@sun do you think the keyboard would be ok in any way on this
@icedquinn I would love to get one but the reality is I just won't use it enough.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @romin It's a little dot-matrix printer that prints to a reel of paper! It's really cool. I have some printouts from one I'll share pics with sometime.
@sun its kind of a misc use machine yeah.
idk what i will do with it either but they're the slowest fulfillers in the world so there's plenty of time to figure it out
idk what i will do with it either but they're the slowest fulfillers in the world so there's plenty of time to figure it out
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @romin it's attached to an expansion slot iirc so you can pull it out and plug in other peripherals.
@david@hollow.raccoon.quest @sun@shitposter.world I ordered one of these once, heard that it might take a few months to actually get it, despite being labeled as "in stock", because they were so far behind on shipping :/
It does seem like a neat device though
@sun @p @romin neat. micro computers are neat.
https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-series
https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-series
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @romin @sun freewrite alphas are kind of nice for that, although they still aren't quite as nice as the original alphasmarts. most of my writing this year has been imported from that.
the uconsole would be nicer in some ways though
the uconsole would be nicer in some ways though
@icedquinn @p @romin @sun I have both a Freewrite and an old Alphasmart. I wrote two novels on one of the latter, bit by bit!
@sun @romin
> do you do real work on a devterm?
Yes. It has completely replaced my Thinkpad. I do most of my reading on it, I do all of my away-from-desk computing on it. When I had to fly out last year to visit grandpa as he was on his way out and help me mum with all that, I only used the DevTerm for about a week and didn't have any trouble. I've spent the day with it before. Even the RISC-V one (single 1GHz core, 1GB RAM) is usable for work; longer compile times if you're doing it locally, but it runs drawterm fine, so I can get to the Plan 9 machine, it runs urxvt/dvtm/screen/ssh just fine, client software for everything runs great, except the client software for the web. Browsers work fine on the A-06, though. I had to resort to hacks to compile qt6 because it wanted something like 20GB of RAM to link, but that would have failed on my Thinkpad also.
> I had the pleasure to see and try a devterm belonging to a friend I visited during my european vacation
Oh, they're fun. I wrote up a lengthy comparison some time recently, I can try to dig it up, but effectively the uConsole is fun and it's good in a pinch, the DevTerm is actually usable for work. I have used the uConsole as a second screen, like, run a barrier server on the DevTerm and then a client on the uConsole and you can see docs on one screen while the code is on the other.
> do you do real work on a devterm?
Yes. It has completely replaced my Thinkpad. I do most of my reading on it, I do all of my away-from-desk computing on it. When I had to fly out last year to visit grandpa as he was on his way out and help me mum with all that, I only used the DevTerm for about a week and didn't have any trouble. I've spent the day with it before. Even the RISC-V one (single 1GHz core, 1GB RAM) is usable for work; longer compile times if you're doing it locally, but it runs drawterm fine, so I can get to the Plan 9 machine, it runs urxvt/dvtm/screen/ssh just fine, client software for everything runs great, except the client software for the web. Browsers work fine on the A-06, though. I had to resort to hacks to compile qt6 because it wanted something like 20GB of RAM to link, but that would have failed on my Thinkpad also.
> I had the pleasure to see and try a devterm belonging to a friend I visited during my european vacation
Oh, they're fun. I wrote up a lengthy comparison some time recently, I can try to dig it up, but effectively the uConsole is fun and it's good in a pinch, the DevTerm is actually usable for work. I have used the uConsole as a second screen, like, run a barrier server on the DevTerm and then a client on the uConsole and you can see docs on one screen while the code is on the other.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @sun @romin CM-4 is easiest to get, but the A-06 is a Rockchip, it's way faster. Highly recommended.
@icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Ha, that's kinda cool. You actually like it?
It looks fun, but the screen looks painfully small, and $350; like, you can still pick up a used TRS-80 Model 100 for about $100-200, bigger screen and full-size keyboard. It is probably less convenient to dump the contents of a text file over a serial line rather than USB, eInk might mean the screen is less squinty than it looks. (The "Freewrite Smart Typewriter" looks really cool but also, like...$650.) How is it, is the screen a problem? Easy to get your text off of it?
It looks fun, but the screen looks painfully small, and $350; like, you can still pick up a used TRS-80 Model 100 for about $100-200, bigger screen and full-size keyboard. It is probably less convenient to dump the contents of a text file over a serial line rather than USB, eInk might mean the screen is less squinty than it looks. (The "Freewrite Smart Typewriter" looks really cool but also, like...$650.) How is it, is the screen a problem? Easy to get your text off of it?
@icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
> You actually like it?
If you and Dad are both using it all the time, I guess that question is already answered. The screen's really not bad?
Also the big one has a physical wifi knob, which was kind of funny:
they_actually_made_it,_the_crazy_bastards.png
> You actually like it?
If you and Dad are both using it all the time, I guess that question is already answered. The screen's really not bad?
Also the big one has a physical wifi knob, which was kind of funny:
they_actually_made_it,_the_crazy_bastards.png
@p @icedquinn @romin @sun I got one of these for cheap. and the screen IS bad!
https://getfreewrite.com/products/alpha
https://getfreewrite.com/products/alpha
@icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Oh, yeah, I looked at their site. Even if the screen looks like it'd be difficult to manage, it *is* an appealing device. How is the built-in editor? Battery life? (I'd recommend the Model 100, but this is fedi, so I'd have to recommend the NEC PC-8201 instead.)
@p @icedquinn @romin @sun the built-in editor is deliberately gimped because they want you to use it for plain text only and edit later while on your main computer. battery life is strong, but I haven't used it much. keyboard is comfortable because the device is large.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @icedquinn @romin @sun can you use your own self-hosted cloud or does it force you to sell your soul to the Antichrist?
@sun I would love this but am always extremely cautious of #clockworkpi since they burned me with the the GameShell
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@ElDeadKennedy @icedquinn @p @romin @sun AFAIK you have to sign up for an account and upload everything you write to their servers. we are not yet free.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @icedquinn @romin @sun
> the built-in editor is deliberately gimped because they want you to use it for plain text only and edit later while on your main computer.
That kinda sucks. I was looking for some explanation of WordStar a long time back, like why did people rave about it? Maybe grab a copy of it and see how it felt (which I ended up not grabbing a copy, because I found a list of the keybindings and I think I understand why people liked it). Apparently the Game of Thrones guy writes all of his shit on it, still. He has a DOS machine he sits down at and turns on WordStar and writes his books, then he copies them to a computer with an internet connection when they are done.
Does it give you a regular FAT partition full of text files if you plug it in? Like, I saw "cloud" and it made me nervous.
> the built-in editor is deliberately gimped because they want you to use it for plain text only and edit later while on your main computer.
That kinda sucks. I was looking for some explanation of WordStar a long time back, like why did people rave about it? Maybe grab a copy of it and see how it felt (which I ended up not grabbing a copy, because I found a list of the keybindings and I think I understand why people liked it). Apparently the Game of Thrones guy writes all of his shit on it, still. He has a DOS machine he sits down at and turns on WordStar and writes his books, then he copies them to a computer with an internet connection when they are done.
Does it give you a regular FAT partition full of text files if you plug it in? Like, I saw "cloud" and it made me nervous.
@p @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
Who knew authors had such low impulse control? However, as a true gadget appreciator, that things has a big of 1990's zerust going for it that I find... compelling.
Who knew authors had such low impulse control? However, as a true gadget appreciator, that things has a big of 1990's zerust going for it that I find... compelling.
@p @icedquinn @romin @sun I haven't messed around with it much, so I don't know if there's a way to jailbreak it and get your text directly from fhe device. the horribleness of the publishing industry has soured me on the whole "writing" thing.
@SilverDeth @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun I have had the misfortune to be obligated to interact with recent Windows/OSX, and you can't use the damn thing for ten consecutive minutes without a notification popping up. It wants you to update the OS. It wants you to take a tour of features in the program that shows you a calendar. A thing decides suddenly to ask you permission to access your rectal thermometer and your address book. Another update is available. A blue tooth was found, do you want to try to connect to it? The firewall wants your permission to check if another update is available.
I couldn't figure out how to turn most of it off; I know how to turn that stuff off in Linux (it is really easy: just don't install it) and in Plan 9 (even easier: it's really easy to not install something that no one has written). I can only imagine what happens if you are trying to write and are possibly not great with computers. It must be impossible to use a regular computer for this nowadays.
dear_computers_2.jpg
I couldn't figure out how to turn most of it off; I know how to turn that stuff off in Linux (it is really easy: just don't install it) and in Plan 9 (even easier: it's really easy to not install something that no one has written). I can only imagine what happens if you are trying to write and are possibly not great with computers. It must be impossible to use a regular computer for this nowadays.
dear_computers_2.jpg
@p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @romin @sun I haven't used Windows 11 but I hear it's a worse experience than fighting the Viet Cong.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @romin @sun if it's an alpha you plug it in to a computer and it goes USB mode. The traveler and original I have no idea.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @romin @sun one big bear I have is that it appears to use volatile memory. If the battery goes then so do your files. And it really doesn't want to tell you how much battery is left.
