r҉ustic cy͠be̸rpu̵nk🤠🤖

Doing research on DIY CPUs made me, once again, appreciate the Internet Archive even more

A lot of these pages were on college servers (~/username addresses) and it's amazing to me that they never bothered to see the value in preserving them

Or they were on now defunct hosting companies or the owners themselves have abandoned them for various reasons and disappeared

To have the foresight when the web was still young to try and preserve its content is amazing

May 6, 2017 at 12:12pmWeb
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 6, 2017

@cypnk this is admittedly a cynical British view but I think a lot of colleges no longer encourage "giving away" educational material if they cannot monetise it by marketing paid for courses; and a lot of uni stuff disappears behind "student portals" you need ID for...

With regard to hobby sites disappearing, alas, I suspect many were edited by people in middle age who may be in good health today. At least there has been an effort to prevent the knowledge being lost.

Show threadr҉ustic cy͠be̸rpu̵nk🤠🤖May 6, 2017

@vfrmedia That may be the accurate view though. Education is a business, first and foremost. Your degree is a product sold over time and which society has collectively decided is worth something (or has been indoctrinated into believe so)

It's true about hobby sites as well. The "digital will" is a fairly new concept. I've made arrangements now to have my intellectual property from my writings, to programs, to photos (It's a hobby) be released to the public domain

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 6, 2017

@cypnk through my day job (sysadmin for 2 seniors homes) I see at first hand the effects of age, especially on folk with "intellectual/tech" careers.

Although thankfully not everyone gets dementia and having hobbies can keep some of its effects at bay; mobility/dexterity limitations are still an issue.

At least it is now more feasible for a patient with an active mind but limited mobility to bring in their computer and still edit their digital content if they wish..

Show threadWolfgangMay 6, 2017
@cypnk @vfrmedia that must be the kind of persons like my Dad (82) sitting in front of his computer most time, writing books/articles and doing old fashioned big data analysis with excel...
Show threadr҉ustic cy͠be̸rpu̵nk🤠🤖May 6, 2017

@vilbi @vfrmedia Ah, Excel! The old faithful of tubular data

I do write quite a lot (most of them would have ended up as blog posts in the past), but nowadays, they're just for my own reference. It's easier for me to put my thoughts together if I write them out. Maybe I'm getting old! 😁

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 6, 2017
@vilbi @cypnk the buildings I work in are heavily influenced by designs from DE, NL and DK and residents rooms are of similar quality to high end hotels; wifi is available for those who request and there are 2-4 CAT6 points in each residents rooms (they usually get used for VOIP phones and smart TV's but a resident could connect their computer to the network as long as it clears our security checks..)
Show threadWolfgangMay 6, 2017
@cypnk @vfrmedia hey, security checks for devices upfront they get network access... reminds me to my old days as Information Security guy... suggested this for a global guideline
Show threadFrankie SaxxMay 6, 2017
@cypnk @vfrmedia don't forget universities patent stuff too, and then license them. (Or exploit them themselves.)
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 6, 2017

@frankiesaxx @cypnk true, I suspect many profs sign a contract that course material developed using the unis resources belongs (at least in part) to the institution.

Also "building a CPU" may still be popular undergrad project : used as a "selling point" to get people to sign up. saddest part of this is its likely to be taught in time-pressured, exam heavy way that destroys *passion* students may have had to learn and they forget the teaching soon after they graduate..

Show threadS3thMay 6, 2017
@cypnk the Internet Archive is great.