Re: modern desktop update recommendations?

[mlh%goathill.org@localhost (MLH)]

beaker%sdf.org@localhost wrote:
> mlh%goathill.org@localhost (MLH) wrote:
> 
> > My ~10 yr old i3-based box needs to be updated. I can't compile
> > anything nontrivial without the box rebooting anymore.
> 
> I think your system should be able to build most packages just fine
> though something like Gnome might take a while.  Some packages,
> ie.  those with lots of fonts, may run out of RAM; this can be
> addressed by adding a swap file (see online documentation for how
> to do this).  I regularly build packages on an old 32 bit box with
> 2GB RAM usually without issue -- once I addressed an ACPI/powerd(8)
> quirk (see below) that would cause sudden system shutdowns during
> even moderate loads.
> 
> If the rebooting is occuring during package building you may want
> to check if it's being triggered by ACPI/powerd(8) receiving faulty
> core temp values which eith the default powerd script initiates a
> system shutdown.  You should see something in the logs relating to
> this if this is the situation.  You can also monitor things during
> a build using envstat(8) to see if something like a temp of "255"
> gets reported (the case on my system).
> 
> The script of interest:
> 
>  /etc/powerd/scripts/sensor_temperature
> 
>  You can either comment out the "shutdown -p.." lines of simply
>  rename the script to something powerd(8) won't see.

Thanks. I hve been using NetBSD since v 1.2 was first released and
have been building complete NetBSD sets and pkgsrc repositories
for banks of computers for over 15 yrs, though I am retired now
and only need it for this one box. None of the normal reasons seem
to be the problem. I suspect the motherboard is dying.  Capacitors
are the typical reason. Appears that sustained i/o (such as during
compiling) is triggering the reboots but don't see anything repeatable
in them.

Time for new hardware.