====== Permacomputing ======

**Coined:** 2020 by Ville-Matias "Viznut" Heikkilä\\
**Reference:** [[https://permacomputing.net/|permacomputing.net]], [[http://viznut.fi/texts-en/permacomputing.html|Viznut's original text]], [[https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html|Devine Lu Linvega's write-up]]

===== What It Is =====

Permaculture applied to computing. Permaculture finds clever ways to let nature do the work with minimal artificial energy. Permacomputing asks: **how do we make the most of existing computational resources rather than constantly demanding more?**

  * Maximize hardware lifespan
  * Minimize energy usage
  * Use computation only when it has a strengthening effect on ecosystems
  * Instead of discarding old hardware, find new purposes for it

The first question permacomputing asks: **"Where is technology not appropriate? Where can it be removed?"** Technology gets sold as a timesaver but often adds complexity and creates dependency on supply chains.

===== Design Principles =====

Founded on permaculture's ethics: **Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share**.

Full list: [[https://permacomputing.net/principles/|permacomputing.net/principles]]

Frugal computing means familiarizing yourself with using as little as needed while resources are still available — similar to learning to use a first aid kit while still in the city. You practice when correcting mistakes is still feasible.

===== Hundred Rabbits =====

[[https://100r.co/|Hundred Rabbits]] — Devine Lu Linvega and Rekka Bellum, living and working from a sailboat. In 2017, trying to download a 10GB Xcode update using only 5GB SIM cards, they had to put an iPhone in a bag and hoist it up the mast. That absurdity led to [[https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/uxn.html|Uxn]], a tiny virtual machine that runs on everything from Game Boy Advance to Raspberry Pi Pico.

===== Two Intertwined Strands =====

  - An incentive to reuse and repurpose existing technology
  - Evolving design principles to guide that reuse

===== Connection to Homesteading =====

Digital homesteading asks: what can I run myself, on hardware I control, that will work when third-party services don't?

> "If you want to bake an apple pie, you must first invent the universe." — Carl Sagan

No setup is fully independent — domain registrars, payment processors, supply chains all remain. But meaningful steps toward self-sufficiency are still worth taking.

===== In This Homelab =====

  * Running on a 2011-era CPU that "can't run Chrome" but runs a full homelab stack
  * [[folkzone:infrastructure:docker|Container resource limits]] — every container has explicit memory caps
  * Alpine-based images where possible for minimal footprint
  * [[folkzone:philosophy|Local-first development]] — git repo is the source of truth, server is a deployment target

===== See Also =====

  * [[folkzone:philosophy|Homelab Philosophy]]
  * [[protocols:smallweb:solarpunk|Solarpunk and the Small Web]]
  * [[protocols:smallweb:old_hardware|Low Hardware Requirements of the Small Web]]
  * [[indieweb:offline_knowledge|Offline Knowledge Preservation]]
  * [[start|Return to wiki home]]