HP van Braam

@godotengine developer, http://prehensile-tales.com. They/Them.

Lover of old technology. Sometimes also new.

Miller apprentice, speaking of old technology.

Public Key

npub140u5txyw29d0rewdknzjvrtdd74lutcqjj0tfwsrzzkht3h37s9q3qvmue

NIP-05 Address

hp@mastodon-tmm-cx.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2h729nz89zkh3uhxmf3fxp4kkl2l79uqff845hgp3ptt4cmclgzspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds9tuxht

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub140u5txyw29d0rewdknzjvrtdd74lutcqjj0tfwsrzzkht3h37s9q3qvmue

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Last Notes

2026-10-21 15:30:00 UTC

I doubt anyone has missed it, but just in case this for some reason is the message you see: PHP has some critical security problems. You should probably act now!
https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php#2026-10-21-5

2026-08-19 09:01:17 UTC

If you haven't played the Ur-Quan masters (star control 2) you absolutely should!
It's a somewhat strange combination of adventure game, RPG, and space sim. I cannot recommend it enough!
I have not played any of the sequels, as far as I'm aware they were made by different teams so I don't know if they are worth playing.
https://sc2.sourceforge.net/
#retrogaming
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/117/121/347/814/417/180/original/31411409c3bad8db.png

2026-08-09 23:16:30 UTC

I've been having a 2 hour long #c++ moment.
Send help.

2026-08-08 22:39:22 UTC

Answer my riddles three if you want to get in the building.
#computers #bios
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/117/062/281/171/647/076/original/12698312ad6535d8.jpg

2026-07-25 04:07:36 UTC

For #intel #processors If the 586 is the #pentium then:
286 Duonium
386 Trium
486 Tetrium
686 Hexium
786 Heptium
And the Pentium Pro is 686, then the proper name of the Pentium 2 is actually the Hexium 2, as it's the second 686 chip!
Pentium 4 was netburst, so it would be the Heptium 1.
#biblicallyaccuratecpunaming

2026-07-24 18:34:21 UTC

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@nprofile…rt5d @nprofile…8d0p @nprofile…c8pt @nprofile…ppje @nprofile…dey5
By and large what people mean with a "Linux phone" is a "Non-AOSP based phone".

2026-07-24 17:35:06 UTC

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@nprofile…8d0p @nprofile…c8pt @nprofile…ppje @nprofile…dey5
You are, of course, technically correct. That's not what I was arguing.
You DO understand what people mean, and you show that in this reply. I just think it is puzzling behavior from a project account is all.
Since you DO understand that what is meant is "Non-AOSP based" it is disingenuous to try to get GrapheneOS added to a list of non-AOSP based phone operating systems.
It's just a weird hill to die on for you.

2026-07-24 17:00:49 UTC

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@nprofile…8d0p @nprofile…c8pt @nprofile…ppje @nprofile…dey5
I understand what you're saying, but that is a bit disingenuous. Android apps are Linux apps in the same way that JavaScript, Java, C#, etc are "Linux apps".
And how Win32 apps on Wine are "Linux apps".
You know what people mean with a "Linux phone", I don't quite understand why you are so dead-set on pretending like you don't understand what they mean.

2026-07-09 00:20:13 UTC

This is what everyone's mastodon permissions look like on #firefox, right?
#gopher #retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/887/146/322/988/490/original/60f221419f46cba9.png

2026-06-23 18:10:47 UTC

This is a version of something I said in the #godot contributor chat, my views on #ai or #aislop
I don't want to wave away the various ethical concerns, particularly around using "public" AIs, given that a lot of them are literally powered by gas. But I want to push back against the idea that an AI authored PR would be good if the code was good. It is not.
A thread 1/x

2026-05-28 10:53:53 UTC

I was just reminded of Dancer's shell for no apparent reason. What it would do is log you in to any number of machines via ssh simultaneously, give you a new xterm for each session, but give you a SINGLE input line.
So you could run the same interactive shell on dozens of machines at the same time. Useful, for instance, to migrate a machine TO puppet/Ansible/cfengine.
Also one of the most deeply #cursed pieces of software available, and I love it.
#linux #sysadmin

2026-04-20 17:33:01 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8
I mean this with a heart full of love and admiration for you as a person and a hacker.
Please, look up what the word "fun" means.

