gloriouscow

Author of:
MartyPC, a PC/XT/Jr/Tandy emulator
https://github.com/dbalsom/martypc
👉 Web demo: https://martypc.net 👈

Fluxfox, a Rust disk image library
https://github.com/dbalsom/fluxfox/

ArduinoX86, a framework for controlling Intel CPUs
https://github.com/dbalsom/arduinoX86

Blog: https://martypc.blogspot.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/dbalsom/
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/gloriouscow.bsky.social

Public Key

npub1dhl6470pzgczhuy6yxgpf595l998vppl0jje2swukmwyk7qny6dq0qud8y

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxmla2l8s3yvpt7zdzryq56z60jjnkqslhefv4g8wtdhzt0qfjdxspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds5jv97n

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1dhl6470pzgczhuy6yxgpf595l998vppl0jje2swukmwyk7qny6dq0qud8y

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Last Notes

2026-07-19 21:27:24 UTC

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You can try removing the power supply and powering it up on its own, but don't take nothing happening as a sure sign the PSU is dead. Some of them required an active load to power up.
The power supply, even if its fine, may also not be fine, depending on how much you like Rifa smoke.

2026-07-09 02:28:22 UTC

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you do realize you're basically complaining about what the web was supposed to be and basically what it originally was
we're so used to being channeled into walled corporate gardens that we're horrified by something we would have found awesome in 1993.
what do you mean, anyone can just...publish a website?
ye gods. the horror.

2026-06-21 02:46:08 UTC

New IBM PC book stuff!
There's still a lot of work left to do on these chapters, but I've committed them for now since it might be a little bit before I can come back to them.
There's a chapter on the Motorola MC6845:
https://book.martypc.net/display-graphics/6845
And the IBM CGA:
https://book.martypc.net/display-graphics/cga
I think the CGA chapter is shaping up to eventually be the authoritative source on the subject for all things CGA.
A treatment on composite artifact color is needed, but may ultimately be its own entire chapter.
#retrocomputing #emulation

2026-06-10 20:39:52 UTC

ok, non-shitpost
what are the highest-quality breadboards you can buy?
i've been buying cheap ones and i realize I am doing myself a disservice if there is even the remotest chance that a higher quality breadboard would save me headaches in one of my stupid projects
#electronics

2026-05-14 18:53:20 UTC

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Hrm, I'm reading Surge was a Coca-Cola product and Josta was Pepsi, so it might have been a marketing company or distributor instead of Pepsi.
Still wild that our school allowed people to roll up and give all the kids a ton of caffiene, during school hours. But that's America for you.

2026-05-14 18:27:54 UTC

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Josta was a bit of an acquired taste. Pepsi visited our high school and handed every kid a can of Josta and a can of Surge which they were introducing at the same time.
Kids generally liked the Surge but most were put off by Josta - so I thought it was funny to collect everyone's unwanted cans of Josta and filled my backpack with them.
I started drinking them ironically, then I started to legitimately like it. :D

2026-05-14 18:21:38 UTC

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I fell in love with Josta when it came out. That was a guarana soda. I like picking up a Guarana soda every so often , some of them taste close enough to Josta that I get that nostalgic kick.

2026-05-14 02:08:41 UTC

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you wouldn't rotate your DOS
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/570/484/045/093/932/original/e7e02a6aaf97984b.mp4

2026-05-14 01:18:21 UTC

What's your favorite version of DOS? Mine's WigglyDOS.
#retrocomputing #glyphblaster
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/570/285/037/970/659/original/32ce582ea2a476d1.mp4

2026-04-25 16:43:26 UTC

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actually that's just a offhand joke, my high school guidance counsellor was a very nice lady. she gave me some really good advice once, she said, i'm paraphrasing heavily here:
you're feeling a lot of stress over your grades and your performance but let me tell you a secret - you can go to community college, and transfer out to a four year school after, and do just fine. you can live a good life without living up to other people's expectations. after you have your associates degree, nobody will care about your high school GPA ever again.
and she was 100% correct.

