@ericgus@mastodon.social
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

ericgus

@ericgus@mastodon.social

This is my regular account alternate/computer stuff is over on https://mastodon.sdf.org/@ericgus (@ ericgus @ mastodon.sdf.org). Here is anything that I find interesting tech or not including politics.

Dad & husband
Datanaut/Internaut
(exploring the vast network of computers that make up the internet.)

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

siracusa, (edited ) to random
@siracusa@mastodon.social avatar

First, it’s great that @MichaelWhelan is on Mastodon. What an amazing artist.

Second, his recent post featured a spherical alien that I instantly recognized from my childhood. https://mastodon.art/@MichaelWhelan/112428886103083708

It’s from this book, published in 1980, which had a cover image that is also burned into my brain.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@siracusa thank you for your post because while looking up your book (it helped me locate a very similar book I had as a kid but forgot the name/author) My long lost book was actually "Aliens In Space: An Illustrated Guide to the Inhabited Galaxy by Steven Caldwell" but now having found the book id been trying to think of for ** YEARS ** , I am going to check out Michaels book as well as it seems very similar .. and I loved the Steven Caldwell book, so thanks, this random post help me find it!

paulrickards, to random
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

System Settings in iOS and MacOS is just so bad.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards it does seem like with each version it progressively gets worse .. I was musing this same thought the other day when trying to just find a simple setting..

dec_hl, to firefox
@dec_hl@mastodon.social avatar

WTF ??? If I accidentally add a word to the dictionary I have to dive into my profile folder with a text editor to remove it?

You can't be serious??? 🤬

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-use-firefox-spell-checker#w_removing-a-word-you-have-accidentally-added

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@dec_hl OH this! .. I did this once on a word I frequently misspell .. and it took ages to sort out how to get rid of the word.. I feel your pain.

paulrickards, to retrocomputing
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

Spicy pillow

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards fun fact it makes a good substitute for spicy ground mustard .. and it comes in an easy to open bag! Bonus!

dec_hl, (edited ) to amiga
@dec_hl@mastodon.social avatar

Which Turbo Imploder song did you like more back in the days (links below)?

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@dec_hl Are these tracks available somewhere as MOD files?

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

it'd be cool if someone could invent Trillian/gaim/Pidgin for the social media era.
like one feed that merges my dashboard/feed and notifications from like, tumblr/cohost/mastodon.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@foone Way back RealMac had a program called Socialite that merged all the social media feeds of the day and it was really nice to get everything in one (chronologically ordered) feed

image/png

paulrickards, to vintagemac
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

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

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards There is something very nostalgic bout those screen shots, I recall way way back when that was a "oh look at this new thing" in magazines , there was much desire and excitement about this kinda new hot computer GUI stuff .. I still get those strong nostalgia vibes seeing this and recalling how much I thought it was so cool then.. Much like the first time I saw a NeXT Cube..

paulrickards, (edited ) to random
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

Are there any hacks to modern MacOS 14 that forces windows to have an actual title bar at the top of them? You know, an area that contains the application title or document title and allows you to move is easily?

For instance, with Firefox and lots of tabs open, the window itself has no tittle bar at the top. Moving the window is difficult and only possible on the far left or right of the top of the window. It also doesn't identify itself.

Update: see replies!

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards Oh god what horrors await me? I've kinda put off upgrading to Mac OS 14 ..

paulrickards, to random
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

Ok, I caved and bought that $32 “instant” digital camera that prints on thermal paper.

It’s a weird and wonderful shitty camera. The printer is pretty good, using error diffusion dithering but a bit slow. It’s apparently a 12MP camera that can also do 1080p video on the included 32GB SD card. Obs targeted at kids with the built in filters but there’s something about the immediateness that’s fun about it. Wonder how hackable it is?

https://amzn.to/42DSsrS

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards Oh thats interesting, my kid might enjoy that, the other day I was explaining polaroid cameras to him..

paulrickards, to retrocomputing
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

The Digi-Paint manual for Amiga features artwork lifted from this Ray-Ban Wayfarer advertisement, no doubt scanned using Digi-View!

