Hacker News with Generative AI: Personal Computing

There Were Always Enshittifiers. My March, 2025 Locus Magazine Column (pluralistic.net)
My latest Locus column is "There Were Always Enshittifiers." It's a history of personal computing and networked communications that traces the earliest days of the battle for computers as tools of liberation and computers as tools for surveillance, control and extraction:

History, Technology, Surveillance, Personal Computing, Networking

9 points by rbanffy 25 days ago | 0 comments

One Week with Desktop Linux After a 20 Year Absence (naildrivin5.com)
I bought a Framework laptop a couple weeks ago, set it up with stock Ubuntu, and used it for my primary computer for a week. It’s the first time I’ve used Linux in earnest in 20 years. It’s amazing how much has changed and how much hasn’t.

Linux, Operating Systems, Personal Computing, Reviews

10 points by vinnyglennon 36 days ago | 3 comments

I bought a Mac (loganius.org)
Yep. I regret to inform you all that, as of January 2025, I am a Mac user: I bought a Mac. I have betrayed the penguin.

Mac, Personal Computing, Operating Systems

237 points by todsacerdoti 40 days ago | 135 comments

Best Linux distro in 2025 for non-experts (ycombinator.com)
This is about finding a good linux distro for my parents to use. Apparently, Windows now requires an outlook account in order to log into your computer. Well - his outlook account has been hacked. (In fact, it's the second time he's had a Microsoft account be hacked.

Linux Distributions, Operating Systems, Personal Computing, Security

23 points by vvvnnnnvvv 54 days ago | 33 comments

The Year on Linux (world.hey.com)
I've been running Linux, Neovim, and Framework for a year now, but it easily feels like a decade or more.

Linux, Operating Systems, Personal Computing

6 points by kugurerdem 55 days ago | 0 comments

Commodore Invented the Mass Market Computer (every.to)
In 1980, Commodore opened its first computer factory in Germany. In just three years, the company had become the third-largest computer manufacturer in the world. With annual revenue of $680 million (more than $2.2 billion today), its success was largely due to its Polish-American founder, Jack Tramiel.

History, Technology, Business, Personal Computing

42 points by rbanffy 67 days ago | 9 comments

There Were Always Enshittifiers (04 Mar 2025): Daily Links from Cory Doctorow (pluralistic.net)
My latest Locus column is "There Were Always Enshittifiers." It's a history of personal computing and networked communications that traces the earliest days of the battle for computers as tools of liberation and computers as tools for surveillance, control and extraction:

History, Technology, Surveillance, Politics, Personal Computing

5 points by rbanffy 79 days ago | 0 comments

Why fastDOOM is fast (fabiensanglard.net)
During the winter of 2024, I restored an IBM PS/1 486-DX2 66Mhz, "Mini-Tower", model 2168. It was the computer I always wanted as a teenager but could never afford. Words cannot do justice to the joy I felt while working on this machine.

Retro Computing, Personal Computing, Nostalgia

672 points by wicket 80 days ago | 219 comments

Enjoying the Stability of Linux (paoloamoroso.com)
It's been seven months since my switch back to Linux in July of 2024 and, despite some early issues, my experience with Mint has been smooth and uneventful.

Operating Systems, Linux, Personal Computing

6 points by devonnull 89 days ago | 0 comments

Building a personal, private AI computer on a budget (ewintr.nl)
As everyone is well aware, the world is still going nuts trying to develop more, newer and better AI tools. Mostly by throwing absurd amounts of money at the problem.

Artificial Intelligence, Personal Computing, Budget, DIY

384 points by marban 102 days ago | 230 comments

Building a personal, private AI computer on a budget (ewintr.nl)
As everyone is well aware, the world is still going nuts trying to develop more, newer and better AI tools. Mostly by throwing absurd amounts of money at the problem.

Artificial Intelligence, Personal Computing, Budget

10 points by todsacerdoti 103 days ago | 0 comments

Whatever Happened to Unix Workstations? (howtogeek.com)

Operating Systems, History, Technology, Personal Computing

4 points by palmfacehn 104 days ago | 2 comments

Personal Software (leerob.com)
Personal computers became mainstream in the 90s. Yet in a strange twist, the software they ended up running wasn’t very personal at all.

Software, History, Technology, Personal Computing

56 points by leerob 107 days ago | 56 comments

Ask HN: I have $5k to spend on a local AI machine, what should I get? (ycombinator.com)
I would like to run local models as large and as fast as possible for around $5,000 USD. Is an Apple machine the best choice with their shared memory or is there a particular GPU that would be more cost effective? Thanks!

Artificial Intelligence, Hardware, Personal Computing, Budget

17 points by siltcakes 115 days ago | 20 comments

The First Perfect Computer (celso.io)
This is a story about restoring and upgrading a Commodore Amiga 1000, the first model of the Amiga series.

