I do not remember very clear all my computer hardware and software
history. So here are very crude memories.
~1989-1990
My first computer was
=> ZX Spectrum
assembled by my father using brutal soviet space-related connectors,
wires and cases. I was something like 4-5 years old. I used to play
more than a hundred games on it. It included
=> BASIC
programming language manual, that I was reading and wanted to create
programs since that time by myself.
CPU: Zilog Z80
RAM: 48 KB
Video output: Ordinary TV
Storage: Ordinary audio tapes
Joystick: Sinclair compatible
1996
286-based IBM PC/AT appeared in our family. One relative just gave it away
for free.
Mostly I played various games on it, with a dozens of floppies.
=> Volkov Commander
was used as a file manager. It was very lightweight, comparing to
huge and bloated Norton Commander.
CPU: i286
Video output: EGA
Storage: 2x 5.25" floppy drives
Mouse: No
OS: MS-DOS
1997
386-based PC. Again we had got it for free. Initially there
was no HDD in it. After it appeared, noone understood how can that
capacity be filled with anything.
CPU}: AMD i386, Cyrix FasMath math coprocessor
Video output: VGA
Storage: 5.25", 3.5" floppy drives, 300 MB IDE HDD
Mouse: COM-port
OS: MS-DOS
1998
That computer was powerful monster that we upgraded several times. I
became something like an advanced user, helping anyone with anything
related to PCs, building and assembling all that stuff.
I began to use various software, study it, trying to program, play
with various operating systems, and so on. I loved that computer!
That DX4 120 MHz CPU was powerful enough to run software/games aimed
for Pentium-90. It could even play MPEG-1 and MP3 multimedia formats.
CPU: AMD i486 DX4 120 MHz
RAM: ended with 32 MB
Storage: 5.25" (???), 3.5" floppy drives, 600 MB IDE HDD,
then 2.5 GB one, CD-ROM
Video: SVGA, VLB
Audio: ended with SoundBlaster AWE32
Mouse: PS/2
OS: Windows 95, Windows 98, OS/2
End of 1990s
Many of my school comrades purchased powerful new shiny
Pentium-based PCs and their obsolete 286/386 machines had no value
anymore. Our family (space engineers in 1990s Russia) was rather
poor and can not afford upgrading for completely new computer. All
previous hardware was taken for very low prices, mainly second-hand
one. So our 486 was already rusty enough comparing to modern
computer people had.
I took those 286/386 machines people wanted to junk out. I connected
them with LPT and COM-ports to be able to play games like
=> Doom
together. That was wonderful time!
~2003
I had got internal 9600bps modem for free. I did not know what
to do with it, but some shareware software had an advertisement of
(russian, Moscow-located)
=> BBS
I called it, connected for the first time, completely changed my life.
I spent hours on BBSes downloading various stuff, including list of
another BBSes. I persuaded my parents to buy higher speed external
modem. That was EliteGroup one. Later I exchanged it for Courier
V.everything. *The best* modem at that time I could imagine.
I loved hours spent with it with configuration increasing my rates
on BBSes.
One of the files I have downloaded was
=> "64 kilobytes about the FidoNet"
I wanted to join FidoNet. Internet was pretty expensive and useless,
but I bought several times РОЛ dialup ISP access cards for
occasional connections. I registered @rambler.ru email, that was
used to communicate with our city's FidoNet boss node sysop. I
joined FidoNet and have been in it for several years. One of the most
wonderful time in my life. Every day I spent hours reading and writing
=> echomail
ISA 9600bps V.32 modem
External EliteGroup V.34 modem
External USRobotic Courier V.everything (HST protocol support!)
Middle 2000s
Computer on which I have started active programming and using of
Unix-like operating systems. I met
=> How to become a hacker
(by Eric S. Raymond) book (translated to russian), read it,
decided and understood that Unix is the only right way. My first
Unix-like OS was Mandrake, that I got on my birthday. I have spent
so many time with it! Later was RedHat. I was studying programming
on Perl.
Also I can never forget the day then I saw FreeBSD 4.5 distribution
on 4 CDs on radio market and asked my parents to buy it. At first,
that was very complicated task to install that OS, because no
Internet connection, noone I could ask to help me. But soon I loved
that OS and then worked with FreeBSD up to 5.X series. I worked on FreeBSD
more than six years. All FidoNet software was working on it perfectly.