I would still probably be willing to engineer another smart typewriter because this is kind of unacceptable in this day and age like the whole point of these things is taking them off grid but Astrohaus sre hipster fucks that built it to be near hive cities.
One of those things it would be nice to have jcore processors so it could have the battery life of the original, but still add an SD card slot for durable memory maybe
I would still probably be willing to engineer another smart typewriter because this is kind of unacceptable in this day and age like the whole point of these things is taking them off grid but Astrohaus sre hipster fucks that built it to be near hive cities.
One of those things it would be nice to have jcore processors so it could have the battery life of the original, but still add an SD card slot for durable memory maybe
@icedquinn @p @romin @sun the Alphasmart had amazing battery life but was hindered by being ancient technology with no wifi and little on-board memory with no SD card expansion.
I'm still waiting for the ultimate portable word processor machine.
I'm still waiting for the ultimate portable word processor machine.
@ElDeadKennedy @p @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun the Alpha can transfer out via offline USB, but all cloud features are proprietary
@icedquinn @ElDeadKennedy @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Does it pretend to be a hard drive or is there something you have to install to talk to it?
@icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
> if it's an alpha you plug it in to a computer and it goes USB mode.
Nice.
> if it's an alpha you plug it in to a computer and it goes USB mode.
Nice.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @HiroProtagonist @p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @romin @sun It’s fine. Linux is better but gaming on it isn’t and that’s all I’ll use my desktop for if I ever get on it.
@vix @icedquinn @p @SilverDeth @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
"I hear it's a worse experience than fighting the Viet Cong." Is just something I'm going to drop casually into conversations from now on.
@HiroProtagonist @vix @icedquinn @p @SilverDeth @romin @sun thanks. despite the name of my instance, I try to be a good poster.
back in my blogging days, my best line was describing The Binding of Isaac as "featuring more dead babies than the dumpster behind Planned Parenthood"
back in my blogging days, my best line was describing The Binding of Isaac as "featuring more dead babies than the dumpster behind Planned Parenthood"
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @SilverDeth @icedquinn @romin @sun So Ubuntu will catch up in about five years?
@vix @noyoushutthefuckupdad @HiroProtagonist @SilverDeth @icedquinn @romin @sun
> Linux is better but gaming on it isn’t
I could not get Windows 8 to recognize the controller I plugged into the USB port and it also cannot play Civ2, which is the last Windows game I give a damn about, and qemu/Server2k3 on Linxu *does* handle it.
> Linux is better but gaming on it isn’t
I could not get Windows 8 to recognize the controller I plugged into the USB port and it also cannot play Civ2, which is the last Windows game I give a damn about, and qemu/Server2k3 on Linxu *does* handle it.
@p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @romin @sun Ubuntu? isn't that that nice gentleman who had the child soldiers?
@p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @HiroProtagonist @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun @vix
I never have trouble getting games to run, wine/proton have been amazing; the only thing that poses a headache with linux gaming is "anti-cheat" malware.
I never have trouble getting games to run, wine/proton have been amazing; the only thing that poses a headache with linux gaming is "anti-cheat" malware.
@0 @p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @HiroProtagonist @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Most stuff runs great on the steam deck although it has limited performance because of the hardware. Still impressive though!
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @HiroProtagonist @SilverDeth @icedquinn @romin @sun @vix
> The Binding of Isaac as "featuring more dead babies than the dumpster behind Planned Parenthood"
This is accurate. It was a really *fun* game, but it's like they went out of their way to make it "Garbage Pail Kids"-level. I played the hell out of it, really fun, just terrible aesthetics.
> The Binding of Isaac as "featuring more dead babies than the dumpster behind Planned Parenthood"
This is accurate. It was a really *fun* game, but it's like they went out of their way to make it "Garbage Pail Kids"-level. I played the hell out of it, really fun, just terrible aesthetics.
@0 @HiroProtagonist @SilverDeth @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun @vix Yeah, it might actually be easier to get Windows Hotline Miami running on Linux than the Linux version.
@vix @icedquinn @SilverDeth @p @HiroProtagonist @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun what makes the NT kernel more suited to gaming than the Linux kernel? 🤔
@RedTechEngineer @vix @HiroProtagonist @SilverDeth @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Publishers love DRM and Microsoft is happy to make sure it's in there.
