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I have made the mistake of calling the early PC 8-bit, lolol...

Yes, it reminds me of an Apple ][ computer, with the major difference being the Apple had the video sub-system on board, and the PC locating that on a card.

I often wonder how things might have played out had the Apple ][ computers used one slot for video... or, had IBM chose to do it the Apple way.

Apple computers all sort of gravitated to the onvoard video despite a few cards being made. It was just enough, especially when the later models included 80 column text.

I ran my first PC on a TV. Same as the Apple and Atari machines.

Fun times.


Use some finer pitch graph paper and people could author "boot sector code" by literally coloring in the little squares with the necessary bits!

Would be sort of like paper tape.


Someone needs to give this a go!

Fantastic IDEA seconded!


Nice! Hi-fi VHS audio, or using one of those encoders that would pack the data into pixels?

For sure. And early specimens are worth a close look if you ever get an opportunity!

Humans can do amazing things! One of those things happens to be really precise, tiny parts literally willed into existing.


Brzzzzt, tuk tuk tuk tuk brzzzt brzzzt tuk brzzzzt brzzzt

I/O Error :(

You listen to the initial slamming of the head to zero align it, then those happy little tuk, tuk sounds.

It all good, until it isn't!


Same feels here too. Cassette was kindnof magical and kind of crappy. Well, depending on your machine, potentially very crappy.

One of the better cassette loaders can be found in the 6809 based Tandy CoCo machines. When in the cassette times, I would stress test various machines.

My Atari was bog slow, reading a block at a time, with a pause between... And it was picky and really wanted the dedicated cassette drive. Not recommended at all..

Apples were pretty OK, along with the Tandy machines. The Tandy reader software, whoever wrote it, took full advantage of the nice CPU and 6 bit DAC. I could rest a finger on the tape, slowing it down, then listening to the wow, flutter and speed changes all over the place while the machine recovered. Almost always loaded correctly.

The Apples were not that robust, but worked well enough to not be a big bother.

Both Apple and Tandy machines had good commands for loading and saving right to regions of RAM.

On the Apple, with the spiffy Mini-assembler, it was possible to develop big programs a piece at a time, saving off stuff that worked.

Every so often, it made sense to read a bunch in and save off a nice chunk! Always felt good doing that.

Eventually, you load it all, patch it up, linker style, maybe moving bits around some, and then save it as a completed assembly program.

No source, just the data on the tape and what the mini-assembler would show you when you list memory.

Good times!


Such great moves!

On their way down, the original creators made sure The Pirate Bay would continue to be that gift that keeps on giving.


If anyone hasn’t heard it, the podcast Darknet Diaries episode 92 (2021-05-11) is a great listen.


I love that show! Jack has an infectious take on all the criminal antics! He is able to, for the most part, interview them in a non judgemental way. I fine his style clear and well produced!

Very highly recommended!


Do not go there without ublock! The ads on there, especially porn ads, have gotten out of control. Who is it that's making money off of thepiratebay these days?


I would urge people to not go there at all. Their moderation is imo pretty lacking, and malware sometimes slips by. There are much safer pirate websites out there (although you should still only visit them with uBlock Origin installed)


"Not an outlier"

A quick look at the last few administrations is all anyone needs to see how this one interprets the powers and duties that come with the office.

One of my favorite phrases coined during the last Trump administration was something like, "not just wrong, but wrong beyond normal parameters." It basically meant exactly what we are discussing here; namely, being an outlier of some sort.


I specifically mentioned foreign policy. There, I don't remember a single US government that was not a net negative for the rest of the world (Israel excluded).


That line will haunt Musk to the end of his days. That was a very sexy thing to say, but quite a different beast when it is time to walk the talk.

Musk has buckled, talking the walk instead.


he's a psychopath like the rest of them rich and powerful. he'll say anything that will get him more wealth and influence.


that is almost the same parent said in a less aggressive manner.


psychopathy is a personality disorder, not an insult.


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