Posts by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
(DIR) Post #AqgdrCpcfqRa2cwHrM by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-02-01T21:16:12Z
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@twylo I paid $5 for a box of several Model Ms at the university surplus in 1999. I never figured at the time that this would be a lifetime keyboard supply.
(DIR) Post #ArIutwYhghFU3hqmlk by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-02-19T21:59:53Z
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This moth on my screen door looks like an exotic fighter jet and I love it.
(DIR) Post #ArymGOcAlQphzN0Mhk by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-12T03:29:08Z
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Farewell DOCSIS you served me well!
(DIR) Post #ArymGTe83aMvasxUwq by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-12T03:33:09Z
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So that's about $450 in cable modems since 2014, over 11 years.If I had been renting from Comcast, the total bill would have been about $1980.Buying my own modems has been insanely profitable.(AT&T doesn't charge a rental for theirs.)
(DIR) Post #ArzAYEhaktEbMFZz2u by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-12T17:25:43Z
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There's a neighborhood near me where the streets are owned by a long-defunct homeowners association from the 80s.The county property appraisers site still shows them with this ownership. Yet the county maintains the streets as they would for any non-HOA area.I wonder how this works, legally.
(DIR) Post #AsTO79pFWcjYjeA6kq by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-26T19:26:05Z
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This year marks 30 years; three whole decades of my running Linux.My journey into Linux began around April-May 1995, when I started using an ISP run by a friend of a friend, called Global Information Link. They used Linux on their UNIX shell server, and it was there that I first played with the OS through a telnet session. (No SSH yet!)In mid-April I discovered FurryMUCK, and the best way to connect to it is TinyFugue, a UNIX MU* client. I ran it in the ISP's shell to log into the MUCK. Eventually I wanted to play with my own MUCK server so I compiled FBMuck on GIL's shell server and fired it up, then invited a bunch of people on FurryMUCK to connect. This eventually became FluffMUCK, which swiftly got too big and the owner of the ISP told me I couldn't run it on the shell server anymore. The MUCK bounced around from host to host until I found a permanent home for it. But that's another story...Futzing around with all this stuff made me desperately want to install Linux on my own 486 PC, but the problem was I had an old BIOS which didn't support hard drives over 528MB without running special "disk manager" software. I had a 730MB hard drive with said software, and Linux did not support mounting drives configured that way. The drive was also "DoubleSpaced" which, if you are from that era, probably makes you scream in terror at just the thought of it.I couldn't just reformat the drive because I didn't have another drive to copy all my data to. Hard drives cost a fortune back then; I just had my one drive, with backups of my most precious stuff to floppy disk. It was rough, and Linux was not happening for me without help.Sometime after August 1995 I finally took the hard drive over to a friend's house; he had just gotten a new drive and this gave me a chance to copy all my stuff off, reformat my drive with DOS/Windows in the first 528MB and Linux in the remaining space, and copy my data back. You see, the BIOS could only access the first 528MB, but Linux didn't use the BIOS for disk access, so could access the remaining space just fine! I was finally running Linux, learning how it all works, and starting on a journey that would define my career for 30 years to come.Another defining moment was pulling an all nighter learning how to get PPP to work so I could get the brand new Linux install online via dial-up modem. Fun times.Here's to another 30 years of Linux! <3#linux#nostalgia
(DIR) Post #AsTO7G8y2E4UKXQwK0 by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-26T19:30:38Z
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For the record, my first distro was Slackware 2.3 and yes, I installed it from floppy disks. I *had* a CD-ROM drive but didn't have a Linux install disc so it was moot. Most people couldn't burn their own CDs in 1995.The numerous Slackware floppy images had to be downloaded from the Internet at dial-up speed and written to floppy disks using a raw writing utility.It was extremely tedious, but we didn't have anything better at the time. #linux #nostalgia
(DIR) Post #AsTO7Lqkor4G1mxTlY by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-03-26T19:33:04Z
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One fun aspect of running Linux back then was the community, especially on FurryMUCK in my case.We were almost all nerds and wanted to play with Linux; we would share install and troubleshooting tips, help each other with issues, and so on.It was REALLY AWESOME and I made several friends through the process. #linux #nostalgia
(DIR) Post #AuI1PAZ5XFwoypKXaq by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-05-20T15:13:12Z
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Standard "regular end station" Ethernet speed over time:1990s: 10mbps2000s: 100mbps2010s: 1000mbps2020s: 1000mbpsWe kinda stalled, didn't we? 10gbps is still really pricey, and 2.5gbps is still considered "exotic" even though the cost of the PHYs has come way down.WTF happened?
(DIR) Post #Av2nvXUFhqMSJdIMPQ by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-12T02:44:24Z
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"I said you can use a calculator, not a whole computer. It's not fair to the other pupils!""You can't use that because you won't always have one of those with you.""Stop playing with that in class!"My teachers hated this thing! It got confiscated several times. But I made the most of it.
(DIR) Post #Av2nvdOnj1Z8eSn5kH by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-12T02:47:10Z
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Most 5th graders didn't have something like this in the 80s.Sadly the only reason I did is it was my dad's who used it for work, and when he passed away my mom let me have it.For that reason I'll carry it to my grave even though it doesn't work.
(DIR) Post #Av5qgPwyKP5Jvx5beK by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-13T16:36:05Z
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@LibrarianRA it's hard to express in words just how awesome this is. (This was my introduction to that song back then too!)
(DIR) Post #Av61hgDKRavaA0XpSq by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-13T18:39:51Z
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@discatte The TI-81 was in fact what I got to replace it when it died!Its programming language was weird though. Similar to BASIC but not quite.
(DIR) Post #AvfVuanALiXndinh56 by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-30T18:25:46Z
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If I keep putting vintage hardware on display in my office I soon won't have room to do actual work
(DIR) Post #AvfVugeWYlCFoensRc by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-06-30T18:40:04Z
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For those wondering, the iMac did power on and boot last time I tried, about two years ago. (It was in a crappier location then).I haven't plugged it in today because I'm afraid to find out it might not anymore. Consider it Schrodinger's iMac for the moment.And yes, the battery is out.
(DIR) Post #AwhxkbkN8BSyEzEjZo by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-07-31T23:29:48Z
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I'm absolutely addicted to this amazing cover of "Splash Wave" from Sega's 80s racing game Out Run.It's just SO GOOD. So many hours spent playing this on my Master System when I was a kid...https://youtu.be/2bj5x7lv5lI?si=mVo4B9WZIMNLGAZU
(DIR) Post #AwhxkcmtGJ4hT5QG8m by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-07-31T23:30:08Z
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Ironically I never liked the arcade version of Out Run; it was *impossibly hard*.The Master System version though was just challenging enough and I could actually sometimes finish the routes.
(DIR) Post #B0QBq1J5AxULRYv1FY by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-11-19T21:12:27Z
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Cleaning out my retired boss' office and I found what seems to be VAX/VMS source listings on freaking microfiche.
(DIR) Post #B0cGIRLGGAVMm8K7bE by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-11-25T21:10:30Z
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This was the last Sun machine we ever purchased in our department. We haven't had the heart to surplus it, so it sits up here as a showpiece forever.
(DIR) Post #B0cGIY6H8Hg1jgMkiG by zorinlynx@tiggi.es
2025-11-25T21:12:01Z
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Inside the front door we find eight SCA hard drive bays, of which only two are occupied.SCA was basically hot swap SCSI, and the predecessor to SAS.