Neocities.org
New post about OS's built for the end times. But really it's all just good fun (hopefully): https://mikegrindle.com/posts/collapse-os
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Mike Grindle's Webpage was updated.
3 months ago
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sorbier
3 months ago
!!! i just posted an essay about writing to think. william zinsser also has a whole book about writing to learn
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sorbier
3 months ago
also, relatedly, i came across this verbalisation recently, which has stayed with me “Paper is like a mirror: it lets you hear the very voice of your soul, and it forces you to confront that.” (https://bikobatanari.art/posts/2021/magic-journaling)
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mikegrindle
3 months ago
It's basically been my writing philosophy for the last year or so and I think it has served me pretty well. I love that quote. Thanks for the link and will be sure to check out your new piece on the subject!
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Loved your blog, specially the permacomputing text.
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Fixing up some site code which, as always, means there's a slight chance I break everything
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Just realized I've been running my little site for over a year now. Do I get my 'Web Master' badge yet?
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>https://mikegrindle.com/posts/permacomputing Thanks for writing on this. I argue that we have been wasteful *because* of the advancements of computing hardware. The focus is on speed before efficiency or durability. Likewise, popular software has grown to suit the convenience. Should computer hardware stop increasing in speed, developers may stop upping their hardware expectations,
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kaa
5 months ago
and then people who value their time can afford to keep a computer for a decade instead of 3 years.
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kaa
5 months ago
I own and occasionally use a 12 year-old laptop. The keyboard on it is great, and the touchpad is much better than the modern ones. Opening three heavy web sites at the same time causes disk swapping.
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mikegrindle
5 months ago
Thanks, appreciate you reading. Unfortunately, I don't see any such slowdown becoming the norm, but we can still strive for better. They really don't make keyboards like they used to, right? I always work my tech into the ground but I don't think I've hit the 12-year mark before. My current laptop is about 6-7 years old and doing okay (with a lightweight Linux).
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mikegrindle
5 months ago
Currently using Peppermint OS with Awesome WM. Linux Mint Xfce is brilliant if your hardware isn't too old. AntiX is a good choice if its ancient.
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owlroost
5 months ago
To add more lightweight options: quite a few people I know swear by Alpine as a lightweight choice. Void is popular if you prefer rolling release. Debian can be light if you set it up that way and has the added perk of very slow updates.
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nohappynonsense
5 months ago
thanks owl, i'll look into alpine as well. i use ubuntu on my regular set up cuz i'm a normie, but i do want to revive some ancient chromebooks with something very light
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kaa
5 months ago
Alpine is great. It uses musl libc https://musl.libc.org/, which uses much less memory than GNU libc https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/. My 12-year old laptop boots it in 30 seconds, and I've only beaten that metric using a purpose-compiled kernel on a source-based distribution https://kisslinux.org/. It requires some technical know-how, however documentation is readily available https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki.
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Mike Grindle's Webpage was updated.
5 months ago
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owlroost
5 months ago
It really is interesting to see who jumps on new technology and who holds back. I have family who've incorporated smart devices into every facet of their lives, and I have other family who wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole (I'm in the latter group for privacy and security reasons; no one updates a smart lightbulb even though they really should). It's strange that we're in an era where fridges send spam emails.
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mikegrindle
5 months ago
Most of the tech-savvy people I know seem to fall into that latter group. Also, there's those of us who just hate spending money on new things if we ca n get the job done on something cheaper/older. Or maybe that's just me..
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owlroost
5 months ago
Not just you, I'm with you on that. Older devices tend to hold up better from what I've noticed, too. And they've been around long enough that repair methods are pretty well-documented by folks.
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So like, did we get hacked by anonymous? What's up with the mask?
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Mike Grindle's Webpage was updated.
6 months ago
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offlinemagazine
6 months ago
The black text on a white background takes me back to the good old days. I wish I knew how to make a light mode/dark mode switch on my page.
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mikegrindle
6 months ago
I think I almost prefer it to my default dark mode. I have no idea how to make a switch but using @media feels like a decent compromise.
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Hey, thanks for the follow. Love the site, very simple and elegant (and as it so happens, I quite like purple). Bookmarked your essays on consumerism for later reading - the subject is something I'm currently writing about myself so looking forward to seeing what your thoughts are.
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sorbier
7 months ago
wow, thank you! likewise on your site’s elegantly functional design! read through several of your essays with interest (: anticipating yours on consumerism!
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Good eye. Dusk OS has been under heavy development for the past few months. The mailing list is very active. Virgil Dupras has recently put in a lot of effort in improving the emulation layer. The makefile in the root directory now works with no frills. Regardless of any theories of impending catastrophe, I think Dusk OS in particular is a marvelous project. It's the first real shot at a Forth Operating System.
Thanks! I noticed there was a lot of sensationalized stuff out there on these systems. Articles either made the developer look like a loon or made-out that the system was built for nuclear apocalypse. So I wanted to offer a more no-frills, down-to-earth analysis. Happy to see the project is still moving forward.