paulrickards

paulrickards, 18 hours ago to retrocomputing

#PenPlotter maintenance today. My HP 7585B stopped responding over RS-232. Diagnostics revealed a problem with the interface card. Luckily I have a spare machine that can donate a new working card!

#RetroComputing

paulrickards, 7 days ago to retrocomputing

A Hayes appreciation post.

#RetroComputing #HayesSmartModem #HayesChronograph #telephone

paulrickards, 12 days ago to random

Noticing a lot of eBay descriptions clearly written by AI lately. Like a 4th grader trying to boost the word count of an essay with sum-zero phrases.

I’ve not sold on eBay in years so I’m curious to know if they’ve added an AI description service for sellers or are sellers getting them from an external service?

paulrickards, 12 days ago to random

@dillera Heyya! A couple of days ago I tried printing to your ImageWriter over GlobaTalk. It seemed like it was working but it took a really long time so ended up stopping it. Did anything come up on that side?

paulrickards, 25 days ago (edited 25 days ago) to RaspberryPi

I’ve been rebuilding a #RaspberryPi installation that supports my classic Mac habit 😄

I used to use the awesome #MacIPGW image which includes a ton of pre-configured software like #netatalk. But it hasn’t been updated in a while so I used it as excuse to start from scratch.

I used this Pi Zero W as my starting point. HDMI video stopped working on it for unknown reasons. I added an Ethernet/USB hub hat and a #TashTalk 2 hat for #LocalTalk devices.

#RetroComputing #VintageApple #VintageMac

paulrickards, 28 days ago to retrocomputing

Recently got a new (to me) wide format plotter. But it’s weird— it’s not a #PenPlotter?!

It uses this new fangled technology called inkjet or something 🙃

#RetroComputing

Close up of the left side of a HP DesignJet 230 wide format inkjet plotter with the lid open. The cartridge is visible labeled “40”.

paulrickards, 29 days ago to random

System Settings in iOS and MacOS is just so bad.

paulrickards, 1 month ago to art

A pair of my favorite jeans developed a hole in the knee. This led to me to learning about #Sashiko, a beautiful art of visible mending. This inspired me to create this plotter design.

Inspiration is everywhere!

#PenPlotter #PenPlotterArt #MastoArt #Art #GenerativeArt #CreativeCoding

paulrickards, 1 month ago to genart

Starting to play around with a new #PenPlotter design idea. Many ideas start out as very simple bits of code that evolve with each iteration. I thought I'd share the progression that I've done so far so you can see how the work changes. None of these have been plotted yet, they're just previewed on the screen.

#GenerativeArt #CreativeCoding #PenPlotterArt #MastoArt #Art

A grid of overlapping slash marks of cyan, yellow, and magenta. Many more or leaning left than right. Some are slightly misaligned.
A grid of overlapping slash marks of cyan, yellow, and magenta. Many more or leaning left than right. Some are slightly misaligned. Lines at the top or thinner and progressive get thicker towards the bottom.
A chaotic arrangement of line segments of cyan, yellow, and magenta. Thicker at the top and progressively thinner towards the bottom.

paulrickards, 1 month ago to random

Another #VCFEast is in the books. This was my second time as an exhibitor showing my #PenPlotter art. It’s always so fun to see people be mesmerized by the plotter drawing intricate generative designs. For some, it’s the first time they’ve seen such a device.

paulrickards, 1 month ago to retrocomputing

The #PenPlotter was made for designs like this! I love recreating the original logo specifications. This is just an approximate as the original didn’t have dimensions but love the way it looks.

#RetroComputing #VintageApple

The same pen plot on the plot stage of a vintage HP 7550Plus pen plotter with the lid open. The pen carousel is visible on the top right.

paulrickards, 1 month ago to retrocomputing

Spicy pillow

#RetroComputing

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

With less than a month to go, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things for my #PenPlotter exhibit at #VCFEast in April.

I think my Roland DPX-2000 will make an appearance this year. I was able to source 17x22 paper (not cheap but the quality is 😏) so here’s the beginning of some Truchet tiles.

#RetroComputing #PlotterArt #GenerativeArt #CreativeCoding #MastoArt #Art #ArtForSale #Artist #ArtForSaleByArtist

Detail of a Roland DPX-2000 pen plotter, a large machine with a black top surface loaded with paper and a gantry holding a pen drawing a design in the early stages with lots of interconnected arcs. A red LED segment display is visible showing the current X and Y axis position.

paulrickards, 2 months ago to random

Stop using Twitter.

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

Almost forgot— it’s #BaudDay today: 3/12/24 happy baud day to all those that celebrate!

#RetroComputing

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

Request: Anyone sitting on a pile of 17"x22" ANSI "C" sized plotter paper/vellum they no longer need?

It would go to my #PenPlotter exhibit next month at #VCFEast. TIA!

#RetroComputing

paulrickards, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

Given recent "characters" coming to light in the retro community recently, I want to make sure that the code of conduct for #MARCHintosh is being followed by #GlobalTalk participants. In addition, my feeling is we need some additional code to maintain a level of privacy for participants.

If you don't participate, pass this poll by.

Folks who participate: I'd like GlobalTalk to:

paulrickards, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to retrocomputing

We're Zoning out! We've now got three different sites connected via Apple Internet Router!

#RetroComputing #VintageApple #VintageMac #MARCHintosh #GlobalTalk #LiveLaughLocalTalk

paulrickards, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to retrocomputing

If you have a chance while in Washington, DC, make sure to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of American History exhibit featuring the work of Susan Kare at Design your Own Icon, a hands-on exhibit where you flip black and white tiles to create your own icon on the screen. 😀

#RetroComputing #VintageApple #VintageMac #Smithsonian #MARCHintosh

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

Oh wow, I got Apple Internet Router to run on my Quadra 605 finally! It's bridging the EtherTalk and LocalTalk portions and assigning actual net numbers now which is great!

#RetroComputing #VintageApple #VintageMac #LiveLaughLocalTalk

Screenshot of the Chooser showing a new box for AppleTalk Zones, named boringly EtherTalkZone and LocalTalkZone.

paulrickards, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to retrocomputing

The dogcow jumped over the moon! #Moof

I made a floppy clock with custom plotted numbers in Chicago and Clarus.

#RetroComputing #VintageApple #VintageMac #PenPlotter #FloppyDisk #525Floppy

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

I’ve got my Amiga 1000 setup today with something special. This is the Frame Grabber from Progressive Peripherals and Software (PP&S) and it’s a video frame digitizer that connects to the Amiga over the parallel port. It can create images up to 640x480 in 4096 colors, which was a big deal in 1990.

#RetroComputing #Amiga #CommodoreAmiga #FrameGrabber

Picture of the frame grabber, a small black box with three knobs for intensity, hue, and saturation and an RCA input labeled NTSC. A green cable is plugged into it.

paulrickards, 2 months ago to random

Anyone near me have a #Betamax player I could use?

paulrickards, 2 months ago to retrocomputing

These floppy disks look like they’re from the set of Severance.

#RetroComputing #FloppyDisk #525Floppy

paulrickards, 3 months ago to vintagemac

Rhapsody in VirtualBox. It's so cool to see these early versions of MacOS and to see what's changed (and what hasn't).

#Rhapsody #VintageApple #VintageMac