I like old radios, old computers, and computing history. I teach Computer Science as a vocation.

  • 5 Posts
  • 20 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 7th, 2023

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  • elbtoretrocomputingHelp me buy a retro Sparc machine
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    2 years ago

    I agree with all of this.

    For me, I think the best “I want the SPARC experience with minimum fuss” boxes are the SS 5/20 (which are very similar machines, the SS20 is sort of a multiprocessor SS5) or the Ultra 1/2 desktop workstations. All of those are SBUS machines (there are PCI machines with the Ultra 2 CPU and chipset, too, I think, but they’re not just called “Ultra 2”?).

    I also think of Solaris 7 as peak Solaris, I don’t think you’re alone there @PAPPP@lemmy.sdf.org . If you want something past Solaris 7, just go with OpenSolaris/OpenIndiana/etc. and do “new Solaris” whole hog.











  • elbtosdfpubnixHow can we help?
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    2 years ago

    Keep in mind that this lemmy instance is currently “in beta”, and sdf betas have in the past been reset for various reasons. The sdf mastodon services are very stable, as is its peertube, but since the lemmy server is very new I would treat it as potentially volatile for a bit longer.





  • elbOPtoSDF Amateur Radio ClubA brief review of the FT-70D
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    2 years ago

    I see a lot of people complaining bitterly about battery life, but mine seems to do OK. I wonder if it’s a firmware issue or something. (In particular, I’ve seen complaints that it drains its battery significantly when powered off, which mine absolutely does not do.)


  • elbOPtoSDF Amateur Radio ClubA brief review of the FT-70D
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    2 years ago

    I have never owned a Baofeng (and probably never will; I do not like that they frequently have very poor spurious radiation characteristics, and people act like that’s not a problem!). My first mobile radios were Kenwood and Icom, my first HT was a Standard (before it was acquired by Vertex and then Yaesu), the mobile in my vehicle right now is Yaesu (FT-7800), and my packet station (when last set up) was an Icom. I’m not particularly tied to any one brand, as you can see. :-) (Most of my HF equipment is tube type, so it doesn’t enter into this equation!)

    I rather like the FT-7800; I think it’s much easier to use and has a much better UX than the FT-70. That said, in 2023 I would expect more; it’s been in my vehicle for probably 15 years, now. I don’t know if the replacements (I don’t actually think the FT-7900 is that much newer?) address some of its meaningful shortcomings like lack of reasonable USB programming support (for real people, why do these radios not simply expose a well-documented HID or serial interface?), but as far as day-to-day usage, the 7800 is quite fine. The 70 … is less so. As I said, if you don’t actually have to change anything, it’s not bad, but if you have to change things it gets hairy fast.





  • elbOPMtoEmacsWelcome to the Emacs community!
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    2 years ago

    Yes, with the link direct it works, but searching for terms such as “emacs” and “elisp” it did not show up. Lemmy does not seem (as far as I can tell, so far) to federate things like hashtags, which is how Mastodon finds things like this. At the very least, it feels like it should be federating community names!