RenanMar 16
Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
It's sad that kids today don't know the joy of defragging a hard drive or degaussing a monitor. Maybe it's why games were better back then.
Mar 15 at 10:03pmWeb
Show threadAlice Averlong🏳️‍⚧️Mar 15

@grumpygamer there's actually an idle defragging game for steam now, to help The Kids experience the old times:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4181930/Idle_Defragmenter_95/

No word on degaussing a monitor, though

Idle Defragmenter 95 on Steam

Idle Defragmenter 95 is a relaxing idle desktop toy inspired by 90s defrag utilities. Run it as an overlay or window, watch sectors organize automatically, and unlock DOS / 95 / XP eras and upgrades while you work or play.

Show threadCalibanMar 15

@foone @grumpygamer

Make one. :)

Show thread7heoMar 15

@foone @grumpygamer

I'll wait for it to be on sale. 5 bucks when I can just boot up an old windows on an old hard drive, write random files on it, and defragment it for hours via vnc... Seems expensive. 😅

Show threadDaniele Pantaleo 🦥Mar 16

@foone

https://techhub.social/@ozone89/116238727082047575

Daniele Pantaleo 🦥:verified: (@[email protected])

@[email protected] progressbar95 offers both:) The former, when you don't get a perfect bar The latter, when you have a crt, found in settings On steam and free on mobile

TechHub
Show threadratrogue @ Rat KingMar 15
@grumpygamer Do they even know how to configure config.sys and autoexec.bat
Show threadsamir, a terminally deprecated methodMar 15

@grumpygamer I run defrag.exe on my Mac regularly. 🙃

https://mastodon.functional.computer/@samir/114807930527218124

samir, goblin++ (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image I decided I was missing something on Unix. https://codeberg.org/ooble/defrag.exe

Lambdadon
Show threadMeeea Mar 15
@grumpygamer I spent hours and hours just looking at cursors moving during defragging
Show threadKlyxMar 15
@grumpygamer oh... degaussing. Loved it. The Sound. The "wobble". It felt like really important, when it was not done for a while 😀😀
Show threadMarek 🇦🇺🇩🇪Mar 15
@grumpygamer @klyx That clicking and humming sound was sooo satisfying 😃
Show threadAsymmetricblueMar 15
@wansti @grumpygamer @klyx *whhooomP!*
Show threadKlyxMar 15
@Asymmetricblue @wansti @grumpygamer yes, just yes! Maybe I need to get out there and get an old CRT just for this? Nah, shouldnt do that... Need to explain this to wifey then and I am not sure, if she approves :D
Show threadZoidberg For PresidentMar 15
@grumpygamer Thought you were talking about Doom for a second...
Show threadShadSterlingMar 16
@ZoidbergForPresident @grumpygamer somebody made a doom mod where the monsters are processes and killing the monster kills the process; I bet something similar could be done for defragmenting
Show threadMicroblog CastellanoMar 15
@grumpygamer
Oh, yes. No game could beat a session of "pc tools" 😜 (it was my sister's favourite program, indeed).
Show threadThomasMar 15
@grumpygamer oh I miss degaussing… someone™ should write a Desktop Compositor for Linux that simulates drifting colors/alignment over time and has a degaussing button 🤔
Show thread🐈‍⬛David SommersethMar 15

@HorayNarea @grumpygamer There is a potential hardware market here ... A USB connected button to attach to your monitor, which triggers the degauss emulator software ....

I smell a kickstarter project here!

Show threadHunter KingMar 15
@grumpygamer I love that not only are both of those very satisfying to watch, they both have really cool names.
Show threadleberschnitzelMar 15
@grumpygamer at least there's a pixel refresh for oled screens >.<
Show threadAngua Mar 15
@grumpygamer

Ah happy days.
Show threadAndreas WielandMar 15
@grumpygamer Degaussing the CRT monitor was really fun indeed! #goodoldtimes
Show threadF. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Mar 15
@grumpygamer Games at that time did not steal out time with dark patterns, did not steal our money with loot boxes and pay to win. They told stories and made us team up. I learned Englisch to play those adventure games (or at least improved my vocabulary beyond the school necessary). Still love Monkey Island and other Lucas Arts adventures, still remember waiting for the release of LeChuck's Revenge...
Show threadPierre EquoyMar 15
@grumpygamer "degaussing a monitor", a term I hadn't even thought of in decades!
Show threadRidgeMar 15

@grumpygamer Watching the defragger do its job on Win98 back when was like a game in itself to me.

