I liked connecting to irc servers and setting up a znc bouncer (also an on ramp into self hosting!) way better than anything matrix and discord do.
We had mumble for voice chat and that was perfectly serviceable.
In the 90s, I felt like I knew so much about computers, both the hardware and the software, but I’ve definitely fallen off from all the improvements in the past 20 years, and I’m so Goddamn lost now. I miss those simpler times when it was more about the physical aspects of a PC and less about the technical aspects.
What is the point of tubeless tyres on bicycles ?
They’re rock hard to put on, then you have to add sealant otherwise they leak.
Because of the beading and the sealant they are much heavier, and rotational weight is the worst sort of weight.
People say they don’t get punctures, but that’s because of reinforcing, you can get tube tyres with reinforcing so what is the benefit ?
Just pop in a magnetic screwdriver bit holder and you have strong power and perfect control.
It countersinks with ease but without the risk of screwing too deep like its electric counterpart all too easily does.
Japan mostly skipped PCs (outside of offices). Since their phones were ahead of the curve, a lot of stuff was designed for them. That means that a bunch of stuff is either exclusively done through some shitty mobile app, fax, or in person. There was a brief phase where PC versions did exist, but those are almost all being neglected or decommissioned now. I much prefer to do things on a PC with a nice, clear, big screen, especially if I need to use some translation tool since the text tends to expand (learning thousands of kanji for stuff like legal and taxes is hard).
I do miss physically owning media. A lot of physical media still decays, though, so not a panacea.
Software programs that were much more tested and completed before release.
Software development where we think things through, define requirements, define states, etc. before any code is committed. I do think PoCs are fine to throw something against a wall but, if it works, the proper version should go through those design phases before anyone writes a line of code. Cheap components and fast machines and networks have made people lazy which makes software worse in a number of ways quite often. No vibecoding. No AI/LLM shoved into everything. I think they can have uses in certain contexts (rephrasing questions, generating examples/docs in projects with bad/no docs, etc.), but hate how they are being shoved into everything.
An internet not run by corporations. I think a lot of people do see it through rose-tinted glasses (we still had trolls on BBS, UseNet, IRC, etc. and other bad actors), but a lot of things were much better.
Third spaces. Places where people of different backgrounds would interact in some common way. Sure, some were echo chambers just like online communities today, but many were not and let people interact together rather than just being othered to the point of fear and reviling.
I much prefer AD&D 2.5 rules to anything around today (and TSR still existing, but that ship has sailed).
I do miss physically owning media. A lot of physical media still decays, though, so not a panacea.
I prefer digital media that is locally stored. Many complaints I see about digital media revolves around DRM or a service’s ability to remove media that you think you “own”.
I think locally stored media solves that without taking us back to the days of a shelf of hundreds of DVDs.
I do own some physical media like certain very old PC games but only because there is no good digital option available that’s more convenient.
Modern tabletop miniature painting is dominated by contrast paints and airbrushes. This is especially true of small time commission painters.
I personally only use my airbrush for priming, and only use contrast paints for intensely limited purposes like glazing. For the vast majority of my painting I use methods taught in the 80s and 90s.
I personally like the results, and I like to think my methods give my pieces a “voice” that helps me stand out from other local commission painters which deliver interchangeable looking results.
I don’t dislike airbrushes (which I know were used by certain niche painters back in the day, but weren’t in common use generally) or contrast paints. I know some people take the time to get good results with them, however I think the majority of people applying them do it in a sloppy manner and the effort it would take to prep or clean up the results to a standard I would accept seems like more work than just doing it traditionally.
mail ! I mean, email is great, but mail is fantastic. It doesn’t make a bunch of sense in this isntantaneous world of ours, but if you just slow down a little, and write letters, and WAIT for a reply, you find yourself more attuned to your own pace, if that makes any sense
I learned about postcrossing (.com?) off Lemmy - you might want to take a look!
Okay yes, but only if it could implement the ‘unsubscribe’ feature from email.
I want back my Dumb TVs!! I dont want everything to be connected!
I want a phone where I am reach the top and the bottom of the screen without shifting my grip. Also being able to comfortably store in a pocket would be nice
Yes! Make smaller phones! Why do they all have to be getting bigger and bigger?
I like the bigger phones (at least however big a pixel 6 is – that seems about a perfect balance to me). Good to view web pages and videos as well as to use as the nav for my motorbike and still fits in the pocket. I find the smaller phones just too cramped.
I think we all know the answer to that one.
i’m actually this close to just going back to a dumb phone.
