Computers suck

Why are computers so boring and awful, Holla Forums?

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Do the whites and chinese need to make them more easy to use like tv so people in the hood can have good jobs?

Just by a mac like I did

Weakest bait

The internal conflict between hobbyists, normies and corporations.

Because our society is not a meritocratic one.

Because math is boring.

No.
This was weakest bait.

I'm not baiting.

I came across some rant about modern computers lacking 'personality' some years ago. The author (presumably) had numerous years of computer experience and longed back for days where different computers were different from each others and the industry didn't all copy designs from each other. (I recently read that post-steve jobs, Apple's decided to copy Android... And Android's design strategy's been to copy Apple...)

I'm sure there's an element of viewing the past through rose tinted glasses involved. I'm too young to have experienced those supposedly interesting computers-with-personality, but looking at vintage computers, I *am* struck by the array of different looks, especially compared with contemporary sleekbook2000s. (It's theoretically possible the computers all behaved roughly the same in terms of software, but I kinda doubt it...)

Math's fun.

I just feel a bit disillusioned. Out of all the possible development vectors IT could have taken, why did it have to turn into dumb-ass sleek-land big-flat-icon-istan?

Probably a result of (near-)monopolies. Microsoft, apple, google, facebook, intel...

It sounds like you need TempleOS

Because you spend too much time in front of them.

Computers suck because the people at the other end of them suck and also because free software development is disorganized and spread too thin, so everything gets held back and bogged down and nothing reaches its true potential and we can never really have nice things.

turn your monitor on op

Those aren't people anymore, and neither are you.

Because you're using linux.

So start collecting old computers. Not very expensive, and some very interesting stuff out there if you troll ebay/craigslist/other classified sites.

Computers became a commoditized item with a shared architecture. Standardization and competition both drove the excitement out of computing in favor of low prices. Those nifty machines you're looking at used to cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars new, they had to justify that to an extent.

Also, say what you will about Apple and iPhones, but PPC and 68k Macs are beautiful, unique, reliable, and (now) inexpensive machines. If you're looking at going into vintage computer collecting, it's a great place to start because they were relatively inexpensive at release and very common, yet still very distinctive.
Later PPC machines would likely work still decently well as a daily driver, especially with GNU/Linux installed. I have a couple of iMac G3s and a G4, paid about $10 for one early G3 in rough condition and $40 for a later model in really, really nice condition. The G4 was $75, and is still really quick at just about everything that isn't modern web browsing, because JavaScript a shit. Pre-OSX Mac OS is also fairly interesting in retrospect, albeit unstable and limited.

If you want to take it to the next level, look for some old Sun hardware or SGI boxen, maybe even a NeXT computer. Might cost you a bit more though now since collecting is starting to get popular. Also not as easy to get into and start using, nor as useful day-to-day. But a good reminder of the golden age of UNIX workstations nonetheless.

Reddit sucks, but /r/retrobattlestations is bretty gud.

computing became a commodity. Water & oil are usually pretty boring, too.

Great advice nigger.

They suck because you take them too seriously nigger, they're just fucking tools

You want to enjoy computers again?
Stop being autistic and use shit that gets the job done withet it be FOSS or proprietary, stop fucking torturing yourself solving tasks

If you however like solving tasks then go for it and feel a sense of accomplishment

If you really want an older computer with so-called "personality" then get an old retro computer for the sheer novelty like a Commodore 64 (by the way, BASIC is the absolute funnest and most enjoyable programming language you will ever use, wither you've never programmed before in you're life or are John Carmack tier programmer, using BASIC is just such a pure pleasure and joy, and I mean classic BASIC like in the C64.)

Interesting. Particularly in terms of standardization and competition favouring low prices to the exclusion of excitement or interest.

A kind of reverse trend's happening in terms of tiny computers (Single board and microcontrollers), where there's plenty of excitement yet low prices. Might also be because of those being less consumer oriented - few "normies" will buy those, I wager.

I dislike contemporary Apple. But older iMacs do sound (and look) interesting.

Well. To some degree, probably. Unless playing professionally, it doesn't really matter what quality of guitar you have. But even amateur musicians feel (and enjoy) the difference between cheap throw-away instruments and quality ones.

I already use a mix of FLOSS and proprietary software. The majority's probably FLOSS, though.

I think I'll try getting hold of both one of those old iMacs and a commodore 64 this year.

