Just finished “Inversions” by Iain M. Banks. Started thinking it was an early effort, a bit of fantasy before the SF really got going. But it’s deep. What a great author!
I didn’t think I would be running Ethernet cable again, but gigabit internet just arrived and the (perfectly fine) wireless network tops out at 300Mbps or so. I guess if I’m the only one on the wired switch it’s going to be like QoS just for me…
Looking forward to soldering a Zeta2 Z80 SBC shortly! Stupidly forgot to order a 32.768kHz crystal but I can live with the time being wrong and I can possibly even find one somewhere…
Don’t ever believe an Ilve oven is anything special because it come from Europe. They’re shit, just fancy, expensive, European shit that fools people the first time they buy an oven. Never again.
If you are in AU, Element14 are having some kind of bizarre sale; $25 gift cards half price, Weller solder fume extractor 1/3 price, a few bargains for people that like that kind of stuff
Is there an audio device that is a USB output for Mac or PC, has at least one mic input with 48v phantom power, has a mute button on that input, outputs that mic signal as line mono, has at least one other stereo input, can mix it all together and output through through a master level control to powered monitors? Bonus points for being able to subtract mic input from monitor output mix to avoid feedback.
(Trying to integrate a Mac and PC to both use same speakers and to share one mic input.)
@mattro I already have a Scarlett 8i6 and it sounds awful - scratchy noise when adjusting volume, hum and crackle whenever the mouse moves, static in quiet music. Support can’t help. Possibly related to ground loop with usb-c and external monitor? If an idefender https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0849JGL93?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details does not fix it next week it’s gone. No rearrangement of cables or switching the usb host has helped.
I don’t think I have tried to do anything on Raspberry Pi 5 - stuff that used to be easy on 4 - that has not been a PITA. Wayland, VNC, pidp11, xc3sprog etc. And the solutions are all “well actually you don’t want to do what you say you want to do…”
@golmac also after reading Wishbringer musings: in the Spellbreaker feelies, Dimithio of Borphee “adapted nitfol spell for egg-laying mammals”. Someone loved their Platypus.
@golmac Hi Drew, just found your site and podcast - great stuff! I know emulation is more practical but just for the feels, what vintage system would you choose experience Infocom on? IBM 5170? Apple II?
@aeberbach Although, looking over your post: did you mean emulating legacy hardware, or using an interpreter application to host what I guess I'd call an instance of Infocom's Z-Machine? I use modern apps to do the Z-Machine option.
Worth noting that the community has put together some nice vm apps for a wide range of retro micros (TRS-80, etc). An option for playing on classic gear with some QOL features modern players are used to!
@golmac no your answer was kind of what I expected. Have been thinking of this recently because I got a BBC, immediately thought “nice 80-col text and keys, Infocom!” - only they did not support BBC! My first IF system was IBM 5170 which would also be good, though the Model M made some in the office sad as I never stopped clacking. Might look at the “Vezza” z-machine parser for Agon Lite if I can find my PS/2 keyboard today.