It's a quote that's often misattributed to Gandhi. There doesn't seem to be a consensus on who said it, but that doesn't make it any less of a good quote. And it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately and trying to make some changes with it in mind.

“I wish more people would __________.”

“If more people would __________, I would, too.”

There a lot of things that I'm not doing that I wish I was doing, because they just make sense to me and I feel that they're good and right. But I don't do them, or I give up when I try to do them, because they're hard. Or nobody else is doing them. Or any number of other excuses I come up with.

But my conscience nags me. It's relentless. And maybe some of the discontent I feel is because I'm not doing as much as I could be doing to better align my actions and behaviors with my values. Maybe it's time for me to start trying to live the kind of life I wish I could live.

Lent has already been a time of spiritual change for me. I intend to keep working on that area of my life, but I've started making some temporal changes, too, and I will be sharing my experiences in all areas over the coming blog posts.

In this post I'll share some changes I'm making with regards to the technology I personally own and use, starting with my personal computers.

Aside from the company-issued laptop I use for work, I currently own three desktop computers and two laptops:

• HP Z240 Tower Workstation
• Acer TC-1760 Mini Tower
• 2019 iMac
• 2017 MacBook Air
• HP Laptop

I feel I need to reduce this list down to one machine instead of five, and I have chosen to keep the HP Laptop for a number of reasons. It's lightweight and versatile. I can use it in my home office or on the go. It takes up much less desk space than a desktop. It's much newer than the MacBook Air (which is long past its official support from Apple) and has much better specs.

I've also installed Pop!_OS on the HP laptop and have committed to using Linux as my primary personal computing OS going forward to reduce my dependence on proprietary non-free software (more on this in an upcoming post).

The HP Z240 workstation was my streaming PC for over a year and did the job admirably. But I recently acquired the Acer mini tower as its upgrade/replacement. I feel I can let both of these go because I've decided to stop streaming on Twitch and stream exclusively on PeerTube (more on this in an upcoming post) with a greatly simplified and less resource-intensive approach compared to what I was doing on Twitch.

I also am fine getting rid of the desktops because they tempt me too much to play video games, which I enjoy playing, but they tend to suck me in, make me lose track of time, and neglect more important things in my life.

The 2019 iMac is a fairly recent acquisition (it was given to me for free) and while it is still a very nice machine – especially with its beautiful 5k Retina display – I find that I prefer the more versatile wall-mounted dual monitor setup I have in my home office, which frees up more desk space. And I can use them for work and personal use, connecting them to either my work laptop or personal laptop as needed.

Another reason I want to let go of the Macs is because I would like to reduce my use of and dependence upon Apple products as much as possible. As with other Big Tech companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, etc., I don't trust Apple to do what's in the best interest of their customers – or humanity, in general.

This week I shifted to using the HP Laptop exclusively and will be looking for ways to sell or re-home the other computers, preferably to people who truly need them. Doing so will help me to simplify and streamline how I use computers and reduce the amount of proprietary “Big Tech” products I use. The reduced clutter and cables in my office are going to be most welcome, too.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 160) #tech #DigitalMinimalism #HomeOffice #laptop #intentionism

It actually stopped recognizing the SSD altogether. So I thought maybe the SSD went bad and I bought a replacement. It wouldn't recognize the new one, either. The RAM tested ok, so I suspect it was a motherboard issue. I didn't have the time or patience to fiddle with it any longer, so I abandoned the experiment. It was a free laptop – one that its previous owner basically threw away. I guess I know why, now.

There is still a future for Linux among my personal computers. The only working laptop I personally own at present is a 2017 MacBook Air. It's usable, but struggles. I have an old HP desktop that I use for streaming on Twitch, light gaming, ripping CDs and DVDs, and other things. It's still running Windows 10 and I refuse to put Windows 11 on it. It's getting extended updates from Microsoft through October 13 of this year. I'll probably put Linux on it before then.

But I'll need a new laptop before the end of the year, and I keep waffling back and forth between getting a newer MacBook and sourcing a good laptop to put Linux on.

The reason a MacBook is in the running is because my wife gave me an iPhone 17 for Christmas, which I use for work, church, and travel. And a MacBook would play the nicest with that phone and all the Apple things.

But I also have a second phone – a Motorola One 5G Ace running a de-Googled version of Android – /e/OS. For the sake of privacy, I use that phone instead of the iPhone when I can. I'd like to have a laptop or desktop running Linux for the same reason.

I'm leaning towards getting a Linux laptop and trying to make that work. If necessary, I can always get an iPad for the Apple-y things I might need to do.

I'm going to have to wait a few months before I make any big purchases, though. Money is always tight this time of year and who knows what tax season will bring.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 127) #tech #Linux #laptop

Specs

Model: HP Laptop 14-dq2053cl Released: November 2021 CPU: Intel Core i3-1125G4 @ 2.00GHz x 8 RAM: 8 GB Graphics: Integrated Storage: 256 GB SSD

Believe it or not, even though it's four years old this month, this is now the newest and most powerful computer I own.

My next-best would be my streaming PC – a HP Z240 Workstation desktop PC with a Core i7-6700.

