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June 04, 2023

BWAHAHAHAHOUHAHA-HAHA!
I honestly did not expect ChatGPT to fail so badly! (I will not paste any of its output, Lunduke!)
It's my first time to directly use ChatGPT. I just couldn't come up with anything I want to know that it could reliably tell me. Until today when I realised I keep receiving requests by some relatives to do a bash oneliner for some text files and I'd be offloaded if I could just tell them how to do it themselves in PowerShell but it'll be long before I've learnt what I need so I have the option to ask an RTFM-level-stupid question on StackOverflow or... to test out the great deceiver. So I sacrificed the confidentiality of my name, surname and friggin' phone number to have a go. I'll paste here just my input but you'll be well able to deduce how it went:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I want to remove duplicate whitespace from a text file on a Windows 10/11 PC. On Linux with bash what I would do is:
$ cat spacious.txt | tr -s [:space:] > compact.txt
What is the easiest way to do the same on Windows without WSL?
What is the simplest PowerShell script which can produce the same result?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By whitespace I meant not only " ", but also carriage returns. Does '\s' match carriage returns as well as " "? Also, when I have duplicate carriage returns in the spacious.txt, I want to have single carriage returns in the compact.txt and not ' ' as you suggested. Please provide a suggestion taking this into account.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sounds better, but now duplicate spaces and tabs, and carriage returns will be replaced with 1 carriage return AND a newline character. What I want is for duplicate [:space:] as defined by POSIX to be replaced with a single instance of the same kind of whitespace - spacebar, tab, return, enter or whatever other kind of whitespace there is. Two tabs should become one tab, two spacebars - one spacebar, two carriage returns - one carriage return and so on. I pointed you to the bash oneliner:
$ cat spacious.txt | tr -s [:space:] > compact.txt
and I know I should not expect you to understand what it does as you are uncapable of understanding anything due to being no more than a glorified pattern-matching algorithm, but please try to reproduce the exact same functionality in the PowerShell script you recommend. Just to be clear, in case you got confused, I didn't just ask you two things - I asked you the same thing in two different ways - first one case-by-case example to guide you and then one bash oneliner that fulfills exactly what I want, no more, no less.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Was the third and final suggestion I got by ChatGPT correct? It was the exact same as the first suggestion. Though of course the chatbot acted as if it had corrected itself.
And of course if my question had been answered on StackOverflow, ChatGPT's answer would have been correct. But I wouldn't have had to ask it the question as I've done my own research beforehand. Also the chatbot would get merit that does not belong to it.
If the problem is the way I asked, then I have to ask myself: Is programming more tedious, or prompt engineering?

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CreepyLink.com: URL Shortener That Makes Links Look Suspicious
00:05:38
January 17, 2026
Modern Linux Using Only 200MB of RAM?

The Vendefoul Wolf Linux Distro has a new release based on Devuan, XLibre, & IceWM. And it uses only 217 MB of RAM. The way it should be.

$89 Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions all January:
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00:09:45
January 16, 2026
GNOME 50 Alpha: "Entirely Removes X11"

The GNOME Foundation's war on X11 continues, with the Alpha release of GNOME 50. Announced by the same GNOME contributor who defaced XLibre project pages (calling them "Nazis" ).

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00:18:35
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
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The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
5 hours ago

The Big Tech "Charity" Hustle.

15 hours ago

The 100x Architect: Why the "Vibe Coding" Argument is a Dangerous Coping Mechanism

I hear it constantly from my fellow nerds: “I’m not worried. Non-coders ‘vibe coding’ AI slop will never be a threat to my job.”

You’re 100% right. Vibe-coded slop isn't the threat. The threat is top-talent developers who also master GenAI tools.

While the skeptics are busy mocking juniors for generating buggy Todo apps, they are missing the real shift: the veterans with 40 years of patterns in their heads who are using GenAI as a 10x multiplier.

The math is simple: 10x1 is 10. 10x10 is 100.

If you are a talented dev (a 10), and you refuse to use the multiplier, you aren't "staying pure"—you’re just being out-scaled by the people who have your skills AND scale themselves with GenAI.

A Field Report from the 100x Front:

In two recent projects—one for a paying client and one for a friend—I built in a few hours by myself what would have traditionally taken a small team a couple of weeks...

A Eulogy For Omarchy - Sunday Laptop Rebuild Stream

Last Tuesday, I tried to put Omarchy on my daily driver laptop. After six days of fighting with it, I'm quitting.

This is the THIRD TIME I've tried to make Omarchy a thing for me, and all three times, I've had nothing but struggle. So, now, we're going back to Manjaro. But before I do, I'll spend a little time experimenting with other distros, live on camera, unscripted. Just for the gawkers.

[EDIT] Apologies: I got a little LIPPY because of how much Omarchy pissed me off. Just to warn you.

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January 16, 2026
Lunduke Journal Week In Review - Jan 16th, 2025

Whew! It’s been another wild week for Tech News!

Here’s a crazy stat for ya:

We are currently 16 days into 2026, and The Lunduke Journal has already recorded 19 shows (17 of which have been published on every platform, and 2 others to be published this weekend everywhere… but are already available via the MP4 download page). And that’s with taking New Year’s Day off (and getting the flu this week).

It’s a heck of a lot of Tech News, to be sure.

Lunduke’s Top Stories for the Week

If you only have time to watch a few of shows, I recommend these 3 as being the most interesting (or important… or just… strange) from the last week:

In other words: A pretty gosh-darned crazy week for Linux.

(Those links are to Lunduke.Substack.com, but you can watch all of those shows on any other platform. As always.)

Other Tidbits of Awesomeness

A few other notes on this, most excellent, Friday!

And, with that, I leave you with a screenshot of the MP4 listing of the shows so far in 2026. Bonkers.

 

-Lunduke

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January 14, 2026
Lunduke's Lifetime Subscriber Wall 3 is almost full!

Holy moly.

This afternoon I sat down to update the 3rd Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber wall — adding in all of you who sent in requests over the last week or so.

And, boy howdy, were there a lot of you! So many, in fact, that the 3rd Lifetime Wall only has room for around 6 or 7 more names (depending on the name lengths)! That’s crazy!

If you want to make it onto “The Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber” Wall number 3… send me an email (bryan at lunduke.com) with the way you would like your name to be displayed.

Or, if you’re not already a Lifetime Subscriber, remedy that for $89. (Which, you know, is a pretty gosh darned good value.) … Then send me that email requesting to be added to the wall.

Once Wall 3 is full, we’ll start in on Wall number 4 (that’s nuts). At the current rate, I expect Wall 4 to debut this week.

And, as always, thank you for your support. Whatever kind of subscription you have, it is deeply appreciated. Monthly, Yearly, or Lifetime. All are amazing. You make The Lunduke Journal possible.

You rule.

-Lunduke

 
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January 13, 2026
Lunduke Out Sick Tomorrow

I’ve got the flu (or something else yucky) and need to take the day off tomorrow.

But I don’t really have a normal “boss” to email. Heck, all of you are sort of like my collective boss.

So I’m emailing you:

Boss, *cough cough* Lunduke is out sick tomorrow.

Which means no new shows on Wednesday. Hoping to rest up and be back with new shows on Thursday.

If you’ve missed any shows over the last few weeks, now’s a good chance to catch up.

And feel free to grab one of those fancy-shmancy $89 Lifetime Subscriptions while you’re at it. That won’t make my flu go away any faster… but it definitely won’t hurt.

Unrelated note: Buying stock in Nyquil might not be a bad idea. I think I’m about to increase their profits.

-Lunduke

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