I long for the ancient times
this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
419 points (97.7% liked)
unix_surrealism
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one should not chase the electric dream
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This should be easier than ever. Gaming laptops, SFF PCs, cheap monitors, Steam Deck like mini PCs, really easy networking even over WiFi 6 would be easy.
It's not the technology...... Having the time and the number of interested friends is the real challenge.
Even regular laptops do just fine for less demanding or older titles!
Or emulation. Heck even phones do a fantastic job for gaming now.
I like that the bots converse audibly and have facial expressions.
It hints to a time when they were used for human UX but were maybe later repurposed for other means.
Also the lack of wireless communication winks at the danger of botnets. 100s of these bad boys hooked up to a server, compromised by a single hacker?
Who knew that the humanoid vessel was the most secure in its inefficiency
This was explored during the corpo-foss war, when the Mata bots' connection to the govcorp was severed!
http://analognowhere.com/techno-mage/arch_company/
Arch Company sound like an early '00s pop-punk emo band
I'm not very creative. What can I say.
I just realised that the metal band Archenemy likely has a sister band out there named Debianfriend
OpenWellington, eh? Love it -- I can see how sentience is the deadliest virus of all time
I am particularly fond of this time period. I am in a massive creative slump, though :(
Thank you for creating merciful content!
Blessed be the merciful, for they shall meet the spirit of the machine!
I'm loving the mataphor
let the poor devils play some Quake
Thank you for propagandizing Microsoft Corporation!
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Paying homage to the ancestors
The World War Quake Truce
My head-cannon is that the meta bots go and find this stuff and eventually become enlightened/friends with the FOSS. When you want to find more cool shit, you eventually find yourself in open source lands.
....Or they trip and break the screen, to be replaced sooner rather than later.
This is not too far from my own head-canon. It was hinted at a few times that the MATA Bots are fully sentient, but they are enslaved by the Govcorp (since they created them). I think they exist in the so-called slave-collar situation. You're free as long as you follow orders, but if you disobey, you get ''patched out''.
https://analognowhere.com/_/uetmcn/
Fosschild famously acquires a tool to free the Mata Bots from this predicament in Wellington pt. 2
https://analognowhere.com/techno-mage/wellington2/
But there must be other ways, like you point out, for the bots to liberate themselves, as there are some seen roaming around freely in Techno-Mage 1 in Fosstown:
...is it really headcanon when you're the one making it?
I think it's worth noting that I really am just making it up as I go.
Does that mean you take requests?
sure.
Penguin beach episode.
AOL CDs are indecipherable hieroglyphics.
GIMP puns?
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Everything is headcanon until it's on the page
My headcanon is that pmjv is a prophet and this is their interpretation of the machine spirits guidance.
I appreciate the sentiment, but this is how you get me crucified!
inspiring
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Woah! The welington page really helped with the lore! Wow. So many things answered.
And a hint of realism. Corpos stealing ware to make a corporate control natured version. So good.
Love the comic, love your stuff!
Bless you and your devices, hacker.
Uhg. Seriously bummed I forgot QuakeCon was this past weekend. I was planning to check it out this year. Hadn’t been since they’d shut down during COVID.
I'm sad about a time period I never got to experience. Nostalgic for? My mother was much too nervous to let my little girlness go to a LAN thingy.
The good thing about nostalgia is that it can be recreated.
That's true. I can make popcorn and setup a bed on the floor and watch movies from the 90s and stuff!
they never took it away from us. they just worked hard to make us think it's been lost.
Have you posted about your workflow anywhere? I'm so curious what tools you use to capture that style. Especially the tapering at the end of strokes on your pixely brushes.
There is this, but it might not be what you're asking: https://analognowhere.com/unix_surrealism/
As for the specifics, I use GIMP and a very cheap wacom tablet, because I am poor. Some of the more elaborate comics are story-boarded on paper and then recreated digitally. I don't use anything fancy. It's basically just the Pencil Tool. https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/21386623
The fact that I can't actually draw helps the aesthetic, I think.
The fact that I can’t actually draw helps the aesthetic, I think.
Your drawing style is especially relevant now as a visual defiance of the hyper-realistic (but soulless) style of "AI Art".
I am poor
I hope it's ok if I link your redbubble. I really appreciate your content!
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It all being done in GIMP is very thematic
Ancient times were indeed good.
I'm concerned girls not getting enough sun, she's quite pale
An upvote isn't enough to express my fondness for Quake. Fuck yeah, Quake!
Pxe-booting Linux quake nodes in '99 worked way better than we thought it would. Same maps? Hells yeah.
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