FM Chiptuner and Retro Computer Nerd
https://netnomad.dxcomplex.com

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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: February 21st, 2024

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  • forums face a lot of the same issues federated platforms do, chiefly- why the hell would the proverbial i join it when reddit and discord already exist? i already have an account there, there’s already a community there… i think for some people that’s just never gonna change. there’s no closing pandora’s box. i run an online community with a small but fairly active discord and we have a forum as well in anticipation of discord going full enshittification, but it’s just impossible to get younger people onto it. the fedi at least has the advantage of looking like the monolithic platforms people are leaving, but forums are such a foreign concept

    getting a community going is a bit of a catch 22. the best way to get users is to already have users and appear active. if i recall correctly, early on reddit had a ton of staff sock puppet accounts to do just that. i’m certainly not advocating for it but it goes to show how tricky the problem is. the only real answer on an individual level is to pick a platform and stick with it through the thin years and try to recruit a few friends- after that MAYBE hopefully it eventually gets some momentum








  • rexx is my favorite programming language. it’s an interpreted language similar to python but it has actual visible block delimiters instead of going by indentation. the error handling system is also very convienent. the reason it probably faded into obscurity is it’s wild cowboy take on typing- EVERYTHING is a string until you try to use a math function on it. i get that it’s unrealistic for writing anything performance-sensitive but for writing shell scripts and utilities it is unmatched in it’s simplicity. it definitely comes closer than anything else i’ve ever seen to the COBOL ideal of resembling natural speech. the rexx interpreter was a default feature on the amiga and i think also os/2 but these days it’s really only ever used on mainframes and the few open source implementations for desktops and servers are a bit clumsy which is a real shame


  • it’s been pointed out that the 7800 gives you two systems and you have an SMS if you have a Mega Drive, but it’s worth pointing out that the SMS can also play SG-1000 games, which the MD cannot. the SG-1000 has a rather modest library but its very similar to both the ColecoVision and MSX1 to the point many of both console’s heaviest hitters have been ported over by fans. getting all of that PLUS the SMS library makes it the obvious choice to me IF you don’t already have an MD to play SMS games on. if you do, despite my bias i do have to say that both the NES and 2600 (via the 7800) both probably have deeper library then just the additional games SG-1000 support gets you

    if you’re torn, a ColevoVision with a RAM expansion and a 2600 adaptor gives you the SG-1000/coleco/some MSX1 AND 2600 support, and if you get a Super Action Controller too you will be the fashion envy of retro gamers everywhere. decisions decisions decisions…