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One thing I do not get happy nostalgic vibes from is dialup. I like 90s games (and play some to this day), I’ve been meaning to get a Windows 98SE box (it’s not easy finding good components), I even like the mid 90s UI style (think Win 3.11, Win95) more than Frutiger Aero which seems to be having a retro resurgence.
But I do not miss anything about dialup, the experience was terrible.
It’s like with VHS. Adding VHS styling to a FHD video is cool, now try watching a VHSRip (as a fan of 80s/90s b-movies, there are a few niche releases that are only available on VHS), the quality is terrible.
Once upon a time I used a phone line in a camping ground put in by a new company called Sprint. For the short time we used it, we had a solid 53333 bits/sec, which is perfect 56k because of technical reasons. It was glorious. Still not cable, but at the time it was something else from having grown up with 300/1200 baud in the past, being able to read the text as it came in.
This video made me wonder what is the most PCI slots ever found in a single system.
During the dialup era, the most reliable modem I ever used was the 3Com 3CP5610A, which to be fair is probably much the same hardware as in these external models (just packed onto a PCI card).
It’s just an awful lot harder to cram a dozen into a single PC when it’s one modem per PCI slot.
(It was a great modem because it appeared to the system as a hardware serial port, so was 100% Linux compatible without crazy driver hacks unlike most “winmodem” devices of the day)
PCIe 1x -> 4 serial port cards exist. Multilane PCIe slots can be bifurcated to the point that, in theory, you could have as many cards as the CPU had PCIe lanes. The biggest number I’ve seen for number of PCIe lanes in one system is 256 (in a dual-socket Epyc server), which means it could theoretically support 1024 serial modems and a connection speed of 57 Mbps.
The practical limit is gonna be a lot lower though, because the biggest actual motherboard I’ve found had 3 PCIe 16x slots, 2 PCIe 8x slots, 1 M.2 (x4) slot, 5 SlimSAS (U.2 x4) ports, 1 external serial port and 1 internal serial header, for a total of 88 accessible PCIe lanes and thus 162 modems. That would equate to 9 Mbps of bandwidth.
Per the video though, the problem clearly is Windows’ ability to enumerate the serial devices and assign COM* port numbers to them. Linux might do a bit better there, although looking at my Ubuntu systems the hard-coded maximum serial port count is 64 (adjustable by recompiling the kernel, at least).
In any case, that is only an attempt (as they say themselves) to maintain period accuracy. If you ignore that, you’d probably have a much easier time with USB modems connected to either a bunch of hubs, or a handful of multi-port PCI(e) USB cards.
Also - and we are getting extremely off-topic here - individual Epyc CPUs allow 128 PCIe lanes, but 48 or 64 are used for the inter-socket link in a 2S system, leaving a maximum 128 or 160 available as external connectivity. A moot point anyway as PCIe switches exist, and can be found in all manner of hilarious expansion chassis that could allow hundreds of PCIe cards even on a desktop system: https://shop.bressner.de/en/products/hpc-solutions/gpu-computers/gpu-expansions/gen5-4u-pro-16-slot/
Hey! I used to work for the company that makes that expansion system, One Stop Systems. :)
What stopped them from going over 12? Some sort of Windows limitation?
From the video: lack of non-conflicting serial ports.
From what I gather from watching the video, 12 is just the number of functional modems they had on hand.
Probably couldn’t find a telecom willing to bother with that many POTS landlines.
The video shows that they are their own telco. In addition to the modems, they’re also running the upstream equipment.
I remember in the good old bad old days of the UK, British Telecom launched their Home Highway services which was primarily their ISDN service. They did however have a form of bonded dial-up (usually two lines, but theoretically could support more) which cost a fucking fortune - usually two lots of line rentals; two lots of ISP service packages; and a fuck you fee for wanting to bond them.
Outside of real niche use cases like contingency lines or short term medium and requirements, I don’t think it saw great popularity - particularly when ISDN was expensive but comparatively cheaper.
