Earlier quoted context omitted.
Owning a computer goes way beyond simply choosing its parts or OS.
I get the feeling you could be tempted to say more about that. Please elaborate?
Mainly not depending on closed source binary blobs or drivers.
I want a computer that I own
71–80 of 668 posts
Re: I want a computer that I own
#72> Perhaps I am looking for something like the x286 DOS computer I had in the early 1990's You can do an almost fully GPL compliant Linux desktop by building it yourself today. I can already see people thinking "but what about the closed source binary blobs? my video card? my network interfaces?" But even your 12 MHz 286 or 386SX/20 had closed source AMI or Phoenix BIOS firmware on it. The motherboard manufacturer in…
The amount of binary blobs (in bytes) on an early 90's system is absolutely tiny compared to what's on modern hardware. Good security is about minimising the attack surface and risk, not reaching some ideal pie-in-the-sky complete and total trust.
Definitely, but in the pre 1995 time frame for both MS/DOS and Unix derived workstation stuff, the default was for everything to be closed source and proprietary. Vendor lock in for high performance systems was much greater than the open hardware platforms and interoperable things we can piece together today.
If you had a time machine and gave some developers in 1991 the massive cpu, ram, storage and bus i/o throughput that we have today in a $1200 desktop PC, I don't doubt that they would have made those binary blobs a lot bigger and more complicated. Something about the typical software environment expanding to fill all available resources, seemingly as an inevitability.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#73The author didn't define what owning means, but my guess is that, the computer must not run code without his approval, and must be able to run any code he wants.
Nowadays, you can only truly own an emulator.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#74The problem is: Do we own ourselves?
Re: I want a computer that I own
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Income shouldn't be a barrier to having technology that you own completely, a concept that until recently was common.
Technology was also a hell of a lot less complicated until recently.
This. We haven't really had software until just slightly more than half a century - and now everything but a kitchen sink has a microprocessor, running some sort of firmware. Which is never sold, merely leased^W licensed.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#76It's a bit ironic this site is served over unencrypted HTTP.
While static content on a blog doesn't really need it, HTTPS would still help protect the privacy of visitors browsing history.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#77I have a similar feeling, but with modern smartphones. Owning my computer is still relatively possible. I can build a computer from parts which I can choose, and have a choice in which operating system to install on them. Laptops are slightly more closed, but even on those I can choose the OS myself. Modern smartphones however, seem like walled gardens in which I have no control at all. I cannot choose any of the par…
You could buy a flip phone
That solves the botnet/tracking aspect, but doesn't solve the "I want a computing device that I control" aspect.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#78I have a similar feeling, but with modern smartphones. Owning my computer is still relatively possible. I can build a computer from parts which I can choose, and have a choice in which operating system to install on them. Laptops are slightly more closed, but even on those I can choose the OS myself. Modern smartphones however, seem like walled gardens in which I have no control at all. I cannot choose any of the par…
Let's get a right to repair bill done. I don't think this current administration and congress have an appetite for it, but maybe in the future we will get it.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#79> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. This statement here made me pause for a bit. He wants a computer with specific features, but doesn't want pay for the models that offer those features because they are too expensive? Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, but unfortunately, reality has constraints.
They're not overpriced, they're expensive. And they are expensive because they are rare. And they are rare because vendors stopped manufacturing them. And vendors stopped manufacturing them because most people do not refuse to buy a device "that is designed largely to maximize the profits of the computer industry".
>...And [the computer industry] stopped manufacturing [a computer that is not designed to maximize computer industry profits] because ...
When you read it back, it sounds silly to expect any company to make products that ever fit this criteria. Except expensive ones, of course, which maximize profits in their own way.
Re: I want a computer that I own
#80> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. This statement here made me pause for a bit. He wants a computer with specific features, but doesn't want pay for the models that offer those features because they are too expensive? Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, but unfortunately, reality has constraints.
> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. Yeah, that weakens his whole argument. That said, I would like to know what models these are? Because I think it's pretty much universal. I think the answer is linux.
the answer is probably an entirely new computing architecture