Post AhPWHiV6PmXtMjunya by KAOS@dragonscave.space
(DIR) More posts by KAOS@dragonscave.space
(DIR) Post #AhPR81tuvm6Urs5FJI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T09:14:47Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
A single-board command-line computer using the esp32. Look at it! It's cute. Can't buy it yet the creator is starting some kind of online commune for single-board computer freaks. I bet some of you are around here, go say hi at his forum it only has like two posts and its making me sad. https://a.singleboard.computer/
(DIR) Post #AhPSg0nddE3rFhulEG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T09:32:07Z
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I don't know why I'm so attracted to little computers like this. Maybe it's the retro futurism? Maybe it's the prospect of understanding how every component in my computer works for a few beautiful moments in the day. Maybe it's thinking about how fun it'd be to text secret messages with a little cyberpunk looking card. Anyway, if you have ever wanted to make something like this know you will have fans. You don't need to explain why... just make it!
(DIR) Post #AhPSxVtVHAROc60GVU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T09:35:11Z
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There is a practical side to my interest in minimalist computers:I have this notion about a math/CS curriculum where students build and program their own calculators. Once you make the calculator do it you never need to do it yourself again. I have my students program their TI84s to factor, and simplify square roots, any annoying task can become a more annoying but also more fun programming project. They seem to really like it.
(DIR) Post #AhPT7caNFggwGKsLEu by scy@chaos.social
2024-04-30T09:36:38Z
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@futurebird Either the lighting on that battery is very unfortunate or whoever took that photo should urgently seek cover o_O
(DIR) Post #AhPTCVC4AAHimgphuy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T09:37:31Z
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@scy I think it's fine, it's a very chunky battery about as thick as it is long. It's not gonna splode
(DIR) Post #AhPTF4PMCwOKZxH4D2 by scy@chaos.social
2024-04-30T09:38:28Z
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@futurebird I hope it knows that, too ;)
(DIR) Post #AhPTW50hDoWlMyqlk0 by rayhindle@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T09:41:26Z
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@futurebird Reminds me vaguely of the Psion that I used to have years ago.
(DIR) Post #AhPThFWAUksP8ytfs0 by holsta@helvede.net
2024-04-30T09:43:27Z
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@futurebird I'm finding myself coming back to 6502 and similar older systems because back in the day you actually had a chance to understand a full system.The documentation (and bugs!) for modern CPUs alone is impossible for one person to wrap their head around, never mind all the other components that go into newer systems.
(DIR) Post #AhPTp13S9WIqbVAY1w by powersoffour@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T09:44:56Z
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@futurebird I recently read the article on "NanoProcessor" from a 1985 issue of "Home Computing Magazine" and it sorta fits this.https://archive.org/details/HomeComputerMagazine_Vol5_05/page/n13/mode/2upIt's fascinating that this was an article in a popular magazine! (The BASIC listing is in the back.)
(DIR) Post #AhPV81dwHxTNswrb84 by paulc@mstdn.social
2024-04-30T09:59:35Z
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@futurebird because some day they will become small enough to be used by ants.
(DIR) Post #AhPWHiV6PmXtMjunya by KAOS@dragonscave.space
2024-04-30T10:12:24Z
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@futurebird Aww! <3 That's so cool.
(DIR) Post #AhPWS6hnHFLpKao2AS by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2024-04-30T10:14:24Z
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@futurebird One of the attractions of old home/hobbyist-oriented computers to me was that in those days, the idea of programming the machine was always very prominently featured. Maybe just as a way to sell them to parents as more than just video game consoles. Maybe because the productivity applications they had were not very powerful and programming was one of the few things you really could do. But they made it easy to get started, and it got a generation of kids into it.Modern machines like the Raspberry Pi do have some of that emphasis.There were negative sides of this. I've heard that this contributed to women actually being pushed out of computer science and software engineering, since these computers tended to be marketed to boys (largely through their video-game aspect), and in the 1980s the pernicious idea developed that you weren't going to make it in the field unless you were a "whiz kid" with youthful coding experience at home.
