Smiling Savage Kiosk #2

A list of related, tangental, inspirational, or completely random links shared from this week's browser history

Music

• While creating the last post on music creation I narrated a video of the song playing in Logic Pro. I was disappointed by the results, as I think the music was too much in the background. In the future I’d like to do more videos about how songs are created, so I want to figure this out. I thought this how-to-video explains how to achieve the results I want, capturing in-device audio alongside microphone audio.

  • The free and open source BlackHole audio driver for routing audio between apps appears to be the key software component — https://existential.audio/blackhole/

• This week’s earworm: Collect Your Things and Run by Hot Water Music — https://music.apple.com/us/album/collect-your-things-and-run/1592574428?i=1592574760

Computing

• I think this is a beautiful retro set-up:

  Blake Patterson @blakespot

  Got a standing listener on the Mac so I can "dial in" from a WiFi232 for a terminal session without cables. #AppleII #vintagecomputers #retrocomputing #telnet #macOS

  

• Turning a Pi Zero into a SCSI emulator which can emulate multiple devices simultaneously — https://blog.tindie.com/2022/01/turn-your-pi-zero-into-a-scsi-emulator/

• Fun using a rotary phone to enter numbers:

  John Edgar Park @johnedgarpark

  The most important thing I’ve built to date. Finally I have a way to enter numbers on a computer using a rotary phone dial. Uses CircuitPython and KB2040 Kee Boar to read dial pulses and send USB HID. @adafruit Learn Guide in the works. Grab a Model 500s out of your garage!

• Lotus 123 spreadsheet software on two cartridges for the IBM PCjr:

  foone @Foone

  Don't talk to me unless you've got a spreadsheet on cartridges

  

• A portable Atari 800, with wood veneer no less (I can’t tell if it exists only as an image, but it’s still neat to see):

  2316 | VingTroiSeize | Only 𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑮𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨𝑨 💎 @VingTroiSeize

  Atari 800 XE laptop by Ben Heckendorn #atari #retrocomputer #retrogaming #ATARI800XE #Laptop

  

• This is a nice tour of a soldering workbench — https://linuxjedi.co.uk/2022/01/30/soldering-workbench-tour/

• Neat to see replacement Commodore 64 boards — https://www.tindie.com/products/bobsbits/sixtyclone-commodore-64-replica-pcbs/

• The Cerberus 2080 is a newly created 8-bit computer for students and hobbyists — https://www.thebyteattic.com/p/cerberus-2080.html

Photography

• As I mentioned in an earlier photography piece I’m looking to get back into the darkroom. I recently toured PhotoWorks at Glen Echo, Maryland and loved it — https://www.glenechophotoworks.org

Writing

• A bit meta to my writing: How to ensure the Smiling Savage is found in Google searches… I found setup to have a better outcome than this author, but I am using my own domain on Substack, so maybe that helps?

  How I got my Substack to be Google searchable

• While I’m at it, I hooked up Google Analytics in case — no, for when — tracking subscriber conversions needs to be easier — https://karen-cherry.medium.com/how-to-add-google-analytics-to-substack-b20a5d6b8524

Gaming

• A nicely detailed look at how to create a video game in hardware, not software — in the style of the original arcade version of Space Invaders in the late 70s — https://memorymachinepod.com/2022/01/31/stormtrooper-attack-making-your-own-video-games-1970s-style-part-3/

• New to me, it’s neat to learn about disk emulators as replacements for the optical drives in systems like the Sega Saturn, as this would be a great project — https://castlemaniagames.com/products/fenrir

• Very nice looking forthcoming book on the Atari Lynx — https://zafinnbooks.com/gameguide_lynx.html#extHeader19-8k

• The virally popular game Wordle has been in the news, and here are some retro conversions of the game for…

  • Commodore 64 — https://github.com/spiroharvey/c64/tree/main/Wordle

  • Intellivision — https://atariage.com/forums/topic/329869-intle-wordle-for-intellivision/

  • BBC Micro — http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=4073

  • Pico-8 — https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=46207

• This forthcoming Steam game ZERO_PAGE, which uses in-game emulated Apple II computers for the puzzles, looks incredible — https://store.steampowered.com/app/1752240/Zero_Page/

  • I recommend watching this making-of video about how the emulation is done in the game engine, including how the sound effects were created, and how the Apple II’s expansion abilities makes it possible: