Re: How Many Computers Do You Have?

gemini://warmedal.se/~bjorn/posts/2022-08-14-how-many-computers-do-you-have.gmi

Seems gemini people tend to have a lot of computers! I think I don't have so many, but let's see what an exhaustive catalogue shows up...

In use

Desktop

The machine I mostly live on, and which serves this capsule among other things. CPU is Intel Core 2 Duo, which dates it to 2006-2008. Too power-hungry for my liking, but otherwise I'm happy with it. Some of its peripherals probably also contain processors, like my various storage devices and my lcd monitor, and the graphics card (Radeon HD 6450).

Laptop

Sony VAIO laptop which appears to date from 2007. Battery is mostly dead, but still it's what I use when on the move (mostly just to ssh home).

e-Reader

Newest addition: a Kobo Mini, dating from 2012, which I got last week. 800 Mhz ARM processor running a linux kernel with an e-ink display. I put koreader on it and have been hacking on it variously (including getting a gemini client working, natch), and I'm very happy with it so far.

Router

FritzBox. It came with the flat, and I haven't really played with it.

Phone

Nokia 1100, from 2003.

Digital camera

Canon IXUS 500, from 2004. Flaky, the images sometimes acquire ghosts, but I still use it occasionally.

Card readers

A couple of bank card readers from a couple of banks, used to produce TANs. I don't know if they contain general purpose processors, but it's probably safest to assume they do.

Shelved

Old desktop

Pentium 4. I also have a couple of broken P4 motherboards.

Arduino

I had a fun project using this a few years back, but haven't touched it recently.

One-shot video player

This is an awful thing a friend gave me in the hope that I could make some use of it. It consists of a small high-quality screen and a speaker, attached to a Li-ion USB-rechargeable battery, a bit of storage, and a few buttons. It's set up to play a single corporate advert on a loop. Most disgusting symbol of corporate decadence I've had the misfortune to be exposed to... wish I knew what to do with it. So far I haven't even found a way to overwrite the pre-loaded video.

UPDATE: I did find a use for it of a kind, as a charger for Li-ion batteries which can then be used for other purposes. Just a matter of wiring the battery to it and powering it via usb.

Conclusions

Hmm, that was more than I expected! Interesting exercise.