Notes

From a PSA at the end of a Twilight Zone episode

A small board sits between the ADB trackball (originally made by Logitech btw) and the logic board which has a USB port that currently houses a Logitech wireless receiver (but could support any USB mouse). It translates USB mouse HID input to ADB mouse packets.

For the mouse scroll wheel, it sends ADB keyboard Page Up and Page Down keys.

And now for my next trick...

I saw this SCSIknife Multi used in CuriousMarc's video (https://youtu.be/85mLokY_oe0)

https://www.tindie.com/products/jurassicomp/scsiknife-desktop-zuluscsitm-compatible-emulator/

I like that the single form factor has all 3 connectors (50-pin, 2.5" portable, and DB-25) populated so it can be used on anything without having to buy separate devices.

boo to whoever popularized pronouncing 'ctl' like 'cuttle' instead of 'control'

While I sort out what went wrong with the xenocara issue, I've set out to get a more recent build of game of trees on this since armv7 packages are beyond stale. Surprisingly very usable even with just my ttys and some wifi. Battery life seems solid with the backlight lowered even a little bit.

Something I've been working on for a few months...

Simple Spooler 0.3 can be found on #GlobalTalk in the Cloudbusting zone, at Puppet Head:Ken's Stuff:Simple Spooler 0.3.

I've also put the source on AmendHub (thanks @jcs !) Amend is a nifty source code control system for classic Mac OS. https://amendhub.com/thecloud/SimpleSpooler

#MARCHintosh #VintageMac

got a reply from one of the macintosh garden admins - it appears that the site now officially welcomes slop coded submissions. i can't express how disappointed i am with the direction the site has taken with the new ownership. after 15+ years of archival contributions, i'm no longer going to be submitting anything there.

https://macintoshgarden.org/forum/rfc-llmai-project-policy#comment-119699

#macintosh #vintageApple #noai

I ported enough of NetBSD's armv7 MP code to OpenBSD to do a 'make -j4 build' on my DM250X.

It brings a full system compilation from ~5.1 days to ~3.5. Compiling LLVM is still multiple days :(

The only thing I needed to hear from the new Framework 13 Pro reviews is that after 5 years they still haven't fixed the wobbly screen hinge

https://youtu.be/_xjxwl1zLMc?t=272

Some scattered thoughts on AI

https://jcs.org/2026/07/23/ai

And writing software feels like being Marge in that go-kart race. Work slow and steady for a year writing something neat that had never been brought to a platform before, but someone can hear about it and use Claude to whiz by you in a week and make something with 10 times the functionality.

I have lost all enthusiasm for reading about new software projects, especially dealing with vintage computing. What would have sounded amazing a year or two ago and made me want to engage with the author, I now just assume was something AI spit out and feels hollow and boring so I skim past it.

we all directly and indirectly live in the shade, but not the shadow, of colossus

Another Pomera DM250 special release: the DM250XYZ in a translucent purple color

Interesting that the keys aren't translucent like on the DM250X and DM250XY

https://kingjim.com/products/dm250xyz

What good is a laptop that can't go to sleep

well that's gonna cost some money

has AI figured out how to put toothpaste back in the tube yet