Mark Tyson

Mark Tyson

News Editor

Mark's enthusiasm for computers dampened at an early age by the rubber-keyed Sinclair Spectrum 48K and feelings of Commodore 64 envy. However, in the mid-80s, hope in a digital future was rekindled by the purchase of an Atari 520 STe. Since that time Mark has used a multitude of computers for fun and professional endeavors. He often owned both Macs and PCs but went cold on the former after OS9 was killed off, and warmed to the latter with the introduction of Windows XP.

Early work years were spent in artwork and reprographics but in the late noughties, Mark started to blog about computers, Taiwanese food culture, and guitar design. This activity led to a full-time position writing about breaking PC tech news for HEXUS, for the best part of a decade. When HEXUS was abruptly closed, Mark helped with the foundation of Club386, before finding a new home at Tom's Hardware.

When not wearing through the keycap legends on his PC keyboards, Mark can be found wandering the computer malls of Taiwan's neon-lit conurbations and enjoying local and international cuisine.

Articles by: Mark Tyson

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) image

Romance scammer posing as a stranded astronaut swindled an 80-year-old woman out of $6,700 — fraudster claimed they needed funds for oxygen supplies

By Mark Tyson published

The scammer's pleas that his spaceship was ‘under attack and in need of oxygen’ convinced an elderly woman to send him 1 million Yen (~$6,700).

32:9 screen Ryzen Z2 Extreme gaming handheld

DIYer creates the PC gaming handheld of your widest dreams – 32:9 AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme device showcased in driving games

By Mark Tyson published

A Chinese electronics wizard had shown off super wide 32:9 screen PC gaming handheld.

Water from Air project

Portable 3D-printed device claimed to produce enough drinking water from thin air for a family of four every day - Water from Air project says it can capture 1.6 gallons of drinking water per day

By Mark Tyson published

Portable 3D printed Water from Air device is claimed to be able to capture 1.6 gallons (6 liters) of drinking water per day.

Linux Mint 22.2 ‘Zara’ arrives

Linux Mint 22.2 ‘Zara’ released with native fingerprint support – also has a new syncing sticky note system

By Mark Tyson published

Linux Mint 22.2 ‘Zara’ has been released today, offering native fingerprint biometrics, an updated Sticky Notes app, and improved update management.

Microsoft 6502 BASIC goes open source

Bill Gates’ 48-year-old Microsoft 6502 BASIC goes open source

By Mark Tyson published

Microsoft BASIC for 6502 Microprocessor - Version 1.1 source code is now available on Github, under the MIT license.

Up to 70 cables a day, chopped off by copper thieves

German motorists facing ‘plague’ of electric car charger cable thefts – 70 charging points a day being gutted to sell for copper scrap

By Mark Tyson published

Electric car charging businesses in Germany are scrambling to combat a 'plague' of cable thefts.

Steam Hardware Survey April 2022

32GB of RAM on track to become the new majority for gamers — Steam survey indicates shift could occur before the end of the year

By Mark Tyson published

32GB of system RAM looks set to become the most popular configuration among Steam gamers later this year.

Remaking a C64 Datacette using a microcassette

Remaking a Commodore 64 Datasette from 1982 using 1993 microcassette tech — TechTuber touts 1MB per tape, a 5x improvement over the original

By Mark Tyson published

Recreating the Commodore 64's famous 1982 datasette using 1993 tech and 2025 know-how

Samsung 990 PRO SSD 4TB

Samsung’s 4TB 990 Pro drops to less than 7 cents per GB on Labor Day — enjoy this great 4TB SSD for $270

By Mark Tyson published

Deals Samsung’s 4TB 990 Pro drops to less than 7 cents per GB on Labor Day, making this great 4TB drive only $270.

Kazeta OS

Linux gaming OS Kazeta promises ‘console gaming experience of the 1990s’ for PC users — supports almost any DRM-free game, past or present

By Mark Tyson published

Kazeta promises to 'bring the console gaming experience of the '90s to modern PC hardware'

Shuttle DH810 Slim Mini AI PC

Shuttle intros semi-ruggedized barebone Intel Arrow Lake-S mini PC — support for 65W Intel Core Ultra 200 CPUs

By Mark Tyson published

Small form factor (SFF) PC specialist Shuttle has rolled out a semi-rugged compact PC system dubbed the XPC slim DH810.

