Post ATYT39Vyd18pAw66Oe by maddiefuzz@hackers.town
(DIR) More posts by maddiefuzz@hackers.town
(DIR) Post #ATXz2QBYAHwBxoHJNg by mos_8502@oldbytes.space
2023-03-12T17:09:38Z
5 likes, 10 repeats
I believe that #retrocomputing is about more than nostalgia (which is fine on its own, too!). I believe that it's also about a reaction to the truly sorry state of modern computing. Old computers didn't spy on you, they didn't beg you for micropayments, they just did what they were told. They were tools for work, for learning, for entertainment, not tools for the capitalists to control us even more than they already do.I also believe that retrocomputing has a future; we are, as a community, more than smart enough to design and build our own new retro-inspired designs, and build for ourselves a computing world worth living in.
(DIR) Post #ATY5h2B2vluZ6Mn8Ge by dibi58@this.mouse.rocks
2023-03-12T19:17:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mos_8502 yes retrocomputing has a future, with the scavenging age and deindustrialization following the dragon king of the energy seneca cliff, is going to revert to simpler systems ...thats what projects like collapseos and others are about ...
(DIR) Post #ATYE5kHLPfXMSo21E8 by daniel@campduffel.social
2023-03-12T20:51:46Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@mos_8502 This; however, capitalism really isn’t the root cause IMO. There were alternatives available when these systems were coming together, but most people were too lazy to be bothered to learn and use them. Many who did want to learn were not able to or were dissuaded by many of the horrible personalities in the tech sphere. These days I am seeing less and less of that and there is a spirit of kindness that you folks embody. It gives me hope.
(DIR) Post #ATYT38rD4aX18V1Xqy by neauoire@merveilles.town
2023-03-12T17:25:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mos_8502 I like this quote for this: https://iodinedynamics.com/whatkind.html"Wait. What nostalgia? This is not about reliving fond memories or fetishize about an imaginary past, it's about being tactical in our choice of medium, so as to propagate a political perspective efficiently."
(DIR) Post #ATYT39Vyd18pAw66Oe by maddiefuzz@hackers.town
2023-03-12T17:30:49Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@neauoire @mos_8502 I have been and continue to be fascinated with 8-bit micros.I was born decades after that era. I literally cannot be motivated by nostalgia for a time I did not experience.The modern lens people see these computers through categorizes them as toys and relics. They have big limitations, but once you spend time with one you start to realize how capable even a 1MHz 8-bit micro is.We are treating computing the wrong way.
(DIR) Post #ATYyGSfznJWGwobsA4 by Longplay_Games@mstdn.games
2023-03-12T17:48:15Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@mos_8502 It's literally the only reason I use linux.A computer is supposed to stay the heck out of the way so I can get on with why I'm using it - just like the belts on your tapedeck. It should have no shadowy existence of its own independent of you, and it should never gossip about you.I hate how high maintenance Windows (and even OSX and some linux variants) choose to be.
(DIR) Post #ATZ23dUoehLsYYWKaO by untsuki@udongein.xyz
2023-03-13T06:11:36.991165Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mos_8502 I recently was thinking about that, but about specifically videogames, because I started to understand that games-as service does not receive hate from me... But rather sad feeling of "incomplete" fun, when old and indie games without microtransactions always give that full, as fun as it gets expirience even if it's some gamejam demo or other 5-minute amateur game made by high schooler in free time.Videogames as industry went some wrong way over time, and you just need to try some old and/or niche games to feel that, and it's the same for computers and software in general
(DIR) Post #ATaLxl65fqMwdQOFLk by untsuki@udongein.xyz
2023-03-13T21:29:21.528331Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@chococo @mos_8502 The tricky thing is, it’s hard to recommend niche games because they are a matter of taste by the most part, and also what is niche is also subjectiveThough, I will try:Open source games like in this listTouhou Project series (+fangames like Luna Nights, but excluding Lost Word which is typical gacha despite being fangame)Team Fortress 2 Classic (modded TF2 more similar to how it worked on initial release and even with some cut content)maybe something like Pathologic 2, but I don’t actually recommend playing it, it is not fun and wasn’t really meant to be, but still worth mentioning, it’s niche and it’s really something that modern big title developers cannot do
(DIR) Post #ATbtzLzBbEH0vr3KCm by neauoire@merveilles.town
2023-03-12T17:44:16Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@maddiefuzz @mos_8502 absolutely agree :) I'm also a bit too young to be familiar with this era of computing to call it nostalgia.
