serpentwalker666
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2017
- Messages
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One thing that can be difficult in this day and age is managing E-waste.
You have so many laptops, televisions, desktop computers and all sorts of electronics that are made seemingly almost endlessly, and then no where it is able to go but into landfills, and or toxic materials like circuit boards ending up in streams, rivers and lakes.
This post I will go into a few realistic ways one can manage their own E-waste, and maybe even breathe new like into otherwise obsolete hardware.
As technology and operating systems race forward at an unstoppable pace, many developers and tech companies pay no mind and don't care how much RAM or Processing power a base operating system like Windows or Mac OS uses. Many systems end up being not usable for 5, 10, or 15 year old laptops or desktops even if the hardware since functions fine as intended.
Linux can be better for this, and some distributions are tailored specifically to work and be optimized for older hardware.
It's important for people to be more aware of how harmful e-waste is for the planet, so repurposing old technology is a good solution. You could take an old laptop, or desktop and have it for a small digital library, and even mirror stacks of data and files between multiple different machines, and keep important files in many different places to where the chances of losing everything is negligible.
Think outside the box, the possibilities are truly endless. You can turn it into a retro machine for old programs, or even make a desktop into a dedicated machine for virtualization, or hardware emulation.
Why throw it away to end up in a landfill when you could make it into a giant library of physics resources and advanced mathematics?
For most systems, I'd recommend seeing how Debian or Xubuntu run first, as worst case scenario you can switch to something lighter, but this is a good gauge on where your hardware is at in terms of capabilities.
www.debian.org
If you are fine with a more tailored distribution, these are some to start with, they work fine on most older systems, same as the ones I recommend above.
www.tinycorelinux.net
github.com
If you feel like getting adventurous, FreeBSD and OpenBSD are great options, but be advised that these are like wrestling an alligator on many cpu chipsets and wifi adapters. If you have cabled ethernet, use it.
It will save you the hassle of fighting with ifconfig, or wpa-supplicant.
Nvidia cards are tricky to get working on FreeBSD, but in many cases it's very doable.
www.freebsd.org
OpenBSD is completely incompatible with Nvidia Cards, and HDMI Audio is unsupported. There is alot here you have to configure and test depending on the machine you put this on, but if you are up for the challenge, give it a go.
The hardware requirements for OpenBSD are very minimal despite its problems.
I am keeping this post a bit compact, further posts will go more in depth with virtualization of operating system for people interested in this.
As always, I deeply hope this post is informative and useful.
E-waste is a serious problem in our world. Why not make use of your old computers? It doesn't hurt to try.
You have so many laptops, televisions, desktop computers and all sorts of electronics that are made seemingly almost endlessly, and then no where it is able to go but into landfills, and or toxic materials like circuit boards ending up in streams, rivers and lakes.
This post I will go into a few realistic ways one can manage their own E-waste, and maybe even breathe new like into otherwise obsolete hardware.
As technology and operating systems race forward at an unstoppable pace, many developers and tech companies pay no mind and don't care how much RAM or Processing power a base operating system like Windows or Mac OS uses. Many systems end up being not usable for 5, 10, or 15 year old laptops or desktops even if the hardware since functions fine as intended.
Linux can be better for this, and some distributions are tailored specifically to work and be optimized for older hardware.
It's important for people to be more aware of how harmful e-waste is for the planet, so repurposing old technology is a good solution. You could take an old laptop, or desktop and have it for a small digital library, and even mirror stacks of data and files between multiple different machines, and keep important files in many different places to where the chances of losing everything is negligible.
Think outside the box, the possibilities are truly endless. You can turn it into a retro machine for old programs, or even make a desktop into a dedicated machine for virtualization, or hardware emulation.
Why throw it away to end up in a landfill when you could make it into a giant library of physics resources and advanced mathematics?
For most systems, I'd recommend seeing how Debian or Xubuntu run first, as worst case scenario you can switch to something lighter, but this is a good gauge on where your hardware is at in terms of capabilities.
Debian -- The Universal Operating System
If you are fine with a more tailored distribution, these are some to start with, they work fine on most older systems, same as the ones I recommend above.
Tiny Core Linux, Micro Core Linux, 12MB Linux GUI Desktop, Live, Frugal, Extendable
Welcome - Tiny Core Linux
www.tinycorelinux.net
GitHub - arthurchoung/HOTDOG: X11 Window Manager with Windows 3.1 Hot Dog Stand, Amiga Workbench, Atari ST GEM, Mac Classic and Aqua UI
X11 Window Manager with Windows 3.1 Hot Dog Stand, Amiga Workbench, Atari ST GEM, Mac Classic and Aqua UI - arthurchoung/HOTDOG
github.com
If you feel like getting adventurous, FreeBSD and OpenBSD are great options, but be advised that these are like wrestling an alligator on many cpu chipsets and wifi adapters. If you have cabled ethernet, use it.
It will save you the hassle of fighting with ifconfig, or wpa-supplicant.
Nvidia cards are tricky to get working on FreeBSD, but in many cases it's very doable.
The FreeBSD Project
FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
OpenBSD is completely incompatible with Nvidia Cards, and HDMI Audio is unsupported. There is alot here you have to configure and test depending on the machine you put this on, but if you are up for the challenge, give it a go.
The hardware requirements for OpenBSD are very minimal despite its problems.
I am keeping this post a bit compact, further posts will go more in depth with virtualization of operating system for people interested in this.
As always, I deeply hope this post is informative and useful.
E-waste is a serious problem in our world. Why not make use of your old computers? It doesn't hurt to try.
