• Re: ZX Gear

    From beardy@21:3/158 to Jeff on Sun Jan 9 03:26:18 2022

    On 2022-01-06 13:40 Jeff said...
    Ah, yeah, Telix! I still remember the "doodle-dee doodle-dee doodle-dee" sound it would make when a line on the BBS I ws trying to connect to opened up!

    I got into BBS:ing very very late, when there wasn't many boards left to call, but anyway, Telix was my favourite terminal program, I had forgotten about that sound though. :)

    I have been using the Telix theme for irssi (IRC client) for more than 20 years :)

    Best regards
    //beardy

    --- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.12-beta (linux; x64; 12.22.7)
    * Origin: BodaX BBS ~ bbs.beardy.se:23 / SSH port 22 (21:3/158)
  • From beardy@21:3/158 to Jeff on Sun Jan 9 03:38:56 2022

    On 2022-01-06 15:57 Jeff said...
    I'm not poo-pooing the Pi by any means; I have several and absolutely love them! The SD card just a known weakness and it's happened to me.

    Same here, I have a bunch, the latest being a Pi3 running RetroPie and Kodi for my TV.
    But indeed, SD cards are their weakness, and I've had most of the use-cases
    die on me when the SD card dies. What you said about the power loss and power issues is probably the cause indeed, I thought it had to do with overclocking, but the root cause is probably the power indeed.

    When overclocking more power is needed, so I guess that has been the cause of mine dying mostly.

    There is one sitting in a closet at work that has been powered on since 2012, on the same SD card, but the thing is that it is not overclocked - I now realize.

    Best regards
    //beardy

    --- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.12-beta (linux; x64; 12.22.7)
    * Origin: BodaX BBS ~ bbs.beardy.se:23 / SSH port 22 (21:3/158)
  • From beardy@21:3/158 to Jeff on Sun Jan 9 03:44:24 2022

    On 2022-01-06 17:23 Jeff said...
    In my opinion, the FujiNet device is the coolest of them all. Inspired by the Spectranet and TI-99/4a TIPI (which contains an RPi Zero), and the lack of such a device for the Atari 8-bit home computers, it delivered that functionality and so much more. It was originally developed for the Ataris, but development has been extended to the C64, Apple ][, even the Coleco Adam!

    Wow, that sounds really cool, I have to look into getting one of those..
    I have some C64's that I want to use properly some time, but I only have a
    tape drive, and a disk drive, no modern disk emulation devices, yet.

    Best regards
    //beardy

    --- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.12-beta (linux; x64; 12.22.7)
    * Origin: BodaX BBS ~ bbs.beardy.se:23 / SSH port 22 (21:3/158)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Jeff on Sun Jan 9 16:20:22 2022
    On 06 Jan 2022 at 08:40p, Jeff pondered and said...

    Ah, yeah, Telix! I still remember the "doodle-dee doodle-dee doodle-dee" sound it would make when a line on the BBS I ws trying to connect to opened up!

    Now that you mention that sound, so do I - happy memories and a feeling of anticipation :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to beardy on Sun Jan 9 16:21:25 2022
    On 09 Jan 2022 at 03:38a, beardy pondered and said...

    But indeed, SD cards are their weakness, and I've had most of the use-cases die on me when the SD card dies. What you said about the power loss and power issues is probably the cause indeed, I thought it had to
    do with overclocking, but the root cause is probably the power indeed.

    I've been wondering about this fragility of SD cards also.

    Does anyone know / can suggest some SSD or other hardware that would be better, and how best to add it to the Pi?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From McDoob@21:4/135 to Avon on Sat Jan 8 23:10:39 2022
    Does anyone know / can suggest some SSD or other hardware that would be better, and how best to add it to the Pi?


    Any external HDD/SDD with a USB interface can be used in a Pi, just like any other computer. However, unless you're connecting to a Pi4 (which has USB 3), you'll be limited to USB 2 speeds.

    McDoob
    SysOp, PiBBS
    pibbs.sytes.net

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: PiBBS (21:4/135)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to McDoob on Sun Jan 9 17:16:29 2022
    On 08 Jan 2022 at 11:10p, McDoob pondered and said...

    Any external HDD/SDD with a USB interface can be used in a Pi, just like any other computer. However, unless you're connecting to a Pi4 (which
    has USB 3), you'll be limited to USB 2 speeds.

    Thanks, yeah it's just something I've not delved into but can see how you could hook in an external HDD drive via USB, I'd need to do some homework on how to get the Pi to boot off it.

    I figured there must be some SSD and hardware (a hat or interface) that plugs into the Pi that can accommodate a SSD for quick booting, then folks would use an external HDD connected via USB to add more storage. I think :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From McDoob@21:4/135 to Avon on Sat Jan 8 23:55:24 2022
    Thanks, yeah it's just something I've not delved into but can see how
    you could hook in an external HDD drive via USB, I'd need to do some homework on how to get the Pi to boot off it.