Of course I still played many games on it. But even Quake 3 was running
perfectly under FreeBSD with Linux-emulation layer enabled. Still remember
how I downloaded ~30 MB executable of Quake3 for GNU/Linux systems for the
whole night long over our noisy telephone lines.
CPU: AMD K6-2 233 MHz
RAM: 64 MB (???)
Storage: 3.5" floppy drive, 2.5 GB IDE, 8.4 GB UDMA HDD,
Teac W540E CD-RW, DVD-ROM
Video: AGP-based i740
Audio: SoundBlaster AWE32
Connectivity: Intel Pro/100 100Mbps Ethernet
OS: Windows 98} (only for games),
Linux Mandrake 7.0,
FreeBSD 4.5/5.0/5.X,
RedHat GNU/Linux 7.0/7.1/7.2/7.3
=> Perl
~2004
Motorola cellular phone appeared and used exclusively as a GPRS
modem for Internet access. Since then I began to use Internet,
because at least I was paying only for the traffic, not spent time.
I have never entered Internet on Windows system -- I have already
moved to FreeBSD/GNU/Linux. However most of traffic was passing
through the FidoNet.
Motorola C350L cellular phone
~2004-2005
K6-2 computer is parent's one, Athlon appeared as my own. Many
upgrades were done on it that I do not remember. That was my main
working computer for many years, where I began to work
professionally.
ADSL Internet access appeared with 160/128 (downstream, upstream)
Kbps speeds, later increased to 2+ Mbps/512Kbps. I used BitTorrent
and created online services with IPv4 static address. I also run
Tor exit node.
CPU: AMD Athlon-1800
RAM: ended with 512 MB
Storage:
3.5" floppy drive, hardware/software RAID 0/1 2x ATA-133 HDDs,
Teac W540E CD-RW, DVD±RW
Video: AGP-based GeForce MX-200
Audio: SoundBlaster Live!
Connectivity: 100Mbps Ethernet, ADSL (bridge between Ethernet)
OS: FreeBSD, Debian
~2005-2006
One man gave me for free his Nokia cellphone 5100. After ADSL appeared
in our home, no GRPS modem connectivity required. I gave Motorola to my
friend. Well, Nokia was rather good quality cellphone.
2006
Started extensive usage of POSIX shell, Ruby and Ruby On Rails,
being the part of Inquisitor project.
=> Inquisitor
=> POSIX shell
=> Ruby
=> Ruby On Rails
2006
One of my first salary was spent for Palm PDA. It served me till
middle of 2010s. That was the best handheld device I have ever used!
I wear it everywhere, making huge quantity of notes with its
graffiti typing system -- I typed faster than anyone could with their
on-screen keyboards.
=> Palm Tungsten E2
=> graffiti
~2008
I purchased ThinkPad laptop and used as a main workstation,
leaving Athlon to host Internet services all days long. It was
the best laptop I had -- no touchpad, three button mouse, very
high quality keyboard, heavy, strong, powerful, reliable. I used it
at work, at institute, at home, everywhere. That was the first
Intel-based (except for 286) computer in our family.
I tried to use Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux distributions, because my
work involved many hardware and Linux-specific tasks. I used
GNU/Linux for seven years since then. Ubuntu sucks -- very low
quality. Debian was my most favourite distribution. I used it since
4.0 till 7.0.
After its display breakage I used it as a gateway at home, hosting
all Internet related things, email server, Tor exit node, torrents.
=> ThinkPad R60e
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: SATA HDD, SATA DVD±RW
Video: Intel GMA950
Audio: Intel HDA
Connectivity: Intel 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD, Debian, Ubuntu
2006-2007
I was interested in free software movement much and became FSF
member (supporter) and FSFE fellow. I completely abandoned
proprietary software world.
~2009
Because of GNU/Linux inside, I bought Motorola Ming smartphone.
Well, I liked it. Very beautiful in my opinion with hackish
speaker placement. I paired it with Palm handheld for
reading/writing SMSes and synchronizing contacts (as far as I
remember). It is still the only mobile device with built-in
camera I have ever had. It was drained two times, rusted and broke
after a while.
