BIOS

After months of disappearing, I’m able to come back blogging, with A LOTS of drafts. I’ll be updating more details about my current situation in a more dedicated post. But for now, let’s talk something technological interesting. Dell Optiplex 3050 Micro has been my ideal open source desktop PC for quite a while, probably since the first time when Libreboot added its support. Recently, I got the chance to have one of these as an upgrade from my older mini PC build. ...

Days before mini-PC become a thing, there was no NUC, MinisForum or Beelink. It was the time of thin client and SFF (small-form-factor), manufacturers such as Shuttle, Dell and Lenovo were made a lot of these. Back then, the performance of SoC was too weak so that even laptops wouldn’t use them. But my first dedicated home lab machine was an Atom D525, which was called embedded industrial computer. It served as a router rather than server due to its performance and heat. That was also the time when I got into the world of m0n0wall derivatives (pfSense/FreeNAS). ...

Old Stories The computer hardware used to be more playful and worth tinkering. My favorate platfom from a decade ago, Sandy Bridge on LGA 1155, can still be powerful even today. Back in the days, I used to repair people’s electronics for free. Because of that, I also received a lots of spares and e-waste in exchange. One of the best was a LGA 1155 motherboard with i5-2300 on it. Then, I bought a cheap E3-1245 and GTX 750 Ti to make it a gaming rig. I played a lot of games on that, such as Dark Souls series and Metro series. Before it was sold, last games I played on this build was Metro Exodus and Elden Ring. ...