• Re: Bluefish HTML Editor

    From Lester Thorpe@lt@gnu.rocks to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 19:20:50 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:35:52 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:


    Perhaps it could be rewritten in Rust, as an alternative to a new Linux kernel written in Rust as opposed to writing bits of the current kernel
    in Rust.


    Why Rust?

    Rust is just another fucking crutch for all the fucking retards who
    could not master computer science sufficiently to master C.

    C is the ultimate and only programming language.

    But the problem is that C requires a sophistication and maturity
    that 99% of "programmers" do not possess.

    All those who advocate Rust only attest to their retarded and
    hopeless programming "expertise."
    --
    Systemd: solving all the problems that you never knew you had.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Chris Ahlstrom@OFeem1987@teleworm.us to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 15:58:28 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    Lester Thorpe wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

    On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:35:52 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Perhaps it could be rewritten in Rust, as an alternative to a new Linux
    kernel written in Rust as opposed to writing bits of the current kernel
    in Rust.

    Why Rust?

    Rust is just another fucking crutch for all the fucking retards who
    could not master computer science sufficiently to master C.

    C is the ultimate and only programming language.

    But the problem is that C requires a sophistication and maturity
    that 99% of "programmers" do not possess.

    All those who advocate Rust only attest to their retarded and
    hopeless programming "expertise."

    I'm of the theory that all programmers should know how to create resources and dispose of them the instant they are not needed.

    - Via auto scope
    - Via constructors and destructors
    - Via malloc() and rigorous calls of free()
    - Fsck garbage collection (for the most part)
    --
    Rincewind looked down at him and grinned slowly. It was a wide, manic, and utterly humourless rictus. It was the sort of grin that is normally accompanied by small riverside birds wandering in and out, picking scraps
    out of the teeth.
    -- Terry Pratchett, "The Lure of the Wyrm"
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 16:59:27 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM? 8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The 68000 apparently had the address lines to operate 16MB of memory.
    But at the time, our 68000 design had 128KB on it. The thing was,
    DRAM was its own worst enemy at the time, a super-crude technology,
    intended to make engineers jump from a second floor window. It's a good
    thing we only had 128KB, at the time. The DRAM chips could only withstand
    -0.5V of undershoot. Once a genius in the DRAM industry, figured out a way
    to allow the undershoot to be -2.0V, that is when DRAM began to be more practical.
    Our system was a "cost be damned" prototype, so I feel we would have had
    more memory, if who ever designed it, had wanted to add more. (The machine was a freaking disaster, and FCC part 15, it would have blown the front end off
    the test instruments - I took a machine home, and it wiped out all television reception. We had a lot to learn back then, about emissions.)

    https://wiki.console5.com/tw/images/thumb/1/1c/MC68000-MC68010-MC68HC000-64-DIL-Pinout.png/270px-MC68000-MC68010-MC68HC000-64-DIL-Pinout.png?20110817192929

    By 1987 or 1991, I expect there was enough memory, for a person
    to have aspirations. I don't think you could easily rush Linux
    out the door earlier. Maybe you could have done your first version
    on a mainframe. They had core memory.

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 23:19:04 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM? 8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the 8088
    was the 68008.

    ...
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From not@not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 09:14:28 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    In comp.os.linux.misc The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
    People don't want to pay for operating systems any more. The *only*
    place Microsoft hangs on is the desktop, and desktop sales are now more
    or less commercial. Not many average dudes buy a desktop when they can
    have a fondleslab or a big fuck off 'rob me' mobile phone...

    Only hardcore gamers

    Nothing of any real significance has come out of Microsoft for ages.

    It is really a cash cow now. It will dwindle and get sold off. Gates has
    his billions.

