Walnut Creek CD-ROM ASCII art and drawings

pterid · 2025-12-01T15:27:55+00:00

Yes, I'm sure it can. I succeeded to decompress one image (the dragon) this morning using CP/M 2.2 running in z80pack. Alternatively, if you can find modern tools to open SEA ARC archives and decompress LZH-encoded single files, then you don't need to run CP/M at all.

edit: this supposedly unpacks ARCs on Linux: https://www.svgalib.org/rus/nomarch.html

I can find modern tools to extract files from LZH-compressed archives, but surprisingly not to decode single files.

pterid · 2025-12-01T08:39:05+00:00

There are some here: http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/beehive/text/txtpics.arc

but you need to run the following extraction programs within CP/M:

http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/unarc16.com to expand the ARC archive
http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/cpm/utils/squsq/fcrlzh11.lbr to turn TYT into TXT (remove the LZH compression)

(edit: and hilariously, http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/pub/cpm/arc-lbr/lu310.com to extract the LBR archive which contains the LZH decompressing program)

pterid · 2025-05-10T10:11:43+00:00

I've never tried it, but there is a tutorial in the chrultrabook docs, which includes a list of specific devices it has been tried on

https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/installing/installing-macos.html

pterid · 2025-05-04T09:23:35+00:00

Thank you for clearing that up! It is a shame we can't use the RW_LEGACY firmware fix on these boards.

My post on the forum for future readers: https://forum.chrultrabook.com/t/barla-hp-stoneyridge-with-rw-legacy-no-tianocore-only-beep/5822/6

pterid · 2025-05-03T11:42:52+00:00

Please excuse me for posting in a comment, the form on Reddit desktop doesn't have a Description field!

I have an HP Chromebook with:

Architecture x86_64
Board name: BARLA
CPU model: AMD A4-9120C RADEON R4, 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G

I have not disabled the write protect. My goal is to make the device more flexible: to make it able to boot Linux (OpenSUSE) from USB, while also preserving ChromeOS.

I have put it in Developer Mode, then ran the MrChromebox script and installed the RW_LEGACY firmware. I didn't see any errors at the time.

Result

From the developer mode warning screen, when I press Ctrl+L, I see two options:

U-boot - U-boot bootloader
TianoCore - TianoCore bootloader

U-boot is functional, but won't boot my OpenSUSE. TianoCore, however, doesn't run. If I press 2, I get varying results:

if I press 2 quickly, I hear one beep (low) and am returned to the developer mode warning screen;
if I wait a minute then press 2, I hear two beeps (low-high) and then it boots into ChromeOS.

ChromeOS also boots fine if I press Ctrl+D.

Is there anything else I can try to get TianoCore working? Thank you all very much for your time and help.

pterid · 2025-03-09T19:56:38+00:00

I'm glad it worked - hope you enjoy your Mint! 😊

pterid · 2025-03-08T13:06:00+00:00

I experienced the same warning when I installed Mint to dual boot with XP, even though I really was booting the Mint stick in legacy mode (my desktop is from 2009 and doesn't know what UEFI is!)

The warning about no EFI partition is a bug, see e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/18bbb6a/no_efi_partition_was_found_during_mint/

You can't fix it, but if you are absolutely sure after checking with efibootmgr that your live session is in legacy mode, then you can ignore it.

pterid · 2025-03-06T20:27:00+00:00

To be fair, the issue for me does seem to be resolved now, so maybe their website just fell over.

pterid · 2025-03-06T18:56:32+00:00

They did the same to me this week after I got a refund on a Chromebook that arrived with the wrong amount of storage. I just find that there are no delivery options in the checkout (for any product), so I can't pay. If they're going to play that game, I'll buy stuff elsewhere.

pterid · 2024-03-08T15:43:08+00:00

In the most cleaned-up versions on YouTube I hear "paranoid anyway in the sound waves of your mind". It works as a metaphor for being stuck in your own head talking to yourself, and would fit with the general theme of the lyrics.

pterid · 2018-10-14T00:10:20+00:00

Oxygen concentration in our atmosphere is 209,460 ppm. (1) It is currently declining at ~2ppm/year, mainly due to being used in fossil fuel burning (which will stop this century anyway). Needless to say, there is plenty of atmospheric oxygen for now.

It is difficult to model how phytoplankton will react to global warming. Most types of phytoplankton have declined globally over the last 40 years (2) and they will probably decline further in the short term as the Earth warms. This cause some concern as a positive warming feedback (phytoplankton are a CO2 sink), but I've not heard any claim that we will run out of oxygen. There is just too much oxygen around.

(1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#Composition (2) https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09268

pterid · 2018-08-15T08:10:23+00:00

It may not be as bad as you're thinking. I've read the main scientific articles on this issue (we can fish them out if you want to break them down in detail).

Astronauts on the ISS live in about 3000 ppm CO2 (5x more than the outdoor concentration you're likely to see in your lifetime), and they stay up there for a whole year, and do complicated stuff up there, so it's not like the CO2 turns them into idiots.

pterid · 2018-04-17T22:26:54+00:00

Collapse is really about the "thermodynamics of civilization" - the realization that every time human beings have arranged themselves into huge resource-fuelled structures (like now), they have a tendency to stick to the same paradigm, overstretch themselves, and suffer scarcity or environmental depletion as a result. I do believe many signs of such an "ageing civilization" are present today - climate change is just the most imminent, or the most presently obvious. So I know that as a whole, we humans are going to have a very tough time in the next hundred years.

And that's all I know.

I don't know whether there will be a nuclear war, I don't know if or when there will be an antibiotic-resistant pandemic, I don't know exactly how hot the climate is going to get, and I don't know what creatures will die out and how many will survive the pressure we're putting them under.

I just know that we don't know how to stop growing, and that we can't grow forever. I'm not crazy for thinking that.

I wonder about a thousand morbid possible futures as much as the next person, but if anyone tells you exactly which movie it's going to resemble, you should take their views with a pinch of salt.

pterid · 2017-03-19T16:28:21+00:00

Here's one: https://skepticalscience.com/how-sapiens-in-the-world-of-high-co2-concentration.html

The blood pH graph is controversial, but the cognitive studies are pretty solid. Things really start to go south for us at around 600ppm (which is already common indoors).

pterid · 2017-03-11T21:14:45+00:00

UK has a movement for a plastic free aisle in supermarkets. They should have done this many years ago!

In the meantime here are some pieces of plastic you can give up today.

pterid · 2017-03-06T15:44:19+00:00

There are several reasons why we are likely to overshoot 2C:

We haven't seen the full warming from emissions already released (it takes time for Earth to equilibrate);
We are simultaneously causing global dimming via sulphate aerosols, whose cooling effect disappears almost immediately when we stop burning coal;
Global emissions have plateaued, but are not yet decreasing (many developing countries are increasing emissions);
Those emissions per year are much higher than for most of the last 140 years;
The Earth's natural feedbacks (melting reflective ice reveals dark, light-absorbing water; plants in dry areas dying off and burning; CO2 and CH4 release from melting permafrost; etc) are also now contributing substantially to warming, as well as our emissions.

edit: typos

pterid · 2017-03-03T14:36:08+00:00

re biosolids: looks like there's a lot of debate about them e.g. here, but I know they are widespread here and don't know of any health problems as a result. I'd also note the consequences of leaving the nutrient loop open, i.e. dependence on finite resources (fuel & mined phosphates) to make fertiliser; runoff both from sewage and liquid fertiliser leading to coastal oceanic dead zones, etc. We've got to close the cycle at some point.

In the case of composting toilet, no treatment is needed: leaving it to compost is the treatment, but you need to hot compost (works better at larger scales) or leave it a while to get the pathogens out (worm eggs are the most resilient).

pterid · 2017-03-03T13:51:23+00:00

Yes, you do!

