HP van Braam

yeah, my over the ear ones are nice too!
But the fact that these can get within spitting distance of the ANC of over the ear headphones, being tiny in-ears, is really impressive.
And much less conspicuous! That's why I think for some it might be super useful.
I really love my sony WH-1000XM4 over the ear ones too!

2026-08-22 15:52:48 GMT

I got myself a pair of #sony wireless headphones, the #wf-1000xm6. If you have #sensory overload issues, and/or you just like listening to music I highly recommend them.
The Active Noise Cancellation is absolutely magical. It makes sitting on a bus sound like sitting in a quiet room.
It's almost as good as my big over the ear (WH-1000XM4) noise cancellation.
I don't normally do product recommendations but I think this could be life changing for someone.
#notsponsoredjustanenthusiast

2026-08-21 21:07:24 GMT

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well, if you're learning something maybe the next port can be done by you!

2026-08-21 21:02:35 GMT

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oh yeah! It's a great start!

2026-08-21 20:55:52 GMT

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that's going to maybe cause issues if you really want that X server later!
The uefi framebuffer isn't exactly known to be very fast, and dealing with transitioning out of it can be a bit of a PITA.
But if you want something on screen fast it'll work absolutely great! Not telling you not to use it, but be mindful it's a stopgap.

2026-08-21 19:58:20 GMT

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this is very good, 10/10 plane captaining.

2026-08-20 13:01:22 GMT

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I've found that audigy cards are pretty readily available because their SB emulator sucks, so most retro enthusiasts don't want them.
You probably don't need the audigy drive, so you can probably pick one up even on ebay for like $10.
The drive is only necessary if you want to attach external midi stuff.

2026-08-19 09:41:00 GMT

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yeah, AWE64 should be easy to find! Are you looking for some particular features? I could give you a list of stuff to look for if that would be helpful.
Or I could STFU if you already know all of this. 😅

2026-08-19 09:04:54 GMT

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the cheapest option may be just an AWE64?

2026-08-19 09:01:17 GMT

If you haven't played the Ur-Quan masters (star control 2) you absolutely should!
It's a somewhat strange combination of adventure game, RPG, and space sim. I cannot recommend it enough!
I have not played any of the sequels, as far as I'm aware they were made by different teams so I don't know if they are worth playing.
https://sc2.sourceforge.net/
#retrogaming
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/117/121/347/814/417/180/original/31411409c3bad8db.png

2026-08-12 07:49:42 GMT

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sometimes not pretending! Sometimes it's just two usb ethernet chips connected via an internal "cross cable".

2026-08-12 05:57:58 GMT

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truly only the most cursed tech from you!
5/5 stars

2026-08-12 00:15:49 GMT

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only in that there's AC here!
This is the first time I've ever experienced heavy winds that are also hot.
I'm not a fan. 😭

2026-08-11 23:40:07 GMT

It's my birthday! But I'm stuck in a hotel room in Austin for work.
Quick! Send retro computing memes, it's an emergency!

2026-08-10 02:27:18 GMT

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UPDATE; I'm just really dumb. But the compiler's messages were real unhelpful.
Both clang and GCC.
But it's done. That's something. 😅

2026-08-09 23:17:01 GMT

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This'll be easy I said.
I'll be done in 5 minutes I said.

2026-08-09 23:16:30 GMT

I've been having a 2 hour long #c++ moment.
Send help.

2026-08-09 03:23:46 GMT

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that's one of the riddles!

2026-08-08 22:39:22 GMT

Answer my riddles three if you want to get in the building.
#computers #bios
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/117/062/281/171/647/076/original/12698312ad6535d8.jpg

2026-07-30 05:50:25 GMT

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you're a magnetic tape influencer!

2026-07-30 05:45:02 GMT

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The mind boggles on how you plan to continue the story after the ending we got!
Looking forward to how you do that!

2026-07-30 05:23:24 GMT

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my sending packets knowledge cuts off at the 3c509, nobody needs no stinkin' PCI.

2026-07-21 01:16:45 GMT

I'm tired of the headlines about #lg monitors installing #adware on #windows.
The problem is that #microsoft made a system that lets vendors install random software when something gets plugged in.
OF COURSE someone is going to use it to install ads. Microsoft had to know this, TVs, computers, fridges, everything has ads now.
This is a Windows problem, not an LG problem.
Stop using Windows!
NO monitor can "install adware". Microsoft installs adware on its behalf.

