Tag: digital poverty line

Old Hardware is Still Good Hardware

NOTE: This is a retelling of a post from 14 years ago.

I have a thing for re-using old hardware for server equipment. This is odd given that the ease in deploying apps/sites/cat pictures on shiny cloud services, but I am old school and prefer to be able to put my hands on the devices that serve my stuff.

Currently, the 2008 First Generation Aluminum MacBook is running Ubuntu Server and delivering the content you are looking at. Previously, it had been hosted on one of the Raspberry Pi 3b+ machines you see in the background, but I figured it was time for an “upgrade”. I have an old Dell desktop machine under my desk that I may repurpose to run the upgraded version of Ubuntu LTS, but that is a project for the summer.

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In the past, back when we lived in Massachusetts, I had a hodgepodge rack of devices ranging from ancient Dell desktops, old server machines, and a bunch of hopes and dreams.

At least with the new setup, I don’t have to worry about there being an inch of water in the basement after a heavy rain.

There have been stories around for the last month that suddenly make “old” hardware shiny again – install ChromeOS Flex! Well, that’s not the only use that old machines have.

Servers can run on just about any platform. Even if it’s just a local DNS or MX server, it doesn’t need to go on the trash heap.

It’s not just you who can benefit from recycling or donating still working computers and equipment. Not everyone has access to the best and the shiniest, but that may not be what they need. Giving a family an old laptop that can run ChromeOS Flex may make it easier to raise them above the digital poverty line. That old iPhone or Android Device that you aren’t using could make it easier for a family to stay in touch.

If you aren’t using it anymore, donate or recycle it appropriately. Info on donating and recycling your old hardware is available here.

Old to you may be amazing to someone else.

Comcast: Lower Your Prices Or Lose More Customers

Dear Arrogant Monopolistic Cable Operator:

The day of reckoning is upon you. Your formerly monopolistic power has been drained by years of failed mega-mergers, media plays, satellite providers and gross mis-management. Your cash cows are showing signs of Mad Cow Disease.

The final straw for me is your incredibly pig-headed strategy of price inflexibility on your high-speed Internet service. I pay what I consider a ridiculous amount every month for what is a necessary service for me. Now I see that your Telco competitors are slashing prices every way they can to win back business.

I read that you will lower your price if I call you and threaten to move to an alternate provider. But only for 3 months.

You really need to step back and realize how dead your business is going to be in 2 years.

I live in the testbed for fiber-to-the-home in Massachussetts. Every day, Verizon linemen, training to string fiber to every home, drive up and down our street, leaving spools of high-speed goodness on every corner.

They say that in a year, I can have incredible speeds to my home, for less than what I pay for your high-speed Internet service.

So, Mr. Cable Operator (you have to be a man, because only a man would be this pig-headed), what are you going to do to keep me a customer?

Sincerely,
me


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