@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

prokyonid

@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org

30-something, FOSS enthusiast, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist. Jugoton fan. I enjoy retro tech, primarily computers, A/V equipment and video games.

It's a duck blur!

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thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

Today in The Atlantic, “killing children is good actually”.

Completely deranged.

[Uodate: I will block you if you have hare-brained hot takes on this.]

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@vitor @thomasfuchs actually it's arguably worse in context! The Atlantic reporter is just upset the IDF won't let them tag along to watch the undenied child killings to judge if they were illegal or fine actually.

prokyonid, to random
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

My "new" off-brand Walkman showed up today! It works, though it definitely needs some attention - loads of wow and flutter and noise, too much even for something like this.

(sort of)

The back of the cassette deck, showing the model number, Radioshack catalogue number, and the power specifications. There is a battery door on the bottom, where you can put four AA batteries
The top of the cassette deck. Independent left and right volume controls, a selector for what type of tape you're playing, the headphone jack and battery indicator are here
The side of the cassette deck. The reverse, fast-forward, stop and play buttons are here. There's an eject indicator, but no button - you simply lift the lid to remove the cassette.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@goinfawr Quite a lot of Realistic kit was actually rebranded Sanyo stuff. Maybe not leading edge, but certainly high-quality.

Other times it was, indeed, just cheap junk.

prokyonid, to random
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

One day I will successfully complete dual-boot setup on the first try

I forgot that I had to set an empty partition on my Linux drive (sdb1) to NTFS so I could get LILO to boot Windows from sda1. I also have no idea why this works!

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

oops I broke both OSs again

Guess that means another reinstall is in my near future

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@philpem when booting Slackware, LILO just seems more natural

prokyonid, to retrocomputing
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I hate CF Card readers with a burning passion

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

Have vintage PC prices on eBay gone up again, or is it just people putting on listings with fantasy prices?

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@thomasfuchs How vintage? I was thinking yesterday about downscaling and selling off some of my Socket 7 stuff, and was dismayed at how reasonable prices have become in the past few months, way down from what I saw a couple years ago.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@thomasfuchs Maybe it's relative then. I was surprised to see listed working full Socket 7 systems, cases and all, around ~$150 - $200 shipped, and mainboards at ~$40, after a couple years ago seeing prices nearly double that.

Some Commodore and Atari stuff seems to be down right now too, but again that's relative - I have been seeing Amiga 500s in the mid $200s, when I'm used to seeing them in the upper $400s.

prokyonid, to retrocomputing
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

The last adapter I should need to test the Swede-miga arrived today - a 23-pin RGB to SCART adapter, so I can connect it to the scan converter and hopefully get a picture on my modern monitor.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I do not know a lot about Amigas, but I understand this is supposed to be a good sign?

I don't have a system boot disk yet. The machine is making a ticking noise, which I believe is coming from the FDD. Is that normal?

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I stuck a random floppy disk in the drive, the yellow drive light lit up, the FDD made some seeking-type noises and the insert disk picture went away, briefly. The ticking noise has stopped.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I guess this is about all I can do with this machine until I figure out how to make Amiga-format diskettes.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

The screen just went solid grey. Does that mean something?

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Turned it off, now it's alternating yellow and dark grey. I don't know much about Amigas but I know that yellow screen = bad.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Look what I found!

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Oh no. Look what I found.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Well, removing it means no more yellow screen at least. Looks like that card was a 512K memory card with a battery backed clock. I think it's probably toast now.

atomicpoet, (edited ) to random

What should be considered "retro gaming"?

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@atomicpoet 25 years is too long ago, that shuts out quite a bit of the PS1, N64, and the tail-end of the 3dFX-era PC library.

10 years ago is too recent, that would put something like GTA 5 in the 'retro' category.

As a soft delimiter, I'd agree with something like 20 years, but really I'd say it's more about the hardware and design limitations. Was the display expected to be a CRT? How likely was the player to have broadband access? Does it crash if you have too much RAM?

prokyonid, to retrocomputing
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Finally unboxed the scrap Amiga motherboard. I don't think I have ever seen a 68K in person before - it's even bigger than I thought it would be. Looks like the connector for the Agnus chip is damaged, too. Otherwise, visually it appears to be okay.

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

dang it. I lost the little sheet that tells me how to tune my blonder-tongue agile modulator.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BROADCAST ANALOG NTSC TELEVISION UNDER THESE CONDITIONS?

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@foone my blonder-tongue agile processor has a little fold-out thing attached beneath each of the two the switch panels, so you can't lose it unless you were to like rip it off for some reason

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

A technology being "cool" doesn't make it successful.

Segways were cool. Does everyone drive one? No. When have you seen one for the last time?

Kinect was cool.

3D movies are cool.

Wii motion controls were cool.

Foldable phone screens are cool.

VR is cool.

The thing with all of these is: either something else does the job just fine or the added features are just not worth the downsides.

🤷

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@cferdinandi @tolmasky @thomasfuchs Segway the brand name is still around. Segway the company is dead and 'the Segway' as in the Segway PT is also extinct

prokyonid, to bapcsalescanada
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

1/ Last year, my father bought a "gaming PC" from Amazon as an xmas present for my nephew. Unsurprisingly (to me at least,) it ended up being an extremely low-powered Windows PC fitted in a glass-sided case filled with RGB fans, and otherwise completely unsuited for modern games. This year, my brother gave me a budget and asked me to use it to buy whatever I thought could help my nephew's computer achieve competency for that purpose.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

3/ The motherboard that's coming out of this PC is pretty dang neat. LGA1155, with two PCI slots, a 1x PCIe, a 16x PCIe, a serial port, a parallel port, pinout for another serial port, USB 2 and 3, M.2 and two flavors of SATA. No IDE, sadly.

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

4/ This RGB layout is such an unnecessary complication. I was hoping to leave it untouched, but the heatsink fan wiring is routed in with everything else so I have to unhook half of it to change the heatsink out

prokyonid,
@prokyonid@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

5/ Old parts are out. We'll reuse the RX580 GPU, the case, case fans, fan controller and SSD, but everything else is getting replaced. Here's the new mobo - a Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Master. This thing weighs a ton! It's covered front and back in aluminum plates and heatsinks, and the rear panel appears to be one big module. I'll be installing an i5-10600K and two 16GB DDR modules. As much as possible, everything is used/refurb/open box. The PSU is the only new new part.

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