    Any major future dwindling of M$ won't be due to Windows losing
    dominance, since it's already down to just 12.8% of their revenue
    in 2022:
    https://businessquant.com/microsoft-revenue-by-product

    Money-wise they're mainly a "cloud" company now, selling services
    that may often run on Linux. In fact they're making contributions
    to Linux kernel development now, so it really is a brave new world:

    Microsoft Engineer Sends Rust Linux Kernel Patches For In-Place
    Module Initialization https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Rust-In-Place-Module-Init
    --
    __ __
    #_ < |\| |< _#
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 23:55:56 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:23:36 -0600, clinker wrote:

    OS2 had a good run for example. It is still alive and well in some proprietary industrial equipment because it is impervious to hacks as no
    one remembers it.

    It wasn’t impervious to hacks. I remember reading the original programming manual, and noticing about four different ways to crash or hang the
    system.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 23:58:25 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 09:41:06 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    DOS is still used in a lot of industrial kit ...

    You mean the obsolete, unsupported, proprietary MS-DOS or DR-DOS, or the
    Open Source, still being developed, FreeDOS?

    There is evidence that Linux itself is getting bloated, and in need of
    the same 'back to basics' approach that Linus dud 30 years ago.

    It’s just as modular as it always was. You can even build it for certain architectures that completely lack memory protection.

    Linux is like C. It has its issues, but everyone understands them
    everyone can program in it and it works well enough. And it doesn't need licenses to be paid to use it.

    And sometimes its easier to fix bugs in it than to rewrite it in Rust
    etc.

    You do know that the Linux kernel is accepting Rust code now, don’t you?
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 00:00:52 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 18:40:49 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

    The Amiga would have fared much better if Commodore's board wasn't so
    busy running the company into the ground while siphoning off bigger
    salaries than IBM's bigwigs were getting.

    The Amiga made a giant leap in hardware capability, then stood still as competitors surpassed it. For example, the Apple Mac was able to improve
    its hardware with minimal breakage in app compatibility, because of its
    good software abstractions. Whereas Amiga apps had to work directly with
    the hardware, so that hardware could not be improved without breaking
    those apps.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 00:02:25 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:34:06 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    The original Unix ran on less that 128K RAM

    Remember, other OSes were more efficient than that, because they were
    mostly written in assembly language. Unix, being written in C, was larger
    and slower.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From vallor@vallor@cultnix.org to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 01:28:15 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:23:36 -0600, clinker <azigni@yahoo.com> wrote in <eg3HO.8194$MxR.395@fx47.iad>:

    Not to derail this thread, which is a good one, but it is possible an operating system will be developed that threaten both Linux and Windows existence as it is known today.

    OS2 had a good run for example. It is still alive and well in some proprietary industrial equipment because it is impervious to hacks as no
    one remembers it.

    Is it 64-bit yet?
    --
    -v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti
    OS: Linux 6.11.0 Release: Mint 21.3 Mem: 258G
    "Confucius say: Man who run behind truck get exhausted."
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 20 22:30:05 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 9/20/2024 5:19 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM?   8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the 8088 was the 68008.

    At the time, people knew better than to buy the 8088 or the 68008.

    But good things come from following the theme. In this article,
    is a description of Torvalds early equipment. And partially
    why he was inclined to work on Linux. It was the poor quality
    of the stuff that was coming on the machines he was buying :-)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_QL # A thing that used the 68008

    "Linux

    Linus Torvalds has attributed his eventually developing the Linux kernel,
    likewise having pre-emptive multitasking, in part to having owned a Sinclair QL
    in the 1980s.

    Because of the lack of support, particularly in his native Finland, Torvalds
    became used to writing his own software rather than relying on programs written
    by others.[28] In part, his frustration with Minix, on the Sinclair,[29] led,
    years later, to his purchase of a more standard IBM PC compatible on which he
    would develop Linux.

