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vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
vga256
@vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
34 followers 0 following 360 posts
indigenous canadian, recovering academic → writer, gamedev & interactive toolsmith with a penchant for modems, the 4o3 bbs scene, 1-bit art, classic macs, and 80s/90s […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://dialup.cafe/@vga256, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
[grisly pixel art]

DreamWeb got a generally lukewarm reception from many gaming mags at release, but almost all of them mentioned how extreme some of the depicted violence was.

one of the early scenes in the game has some incredibly detailed animation worthy of […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
October 3, 2025 at 2:52 AM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
laundry basket/prison

#catsofmastodon
A small black buggy-eyed cat goes nuts inside of a laundry basket that is held vertically.
October 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
i have no idea if graffiti gear was a thing outside of canada, but i hope it was 🙏

it enjoyed a brief fad in my elementary school, until someone realized writing swear words in permanent marker was much more appealing than their autograph.

#canada #1980s
A "Design Your Own Jacket" pack titled Graffiti Gear. It shows two kids wearing tyvek jackets, decorated with cartooned objects. The copy from the rear of the box: It's Graffiti Gear! A special lightweight Tyvek jacket with permanent color markers so you can design a one-of-a-kind jacket that tells the world who you are! Show 'em your favorite stars, bands, teams, hobbies, events. Get your friends to autograph your jacket or just go crazy and make your own unique designs. This Graffiti Gear kit contains one jacket, six color markers, plus a full color idea poster with designs to inspire you and instructions to make your own terrific Graffiti Gear jacket.
October 1, 2025 at 9:55 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
#silentsunday
A prairie biome. A small foot trail disappears into the distance. There is a small copse of poplar trees, leaves yellow, many fallen. A large boulder rests to the left of the trail, partly as a marker … or warning.
September 30, 2025 at 11:07 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
walnut brains and big dreams

#beaver #animals #alberta #yeg #canada
A beaver has gnawed at the base of a poplar tree hundreds of meters from his home, with no hope of dragging it home even if it fells it.
September 30, 2025 at 7:15 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
500+ canada geese on the trans canada trail

#canada #animals #yeg
September 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
two years ago our resident hare dug herself a soft spot on the front lawn, and sat in it for weeks.

twice a year - in the spring and autumn - she returns to that exact spot and has a good sit for a few days.

she arrived this morning

#rabbits #urbananimals #animals #yeg
A white tailed jackrabbit (prairie hare) sits comfortably on a lawn covered with elm leaves.
September 30, 2025 at 4:37 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
happy 28th birthday ultima online!

#uo #ultima #retrogaming #win95
September 24, 2025 at 9:54 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
#silentsunday #mushtodon
1 centimeter tall mushrooms grow in a bed of spaghnum-like moss on the edge of a hillside covered in dead leaves.
September 22, 2025 at 1:53 AM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
on the prairies of western canada it is harvest time for hops and apples

with the hot and dry autumn, we got a surprisingly bountiful harvest of both

#gardening #bloomscrolling #autumn #fruit
cheerful deep red delicious apples on a tree, in the morning light. A hops pod has grown fat from a hops plant, and shines green in the morning light. A huge bag of apples of various shades of red and green.
September 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
The Invisible City Beneath Paris
by Robert Macfarlane, The New Yorker

Under the southern portion of the city exists its negative image: a network of more than two hundred miles of galleries, rooms and chambers.

https://archive.ph/0Z2g9

photo credit: Gaspard […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
A chamber in the paris mine, titled "Hydraulic system". It shows a small channel of water connected to a much deeper well. The water is a clear blue. A tunnel disappears into the distance, its walls of quarried stone.
September 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
today's software preservation task

one of the great crimes of the 21st century was that Mark Jones' (Core Design) Darkmere - an isometric adventure-RPG for the amiga - was poorly visually documented by the usual places like lemonamiga/mobygames/etc.

perhaps for […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
The wizard gildor, sitting in a stone throne, gazing into a crystal ball as electricity comes out of it. A forest scene with a massive skull cavern, in greens and greys. A comfy interior of a home, with a large wall fireplace and hearth; a fire burns cheerfully within it. In front of the fire sleeps a tan dog, alongside a human skull. Around the room, torches burn. A waterfall flows quickly along a river, spilling its water onto the rocks below. The forest around it is full of gnarly, friendly trees.
September 16, 2025 at 1:32 AM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
Back when I bought my iMac G5 as a grad student, I could never have afforded Macromedia Director - even with its heavily discounted “academic” license.

finally acquired it today, complete, so I can begin turning my upcoming book Mages & Modems, into an […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
A very large and heavy box containing Macromedia Director 7 for PowerPC macs. A 20-inch iMac G5 is in the background.
September 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
a 20km hike through prairie deciduous in the autumn.

this is the strathcona regional trail, which recently connected edmonton to fort saskatchewan.

