Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 18:45:00 JST myrmepropagandist

   A single-board command-line computer using the esp32. Look at it! It's cute. Can't buy it yet the creator is starting some kind of online commune for single-board computer freaks. I bet some of you are around here, go say hi at his forum it only has like two posts and its making me sad.

   https://a.singleboard.computer/

   • Embed this notice
     powersoffour (powersoffour@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 18:44:58 JST powersoffour

     in reply to

     @futurebird I recently read the article on "NanoProcessor" from a 1985 issue of "Home Computing Magazine" and it sorta fits this.

     https://archive.org/details/HomeComputerMagazine_Vol5_05/page/n13/mode/2up

     It's fascinating that this was an article in a popular magazine! (The BASIC listing is in the back.)

   • Embed this notice
     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 18:44:59 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     There is a practical side to my interest in minimalist computers:

     I have this notion about a math/CS curriculum where students build and program their own calculators. Once you make the calculator do it you never need to do it yourself again.

     I have my students program their TI84s to factor, and simplify square roots, any annoying task can become a more annoying but also more fun programming project.

     They seem to really like it.

   • Embed this notice
     RealGene ☣️ (realgene@mastodon.online)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 23:49:11 JST RealGene ☣️

     in reply to

     • Martijn Faassen

     @faassen @futurebird
     Went there and followed a link to this gem:
     "The basic maze generating routine had been partially written by a stoner who had left. I contacted him to try and understand what the maze generating algorithm did. He told me it came upon him when he was drunk and whacked out of his brain, he coded it up in assembly overnight before he passed out, but now could not for the life of him remember how the algorithm worked."

     https://www.techspot.com/news/85622-nobody-sure-what-makes-atari-2600-game-entombed.html

   • Embed this notice
     Martijn Faassen (faassen@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 23:49:12 JST Martijn Faassen

     in reply to

     @futurebird
     I read twostopbits partially for this reason: simple systems that can be understood. The other reason is nostalgia.

     http://twostopbits.com/

     13 barn owls in a trenchcoat repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Tuesday, 30-Apr-2024 23:49:14 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     I don't know why I'm so attracted to little computers like this. Maybe it's the retro futurism? Maybe it's the prospect of understanding how every component in my computer works for a few beautiful moments in the day.

     Maybe it's thinking about how fun it'd be to text secret messages with a little cyberpunk looking card.

     Anyway, if you have ever wanted to make something like this know you will have fans. You don't need to explain why... just make it!