271–280 of 357 posts
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"Productive" is a nice euphemism for "I'm a web developer and can't be bothered to learn anything that isn't Javascript".
These same companies are writing custom SSD drivers and cutting edge Rust backends for the absolute best performance. I think it's pretty safe to say they picked Electron because it's the best tool for the job, not because the worlds devs are all too lazy.
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"browservice" will render web pages server-side and then deliver them to your browser as an image with simple javascript. It works in virtually all "old" browsers and can be very useful for older computers. https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice For very old web browsers, WRP works similarly but replaces the javascript with an imagemap. https://github.com/tenox7/wrp
At that point you have a local energy inefficient terminal that barely contributes to what you are trying to do, and a cloud computer which must be run on your behalf somewhere, both of which require energy. What's the point? At that point I doubt it has any benefit compared to running a more modern machine.
But it looks like this particular project is more focused on getting retro hardware usable on today's internet. Which is not a bad goal either.
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it's more than wild man. It's magical! Just yesterday or the day before my 700KB or so Amiga floppy seemed like it would last forever...
Wasn't it just the day before yesterday that Bill Gates famously said nobody would ever need more than 64 KB storage? It /is/ amazing the progress we've seen in our lifetimes. I remember life before the web (http) was invented, before mobile phones (much less smartphones) became commonplace. Some of the supposed 'progress' is really regression---like the number of people who economically could productively use comput…
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Is virtually every single company and developer wrong? Or is Qt actually not that good, forcing people to use Electron despite it's resource usage? I find it far easier to believe that Qt and GTK have fallen behind rather than the whole world is under a grand delusion and didn't know Qt exists.
It is web designers and JavaScript devs not wanting to acknowledge that desktop dev and C++ exist. I use an old 2008 iMac running Linux frequently and it runs remarkably well. Firefox and MS Edge are certainly the apps that bring it down from a memory perspective ( it only has 6 Gigs ). Electron apps like MS Teams are right up there though and make it chug even more than the browsers do. To be fair, I have dozens of…
But then I'd be reaching way less people than with the web. My web apps can be tried without installing anything, work on mobile and tablets and on any desktop (except may be cool weirdos using iMac g4s).
The web allows me to reach more people; if I'm working on apps that help make the world a better place (or so I think), that feels more important than the RAM they use (even though using more RAM might be driving more e-waste, thus also making the world a bit worse on that count.)
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It is web designers and JavaScript devs not wanting to acknowledge that desktop dev and C++ exist. I use an old 2008 iMac running Linux frequently and it runs remarkably well. Firefox and MS Edge are certainly the apps that bring it down from a memory perspective ( it only has 6 Gigs ). Electron apps like MS Teams are right up there though and make it chug even more than the browsers do. To be fair, I have dozens of…
I'm a web developer but I've also worked in C (no plus) and other stuff. I fully acknowledge it exists; I actually would love to use it. But then I'd be reaching way less people than with the web. My web apps can be tried without installing anything, work on mobile and tablets and on any desktop (except may be cool weirdos using iMac g4s). The web allows me to reach more people; if I'm working on apps that help make…
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There are a few options depending on your application type. Fltk is old and ugly, but may work for you. There are others that come from the world of game UIs. Things like sdl2, Nuklear, and dear imgui. I’ve also seen some vulkan based frameworks (mostly from the rust community)
Which one of these would allow you to build the discord UI as it is, looking exactly the same on every OS and run in web browsers?
Here is what no one is mentioning. Currently, 90% of the world's most advanaced chips are made by one manufacturer, TSMC. If something hapens to TSMC, then the ability to utilise older chips and older computers is going to become relevant.
Personally, I think "modern" web browsers suck for using the web recreationally, e.g., visiting random websites, i.e., usage that is not banking, shopping or other commercially-related activity. However, when applied to local files, these "browsers" can be useful as PDF readers, audio and video players. Whether older computers can handle today's media files is left as a question for the reader.
Reading websites is easy without a big, bloated "tech" company browser. Using a text-only browser on a daily basis, I have been doing this for decades.
I love the idea of OpenBSD but have only had a couple of sad reintroductions over the years and never spent the time apparently required to "get it just right" before needing to get something else done. It feels like a base install leaves you in several hours of configuration debt, and I apparently don't have the concentration span to dig my way out to somewhere interesting and not just half way back to productive on…
What configuration debt does OpenBSD bring to your mind?
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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…
> It still makes sense to use a decade-old computer. I don't really think it does, at least not some of them. A lot of those older machines are just running really, really high idle power draw. Ex: Pentium 4/5, Core 2 Duo, Athlon64, etc. Running from 40 to 100 watts idle. For comparison, a new RPI will go as low as ~1-3 watt idle, tops out at ~5-7 watts under full load, and will generally have better performance char…
However, I agree with with the OP comment that computer should not be replaced simply because newer, more energy efficient alternatives exist: at least not for anything made after 2010.
When comparing whether it is worse it or not to extend the life of a device that still does the job its intended to do, it's almost always worth it to extend the device's life.
As an exemple, if we go by Apple's data: a 2016 13' Intel MacBook Pro create a yearly impact of 18 kg of CO2eq through usage (electricity).
The 2021 13' MacBook M1 is a better machine environmentally by all account: manufacturing it polluted less than the 2016 machine (168kg CO2 vs 386kg), and it is more energy efficient (13 kg / CO2 per year).
Still, you would need a whooping 33.6 years for the use of the more energy efficient laptop to cover the CO2 from manufacturing it. And that's using global carbon data, if you live in a low carbon grid country, it could take a century to recover the greenhouse gas emitted during manufacturing of the new laptop.
(Not saying I would not still buy a M1 over keeping the slow Mac Intel but please don't claim your are helping the environment when doing so).
Source: https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/13i... https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/13-...