The Company You Keep
Bulletin board systems (BBSes) of the past were some of the first gathering places of computing enthusiasts. Modern ActivityPub-based platforms like Mastodon share so many parallels with BBSes of old, it is striking.
BBSing
Setting up my own bulletin board system (BBS) was a great rabbit hole to fall into. It was a project that continued to grow and evolve letting me know just how much I didn’t know. It was humbling. It was rewarding. It was fun.
Can’t beat the real thing.
Using an emulator on modern hardware can be a lot of fun. But the actual experience of using old machines involves much more than the software and its output. It is also the ambience and the environment that informs the experience.
Nerds on Parade
A computer seems to always somehow fit into my best memories. But only on the periphery. Always there but always secondary to the people and the experiences. Computers are the ever-present MacGuffins of my life.
Of Unix and Youth
Discovering SerenityOS was the best kind of nostalgia: something that makes you appreciate experiences of the past while connecting you with something new and exciting in the present.