relays on and off etc.

I still find it incredible that a fairly fast, dual core computer with a color display, wifi, bluetooth, USB, battery charging and all the memory you need costs $8! [0]

[0] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001235066814.html

[michrassena]

That's really an incredible price for a computer with a color display. I enjoy and use Linux, but I think it's so versatile and general purpose my inclination is to put it online, run Firefox, play videos or whatever, and then it's magically just another PC. It's kind of like the old saw about every program expanding until it can do email. I'm starting to see the small devices, like esp32 inherit some of the aura of the old home computers which ran BASIC from ROM.