Introducing the Rear Window blog

@all

Just in time for the festive season I've ported two Mahjong games to OS4, which you can now download on OS4depot.net. You can read the story behind the porting on my blog, the Rear Window. Enjoy reading, happy gaming and a Merry Christmas, everyone!

@trixie
Thank you for these releases. The games are fantastic and your blog post was an excellent read.
Congrats mate. Take care.

@trixie

Thank you for porting Lopan and Shisen-Seki to OS4.

Both render beautifully on my MicroA1.

Lopan reminds me of Shanghai, which I often play under emulation. I'm new to Shisen-Seki, but I certainly enjoyed my first try at the game.

Thank you,
redfox

@redfox

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoy the games!

Yes, Lopan is a Shanghai clone, I mention that in the blog. It's simple but plays OK. Shisen-Seki is a bit more fun, but maybe I'm saying that because I prefer the Shisen-Sho type of Mahjong.

@trixie,

Just downloaded both games on my A1222+.

Installed fine and both are playing fine so far.

I enjoyed both games but I seem to prefer and play better at Shisen-Sek.

Keep porting more games to OS4.

Thank you.

@trixie

Thanks & Merry Christmas

@all

Following an unsuccessful WordPress update which rendered my blogsite unusable, I've finally decided to move the Rear Window blog to Ko-fi. I've been contemplating this for some time because having a blogsite and a Ko-fi page, I was basically doing the same thing in two places. The address www.rearwindow.cz is still functional but it now redirects to the Ko-fi page.

I apologize to those who were used to viewing the blog in their Amiga browser, which now will likely be a painful experience with Ko-fi. However, apart from duplicating my work, I could no longer deal with keeping things "Amiga-compatible" in WordPress. It's just too much hassle. Ko-fi is smartphone-friendly, so I'm sure there's still a way to view my blog posts if you're interested.

This being said, I'd like to add that I have just published a new blog article, which describes my story and experience with Rabbit Hole Computing's PCI SATA card in my AmigaOne X5000. I hope you'll enjoy the reading.

@trixie

Great article, would be awesome with some pics of the card installed... If you can steel yourself to open the csse again.

@daveyw

Quote:
Your wish is my command I originally didn't add more pictures because I thought they weren't good enough, but now that you say it I think they might do. I have updated the article accordingly.

And thanks for reading!

@trixie

Thanks, they are excellent pics!

@trixie


Doesn't work !

@BillE

What doesn't? The page in an Amiga browser? Yes I know, I've mentioned that above.

@trixie
Quote:
Nice read. Thanks!

@trixieQuote:

I realise you did, nothing on Ko-Fi works its something to do with CloudFarce.

The point was really what is the point of having an Amiga blog on a system that you cannot actually read it on your Amiga? Why use Ko Fi and not an alternative ?

Can Ko Fi be persuaded to fix the problem ? Can CloudFarce be persuaded to fix the problem. Not all CloudFlare sites cause a problem but most do and I am sick of seeing a tab saying "just a moment" and then getting a blank screen.

WTF has gone wrong with the WW, only a couple of years ago it mainly worked without problem, but you unless you "upgrade" your browser to one of a select few, none of which work on the Amiga you are buggered. Often you can use a script just to bypass the browser checks but the main problem is HTML seems to be being replaced by obscure JS that no one can follow and breaks on older browsers. Why is there this insane rush to replace ones that work by ones that don't!

I would have though that at least Amiga based sites would; avoid services that insist on only certain browsers, surely there are some and if not why not code your own pages rather than relying on templates ?

Sorry about the rant - nothing personal at all, I used to enjoy your blog its just pity I will no longer ba able to read it.

Even if you may have to use Ko Fi temporarily please consider moving the blog to somewhere that will actually work.

Are there any user scripts that can get arpond the KO FI problem ?

Hey, maybe you could do a blog about it - though I'll need to rely on someone else to report what is said !!!!

@BillE

Quote:
Well, because it's not just an Amiga blog. Ko-fi is a system for creators that lets you - apart from presenting content - build a network of supporters. It makes it easy to inform them about what you have done/written, and allows them to support your efforts financially, even on a regular basis via custom-defined support tiers. As payments are involved, the technology needs to be up-to-date and secure. I couldn't possibly achieve all that with my blogsite tweaked and scaled down for Amiga compatibility.

That an Amiga website is viewable on an Amiga is an ideal state, and you bet I would prefer it, if only the system weren't so behind with technology.

Amiga developers commonly use GitHub, which can't be viewed properly in any of the Amiga browsers. Many Amigans.net users are now on Discord, which doesn't have an Amiga client either. We have accepted the fact that some things simply can't be done (easily) on an Amiga. No biggie. It's not a fetish.

Quote:
Most people have smartphones or a computer at work, so there's always a way to view the blog even on Ko-fi. If they see it as a problem, then my writing is not good enough

@BillE
Have you considered using something like browservice?
https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice

@trixie

Quote:
Setting up your own ko-fi/patreon alternative is very doable on Wordpress, although I don't know how easy it is to make the theme Amiga compatible.

I haven't bothered trying to make my website 100% Amiga compatible either, because it's too much work to do that, and still have it work well on mobile and everything else.

@all
Consider this extra motivation to get an updated webkit running on OS4...

Hans

@Hans
Quote:

Feel free to do it and I will support it in the form of donations

@Hans

Quote:
Well, afxgroup seems to have been getting somewhere...

I'm not sure of the cost associated with it, but I have seen advertisements offering the ability to add an RSS feed to a Ko-Fi page. That might be an option for those who prefer to only follow from an Amiga.