Castor's Collection

hi, welcome to my webpage! this is more of a space for my hobbies than it is for me, though that might change idk. ill add things as i can. i still need to add photos, a handful of devices, more cassette recordings, and my card decks.

ill be formatting this as a one page website w/ chapter links so you can jump around. i hope you find my things as delightful as i do!!



Tech

i love old technology. i was born too late to experience crts, chunky computers, and interesting phones, and i mostly experience them second hand, through youtube channels like Action Retro, and LGR. so here is my meager collection of old computers and such.

Thinkpad T400

the oldest computer in my collection. shes not that old, being released in 2008, but she is the eldest. shes much more versatile than the other technology ive collected, but thats why thinkpads are popular. they are the most flexible machines.

her usefulness derives from having linux installed. currently running anti-x, she had a brief stint as my daily driver when my monitor went caput. im planning on switching to one of the lighter, beginner-focused arch linux distributions once i obtain the hutzpa for it. she also has a dedicated line-in jack that i can record cassette tapes to .opus files!

7" Netbook

yes, that is their name. no, there isnt any branding

this computer shares the specs and the plastic molding of the late sylvania netbook that was sold in cvs for $99 (plus tax) around the holidays of 2010. this device is a single board computer within the shell of a very petite laptop. the specs are non-existent, with a 400 mhz cpu and 128 mb of ram. it can dual boot in a sense; a smart group of people have put the latest version of debian on this computer via the sd card slot. whenever the device turns on, it checks the sd card slot for anything it can boot into before opening windows ce 6.0. there is no graphics acceleration for debian, though. last i saw on github, they were working on other aspects of the linux distribution.

theyre the most interesting device in my collection, and also the slowest. i have debian in the sd slot, and it takes 30 seconds to get logged in. also, there isnt a whole lot of applications compiled for the cpus particular flavor of arm and i couldnt figure out how to compile anything on their end or my daily drivers end. until i figure out how to compile programs, my poor netbook will remain a sad little piece of plastic on my shelf.


Cassette Tapes

i live pretty close to a thrift store that has a dedicated cassette tape section. ill only put up the cassette tapes i recorded, or the ones i bought off Bandcamp with a link to the album.

Intimate Moments

Side 1 Side 2

a compilation of classical melodies. its very funny to hear the first song outside of the memes.

Piano Scapes

Side 1 Side 2

was popular in its time. its full of lovely pieces, i quite enjoy it.

Very Best of Molly Picon

Side 1 Side 2

this one is a little crunchy, due to generation loss.
they probably recorded from one cassette tape onto a second cassette tape which makes the resulting product just a touch more horrific.

i had never heard of molly picon before finding this tape at the thrift store! these are good songs, despite the crunch!


My Plants

plants are really interesting because theres so much to learn about them. how do the poisonous ones kill you? how do the helpful ones heal you? many such mysteries.

Rosemary

theyve been through hell and back. this one was suffering in a store when i bought it, and then i went through a rough patch of life. i survived, though, and they did too.

fun fact, rosemary extract is anti-microbial.

Mint

hes a weed, but hes my weed. also saved this one from a store, but he was much less bedraggled than the Rosemary. flopped over to one side of the pot i put him in, and kept growing in that direction.


About Me

im castor, a trans guy on the west coast who loves old technology, and thinks physical media is great. working on improving my sense of graphic design.