Thank you for visiting JonSharp.net. You're currently viewing the "smolweb" version of the site. Congratulations on using a text-based, no-javascript, or otherwise "limited" browser! (If you're using a screen reader, you are extra welcome! Please let me know how I can improve navigation.)
The most significant feature of this web mirror is the showcasing of my PCD-68 virtual retrocomputer, compiled for the web using emscripten. Users visiting this site on a modern browser with JavaScript and WASM support enabled are greeted with a functional version of the PCD-68 emulator, booting up my "JonSharp.net sampler ROM". This is a bespoke demo program written in 68000 assembly which displays a plain text summary of my gopher content, allowing the user to scroll through this content using keyboard input. It also includes a couple of my watercolors, down-sampled to 1-bit for the PCD-68 display.
If you'd like to see the full version of the PCD-68 emulator, you can either visit this site using a modern browser on a desktop or laptop computer -or- you can grab the source code for the emulator and the ROM at GitHub.
The following is the text content used in the ROM:
Welcome to my web mirror! This is a PCD-68[1] ROM sampler of my primary
digital space over at gopher://jonsharp.net -- just a flavor for people who
haven't yet discovered the joy of port 70. If you're wondering what the
heck Gopher is, well... it's like the web, but ten ports prior.
[1] PCD-68 is a virtual retrocomputer of my design. You are reading this
text inside a version of my pcd68 emulator compiled for the web.
## Who Am I?
I'm Jon Sharp, a software developer, vintage computer collector, and
retrocomputing enthusiast with a serious case of nostalgia for when computers
were actually personal.
When I'm not homebrewing computers, hacking 68k assembly or evangelizing
Plan 9, you might find me hiking or risking more ER visits on my surf-skate.
## The Retrocomputing Laboratory
My digital archaeology spans everything from Apple 1 replicas to Palm Pilots,
Newtons and handheld game consoles. Some highlights from the collection:
Bare-metal Macintosh Programming - What happens when you throw out the Mac ROM
and its Toolbox? You get a blank slate for imagination (and a lot of 68k
assembly headaches). I've been progressively building an alternative
environment for the Mac Plus, because why not?
Gameboy Ethernet Project - Back in university, I turned a Game Boy Color into
a remote reporting tool with the help of a unique embedded system.
Painted Laptops - Sometimes a computer needs more than just fresh thermal
paste. I've given vintage laptops the full makeover treatment: camo patterns
for 486 machines that need to blend with the forest, "Pentium Inside/Outside"
body art, and hot-rod red TiBooks.
## FRST Computer: The "Spatula City" of Cyberdecks
My primary art project is FRST Computer - a small batch, artisan personal
computer company where I craft unique machines one batch at a time.
<< A gopher-first personal computer company! -- gopher://frstcomputer.com >>
Model Three: If you're going to build a time machine...
Models One & Two: ePaper CyberTerminals - an exploration in "just enough"
microcontroller-based personal computing
FRST represents my exploration of minimalist, sustainable computing -
empowering users to adopt a simpler digital lifestyle and replace ad-driven
feeds with real-world community building. It's also an homage to the most
brilliant artist-engineers of the personal computing era.
## Other matters of Art and Philosophy
My 4" watercolor books represent one of my primary artistic outlets - tiny
paintings created during moments I might otherwise be tempted to scroll on a
smartphone. And just to demonstrate that PCD-68 can do "fancy" graphics,
I've included two of my watercolors (in all their 1-bit glory!) in this ROM.
The 'a' key activates "art mode", allowing you to navigate ('j'/'k') between
the two stored images. Use the 't' key to return to "text mode".
I also believe deeply that uptime is overrated, entropy is good (and so is
Lisp) and that software complexity will kill us all.
## Gopherspace: Welcome to Radiator Springs!
Why Gopher in 2025? Because sometimes the best way forward is to step back
and remember what made computing personal in the first place. Gopher is
like the web, but with soul - a place where content matters more than
presentation, where community trumps commerce, and where you can actually
read something without seventeen data brokers siphoning your data.
My gopher hole has been running for a few years now, serving up everything
from technical deep-dives to hard-to-find retrocomputing utilities, drivers
and apps to album reviews (M83's "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" won my 2011
Album of the Year award, in case you were wondering). It's a labor of love,
a digital garden, and proof that good things come to those who
embrace plain text.
## Gopher stickers
If you send $2 to my PO Box, I'll send you a "Gopher: Good. Enough." sticker
for that fancy MacBook of yours! ;)
--
Full Gopher Experience: gopher://jonsharp.net
Email: jon@jonsharp.net
Mastodon: @jrsharp@mastodon.sdf.org
GitHub: @jrsharp
--
EOL