Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#2> Computers were more fun when they weren't for everyone
Or maybe you were just younger?
It's not like subcultures don't exist anymore - older people just don't know how to enter them. And it'll happen to us eventually as well.
And if we're honest, the democratization of technology was a net positive globally - there have been plenty of negatives like social media but a lot of positives as well like Digital Public Infra.
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#3Perhaps this gent needs to buy a Rasperry Pi or an Arduino starter kit and project book. That pretty much checks all his boxes for an inexpensive, technically documented, understandable, hardware-exposed, text-mode, resource-limited, off-line capable computer.
It has all the fun hackable qualities of the Apple //e of my youth, except you can buy one for less than $50 instead of the month an a half worth of salary that Dad paid for the //e. $2000 at the time, close to $6000 today, but a worthy investment!
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#4Sub-cultures need gatekeeping. Not for elitism, but to simply keep them alive. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#5Perhaps this gent needs to buy a Rasperry Pi or an Arduino starter kit and project book. That pretty much checks all his boxes for an inexpensive, technically documented, understandable, hardware-exposed, text-mode, resource-limited, off-line capable computer. It has all the fun hackable qualities of the Apple //e of my youth, except you can buy one for less than $50 instead of the month an a half worth of salary tha…
Another good option is the ESP32. You can get one for less than $10.
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#6Perhaps this gent needs to buy a Rasperry Pi or an Arduino starter kit and project book. That pretty much checks all his boxes for an inexpensive, technically documented, understandable, hardware-exposed, text-mode, resource-limited, off-line capable computer. It has all the fun hackable qualities of the Apple //e of my youth, except you can buy one for less than $50 instead of the month an a half worth of salary tha…
I think that’s the author’s problem. Anyone can get one and set it up. And I mean that quite literally. I run home assistant on a raspberry pi. I just imaged an SD card and plugged in a few wires. Home Assistant is another good example because you don’t need to know yaml now.
There are images for everything that make stuff easy to learn without putting in a lot of hard work.
> Computers were more fun when they weren't for everyone
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#7> Computers were more fun when they weren't for everyone Or maybe you were just younger? It's not like subcultures don't exist anymore - older people just don't know how to enter them. And it'll happen to us eventually as well. And if we're honest, the democratization of technology was a net positive globally - there have been plenty of negatives like social media but a lot of positives as well like Digital Public In…
> Consumerist convenience, walled gardens, corporate risk-adversity and shallow aesthetical homogenization have replaced the sprawling hobbyist collective that once made up the bulk of personal computers and their users.
They should definitely go to a Chaos Computer Club event like CCC, because the "sprawling hobbyist collective" is still very much alive.
If you want the kind of experience he's waxing lyrical about then go join your nearest hackerspace. Make sure it's an actual hackerspace though and not just a rebranded co-working space.
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#8> Old gits like yours truly where younger back then.
> We were, believe it or not, at the forefront of technology
I feel like this passage is deliberately machined to make my proofreading klaxon blare at maximum volume.
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#9Perhaps this gent needs to buy a Rasperry Pi or an Arduino starter kit and project book. That pretty much checks all his boxes for an inexpensive, technically documented, understandable, hardware-exposed, text-mode, resource-limited, off-line capable computer. It has all the fun hackable qualities of the Apple //e of my youth, except you can buy one for less than $50 instead of the month an a half worth of salary tha…
Another good option is the ESP32. You can get one for less than $10.
Yep, I’ve even used the junky ESP32 clones that you can buy for 75 cents on AliExpress, and they usually work fine.
Re: Honest and Elitist Thoughts on Why Computers Were More Fun Before
#10> It's simple, but controversial: Computers were more fun when they weren't for everyone. There, I said it.
Yes, it is controversial for people who do not immediately see what is wrong with it.
This is a very efficient way of letting the reader know that the person has problems, without saying so directly. Sure, it is honest, but it reflects very badly on the character, and that is why it is "controversial" (not really, if you have a balanced personality you immediately know that it is just an ego problem).
Sorry but I had to stop reading there.