Time to move up in the world - migrating from MPW to CodeWarrior, first job is to clean up the hacked together mess of a code base that is AIRConfig with its lack of coherent header files.

Any suggestions for a newer replacement for THINK Reference? TR 2.0 still only has the old “short” toolbox function names (like SetIText instead of SetDialogItemText) which no longer seem to work in CodeWarrior like they did in MPW.

PSA for users of Windows 2000: don't forget to update your regional options for two digit year parsing! We're fast approaching the default of 2029.

@revspace After a few days of work, implementing 3 missing libc functions, repairing an extra 4MB of RAM, hacking around toolchain issues, we finally got Lynx 2.8.2 compiled and running on the VAX-11/750 (in 4.3 BSD Quasijarus)! That means we got to browse the (non-HTTPS) web using no equipment or parts newer than 1986 this side of the network (besides the AUI 10Base-T phy).

Decided to display the VAX-11/750 at the @revspace open day yesterday. All the hard work repairing it seems to have paid off, managed to get 14 hours of uptime out of it before shutting it down at the end of the day!

@iFixit I'll add "Retro" to the list. We shouldn't only repair hardware that is still current; obsolete hardware may still have a useful life.

For example, manufacturers should be obligated to release full hardware schematics and complete firmware source code for discontinued products. Also, documentation on server APIs that it might have depended upon.

Reduce, Reuse, Repair, (years later) Retro, and only then Recycle.

Apparently it’s been 5 years since 1996

We welcome truly to SDF Vintage Systems accessible via https://sdf.org

truly is a DEC Alpha running TRU64 5.0

Scientists from RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

#RetroComputing #vintage #640KOughtToBeEnoughForAnyone

So, I got one of those fancy iPhone things. How do I get on the instatok with this?

The 12 Disks of Christmas

Oh my FUCKING GOD

I finished dumping 99.99% of a very old, damaged, backup CDROM that was previously unreadable. It took 3 days and I was super excited to find out what old data I put on it. The disc had UDF sessions, because that was common at the time for just Adding Files to non-rewritable media.

So I mount that shit in my Windows 98SE box, and lo and behold, this is all that was on it.

I would be absolutely upset if it wasn't so fucking funny

You know what the problem with modern #computers is? There's not a single laser or scanning electron beam anywhere in the whole system.

Edit: Unless you have a laser mouse, but in my experience those are terrible.

Unix historians: who changed the /usr/games/lib/fortunes.dat file between 4.1cBSD and 4.2BSD to attribute Ken Thompson instead of Brian Kernighan with creating a car for the experienced driver with a single unlabeled warning light?

So, when presented with the option to buy an Apple II clone, with a floppy drive and 182 floppy disks, is this just a hobbyist purchase or a philanthropic journey? Someone send me some AppleSauce. Boost if you agree.

I once had a rather peculiar #floppy drive.

It occupied a single 5¼ half-height slot, but the unit contained *two* drives: a 5¼ drive and a 3½ drive.

Even more interestingly, the 5¼ drive had no lever. There wasn't enough room for one. Instead, the drive mechanism would engage when you pushed a 5¼ disk all the way into the drive, and you pushed a button to eject the disk, just like how 3½ drives work.

Too bad I don't still have it. #Retrocomputing YouTubers might have wanted it.

Rate my networking setup 💁

IT WORKS! AppleTalk over barbed wire fence is a go! :D
#LiveLaughLocalTalk
#GlobalTalk
#RetroComputing

This time round I’ve hacked a phone cable in half and soldered alligator clips to the other sides so we get a decent connection to the fence.

It’s a nice day. Work is in a hurry-up-and-wait phase. Let’s try getting AppleTalk running over barbed wire again!
#LiveLaughLocalTalk
#GlobalTalk

I'm desperately seeking information about this chip.

It is a custom #Psion RS232 IC used in the Series 3c, codenamed CONDOR.

If you were involved in the development of the 3c or knew someone who worked for Psion around 1994-1997 who might have been involved, please get in touch.

We want to emulate this chip in #MAME so that it can be added to the existing Psion SIBO hardware #emulation.

This could also help with 3mx serial emulation.

just setting up my #InternetAdvisor...

#retrocomputing friends: today I turned on my #InternetAdvisor and the display looks like this — any idea what's going on? 😭

#HP #Agilent #WAN #Internet #protocol #analyzer #J2300E

just setting up my #InternetAdvisor...

#HP #Agilent #WAN #Internet #protocol #analyzer #J2300E #retrocomputing

It's that yearly moment where I reminisce about my Palm PDAs and Pocket PCs of old, and I realize that I actually miss the stupid Palm Graffiti alphabet as a stylus driven input method.

When you got good at it, you could jot down things shockingly quick. Unfortunately, It also ended up shaping my already weird and shitty handwriting into something weirder and shittier still.

I haven't been comfortable taking notes on anything not keyboard driven since.

First SCSI emulator working on the Pico2! #BlueSCSI

The PROTON PT8010F is a clone of the more widespread Faraday FE2010A. Both are basically XTs on a chip. Just add a CPU and DRAM, ROM and a bit of glue logic and you have got an IBM PC.