Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

muezza.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 357 posts

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#21

Post by jokethrowaway »

pdimitar wrote: post #6

The problem with arguments like these is to me two-fold: 1. Physical space. Most of the older tech takes too much space. I don't live in a mansion and I have no dedicated rooms just for big bulky computers. 2. Power consumption, heat, noise. I would love to be less consumerist and use stuff from 15 years ago and stop feeding greedy corporations but... the old stuff consumes 90 to 200 watts, heats up easily and notice…

How/where did you purchase the Chinese laptop? Does it have a name?

Most stuff I can buy is overpriced branded crap

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#23

Post by dman »

hedora wrote: post #16
pdimitar wrote: post #6

The problem with arguments like these is to me two-fold: 1. Physical space. Most of the older tech takes too much space. I don't live in a mansion and I have no dedicated rooms just for big bulky computers. 2. Power consumption, heat, noise. I would love to be less consumerist and use stuff from 15 years ago and stop feeding greedy corporations but... the old stuff consumes 90 to 200 watts, heats up easily and notice…

This. The thing I dislike the most about openbsd is the lack of modern, supported hardware. One notable exception is the PC Engines APU 2, though that’s stretching the definition of modern. Seriously: Pick a laptop SKU that is still being manufactured and has similar ergonomics to a MacBook Pro or classic thinkpad (centered keyboard + trackpad, 4K screen, all the other bits in the right spots, reasonably quiet, 8 hou…

Thinkpad X1 is a phenomenal device to run OpenBSD on. The last couple of times I tried it, things worked out of the box perfectly.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#24

Post by BizarreByte »

squarefoot wrote: post #20

I totally understand the nostalgia value, but energy doesn't grow on trees. A small mini-PC would consume a fraction of the current needed to run those old machines, offering much more computing power in return. Not to talk about the much better scaling achieved by modern processors; some iMac models would idle at almost 100 Watts.

I’m not suggesting one should use a setup like this daily, mostly commenting on how good the experience still is when running *BSD on it.

At the end of the day if all you need is a computer, it’s nice to know that basically any computer can still be serviceable. In a world where you can get 4k series i5s in the trash though, I don’t actually think anyone will be using such an old Mac seriously.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#25

Post by tambourine_man »

Something that aged poorly are browsers. Can you run contemporary Chromium, Firefox, WebKit decently on a 800mhz G4?

And I doubt it could handle more than a few open tabs with 512MB of RAM.

Most everything else I use computers for have been fast enough for 20 years or so.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#26

Post by goosedragons »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #21
pdimitar wrote: post #6

The problem with arguments like these is to me two-fold: 1. Physical space. Most of the older tech takes too much space. I don't live in a mansion and I have no dedicated rooms just for big bulky computers. 2. Power consumption, heat, noise. I would love to be less consumerist and use stuff from 15 years ago and stop feeding greedy corporations but... the old stuff consumes 90 to 200 watts, heats up easily and notice…

How/where did you purchase the Chinese laptop? Does it have a name? Most stuff I can buy is overpriced branded crap

My guess is AliExpress or a site like BangGood. You can also find some lurking around Amazon.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#27

Post by refuse »

hedora wrote: post #16
pdimitar wrote: post #6

The problem with arguments like these is to me two-fold: 1. Physical space. Most of the older tech takes too much space. I don't live in a mansion and I have no dedicated rooms just for big bulky computers. 2. Power consumption, heat, noise. I would love to be less consumerist and use stuff from 15 years ago and stop feeding greedy corporations but... the old stuff consumes 90 to 200 watts, heats up easily and notice…

This. The thing I dislike the most about openbsd is the lack of modern, supported hardware. One notable exception is the PC Engines APU 2, though that’s stretching the definition of modern. Seriously: Pick a laptop SKU that is still being manufactured and has similar ergonomics to a MacBook Pro or classic thinkpad (centered keyboard + trackpad, 4K screen, all the other bits in the right spots, reasonably quiet, 8 hou…

I really want to see something like this. I'd honestly be happy with something like a RaspPi with an SSD and a huge battery in a laptop with good build quality. My system reqs are really low; a laptop that would survive 20 years with regular use would be fantastic.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#28

Post by [deleted] »

tambourine_man wrote: post #25

Something that aged poorly are browsers. Can you run contemporary Chromium, Firefox, WebKit decently on a 800mhz G4? And I doubt it could handle more than a few open tabs with 512MB of RAM. Most everything else I use computers for have been fast enough for 20 years or so.

[deleted]

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#29

Post by meindnoch »

tambourine_man wrote: post #25

Something that aged poorly are browsers. Can you run contemporary Chromium, Firefox, WebKit decently on a 800mhz G4? And I doubt it could handle more than a few open tabs with 512MB of RAM. Most everything else I use computers for have been fast enough for 20 years or so.

The proliferation of browser-based crap was a godsend for hardware manufacturers.

Re: If you're happy with OpenBSD, probably any computer is good enough

#30

Post by rakoo »

pdimitar wrote: post #6

The problem with arguments like these is to me two-fold: 1. Physical space. Most of the older tech takes too much space. I don't live in a mansion and I have no dedicated rooms just for big bulky computers. 2. Power consumption, heat, noise. I would love to be less consumerist and use stuff from 15 years ago and stop feeding greedy corporations but... the old stuff consumes 90 to 200 watts, heats up easily and notice…

In digital, pollution happens during construction way more than usage. It still makes sense to use a decade-old computer.

The second-hand market is filled with material that was built at same point; you having access to your nice second hand laptop is due to newer laptops being built all the time. It is still sending a signal upstream that such a computer can be sold.

I do agree that buying second hand is much better than buying new, but not even buying is still better here

Post reply on HN