2026-04-19 09:43:47 UTC

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@nprofile…v2v2
I 100% agree, and this even just leaves out the rug pull.
There's always a rug pull. Either they will make it way more expensive, they will figure out some way where you have to keep paying to have access to stuff "your" LLM made in the past, or maybe it'll just be full of ads.
Regardless, the idea that as free software advocates we should now just start trusting propriety software to work in our best interests is...
A choice.

2026-04-18 08:02:25 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 i bought some floppy disks. I hope it'll help.

2026-04-16 21:55:24 UTC

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@nprofile…h6ty you can, and you can downgrade usually, but you might need an external programmer. 😀
If you currently have no problems there's usually not a big incentive to upgrade. You will get cpu microcode updates from os patched as well.
Usually reasons to upgrade include:
* UEFI security issues you care about
* XMP/EXPO Profiles of your ram not working
* Wanting to upgrade to a newer cpu and needing a bios update first.
If you're not in any of those positions there's usually no reason.

2026-04-16 09:41:35 UTC

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@nprofile…h6ty @nprofile…9eh0 min-maxing your hardware is super fun!
Sorry I misunderstood you! I thought you were worried about your build being incorrect!

2026-04-16 09:34:54 UTC

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@nprofile…h6ty @nprofile…9eh0 84°C should be fine tho, if you're at that temp when running like prime95 or cinebench or something that's totally fine.
The 3D vcache sits between the cores and the IHS, so it'll get a little hotter.
If you're not throttling during a stress test you're doing fine!

2026-03-24 00:03:04 UTC

I spent several days working on a project, only to discover that it can't work due to stuff out of my control...
#espressif should be a bit more careful with their data sheets. 😭
But I do have a PIO mode IDE host for the ESP32-P4, so that's something I guess. 😅 But UDMA is out of the question due to how the PARLIO peripheral doesn't really work as advertised.
#electronics

2026-03-10 17:05:26 UTC

The exact moment software went downhill was when #mozilla changed away from this.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/205/956/627/255/216/original/ccaf175619cb9e45.png

2026-02-25 02:14:53 UTC

I've been playing around a bit with #motif and there's a pile of distro patches (Fedora, Debian, etc) and there's a sourceforge page with pull requests.
No pull requests have ever been accepted, the official ICS bug tracker is offline and looks like has been since 2021.
Who maintains Motif now? Does anyone? Do we need to do an "xorg for Motif" if we want to keep it going?
#retrocomputing #unix

2026-02-20 00:37:14 UTC

I regret to inform all of you I am back on my bullshit.
#retrocomputing #unix #irix
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/100/152/842/688/929/original/6553383c5502c859.png

2026-02-19 22:33:00 UTC

#Apple has nothing on #SGI from 1995.
#retrocomputing #unix #irix
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/099/663/176/110/231/original/19e8c06862c8f456.jpg

2026-02-19 16:07:12 UTC

If you've been following my latest #unix shenanigans you might have noticed that I've talked about #solaris, #aix, and #hpux but what about #irix ?!
Well today it is #sgi day. Irix is the only proprietary Unix I've ever actually used day to day, I'm wondering how familiar it'll be once installed.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/098/129/580/887/854/original/7adadc9f50f46998.png

2026-02-17 01:14:27 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 yeah, but that's just OCX...
VBX is the 16 bit thing before ActiveX!
THERE'S ONLY VB3.

2026-02-17 01:03:12 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 why not python.vbx?
Some fun out of process 16<>32 thunking?
Or maybe a 16bit Python DLL?

2026-02-13 20:56:36 UTC

I don't want special files for pseudo driver "sad" #hpux I'm good.
😢
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/065/310/087/464/201/original/ec08a3cddf78ea4a.png

2026-02-13 14:39:50 UTC

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@nprofile…v2v2 I think the whole thing is pretty disingenuous.
They picked "compiler" because it sounds impressive, but a compiler that does essentially no optimization, doesn't have a preprocessor or assembler, and apparently doesn't even do register allocation isn't really that impressive.
I really do think a competent human could do it in a month by THOSE standards.

2026-02-12 22:24:12 UTC

Not to brag, but if anthropic had paid me $20,000 and given me a month I'd also have been able to write them a very shitty C compiler.

