Scott Small 🇨🇦

@smallsco@oldbytes.space
1.5K Followers
881 Following
25.3K Posts

Just a 30something Canadian dude from #VancouverIsland who's into #RetroComputing (mainly old #Apple / #Mac stuff), #Programming, and general #Technology enthusiast. Also love to #Travel!

I wrote a Mastodon client for vintage Mac computers, #Macstodon, which you can get from here: https://github.com/smallsco/macstodon

Occasionally I’ll post about #Anime and #Gaming, especially #ZenlessZoneZero and #HonkaiStarRail.

I boost a lot. Boosts are not endorsements.

DMs from non-followers are blocked due to spam.

Pronounshe/him
Websitehttps://scottsmall.org
GitHubhttps://github.com/smallsco
Blueskyhttps://bsky.app/profile/scottsmall.org
Scott Small 🇨🇦5h ago
Chris Alemany6h ago

Great local #Fediverse news and efforts to get Canadian politicians off American SM! #ElbowsUp folks! The Fedi can do its part!

Elizabeth May, speaking frankly as she always does!
"“I'm embarrassed to say that I started with Blue Sky. I'm trying to stop using Twitter altogether. The problem is I already have 300,000 followers on Twitter and the question is, do they migrate with you?””

Can we get her on #SocialBC :)
Councillor @ZebKing championed this!
#Mastodon #Bluesky
https://www.peninsulanewsreview.com/local-news/central-saanich-councillor-calls-on-leaders-to-elbow-up-on-social-media-8125046

Central Saanich councillor calls on leaders to 'elbow up' on social media

Coun. Zeb King wants to see Canadian political leaders adopt alternative social media platforms like the Fediverse

Peninsula News Review
Scott Small 🇨🇦6h ago
Tim Hergert20h ago
Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
The IconfactoryJun 25

It’s hip to be square! Slots are now open for Iconfactory Pixel Portraits - a hand-crafted retro pixelly portrait of you or your loved one created by real human artists. Perfect for your online avatar, printing and framing, or anything else. Order yours today!

https://iconfactory.com/pixelportraits/

#DigitalArt #commissions #PixelArt

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Mat Wright21h ago

Dear Mark Carney - in the light of Trump's new tariff letter threatening 35% on basically everything, tell him to fuck off and bring back the digital service tax

Be like Brazil, stand up to the orange asshole - appeasement doesn't work, cut off the potash and watch US farmers freak out

#CDNpoli #USpol #USpolitics #ONpoli #ABpoli #BCpoli

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-35-per-cent-tariffs-1.7582563

Trump threatening 35% tariffs on Canadian goods across the board | CBC News

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 35 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods as the two countries have been engaged in negotiations to reach some sort of trade agreement.

CBC
Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Leftist Lawyer21h ago

The only #cool #influencer is a #Fedi Influencer.

Tell your #family
Tell your #friends.
Tell your #neighbors.
Tell your #co-workers.
Tell your worst fucking #enemies

#KillCorporateSocialMedia

#fediverse

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Ken McLeod22h ago

The command line was foreign to a lot of Apple folks, and so the number they typed in was often a calculated guesstimate based on how much data was in the HFS volume. That meant any data which was on the drive after the cutoff number got skipped, including partitions which may or may not have been located at the end of the device.

tl;dr: Meridian CD Publisher software was DOS-based, not user-friendly, and it was very easy to get numbers wrong.

3/

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Ken McLeod22h ago

Once you had your large external 650MB Mac drive filled, you attached it to the Meridian and issued a DOS command, e.g.:

di2file 5 0 630000000 1:image.dat

which would image the device at SCSI ID 5, starting at byte 0 and ending at 630000000. Then you would run the `cdmaster` program on the Meridian to start burning from the image.dat file, hoping that it would succeed and not leave you with an expensive coaster.

2/

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Ken McLeod22h ago

To follow up a recent thread about early Apple CD-ROMs (pre-1992) which report incorrect device sizes: I think I know what happened.

These discs were all mastered using the Meridian Data CD Publisher (https://mastodon.social/@_the_cloud/114812848624013542). It was a PC in a huge metal box, with integrated Yamaha CD burner and attached SCSI storage. At the time, individual hard drive sizes were smaller, but it was possible to buy an external drive unit that connected multiple drives to appear as one large volume.

1/

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
Bill the Lizard1d ago

January 2024: Reminder: it's against company policy to use non-approved applications, including AI code-generation tools.

July 2025: You haven't used CoPilot even once. Lists of non-adopters are being shared with managers and senior leaders.

Scott Small 🇨🇦16h ago
kajer1d ago

omg

https://github.com/bitwarden/mcp-server

What could possibly go wrong?

GitHub - bitwarden/mcp-server: MCP server for interaction with the Bitwarden vault.

