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--- this_machine_does_not_exist [2026/02/24 13:44] – created appledog
+++ this_machine_does_not_exist [Unknown date] (current) – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1
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-= This machine does not exist.
-//This machine does not exist.//\\
-//It never did.//\\
-//but if it had,//\\
-//it would have changed everything.//
-Back in the day, when I was growing up, there was a series of books from Usborne publishing like "Write your own BASIC Games" -- "Write your own Fantasy Adventure games for your Microcomputer" and so forth. Well illustrated, and just the right amount of fantasy and fun -- and, computer program listings! I remember summer nights playing ELITE on my Commodore 128. I remember typing in magazine pages full of hex codes into a program monitor to play an amazing game. Compute! Byte Magazine. Dr. Dobb's Journal. There were others, but memory fades. Those days left an unforgettable impact on me. I lived a life -- I was there. It's an experience which is in some ways impossible to truly convey to someone who wasn't there. These days, computers are used like televisions or video game consoles. In those days, you had to understand a computer to be able to really use it. I made myself understand the computer -- but here's the thing. It wasn't that hard.
-In those days, things were a lot simpler. There was little to no multithreading. Most things like IO were memory-mapped. The graphics was a framebuffer.
-Over time, games like Wolfenstein, DOOM and QUAKE caused people to gravitate towards computers with graphics acceleration. Windowing user interfaces began to push a callback-style of programming. Lazy developers started writing libraries than ran on the UI thread because it was easy. And just like that, an era was erased. The era where the computer only does what you tell it to.
-In the old days when you turned the computer on, it was on immediately. You could immediately load and run //anything//. There were no logins. Over time, things changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. But what if?
-What if there was "one more try" -- one more great home PC -- Not 8 bit, but 16bit -- maybe 32 -- but with the same classic hobbyist interface? Something that was much, much faster and more capable than a Commodore 64? But at the same time, eschewing many of the mistakes the IBM PC era ushered in?
-It's a dream -- but sometimes, dreams can become the highest reality.
-I give you the the SD-8516. Comparable to a Sega Dreamcast or Nintendo 64 in terms of raw cpu power, sound, and graphics performance. But no tricks. Just a plain, flat system. Roaring with energon. Waiting for you to explore. Waiting for you to go on just one more //great adventure.//
-The SD-8516. What if?