Frugal Computing (2021)
wimvanderbauwhede.github.io
Frugal Computing (2021)
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Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#2This subject is very high in my interest and activity recently. I am
trying to find more good models, data sources, so do please add
anything of quality. Vanderbauwhede's is a good account of device
composition, but as you can see it's a hugely more complex set of
inter-linked issues,
Here are some pop/accessible articles I wrote last year:
http://techrights.org/2022/01/02/article-on-digital-rights-i...
https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/techno-clutter-farnell...
https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/uncharitable.html
See also Gerry McGovern's "World Wide Waste 2021" which links to useful papers and sources of analysis
Katie Singer's article:
https://www.ourwebofinconvenienttruths.com/letter-3/
This by Alba Ardura Gutiérrez:
https://cvbj.biz/we-eat-fish-contaminated-by-the-electronic-...
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#3[deleted]
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#4This subject is very high in my interest and activity recently. I am trying to find more good models, data sources, so do please add anything of quality. Vanderbauwhede's is a good account of device composition, but as you can see it's a hugely more complex set of inter-linked issues, Here are some pop/accessible articles I wrote last year: http://techrights.org/2022/01/02/article-on-digital-rights-i... https://cheap…
Your last link doesn't work due to the domain being for sale.
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#5So this is not just about reducing cycles and network calls, but also about increasing the longevity of software and hardware. From a software point of view this means core quality attributes: performance, security, maintainability.
As a web developer I feel we _want_ to focus more on these things, as they are interesting and rewarding, but from a business perspective we typically see them as costly, secondary thresholds that we need to achieve, rather than primary targets.
Mechanical sympathy needs time to design, think, learn, measure. Stable, maintainable software needs testing, analysis, refactoring. Again, these are all things pretty much every intrinsically motivated programmer likes to do. But with everything related to resource distribution: People only start to pay for things when the external pressures are already there, or when its too late.
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#6This is fascinating. We are barely keeping up with demand for computing with all those inefficient languages, architecture and difficulties of scale we face now. We waste cycles, bandwidth, memory and still do not have enough developer time to build or simply keep up with demand.
Just imagine how much more work is to be done when we face additional constraints of reuse of old devices, conserving energy, and device utilisation.
Additionally, as we slow down development of software to accommodate new constraints or simply cut usage of compute, we delay/hinder deployment of software which can help save our biosphere elsewhere. Or lift people from poverty. So this might not be justified after all.
This is complicated, we must work harder and save the planet. One thing is 8K tvs and datacenters to stream content, other is socially and environmentally important compute.
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#7This always interests me. I always push for more efficient use of computing resources but there isn’t any interest in this while it’s cheap
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#8I find 'frugal' align very well with 'convival'. It stresses the relation of creator and tool and demands the tool to serve and not dominate or hide the task at hand but foster freedom and happiness.
Also of interest: Permacomputing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27199225
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#9The internet should operate like a sunflower, servers should follow the sun. Data centers should operate on solar energy, deploying themselves at the sunrise and shutting down at sunset in given location.
Re: Frugal Computing (2021)
#10> As a society we need to start treating computational resources as finite and precious, to be utilised only when necessary, and as effectively as possible.
Considering that on AWS potentially every millisecond of compute time and every database write is billed separately, I think the financial incentives are already there to consider computational resources precious.
> Extending the life time is also the key action for datacentres
Currently e.g. AWS still is actively selling m4 type ec2 instances, which were introduced in 2015 and use Haswell generation CPUs from 2013. Heck, they seem to be even selling the ancient m1 type instances through their "previous generation instance" program[1].
I think it is safe to assume that hyperscalers are squeezing every bit of use they can from old hardware. Afaik their main motivation for new hardware is to optimize energy efficiency, so that sounds exactly what the article wants.