Hey #FediFam,

I haven't used my PixelFed account (@rl_dane@pixelfed.social) in about a month. I mainly created it for sharing pics of #VCFSW.

Does someone want to give me a photography assignment for today? :D

I'll post the result there.

@pixx

You know what's funny?

I went back to my Alma Mater a month ago for #VCFSW, and they changed the College of Arts and Humanities to the College of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.

Anything for that sweet, sweet STEM money.

If they were REALLY smart, they would've changed it to the College of Arts, Humanities, and Business Administration. 😂

I had really hoped to make a life in Academia, because igrew up around it and love it so much.
But no. Wasn't gonna happen.

@RenewedRebecca @lopta @vwbusguy @thebluewizard

I got to play with Concurrent UNIX on a prototype Commodore unix machine at #VCFSW.

Pretty amazing for how old it is.

@tedchoward

Don't know if it helps, but this fellow which I had the pleasure of meeting at #VCFSW built his own fpga-based VIC chip

https://yewtu.be/channel/UCdIDMXo-GL_3bHPMj-6lhMA

@mirabilos

I have a funny story about that. I was a software/security guy for basically my whole adult life, but with the continued enshittification of IT, it's gotten to the point that I face any impending tech news with unavoidable dread, rather than excitement.

I was at #VCFSW talking to a guy about his FPGA-powered VIC-chip replacement, and I suddenly realized that I've had a whole conversation about tech without feeling frustrated or disgusted.

HARDWARE IS CLEAN!!!

...

Just remembered something fun from #VCFSW:

Someone had an Atari 2600 with a music cart. They had a custom keyboard which consisted of (IIRC) two 4x4 keypads with which you entered notes, and if you held down several notes, it would arpeggiate. FANTASTIC FUN.

#VCFSW

You can actually see me in the audience, but of course I'm not going to tell you where or when 🤣

Anybody want to venture a guess? 😁

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=QL_ph_5PPOo

#vcf #vcfsw

#vcf #vcfsw

#vcf #vcfsw

“New” sparc #vcf #vcfsw

@mos_8502

Cool beans! :D

I haven't soldered anything in a lot of years. I picked up an i8031 MCU computer kit at #VCFSW.

I'm looking forward to putting it together and playing with BASIC via the included USB-TTL serial cable (which I *hope* works in Linux ;)

I was excited to learn that the included crystal is an 11mhz oscillator, but then I learned that the 8051/8031 takes 12 cycles for *every* instruction, lol.

Still, looking forward to playing with it. ;)

Leaving #VCFSouthWest. I had a great time, got some stuff, and got to talk to lots of cool people.

#VCFSW

I wish I had asked this question at the youtuber panel at #VCFSW, but I didn't think of it until after:

To Bill Herd:

"What would an alternate reality where Commodore made it all the way through the computer market upheaval of the 90s and 2000s look like today? Would it still be trying to create the most affordable systems and make money through sheer volume? Would it be producing open and hackable hardware like yesteryear, or would it join Apple in pumping out unrepairable slabs of glass?"

@tedchoward

That's great!

I played with a few of the old Radio Shack electronics kits (the spring-and-wire kind) as a kid, but I didn't understand them too well.

This weekend at #VCFSW has been *such* an amazing eye-opener.

How am I supposed to bring all this stuff home from #vcfsouthwest? #VCFSW

@lePetomaneAncien

Actually, I just picked up this 8031 MCU kit at #VCFSW.

Looking forward to sharpening my soldering skills 😁

https://pixelfed.social/p/rl_dane/578638764731864875

I came SOOOOOO close to picking up a re-capped Performa-equivalent of the Mac LC III at #VCFSW for <$200

I am *still* kicking myself. XD

Hey #FediFriends,

It's time for another brief #FiresideChat. Very brief.

This weekend at #VCFSW has been *amazing*. I've met so many cool people and seen so many amazing hacks and projects.

While I was speaking with https://yewtu.be/@vicenary, a realization gradually dawned on me:

I *respect* what this person is doing!!

Why would that be surprising?

...

He's probably not on #Fedi, but many thanks to https://youtube.com/@vicenary for taking the time to demo and explain his amazing VIC 20 VIC chip FPGA re-implementation. SO many epic hacks and projects at #VCFSW. It's been a really amazing weekend, and it has really reignited my passion for tech and hackery.