2026-02-07 15:51:53 UTC

It is time!
#retrocomputing #dvdram
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/116/030/140/108/694/335/original/19025ea20e815afb.jpg

2026-01-31 16:51:38 UTC

Just finished my #fosdem2026 talk! I think people liked it. Plus I got to see a life sized rover.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/990/741/676/575/018/original/b8c4c7aeea72e56c.jpg

2026-01-24 01:58:47 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 did the manual opine on whether it was safe for babies and/or for eating?

2026-01-11 20:23:38 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 You probably only need to rebuild SDL2 for raspberry pi OS!
It really is part of SDL2!
https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL2/README-directfb

2026-01-11 20:20:54 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8 SDL2 still has directfb! That should work, right?

2025-12-14 21:40:21 UTC

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People's needs for PCs have really plateaued, this CPU is from 2015. Had I put in 16GB of ram and a better SSD it would have been able to do anything today except running games.
Sad how many totally fine PCs that will do 100% of what people want, are just trashed.
I wish there was something better to do to get these PCs back in use, and give them to people that need them.
It's not even recycling, it's just... Giving it to someone else.
#plannedobsolescence #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle

2025-12-14 21:33:44 UTC

A friend of my sister's needed a new laptop, but she has no money. So I went diving at the municipal dump, found an i3-5005U based laptop. Threw in 8GB of RAM that I literally pulled out of the trash, and a 128GB SATA SSD.
Put #linux on it, ( #fedora if you must know) and the laptop is really surprisingly ... just fine for Youtube, Netflix, some letter writing.
Literally trash! And it's honestly, fine. Installing updates takes a little longer than you'd want. But it's really 100% usable.

2025-12-09 18:29:50 UTC

Well my OTHER #sun ultra 10 just died. I now have two machines that will power on, but the power LED stays off, and no display ever comes.
Before that started to happen it complained about the IDPROM contents being wrong, so I followed a guide to re-create the contents and allow my ultra 10 to boot. The "power led won't come on" problem started then.
Does anyone know how to get this unstuck? I need at least one to work for my #sunpci #DOScember video!
#retrocomputing #unix #solaris

2025-12-07 13:31:07 UTC

If you're bored of managing your #opensource project you could also try to find new maintainers.
If you don't like to code any longer just don't do it.
What's the point, honestly
I "get it" for corporations, Microsoft, Oracle, etc they didn't do anything for the love of the craft. But why the fuck would you do this for what is supposed to be your passion project? Just... Stop doing it, find something else that makes you happy.
https://www.rsyslog.com/rsyslog-goes-ai-first-a-new-chapter-begins/
#ai #programming #rsyslog

2025-12-06 17:31:16 UTC

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Also note in the above screenshot that the "Award Modular BIOS" screen does not have the normal logo. But there's still SPACE for a logo.
The fact that the #sunpci did not show the Award logo bothered me from the start.
The reason for this is obvious now. The "Fake text mode" that the SunPCi application implements simply doesn't have support for the weird mixed text/graphics mode that the BIOS wants to use!
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/673/804/538/360/558/original/18db19121968bef1.jpg

2025-12-06 17:28:08 UTC

I spend a bit of time dissecting the #sunpci driver in #ghidra. And I can now boot the SunPCi from my own code! Using the #solaris driver still.
Some terrifying conclusions:
The windowed output in the SunPCi userspace application comes from repeatedly read()ing the /dev/sunpcidrv0 node. That just returns some raw video data and mode information.
Userspace contains a VGA emulator itself. Whenever it doesn't understand something it just switches to the external VGA.
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/673/796/775/238/599/original/5d22ec049a6e27c6.png

2025-12-03 15:52:56 UTC

Can any #retrocomputing nerd suggest a tool to dump every register on a #vga from #dos into a text file? Ideally also the state of the int10 interface.
Ideally I want to be able to sample the state of the VGA at different states of brokenness.
I have read the osdev wiki on the vga and I'm pretty confident I can write something myself, but I'd rather use something that is known to work so I'm not compounding the uncertainty in my debugging efforts.
Thanks! ♥️

