Cheapskate's Guide

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THE CHEAPSKATE'S GUIDE TO COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET You need not spend large amounts of cash for decent computers and reasonable Internet services. If you know how, you can get them cheaply. This site is dedicated to showing you how. ESCAPING FROM THE MAINSTREAM INTERNET AND LEAVING THE WEB BEHIND

5-24-21

I began my May 14th article by relating that an online acquaintance had removed her blog from her website. A short time after removing her blog, she took down her entire website and with it her public email address and my only means of contacting her directly... Read More ------------------------- THE TRANSITORY NATURE OF CONTENT ON THE INTERNET   5-14-21 Recently, one of my younger online acquaintances removed the blog from her website that contained nearly five years of articles relating her thoughts, struggles, and stories about home and school life. Her blog was a view into her soul during her late teens and early twenties that she had filled with youthful insights like ..." Read More ------------------------- LINUX HAS LARGELY ABANDONED STILL-USEFUL NEAR-VINTAGE COMPUTERS

5-6-21

I am sure many experienced Linux users who love old hardware will not be surprised to hear that I have been unable to find an up-to-date distribution of Linux that runs well on my near-vintage, nineteen-year-old Dell Inspiron 5100 with 256 MB of RAM. This is the computer I use specifically for testing software designed for old computers. I know few will have much sympathy for users of computers this old or be willing to listen to what I have to say about this. But, given that Linux is a community-supported operating system that does not need to make a profit, I see no valid reason for it not supporting every computer that can still be useful... Read More ------------------------- HOW TO CREATE A STAR WARS THEMED LINUX LAPTOP   4-28-21 HP came out with a fun Windows laptop in 2015 called the Star Wars Special Edition laptop

.

I wish more manufacturers would create themed laptops, because let's face it, computers, especially consumer computers, should be fun! I would like to own HP's Star Wars laptop, but more than five years after it came out, it is still selling for a minimum of $300 on Ebay ($700 original price). I had no intention of paying that kind of money for a more-than-five-year-old, otherwise mediocre laptop, so I created my own Linux version. In this article, I will show you how... Read

More

------------------------- CREATING YOUR OWN DIGITAL FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE   4-16-21 No one should deny that corporations provide many valuable services to consumers; however, a dark side exists to some corporate services that are never admitted in their advertising campaigns. In this article, I will explain one of the dark directions that the giant corporations that dominate the Internet are taking to increase their profits, specifically their efforts to push as many consumers as possible into the cloud, whether this is in consumers' best interests or not. I will then give some concrete methods that consumers can use to resist...

Read More

------------------------- HOW TO TAKE BACK THE INTERNET BY CHOOSING THE INTERNET LESS TRAVELED

4-1-21

Many are concerned today that the Internet has become over commercialized and unfriendly to individuals. We frequently see stories in the news media about the effects of Facebook's misdeeds and issues surrounding Internet walled gardens in general. Some of us lament our lost online privacy and free speech. Few seem to acknowledge, however, that the solution to this problem is simply to realign ourselves with the forces that created the Internet in the first place... Read More ------------------------- STORING A LOCAL COPY OF WIKIPEDIA ON YOUR LINUX LAPTOP WITH KIWIX

3-19-21

The greatest benefit of the Internet may be that information can be free, well ... until it isn't. We now have to pay to view everything from the New York times to much of Youtube. Often, content that is not pay-walled is cluttered with massive amounts of obnoxious advertising. At a time when ever larger slices of the Internet are being put behind paywalls, worrying that your favorite content may be next is wholly justified... Read More ------------------------- FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GHOST BSD   3-13-21 Several people have suggested that I try BSD if I really want a computer that is more under my control. Some BSD users really like it. Many believe that the security of OpenBSD is

better than Linux

.

Others feel that BSD is more stable and trustworthy

... Read More

------------------------- ASSEMBLING A BUDGET, LOW-POWER, COMBINATION HTPC/BACK-UP-AND-DATA-STORAGE PC   3-5-21 I have never had a computer with file transfer rates anywhere close to the USB 3.0 limits. One of the major problems with laptop computers is that they cannot be modified or upgraded much, so I decided to assemble a desktop PC with the fastest file transfer rates I could get for less than $200. Doing this within my budget meant buying and modifying a used desktop PC. Later, I discovered that without modifications even new desktop PC's selling for $2000 to $3000 on Amazon cannot do some types of file transfers as fast as my computer... Read More ------------------------- TAKING A STAND IN THE WAR ON GENERAL-PURPOSE COMPUTING   2-18-21 Imagine yourself sitting in a movie theater so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. You know a thirty-foot-high screen is before you, but you can't see it. Your eyes are still adjusting to the darkness. Finally, you see the black vacuum of space, as if through a portal into another reality. Thousands of tiny points of starlight appear before you. Then, without warning, an almost painful sound erupts from the screen... Read More ------------------------- A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE Q4OS LINUX DISTRIBUTION   2-9-21 One of the biggest problems with bringing an old computer back to life is the operating system and software. Obtaining an older Windows installation CD that is still readable is becoming increasingly difficult. ISO files for versions of Windows older than 10 can no longer be downloaded from the Microsoft website... Read More ------------------------- WHAT TO EXPECT FROM OLD WINDOWS PC'S   1-31-21 Mary Jo Foley said recently on _Windows Weekly_ that Microsoft is currently supporting its Surface and Surface Go lines of computers with firmware and driver updates for about four years after they are first released. This is a little better than Chromebooks and a little worse than Apple computers. Since a well-built Windows PC should last much longer than four years, owners who prefer to continue using their old computers every day may benefit from knowing what to expect after Microsoft has abandoned them... Read

