6 ms·

Interesting site/challenge; however, I had trouble browsing and finding "what to do" in a reasonable time. I recently spent like $170 giving a new lease on lif

Interesting site/challenge; however, I had trouble browsing and finding "what to do" in a reasonable time. I recently spent like $170 giving a new lease on life to a 15-year-old Lenovo S10-3 Ideapad with a 1-core Intel Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, a WiFi card, and a 250GB SSD running AntiX Linux in TTY/Command Line mode. So far, I've turned it into a picture/frame + vision board running Tailscale so I could SSH in and/or rsync stuff. I am also attempting to run a no-AI version of Pwnagotchi to pwn WiFi networks. I am also using it as an always-on appliance that does stuff like rsync/backup my entire server, run lightweight Python scripts to check the uptime and days until domain expiration, etc., on a set of websites I own and would like to own, etc. I have all of this stuff connected to a Telegram bot that reports to me. It's an interesting set of constraints, and you can surprisingly do a lot of cool stuff.

uncircle 3mo ago
Here’s an idea that’s been following me for a while, if you like low-level stuff: Make a toy OS that boots into a Lisp shell. Another to appreciate how fast computers that we call old effectively are: write a game for the shell. Depending on your level of skill, you can try pong, snake, lunar lander, or a 3D software renderer.
- ValdikSS 3mo ago
  OLPC (one laptop per child) had Open Firmware, a Forth bootloader/firmware https://lwn.net/Articles/209301/ https://lwn.net/Articles/209301/
  - mghackerlady 3mo ago
    Open Firmware was originally a Sun thing, then Apple adopted it at some point as well
- fragmede 3mo ago
  Make something that makes music.
KurSix 3mo ago
Trying to use a 15-year-old Atom netbook as a modern laptop is mostly pain. But treating it as a small always-on appliance is a much better fit
jvanderbot 3mo ago
I gave my wife a 2012 macbook pro running ubuntu. It was a huge upgrade over her ~2014 macbook air running stock, which couldn't even update itself anymore. It never occured to me to consider it might qualify as a "challenge" since it is 14 years old. It just works fantanstically and was my daily driver until 3-4 years ago. I got it off ebay for approximately $100, cleaned it, and put in a new battery.
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  The 2012 macbook pro (non retina, at least. I never owned a retina one) is the last truly great macbook apple ever made. God I loved that thing, I used it to death and was truly saddened by its loss. It lasted a good 12 years
  - josephg 3mo ago
    I had an 11” 2011 air. An incredible machine, one of the best I’ve ever owned. I stupidly replaced it with the 2016 retina touchbar MacBook Pro - which is hands down the worst Mac I’ve ever owned bar none. My modern M1 is fine. But that little air was somehow more fun.
ErroneousBosh 3mo ago
> 15-year-old Lenovo S10-3 Ideapad with a 1-core Intel Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, a WiFi card, and a 250GB SSD What a weird coincidence, I've just found one of these while clearing out a box of equipment I'm getting rid of and thought "I should stick NetBSD on this!"

uncircle 3mo ago

Here’s an idea that’s been following me for a while, if you like low-level stuff: Make a toy OS that boots into a Lisp shell. Another to appreciate how fast computers that we call old effectively are: write a game for the shell. Depending on your level of skill, you can try pong, snake, lunar lander, or a 3D software renderer.

ValdikSS 3mo ago
OLPC (one laptop per child) had Open Firmware, a Forth bootloader/firmware https://lwn.net/Articles/209301/ https://lwn.net/Articles/209301/
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  Open Firmware was originally a Sun thing, then Apple adopted it at some point as well
fragmede 3mo ago
Make something that makes music.

KurSix 3mo ago

Trying to use a 15-year-old Atom netbook as a modern laptop is mostly pain. But treating it as a small always-on appliance is a much better fit

jvanderbot 3mo ago

I gave my wife a 2012 macbook pro running ubuntu. It was a huge upgrade over her ~2014 macbook air running stock, which couldn't even update itself anymore. It never occured to me to consider it might qualify as a "challenge" since it is 14 years old. It just works fantanstically and was my daily driver until 3-4 years ago. I got it off ebay for approximately $100, cleaned it, and put in a new battery.

mghackerlady 3mo ago
The 2012 macbook pro (non retina, at least. I never owned a retina one) is the last truly great macbook apple ever made. God I loved that thing, I used it to death and was truly saddened by its loss. It lasted a good 12 years
- josephg 3mo ago
  I had an 11” 2011 air. An incredible machine, one of the best I’ve ever owned. I stupidly replaced it with the 2016 retina touchbar MacBook Pro - which is hands down the worst Mac I’ve ever owned bar none. My modern M1 is fine. But that little air was somehow more fun.

ErroneousBosh 3mo ago

> 15-year-old Lenovo S10-3 Ideapad with a 1-core Intel Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, a WiFi card, and a 250GB SSD What a weird coincidence, I've just found one of these while clearing out a box of equipment I'm getting rid of and thought "I should stick NetBSD on this!"