spent quite a bit of time researching microcomputer era video, and i concluded that a late 70s-early 80s design for the @permacomputer project is horrendously complicated, if not prohibitively expensive.
take the MC6845 for instance. all it does is set up the display memory timing and its addressing. you need even more circuitry after that to actually generate the pixels.
the 6847 is a chip for a complete video solution, if you can tolerate its meagre 32 column text mode.
the further i got through don lancaster's cheap video cookbook the further my stomach dropped: quite often these chips are so slow compared to TV signal frequencies that you have to trade off features to get a decent resolution.
-*-
one particular method i had considered in the past was not to directly integrate video into the 8 bit computer design, but use a cheap microcontroller as a video terminal, and have the computer use its ACIA chip to communicate with it via serial comms.
there are a great number of these microcontroller video terminal projects. i have a list of them and will be publishing it under the permacomputer project.
please find attached a schematic from an incredible, yet bitrotted website. using two very cheap microcontrollers makes for a beautiful solution.
and 80x25 text mode!
i do not think using these microcontrollers contradicts the spirit of permacomputing.
using microcontrollers removes the need to sacrifice system memory for VRAM. it also makes the permacomputer modular--if one part of the system fails, you can still use the other half.
it is also a very cheap solution, and that is good for making the permacomputer easier to produce and access.
here we are, living in a world with absurdly fast communications between so many of us, kept so absurdly busy that we rarely find the time to sit and visit with the people around us and speak about the things that weigh on our minds and the things that bring our minds lightness. it's almost like those who perpetuate the structures of control in our society do not want the masses to be too contemplative. wonder why that is...
finished rebel moon 1, and the director's cut of 2
if you're looking for a really, really fun modern take on space operas, these are your movies
great character development, but fairly standard hollywood morality plot
Woolworths is going to use scab labor to reopen one of its picketed distribution centres. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/01/woolworths-to-reopen-distribution-centre-to-get-essential-items-on-shelves-amid-ongoing-strike
Anyone in Aus want a Free PC?
It's in Sydney
There is no storage device, BYO
Update: this pc is now spoken for
Star Citizen: 12+ years development, $750M budget, not shipped.
My games: 6+ years development, $75 budget, not shipped.
https://www.thegamer.com/star-citizen-nearing-billion-dollars-crowdfunding-early-access/
#gamedev
On January 21, 2025 there will be a planetary alignment of six planets. Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn will all be visible at the same time. All but Neptune will be visible to the naked eye.
This image is a depiction of a planet map from the Northern Hemisphere.
More on the event, complete with a detailed schedule for all regions:
https://starwalk.space/en/news/what-is-planet-parade
#Space #Astronomy #PlanetaryAlignment #CelestialEvent #MilkyWay #Planets #NightSky
Links to lot o paywalled articles are trending in the #fediverse recently.
I would be nice to be able either to start using some hashtags, when linking to paywalled #media, like:
or maybe to have chance to store database of paywalled URLs on each instance and give users chance to display some warning or even slightly hide the paywalled links.
Obviously, no one of us will ever have accounts on ALL paywalled media, home or foreign, and I also don't really remember which huge media sights are paywalled and which not. So adding some automation and integrating database of paywalled sites into Mastodon would save me quite some time...
Today starts the #DOSember streaming event! Retro streamers will focus on DOS gaming (MS-DOS, PC-DOS) throughout the month. Look for the above hashtag and #dos on #twitch for streamers taking part or streaming DOS games in general. The event's web site is https://dosember.com/
They should do a season of Hoarders where they look at billionaires.
Updated my #homepage to use Doom Solarized Light theme in light mode and Doom Molokai theme in dark mode. Looks better now, hopefully.
An old series of blog posts with an intriguing premise and a focus on Forth:
"What if all software suddenly disappeared? What's the minimum you'd need to bootstrap a practical system? I decided to start with a one sector (512-byte) seed and find out how far I can get."
Really looking forward to this year's #DecemberAdventure!
Seeing what everybody was able to achieve last year was amazing.
This year's goal for me will be to make progress on a tiny #ActivityPub server, inspired by #permacomputing.
I'm not starting from scratch, I already implemented a few functionalities on and off this year.
https://eli.li/december-adventure
https://git.sr.ht/~louismerlin/december-adventure
went to wordhack in new york last night and appreciated these projects:
- banner depot 2000 (https://www.banner-depot-2000.net/)
- blur markup language (https://bml-lang.org/)
The MS Windows trash icon has had a recycle symbol on it since at least 1995. I am hearing rumours that until very recently your documents were not in fact being recycled.
The LispBox - self-contained Lisp computer with Teensy 4.1 - uLisp
http://forum.ulisp.com/t/the-lispbox-self-contained-lisp-computer-with-teensy-4-1/1390
Discussions: https://discu.eu/q/http://forum.ulisp.com/t/the-lispbox-self-contained-lisp-computer-with-teensy-4-1/1390