2026-04-25 16:39:01 UTC

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to think my high school guidance counsellor never thought i'd amount to anything

2026-04-25 12:44:01 UTC

This box is 42 years old. It's eerie to look at. It looks like I plucked it off a shelf at Microcenter yesterday.
This is almost certainly from Computer Reset - a large warehouse full of old computers and new in box parts that was discovered around 2020 when the owner passed away. Among the items were hundreds of PCjr accessories, never opened.
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/465/396/209/506/750/original/2e6a24ed0c293173.png

2026-04-19 01:39:00 UTC

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Oh wait my bad we do need that, put that back.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/813/990/265/220/original/17b6269af4e0b084.mp4

2026-04-19 01:37:03 UTC

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The first thing a new PCjr owner is going to want to do is remove the frungus modulator. You don't need this, it was only added for compliance with French law
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/802/352/497/948/original/268be53c8926c196.mp4

2026-04-19 01:31:08 UTC

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The most famous orifices on the PCjr though have to be the cartridge slots. They're a pair of dust magnets located directly under the floppy drive.
Inserting a cartridge into one of these will immediately reboot the system without confirmation. Be sure to do that while Daddy is working on a spreadsheet.
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/780/120/010/631/original/904e232258870559.jpg

2026-04-19 01:26:29 UTC

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The D port is where you can connect a display. You can use a special cable to attach a normal CGA monitor. You can purchase such a cable for $20 from someone who got it from Computer Reset for $3
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/764/179/996/627/original/7dca3046844d3520.jpg

2026-04-19 01:22:48 UTC

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A strange property of the gaping M port is that no light can escape it. This is normal.
The M port was for a modem but this was a stupid move on Ibm's part because the Internet hadn't been invented yet.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/749/826/160/902/original/81ca2e217381388e.jpg

2026-04-19 01:19:04 UTC

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The most important port on the IBM PCjr is the LP port, which is for the light pen.
From left to right, we have the joystick ports, J J, after which JJ Abrams was named.
Nobody knows what the L port is for. If you hook a speaker to it, sometimes you hear voices in forgotten languages.
The K port is for the keyboard.
The T port is where you connect a better computer, your Tandy 1000
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/705/344/722/148/original/3f4ba8fb74d3ea58.jpg

2026-04-19 01:10:34 UTC

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The PCjr has lots of ports. But not really. They have two very large ports and plastic spacers.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/702/296/074/679/original/b67356b3d53f7a07.jpg

2026-04-19 01:04:19 UTC

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Look right in here. Right up in this connector that can make your terrible wireless keyboard a terrible wired keyboard
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/674/626/507/565/original/ece2e02dfed12fa4.jpg

2026-04-19 01:02:21 UTC

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Here are the two IR Leds and the jack for connecting a keyboard cable. Let us look closer
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/669/046/450/316/original/abaafe31946f3160.jpg

2026-04-19 00:58:27 UTC

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Let us gaze up the keyboard's battery hole
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/654/752/009/403/original/32ceb7420a4c2622.jpg

2026-04-19 00:56:47 UTC

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Disappointing mushy
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/647/263/771/358/original/21b61e7cb53d9809.mp4

2026-04-19 00:53:01 UTC

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Let's look in all the PCjr's orifices
#retrocomputing

2026-04-18 23:05:30 UTC

Unlike my floppy drive box, only a single goat has pissed on my PCjr box
#retrocomputing #vcf
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/428/208/879/611/627/original/b4cf4a280ad1ef76.jpg

2026-04-12 18:42:42 UTC

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well they still make those db-25 jumper boxes so you're in luck!

