[Arm-netbook] Current status

[Christopher Havel]

On Mon, Jul 20, 2020, 2:57 AM George Sokolsky <sokolgeo at posteo.net> wrote:

> How people are moving forward with their computing needs? What's the 'next
> best thing' to invest here?


I've long since held that the universal computer is the one you build
yourself. It's far simpler and easier than the average person is willing to
admit to themselves, and it has a wide range of benefits, from
customization and the options for it, through to financial benefits.

For perspective... I have Asperger's, just strong enough so to keep me on
the unemployment line. I'm weird enough, just baseline naturally, to creep
out any prospective employers for positions where I might actually be of
use. My Disability "check" (as we call it here in the USA -- those in
Europe would likely consider it a form of pension, but here that's really
something only for retired people) is 1095 USD a month.

I don't moonlight, so that 1095 USD has to cover *everything* -- rent,
electricity, water/sewer, Internet service, mobile/cell phone service,
food, medication, and (since I don't drive) public transportation... and
I'm able to set aside 100-150 USD after that, roughly, for "disposable
income", which covers the fun stuff -- computer tinkering, art supplies,
decorations, etc.

I'm building my seventh computer in the cyberdeck form factor that I've
come to love... and I'm planning out #8, slowly, as I do so.

#7 aka "SPACE CAADET" (after the famous MIT Lisp Machine -- or would that
be "MIT Lithp Maschthine", the way Sylvester Cat would say it on Looney
Tunes? -- keyboard), yes I named it, I always do that, I'm silly ;) and I'm
not shouting, it's a (b)ac(k)ronym... it's going to be my first to run off
battery power (unfortunately, it can't run and charge at the same time) and
my first with a Celeron N4000 SoC -- prior to this, everything I've used
pretty well topped out at an Atom x5-8300.

Follow along here, if you'd like (warning to those still on
limited/90s-kind-of-slow connections -- it's *extremely* picture heavy!) --
https://hackaday.io/project/173780-space-caadet

I intend, if I can ever get myself together enough,  to someday put
together a book, which I'll also have done up as a series of online videos
if I can, that teaches people how to make their own.

That's my answer :)