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Juleszzpza@pixelfed.social
2025-06-12
Steam Train

Churchward Heavy Freight Locomotive
Class: 2800
Locomotive Number: 2818

#train #steamtrain #locomotive #2818 #photography #steammuseum
The Oasis BBStheoasisbbs@techhub.social
2025-06-05

First RetroFest Experience: Swindon Weekend with More Fun Fixing It
#RetroFest #Commodore64 #VintageComputing #RetroTech #MoreFunFixingIt #SwindonEvents #RetroCommunity #STEAMmuseum #RetroFestival
theoasisbbs.com/first-retrofes

Amin Girasolfluidlogic@oldbytes.space
2025-06-01

Day two, Sunday, #Swindon #RetroFest2025 at the #STEAMmuseum:

A Tadpole Sparcbook 3000XT running Solaris 2.6 and my favourite UNIX workstation-era graphical desktop, CDE.

In the months before the Great Dotcom Crash of 2000, the company I worked for had bought out a Silicon Valley start-up that was building a web-based mail client. It was a shambles, spinning up a long-lived executable for each client connection, but I remember being deeply impressed by the Tadpole one of the US developers brought with him to Ireland. It cost $10,000, he told us. That's $18,700 in 2025 dollars.

A photo of the Tadpole Sparcbook 3000XT displaying a CDE session with a file manager open and a few shells.A close-up of the top-left corner of a terminal client running a shell and a file manager window.Tadpole Sparcbook 3000XT RETROBYTES A Sun Sparc Station compatible laptop, running a custom version of Solaris 2.6, modified by Tadpole to allow the PCMCIA interface to work, manage power, and suspend/resume. The IDE interface for the internal HDD, was also fairly unique for a Sparc based computer of the time. Later UltraSparc models from SUN would also use IDE as opposed to SCSI. · CPU: 170 MHz TurboSPARC ·RAM:32 Mb-256 Mb · Display: 1024 x 768 ·Hardisk: IDE 2.5” 3GB ·Interfaces: Ethernet, Serial, Parallel, SCSI, ISDN, SunKeyboard/Mouse, SVGA · Bus: Sbus, PCMCIA
Amin Girasolfluidlogic@oldbytes.space
2025-05-31

It was the proximity of the canal and the railway junction near #Swindon town that made it attractive as a place to build the works for the #GreatWesternRailway in the 1840s. This is all that's left of the canal, sadly.

This is on the way from the #STEAMmuseum to #MuseumOfComputingSwindon. The two are an easy walk of 1500 metres or so.

(I've grown to love Swindon in the few days I've been here! There's something wonderful about towns of about 200,000 inhabitants with a rich history of past greatness. They're interesting, diverse and grungy, but small enough for the people to be friendly. Edirne in Turkey is another such city which I adore.)

Looking south along what's now Canal Walk.Looking north along Canal Walk.All that remains of the canal. I took the photos looking north and then south from the bridge at Milton Road.
Amin Girasolfluidlogic@oldbytes.space
2025-05-31

Just had a wonderful day of intense geekery, bouncing between a packed out #RetroFest2025 at #STEAMmuseum and #MuseumOfComputingSwindon.

At the former, loads of familiar British machines, esoteric 8-bit machines and some 16- and 32-bit Workstations with now-extinct CPU families.

At the latter, a well-presented collection of early hobbyist and personal computers, again with a very solid showing of British machines, many of which you're invited to get hands-on with.

#retrocomputing #swindon

A view from the rear corner of the space at STEAM, showing the crowds this morning.A wide view of part of the collection at the Museum of Computing. The museum was also busy; this shot was taken during a lull.
Amin Girasolfluidlogic@oldbytes.space
2025-05-29

"Silicon-chip technology has brought the computer into the small business, where it can be used for accounting and stock control."

"How Things Work", 1981 edition, available for a bargain charity donation price at the #STEAMmuseum #Swindon.

#RetroFest2025 #RetroComputing

A photo of a woman sitting at a white desk-sized computer, her hands on the keyboard. The entire console appears to be built from two parts: a substantial keyboard and printer unit, and a smaller but still desk-height unit, which is probably the computer itself, concatenated onto the left of the main unit. In the main unit, a sprocket-fed printer mechanism is built into the desk behind the keyboard. On the smaller unit, a CRT monitor with a black bezel (apparently switched off) is diagonally to the left of the woman. Her attention is on a piece of paper on the desk diagonally to her right. She is smiling serenely. Her hair is blonde and styled in a medium-length 1970s style, cow's licks aplenty. She is wearing a long-sleeved red blouse and a floral waistcoat in creams, browns and oranges, and white trousers.
Amin Girasolfluidlogic@oldbytes.space
2025-05-28

Delighted to discover my hotel is only 1400 metres from #Swindon's famous (infamous?) #MagicRoundabout!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_

#RetroFest2025 #STEAMmuseum #MuseumOfComputing #organicMaps

snaprailssnaprails@mastodonapp.uk
2024-03-17

Six Minute Video: The biggest working steam engine in the world, at Kempton Steam Museum 🙂
#steam #steammuseum #kempton #steamengine

youtu.be/VbwciR8z6h0

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