Ultimate geek bucket list

Forums › Off topic › Ultimate geek bucket list

mdf

2326 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

# 244977 12-Jan-2019 10:33

One person supports this post

I was chatting with someone the other day and in the course of that conversation the phrase "every geek should have set up a Raspberry Pi at least once in their life" was discussed. For some reason that stuck, and I've been contemplating other things that should be on a TrueUltimateMegaHyperGeek's bucket list (TM, patent pending). Google showed me that this has been done before, but a lot of the top results were geek tourism that seemed pretty out of reach to me (visiting Bletchley Park, witnessing a live rocket launch, and meeting Neil de Grasse Tyson for example).

The following is what I've come up with so far (not that I've done all these). Keen to hear other's additions (or contradictions) as to stuff every geek should do/learn/know/own at least once.

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi (or other single board computer).
2. Crimped / punched down an ethernet plug or jack.
3. Know at least one programming language.
4. Own a custom domain name.
5. Built a website.
6. Used a multimeter and soldering iron.
7. Rooted/jailbroken/flashed custom firmware on to some device (bonus points if you've broken that device in the process but managed to recover it).
8. Comfortable with Bash/another CLI.
9. Been asked by a family member to fix something technological (bonus points if you've later been accused of causing other, entirely unrelated, technological issues by helping out that one time).
10. Member of Geekzone.
11. Built a smartphone app.
12. Founded/actively considered founding a tech startup.
13. Played Dungeons + Dragons (tabletop or computer game). More bonus points if you own dice with something other than six sides.
14. Consciously used open source software.
15. Contributed to open source software (code or donations).
16. Read Dune, Foundation, and the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (potentially fraught trinity there).
17. Watched Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who (again, potentially fraught trinity).
18. Have tried a non-Qwerty keyboard.
19. Built your own PC.
20. Have something IOT in your house.
21. Worn a t-shirt or hoodie displaying a computer game or science-fiction character.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

2001 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159635 12-Jan-2019 12:34

3 people support this post

13/21 for me. Most of the rest don't really interest me though.

One addition:

22. Understands binary logic.

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road." - Stephen Hawking

DarthKermit

4933 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 2159636 12-Jan-2019 12:47

Yes:

2. Crimped / punched down an ethernet plug or jack.
3. Know at least one programming language.
6. Used a multimeter and soldering iron.
9. Been asked by a family member to fix something technological (bonus points if you've later been accused of causing other, entirely unrelated, technological issues by helping out that one time).
10. Member of Geekzone.
14. Consciously used open source software.
16. Read Dune, Foundation, and the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (potentially fraught trinity there). Some.
17. Watched Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who (again, potentially fraught trinity).

No:

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi (or other single board computer).

4. Own a custom domain name.
5. Built a website.

7. Rooted/jailbroken/flashed custom firmware on to some device (bonus points if you've broken that device in the process but managed to recover it).
8. Comfortable with Bash/another CLI.

11. Built a smartphone app.
12. Founded/actively considered founding a tech startup.
13. Played Dungeons + Dragons (tabletop or computer game). More bonus points if you own dice with something other than six sides.

15. Contributed to open source software (code or donations).

18. Have tried a non-Qwerty keyboard.
19. Built your own PC.
20. Have something IOT in your house.
21. Worn a t-shirt or hoodie displaying a computer game or science-fiction character.

Lias

3872 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159637 12-Jan-2019 12:50

3 people support this post

Cool idea :-)

I've done everything (including bonus points!) on your list except 11, 12, 15. Not sure if I scrape in on 18 in that I've never purchased one but I _tried_ a friends Dvorak one many years ago and swore to never disparage qwerty again :-P

Ideas to add:

Attend a major tech conference (e.g. CES, TechEd/Ignite/Build, DefCon, etc.)
Run enterprise server hardware at home, bonus points if you have a full rack.
Get an industry IT certification (e.g. Microsoft, Cisco, etc.)

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

Kiwifruta

1020 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159638 12-Jan-2019 12:51

Can count with binary on their fingers.

chevrolux

4205 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159639 12-Jan-2019 12:52

2 people support this post

Something along the lines of "resurrected some old-school tech" should be on the list i reckon!

I got 15 out of the list. But I'm sort of extrapolating that last one out as i got one of those "Don't drink and root sudo rm -rf /" t-shirts you see on facebook haha.

michaelmurfy

Mr Snotty
8870 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159640 12-Jan-2019 13:04

One person supports this post

I can safely say everything on that list is covered for me (including the bonus points).

At work, I had a problem with people using my desk and me turning up to find somebody had made themselves at home at it. I ended up replacing all the keycaps with blank ones and pairing my mouse over Bluetooth (instead of using the dongle). It would confuse people but - for a week I set it to dvorak (which was hell for even me) while still using the blank keycaps. Seeing people attempt to use my computer was one of the most amusing things I've seen.

Needless to say - I'm using qwerty, and always will. It was torture that week using a blank dvorak keyboard.

Kiwifruta

1020 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159641 12-Jan-2019 13:05

8.5/21
Have considered doing most of the rest.

xpd

Chief Trash Bandit
10035 posts

Uber Geek

Mod Emeritus

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159642 12-Jan-2019 13:09

14/21

XPD / Gavin / DemiseNZ

Server : i5-3470s @ 3.50GHz 16GB RAM Win 10 Pro Workstation : i5-3570K @ 3.40GHz 20GB RAM RX580 4GB Win 10 Pro Console : Xbox One

https://www.xpd.co.nz - Games, emulation, geekery, and my attempts at photography. Now on BigPipe 100/100 and 2Talk

Emulation - The art of getting your $4000 PC to run an 80's system - and still fails.

Add me on Steam

jonherries

1086 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

# 2159689 12-Jan-2019 13:32

17 + Bletchley Park and National Computer museum - both very cool and next door to each other.

Wasnt a fan of D&D - give me some Wing Commander or C&C any day... Of course it was much more fun playing games in DOS with all the extended memory problems than on a tabletop - ugh - actually talking to people.

Haven’t seen anything about Lego...

Jon

Rikkitic

Lock him up!
10679 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159690 12-Jan-2019 13:34

One person supports this post

I am a retired geek and have not done many of the items on the list, though I have managed some. Here are a few more that I have done:

- program in assembly

- written a virus (harmless, demo only)

- written anti-virus

- fixed many, many mainly mechanical devices designed not to be fixable

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

Rikkitic

Lock him up!
10679 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159724 12-Jan-2019 13:41

jonherries:

Haven’t seen anything about Lego...

Jon

Completely forgot. I also built a 'go-anywhere' vehicle with Lego, using multiple all-wheel drive, jointed sections with a balance shifter so any section could be raised or lowered. In this way the vehicle could go over literally any obstacle of any shape. It grew out of a holiday programme we were doing for kids with a competition to design rovers that could cope with Mars terrain.

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

Kiwifruta

1020 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159737 12-Jan-2019 14:43

Rikkitic:

I am a retired geek and have not done many of the items on the list, though I have managed some. Here are a few more that I have done:

- program in assembly

- written a virus (harmless, demo only)

- written anti-virus

- fixed many, many mainly mechanical devices designed not to be fixable

Add assembly to the bucket list. I wrote an assembly sub-routine on our VIC-20 in a attempt to speed up a car racing game I was working on as a kid.

Behodar

6730 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159740 12-Jan-2019 14:51

15/21 for me. 16 if you count a "native-style" web app as a phone app.

I haven't written anything in assembly (aside from a couple of fragments in a C app for Risc OS that needed to run before CLib had loaded), but I'm beginning to get my head around reading it.

I've also run MS-DOS 6.22 on a modern i5 just for the fun of it... and was amazed when it worked :)

Meanwhile, do I gain or lose points for having used OS/2?

jarledb

Webhead
2292 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2159741 12-Jan-2019 14:57

17/21 + the 3 extra points Lias listed.

Jarle on Twitter - Senson NZ - WordPress experts

floydbloke

2001 posts

Uber Geek

# 2159775 12-Jan-2019 15:02

One person supports this post

Behodar:

...

Meanwhile, do I gain or lose points for having used OS/2?

Go directly to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200!

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road." - Stephen Hawking

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5