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takeheart wrote (edited )

Reply to comment by Wahaha in Linux has Largely Abandoned Still-Useful Near-Vintage Computers by HMTg927

If only modern laptops (and desktops) didn't all had hardware backdoors. http://0gitnick.i2p/2021/01/22/article-you-should-be-using-an-old-computer/

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Wahaha wrote

That ship kind of sailed. Old hardware isn't useful for the things I do.

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takeheart wrote

I know it's hard to accept, for myself as well, but it seems that the following logic applies everywhere, and most apparent at high tech: If you can't make it yourself then you don't deserve to use it. How many of them individuals or small groups have the means to make their own hardware? But everyone seems to have the needs to use it, and the needs grow up with bloatware, as they always do under consumerism.

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Wahaha wrote

That ship has sailed, too. I can make pretty much none of the things I use. I don't know how to build a house. I can't make a screen, toilet, frying pan, dish washer... looking around me right now, I see exactly zero things that I could have made myself. Not even a bottle out of glass or a simple book. Nevermind the clothes I'm wearing. I can't even make the fabric the cloth is made from.

Thinking back, it started around the time the pocket watch was introduced. So some 200 odd years ago? At least I think basically none of the people owning a pocket watch could have made it by themselves.

I don't think it's a bad thing, either. Someone that knows how to make pocket watches can make a living from it because basically no one else has this specialized knowledge. And everyone else isn't forced to waste time acquiring not only the knowledge, but also the skill to make a pocket watch. Everyone wins.

It's when there is major gatekeeping going on to prevent others from becoming pocket watch makers, that there is a problem.

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