668kbps though, fuck me. That would have been mindblowing at the turn of the century.
That’s fucking awesome
This kind of shit is going to save us from the garbage apocalypse. I wish our brightest minds could be working in this kind of stuff instead of figuring out the best way to serve ads.
Well, probably not this thing specifically; it’s highly inefficient on so many levels to use several POTS landlines in one household.
But the home computer waste is so insane in general. In 2012, I bought a state-of-the-art system for a little over 2k, because my old one had gotten too slow for professional backend development. It was very nice, and, well, I still have it to this day. Right now I’m doing stick-boots to try if I can run Linux with a mix of Nvidia and Radeon GPUs after Win10 support ends.
I think that the computer game industry is a scam, and only retro-gaming makes sense. Why? It diverts the question. The actual question is: Are newer games more fun? And I think the answer is no, not just for myself, but for pretty much everyone. Did the people playing vanilla WoW have less fun, or the people playing PS-1…Wii with their friends? I doubt it. Why not? Because the fun does not increase even one bit when the graphics is more realistic. We already have realistic graphics in the real world, or we can look at a photograph, watch a show; there is 0 gain from having it also in our games. It’s just a 1-time “woa Dude” effect. Advertisement creates an artificial need which cleverly checks several boxes. Just to name a few: Gaming PC / Console as a symbol of status, working towards a goal and then attaining it. And the ones who see through it are pulled in anyway, because their online games are being abandoned.
And it’s getting more and more insane like you get a GPU with 12GB VRAM and thousands of stream processors for thousands of euros to play a game…
And all they produce is frenetic shooters or dark pattern games.
It’s not even credible anyore, make a Red Alert with a new story (so some video + 12-20 maps) every now and then and it would be an immediate success. Make a good slow RPG that’s not based on hitboxes and that has a good story with say 40 side lines, believe it or not, instant success.
Or so I believe 😁
But no, let’s make videogames like they make marvel, without soul or depth, but with lots of stylish effects… kids love it, or so I have heard (after having it shoved down their throats day in and day out).
/Rant off
People have nothing more important going on? They did all the stuff that needed to be done and now theyre doing this?
I get having some stupid fun, but I’m going to guess this was harder than anticipated and probably took quite a bit of time.
When theyre done they have a pile of obsolete hardware laying around. When you whittle at least you get a pointy stick.
Call me a hater if you will, but this is a stupid waste of time.
God forbid someone have a hobby or do something intellectual and creative for fun
Intellectual would be something like reading enriching books or contributing something useful to a broader body of knowledge that others can use.
Creative is making something new, special or meaningful.
This is none of those. This is taking old junk and wasting lot of time to make something useless.
It would be like going to a junkyard and using a bunch of old engines to make one one car move slower than even the cheapest car from 20 years ago.
This is pointless and wasteful. People that defend this are part of the problem.
That sounds pretty fun, I’d love to build my own car even if it was objectively shit
Seriously what a terrible example. With a couple of buddies and a few packs of beer, constructing a working vehicle out of obsolete junk sounds like a good time. That’s why I’m on this rock right?
You’d build one and drive it. That has value as you will have something useful and you will learn things as you do it.
You would not build one that doesn’t function in any useful way and you wouldn’t use completely obsolete stuff to do it.
That would be like making a car out of plaster that uses a hot bulb engine.
I promise you, auto enthusiasts have built weirder stuff just because it’d be funny. You have a sense of humor don’t you?
Clearly, I do not. You got me. Am dead.
However, the effort that goes into a good fuckery should correlate the the quality of it.
This is at the level of , ha that a funny goof. If this were done on a bored Sunday afternoon, I’d say “ha ha this is funny”. Since I don’t have a sense of humor, there is not even a single ha evoked.
Sounds like it’s just not for you
And yet you’re here, spending precious time whinging about it.
Seriously, what kinda “pointy stick” is this guy getting out of bitching for four paragraphs? OOP built something
Goodness knows, setting aside the fact it’s perfectly fine to do something for the sake of doing something because you enjoy it, they probably learned a few things doing it too. I can think of dozens of projects that on the surface seem pointless but have taught me tons.