More

------------------------- CASE STUDY 4: MY FAILED ATTEMPT AT REPAIRING A DELL INSPIRON 5000E

1-20-21

I am not a collector of vintage computers. I prefer to own computers that are still useful with the proper choice of software. I often buy old-but-still-useful computers when I come across good deals, but they usually have to be very good deals. Still, I could kick myself every time I remember deciding not to buy any one of many early 1980's era computers that I found for under $10 back in the mid 1990's that are now selling for over $300... Read More ------------------------- WE MAY SOON HAVE CITY-SPANNING 900 MHZ MESH NETWORKS   1-8-21 We may soon have city-spanning public mesh networks that can be used to send text messages and emails and lightly surf the Internet. They may even be useful for voice communication. My guess is that this may happen within the next two to five years, thanks to Amazon's decision to put 900 MHz radios in some of its devices... Read More ------------------------- THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF THE CHEAPSKATE'S GUIDE   12-31-20 I began working on the Cheapskate's Guide website in September of 2018, and it went "on the air" two months later. I began the Cheapskate's Guide with one goal in mind: to help people save money on computers and Internet services... Read More ------------------------- EMBRACE THE SPLINTERNET WITHOUT FLINCHING   12-24-20 Though most Internet users seem to be unaware, the splinternet has arrived. For a number of reasons, the Internet has been splintering into multiple protocols and networks, analogous to the way the success of bitcoin has lead to the emergence of other cryptocurrencies. Since individuals have no control over this, our goals should be to become aware of the new networks and to learn to use them to meet our

needs... Read More

------------------------- WHAT REAL PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THEIR COMPUTERS   12-17-20 Although many professional reviewers write fine reviews of personal computers, they do not write about computers the way people who own them do. I sense something lacking when I read professional reviews. Even my favorite reviewers at Notebookcheck lack that something... Read More ------------------------- THOUGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON UPGRADEABLE COMPUTERS   12-10-20 Upgrading has always been a strategy for minimizing the total cost of buying and owning a computer. The idea is to buy a basic computer now and upgrade later as faster or higher capacity components come down in

price... Read More

------------------------- MY LATEST BRUSH WITH THE CORPORATE INTERNET: GITHUB HAS MY STOLEN CODE

12-3-20

For the first time, I have seen the content creators' side in copyright disputes. Recently, someone blatantly stole my forum code and posted it on GitHub against my wishes... Read More ------------------------- A REVIEW OF YUNOHOST   11-26-20 For most individuals, the cheapest way of hosting a personal website is from a pre-existing home Internet connection. Many experts discourage this, thanks to some problems that must be overcome: limited upload speeds on home Internet connections, security issues, the unreliability of residential Internet connections and electric power, and the technical knowledge and maintenance required... Read

More

------------------------- HP INVENTS PRINTER-AS-A-SERVICE   11-19-20 Just when you thought inkjet printer manufacturers could not be any more crafty, HP invents a new way of extracting money from its customers. First, some consumers who owned inkjet printers made by various manufacturers had to suffer with thimble-sized inkjet cartridges selling for ridiculous prices... Read More ------------------------- SEVEN REASONS FOR HAVING A PERSONAL WEBSITE   11-12-20 Two months ago, I stumbled across a wonderful article by Ana Rodrigues in which she detailed her thoughts and feelings about personal websites and the IndieWeb movement . After reading Ana's article, I realized that, although I have written three or four articles on the Cheapskate's Guide explaining various technical aspects of creating and hosting a website, I have not said much about why anyone should want his or her own website. I guess I just assumed it should be obvious. After more thought, I realized that many who somehow find this website may not intuitively see the value of creating their own. Since the second birthday of the Cheapskate's Guide is in a few days, this seems like an appropriate occasion for explaining why having a personal website can be so worthwhile... Read More ------------------------- HOW TO WATCH NETFLIX MOVIES ON A RASPBERRY PI 4 COMPUTER   11-05-20 For years, I have been searching for a way to watch Netflix on a Raspberry Pi computer. Having a dirt cheap Home Theater PC (HTPC) that only requires a tiny amount of power has always appealed to me... Read

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