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Hey there, fellow retro-tech nerds! The @mediaarchaeologylab has posted its open call for practitioners-in-residence in the lab for the next season, which begins in September. Submit your proposal by May 15!

Please boost for reach.

mediaarchaeologylab.ghost.io/p

The theme for the 2025/2026 residency is Counter Computing: Alternative Imaginaries.

Lab director Lori Emerson describes it this way: "We are interested in any form of artistic and/or scholarly practice that engages counter-computational practices, such as glitching, hacking, tinkering, queering, subverting, (un)making and (re)imagining. Through such experimentation, we encourage you to explore how our relation to (and imagination of) technology can be remade to envision alternative pasts, presents and futures."

The lab is asking interested parties to submit a proposal for an up-to-4-week residency that includes full access to the lab and its resources, and logistical support. Residents are expected to produce a public lecture, demo, video, performance, or exhibition as part of the residency. Examples of previous technical reports can be seen at mediaarchaeologylab.com/projec

Get to it, my peeps! We'll see you in the lab starting in the fall.

mediaarchaeologylab · Practitioner-In-Residence Open CallWe forgot about March & so feel less bad about sending out a second bulletin, especially because it is to announce that APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2025/2026 PRACTITIONER-IN-RESIDENCE COHORT ARE NOW OPEN! The theme for our 2025/2026 residency is Counter Computing: Alternative Imaginaries. We would like to see your interpretation
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Talking with the folks in the local #vintage / #retrocomputing community, they clued me in that the #ThinkPad #RAID is a steaming pile of 💩 and not worth the trouble.

🤷 Oh well. Thanks for cluing me in

So I swapped out the two testing #NVMe drives I was using and reinstalled the original sticks - to have #windoz10 demanding for the #bitlocker recovery key. 🤦‍♂️

Well, time to wipe & install #windoz11 then.

Install went fine, only 4 rando #drivers to find for all #devices to be recognized and working.

Using my #CTT scripts to install the majority of applications, then to remove the #spyware #bloatware and other garbage #micro$oft added to #windows11

Then migrate my #data from my other ThinkPad. Welcome to my #sunday #funday

#siliconValley #SillyValley #sanfrancisco #sanfran #sanfranciscocomputers #sanfrancomputers #sanfranciscovintagecomputers #sanfranvintagecomputers #sanfranciscovintagehardware #sanfranvin-tagehardware
#vintagecomputing #vintagecomputint #vintagecomputer #vintagecomputers #vintagecomputalk
#vintagehardware #computerHistory #retro #VCF #vintageComputerFestival
#retrocomputing #retroComputers #WallOfRetro #retroTech #retroTechnology
#nerdsOfVintage #happyNerding
#computer #tech #computerHardware #laptop #laptops
#IBM #thinkpad #thinkpads #VintageThinkPad #X86 #WindowsVista #IBMhardware #lenovoHard-ware #Thinkpadnium
#upcycle #restore #TechnologyRepair #ThinkPadRepair #WasteNotWantNot #Thinkpadnium
#makeShitMonday #showmewhatyougot

Ehh... since new people are joining, I might as well update my old intro. Thankfully, my instance allows for a higher word count on posts!

I am Sinclair-Speccy, your resident computer nerd. I go by Sinclair, Speccy, Sinco, Altair, or even Alphonse. My primary interests are #RetroComputing, #OldTech, and #OStan. You’ll usually find me boosting retro tech content and occasionally posting it myself, mostly retro tech ads. I’m fascinated by vintage mainframes like the IBM 704, CDC 6500, and Whirlwind I as well as microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and MK14, but I am not old enough to have ever used them in person.

I’ve moved around a bit online as I started on .art, then bitbang.social and now oldbytes.space. When not geeking out over computers I enjoy experimenting with older operating systems using emulators like 86Box, VirtualBox, Bochs, and QEMU or playing games such as the Sims 4, Sims 3, Arma 3 and Universe Sandbox. My interest in emulation all started when I managed to run Yggdrasil Linux from the '90s!

I also do 3D rendering in Bryce 3D which I mainly post on my account for my website (sakurajima.moe/@themainframe) which also hosts content on my 3 worldbuilding settings and I share some of my work on DeviantArt. One of my favourite niche fandoms is OS-tans which is turning operating systems and hardware into anime characters. I even have my own OS-tan universe that is hosted on my site.

Musically I vibe with #vaporwave, #synthwave, #darksynth,#phonk, and experimental music. Some favorite artists include Windows96, Dynatron, Carpenter Brut, KSLV Noh, and Frums.

As for some other stuff I enjoy #mythology, #transformers, #cats, #fantasy, #nature such as #flowers and #plants and #animals, #steampunk, a bit of #classicalmusic, #starwars, #photography, #art, #space, #cyberpunk and #scifi but you’re more likely to find that content on my other account.

You can check out my website here: sinclair-speccy.github.io/The- and I hope to expand it into a tech journalism platform someday, though motivation and its static nature kind of stop me...

Sakurajima (桜島)The Mainframe (@themainframe@sakurajima.moe)891 Posts, 9 Following, 43 Followers ·
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If you, like everyone else of a certain vintage, spent hours playing Snake on your Nokia phone, you might be interested in this @404mediaco story about the Nokia Design Archive at Aalto University in Finland. The collection goes from the mid-’90s to 2017 and allows you to see the company’s design process and concept art for never-realized ideas like the “Cricket Collection” that could be worn behind the ear, tied around the ankles, or clipped to glasses.

404media.co/nokia-design-archi

404 Media · Nokia’s Weird Y2K Designs Show the Future We Could Have HadThe Nokia Design Archive contains thousands of designs, pitch decks, presentations and prototypes from the turn of the millennium.