Posts by kirkman@digipres.club
(DIR) Post #Aocdfv0HBk9k4P4UN6 by kirkman@digipres.club
2024-12-01T23:32:47Z
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Ugh ... sprites and animation are so hard. And the limitations of creating this for IGS makes them even harder! No wonder I waited six years since the last time I attempted to make an animation with a story/dialogue.I made a ton of progress on Calvin today, and I wrote a script. Hopefully now I can stop spinning my wheels on the coding, and bear down on putting it all together.#igs #atarist #pixelart #animation #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #atari #bbs #bbsing
(DIR) Post #Aocdfx2TcX6YNo7H4y by kirkman@digipres.club
2024-12-01T23:34:28Z
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BY THE WAY -- I'm still seeking pixel art-y folks to draw in IGS format. I want to release the world's first all-IGS artpack by New Year's!What's IGS? A graphics protocol for 80s/90s BBSes. Overview here: https://breakintochat.com/wiki/Instant_Graphics_and_Sound_(IGS)Who used it? Check out my in-depth history:https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/?order=ascHow can I draw it today? Try my experimental browser-based tool: https://breakintochat.com/atari/igs.js/Where do I send the art when I'm done? To me! josh (at) joshrenaud (dot) com#pixelart #atarist #atari
(DIR) Post #AocdfyQcSG0igyQ4Lg by kirkman@digipres.club
2024-12-01T23:37:04Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
AND -- If you're curious about my animation from six years ago, it was an ANSI art mashup of Star Trek and Christmas, entitled "Star Trek: The Trouble With The Rangifer Tarandus."Goofy but funny, or at least my kids thought so.https://breakintochat.com/blog/2018/02/14/new-ansimation-star-trek-the-trouble-with-the-rangifer-tarandus/
(DIR) Post #ApRnF2mbbwgyELfzJg by kirkman@digipres.club
2024-12-26T16:18:45Z
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The blow-by-blow storytelling of how @a2_4am cracked Print Shop is really fantastic. https://ia800105.us.archive.org/35/items/ThePrintShop4amCrack/The%20Print%20Shop%20%284am%20crack%29.txt
(DIR) Post #AqYtOSh4fEkyqCZpGi by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-01-29T03:30:28Z
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đź’ľ đź“ś A few years ago, I curated and published the "Mythyn source code repository." You should check it out!https://github.com/Kirkman/mythyn-archiveIt's a collection of Atari ST BBS door software, written primarily by Paul Witte, including ...* Two versions of the unique Atari ST BBS game "Thieves Guild"* An incomplete or early demo of the graphical Thieves Guild front-end client* A previously unpublished PC port of Thieves Guild* Several ther miscellaneous Atari ST BBS doors.
(DIR) Post #AqtGeTu1KeqZxHonku by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-02-07T15:21:19Z
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What better place to play "Paperboy" on the Atari Lynx than in the newsroom of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch?It's "Bring Your Atari to Work" Day, a cool annual celebration started by @benjedwards !#atari #AtariToWork #lynx #retrogaming #retrocomputing #newspapers #localnews #stltoday #stl #stlouiscc: @Recta_Pete
(DIR) Post #ArBgngoGZQL80nXA5Q by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-02-16T05:26:48Z
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Deuce recently added support for the Atari ST flavor of VT52 to his SyncTerm program.I first requested this feature 14 years ago. I was so excited it finally happened, that I made a new VT52 animation to celebrate.Plus I dug up six more that I have never seen published anywhere else.https://breakintochat.com/blog/2025/02/15/some-love-for-vt52-on-the-atari-st/#atarist #atari #textmode #textanimation #animation #asciiart #vt52 #syncterm #textart
(DIR) Post #ArEBQ0QZSwwYnhYbtQ by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-02-18T01:37:58Z
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@paradroyd Yeah Dark Force has nice VT-52 menus, although Dark Lord usually suggests people use terminals that allow changing the color palette. He's mainly concerned to swap the bright green for something a little more eye-pleasing, like a light blue.With luck, Deuce will add the ability to customize palettes to SyncTerm down the road.
