Brandon @bsharitt@fosstodon.org

I think I've got an idea brewing that might be better used than "let's learn Go", so I might actually stick with Python for a bit(not like I've used it to write anything for myself in a very long time anyway). This is a project that might benefit from native phone apps, so I might put my "learning energy" towards that rather than the back end.

For the 11th time or some I need to sit down and properly learn Go. What I really need is a project to actually write some Go, instead glancing at Go source code to figure out how various k8s related gubbins with poor documentation work. Probably do something dumb and web related that I would normally do in Python.

Back to Ubuntu on my laptop. The 21.04 beta seems to be better that before, but still not quite sleeping right, I think AMD is still working on it and it may be kernel 5.13 before it does. But it's not much worse than Windows, which I tried out of desperation. Windows kept waking up my laptop to upload telemetry and connect to services and I didn't want or need. I'll take unfinished kernel drivers over that shady stuff.

I didn' t expect upgrading to a "silent" main board on my Ender 3 pro would be such a drastic difference.

Just got my first COVID vaccine dose. Sure Bill Gates now knows my innermost thoughts, but I’m getting excellent 5G reception.

Bad CPU an RAM IC I the Atari 800 XL and 2 of 8 ICs for my Tandy CoCo 2 RAM upgrade were bad. Got a spare CPU from eBay and for now the RAM expansion for my Compaq portable will have to loan out some chips. #retrocomputing

1 capacitor I need for $5, 5 of them for $8, or a variety pack of 260 that includes what I need(10 of them at that) for $11. I guess I now have electrolytic capacitors in stock if I need them.

Flash carts and disk emulators are great, but I like to have at least some legit software for my old systems, and for my CoCo, it wasn’t hard to decide where to start. #retrogaming #retrocomputing

I was originally concerned about how I was going to create disks for the Apple IIgs, but this ADTPro serial connection software is pretty slick. The computer needs a little cosmetic work, but I’ve got a new key on the way and there will be some retrobriting once summer shows up in force. #retrocomputing

I've had a decent run of good luck with my "as is" eBay purchases, but today I got a "Tested and Working" Atari 800XL that's not quite working. #retrocomputing

Always nice when the “not tested, as is” eBay purchases work out this CoCo 2 seems to be in fantastic shape.

Another ZFS update for Debian, another problem. This time my data *appears* to be missing, it may be recoverable and I have backups either way, but I think it's back to the more reliable mdadm for me.

For a computer without an actual graphics mode, this version of space invaders isn’t too bad.

Turns out the chip I thought was bad was actually fine. I read the diagram wrong and instead there was a bad trace to a different chip. So one bodge wire later and I have a working Osborne 1. #retrocomputing

No wonder Apple started making everything out of glass and metal, these old Macs I've been working on have the most brittle plastic that I've seen. The things are practically crumbling.

While digging up software and manuals for my old computers I've been working with, I've been crawling a lot of FTP and plain HTTP file sites. I've kind of missed that.

Don't work on old computers when you can't sleep. You might put an ISA hard drive controller in backwards in your grogginess. Of course the the component that popped is the only surface mount thing on the whole board. Off to eBay I go, I guess.

In my hubris, I soldered the AVR directly to the board then noticed a programming error. A few hand burns later the 40 pin DIP is now desoldered, reprogrammed and socketed and I have a working flashrom for my TI-99/4a.

Since it’s so hard to get a PS5/Xbox or the ryzen 5k and rtx 3k to build a new gaming PC, I went the opposite direction with my gaming budget. A Tandy 1000TX. With a hard drive!