leimon @leimon@librem.one

While I'm far more partial to the design of the #CommanderX16, I must admit that I am a bit excited by any sort new retro-computing, retro console device.

With that in mind, allow me to present to you, this video on the #Agon #Console8:

https://youtu.be/3NqbouGTTqs

@mos_8502 That is a nice looking interface, for sure.

@thomholwerda Oh cool! Is that a reform and if so, which CPU did you go with?

@kyle Towards this end, I recently used #tic80 for my oldest (a fantasy console). It supports a bunch of languages to write code with, but of those, I'd either go with Lua or Python.

https://tic80.com/

I write retro games as hobby myself, and I have found that a fantasy console like tic80 allows me to prototype out a game idea about 10x faster than using a modern game engine such as Godot.

Hope this helps.

@soller I was looking closely at the MiSTer for a while, but what I determined I was most interested in was the #Amiga platform along with the #CommanderX16 platform.

Since what I really want to do is develop new 8/16 bit games, I pre-ordered the latest Commander X16 dev board. I'm also planning to get #TheA500 mini and/or the #V4SA.

Links in case you're interested:

https://www.commanderx16.com/

https://retrogames.biz/products/thea500-mini/

http://www.apollo-computer.com/

@Vyothric Crazy stuff. I think I still have a copy of this game. Don't think I kept the box though.

@tschak Sounds like great progress. Now I suppose those three implementations are roughly at parity with each other. What will you be working on next? More software to run on the aforementioned platforms, or will you work on supporting another platform, or will it be some some sort of tangential upgrade to the networked resources accessed by FujiNet?

@tschak I do think there is still interest in the space, however as time goes on I think that only the most popular platforms of the era will still receive attention. Similar to how oldies music stations only still play only the most popular songs from the past.

I wasn't around for the heyday of the C64 and I've never seen an Amiga in person, but due to their communities I am gaining interest in those platforms. Anyhow, I hope you find a community which appreciates your work.

@tschak That looks like some great progress!

Now I've been following you for a couple of months now and during that time I've seen you work with a C64, a Colecovision, and an Atari system. Do you happen to have a favorite vintage platform to work on, or do you just enjoy the variety?

@system76 This is super fun. But only half works when running Wayland. Is there a newer version which doesn't rely on X11? Also, I feel like a scaling multiplier is necessary in current era of 4K monitors.

@fozztexx @reidrac@social.sdf.org I understand what you are saying, but I respectfully disagree. In my experience, `.sh` 9 times out of 10 just means *some* type of Linux shell script. Even so, I think you need to check the first line to know which one.

The same is true for a `.py` file, is it Python2 or Python3... It's a python script for sure but don't assume the exact interpreter.

IMHO, file extensions are very useful, but they don't tell the whole story.

@agx Whoa, looks like there are some serious improvements to that version of the OSK (I like the incorporation of spelling suggestions). Will those updates be coming to the #Librem5 soon, or is this something slated instead for the Crimson software release?

@tschak In a lot of ways the retrocomputing scene reminds me of the classic car/hot rod scene. Admittedly, the size of those communities has shrunk over the years, however as long as people who are passionate about them show them off to new people to raise awareness, I think they'll continue to exist.

Also, at some point the supply of classic cars dried up. So the existence of kit cars was necessary for the scene to persist. IMHO the #cx16 and others are analogous to kit cars.

@tschak Duly noted. As somebody, new-ish to this scene I feel I should mention that I got interested due to fantasy consoles like #pico8 and more specifically #TIC80. Fantasy consoles are basically the gateway drug to retrocomputing.

At some point in development on a fantasy console you have a thought like, "but wouldn't it be cool to run this on actual hardware...". That's when people make the jump. I also think that things like the #cx16, #agon, and #f256k will help a lot.

@mos_8502 @swetland I do agree with you. I didn't grow up using a C64, so I'm not familiar with this old variant of M$ BASIC. Also, I'm not super keen on the archaic DOS commands that have to be used to navigate the filesystem. That being said, having a well-defined modern retro system with capabilities approximating the SNES is a truly awesome thing.

IMHO writing a game for one of these systems is good enough to check the "Wrote a NES game off the bucket list".