The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘History’ Category

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Old xs4all stuff

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/11/29

In the past xs4all.nl had a shell server. In the shell you had a WWW directory which was the route of your personal web-site.

For instance, I had a file there in ~jp/WWW/route/route.html which was served at:

Almost 25 years after KPN bought xs4all, it switched off the shell servers and these links, so I was glad with this warning [Wayback/Archive] Koen de Jonge on Twitter: “Morgen stopt #kpn4all met het aanbieden van shellaccess. Wij willen dat met #Protagio ook gaan aanbieden. Wil je ook #shellacces houden, kijk dan snel op: … #eerlijkecloud”

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Posted in History, Internet, ISP, Power User, xs4all | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

For the USA, the TRS-80 PC-1 was the “The Trash Computer That Became Your Phone”; the rest of the world could enjoy the hardware identical Sharp PC-1210/1211/1212 years earlier

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/11/25

Earlier this year, I bumped into [Wayback/Archive] The Trash Computer That Became Your Phone – YouTube which discusses the Tandy  TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-1, . The video includes a lot of history about Tandy Corporation, Charles Tandy and Radio Shack including quite a few bits I didn’t know yet.

It was part of the Tandy Pocket Computer, and succeeded by the Z80 powered TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-2 (which was actually a rebadged Sharp PC-1500).

The TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-1 itself was also a rebadged Pocket Computer, this time a Sharp PC-1211 powered by a duo of 4-bit CPUs so totally incompatible with the PC-2. Actually none of the Tandy Pocket Computer line were compatible with each other (nor with the desktop TRS-80 which itself was incompatible TRS-80 Color Computer). With the PC-4 and on Tandy even switched to Casio as manufacturer, then back to Sharp for the final PC-8.

Anyway: this video was a trip down memory lane and reliving my 2012 blog post The calculators that got me into programming (via: calculators : Algorithms for the masses – julian m bucknall), and I was glad that by now there are more videos covering the calculator I started with, for instance via [Wayback/Archive] sharp pc-1211 – YouTube:

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Posted in Conference Topics, Conferences, Event, History, Z80 | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Hans Otten @hansotten@mastodon.social on X: “PiDP-11/70 with a real PDP-11 CPU, a DCJ11-AF”

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/11/14

Where old history meets modern history: [Wayback/Archive] Hans Otten @hansotten@mastodon.social on X: “PiDP-11/70 with a real PDP-11 CPU, a DCJ11-AF”

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Posted in Development, Emulators, Hardware Development, History, Power User, Raspberry Pi | Leave a Comment »

40 Years Ago, Drexel Made Computer — and Apple — History

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/10/09

Not having lived in the USA, I was unaware this was major step there: [Wayback/Archive] 40 Years Ago, Drexel Made Computer — and Apple — History.

A big part of the importance – giving them away for free – fails in the above link title, but the content makes up for that very well.

Boy, this was so different from my education era (:

I you want to see how this worked 40 years ago, be sure to read [Wayback/Archive] In Pictures: When Drexel gave every student a Mac in 1980s – Interesting Engineering.

This great VCF East recapitulation pointed me to the Drexel Macintosh: [Wayback/Archive] VCF East 2024 – A Whirlwind of Retro Shenanigans! – YouTube.

There is even this beautiful video: [Wayback/Archive] 1984 ‘Drexel’ Macintosh 128K- Restoration and History! – YouTube

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Posted in Apple, Classic Macintosh, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

infinite loop in “LaTeX: A Document Preparation System” by Leslie Lamport, printed in 1994.

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/09/10

Cover of "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, 2nd edition", Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (June 30, 1994) © 1994, authored by Leslie Lamport

Cover of “LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, 2nd edition”, Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (June 30, 1994) © 1994, authored by Leslie Lamport

LaTeX was slightly later than the 1992 Turbo Pascal 7.0 Language Guide having both entry in the manual about Recursion (“recursive loop, see recursive loop”) which of course is similar to “infinite loop” and entries for “infinite loop See loop, infinite” and “loop, infinite See infinite loop”.

So what is LaTeX?

Where Donald Knuth created the typesetting program TeX (visually TeX), Leslie created a set of macros for it, later named LaTeX (visually LaTeX) and wrote the first (still famous) book – cover on the right – on it: [Wayback/Archive] LaTeX: A Document Preparation System by Leslie Lamport, second edition, printed in 1994 back then by Addison-Wesley (now Pearson Education, subsidiary of Pearson plc) with ISBN 9780201529838.