I fixed the transmission in my sons car and rebuilt the turbo. Taught him how to do it.
I did something meaningful. I wrote the comment while I was taking a shit. Consequently, taking a shit has more value than fucking around with a bunch of obsolete technology to accomplish a useless task. What is the point of spending a ton of time to make something that is worse than a cheap network interface that you can buy on amazon for $10?
Going to keep saying it.
This is stupid and only morons are impressed with doing useless things. Do something meaningful with your time on this earth, dont fucking waste it on pointless bullshit.
You think rebuilding a turbo is meaningful? How many turbos is your son likely to rebuild in his lifetime? Presumably you’ve never read a work of fiction or spent any time watching TV or a movie, eaten a non utilitarian meal, had a haircut etc. Your take is bizarre. Setting aside the fact that humans need downtime (or apparently do apart from you) did you consider they may have learned something applicable doing this?
Rebuilding a turbo is useful not as a single activity, but because there are a number of transferable skills involved. Way to think deep on that one.
Where messing with ancient junk fails is because it is obsolete. The person who did it, had to know how to do it already. They dont learn anything new by applying old knowledge to do something useless. The activity lacks the acquisition of transferrable skills and there is nothing useful created at the completion.
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m going to die on this hill. You’re more than welcome to be up here with me, but you may tire of the activity. I have IBS so I’m on the toilet a good bit, I have the time to keep going unfortunately.
Rebuilding a turbo is useful not as a single activity, but because there are a number of transferable skills involved. Way to think deep on that one
Well no, I said meaningful, way to not read I guess.
Where messing with ancient junk fails is because it is obsolete. The person who did it, had to know how to do it already. They don’t learn anything new by applying old knowledge to do something useless. The activity lacks the acquisition of transferrable skills and there is nothing useful created at the completion.
You’ve decided they learned no transferable skills because they must’ve known how to do it already - what’s your basis for that? Or you’ve just decided this is the case because it suits your argument?
Even if they didn’t learn something new, refining an existing skill is not also useful? How do you divine what will be useful in the future?
Let’s set aside the project directly, can you also assert they learned nothing about anything as part of this, certainly looks like they did research. Then made a video, no skills acquired or honed there either? You must be stalking these guys.
Let’s set aside any personal skill acquisition - you can assert they didn’t inspire someone else? Give someone else an idea that has direct practical application? Tickle someone the right way to go mess with something they’ve been putting off for a while? Jeez, you’re pretty confident in your assertions.
Set even that aside, if they’re making money out of this that in some way funds someone else, a child or loved one, in an endeavour that contributes to society then that has benefit too.
Setting that aside too, this might just be the thing that makes their life livable enough to let them contribute in some other way.
You’ve drawn an arbitrary line at what you think is acceptable and hold everyone to your standard - that’s phenomenally conceited.
Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m going to die on this hill. You’re more than welcome to be up here with me, but you may tire of the activity. I have IBS so I’m on the toilet a good bit, I have the time to keep going unfortunately.
We’re right back at the start, you’re wasting your “precious” time whinging about someone else’s project or passtime in a substantially less than productive way. So much so you’re willing to dedicate unlimited time to it. Why is it you’re allowed to waste your toilet time? Could you not spend that time learning too, no doubt it’d make everyone else’s life better. A hypocrite as well as everything else.
writes preachy wall of text with circular logic
“You’re wasting time and conceited!!!”
I’m still right.
Preachy? No preaching here, just a list of examples of potential benefits. Where’s the circular logic?
Lol, I don’t care if you’re wasting time, I’m pointing to the hypocrisy of it.
There’s a wall of text that’d argue you’re not right.
Ok, you’re a hater.
Yes, I hate stupid shit it is true.
If you like stupid shit, you should think about why.
I don’t hate because I don’t care, I hate because I do care.
People should not hold pointless and stupid acts in high esteem, especially when they require a lot of time and effort, displacing meaningful activities.
