>Talks about the benefits of self-hosting
>Hosts their code and design repositories on GitHub
Oh you thought that was bad? I also found out that their site is hosted on AWS. They might as well just sell their computers on Amazon.
It's either "securely store your data", or "store your data on AWS", not both at the same time!
@ryo I don't know. What I want to know is why are they hosting it on AWS when they fucking sell servers.
I don't know how much it cost to actually maintain a server for a storefront like this, but honestly it doesn't seem surprising because they are slow to restock. I actually wanted to buy a laptop from them a couple years back because I think it would be better to use a computer that was actually built for Linux, but ALL of their laptops were out of stock, but that might have been due to a chip shortage from the scamdemic.
1. We didn't have a chip shortage over here, at least not from what I could see in neither physical nor online stores.
2. There was a sudden abundance of chips as soon as NFTs were considered no longer popular.
As for maintaining a server for a storefront, it doesn't require much, you can host one on a low spec server pretty easily even.
If anything, AWS would be the more expensive option, due to their billing scheme (I haven't worked with it as much to know for sure, but I know I've been pointing and laughing a lot at people who fell for the AWS meme, only to then get impossibly high invoices to pay, and then they cope whenever I say "I told you so!").
@ryo
>My guess is rather that the whole chip shortage thing was more related to the NFT hype
It was probably both, given that a lot of chips are manufactured in China and other East Asian countries, and yeah there was the NFT hype going on at the time. I remember the shortage being part of the reason why there weren't that many Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles at launch.
Smaller manufacturers like System76 were probably the most affected. I just ended up biting the bullet and buying a mid-range gaming laptop at Best Buy and installing Mint on it, as usual. Surprisingly, the store clerk that helped me make my purchase was also a Linux user who understood my situation.
And before you tell me that I should just stick with older computers, I was still in college at the time, and I had to deal with using bloated software for some classes. There were still some classes that were online only so I had to use Zoom (thankfully there is a web-client).
Anyway, I would like my next laptop to be one of these Linux laptops. Framework laptops also seem like a cool option because they are designed to be repairable and long-lasting, and if you know anything about newer computers, especially laptops, you are lucky if yours lasts more than 2-3 years without some sort of hardware failure. Yes, I get the whole "just stick with older computers" stance, but I don't think that may be a viable solution. Even the most well-built hardware will eventually fail and it can be difficult to find older computers in some cases as normies aren't looking for them so they are either recycled or just collecting dust in someone's garage. Which is why I'm glad to see companies like Framework, ThinkPenguin, and maybe System76 (if they realize their mistakes) providing alternatives. I would still like to give System76 the benefit of the doubt because they did (at least partially) mitigate Intel's Management Engine.
>As for maintaining a server for a storefront, it doesn't require much, you can host one on a low spec server pretty easily even.
If anything
I actually did do a brief training course on AWS for the job I tried to work at. I remember some "advantages" they point out being that they offer autoscaling and their own circuit breaker, discovery services, API gateways, etc for microservices. AWS seems to be the only VPS provider that offers solutions for microservices. Though microservices, might also be just a meme unless you are a major retailer like Wal-Mart. You probably know more about it then I do, so tell me if it is.
In principle, there's nothing wrong about buying a gaming PC if your intend is to play video games or being required to run bloat because of work or school or something, I have a gaming PC too which I use for video games.
I don't like buying modern laptops because of their increasingly shorter lifespans, increasingly higher difficulty of repairability, and increasingly higher price tags.
If you want to charge me more, then you better give me more durability and freedom to both hardware and software, or I'll just buy another decades old ThinkPad.
@ryo That still doesn't change the fact that even those ThinkPads and ToughBooks will inevitably fail. I'm not against using old computers. If you are able to use a 2009 Thinkpad as your daily driver, then that's great.
I also kind of feel obligated to support these alternative hardware manufacturers, so there will still be that option when using old Thinkpads becomes next to impossible (it would probably take decades but still).
Also, think of a scenario where more and more people wake up to what hardware manufactures like HP, Dell, Apple, Nvidia, Intel, AMD, etc are doing and learn that they can just use older computers if they use a lightweight Linux distro. Prices for older computers would skyrocket. I see the same thing happening with used cars now that they are literally putting DRM (with some countries even mandating it) in cars. The only difference with computers is that there aren't that many countries mandating backdoors in computers (yet).
Basically, I just see using older computers as a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
@ryo
I'm actually not in the need of a new laptop right now. My current laptop is a Dell gaming laptop (not alienware). It currently has a fan problem, but at the very least, it seems to be repairable.
