@neffo Fantastic. Very cool to see a shot of it in the wild!

🪨 Scala Multimedia on the Commodore Amiga 🛠️

As a print guy, I shed many misconceptions about the state of multimedia on the Amiga for this one. I also take a look at the glue that made such applications even possible, and compose an ode to the workhorse of UI/UX in today's video-heavy post.

Bonus: how to use WinUAE + Scala for Twitch streaming from an iPhone.

https://stonetools.ghost.io/scala-amiga/
#retroComputing #amiga #multimedia #streaming

@misty Thanks for the shoutout, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

@wohali @misty But it was fun to try!

@o_kryvonos @misty Evergreen quote.

Fascinated by this @stonetoolsblog post - the idea of trying to implement an expert system on a *Commodore 64* is something I'd never even considered! https://stonetools.ghost.io/xper-c64/

RE: https://techhub.social/@inverseatascii/115905270602583615

Thank you, and I'm glad you liked it. Likewise to you and your podcast episode about it, which of course came up during my research phase. 10 years is quite the feat!

Yes, I would really love to uncover that lost code somehow. Based on the wording in advertisements, the Apple 2 version might even be done? It isn't listed as "Coming Soon," like the Amiga and ST versions. It is listed like an existing product ready for sale.

🪨 PaperClip on the Atari 8-bits 🛠️

Believe it or not, this story about Batteries Included's beloved word processor contains ZERO jokes about #Clippy. It does take potshots at #EA, however.

https://stonetools.ghost.io/paperclip-atari8/
#RetroComputing #wordprocessing #atari8bit

@drj Sorry, I already spent that money on a Taco Bell NFT.
https://og.rarible.com/tacobell/created

@greatquux I *did* put a lot of work into it, thank you for noticing.

🪨 XPER on the Commodore 64🛠️

Stone Tools kicks the new year off by drafting a C64 into the AI wars. This "expert system" software was originally built to capture fungi taxonomy, but also promised to help with things like stock market and weather prediction.

I took it at its word and built a weather predictor to answer, "Will it rain tomorrow?"
Was it more accurate than a coin flip?

Bonus: a story about a guy who might have been the first to concede his job to "AI."

https://stonetools.ghost.io/xper-c64

@jaafar Thank you for the link. I did actually know about it, because James shared the project with me in a Reddit thread about the post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/1plaz32/comment/ntrlepi/

James does good work!

I had to write about Cheifet.
https://christopherdrum.github.io/posts/2026/01/stewart-cheifet-passing

Stewart Cheifet, creator and presenter of The Computer Chronicles, has passed away at 87. 😢

I discovered the TV show on Internet, I guess around the time it was nearing its end. The show ran from 1984 to 2002, and if you're an 8-bit and 16-bit computer nostalgic like me, you can enjoy all episodes at the @internetarchive:

https://archive.org/details/computerchronicles

Stewart's obituary:

https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/stewart-cheifet

#RetroComputing #VintageComputing #retro #history #8bit #commodore #amiga #IT #1980s #tech #technology

@a2_4am "The Policeman's Beard is Half-Constructed" by Racter
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=3806
Available at archive.org for checkout.

Updated the HyperCard post with two more significant, modern HyperCard-alikes.
Also, Bret Victor chimed in with some additional historical notes right here on Mastodon.
https://posts.dynamic.land/@bret/115716576717006637

@cogdog What a nice artifact, thank you for sharing it with us! Sure enough, I just looked through the Handbook and "script" is an exposed property on HyperCard objects. I can just imagine the power that would unleash.

@cogdog @k9ox Thanks for the extra clarification on the Wiki link. I think I confused the wiki vs. wikipedia connection a little.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@stonetoolsblog/115709290037042990

How many lives and careers were influenced by #hypercard?

@pluralistic started his programming career as a HyperCard developer.
@bret was inspired to build "HyperCard in the World" which led to DynamicLand.
@wikipedia began as experiments in HyperCard stacks.

For my latest post, I got to know HyperCard, thought about how it compares to "vibe coding," and considered efforts to make English itself a programming language.

🪨 HyperCard on the Macintosh 🛠️

The "software erector set" that launched careers and an entire industry, and came tantalizingly close to delivering us the world wide web 6 years early. Our last post of 2025 takes a deep look at this important title. I also muse a bit on the approach HyperCard takes in extending the definition of what it means to develop software. Happy holidays!
(Back January 2)

https://stonetools.ghost.io/hypercard-mac/
#RetroComputing #hypercard #classicmac #mac #atkinson #nocode