Salute to the old PC · 2:14am Dec 12th, 2023
Well, it finally happened.
Back at the end of November 2010, flush with cash, I built the most awesomely overpowered shit-kicking desktop PC I could afford. Over the years, it gradually changed from "cutting edge gaming machine" to "adequate" to "bit too slow for that" to "old reliable" to "actual antique", yet still it continued. I went from a good job to being a poor student to a newly qualified lawyer to a new parent, and all that time I could think to myself, well, whatever else is going on, I have a good computer. And sure, there's some Ship of Theseus/Trigger's Broom philosophising to do, because the PSU, graphics card and RAM were all replaced over those years, but still - it was my computer, and even when I could afford to think about such things again, I wasn't going to replace it until it gave out on me.
Except it didn't. Year after year, it kept chugging on, like some silicon Centennial Lightbulb. I discovered ponies. I discovered Fimfiction. Every Cloptimist story was at least partly written on it (usually in Notepad), every piece of cover art knocked together in my even older copy of Photoshop 7, and its creaking old hard drives still contain notes and fragments and artwork for many more stories never finished.
So it's kind of appropriate that when it finally conked out last week for what I can now confirm was the very last time, almost exactly 13 years old to the day, optical drive and wireless connection long dead, hard drive too knackered to boot up any more (and days away from Steam discontinuing Windows 7 support anyway), the very last thing I'd used it for - after more than two and a half years away from this place! - was to write a new pony story.
Off you go to the great scrap heap in the sky, old friend. You did good.
augh, wow D:
my computer's not doing so hot, but I don't have any time right now to work on setting up the next one :| and I'm not looking forward to losing out on steam either!
Rest in peace old warrior, may you find your place amongst the rest of the typewriter in the sky.
What a fine servant goes at last to its rest. I'd sound a bugle call for it, if I had any idea how to do so. And had a bugle.
Ah, The Bicentennial Lightbulb, one of the great lost Asimov stories
My condolences, if that's an appropriate way to phrase it here?
5758881
Hehe, aww, it's not really any kind of tragic circumstance, I just thought I'd mark its passing on the platform where I used it most
5758905
Ah, well, righto then. :)