2026-07-20 18:31:35 GMT

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Godot has many features to make modding easier. So there's really no reason why it couldn't be done.
There are not that many open source games compared to proprietary games though, but I don't think is some specific Godot failure.
I'm not sure if that is what you meant tho

2026-07-15 22:01:57 GMT

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can you imagine for a second this is an actual human, who actually knows what unholy mess you've made?
Can you imagine that they still think it can make money?

2026-07-12 08:32:31 GMT

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They ruined their marketing with the horrid video codec by the same name.

2026-07-11 21:41:34 GMT

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one could argue that the perfect programming language has no programs, because programs have bugs.

2026-07-11 21:25:47 GMT

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I guess it could also be a FORTH.

2026-07-09 01:16:41 GMT

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i played one round of "mazes of madness" I got killed by a rat.
The main feedback I have right now is that, at least on VICE, the scrolling is very stuttery, which causes movement to be hard to predict sometimes.
I frequently overshoot where I want to go.
It makes it a little difficult to play, so maybe that's why you haven't got that much feedback?
I will try a different emulator tomorrow, maybe that will fix it! I do have real hardware too, but it's not currently setup.

2026-07-09 00:23:08 GMT

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I STILL CAN'T FIND THE LINK.
You may or may not have failed as a game developer.
You have failed as a game marketer. Why can't I find a link to buy your game as a featured toot! :D
I WANT TO SEND YOU MONEY TO PLAY YOUR GAME PLEASE TELL ME WHERE :P

2026-07-09 00:21:44 GMT

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I missed that you had started to sell them altogether! I'll go fix that right now!

2026-07-09 00:03:45 GMT

An interesting result of how "cheap" words and code have become in the age of LLMs is that the Blaise Pascal quote "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." has gotten a whole new meaning.
It used to be when I saw a PR with a long description it was an indication that someone spent a lot of time and thought on it.
Now it means the opposite.
#programming

2026-04-11 15:18:37 GMT

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@arrrg/116382687954646971
Worse? Are they getting uncanceled?
What?!
#note18tt…dwwk

2026-04-09 11:57:44 GMT

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okay! I'll have a look at the cost of the various parts and do some testing.
With such a modest requirement it might be possible to do it for less than I originally said. The problem is going to be volume, probably, but if we can somehow buy them in blocks of 200(or more) a dual or quad core RiscV at 60-100 MHz could probably be done for ~$20
Iess if we use BGA parts and get more at a time. (Bga x-ray setup cost gets you every time at low volume)

2026-04-09 11:26:01 GMT

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I think the ez80 not being capable of supporting an MMU, and the 8bit maths (some ways to do wider math for pointers and such) makes it not really viable.
Maybe I'm moving the goalposts! Maybe this just isn't your vision! I think that a 16MB address space isn't big enough, and I think the crippling performance penalty for trying to do wider math on an ez80 is also pretty fatal.
Like, a 32 bit multiplication on an e80 is a stupid number of cycles!

2026-04-09 09:26:11 GMT

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with the xc7 and ECP5 there's open tooling to do it, and the ECP5 exists in tqfp-144 which is achievable at home with a heat gun, solder paste, and patience (or is VERY cheap to have placed by a fab, no x-ray necessary!)
But the i960 has the same problem.
Only the 68k doesn't, but then you're limited to 16mb of ram. The "full fat" 68ks are unaffordable (and largely UNAVAILABLE for any price)
Plus they'll run out.
So I think that leaves i960 or fgpa.

2026-04-06 19:05:16 GMT

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could be a slot1/slota type of deal too. But PGA probably gives more options.
But yeah. Ez80 would work, I've been thinking of what to do with it but it just always falls a little short of what I'd want.
Particularly I think some kind of MMU is pretty essential, and I think a 16bit Isa (or wider) would be nice. I'd think RiscV or maybe something tailor made?
That'd be fun too. A counter computing Isa. 😀

2026-03-28 11:26:40 GMT

Kind of subtoot: I really don't want to yuk anyone's yum, but why would you bother using an LLM to write the code for your #retrocomputing hobby thing.
If the point is just to "have the thing" why bother with the old computers at all. Use an emulator, or better yet, use a modern computer.
I just don't get it, for me the joy is in the discovery and learning new skills in a fun environment.
🤷‍♀️

2026-03-18 17:52:47 GMT

Oh wow! Real VGA™ cables!
For Video & Digital Graphics!
I wonder how they plan to do the digital part... 🤔
#retrocomputing #VGA
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/251/443/187/543/717/original/f75bebad19ac0f10.jpg

2026-03-10 21:50:15 GMT

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nice! What's the tool/engine you're using?

2026-03-10 16:31:16 GMT

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ahhh! So it has some bank switching type mechanism? Or is it actually copying?

