I used to joke about killing computers, until I killed my favorite one since 2021...

The thing isn’t alive by any means, I borked the BIOS/UEFI settings to the point I can’t access them because I was a fool. It has lead to the machine unreliably booting. Garuda Linux, being the beast it is sometimes succeeds despite the curse laid upon that machine by me. Honestly, it was foolish to upgrade more than one BIOS version at a time. It sucks, my primary gaming machine that would’ve likely lasted me at least 2 more years easily is effectively deddo. As I can’t even access the bios of boot menu, recovery tools might not even work. Currently working off of my Garuda Sway laptop, which has become the main PC until I can get a minicomputer for tasks that require sustained and long term computer usage. It won’t take long, at best, a few months of me being a frugal fool. Buying smaller indulgences and paying for necessities only.

A good thing about this is that all my constant YouTube video watching is practically gone. The noise is replaced by productivity instead. Balancing reading with learning to code while attempting rescuing data from the moribund PC that I proudly purchased years ago, with a clever plan and perfect timing. Of course the power outage has complicated the recovery mission by fucking up the mount points…Something that doesn’t happen on Windows at least in my experience. But Linux, the file system isn’t that resilient to power outages, requiring constant touching and adjusting. Ugh, better get that figured out in a hurry. Edit: The fsck didn’t have access to the ntfs part of its capabilities, I tried to get it downloaded. Alas, it wasn’t on the Chaotic-AUR or Extra. My music collection is basically gone. I think I saved most of my important things before disaster struck.

Waves of nostalgia overcome me at the weirdest times when thinking of this PC as it has been on a journey with me. Endured all of my tomfoolery, successfully played so many games that I ended up enjoying nearly to the fullest due to clever tinkering of settings. The procession of tools that I used to craft stories, Microsoft Word, Libreoffice, Collabora, finally to Bibisco as my final creative writing bastion.

Ugh, its so weird that this computer has become so important to me. It’s a sacred treasure that gave me access to things and worlds that I wouldn’t get to see in the limited amount of books my local library contained. Hidden, alone, in a small space that I have a measure of control over. To cultivate my mind, peace, and hopefully some understanding within away from the battering waves of a chaotic world outside these walls.

It shouldn’t feel like it, but losing this reliable older PC is like losing a dear friend. Weird thing to think or even commit to writing down, but that feels true to me. I valued this machine (taking better care of it than myself) as it both represented countless possibilities, but opened doors for me as well. A shame that I fucked the BIOS/UEFI settings up to the point this thing doesn’t have long before it won’t boot anymore.