Get the BBS Scene Vibes back with Neon Modem Overdrive (lemmy client)

tal , 2 days ago (edited 2 days ago)

Running it in cool-retro-term with the IBM Dos profile:

https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/8923a5ee-e63b-48f9-991e-9116b428f42b.png

lemmy.today/…/8923a5ee-e63b-48f9-991e-9116b428f42…

Theoretically, if run on a terminal that supports Sixel (most modern virtual terminals) or the kitty graphics protocol, and it got support, it could display graphical thumbnails and inline images too).

Cool-retro-term doesn’t seem to have Sixel support currently, but it looks like someone is banging on it:

github.com/lxqt/qtermwidget/issues/552

Last month:

@tsujan @stefonarch I am working on porting the latest konsole sources to pure Qt. If I understand correctly, Konsole has sixel support. If I succeed in the porting work (I’m at least a couple of months from any reasonable result), we can have sixel support.

There’s also an emacs lemmy client, lem.el. That has image support if you’re running emacs in a GUI environment, though I don’t know if there’s a way to convince emacs-in-a-terminal to translate it to sixel or kitty.

mesamunefire OP , 2 days ago

Thats a cool setup :)

tal , 2 days ago

Probably not authentic as getting a secondary monitor that’s an old-school CRT and an an HDMI/DP/USB-C-to-VGA plug and sticking it right into an authentic CRT, but I’m on a laptop in a restaurant and can’t screenshot that anyway.

You can still get the keyboard, too:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp

In 1996, Lexmark International was prepared to shut down their Lexington keyboard factory where they produced Model M buckling-spring keyboards. IBM, their principal customer and the Model M’s original designer and patent holder, had decided to remove the Model M from its product line in favor of cost-saving rubber-dome keyboards.

Rather than seeing its production come to an end, a group of former Lexmark and IBM employees purchased the license, tooling and design rights for buckling-spring technology, and, in April 1996, reestablished the business as Unicomp.

www.pckeyboard.com

I have one of their Endura Pros at home, which is an old-school IBM buckling-spring keyboard. That has the IBM Trackpoint nipple mouse. The buckling spring keyswitches will last forever, as far as I can tell, but I wore out the mouse button keyswitches. They might have fixed that over the years, but I would probably just one without the Trackpoint if I got another.

If you have one of those and are typing away (“click ping! click ping! click ping!”), looking at a CRT, that’s probably about as close as you get to the BBS era.

Probably a way to rig up simulated 9600 baud too.

mesamunefire OP , 2 days ago

Its a lemmy (and a host of other) TUI client. I like the look and performance. GH link is here: github.com/mrusme/neonmodem