I revisited an old hobby, emulating niche systems. I got an Acorn emulator with Risc OS 5 and some development tools, and I wrote a snake game in BBC BASIC and a calculator in pure ARM assembly, both of which are new to me. It was a blast.
I’m a semi-secretive LARPer. I pack my stuff at night, don’t talk to my coworkers about it, and just go about my life as if I don’t.
I’ve found people are pretty judgy about it, so I just don’t mention that I enjoy getting into a neat costume, playing some little mini-games, having a drink or six, camping, and (most importantly) seeing my friends once a month in a structured activity.
It’s fun stuff if you find the right group. That last part is hard.
Old Time Radio (OTR) - amazing to learn history by listening to the radio programs of the day
How would one get into this? Any websites you recommend?
YouTube has a ton of them, as does Archive.org. Old Gameshows from the 50’s are a great time too.
You bet your life with Groucho Marx is great - https://archive.org/details/you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart
On an app called Podcast Addict there are old time radio channels available. They even do old comedy and sci-fi shows.
I like falling asleep to them at night.
A great way to get started IMO is to listing to Command Performance. During WWII, all of Hollywood came together to put together radio shows that were recorded and send to radio stations throughout the world. They were a combination of Hollywood stars, comics and great musicians coming together - here’s a link to over 200 episodes - https://archive.org/details/command-performance-1948-12-25-xx-christmas-1948
I love the satisfaction of completing a film list like the AFI top 100 or Sight and Sound’s top 100. I enjoy watching, discussing, and learning more about the films.
Impressive! I’m more than halfway through the AFI 100 Years…100 Movies list now myself, slowly but surely. Started posting on Letterboxd too. Quite fun!
Awesome! I recommend that you listen to the Unspooled podcast as you go along. It’s nice to hear some critical (and funny thoughts) about the films, especially the really laborious ones like Intolerance. Good luck and happy viewing!
I build custom mechanical keyboards. Got into it because of the Pandemic and now I have built 6 of them. /r/mk and /r/emk used to be some of my most visited subs on the other site. I’m now known as the goto for keyboard questions in my circles of friends.
I started getting into fidgeting more lately and took a liking to magnetic sliders and now have a few that I pretty much always have with me.
And that extended into me learning about begleri beads somehow so now I am attempting to learn that. I can do slips and 2 finger wraps and occasiaonal one finger or thumb wraps but not much else yet. I accidentally learned a stall because I messed up. I need to really learn transfers since that is one of the main things you do a lot of.
I think I am also amongst the hyperfixator group in this thread. I was previously into speedsolving Rubik’s cubes and roasting coffee so I feel a lot of these answers lol.
Always though begleri beads looked fun but I never picked them up because I didn’t think I’d be able to do it at my desk. It’d look to much like I wasn’t working.
I have the luxury of working from home so fidgeting isn’t an issue. I tend to not play with them when working as much since I end up spending most of my time picking them up off the floor. Also when you are on a phone call and hit your knuckles and blurt out an “ouch” it makes it a bit awkward lol.
Found any good lemmy communities similar to the old /r’s? Used to love g what people came up with, especially with the trackball integrations and all that jazz
Obosob is one of the main mods from the ergo mech sub and they are running https://lemmy.ml/c/[email protected]. (I don’t know crosslike communities on here yet) but that sub is picking up. There is also https://lemmy.ml/c/mechanicalkeyboards. Both are gonna be slower than what reddit was like of course but I kind of like that. I haven’t seen much trackball stuff yet but right now there is a Fingerpunch board on the first page with one. I saw a Cirque build the other day too. and a hand full of sub-40% boards including one of mine!
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using an URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: [email protected], [email protected]
Good bot!
lol I love it!
Does anyone else always have the links from this bot as broken? Like there’s an extra carriage return after the ! or something
This is amazing
How do you build a custom keyboard? Do they sell every single part in different shapes? (I mean the “chassis”, not the key caps). How custom can they be?
They can be as custom as you want! I’ve made a few by coming up with a layout I want, making the 3D model for the case, 3D printing it out and handwiring it up myself, then doing the firmware for it.
You can make something that once only existed in your head into something you use every single day!
Oh, right! I forgot about 3D printing.
Sorry if I sound stupid but still, what about the actual board (pcb?)? I mean, yeah, I guess you can get them in custom shapes as well, but sounds too advanced.
Another thing I’m failing to understand the possibilities of is about the firmware. What can different?
You can either design your own PCB or handwire. I handwire because it’s cheaper, and I don’t have to order min 5 pieces and have extra lying around after.
Look up QMK, you can do a million different things with the firmware.
Ok, I just watched a video of Ben Vellack’s Piano that @roux recommended. Damn!
To add to what @[email protected] said, you can also buy kits from sites like Keebio and Novelkeys. There is a Etsy store call BeeKeebs I will always suggest because Leo is a really cool dude and offers a lot of kits for stuff that you’d otherwise have to part yourself.
I print my own PCBs and aim for boards that don’t require diodes. I have most of my boards with Choc Sunsets which are aftermarket custom low profile switches form loweprokb.ca. All my boards run on a fork of QMK called Vial and the hobby gets weird from there. If you are on discord there is a meckkeys server that has a ton of info.
For how custom they can be: Look up Ben Vallack’s Piano2. It’s an 18 key board that he uses for everyday use including writing code. QMK and it’s forks are extremely powerful pieces of software that still blows my mind and I’ve been using it for 3 years.
Holy Molly.
That’s a lot of possibilities.
I found some really good looking custom keyboards.
