PSA

To whomever this may concern and to get you a break from the international news:

Your daily driver Windows computer is not obsolete after October 13th 2026. And above all it is NOT E-waste.

Your Apple computer is not E-waste if Tim Cook says so.

Chances are that even the beige DELL tower from 2003, which is currently holding the barn door open, is not obsolete.

And if you have an old/broken computer: please sell or donate it. If nothing else, someone can learn to solder working on it.

Contact your local IT nerd for further questions. The one with an Atari or Amiga T-shirt. Someone you know will know one.

You can also contact IT nerds here in the fediverse. Almost all of us are here.

#RightToRepair #AlternativeOperatingSystems #OperatingSystems #OS #OpenBSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD #Linux #HaikuOS #Windows #Apple #PowerPC #BeOS #Ubuntu #LinuxMint #Vic20 #Commodore64 #Amiga #ComputerClubs #Learning #OldComputersAreNotE_Waste #PCB #VintageComputing #RetroComputing #Refurbishers

@nxadm +9001%

People already #panic-buying used devices as #refurbishers run dry on inventory and raise prices*…

Obviously the #zeebo flopped, espechally due to #Qualcomm's #BREW #OS ¹ which is basically '#JavaMobile but worse in order to circumvent #SoftwarePatents' whilst also having dogshit performance and being hard to develop for or even port games to, making it even worse than #Gizmondo or #NGage which used #J2ME.

• Making the #OUYA look like a piece of perfection in comparison, because that #cube didn't cost 20x more to port games to but merely demanded the (OUYA-exclusive) #GameController #API (which predates the later #Android-Standardized one!) to be supported, which is closer to a #patch than a #redevelopment!

But even in a starved market like #Brazil most households weren't gonna dump over 1 month minimum wage on an aging #3G-#Cellphone with composite video and 6-button #USB #controllers.

• Also who thought that announcing a price cut before launch was a good idea in a time the "Osbourne Effect" was already well known?

So yeah, blame Qualcomm for this shitshow...

• To add insult to injury, #piracy on it is rampant... and the #PS2 whipped it's ass around town cuz it even as #import #console like the #PlayStation2 could shaft them in spite of #tariffs because by that point #Sony closed their books on that platform and didn't give a fuck about #piracy, only allowing pre-agreed licensees like #EA to still shove out their games for it.

And lets be honest, #Edutainment is not a cash cow because in places like #Mexico it's way easier to get even cheaper #PC|s due to #NAFTA #FreeTrade (i.e. all the stuff #refurbishers couldn't sell in the #USA anymore got offered there before being sold further south...

• Really sad, cuz if the Zeebo was like a €50 box, it could've been a smash hit, so it died due to lack of resources...

Needless to say the Zeebo is the strongest argument for #StopKillingGames as these devices are nearly useless these days and piracy is the only way to get / change games on it and play them these days.

• Also respect to Derek from #SSFF for playing the entire Zeebo catalogue tho there's nothing to ride home about...

Nowadays the nieche of the zeebo is served by cheap #PCs for #gaming even cheaper #Android devices and (aside from few stores like #Steam that managed to upstell a #DRM as a #feature), rampant #piracy to the point that #MobileGaming outside of #iOS is basically dead unless we account #PayToLoose #Shovelware of the "#DisguisedGambingGame" kind as "#Gaming" which is an insult even for #gambling, because there at least in theory, with a honest operator the chance of winning is greater than zero (tho I'd still disrecommend it because no gambling game is *"fair" beyond the theoretical chance of winning by the rules)...

#tech

@socketwench darn…

Cuz I see a shitload of freshly surplus'd machines that won't work with #CensorBoot (#Windows11) for not much money at my favorite #refurbishers...

Like some sub-€200 machines with decent specs.