Tech Goals
My last schizo post kind of went over mostly computers in my rack. That all kicked off, mostly, because I actually need some self-hosted business running and I didn’t want that to go on a computer that’s probably not going to make it 3-4 months without a compulsive reformat when I ‘just wanna try something’. Not getting back into it, but, it’s just all set up in a way I think will last for what I’m going for now.
The computer I actually use is a Lenovo Legion Go just running Arch+Hyprland. I’ll probably give it a dedicated post soon, but, it’s my daily driver and I like it a lot. I’ve tried several different distros and finally landed on just sticking to Arch. So with that decision, REALLY going to try to refrain from a compulsary reformat and actually set this thing up, config it, and start actually versioning my configs.
With all my computers, it’s very rare that I’m actually setting a computer up with the thought, “it’s going to do this and then I’m not going to touch it”. I get really close but for one reason or another I end up wanting to repurpose something or just mess with stuff. I want to say I’m finally getting sick of doing this and now I just want my rack PCs to do their thing and I want my Legion to just be my solid daily that does everything I need it to.
Veering off computer goals, I want to start decentralizing tech from my phone. I’m generally pretty conscious about my scrolling and just what I’m doing, but I still just get distracted to easily. I also just want to get more intentional about my tech use and content consumption. I’ve also always felt like there were big tradeoffs we make for the convenience. I’m also sick of the notifications.
I want to go back to having a camera in my EDC. It’s still not hard to beat the quality phones put out (as good as they are) and shooting with a camera just feels better and is a lot more fun. The camera on my phone has become more of a utility and that’s just how I feel about it by default. It’s nothing like the feeling of using a device that was made for taking photos. Shooting film is the next and extreme level of this since you only can take so many shots at any given time and each one costs money. But, for me, even digital camera are just worlds more enjoyable to use.
Another single purpose device I want to start carrying is an iPod. I’ve tried a bunch of different DAPs and mobile DAC/Amp setups over the years and, outside of super expensive flagship android-devices, I don’t think anythings really beat the iPod for what you can get out of them. I’ve been a big fan of headphones and IEMs for years and spent my late teens and early 20s on Head-Fi, a headphone audiophile forum. Back then, people were still heavily using and modding iPods. I never got the chance to put one together and the pre-modded ones were insanely expensive, like the iMod.
I’ve never liked the process of getting my own collection on my phone and streaming has made it not necessary for a long time now anyway. But that’s all stuff I just want to get away from for the most part. I’m not looking to completely rip streaming out. Will probably just move away from Tidal in favor of free options for exploring and finding new stuff. I just want that part to be a little more intentional too and less feed driven. I also can’t count the times I’m enjoying a cruise, just vibing, and the best part of the song is when I have to get a notification. I don’t want to have to remember to turn on airplane mode all the time.
So I was excited to see that there’s been something of a resurgence in iPod mods. It also looks like RockBox has made some pretty big strides since I checked it out last - I remember putting it on a Sansa Clip in 2011 or so. For mods, it looks like pretty much everything is available along with a bunch of case options. Think I’m going to find an 80gb fatty to conver to sd card, put a big battery in and maybe some of the other options out there.
I think just moving these couple duties from my phone is a good start towards where I want to be. It’ll probably be a little bit of a process transitioning over. But it’s been something on my mind for a long time. I remember seeing the Light Phone come out, and ever since I’ve wanted to be able to move to something like that. Maybe I’ll dive into it more some day, but I think we lose a lot more than we realize in the name of convenience.