AntGamer aiming at 1000 Hz monitor release in 2026

Chinese eSports firm worked with AMD on 1,000 Hz gaming monitor primed for 2026 debut

By Mark Tyson published

China’s AntGamer has teased the release of a 1,000 Hz eSports monitor in 2026.

Thunder Lizard's ASCII graphics get the AI treatment

AI converts ASCII game to real-time AI-rendered graphics – Thunder Lizard ASCII visuals transformed, but latency and consistency need improvement

By Mark Tyson published

A software engineer has been experimenting with techniques to transform an ASCII game renderer using AI-powered visuals - in real-time.

These PC systems were more than slightly overpriced

$175,000 computer server package acquired by mayor flagged as suspicious due to an apparent 1,300% markup

By Mark Tyson published

A recently elected mayor has brought to light a suspiciously expensive computer systems deal, which was signed, sealed, and delivered by their predecessor.

ATI R300 GPU on a Medion Radeon 9600TX card

20-year-old ATI Radeon GPUs are still getting driver updates and extensions — old ATI Radeon R300 GPUs receive Linux updates from the community

By Mark Tyson published

Two-decades old ATI Radeon R300 GPUs get updated Linux driver love.

Windows 8.1 in EGA graphics mode

Windows 8.1 graphics get bit-crushed into working in 40-year-old EGA graphics mode — less than half-megapixel display mode is limited to 16 colors

By Mark Tyson published

Tech enthusiast gets Windows 8.1 to install on a system restricted by the ancient (1984) EGA graphics standard.

Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder G2 600

LaserWeeder packs two dozen Nvidia GPUs and lasers to zap your weed problem, vaporizes ‘600,000 weeds per hour' with sub-millimeter precision — instant laser death for pesky weeds

By Mark Tyson published

Nvidia has revealed a surprising partnership with an agricultural robotics company whose flagship product deals instant laser death to fields full of weeds.

F-35 crash

Pilot’s 50-minute in-flight conference call with tech support failed to avert $200 million F-35 fireball — pilot ejected and suffered only minor injuries

By Mark Tyson published

Thank you for calling Lockheed Martin, please hold

Floppy disk photo

Orphaned Linux drivers for floppy disks gets first patch of any significance in three years - cleanup effort implies floppies spared the axe for a few more years

By Mark Tyson published

Linux gets it first floppy disk driver patch in three years.

Monochrome 2 passive PC system

Passively cooled Ryzen AI Max+ 395 PC uses entire chassis as a 10-pound heatsink — talented builder turns Framework Desktop mainboard into a silent, powerful work of PC art

By Mark Tyson published

An SFF enthusiast has been documenting their progress in planting a Framework Desktop's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mobo into a passively cooled chassis.

Logitech MX Ergo trackball - DIY improvements

Enthusiast accidentally spends nearly $300 modifying 2017 Logitech MX Ergo trackball to fix flaws — appears to have missed 2024 upgrade that solved nearly all of its foibles

By Mark Tyson published

Trackball enthusiast decides to build 'the mouse Logitech won’t make.'

Linux

Linux is 34 years old today — Linus Torvalds meekly announced this free new OS in the comp.os.minix newsgroup on this day in 1991

By Mark Tyson published

On this day 34 years ago, an unknown computer science student from Finland humbly announced that a new free operating system project was 'starting to get ready.'

Microsoft Xbox 360

Console repairer encounters Xbox 360 that Microsoft banned over 'bad debt' from unpaid bills — Microsoft MVP chimes in with an elegant official solution

By Mark Tyson published

A Microsoft Xbox 360 console that refuses to play due to ‘bad debt’ has raised more than a few eyebrows.

Several old floppy disks

Prisoner laments reliance on floppy disks for appeals documents, limiting file sizes to 1.44 MB — prisoners allowed 20 floppy disks in cell, but USB flash sticks are banned in New Jersey system

By Mark Tyson published

A prisoner has complained about his legal appeals being stymied by ancient 'like 1985' computer resources.

UltraRAM

UltraRAM scaled for volume production — memory that promises DRAM-like speeds, 4,000x the durability of NAND, and data retention for up to a thousand years, is now ready for manufacturing

By Mark Tyson published

Efforts to commercialize UltraRAM have made a significant stride forward with the development of a scalable new industrial process.

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