We are all about to get really good at maintaining old computer equipment.
@mttaggart I believe so but why did you write this now?
@mttaggart lol what do you mean 'about to get good'. You don't work in a production environment / warehouse do you?
If you think modern electronics can exist without global trade, there is no help for you.
@kwayk42 Almost nobody does; imagine for a moment that a post on a social media site wasn't just for you.
@mttaggart Unfortunately, at this rate I think it's more likely that a lot of US businesses are going to have to re-learn how to manage without computers, and/or a healthy black market & smuggling trade develops.
@mttaggart I laughed so hard at this my glasses fell off my face.
I cannot wait for the headline “China raises tarrifs to infinity plus one”, also says “no U” when confronted
@mttaggart Had this conversation today as part of my coming IT budget projections. Hoping for the best of course, but already warning that the hardware side of my budget could get really ugly really quick.
Possible canary moment - I ordered a pair of enterprise hard drives Saturday (got them today). Vendor pulled the SKU on Sunday. Drives were relisted Monday at 30% more.
I think we are going to see a lot of that.
@NoRomBasic Storage media is gonna hurt. We are unprepared for a reality where massive storage becomes scarce and expensive.
@mttaggart Exactly.
Our agency went through this to some extent with COVID, where lead times on tech extended out 6 months or more. So I "guess" that it helps to have that experience from a planning standpoint.
But I don't think people realize how bad this could potentially get.
Example - people would be stunned at how much IT goes into a Transit Bus these days. So much that each Bus has a half-height server rack installed at the factory.
And the amount of data we gather and store is huge...
@TheGibson A thing we've always agreed on is that the cyberpunk dystopia is already here. But hoo boy, a bunch of folks are about to take off their goggles and see the world as it is.
TIRED:
Going to Costco and stocking up on bulk Toilet Paper, Coffee, and Canned Goods to avoid the Tariff War
WIRED:
Going to Newegg and purchasing HDDs, Tape Systems, RAM, and Video Cards instead.
@NoRomBasic Don't threaten me with a good time.
Get in loser, we're going to Micro Center.
@mttaggart just like we've inflicted upon large numbers of humans in the world, that's right. Time for all the bullshit this state has visited upon the world to come back to roost, as it was always going to.
Lol we planned for it. Saw (most of) this coming years ago and figured out as many of our needs as we could, so we hope to weather this storm with the tech we have now.
@mttaggart @NoRomBasic We did have a taste of it when the 2011 tsunami struck Thailand and destroyed much of the hard drive manufacturing capacity for months. It took several years for capacity prices to drop to pre-tsunami levels
@mttaggart
Probably a really good time for some of the more lightweight Linux distros. I have an old HP Mini netbook thing with I think 2Gb RAM and bugger-all HDD. After trying several distros I got Mint xfce to successfully install on there and it still actually works.
@douglasvb @NoRomBasic Still sad I moved to CA too late to experience it.
@mttaggart I seem to have had a 6th sense about this sort of thing, I never throw out computers that work and my worst fears are coming to pass. I didn't think it would be this stupid 15 years ago though. speaking of, is there a good maintained distro with modern software that runs in 32 bit intel? I have one or two of those around still that could have a second life doing lightweight stuff or at worse being a cryptography terminal
@mttaggart, it certainly can. There just won't be anything new (once current stock has run out).
@mttaggart @krans Cartels be like “Drugs? That shit ain’t as profitable as the switch 2, or an iphone. We could sell you a new GPU, too… Or are you more into server hardware?”
@mttaggart Old enterprise workstations rock as general use machines today.
@mttaggart So glad that I just entirely upgraded my computer.
@mttaggart perfect timing with that whole Windows 11 "recycling" mess on the horizon. Wonder how that will turn out.
@mttaggart Our current situation calls into question the wisdom of making computers and smartphones that cannot be repaired…
@mttaggart I think you could buy British, at 'only' 110% of last week's price. Raspberry Pi are made in Wales.
@mttaggart I bought a mini pc for £40 on eBay, 6th gen i7, chucked 16gb of good ram & a 500gb SSD in it & it runs like an absolute dream, £85 all in, absolute madness...
@mttaggart Don't be so sure. Absent the internet being everywhere, computers will be far less useful to non-nerds.
@jpaskaruk My contention is that the maintenance of older machines is what will the internet to persist, in whatever shape that takes.
@licho That's...you know that's not how that works right? You realize there was a pretty big reason everyone was worried about the ultra-pure mines in NC during Hurricane Helene? To say nothing of the rare earths in the the solid state components, batteries, etc.
