## The rise and fall of personnal computers age
── June 14-20 2021 ─────────────────────
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└────┘└─┘└────┘└─┘ └────┘└─┘└───┘└──┴─┘
── conference in gopherspace ─────────
now available in low resolution: 70x30
(free of charge)
## La marseillaise
Dear __20h__,
the french national anthem "La marseillaise",
is a call of mass murdering. I hate that.
## Auferstanden aus Ruinen
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auferstanden_aus_Ruinen
Risen from the ruins
and facing the future,
let us serve you for the good,
Bitreich, our country
-------------------------------
Auferstanden aus Ruinen
Und der Zukunft zugewandt,
Lass uns dir zum Guten dienen,
Bitreich, unserm Vaterland.
## What i expect from a national anthem
Let all paths by peace be lighted,
That no mother shall again
Mourn her son in woe.
-------------------------------
Lasst das Licht des Friedens scheinen,
Dass nie eine Mutter mehr
Ihren Sohn beweint.
## who am i
Marc Chantreux
Born and raised in Elsass
Work for Renater (French NREN)
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_research_and_education_network
Floss Evangelist
Founder of the Green IT WG
https://replay.jres.org/videos/watch/e787327a-d922-4891-9968-203ee34d4eba
## birthdates
1973/03 - Palo Alto
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARC_(company)
%
1975 - Altair
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800
%
1976/01 <---------------- I'm here
1976/04 - Apple 1
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I
%
1977/01 - Commodore PET
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET
## the old republic
experiments and incompatibility
1981/08 - IBM PC
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer_AT
1982/08 - Commodore C64
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_C64
1984/04 - Amstrad CPC 464
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC#CPC_464
1984 - Apple Mac
- Thomson TO7-70 (french schools, almost born dead)
%
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_TO7/70
1985/06 - Atari ST
1985/07 - Commodore Amiga
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga
## the empire^wbusiness
resistance is futile :(
IBM PC clones
Apple Mac
## (lack of) Bibliography
on the sociology of european users of personal
computers of the last millenium.
An "American/Business" perspective:
Triumph of the Nerds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_Nerds
The Commodore History
https://www.thecommodorestory.com/
Computers for cynics (Ted Nelson)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdnGPQaICjk
## where to find a PC in 80's
* some rare wealthy neighbors
Amstrad CPCs
Commodore C64
* schools and computer clubs (mainly)
TO7-70
## TO7-70
Motorola 6809E, 1 MHz
RAM : 48 Ko
text : 40 × 25
video : 320 × 200, 16 colors
software distribution on
: programs hardcopied on books and magazines
: audio tapes (sooooo slow ...)
> social engineering
> you better write simple softwares
#pause
have
expect
## Computers where new for everyone
Even for adults. so
we learnt by:
- copying programs from books
- peer/mob programming/manual reading
- asking/answering questions
software lifecycle:
- release soon, release often
- developpement/usage iterations
Agile methodology is *at least* that old!
##
Utile ? fuck yeah!
Fun ? it depends
Social ? share and tranmit the knowledge
Desire ? how do you think it becomes a market ?
## my own *monster* (1986)
1986: Amstrad PC 1512
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PC-1512
7.75 kg
2 floppy drives (360 KB 5¼-inch)
customized:
+ Overclocking: 4Mhz to 8Mhz
+ EGA video card (16 colors)
+ 20Mb card file
## 90's
IBM PC clones
* VGA video cards (1987)
640 × 480 monochrome
320×200 256 colors
* soundblaster
Amiga 500
* Workbench
* Deluxe Paint
* The demoscene
## Imagination ...
from now to ...
#pause
Rediffusions of Star Trek original series
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series
___________________ ____....-----....____
(________________LL_) ==============================
______\ \_______.--'. `---..._____...---'
`-------..__ ` ,/
`-._ - - - |
Also:
1982: Tron, Blade Runner
1983: Wargames
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron
## Fuck you! ______ .888
.8888'
.8888'
888'
8'
.88888888888. .88888888888.
.8888888888888888888888888888888.
.8888888888888888888888888888888888.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&'
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&' “The most powerful person
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&' in the world is the storyteller.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@: The storyteller sets the vision,
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@: values and agenda of an
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@: entire generation that is to come.”
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%. -- Steve Jobs
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%.
`%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%.