I honestly, feel in more need of a desktop computer. I actually haven't had one in years. In fact, I never even built one because I was always given laptops as gifts when I needed a new computer, I don't play the latest AAA games so I never felt the need, and the lack of space. But I realize that I feel WAY more productive on a desktop computer than a laptop. However, I'm probably going to build my own desktop if I'm going to get one. I would only consider System76 as they have already mitigated IntelME and flash libreboot (neither which I have ever tried to do before), but I swear their computers are Apple levels of expensive. Even their mini desktops can reach the $1000s.
But I'm also nearing the two year mark on my current laptop and normally something breaks to the point where I can't use it and it is either too difficult (if not impossible) to fix. I'm trying to use this thing for as long as possible though.
>The reason I don't is because none of them ship with a JP-106 keyboard layout
Well, given how non-existent the FLOSS scene is in your country, I doubt that's going to change anytime soon. You can try to ask these companies.
May never use one again, which is absolutely terrible, I basically always hated laptops. Even if I do, for a full free software system, I don't even know what I would use. The good Linux distributions only support x86, and x86 is shit. I guess it would have to be FreeBSD on POWER9 (may be the only OS that has a good repository for that), but that costs a fortune. There is also the most powerful single-board computer from Pine, maybe that's an option, but again, software may be limited, because it's fucking ARM.
And then as far as Librebooted desktops go, it's just one old desktop that is weaker than a lot of the supported ThinkPads (especially with the ones added to the list recently). Also a server board, but it's expensive. If System76 stuff is actually Librebooted, then that too is expensive as hell. May be a good option, though, $999 is bearable, considering that it's new. Though it is for the absolute lowest end. Also, I don't like the cases. Soulless, and no drive bays, so I'd have to waste money on something I don't even like. It doesn't seem like they sell motherboards separately.
@terminalautism Back when I worked in fast food. We had some recurring customer that would actually bring a desktop to work on while eating, but it was one of those all-in-one desktops so it might as well be a laptop.
I used to love laptops as a kid. I'm probably much younger, but I grew up during the mobile computing revolutions during the mid-2000s and early 2010s and laptops were the closest you can get to having the full desktop experience on the go, even if it was less portable than a phone, PDA, tablet, or MP3 player. I even wanted to forgo the cell phone and just use a laptop to make phone calls. Thank God I never did, even though smartphones are trash, moreso than laptops.
I don't hate laptops. I just hate using them for everyday computing. I feel like besides planned obsolescence, the reason why I end up replacing my laptop every two years is because I use them way too much.
Also, I made a mistake on System76 using Libreboot. It's actually Coreboot (maybe okay if you're not full freetard), but their computers still seem to be pretty expensive. Even the Meerkat which is supposed to be their equivalent to the Mac Mini can cost >$1000 depending on the configurations you set in your purchase.
As much as I distrust SIM card based WiFi hotspots, I distrust public WiFi hotspots even more.
It would have been fun if you could plug in an Ethernet cable in public spaces, but considering that everyone on the go uses WiFi, that's probably just part of fantasy land.
@ryo I think airplanes used to have ethernet. It used to be common in waiting rooms decades ago, but I haven't checked if they still have them.
Some of the newer Shinkansen, limited express train, and long distance train (but 1st class only) models have a power socket too these days.
Even then, it feels like all the bigger names are all just foreigners who either are bilingual Japanese + something else, or don't speak the language and just rely on their wifes (or husbands) for translation, and occasionally you'll get actually monolingual people too.
Compared to most other countries in the world, even with everyone included the FLOSS scene here is extremely tiny.
And anyone trying to actually compete with the long established proprietary bloat will get stopped in some way.
I bet that if one day XMPP or Session (or something else) would gain too much attention, then Naver (the Korean company behind LINE) will bribe the government to either make propaganda against their FLOSS alternatives, or make it as hard as possible for those to even appear in any media.
Sounds to be very far fetched, but if Nintendo can create a collective of AAA companies to destroy the internet, I mean fight piracy, then this might be a possibility as well, and just frame FLOSS as a piracy.
On occasion I do use Kdenlive and OBS, but that's exclusively on my desktop which has high end modern hardware (high end at the time I built it, which was last year, but perhaps it's already considered low end now because it only has 16 GiB of RAM).
Web browsers are bloatware too, but good luck visiting the clearnet using Dillo, Netsurf, or one of the TUI browsers.
I have no problems with supporting the indie laptop market at all, by all means I'd encourage you do so.
The reason I don't is because none of them ship with a JP-106 keyboard layout, which I grew so accustomed to since childhood, and all the western keyboards have fewer keys, the missing keys are really crucial, so it's not just a matter of putting keyboard stickers on the keys like one of them told me to do.