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StarTTY.com comments

V

vax

New Member
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Dec 30, 2006
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The reviews are in!

"This is just about one of the coolest services ever! " -John

"It's a great idea" -Neriki

"My older computers on my network needed something to keep them busy. I have 1 set up now, runs great!" -JWeber

"This is a fantastic idea!" -Jeff

What are they talking about? Find out @ http://startty.com
 
Drifting off topic ... let's try to get back, or start a new thread for the device.

StarTTY is interesting, but is it really useful? I don't see the sense in leaving an older machine on and connected to the network to pick up things like the time, phase of the moon, etc. - I usually need to have a newer machine turned on anyway.

I'd also like it a lot more if the backend was running on vintage (or semi-vintage) hardware using vintage languages.
 
mbbrutman said:
Drifting off topic ... let's try to get back, or start a new thread for the device.

StarTTY is interesting, but is it really useful? I don't see the sense in leaving an older machine on and connected to the network to pick up things like the time, phase of the moon, etc. - I usually need to have a newer machine turned on anyway.

I'd also like it a lot more if the backend was running on vintage (or semi-vintage) hardware using vintage languages.
Click to expand...

I think there's a difference between interesting and useful. The majority of retro-computing stuff these days falls under the interesting category. I don't think any of us really need vintage hardware to do anything useful, frankly. We do the things we do with vintage technology for the fun of it, more than anything else I would think. This definitely falls more into the fun/interesting category, as does that other gentleman's interface for select classic systems to modern systems for keyboard, joystick, mouse and (on certain models) disk control. If we required everything done with vintage hardware to be useful, then I think most of the fun would be sucked out of it all.
 
I'm not implying that it is not fun, but it is just a curiosity.

The owner of the site sees this application as giving new uses to old machines, and he is more than slightly focused on kiosk setups using this software. I don't see that as a practical thing.

A module to do text based browsing would be more interesting and interactive. Most of these machines can't browse anything on their own without help - code on the backend machine that renders arbitrary web pages into something useful on old hardware would be great.
 
As arbitrary web pages become less and less textually renderable (think whole sites made in Macromedia Flash), I can understand if someone creates a customized service - much like old teletext or BBS if you like - rather than spending a lot of time onto making a text browser that at best will display 40% of the pages reasonably accurate.

I think a service like StarTTY may be in particular useful at places where you want a public display/kiosk, but don't want to put up a modern PC with respect to configuring it to only display certain web pages, firewall rules etc. It is also a reasonably easy way to get a geeky use out of an old device. Over time, maybe it will be improved to let you access any web page as well.
 
Arbitrary web pages? A browser? An RSS aggreggator? A Waring blender set to frappe? :p

I'd rather use a modern computer with a real keyboard and mouse for that stuff.

My intent for StarTTY is for it to be really, truly, excrutiatingly static and non-interactive. It's for the machines I leave lying around. It's for data that I want to see everywhere but not touch.

Initially, it was just for my wife so she'd have a weather report upstairs where there are no modern computers. I was tired of yelling the forecast up to her when she was picking out clothes for the kids. I also did not want yet another modern virus-catcher to maintain, nor did I want to hear any fan or disk noise. She didn't get to watch the news much so I added the news module. More followed.

So, it's serving its purpose in our house and that's all I really wanted out of the project. The rest is gravy.

As I added modules I began to think "Hey this is becoming REALLY cool!" so I opened it up to the public.

I'm eager to hear feature suggestions and bug reports, but I'm planning to keep the mission of the project as is. If someone else wants an RSS aggreggator, browser, or blender over TELNET and using PHP, I'm happy to offer advice and support! :)

Having fun with my 'puters...

Dorian, The StarTTY Guy
 
vax said:
My intent for StarTTY is for it to be really, truly, excrutiatingly static and non-interactive. It's for the machines I leave lying around. It's for data that I want to see everywhere but not touch.
Click to expand...

So really it's a screen-burn generator. :)

I also did not want yet another modern virus-catcher to maintain, nor did I want to hear any fan or disk noise.
Click to expand...

Which would make me want to use something like a 3Com Audrey.

Older desktops weren't exactly known for being quiet.
Perhaps you're using an old laptop? Or a serial terminal?

Having fun with my 'puters...
Click to expand...

Always nice to meet another golfer.

Andy
 
ahm said:
So really it's a screen-burn generator. :)
Click to expand...

Yep, totally. If you'd like to conserve phosphors you could try putting the monitor on a motion-sensing power strip.

ahm said:
Older desktops weren't exactly known for being quiet.
Perhaps you're using an old laptop? Or a serial terminal?
Click to expand...

I'm using:

- A GRiDCase 1520 laptop running off a floppy. No fan or hard drive.
2)
- TRS-80 Model 100 laptop (no moving parts)
- Wyse WinTerm 3250SE thin client
- Dell Lattitude XPi laptop with the hard drive removed, running off a floppy.
 
The new version of StarTTY.com is in BETA now and does support RSS feeds.
 
Missing the thread the first time but in curiosity (and impressed sake to see you're still doing it) what all does this service do? I read the site and posts here but I'm guessing there's more to it than just what was posted? Or is it more of a weather BBS?

Is the server side proprietary or could you add more BBS functionality (news groups, internal or even external mail, door games)?
- John
 
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