Had several old PCs over the years from relatives, but either gave them to other people or threw them to the trash because I didn’t see the usefulness back then…

Right now all I have is my PC (which I guess I could put VMs on), and maybe a few phones (maybe just because they kinda are there like backup phones), which I couldn’t find how to root, if these are of any use with unrooted Termux.

Do you have any advice about it? Should I start with my PC with VMs? An unrooted phone with Termux? Try to look somewhere that is gonna get rid of PCs or something? If so, where?

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 hours ago

    Not a lot you can do with phones unfortunately. You could set them up as basic fileservers using CopyParty or Syncthing. Don’t use it for anything critical - these are not backup solutions.

    Set up Tailscale to access it outside your network.

    I’ve been told that government auctions canbe a good source for cheap used PCs but I never had much luck there. I suspect that they get snatched up quickly and stripped for parts. Try eBay or Mercari?

    • Iced Raktajino@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      6 hours ago

      I’ve been told that government auctions canbe a good source for cheap used PCs

      Can confirm government surplus auctions or sales are a great source for cheap PCs and that they do get snatched up quickly (guilty!) The only other catch is they never come with hard or solid state drives. I’m assuming those just get pulled and destroyed.