Absolutely mesmerised for no good reason.

Show threadHugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷5d ago
@ridge My baby sister used to watch the Test Pattern on the TV. Defragging would have been like an Action movie. @grumpygamer
Show threadMaxMar 15
@grumpygamer or the panic in the eyes when floppy disk no. 15 out of 20 was missing to install the latest game
Show thread🐈‍⬛David SommersethMar 15

@grumpygamer Better games ... probably also related to the real hackers of 80s and 90s able to squeeze the limit of x86 CPUs in "demo competitions" where the main program was not allowed to exceed 64KiB. And they squeezed that lemon to amazing heights!

Today's generation just wines about how expensive it has become to buy more RAM.

Even though I've been doing programming professionally for for quite some time, I'm not even worthy looking at these older hacker's boots.

Show threadTorbjörn AnderssonMar 16
@dazo @grumpygamer Funnily enough, I remember reading a letter to Your Computer (the British one) in Februray 1985, lamenting that these new 64 KB monster machines made for sloppy programming and had taken all the fun out of computers. 😁
Show threadMulti Purr Puss Mar 15

@grumpygamer @Viss We MUST NOT fail at teaching them how a file system works!

Documents can be free - they don't NEED to "be in the app"! 😅 🖖

Show threadColinMar 15
@grumpygamer the real joy for me was sitting watching the defrag visuals
Show threadWill Mar 16
@colingourlay Same! Very zen-like, even with the varied experience between Win 9x and WinNT.
Show threadHam on WryMar 16

@grumpygamer

I suddenly feel all warm and sentimental

Show threadTemplaillo AhíMar 16
@grumpygamer Or running memmaker.
Show threadワンプ八九八Mar 16
@grumpygamer People with btrfs still balance their filesystem every now and then and ZFS got an zfs-rewrite command in 2.4 which can be used to defrag the filesystem^^
Show threadGertMar 16
@vamp898 @grumpygamer we need a funny TUI to show us it's really defragging though (I did btrfs defrag literally yesterday)
Show threadIsaac Ji KuoMar 16

@grumpygamer I can confirm. There is a positive correlation between the time I spent degaussing a monitor and the amount of time I spent playing games.

Not sure whether or not correlation is the same as causation, but hey it's worth a shot...

Show threadTehAppKillerMar 16
@grumpygamer Half-a-joke, nowadays, many game "devz" consider SSD as RAM 🤦 We are doomed.
Show threadCatbrainz 🇱🇧🇦🇲🏳️‍🌈Mar 16
@grumpygamer kids these days never had to clean the ball in a mouse and it shows 😔
Show threadCarlos SolísMar 16
@grumpygamer They can still enjoy sitting down until shaders compile, I guess?
Show threadu0421793Mar 16
@grumpygamer and both activities used exactly the same tool!
Show threadu0421793Mar 16
@grumpygamer
[bompf] - your hard disc is now defragged!
Show thread🕉 Swâmi Petaramesh ⛱Mar 16
@grumpygamer I had even forgotten about degaussing a monitor 😄
Show threadAnnaMar 16
@grumpygamer Waiting for defrag to finish... zomg
Show threadDaniele Pantaleo 🦥Mar 16

@grumpygamer progressbar95 offers both:)

The former, when you don't get a perfect bar

The latter, when you have a crt, found in settings

On steam and free on mobile

Show threadbazbt3 🦣Mar 16

@grumpygamer @mdhughes Erm… I just discovered I've been saying 'degauss' wrong for most of my life.

Like "de-horse", but with a "g" because I'm not uneducated. :)

Show threadDigital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 👽Mar 16
@bazbt3 @grumpygamer I naively just said "gows" and I was correct, I gauss… (I probably also heard Carl Friedrich's name in Cosmos, or the term in my father's TV store).
Show threadbazbt3 🦣Mar 16
@mdhughes @grumpygamer Yeah, just like "sauce" or "paunch", not that I've any experience of that! :)
Show threadMikee5d ago
@grumpygamer I just got a memory hit of the degauss noise 😊🤩
Show threadCecelia4d ago

@grumpygamer I loved watching the process on our Mac using TechTool Pro. Little slivers of pixel lines moving around.

#TechToolPro