I think I need a beeger bawx

As a Linux sysadmin you don’t really need that much. Basically a computer on which you can install a Linux distribution of choice, configure it, and be able to use a browser and open up a terminal to work on the servers you manage. I didn’t have much requirements outside of those.

For the longest time I’ve been working on my old and trusty computer from 2013.

The computer still works fine-ish; it is a bit sluggish in some regards and suboptimal in others. It has some boot quirks related to UEFI, and I haven’t even updated it much, mostly because the Linux distro I use (Funtoo) is a bit too much high-maintenance in that regard. But it does have some downsides: it’s not exactly a silent machine, the fans make it pretty loud; its CPU is slow and does not support a host of modern features, the motherboard does not support M.2 drives.

But it’s not all great: I’ve been getting harddrive failures that I thought were due to the drives, so I bought new ones – which upon connecting also started giving me failures right from the get go. Argh! It looks like the SATA connectors (the connectors that take a cable to connect the motherboard with the harddrives) are wonky and are starting to fail. I guess I need finally need that a new machine i.e. a bigger box.

In the last week No Agenda listeners have been spoiling me with donations for which I am very grateful, and I figured to save them up towards my goal: getting a new, modern, big, and especially a silent machine. I’ve added a progress bar to the front page and put a number of €5000.– before taxes to it. It’s something that I would use for at least another 10 years because that seems to be how often I upgrade.

I want to be able to code on it, compile programs at a decent speed, test, build, and allow my kids to be able to play games on it. Especially that last part raises the bar because it needs a decent graphics card and fast storage. Water cooled can make it run silently when not gaming, and of course aesthetics matter too, it has to look cool, how else are my kids going to impress their friends?

Much thanks to the No Agenda family for chipping in. It really does make my day – and year! If you’re not sure where to donate then it’s easy: No Agenda comes first. But if you can spare a little or a lot, donation buttons are on the front page.

Thanks for your consideration!