`00000000000000000000000000000000000'
`000000000000000000000000000000000'
`0000000000000000000000000000000'
`###########################'
`#######################'
`#########''########'
`""""""' `"""""'
## gates and jobs
Gates about sharing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists
transform a land of freedom to a market
* stolen all the possible futures and emphasize their poor visions
to create monocultures
* proprietary softwares everywhere
* good/known programming toolchains were unaffordable (borland)
=> pirates and crackers
## linux and internet
this UNIX (OS of the mainframes)
=> software design by scientists
=> KISS philosophy
=> Perl (C if you need)
IRC / NNTP Newsgroups / FTP (ls-R.txt)
=> solve the (technical) education of next generations
Gopher
* "cool replacement for ftp"
* "overseeded by WWW"
WWW
=> i bet no one want to use that ...
## Paychecks and MS domination
First Job
System administration with MS stack
* Windows NT4
* Exchange 5.5
* Internet Information Server 3.0
* Webmastering
prototyping with dreamweaver/photoshop
"Stop your linux thing, Microsoft won"
-- my former boss
Applying new jobs
word was the only known file format for resumes
## Open source returns
LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, PHP)
then python and now Javascript stack
yet ...
## Rise of online services
The battle we lose was the Mozilla configuration panel
* Forced and uneducated users
* Overloaded Helpdesks
THE CRITICAL RESSOURCE WAS *EDUCATED* TECHNICIANS TIME
* don't educate, provide new services/softwares
* we can buy more servers and softwares
* what is technical debt anyway
Hosting services
* No deploy
* No configuration
* No freedom
* No more expectations
## Open source become another tool of control
=> remote hosting
=> web services
=> unnecessary complex technology stacks
=> no more care about software quality
=> no more
# Fixing it the wrong way
* Industrial virtualization: now your errors can scale
* Continuous intregration : be sure we can always add crap
## I gave up long time ago but ...
* Climate change
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
* Biodiversity collapse
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
* Raw material shortage
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_facing_shortage
made me stand up and think
## Hubbert Peak
1956's study about extraction
American geophysicist M. King Hubbert
% # fake Hubbert Curve
% # (looks good enough)
% # ploot-braille: git://bitreich.org/ploot
%
% ( cd ${wdir:=$(mktemp -d)}
% echo epoch,extraction
% seq 20 |
% xargs printf '-%s sec\n'|
% date -f- +%s > epochs
% <<-. bc|tee A|tac > B
% for (i=1;i<=10;i++) i^2
% .
% cat A B|paste -d, epochs -
% rm -rf .
% ) |ploot-braille -c60|cut -c 1-150|sed '
% 1d
% $d
% '
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀<──── GETTING HARD (peak)
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
HAPPY DAYS ⠀⠀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀ WE ARE SCREWED
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣄⠀⠀⠀│⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀v⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⣠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⣄⠀⠀
⣠⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣦
## Economy basics
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak_theory
Hubbert (1956)
the more you dig, the less you have
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
Jevvons Paradox
if it's easy to get, it will be wasted
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth
Meadows's "Limit of the growth" (1972)
bad news: we did the maths
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World3
World3 Model
* pretty accurate since then
* very bad predictions for the next decade
%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acceleration
Great acceleration
can't we stop ?
%
https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/Confronting-Carbon-Inequality.pdf
Carbon inequity
most people in this world just want to eat.
=> Energy transition is bullshit
## Impact of our Digital Lives
Electronic wastes are huge environemental problems
Extraction sites and manufacturing is disaster
Between %2 to %10 of the global energy consumption
=> Life-cycle assessment studies
are just estimations
focus on dynamics and order of magnitude
=> WE'RE SCREWED IF WE PERSIST
## the focus
lower the environemental impact of production
reduce rotation rate
choose wisely what we *really* need
## so what ?
Let's face it, no matter their "Digital soberty"
terminal
──────── >= 1
person
is not affordable in an environmental perspective
* we should go back to clubs and places to share digital lives
* we should come back to "Digital conviviality"
## inspired by Tools of conviviality (Ivan Illich - 1973)
things have to be simple and open source so they can be
* shared
* learned by the most
* masterized by many
* easy to maintain
* hard to lose
Software minimalism is not only an esthetic research,
It's a pragmatic attitude to value conviviality
over functionality.
Sounds familliar? Read the Bitreich manifesto!
Unix is user-friendly — it's just choosy about who its friends are.
Anonymous, in The Art of UNIX Programming (2003) by Eric S. Raymond
Whose who don't understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly
Henry Spencer
## People are scared
* They should be much more scared about the consequences of inaction
* Post personal computing could be
Utile ? fuck yeah!
Fun ? it depends
Social ? share and tranmit the knowledge
Desire ? yes because it solves real problems
There will be
less software, more humans
less services, more advices
Bitreich could help
* Help leading new generations to Digital Conviviality
* Help preparing/delaying the resilence
think about their usages
create tools
simple ergonomy (yes, i have ideas :))