    In 'Just for Fun', Torvalds wrote, "Back in 1987, one of the selling points of
    the QL was that it looked cool", because it was "entirely matte black, with a
    black keyboard" and was "fairly angular". He also wrote he bought a floppy controller
    so he could stop using microdrives, but the floppy controller driver was bad,
    so he wrote his own. Bugs in the operating system, or discrepancies with the
    documentation, that made his software not work properly, got him interested in
    operating systems.

    "Like any good computer purist raised on a 68008 chip," Torvalds "despised PCs",
    but decided in autumn 1990 to purchase a 386 custom-made IBM PC compatible,
    which he did in January 1991.
    "

    I think you can see there, how that over-developed the muscles in his middle finger.

    Paul

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From The Natural Philosopher@tnp@invalid.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 09:19:19 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 20/09/2024 22:19, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM?   8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the 8088
    was the 68008.

    ...

    FSVO 'equivalent' :-)
    --
    "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign,
    that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

    Jonathan Swift.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 13:33:09 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-21 04:30, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 5:19 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM?   8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the 8088 was the 68008.

    At the time, people knew better than to buy the 8088 or the 68008.

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones
    used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but
    dunno if all models.

    ...
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 11:00:18 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Sat, 9/21/2024 4:19 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 20/09/2024 22:19, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM?   8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the 8088 was the 68008.

    ...

    FSVO 'equivalent' :-)

    You pick processor families, by their decorator colours.

    Once I saw this, I just had to have one.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9900#/media/File:KL_TI_TMS9900_Black_Background.jpg

    The colour really does make a difference. The white one is obviously better...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000#/media/File:XC68000.agr.jpg

    The TMS9900 only drew 1 watt, so you didn't need a cooler, and
    got to enjoy the shiny white finish.

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From The Natural Philosopher@tnp@invalid.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sat Sep 21 19:34:31 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 21/09/2024 12:33, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-21 04:30, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 5:19 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 22:59, Paul wrote:
    On Fri, 9/20/2024 7:59 AM, chrisv wrote:
    The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    If Linux had existed we would never have had DOS

    Linux on an 8088 and 64k of RAM?   8)

    I guess the 68000 was also an option...


    GCC came out in 1987. Linux in 1991. There may be
    something to the timing there. Maybe it wouldn't have
    been as easy, to do it earlier.

    The 8088 was 1979.
    The 68000 was 1979.

    The equivalent to the 68000 was the 8086. Or, the equivalent to the
    8088 was the 68008.

    At the time, people knew better than to buy the 8088 or the 68008.

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones
    used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but dunno if all models.


    My PC clone had an NEC V20 and a hard drive of a monumental 20MB IIRC.
    It was all I could afford
    --
    Those who want slavery should have the grace to name it by its proper
    name. They must face the full meaning of that which they are advocating
    or condoning; the full, exact, specific meaning of collectivism, of its logical implications, of the principles upon which it is based, and of
    the ultimate consequences to which these principles will lead. They must
    face it, then decide whether this is what they want or not.

    Ayn Rand.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mark Lloyd@not.email@all.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sun Sep 22 18:02:24 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Sat, 21 Sep 2024 19:34:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    [snip]

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones
    used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but
    dunno if all models.


    My PC clone had an NEC V20 and a hard drive of a monumental 20MB IIRC.
    It was all I could afford

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB (RLL)
    for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,
    --
    94 days until the winter celebration (Wednesday, December 25, 2024
    12:00:00 AM for 1 day).

    Mark Lloyd
    http://notstupid.us/

    "Theology: The study of elaborate verbal disguises for non-ideas."
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Chris Ahlstrom@OFeem1987@teleworm.us to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Sun Sep 22 14:39:07 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    Mark Lloyd wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

    On Sat, 21 Sep 2024 19:34:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    [snip]

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones
    used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but
    dunno if all models.

    My PC clone had an NEC V20 and a hard drive of a monumental 20MB IIRC.
    It was all I could afford

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB (RLL) for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,

    I remember the "Twister" format you could use on the Atari ST to speed up floppy copy.
    --
    Spouse, n.:
    Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you
    wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 09:51:36 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-22 20:02, Mark Lloyd wrote:
    On Sat, 21 Sep 2024 19:34:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    [snip]

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones
    used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but
    dunno if all models.


    My PC clone had an NEC V20 and a hard drive of a monumental 20MB IIRC.
    It was all I could afford

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB (RLL) for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,

    I had an Amstrad PC 1512 DD, ie, dual floppy. I later bought a HD
    mounted on a card, 32 megs which apparently was the maximum that could
    be done. Friends of mine had a 10MB HD and complained it was full. So I
    went for bigger.

    Yes, I remember the low-level format thing. The program in my case asked
    for an interleave factor, and there was a recommendation for 3. I tested several values, and something like 12 got double speed. Amazing at the
    time. There was also a table of bad sectors to enter manually, but it
    did not work right because the format found bad sectors and marked them
    as such in the FAT.

    I still have that machine, should still run. Walk.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 09:57:26 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-20 10:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 20/09/2024 01:23, clinker wrote:
    Not to derail this thread, which is a good one, but it is possible an
    operating system will be developed that threaten both Linux and
    Windows existence as it is known today.

    most things are *possible*

    OS2 had a good run for example. It is still alive and well in some
    proprietary industrial equipment because it is impervious to hacks as
    no one remembers it.

    DOS is still used in a lot of industrial kit ...When all you want is to
    load a single tasked application that talks to custom hardware...

    Makes sense. I worked in that sector in the 90's. The only problem with
    MsDOS was the small memory available. We had to use overlays in the
    software, or load/download programs with a stub.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From The Natural Philosopher@tnp@invalid.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 11:23:21 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 25/09/2024 08:57, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-20 10:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 20/09/2024 01:23, clinker wrote:
    Not to derail this thread, which is a good one, but it is possible an
    operating system will be developed that threaten both Linux and
    Windows existence as it is known today.

    most things are *possible*

    OS2 had a good run for example. It is still alive and well in some
    proprietary industrial equipment because it is impervious to hacks as
    no one remembers it.

    DOS is still used in a lot of industrial kit ...When all you want is
    to load a single tasked application that talks to custom hardware...

    Makes sense. I worked in that sector in the 90's. The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available. We had to use overlays in the software, or load/download programs with a stub.
    Well you could in theory kick the processor into 'large' mode and use a
    lot more memory


    --
    No Apple devices were knowingly used in the preparation of this post.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Chris Ahlstrom@OFeem1987@teleworm.us to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 07:17:32 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    Carlos E.R. wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

    On 2024-09-20 10:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 20/09/2024 01:23, clinker wrote:
    Not to derail this thread, which is a good one, but it is possible an
    operating system will be developed that threaten both Linux and
    Windows existence as it is known today.

    most things are *possible*

    OS2 had a good run for example. It is still alive and well in some
    proprietary industrial equipment because it is impervious to hacks as
    no one remembers it.

    DOS is still used in a lot of industrial kit ...When all you want is to
    load a single tasked application that talks to custom hardware...

    Makes sense. I worked in that sector in the 90's. The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available. We had to use overlays in the software, or load/download programs with a stub.

    I remember the damned overlays when writing a Turbo C "GUI" (a la ncurses).

    I later worked on a large MASM project where you had to load the correct
    64k bank when calling a function. Painful.

    "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- attributed to Bill Gates
    --
    What scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?
    -- J. D. Farley
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 07:27:21 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Wed, 9/25/2024 3:51 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-22 20:02, Mark Lloyd wrote:
    On Sat, 21 Sep 2024 19:34:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    [snip]

    Millions of people bought the 8088: the original IBM PC and its clones >>>> used it. Interestingly, the Amstrad PC used the 8086. And Olivetti, but >>>> dunno if all models.


    My PC clone had an NEC V20 and a hard drive of a monumental 20MB IIRC.
    It was all I could afford

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB (RLL) >> for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a
    low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,

    I had an Amstrad PC 1512 DD, ie, dual floppy. I later bought a HD mounted on a card, 32 megs which apparently was the maximum that could be done. Friends of mine had a 10MB HD and complained it was full. So I went for bigger.

    Yes, I remember the low-level format thing. The program in my case asked for an interleave factor, and there was a recommendation for 3. I tested several values, and something like 12 got double speed. Amazing at the time. There was also a table of bad sectors to enter manually, but it did not work right because the format found bad sectors and marked them as such in the FAT.

    I still have that machine, should still run. Walk.

    It's better to leave the unit in the cardboard box :-)

    The head on that drive, has probably welded itself
    to the surface of the platter. Drives back then
    did not have plastic landing ramps, like they do today.

    There is nothing wrong with turning it on, but it could
    damage or rip the head off it. It doesn't have to end well.

    If you turn it on and hear a "strange noise", just put it
    back in the box. No one will know.

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mark Lloyd@not.email@all.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 18:54:04 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:51:36 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    [snip]

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB
    (RLL)
    for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a
    low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,

    I had an Amstrad PC 1512 DD, ie, dual floppy. I later bought a HD
    mounted on a card, 32 megs which apparently was the maximum that could
    be done. Friends of mine had a 10MB HD and complained it was full. So I
    went for bigger.

    32MB was the largest partition size supported by the early version of
    FAT16 (16-bit sector count * 512-byte sector size). The disk could be
    larger, but then you'd need more partitions.

    The drive I had was actually a little larger than the maximum, so I could create a small second partition.

    BTW, there is a later version of FAT16 with a 32-bit sector count.

    Yes, I remember the low-level format thing. The program in my case asked
    for an interleave factor, and there was a recommendation for 3. I tested several values, and something like 12 got double speed. Amazing at the
    time. There was also a table of bad sectors to enter manually, but it
    did not work right because the format found bad sectors and marked them
    as such in the FAT.

    I still have that machine, should still run. Walk.
    --
    91 days until the winter celebration (Wednesday, December 25, 2024
    12:00:00 AM for 1 day).

    Mark Lloyd
    http://notstupid.us/

    "The Devil...clutched hold of the miserable young man...and flew off
    with him through the ceiling, since which time nothing has been heard of [him]." [Martin Luther]
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mark Lloyd@not.email@all.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 18:57:24 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    [snip]

    I still have that machine, should still run. Walk.

    It's better to leave the unit in the cardboard box :-)

    The head on that drive, has probably welded itself to the surface of the platter. Drives back then did not have plastic landing ramps, like they
    do today.

    So you'd rather have it in "somewhat better condition" and completely
    useless than take a chance that you can get some use out of it?

    [snip]
    --
    91 days until the winter celebration (Wednesday, December 25, 2024
    12:00:00 AM for 1 day).

    Mark Lloyd
    http://notstupid.us/

    "The Devil...clutched hold of the miserable young man...and flew off
    with him through the ceiling, since which time nothing has been heard of [him]." [Martin Luther]
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 21:20:57 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:57:26 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available.

    Isn’t that why DOS extenders were invented?
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 18:15:01 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Wed, 9/25/2024 2:57 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
    [snip]

    I still have that machine, should still run. Walk.

    It's better to leave the unit in the cardboard box :-)

    The head on that drive, has probably welded itself to the surface of the
    platter. Drives back then did not have plastic landing ramps, like they
    do today.

    So you'd rather have it in "somewhat better condition" and completely useless than take a chance that you can get some use out of it?

    [snip]


    You need to collect statistical information on the survival rate
    of stiction drives from that era. I don't know what the chemistry
    possibilities are, for head-to-platter contact for a couple decades.

    I have a stiction drive here. It needed a tap on the side of the
    drive housing, to release the head and allow the spindle to spin.
    You could say, this practice made me <cough> nervous. Because
    if you hit it too hard, you could be doing long term damage.
    That drive is five feet from me right now, and hasn't been powered
    for 25 years. What "chemistry" has been going on in there ? Does
    the platter lube suffer breakdown over time ? Dunno. You might not
    ever be able to separate the heads from the platter, in a glove box,
    without ruining the heads, and needing to replace the head assembly.

    Drives with landing ramps, I have no problem with you starting one
    of those. I regularly test my old 4GB IDE drive, and it still works
    like a champ. I had a 2GB drive fail, a Barracuda 32550N, and the
    head lock failed on that drive, destroying the heads and gouging
    the platter. They didn't use the head lock idea (solenoid design)
    for very long. At a guess then, anything 4GB or more capacity,
    is likely perfectly safe to test at your convenience. But a
    150MB-250MB drive ? Primed failure material. Already needed to be
    whacked to make it work, on a daily basis. Hardly good gambling
    odds. Like betting on the pony with three legs, at the track :-)

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lars Poulsen@lars@beagle-ears.com to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Wed Sep 25 19:33:08 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu


    On 2024-09-20 10:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    DOS is still used in a lot of industrial kit ...When all you want is
    to load a single tasked application that talks to custom hardware...

    On 25/09/2024 08:57, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    Makes sense. I worked in that sector in the 90's. The only problem
    with MsDOS was the small memory available. We had to use overlays in
    the software, or load/download programs with a stub.
    Well you could in theory kick the processor into 'large' mode and use a
    lot more memory

    In the mid 1980s, my group was building a small communications
    appliance. We built a single-board PC and used a DOS clone as our
    bootloader. But booting from floppy was slow as molasses, until I wrote
    a small TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) extension that hooked the BIOS
    read call and buffered a track at a time. Simple and efficient.

    Later, we built at larger, modular system. We found it more economical
    to buy a Taiwanese PC motherboard than to roll our own system package.
    We put a DOS Extender to good use (80386 in 80286 protected mode). The multitasking part of KA9Q was in there somewhere.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Charlie Gibbs@cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Thu Sep 26 16:18:01 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-25, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

    I have a stiction drive here. It needed a tap on the side of the
    drive housing, to release the head and allow the spindle to spin.

    I had one of those. The housing was pretty solid, so I needed
    to give it a whack with a screwdriver handle.

    You could say, this practice made me <cough> nervous. Because
    if you hit it too hard, you could be doing long term damage.

    I certainly would consider replacing such a drive, or at least
    not storing anything on it that wasn't thoroughly backed up.

    One day I visited my wife's office. One of her cow orkers
    has having trouble bringing up her Mac. I recognized the
    problem as stiction, popped the case open, and tapped the
    cover of the hard drive with a fingertip. The cow orker's
    initial state of panic was quickly replaced by relief when
    the drive spun up. I strongly suggested she take a backup
    and consider replacing the drive. I don't know whether she
    ever did - people rarely do...
    --
    /~\ Charlie Gibbs | We'll go down in history as the
    \ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | first society that wouldn't save
    X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | itself because it wasn't cost-
    / \ if you read it the right way. | effective. -- Kurt Vonnegut
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Thu Sep 26 21:05:18 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-25 20:54, Mark Lloyd wrote:
    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:51:36 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    [snip]

    I had a V20 too, and (at least where I bought it) I could get a 30MB
    (RLL)
    for only $20 more than the 20MB. It was one where you could still do a
    low-level format. Enter DEBUG and a command like "G=C000:000C". I first
    got Spinrite because it could change the interleave,

    I had an Amstrad PC 1512 DD, ie, dual floppy. I later bought a HD
    mounted on a card, 32 megs which apparently was the maximum that could
    be done. Friends of mine had a 10MB HD and complained it was full. So I
    went for bigger.

