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I had a look at the first link and tried two decks at random. The very first one was a "gayme" (Get it? We're gay! It was the early 1990's), the second one "mod

I had a look at the first link and tried two decks at random. The very first one was a "gayme" (Get it? We're gay! It was the early 1990's), the second one "models" was girls in bikinis (Nice dithering!). Point I'm making is that hypercard gave access to absolutely everyone. Which means it was used far outside the normal niche technical interests. It's sort of a neat archaeological dig into the mind of a broad spectrum of people at the time. Rather than a slice of niche technical individuals.

betamaxthetape 6y ago
Indeed. The "gayme" one you mention is called Caper in the Castro, and is considered one of (if not the) earliest known LGBTQ video games. https://obscuritory.com/adventure/caper-in-the-castro/ https://obscuritory.com/adventure/caper-in-the-castro/
DonHopkins 6y ago
Earlier [1] I posted about Chuck "Jesus" [2] Farnham's HyperCard SmutStack in a previous discussion of HyperCard stack archives (but I still haven't tracked down a copy): [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22285675 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22285675 Do you have the first commercial HyperCard stack ever released: the HyperCard SmutStack? Or SmutStack II, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, both by Chuck Farnham? SmutStack was the first commercial HyperCard product available at rollout, released two weeks before HyperCard went public at a MacWorld Expo, cost $15, and made a lot of money (according to Chuck). SmutStack 2, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, had every type of sexual adventure you could imagine in it, including information about gays, lesbians, transgendered, HIV, safer sex, etc. Chuck was also the marketing guy for Mac Playmate, which got him on Geraldo, and sued by Playboy. https://www.zdnet.com/article/could-the-ios-app-be-the-21st-century-hypercard-stack/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/could-the-ios-app-be-the-21st-... >Smut Stack. One of the first commercial stacks available at the launch of HyperCard was Smut Stack, a hilarious collection (if you were in sixth grade) of somewhat naughty images that would make joke, present a popup image, or a fart sound when the viewer clicked on them. The author was Chuck Farnham of Chuck's Weird World fame. >How did he do it? After all, HyperCard was a major secret down at Cupertino, even at that time before the wall of silence went up around Apple. >It seems that Farnham was walking around the San Jose flea market in the spring of 1987 and spotted a couple of used Macs for sale. He was told that they were broken. Carting them home, he got them running and discovered several early builds of HyperCard as well as its programming environment. Fooling around with the program, he was able to build the Smut Stack, which sold out at the Boston Macworld Expo, being one of the only commercial stacks available at the show. https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990/MacWorld_9008_August_1990_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990/MacWorl... Page 69 of https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990 https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990 >Famham's Choice >This staunch defender was none other than Chuck Farnham, whom readers of this column will remember as the self-appointed gadfly known for rooting around in Apple’s trash cans. One of Farnham ’s myriad enterprises is Digital Deviations, whose products include the infamous SmutStack, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, and the multiple-disk set Sounds of Susan. The last comes in two versions: a $15 disk of generic sex noises and, for $10 more, a personalized version in which the talented Susan moans and groans using your name. I am not making this up. >Farnham is frank about his participation in the Macintosh smut trade. “The problem with porno is generic,” he says, sounding for the briefest moment like Oliver Wendell Holmes. “When you do it, you have to make a commitment ... say you did it and say it’s yours. Most people would not stand up in front of God and country and say, ‘It’s mine.’ I don’t mind being called Mr. Scum Bag.” >On the other hand, he admits cheerily, “There’s a huge market for sex stuff.” This despite the lack of true eroticism. “It’s a novelty,” says Farnham. Sort of the software equivalent of those ballpoint pens with the picture of a woman with a disappearing bikini. https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110/NewComputerExpress110_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110/NewComputer... Page 18 of https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110 https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110 >“Chuck developed the first commercial stack, the Smutstack, which was released two weeks before HyperCard went public at a MacWorld Expo. He’s embarrassed how much money a silly collection of sounds, cartoons, and scans of naked women brought in. His later version, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, was also a hit. [2] Easter Memories: Jesus Farnham on the Golden Gate Bridge Easter 1996: https://www.facebook.com/cfarnham/posts/10159417391268060 https://www.facebook.com/cfarnham/posts/10159417391268060

betamaxthetape 6y ago

Indeed. The "gayme" one you mention is called Caper in the Castro, and is considered one of (if not the) earliest known LGBTQ video games. https://obscuritory.com/adventure/caper-in-the-castro/ https://obscuritory.com/adventure/caper-in-the-castro/