Another sites I forgot to mention since I was half asleep when wrote that was kbfans. I have seen people that get into the hobby to the point of building their own get kits from them or Novelkeys. Both offer hotswap PCBs which means you don’t need to solder the switches and can change them if you want. They offer 60% and TenKeyless which is probably where most people aim for so I think it’s a good place to start.
Also if you want keycaps, Amazon, Ali and Banggood sell knockoff copycaps(lol) of a lot of designs for a lot cheaper. Look for “double shot” or “dye-subbed”. Those are gonna last and you won’t get fading legends like on cheap boards.
And don’t get too overwhelmed with switch choice paralysis. If you break it down to linear, tactile, and clicky for feel and then light, medium, and heavy spring weight, it gets a bit easier to navigate to what you might want. Tactile will have a light bump or a heavy bump(popular in the last few years) but other than that, they offer testers and samples.
Beware brave traveler, you are asking questions that may result in a journey you did not wish to embark.
lol
I don’t think I have the patience nor the money and time, but it does sound fun.
This is so true. I spent hundreds on this lol. I am currently typing this on a Ferris Sweep with custom dyed keycaps and I ordered my PCBs special just so I could have them in purple to match my micro-controllers.
Really like most of the hobbies from comments, you guys are interesting!
Mine are (I’m not sure if they are niche but):
Fountain pens. Writing with them feels very nice and smooth and it’s a little piece of “retro” even though I don’t have time for any other kind of “retro”
Lucid dreaming. It’s an exercise of control over your dreams and a chance of doing something you like when you sleep. Or experience something new. There are forums with quests like “go to an art gallery in a dream and explore what your brain can give you as a painting” or “build yourself a dream homebase with all your favorite pieces of dreams from childhood” or “jump into a chalk painting and describe your experience”
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Raising ducks. I love it. They’re disgusting creatures, but great.
How are they disgusting? When I see them they look quite cute.
Aside from their propensity to gang-rape, ducks are pretty cool. I’m not being edgy. Look it up.
I think you do transfer too much! Lots of animals have a mating ritual that involves overpowering a mating partner. It’s not pleasant to look at, but then neither is watching a chimp rip an unborn fawn out of a deer, while the deer is still alive. Nature is nature and there are lots of situations where there is direct violence between males and females as part of mating:
- Hyenas, where female hyenas are larger than males, necessitating them to submit to female dominance during mating.
- Many species of spiders and praying mantis where the female eats the male after mating.
- Antelopes, where males often overpower females before mating.
- Dolphins, where groups of males isolate females using herding techniques.
- Hermaphrodite slugs where one partner will eat the penis of the other partner to prevent it mating further afterwards.
I had a friend as a kid who had ducks as and I can answer this. They poop. Everywhere. A lot. Also they’re loud as hell sometimes.
Drive by the duck farms in North Jersey and get back to me.
My neighbor has ducks and they are indeed disgusting and charmingly cute. I’ve seen one get up to follow me for food and she was sitting in a large pile of her waste. Also duck rape is awful. Some have died from the duck gang rapes I was told :(
Sing in chamber choirs
Longboarding is a hobby I picked up a few years ago and it’s a ton of fun. Just riding along you feel like you’re floating over the pavement and the feeling is addicting. You can get e-boards if you’re not into pushing but I haven’t gone down that road yet since they seem heavier and more expensive. Also, most of them you can’t push and you have to rely on your battery and motor so if you run out m, you’re stuck. Some companies like the one I bought my board from (Bustin) make hybrid boards but they’re pricey.
Electric Longobards are silly. You can propel them by pumping, no need for putting your feet down.
I really miss longboarding though. I used to ride every day for hours, but now I live in a rural area with no safe roads :(.
Various degrees of niche-ness:
- modern boardgames. I’ve been fascinate by them since before I could write. I would draw my own roll and move boards and my mom would write down my instructions of what space would do what. From there it only grew and now I have more games I can play.
- rpgs. The most recent addition. I had always dismissed them as a potential hobby because it was advertised to me with videos of actors basically doing 99% improv and 1% gameplay. Turns out it doesn’t have to be like this.
- I also collect gemstones. Started as a kid when we came across an old quarz find on a hike. I was hooked by the shiny and have been collecting on and off ever since.
I freeline skate and have recently gotten into surfskating as well. They’re good fun and nice leg workouts. Don’t ask me to do any tricks though, I say “I prefer to cruise around”, but really I’m just too pleb for that stuff.
Large format film photography. It’s a awesome hobby, although expensive, that requires a lot more indepth knowledge of the basics of photography to nail the shot. You can also get way better quality for way cheaper if you get the right films.
Left is a ghost pepper, right is a 7 Pot Congo
Do you have any problems with gnats?
So the chillies part is obvious enough, but why in beer cans?
This is awesome and I need to find a way to do it.
Do they bear fruit in such small containers?
Ever try growing Pepper X?
Nah, never seen the seeds for them from a reputable seller sadly! I’ve got reapers and a couple of naga varieties in the garden though
Nice. Do you use grow lamps?
I thought about getting one but opted not to. I’ve got south facing windows so all my plants through spring are able to get all the sun they need!
Looking for and archiving recordings of old and modern announcements in commercial and industrial settings. Like mind the gap on trains or there has been a broadcast tower failure in your area or Pan Am boarding call welcome and instructions. these can be on reel to reel or 8 track tape.
Do you just record them with a mic, or do you track down the actual audio files/records/tapes/etc?
both
Sounds like a great resource for game devs.
