I got access to SDF working on my old PowerPC G3 Mac Pismo tonight.
SSH access works out of the box, but I still like UI interfaces, so I
set it up to work with Panic Coda. Looks like I'm running v1.7.5 on
this machine. I love using Pico and Nano, but it's faster to type
everything locally and just initiate a network session to transfer
the actual text file, instead of dealing with network latency to edit
every keystroke remotely.
It's so nice typing on this old machine too - remember when Apple
used to make real keyboards, instead of those terrible butterfly
keyboards they introduced in 2016 that keep breaking? I miss the days
when Apple made both stylish *and* reliable hardware.
I ventured out of the house to my favorite cafe today for the first
time in 4.5 months. The city / state I'm in hasn't had a new virus
case in a week, and we're down to only 5 active coronavirus
cases left, so I guess I don't need to be so cautious. Especially
with our state borders remaining closed indefinitely. But even
without the virus here, it's still unnerving to see so many people in
the shopping mall not socially distancing, letting their kids run
around and cough loudly over everything. I miss my days of working
from cafes, but I have everything I need at home to do my work, and
lots of extra comforts like my stereo system and my personal heater /
fans to keep things just as I like it. The coffee is cheaper at home
and I don't have to pay for transport, so I save money by working
from home. But I miss out on exercise. This is the first day in
months that I've hit 10,000 steps for the day, and most of that is
just from walking around the shopping mall.
My main goal for today was to buy some face masks, just in case they
introduce laws requiring them when you leave the house, as they have
in other states where the virus is now out of control & forced
everyone back into lockdown. But even in a city with just 5 virus
cases, they've sold out of single use face masks. I do have a cloth
mask on order, but that will take a month to be made and arrive.
There's other options, but if it's so unsafe that you need to wear a
mask in public, it's even safer to avoid any contact with the public.
The CD store had a copy of the first Foo Fighters album that I
wanted, and this old Mac laptop has a CD drive, so I've been playing
that while typing this. This is the album that Dave Grohl recorded
entirely on his own, DIY style, playing every instrument himself and
then recording the next instrument over the playback. I've been
listening to this album a lot lately on Spotify as a reminder of what
you can do on your own, and that you don't really need a ton of
music gear. At the time having access to a studio & guitar amps was
a big deal, but in 2020 we have virtual guitar amp emulation software,
multitrack digital audio workstations, and virtual instruments that
are nearly as good as the synthesizers and instruments they're
modelled on, so there's little excuse not to create something. And
yet, in the 4.5 months I've been mostly working from home, I'm still
yet to finish any songs, and certainly not anything I'm happy with.
Amazingly, someone enquired today about hiring me to do some
programming work, even during virus times. Unfortunately it's to
develop an iPhone app, which isn't something I do (my last iPhone was
a day-one iPhone 4, I've since switched to Android and stopped paying
for an Apple Developer membership). I doubt the job would pay enough
to cover the cost of a new iPhone and a new Mac, so I'll have to
decline. But I think someone out there will be thrilled to get a
programming job in these times. For me, it's a reminder to get back
to work making my indie software.