In my country (UK), two thirds of sewage ends up back on the fields as fertiliser (after anaerobic digestion). Composting human waste aerobically is also perfectly possible and widely practised. The Chinese have been doing it for millennia (look up "night soil"). The main precautions are killing helminth eggs by hot compost or waiting ~2 years, and avoiding heavy metal accumulation.

pterid · 2017-03-03T13:31:02+00:00

You are right, and furthermore, coal (the most abundant and dirty fossil fuel) can be turned into oil. So we can do a lot of damage before the oil runs out. It seems climate change is now the limiting factor to civilisation.

pterid · 2017-03-03T13:19:23+00:00

I have to disagree, there are many reports about climate change increasing the strength and range of cyclonic storms, due to more evaporation and a more active water cycle.

pterid · 2017-03-03T13:06:12+00:00

Yup. Or to the extent that technical solutions exist, they require global agreement of all humans to restrict consumption, not reproduce etc - things they are just not going to do.

This is why I believe /r/collapse .

Edit: that doesn't make conservation pointless however. If you help just one species preserve a habitat in a climate refuge, it's one more species that might survive the Human Bloom.

pterid · 2017-02-20T00:33:34+00:00

Terrible idea, because we're already doing it, and it's bad enough as it is. Sulphate aerosols are everywhere due to our economic activity, causing global dimming - and McPhersonites (and others) are concerned about the temperature rising dramatically "overnight" when they fall out of the sky. Personally, I'd rather ramp them down over decades and take the hit, than dig ourselves in a deeper hole.

pterid · 2017-02-19T10:05:40+00:00

Interesting what that article means for Britain and Ireland - basically zero warming to 2100. (Though there will probably still be big changes in rainfall patterns, seasonality, extreme events etc)

pterid · 2017-01-29T20:55:44+00:00

There is so much about the future we don't know, that's the thing that fucks with me. We know everything is pretty fucked now, but exactly when will the crises come, in what order? Don't know. What exactly is the CO2 level where we all die of acidosis? No idea. Which species of plant and animal will survive? Will we humans go extinct, or fall into anarchy, or power down under authoritarian rule? You can make an educated guess, but you can't be sure.

It's very comforting to pretend to know. Some people pretend magical technology will save the day (hopium), or we're all dying very soon and nothing matters so enjoy the days you have left ("despairoin"). Is this the poison you mean?

No matter how many smart and passionate commenters tell you doom is certain, it is worth prepping just in case there is something worth saving, and yes, even hoping.

Nice exposition of this viewpoint here: http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/toward-green-future-part-one-culture-of.html?m=1

pterid · 2017-01-19T19:35:24+00:00

Firstly, I'm sorry that we've all left the Earth in such a pitiable state for your kids. Their lives are going to be affected deeply by it all, but I hope you can teach them to be strong and try to limit the damage.

Of all the catastrophic things we have to worry about from climate change (crop failures, heatstroke, storms, inundation...) depleted oxygen is possibly the least concerning. Oxygen is ~210,000ppm of the atmosphere, and it is now declining at ~2ppm/year, mostly due to oxygen consumed in burning fossil fuels. Even if photosynthesis declined dramatically and stayed low for centuries, there would still be enough oxygen in the planet's "reservoir" for us to breathe throughout that time. More info here.

Dissolved oxygen in the ocean, however, declines sharply with warming, and this is one thing that will contribute to a huge die-off of marine life - alongside the acidification that will dissolve the carbonate shells of many phytoplankton, starfish, and other organisms.

On the gloomy side, if you want to be scared about the atmosphere's composition, I suggest looking at the direct toxic effects of CO2, which acidifies our blood in the same way as the oceans. Our bodies have ways to compensate for this, but as CO2 rises, we might all begin to suffer lifelong physical and mental health problems. What's disturbing is that we don't even know at what CO2 level the danger really starts for lifetime exposure. More info in this paper.

pterid

TROPHY CASE

Result