Walked away from the computer with this page on the screen, came back to find a bunch of colorful bubbles slowly floating over the page. Pressing the touchpad cleared them. It's like an old school screensaver - very nice touch!
90s_dev · 19h ago
Thanks, that's actually my screensaver project Bubbles[1] which I created to mimic as much as possible the Windows 95 bubbles screensaver. It's a one-line include for any website, which is why I put it in this one. Maybe it'll catch on!
I get the bubbles page too after a minute or so, but the main page is just white with two black lines on it.
When I move my mouse around it, I get a click pointer and can see the links show up in the status area, but nothing is displayed. on latest version of Vivaldi
yardshop · 19h ago
actually the content is there, it's just showing as white on white - when I select with the mouse I can see things - but my guess is that its still not displaying correctly
90s_dev · 19h ago
That's very odd. Not sure what os/browser you're using, but I'm using standard HTMLCanvas stuff to draw them. Could you file an issue in the repo with that info? Thanks!
bix6 · 18h ago
You could also look into some sort of crowdfunding or kickstarter? Then you can reward backers with special perks or something. Good luck with the raising!
chistev · 18h ago
Great, you made it to the front page this time. Lol.
Edit: this isn't a negative comment. I made the comment because I noticed he complained about being down voted a lot previously.
90s_dev · 18h ago
And it's falling back off. Expected. Thanks anyway everyone for trying. Thanks mods for letting it try.
90s_dev · 19h ago
Short version: I want to work on 90s.dev, but have no time to. I could do it for $25/hour, using GitHub Sponsors as a way for everyone to chip in a little towards its development. Just an idea.
The vision of 90s.dev is to be a retro os environment entirely in the web, that's suitable for making all the apps you'd need to make a game, from code editors to sprite editors to animation tools to debuggers. And it's decentralized too, so the apps don't have to be built in, you can import them from anywhere on the web, as long as the app speaks the 90s.dev API. This would recreate a retro development environment similar to what many of us grew up with in the 90s.
dlachausse · 19h ago
Please take this as some unsolicited friendly advice, but I don't think you'll be able to live off this project with that funding model.
GitHub sponsors is more like a tip jar than a paycheck.
This project is rather niche and your description of it is somewhat confusing. Maybe you could use the open source framework you've created to produce a paid game or app that would be easier to monetize.
90s_dev · 19h ago
Oh sorry, I kind of skipped over introducing what the project is, mainly because when I wrote this, the intended audience was the people who showed support on the previous Show HN thread. But here's a better explanation of the project's purpose, the one I posted via Show HN two months ago: https://90s.dev/blog/finally-releasing-90s-dev.html
I do agree that this is a new way of using GitHub Sponsors. And I do agree that it might entirely not work out the way I'm thinking. But to my knowledge, this way of using GH Sponsors hasn't been tried before, so it's worth at least trying it once I think. Besides, there was significant interest in this project, which is what made me think of trying this at all, otherwise I would not have. Thanks for the feedback.
ac29 · 18h ago
> the intended audience was the people who showed support on the previous Show HN thread
Your previous Show HN had 113 comments. That's a nice accomplishment but even if 100% of those commenters paid $25/month you aren't going to get to the equivalent of $25/hour.
> there was significant interest in this project
Are you referring to the Show HN? Was there significant interest in paying?
90s_dev · 18h ago
I don't mind not getting full time payment. That's not the goal of this. The goal is to try an experimental method of funding open source projects, something we have all been thinking about for a while. This is just one variation. If it doesn't pan out to full time employment, then fine, that's expected. I'd be surprised if it did.
[Edit to clarify] I'm not trying to pressure or guilt anyone into donating for personal reasons. My only goal in this post is to propose a way to experiment with open source funding. Other details are just me answering unrelated questions.
No comments yet
johnisgood · 18h ago
You could also try BuyMeACoffee and LiberaPay, or even Patreon, or all of them.
90s_dev · 18h ago
I suppose this is the same thing, just, using GitHub Sponsors, no? Are there significant differences?
johnisgood · 18h ago
I have not used GitHub Sponsors so I cannot tell, but GitHub Sponsors may be more accessible to developers. So you should probably use whichever is more accessible to others, less friction = better. That said, having more options is probably better either way, I assume.
dfedbeef · 18h ago
Not sure why that thread below got flagged. It's pretty relevant to the topic
dang · 17h ago
You may have seen it already but here's an explanation of the moderation thinking on the topic (or rather, not on the topic but on this particular post): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44713731. Like everything else, it's a tradeoff. Other people would prioritize it the other way around and I respect that. In terms of the principles of this site I think it's the best move on this occasion, though not on every occasion.
johnisgood · 18h ago
I do not know the personal life of most people whose work I use or like though. I do not think I would stop using them just because they did something I find morally repulsive. If ReiserFS was any good than the alternatives, I would use it. I understand the people who wouldn't. Granted, it is related to funding him, but eh.
A quick question: How well do you know the people behind your favorite projects?
dfedbeef · 17h ago
These projects are not important though. So why worry about the debate?
dfedbeef · 17h ago
I think this counts as more of a 'public life' situation.
johnisgood · 17h ago
If it turns out Linus did something terrible in the past, I wonder how many people would stop using Linux based on that alone. We are not the same. To some people it matters a great deal, to others it does not matter at all, and there are some people somewhere in the middle I suppose. To me it is more about pragmatism. I may have an opinion on the developer as a person, but that would not stop me from using the project. For example I do not like the author of Odin much, but I do like the programming language. When it comes to contributing to the project, however, that he (author of Odin) reviews, I am not so eager because I have seen him being somewhat condescending before, which I think is more relevant than his personal life.
That said, when it comes to funding, it is not so clear cut to me. I actually do not have an answer. Transparency?
[1] https://github.com/sdegutis/bubbles/
When I move my mouse around it, I get a click pointer and can see the links show up in the status area, but nothing is displayed. on latest version of Vivaldi
Edit: this isn't a negative comment. I made the comment because I noticed he complained about being down voted a lot previously.
The vision of 90s.dev is to be a retro os environment entirely in the web, that's suitable for making all the apps you'd need to make a game, from code editors to sprite editors to animation tools to debuggers. And it's decentralized too, so the apps don't have to be built in, you can import them from anywhere on the web, as long as the app speaks the 90s.dev API. This would recreate a retro development environment similar to what many of us grew up with in the 90s.
This project is rather niche and your description of it is somewhat confusing. Maybe you could use the open source framework you've created to produce a paid game or app that would be easier to monetize.
I do agree that this is a new way of using GitHub Sponsors. And I do agree that it might entirely not work out the way I'm thinking. But to my knowledge, this way of using GH Sponsors hasn't been tried before, so it's worth at least trying it once I think. Besides, there was significant interest in this project, which is what made me think of trying this at all, otherwise I would not have. Thanks for the feedback.
Your previous Show HN had 113 comments. That's a nice accomplishment but even if 100% of those commenters paid $25/month you aren't going to get to the equivalent of $25/hour.
> there was significant interest in this project
Are you referring to the Show HN? Was there significant interest in paying?
[Edit to clarify] I'm not trying to pressure or guilt anyone into donating for personal reasons. My only goal in this post is to propose a way to experiment with open source funding. Other details are just me answering unrelated questions.
No comments yet
A quick question: How well do you know the people behind your favorite projects?
That said, when it comes to funding, it is not so clear cut to me. I actually do not have an answer. Transparency?