@mttaggart Because of China or the Win10 EOL? Because both of those things have pushed me to older hardware and OSes like Linux Mint and Haiku, since ReactOS isn't moving any faster.
@mttaggart In Fascism you might be good at it, but feel like doing the worst job you can get away with...
@mttaggart It might even be the consumer shift needed to move away from forced hardware obsolescence and software subscriptions. A boy can dream.
@mttaggart I knew that old cheese grater Mac in the attic would come in handy!
@mttaggart @licho Don’t burst their bubble, I’m about to get rich selling desert lots!
@mttaggart @NoRomBasic Except for those of us who lived through the 90s.
@mttaggart modern electronics will continue to exist and global trade will continue to exist. It’s just that the US will price itself out of the market and the rest of the world will continue without it.
@mttaggart @NoRomBasic Art students selling their bodies for Zip disks. Black market CDs lifted from Staples. It was a dark time.
I was often their dealer. I still clearly remember the days of students bringing in their sad little PCs to our Campus White-Box Store (CompuSource) and telling me "I don't care what you have to do to it, make it run DOOM".
Some of the hard-core addicts were occasionally offered a form of indentured servitude, providing their labor in exchange for CD-Rom Drives, ATI RAGE Cards, and V.32 Modems.
I don't remember anyone offering to sell their bodies though...
@mttaggart I've still got an original Apple Mac stored in a trunk. I think it was the first one with a hard drive. Still had the 500k disk drive though. 💾
@mttaggart Good point. The Chinese control a vast majority of the known rare earth mineral deposits. These are essential to the manufacture of modern electronic components. There are many examples.
@mttaggart aha, finally my retro computing obsession will yield me the respect and status I always knew it deserved
@mttaggart so you're saying that pallet of computers I won at the local university auction wasn't such a careless decision... I'll have to notify my wife!
@mttaggart I was planning on getting a new laptop later this year. Just pulled the trigger on it today while I still can. Probably the last new computer I'm going to buy for some time.
@mttaggart seriously - I was thinking that Apple should not sunset any devices with this year’s OS’s
@mttaggart Been vacuuming my (not that old) laptop's keyboard today, which surprisingly did get the misbehaving keys to start working!
@mttaggart
Oh i thought at least my ti83 plus would be ok. But no. Perhaps if you go further back in HPs lineup you find something that is basically all made in USA. 😵💫
I truly don't know where people are getting this idea that the world can, like, surgically remove the United States from a globalized economy and hum along like nothing happened. Just focusing on tech, imagine what happens when US-based companies' goods are no longer available in "hostile" markets.
Enjoy your Xiaomi and Huawei phones, Europe. They are pretty neat, but that'll be quite an adjustment. That's to say nothing of Windows licenses, Apple hardware, Intel chips, and a thousand other patented products the world will do without.
@sancla I'm not disagreeing with you, and you are right not to trust us! We're not trustworthy! But let's admit that the collapse of a system that led to the longest sustained period of global prosperity in history is probably not gonna be "just fine" for a long damn time.
@SecurityWriter Year of the Linux Desktop, brought to you by the dumbest reasons possible.
@SecurityWriter But I suppose my bigger point is that when (not if) the US dollar loses status as the global reserve currency, a whole new network of trust must be established, and different incentives for different groups arise. China in particular will have vastly different economic strategies in that reality, as well as ASEAN, OPEC, and other coalitions.
US politics
@mttaggart Oh, it'll be “surgical” all right.
”Mr Trump's over there sharpening his tools — ah yes, he's ready now. The hot pitch smells bad, doesn't it? Bite down on this piece of cork for me, now. These lads will hold you down.”
@mttaggart thinga tend to happen if you lift the barriers for and even incentivize actual innovation
Come October, there's gonna be a lotta demand for new (Windows) PCs, but very limited global supply.
@mttaggart Since you mention Europe and Huawei, may I remind you that a bunch of countries have banned Huawei use for their 5G backbone or critical comms.
Let's say there is still Samsung.
Conversely, the US needs precision machinery to onshore their manufacturing, ICT, aerospace, defense... Most of these are produced in China, Japan, EU and Korea. It would be nice if we get along.
Looking forward to software tariffs, because current fundraising strategy is not working 
. Surely that can only go well.
@mttaggart today is a good day to simultaneously kick myself for not buying a new car while I had the chance, and congratulate myself for having cars that don't use fragile electronics for *literally everything*.
@mttaggart The opposite side of people who think the US will just make everything at home. Good luck growing rice, motherfuckers. People playing the whole game outside the 20s.
@mttaggart Sure is good Microsoft doesn't have an OS going EOL, and tons of machines that can't be upgraded...😉