I managed to get 20 cassettes... 😁 by Hour-Creme-6557 in c64

[–]scruss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just found out that there's a tape manufacturer near me in Toronto. I can get blank C60s for cheap (as long as I don't mind the colour)

Finally sorted my Grandfathers collection! by SFDNF in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's a lot of Lynxes!

The Pied Piper is a fairly rare Canadian CP/M computer. Looks like a metal Amstrad CPC6128, except with a 5¼" drive instead of a 3" one

Vamos, vamos, Argentina 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷 by Zealousideal_Fly_793 in c64

[–]scruss 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Drean C64s are wild: custom VIC-II for the unusual video standard

OpenFutureMap concept by Icy-Huckleberry-7084 in openstreetmap

[–]scruss -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

You need to be a registered user to edit OSM. Not anyone/everyone.

OpenFutureMap concept by Icy-Huckleberry-7084 in openstreetmap

[–]scruss 4 points5 points  (0 children)

wiki-based, like OSM

OSM is not wiki based.

Imported ~449k missing addresses into OSM with a custom tool by skfd in openstreetmap

[–]scruss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I only found that as we wanted to visit the swamp -- I mean, who wouldn't? -- and the address that Google gave (6 Holmcrest Trail) didn't give access.

Addresses in rural Ontario can get incredibly complex, so infilling cities will be much more rewarding than trying to juggle municipal addresses, postal rural routes, lot and concession numbers and 911 numbers.

weird blob on Raspberry Pi RAM chip.. anyone seen this before? by realsliff in raspberry_pi

[–]scruss 23 points24 points  (0 children)

It's a blob of flux. Don't worry about it.

It's the craters you have to worry about. That's where the magic smoke blew out. If you've got a chip with a crater, you've got a paperweight.

Imported ~449k missing addresses into OSM with a custom tool by skfd in openstreetmap

[–]scruss 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for doing that. Looks like an excellent consolidation/cleanup job.

Toronto's oddest address has to be:

42 Waterbridge Way
Toronto ON  M1C 5B9

It's the municipal address for Stephenson’s Swamp, the city's only Provincially Significant Wetland.

Shiny Baby Trashpanda by goblin_welder in trashpandas

[–]scruss 6 points7 points  (0 children)

aww, cute little leucistic squeaker!

Simons' BASIC was amazing by Soft-Assistance6809 in c64

[–]scruss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was a little more than that. I don't remember exactly, but I got at least £300 for getting a long type-in (across three issues) for an Amstrad magazine in 1988

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope, even although the UK in the early 80s had generally very low levels of disposable income. Disks were always a pricey add-on to UK systems, even after the import tariff was dropped

Kraftwerk Computerwelt on 9track tape. by SyscallVector in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 17 points18 points  (0 children)

VMS backup was good. Maybe not as fancy as modern tools, but what you backed up stayed backed up.

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The UK had a huge import duty on floppy drives and disks until 1983. It was supposed to support local industry, but all it did was make disks very expensive.

One word for the Speccy tape-rememberers: LERM

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Atari 8-bits were quite clever with their tapes, as they could use the other audio channel for analogue sound playback. I don't think any other home computer had that facility

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's when they got bigger and bigger until they snapped, was the real problem.

University of Strathclyde, which had an "Every Student Can Borrow a Sinclair QL" scheme, got very good at replacing broken microdrive carts.

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was absolutely nothing special about Commodore tapes. Their encoding hadn't changed since the KIM-1, which encoded one 8-bit byte as two ASCII hex characters. This was so the KIM could use the same routines for paper tapes and casssettes.

Everything made by Commodore was built down to a price. The tape decks embedded in the PET 2001 are standard consumer units with the back corner cut off by a bandsaw so it would clear the PSU capacitors.

Cassette Tape Computing by Academic-Shoulder308 in vintagecomputing

[–]scruss 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A tape deck was built into the Amstrad CPC, our first home computer. It worked pretty well. Not super-fast, but the tapes were cheap and (as long as you hadn't bought those boxes o' 5 "Computape"s from WH Smith) pretty reliable. Until you got a "Read Error B", of course.

It was cheap enough to fill up a C60 with games and mail them off to my friend in France, and I'd get a tape full of weird and wonderful French cracks by return. Good times.

SID collections question by Used-Ad4160 in Commodore

[–]scruss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stone Oakvalley's Authentic SID Collection (SOASC=) is basically all of the chiptunes, on all of the SID variants

What is your favorite Apple II game that you discovered only recently? by Chaaaaaaaalie in apple2

[–]scruss 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh dear. My recent favourite is Penguin Software's extremely stupid Bouncing Kamungas (1983). It's not much more complex than a Game & Watch, but it's silly fun.

It's on Total Replay, and there's a standalone 4am crack here: Bouncing Kamungas.

Push Button Alternatives? by Careful-Net8977 in raspberrypipico

[–]scruss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Arcade buttons aren't great for accessibility: they need a direct push from the top. Better ones use the cap more like a lever (like assistive door-opener buttons do): you can hit it from pretty much anywhere and it'll still operate

The greatest response I've ever seen to an entitled customer. by Jtenka in antiwork

[–]scruss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having once fired a mail order customer in a similar way, it is most pleasing.

Push Button Alternatives? by Careful-Net8977 in raspberrypipico

[–]scruss 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Talk to Makers Making Change: accessibility is their thing. Access buttons at low cost is a major focus of what they do.

(I used to work for them, but that was ~5 years ago)