iMac G4(K)
A year ago I tried using an M1 iMac for work duty but its 21" screen took up too much room on my desk. After seeing Sean's video on Action Retro about putting an M4 Mac Mini inside an iMac G4, I thought I'd give it a try.
Adding Custom Sleep Screen Images to the Kindle Scribe
Last year I upgraded my Kindle Paperwhite to a Kindle Scribe to be able to write notes and draw diagrams while programming to help visualize things.
One thing that bothered me about the Scribe was that its sleep screen images were pretty boring and because I'm now often reading PDFs or writing in a notebook, I couldn't benefit from the Kindle OS's new functionality that uses the cover of the book being read as the sleep screen image (which previously required a jailbreak and custom software).
Since the process for installing custom sleep screen images is rather cumbersome and the information is scattered across old forum posts, I thought I'd document how I did it to possibly make it easier for someone else.
BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.3 Released
BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.3 has been released:
- wifi_da-1.3.sit
(StuffIt 3 archive)
SHA256:40b49ef83b6512bde571171aa42e9041 9a8577efa895cfae b19bf18a0c82d4de
SHA1:b8fa941eb104c0f925436cc8fbc3018a 3ded5b96
This update brings internationalization support for Macs running non-English installations, and a number of bug fixes.
Wallops 2.1 Released
Another update to Wallops building on the 2.0 release is available:
- wallops-2.1.sit
(StuffIt 3 archive)
SHA256:7cb16046e076488e1997e1232631cf2d c9737bac0a94f034 8caf5d183927f4a9
SHA1:fd1d7145aa4baaf5322175f348644d10 57267a65
This update includes a number of new features and bugfixes:
Adding a USB Port to the ThinkPad X1 Nano (the Hard Way)
I wanted to add an internal USB port to my ThinkPad X1 Nano which should have been a fairly easy thing to do, but it wasn't.
Of course, if I were still using my Framework Laptop it would be as easy as plugging in a custom module but I've been using my X1 Nano as my primary laptop for quite some time now.
Video: C Programming on System 6 - Carl Update, Test Suite, Malloc Tracing
I've been working on Carl, my IMAP e-mail client, for the past few months.
Subtext 4.0 Released
Subtext 4.0 has been released:
- subtext-4.0.sit
(StuffIt 3 archive, includes
source code
and THINK C 5 project file)
SHA256:c33a6abe15e7f07159a18d936dce7c43 5d9619f80d6c53d1 cdd26fabf06712f7
SHA1:0f4bdcd08b57b568125d8ddcab5ad97f 1f5dd586 - ipdb-2023-11.db (Free IP Geolocation from DB-IP, converted to Subtext IPdb format)
Wikipedia Reader 1.1 Released
Wikipedia Reader 1.1 has been released:
- wikipedia-1.1.sit
(StuffIt 3 archive, includes
source code
and THINK C 5 project file)
SHA256:14761cefe2552886476cdf018445d445 4f355fca31636af5 d55c52e7b28908da
SHA1:acd1b9433113237d0fd5e15fba6a4c4b 992be783
Changes in this version:
- Add support for opening multiple windows
- When clicking a hyperlink with the Command key down, open the link in a new window
- Try allocating more memory to resize internal buffers when parsing rather than just giving up right away
Video: C Programming on System 6 - VCF Midwest 18, Subtext FidoNet Support, Wi-Fi DA, PowerBook Batteries
I attended the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 18 and made some things.
Adding Wi-Fi to the Macintosh Portable
Over the past year or so, I've been working with other BlueSCSI developers to add Wi-Fi functionality to their open-hardware SCSI device, enabling Wi-Fi support for old Macs and other vintage computers going back some 36 years.
Advice for Operating a Public-Facing API
I've been operating Pushover's public-facing API for over a decade now and I thought I'd pass on some advice for those creating a new API.
Pushover's API might be unusual in that it is used by a wide range of devices (embedded IoT things, legacy servers, security cameras, etc.) and HTTP libraries, rather than mostly being accessed from JavaScript in the latest web browsers. It also doesn't process sensitive financial information, so the advice given here may not be applicable to something operating like Stripe's API.
Amend 3.7.1 Released
Amend 3.7.1 has been released:
- amend-3.7.1.sit
(StuffIt 3 archive, includes
source code
and THINK C 5 project file)
SHA256:2ea2718c890d0c50ff90364f89baccba f184314036370dcd 9c873d21a13d4470
SHA1:d1f097d0b144b97ec45c43144896803e 970ca767
Changes in this version:
- Fix a bug that sometimes caused a crash after the diff/commit window closed after producing a large diff and using a lot of memory
- Fix bug when exporting an amendment as a patch where the suggested filename was bogus
- Fix bug that caused a system lockup on some machines with slower disks; thanks to Valtteri Koskivuori for helping locate and fix this bug
- Show progress window when opening repositories since the process may take a while
- Add resource to allow MultiFinder to correctly open a repo from double-clicking a .repo file when Amend is already running (thanks to Steve Crutchfield)
- Properly update scrollbars when cutting or pasting in edit and commit window text fields
Taking a Better Photo of a CRT Screen with a Phone
As a frequent reader of the retrobattlestations and VintageApple subreddits, I see a lot of photos of CRT screens that show significant scanlines resulting in images like the one on the left.
With a simple post-processing tip on the iPhone (though there is probably a similar technique for Android phones), it's easy to fix this photo after it's been taken so it looks like the one on the right:
BBSing at 300 Bits Per Second
I recently acquired a 3M Whisper Writer 1000 communications terminal circa 1983, and restored it to working order. This is a short session of it dialing into my Kludge BBS (hosted on a Macintosh Plus circa 1986) over its internal 300 bps modem.
Video: C Programming on System 6 - VCF Midwest 17, Wikipedia Reader, and Subterm
I attended the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 17 and wrote two new programs.