(DIR) Post #AhPXWZfpcDPKHsa9kO by donty@mastodon.tetaneutral.net
2024-04-30T10:26:26Z
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@futurebird Completely agree, effort & learning should move you forward. It's tool making, part of being a fun, lazy human. Make something to do what is boring, repetitive or prone to human errors. Started with flint napping to save wearing your teeth down, ends up with programing a calculator to plot a curve to save pulling your hair out.Might take more time than the individual task but teaches about how capable you are. Gives you more time & a better view for the next insight.
(DIR) Post #AhPYbSseOqjicXTRya by oktawian@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T10:38:30Z
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@futurebird Cute but the battery looks swollen đź’Ł
(DIR) Post #AhPaAxj5o7vMNQUfpo by faassen@fosstodon.org
2024-04-30T10:56:08Z
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@futurebirdI read twostopbits partially for this reason: simple systems that can be understood. The other reason is nostalgia.http://twostopbits.com/
(DIR) Post #AhPjcZaI3kSfCJcJvc by linebyline@bytetower.social
2024-04-30T12:41:58Z
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@futurebird There's one for the quotes filen
(DIR) Post #AhPmiCAuJ8diC87JMO by EMR@mastodon.sdf.org
2024-04-30T13:16:26Z
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@futurebird Are the keyboard keys really part of the PCB? Are we shorting out those traces with your fingers?
(DIR) Post #AhPoWz6QllB2NInykq by thejpster@hachyderm.io
2024-04-30T13:36:58Z
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@futurebird I made one with an Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller on it. It plays MOD files off SD card now, and runs BBC BASIC (kind of).
(DIR) Post #AhPpdr4d7StbSEnplw by jbqueru@fosstodon.org
2024-04-30T13:49:24Z
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@futurebird I like small computers, whether modern or retro, when they are simple enough for a single person to understand and program directly at the hardware level.
(DIR) Post #AhPs9GIba81UZiRXjE by GrowingForJustice@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T14:17:24Z
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@futurebird adorable but looks very vulnerable with all its bits out in the air. How much can it do?
(DIR) Post #AhPsPOcMQA0Z0ZNRM8 by excess@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T14:20:23Z
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@futurebird Maybe it's the impending dread of knowing that every single device you currently own is tracking you and reporting to unknown people for the nefarious purposes of controlling your everyday life, so your lizard brain is shouting "you need a way of organising the resistance without giving away your position"?-Sent from my iPhoney.
(DIR) Post #AhPtMukQbazjk9WzEO by CryogenicIce9@mastodon.online
2024-04-30T14:30:56Z
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@futurebird Thats a screen only a teenager could love tho
(DIR) Post #AhPurRzLgKkrTldPU0 by RealGene@mastodon.online
2024-04-30T13:56:41Z
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@faassen @futurebird Went there and followed a link to this gem:"The basic maze generating routine had been partially written by a stoner who had left. I contacted him to try and understand what the maze generating algorithm did. He told me it came upon him when he was drunk and whacked out of his brain, he coded it up in assembly overnight before he passed out, but now could not for the life of him remember how the algorithm worked."https://www.techspot.com/news/85622-nobody-sure-what-makes-atari-2600-game-entombed.html
(DIR) Post #AhPwifFHDuk1tf1UVU by artisanrox@mstdn.social
2024-04-30T15:08:38Z
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@futurebird I love my gaming computer, but I'd love a similar box that has a smaller footprint to fit better on my tiny desk. I love small puters.
(DIR) Post #AhPwmqGICsRnDoUSY4 by artisanrox@mstdn.social
2024-04-30T15:09:27Z
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@futurebird but can it run Crysis
(DIR) Post #AhQ0DwNBtQIvrBKWaO by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T15:47:46Z
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@futurebird i value the learning experience i had in high schoo/college of studying digital electronics form the transistor on up hierarchically to central processsing units and then learning to progem them in machine code. i think it gives important insights philosophically.and then at the same time i learned about molecular biology.and then i can contrast the two...
(DIR) Post #AhQ0aVKkagc6ejwpVo by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T15:52:05Z
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@futurebird my first computer was an 8 bit processor with 256 bytes of memory i'd program in machine code with a hex keypad and 2digit hex displayi remember sittin in the lincoln center branch music library listening to records and 'inventing' bubble sort for it.fun timeshttp://www.decodesystems.com/cosmac/index.html
(DIR) Post #AhQ1uBO2YwBYXOQxhQ by maxthyme@mastodon.social
2024-04-30T16:06:38Z
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@futurebird https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFb-PkD2ZbkX8NRYjtrJoBQ
(DIR) Post #AhQ6oi2ak4mvqUbw6i by lp0_on_fire@social.linux.pizza
2024-04-30T17:01:44Z
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Given that keyboard, I'm assuming that it's able to function as a ZX Spectrum.
