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Stardate: 20240721.2004 Location: Local SBUX Input Device: Steam Deck with folding BT keyboard Audio: Cheezy SBUX muzak Visual: FMD + CRT + Transparent background of meatspace. Emotional: Refreshed? I just woke up from a nice long nap that I think my body needed. Unfortunately, it is 8PM and I am drinking hawt coffee, so I will prolly be up for awhile. The old (handheld) computer challenge (OCC) v4 has ended. I felt m0ar disconnected this year due to my choice of device(s). I (hastily) chose 2 handheld devices that could potentially go the distance. The pa1mOne Tungsten E2 from 2005 and the Nokie N900 from 2009. I think that v4 was much m0ar of a challenge for me that v3. With OCC v3 [1], I used a Sun Microsystems Ultra 10 from 1998 and an ASUS eeePC 701 from 2007. Both had full-sized user interfaces (screen, keyboard, and mouse) and were easy to use when the initial setup with worked out. With OCC v4, I don't think I really got into much of a rhythm with the devices. Each time I used the devices, it felt like an uphill challenge that kept changing. Power issues, software instability, small screens, hardware incompatibilties, limited network, etc. It felt like survival computing or something. Both devices are stil functional, but I doubt I could use them as a daily driver, outside of the OCC. Then again, they were not really made to be a main device. Pairing it with a laptop would be much m0ar manageable. ONe of the things I noticed was that my eyes are so used to larger, higher-rez screens these days. Going back to the lo-rez older devices took some adjusting, but eventually got used to it. Not my preferred, but somewhat useable in limited amounts of time. Also, my eyes are not what they were back then. With the E2, I think I will still continue using it for the time being for my PIM stuff and maybe get syncing going. With the N900, I will probably set up USB networking, like I did back in the day. With the setup, I can access the device through the terminal and through x11vnc. The battery will also stay charged. I will probably move it on a larger TV display since I use the 7" broken clock thing for testing and retro gaming. Most likely an old portable DVD player with RCA input whose battery died long ago but can still function with a wall wart. For the challenge, I was definitely challenged. I did not do much with the tasks I wanted to do and was not able to connect to the community in realtime,..which kinda reminded me of communications back in the day... I did have fun and glad that I was able to participate this year! Thanks, Solène, for starting this happening and to all of the participants of OCC v4!!! I still have many OCC logs to catch up on and visit outside of gopherspace on the smolnet. DIR [1] the old computer challenge 2023