2026-04-12 18:27:43 UTC

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wiring up a little DE-9 to dupont adapter since I do this sort of thing often enough.
hsync is yellow (orange also acceptable) and vsync is either purple or blue.
if you pick any other colors you are clearly wrong

2026-04-12 17:14:54 UTC

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i figure this might be useful as a clock generator in general, so made a nice little help menu that prints when your terminal connects.
maybe we can support controlling the reset logic via micropython on the other core at some future point
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/392/851/843/457/425/original/d14db3150b8234cf.png

2026-04-12 16:59:21 UTC

What can I do with five IBM PC floppy controllers?
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/392/795/438/366/260/original/4414eb05340a0a27.jpg

2026-04-12 16:48:03 UTC

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It's really nuts how much functionality is packed into these little microcontrollers. But it makes configuring them a bit obtuse.
Here's the code that (I hope) configures GPIO pin D11 to act as an external reset line for Timer 8:<code> // CH2 = input capture mapped to TI2, used as DEN trigger source TIM8->CCMR1 &= ~( TIM_CCMR1_CC2S_Msk | TIM_CCMR1_IC2PSC_Msk | TIM_CCMR1_IC2F_Msk ); TIM8->CCMR1 |= TIM_CCMR1_CC2S_0; // CC2 mapped to TI2 // Apply a modest digital filter (fSAMPLING = fDTS, N = 8) to ignore noise TIM8->CCMR1 |= (0x3UL << TIM_CCMR1_IC2F_Pos); TIM8->CCER |= TIM_CCER_CC2E; </code>

2026-04-12 16:42:57 UTC

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I've got the Arduino sketch set up so that I can just hit keys in the serial terminal to adjust the clock parameters, which is pretty cool.
'f' makes the clock faster, 's' makes the clock slower, 'g' toggles the STM32's GPIO driver speed, which only has subtle effects at these frequencies.

2026-04-12 16:37:42 UTC

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Because I want a rainbow across the ENTIRE screen, dammit.

2026-04-12 16:37:03 UTC

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Eventually I will need to use something other than DEN to control the select input on our little 157.
I'm thinking Pin 6 on U43, which is the same chip we socketed to override the color clock, is a good candidate.
this is the inverted color burst trigger, and conveniently it isn't connected so we can solder on to the back of it.
so in theory, when pin 6 goes high, the color burst should be over and it should be safe to swap out our color clock.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/392/699/444/681/419/original/2379ac5cb3dd1818.png

2026-04-12 16:18:07 UTC

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I've been digging around in the STM32 datasheets, and I think I may have a solution for our synchronization problem.
We want to restart the STM32's Timer 8 each scanline so we get a deterministic color clock on each scanline, so that whatever whacky hue effect results is vertically aligned across the whole screen.
The timer has an external ETR input that can be used to reset the timer counter. We can feed this the HSYNC signal from the RGBI output since we're not using that in composite mode anyway.

2026-04-12 16:01:04 UTC

It turns out there is one clock the STM32 can generate from a 240MHz IO clock that is an even divisor of CGA scanlines.
The rainbow shimmer on the fence is a promising taste of what a Rainbow CGA should look like.
#retrocomputing #circuitbending
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/392/553/942/124/873/original/a1f34e9c2f04b02d.mp4

2026-04-11 21:13:40 UTC

if you buy a bunch of a stuff for a project, get a box, and as the stuff arrives, put the stuff for the project in that box. you can mark the box "box for stuff for the project."
then when you start the project, you will have all the stuff you need for the project. it will be in the box, because you put it there.
and you won't be me right now

2026-04-11 17:09:35 UTC

tweaked the palettes a bit, here are three pixel-art computers so far
#retrocomputing #pixelart
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/387/173/232/617/173/original/cb75f472bdbb51fb.png

2026-04-11 00:43:01 UTC

some CGA cards are kiki and some are bouba
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/383/292/749/184/528/original/02a9c7b06fc301fc.png

2026-04-10 22:58:31 UTC

Not sure I've ever seen the box for a IBM Model F keyboard ]before.
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/382/881/168/877/184/original/e6fed2e141832114.png

2026-04-10 19:21:42 UTC

Also started a pixel art 5150.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/382/031/735/480/274/original/de0b8c3fb4af0ce8.png

2026-04-09 00:22:16 UTC

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doesn't your slicery thingy do that?
i don't know anything about 3d printing

2026-04-08 19:08:46 UTC

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And IBM PCjr!
https://www.freepoly.org/portfolio-1/ibm-pcjr-4863-computer
#retrocomputing #pcjr
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/370/655/726/734/534/original/d0b1b90a65276a29.png

2026-04-08 19:07:17 UTC

Some nice free models from freepoly.org:
First, we have a Tandy 1000
https://www.freepoly.org/portfolio-1/ibm-tandy-1000
#retrocomputing #tandy1000
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/370/648/597/098/546/original/1a29ecf1dd00980d.png

2026-04-08 13:19:58 UTC

Time to replace the bad power switch in my Commodore 1084D monitor!
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/369/284/095/864/254/original/4c9a06f43e9033cf.jpg

2026-04-05 04:00:50 UTC

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I think my first exposure to them was a demo of what was almost certainly a Fairlight CMI on the show "Reading Rainbow." In fact, hold on, I bet that shit's on youtube.
YUP
https://youtu.be/AjxX2ey53hg?t=105

2026-04-05 03:59:07 UTC

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that is my legitimate interest in them. they feel like something that fell down between the stairs of my childhood memories. something known in the abstract but never seen or felt.
i gotta admit I got a little tingle the first time i touched a button with the pen and the software responded.

2026-04-04 22:51:27 UTC

For the first time in maybe - decades? Someone has a complete, high-resolution CGA light pen system for the original IBM PC.
(It's me. I'm the someone)
#retrocomputing #lightpen
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/348/874/780/388/444/original/cd0547b1673a5db9.png

2026-04-04 19:26:41 UTC

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this is just really tricky...
I run into this a ton correcting photos of PCBs and then noticing stuff shift in the middle when i'm tracing it out.
it's easy to get the edges aligned but still have drift in the center.
The thing is i'm wondering if "barrel distortion" in terms of what a lens captures is geometrically equivalent to a CRT's curvature. I'd bet it isn't 1:1
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/348/070/450/723/725/original/a9a849fd0353e9a2.png

2026-04-04 19:19:13 UTC

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hey, that's pretty good!

2026-04-04 18:19:41 UTC

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yes this is about lenipen but it just got me thinking.
the text at the bottom of the screenshot is your standard 40 column 8-pixel CGA font, so that gives a clear reference for everything else.
There is enough resolution here to reconstruct the image, but it will be laborious.
I tried to cancel the barrel distortion, but it's awkward because it's not centered -the line of text at the bottom is straight, but the menu headers at the top are curved up.
I've always been curious how these magazines took screenshots...
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/347/806/336/207/075/original/e7d24fe2e3d47e03.png

2026-04-04 18:15:38 UTC

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making the training set would be a bit of a pain - i was thinking about finding screenshots that you could reproduce in an emulator, but maybe just taking screenshots and putting them through some print-process simulation with barrel distortion, halftone dots and bit of the 'ol gaussian blur

2026-04-04 18:14:03 UTC

@npub1g8x…7wul
I wonder if you could train a CNN to map a printed screenshot from a magazine back to the exact pixels
#retrocomputing

2026-04-03 23:55:15 UTC

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hey cataract buddy, the surgery is really fast and painless, i'd rather have cataract surgery again than go to the dentist

2026-04-03 16:44:22 UTC

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Also - did you know you can un-fuck other people's scanned PDFs? It's true!
Use NAPS2 to dump all the images from a PDF to a directory. Fix their shit* in Scantailor, then make a fresh PDF in NAPS2 with the OCR they probably forgot to do as well.
*There is no fixing ABBYY Finereader

2026-04-03 16:40:33 UTC

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And the best thing is your PDF won't look like you used ABBYY Finereader.
(seriously, I despise ABBYY Finereader and the way it mutilates documents. Get me drunk and ask me about it sometime)