It’s gimmick was at page 252, inside the index referring “infinite loop” to page 252 itself.

Many people keep posting screenshots of the page without referencing where it is from. That’s a bit sad, as these gimmicks are an important part of history where programming books were as much about explaining features of computing environment, as well as explaining underlying concepts like recursion.

So this 2024 post finally made me write this blog post: [Wayback/Archive] vx-underground on X: “HELP!”

[Wayback/Archive] GTv89dwWsAM05wM.jpg (552Ă—639)

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Posted in *nix, *nix-tools, ffmpeg, History, ImageMagick, LaTeX, pandoc document converter, Power User, Typesetting | Leave a Comment »

Iconography of the X Window System: The Boot Stipple | matttproud.com (blog)

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/09/06

https://proud.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/768/011/579/353/261/small/b76295db1a6e025d.png

The X Windows System starting up with the seminal stipple on the root window and the X_cursor on the pointer.

Oh, the days of /etc/X11/XF86Config frustration (:

Nevertheless, a good tribute to the X Window System, the successor of the W Window System on V Operating System (not to be confused with System V), that turned 40 in June 2024 is [Wayback/Archive] Iconography of the X Window System: The Boot Stipple | matttproud.com (blog).

Via [Wayback/Archive] mtp: “To celebrate the X Window Syst…” – proud.social (image on the right of that post):

To celebrate the X Window System’s 40th birthday, I did a deep dive on something about it: the iconography of its boot-up stipple (that gray pattern you first see as the X Server starts up):

matttproud.com/blog/posts/x-wi

Did you know the stipple has a name, age, and cultural significance to the ecosystem? I’ll share my personal history with it. What’s yours?

#XWindowSystem #UNIX
#History #RetroComputing

(Later forks replaced XF86Config with xorg.conf).

--jeroen

Posted in History, Retrocomputing | Leave a Comment »

Identity Crisis | Apple II Programs: Susan Kare’s “Happy Mac” on an Apple II

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/09/04

The re-imagined iconinc Happy Mac by Suzan Kare on the computer she got before even becoming employee #10 at Apple in 1982 [Wayback/Archive] Identity Crisis | Apple II Programs

Identity Crisis

Via [Wayback/Archive] Short Programs | Apple II Programs “Susan Kare’s “Happy Mac” on an Apple II”

At age 70, Susan is still alive and kicking, and even around on Twitter as [Wayback/Archive] Susan Kare (@SusanKare).

Inspired by a search because of [Wayback/Archive] Ron’s Computer Videos 🧍‍♂️🖥️ đź“Ľ on X: “I wonder if Susan knew that Steve used her desk?”:

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Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple ][, Classic Macintosh, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

‘Tis but a scratch, just a flesh wound: 3D Printable Black Knight from Monty Python – Highlands Miniatures by Highlands Miniatures

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/08/19

Memories of a great movie scene with The Black Knight and King Arthur: for USD 5 you can get the template files for the [Wayback/Archive] 3D Printable Black Knight from Monty Python – Highlands Miniatures by Highlands Miniatures.

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Posted in 3D printing, Fun, History, Power User, Quotes | Leave a Comment »

CrazyMyra: “After AI took his job as an online assistant, Mr Clippy was obliged to seek work in other sectors…” – beige.party

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/07/30

I love the new title-text for the 2018 “Clippy” picture at [Wayback/Archive] CrazyMyra: “After AI took his job as an online assistant, Mr Clippy was obliged to seek work in other sectors…” – beige.party

A metal toilet paper holder in a corner od a bathro,with an empty roll, that looks similar to a large paperclip

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Posted in AI and ML; Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Conference Topics, Conferences, Development, Event, Fun, History, JavaScript/ECMAScript, LifeHacker, LLM, Meme, Office, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, Web Development, Windows | Leave a Comment »

Ends in a few hours: The Jordan Mechner Prince of Persia Challenge! | ThecePlay

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/07/15

Memories of the Apple ][ and //e past, though I won’t participate (my eye hand coordination is mediocre at best, so even completing a game will be a challenge:

[Wayback/Archive] The Jordan Mechner Prince of Persia Challenge! | ThecePlay

Via [Wayback/Archive] Jordan Mechner on X: “@sarsij @sujoygolan Hi, you can play 1990 @princeofpersia in your browser or in emulation via @internetarchive. Links are posted here (for @TwinGalaxies Prince of Persia challenge, with prizes–ends midnight tonight)”

More links:

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Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple ][, Games, History, Power User, Retrocomputing | Leave a Comment »

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