Author answered below, but dithering techniques like these were common on old computers like the C64 and others, due to the limited ammount of graphics colors available ( 16 colors on C64 if I remember correctly), plus there were usually limitations on how many colors you could use within one 8x8 block , commonly 2 - 1 foreground , and one background color. C64 had a multicolor mode with 1 background, and 3 forground color. But that was still just 4 colors (out of 16 available ) usuable for each 8x8 character block. However switching to multicolor mode took you from high resolution ( 200x320 px) to low res ( 200x160 px) - and yes thats for the entire screen (25 x 40 chars)
Originally, sort of. But also to work around limitations in GIF (which is palette-based; but see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF#True_color) and because people didn't always have true-colour monitors (or ran the monitor in a different mode due to VRAM restrictions) anyway.
In today's context, more for the aesthetic, presumably.
Author - yes, it's "aesthetic", albeit not my best work and I might revert that decision at some point. Was inspired by lowtechmagazine but they did a much much better job.
I do care about the blog being snappy and working also on very low-end, vintage hardware though, so that also somewhat achieves that goal.
I have an actual original C-64 from around 1986. I got it recapped a few years back and it worked! Now the floppy and tape drives gather dust: it has USB 8)
Oh and I have an original Quickshot II, which still works despite "Daley Thomson's Decathalon".
I'm going to give it to my son in law this Chrimbo - "Attack of the mutant camels" and "Matrix" etc needs new players.
Didn't need the click-bait title. I would have read it regardless (and did). I wish there had been a PRG or D64 included for the non-programmers. Fun read!
Author, fwiw, I don't do/care about click-bait, as I never cared about clicks. Since I moved to my bespoke blog system (previously I was on blogspot) I don't even track page views. But I thought it was somewhat funny.
This is very nice, enjoyment-driven, seasonal hacking. Cool.
Brought back happy memories of the much simpler, much less impressive falling snowflakes animation, complete with Silent Night soundtrack, that I laboriously wrote in Basic on my Vic-20 one Christmas back in the 80s.
Fwiw, the c64 is pretty robust, if you don't use the original power supplies.
I'm surprised that people find this to be an example of clickbait. If I cared about views, I'd imagine an honest title like - "I turned my c64 into a digital fireplace" - would have probably been more appealing, no?
Might be a European thing. I remember that, here in the UK, on my Vic-20 connected to my parent's Bush portable tv, it was channel 36. I believe the C64 was the same.
And sometimes you had to twist/jiggle the aerial lead to get a good connection.
Eh, if only I had one. I have some relatives living next to me through and I think I remember an old TV in their basement, I might check it out, that's a good idea.
In today's context, more for the aesthetic, presumably.
I do care about the blog being snappy and working also on very low-end, vintage hardware though, so that also somewhat achieves that goal.
Oh and I have an original Quickshot II, which still works despite "Daley Thomson's Decathalon".
I'm going to give it to my son in law this Chrimbo - "Attack of the mutant camels" and "Matrix" etc needs new players.
Brought back happy memories of the much simpler, much less impressive falling snowflakes animation, complete with Silent Night soundtrack, that I laboriously wrote in Basic on my Vic-20 one Christmas back in the 80s.
I'm surprised that people find this to be an example of clickbait. If I cared about views, I'd imagine an honest title like - "I turned my c64 into a digital fireplace" - would have probably been more appealing, no?
That should have been a real CRT monitor to give this picture a true feeling of the 80s!
*set to channel 36, natch
Was that specific to C64? I recall old consoles and VCRs using either channel 3 or 4.
And sometimes you had to twist/jiggle the aerial lead to get a good connection.