I saw some discussion about FOSDEM and it led into a bigger discussion about what software freedom means.
Does it mean anything outside of writing code and following the rules of licences? Or does it encompass activism, for instance, and politics about the code that is written?
I am certainly an activist about my code. I don't expect others to be always, but I do not think it is a good idea to limit the nature of software freedom.
It is currently 13:12 in the following timezones:
- Atlantic/Azores
- Atlantic/Cape_Verde
- Etc/GMT+1
new BASIC software archive.
https://archive.basiclang.solarpunk.au/
#basic #retrocomputing #archive #software
please boost.
I've been making my little mdhutil/marklib support libraries full of stuff since the '80s. TO THIS DAY I have inconsistent definitions for some functions between languages. Case right now is "minmax" which just clips a number to a range. Is it minmax(x, lo, hi) in JS, or is it (minmax lo hi x) in Scheme? HA HA SUCKER GUESS.
I wonder if I ever did minmax(lo, x, hi) which would be the most logical but least readable version.
@vidak I got this as a gift because I already was trying to get into computers and game programming, and I still have a copy <redacted> decades later. A couple other books were gifted me at the same time, but this is the one that got me actually going with C++. (So author Christopher Lampton probably owes me for a life of pain and despair, but anyway.)
hello all.
given the project's interest in BASIC has been so comprehensive, we decided to publish a living archive of BASIC-related software and hardware details.
https://archive.basiclang.solarpunk.au/
please, if you have anything licenced as free software, or public domain, and wish to contribute--let us know.
@vidak Mine was Stimulating Simulations
https://archive.org/details/Stimulating_Simulations_1977_C_William_Engel
and the Creative Computing books
https://archive.org/details/basic-computer-games-microcomputer-edition_202207
#basic #retrocomputing
@vidak that would have won me over yeah.
Mine was a second hand copy of this, and a hand me down Atari (and, later, qbasic)
This was the book that single handedly got me into computers and programming.
It still captures my imagination today.
Guessing from the current RAM price increases we'll be back at 1976 prices in a few months!
16,384 bytes for $795 adjusted for inflation is $4,527, which is about 28¢ per byte.
32GB of memory would therefore be roughly 9.5 billion dollars.
I am going to be setting up an archive of BASIC code.
Almost all of it will be public domain, or some sort of free licence.
The idea dawned on me after I looked at my current collection of historical code and various magazine PDFs.
It has not been set up yet, but I am thinking basiclang.solarpunk.au/archive
My brain has its ~yearly "Analogue/ Modular Synth things look so fucking interesting! Want to learn and build my own!" phase again.
Can you recommend good learning resources (in english/german) with good explanations how such things work on the electronics level?
The mathematics behind it are nice to know, but for that i have books like "Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik" but always a bit much for my brain, so i would rather prefer intuitive explanations of what happens in the circuits.