2026-03-10 15:37:51 GMT

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In C64 mode? It has quite a bite more ram then, right?

2026-03-10 13:46:36 GMT

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to an extent, yes. But LLMs have no long term future as a code generator really because we know you can't feed LLM generated data into an LLM and expect good results.
So eventually LLMs will have to stop writing code. Probably what that will mean is that the LLMs themselves will become the "runtime" and now you're just renting computer power again for everything.
Which is probably the end goal, making LLMs the only viable UX for just "computing".

2026-03-10 13:26:59 GMT

What LLMs taught us is that you could probably fire every programmer who hates programming, and the total amount of software wouldn't really change.

2026-02-25 17:49:34 GMT

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That is a trap. The generated commit messages are verbose, but also often wrong.
I would literally argue the opposite. A human reading the code generated by an LLM, trying to understand it, and writing correct commit messages almost sounds better.
Like, LLMs should not write tests either for the same reason (and people keep using it for that).
An LLM reading human code and trying to understand what the intent is is worse than useless in my experience.

2026-02-25 16:04:46 GMT

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That is very weird. The MaxxDesktop guy has some kind of license from SGI, but he also says he didn't get any source code.
But the license talks about "legacy source code" and only allows binaries for non-unixey Linux archs.
And he's clearly distributing a modified Motif, but under what license? There's only 3 licenses. So he probably has a commercial license?
Weird...

2026-02-25 15:54:55 GMT

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I'm not aware of this project! I'll see if I can contact the author about it.

2026-02-25 02:14:53 GMT

I've been playing around a bit with #motif and there's a pile of distro patches (Fedora, Debian, etc) and there's a sourceforge page with pull requests.
No pull requests have ever been accepted, the official ICS bug tracker is offline and looks like has been since 2021.
Who maintains Motif now? Does anyone? Do we need to do an "xorg for Motif" if we want to keep it going?
#retrocomputing #unix

2026-02-11 23:05:49 GMT

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wait, is that real? You have to pay Microsoft extra money so you get to pick whether or not your PC reboots?
I haven't had a windows pc since forever, is this hyperbole?

2026-02-10 15:55:07 GMT

I'VE COME TOO FAR #IBM
#retrocomputing #AIX
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/047/141/081/005/940/original/3963cfcd57419aff.png

2026-02-09 00:33:40 GMT

Xlib: connection to "192.168.1.104:10.0" refused by server
Xlib: Prohibited client endianess, see the Xserver man page
Error: Can't open display: 192.168.1.104:10.0
Error: Couldn't find per display information
goddamn modern computers 😭
#retrocomputing

2026-01-21 23:53:28 GMT

What if I want to order from the same burrito place for the third day in a row...

2026-01-01 01:33:17 GMT

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is there a reason beyond aesthetics to do it this way? I'd probably have used an eeprom or something for this!
Not that you need more reason! Just curious! Not trying to imply in any way you should be doing something else.

2025-12-30 23:04:59 GMT

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I saw a kid instantly use the gnome "about" to figure out the memory/cpu of a laptop like they would have used the windows hardware info.

2025-12-15 18:48:21 GMT

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Nvidia isn't Enron YET.
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/725/071/600/388/721/original/ad85f6a92ab396a2.png

2025-12-07 21:50:02 GMT

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Yeah, it does, but I think making sure that things work across different resolutions and such seems worth the hassle of using something other than Motif.
Maybe one day I'll retry porting Motif to Wayland. But basically that means porting Xt to Wayland.

2025-12-07 21:47:07 GMT

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as much as I love Motif, I'd probably do FLTK or EFL ... Motif is really very intrinsically tied to X. (I investigated porting it to Wayland for reasons)
But yeah, some nice lightweight toolkit would be nice for some tools.

2025-11-26 21:40:47 GMT

Do you ever get a #retrocomputing intrusive thought?
This is #wordperfect 7 (ish, all from 1996 and 1997)
* Native #solaris #unix version (bottom left)
* Native 32bit windows in SunPCi (bottom right)
* #macintosh system 7 in MAE (top left)
* Windows 3.1 (16bit) in #wabi (top right)
All of this was supported by at least one vendor at the time!
And you can actually copy/paste between all of them, and it just works!
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/618/126/259/678/654/original/2aa3a32de0fa0b31.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/618/166/506/229/182/original/5f5af89e0244368d.jpg

2025-11-26 16:40:53 GMT

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have you seen Usagi's videos on his vacuum tube recreation of the MC14500B!

2025-11-25 16:11:06 GMT

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yeah, building a cpu out of 50's or 60's style logic cards with a huge backplane is something I want to do some day.
The thing mostly stopping me is just the stupendous amount of current a design like that needs.

2025-11-24 23:55:56 GMT

Am I #retrocomputing yet?
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/607/372/264/353/424/original/622bc4a9e84431b9.jpg

2025-11-14 01:01:36 GMT

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Ahhh, that makes more sense! Thanks for explaining!
The FPGA here is the Vera? Or do you have more custom FPGA cores in this!

2025-11-14 00:55:46 GMT

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What is the SPI multiplexer for if you're only going to attach an SD card slot to it?
Are you using the multiplexer to go from 4 wire to 2 wire at a higher speed or something like that?
Regardless, it looks like a cool and practical machine! :D

2025-11-10 21:21:51 GMT

Wow, after installing #solaris 2.5.1 on my #sun ultra 10, I can really see why people loved these old #Unix workstations.
It's so easy to develop some software on this!
#retrocomputing #visualbasic
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/527/485/724/799/111/original/0c5a891407bf02b3.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/527/488/854/490/656/original/c9178a827b52dd85.jpg

2025-11-06 16:28:25 GMT

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I really quite strongly feel that macOS's UX is significantly worse than Gnome 49. And I think that Gnome surpassed macOS's UX many years ago.
Maybe in the Gnome 2.x days this could maybe have been true to an extent, but Gnome's current interface paradigm is now 16 years old.
At this point I really don't think that the merits (or lack thereof) of Objective C have anything to do with it.

2025-10-30 13:35:04 GMT

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of course it can, it will look at the vast knowledge on SElinux on Reddit and run "setenforce 0" and lie about having fixed it.

2025-09-21 12:38:08 GMT

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This person is ... hard to believe ...
"Hi, I’ve just seen your feedback regarding this item and I want to sincerely apologize for any confusion caused. This software was not from a pirate source—it’s a long-discontinued title. Once I realized it wasn’t GNU, I immediately delisted it from my shop. It’s no longer for sale, and I’d really appreciate it if you could kindly consider revising your feedback."
What a piece of work. Incredible.
#scammer #ebay #retrocomputing

2025-09-20 13:36:56 GMT

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yeah, I did that, I also reported the seller's entire profile.

2025-09-20 13:27:28 GMT

A PSA about the #ebay seller "digistoremarket" they purport to sell #vintage #software like #os2 and such, but they just send you a CDR with pirated floppy images.
The listing does not make this clear at all, I ended up getting a full refund from ebay, so they handled it well, but the seller is still on the site selling the same scam software.
#retrocomputing #retrogaming #scammer
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/236/846/050/508/985/original/d9cb846493395100.png
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/236/847/268/357/427/original/315d523b692dd9c9.jpg

2025-09-13 12:18:25 GMT

I'm designing a sort of "fantasy #UNIX workstation" with parts available today in some sensible manner. 68020 based and an accelerated framebuffer for X.
The design uses ASICs where possible, the "chipset" will be FPGA based (probably a combination of iCE40s and one big ECP5, it will have PCI.
The goal is to support at least 2, maybe 4 68020 CPUs. Would you buy one for €300-500?
No commitment! Just wondering where to go! The most expensive chips have a minimum order of 25.
#retrocomputing

2025-09-05 14:03:02 GMT

Using a #nintendo #wii as a wifi dongle for a #dreamcast. Yes/no?
#retrogaming #retrocomputing

2025-09-02 20:59:01 GMT

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I will write up an actual blog post about it! It's a fun little romp I think.

2025-09-02 20:41:09 GMT

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I had to use MSVC 1.52 for reasons that will become apparent later (it's a secrit).
But I used the resource compiler from openwatcom because Microsoft's RC.EXE is a dos program it doesn't work so great in wine.
I use NMAKE.EXE from wine, as well as CL.EXE and LINK.EXE! So it's all period appropriate tools but... Not the terrible editor/ide 😄

2025-09-02 20:30:30 GMT

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I can do that! The main pain in the ass was really setting up a development environment that didn't involve actually having to use Windows 3.1 or Visual Studio from the era.
I was in the end able to do all of it on wine, and have it "just work" on windows 3.11.
That involved manually writing nmake files, and switching rc.exe with open watcom wrc.exe.
But the result is that it can now build on Linux with a bash script, and on windows 3.1 with nmake.

