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| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/computer-folks-ignore-history.md | 49 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/footnotes-in-hugo-and-goldmark.md | 64 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/how-i-reignited-my-passion-for-computers.md | 45 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/my-first-computer.md | 57 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/persona-5.md | 23 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/tired-of-blogging.md | 49 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | content/blog/2023/zork.md | 60 |
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diff --git a/content/blog/2023/computer-folks-ignore-history.md b/content/blog/2023/computer-folks-ignore-history.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f97f067 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/computer-folks-ignore-history.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: "Computer Folks Ignore History" +category: blog +abstract: We should to understand our past +date: 2023-04-14T21:24:59+02:00 +year: 2023 +draft: false +tags: +- history +- retro-computing + +--- +We pride ourselves on working in an ever-changing environment. No other can match, as nowhere else is the progress so rapid. New ideas happen all the time, and this is primarily cool. + +But this has a considerable downside. Many of us look into the future, afraid of being left behind. New JS framework? Better learn it! ML is groovy all of a sudden? You better jump in. This is problematic not only on a human level. Companies we work in are also forced to push forward. We work on SASS products, which, while having its place in b2b, are a nightmare for individual clients. Our services need a mobile app, even if it doesn't make much sense. They need them because everyone already has one. + +And let's not forget about blockchain. It's The Technology changing the world, and all developers not on the chain will be left behind! Well, it is not. We mostly forgot about existence. We're already on a new trend. + +Speaking of current trend, nowhere before was the fear of missing out more visible than with the current ChatGPT trend. Everyone wants to build something with it. Each company wants to integrate with it. Let's use ML to automate communication! It makes sense, so why not? Someone will have a killer usage at one point, and all other companies will suffer for not having it. Who cares if we have little understanding of it and there are [unanswered questions](/2023/my-gripes-with-ai/) all around? + +So we push our screaming old laptops of the past and the spiderweb-riddled servers in the future. Let's forget yesterday. The future will be bright. + +But what are we really leaving behind? + +The [first computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer#First_computer) was made back in the XIX century. But if we focus on modern, transistor-based technology, we are left with only a few decades of legacy. + +[Primagen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lVNkvk9AU), in a recent stream, mentioned that he sees a lot of developers learning frameworks instead of languages. Therefore the college has its place because that's where one can learn the basics. I have no formal IT education, so I see what he points out. My day-to-day work forces me to learn Ruby on Rails, sometimes Ruby. But I have never used C or had any need to use the terminal. I could easily focus on this one thing I am *paid to work with* and ignore everything else. Since different companies started moving more and more stuff into the cloud, the need to know the classic tools began to disappear. You can be a very effective developer knowing only how to open VSCode, how to write some React components, and how to open a browser. + +Therefore our future obsession seems very logical. But other fields pay attention to their past. + +Most people working with trains know why the breaks are on by default. There was an accident where a carriage was separated from the rest of the train, and the breaks never worked because to enable then, pressure from the locomotive needed to be applied to all carriages. Since the carriage had no connection to the locomotive, it just ran down a hill, killing people. The law was changed. + +On the other hand, how many developers are aware of the [Therac-25](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25) incident? People were killed because of a bug in programming. + +Those are extreme examples that should be common knowledge in any self-respecting field. But we should also have knowledge about technologies of the past just for the fun of it. + +How many developers do not know that early computers didn't have screens? This knowldege explain a lot about some editors. + +How many do not know about mainframes? Timesharing is very close to what apps-in-a-browser do. + +How many assume that server-side rendering is something new? Yet, it's what the first dynamic content on the web was. + +You can get a distinct pleasure from understanding not only how things work but also how. From knowing the context of progress. And we are completely ignoring it because we are economically forced to focus solely on the next shiny thing. This is not sustainable. + +> Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. +> – George Santayana + +*sponsored by a coworker who had never heard of Emacs before* + diff --git a/content/blog/2023/footnotes-in-hugo-and-goldmark.md b/content/blog/2023/footnotes-in-hugo-and-goldmark.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2139efa --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/footnotes-in-hugo-and-goldmark.md @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +--- +title: "Footnotes in Hugo and Goldmark" +category: blog +abstract: How to add add footnotes to Hugo? +date: 2023-05-08T15:30:46+02:00 +year: 2023 +draft: false +tags: +- blog +- hugo +- goldmark +- footnote +- tutorial +--- +I was never a fan of inline links. They either disappear if the link is not stylized, or they break the flow of reading by being the first one you notice. They are not as eye-catching as emoji[^emoji], but are still decremental. + +Yesterday[^first-footnote], I've added footnotes instead of a regular inline link for the first time. I was thinking about them since Fabien Sanglard[^fabien] mentioned how much he likes them, and I finally bit the bullet. I am sure I will overuse them for the foreseeable future, as with all my toys, but I will grow to use them wisely. For now, we are in this beautiful phase of relation where we don't see each other flaws.[^yeah] + + +[^first-footnote]: [Moving My RSS Reading to Emacs With Elfeed](/2023/moving-my-rss-reading-to-emacs-with-elfeed/) +[^emoji]: I really, really hate emojis, as they are the first thing you see. I know youngsters use them instead of text. I can agree that they have a place to convey emotions. But old-school emoticons work just as well while disappearing into the text. I can brag that this blog still uses 0 emojis! +[^fabien]: [0X10 Rules](https://fabiensanglard.net/ilike/index.html). Fabien has one of the most interesting blogs I am aware of. +[^yeah]: Yeah! + +Footnotes also solve my problem with adding comments. I constantly get sidetracked and insert some extra thoughts in the sentence. Not anymore, as that will also go a dedicated footnote. It's there I am happy. It doesn't pollute the main sentence, the reader is happy. + +### Footnotes in Hugo + +This site is powered by Hugo[^hugo], which uses Goldmark[^goldmark] as its Markdown parser. This gives us footnotes out of the box! We just need to enable it in the config: +[^goldmark]: [Goldmark on GitHub](https://github.com/yuin/goldmark) + +``` +[markup] + defaultMarkdownHandler = "goldmark" + [goldmark] + [Extensions] + footnote = true +``` + +[^hugo]: Hugo is a blazingly fast static site generator. You can learn more on [the official website](https://gohugo.io/) or read more [posts about Hugo](https://d-s.sh/tags/hugo/) + +Now we are ready to use footnotes. To add one, add a reference `[^ID]` in text and then write the footnote: + +``` +[^ID]: text in markdown +``` + +One extremely cool thing about this is the way we can use IDs. Even though the ready footnote will be a 1-indexed list, we can use any ID in our markdown files. Nothing is stopping us from naming a footnote a `footnote-link`. Moreover, the footnote texts can be placed anywhere in the document - be it at the end of after the paragraph. Goldmark will process all of those, give them numerical IDs, and add them to the end of the text. We also have a ready validation, as reference without definition for the same ID will not be rendered as a link. An example[^aurelius]: +[^aurelius]: Mark Aurelius, Meditations, Book III. Taken from [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius) +``` +Choose what's best.—Best is what benefits me.[^translator] + +[^translator]: Hays translation +``` + +This mechanism, however is imperfect, as we can't easily customize how it's displayed. To do any customization, we need to use CSS[^stylize] or Java Script[^js]. Before Hugo moved to Goldmark, the parsing was handled by Blackfriday[^blackfriday] which allowed for more styling. Well, we've got what we've got. + +But the bigger problem is the (lack of) uniqueness of generated IDs. Goldmark doesn't know about Hugo, and Hugo generally doesn't know what Goldmark is doing. The geneated IDs are unique for a single post, but not for the entire page. It makes my homepage broken since I put full content of each post there. I will most likely replace the homepage with simple list of posts, since I already plan a (yet another) overhaul of this site. For now, footnotes will be broken on the homepage. It will go nicely with the non-styled footnotes you see bellow. + +[^js]: In my humble opinion, this usage is not enough to break user experience for people with disabled JS[^disabled-js], but that's just me. +[^stylize]: [Styling footnotes in Hugo](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/footnote-styling/114/7) +[^disabled-js]: [Like me](https://d-s.sh/2023/its-near-impossible-to-use-noscript-but-the-future-is-bright/) +[^blackfriday]: [Blackfriday on GitHub](https://github.com/russross/blackfriday) + diff --git a/content/blog/2023/how-i-reignited-my-passion-for-computers.md b/content/blog/2023/how-i-reignited-my-passion-for-computers.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d964b22 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/how-i-reignited-my-passion-for-computers.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +--- +title: "How I Reignited My Passion for Computers" +category: blog +abstract: a short story about how I fell in love in computers again. +date: 2023-02-07T09:42:05+01:00 +year: +draft: false +tags: +- retro-computing +- DOS +- Windows +- Linux +- Apple +- BSD +- ArchLinux +- Fedora +- Pop_Os +- Synology +- self-hosting +- Bitwarden +- meta +--- +{{< img-pull-right "mirc.png" "mIRC">}}When I was a kid, I wanted to tinker with computers. So I used DOS, Windows, and Linux. I spent hours on IRC, Message Boards, and Soulseek. I kept up to date with what was happening with computer hardware and maniacally read PC game-related magazines. I learned PHP, and I created numerous web pages about anime. Evenings and weekends spent on the Internet were what kept me going. Most of my personality was defined as "the computer guy" and "the creep watching weird cartoons." + +Then I wasn't accepted to an informatics course at university, and my mindset changed. Guess it was a coping mechanism. My pride was attacked. Somehow, I stopped being "into" computers. Instead, I started to treat them as a tool. This change was the biggest regret of my life. However, it was very easy, as everyone around me shared this mindset. Computers weren't sexy. + +Luckily, in my later years of student life, I shared an apartment with people in Linux and programming. "Rasq," "Errtu," and Kuba - the three guys who reminded me that I loved computers. Not enough to keep me back on track, but still. + +But years later, after trial and error, I reignited this passion. I started learning first clients for my (low) PHP skills and got myself a MacBook which was fast enough to jump into Ruby. Then, just a few years later, I was hired as a full-time Ruby developer. And the people who I met there were not who I expected. They were not playing D&D and bumping kernels at night. Instead, they were into sports, travels, and too-expensive coffee. I was almost 30 back then; they were younger yet much more praised for what and how they worked. + +They, too, treated computers as tools. "Whatever gets the job done" was the mantra. And somehow, I got infected. I was coding, but I was not into it. I was into solving business needs. And I was happy; I have not felt I was missing something. I loved Apple products, and I enjoyed Google. Heck, I was even using IntelliJ! I posted on Facebook! + +I used Airport Pro as my router! My misguided love for Apple is an entirely different subject, though. + +And then I started looking around. A manager of all people, Łukasz, told me about his [Synology](https://www.synology.com/pl-pl). He self-hosted his own git forge and [password manager](https://bitwarden.com/). He managed a blog for the close family with his child photos. I was so jealous not of the device but of the passion. Fifteen years old me would want all those things. 35 old me not only wanted it but could do it. And so I became an owner of a home server. + +{{<img-pull-right "pop-os.png" "Pop_OS!">}}This was just three years ago. I have bought myself a personal laptop, as I was managing without it. I enjoyed Arch, but at my age, I don't have enough free time to tinker with it the way I would like to. So I made a distro hoping session: from [Arch](https://archlinux.org/) to [Manjaro](https://manjaro.org/), then to [Fedora](https://getfedora.org/), and finally [Pop!_OS](https://pop.system76.com/). + +I have bought a VPS, which I recently [migrated to FreeBSD](https://d-s.sh/2023/new-domain-bsd-and-sayonara-memes/). I am playing around with self-hosting, software freedom, and de-clouding my life. + +I am outgrowing my Synology and have many projects I want to try, like self-hosting email. + +10 years ago, I would not care about all those things. Now, all I want to do is to spend some more of my free time in front of a computer, and I couldn't be happier. I am again the true me. + +All thanks to Łukasz. Thank you! diff --git a/content/blog/2023/my-first-computer.md b/content/blog/2023/my-first-computer.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe29123 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/my-first-computer.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +--- +title: "My First Computer" +category: blog +abstract: computers memories from post-PRL childhood. +year: 2023 +date: 2023-01-18T21:37:17+01:00 +draft: false +tags: +- memories +- retro-computing +- Wolfenstein-3d +- PC +- civilization +- Commander-Striker +- Prince-of-Persia +- Dynamo +- Duke-Nukem +- Lost-Vikings +- Inspector-Gadget-Lost-In-Time' +- Lotus-iii +- Put-Put +- Wings-of-Fury +- DOS +- DOS-gaming +- Ron-Gilbert +--- +I've been using computers since 1994. Of course, it was always a PC (or Mac) - I never owned a console. I now use a borrowed PS4, but that's a story for a different occasion. + +My first computer was a 386 with a whopping 60MB hard drive. Unfortunately, that's all I know. Even though my mother worked in IT back then, my understanding of what RAM or graphic card did was zilch, and therefore never bothered to learn the values. The machine was a gift for my first communion, and it was a marvel that it existed. She used all her contacts to gather equipment, as the gear was not available or extremely expensive in the first years after communism fell in Poland. It will be years till one can even go to a store and buy one! I was the first kid I knew with a computer, and soon after, being "the kid with a computer" became my personality. If my memory serves me right, it would be a few years before two other kids from my class got their computers, and we became friends. + +Computers were seen as a passport into the future. They were not a commodity as they are now (or rather were, as kids don't even have a computer nowadays). They were expensive and not bought on a whim. My mother saw it as a way to build my future. And here I am, 30 years later, as a backend developer. + +{{< img-center "mic-rand-birthday.jpg" "This random birthday photo is the only photo of the machine.">}} + +What I remember the most was the magic around every startup. When I pressed the power button, beeps started. I had no idea what they meant, but they were cool. And then a few screens on English words, which I also didn't understand. And finally + +``` +C:> +``` + +I was 9, and my mother was the only person who knew anything about computers, so she taught me everything. But, of course, 90% of the time spent in front of the screen was used to play games. I had two sources of those in the early days: +From time to time, my mother's friends & co-workers had some new games or applications. This is I got my hands on Civilization or Wolfenstein 3d. +A store nearby sold shareware on floppies. Those were cheap enough to buy, and I loved everyone equally. +I know some people nowadays are masters of Doom or remember every secret in some obscure game. Not me; I sucked hard as I suck now. I have no reflexes, so anything requiring it was a constant trial and error. I remember my cousin spending most summer vacations with us; we could beat those games together. He later became the third provider of games for me, as he arrived with a box full of discettes. I got my hands on Syndicate or Wings of Fury this way. + +Another problem was that none (and I mean none) of us knew any English. Sure, we were taught it, but it will be years until I can understand anything on the screen. The "CHANGE" button on the city screen in Civilization? Total secret. I've spent months playing it without knowing how to change the production of a city. It was fun, nevertheless. I was also not younger than 20 until I discovered that the icon of the Settler unit is not some Yoda-lookalike. + +I remember the first drawing tool. I have yet to learn what it was called, but it had buttons on top from which I would play for hours with a simple flood fill tool. The computer was slow enough that filling any area was not instantaneous, but it showed astonishing progress when the algorithm tried to do its thing. Sometimes I would draw complex figures to see how (and if) the computer would try to fill them. + +I remember trying to beat the first levels of Prince of Persia, but I have never finished it. + +Commander Striker, Wolfenstein 3d, Dynamo, Duke Nukem II, Lost Vikings, Inspector Gadget Lost in Time, Lotus III. I spend hours playing those. I was to finish some - some were much too demanding. But I've played them constantly. I would have no patience today to replay a game a dozen times. + +But the warmest memories are around Put Put on The Moon. I have played it the most. I have memorized it. Even now, I remember a lot. And then Put Put goes to the Parade, which would always break after the initial intro. Stunts was another game I wanted to play but could not due to technical problems. + +What a trip down memory lane. I love those memories and will defend PC Speaker with my own life. This doesn't change the fact that a few years later, I couldn't hold my excitement when we upgraded to Pentium 150. + diff --git a/content/blog/2023/persona-5.md b/content/blog/2023/persona-5.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bea657 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/persona-5.md @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ +--- +title: "Persona 5" +category: blog +abstract: my short impressions of this long game. +year: 2023 +date: 2023-01-14T19:53:06+01:00 +draft: false +tags: +- gaming +- PS4 +- jRPG +- Persona-5 +--- +To say I'm a sporadic gamer would be a considerable overstatement. I used to play a lot of games back in the 90-s and early 00-s, but nowadays? I have a borrowed PS4 I try to play each Sunday night for a few hours. And since games now expect you to spend dozens of hours with them, well - the number I played is not what would constitute any respect amongst gamer bros. + +A few months ago, I managed to finish Persona V. I have no idea how - this is easily a 100 endeavor. And the game itself is weird. + +It's a part dating sim, part pokemon-catcher, part j-RPG, part action game, and part stat-grinding game. I had no particular enjoyment of any of those aspects. However, as a whole? As a whole, I had a blast. The modes interchanged frequently enough not to feel tedious (sans the spaceship dungeon, which made me almost drop the game). When I had enough of fighting, I could return to the dating sim. When I had enough of that, I could return to working on my stats. If I had enough of that, I could start one of the countless mini-games and other mechanisms, but I'm 37 now my time is not limitless anymore. + +> "I've finally found a place where I belong." – Makoto Niijima + +But what kept me going were the characters. The primary story is not exciting nor fascinating, but the characters which occupy the game are amazing. They talk and talk (and talk and talk - seriously, 90% of the time spent creating the game had to be put into this gigantic dialogue tree), but I enjoyed every second of this. Even though their characterization is a bit on the simplistic side and each arc seems similar, the way it was told was a marvel; the way the NPCs interact with each other was simply lovable. Mind you, the latest JRPG I've played had to be Final Fantasy VII, so real gamers would not be so shocked. + diff --git a/content/blog/2023/tired-of-blogging.md b/content/blog/2023/tired-of-blogging.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..793c7c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/tired-of-blogging.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: "Tired of Blogging" +category: blog +abstract: Thinking of the web of the past +date: 2023-10-27T12:13:20+02:00 +year: 2023 +draft: false +tags: [] +--- +Recently, this site has had another phase of semi-hiatus which had two distinct reasons: I've been doing things with music theory (I'm not in a position to write about that), and, well, I'm a bit tired of *blogging*. I'm starting to think that the very nature of a *blog* is not cut out for me. Or is it the other way around? + +As Vloggers say, "hear me out": there is a clash between what constitutes an important *blog* thing and what *I* consider to be important. + +I am a bit old-fashioned. I listen to 70-year-old recordings of long-dead musicians; I wear a mechanical watch; I use software way past its prime time; I read books getting close to being a century old; I watch movies from the end of the last century. It's not the only thing I do, but there is this very real trend towards that I don't care about what's new. + +In most cases, I *despise* modern things and trends with its Tik Talks, Netflixes, smartphones, LLMS, and NFTs. Basically, what Silicon Valley has done to our lives. + +And yet I have a *blog* which, by its very nature, puts new things on top. I don't write about current affairs, but what I published recently gets the prime spot. + +The best *blog* I know is written by [Ruben](https://rubenerd.com). I love reading what he publishes, following his descent into vintage computer madness. But he published daily (on a slower period, at least), so there is always something new. This however also means that there is no structure, no way to find interesting stuff from 10 years ago. + +This blog is an E/N site. It makes mind-dumping easier, and having it online is a breeze thanks to Hugo and rsync(1). But looking at it from any other point of view shows, that it's just a bag for random things. The only structure here is chronology. There are no connections[^tags]. + +[^tags]: Tags and categories are nothing more than a prosthesis, a pretend play. Looking at stats, people rarely use them, and if they do it's those categories on top. + +Back to Rubens's blog, I enjoyed his [Omake](https://rubenerd.com/omake.opml) section even more than the main dish. I come back for the posts, but it's the Omake that made the first impression. It has a structure and allows for a sense of discovery. It's just a list, but it's nice to play with it. + +And it's *ever-green*. This is something I have another problem with. Since *new* post is what people will see, what is the incentive to go back and update old posts? [Vermaden](https://vermaden.wordpress.com) does it, but do I? No. The only time I changed something in the past was in the sad case of having written text so bad that I would be ashamed to show it to my mother. But is the last thing always the most important? No. + +Where does this leave me? I'm rethinking how this site will look in the near future. It's already halfway there, since the main *topics* are displayed and presented in the main nav. This leaves me with chronology, which I come to think of as a problem rather than a solution. I'm starting to think I would be better off moving them into dedicated sites (bsd.sapka.me, for example), each treated as a *book* and not as an update list. This gives space to play by having dedicated layouts, maybe even bulletin boards or (dare I say it) guest books. + +But I would also like to still have a place with a flow of consciousness. A simple list of updates and a single place to follow all those sub-pages. + +The sites of the past I've created were separated into *updates* page and the actual content. We might have written about Cell's forms and SSJ4[^db], which were separate *articles* but an *update* would tell frequent visitors about it. I think this is a much better way than putting everything in the latter if you want to focus on a single subject. + +Biggest risk? *Google* and *Duck Duck Go*. *Fadon*, *Wikia*, *Wikipedia*, *FB*, *Twitter*, and *Reddit* have such strong positions there that any fight for the visitor is futile. In 2023 it's impossible to just rely on people simply bumping into a random page. Those, clearly inferior alternatives to smaller size sites have such strong positions that gaining any popularity is impossible. Don't even start me on *Youtube*. + +The voyage is the goal though. Not everything has to have a goal of total domination. I may create a fansite dedicated to *Grim Fandango* or about living in the terminal just for the fun of doing it. Just a bunch of texts with logical structure and be done with it until the content becomes obsolete. + +Maybe the web will fix itself and such form will regain its rightful, prime spot. With the younglings moving from *Reddit* to *Discord* there is a chance. + +[^db]: Yup, I started my webmaster journey writing about *Dragon Ball* and then anime + +--- + +This blog post is sponsored by letters W, E, B, and an existential dread after reading ["Fan Sites VS Fandom: A Case Study"](https://brainbaking.com/post/2023/01/fan-sites-vs-fandom-a-case-study/). I really miss the old internet and the fansites. Screw you, *Wikia*! + + + diff --git a/content/blog/2023/zork.md b/content/blog/2023/zork.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9873ab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2023/zork.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +title: "Zork's Original Trilogy" +category: blog +abstract: a short intro to classic Zork games +date: 2023-02-18T09:19:52+01:00 +year: 2023 +draft: false +tags: +- retro-gaming +- retro-computing +- Zork +- text-adventure +- interactive-fiction +- Infocom +--- +It's 1977, and one of the most influential games was released - Zork. + +It's 2023, and that name is largely forgotten. In the day of fast action shoot fest or, well, graphics, it's hard to imagine something less appealing to the mass crowd. Zork was a text adventure in the spirit of [Collosal Cave Adventure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure). Once a player starts a new game, he is greeted with short description: + +> West of House +You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. +> There is a small mailbox here. just + +{{<img-pull-right "zork-1-cover.webp">}} +Yep, it's as good as it got back then. Computers were unable to display anything but text, and even this was problematic. Game creators were limited not only by displays but also by size. You could not fit big games in memory. So much so that Zork from mainframes was ported as three games (Zork I, II, and III) for personal computers. Nowadays, when a single webpage can weigh dozens of megabytes, it may be hard to comprehend, but hackers back then had to really think hard about what and how to include it. + +So, we have a short description and input prompt. This is everything we need to tell a story and add some basic mechanics. We are in front of a house with a mailbox. How to open it? Simply, we type "open mailbox" + +> Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet. + +And voila, that's the basic gist of Zork - you read some text, type some text, read some new text, and type some more text. Exciting! + +Recently I've stumbled upon an [older Reddit thread](https://i.reddit.com/r/raldi/comments/10dtch/i_spent_my_weekend_hacking_zork/), which describes the tech behind it - which is very interesting. Everything in the game is a "Thing" - the mailbox, the leaflet, the room we are in, and even a player. Each thing can be placed inside another, so the room here contains the Mailbox. Things can also have properties that describe them more - like having a description, so you can `look at mailbox: + +> The small mailbox contains: +> A leaflet + +There are also dedicated properties that allow for context-based action, like `read leaflet` + +> (Taken) +> "WELCOME TO ZORK! +> +> ZORK is a game of adventure, danger, and low cunning. In it, you will explore some of the most amazing territory ever seen by mortals. No computer should be without one!" + +Note the (taken) - things can move between things, and the Player has the leaflet. Later in the game, we also have fights. If you ignore the lack of graphics, you have all the ingredients of a modern adventure game. + +A full playthrough of Zork 1 takes bellow [3 hours](https://howlongtobeat.com/game/11601), but those will be difficult three hours. There is even a song about it-and a great one indeed. + +{{<youtube "4nigRT2KmCE" "It Is Pitch Dark by MC Frontalot">}} + +In order to finish the game without a walk-thru (so have some fun), you must master a wholly forgotten map-making skill. You move between rooms by going NORTH, WEST, and so on. It's impossible not to get lost. Most mortals will be happy with a grid paper, but who would we be if some of us would not take it to the extreme? Some maps are wall-worthy! + +{{<img-center "zork-1-map.jpeg" "Zork 1 map from the Zork Users Group, David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1982" +"https://blog.zarfhome.com/2023/02/a-treasury-of-zork-maps.html">}} + +You can play Zork on anything now, as your dishwasher is powerful enough. [Even in the browser](https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/game/infocom/zork1/) + +The first trilogy was followed by direct text-based sequels, books, and a few Myst-inspired interactive slideshows. + +{{<img-center "zork-nemesis.jpg" "some of which were strange. Here's Zork Nemesis">}} |