Christine Lemmer-WebberFeb 26

Something has changed about the unprompted responses from people seeing me using the MNT (Pocket) Reform in the last month. I'm not just getting a "whoa this is cool and nerdy", I'm hearing more people, unprompted, say "Oh, this seems important, because maybe we won't be able to get computers we control soon."

It's uncomfortable, in a way, that this is starting to become more of the zeitgeist, because I think it's true.

I really do think we need computers we can control and hack on and advance. Because we're in real trouble if we can't.

Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberFeb 26
A friend has been saying "we need more routes to getting chips, we need more routes to manufacture PCBs, people have no idea how fragile 'being able to control your computer' is right now", and I agree with that
Show threadRusty ShacklefordFeb 26

@cwebber
Pcb lead times are already slowly going crazy, this was raised in another thread the other day. Meanwhile vps prices are also spiking as these companies slowly tighten their grip on the market and infrastructure.

Compute as a service, it's finally on the table and the capitalists are ravenous.

Show threadViolet Madder

@rusty__shackleford @cwebber

Between botslop poisoning the wells of information, surveillance invading every layer of our lives, and the market manipulations pushing hardware out of reach, we need alternatives and we need them NOW.

They are enclosing the digital commons. To have any real communications or organizing, there's got to be avenues to survival outside the rapidly gnashing corporate jaws.

Feb 26 at 9:39pmWeb
Show threadRusty ShacklefordFeb 26

@violetmadder @cwebber

Agreed, I have been taking a pretty hard stance on this due to the current geography and climate:

Re: on developers & google:
https://mastodon.social/@rusty__shackleford/116131656159734497

Re: on negotiations:
https://mastodon.social/@rusty__shackleford/116137652128111142

Show threadTaran RampersadMar 1

@violetmadder @rusty__shackleford @cwebber I have been looking for alternatives for the future myself.

Raspberry pis aren't quite there yet. I have run beowulf clusters on pine64s (similar hardware) in the past, but the hardware wasn't quite enough then... about 10 years ago (yikes).

If anyone figures something out... I will be paying attention.