This is how idiocracy takes root.
I am proud to hate on moronic activities. Stop doing them and stop defending them. Not every viewpoint, activity and past time has value.
Do you hate baseball?
Check it out, pointless activity:
I don’t know about that guy, but I do. Great American passtime my hairy ass.
I don’t like baseball, no. Of all the sports, it is the slowest moving and the least exciting.
Also, I like playing sports (less so, now old) not watching them. The value of sport, is exercise, stimulation and camaraderie. Watching it provides so little of any.
Those 40,000 people in the stands last night (me included) were pretty excited, especially when Tatis and Bogaerts both hit homers to the third floor of the Western Metal Supply building in the same inning. You might be thinking of baseball before the pitch clock, btw.
What’s funny is last night’s game didn’t matter to either team. Padres are already in the playoffs as second wildcard, and Diamondbacks are already eliminated. So, probably by your standard, that game was entirely pointless. The fans still had fun though, and the players still played. It was baseball for the sake of baseball, and that was awesome.
As much as I enjoy shitting on things, I have no interest in doing it to baseball.
Not my interest, but it clearly means a lot to a lot of people. It is likely also true that if there was a change to game play that the excitement has picked up.
Still, if I’m going to watch a sport, it would be basketball. Lots of action, little fluff. Indoor soccer is fun to watch (and to play) but its extremely unpopular.
You seem very angry over something very trivial. Are you ok?
Oh boy, wait until you see what else The Serial Port has done.
Their bowling alley PC was a particular delight. Not that it achieved anything, but it was still cool because they could.
No, it is a waste of time with no value.
Do meaningful things. Society suffers under the weight of pointless nonsense like this.
If you are intelligent enough to make old hardware do things it was never meant to, you are wasting your potential and time.
Use your brain to solve a problem, not make up a problem for which the solution is useless.
Sometimes it’s fun to just make stupid shit for no other reason than to entertain yourself or others. Do you get mad at a painter because their painting can’t do anything?
If you paint a painting, you refine a skill in the process. Also, you get a painting when you’re done.
When you mush together a bunch of obsolete junk, you get nothing when you’re done but a heapnof obsolete junk your wife will yell at you to get rid of.
Now, if the person who made this turns it into some sort of sculptural decoration or interactive art work, now we’re talking. Even if that was not the original goal, flipping it into something thought provoking now has value.
That would be the best ending to this story. Art has value.
You claiming that OOP didn’t improve any skills over the project? That’s frankly an insane claim, and I’d say that even if this person knew everything they needed to know to do this (there’s no way, I’m certain he had to Google things and troubleshoot), it’s still practice. I promise, wiring up anything is a generalizable skill, even moreso than turning a wrench on a turbo imo, this coming from somebody who does their own work on two turbocharged hatchbacks.
Worst case scenario, OOP essentially solved a puzzle. They may have turned junk into fancy junk, but they didn’t fucking do it in their sleep. Do crosswords have no value? Do Legos have no value? Here’s a hint: it’s subjective. It was obviously valuable to them, or they wouldn’t have done it. “Society” or whatever comes second.
Haa, you found my weakness. I fucking HATE it when adults play with legos. I could not think of a greater generational embarrassment. Grown ass men who never graduated past playing with a child’s toy is so very telling of a sad story of arrested development.
Go build a shed, a bike, a birdhouse for fucks sake! Grow up and stop playing with kids toys. They are a fantastic learning and skill building toy for a child. However, as an adult, you now have the agency to apply what youve learned to things that can be useful! Get out there and do something with it!
Crosswords, eh I don’t see the point. I’d rather read a book and learn something.
What is the point of learning useless skills? What is the point of executing pointless tasks? Humans should aspire to learn things that lift humanity and do something with them, not partake in endless navel gazing. Saying society comes second demonstrates a very self-centered orientation which is detrimental to society at large. Look around at the world and tell me that isn’t coming home to roost.
(Hot snakes BTW, wow)