DonHopkins 6y ago

Earlier [1] I posted about Chuck "Jesus" [2] Farnham's HyperCard SmutStack in a previous discussion of HyperCard stack archives (but I still haven't tracked down a copy): [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22285675 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22285675 Do you have the first commercial HyperCard stack ever released: the HyperCard SmutStack? Or SmutStack II, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, both by Chuck Farnham? SmutStack was the first commercial HyperCard product available at rollout, released two weeks before HyperCard went public at a MacWorld Expo, cost $15, and made a lot of money (according to Chuck). SmutStack 2, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, had every type of sexual adventure you could imagine in it, including information about gays, lesbians, transgendered, HIV, safer sex, etc. Chuck was also the marketing guy for Mac Playmate, which got him on Geraldo, and sued by Playboy. https://www.zdnet.com/article/could-the-ios-app-be-the-21st-century-hypercard-stack/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/could-the-ios-app-be-the-21st-... >Smut Stack. One of the first commercial stacks available at the launch of HyperCard was Smut Stack, a hilarious collection (if you were in sixth grade) of somewhat naughty images that would make joke, present a popup image, or a fart sound when the viewer clicked on them. The author was Chuck Farnham of Chuck's Weird World fame. >How did he do it? After all, HyperCard was a major secret down at Cupertino, even at that time before the wall of silence went up around Apple. >It seems that Farnham was walking around the San Jose flea market in the spring of 1987 and spotted a couple of used Macs for sale. He was told that they were broken. Carting them home, he got them running and discovered several early builds of HyperCard as well as its programming environment. Fooling around with the program, he was able to build the Smut Stack, which sold out at the Boston Macworld Expo, being one of the only commercial stacks available at the show. https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990/MacWorld_9008_August_1990_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990/MacWorl... Page 69 of https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990 https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9008_August_1990 >Famham's Choice >This staunch defender was none other than Chuck Farnham, whom readers of this column will remember as the self-appointed gadfly known for rooting around in Apple’s trash cans. One of Farnham ’s myriad enterprises is Digital Deviations, whose products include the infamous SmutStack, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, and the multiple-disk set Sounds of Susan. The last comes in two versions: a $15 disk of generic sex noises and, for $10 more, a personalized version in which the talented Susan moans and groans using your name. I am not making this up. >Farnham is frank about his participation in the Macintosh smut trade. “The problem with porno is generic,” he says, sounding for the briefest moment like Oliver Wendell Holmes. “When you do it, you have to make a commitment ... say you did it and say it’s yours. Most people would not stand up in front of God and country and say, ‘It’s mine.’ I don’t mind being called Mr. Scum Bag.” >On the other hand, he admits cheerily, “There’s a huge market for sex stuff.” This despite the lack of true eroticism. “It’s a novelty,” says Farnham. Sort of the software equivalent of those ballpoint pens with the picture of a woman with a disappearing bikini. https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110/NewComputerExpress110_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110/NewComputer... Page 18 of https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110 https://archive.org/stream/NewComputerExpress110 >“Chuck developed the first commercial stack, the Smutstack, which was released two weeks before HyperCard went public at a MacWorld Expo. He’s embarrassed how much money a silly collection of sounds, cartoons, and scans of naked women brought in. His later version, the Carnal Knowledge Navigator, was also a hit. [2] Easter Memories: Jesus Farnham on the Golden Gate Bridge Easter 1996: https://www.facebook.com/cfarnham/posts/10159417391268060 https://www.facebook.com/cfarnham/posts/10159417391268060