Brit @kingcons@tiny.tilde.website

'Worse is better' is a very insidious way of saying 'give up and stop caring', and should never be used as an excuse for anything. Anything that can be defended with 'worse is better' is worse & shouldn't be tolerated.

Subtoot is evolving...

Subtoot evolved into a Rant!

https://medium.com/@enkiv2/worse-and-when-how-it-can-be-better-930ced76acea?source=friends_link&sk=0a766cd7cf8991ee900d6cdecc9ab251

@chosafine
tired: I bought this device, but it isn't a real computer
wired: I bought this device, but it isn't a computer I control

The Source History of Cat https://twobithistory.org/2018/11/12/cat.html

A Big Little Idea Called Legibility https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/07/26/a-big-little-idea-called-legibility/

I make the big computing vs small computing distinction primarily based on whether or not, for some particular function, scale & legibility is more important than flexibility and extensibility. If flexibility is more important, we are in a small computing context. I firmly believe that big computing contexts are rare & can be minimized even further, with care and foresight.

With applications that are too opinionated, using them outside the happy path requires identifying glitches. In more flexible applications, the outer fringe of possibility exposes the underlying language. (Think of speedrunning versus modding.) In the latter case, there is a smooth path from user to developer -- and users can turn around as soon as they've gotten the features they need.

https://medium.com/@nikitonsky/medium-is-a-poor-choice-for-blogging-bb0048d19133

I mean, obviously, but it can't hurt to repeat, I guess

HUMANE ENVIRONMENT MANUAL V44 : Jef Raskin : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/Manual44

Canon Cat Emulation : Jef Raskin : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/canoncat

Exokernel (Engler, 1995)
https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2018/readings/engler95exokernel.pdf

The Xerox Alto, Smalltalk, and rewriting a running GUI http://www.righto.com/2017/10/the-xerox-alto-smalltalk-and-rewriting.html

A brief history of Unix

by Rob Pike
https://youtu.be/_2NI6t2r_Hs

#unix

🛎️ since @m455b inquired about it, i published (a simplified version of) the mechanism i use to build my website on tilde.town

https://tilde.town/~pho4cexa/site/

it's mostly a makefile and pandoc to render markdown, but it will also run any python script it encounters among your source files, which is how i have it automatically update the list of pages

Idea: every American city except for Seattle WA, Long Island City NY, and Crystal City VA should launch a "move here! there is no amazon HQ in our city" campaign

computers were much better when computers were computers and the people who made money from making and selling computers were making it by making and selling computers

I am just all over this wood-panel aesthetic. It's like their design consultant reached into my head and said "american computer nerds in their late 30s and early 40s will buy this to relive the electronics of their childhoods" AND I LOVE THEM FOR IT

https://system76.com/desktops

🖼️