2x 2U HP DL385 (Gen 2 I think)
2x HP thin client PCs
2x Cisco managed switches
1x Cisco router (can't remember the model)
A handful of network cables.
This kick-started my career in operations, thanks to a dodgy VMware Server, Windows SBS 2003, XP Pro/W2K/Office 2k3, etc..
After spending months learning from books and the internet, I landed a job as a field engineer for a small MSP in London with no formal technical background/degree.... nearly 20 years ago now!
What purchase under $1000 has changed your life the most?
Most of the first x86_64 PC's that I loaded Linux onto. They were a hobby and that hobby turned into a career that I was able to retire from. It's still a hobby and the machines are still affordable.
For me, it's a tie between a bidet and a standing mixer. Both of those were utterly life-changing for me, and with both, I regretted not getting them years earlier.
A $50 bidet is great! If you have room in the budget, though, take a look at slightly higher-end ones. Especially ones that have a built-in blow drier. It sounds silly, but it's luxurious. For something you use constantly, it might be worth an extra $100 or so.
This is going to sound insane, but probably the Nintendo Switch (or maybe the capture card I got after that). That ended up kickstarting my YouTube channel and internet presence a ton, including my most popular video, and launched my community on the side. That community ended up introducing me to many of my closest friends, getting me various interviews with project leaders and figures in the gaming world, and (due to the site/channel/community being mentioned on my CV at one point), likely got me at least one of my tech jobs.
Book! I spend around ~€300 per year on books. Not only do I get lots of interesting ideas, concepts, perspective and cool history, I also get a good night’s sleep on days that I substitute infinite-scrolling-of-doom with books.
Also, I read a lot of tech books which often includes a lot of surprising new things that improves my work suddenly or unlocks issues at work by providing entirely simply solutions(of course adapted to my problem).
Also some indoor plants, they probably do a bit of air cleaning but their aesthetics cheer me up when I am back home.
Good pair of comfortable shoes I bought last year reduced my chronic back pain(hard soles apparently strains the heels and eventually back muscles?!).
Not OP, but I use one of those cheap clip on LED lights. I'd suggest one with adjustable brightness, as the ones without are just too bright in complete dark.
#1 My first hub & patch cables back as an early teen to learn networking.
#2 Air Fryer
#3 Wedge pillow - Eliminated my chronic back pain completely in ~2 weeks about 7 years ago and it's not returned since I've kept using it.
#4 CGM off Craigslist - wasn't approved from previous insurance, but made managing my illness go from frustrating to nearly effortless so I fought to find better insurance and I'm doing awesome.
#5 Mint - Went from reckless spender to super saver.
#6 Incline treadmill - lost 45lbs in the first year watching shows and movies
I bought a high speed sheet-fed scanner to be used with paperless-ngx
based on a recent thread on HN. Before that my filing system for
financial statements and other important documents was verging on
meltdown and causing me considerable anxiety, but now that burden has
been lifted. The scanner is configured to send documents directly to a
home network file server that's always on and will store them until
the next time I boot my desktop rig, so it's nearly frictionless to
drop every piece of mail that comes through the door immediately into
the scanner, which has a box under it, instead of piling it up on my
desk where it used to stay for months. I wish I started this years ago
and I thank everyone who contributed to that thread. Honorable
mention: a printer with liquid ink tanks for £100 with thousands of
pages worth of ink has just replaced a £30 inkjet printer I got ten
years ago that made me cough up another £30 or £40 pounds every time
the cartridges ran out. It's expensive to be poor.
The scanner is an Epson ES-580W, but any model would be adequate that
can scan directly to a network folder by FTP or FTPS over wifi or
ethernet. Some are claimed to support SFTP but I think the copywriter
meant FTPS. They seem to follow the network protocol standards well
enough to work with Linux even without any special drivers. Although
the scanner interacts with my file server, I prefer to run
paperless-ngx on my desktop, so an incron job runs on the file server
to copy the scanned documents to the desktop if the latter is on line
but retain them otherwise, and a startup script on the desktop copies
the retained scanned documents from the file server whenever the
desktop boots.
1. A nice bed. In my case a hybrid spring foam. I got a Zinus green tea hybrid and a latex foam topper. About $800 together after tax
2. A massage chair and audiobooks. I have trouble getting relaxed to sleep. 30 minutes in a message chair listening to a nice audio book is great. Recommend Osaki and its rebadges like the insignia 3D. $1000 or so.
3. A dog. Mixed feelings on this. I love my dog that I got from a shelter and he encourages good habits, like touching grass and socializing with people outside, but it’s a lot of work. Buyer beware. $300 to adopt and about $300-$1000 on yearly needs.
4. Nice walking shoes, about $100.
5. Robot vacuum. Recommend the roborock s7+. About $800.
Commodore 64 around $600. My first computer and my mom bought it for me (we were struggling). We drove to a barn computer store like 30 miles away. Now I earn a great living through things I type into a computer.
1) My first self-built PC (a 486DX2). Opened the door to so many games, apps, emulators, operating systems, programming tools, internet, etc etc.
Open platform general purpose computing is underrated these days, imho.
2) Lately: solar panel on my boat. Electricity generation independent from power grid or fuel input, on the move, potentially anywhere in the world, one-time cost = set for years to come, is super to have. Even if sometimes it pumps out only a few W (but eg. enough to charge phone).
My first classical guitar, which I bought 20 years ago, cost 50 PLN (~$12) and it kickstarted my love for playing a music. Not only that. I spent thousands of hours practising and now music accompanies me all the time. There's always a song stuck in my head these days, or I'm whistling or humming or singing or tapping my fingers or stamping my feet. It's exhausting sometimes.
amitcp with slurp for ppp/dialup. Getting it online, had me compile a ppp server on my isp's unix shell account, so I could use network apps on the amiga.
About 8 years ago I purchased some puerh tea and some rice bowls, must've spent maybe £30?
I haven't stopped exploring puerh since and it's changed my life completely. Some of the results can be seen (puerh.uk and slowtea.org for example) but the greatest change is internal.
The first thing that comes to mind is a computer, of course. Anything even semi-modern is fine, but right now I daily-drive a Ryzen 5 3600 with 16GB of RAM.
A quality mechanical keyboard has also been great. I use a TKL GMMK with Kailh BOX White switches, it's been awesome. ~$100.
A bidet. It’s easier, more hygienic, cheaper, and environmentally friendly than traditional toilet paper. I genuinely don’t understand why they aren’t mainstream in the US when they’re better in every dimension I can think of.
Could not agree more. Bought just a low-end cold-water one and it's amazing. I miss it anytime I have to use a bathroom at the office or a public restroom.
True, true, but it changed my life. Maybe one of the changes is requiring ongoing purchases, but other things are more important, like companionship, empathy...
2x 2U HP DL385 (Gen 2 I think) 2x HP thin client PCs 2x Cisco managed switches 1x Cisco router (can't remember the model) A handful of network cables.
This kick-started my career in operations, thanks to a dodgy VMware Server, Windows SBS 2003, XP Pro/W2K/Office 2k3, etc..
After spending months learning from books and the internet, I landed a job as a field engineer for a small MSP in London with no formal technical background/degree.... nearly 20 years ago now!