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Third article of the offline laptop serie.
Having a totally disconnected system isn't really practical for a few
reasons. Sometimes, I really need to connect the offline laptop to the
network. I do produce some content on the computer, so I need to do
them on a remote server holding the data, this requires network
connection for the time of the backup. Of course, backups could be
done on external disks or usb memory sticks (I don't need to backup
much), but I never liked this backup solution; don't get me wrong, I
don't say it's ineffective, but it doesn't suit my needs.
Besides the backup, I may need to sync files like my music files. I
may have bought new music that I want to get on the offline laptop, so
network access is required.
I also require internet access to install new packages or upgrade the
system, this isn't a regular need but I occasionnaly require a new
program I forgot to install. This could be solved by downloaded the
whole packages repository but this would require too many disk space
for packages I would never use. This would also waste a lot of network
transfer.
Finally, when I work on my blog, I need to publish the files, I use
rsync to sync the destination directory from my local computer and
this requires access to the Internet through ssh.
The moments I enjoy using this computer the most is by taking the
laptop on a table with nothing around me. I can then focus about what
I am doing. I find comfortable setups being source of distraction, so
a stool and a table are very nice in my opinion.
In addition to have a clean place to use it, I like to dedicate some
time for the use of this computer. I can write texts or some code in a
given time frame.
On a computer with 24/7 power and internet access I always feel
everything is at reach, then I tend to slack with it.
Having a rather limited battery life changes the way I experience the
computer use. It has a finite time, I have N minutes until the
computer has to be charged or shutdown. This produces for me the same
effect than when starting watching a movie, sometimes I pick up a
movie that fits the time I can spend on it.
Knowing I have some time until the computer stops, I know I must keep
focused because time is passing.