I write about the past, present, and future of technology across three sites. imapenguin.com explores retro computing and programming fundamentals, milkcrunch.com covers modern software development and engineering culture, and evadot.com examines commercial spaceflight and the new space movement.
Posts
- When I fly a retractable gear plane, I check that my gear is down at least 3 times. At the final approach fix, at IFR mins (even on a clear day) and once across the runway threshold. Those that fly with me often know my routine. I wont end up like this poor guy. Hopefully.
- Mobile computing peaked with this model. Everything after it is a productivity suck. Both of these beauties are getting battery replacements this evening.
- Most aspects of life were better before smart phones and always on internet. Something I’m reflecting on as November begins.
- Distraction resistant #nanowrimo2022 system ready to rock.
- One more possible writing platform for #NaNoWriMo is a KIM-1 clone. Have to memorize the hex codes for ASCII characters. 45,000 words at 4 words a minute in hexadecimal is… 187 hours just to “type” it. Extra credit: decode this. Happy Friday! #commodore
- Kivy-ios certificate errors fix
- A little lunchtime fun. Here's a little program to examine characters from the character rom by location. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/commodore?src=hashtag_click">#commodore</a>
- It’s apparently Global Encryption Day. I’ve done quite a few ciphers on old computers, including SHA-256 in assembly (5 whole hashes per second). I really prefer encryption that can be done by hand. One time pads and the VIC cipher for example. Happy Saturday! #commodore
- My PET it always in the background on video calls, so I started using @8BitShowAndTell ‘s scroller to send subliminal messages. Happy Friday! #commodore
- My mostly retro writing platform contenders in National Novel Writing Month for 2022 NaNoWriMo · imapenguin
- This crap is why I started using Linux almost 30 years ago. Ads in my terminal window are my new least favorite thing. Poor form @Canonical, be better.
- I often intentionally spend a week with a particular 8-Bit machine at a time. This week is my nicely yellowed 128, a computer I desperately wanted to replace my beloved C64 when it came out. Still, a delight to use. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/commodore?src=hashtag_click">#commodore</a>
- A post over the weekend by @8BitShowAndTell has me thinking about how to do 10 PRINT on a PC-4. No backslash, hmm
- MiniPet works pretty well on my 9 inch PET CRT. Now I'm working on a way to have both the original board and the MiniPET in the case at the same time. Everyone dual boots their PET these days right? Happy Friday! #commodore #10print
- Stuck in the weeds on a couple things right now so I broke out a project from last year that I left hanging. Progress on Enigma in ML on the #c64 got my brain unstuck. #commodore
- My submission to David Amos' Code challenge yesterday
- I don’t know who at Commodore in 1979 thought that riveting voltage regulators on was a good idea, but I’m grateful for all of the rivet work I’ve done on airplanes. Could be really intimidating if you’ve never drilled rivets before. Repairing a Twitter friends PET this evening.
- Starting to think about National Novel Writing Month. If I use a VIC-20 for it and a tape deck, my working title for the novel could be "Self-Inflicted Pain." Would be fun to try. I'm reasonably sure it'll be the Apple II this year, though. #appleII #commodore #nanowrimo2022
- Well that's pretty fun. I'll have to think about some 320x200 source images that will render really well at 40x25ish ;-) #commodore
- I spend a ton of time on video calls these days. My tiny profile in a call has a PET in the shot, and the number of conversations this starts is wonderful. #commodore