Computing Across America (1983-1985) | Hacker News Reader

Computing Across America (1983-1985)

microship.com

I remember reading about this guy years ago... At least I think it's the same guy and I wish I could remember the source.

Is this the guy who added a chord keyboard to his bike handlebars to he could type while cycling?

Yes: https://microship.com/bicycle-mobile-packeteering/

Somehow my 5th grade teacher hinted to or alluded to Steve Roberts & winnebikeo / behemoth. It has absolutely been totally pivotal to my life. I really never had any concept of adults choosing their lives, doing interesting playful things before this, and SR totally built this image of an adulting and going forth into the world on fun and interesting terms that I had never considered.

There were so many neat technical dimensions. Chording keyboard built into the reclining bike's handlebars. Oodles of systems glued together. Solar. Many gears. Ham radio aplenty!

But the idea of having a life outsise the regular was just fantastically compelling. To bike around on your own power! To connect from afar! All of it was just wildly mind blowing to me. This has set the bar, that humanity has so rarely eclipsed since for me. Thank you winnebikeo, thank you Steve Roberts, for many decades of inspiration.

I found this guy also when the modems ruled the Earth. I was so blown away, like "when did this future happen?". Mind you, he had a lot of backing from some university (or corporate) if I remember correctly. It was another America, with Steve Wozniak pranking FBI agents and buying real Treasury-issued rolls of legal tender and giving it away at parties and many other shenanigans. Wozniak or this guy would have been shot in today's America. Those were wonderful years, with Hypercard roaring (yes, most stacks were amateurish and bad, I know). The technology was saner and funnier. I remember recording AIFF clips on my Mac and using ResEdit to replace the explosions and sound effects in games with my own recordings and I hardly knew BASIC; classic Macs were amazing. Have not had that much fun in a long time. Computers came with real manuals. Today computers come with a booklet in bible paper in 45 languages that says "Dear user, don't eat this phone".

There was something in the air. When I was in elementary school someone thought it would be a good idea to show 11 year olds nothing else that David Lynch's Dune. We had a projection room bigger than many present-day theaters. Like 2500 kids there watching Dune, uncut. I was properly blown away. Started me on a lifetime of loving SciFi. Computer labs at school where I could sneak off hours didn't help either...

Recently downloaded The Computer Chronicles. I want to go back to that world.

Last I read about him he was trying to make an autopilot for a sailboat. Motorized winches, radar, etc, all homemade. Sailboats and hard: a log in the middle of nowhere makes a hole in your fibreglass bathtub and you go down quickly.

A true pioneer.

And a radio ham.

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