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1.  (mint@ryona.agency)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Oct-2024 22:36:47 JST 

   • pistolero
   • MisterRogersSnapped
   @p @MisterRogersSnapped >Maybe a mid-2000s. Definitely not what people used in the 90s.
   Here's Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard from '99.
   >Those retarded app buttons didn't appear until USB keyboards took off
   I've seen more PS/2 keyboards with those big round shortcut buttons than those with USB connection. Even used some for a while that had a wide-ass scrollwheel on it which was kinda useful.
   >in the 90s, people were upset that there was a "Windows" key.
   I'd reckon most of those complains were about this key having a Windows logo on it rather than it existing in the first place. Look at Model M, for example, there's clearly some space left that would fit an extra button nicely, which then could be used for controlling a window manager or something without interfering with any existing Ctrl/Shift/Alt shortcuts that may be present in running application.
   
   Either way, I think we're digging too deep into what was supposed to be a silly video poking fun at internet discussions that happens to use old infomercial aesthetics as a stylistic choice.
   MS_Natural_Keyboard_Pro.JPG
   • pistolero (p@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Oct-2024 23:22:32 JST pistolero

     in reply to

     • MisterRogersSnapped
     @mint @MisterRogersSnapped
     
     > Here's Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard from '99.
     
     That one was USB, and as I said, no one used those. There were plenty of people running 95 because there wasn't this screaming urgency about updating. I had a computer in 1999, my friends had computers, I had a part-time job doing tech support at an ISP, this involved fixing people's computers: I never saw one of those keyboards at the time.
     
     The RTX 4090 exists and is available for sale but they only made 100k of them because nobody buys a $1200 GPU, it's a niche thing.
     
     > I'd reckon most of those complains were about this key having a Windows logo on it rather than it existing in the first place.
     
     It was that it represented Microsoft eating the world, down to the keyboard.
     
     > Look at Model M, for example, there's clearly some space left that would fit an extra button nicely,
     
     I don't need to, I have keyboards from that era. (Most of a disassembled 486 in my closet; no time or space to play with it at present, but I'd like to be able to get an old Hercules video card for it, amber monochrome monitor, complete the experience. My first machine had one of those and I really like the way they look.)
     
     Old coworker of mine had a PS/2 to USB adapter, into which he plugged an XT to PS/2 adapter, into which he plugged his Model M, so that he could use a Model M with his Thinkpad. Apparently he got one in the 80s and the things can't be killed. He cleaned it by just putting it into the dishwasher.
     
     > Either way, I think we're digging too deep into what was supposed to be a silly video
     
     I will die on this and every hill: that kid does not know what the 90s looked like. That BBS documentary? Half of it took place in the 90s. DOS-ass motherfuckers. WinME sucked for a lot of reasons but removing the "kill Windows and go back to DOS" option in the Start menu was a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
      likes this.
   •  (mint@ryona.agency)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Oct-2024 23:29:22 JST 

     in reply to

     • pistolero
     • MisterRogersSnapped
     @p @MisterRogersSnapped >I'd like to be able to get an old Hercules video card for it, amber monochrome monitor, complete the experience
     https://github.com/viti95/FastDoom has Hercules video mode, though because of all the realtime dithering it might require more power than a contemporary machine with VGA-compatible adapter, so something like very late boards with ISA slots that took P3s or Athlons.
     >what the 90s looked like
     Honestly, I think defining an era just by a decade is a misnomer, technology in, say, '92 was quite a bit more primitive than in '98. The early Web era was between the PCs getting cheap enough for home users and the dotcom bubble burst, so around 1996-2002.
   • pistolero (p@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 16:11:05 JST pistolero

     in reply to

     • MisterRogersSnapped
     @mint @MisterRogersSnapped
     
     > https://github.com/viti95/FastDoom has Hercules video mode
     
     Ah, I've got an old 10baseT card with a PXE ROM on it, I'm gonna just have it netboot Plan 9 if I ever actually get it going. Plan 9 is probably usably fast on one of those. If that doesn't work out, there's always LOAF distros.
     
     > so something like very late boards with ISA slots that took P3s or Athlons.
     
     Yeah, might require that; might still be slow on one of those. Dual-P3 setup would be fun to build out. (It is kinda funny how much CPU is required by cool-retro-term.)
     
     > technology in, say, '92 was quite a bit more primitive than in '98.
     
     What most people had on their desktop changed significantly during that decade, yeah. Same CPU, though; Intel got two and a half decades of being Intel before ARM started to take over. By the end of the 90s, Intel was at the top of the list: https://top500.org/lists/top500/1999/11/ . When that list started, there was one 512-core Intel cluster at #8: https://top500.org/lists/top500/1993/06/ .
     
     > The early Web era was between the PCs getting cheap enough for home users and the dotcom bubble burst, so around 1996-2002.
     
     This is reasonable, but no one was using phpBB back then. It was more like that dude's Perl scripts. The first cat arriving in Australia was a different event from cats spreading through the place, right? The cat landing was a cat, the cat becoming widespread was an extinction event for a bunch of birds and small mammals.
      likes this.