REAL ENVIRONMENT · 1998–PRESENT
A modern personal computer built around Linux
ACCESSION HCL-WS-001
This record describes the machine as observed in use. It does not imply that every part was installed at the same time; component dates and earlier configurations remain open research fields.
Installed artifacts
/mnt/Games.Vol1; Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB at /mnt/Games.Vol2; second Crucial P310 1 TB at /mnt/Homelab.configuration.nix; the current Fastfetch setup is preserved alongside it.Living workstation update
The July 2026 Arch Linux and sway record is now historical. Cthulhu currently runs NixOS 26.05 “Yarara” with Plasma 6 on Wayland/KWin. Plasma is deliberately configured to keep the fast, keyboard-driven feel of a tiling/window-manager workflow while providing a complete desktop that can simply get out of the way when the work starts.
The current storage layout also reflects how the machine is actually used: the NixOS system lives on a 1 TB NVMe, two 1 TB Samsung SATA SSDs hold game libraries, and a second 1 TB NVMe is mounted as /mnt/Homelab for general lab, archive and project data.
Cthulhu is intentionally built around useful work rather than the largest number in every specification row. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D still fits the workloads actually used here—including World of Warcraft Classic, Monkey Island, Captain of Industry and Command & Conquer—while the RX 9060 XT provides the modern AMD/Vulkan side of the machine.
Components are replaced when they solve a real performance, compatibility, reliability or capacity problem. If an existing part already does its job, a newer platform is not automatically an upgrade; storage, backup and infrastructure can create more practical value than replacing working hardware for benchmark numbers alone.
Platform decision record
World of Warcraft Classic is strongly CPU-dependent, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D was selected primarily for that workload. A Gigabyte B550 Vision D was available at a good price, while moving to DDR5 was not attractive at prevailing prices. Staying with AM4 was therefore the sensible platform choice.
Configuration history
Graphics transition evidence
The white Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Vision OC generally worked in preconfigured distributions such as CachyOS and Linux Mint, but those were not the author’s preferred operating environments. Occasional Linux driver or compatibility issues occurred on self-configured systems. The €20 R9 380 evaluation provided a low-risk compatibility test before committing to the later primary AMD card.
Storage evidence
Last system drive before the Intel Core i7-to-AMD Ryzen transition. It preserves a Windows 10 and Debian dual-boot installation and represents the final dual-boot stage before the first Linux-only primary SSD.
PRESERVED IN LAST OPERATIONAL STATE
First primary SSD after the move to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and the first primary system drive in this sequence without Windows. It preserves Gentoo Linux with XMonad and was tested again a few months ago, when it still booted successfully.
PRESERVED IN LAST OPERATIONAL STATE
Software environment evidence
This daily-use stage records Gentoo Linux, XMonad, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, Steam, Kitty and the B550 Vision D platform. It remained in use until software including OBS and Steam worked as required.
The date in the archive filename records archival naming, not a claimed capture date.
Record state
Current workstation photographs and verified hardware; October 2026 NixOS/Plasma Fastfetch record; current storage layout; Ryzen 7 5800X3D packaging; R9 380 evaluation artifact and packaging; RX 9060 XT original packaging; preserved operating-system SSDs; Gentoo/XMonad operational screenshot; GTX 970 illustrated reconstruction.
Exact dates for some component transitions; complete photographs of all retired hardware; the physical RTX 3060 Ti, for which no artifact photograph is currently available; later photographs of the current system interior; additional verified upgrade records.
Cthulhu is the modern working end of this environment: a NixOS computer used for daily computing, software development, website and Computer Museum work, World Observer work, Linux gaming and the occasional deliberately unnecessary hardware experiment. Its AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor, Radeon RX 9060 XT with 16 GB of graphics memory, 32 GB of RAM, dual-display setup and separated system, game and Homelab storage describe a machine designed around actual jobs rather than specification-sheet escalation.
NixOS supplies the current operating system; Plasma 6 on Wayland/KWin provides the desktop while custom focus behavior and shortcuts preserve the fast keyboard-driven workflow used on earlier window-manager setups. Earlier Gentoo/XMonad and Arch/sway stages remain part of the machine’s documented history rather than being rewritten as if they never existed.
Usually built around one processor core, modest memory, local installation media and a desktop designed for a single machine. Networking was valuable, but not assumed to be part of every task.
Many processor cores, a capable GPU, abundant memory and persistent networking let one computer be a creative workstation, development platform, game machine and client of other services at once.
Multi-core processors allow separate tasks to make progress together. GPUs have become programmable, high-throughput companions to the processor. Linux offers many desktop environments and window managers, so the interface can be adapted to a workflow. Modern tools also assume fast networks: code, documentation, services and collaborators may be elsewhere even when the work is local.