2026-04-03 16:38:19 UTC

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Here's the shadowy right side of that page after processing.
Settings are:
Mode: Color/Grayscale
Options: fill offcut, fill margins, equialize illumination
Filling: Background
Color operations: posterize: 32, normalize, force bw
Processing: Black on white mode (i believe this performs adaptive thresholding)
Looks good. ship it.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/341/744/810/763/649/original/5c110d36133dff5d.png

2026-04-03 16:34:30 UTC

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This manual is just your typical staple-bound thing. I dislike thresholded scans, I've squinted at way too many 1bpp scans of datasheets I wish the scanner had spent slightly more time and care on.
But when you scan in grayscale, you can get shadows at the edges where the binding "crease" is (idk the proper terminology).
ScanTailor allows you to auto-detect content areas (which you will not want to blindly accept) but this allows you to perform post-processing with different parameters on content and non-content areas.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/341/730/621/110/496/original/2039e0143d38b17a.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/341/738/525/278/084/original/3415b76a10f8c6c9.png

2026-04-03 16:09:48 UTC

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ScanTailor runs on a directory of images - it isn't going to scan or make a PDF for you.
That's where NAPS2 comes in. It will do the scanning, dump the files into a directory for ScanTailor to work on, then take the resulting images, and export it as PDF with OCR.
It's cool to have a completely free workflow for doing this.
https://www.naps2.com/

2026-04-03 16:07:41 UTC

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This project has died and been ressurected a number of times - this particular fork has also been dead for 7 years, but it still seems to work fine.
There are a whole ton of forks of this thing and I can't keep track of which, if any, are the best current version. If you happen to know, please post a link in reply.

2026-04-03 16:07:36 UTC

If you find yourself scanning manuals or books for archival purposes, but you don't have a lot of time to fuss over the results (and you don't already have some fancy software that does this) - I can recommend ScanTailor.
It has automatic page splitting, deskew and content centering.
https://github.com/4lex4/scantailor-advanced
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/341/583/370/952/352/original/3fd1d851b763af02.png

2026-04-02 18:13:56 UTC

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.. Are you Bob Mastodon? I knew it!

2026-04-02 18:07:11 UTC

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hrm, if i boost this, am i being manipulated? 🤔

2026-04-01 13:04:16 UTC

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The fun thing is that this was not used on all 1000's so if you say, look up a reference video or photo, you might get the impression that you are going slightly mad

2026-04-01 13:03:07 UTC

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tricked you the U means nothing and you win nothing.
it's specifically just the FD-54B
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/329/580/589/459/809/original/0900c89e1dfd19e6.png

2026-04-01 12:54:13 UTC

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#retrocomputing #tandy1000 That's right, the drive electronics are mounted upside down.
The edge connector is reversed.
why does nobody mention this?
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/329/546/041/845/095/original/1721d7b2b39a6d50.png

2026-04-01 12:46:02 UTC

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#retrocomputing #tandy1000 Take a wild guess as to what the -U implies.

2026-04-01 12:42:44 UTC

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#retrocomputing #tandy1000
If you know the pinout of the floppy connector, every other wire is ground - meaning one half of the IDC connector is ground. So it can't be flipped around!
And yet it is. So how the hell were the floppy drives working in the first place?

