@vga256@dialup.cafe
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

vga256

@vga256@dialup.cafe

indigenous canadian, recovering academic β†’ game dev & interactive media artist with a penchant for dial-up modems, the 4o3 bbs scene, 1-bit art, trackers/mods, classic macs, and 80s and 90s gaming. curator of internet, canadian & gaming obscura.

game development: tomodashi studio
https://tomodashi.com

current major project: tomo, a decentralized discussion group network that's better than reddit https://tomo.city

πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦
#nobot #nobots #noindex
(profile pic: a 1988 red fox 6Β’ canada stamp)

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

vga256, to random
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

welcome @thisiskassia to the dialup cafΓ©!

vga256, to Alberta
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

can confirm. family worked in the wildfire management business for 25 years, back when you could make a living doing it, and retire with a good pension. staff now face a depressing reality.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/wildfire-fighters-alberta-pay-1.7206766

#alberta #wildfire

ericsedge, to Camping
@ericsedge@bitbang.social avatar

Instead of a livestream this morning - photos.

Closeup of a wild geranium. The shade of purple fades to a white streaked and green tinted center.
Closeup of a wild geranium. The shade of purple fades to a white streaked and green tinted center.

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ericsedge a wild geranium! i see them occasionally in the forest here, and always wondered what they were.

vga256, (edited ) to Fonts
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

oh hell yes. i think i just found the original typeface used: it was LTC Spire by the Lanston Type Company

edit: it led to a fascinating web preservation backstory about the origins of the font itself:
https://dialup.cafe/@vga256/112460660100094359

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@joshuaelliott πŸ˜† TIL that too!

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

yep, that's the font alright.

😎 dare to dream

#geoworks #fonts

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

i am fascinated by this typeface history. as it turns out, Gerald Giampa was the owner of the LTC Spire typeface when it was licensed for use in the GeoWorks operating environment.

i had no idea that he was canadian, and moved his foundry to Prince Edward Island before it was destroyed in a tidal wave. P22 bought his font faces, and designed this absolutely gorgeous traditional web site called The Giampa Tour. it disappeared from the web over 10 years ago, and this is probably the first time it has been seen in a decade. it's full of incredibly nerdy typeface history, including some fantastic rants on how shitty Adobe was to deal with, even back in the late 1980s. πŸ˜†

this is what the world wide web was made for, and i'm so glad WBM managed to preserve a working copy, as P22 has been out of business for many years - and its website gone with it.

i've rebuilt the entire site using the WBM's snapshot for public viewing here, where it will remain as an online museum and tribute to Gerald Giampa's incredible work:

https://www.dialup.cafe/~giampa

#fonts #typefaces #history #canada #retroComputing #indieweb #smolweb

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@diogo_matias i just learned that term too - i had no idea those had a name until now

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour i've often thought about joining the local printmaking society. they've got some incredible old typesetting and typeface equipment that i'd love to learn how to use. 😻

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@StefanEJones wow! looks like it's out there somewhere still :D

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@nwchapman 🀞 P22 seems to be in the midst of a relaunch, as p22.com was very recently refreshed. i am absolutely fascinated by this convoluted history of ownership

vga256, to random
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

fellow geoworks lovers and related operating system outcasts:

does anyone know how/where the GeoWorks 1.x/2.x system bitmap fonts are stored?

i'm speaking specifically about the fonts used throughout the UI, and the one used on the splash screen for "Ensemble 2.0"

i've spent hours trying to figure this out, and i'm not much closer

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@sillygwailo haha, that's @ernie - my favourite piece of his writing over the years πŸ˜„

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@edo999 πŸ˜† i think about it every once in a while, and i still adore the pixel art icons it used.

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ve3qbz i've heard the same from others, many times! it included some pretty incredible fonts too, compared to Win 3.1 at the time.

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ve3qbz oh wow, yep that was early! I used GeoWorks 2.0 over at a friend’s house at the time, and we had Windows 2.0 at home πŸ˜–

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ve3qbz oh and - i just remembered something: iiirc win 3.1 required a 286! I believe it required the Protected Mode memory map on the 286 and higher

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ve3qbz yup exactly. we had an amstrad XT at the time, and we could only run win2.0 on it. we made a leap to a 486 SX-33 because my mom needed win3.1 for her SPSS course πŸ˜†

vga256, to gameboy
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

every few weeks in the back of my mind i hear the echo of a kid yelling 'i got qix! this is the game! this is the game!'

that shrill voice haunted me for over 30 years, and i never was able to find its source, until 2 minutes ago

it was a game boy commercial from 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeLixGKaij4

kirkman, to random
@kirkman@digipres.club avatar

Anyone else use MacPorts out there?

I can't install MariaDB right now, apparently because of an changes in libxml2 2.12+ (https://trac.macports.org/ticket/69428)

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to install an older "formula" before this breaking change. Anyone know how to do that?

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@kirkman i assume you've already considered installing mysql8 instead?

ThreeOhFour, to random
@ThreeOhFour@mastodon.social avatar

I started a new sketchbook this week, I think it will be nice to post it page by page as a thread.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour i really like the imaginary worlds expressed there. very evocative and easy to imagine my way into.

and honestly, i'm a sucker for any illustration that can pull this look off

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour haha. i wish they had done more with the flat silhouette cinematics. they're a bit sparsely used in the game. i think i only remember 2 or 3 altogether.

anyway, excited to see you embarking on some new images and styles!

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour 😍

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour great sense of movement and weight with the oil monger!

vga256,
@vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

@ThreeOhFour ahhh wonderful

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • β€’
  • Leos
  • rosin
  • InstantRegret
  • ethstaker
  • DreamBathrooms
  • mdbf
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • tacticalgear
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • khanakhh
  • kavyap
  • megavids
  • everett
  • vwfavf
  • normalnudes
  • osvaldo12
  • cubers
  • GTA5RPClips
  • cisconetworking
  • ngwrru68w68
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • tester
  • modclub
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •