Yak-Shaving Ain’t What It Used To Be

Over the years I’ve gotten myself into all varieties of technical rabbit holes and wild goose chases. But I’m feeling weird about my latest trip, involving a forgotten Linux tablet. I blame AI.Recently, I took on a project that I thought would be a lot of fun … but in the end, I did not like how it made me feel. And I think it reflects the real dangers of leaning too aggressively on AI for stuff you’d like to try out.A quick explainer: About four years ago, I got a hold of a JingPad, a Linux-based tablet with a massive Achilles’ heel. The problem? It was sold as a Linux-first tablet on ARM, but it was built around an SoC that was not actually particularly open. The Unisoc Tiger T510, as I’ve written, was built for Android, and it has PowerVR graphics that didn’t have an open-source driver. Worse, the company that made it disappeared off the face of the Earth just a handful of months after it first appeared.The JingPad was a working, fully functional tablet that had been done dirty by…

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