In terms of processing power, the laptop actually edges out the desktop in PassMark CPU benchmark scores at 9282 vs 8050. Being five generations newer really does make that much of a difference.

Despite being only an i3, the laptop CPU is a quad-core with hyper-threading, so the OS actually sees eight cores. Nice!

I haven't popped the back cover yet, but I believe I can upgrade the RAM and SSD eventually, too. But the current specs should be more than adequate for my experiment.

Distro

The Linux Distro I chose is Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS. I keep going back and forth between Pop! and Linux Mint, and Mint has been my go-to for at least a couple years now, so I want to give Pop! another good shot. Both of them are often mentioned in conversations about best all-around Linux distros and best distros for beginners. I don't mind using a terminal when I have to, but I want the least hassle possible.

Installation was a breeze – except when I tried to install some UEFI firmware suggested by Pop!_OS. It just showed up as a notification that a firmware upgrade was available, so I tried to install it and the laptop rebooted and then...nothing. I waited for an hour, still nothing. I forced a reboot, and still nothing. I ended up having to reinstall the OS. And this time, it said the firmware update was already installed. Alrighty, then.

Use Cases

I'll be using my old desktop as a dedicated streaming PC for my Twitch and PeerTube live streams – it has all the USB ports and dedicated graphics (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti) and is already configured for it. I'll keep using that as my streaming PC at least until extended Windows 10 updates end in October 2026. But probably even beyond that as long as all the software still works, since I won't be using it for anything but streaming.

I'll use this laptop for everything else. Here's an overview of what everything else looks like:

Web Browsing and Web-Based Apps

My current browser of choice is Vivaldi. Great performance. Features and customization for days. Cross-platform. No crypto or AI garbage. Firefox is a backup.

Web searches, email, banking, Google Drive, etc.

Watching Video

I watch a lot of Twitch. Not gaming, mostly DJ streams and musicians. And a little scam baiting. Oh, and for some reason Sumo. I feel the desire to quit Twitch both as a viewer and streamer, but I would really miss interacting with some good people there. I'm trying to figure that out. More on that in a future post.

I don't watch YouTube hardly at all anymore, but I'll check it occasionally.

I am currently subscribed to Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+ and will watch stuff on those services, too. Paramount+ had a crazy good deal – $40 for one year with ads (which I can block in a browser). I love Star Trek, and I wanted to watch Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, so there you go.

Prime Video will be hard to cancel unless brick-and-mortar retail suddenly enjoys a resurgence and we can reliably get more things we need locally in our area. I could probably live without it, but my wife would struggle.

Audio, Video, and Image Editing

Audacity, Kdenlive, and GIMP have been my go-tos for years. I don't anticipate any problems here.

Blogging

I'm writing this blog on it!

Messaging

I'm not a fan of Discord, but at least I don't have my own server on there anymore. There are some individuals and communities on there I value.

I also use Element. Probably not Signal Desktop anymore, though, after moving to Delta Chat.

Light Gaming

We'll see what runs on this thing! Valheim stuttered a bit in the 30 seconds I tested it, but I'm sure I can tweak the settings for smoother gameplay.

So far I have also installed Stardew Valley and plan to install Undertale, which I still have never played.

Other

There is an application called Tableau that I occasionally use for data visualization. It has no Linux desktop version and does not run in WINE. So I may have to install a Windows VM if I want to use that.

I'll be using the laptop quite a bit for church, too. I'm in the lay (volunteer) ministry and use the laptop often for Google Drive, notes, calendars, and proprietary web apps for administrative stuff.

A Small Act of Defiance

If I can't make a clean break from Big Tech, I can at least try to move in the right direction. Committing to using a Linux Laptop exclusively for any amount of time is just one small act of defiance of Big Tech and the tech bros trying to control and monetize us.

One thing I will greatly miss is the ability to send text messages from my laptop like I can on my old MacBook Air 2017. I loathe thumb-typing on glass slabs (#BringBackBlackBerry). I'll also miss GarageBand – a pretty great app for a music nerd like me.

But I have to be willing to make some compromises and sacrifices if it means living truer to my values. It's a balancing act, and it's never as clear or easy as one thinks. But I have to try.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 106) #tech #laptop #Linux #FOSS

Topics of Focus

#faith – thoughts related to my religion #tech – self explanatory

Other Topics

#100DaysToOffload #accessories #AI #automobiles #Bandcamp #books #business #cassette #charity #Christianity #Christmas #ChurchOfJesusChrist #climate #community #compactDisc #contention #COVID19 #decentralization #DigitalMinimalism #economy #electronicMusic #EveryDayCarry #eWaste #family #FOSS (free-as-in-freedom and open source software) #friends #gratitude #haiku #health #hobbies #HomeOffice #humor #intentionism #internet #laptop #LessConvenient #libraryMusic #life #Linux #loneliness #media #meditation #mentalHealth #misc #movies #music #news #nostalgia #physicalMedia #planning #poetry #politics #privacy #prophets #retro #smartphones #SocialMedia #synthwave #travel #TV #Twitch #unity (not the game engine) #Utah #vaporwave #writing