GNOME is so bad they already have people making alternatives in Rust.
@thendrix @noyoushutthefuckupdad @icedquinn @SilverDeth @romin @sun Whether they rewrite Gnome or not, Ubuntu's desktop has always been "Whatever shitty thing Windows did five years ago".
@p @icedquinn @SilverDeth @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun I might be wrong, but even Canonical can't make software that bad.
@phnt @SilverDeth @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
> even Canonical can't make software that bad.
They made a kernel module to intercept reads from /etc/motd in order to inject news and the number of out-of-date packages you have installed.
Do not doubt Shuttleworth's power.
> even Canonical can't make software that bad.
They made a kernel module to intercept reads from /etc/motd in order to inject news and the number of out-of-date packages you have installed.
Do not doubt Shuttleworth's power.
@RedTechEngineer @icedquinn @SilverDeth @p @HiroProtagonist @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Dude I don’t care I click install and play it
@vix @icedquinn @SilverDeth @p @HiroProtagonist @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun same, just w3rks on my puter.
@p @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
11 Pro is a horror show. Non-pro is orders of magnitude worse. I use 10 pro machines l and haven't decided what I will do once it's deprecated.
I neuter the windows related nuisances significantly using a massive hosts file, a a pi-hole and classic shell to remove the majority of the notifications. (And make it useable).
But it WILL reach a point were keeping ahead of the windows "problems" will be more trouble than windows is worth, and I will move on or just use windows 7 VM's for the software I use.
11 Pro is a horror show. Non-pro is orders of magnitude worse. I use 10 pro machines l and haven't decided what I will do once it's deprecated.
I neuter the windows related nuisances significantly using a massive hosts file, a a pi-hole and classic shell to remove the majority of the notifications. (And make it useable).
But it WILL reach a point were keeping ahead of the windows "problems" will be more trouble than windows is worth, and I will move on or just use windows 7 VM's for the software I use.
@SilverDeth @icedquinn @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun
> But it WILL reach a point were keeping ahead of the windows "problems" will be more trouble than windows is worth, and I will move on or just use windows 7 VM's for the software I use.
Yeah, for me they passed that point some time in the 90s. If I don't have to touch it, I won't.
> But it WILL reach a point were keeping ahead of the windows "problems" will be more trouble than windows is worth, and I will move on or just use windows 7 VM's for the software I use.
Yeah, for me they passed that point some time in the 90s. If I don't have to touch it, I won't.
@p @ElDeadKennedy @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun it pretends to be a 2mb memory card. anything you save or delete it ignores, though, so you still can't push to the device despite people asking about it.
the dana is the only one of these that lets you write to it.
the dana is the only one of these that lets you write to it.
@icedquinn @ElDeadKennedy @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Some people with interesting hardware concepts needed money for manufacturing and got funded by rent-seeking assholes that say "Well, what's the premium option? Enterprise? Why should you let them save files *to* the device? It's a *writing* device. Are you kidding? 'People keep asking for it'? That means they want it! It means you should charge for it!"
@SilverDeth @icedquinn @p @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Windows 11 LTSC might remove some of the bloat that comes with the consumer versions, but I'm having my doubts. Some of the bloated packages can also be omitted by installed the N version for the EU market, or selecting generic english language at install.
@p @phnt @SilverDeth @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun why do you need to intercept motd can't you just write it during init 
@icedquinn @SilverDeth @noyoushutthefuckupdad @phnt @romin @sun There is no reason to intercept it, but it can't show "news" unless it is written very frequently, and the other thing is that you have to understand that it was written for people that would put Ubuntu on a server. I think it is (I'm totally serious) a PAM module now.
That's why a lot of people use the OS but not the default DE. For a while there nemo/nautilus had an outside group doing some interesting stuff like supporting cloud storage for remote profile use and cool stuff that makes sense for some types of work environments.
@thendrix @icedquinn @SilverDeth @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun I have a joke but if I make it then there will be a distro thread going on.
@icedquinn @SilverDeth @p @noyoushutthefuckupdad @romin @sun Probably because you could write a service that hooks to the systemd finished boot target and rewrites the motd back. That said, the module can probably be easily blacklisted and Canonical's current biggest issue is building actually working kernels (last week they pushed an unbootable kernel for AMD Zen 2 APUs.)
@noyoushutthefuckupdad @p @SilverDeth @icedquinn @romin @sun it's alright after you tear out half the "features" using group policy and the registry