Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#1

Post by chooma » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 2:22 AM UTC

Today I got annoyed by the bland hostname in my prompt, 'Choomas MacBookPro-M2', I decided to rename it to something cute: cowfish :)

What is your hostname when you open a terminal?

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#2

Post by rzzzwilson » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 2:46 AM UTC

I name the machines on my network with solar system names. Main machines, laptops and desktops, get a planet name. Lesser machine, like Raspberry Pis, etc, get the names of moons. Some people use the names of the seven dwarfs (Sneezy, Grumpy, etc). You can use any set of themed names you like, but it's less typing if the names are short.

To answer your question, my daily driver prompt is "r-w@earth".

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#3

Post by marssaxman » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 2:58 AM UTC

Depending on the machine, it's 'goldman', 'proudhon', or 'bookchin'; the next one will likely be 'graeber'.

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#4

Post by theandrewbailey » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 3:03 AM UTC

My desktop runs a first generation AMD Ryzen, and I named it amd-ryzing. Seems that my optimism was correctly placed for AMD.

toilet was my first server (because it served files), then I upgraded to gram (because it served web pages, too), and they connect to dishwasher (because it's the router).[0][1]

[0] https://wiki.loadingreadyrun.com/index.php/Installation_Anxi...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajW2fDy41fY

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#5

Post by ttyprintk » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 3:23 AM UTC

Early in UNIX proliferation, each sysadmin in my department had a bespoke temporary hostname during manual localization. Flapjacks, Reaganaut, BobsCountryBunker.

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#6

Post by drweevil » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 4:00 AM UTC

I name mine after my cats, past and present.

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#7

Post by efortis » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 6:38 AM UTC

On my laptop it's just:

$

or when root:

#

Its color changes based on the return status of the prev command.

---

Same on servers, but with their name. e.g. my primary on Vultr is

vum $

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#8

Post by marssaxman » Fri, Feb 21, 2025, 6:18 PM UTC

drweevil wrote: post #6

I name mine after my cats, past and present.

One obviously wonders why you don't cover all three tenses by including the names of future cats as well, though I suppose that someone with a dogmatic view of causality might argue that the future cats would then be named after past or present computers.

Re: Ask HN: What's Your Hostname?

#9

Post by chooma » Sat, Feb 22, 2025, 4:14 AM UTC

efortis wrote: post #7

On my laptop it's just: $ or when root: # Its color changes based on the return status of the prev command. --- Same on servers, but with their name. e.g. my primary on Vultr is vum $

Somehow I hadn't thought of this, now I have this as well, thanks :)

~ $