second-hand computers and free software

degrowther wrote in:

"Hello small internet"

> I was recently discussing these concepts with a friend who works in tech (like me), and I framed degrowth in terms of the internet. Sure, our processors are faster and bandwidth higher than they used to be, but the web doesn’t *feel* any faster because virtually all of these improvements have been dedicated to serving and rendering ads and unnecessary UI elements.

This is why I've been using secondhand/refurbished computers the last few years. My main desktop was manufactured in 2012. Maybe I didn't need to replace the hard drive with a SSD and max out the RAM at 32GB, but as long as the CPU fan and PSU don't burn out I suspect I'll be able to keep using this computer for at least another decade or two. As long as my current display holds out, or I can get a secondhand replacement that takes an HDMI cable, I should be fine. The same goes for my laptop, a secondhand Thinkpad T60 from 2007. Again, I maxed out the RAM and replaced the hard drive with a SSD. As I shift more toward doing everything in GNU Emacs, I find the notion of buying a new computer less attractive.

Hopefully there will still be a BSD operating system or GNU/Linux distribution that supports my hardware in 2041.