In the following sections, you will find my non-fiction and fiction writing. I hope you enjoy my writing. If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to contact me. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you for reading!
Below you can find my non-fiction writing. I write about web development, media art, comics, the demoscene, computing history and retro computers, and other topics that interest me.
November 2024
Things I Learned at Drupalcamp Berlin 2024
(Yes, I Know, I'm Late to the Party)
On November 8th and 9th I went to Drupal Camp Berlin. I learned about Starshot, a bold initiative to make Drupal more user-friendly and accessible. Among the many talks I attended, I also went sessions about the open-source tracking tool Matomo and the Drupal Association's plan to overhaul documentation using the "Docs Like Code" approach. I learned a lot at Drupal Camp Berlin!
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November 2024
Coding Counter Culture
Attempting to Draw Determination in a Coder
In this drawing tutorial, I'll guide you through creating a powerful and resolute female programmer, drawn in a style inspired by the bold, iconic imagery of socialist realism. And I only use six colors for it! Let me show you in a step-by-step video how I draw determination in the face of a coder!
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October 2024
Voxxed and Loaded
The Voxxed Days 2024 Tech Conference in Thessaloniki
The Voxxed Days 2024 in Thessaloniki are probably the premier tech conference in town bringing together developers, architects, and tech enthusiasts from across Europe. I managed to attend a wide range of talks, workshops, and hands-on sessions covering topics from email, technical debt, cloud computing, and the omnipresent AI, to software architecture. Here's what I saw and did!
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October 2024 Mildly NSFW
Boris Vallejo and the Pixel Art of the Demoscene
As an epic fantasy painter, Boris Vallejo had a great influence on 1980s and 90s fantasy book covers, computer game box art, and the demoscene. Through the decades, his works have been replicated by pixel artists. This article features fantasy art history, demoscene drama, and a lot of pixel art fun creating a Boris Vallejo imitation graphic using only four colors.
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September 2024
The Future of the Past
Avoiding Stagnation in Archives of the Amiga Demoscene
Let's explore the Amiga Demoscene Archive (A.D.A.), examining its role as a demo repository within the demoscene, and take a look at its carefully curated collection. What are the archive's strengths and weaknesses? And what can we learn from this archive of media art?
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August 2024
The Magic of Evoke
Demoparty Report by a Bloke at the 25th Evoke
The 25th edition of Evoke was held from 16th to 18th of August 2024 in Cologne. It was an amazing event full of creativity, cooperation, and demoscene magic! Here are my impressions of this wonderful demoparty.
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August 2024
Making Compo Graphics for Evoke 2024
Evoke is an awesome demoparty. I participated in three of the graphics competitions. Here is how I created my submissions and alternative graphics that taught me what I wanted to do.
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August 2024
Time Bandit
A Love Letter to the Game That Sold the Atari ST
When the Atari ST was introduced it had a stand-out game: Time Bandit by Bill Dunlevy and Harry Lafnear. It was a wonderful action-arcade game with kick-class graphics, puzzles and text adventure elements. In this slice of retro gaming and computer history we dive deep into the colorful time gates, two player action and strange new arcade worlds!
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July 2024
Steganography in Python
How I Felt Compelled to Find a Hidden Message Without Realizing How Interesting It Would End Up Being
When a coworker invited me to a feedback call, I found a hidden message in the email. Join me as I go down a rabbit hole to decode a message that turned out to be hidden in an image. I used Python to extract the message and learned a lot about steganography in the process.
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June 2024
Graffathon 2024
Where Coding Meets Art
In June 2024, I went to Graffathon in Finland, an interesting intro to demoscene culture. 28 participants met for this uniquely starter-friendly demoparty, enjoying a good helping of creativity and collaboration. On two and a half days, demosceners crafted seventeen impressive demos, showcasing the talents of both beginners and advanced coders. Here are my impressions of Graffathon 2024, exploring the vibrant intersection of art and technology that defines this extraordinary community.
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June 2024
Palming Without Distractions
Distraction-free Writing with a Palm Organizer and a Foldable Keyboard
The Palm m125, with the right peripherals, can make a great distraction-free writing tool to sustain the flow state that many writers of prose and long articles seek to achieve. Here is how a decades-old organizer can help, and what to pay attention to for a frictionless experience. This epic article has it all! (Including a hidden section about PalmOS Hacks.)
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May 2024
The Books That Chronicle the History of the Atari ST Demoscene
Over the past decade, a number of books were published that chronicle the history of the Atari ST demoscene. These books provide a detailed look at the creative and technical achievements of the demoscene community, exploring the innovative audiovisual presentations created on the Atari ST computer. Here I introduce and discuss the various volumes in this loose collection.
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January 2024
Demo Beats and MTV Vibes
History and Analysis of State of the Art by Spaceballs
"State of the Art" was a groundbreaking demo for the Commodore Amiga created by the Norwegian demogroup Spaceballs in 1992. It gained widespread acclaim for its innovative use of real-time 2D vector graphics, animation, and sound, becoming an iconic piece in the history of the Amiga demoscene. Let's take a deep dive!
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December 2023
The Commodore Amiga and its Undying Adoration by Anarchist Creatives
Let's investigate the birth of the demoscene, the Amiga platform's revolutionary beginnings, its emotional resonance within a dedicated community, and its broader influence on the field of computer graphics and music. Why is the Amiga still one of the most significant platforms in the demoscene?
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November 2023
Helsinki Hackathon Horizons
Junction X 2023
In November 2023 at the Junction X hackathon in Helsinki, our team tackled the challenge by steel maker Outokumpu, focusing on sustainable AI solutions in steel production. The experience was delightful and enriching showcasing the power of diverse collaboration and the spirit of ingenuity, leaving us with invaluable insights and memories.
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November 2023
Using the MacBook with an eInk Tablet as an External Display
Using an eInk display as an external screen reduces eye strain and is well readable in direct sunlight. How do you connect the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra to a MacBook Air? Let's explore various methods like AirDroid Cast and Duet Display, alongside a more economical and effective solution involving a USB Capture Device. Find out the details in this article and video.
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October 2023
Authentication Antics
The Complexity of User Registration and Authentication
Mapping out the process of user registration, user login and password reset let me rediscover the quirks and delights of the process. Here's my unnecessarily detailed description with wireframes and flowcharts of something we take for granted.
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August 2023
Evoke 2023 Demoparty Report
From July 28th to 30th, I visited the Evoke 2023 demoparty in Cologne. After years of study and admiration of the demoscene, I participated in a demoparty in person for the third time. Here's what I experienced, which graphics I submitted for the competitions, and what I learned. I hope this helps newcomers to the demoscene make the most of their first demoparty.
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August 2023
Coding for a Cause
Our Hackathon Adventure at KfW Bank in July 2023
On a warm July weekend in 2023, in the heart of Frankfurt/Main, our team participated at the KfW Bank Cloud DevOps Hackathon. We jumped into challenges ranging from Microsoft Azure Cloud to Kubernetes and beyond. Join us as we recap our unforgettable adventure, filled with innovation, camaraderie, and a whole lot of code.
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June 2023
Guide to ClockworkPi's Portable Linux Console
The ClockworkPi DevTerm is a peculiar portable Linux device with numerous delightful features, albeit some frustrating ones as well. This guide will demonstrate how to configure the DevTerm to overcome its limitations, such as the small screen size and the somewhat challenging trackball. Additionally, it will provide instructions on using the DevTerm with an iPad Pro.
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May 2023
Our Team Won A Hackathon
Caffeine, Code, and Collaboration: CraftHack 2023
In May 2023, we participated in the CraftHack 2023 hackathon in Budapest and created the POC for HealthHub, a doctor's AI assisted portal for scheduling CT scans. To our delight and surprise, our team was awarded the grand prize from among forty competing teams. It was an unforgettable experience. This is what happened, these were the mistakes we made, and this is what we learned.
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May 2023
The Portable A500 Mini and How It Ended Up in a Pub
The A500 Mini is a nifty recreated retro computer that can be made to run any classic Amiga software. Here's how to turn it into a portable device using an Android tablet as a screen to bring it to the pub for field-testing. And I shot a video doing it! Let me show you, it's fun.
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Here you will find the longer non-fiction works that I wrote during my university studies.
October 2020
How Technical Limitations Pushed the Early Demoscene to Produce Digital Art
This is my master's thesis about the demo-group The Exceptions during the years 1987 to 1989 in the Atari ST demoscene. These were the formative years of the Atari ST demoscene, and The Exceptions were the first to produce demos on the computer system.
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May 2020
The Telidon Art Collection at Inter/Access
This is the story of the Canadian Telidon system from the early 1980s, the artists who worked with it, the unlikely story of how their work was rediscovered by the Toronto-based Inter/Access gallery in 2015, and how to conserve digital artwork created with Telidon.
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December 2019
Creating a Comic Book on 1980s Hardware
In this project I created a five page comic story using 1980s computer hardware. I refurbished a thirty year old Atari computer, upgraded it and then pixel-painted comic using the art package NEOChrome Master and only 16 colors.
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May 2018
The Story of the first Digitally Produced Comic Book
This is an essay about Shatter, a comic book created by Mike Saenz, Peter B. Gillis and Charles Athanas in the mid-1980s on an Apple Macintosh (though with traditional, analog coloring). This milestone of the comics industry paved the way for other digital comics like Das Robot Imperium by Michael Götze and other digital comics.
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I write fiction stories in German, my native language. They are mostly science fiction and fantasy exploring the human condition and relationships. My stories are character-driven and often feature a touch of humor.
November 2004
Der Abstand zwischen den Augenblicken
In einer Zukunft, in der Menschen, Mutanten und Außerirdische um Macht und Einfluss kämpfen, plant der skrupellose Konrad Klemens Kurischnigg, seine Karriere auf ungewöhnliche Weise voranzutreiben. Als sein Kollege plötzlich erkrankt, sieht Kurischnigg seine Chance gekommen, einen millionenschweren Auftrag an Land zu ziehen. Doch als auf der anderen Seite Wiens ein intergalaktischer Krieg ausbricht, reisen die ungleichen Partner mit einer Zeitmaschine zurück ins Jahr 1492, um die historische Entdeckungsreise von Christoph Kolumbus zu verhindern und die Geschichte zu verändern. Während sie gegen kosmische Mächte und ihre eigenen Vorurteile kämpfen, entdecken sie, dass ihre Mission weitreichende Konsequenzen für die Gegenwart hat.
June 2004
Gib mir Stoff, Baby!
Auch Außerirdische sind suchtgefährdet
Ein Raumschiff voller drogensüchtiger Außerirdischer nähert sich der Erde mit einer besonderen Mission. Ihre Aufgabe? Einen fähigen Behindertenpädagogen zu finden, der ihre wahnsinnig gewordenen Richard-Nixon-Klone betreuen kann. Als die Vignionen ihren Agenten Mr. Foo auf die Erde schicken, nehmen die Ereignisse eine dramatische Wendung, und die unscheinbare Karolin Gerber, eine erschöpfte Pflegekraft, gerät plötzlich in den Mittelpunkt eines intergalaktischen Abenteuers. Inmitten des Chaos und der skurrilen Begegnungen muss Karolin eine Entscheidung treffen: Kehrt sie zu ihrem anstrengenden Alltag auf der Erde zurück, oder hilft sie den Vignionen, ihre verrückten Klone zu bändigen und rettet so möglicherweise zwei Welten?
January 2004
Zwischen Liebeslügen und Peitschenhieben
Im Wien der 1990er-Jahre kämpft Ernie mit den Tücken der Liebe und den Herausforderungen des Lebens. Überglücklich zieht er bei Edith ein, der bezaubernden Buchhalterin, die sein Herz schneller schlagen lässt. Doch seine Versuche, ihr seine Liebe zu gestehen, führen in ein Netz aus Missverständnissen und Lügen, das ihn schließlich obdachlos macht. Als er sich inmitten von verärgerten Ex-Freunden und gefährlichen Begegnungen wiederfindet, scheint seine Welt aus den Fugen zu geraten.