    I figured there must be some SSD and hardware (a hat or interface) that plugs into the Pi that can accommodate a SSD for quick booting, then
    folks would use an external HDD connected via USB to add more storage. I think :)


    I believe it's possible to install the OS directly to USB storage in NOOBS,
    and I know it's possible in PINN. As for migrating an OS to external, and
    then making it boot, that's out of my purview.

    I'm not aware of any direct (ie sata, nvme) hardware interface for storage. From what I can tell, any enclosure that includes a storage device relies on (and uses) one of the USB ports.

    The Pi Compute Module 4, on the other hand...never mind, that's a whole NEW
    can of worms... ;)

    McDoob
    SysOp, PiBBS
    pibbs.sytes.net

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: PiBBS (21:4/135)
  • From aLPHA@21:4/158 to beardy on Sun Jan 9 16:04:26 2022
    love them! The SD card just a known weakness and it's happened to
    me.

    Same here, I have a bunch, the latest being a Pi3 running RetroPie and
    Kodi for my TV.
    But indeed, SD cards are their weakness, and I've had most of the
    use-cases
    die on me when the SD card dies. What you said about the power loss
    and power
    issues is probably the cause indeed, I thought it had to do with overclocking,
    but the root cause is probably the power indeed.

    Just fried an SD card on my RetroPie last week when I installed my Pi in a
    3D printed case I got online (it looks like a mini Amiga 1200, couldn't
    resist) and the case wasn't well designed, it was touching the SD card
    area and it melted the PLA and a little hole in SD card. Lesson learned.


    |04a|12LPHA
    |03Alpha Complex |15- |11alphacomplex.us:2323

    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: aLPHA cOMPLEX: You are in Error. No one is screaming. (21:4/158)
  • From McDoob@21:4/135 to aLPHA on Sun Jan 9 12:10:23 2022
    resist) and the case wasn't well designed, it was touching the SD card area and it melted the PLA and a little hole in SD card. Lesson learned.

    Wow! How did it get so hot?

    McDoob
    SysOp, PiBBS
    pibbs.sytes.net

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: PiBBS (21:4/135)
  • From hyjinx@21:1/126 to GeekWisdom on Mon Jan 10 19:16:08 2022
    On Netflix 'The social Dilemma' really shows how bad, bad is. It's mostly interviews with key players from silicon valley and how absolutely afraid they are of what they've created... if they feel it out of control...

    That was a freaky documentary, and an important watch!. We don't realize how easily we can be maniuplated without even knowing it's happening!


    The timing of writing part 3 of 'Back to the BBS' was timely, as I had just watched the Social Dilemma at the time. I do think that some of the points
    are a little twee in the way they are introduced, but still, it gets the
    point across and it was great to be able to quote parts of that doco in mine
    to try and cajole people across from the 'Social' web owned by a few conglomerates back to the BBS... :)

    Cheers,
    Al


    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube) alsgeeklab.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
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  • From aLPHA@21:4/158 to McDoob on Mon Jan 10 16:22:23 2022
    area and it melted the PLA and a little hole in SD card. Lesson
    learned.

    Wow! How did it get so hot?

    yeah, I don't know. When I pulled the Pi out, the PLA was still all melty
    and came away like pulling a grilled cheese sandwhich apart. Needless to
    say, that case (which is beautiful) is now just Desk Art.




    |04a|12LPHA
    |03Alpha Complex |15- |11alphacomplex.us:2323

    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: aLPHA cOMPLEX: You are in Error. No one is screaming. (21:4/158)
  • From Zylone@21:3/150 to Avon on Sat Jan 15 07:17:46 2022
    Does anyone know / can suggest some SSD or other hardware that would be better, and how best to add it to the Pi?

    I currently have a pi running in an 'Argon ONE M.2' case. It has a slot for an M.2 SATA drive. I found a cheap 128GB M.2 drive and been running it for several months now and it runs great!

    I installed debian on it btw.. running all kinds of stuff off of it =)

    |15Z|07ylone

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: bbs.planetcaravan.org:23 ssh:1337 (21:3/150)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to Avon on Sat Jan 15 12:03:53 2022
    Avon wrote (2022-01-09):

    On 08 Jan 2022 at 11:10p, McDoob pondered and said...

    Any external HDD/SDD with a USB interface can be used in a Pi, just
    like any other computer. However, unless you're connecting to a Pi4
    (which has USB 3), you'll be limited to USB 2 speeds.

    Thanks, yeah it's just something I've not delved into but can see how you could hook in an external HDD drive via USB, I'd need to do some homework on how to get the Pi to boot off it.

