💾 Archived View for rawtext.club › ~sloum › geminilist › 006913.gmi captured on 2023-11-14 at 08:59:56. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Andrew Singleton singletona082 at gmail.com
Tue Jul 13 19:59:07 BST 2021
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That was perhaps the most perfect explaination one could hope for.
After all what is Gemini itself if not a refutation of Big Web's bloat and hoovering of resources for it's own sake? It isn't a regressive 'i will just use gopher!' it goes 'we don't need all this for every situation.'
I'm not saying everyone should go for the minimal computer possible, but a lot of people either as hobby or outright inability to get better are on older platforms.
And if someone wants to fire up a c64, or ibm, or whatever and there is a dongle that lets them get through the security aspects? Let them in. If someone has a 486 in the corner they don't want to get rid off because it was their dad's computer, or even their own first computer, or more likely got it so they can play DOS games on native hardware, and want to try some networking on it? Let them.
To preach that old hardware should just be summarily thrown in the dumpster and be forgotten is honestly kinda silly. Especially given Gemini itself. The whole point is to be able to write a client in a couple hundred lines of code, so the objective is to be lean. Digging out the museum pieces is a great way of testing that if nothing else.
Jul 13, 2021 10:42:09 AM Rohan Kumar <seirdy at seirdy.one>:
On Tue, Jul 13, 2021 at 11:51:29AM +0000, charliebrownau wrote:
Can we finally let 16 and 32bit finally die a peacefull death
16-bit? Maybe. 32-bit? No.
FFS , you can get an Raspi, 2nd hand optiplex or even a 2nd hand 775 2nd hand that could run Modern day 64bit
(aliexpress sells those cheap xeon 775s)
I've still got an older 32-bit Raspberry Pi, and it works just fine. If "progress" means turning perfectly good computers into e-waste, I don't want progress. Computers are machines, not groceries; we should understand that software has a carbon footprint, especially when it makes entire classes of CPUs/architectures more likely to be chucked.
"Recycled" electronics often end up shipped around the world and processed in an incredibly unsafe manner in developing countries.
People shouldn't buy new computers until their use-case changes (e.g. a casual user who needs to start video-editing) or until their current ones break beyond reasonable repair. Buying new computers just galvanizes tech companies to keep bloating their software, creating a race to the bottom acc. to Wirth's Law. Reducing the demand for (new) computers by using old ones keeps a demand for lean software alive, which ultimately helps everyone's wallet and planet.
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/Seirdy