Incredible insight, thank you! Could you elaborate on any more of your experiences with PPU/SPU programming? Also, what have you gone on to do since then?
This is massively popular in the medical student scene. They can't get enough of it, but also complain about it's restrictiveness at the same time. I wonder if there are any other platforms / if this is a space for disruption...
I finally created a hackernews account after lurking for years just to write this. Thanks for taking the time to capture what (for many) was a mystical black box for years. I have distinct memories of being super nervous whilst jailbreaking my iPod 4G on iOS 4, wondering what all the scrolling terminal messages meant. Then, doing it for my mates over school lunch, worrying that I might unintentionally screw up their phone and be responsible for a few hundred dollars worth of 'bricked' technology lol.
In a way, all those years later, that 'magic' of breaking through Apple's walls and running custom code is what enticed me to get into programming. I have immense gratitude to all involved.
Many days I hate working in tech and specifically what I don't understand or get done when I set goals. Reading these posts every once in a while inspires me not to give up on open source or tech communities in general. Thank you for sharing!
I feel like there hasn't been so many viable custom ROMs ever: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, LineageOS, /e/ OS, DivestOS, ...
I use one of them, my phone came with it, and I never had to do anything special with it. It just works. In my case it's de-Googled so I just have to use alternatives apps for e.g. Google Maps and the likes.
