This is a complicated hobby!

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How do you manage such a complex OS hobby? This is my favorite hobby and I have been stuck with this hobby for a few years. I haven't gotten any where with this depressing hobby yet. I don't have much experience with C or x86 assembly, but I do know the language syntax and have the online resources. I don't see a reason to make user space apps. I know that a team won't help me with my OS hobby. What I need is the advice or info to work on this myself and am afraid to get that advice.

I'm a tester and something of a Java developer, script kiddie and compulsive power user - being a Firefox beta/nightly user has helped in leaps & bounds organizing the hundreds of walkthroughs and resources I run into on a daily basis. I'll be coordinating my un-bricking and maintenance of two more Samsung Android gizmos this week in the same Firefox install, and it also does a handy job syncing all my reading homework to my bookmarks folders. I too enjoy working alone, perhaps too much, but thankfully I've found XDA university, a resource on building Android firmware images which I'm amassing the resources to work through. It's not depressing at all to me, really more of an outlet. Furthermore I recommend focusing your hardware purchases on the most versatile gear you can find, taking into account what you're already accustomed to running. In my case, I'm probably moving to a Windows & Android multiboot laptop, workstation and a few smaller testing devices.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Well, that's good you are learning and I am glad to read it! I'm not much into java or being a script kiddie. Not sure what you mean by saying XDA university. As for being depressed myself, I have reasons to be and not sure if I can explain them clearly. I'm working on ubuntu linux and not sure about android or windows new system.

I started with Red Hat some 6 or 7 years ago, as it happens I'm moving my Friend's netbook over to Fedora tonight. XDA developers is a big resource for mobile computing hacks and mods, and they do the best job keeping trolls away. These days you can run Ubuntu, or many related distros, on Android hardware just as easily as that of Windows, although it's tricky keeping your warranty either way. Any languages you enjoy, however, can be better appreciated with some faster browsers and better editors. I like IntelliJ for its' ability to predict values before they've been entered for example. Clearly you have some Googling to do my friend.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Perhaps it's a moot suggestion, but live bootable usb drives are a lifesaver. Any old machines I keep around take maybe 20 minutes to start from the ground up, regardless of if I needed what was on the existing partition, or if the existing partition was Windows. All it takes is a few 2 or 4gb flash drives, internet hookups and the need for another computer. Whenever someone I know needs a school laptop without being miserable in XP, I turn Linux loose on their free disk space and it's way quicker to support.

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Well, I've spent a few years now on a workplace diet of windows, share point and services, and a home regime of apple ios. And yes, it's depressing.

I can still get enthusiastic, though, about the prospects for good information.
Today I found http://ausgoal.gov.au. Wonderful stuff. How did they get it past the reactionaries?

The only way to really learn is to dive in. I prefer technical specifications to tutorials. As for the languages, I quickly learned x86 assembly in the course of my (trivial) kernel development work, C by writing little Linux userspace stuff, etc. Alas, this hobby holds little interest for me at the moment. Best of luck.

Just a thought--how about programming single board microcontrollers like the Arduino?

Sometimes the way to get out of a rut is to start over with something simple...

Raspberry Pi might be the most applicable for the moment, however you must remember to find the Sony-manufactured less buggy production runs, or they die pretty quick from what a friend told me last month. Furthermore, customized Android firmwares run, in one form or another, everything all the aforementioned platforms do, and you could probably get two or three decent HTCs' or Samsungs for the price of the nice Adafruit Pi...

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos