I just read this report about the growth of the amount of “e-waste” and how it’s been growing. According to the report, it’s been calculated that last year, 2019, the weight of all that electronic devices that had a battery or plug was the equivalent of 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2.
I listen to and read about all of these experts telling me how much of my hard earned money I should be paying in carbon taxes to save the planet; that I should stop eating meat and, ideally, stop breathing all together – all for the sake of saving the planet. Yet, these same people always seem to be the first in line when it comes to buying their new Apple, Android, or Windows devices.
Here I am, happily working with my good ol’ Lenovo laptop, from 2007. It’s still doing all that I need it to do, thanks to the fantastic work silent heroes, like those Q4OS developers, do to help keep these older but perfectly capable devices from the landfills.
I think it’s hypocritical for anyone of these so-called climate change experts/crusaders to lecture us about anything, if they can’t do the simplest things, like using an OS on their devices that helps keep them from the landfills. My carbon footprint is already accounted for, I shouldn’t have to pay for theirs, as well.
Good for you youngster. Just keep doing whatever it takes to keep that head full of mush from overheating anymore then it already has. If you types do too much more to help, we all fear disaster may lurk behind the next turn in the road. Please stick with the important issues for you kids and go back to playing video-games.
Thanks to Trisquel GNU/Linux, and a couple of replacement batteries over the years, my 2008 Toshiba netbook still looks and runs as-new. I love it because it is a conventional laptop, yet it’s so compact it can almost be fitted in a coat pocket, making it ultra portable and convenient. Its single 32-bit Atom processor and 2GiB RAM is still adequate to browse the web, type documents, and even stream video. I’m not sure it’d cope with a full-HD or 4K movie, but the screen isn’t that high resolution anyway, so there’s no need. And who would need it to be HD, anyway? It’s only a 9-inch screen! I have tried Q4OS but want to give it another proper go on newer hardware. I may switch to it for my desktop. I think KDE3 was the single most easy-to-use desktop environment ever produced on any platform, so Trinity desktop really intrigues me.
At risk of sounding like a senior citizen (believe it or not I’m still young enough to have extortionate car insurance), one thing that really annoys me is phones… Many of my friends ask me why I carry around “that useless old thing”, and why I don’t get a smartphone. What they don’t realise is I’ve had a smartphone and I hated it. Constant beeps from Whatsapp groups, Facebook messages, emails, never-ending app-updates and no battery life whatsoever… no thanks! I’ve also come to the conclusion that all a phone is good for is talking and texting, so I don’t need a smart phone. Anything a smartphone can do, I can do better in my head, in person, or on a real computer. And as for that “useless old thing” I carry around… It’s an icon of Scandinavian design, that recently became one of the first three “national emoji” of Finland: The Nokia 3310. I wonder how many Android phones or iThings will still be fully operational 19 years later? Plus, it can do one thing no one’s smartphone can do… Its entire casing is replaceable. (My current casing is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, if you were curious).
As a computer scientist, I love technology. It all interests me. My desktop is a water-cooled behemoth with a 1.6kw platinum-grade power supply and the hardware-specs to require it. It’s maybe 2 years old now but is still an impressive spec. But I hate inefficiency and bloat, and I believe technology should serve the user, not the otherway round. …And to me, a device that doesn’t last at least a decade is a waste, and a phone you have to charge more than once a week is useless.
That’s great, James and thanks for your comment! I think we see technology in the same way. I also still have (and use) my ASUS eeePC 701 – running Q4OS of course – and I use my mobile phone to call people and occasionally text. My service provider constantly reminds me that my phone is old and out of date and keep offering me deals on upgrading it. I turn them down every time. Last time I upgraded I had too, because the provider was dropping the signal for it. Yet, I still have it on my bookshelf. It’s one of those original flip-type phones and I really like the design, so I can’t bring myself to throw it away.
I haven’t heard of Trisquel Linux, I’ll have to look that up. If you liked KDE 3.5 then you’re sure to enjoy TDE. The development team have been doing updates to it and keeping it relevant. I like it a lot. If you do happen to try it, please post back and let me know what you think about it!