RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 1hIt finally happened after a surprisingly large number of months, I finished editing a video. The research and building of stuff for the video has been a lot of fun, even if it took far longer than I expected. youtu.be/qSgnDD83m-Uyoutu.beThe History of CrayYouTube video by RetroBytes 111
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I think this seller might go on my ebay black list if this is typical. 000
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I hope your nephews appreciated your physical comedy skills. 120
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026We did, unfortunately. Once a week for the whole school, featuring a different teacher each week. Some of them could best be described as not the most natural of performers, so a few of them would have a slide show as I assumed they thought it would make things more interesting. They where mistaken. 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026It has all the interaction of the slide shows our school used to make us sit through in the worst dullest assemblies. Where some teacher would tell us about the hike, they went on where nothing happened at all. However, for some reason had photographed excessively to fully document the banality. 130
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I remember thinking it looked great, then I made the mistake of playing it. 5mins later I stopped playing it. 171
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026They have to frame it as an allegation, as they could be viewed as having prejudiced the case prior to it coming to court, if they flat out say he did it. They dont want the defence to be able to use BBC reporting to argue any jury is already prejudice against the defendant. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026On the radio4 bulletins, they are saying a video in which he appears to attempt to slash on inflatable boat, with a metal object. 100
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026That's a shame, I found out it was happening a little too late. The explanation on your website was a good read, however. 130
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I've posted it before, and I will post it again, I so want to see Fiona Shaw as the doctor. 000
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Trying to keep an open mind of this one @vikkislademp.bsky.social but how will this protect the public ? This does feel like a solution in search of a problem. 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026My poor parents were forced to read words they had never read before either. 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I was still in infants school when I got one, but it was during the electrons peak. So, unfortunately, it dates me accurately. I might have been one of its few users who was still learning to read by reading the Electron User Guide. 120
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026No not at all, everything thats in the public realm tells us that getting PIP is an invasive process, and an up hill battle. Having a strong emotional reaction to the thought of that seams like a rational response to me. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Kids have a way of making you feel like you're about to crumble to dust. 030
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Are the police looking into this, have you asked them to investigate? 000
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 03/09/2026It's in no way surprising at all. The fact that some are only just highlighting the issues now is a little. There are some uses for LLMs. Academic writing is certainly not one of them. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 29/08/2026I've run the server on solaris and Linux, cant remember is they had a client version. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I recently watched a video where lemmings was described as such! 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026So there are no homeless people, or any under housed people, rents and mortgages are affordable for all ? As much I think transport system are important, I think most would rank house needs above that, of transport. If Scotland does have no housing issues, that should definitely be talked about more 100
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026For personal projects, I sort of miss the results of the riggor of that approach. However, I am doing it for fun, so I am enjoying that most of my time is spent on the fun bits of coding rather than reviewing and unit tests. So that is what motivates me to experiment with AI for the un-fun bits. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026it did raise a couple of valid points and a number I did not agree with. As it did not have write access, it could not just change stuff. So I made some changes based on some stuff it flagged. I'm treating it like a static analysis tool that does not return consistent answers. 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026So it did produce some good unit tests as it ran off grabbed the spec, and did indeed create unit tests that covered parts of the spec I have not covered particularly well (or in one cased missed completely). As writing, the code for this was fun, unit-tests not so much. On the review front, 100
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026to add any unit tests it thought were missing. It did add a test for the code page change esc sequence, which failed unsprisingly. That's the problem with no 2nd pair of eyes, and I'm not going to find anyone willing to be the unit test writer, so AI in this regard improves the process. 000
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026missed out support for an escape sequence that changes the code page. I must have just missed that part of the spec, so I did not write a unit test for it. Then I spotted my BBC could not print "£", I eventually figured out why. So I decided to try AI with an earlier version of the code, and asked 100
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026When it's a sole author project, there is no 2nd set of eyes, and nobody else to write the unit tests. So avoidable errors creap in. I already use static analysis tools as I go, which catches some silly stuff. However the logic flaws it does not. For example, in my Esc/p to postscript convertor, I 100
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I've been looking at using some AI to be a 2nd pair of eyes on an open source project I'm working on. When doing this stuff for work; we normally all review each other's code. There is also a fairly solid principle that the person writing the unit tests is not the person who wrote the code. 300
Reposted by RetroBytes(John)SDF @sdforg.bsky.social · 23/08/2026“Why do you want to run a 36-bit PDP-10 in 2026?!” #blinkenlights #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #vintage icm.museum 107721
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 24/08/2026It all kicks off this comming Friday. See some of you in the dance tent. 010
Reposted by RetroBytes(John)The Centre for Computing History @computinghistory.org.uk · 22/08/2026Retro Computer Festival 2026 is Go for Landing! This year we'll boldly go to a galaxy far far away. And Houston, we hope there's no problems. As you might have guessed, the theme is SPACE! Tickets available now - 14th / 15th Nov - no space suit required www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/77371/re... 22814
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I spent a good chunk of my evenings this week implementing econet over websockets for a javascript BBC emulator. The resources I'm burning to run software that at most can use 32Kb of ram is frankly obscene. I do have all the CP/M (torchnet) support working in the server however. 020
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026- 8bit mircos - 16bit micros - 32bit Unix workstations - 64bit Unix workstations - Laserdiscs - Maybe best not to look in the cupboard of consoles 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Sheffield has hit my ideal temp today, there was even a little rain show this morning to make everything smell fresh. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026I'm in the opposite position I have the phone, all I need is acoustic coupler modem. 221
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026You can always depend on YouTube finally waking up to a problem then dealing with it baddly. I also wont what impact their change to the thresholds at which they pay out on ad revenue for shorts will have. Financially speaking I'm not sure short will be worth it for even some of the popular creators 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026There are some channels I should probably go look at, I would also heartly recommend watching yesterzine. 130
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026I suspect if I take this approach it will make for better tests as I can give it broad instructions and it will come up with tests I wont. I supsect I will still have to write a bunch of tests it does not come up with, time will tell. 010
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026They are the unfun part, even if they are very nessicary. For my own personal projects, I still create them as they do pay off. However it does suck some of the joy out of writtting the code, and they are rather flawed, as whatever conceptual mistakes I make in the code I also make in the tests. 110
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026At least with bluesky you know its a 1000 real people and not 5 real humans and 995 Russia bits. 010
Reposted by RetroBytes(John)Squeezy John @johnspiers.co.uk · 10/08/2026I still absolutely think that the English rugby team should learn how to morris dance properly and do it in response to the Haka against New Zealand. 611386266
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026I did use claude to write the tests for this bit. As there is an issue with the person writing the unit test, and the code being one an the same person. So I thought I would expirement, also I dont enjoy writting unit tests, so if something else can, and does it well, I am interested. 140
RetroBytes(John) @retrobytes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026So, not a week has gone by after me releasing esc2ps that I spot a problem. I'd not implemented ESC R, which changes the code page, that explains why my BBC can't print £ which is how I spotted the issue. So there is an update on github.com/johnhomelan/.... In full transparency 1/2github.comGitHub - johnhomelan/esc2psContribute to johnhomelan/esc2ps development by creating an account on GitHub. 130