(DIR) Post #AhQJrkXnBrwLskz7h2 by gadgetoid@fosstodon.org
2024-04-30T19:28:04Z
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@futurebird homepage says “Powered by Arduboy” intereeeesting! 🤔
(DIR) Post #AhQPNmqSfb6k3YoSvI by kerrybenton@ioc.exchange
2024-04-30T20:29:45Z
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@futurebird I’ve pondered making something like this for a while too, maybe with a LoRA module to sync back to home. Very cool!
(DIR) Post #AhQjRf1Gcqt8N3sWUS by shannonpersists@mastodon.social
2024-05-01T00:14:36Z
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@futurebirdI used to get really deep into end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms, problem is getting other people onboard because it's my thing it doesn't make it their thing! My favorite was WickrMe. Too bad you can't get it anymore. It's so good that it got taken over by the government.
(DIR) Post #AhSUIvZqaKaq7aLnMm by irenes@mastodon.social
2024-05-01T20:34:22Z
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@futurebird oh hey wow yes that dovetails with fantasies we had as kids
(DIR) Post #AhYKsTVYoujJkbtq4W by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2024-04-30T15:45:27Z
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@u0421793 @futurebird @rayhindle my experience is ever since the late 70 they had been promising us an actual pocket computer but it has NEVER happened. sigh... it's always some gimicky toy thing like modern smartphones.
(DIR) Post #AhYKsUheNRzjSOZ0YS by mnemonicoverload@libranet.de
2024-05-04T15:57:49Z
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@barrygoldman1What do you feel is missing from modern smartphones that keeps you from using them as an "actual pocket computer"? Is it the interface? Just how locked down they are by default? Some other critical pieces missing?@rayhindle @u0421793 @futurebird
(DIR) Post #AhYKsW5REUcJkShWGu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-05-04T16:17:01Z
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@mnemonicoverload @barrygoldman1 @rayhindle @u0421793 A smart phone that has a command line and snaps into a thing with mechanical keys on the back?
(DIR) Post #AlERLdkfrpu4tbE0Ke by svetlyak40wt@fosstodon.org
2024-08-22T17:23:49Z
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@futurebird it is looking so cute and so useless simultaneously!
(DIR) Post #AlEUOPBwl2R8TAzX7o by jhazelgrove@mastodon.social
2024-08-22T17:57:55Z
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@futurebird @codinghorror
(DIR) Post #AlEXtMzfHPYUUYhfaS by teamonkey@mastodon.social
2024-08-22T18:37:06Z
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@futurebird It’s a shame the m5stack Cardputer community is full of Flipper Zero nerds and not graphical calculator nerds
(DIR) Post #AlEahdjHWxammh8ef2 by CenturyAvocado@fosstodon.org
2024-08-22T19:08:37Z
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@futurebird I would not trust that battery.
(DIR) Post #AlEdPROmw74fBxZC9g by nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social
2024-08-22T19:38:53Z
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@futurebird I remember being so happy when a teacher in one of my math classes told me that I could write my own programs for my TI-83+ back in the day. I really struggle to remember things (look away from the screen for a moment while I drop a truth that will make you uncomfortable, but I never even memorized the multiplication tables.) That let me write up something that I could use. All I had to do was show the teacher the code.As a side note, programming requires moving things around a lot to make it work compared to the way writing a formula on paper works. If the person is writing their own program and it actually works, it probably means they have to get a pretty good understanding of it to even make said program. I think I only had one teacher who realized that.
(DIR) Post #AlFuzwcoCytCqG4oUK by benjohn@todon.nl
2024-08-23T10:30:43Z
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@futurebird that’s delightful!
(DIR) Post #AlIn4G6ZVX1aG1QLey by foolishowl@social.coop
2024-08-24T19:45:59Z
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@futurebird It makes a huge difference when you're working on a scale where you feel like you can comprehend what you're doing and seeing the results.The most fun I've had with computers in recent years was setting up little web services on an SBC.