this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
387 points (95.3% liked)

Technology

55693 readers
2870 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 107 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Time to start a nonprofit that cleans up old machines and installs Linux on them for deserving poor folks.

[–] Dremor 25 points 6 months ago

Already done in France by Emmaüs, they even have their own Ubuntu based distro.

[–] SonnyVabitch 8 points 6 months ago

Be the change etc...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Tons already exist. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest then make your donations to https://www.freegeek.org

[–] TropicalDingdong 86 points 6 months ago (4 children)

The landfill is a rude thing to call linux

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago

new fork of legacyOS into LandfillOS.
based on "De Bin"
The only major change needs to be you save stuff by putting it into the wastebasket.

[–] clegko 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not wrong calling the rabid fan base that though...

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

That's what I'm talking about. I just picked up a dell optiplex micro for about $100 on ebay.

Can't wait to see what the corps dump onto the market post-win11 apocalypse!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] nucleative 59 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Man, we should make computers upgradable or something.

[–] BugFinder 18 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wouldn't someone think of the poor shareholders

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Send the 7th Gen and better ones to me for plex servers.

[–] seaQueue 15 points 6 months ago (3 children)

J5005 is a transcoding hero, just point it at a NAS and away you go.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Why am I just learning about this $80 thin system right now?

My current server runs around 80 watts idle,but it's also my gaming pc. I'd love to replace it with something dedicated that can handle direct streaming 4k with the occasional transcode around the house, at less wattage.

[–] Finadil 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Why not a N100 though? Faster, lower TDP, and it's built in graphics supports hardware AV1 decoding (J5005 doesn't).

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 38 points 6 months ago (4 children)

You know who throws away computers? WASTEFUL people. There's always a use for older, "obsolete" technology. Today's tablet could become tomorrow's clock or picture frame. Today's computer could become tomorrow's server or game system or video player. You just have to have a little creativity and some knowledge of tech.

[–] Dremor 9 points 6 months ago

Unfortunately it isn't always as easy as that. Depending on what broke on the old computer, finding the right replacement part may be a nightmare. You can often find old CPUs on eBay for dirt cheap, but the catch is that there are close to no motherboards available, and the ones that are are way too expensive to be interesting. Moreover, it isn't always interesting to run old hardware for something that is on 24/7. My R5900X NAS sips 75W... At idle. 130W at full power. Depending on your electricity price, it could be more interesting to buy newer, more efficient hardware, than using older ones.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think it’s fair to blame individual consumers. The whole consumer electrics industry is predicated on planned obsolescence and getting the consumer to buy the latest devices. In reality computers and smartphones have stagnated in terms of functionally for every day people and frequent upgrades aren’t necessary.

Here Microsoft has colluded with hardware manufactures so Windows 11 will obsolete perfectly usable computers. What choice does the consumer have to fight back? Regulation is needed to force consumer electronics to be sustainable and long lasting.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

To add to the valid points others already made - some people simply don't have the inclination or know how, or even just the physical space to store all these old machines. Yet those machines going to landfill are still almost certainly the responsibility of those who not only made them barely last a couple of years, but who invest billions if not trillions on developing a newer version no one wants, and selling it (or forcing it) on people despite no one really needing it..

[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago (1 children)

All those computers would run amazing with Linux.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Sure, or just windows 10 even. My custom build still smokes most mid and entry level off the shelf pcs but is ineligible for win11 BS requirements. As a result, my start button is still way over on the left side! What in the hell is the alure of 11 that people feel the need to toss their system? I don't see it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Security updates and general support. That’s basically it

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I think the "researchers" may not actually have gathered any data on what actually happens in these types of scenarios. beyond people just keeping on with old os which a lot will unless MS intentionally sends out a brick-update.
lots of countires/municipalities have WEE programmes to try to prevent electronics from getting to landfil - especially until things like batteries and other toxic or dangerous chemicals can be removed.

Or the headline is pure clickbait garbage - it's bad enough that i'm not going to bother clicking and read any more filth.

[–] Kbobabob 36 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

TLDR;

Microsoft has already announced it will offer extended security updates for Windows 10 to 2028.

[–] Vqhm 21 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

ESU is a paid service for enterprise. They didn't even offer ESU for windows 7 home.

Windows 7 pro ESU per device cost $50 for 1 year, $100 for the next year, $200 for the final year.

Windows 7 enterprise was per device 1 year $25, second year $50, and 3rd year $100.

Micro$oft is not going to give win10 ESU away for free and they probably won't supported home edition.

You can however bypass the win11 hardware checks to upgrade unsupported devices.

[–] olafurp 36 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Installing Linux will save them. 240M computers.

[–] extremelyfasttortoise 15 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yeah good luck explaining how to install, use and maintain Linux to people who can barely do email.

[–] olafurp 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I'm not gonna tell them to install Arch from scratch. I'd wipe-install Pop for 10$ because it's literally just clicking "next" a couple of time while watching TV.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I'll figure it out before dropping 500+ bucks on a new PC.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Learning how to use open source alternatives to proprietary software on Windows is the starting point before transition to Linux.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] MrSilkworm 30 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Researchers warn that Windows 11 restrictions could send 240 million computers to landfills

Researchers warn Microsoft that Windows 11 restrictions could send 240 million computers to run Linux. FTFY

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

You know that's not actually going to happen though. Maybe one in a hundred will get intercepted and saved at best.

[–] MrSilkworm 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I know that unfortunately it's not going to happen.

I also know that there are numerous NGOS and less fortunate people who could really take advantage of using a pc and use it for a good cause or just enjoy it.

I also realise that there is a great number of students, even in the developed world, who could use a laptop for school and fun as well by running Linux.

instead of throwing the hardware away it could be repurposed.

Also i could use a couple of new old pcs to build a NAS for local cloud and jellyfish as well as a Batocera based emulation console for my living room.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

They could be, and probably should be repurposed

But also, brand new chrome books are ~$80

By the time you collect, clean, repair, and reimage the older computers, it may well be cheaper to just buy Chromebooks.

I hate seeing anything useful going to the trash but the economics aren't great in this case

[–] dual_sport_dork 4 points 6 months ago

And from a consumer standpoint, practically no one outside of our nerdsphere is going to switch to Linux out of spite. It's much more likely that anyone with a sour attitude on Microsoft because of this will replace their computer with a Mac instead.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago

Send Windows 11 and their stupid trusted computing initiative to the landfill instead.

[–] MaximilianKohler 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It was said in the previous thread that the TPM and Microsoft account requirements can be overridden with Rufus, so anyone can update to Win 11.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sure, but Windows 11 is a pain in the ass. My Internet was lagging the other day so my start menu wouldn't find a locally installed program because it couldn't search the Internet too.

[–] Tangent5280 7 points 6 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

Finally cheaper hardware in the used market

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Windows 11, finally bringing the year of Linux on the desktop.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

I think most people would rather throw away their computer than learn to click a different icon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Know what? Just send them to me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›