HN user
Long time computer guy, renaissance programmer, does a lot of interesting stuff - http://www.portcommodore.com http://www.larrymade.com http://www.doplaces.com (and other diversions in the real world.)
Consistency and accuracy - especially in financial matters is very important. Having things go bad because of a click or aberrant hallucination would ruin small business. And who is liable when things either go south or providing guarantees of stability.
Simon's BASIC was buggy. Some worked great some didn't work well at all (like line renumber) IIRC there was an updated version out there..
Second, I think the power of the 64 was its' limited BASIC but it was a good start (still the best line editor of most systems, just cursor up change the line, press return and done), The no-frills in the language but not in the capabilities made it a platform where there was no one definate way to do graphics or sound so there was a lot of experimentation most good, and some downright awesome. I think not having those features baked in the ROMs made the community a lot more dynamic.
LibreOffice Draw is quite capable. Though for some better formatting (linked text boxes) you might have to use Writer, which is still good abut a bit more klunky as you are fighting the formatting of the writer document layer if you want varied text boxes....
I ran a BBS for 17 years used a Commodore 64
1) I was more into messaging so I would log in and read and post in the forums. Sometimes if they have a good files area might download some programs, and play a game or two (usually some simple competition game like Risk like ones.) Many boards were long distance so after a few years I started my own BBS
2) Computer magazines had BBS lists sometimes. Local computer stores usually had a corkboard with flyers of local BBSs and word-of-mouth amongst the nerds in the area, at school, etc. To connect I usually used CCGMS terminal for the C64 (for the color/graphics BBSs CCGMS is still used for the C= Telnet BBSs) and Desterm 128 or NovaTerm for the PC boards so I could see the ANSI characters. For running BBSs there were many some in BASIC or compiled BASIC, some in ML and most with a mixture ML communications/data code with BASIC modules. I ended up with Image BBS which was a modular BBS system for the C64, had lots of community mods available.
3) fragmented, depending on what you were interested in, my BBS was Commodore, Gaming, and Science Fiction forums and Commodore Files and some games. There were PC boards with the fancier games and larger FIDONet forums some other forums - sports, PC, etc. There were Apple, Atari Amiga BBSs a lot of like computers would contact those to get info and download programs (Amigas were probably the biggest on pirate software BBSs, there probably was PC ones out there too I didn't know those)
4) More fan oriented talking about your favorite things, not always too technical. Sometimes there would be some e-newsletter you could download to read more technical stuff. DIY discussions and helping others. Pretty much like internet forums and resource sites today.
5) for us some bits of BASIC and assembly, game logic, etc.
go to https://textfiles.com to get a taste of what was out there
Currently we have a cycle of obsoleting hardware necessitating re-inventing software for the new platforms. So technically, yes.
I don't think it's complicated but I think it simplifies a complex problem I had.
A thing for storing and comparing schedules
a weekly schedule is turned into a run-length list (the week is in minutes 0 to 10079 - so 540,1020,1980,2460 would be 9am to 5pm on Sunday and Monday). Makes it easy to unpack the list into an array and do basic math comparison can determine whether schedule A is within schedule B or get the difference in minutes that schedule A falls outside of schedule B etc.
I would say the most complicated ones I've done are some SQL queries where I had to break it into stages to reduce the amount of grinding it did on a query that was combining many tables.
If you have something specific in mind list out your specifics or if you can input images along with prompts, add a good example drawing or image to help it.
"MacOS ships with an outdated version of Python" - heh, heard that phrase many times over the years. it's amazing Apple still includes it.
I can see companies could get away with it from new coders who don't understand the repercussions of releasing )buggy code or know much of long-term maintenance.
You know, this sounds familiar - the big outsourcing boon to less expensive development in other countries, sure they can write the code, but it's either shipped buggy or takes a lot of management and hand-holding of the outsourced development teams to get everything right.
Fred Saberhagen
Octagon - an AI backdoor created by the early inventors of computers is inadvertently "activated" by a youth.
These are all entertaining:
Definitely the Wizardry series by Rick Cook
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/rick-cook/wizardry/
Programming meets magical realms
James Hogan
Inherit the Stars - Has supercomputers but not main characters
Code of the Lifemaker Has Ancient Tech evolving into a robotic society
Two Faces of Tomorrow - humans trying to get along with AI
D.F.Jones
Colossus, the Fall of Colossus, and Colossus and the Crab
Humans creating machines to protect humanity (computers have different idea) and the rebellion, and a new threat.
A Logic Names Joe - radioplay of short story.
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusO...
The internet and AI long before the internet and AI.
David Gerrold - When H.A.R.L.I.E. was One - and other tales involving Artificial Super Intelligence
William Gibson - Neuromancer and related - Cyberpunk series, the Difference Engine - a Steampunk technology tale.
Dual 24" monitors (decent quality IPS), one uses an HDMI KVM to switch between different/retro systems, Recently upgraded from VGA to HDMI switchbox, the difference was worth the cost to buy some [X] to HDMI adapters. Now there's enough inexpensive ones to cover all the bases.
The benefit for me is I use the main system to look things up and then switch to the target system and I have the main display as a reference and the other as well,
Used to have the side monitor as the KVM one, but find I work better with the switched monitor the one in the center, as a side display I would get sore/tired neck from always looking to the side. With it center I am more comfortable to concentrate on the task at hand on the other system I have up.