2026-04-01 12:41:56 UTC

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#retrocomputing #tandy1000
and it *is* the correct cable, the pinout matches the one in the service manual.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/329/499/695/324/753/original/a7218f736575c1ee.png

2026-04-01 12:41:08 UTC

I always had to flip the Gotek upside down when i used it with my Tandy 1000 and I never understood why. Then I started looking at the ribbon cable.
Pin 1 on the ribbon does not match pin 1 on the motherboard.
It's physically too short to plug in the way it "should" and flip around.
#retrocomputing #tandy1000
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/329/494/913/927/366/original/a4a1eab75bc0acaa.png

2026-03-29 23:51:11 UTC

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slowly building an archive dump for FTG light pens as well.
once I get a few more of the cards (one of which is coming with a whole bag of original documents/manuals) this will all be going up as well
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/315/139/064/648/698/original/9e504b40359c8a9b.png

2026-03-29 23:41:00 UTC

does archive.org really need a 4800 dpi scan of all sides of the box?
no, probably not.
is it getting a 4800 dpi scan of all sides of the box? yes. yes it is.
#retrocomputing
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/315/100/594/548/943/original/ff1a6f9b3d7694b8.png

2026-03-26 00:38:20 UTC

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if you run GLaBIOS you can switch your video cards out and you don't even have to touch the stupid DIP switch

2026-03-26 00:37:08 UTC

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you can always rock the very first VGA card ever made
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/292/673/747/921/974/original/4cac1a5f431e2434.png

2026-03-26 00:14:37 UTC

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yes! bespoke one off ISA video card buddy.
I'm going to make a Seequa Chameleon CGA ISA card.
It has palettes!

2026-03-26 00:05:23 UTC

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CGA cards are like the cockroaches of the retro computing world
there's probably more CGA cards than computers with 8 bit ISA slots

2026-03-25 23:20:26 UTC

I just bought like sixteen CGA cards
I may have a problem.
#retrocomputing

2026-03-23 18:48:47 UTC

This is the work of a seasoned emulator developer, but still an impressive feat.
A 486-class PC emulator....
...in Visual Basic 6. And yes, you can run Visual Basic in it.
https://github.com/mikechambers84/BasicBox
#retrocomputing #emulation
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/279/977/934/402/476/original/484bfdf8d61764c8.png

2026-03-23 05:48:45 UTC

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beam keystrokes to a PCjr with the infrared port on an HP 48SX calculator

2026-03-21 18:38:20 UTC

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i love his little waddle so much

2026-03-21 07:00:14 UTC

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I turned to my boss. "I don't get it. How does he get better the more exhausted he is?"
My boss just looked at me like it was obvious. "Our front end code depends on Jake weary."

2026-03-21 07:00:05 UTC

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After a few more minutes of this he slammed down on the enter key, and stood up, stumbling to the corner where he had sleeping bag, and just collapsed on it.
We crowded around his monitor. Unbelievably, he had cleared every outstanding bug.

2026-03-21 06:59:55 UTC

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But when we got into crunch mode and the hours grew longer and longer, it's like the pressure and stress unlocked his potential. Once, in the last 48 hours before a big deadline, I walked in on him surrounded by about a dozen empty cans of Monster, just furiously typing away, muttering to himself. I was about to say something when my boss shot me a stern look and shook his head.
So I stood there. We all just stood there, watching.

2026-03-21 06:59:46 UTC

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This was many years ago but i once worked with this front end dev, guy named Jake. He was a kind of an odd fellow. Real lanky dude, didn't talk much. And normally he wasn't the greatest programmer, a bit sloppy.

2026-03-19 18:50:41 UTC

#retrocomputing
Anyone recognize the apparatus this woman is using?
I suspect she's at a drafting table, and this is some sort of digitizer based on the corded puck she has in her right hand.
edit: She is doing PCB design work, and timeframe is 1983.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/257/324/296/488/068/original/00d9591645c45db2.png

2026-03-14 01:14:00 UTC

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i'd honestly just recommend an AVR based arduino, as it's already 5V and it doesn't need to be terribly fast
you can pretty much plug something like this right into the big GPIO header of an Arduino MEGA with some vertical pin headers.
here's the pinout as well.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/224/853/971/910/484/original/4191da0146e49ea8.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/224/873/126/218/979/original/364681f25d4c7e57.png

2026-03-13 23:31:44 UTC

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i would also like to see birds, and maybe foxes

2026-03-13 23:20:17 UTC

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give me some pretty hashtags

2026-03-13 21:32:48 UTC

I think i may need a break from mastodon.
it is not an exaggeration to say that the majority of my feed is now just various anti-AI posts.
the people pushing AI aren't here. they are not on your Mastodon instance. When you post about how terrible and ignorant and stupid they are they do not see it, and it's not like that sort of thing persuades anyone even if they did.
I want to keep up with the cool stuff you are all making and doing. But I realize I am not entitled to just pick and choose from the things you find important enough to share, so I am not sure what else to do when I find that reading my feed no longer improves my mental health.

