LibreOffice Draw is quite capable. Though for some better formatting (linked text boxes) you might have to use Writer, which is still good abut a bit more klunky as you are fighting the formatting of the writer document layer if you want varied text boxes....
Thus far I have had pleasant experience with LibreOffice. Shockingly pleasant and easy to use and fast. I moved most of my MS Office printable media to it. I had to chase down different font weights to capture as close to the thickness that Word/Excel + print drivers would output, but the Libre output is to my eyes a lot better in almost every case, so that’s a win I’ll take.
Decades ago I was using OpenOffice but it had a long way to go back then, so I stuck with MS Office all these years.
I’m sure I’ll come across something that doesn’t quite work right but it’s unlikely I’ll encounter an Excel application built on macros in the wild anymore. (famous last words)
n.b. I have no idea what the hell is up with Microsoft over the last year. I feel like HN could use a thread where people just share horror stories. I’ve heard about the CoPilot nonsense, the cramming of AI into everything, but I stuck to Windows 10 to avoid as much of it as possible, although now it’s EOL. That they’re just shitting on everything solid they’ve done over the years does not make any sense to me.
1) I was more into messaging so I would log in and read and post in the forums. Sometimes if they have a good files area might download some programs, and play a game or two (usually some simple competition game like Risk like ones.) Many boards were long distance so after a few years I started my own BBS
2) Computer magazines had BBS lists sometimes. Local computer stores usually had a corkboard with flyers of local BBSs and word-of-mouth amongst the nerds in the area, at school, etc. To connect I usually used CCGMS terminal for the C64 (for the color/graphics BBSs CCGMS is still used for the C= Telnet BBSs) and Desterm 128 or NovaTerm for the PC boards so I could see the ANSI characters. For running BBSs there were many some in BASIC or compiled BASIC, some in ML and most with a mixture ML communications/data code with BASIC modules. I ended up with Image BBS which was a modular BBS system for the C64, had lots of community mods available.
3) fragmented, depending on what you were interested in, my BBS was Commodore, Gaming, and Science Fiction forums and Commodore Files and some games. There were PC boards with the fancier games and larger FIDONet forums some other forums - sports, PC, etc. There were Apple, Atari Amiga BBSs a lot of like computers would contact those to get info and download programs (Amigas were probably the biggest on pirate software BBSs, there probably was PC ones out there too I didn't know those)
4) More fan oriented talking about your favorite things, not always too technical. Sometimes there would be some e-newsletter you could download to read more technical stuff. DIY discussions and helping others. Pretty much like internet forums and resource sites today.
5) for us some bits of BASIC and assembly, game logic, etc.
I don't think it's complicated but I think it simplifies a complex problem I had.
A thing for storing and comparing schedules
a weekly schedule is turned into a run-length list (the week is in minutes 0 to 10079 - so 540,1020,1980,2460 would be 9am to 5pm on Sunday and Monday). Makes it easy to unpack the list into an array and do basic math comparison can determine whether schedule A is within schedule B or get the difference in minutes that schedule A falls outside of schedule B etc.
I would say the most complicated ones I've done are some SQL queries where I had to break it into stages to reduce the amount of grinding it did on a query that was combining many tables.
If you have something specific in mind list out your specifics or if you can input images along with prompts, add a good example drawing or image to help it.
I can see companies could get away with it from new coders who don't understand the repercussions of releasing )buggy code or know much of long-term maintenance.
You know, this sounds familiar - the big outsourcing boon to less expensive development in other countries, sure they can write the code, but it's either shipped buggy or takes a lot of management and hand-holding of the outsourced development teams to get everything right.
Dual 24" monitors (decent quality IPS), one uses an HDMI KVM to switch between different/retro systems, Recently upgraded from VGA to HDMI switchbox, the difference was worth the cost to buy some [X] to HDMI adapters. Now there's enough inexpensive ones to cover all the bases.
The benefit for me is I use the main system to look things up and then switch to the target system and I have the main display as a reference and the other as well,
Used to have the side monitor as the KVM one, but find I work better with the switched monitor the one in the center, as a side display I would get sore/tired neck from always looking to the side. With it center I am more comfortable to concentrate on the task at hand on the other system I have up.
It probably recognized they were available, on Windows 11 it hides recommended hardware drivers in: windows updates -> advanced features -> optional updates - drivers and other updates
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