On 2024-11-05 12:52, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:
> Think the modern car with its automatic
> transmission being driven in 6 to 8" of fresh snow and the temperature
> is just under freezing - - - if you have to stop for some reason
> - - - good luck getting going again - - - in a manual transmission -
> - - piece of cake!!!)

Can you explain in more detail? I was thinking about buying manual Kia
Rio (cheapest new car on the market, now no longer sold). My automatic
has 1, 2, 3, 4, D, N, R, and P. Why is manual different?



   Manual transmission driver here.  I have just had to replace my old Honda
Fit with a newer 2019 model with a six speed transmission.  I love it.

   You get stuck in snow either because you are in or on top of a snow drift,
or because you are sitting on very slippery ice. 

   Manual transmissions work nicely at getting out unstuck in the snow, but I
have extracted automatics.  Rocking a car out of a snow drift is easy using
the clutch of a manual transmission, and much more difficult with an automatic. 
I forget how I did it.  Maybe I popped back and forth between drive and neutral. 

    Outside of a snow drift, there is no difference between the two transmissions.  
I don't know how technical people are here.  Your transmission is a torque
multiplier, in most gears anyway, with first gear giving you maximum torque and
minimum speed.  Under civilized conditions, torque is good.  More torque is better.  
Under winter conditions, the worst thing you can do is spin tires and generate
glare ice.   If the road is slippery, you need to use minimum torque. You do this by
starting in second gear.  Often, I roll my windows down so that I can hear my tires
spin.  Tires spinning is bad. 

    Always remember that if it is difficult to get started, it will be difficult to stop. 

    What has this to do with GNU/Linux?

--
Howard Gibson
hgibson@eol.ca
http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson