All Questions
300
questions
7
votes
1
answer
42
views
Should questions about connecting older hardware to modern networks be in scope?
SE:RC exists to ask and answer questions about "how to use or preserve computing equipment that is no longer manufactured or supported by the manufacturer" [see help].
I am interesting in ...
- 3,039
-1
votes
0
answers
25
views
Antenna shopping in the UK/B'Ham area
True, this is only related to RC, as it helps me to access the site for the next month, but I figured there is a somewhat (i.e. rather above average) knowledgeable UK based share of RC.SE folks :)
I'm ...
- 166k
2
votes
1
answer
47
views
Congratulations Retrocomputing!
I noticed this morning that Retrocomputing is finally out of Beta! Congratulations. It's possible that I'm late to the party and just didn't notice until now. When was this stack promoted?
- 7,878
0
votes
1
answer
29
views
Why not have a dark-background with a light text on Retrocomputing, as either an option, or default?
Why not have a dark-background with a light text on Retrocomputing, as either an option, or default?
I do get the impression most of the internet prefers dark text on a light background, only because ...
- 117
1
vote
2
answers
20
views
Review indicator lits up, but no reviews are available
Every once in a while, when I visit Retrocomputing, the red indicator over the review queue icon lits up. However, when I pull down the menu, I see there are no pending reviews for me to perform:
...
- 16.3k
3
votes
2
answers
26
views
Should I write a canonical question about disposing of historical material?
I was just going to write a question, but then I thought that an generalised canonical Q&A might be better; then I had a second thought that there might already be such a resource but I hadn't ...
- 4,739
2
votes
1
answer
19
views
[old-hardware-adaptation] versus [new-hardware-adaptation]
old-hardware-adaptation and new-hardware-adaptation are both meant for connecting new and old hardware to each other, but I am not sure about their definitional boundaries.
The basic premise is, the ...
- 16.3k
3
votes
1
answer
83
views
Does this site get featured in Hot Network Questions disproportionately often? Why?
Though the question rate on this site may be low, it looks like the questions we do get receive a pretty large amount of attention, and nearly every half-decent question makes it to the Hot Network ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
2
answers
77
views
Typing ALGOL code correctly – how to?
This is retrocomputing. We sometimes need to type code in old languages.
In particular, if I am to be able to write Algol in the publication language, I need a bold font. But I also need my text to ...
- 27.6k
6
votes
1
answer
84
views
How to deal with spam
This isn’t a question as such, but a public service announcement.
From time to time, the main site gets posts (both questions and answers) which are obviously spam — they are blatant attempts to get ...
- 94k
8
votes
0
answers
42
views
2021: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange ...
- 101
3
votes
1
answer
95
views
Why has nobody ever been awarded the Generalist badge?
The description of the Generalist badge states:
Provide non-wiki answers of 15 total score in 20 of top 40 tags.
As of me asking, it has not been earned by any member of this community, even though ...
- 16.3k
3
votes
0
answers
60
views
Please reopen this question, I can make a good answer
Please re-open What was the most popular operating system on the PDP-11 computers?. I would make a partial answer (albeit, extended) regarding the PDP-11 analogs in the USSR.
- 949
5
votes
2
answers
57
views
Transfer of Questions to Other Sites
From time to time questions come up that clearly would better fit to other sites. As of now, the procedure of
-> CLOSE
-> COMMUNITY REASON
-> OTHER SITE
only allows the selection of ...
- 166k
2
votes
2
answers
39
views
Do we get a banner/theming? If so: when, and what's needed?
Since RCSE is no longer in beta, do we get a slightly less plain banner at some point? :)
- 9,875
4
votes
4
answers
92
views
What is the extent to which it is appropriate to edit a post?
Any member of this community can propose edits to any question or answer, even if originally written by someone else; the edit goes live when approved through the review queue. For users above a ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
3
answers
94
views
What was unclear about this question?
This question about Unix and virtual memory was deleted because it "needs details or clarity".
What was unclear about it?
Certainly, the questioner had some wrong ideas, but it seemed pretty ...
- 27.6k
3
votes
1
answer
30
views
How should questions about the Game Boy CPU be tagged?
The Game Boy is kind of notorious for having a CPU which few can agree how to name. The Sharp-manufactured design is similar to the 8080 and to the Z80, but the processor is not actually compatible ...
- 16.3k
4
votes
1
answer
53
views
Are questions about advertisements on-topic?
I'd like to ask when a symbolism was first used to promote something. Is this on-topic?
- 519
1
vote
2
answers
39
views
Is debugging, programming, etc. [assembly]?
Is "scroll tearing" a symptom of scanline interrupts taking too long? was tagged assembly, graphics, 8080 and game-boy. I took 8080 off, because the Game Boy doesn't have an 8080 in it, and ...
wizzwizz4Mod
- 16.9k
29
votes
1
answer
469
views
We're graduating!
Retrocomputing Stack Exchange is leaving beta on the 16th of December. Here's the official announcement.
What is beta?
As the (somewhat out of date) Help Center article says:
“Beta” means that the ...
wizzwizz4Mod
- 16.9k
4
votes
1
answer
67
views
Would it be OK to crosspost an identification question from the SF&F SE that has not received any answers for years?
My family's first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer 2. We later acquired a CoCo 3. I've had some luck in getting game identification questions answered on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack ...
- 131
10
votes
1
answer
54
views
Should we have a [controller] tag?
I have just seen a user tag several questions with controller, previously nonexistent. I find this an unfortunate coinage, since the term ‘controller’ is ambiguous: it may refer to game controllers (...
- 16.3k
2
votes
1
answer
41
views
Question mischaracterized as off-topic
A while back I posted a question about GoldenEye glitching out when you press down on a chip in the N64 controller. The question was closed for being off-topic, presumably because it was about a ...
- 3,723
9
votes
1
answer
91
views
Should [m68k] and [motorola-680x0] tags be merged?
m68k currently has 18 questions:
For questions about processors in the Motorola 68k (68000 series) range. Commonly used in Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, Sinclair QL and Sharp X68000 computers.
...
- 13.8k
8
votes
1
answer
133
views
CRT repair and restoration safety resources
Inspired by the CRT safety related aspect of this recent repair question: Why might my CRT fry any HOT I put in it?
Shouldn't this be more a question for electronics.stackexchange.com? –
chthon
...
- 101
8
votes
3
answers
225
views
Why is the question about running Windows 95 in DOSBox supposedly off-topic?
The meta question Is emulation on topic? has multiple highly upvoted answers, all of which agree that emulation of retro systems is generally on-topic, to one extent or another. The top-voted answer (...
- 16.3k
4
votes
1
answer
54
views
Do we really need both [game] and [gaming] tags?
Currently there is a gaming tag, created 5 years ago, with 88 questions and the following usage guidance:
Retro games, both hardware and software-based. NOT EVERY GAMING QUESTION IS ON-TOPIC. See tag ...
- 13.8k
3
votes
1
answer
160
views
Let's rename [design-choices]
design-choices is probably my favourite tag on this site, but its name has been bugging me for a while. I feel it is not particularly self-explanatory, and this contributes to it being underused by ...
- 16.3k
0
votes
2
answers
119
views
Could this site change its title to retro and micro computing?
I noticed that KaiOS devices being third in usage and quite popular in India have very limited support.
Would this site consider becoming more general to micro computing or potentially at minimum ...
- 101
18
votes
2
answers
446
views
Can we do something to discourage ‘armchair history’ answers?
Every once in a while, when someone asks a history question, there is a flurry of attempts to answer the question without referring to any supporting historical evidence. At best, such answers are ...
- 16.3k
3
votes
1
answer
94
views
Yikes! How did I earn 300 reputation yesterday if a user can only earn 200 reputation a day?
The Reputation tab of my user profile looks like this:
However, according to the Help Center, a user may only earn 200 reputation a day.
So why did I earn 300 reputation in a day?
- 1,043
8
votes
0
answers
291
views
Introducing a new retrocomputing meetup: The APL Campfire
Due to APL's age, it is sometimes of interest to this community.
Every fourth Sunday at 18:00 UTC, I'm hosting an event focusing on the history of APL programming, inviting participants to tell ...
- 519
1
vote
1
answer
49
views
Promoting an event
I'm launching a series of meetups that focuses on a specific part of retrocomputing. However, Retrocomputing Stack Exchange doesn't have community ads, the main chat room seems quite inactive, and the ...
- 519
5
votes
0
answers
30
views
Should the tags for the closely related PDPs be synonymised or something?
I mean, what really is the difference between a PDP-6 and a PDP-10 or DECSYSTEM-20? From the programmers' point of view, not much.
The same goes for PDP-4, -7, -9 and -15.
The same goes for the PDP-5 ...
- 33.6k
14
votes
1
answer
199
views
Why restrict history questions? (Or: Can we not restrict history questions?)
(I know that there are approximately 10000 posts here with essentially the same topic. I wanted to explain my position and to put forward some ideas about changing the rules. If nothing happens as a ...
- 3,072
2
votes
1
answer
29
views
"Delete" versus "vote to delete"?
I was looking at this off-topic posting. Hovering over the "delete" link offered me the chance to "vote to delete".
Since I concurred with the consensus that it was essentially a ...
- 27.6k
7
votes
1
answer
111
views
How can the VHS steganography question be made on-topic?
This question is about this question: How can extra (digital) data be hidden on VCR/VHS tapes?
I think this is a good question. I like it, it's interesting, and its answers provide insight into the ...
wizzwizz4Mod
- 16.9k
11
votes
3
answers
166
views
Don't answer a question you want to close
I noticed while closing a question that a person had voted to close and written an answer. It is not the first time I see it, nor the first stack.
This is of course not only inconsistent but also ...
- 1,689
6
votes
2
answers
132
views
The "cleanup" badge seems to be awarded for bad behaviour
Scenario: a new user posts a rant disguised as a question. An attentive forum member (justifiably, IMO) removes the ranting in an attempt to salvage the question.
The new user will have none of it, ...
- 27.6k
7
votes
4
answers
100
views
Are questions about legacy telephony (POTS/PSTN/ISDN) considered on topic?
Pretty much as the the title asked. I'm hacking around with a lot of retro ISDN equipment right now and learning about the protocols involved. A lot of my questions kind of tie in to old PSTN networks ...
- 473
0
votes
1
answer
23
views
User references broken?
User references (at sign, user name) seem to be broken today, at least in comments.
If I type an at-sign followed by some letters, I no longer get a suggestion for completion.
If I type the full user ...
- 27.6k
5
votes
0
answers
101
views
A number of seemingly duplicate tags
While idly browsing, I have noticed we have a number of tags whose scopes significantly overlap, and should probably be merged:
cpu vs microprocessor
gaming vs game (resolved by creating a synonym, ...
- 16.3k
1
vote
1
answer
91
views
Why do my Not An Answer flags keep getting declined or disputed?
Every now and again I flag something as not trying to answer the question (maybe extra tangential information), but then the flag is disputed or declined.
Am I too trigger-happy with my flagging or ...
- 33.6k
2
votes
2
answers
33
views
The mention of batch languages in the [ms-dos] tag wiki
The excerpt for ms-dos contains the sentence:
Do not use this tag for questions about DOS batch languages in general.
While the full tag wiki says:
Use this tag for questions concerning the MS-DOS ...
- 16.3k
3
votes
2
answers
178
views
Are the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP systems finally considered retro?
The GBA was released in 2001 and discontinued in 2010 in North America, and was considered on-topic as of 2016 (6 years post-discontinuance and 15 years post-release). The NDS was released in 2004 and ...
- 1,771
3
votes
3
answers
151
views
DIY retrocomputing
I have created the tag diy-computing, with the idea to apply it to questions concerning contemporarily made computers that are either re-creations of old hardware or new designs made from old parts; ...
- 16.3k
-1
votes
1
answer
62
views
Please delete 17394
Can somebody please delete my obscure question about technology nobody uses, and which seems unlikely to lead to anything useful. The existing answer does not even attempt to address the question, it ...
- 1,801
5
votes
0
answers
53
views
2020: a year in moderation
As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the past 12 months.
As most of you here are aware, sites on the Stack Exchange network ...
- 101
5
votes
2
answers
103
views
What is the etiquette around wiki answers?
I asked a simple question, to which I knew the answer for one system. I wanted to create a knowledge base for similar, but different systems, so I started a community wiki answer and have invited ...
- 3,039