I could make the VIC 20, C64 and C128 do amazing things by patching machine language routines into the kernel and basic. I wrote a BBS/term package that could do real time music at 300 baud while playing online games that utilized your joystick and interrupt driven character and sprite animation. I'd also hacked the modem routines and could push the 300 baud modem up to 450 baud for a 50% improvement in online speed. While it was interesting and fun to do, the knowledge of "the guts" of the Commodore computers isn't very useful anymore.

If I worked with Linux(I'm at a "windows shop") I'd probably be more interested in learning it's guts. But since I'm just dabbling with it (I mostly use OS/2 at home), I just want something that works with minimal fuss so I can do other things that I'm interested in. Like lately I've gotten into home theater and purchased an HDTV set. While I can deal with the set fine, people visiting get overwhelmed with the number of options and remotes to contend with. Want to watch a hi-def show? Then grab the TV remote and turn on the TV and switch to HD input and then grab the cable remote, turn on the STB and select one of the 9 HD channels that are intermingled in the list with 200+ other channels. Decide to watch something on a "normal" station, don't forget to grab the TV remote and switch the TV over to the STB input. Time for a DVD... To solve that, I'm investigating all-in-one remotes like the [link|http://www.remotecentral.com/prontopro/index.html|Pronto Pro]. It's a palm pilot looking remote control that's fully programmable. Create a "main menu" with buttons Watch HDTV, Watch TV, Watch DVD and so on. Hit the Watch HDTV option and the TV turns on and switches to the HD input, the cable box turns on, and the remote changes to a page with icons for the 9 HDTV channels. Decide to watch a DVD, then press the Main Menu button, then Watch DVD and the TV switches over to the DVD input and the DVD player powers up and ejects the tray so you can put a movie in, and finally the remote changes to a page with DVD control options.