I've been spending a lot more time away from my home lately (and I'm several years removed from my last full time Computer-Touching gig) and I now feel like it's time to Omnibook once more.

The #zinestation lives.

For a long time, it was my primary "not at the house" machine.

I wrote nearly every episode of #expeditionSasquatch on my #zinestation, I produced a few dozen zines, too.

I've never been happier with a computer.

Okay, that's out of the way.

Issue one has three articles: one about my HP Omnibook (#zinestation) one about my DIY replacement for the Sony Portapak, and one about DIY Convertible Computing hardware.

I published this one a few years ago. I intended to do a followup, but last year was not a good year for me.

This year is a better year, it's time to write a followup.

But ... well, I haven't done much wacky computer bullshit in the last year beyond #NewEllijayTelevision and the things that Sundog and I are working on.

And I haven't written much about computers in the last year.

So uhhhhhhhhh now I need to figure out what the next issue is going to be about.

There are certain kinds of creation, consumption, and communication that are wholly modern, that only work in a fully graphical environment with low latency, high bandwidth broadband.

I can't really edit photos on my #zinestation because it's a 386 (or occasionally a 486) with a monochrome screen and 4MB or 8MB of RAM.

Video production is right out! The thing doesn't even have a sound card, for me to attempt working with audio.

On the other hand, I use it to write nearly every episode of Expedition Sasquatch. I send most of my personal emails from that box, and I have (through various tricks) gotten it on the fediverse. I don't post much from the zinestation anymore, but I used to read and post from it and my palm pilots often enough (with tricks! It's all tricks! We'll get there.)

I want a computer that runs on AA batteries, has an SD Card reader or microSD card reader, standard I/O (USB, HDMI or Display Port, wifi)

I currently keep my omnibook 300 in my Media Bag because it is the perfect machine for writing. It runs for weeks on 4 rechargeable AA batteries, it's blazing fast (as a writing machine and literally nothing else) and it has standard, if outdated, I/O making it easy to integrate in to the rest of my setup.

I use it to write scripts, make zines (#zinestation) and publish web pages.

But it certainly can't edit video, or audio, and can *barely* edit photos with a lot of patience.

(Yes, I own a computer that runs windows.

Three, actually. Well, no. Five.

One for printers and other Windows Only hardware at the maker space.

One for Win98.

One is my #zinestation running win31.

One is my wife's old laptop that we keep around in case I need old documents or whatever, that got pulled in to double duty as our media server.

And the last one is a GPD WIN 3 that I use for playing games.

I love the zinestation, and the GPD Win (although I'll probably install SteamOS on it, because Windows is pretty shit Outside of Steam on that formfactor), but otherwise, I am physically repulsed every time I have to touch one of these boxes.

Nothing works. Everything is broken and hidden and unfixable.