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I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

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Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#281

Post by p_l »

cesarb wrote: post #140
avalys wrote: post #21

I have been reading this same article for the past thirty years. Yet, I can still install and run whatever operating system and software I want on my laptop _and_ desktop, and I don't see any sign that that freedom will go away anytime soon. It is true that the billion-dollar media companies have decided a subscription model is more lucrative than a one-time-purchase model for the mass-market content they produce (mo…

> Yet, I can still install and run whatever operating system and software I want on my laptop _and_ desktop, and I don't see any sign that that freedom will go away anytime soon. We got awfully close though. Had Linux not been popular enough back when UEFI SecureBoot started being adopted, Microsoft would require x86 UEFI motherboards to not allow the user to install their own keys, like they did with ARM UEFI ( http…

That's still, at best, Kremlinology (Redmondology?).

Microsoft has enough clients that require custom keying that for them, locking it down would be a financial downside without Linux being in the scope.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#282

Post by ogre_codes »

geocrasher wrote: post #5

From the article: "What worries me as much as the end of general-purpose computing for the masses is that so few seem to understand that it is ending." Correction: Has Ended. The vast majority of people using computers has shifted to phones and tablets. I have a friend who's a millenial who barely knows how to use his desktop PC (It's a Mac) but is fluent on his iPad/iPhone. Most people are not content creators, they…

> What worries me as much as the end of general-purpose computing for the masses is that so few seem to understand that it is ending.

I think the author would have better phrased his comment: "What worries me as much as the end of general-purpose computing for hobbyists and hackers is that so few seem to understand that it is ending." reply

> Correction: Has Ended.

I guess I have a different definition of "General Purpose Computing" than you or the author, because personally I see the iPhone and iPad as the beginning of general purpose computing for the masses. The traditional PC was computing for the elite/ computer experts.

This romanticism of 80s computing as the golden age completely mystifies me. The 80s/ 90s were a phenomenally fun time for geeks like me/ us. For everyone else, a PC was a thing you had to learn a bunch of esoteric bullshit to use.

"For the masses", the iPhone, Android, and the iPad are far more interesting and useful.

Even if you look at more specific PC style computing, most people don't care about whether their bios is locked or not.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#283

Post by SN76477 »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…

Real work happens here at my desk. The same boring static location with a controlled enviroment with little input from the outside world.

Laptops are for shallow work, not much else.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#284

Post by VelNZ »

smolder wrote: post #262
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do you use an optical drive and for what?

Can't speak for OP but I know some people use optical disks for cold storage backup, as they're reasonably cost effective there.

I can second that, I use M-Discs for long term backups. They're supposed to last 1000 years and you can get 100GB ones.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#285

Post by purplecats »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…

I don't want any of these things

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#286

Post by p_l »

mrkeen wrote: post #87
smabie wrote: post #12

I much prefer desktops and don't even own a laptop at the moment, but what's with the fixation on UEFI? I'm not well versed in the technical differences between BIOS and UEFI, but I don't think it really matters? All these people like Richard Stallman and this guy make their lives harder as a method of virtue signaling. I'm convinced they get off on the masochism of making their life hard for the sake of "freedom." M…

> So.. really, who cares? Consider yourself lucky if you don't need to care. It's a mechanism to lock down a computer to only run "trusted" OSes. Who gets to decide which OSes are trusted? Does Arch have lobbyists? It's just one falling domino in a series of falling dominos, where maybe one day you don't get to run Arch anymore. This stuff really can go either way. People were allowed to record TV using VCRs in the 9…

If they wanted to lock it down they could have just used coreboot and didn't build a big honking framework deliberately designed to allow running different systems that have no pre-existing knowledge about the machine.

Just like many other closed platforms of yore, or how in practice Macs of today work (their UEFI is, plainly, not to spec - a lot of hackintosh work is figuring out "what Apple did wrong this time")

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#287

Post by ben-schaaf »

Aeolun wrote: post #244
sz4kerto wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a >3 year old GPU that's still faster than any mobile GPU. I have been having 64 GB RAM in my desktop for ... 5 years now. Even in the summer my PC is completely quiet, even under heavy load. (Both the GPU and the CPU are water cooled with stock all-in-one coolers.) Desktops are great.

My water cooler is noisy at the fan end. How do you evade that?

If your fans are noisy buy better fans. We had some corsair fans that came with the AIO at work, replaced them with noctuas and the computer went from mildly annoying to dead silent.

Though with water cooling you might also have a lot of pump noise, especially if the radiator is mounted incorrectly.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#288

Post by amelius »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

I prefer a desktop because: 1. I like big, big monitors. 2. I prefer a full size keyboard. 3. I prefer a separate mouse. 4. I prefer big freaking disk drives installed. 5. I put the desktop under my desk, and with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, there is much less of a snarl on my desk. 6. The desktop has an optical drive I still use. 7. The desktop has lots of USB ports and they're all in use. 8. I can repla…

> I can build what I want with parts from newegg.

You can, until Apple integrates all the suppliers into their supply chain.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#289

Post by p_l »

hyperdimension wrote: post #106
smabie wrote: post #12

I much prefer desktops and don't even own a laptop at the moment, but what's with the fixation on UEFI? I'm not well versed in the technical differences between BIOS and UEFI, but I don't think it really matters? All these people like Richard Stallman and this guy make their lives harder as a method of virtue signaling. I'm convinced they get off on the masochism of making their life hard for the sake of "freedom." M…

You can accuse RMS for many things, but he definitively does not 'virtue signal.' He at least (from all public appearances anyway) practices what he preaches.

A bit of a problem however is that what's fine for RMS, is not necessarily fine for anyone else.

Including approaching the booting of a computer as if it was still KA-10 and you were using RIM10B bootstrap loader.

Re: I am seriously considering going back to desktop computers

#290

Post by christophilus »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #225
Silhouette wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what this means. FWIW, I'm in the UK, and short brown-outs are not uncommon if, for example, the national grid is adapting to a failure somewhere during severe weather. For a while when there was a recurring equipment failure a year or two back, my whole area had several full power cuts, even lasting for multiple hours once or twice, until they finally figured out the root cause and fixed it. The UPSes we ha…

I’m from Denmark and when power went out I was television worthy news. I don’t actually recall it happening more than once. I never experienced a power loss in the five years I lived in France. Now I’m in silicon valley, the tech hub of the world - with 3rd world internet and power that goes out every time the wind blows. Just reporting facts.

California is not like the rest of the US, though. I’ve never lost power except during extreme weather events (hurricanes, intense tree-felling storms, etc).

You’re right about the internet, though. It’s a monopolized system here, and the anticompetitive nature of it means it sucks across the entire country.

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