difficulty: easy
distance: medium
surface: 10-20mm gravel

pic 2: there is a well hidden footpath connecting the […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
A view of the north saskatchewan river, facing southwest into the sunset. A footpath has been carved between the main path and the trans canada trail through a prairie meadow. A dozen mallard ducks happily eat in a pond full of algae. A gravel path covered with leaves.
September 15, 2025 at 1:19 AM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
IN case, like me, you have the dvd set and yearn for that katana letter opener, please mail in your store receipt and the form below:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050311161005/http://www.grabtheadventure.com/GTA-offer.pdf
A screenshot of GrabTheAdventure.com from 2005, showing a very 1990s style website advertising a free pen knife for owners of Xena and Highlander.
September 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
finally know what it means to be rich

i didn’t choose to rescue canadian culture from the landfill - it chose me

#canada #tv #highlander
Four seasons of Highlander the tv series, showing Adrian Paul in various cool-guy poses.
September 14, 2025 at 5:33 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
discovered this ad for a Panasonic PV-SD4090 in a march 2000 issue of Wired mag

99% of the time i see sony mavica posts for retro digicams, but this one is a real treasure. those LS-120 drives did not really catch on at the time, and it’s a shame because iomega […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
An ad for a megapixel digital camera with 3x optical zoom. The copy reads: Panasonic introduces the first digital still camera that can capture up to 1500 images on one disk.
September 11, 2025 at 5:13 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
found a 20 year old receipt for my iMac G5 20-inch, ordered brand new from the apple store when i was a grad student. this was their flagship imac at the time.

it has been a long, long time since i even imagined spending that kind of money on a new computer 🤯 […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
A web order from apple.com for an iMac G5 20-inch 1.8 ghz superdrive, with: 256 MB DDR400 AirPort Extreme Bluetooth Module Keyboard/Mouse/Mac OS X 160GB ATA Drive for $2233 CAD + tax and shipping.
September 8, 2025 at 5:35 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
sometimes life presents you with a choice: you can spend a sunday in the comforts of home, or you can drive 4 hours to rescue 40 issues of Wired mag from hitting the recycle bin

the seller planned to toss these the next morning if someone didn’t pick them up […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
Four years worth of wired magazine spines, stacked on top of each other. Each issue has the multicoloured striped spine that wired was famous for. the covers of four issues of wired magazine, from 2000 to 2004. Top left, clockwise: Microsoft introduces the xbox in 2001 An issue on Moby and music in 2002 an issue on linus torvalds and free open source software in 2004 an issue on microsoft’s antitrust case in 2000. The rear cover of a 2002 wired magazine showing an iMac G4. “The new iMac”.
September 8, 2025 at 2:10 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
in case anyone is curious about the internals of the pump. this is a magnetic rotor, which turns back and forth to move the water.

i noticed that the rotor magnet is cracked on both sides. i’ve never seen that before. it may be incidental to the pump failing […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
A long cylindrical tube of magnetic metal. A long hairline crack runs along its long axis. The top of the cylinder is badly rusted.
September 6, 2025 at 11:08 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
today’s filthy shitty unhappy job: pulling a dead drain pump from my mom’s aging samsung front load washer.

the worst part was draining very old undrained effluvia.

the pump is accessed from the underside of the washer, via a small access port. just enough room […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
The business end of an electromagnetic pump. It shows the impeller vanes. Above the impeller is the AC power plug. That black shit is soapy sewage on my hands.
September 6, 2025 at 10:43 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
how to instantly get yourself blocked by an ebay seller 😂
Hi there brother how are you? What is the final price for this item? Or the lowest price you are expecting for this item? Thanks
September 3, 2025 at 4:38 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
for almost thirty years i've thought about the early pre-alpha screenshots of Ultima IX

there is something incredibly charming about the combination of 3/4 perspective, 640x480 res, 256 colour palette, zero alpha blending or mipmapping or filtering, and global […]

[Original post on dialup.cafe]
An isometric view of the Avatar protagonist standing in a stone walled dungeon room. The room is decorated with paintings, shields, and has a table with dinner laid out on it. The colours are harsh, without any kind of alpha blending. A screenshot of a medieval house, with a thatched roof. A wood pile sits outside of the doorway, with a shield and sword on the other side. A small wagon with a cask inside sits on the lawn. A screenshot of a medieval tower, in a grassy field with coniferous trees around it. The landscape is hilly.
September 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
After Dark's bathroom wall screensaver

still hurts, don't it dark forces

#doom #vintageapple #macintosh #dosgaming
A bathroom wall screensaver. It shows the message: For the money I spent on this screen saver, I coulda bought another doom rip-off.
September 1, 2025 at 3:49 AM
vga256.dialup.cafe.ap.brid.gy
charming icon from kiddonet.com - an IE4-based browser for children.

reminds me of the macOS finder
#retrocomputing
A small postage stamp with a yellow face inside of it. Cartoonish illustration style.
August 31, 2025 at 11:14 PM