cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/31922512

I recently picked up an older but perfectly adequate HP Z Book Firefly with a built-in smart card reader and I'm wondering what possible use is this little bit of tech? Can I, like, auth with my credit card or whatever? (mostly joking, I briefly looked at the PAM config for that and prefer my current hobbies lol)

Modern formulations are proprietary and almost certainly require a cleanroom, but the basic concept has existed for a century. I'd assume there's a history out there beyond what little Wikipedia offers.

Would I be able to DIY a tape that could store tens of megabytes of data, at least?

Edit: This adjacent wiki might have more to say on it, based on the reply I got. I assume digital data amounts to a much higher frequency of recording, though.

I do know audio cassette tapes were used repurposed for digital storage in the early PC era. Was there a noticeable difference based on quality and type of tape?

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/54070

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I was going through the attic and I found the Model M keyboard I bought a couple of years ago. The cable, though, has seen better days. Where can I buy a replacement cable?

I've had the idea to try and learn how to Program 6502 Assembly for my Commodore PET, but I'm a little lost on what the best source is on learning this stuff, especially for a beginner who is yet unfamiliar with its full Architecture and Quirks!

Thus far I've tried looking at Books from the PETs Period, but those do expect quite a bit of pre-knowledge in Computing, which for me includes a tiny bit of Python and Commodore Basic...

Edit: Thank you all for Commenting! I'll try out the many Ideas you all had soon and see what works best with me! Thank you all for the Suggestions!