Posts by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
(DIR) Post #AXrXy1jQw7YuAyOZ2u by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-19T19:56:36Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Here's a #68k CPU family portrait: one of the oldest (68000) and one of the youngest (68060). I'm always surprised at how big the “Texas Cockroach” actually feels on one's hand!
(DIR) Post #AXrXy7Cgamvr997Ups by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-19T20:00:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The main reason to have a DIP-64 #68k is that it can be plugged in a breadboard and it's an actually powerful processor (for its time) and not just a microcontroller with a few kilobytes of memory.
(DIR) Post #AY49xMhbkPt22uqK0G by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-25T22:01:57Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
This evening I took out my #Vaio TZ11 to install #Haiku on it, and right away I noticed a few things, some of which I had forgotten:The screen is damn good for the time, even if it's “only” 1366x768 the color rendition is great and the physical size a small-ish 11” which means pixel density is quite good.Best keyboard ever in a laptop, IMO. The touchpad does not compare well with newer ones.It's smaller than a MacBook, although not thinner than an Air, and lighter while having more ports, a SD card reader, and a combo DVD/CD-RW drive.The spinning hard drive (I had no money for an SSD in 2007 prices) is surprisingly silent.Haiku flies despite the rotating hard drive. The install took just a few minutes. Also: all hardware is supported except the webcam (which was painful to get working also on Linux).
(DIR) Post #AY4K08Sm90b4IIrgZc by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-25T23:57:08Z
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@craftyguy it has a 1.8” IDE drive with a flat-ribbon ZIF connector, some info here: https://www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-sony-vaio-tz-laptop-remove-hard-drive/There are Chinese sellers on eBay carrying mSATA adaptors (probably too bulky and wouldn't fit), CompactFlash adaptors (my second generation iPod has one of these, works well), and even SSDs designed to replace the tiny Toshiba hard drives, yeah.
(DIR) Post #AY6mn7NY9Nec9aUA4m by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-23T18:04:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I keep thinking of silly ideas to do some tinkering with electronics, just for the sake of having fun. Today's idea: an adapter to use #Amiga mice on #MSX computers. That way one could use one of those newfangled USB “tank” mice in one more retro architecture, while looking period correct. I imagine somebody could have done such an adaptor back in the late 80s of early 90s, possibly using some i8051 microcontroller... Betcha @foone would have liked that, given how their “it's always an i8051” is their equivalent of Dr. House's “it's never lupus” :blobeyes:
(DIR) Post #AY6mn8EixgBkoVMcxU by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-25T15:38:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
People talk about how search engine results have gotten worse lately. Here's a clear example: trying to search how an #Amiga mouse works (protocol, pinouts, etc.) these days results in a few pages of links to sites trying to sell you adaptors, and links to actual documentation are a few pages deep (if at all). It used not to be like this, the #enshittification is real.I know the information is in the Amiga Hardware Reference Manual, which can be read at a few places, e.g. https://archive.org/details/amiga-hardware-reference-manual-3rd-edition/page/327/mode/1up — but what if I didn't know?
(DIR) Post #AY6n3Vv0gE6mtZxEHo by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-25T15:47:54Z
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@hisham_hm while there are other sites for specific things (like Bitsavers) you make a good point about archive.org — I do trust their ability to keep infrastructure running, though. I would be more worrier about it being headquartered in a country with values and legislation often opposed to the Archive's goals. Also, mixing this with Google's recent Web Environment Integrity proposal makes me think we may see a day where two parallel Internets exist: the corporate one, and the “archived” one. And, oh boy!, do I want to be proven wrong about this thought!
(DIR) Post #AYFB0Q0jXzUrK7ZWIC by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-07-31T05:36:11Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@polpo let me guess... and it belongs in a museum :thounking:
(DIR) Post #AYHaasoAqJUOET6LaK by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-01T09:29:46Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@tanty @jsuarezr any QA team would be lucky of having you on board (pun intended), heh!(Safe travels, by the way :blobcatcamera: )
(DIR) Post #AYI1srdgcrcwa5zivQ by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-01T14:38:34Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@piggo some day I'll tell you about 'muricans asking how to get to Rialto while in Venice, trying to explain to a local what's bridge and a canal is.
(DIR) Post #AYKmK2vTkmRBc68UrI by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-01T20:07:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@pulkomandy @mntmn @mmu_man @thomholwerda @osnews woohoo! I just installed Haiku a few days back in my Vaio TZ11 which has combo drive, I may be able to try it tomorrow after I find some spare CD-Rs that I'm sure are hiding in the cellar :blobrainbow:
(DIR) Post #AYKmK4EIuH5delx2q8 by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-02T22:28:01Z
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@pulkomandy @mntmn @mmu_man @thomholwerda @osnews found 'em! Today it got a bit late so a test burn will have to wait once day more.
(DIR) Post #AYKmmdf8lHqzer7z2u by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-02T22:34:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mmu_man @pulkomandy @mntmn @thomholwerda @osnews I'm sure last time I used one of those it was around 2008-2009 to make a mix to play in a radio show I helped with at the university radio. Great times, understanding mixing consoles finally made DAW software “click” in my head. I even made some audio inserts and short promos using Ardour around the same time. Thing for another day: locate the backups and archive them, make them down loadable somewhere.
(DIR) Post #AYNWL5xJjb9YIAij1E by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-04T06:12:50Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nekohayo @Sandra @WeavingWithAI @WebKitGTK @gnome thanks for all the bug reporting and testing effort! We may not say it often but ut's super appreciated, and has already helped to ship performance improvements 🤩Of course there is still work to do, and usually the main complication is figuring out where exactly the problems are—web engines are huge and complex! :blobsweat:
(DIR) Post #AYU0WOQfYPeELSVphY by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-07T09:18:38Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@thankfulmachine it's one of those useful little things that makes one realize that the #68k ISA was designed to make C compilers happy :blobcatcoffee:
(DIR) Post #AYUQrzp6JgmFD5tyt6 by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-07T13:11:45Z
5 likes, 3 repeats
@stevelord I'm so disconnected from the M$Windows world that I didn't even imagine drivers would collect user behavior data 🤯 — and according to the article Nvidia does the same. Like, seriously, drivers have no business doing this :blobangery:
(DIR) Post #AYUYOlv5jHD7KDHP6W by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-07T13:29:29Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
The good thing about old good arcade-style shoot 'em up #games is that it's easy to pick any spare fifteen minutes to practice a bit. Having the #MSX on my desk is handy to use it for casual gaming like this :blobcatcoffee:
(DIR) Post #AYfSl9AtUEM2pjW58C by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-12T21:57:22Z
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@piggo you could open a new YouTube channel; name it “Will it etch?”:blobeyes:
(DIR) Post #AYjNapWJz4L1qGdj9M by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-14T19:14:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@xerz @1ace @whitequark FTR, the user contributed packages in the AUR for the Spanish DNIe have always worked more reliably for me than anything I tried back when I was a Debian user. That's all I'll say, and now I'll see myself out :blobcatpeek:
(DIR) Post #AYjOKtlIXvIsJlc10S by aperezdc@oldbytes.space
2023-08-14T19:28:28Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@xerz @1ace @whitequark indeed, the AUR packages reuse the contents of the Debian ones, but somehow they manage to make things work more reliably. Anyhoo, the software coming from the public administration sure is a tire fire and that is the main problem with it.