Built my own desktop around a Threadripper 1900X I got a fairly good price on several years ago. It's supplemented by an ancient HP laptop that originally shipped with Windows Vista Home Basic. Both run Gentoo (yes, even though that laptop has no more grunt than a Pi3).

I'm still considering what the replacement for that ancient, cranky laptop will be when it finally gives up the ghost, since it's used more as a media consumption device than anything else.

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you considered a linux tablet for your media consumption? Starlite or PineTab maybe?

Btw, Gentoo on the ancient laptop, do you think it helped having binaries compiled just for your hardware config?

[–] nyan@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 year ago

I've been considering the PineTab as an option, yes. Didn't know about the Starlite, probably because it seems to be from the other side of the Atlantic. Hmm. My problem with premade tablet devices is that they're significantly smaller than the 17" display built into that junk laptop—the small screens may be higher resolution, but as I get older, I find I get more benefit from the larger absolute size. That and I don't like touchscreens. The front-running replacement option at the moment is to cobble something together from a Pi4 or other Linux SBC, a portable display, and a few other parts, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Or just pick up another used laptop from somewhere.

Does having Gentoo help the laptop limp along? Probably to some extent, but it still has the original HDD in it, so that probably slows it down more than having bespoke binaries helps.