Retro Computing, Hardware, Personal Computing, History

11 points by celso 117 days ago | 0 comments

Thanks to Nvidia, there's a new generation of PCs coming and they'll run Linux (zdnet.com)
I know, I know: "Year of the Linux desktop ... yadda, yadda." You've heard it all before. But now there's a Linux-powered PC that many people will want: Nvidia's Project Digits, a desktop with AI supercomputer power that runs DGX OS, a customized Ubuntu Linux 22.04 distro.

Nvidia, Linux, Personal Computing, AI

69 points by CrankyBear 131 days ago | 40 comments

I will never need to buy a new computer again (82mhz.net)
If you’re in your early thirties or older, you remember the breakneck pace at which computers were improving in the 90s and 2000s.

Technology, Personal Computing, Nostalgia, Moore's Law

146 points by ecliptik 131 days ago | 181 comments

Switched Back to Windows After over 10 Years on Linux (reddit.com)
After more than a decade using Linux, primarily Fedora, I’ve realized that in my current phase of life, everything needs to work seamlessly. The constant need to tweak and fix things when something breaks has become too frustrating, so I’ve switched back to Windows.

Operating Systems, Linux, Windows, Personal Computing

35 points by thunderbong 151 days ago | 97 comments

Evolving my ergonomic setup (or, my laptop with extra steps) (ntietz.com)
My computer setup attracts attention when I'm out and about. This has two effects: engineers1 ask me about it, and everyone else ignores me. These effects are not undesirable, but further testing is required.

Ergonomics, Hardware, Personal Computing, Software

181 points by Liriel 163 days ago | 116 comments

I can now run a GPT-4 class model on my laptop (simonwillison.net)
Meta’s new Llama 3.3 70B is a genuinely GPT-4 class Large Language Model that runs on my laptop.

Generative AI, Personal Computing

96 points by simonw 165 days ago | 34 comments

Microsoft built a PC that can't run local apps (techcrunch.com)
Prefer to offload all your Windows tasks to the cloud? Microsoft may just have the compact, desk-bound computer for you.

Cloud Computing, Microsoft, Personal Computing, Hardware

8 points by skadamat 185 days ago | 3 comments

Now lie in it: an uxntal retrospective (xxiivv.com)
Autumn is just around the corner, and when the leaves begin to fall, it will have been four years since the early sketches of a personal computing system which became Uxn. I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what has happened since.

Retrospective, Programming, Personal Computing

59 points by surprisetalk 203 days ago | 15 comments

Virtual archaeology: Recreating the first PC I ever used (2022) (fabulous.systems)
There are some things in life you will remember forever. In case you are just like me, then the very first PC you ever used is most likely one of these things.

Virtual Reality, Technology, Nostalgia, Personal Computing

22 points by felsqualle 203 days ago | 4 comments

Ed Roberts created the personal computer industry (2023) (every.to)
In September 1974, Ed Roberts was sitting at the bank in a foreclosure meeting. His once-profitable calculator company, Micro Instrument and Telemetry Systems (MITS), had exhausted its $250,000 overdraft and was on the verge of bankruptcy. But Roberts wasn’t getting ready to shut down. Instead, he was soliciting a $65,000 loan. Not to spend on calculators, he explained to the bank, but for something completely different. Something nobody had done before. He planned to build an affordable personal computer.

History, Personal Computing, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Business

76 points by rbanffy 205 days ago | 45 comments

A Bicycle for the Mind – Prologue (technicshistory.com)
“When man created the bicycle, he created a tool that amplified an inherent ability. That’s why I like to compare the personal computer to a bicycle. …it’s a tool that can amplify a certain part of our inherent intelligence. There’s a special relationship that develops between one person and one computer that ultimately improves productivity on a personal level.”

Technology, Personal Computing, Analogies, Productivity

14 points by dotcoma 208 days ago | 2 comments

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 1) (ploum.net)
Twenty years ago, I had an epiphany: Linux was ready for the desktop.

Linux, Operating Systems, Personal Computing, History

6 points by mmphosis 212 days ago | 0 comments

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 1) (ploum.net)
Twenty years ago, I had an epiphany: Linux was ready for the desktop.

Linux, Operating Systems, History, Personal Computing

13 points by thunderbong 213 days ago | 1 comments

Refurb weekend: the Symbolics MacIvory Lisp machine I have hated (blogspot.com)
Every collector has that machine, the machine they sunk so much time and, often, money into that they would have defenestrated it years ago except for all the aforementioned time and money.

Retrocomputing, Computers, Personal Computing, History

29 points by zdw 222 days ago | 2 comments

Refurb weekend: the Symbolics MacIvory Lisp machine I have hated (blogspot.com)
Every collector has that machine, the machine they sunk so much time and, often, money into that they would have defenestrated it years ago except for all the aforementioned time and money.

Retrocomputing, Personal Computing, History, Computer Hardware, Lisp

182 points by rcarmo 222 days ago | 99 comments

Uxn (100r.co)
The Uxn/Varvara ecosystem is a personal computing stack based on a small virtual machine that lies at the heart of our software, and that allows us to run the same application on a variety of systems.

Virtual Machines, Operating Systems, Personal Computing

450 points by tosh 227 days ago | 98 comments