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Dr. Quadragon ❌'s posts Post Back to profile
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Dr. Quadragon ❌

For the sake of all of us, show your devices some love. Get really-really into them. Reuse them. Repair them if they're broken. Creatively repurpose them (this activity is also known as 'hacking'). If you can't, give them to someone who can do that for you, we're always looking for a job (and things to do).

Perhaps you know a "digital native tech shaman" (heh) in your family. Don't forget to pay them!

Upgrade only as needed, preferably gradually, and don't throw out the old stuff: you don't know when you need a spare or your little cousin needs one, certainly for school, pinky promise.

Don't upgrade often, don't jump on new and shiny. Moore's law does not dictate you to buy into every iteration. In fact, skip a couple of generations. It's better to be truly amazed by your next big upgrade, than jumping one and getting only 'meh.' performance growth. Learn the benefits of delayed gratification, and stick to what you already have.

28 Oct 2022 at 9:09 | Open on mastodon.ml
6 comments
Dr. Quadragon ❌

When you DO the big upgrade, treat it an investment it is. Factor in the ownership costs like repairs. If one device is unrepairable but cheaper and the other one is easily repairable with parts available, but the price tag is higher, take the latter one, for it is truly the cheaper option: it will last you a good while.

Use FOSS. In fact, default to it. You don't need to necessarily become a Stallmanite, use the right tool for the job, sure, but if you aren't giving a FOSS solution an honest try before resorting to proprietary products, you're doing yourself a great disservice by robbing yourself of choice. Trust me, you'll be amazed with things you can do and how much of your needs you can cover with just about any modern GNU/Linux distro. I've come to use it almost exclusively. And it's free! And it's hackable! It just takes some getting used to.

When you DO the big upgrade, treat it an investment it is. Factor in the ownership costs like repairs. If one device is unrepairable but cheaper and the other one is easily repairable with parts available, but the price tag is higher, take the latter one, for it is truly the cheaper option: it will last you a good while.

28 Oct 2022 at 9:09 | Open on mastodon.ml
Dr. Quadragon ❌

So there! Keep your devices like a pirate would keep their weapons (in a way, they are) - ready, well-maintained, loved and customized by you, and out of the landfill. They will thank you in ways you don't expect. I still have home surveillance built out of old netbook motherboards running somewhere. Also, your cash jar (or bank account, or crypto wallet, if you're into that sort of thing, I don't judge - have to survive on it myself, because of where I live) will look happier. And you'll also at least won't perpetuate slavery and environmental neglect as much. Which is, you know, just a right thing to do.
A lot of people around the world suffered both physically, intellectually and mentally, for the benefit of you watching cat videos on your phone. Show them some respect.

So there! Keep your devices like a pirate would keep their weapons (in a way, they are) - ready, well-maintained, loved and customized by you, and out of the landfill. They will thank you in ways you don't expect. I still have home surveillance built out of old netbook motherboards running somewhere. Also, your cash jar (or bank account, or crypto wallet, if you're into that sort of thing, I don't judge - have to survive on it myself, because of where I live) will look happier. And you'll also at...

28 Oct 2022 at 9:09 | Open on mastodon.ml
Crystal (melting)
@drq although I don't disagree with what you said, but its seems to me it's not very effective against slavery and environment neglect. I've heard that tech companies are already overproducing and a lot of brand new laptops are going straight to landfills, without reaching a storefront even. So yeah....
28 Oct 2022 at 9:19 | Open on tsunde.ru
­

@drq Is this a @Fairphone ad? 😄
Great device, btw. Checks all the boxes:
- repairability
- honest labour
- renewable materials
- amazing software support

28 Oct 2022 at 11:17 | Open on lor.sh
Dr. Quadragon ❌

Oh! Oh! Completely forgot!

If we're talking PCs, LEARN TO BUY USED!!!

Because PC is such a flexible platform and spare parts are so readily available, the second hand market is the actual treasure trove of goodies. Most of the stuff inside the computer, when properly tended to, suffers almost no wearout over time, and can be scored unapologetically cheap, because modularity and availability!

You can go full junkyard warrior and build a sweet machine that may be only one or two generations behind the bleeding edge (trust me, it will still kick ridiculous amount of ass) for a fraction of the cost of the new parts. You will just have to know where to ask. Craigslist might be a good start. Offices throw their old ("old") workstations out for free or almost for free. And yesterday's server hardware is still very competent desktop equipment, ask Huanan motherboard owners (hi, @kafazen ;). Yay for versatility!

Oh! Oh! Completely forgot!

If we're talking PCs, LEARN TO BUY USED!!!

Because PC is such a flexible platform and spare parts are so readily available, the second hand market is the actual treasure trove of goodies. Most of the stuff inside the computer, when properly tended to, suffers almost no wearout over time, and can be scored unapologetically cheap, because modularity and availability!

28 Oct 2022 at 16:19 | Open on mastodon.ml
Dr. Quadragon ❌

When buying used, pack up a suite of benchmarks and tests and learn how to use them. They will tell you if a part is actually good. If tests say yes, then you most certainly will be fine with the part.

By the way, I'm typing this with a used graphics card. It was probably decommissioned off some mining rig, IDK. RX580. The sweetest GPU I've ever had. Love this thing to pieces.

There's one important exception to it though:

STORAGE.

Disks DO degrade over time, both HDDs and SSDs. SSDs degrade as they are being written, HDDs degrade because HDD gods say it's time for it to go, who the fuck knows, they are electro-mechanical devices, they got a lot of moving parts.

Buy used storage only when in a pinch. Because you don't want to know what happens when a disk you store all your life's work on gets degraded. Buy new storage if you can - preferably double, because you have to keep backups.

When buying used, pack up a suite of benchmarks and tests and learn how to use them. They will tell you if a part is actually good. If tests say yes, then you most certainly will be fine with the part.

By the way, I'm typing this with a used graphics card. It was probably decommissioned off some mining rig, IDK. RX580. The sweetest GPU I've ever had. Love this thing to pieces.

28 Oct 2022 at 16:36 | Open on mastodon.ml
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