=> Motorola A1200e
2008-2010
I bought and used for several years Lemote YeeLoong netbook, making
all my institute-related works, drawings, presentations, documents
and my professional programming.
It had buggy CPU and one of Debian updates did not include the
bugfix, so it became broken (stalls after random time) and I did not
know about that bug and decided that it ended his life completely
(however I just could downgrade the Debian).
=> Lemote Yeeloong
CPU:
=> Loongson 2F
=> MIPS64 with FPU 800MHz
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: 160 GB SATA HDD
Video: Silicon Motion SMI712
Audio: Present
Connectivity: RTL8139 100 Mbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
~2010
I used EeePC 701 netbook after that. With an external monitor and
keyboard it was pretty acceptable (and very cheap) computer to work
on. I used it as my main workstation for quite long time.
=> EeePC 701
CPU: Intel Celeron
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: 4 GB SSD
Video: 1024x768
Audio: Present
Connectivity: 100 Mbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
2010+
Athlon and ThinkPad gateway/servers were replaced with GuruPlug. It
worked for some time, but had huge problems with heating. After some
update it stopped booting. I did not have JTAG connector for
reaching console, so I quickly (because it acted like email server,
Tor node) replaced it with EeeBox nettop -- cheap and good enough,
quiet, low-power computer.
=> EeeBox
=> GuruPlug Plus
CPU: 1.2 GHz ARM
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: 512 MB NAND, eSATA HDD
Video: No
Audio: No
Connectivity: 2x 1Gbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
~2010-2011
For supporting fully free software based cellphones, I bought
OpenMoko one. Honestly its audio quality sucked. You *had to*
solder something (I asked for help one guy on work) in it, to make
its microphone less buzzing. But it voice, SMS, Internet and WiFi
worked. I gave it to one of my colleagues in 2015-2016 -- it was
still working.
=> Neo Freerunner
2011
I lead OpenSAN (OpenSAN.org) project development.
It was free software SAN based on OpenWRT.
=> OpenSAN
Also I started to learn Python with Django.
=> Lua
=> Django
=> Python
~2012-2013
I wanted to purchase a good and powerful laptop again. ThinkPad
T420 was it. Nothing especial. Relatively good. I used it with
Debian, but after systemd shit appeared, that distribution began to
smear. I abandoned GNU/Linux world and switched back to FreeBSD,
already containing huge quantity of improvements for that 7 years I
missed it.
=> ThinkPad T420
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: SATA HDD, 100 GB Kingston SATA SSD later
Video: Intel GMA3000, DisplayPort
Audio: Intel HDA
Connectivity: Intel 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: Debian, FreeBSD
~2012-2013
I replaced my Freerunner with OpenPhoenux -- more modern 3G
cellphone with free software inside. It was several times more
expensive than Freerunner, but it had satisfactory microphone
out-of-box, without any hacks. It was really high quality, made in
Bavaria with fast 3G connectivity. It served me 6-7 years.
=> OpenPhoenux/GTA04
2013
I fully moved to programming on Python. Also with much SQL.
Python
=> SQL
~2013-2014
I purchased full-featured real server, that looks like FreeNAS Mini.
Later I bought second one. One of them is still used as a gateway
and Internet-connected server, another one is not so critical and
sometimes used for heavy long-term computation tasks.
=> FreeNAS Mini
They are perfect! Very quiet (my Dell laptop is louder!), very
reliable, high performance, no compatibility problems, high-end
quality chipset, SATA and network controllers.
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 3.1 GHz
RAM: 16 GB ECC
Storage: Hotswapped 2x 2/3 TB SATA HDDs, SATA SSD
Video: VGA
Connectivity: 2x Intel "igb" 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: HardenedBSD, FreeBSD
~2014
For very low price I bought ThinkPad X201i laptop with partly
broken display. It is some kind of backup for my main working
computer. And it really saved me once when police seized nearly all
my hardware for weeks because of Tor exit-node!
=> ThinkPad X201i
CPU: Intel Core i3
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: SATA HDD
Video: Intel GMA
Audio: Intel
Connectivity: 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2015
I tried, loved and fully moved to programming on Go language at
ivi.ru. Then I have changed my workplace and unfortunately returned
back to programming on Python.
=> Go
2016
I purchased Filco tactile keyboard and that completely
changed my life. Since then I absolutely unable to work with
anything, but tactile keyboards. And I stopped worrying about
laptop keyboards at all -- anyway I won't use them except for
seldom occasions. But because laptop is placed too far, because of
keyboard in the front, I also have to use an external monitor. So I
have also stopped worrying about laptop's display at all. Actually
laptop for me is just a portable case, nothing more, where in few
occasions I can use its terminal capabilities.
=> Filco Majestouch 2
tactile keyboard with
=> Cherry MX Blue switches
2017
I gave my ThinkPad T420 to parents and bought Dell Latitude 3470.
ThinkPads became much more expensive and Lenovo's ones have not so
high quality, so I decided to buy relatively cheap laptop.
=> Dell Latitude 3470
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: SATA SSD
Video: Intel GMA, HDMI
Audio: Intel
Connectivity: 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2018-2019
I have bought Ultrium tape drives -- the very long wanted storage.
First tape drive was second-hand and served me nearly a year.
Second one is an external one, the same model.
=> SAS
=> Ultrium LTO-5
70+ LTO 4/5 tapes (800 GB/1.5 TB capacity)
2019
I replaced my GTA04 cellphone with Philips Xenium. It works for
nearly 1.5 week with two SIM cards installed on single battery charge.
Philips Xenium E109
2020-07-01
One of my Filco Majestouch keyboards broke. Replaced it with Das
Keyboard one. 2-port USB3 hub, millimeter ruler at the back,
multimedia keys with volume regulator scroller, aluminium top panel
and completely blank keycaps.
=> Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate
2021-08-20
Dell laptop started to lag and only single USB port left working.
So it was replaced. I do not use laptops anymore.
=> Intel NUC9i9QNX
CPU: Intel Core i9-9980HK 8-cores 2.4GHz
RAM: 64 GB
Storage: 2x 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Video: Intel UHD 640, HDMI
Audio: Realtek ALC256
Connectivity: 2x 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2023-08-21
One of my servers became almost dead, with broken power supply, fans
and occasional reboots. Replaced it with modern midtower solution.
CPU: Intel Xeon E-2356G 6-cores 3.2GHz
RAM: 128 GB ECC DDR4
Storage: same 2x16, 2x20 TB SATA HDDs
Connectivity: 2x Intel "igb" 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2023-09-12
All home computers got 10GbE connectivity.
Intel 82599ES based 1x SFP+ NIC
2x Mellanox ConnectX-3 based 2x SFP+ NIC
Twinax DAC
2x SFP+ 8P8C
2024-05-04
HiDPI experience started.
=> Samsung S27A800 LCD monitor
2024-05-24
Replaced Philips cellular phone with Nokia one with VoLTE support.
Nokia 110 4G DS
2025-01-29
GNSS receiver for more precise NTP clocking.
USB u-blox GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BeiDou/QZSS
CPU: AMD i486 DX4 120 MHz
RAM: ended with 32 MB
Storage: 5.25" (???), 3.5" floppy drives, 600 MB IDE HDD,
then 2.5 GB one, CD-ROM
Video: SVGA, VLB
Audio: ended with SoundBlaster AWE32
Mouse: PS/2
OS: Windows 95, Windows 98, OS/2
End of 1990s
Many of my school comrades purchased powerful new shiny
Pentium-based PCs and their obsolete 286/386 machines had no value
anymore. Our family (space engineers in 1990s Russia) was rather
poor and can not afford upgrading for completely new computer. All
previous hardware was taken for very low prices, mainly second-hand
one. So our 486 was already rusty enough comparing to modern
computer people had.
I took those 286/386 machines people wanted to junk out. I connected
them with LPT and COM-ports to be able to play games like
=> Doom
together. That was wonderful time!
~2003
I had got internal 9600bps modem for free. I did not know what
to do with it, but some shareware software had an advertisement of
(russian, Moscow-located)
=> BBS
I called it, connected for the first time, completely changed my life.
I spent hours on BBSes downloading various stuff, including list of
another BBSes. I persuaded my parents to buy higher speed external
modem. That was EliteGroup one. Later I exchanged it for Courier
V.everything. *The best* modem at that time I could imagine.
I loved hours spent with it with configuration increasing my rates
on BBSes.
One of the files I have downloaded was
=> "64 kilobytes about the FidoNet"
I wanted to join FidoNet. Internet was pretty expensive and useless,
but I bought several times РОЛ dialup ISP access cards for
occasional connections. I registered @rambler.ru email, that was
used to communicate with our city's FidoNet boss node sysop. I
joined FidoNet and have been in it for several years. One of the most
wonderful time in my life. Every day I spent hours reading and writing
=> echomail
ISA 9600bps V.32 modem
External EliteGroup V.34 modem
External USRobotic Courier V.everything (HST protocol support!)
Middle 2000s
Computer on which I have started active programming and using of
Unix-like operating systems. I met
=> How to become a hacker
(by Eric S. Raymond) book (translated to russian), read it,
decided and understood that Unix is the only right way. My first
Unix-like OS was Mandrake, that I got on my birthday. I have spent
so many time with it! Later was RedHat. I was studying programming
on Perl.
Also I can never forget the day then I saw FreeBSD 4.5 distribution
on 4 CDs on radio market and asked my parents to buy it. At first,
that was very complicated task to install that OS, because no
Internet connection, noone I could ask to help me. But soon I loved
that OS and then worked with FreeBSD up to 5.X series. I worked on FreeBSD
more than six years. All FidoNet software was working on it perfectly.
Of course I still played many games on it. But even Quake 3 was running
perfectly under FreeBSD with Linux-emulation layer enabled. Still remember
how I downloaded ~30 MB executable of Quake3 for GNU/Linux systems for the
whole night long over our noisy telephone lines.
CPU: AMD K6-2 233 MHz
RAM: 64 MB (???)
Storage: 3.5" floppy drive, 2.5 GB IDE, 8.4 GB UDMA HDD,
Teac W540E CD-RW, DVD-ROM
Video: AGP-based i740
Audio: SoundBlaster AWE32
Connectivity: Intel Pro/100 100Mbps Ethernet
OS: Windows 98} (only for games),
Linux Mandrake 7.0,
FreeBSD 4.5/5.0/5.X,
RedHat GNU/Linux 7.0/7.1/7.2/7.3
=> Perl
~2004
Motorola cellular phone appeared and used exclusively as a GPRS
modem for Internet access. Since then I began to use Internet,
because at least I was paying only for the traffic, not spent time.
I have never entered Internet on Windows system -- I have already
moved to FreeBSD/GNU/Linux. However most of traffic was passing
through the FidoNet.
Motorola C350L cellular phone
~2004-2005
K6-2 computer is parent's one, Athlon appeared as my own. Many
upgrades were done on it that I do not remember. That was my main
working computer for many years, where I began to work
professionally.
ADSL Internet access appeared with 160/128 (downstream, upstream)
Kbps speeds, later increased to 2+ Mbps/512Kbps. I used BitTorrent
and created online services with IPv4 static address. I also run
Tor exit node.
CPU: AMD Athlon-1800
RAM: ended with 512 MB
Storage:
3.5" floppy drive, hardware/software RAID 0/1 2x ATA-133 HDDs,
Teac W540E CD-RW, DVD±RW
Video: AGP-based GeForce MX-200
Audio: SoundBlaster Live!
Connectivity: 100Mbps Ethernet, ADSL (bridge between Ethernet)
OS: FreeBSD, Debian
~2005-2006
One man gave me for free his Nokia cellphone 5100. After ADSL appeared
in our home, no GRPS modem connectivity required. I gave Motorola to my
friend. Well, Nokia was rather good quality cellphone.
2006
Started extensive usage of POSIX shell, Ruby and Ruby On Rails,
being the part of Inquisitor project.
=> Inquisitor
=> POSIX shell
=> Ruby
=> Ruby On Rails
2006
One of my first salary was spent for Palm PDA. It served me till
middle of 2010s. That was the best handheld device I have ever used!
I wear it everywhere, making huge quantity of notes with its
graffiti typing system -- I typed faster than anyone could with their
on-screen keyboards.
=> Palm Tungsten E2
=> graffiti
~2008
I purchased ThinkPad laptop and used as a main workstation,
leaving Athlon to host Internet services all days long. It was
the best laptop I had -- no touchpad, three button mouse, very
high quality keyboard, heavy, strong, powerful, reliable. I used it
at work, at institute, at home, everywhere. That was the first
Intel-based (except for 286) computer in our family.
I tried to use Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux distributions, because my
work involved many hardware and Linux-specific tasks. I used
GNU/Linux for seven years since then. Ubuntu sucks -- very low
quality. Debian was my most favourite distribution. I used it since
4.0 till 7.0.
After its display breakage I used it as a gateway at home, hosting
all Internet related things, email server, Tor exit node, torrents.
=> ThinkPad R60e
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: SATA HDD, SATA DVD±RW
Video: Intel GMA950
Audio: Intel HDA
Connectivity: Intel 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD, Debian, Ubuntu
2006-2007
I was interested in free software movement much and became FSF
member (supporter) and FSFE fellow. I completely abandoned
proprietary software world.
~2009
Because of GNU/Linux inside, I bought Motorola Ming smartphone.
Well, I liked it. Very beautiful in my opinion with hackish
speaker placement. I paired it with Palm handheld for
reading/writing SMSes and synchronizing contacts (as far as I
remember). It is still the only mobile device with built-in
camera I have ever had. It was drained two times, rusted and broke
after a while.
=> Motorola A1200e
2008-2010
I bought and used for several years Lemote YeeLoong netbook, making
all my institute-related works, drawings, presentations, documents
and my professional programming.
It had buggy CPU and one of Debian updates did not include the
bugfix, so it became broken (stalls after random time) and I did not
know about that bug and decided that it ended his life completely
(however I just could downgrade the Debian).
=> Lemote Yeeloong
CPU:
=> Loongson 2F
=> MIPS64 with FPU 800MHz
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: 160 GB SATA HDD
Video: Silicon Motion SMI712
Audio: Present
Connectivity: RTL8139 100 Mbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
~2010
I used EeePC 701 netbook after that. With an external monitor and
keyboard it was pretty acceptable (and very cheap) computer to work
on. I used it as my main workstation for quite long time.
=> EeePC 701
CPU: Intel Celeron
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: 4 GB SSD
Video: 1024x768
Audio: Present
Connectivity: 100 Mbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
2010+
Athlon and ThinkPad gateway/servers were replaced with GuruPlug. It
worked for some time, but had huge problems with heating. After some
update it stopped booting. I did not have JTAG connector for
reaching console, so I quickly (because it acted like email server,
Tor node) replaced it with EeeBox nettop -- cheap and good enough,
quiet, low-power computer.
=> EeeBox
=> GuruPlug Plus
CPU: 1.2 GHz ARM
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: 512 MB NAND, eSATA HDD
Video: No
Audio: No
Connectivity: 2x 1Gbps Ethernet
OS: Debian
~2010-2011
For supporting fully free software based cellphones, I bought
OpenMoko one. Honestly its audio quality sucked. You *had to*
solder something (I asked for help one guy on work) in it, to make
its microphone less buzzing. But it voice, SMS, Internet and WiFi
worked. I gave it to one of my colleagues in 2015-2016 -- it was
still working.
=> Neo Freerunner
2011
I lead OpenSAN (OpenSAN.org) project development.
It was free software SAN based on OpenWRT.
=> OpenSAN
Also I started to learn Python with Django.
=> Lua
=> Django
=> Python
~2012-2013
I wanted to purchase a good and powerful laptop again. ThinkPad
T420 was it. Nothing especial. Relatively good. I used it with
Debian, but after systemd shit appeared, that distribution began to
smear. I abandoned GNU/Linux world and switched back to FreeBSD,
already containing huge quantity of improvements for that 7 years I
missed it.
=> ThinkPad T420
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: SATA HDD, 100 GB Kingston SATA SSD later
Video: Intel GMA3000, DisplayPort
Audio: Intel HDA
Connectivity: Intel 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: Debian, FreeBSD
~2012-2013
I replaced my Freerunner with OpenPhoenux -- more modern 3G
cellphone with free software inside. It was several times more
expensive than Freerunner, but it had satisfactory microphone
out-of-box, without any hacks. It was really high quality, made in
Bavaria with fast 3G connectivity. It served me 6-7 years.
=> OpenPhoenux/GTA04
2013
I fully moved to programming on Python. Also with much SQL.
Python
=> SQL
~2013-2014
I purchased full-featured real server, that looks like FreeNAS Mini.
Later I bought second one. One of them is still used as a gateway
and Internet-connected server, another one is not so critical and
sometimes used for heavy long-term computation tasks.
=> FreeNAS Mini
They are perfect! Very quiet (my Dell laptop is louder!), very
reliable, high performance, no compatibility problems, high-end
quality chipset, SATA and network controllers.
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 3.1 GHz
RAM: 16 GB ECC
Storage: Hotswapped 2x 2/3 TB SATA HDDs, SATA SSD
Video: VGA
Connectivity: 2x Intel "igb" 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: HardenedBSD, FreeBSD
~2014
For very low price I bought ThinkPad X201i laptop with partly
broken display. It is some kind of backup for my main working
computer. And it really saved me once when police seized nearly all
my hardware for weeks because of Tor exit-node!
=> ThinkPad X201i
CPU: Intel Core i3
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: SATA HDD
Video: Intel GMA
Audio: Intel
Connectivity: 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2015
I tried, loved and fully moved to programming on Go language at
ivi.ru. Then I have changed my workplace and unfortunately returned
back to programming on Python.
=> Go
2016
I purchased Filco tactile keyboard and that completely
changed my life. Since then I absolutely unable to work with
anything, but tactile keyboards. And I stopped worrying about
laptop keyboards at all -- anyway I won't use them except for
seldom occasions. But because laptop is placed too far, because of
keyboard in the front, I also have to use an external monitor. So I
have also stopped worrying about laptop's display at all. Actually
laptop for me is just a portable case, nothing more, where in few
occasions I can use its terminal capabilities.
=> Filco Majestouch 2
tactile keyboard with
=> Cherry MX Blue switches
2017
I gave my ThinkPad T420 to parents and bought Dell Latitude 3470.
ThinkPads became much more expensive and Lenovo's ones have not so
high quality, so I decided to buy relatively cheap laptop.
=> Dell Latitude 3470
CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: SATA SSD
Video: Intel GMA, HDMI
Audio: Intel
Connectivity: 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2018-2019
I have bought Ultrium tape drives -- the very long wanted storage.
First tape drive was second-hand and served me nearly a year.
Second one is an external one, the same model.
=> SAS
=> Ultrium LTO-5
70+ LTO 4/5 tapes (800 GB/1.5 TB capacity)
2019
I replaced my GTA04 cellphone with Philips Xenium. It works for
nearly 1.5 week with two SIM cards installed on single battery charge.
Philips Xenium E109
2020-07-01
One of my Filco Majestouch keyboards broke. Replaced it with Das
Keyboard one. 2-port USB3 hub, millimeter ruler at the back,
multimedia keys with volume regulator scroller, aluminium top panel
and completely blank keycaps.
=> Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate
2021-08-20
Dell laptop started to lag and only single USB port left working.
So it was replaced. I do not use laptops anymore.
=> Intel NUC9i9QNX
CPU: Intel Core i9-9980HK 8-cores 2.4GHz
RAM: 64 GB
Storage: 2x 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Video: Intel UHD 640, HDMI
Audio: Realtek ALC256
Connectivity: 2x 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2023-08-21
One of my servers became almost dead, with broken power supply, fans
and occasional reboots. Replaced it with modern midtower solution.
CPU: Intel Xeon E-2356G 6-cores 3.2GHz
RAM: 128 GB ECC DDR4
Storage: same 2x16, 2x20 TB SATA HDDs
Connectivity: 2x Intel "igb" 1 Gbps Ethernet
OS: FreeBSD
2023-09-12
All home computers got 10GbE connectivity.
Intel 82599ES based 1x SFP+ NIC
2x Mellanox ConnectX-3 based 2x SFP+ NIC
Twinax DAC
2x SFP+ 8P8C
2024-05-04
HiDPI experience started.
=> Samsung S27A800 LCD monitor
2024-05-24
Replaced Philips cellular phone with Nokia one with VoLTE support.
Nokia 110 4G DS
2025-01-29
GNSS receiver for more precise NTP clocking.
USB u-blox GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BeiDou/QZSS