Alternative Tech
Hey, this page is where I group together posts about hardware related 'alternative' tech interests, so stuff like second hand & retro electronics, and home server management.
2nd hand & Retro
I don't have the money to waste replacing all of my devices biannually, I also don't agree with obseleting perfectly functional hardware for the profit of multinational corporations that engage in large scale resource theft and human exploitation. For these reasons I stick to second hand tech hardware now. This also blends with my interest in 'retro' tech stuff, another thing I am priced out of, but I enjoy following the old console modding/emulator scenes online. I DO have my original (and mostly functional) Xbox from 2004 though! I also have some friends that I swap physical consoles with, hoping to borrow a 360 soon! I have had a bit of luck finding cheap second hand stuff on 'eBay' or 'gumtree' online, even though dropshippers have made these sites almost unusable. 'CEX' is pretty much the only physical second hand store I have access to, that isn't a total ripoff and actually sells working stuff.
Home Server
I bought a second hand 'micro' form factor office PC in 2024, the Dell Optiplex 7050. There is currently a boom of these types of office computers available, most likely due to a lack of official compatibility with Windows 11. But they are highly capable, energy efficient, designed to be left on 24/7 in an office, have excellent support (both in parts and online troubleshooting), and are usually easy to modify. I have moved my friend's Minecraft Realm off of Microsoft's servers and on to this machine in late 2024, and it has been running well since. I have been considering trying out a Plex media server on it also, along with some other game servers potentially. Will be writing about these if/when I try them out.