Making a Z80 sounds fun too... If I can find the parts.
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They aren't. You are.

I collect older systems for the sake of utility. I sometimes find myself in need of old hardware and software that doesn't emulate well, if at all, to perform specific tasks. Mainly cross-platform data recovery.

Behold.

K.

...

How'd you get that 5.25" drive to work on a modern computer? Did you buy one of those expensive USB floppy controllers? I've been looking for a way to archive my DOS games for a while.

PA-RISC hardware is pretty neat if you can find it in a scrap place/on eBay/somewhere else. All the workstations and a good amount of the servers can run Linux (with a command line only unless you have a Visualize EG or FireGL video card). They can also run headless with a null modem cable, just like SGI and Sun hardware.

The 16505A "analyzer" version of the 712 workstation (Same hardware but with a custom program for a piece of lab equipment) can be found for $100-150 and can run NeXTSTEP, HP-UX, and Linux/BSD. Some A class servers are also relatively cheap on eBay.

While that USB controller is pretty damn swanky and can read EVERYTHING, I didn't want to drop a hundred AmeriCo Brand Funbux on it just yet. I instead have a Gigabyte board from 2009 or so, one of the last with a floppy connector on the board. Most 5.25" floppy drives are jumpered to be drive A:, and if you don't put them on the right connector on the cable, they will not function. The B: drive is a USB floppy drive, as my motherboard firmware only supports a single floppy drive, but has a shitload of options for precisely which is going to be used. I have an internal 3.5 which writes much faster than the USB drive, but eh. To switch back, I have to connect the cable to the 3.5, and set the BIOS to treat it as a 3.5, 1.44MB drive instead of the 5.25 1.2MB drive it's currently set as.

There's more reasons than this to build a system with an old board, as many Free as in Freedom Fighters will be glad to explain to you in many pages of rambling text about backdoors and Israel.

those characters are actually flaws.

It's like in camera lenses. Lens flare is a flaw that results from internal reflection. But then hipster started using it for 'effect' and now people put fake lens flare in their movies.

Or when lens transmit light differently based on wavelength and the color comes out yellowish. People call that 'warm' and praise old lenses that have this 'character'.

So now that optical engineering has advanced where lenses actually make higher fidelity images now people put on their nostalgia goggles and call for old lenses with characters.

Same thing with computers. over times people figure out what works and what's a good design and most systems then adopt these designs so they end up generally very similar with minor differences in cases where the advantages of one choice over another is not so clear.

This results in things being mostly the same, because they are all variants on 'the best design'.

Stupid nigger cattle

Interesting.

You posit a convergence on the basis of figuring out what works and what's good design.

Two others so far in this thread have posited a convergence on the basis of what sells the most.
I don't think many here would claim Windows has either the best design or is the most effective OS.
Yet for desktops and laptops, it's still the most popular/numerous.

If there's indeed been a convergence on basis of what works, it must be what works best for the average consumer.
And the average consumer doesn't want a computer:

contemporary-home-computing.org/RUE/
contemporary-home-computing.org/where-did-the-computer-go/

Because a lot of companies now days keep trying to extract as much information from you as possible?
Because mainstream software now days is ridiculously bloated to the extent that my netbook with an old Atom N270 processor and 512 MB of RAM that I took the time to put a lightweight Linux distro and lightweight programs on runs better for the same tasks than my Android phone with 1 GB of RAM and a processor that benchmarks twice as well as the one in my netbook?
Because government spying?
Because most people use the same few websites on the internet and companies now hire armies of shills to manipulate people's opinions on those websites?

Don't you have a pig to fuck?

Where the fuck are mods?

I've asked a serious question regarding the historical development of computational systems (and gotten a couple of interesting answers), why wouldn't it belong on Holla Forums?

Start stealing components from customers' pcs.

Collecting free pentium 4 and free hw here and there makes me feel like I'm one of the lucky kids that could afford to get fast pcs back then.

How the fuck do you steal a cpu without the costumer noticing?
asking for a friend

If you want to be a real fucking nigger, replace the good cpus with shit ones from ebay, making sure they still actually work though

Because the basic design elements that became entrenched were created decades ago to simulate paper for simple secretarial type work.

Basically? Jews.

Because your computer is shit and all you use it for is shitposting on Korean video sharing boards

Get a nice rig for vidya and watching 10-bit Chinese cartoons in 4k and learn to enjoy computers again

While I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean, I'd be very interested in a more elaborate post on it.