Coined: 2020 by Ville-Matias “Viznut” Heikkilä
Reference: permacomputing.net, Viznut's original text, Devine Lu Linvega's write-up

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.

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

Full list: 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 — 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 Uxn, a tiny virtual machine that runs on everything from Game Boy Advance to Raspberry Pi Pico.

1. An incentive to reuse and repurpose existing technology
2. Evolving design principles to guide that reuse

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.

• Running on a 2011-era CPU that “can't run Chrome” but runs a full homelab stack
• Container resource limits — every container has explicit memory caps
• Alpine-based images where possible for minimal footprint
• Local-first development — git repo is the source of truth, server is a deployment target

• Homelab Philosophy
• Solarpunk and the Small Web
• Low Hardware Requirements of the Small Web
• Offline Knowledge Preservation
• Return to wiki home