SymbOS MP3MSX Demostration
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it as a vivid showcase of how much a modern-feeling GUI OS can do on slow 8-bit hardware.
What it is
A demonstration of SymbOS, a multitasking operating system for 8-bit Z80 machines, running on a real MSX turboR with an MP3MSX card and a CF IDE interface. It shows the OS playing audio and running a graphical desktop on very old hardware, captured from the real machine and not an emulator.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2014 to 2018.
What Hacker News said
Recommends agumonkey · 2015-12 · on “SymbOS: preemptive multitasking OS that can play mp3s, video on 8-bit Z80 PCs”
After finding about pico8, I got interested in low res, low color depth UX, this couldn't come at a better time. Beside the flickering, it's pretty neat. [this video]
Recommends exikyut · 2018-10 · on “Looking Glass, a revolutionary window manager revealed in 2006”
Lots and lots of transition animations, and potentially very poor UI/UX model. Demos are not (largely) interactive, so the demoscene is not known for collective skill designing GUIs. The most similar/related type of things I can think of that are interactive are crack/keygen programs that include chiptunes and maybe a cute graphic effect somewhere. For some time I've actually wanted to go track down such programs to analyze/compare/study the progression of design. Kind of difficult to do so though, for obvious reasons (unfortunately). But my impression from the one or two programs I do very vaguely remember using, half for entertainment purposes was that the UI design was sort of at the "48%
Cites tluyben2 · 2014-11 · on “Alan Cox announces Fuzix OS”
I have many Z80 machines in my 'museum'; happy to see people making software for them still. I am working on applications for Symbos[1] which is really a show of force on these rather slow machines[2]. [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]