2025-08-29 20:15:33 GMT

Finally I can ditch my tired old Sparc station, and switch to #Windows like everyone else!
Introducing SSH2WIN a port of SSH2DOS to #16bit Windows. No win32s here!
This was both harder and easier than I thought it would be.
Official release coming soon, once I clean up some details.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/113/872/898/990/532/original/c7e1e3b5af336010.png

2025-08-26 19:09:44 GMT

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it is kind of a bad design. I'm not sure how you'd do better, but maybe slot loaders are just a terrible idea! 😄

2025-08-26 18:46:47 GMT

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I've found several:
* The rubber roller is not grippy enough anymore so it slips on the axle
* The drive belt to the roller is old and slips when there's too much friction, say a CD is inserted 😄
* The roller is super gross and too sticky
* The chassis is bent and won't press the roller against the CD anymore. I don't know how this happens but I've seen two.
Most likely cleaning the roller and replacing the belt will fix the drive

2025-08-26 17:19:42 GMT

Success! Between 3 slot loaders I was able to make one working drive!
#retrocomputer
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/096/205/757/499/452/original/827f52a5652b3cf9.jpg

2025-08-26 15:18:53 GMT

Me too slot loading cdrom drive, me too.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/095/732/654/489/429/original/c6eff145c44b299a.mp4

2025-08-24 20:06:25 GMT

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one of the drives is a writer!

2025-08-24 19:35:02 GMT

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I just want a working IDE DVD ROM drive! I have like 5, and they are all broken in different ways. Very frustrating!

2025-08-24 18:13:35 GMT

Protip! If you have a DVD rom drive that will read pressed DVDs but not burnt ones, you can adjust some pot meters and then it won't read pressed DVDs anymore either!
Follow me for more pro tips
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/085/091/033/234/546/original/f126b6b17861243b.jpg

2025-04-23 17:18:59 GMT

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It worked! I have a Myst CD now!
I also forgot that Myst is Windows 3.1 and not DOS so it's not very useful.
But it reads, and works! :D

2025-04-23 15:43:57 GMT

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I'm using FreeDOS, I have 623KB free, at least that's enough. 😅

2025-04-23 15:29:59 GMT

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real burn! Will it work?
Place your bets!
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/387/986/837/223/174/original/a9d4be467566aaae.mp4

2025-04-23 15:26:23 GMT

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well, I'll be damned...
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/387/973/577/031/940/original/db0f712e7e0934f3.jpg

2025-04-23 15:24:09 GMT

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oh yeah, I meant just a 50 pin as in, no 64pin scsi2 connector!

2025-04-23 15:14:03 GMT

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promising...
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/387/924/755/981/235/original/a09a4f5ef955cb15.jpg

2025-04-23 14:37:44 GMT

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There's also a cdrecord port for DOS. I'll be trying that later today I think.
The most pointless exercise ever: Take the CF card out of my machine, put an iso on it and the cdrecord software, burn a CD.
I see no flaws with this plan.

2025-04-23 14:31:51 GMT

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Well, this exists, apparently!
http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php?t=5182&view=min
Maybe I'll give it a go later! :)

2025-04-23 14:03:33 GMT

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I have so many Adaptec scsi cards I'm not entirely sure what was and wasn't high end.
This one only has a 50 pin connector so I assumed it wasn't much to write home about. 😅
Didn't want to pop a 7980 in just for a CD drive.

2025-04-23 13:18:27 GMT

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yeah, the slightly more reasonable ones could terminate by toggling a bios option!
I'm using a 2940, and it "just works" 😄

2025-04-23 12:45:27 GMT

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there's nothing really stopping that from working I think, if it can talk to DOS ASPI drivers? Might try to see if wodim can be built with djgpp...

2025-04-23 12:25:42 GMT

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I've not yet tried to burn a CD with it. It's in my FreeDOS box, I'm not sure if I even CAN write CDs from DOS, I don't think I've ever tried.
I mostly picked this drive because it works, I had 4 broken IDE CD and DVD drives as it turned out. 😅😅😅

2025-04-23 06:35:05 GMT

Added a SCSI CDROM to my Pentium II. I never had one at the time (I had a Philips LMS interface CDROM and then IDE)
I didn't realize how much faster a SCSI CDROM would have been! Even in DOS!
#retrogaming #scsi
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/385/861/754/295/497/original/e763b05a65054600.jpg

2025-03-03 01:39:02 GMT

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Whatever this one is! 😄
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/095/942/299/794/891/original/57e9b0eb58f3d0a0.png

2025-03-03 01:35:17 GMT

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Xft yes, but colors?! CDE teal or bust!

2025-03-03 01:24:44 GMT

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oh, it might be worth noting that I started this based on a toot by Thom. 😅

2025-03-03 01:04:50 GMT

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I'll setup an IRC server or something as well, why not. It'll be authentic. 😄