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards Well they had to show off their new fancy scanner right? If I recall at the time, there was a LOT and I mean a metric TON of folks pro and otherwise doing image scans from various traditional media like magazines, books, etc.. If you look at the newtek demo there is a lot of stills and video clips pulled from magazine ads (Prego sauce), the CGI running dinos, the Duran Duran Hungry Like the Wolf video, so this kinda fits with how they marketed their products.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards oh yea didnt even mention that ! .. but still thats a neat discovery (forgot to mention that) that you found with the ad and the digi paint cover art.

paul, to random
@paul@tapbots.social avatar

What a weird story, something just doesn't add up. The only toothbrush I found that has any sort of WiFi technology is a $400 Oral-B model. So 3M people bought this thing and actually connected it to WiFi? Just doesn't sound plausible.
https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/three-million-malware-infected-smart-toothbrushes-used-in-swiss-ddos-attacks-botnet-causes-millions-of-euros-in-damages

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paul maybe one of those cheap Temu ones?

BasicAppleGuy, to random
@BasicAppleGuy@mastodon.social avatar

Find the Mac Pro.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@BasicAppleGuy That was quite good!

janbeta, to random
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Updated the firmware, installed the Anycubic slicing software (which looks kind of shady but appears to work fine) and leveled the printer bed. And now I’m actually attempting my first ever 3d print. If everything goes according to plan, I’m going to have a new C64 keyboard mount (had to try some Commodore part for my first print, obviously!) in about 2 hours. 🤞

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@janbeta Funny I got the same resin printer but its still in the box after a year, just havent had time to set it up.. where did you get the firmware from?

janbeta, to random
@janbeta@chaos.social avatar

Happy 2024! My year started with a massive donation of 3D-printing (yay!), vintage hifi and some elderly PC equipment. Even set up a shady meetup in a parking lot to "exchange goods". It’s going to take a couple of days to wrap my head around all this stuff. I’ll keep you updated. 😊

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@janbeta i know that feeling, trying to re-arrange my microscopic (3mx3m - 9ftx9ft) office space to accommodate 2 3d printers and retro stuff and work machines .. so far got the desks and heaps of wires and cables strewn everywhere, best of luck to you and your attempt!

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@janbeta I got 1/4 of mine done so far.. lol

paul, to random
@paul@tapbots.social avatar

This is a really neat device, cheap Zigbee Human Presence sensor. Unfortunately, totally ruined by that horrible USB port placement. 🤢

https://itead.cc/product/sonoff-zigbee-human-presence-sensor/

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paul Ha I was just looking at that very one, do you know if it works with Amazon Alexa routines? (I havent made the jump to HA yet .. I got a docker HA setup just havent sat down properly and jumped in)

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paul On this topic, do you happen to know of any good ambient light sensors, id like to combine the presence sensor with ambient light information to say only turn on lights if someone is in the room and its already dark (or dark enough) ..

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paul ok thanks, HA is on my roadmap just not there yet but I did get one bit sorted, how to add a USB zigbee dongle to a docker container .. that was sorta one of my blockers, the other just setting up Tuya integration ..

paulrickards, to retrocomputing
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

Current mood.

video/mp4

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards its really subtle and I almost missed it.. perhaps the folks who voted NO didnt notice due to the small degree of changes in the loop.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Do you ever think about abandoned tech trees? Like how no one is working to design better drafting compasses or vellum? No one is perfecting vacuum tubes. No one is laser focused on methods to speed paint and accurate portrait by hand to send out for marriage proposals.

Technological leaps make entire areas of research pointless— but

What if just a bit further down the line on the old tech tree there was some bigger breakthrough we’ll never see? I think about this A LOT.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird I think though id have to check the old pre-collapse soviet union had done some remarkable work with miniature radio tubes.. but I dont know much bout it, only heard of it in passing. No idea where the tech ended up.

paulrickards, to retrocomputing
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

Well, I just placed orders for boards and parts to build a new Lisa 2/5 around my existing Lisa CPU card, the only part of a Lisa I’ve ever owned.

I would never have thought this was possible if it weren’t for the work of @DosFox who recently built the first new Lisa since 1986! Thanks for the inspiration!

I’ll continue this thread as parts roll in. I may ask (beg) if folks have some parts in your bins! 😀

#RetroComputing #VintageComputing #AppleLisa #AppleLisaClone

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards Just too bad eInk isnt up to the refresh rates needed as that would be an amazing display medium for the Lisa .. ive often thought bout this, eInk on a macplus or in your case a Lisa .. looking at your lcd panel just sorta verifies that belief ..

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards yes its quite a nice display .. will be really nice to see it when you have it complete.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards nice is that a real case or a reproduction? I was going to ask you about how you were going to encase it once done.

ericgus,
@ericgus@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards Wow I honestly thought you had some kind of 3d print case or part of the real thing, thats an exceptionally good laser print fakery.. lol

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