Sounds like a fun project. I'll dump assorted thoughts on the topic too: - Building a laptop (and not a desktop/workstation computer, or a blade/server hardwar

Sounds like a fun project. I'll dump assorted thoughts on the topic too: - Building a laptop (and not a desktop/workstation computer, or a blade/server hardware) makes the task much more difficult than it has to be. - Even modern Debian is supposed to run on Pentium 1, so that's hardware from 25+ years ago (I suspect the main memory would be a bottleneck though). But now that Moore's law doesn't seem to apply anymore, and unless there will be some unexpected breakthroughs, at least the same 25 years seem fairly easy. - As anecdata, I've built a computer about a decade ago (had no hardware issues at all since), and another one a couple years ago -- and their specifications are very similar. - I guess replacement parts may be more of an issue: with hardware interfaces changing, it becomes quite a bit harder to find older ones, just as with any appliances. - As for interfaces for talking to the outside world, I think so far they change (with breaking compatibility) slower than internal ones, though it can be an issue too. Maybe can be mitigated with analog interfaces where applicable, open hardware and GPIO pins for future hacking, and general attempts to keep compatibility. And adapters, of course.