It probably recognized they were available, on Windows 11 it hides recommended hardware drivers in: windows updates -> advanced features -> optional updates - drivers and other updates
In the 90s connectivity was not that great, we were getting into the internet but mainly that was geeks and big businesses. Costs to have reliable connections were still high (fast wasn't in the mindset early on), and remote access was sometimes impossible.
Many standards were up in the air, web development had several privatized niches that lead to dead-end projects. Challenge was to find one that was cheap to license, worked on your platforms of choice, and that your audience would use.
Lot of stuff was thrown to the wall to see it it would stick and didn't.
Worrying about efficiency was not a prime factor, getting something that worked and was stable was more important.
I guess you could draw parallel with AI now a lot of work is on figuring out what to do with it and make its output consistent and reliable long term (cheaply) are probably more in the minds than making it efficient.
One of the more wild ones not pictured was with the Mac Appearance Manager in MacOS 8 and 9:
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/2549-appearance-manager-...
Just in time for the Memphis style
There is not really one solution - you need to answer some specific needs to help determine the best fit.
What do you want as output?
Do you want it web based?
Do you want it to run on which platforms? (important if it's iOS and Android)
Are there any language specific features you want to use? (i.e. mapping may want to use PostreSQL)
What devices do you want it to run on? and are those devices disconnected from the internet?
Game oriented (high-end gaming?)?
User-Friendly to install.update?
Integrates with say Microsoft AD?
Open source with a large potential community?
These answers will help whittle down the choices. One language might do most of that stuff but not as good as picking the right tools for the job. (which also includes the ones you really like to work with - which is a major point)
Then pick one and start - If it doesn't work out, switch. One of my favorite mantras: "stop shopping - start doing".
It was Gemini, I picked the point of least resistance. I've heard Claude does better but haven't looked at it.
I tried it - didn't like it. Had an LLM work on a backup script since I don't use Bash very often. Took a bunch of learning the quirks of bash to get the code working properly.
While I'll say it got me started, it wasn't a snap of the fingers and a quick debug to get something done. Took me quite a while to figure out why something worked but really it didn't (LLM using command line commands where Bash doesn't interpret the results the same).
If its something I know, probably wont use LLM (as it doesn't do my style). If it's something I don't know, might use it to get me started but I expect that's all I'll it for.
Here's a few:
Brainstorm - shows the progression of developing technology (in this case a device that can record and playback a subjects' experiences.)
Real Genius - College antics with a bunch of kids developing a stronger laser
Silicon Valley - mini series again about silicon valley culture/developing new tech - also how ideas are discovered and others stumble upon similar, etc.
American Experience: Silicon Valley - documentary of early silicon valley and the people who started the companies
One that I see that looks promising is CZUR scanners, they are relatively low-cost and have a lot of ease-of-use features like OCR, page separation (scanning an open book and creating two pages), auto rotation, curl flattening (corrects warped scans due to book spines), foot control, etc.
I haven't used it but maybe someone will pipe-in with a reply.
Chatbots aren't Jarvis from Iron Man - They are Cliff Claven from Cheers.
I think there are probably some out there, likely would have started out as a niche contract job (like say fast food POS systems) and have built up from there. Though its really hard to make something like that "great" unless you hire experts from that field to help develop them.
Suggestions for old Mac Apps to look out for:
- WriteNow! a very nice word processor that was originally developed for Next computers, before word took over it was the favorite.
- ClarisWorks/AppleWorks - One of the better pre office integrated apps - the database was REALLY easy to use, and interfaced well with the vector graphics module, spreadsheet, and word processor...
- FoxBase+/Mac - Before Microsoft bought Fox Software they got "Mac religion" and it shows in the incredible FoxBase+/Mac its amazin how much capability fits in a floppy.
- SuperPaint - great bitmap paint program though not as accurate as later graphics apps. (fractional/grid positioning was an issue)
- Ready,Set,Go! A great alternative DTP program to PageMaker/Quark. Never used others but I hear I think it was FrameMaker that had some sort of template/database feature to manage/generate catalogs. There were some interesting things back in the day.
- Stepping out - virtual larger desktop
- PowerPrint - Hook into epson compatible parallel printers with serial->parallel adapter.
- Comic Strip Factory - way before there was ComicLife there was Comic Strip Factory - a nice clipart based comic strip compositor.
- HyperCard - Never got into it but it had quite a community.
- Of course programming languages like Pascal, Logo, and BASIC in various flavors.
Of course you have the early greats like the Adobe programs and Microsoft Word/Excel/Office.
I tink this was the one on pontoons -
https://archive.org/details/More_BASIC_Computer_Games/page/n...
Install Windows 11 for them.
How about wordle x 8 - Octordle - https://www.britannica.com/games/octordle/?mode=daily
I have yet to run into a printer that doesn't just magically work under linux.
You haven't used a Canon IP-90 printer. :-)
DOGE to Employee: What did you do in the last week?
Employee: [lists of tasks]
A.I. to DOGE: *I can do that.*
DOGE to Employee: You're fired.
Maybe a check back later message, or a turn on notification for the site?
To encourage people to check back maybe have some sort of feature like a fortune cookie or a featured "resource of the day" they will find when the come back.