<![CDATA[One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill.]]>One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. That day I learned something uncomfortable: unless you are a customer capable of causing a PR disaster, your monthly bill doesn’t buy much leverage.

That same week I noticed something else.

Vendor lock-in isnt just a cloud problem. Its a hardware problem too.

Here in Tangier (Morocco), there are warehouses filled with computers that Europe has already written off. Machines with 2-8 GB of RAM and 64-256 GB SSDs, sold by the pallet for almost nothing after being discarded by companies upgrading their fleets.

The hardware wasnt broken. The software had simply moved on.

The OS kept nagging users to upgrade, only to tell them afterward that their computer was too old to run the upgrade.

That is software gaslighting hardware into becoming e-waste. LOL.

So I started buying them.

In the past months I have bought over 5,000 discarded computers, not to build a datacenter, but to understand them, resurrect them, and eventually donate many of them.

That project became ChaosBSD.

In just six months, ChaosBSD has landed 87 upstream commits (it is not a AI number, lol). Ironically, after I started buying old hardware, the prices of SSDs and RAM even DDR2 went through the roof. πŸ˜„

Drivers are unlike almost every other subsystem. Frameworks get rewritten. Filesystems get replaced. APIs evolve. But silicon doesn’t get updates. A driver is either correct, incomplete, or it never gets merged. Once it is upstream, it often stays there for decades. I updated drivers that were not touched for 24 years.

Losing my AWS account taught me not to trust a single cloud provider.

ChaosBSD was my answer to the same problem in hardware.

The project was never just about my machines. The drivers went upstream, so every FreeBSD user benefits from them.

If you have an Intel Apple computer, you can install FreeBSD 16 or DragonFlyBSD on it. The computer will feel snappier than it original OS.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/d1a3d0f1-3699-4722-bc89-1b85966bf409/one-year-ago-aws-deleted-my-10-year-account-over-a-disputed-100-bill.RSS for NodeThu, 23 Jul 2026 23:33:13 GMTThu, 23 Jul 2026 09:22:39 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:08:46 GMT]]>@rbender The garbage is the software.

You’re probably reading this on a machine with more computing power than all of humanity had in 1950.

or on a phone that is more powerful than all the computers that took humanity to the Moon.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116971334983370728https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116971334983370728Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:08:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:01:27 GMT]]>@seuros Thank you for giving old hardware new life. It drives me crazy when people describe old machines as garbage just because Apple or MS won't support newer OS versions on them. These machines are plenty powerful for that vast majority of computer users.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rbender/statuses/116971306203028613https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rbender/statuses/116971306203028613Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:01:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:33:56 GMT]]>@seuros

I wish that hardware would find itself in secondary market

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.ai/users/GhostOnTheHalfShell/statuses/116971198009939805https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.ai/users/GhostOnTheHalfShell/statuses/116971198009939805Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:33:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:25:18 GMT]]>@seuros @trouble +1 use and report back! πŸ˜›

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/erikarn/statuses/116971164031174811https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/erikarn/statuses/116971164031174811Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:25:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:48:15 GMT]]>@seuros

πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.aquilenet.fr/users/tanavit/statuses/116971018356184578https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.aquilenet.fr/users/tanavit/statuses/116971018356184578Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:48:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:45:27 GMT]]>@trouble Thanks ❀️

I'm not in the US but which devices are we talking about ?

You can ship them to @erikarn ... We work together in the stack. But only if we don't have them... Else you can use them. (we merged the drivers πŸ˜€ )

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116971007341608908https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116971007341608908Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:45:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:42:26 GMT]]>@seuros I still have some firewire devices gathering dust in the closet. free to good home (though shipping may be an issue if you're not in the US).

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.ai/users/trouble/statuses/116970995472324629https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.ai/users/trouble/statuses/116970995472324629Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:42:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:39:40 GMT]]>@guenther An another , you can see them stacked on top of each other.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970984624477567https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970984624477567Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:39:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:39:00 GMT]]>@guenther another

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970981983357870https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970981983357870Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:39:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:38:38 GMT]]>@guenther No.

The stores are all over Morocco , One contact got me access to another....

They have unsold inventory rotten. They have weird stock .

I get them for free or less than 100$. I preinstall them with FreeBSD and then we donate them to orphanage, poor people in villages or old people.