MCP server for interaction with the Bitwarden vault. - bitwarden/mcp-server

GitHub
×
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
That’s right, now that the weather is finally nicer, we’ve got the big cables out to have #GlobalTalk running over barbed wire!
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
Somehow it all worked over the barbed wire on the first try! And the PowerBook 1400cs really wasn’t built to be used outside 😜 #GlobalTalk
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
So of course the first thing to do is try printing to the other side of the world, to @kalleboo ‘s ImageWriter #GlobalTalk
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2

And it looks like it was a success! :D
#GlobalTalk #BarbedWire #RetroComputing

🖨️ @kalleboo

https://bitbang.social/@kalleboo/114783663445596395

Karl Baron (@kalleboo@bitbang.social)

Attached: 1 image History in the making!!!! 😮 #GlobalTalk #VintageApple #RetroComputing @billgoats

Mastodon
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
So it’s just a phone cable chopped in half an a pair of alligator clips attached to each end. Thanks, barbed wire!
Show threadScoutJul 2

@billgoats

This is amazing!

Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@ScruffyJunco :D
Show threadMiguel ArrozJul 2
@billgoats It would be interesting to move the cables from both machines apart further and further and see the maximum distance before the connection is too noisy to work properly!
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@arroz It's all tidied away for now, but that's one to potentially try while summer is here!
Show threadSheddiJul 2

@billgoats
That's up there with @revk and his "ADSL over wet string" 😄

Edit to add a link to revk's blog article:
https://www.revk.uk/2017/12/its-official-adsl-works-over-wet-string.html

It's official, ADSL works over wet string

Broadband services are a wonderful innovation of our time, using multiple frequency  bands  (hence the name) to carry signals over wires (us...

Show threadIαηJul 4
@sheddi @billgoats @revk
Is that what they call a moodem?
Show threadKarl BaronJul 2

@billgoats It’s funny I was going to print out that origami classic Mac that @mattrobertson posted earlier, but wanted to remove the top sheet of paper first since after sitting in the printer for over a week the paper adopts the curve of the feed roller, and this was waiting for me! This was before you posted anything so I was so confused - Just amazing timing haha

So anyway thanks for helping me not waste a sheet of paper to curvature!

Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@kalleboo Amazing ;) And thank you for being my unsuspecting test v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶ case!
Show threadKarl BaronJul 2
@billgoats I knew leaving my nearly 40-year-old printer running unattended 24/7 for months at a time would eventually pay off!!!!
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@kalleboo Absolutely!
Show threadvxoJul 2

@billgoats haha this reminds me of the first time I had a laptop with a display made to be sunlight readable - an Itronix XC6250 series

that thing was POWERFULLY bright

Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@vxo This thing is the opposite of usable... even when new, these were never any good outside.
Show threadvxoJul 2
@billgoats oh the fix for that is easy, just take one of those big blackout drapes with you like you'd use with a view camera so you can use the ground glass finder
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@vxo Maybe one day I'll get into large format photography and need one of those, but that day hasn't arrived yet 😜
Show threadvxoJul 2
@billgoats I was just talking with my coworker about it... I might have inadvertently convinced him and his wife to look at the Mamiya RB67 / RZ67 series. It's like if Lego made a medium format camera - SO MANY options
Show threadvxoJul 2

@billgoats She's currently shooting on a Pentax 67, which is a nice camera but
* heavy
* no I'm not kidding at all HE CHONK
* slooooooooooooow shutter
* no rotatable back - shooting portrait kills your upper extremities

the Mamiya system has a focal plane body shutter but leaf shutter lenses for the system also exist and are common; x-sync up to 1/300 or 1/500 is featured on those, which is great if you want to shoot in sunlight

Show threadvxoJul 2
@billgoats as I recall the big difference between RB67 and RZ67 is the RZ67 came out later, has an electronically timed body shutter, and a plastic body to reduce weight. The RB67 is heavier as it's all metal and has a mechanically timed shutter (and will fully function with no battery)
Show threadvxoJul 2
@billgoats other things that are fun about the RB/RZ: the back is interchangeable https://mrleica.com/mamiya-rz67-polaroid-back/
Mamiya RZ67 Polaroid Back (with Fuji FP100c film) - Leica Blog (Matt Osborne)

My Mamiya RZ67 Pro II Polaroid Project!  Using a Mamiya Polaroid back on my RZ.  Lots of fun to be had!

MrLeica.com (Matt Osborne)
Show threadbazzarghJul 2
@billgoats @vxo an Ikea DRÖNA works well as a sunshade for laptops, looks like it would fit the powerbook. They squish to pack up and are fairly cheap
Show threadvxoJul 2

@bazzargh @billgoats hah I wonder if Porta Brace ever made a case for laptops with the snoot

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1391805-REG/porta_brace_mo_inferno_monitor_case_and_fold_out.html

I have one of their cases that has the shady snoot, it's made to fit an Ikegami / JVC TVM-9 series. It's so cute

Show threadDeltaWyeJul 2
@billgoats how many bps?!
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@DeltaWye More than you could ever need 💁
Show threadeuroplus Jul 2
@billgoats haha, I thought it was a post complaining about the new Apple OSes before I read the post text!
Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@europlus Nah, there's more than enough of that going around these days. I don't have anything useful, interesting or original to add ;) I'd really like scroll bars and to be able to tell which window is actually active, though.
Show threadKlievhelmJul 2
@billgoats Barbed wire adds that bottom layer security missing from most protocols.
Show threadGrant HutchinsonJul 2
@billgoats I love how wonderfully ludicrous this is.
Show threadThomas BrandJul 2

@splorp when are you going to repurpose your nipple clips and join the network?

@billgoats

Show threaddan 💾Jul 2
@splorp The use case that the original AppleTalk team almost certainly didn't plan for :D