    32MB was the largest partition size supported by the early version of
    FAT16 (16-bit sector count * 512-byte sector size). The disk could be
    larger, but then you'd need more partitions.

    Which must be the reason, when I applied a compression driver, to use
    two partitions.

    ...
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Thu Sep 26 21:17:13 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-25 23:20, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:57:26 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available.

    Isn’t that why DOS extenders were invented?

    They had to be compatible with the set of libraries you used, and your application. Most of ours used LabWindows, probably version 1 or 2.
    Maybe 3? I don't remember.

    I used a stub program that run the menu (and initial data taking), then offloaded itself and called another exe with the next section.

    I don't remember using a dos extender with it. Wikipedia says there was
    one in version 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LabWindows/CVI

    I remember it used basic or C. I switched to C with Borland C.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Thu Sep 26 21:02:21 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 21:17:13 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    Most of ours used LabWindows, probably version 1 or 2.
    Maybe 3? I don't remember.

    All I can recall of LabWindows is that it was a poor attempt to recreate
    the Macintosh-only LabView on Microsoft-compatible PCs.

    Remember the Mac II and successors had NuBus for their expansion bus at
    the time, which offered higher performance for connecting instrumentation
    than anything available in the Microsoft-compatible world, until PCI came along.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From The Natural Philosopher@tnp@invalid.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 27 02:13:56 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 26/09/2024 20:17, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-25 23:20, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:57:26 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available.

    Isn’t that why DOS extenders were invented?

    They had to be compatible with the set of libraries you used, and your application. Most of ours used LabWindows, probably version 1 or 2.
    Maybe 3? I don't remember.

    I used a stub program that run the menu (and initial data taking), then offloaded itself and called another exe with the next section.

    I don't remember using a dos extender with it. Wikipedia says there was
    one in version 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LabWindows/CVI

    I remember it used basic or C. I switched to C with Borland C.


    Since MSDOS was less an operating system than a program loader, there
    was no problem whatsoever in using all the memory the machine had, if
    all it was running was your own code talking straight to the Bios or the hardware.
    --
    The lifetime of any political organisation is about three years before
    its been subverted by the people it tried to warn you about.

    Anon.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 27 01:29:05 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On Fri, 27 Sep 2024 02:13:56 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    Since MSDOS was less an operating system than a program loader, there
    was no problem whatsoever in using all the memory the machine had ...

    The problem was the convoluted x86 addressing architecture. And what
    happened when you had more than 640 KiB of memory.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 27 03:32:48 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-27 03:13, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
    On 26/09/2024 20:17, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2024-09-25 23:20, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:57:26 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The only problem with MsDOS was the small memory available.

    Isn’t that why DOS extenders were invented?

    They had to be compatible with the set of libraries you used, and your
    application. Most of ours used LabWindows, probably version 1 or 2.
    Maybe 3? I don't remember.

    I used a stub program that run the menu (and initial data taking),
    then offloaded itself and called another exe with the next section.

    I don't remember using a dos extender with it. Wikipedia says there
    was one in version 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LabWindows/CVI

    I remember it used basic or C. I switched to C with Borland C.


    Since MSDOS was less an operating system than a program loader, there
    was no problem whatsoever in using all the memory the machine had, if
    all it was running was your own code talking straight to the Bios or the hardware.

    All the memory was 640 KB, even if the machine had 8 meg.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.ubuntu on Fri Sep 27 03:31:25 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.ubuntu

    On 2024-09-26 23:02, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 21:17:13 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    Most of ours used LabWindows, probably version 1 or 2.
    Maybe 3? I don't remember.

    All I can recall of LabWindows is that it was a poor attempt to recreate
    the Macintosh-only LabView on Microsoft-compatible PCs.

    Labview was available on Dos/Win. We used it, too.


    Remember the Mac II and successors had NuBus for their expansion bus at
    the time, which offered higher performance for connecting instrumentation than anything available in the Microsoft-compatible world, until PCI came along.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114