I shuffled around some peripherals to get a little night stand next to an old computer with limited available applications installed. This old computer has only 2 GB of RAM, but it is enough for most things that might be considered a "good use of time" on a computer, e.g.

• Writing stuff
• Creating programs
• Doing basic email, logistics

Here, I have a kind of hardware-enforced zen computing experience. I'm using a nice ergonomic keyboard and mouse pairing, I am sitting on the floor, and I have an old laptop next to me. While I type, I don't even need to look at the laptop; I can close my eyes, glance over every once in a while, and just let the text flow.

"Downgrading" equipment to upgrade "experience"

One might ask why in the twentieth century would people ever do things like shoot film photography, ride a single speed bicycle, or use decade plus old computer hardware.

Part of the fun of this LARPing (live action role-playing) is that more "modern" solutions often don't offer much new functionality that will actually get used. News features can lead to more complicated/bloated UIs, and an overall more unpleasant experience.

Back to the fundamentals

Another reason people opt for simpler approaches to things is that it offers a return to the "fundamentals". In order for a bicycle to go what is needed? You're going to need some mechanism to turn the wheels; something to be able to slow down and/or stop... that's about it. If you aren't optimizing to be the fastest bicyclist ever (vast majority of people), a single speed bicycle will do just fine. Particularly if you are trying to ride a bicycle to get more exercise, riding a single speed bicycle might be a better choice because you will not be helped along by gearing optimizations and such...

In a similar way, returning to a computer that has "limited" features in many ways is a good opportunity to bring thinking back to myself and to quit fussing over piles and piles of software abstraction. At the end of the day, if I just want to practice writing some code, author some prose, etc., the stripped-down system I have now is much more efficient (i.e. "non-bloated").