(DIR) Post #ATbtzMbpHZBKrh8BQu by thebluewizard@hackers.town
2023-03-12T20:58:33Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@neauoire @maddiefuzz @mos_8502 You may be surprised...! I am a late 50 years, so I had seen a lot. My first encounter with a computer was the DEC teleprinter in a high school, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECwriter for more details. That was where I first learned BASIC-PLUS 2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC-PLUS), which was a seriously souped up version of BASIC programming language. I wrote several programs in it, and the best program of mine was an editor which I carefully crafted to be rather frugal in printing out while editing and was also interactive. I still have the source code of that program. Someday I would post that code. The operating system was RSTS/E time-sharing running on PDP 11/70 using the BASIC-PLUS 2 environment. I also printed many programs that I found on the system. I may eventually posted some of them. I learned a lot from those stuff. As you can see, I am a something of an archivist.My next computer was an Apple ][+, again in that same school, where I first learned about graphics programming, however primitive it was. I soon discovered that it had a machine monitor. I taught myself 6502 programming, and I eventually printed the disassembly of the entire content of the ROM, both the Applesoft BASIC and F800 ROM content (I don't think there is a formal name for that...maybe a "Woz ROM"?). I spent a lot of time reverse-engineering the listing. I still have that printout. I learned even more. Unfortunately my reverse-engineering was not quite completed. I remember stopping at trying to understand the garbage collection code, plus I somewhat skimped on some of the floating-point code logic. Then I got a book titled "Beneath Apple DOS" (I just checked on Amazon...it is selling used that cost $80.96! Yikes! I guess the book is probably a collector's item!). Again I learned a lot from it. It has a complete annotation of every entry in the AppleDOS, but no source code, which I find a big frustration. I also learned Apple Pascal and LOGO on it.I later went to a college, took various compsci classes. There I used IBM S/370, VAX/VMS, IBM PC (and very briefly Mac and Sun Solaris), Meanwhile, I bought a C=64. Here I learned a lot from it, and I subscribed Compute! Gazette. I learned a lot, played some games. I also bought a 64 FORTH cartridge, and discovered wonderful world of Forth programming. This changed my worldview of programming.There are a lot of going on throughout the years, like the rise of Windows (95 then NT). I got a job and the work environment is 100% Windows shop.Then at home I got involved with Linux...When I got on Twitter I stumbled into retro computing tweets, and I learn a lot. I am continually surprised with what C=64 can do. I had not even thought possible that C=64 can various things.I have a big nostalgia for 8-bit computers, and I am still learning about them. Believe me, you don't need to have a nostalgia to appreciate the 8-bit computing era. I hope it helps! And ENJOY!!!(Nota bene: Parts of my writing are from my personal mini-bio about life with computers. That writing is not yet posted, but it will be!)
(DIR) Post #ATbtzN8RKJGmUqOEGe by maddiefuzz@hackers.town
2023-03-12T22:10:43Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@thebluewizard @neauoire @mos_8502 I just thought I should drop this photo here, I think we share an interest in the Apple II.This is my workbench today. :blob3c:(I haven’t adjusted the oscilloscope signal yet.)
(DIR) Post #ATu8CEO0xq6JRy1G2i by jonn@social.doma.dev
2023-03-13T01:01:45Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@mos_8502 nostalgia and escapism, got it! Which has a future. Alright. No, that i don't think is true. Stuff made out of escapism by construction folds when it meets with the reality. Same thing holds true for #collapseos people. Prove that zx spectrum can be scalably salvaged before making an OS or admit that the premise is fantastic.
(DIR) Post #ATu8CG5ed4bQjbRchc by jonn@social.doma.dev
2023-03-13T01:04:24Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@mos_8502 i don't judge how people spend their time, but if we're claiming an impact on the "future of guerilla computing", we should probably focus on the fact that a country like the one I live in is reported to have at least 50M un-recycled smartphones lying around JUST THE HOUSEHOLDS! I heard they are quite programmable.