I just recalled that I promised to give the name of the shop that built my new computer, who I managed to sweet talk into installing Fedora rather than Windows – your mileage may vary, it’s not an advertised service – and that name is … Computer Repair & Services, located in Stillwater, MN, and other locations in Wisconsin. While I can’t speak to longevity, so far Fedora’s run well, with just one hang involving BOINC, and they installed various packages for me.
My only complaint is that running public computing is problematic because doing so activates a loud fan, and I don’t have this box hiding in a server room, it’s sitting on a shelf next to me. I’ve been working with them on this question.
Relevantly, this mail came in a few minutes ago, from which I will clip:
We’re reaching out today to let you know that we’ll have a price increase on June 1st.
Our prices will increase 10-13% on products and services, and there will be a 3% credit card fee on every transaction moving forward. You might notice a difference the next time you do business with us, so we wanted to share the exact reasons why:
The expansion of AI data centers has spiked hardware and component costs by roughly 15% in many cases.Additionally, RAM prices have more than doubled, and computer prices have risen by 30% since 2025.
If you’re looking for a computer beyond standard configurations, or soon will be, and are price-sensitive, you might wish to reach out sooner rather than later.