2026-03-12 05:35:25 UTC

you call her a qwerty pie

2026-03-07 18:25:00 UTC

Adrian Black's latest video covers customizing GLaBIOS, an excellent, open-source, clean-room BIOS for the IBM PC and XT (and a number of compatibles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nscn9gBMJQ
#retrocomputing

2026-03-07 08:18:03 UTC

Have you ever just been minding your own business and then out of nowhere you have this sudden, crushing realization **you exist**, despite there being no particular reason that you should?
I sometimes ask people if they have experienced this, and their eyes light up - like we are in some secret club. Other people look at me like I have grown a second head.

2026-03-03 07:11:05 UTC

Remember the movie Short Circuit?
In this scene, we see the incredibly expensive product of a billion-dollar corporation rapidly scan copyrighted material in order to train its neural network.
Thankfully it was just a dumb science fiction movie
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/163/981/676/925/181/original/0228ea3258bf74f2.mp4

2026-03-02 21:42:39 UTC

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i posted the old setup for 2.73 - it's pretty specifically set up for the icons i was working on at the time, but its an example of an isometric camera
https://oldbytes.space/@gloriouscow/116152934506593144
I'd share this blend file but it's not much more than an cube and a hastilly modelled pin with an array modifier on it, a slight camera tilt and five minutes of mucking around in render settings - and you woudln't get this result out of it due to all the photoshop work.
I'm still dabbling with all the new features added to Blender in the last ten years since I last seriously used it. If I come up with something promising, I'll release it for free.

2026-03-02 21:27:04 UTC

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so much bootstrap
the simulator interface is a cursed stack of a SVG and DOM elements over a canvas.

2026-03-02 21:25:28 UTC

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Oh hey, I found it!
Check out the awesome tweened packet-dropping animation.
Like a puppy spitting out a pill. Ptew!
#networking #cisco
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/161/684/168/780/216/original/a32ee5a6f1a6952f.mp4

2026-03-02 21:16:36 UTC

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Yeah, it was gonna be like a web version of Packet Tracer.

2026-03-02 20:47:31 UTC

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These icons were originally for an idea i had for a website for Cisco certification training - they were going to let you set up a simple network and simulate various protocols, all in javascript.
I even had this cool effect where when you sent a packet/frame the wire would bulge out, like your packet was physically squeezing through the wire.
It looked cool, but adding fancy animation delays really fucks up spanning tree convergence.
Anyway, I bit off more than I could chew, and this was pre-typescript Angular V1, so there's no resurrecting it.
But hey, any venture capitalists wanna hire me to rewrite it all in Rust/wasm/webgpu, let's go make a billion dolars!

2026-03-02 20:38:44 UTC

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The trackpad is also super sunken just to get an emphasis on the edge of it. It remains semi-legible all the way down to 48x48
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/161/504/440/819/035/original/60e884b45cfaf5b4.png

2026-03-02 20:35:49 UTC

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Of course, there aren't nearly enough pins, but if you want something actually legible at pixel-art resolutions you have to make concessions.
For my little pixel art laptop, i made the keys nice and chunky
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/161/493/010/646/173/original/64517d791469819e.png

2026-03-02 20:32:32 UTC

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At the risk of embarking upon yet another distracting side project (I dimly recall I was writing an emulator at some point) i think it would be fun to make a geometry node shader that could emit various kinds of chips, with pin count, package, etc, as parameters...