    Every Pi model (2/3/4) does it slightly differently. AFAIK it is possible with all models.

    I figured there must be some SSD and hardware (a hat or interface) that plugs into the Pi that can accommodate a SSD for quick booting, then
    folks would use an external HDD connected via USB to add more storage. I think :)

    An SSD just for booting? How often and how fast do you have to reboot your Pi? Booting from SD card is not that slow.

    The best Pi setup for an SSD would be the Pi4 Compute Module and a carrier board with an M.2 slot. It uses PCIe instead of USB 3.0.

    Like https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2021/m2-on-raspberry-pi-tofu-compute-module-4-carrier-board

    Not the cheapest solution though.

    ---
    * Origin: Birds aren't real (21:3/102)
  • From JoE DooM@21:1/230 to McDoob on Tue Feb 8 13:31:25 2022
    That's a problem for C64, from what I've heard...I think the SID chip
    hasn't
    been reverse-engineered...

    There are several modern SID replacements now.. The new hotness is the
    ArmSID which is a complete ARM based computer that emulates a SID chip
    and fits into the original SID socket. :D

    Some others are SwinSID/Nano SwinSID, BackSID, FPGASID, SIDKick...

    http://midibox.org/forums/topic/21331-sid-clones-listsourcesexperiences/



    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Vk3jed on Sun Apr 17 20:24:00 2022
    I know nothing about Gemini, but am aware some people are still playing with Gopher servers. I've never set one up myself. maybe I should
    as an exercise some day. :)

    I had someone try and enveigle me into setting up pineapple.zapto.org as a gopher site. It looked like to much effort and beyond my wheel house after having just wrassled PHP and MySQL to a stand still for it.

    There are meant to be more gopher sites kicking around now than there were in its "hey day" By an order of magnitude I believe. But since that brief
    flicker of interest I haven't looked sideways at it again.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From DustCouncil@21:1/227 to Spectre on Thu Apr 21 09:16:14 2022
    I had someone try and enveigle me into setting up pineapple.zapto.org as
    a gopher site. It looked like to much effort and beyond my wheel house after having just wrassled PHP and MySQL to a stand still for it.

    Gopher was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

    More of an hour-or-two project rather than a whole weekend, if you ever get the urge or you get bored or something

    With modern, up-to-date distributions, you will want to use this fork, which works with Python3.x if that is what is running on your system:

    https://github.com/michael-lazar/pygopherd

    From there it's a matter of ensuring you have a service file for it if you're using a systemd-based OS so it can start at boot. You can probably just grab one from someone if you ever decide to do it. Just ask.

    Then, you need a gophermap file which is the index file pointing at resources.

    I think I did it one night when I had insomnia, never having attempted it before.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Shipwrecks & Shibboleths [San Francisco, CA - USA] (21:1/227)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Spectre on Thu Apr 21 22:35:39 2022
    I know nothing about Gemini, but am aware some people are still playi with Gopher servers. I've never set one up myself. maybe I should
    as an exercise some day. :)

    I had someone try and enveigle me into setting up pineapple.zapto.org as
    a gopher site. It looked like to much effort and beyond my wheel house after having just wrassled PHP and MySQL to a stand still for it.

    There are meant to be more gopher sites kicking around now than there
    were in its "hey day" By an order of magnitude I believe. But since
    that brief flicker of interest I haven't looked sideways at it again.

    Spec

    There are a lot of gopher and gemini sites, or capsules, as they are known in the gemini world. The problem is there isn't much there that is good. Content matters more than form, and it doesn't really mean much if the format is light and easy on resources, when what is on there isn't really all that interesting.

    Many sites are either copies of web sites, or blogs of people wanting to phlog or use gemini.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to DustCouncil on Sat Apr 23 08:19:00 2022
    Gopher was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

    Getting the server installed was the easy part. I didn't find a lot that was useful initially on trying to convert my existing data to be gohper friendly
    so adding useful content to it was problematic. As I mentioned though, my overclocked chimp brain had just finished coping with PHP/mysql and the odd apache foible and was feeling a little burned out and just shoved it in the
    too hard basket.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to boraxman on Sat Apr 23 08:21:00 2022
    There are a lot of gopher and gemini sites, or capsules, as they are known in the gemini world. The problem is there isn't much there that is good.

    Sounds suspiciously similar to WWW :P


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Spectre on Tue Jul 26 19:46:00 2022
    On 04-17-22 20:24, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    There are meant to be more gopher sites kicking around now than there
    were in its "hey day" By an order of magnitude I believe. But since
    that brief flicker of interest I haven't looked sideways at it again.

    Yeah, I haven't looked into setting up a Gopher. Maybe one day, though I've been heavily sidetracked by RoIP servers. :)


    ... To do an injustice is infinitely more disgraceful than to suffer one!
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