(DIR) Post #ArdLSCFbmTqO2Hh89w by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-03-01T23:48:08Z
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Due to the new Atari ST VT52 support in SyncTerm, I added a VT52 logon screen to my "Guardian of Forever" BBS today. GOF is a Synchronet BBS. I love Sync's JS support ... makes it easy to code interfaces, doors, etc. It's how I added IGS support before.Anyway, most menus are still the stock Sync ASCII, but I hope to slowly add VT52-specific ones eventually.#atarist #atari #vt52 #textmode #textart #bbs #retrocomputing
(DIR) Post #ArdLSDojxLXYtX8hYe by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-03-01T23:58:08Z
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If you have the new SyncTerm, then check it out! Telnet to GOF at guardian.synchro.net, port 23. Set "Screen Mode" to "Atari ST 80x25" and "Font" to "Atari ST."You can also see VT52 in action by visiting these other fine BBSes (running on actual Atari ST hardware):Dark Forcedarkforce-bbs.dyndns.org:1040STar Fleet HQbbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983Biker Bob's Clubhousebbsclubhouse.ddns.net:1040The Cellarthecell.ar:1040#atarist #atari #vt52 #textmode #textart #bbs #retrocomputing
(DIR) Post #Asn2o8J27q3O4GZPNY by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-04-05T15:10:57Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
If you're the person who just won the eBay auction for seven "1985 Antic Software Atari ST Game Disks" for $107.50, please get in touch. I want to make sure the monochrome version of "Mom and Me" gets archived.#atarist #atari #digipres #kirschen #antic #ebay #archive
(DIR) Post #Asn2oEGPyTWiXtOP8S by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-04-05T17:15:04Z
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I helped preserve the color edition of "Mom" in 2017 (see https://breakintochat.com/blog/2017/06/14/i-rescued-mom-and-me-for-the-atari-st/), although the disk in this auction may have a slightly different version, so it'd be good to save too.But monochrome "Mom" has never been archived as far as I can tell, and I would love to make sure it's preserved. Plus I'd just love to see it.More on the background of "Mom" and "Murray":https://breakintochat.com/blog/2022/11/28/unearthed-kirschens-atari-st-projects/
(DIR) Post #Atz4s8vXRFNPVfIXZY by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-05-11T11:46:53Z
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This is what Google returns for the search `site:bbslist.textfiles.com "lego"`It's kinda infuriating. What is the point of having an AI summary say "it's highly unlikely specific mentions of 'LEGO' within the text files hosted on bbslist.textfiles.com"? THERE WAS ONE.And that's all I wanted to know in the first place.
(DIR) Post #AufXuO5XhZEj9hMccK by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-06-01T00:03:24Z
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@mistfunk For anyone curious to learn a little more about the genesis of the IGNITE artpack, check out this blog post: https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/12/31/ignite-the-first-all-igs-artpack/Or read the "back story" section at the end of the artpack's info file:https://16colo.rs/pack/ignite01/%21INFO.txt
(DIR) Post #B0Ayz7XF18QOLmAvCa by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-11-12T17:23:25Z
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@zeldman For years, I was a mostly happy Homebrew user, but it has become so hostile to folks on older Mac systems.I'm on Mojave, and had to switch to MacPorts a couple years ago.
(DIR) Post #B1ccGyYkIa4gTjblJY by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-12-24T21:59:15Z
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Was "Inspector Dangerfuck," an ANSI art series by Eerie, really the "first known comic on the internet" as claimed in a 2006 book? Probably not. But there's some fascinating history to untangle! Check out Part 1 of my new series, "ANSI art and webcomics"!https://breakintochat.com/blog/2025/12/24/ansi-art-and-webcomics-filling-in-the-blanks/#ansiart #textmode #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #computerhistory #history #longreads #ibmpc
(DIR) Post #B1jNrtQcCUNg4bfbG4 by kirkman@digipres.club
2025-12-28T19:28:48Z
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🤔 ❓Do you ever wonder about the burning existential questions …What was “ANSI art”? What was a “bulletin board”? Were there ANSI comics? Heck, how do you even define "comics"?… Well, I've got some answers:https://breakintochat.com/blog/2025/12/28/ansi-art-and-webcomics-bbses-and-the-artscene/#retrocomputing #textmode #history #comics #webcomics #vintagecomputing #computerhistory #textart #bbs #ansiart
(DIR) Post #B34FOW59MnN9rTCHwW by kirkman@digipres.club
2026-01-24T22:48:52Z
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I just found concrete evidence that one of the people I most wanted to interview for my 2024 deep-dive into "Instant Graphics and Sound" did actually read the series after it was published. He added a link to it on his website!It's kind of mind-boggling ... He never responded to a single inquiry I made over 5 years. I had wondered if he was dead, but I never found an obit.Well, since he's seen my work (and linked to it!), maybe he might re-consider and talk with me.https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/?order=asc
(DIR) Post #B34FOXYxrQocSE9c3M by kirkman@digipres.club
2026-02-02T17:39:44Z
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An update — Steve Turnbull finally wrote back to me! And it turns out, he *does* still have some of the files and code for the vaporware "Wildcardz" IGS game he was working on. Can't *wait* to dig in to this!#atari #atarist #igs #bbs #textmode #textart #breakintochat #retrocomputing https://digipres.club/@kirkman/115952512673050242
(DIR) Post #B34FOYyWbsr6pn7XX6 by kirkman@digipres.club
2026-02-04T03:04:40Z
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Tonight I succeeded in bringing a 33-year-old vaporware BBS game back to life!After Steve Turnbull sent me the C source code to his unfinished IGS blackjack game "Wildcardz!", I ported it to Javascript. Now I can run it on my Synchronet BBS! It's a really impressive IGS game. I doubt any ANSI BBS card game could compare visually. Want background? Check out my history of IGS:https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/?order=asc#atari #atarist #digipres #igs #textmode #textart #retrocomputing #bbs #retrogaming