2GB RAM and 64GB Disk is good for watching youtube and reading digital newspaper and play basic games.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970980538279349https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970980538279349Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:38:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:23:23 GMT]]>@seuros Wow! So basically there's now a shop somewhere in Tangier that's selling computers with freebsd preinstalled?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/guenther/statuses/116970920552976195https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/guenther/statuses/116970920552976195Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:23:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:08:24 GMT]]>@guenther I don't have have 5000 computer now. I buy a pallet with 300 mac minis or 200 laptops, ect ... (they are cheap because not all of them are working, or marked as working)

I take 1-2 at home, make get the drivers, install them.
The vendor handle the logistic to deliver them to some place that need them.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970861626729584https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970861626729584Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:08:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:58:58 GMT]]>@seuros You bought FIVE THOUSAND old computers? Do you live in a warehouse or something?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/guenther/statuses/116970824563157116https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/guenther/statuses/116970824563157116Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:58:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:04:34 GMT]]>@seuros Thanks! Will check. Would love to find the outlet here.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970610638360202https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970610638360202Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:04:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:03:27 GMT]]>@khm @dalias @seuros
DMA between host and external peripherals are NOT always insecure.
What's mutually insecure would be to allow external peripherals to become bus master "managers".
Until host manages memory range to be transferred by DMA from peripherals under proper control by properly secured IOMMU && the memory range are assured NOT for executing something, maybe it would be considered safe (bus master transfers are allowed, but to secured, protected memory area only).

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/users/TomAoki/statuses/116970606283588571https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/users/TomAoki/statuses/116970606283588571Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:03:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:02:32 GMT]]>@adritheonly the tube is correct link. go to minute 27 (the scrapyards) ... At one point the guy say that everything he don't buy end up in Africa....

You can even see he has a shit lot of Samsung Evo at his home, which he bought for 2-6 GBP per kg.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970602631188720https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970602631188720Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:02:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:49:35 GMT]]>@seuros πŸ˜† I bought mine 2nd hand from a shop that imported them from the US. Haven't seen SSDs 2nd hand though?
EDIT: the Tube seems to be about game boxes in England. That's a whole different kettle of fish.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970551746642210https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970551746642210Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:49:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:46:57 GMT]]>@adritheonly Your country receive deprecated hardware from Netherlands for sure.

Sometime some of those companies just like to destroy them instead of sorting them/donating them.

Check this video https://youtu.be/NU040CTdJI0 ...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970541404222126https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970541404222126Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:46:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:43:27 GMT]]>@grant_h Your chipset should be supported. I bought most chipset and tested them personally.

@erikarn tested few others.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970527589034128https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/ap/users/115831158931920733/statuses/116970527589034128Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:43:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:41:28 GMT]]>@seuros Wow! My 14yr old PC with its 2 even older HDDs just blushed. Any chance some of those "old" SSDs can migrate to South Africa?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970519794993958https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/adritheonly/statuses/116970519794993958Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:41:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:40:32 GMT]]>@encthenet @seuros We'll tackle that eventually, there's a lot of cleanup to do and both seuros and i have plenty of device<->device setups to test this on.

(I've already found lols when doing iperf between FW connected devices so that's on my plate to fix..)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/erikarn/statuses/116970516148187497https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/erikarn/statuses/116970516148187497Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:40:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:37:43 GMT]]>@seuros Audio person with a firewire i7 laptop here, appreciating this.
I have been wanting to move my old i7 gen3 laptop off windows, but it has the Texas Instruments FW chipset, which is the gold standard for audio. I've done 16 channels for 8 solid hours without losing a bit.

Thank you!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grant_h/statuses/116970505078380836https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grant_h/statuses/116970505078380836Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:37:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:34:34 GMT]]>@seuros mad respect!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/Bobo_PK/statuses/116970492702059454https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/users/Bobo_PK/statuses/116970492702059454Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:34:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to One year ago, AWS deleted my 10-year account over a disputed $100 bill. on Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:31:49 GMT]]>@seuros

Thanks for the work. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for FireWire.

Did you test out dcons? To make sure it still works?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://flyovercountry.social/users/encthenet/statuses/116970481894495577https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://flyovercountry.social/users/encthenet/statuses/116970481894495577Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:31:49 GMT