Retro without a cause: PC as a diary

I have been thinking about something lately that I can’t quite form into a cohesive shape … so it might be a completely ridiculous idea that’s a perfect waste of time. If it is, ignore this.

I’ve repeated in the past that blogging is essentially keeping a public diary, which is such a contradiction in terms as to be completely nonsensical. I haven’t changed my mind about that.

This comment set something loose though. It’s true: If you wanted to keep a blog for your own purposes, as an electronic diary, perhaps in a closet somewhere, an old machine might be a viable candidate.

And if I stretch my imagination, this also seems like a possibility for a business, as a kind of electronic logbook. Events that take place over a work day or shift can be added and reviewed in sequence.

From that direction, I guess a blog isn’t an insincere, worthless, pitiful excuse for social contact. It might actually have a function. 🙄

A few things come to mind when this rolls around in my head … apart from what was mentioned in that comment. … 😉

• Assuming this little project would have to serve a web page of some sort, nginx would be a great option. Wicked fast and ultra light.
• nanoblogger also comes to mind, although I have little experience with it and it might not be practical. You’re on your own there.
• So long as I mention nanoblogger, I have to mention charm. You could do a lot worse than a terminal-based python script to work the gears.
• But what also might be useful, is that one-line page server in python. I see that bounce around the Internet a lot, and I don’t know how much more lightweight than that you can get.

Beyond that though, it really becomes a question of balance, between hardware and software. Something like this curmudgeonly 700Mhz Celeron would be ideal, since it has such unfriendly hardware as to be a royal inconvenience … for anything but running terminal services.

Like I said, it’s not a fully fledged idea, just a collection of similar points. The connecting principles are there and the core software is available.

This time it’s really just that the overarching purpose needs to be defined. Right? 😐