Ruairi (rc55)
rc55.com
Ruairi (rc55)
@rc55.com
Electronic Music Culture | Demoscene | Vintage Tech & Retro Gaming
Having bought Ian Scott's amazing PicoGUS, it's great to see more hardware from him! 🤩
Are you ready for #PicoIDE? It seems to be telling me it's ready. Coming soon: ATAPI optical disc emulation and IDE hard drive emulation. picoide.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I've been collecting some CD singles from my youth but struggling to find replacement cases - everywhere seems to supply the Hama branded ones but the design doesn't match (there is a void near the spine and the CD insert is misted).

Does anyone have any ideas where I can get CD cases for singles?
November 10, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Bitrot is real, this seemingly intact copy of Gears of War is partially unreadable.

In the words of House of Pain, punk you better backup!
November 8, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
I used to watch/research up to 10 hours of video on YouTube every single day -- but I spent less than 10 hours doing it. I just released a video where I document all of my YouTube viewing speedhacks I've figured out over the years: youtu.be/B1yHK_nEKaM
How to Watch YouTube Smarter, Not Harder
YouTube video by Jim Leonard
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Saw this article on Hacker News about throwing good parties, thought it was really interesting - also the parts about 30% of people flake and couples tend to flake together was intriguing:
www.atvbt.com/21-facts-abo...
21 Facts About Throwing Good Parties
Parties are a public service; here's how to throw them.
www.atvbt.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
If you're UK based and want to hang out with some local demosceners, a good number of us are taking a trip to the @retrocollective.co.uk cave on January 17th.

Get in touch if you want to join us - it's not a demoscene event per se, but a nice day out - you can even bring friends and family! 😊
October 20, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
It's #monday ⚡🎵

Demovibes vol. 16 : The Memory of the Shadow (mixtapes from #Amiga & PC demoscene)

Demovibes is a collection of mixtapes made with the finest #demoscene #music - Mixed by Willbe💿
Demovibes vol. 16 : The Memory of the Shadow (mixtapes from the Demoscene)
YouTube video by Willbe
www.youtube.com
October 6, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Microsoft has an Open Source Low Latency ASIO driver (including USB Audio Class 2 support):
github.com/microsoft/lo...

Builds are not available currently, as they require the Steinberg ASIO SDK.

Interesting to keep an eye on however!
GitHub - microsoft/low-latency-audio: ASIO driver development for Windows
ASIO driver development for Windows. Contribute to microsoft/low-latency-audio development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
October 2, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Is anyone finding Windows 11's Audio stack to be more and more broken in a significant way recently?

Bluetooth devices pairing but not selectable from the system tray, selectable but silent, un-muting brokne, system tray picker not acknowledging a selection.

Seems like a total disaster really.
September 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
Made a nice page for all my demoscene favorites.
mrdoob.com/demoscene/
September 10, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Faffing around with Windows 3.1 and CorelDRAW! 4 - I always thought emulation content didn't go beyond installing operating systems, some of the actual software is definitely intriguing. I'll have to get Paint Shop Pro next - used to love doing pixel work on that. :)
August 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Well, about 0% of my followers will understand but I've just spent about £120 on getting Bonkers 1-17 on CD. I really, really hope the seller follows through.
August 22, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Wonderful, songs are getting longer again!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

Love me a good intro, bridge, breakdowns, guest features, DJ friendliness - also let the track breathe for a bit!

Anticipation is a wonderful thing.
Three-minute heroes: TikTok made songs shorter but artists are pushing back with longer tracks with more emotional resonance - BBC News
Pop songs got drastically shorter in the streaming era. But new BBC research shows that trend is over
www.bbc.co.uk
July 31, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Made the decision to relegate enshittified / infinite short form video content apps to a spare phone left at home now.

Facebook, Instagram, Threads and a few other apps relegated to a fixed place outside of the bedroom.

Would strongly recommend!

(Only wish YouTube shorts could be hidden now...).
May 29, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
Last night I experimented with CDROM emulation on PicoGUS using iso or bin/cue on a USB stick, using code from yyzkevin. I first thought RP2040’s USB would be too slow but after seeing the Pico ODE for 3DO that emulates the same MKE interface, I have newfound confidence that it will be fast enough.
May 8, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
"Unpowered SSD endurance investigation finds severe data loss and performance issues"

tl;dr don't leave data on unplugged SSDs.

www.tomshardware.com/pc-component...
Unpowered SSD endurance investigation finds severe data loss and performance issues
YouTuber SSD tests reveals problems all round on two-year-old TLC drives.
www.tomshardware.com
April 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
May be useful to someone - I was curious if my UK bank would support me checking my statement and balance via API - seems like you cannot do it without being a third party company provider registered using OpenBanking which is quite rigorous, however Monzo and Starling do have a personal API.
April 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
Demovibes 15 - Tracks, Odds & Miracles

🔗 www.demovibes.org#demovibes15

🎥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=olbC...

The new Demovibes mixtape is out!
Demovibes is a mixed #compilation of the finest #demoscene electronic #music 🎶

#creative #electronicmusic #mixtape #computerart #digitalart #art
April 12, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Ruairi (rc55)
After months of work, I'm happy to release my documentary featurette on a very rare DOS sound card (how's that for niche?): youtu.be/Eeo4INoGyRY

If you have any friends who are into DOS sound cards, the Apple II, music on personal computers in the 1980s, forward this to them; they might like it.
Do you own the rarest PC sound card in the world?
YouTube video by The Oldskool PC
youtu.be
March 17, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Just passed my Radio Foundation Licence (UK)... noice! Will get a callsign later this week. :)
March 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
🥚
March 6, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Set up a Meshtastic node in Exeter thinking no one would be around but...
March 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
My face when Gold Dust by DJ Fresh came on autoplay. Hate that loathsome tune! 😡
March 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Amateur Radio people, CQ? I’m just getting my foundation license - hope there’s people still out there! 📡
February 27, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I'm noticing a trend in vocal processing but I can't be certain it's just me - it's sort of a weird saturation / distortion and I find it really hard to listen to, does anyone else hear it?

youtu.be/GHJWBIO2eao?... (Maybe @gloom303.com has an idea?)
Koven - Time Is On Our Side (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by KovenUKMusic
youtu.be
February 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM