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While perusing the thread of people's setups, I was chuffed to see a strong pressence of 'smol' computers: SBCs, repurposed equipment, aging machines and related kin. I suppose it isn't surprising here in the gemisphere. Sparked up a lot of related thoughts I've been mulling over that seem appropriate for this space.
As time goes on, I find myself reflecting more and more on the subjects of permaculture, accessibility, how technology meets humanity (and doesn't), privacy, escaping absolute commercialization, common capability, horizontal growth, energy footprints - these sorts of things. Again, perhaps unsurprising, in this place of all places.
It's incredible how much computer you can buy for 50$ these days, if we're really honest; with each passing decade, households accumalate old machines; more people have several old laptops than ever before; it's incredible, the gobs of quality FOSS software available today; you can learn everything you need for homelab for free online, maybe even just on yt. How is it, then, that a handful of major corporations (and some govts.) control the vast majority of everybody's data, communication, home video(!?), socialization, commerce, ___, ___??? Still?
I feel that the ceiling rises much faster than the floor. Certainly so with higher technology. Of course, there's a wide space in between; in 2023, it seems to me there is an enormous amount of people *just under* certain thresholds. Young people are incredibly intelligent nowadays. Raspberri Pi (et al.) has ensured that a sizealbe chunk of more recent generations have installed Debian (essentially), and Minecraft has ensured another chunk have hosted an always online service for their small group of friends. There's a huge swath of enthusiast-but-not-professional-level capability out there today. Like uncut diamonds... (lol). I wonder a lot about what the *actual* barriers are to mass self-hosting. Is it more cultural or commercial? Or purely educational?
Recently I was visiting my parents out of state, and my dad was talking about wanting a better garage door closer, but not wanting (in my own summary words, not his) corporate spyware, essentially. I thought: this is an opportunity. I also thought: this is *so* achievable.
(( I've been struggling to bring this post to a reasnably sharp point. Really, it's just a stab at a rediculously broad subject area. Just conversational tinder. Hopefully there's at least a drift to catch. ))
Here's some open ended questions:
Are there areas of the homelab space that you think have particularly high potential as on-ramps for new people? Or that could use some TLC? What's missing?
Tools or resources you wish more people knew about?
What are you excited about?
In your judgement or imagination, what would (or could) improve the existing landscape for, shall we say, "small hosts"? Just, what would you like to see?
What are you worried about?
What is the most effective way to democritize technical know-how?
How do we go beyond the horizon of shared media libraries? (the bigger we)
Will "low and slow" ever be popular?
The broader populace is *so* primed for a general shift from the current tech-media-culture paradigm. *Everyone* is sick of FB, twitter, etc. at this point - even your grandma! Everyone hates apps! They're sick of having their privacy trampled on! But people are also addicted to constant streams of video, high res photos, face filters, dopamine traps, extremely low latency, extremely high up-time... What would need to happen for humanity to escape the current structure of the interent without recreating it? (don't overthink it lol)
Related and welcome: IOT/smart home, alternative services (to e.g. gmaps, yt), alternative protocols (Gemini's sisters), HTPC, de/centralization, OS talk, renewable energy, permacomputing, minimal computing, the right to repair, offgrid (why not), DIY, rag and bone, e-waste reduction, alternative... infastructure(?????!), honestly anything reasonably related that comes to mind
2023-06-28 · 11 months ago · 👍 lykso, Ruby_Witch, dmoonfire, xavi
I tend to focus on the boring, security-oriented networking stuff at home because I see it as the foundation. If I have reasonable control over the security of the network, then even untrusted devices can't do much to invade my privacy. Even the most sophisticated devices still use the same basic network protocols.
I try to steer away from those kind of devices and build custom solutions when I can anyway. An example would be a custom sensor to detect if the garage doors are open or closed (instead of using myQ), temperate/water sensors, etc...
The local and homemande social platform and web app are often great but they tend not to be as easy to use, they are not as pleasing as there have no corporate engennered algorithm meant to make the user loose as much time as possible to the platform, and they are harder to share to new users that don't want change. So I am afraid the importance of the enormous corporate social platform will last for the forceable future. Maybe looking at the way twitter, youtube, and reddit are making their services worse out a gree, we can see a faint hope that non profit platform will gain traction.
@yvonne Can I first say that I love the energy and breadth of your post??? It seems like you have a lot to say here, have you considered starting a gemlog? Basically, how do I sign up for your newsletter? 😄
These subjects are all things that are super important to me. I try my best to use energy efficient computing as much as possible, even though I also play a lot of games! I have a couple of solar panels out to try to offset my consumption (at least during the daytime...)
I think that "low and slow" is already pretty popular if you look at how many people are out there talking about it. Will it ever be the *majority* outlook though? I find that more doubtful.
@Ruby_Witch zomg, thanks so much much for the kind words! Sorry that I took 5 months to reply to you... I kinda fell off.
I have considered starting a gemlog, but truth is I skew heavily on the lurker side (and sometimes step out for half a year x_x), so it's not really ever gotten over the threshold. Maybe at some point...
Reflecting on the orig subject, maybe this is illustrative. There are lot's of us that are idealistic about things; but lacking a consistent driving factor (economic etc), in reality all we have is individual passion to keep things regular/smooth enough to support a shift... My own flightiness as an example, maybe this reveals an area of challenge. Worth some thought.
Yeah... the algo thing you mention def touches to what I was saying with the addiction aspect. It's hard to compete with.
In the end maybe it isn't really about directly competing. Perhaps we build up a 'forrest floor' that can meet peoples' needs, just without the undesireable bits. Like the idea of 'prefigurative politics.'
Thinking, to use and benefit from the power of smolness, we shouldn't be trying to be big.
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