Buy one
I love a manual shift car, feels so much better to drive than automatic. Make bread from just flour, water, and salt, sourdough is an older method than dry yeast but it works better for me.
I also love radio, literal airwaves, works when the wifi goes down, battery radios can work during emergencies but also I just love the tech it is so old and so cool. And getting music curated by humans (we have a local community station) is great.
Community radio is so good. I just discovered it earlier this year but it is truly a breath of fresh air from the repetitive top charts being played on most public radio.
Would love to pay a mortgage instead of paying rent
It grinds my gears that programs are called ‘apps’ now. On phones it was normalized immediately, so, sure. Computers run programs, though, god dammit.
Something like 20 years ago, i assumed that every generation that comes after mine, will be so much better with computers, because they grow up with it. So that’s not true at all as it turns out. I remember working with 20is year old guys together and they they mostly had iphones. They told me that they are also into computers, gaming and stuff like that. The more i talked to them the more i realised that they have no idea what i was talking about. I explained one of them how to do a thing on his phone and he was super lost. It was worse thN explaining my mom something. He kept asking where he finds the app i’m talking about and i kept telling him that it’s not an app, it’s something you do on the phone. Yeah i get that, but i don’t have the app for that.
Microsoft have been calling discrete computer programs “applications” since at least the Windows 95 era, when Program Manager was replaced with the start menu. They’ve been inconsistently kinda-sorta doing so since even Windows 3.x, maybe even more, but nobody was closely paying attention back then.
It didn’t become the current situation of monkey-see-monkey-do until Apple started using the terminology heavily with the iPhone, as you have observed. But they actually cribbed it from good old M$, much as they’ve cribbed basically everything else they’ve done in the modern era from someone else and simply painted it glossy white.
I feel this.
Program is such a funny word when you remember it’s an analogy from radio and TV. Radio and TV are just delivery mechanisms for programs, which are the content and point of the medium.
You could define a podcast as an internet-delivered audio program.
In the UK, “programme” is used for events, TV shows, and schedules, while “program” is specifically used in computing contexts.
Why? What is the functional difference between an application and a program?
Outside of Unix based programs, probably not a lot.
In terms of their functionality most programs are standalone applications rather than tools where you modify the programming flow of the data.
The term was changed to application when Win 95 came out. An application runs over the API (Application Programming Interface) in Windows, whereas a program in MS-DOS ran straight off the motherboard.
Ordering at Subway. I used to be involved in the entire process of making my sub. More jalapenos! More olives! Now, I have to punch in my order on a screen, I don’t even know when they’re making my sub, and if I go up and police their every move, I’m a jerk. Not to mention for whatever fucking inane reason, all Subways in Korea have removed yellow mustard from their menu. The only sauces that remain are sweet or mayo. Fuck!
You have automated machines? Here in Canada the only place i’ve seen those is mcdonald’s.
Subway still tastes good but holy shit the price bumps the last couple of years, I just can’t justify it
I used to really like Subway, until we tried going with my son who had a food allergy. In hindsight it was a stupid idea that they could control cross-contamination. However they were unwilling to provide the legally required allergen info ….so I haven’t been to one in 19 years
what the fuck? I haven’t been to sbubby in a few years, but if they are doing this shit, i won’t be returning ever.
The sensation of physically holding and reading a book made from dead trees.
Yes they take up space, yes I use my phone as an e reader when at sea or travelling. No I will not give up physical books at home.
There’s also not the same feeling of discovery or finding less well-known titles when finding an e-book online as there is just going to the library and looking at the books on the shelves.
Driving manual (stick). I have an automatic now only because the model/trim I wanted doesn’t come any other way but if I could have got it in manual I would have. This car has less personality than my last one because I operate it rather than driving it. I literally have less of a connection with it.
Playing music on a record player. The ritual of removing the record from the sleeve, placing it on the deck, cleaning it, landing the needle. Listening to an album.
Cooking on gas instead of a halogen hob. Sure halogen is great and super easy to clean but gas is visceral and ‘real’. I also like to cook over charcoal or, even better, wood.
I’m the opposite for cooking. I have a gas stove and would love an induction one. So much waste heat unnecessary pollutants with gas.
Most of your stuff im eh but man if wood fire is just not amazing.
Ngl cook however you want but honestly fuck gas stoves.
Takes ages to heat up water, half the fucking endrgy goes into just heating the kitchen. And it also contributes to higher chance of cancer.
I’ll stick with induction.
Compeltely agree on the manual car though.