2025-12-02 22:06:43 UTC

Hello fellow #retrocomputing enthusiasts. Do I happen to be connected to anyone who knows about an #IBM #RS6k 43P-150?
Mine is dead as a door nail. When booting I get "Unexpected Firmware Error:
DEFAULT CATCH!, code=fff00200 at %SRR0: 00c194d8 %SRR1: 00083030"
And the debug LCD reads E1DC.
If I take out the PCI riser it boots to the RS/6000 boot menu and everything works. Got a replacement riser, but then the system doesn't even get to the 0> prompt, the debug LCD just reads 888

2025-11-30 17:37:18 UTC

It's happening!
#fosdem2026 #retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/639/856/094/838/077/original/7c4c373ea4331043.png

2025-11-26 21:40:47 UTC

Do you ever get a #retrocomputing intrusive thought?
This is #wordperfect 7 (ish, all from 1996 and 1997)
* Native #solaris #unix version (bottom left)
* Native 32bit windows in SunPCi (bottom right)
* #macintosh system 7 in MAE (top left)
* Windows 3.1 (16bit) in #wabi (top right)
All of this was supported by at least one vendor at the time!
And you can actually copy/paste between all of them, and it just works!
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/618/126/259/678/654/original/2aa3a32de0fa0b31.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/618/166/506/229/182/original/5f5af89e0244368d.jpg

2025-11-26 15:20:35 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj Most important takeaway; On Linux the 9070XT is pretty much a 5080 and sometimes a 5090.
Don't buy Nvidia if you're a Linux user or plan to be a Linux user!

2025-11-24 22:10:00 UTC

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I don't know what I was expecting...
#retrocomputing #solaris #win98
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/606/954/032/396/031/original/819a81b273018a16.jpg

2025-11-24 21:48:59 UTC

Wow! #sun #solaris is super duper easy to use! I don't understand why not everyone is using #unix !
#sunpci #retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/606/862/514/678/041/original/cc8d9d9f4d8d1943.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/606/862/932/510/663/original/5d59577f9cdbb606.jpg

2025-11-24 15:18:18 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj What do you mean, "disguised"?

2025-11-24 13:05:57 UTC

I'd also like to remind everyone that just a couple months back Windows 11 just killed people's SSDs, this wasn't resolved for WEEKS.
#Linux really isn't perfect, but at this point I'd say the things it's not perfect at are far less bad than what Windows isn't perfect at.
#nevent1q…0cpp

2025-11-24 12:13:13 UTC

Finally got my very own #DOS machine! Just in time for #DOScember
#retrocomputing #sun #unix
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/604/605/097/425/984/original/b28b5a571a7717cd.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/604/605/266/706/929/original/9fb006206742541e.jpg

2025-11-23 20:58:29 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj @nprofile…rl69 nope, that's what I mean. I'm fine with holding Linux to a higher standard overall, of course! But I honestly don't think that a slightly suspect mesa update is a reason to NOT recommend Linux over the data eating OS. 😄

2025-11-23 20:54:43 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj @nprofile…rl69 windows broke just like "SSDs" a couple months ago.
This is comparatively easy to fix. If anything this is a selling point for Linux. The ssd thing was much harder to diagnose and fix for users. 🤷‍♀️
If users lived with that nonsense, they'll deal with this and still come out ahead. 😄

2025-11-22 20:54:20 UTC

The fun thing about the #fediverse is that sometimes a new "bubble" will discover some of my old posts and it'll get boosted again.
I never saw that on the algorithmically driven sites, it feels a lot less like shouting into the void. ♥️

2025-11-19 01:32:51 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj maybe try it again and see if maybe it'd have populated a list of updates if left to it's own devices.
Like, maybe package-kit was just still working on it. Gnome-software should have shown all those updates, unless zorin really broke something badly that is.
I don't use Zorin, but if they use the same gnome stack as Fedora (and a custody search suggests that they do) I suspect it was just still working on it.

2025-11-18 16:34:03 UTC

I just bought a domain to replicate the old support sites for old computers. So old #sun workstations, #ibm PowerPC stuff, #SGI things. (Actual domain TBA)
The thinking is to get together all of the patches, firmware updates, operating system install media, etc. for these old systems. So that not everyone has to go spelunking through archive.org and forgotten FTP mirrors.
What kind of information would you want to see? Would you be willing to contribute information!
#retrocomputing

2025-11-17 17:23:12 UTC

Quick #retrocomputing question...
Where's your nearest #floppy?! and what's on it!
Mine's a diagnostic floppy for a #compaq 286 laptop.
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/566/190/388/994/997/original/d69e51aabe67e6bc.jpeg

2025-11-16 17:43:43 UTC

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@nprofile…z88j I really liked the article! Thanks for putting this together.

2025-11-16 17:12:31 UTC

I remembered to submit my talks for #fosdem2026 suck it #adhd.
I submitted 3 talks, two about #retrocomputing and one about #godotEngine
Which is all very on brand. :)
Come see me yap in Brussels! (probably)

2025-11-15 18:25:50 UTC

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@nprofile…dfpj I've been playing "He is coming" which maybe fits that bill?
It's pretty low-stakes at least.

2025-11-10 21:21:51 UTC

Wow, after installing #solaris 2.5.1 on my #sun ultra 10, I can really see why people loved these old #Unix workstations.
It's so easy to develop some software on this!
#retrocomputing #visualbasic
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/527/485/724/799/111/original/0c5a891407bf02b3.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/527/488/854/490/656/original/c9178a827b52dd85.jpg

2025-08-24 18:13:35 UTC

Protip! If you have a DVD rom drive that will read pressed DVDs but not burnt ones, you can adjust some pot meters and then it won't read pressed DVDs anymore either!
Follow me for more pro tips
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/115/085/091/033/234/546/original/f126b6b17861243b.jpg

2025-06-14 17:04:03 UTC

The most unhinged warranty sticker I've ever seen.
#retrocomputing #retrotech
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/682/788/579/293/132/original/bc2104e9cfc9f19e.jpg

2025-04-23 18:39:19 UTC

Who'd have thunk it, it is possible to write a #CD in #DOS.
#retrocomputing #freedos
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/388/726/959/654/996/original/3768e704cd868b95.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/388/729/673/660/772/original/549379f9c79248a1.jpg

2025-04-10 10:24:00 UTC

There we have it, the four genders of 1995.
Code from the Microsoft Bob SDK! :)
#retrocomputing #bob
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/114/313/163/401/445/092/original/71ad4a9c11101ab2.png

2025-03-10 23:04:46 UTC

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@nprofile…cgs9 I find spite driven development to be the most effective.
Anger is harder to sustain over time, you'll never be a 10x developer on anger alone.

2024-08-29 23:15:06 UTC

This is what these are supposed to sound like, right?
#retrocomputing
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/113/047/848/082/571/881/original/b71f3a8239a42ba5.mp4

2024-08-20 12:27:05 UTC

Success! My "new" Oki microline 5590 works!
#retrocomputing #printer #cups
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/994/339/823/436/886/original/7476d0d4db601df1.mp4

2024-08-01 20:33:17 UTC

Do I know anyone that hosts a #peertube? I'm thinking of hosting one myself for <insert secret project> and even after reading the documentation I'm still not entirely sure what it does. It hosts videos but how do people find them? Does it work like Mastodon? People have home servers and they subscribe to feeds? Does the server admin decide what feeds the server shows?
Is it even a reasonable thing to host your own if you want people to actually see your videos?
#FediQuestion #dearlazyweb

2024-07-28 17:39:27 UTC

When #thrifting the other day I ran across a mysterious PCMCIA card.
There's a no ports on the back of it, and it comes with a faux leather carrying case. What is it?
Put your guesses below, answer in the next post in a spoiler tag!
#retrocomputing #pcmcia #laptop
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/865/322/527/690/374/original/1f0250aa0925972f.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/865/323/034/471/590/original/8005a5f16d50d2da.jpg

2024-07-27 10:15:19 UTC

I went #thrifting yesterday. I found a #modem. It looked different than any other modem I had seen, so I got it.
First off, lovely color scheme!
🧵
#retrocomputing #hotpink #modem
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/857/919/504/170/102/original/4e9d8349829744e8.jpg
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/857/919/505/452/421/original/9d22aa0b759d20c0.jpg

2024-07-24 12:44:58 UTC

Got a #USB to #Serial converter. I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be new old stock.
It does support the famous #apple G3 and G4 CUPs though. So that's something.
#retrocomputing #newoldstock
https://mastodon.tmm.cx/system/media_attachments/files/112/841/518/602/349/826/original/5326396ec37c1795.jpg