This is a NeXTstation that was donated by Mason to the channel. I drove across three
states to pick it up so I could do a video on the first web browser and …. Honestly?
It’s not coming together. I have the machine working,
I even have NeXTstep re-installed, but if I’m being truthful with myself,
I’m flirting with burn out. However, since I still want to make videos, we’re going fix
that by celebrating the end of Season 1 of this channel. As usual, this is your host NCommander,
and today, we’re going to ring in a new era with a retrospective of everything we’ve done thus far.
[Past N] What you're seeing on screen is
the source code to HELLO.C, the hello world application written over 35 years ago
[Past N] Stop me if you heard it before ...
You're browsing eBay when you find a strange item
You look at the photos, and you find yourself with more questions than not
[Past N] If you used Windows through the 90s, or early 2000s
then these should be familiar sights and sounds.
They are, of course, the welcoming chimes of Space Cadet Pinball
Did you catch that?
I'll play it again in slow motion
[Past N] The RS/6000 line was essentially IBM's main line of PowerPC based computers
For the most part, it works just fine, but we're not quite out of the woods just yet ...
Fundamentally, this channel is finding pieces of history I find interesting and making it
interesting for others. It’s an expression of who I am. Likewise, It's why I fundraise for causes
that affect me and my community. At the moment, I can’t find this NeXTstation interesting, but I
can tell you what I intended to do, and when I’m ready to come back, you’ll know what to expect.
The first web browser was written as a way to easily share data. I actually covered it and
NeXTstep in part as a cameo on RMC back in 2018, but given where I am now, I am not super satisfied
with how I presented it, and thus, it's time to grab it back, and do it all again, but this
time a bit better. And well, that brings me to now. This is me in 2020, on my second channel,
Restless Yankee, as a guy with a GoPro and a selfie stick who tried to bike across the country.
RY: So its about 7 o'clock on Monday. I had to go for it, I had to start riding
I have not slept a wink, but I really don't have a choice, cause I'm going to stop having using consciousness.
We're managing, I mean, the sun won't be up for at least another hour.
I'll keep status updates from the road, I need to find a place to get breakfast at some point
I started that trip in February of 2020 of that year. You know what else happened?
A LOT OF THINGS!
Fundamentally though, all I wanted was that experience to be saved. It was my
record of a quest to find perfection, and actually achieving it. For me,
it was a lake on a campground after being caught in a horrid storm, and seeing an incredible sunset
At different times, I have seeked different things, all of which can be described as “my personal expression of freedom”
I didn’t expect Restless Yankee to take off, but it did teach me how to do write ups,
and do scripting, which is how I got my foot in the door here. Now it’s time to bring it back.
If you want to understand what that means, I’ve reedited my last season there into a short montage
in the style of an NCommander video. So, for once, this is The Restless Yankee, welcoming you all
Let me show you how it started.
Good morning all, today is Sunday, and my name is Mike,
and this is the start of an adventure
And a little bit over an hour, I'm going be on flight to Charolite, then Jacksonville
for the next leg of this adventure
*panting heavily from biking*
And, if you look carefully, you might notice that the chain is not currently attached to it
The chain has infact broken on the bike
*chain replacement noises*
The sign says, St. Augustine, 25 miles
That's the Atlantic Ocean!
Time to christen a bicycle ...
Now hopefully, I don't get soaked by this ...
1, 2, ok, the wheels have been in the Atlantic
Mile after mile, past the 60 mile mark,
[Present N]:And this?This is how it ended.
[RY]: Holy, ok, you know what?
I'm wet, its raining, the tent is soaked ...
it was entirely, and completely worth it, for this view ...
[Present N] One perfect moment of beauty that defined me.
That’s why I can do the things that I can do.
Over the last few months, it's become increasingly clear the world has reached a pinnacle of sorts.
To me, I’m seeing the dawn of a new era, and I don’t feel like NCommander at the moment. Instead,
I’m the Yankee seeking perfection by staring into the infinite.
However, that doesn’t mean I won’t be back. Throughout my life, I’ve always gone through
these cycles. Back in 2014, I created a replacement for Slashdot called SoylentNews,
after one tone death comment too many proved to be one that broke the camel's back.That site is still
there and actively visited even in 2022, even though I haven’t been actively involved in years.
For those who knew me then, you know that this channel was started through an
article writing up what it took to build Hello World for Windows 1.0.
It was one of many I did at the time, articles that I’ve since
saved on my blog. This channel now has nearly 35 thousand subscribers and millions of views.
However, if I keep going with NCommander as it is now, it’s going to become forced,
and we’re all going to suffer for it. So, it’s time for a bit of change. It’s time
to get on my bike and head out into the sunset once again. While I’m doing that,
those journeys are going to get recorded on my second channel, The Restless Yankee,
by the time this video goes out, there will already be a follow up to this there.
I need to understand just what the last few years of my life really meant.
More specifically, I want to understand what drove people to riot on January 6th. To do so,
I’m going to dive into history, starting with biking to Boston, and exploring the
birthplace of the American Revolutionary War, and continuing until I make my peace with it.
This might sound like a fools errand, but you know,
I eventually made my peace with the War on Terror by playing tourist in Erbil,
in the northern part of Iraq and finding a shrine of George Bush in a window display.
All I have from these time periods are these stills, but you know, that’s enough. Likewise,
a few years later, I ended up not only visiting Alaska, I moved there for a time.
While there, I drove to the extreme northern tip, accessible by road, simply because I could.
Perhaps I will share those stories through the photos I took then.
After all, it’s not every day you’re in Egypt at the height of the Arab Spring,
or giving a talk about GlobaLeaks, at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference.
After I spend a fair bit of time in introspection and confirming what I hold to be true, I’ll be
ready for this again, probably in the form of new content focusing on building communities,
and documenting the birth of the Internet. Until then, I’ll be uploading vlogs on Restless Yankee,
with the occasional summary posted here as I complete each milestone of those trips.
Don’t worry, those videos will have everything you’ve come to expect thus far.
I’ve learned a lot since I started this channel, but in the end, it's just me and my camera.
You might need to wait a bit, since I still have to put things in storage and clean up my life.
However, by the time I have done so, I’ll be in a good place to make longform videos again.
And well, for those who want vintage computer content,
the world is at your fingers. There’s even a channel that can be best described as
“Cursed macs, and the back of my head” available on demand.
So, you know, for the time being, this is NCommander, the Restless Yankee,
and Michael Casadevall, collectively wishing you all a pleasant day, BUT,
if you happen to find me on the road of life, we’ll have a pint and be glad you are here.
Hope you all can keep the lights for me, we’ll be back soon.
Let’s wrap this up …