LarryMade2

Getting my code to work for the first time (early 2000s.)

Starting out with intranet PHP was a daunting task, had to get the system setup (Apache, PHP, MySQL) write the code then mess with permissions, etc. Getting that first response back that it worked (or at least kinda worked) said to me you can do this!

back when I learned BASIC 20+ years before that, was the same thing, Back then, I started by either entering or loading a simple program and changed stuff and realized I can change this and the silly experiments in changing values and commands gave me more encouragement to learn and try more.

Early success even if stupid, is big positive reinforcement. If you can't get to Hello World because you are stuck in language/IDE configuration, you aren't going to get fer. If you can get there quick and realize the potential you now have - all that low end stuff becomes a desired necessity to make your magic happen.

Yes. I'm definitely old school and it's a great language if you don't want to use frameworks or other cruft, basically powerful. It's very portable, stable, and fun to work with.

Google Remote Desktop works on Linux.

Most other apples give me heartburn, but Fuji are very good.

I think taste may vary so that list is based on that person's opinion and taste-buds.

Also Location Location Location

Places were there is big industry for a long time is good. Silicon Valley was excellent but not as much now as most hardware mfg. is outside now.

Also suburbs of industry towns have a good chance.

College towns or other concentrations of learning in an area (schools/colleges store their equipment for a long time before remaindering them off).

Just think of where the tech was back in the period you are interested in, and check out local offers in that area...

Over the decades I've been collecting - Ive noticed stuff comes in waves, when collecting is trendy (like when there's a lot of news of 6 figure vintage computer auctions) there's a lot more people buying stuff up at silly high prices, but it doesn't stay that way.

Such as when new emulators for modern hardware or more compact retro hardware comes out that offers near perfect compatibility without the space/cost/hassle things start loosening up.. (i.e. the miniPET does 90%+ of what a PET does and doesn't need a bulky 30 lb. cabinaet to lug it around in, if you are more into running software than displaying the actual hardware that's a compelling "upgrade")

People aging out is another one, I see a few estate hauls recently of the old school techies passing on or reliving themselves of those burdens in their twilight years. I've gotten several bits in my collection from those leaving the hobby and want to give it to someone who will appreciate it. (that's where the letting others know you collect comes in).

Lastly and timely is the employment market seeing on the news that there's thousands of tech layoffs, some of those guys will have to part with the extra stuff to either downsize or pay the bills, so you might be seeing an uptick on eBay and other sites in the coming months,

1) eBay, that's the one place where I get a lot of old bits when needed... Secondly would be the vendor table as t local Vintage Computer event which would be a lot less than eBay prices but only available at specific times and places through the year. Other than that be diligent, check out craigslist, thrift shops, boot sales/flea markets, look for used electronics parts places, used games stores, other resellers (Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores) etc. Let your acquaintances know you collect old computers. Know what you are looking at and your results will widely vary.

2) Network, I guess, restoring computers like on the videos is a laborious process if they were in business to make a living doing such the labor costs would be significant. You might get some help from people for one aspect or another// If you are willing to pay a bit you could find professional restoration.

If you have the knowledge they might hire you as a teachers assistant helping the teacher with curricula and teaching the subject.

Better UX would be being able to tell before answering if the number is spoofed or not - or a known spammer.

Maybe a smart-ish charger that can identify Samsung or other tablet for fast charging and iPad see the foreign crosstalk as a potential controller.

Also could be a way to encourage sales of apple authorized chargers...

Yeah, a couple good books and possibly some source of my older projects and I'm set. I still regularly buy reference material, not as much nowadays but its nice to have it available in a pinch.

my terminal font is OCR-A gotta have that retro-tech style.

It's not as easy as you imagine, especially when you want to make it "simple" like Gmail, there's a lot of work that goes into a "simple for the user" interface.

Certainly more interesting nerd circles back then - I ran a Commodore Users Group, a BBS, and enjoyed programming a bit. Tried to submit some articles to magazines in the day... no luck though.

Besides the computer nerds like me, you would find the other groups that used computers for their interests, like Ham Radio operators, Educators, Small Business Operators, Writers, and Parents which provided interesting perspectives. Some of them got hooked and explored more like trying out BBSes, or trying to get the most out of word processing, those that didn't get it either stayed just with what they needed or went back to pre-digital methods.

Given that group; reading early home computing magazines magazines like Creative Computing you got to see a lot of articles exploring people trying to implement computer solutions for their varied interests (i.e. cataloging a stamp collection, tracking the farm's vet schedules, etc.) Programs and methodology were not as developed so even the most basic thing could be a struggle to build it up from scratch (you need what sort of storage??)

As far as the nerds there were various nerd clicks from home hobbyists, college educated, old time professional, entrepreneur, know-it-alls, and of course the religions: Apple ][, Atari, Commodore, TRS-80, CP/M. etc. Lot of division with many truly beliving "you can't possibly do X on machine Y!" etc.

Even though there are still seperate platforms, a lot of it is just the same software/development tools, just different computing hardware (which also isn't all that different as it was then).

My suggestion for a good feel is go to the Internet Archive's Computer Magazine rack ( https://archive.org/details/computermagazines ) and start reading through stuff from the mid 70s - mid 80s especially magazines like BYTE, Interface Age, Kilobaud Microcomputing, Creative Computing, Compute!,

Couple of Other documents - https://archive.org/details/ted-nelson-computer-lib-dream-ma... - https://archive.org/details/TheCompleatComputer/mode/1up?vie...

Got a Dell Mini 9 is very nice and sturdy (a lot more solid than the other netbooks of the time), crisp display, ran Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope on it and it worked well. Went from 8GB storage to 16GB, wish it had a 2.5" HDD or SSD instead of the SSD card.

Since architecture was 32 bit could not transition to 64 bit Linux, probably still be using it now and again if it could run preferred newer Distros.

I like it, I think it could use a night mode.

Before the internet I had bought/borrowed many books and magazines as reference material. Most of the reference is the internet now - but I still have quite a few relevant books as well as electronic documents so it may be initially a struggle to get back to paper/PDF referencing I could get still get stuff done. Also my previous code is a good reference source.

For some trick I've never done before I'd either try to hack it out or adapt whatever to what skills and resources I have like don't use hamburger menus at all there's more than one way to do navigation. :-)

Connectivity - we are verging on IoT needing a 24/7 internet connection, coverage is still quite a way from that.

Non-Profits, Small to Medium Sized Businesses. Places where being on the leading edge is a bad thing, better to be near the trailing edge where things "just work" for years.

Years ago I helped my work compile a documents CD which had a web menu with file links to "download" the files to your computer from the CD, it worked well.

Looks like there are some people working on it - https://www.retroprinter.com/ This one is a raspberry pi one so far emulates text, ESCP, ESC/P2, PCL, PostScript, has a Centronics connector - which is a start (Mac serial would be nice)

Also see print capture devices which can intercept/log printer output (for data conversion/preservation) http://www.photologic.ca/cap.html

Going to have to look into this more :-D

Old OS Printer Drivers - I can deal with a lot of old programs, just run them on old computers, but being able to print when classic printers are either in short supply or hard to maintain is an issue. So I would advocate for having modern printers with some open or legacy OS driver support.

Alternative would be having some printer server/emulator which interfaces and emulates as popular legacy printer(s) and serves it out appropriately to modern devices.

The root problem here is getting an efficient solution to your problem.

Even if the company provides a human to talk to there is no guarantee there will be an efficient solution (satellite ISP support come to mind here.)

I think lack of competition is probably the crux, lately many companies are virtual monopolies in their markets or territory. Without adequate alternatives they don't see increased value in a happy customer or attracting customers (because there is no choice).

a) Higher resolution displays and style sheets that do not scale... b) changes in browser compatibility may require you to adjust your html declaration, doctype and meta tags as well.

I've been adjusting my web pages changing the body font size from a fixed point size to an em value, most browsers do some scaling when that is the case, also I do a minor size increase as well. Now most pages get a desktop font-size of 1.2em with mobile width adjusting to 1em, and print with .7 em..

An old friend talked me into getting back to gaming (RPG) a few years ago, we still meet weekly in the mornings, just three of us presently. There were a couple larger instances but COVID squashed that for now. Our "city" is rural sprawl so most people drive or carpool to the friends' house.

I think if participants have a desire and commitment to form a gaming or social group geography will be secondary.

two

I have main computer direct to lefty and a switch to go between multiple PCs (including main) on righty, do a lot of tinkering, programming, and stuff so the main might be videos or docs while the secondary is being worked on or visa versa.

Yeah I agree, many of those are using some generic CMS like WordPress and not really knowing how to fully configure it or it is not maintained.

I am in a technical position in a community service agency, which is kinda a rare thing. Most rely on consultants to set up sites and when they are done the admin staff keep the pages up to date. Usually in those instances they rebuild the site every few years when it becomes unbearable.

Another point is the packaging and documentation, got a Linux Server in the mid 2000s came with Red Hat with a lot of nice install disks, support line, etc. Not just the distro dicks in RH's packaging, so that does add to the cost.

I'm sure they might have done a bunch of testing and tweaking to ensure compatibility upon first boot as well.

Though from my standpoint I'd rather know of a distro's quirks with a particular computer than be surprised when I decide to use something different down the line.

I envision that and them some sort of inflatable shell insterted into it to make a quick habitat... maybe some sort of hardener is activated upon inflation or filled in between outer layers...

Yeah, lunar real estate will be one of the first things - Location. Location. Location.

Comes and goes - old computers namely the Commodore 8-bits. Back in the day the golden age was the 80s (yeah ran a users group and BBS), but lately it's got a renaissance with a lot of emulators, 3rd party advanced devices like wifi modems, SD-Card drives, and even hardware enhancements/re-creations. Lots of you tube videos highlighting repairs, history and other resources.

I've noticed interest comes and goes in waves - one year people are ridding of their stuff and its great to collect... a few years later interest pics back up and you get some new hardware/information, etc.