@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

lproven

@lproven@vivaldi.net

Tall dark black-clad atheist skeptic biker SF fan; writes (mostly about computers) for a living. All opinions expressed are my own & not those of any employer.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

How Sinclair's QL computer outshined Apple's Macintosh against all odds

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/ql_legacy_at_40/

Compatible hardware and peripherals are still on sale, four decades after its launch

<- by me on @theregister

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Opinion: I bought a flip phone and tried to get by without my smartphone. Here's how that went

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/opinion-i-bought-a-flip-phone-and-tried-to-get-by-without-my-smartphone-heres-how-that-went/ar-AA1mUqv7

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

KDE 6 hits RC-1 while KDE 5 brings fresh spin on OpenBSD

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/15/kde_6_kde_5_openbsd/

New versions and ports of the Plasma desktop ahoy

<- by me on @theregister

thelastpsion, to random
@thelastpsion@bitbang.social avatar

Here's a fun thing about 's object definition ("category") files. Comments have very odd rules.

The attached image is the example category file from the SDK, and it completely valid. Comments are sometimes allowed without any signifiers - at the end of lines, following certain lines - but other times they need to have signifiers, such as ! or /* ... */.

That's going to be fun to parse!

At least Psion listed the rules.

Quote from the Object Oriented Programming Guide of the SIBO C SDK: This example is copiously commented, to illustrate where comments are allowed. The general rules are: - any number of lines of comment text may be placed at the start of the file, or in the lines immediately following a

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@thelastpsion @M0CUV Watch out for Tony the Pony. Just saying.

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

You know the painting "the Scream" (Skrik, av Edvard Munch)... But do you know where the background depicted really is?

I didn't, and I've been there and know the view.

https://popspotsnyc.com/The_Scream/

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers

https://jasonbock.substack.com/p/if-carpenters-were-hired-like-programmers

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Code archaeologist digs up oldest known ancestor of MS-DOS

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/oldest_ancestor_of_msdos_recovered/

86-DOS version 0.1-C found and archived – all nine files of it

← by me on @theregister

sfwrtr, to business
@sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe avatar

Got down to #author stuff, now that I'm retired and can devote time to the #business of #writing #fiction. First order of business: catalog the unsold novels from after the burn out that need revision and rewrites.

Turns out that disconnecting my Mac from my work VPN messed up my folders. I had somehow mapped (don't know the Mac term) my work Windows computer folders to the Mac, and when I look in documents it tries to find it on the network and fails. If I reboot, so long as I go directly from my user's directory to documents directory, I'm good. If I click on Documents in Finder, it redirects and I'm screwed.

First thing I did was copy all my writing folders to the desktop. At least I've lost none of my old novels and short work.

I thought there were 7 completed books, and I said so online. There are actually 9, three that form a trilogy and one novel with a sequel in the mix. There are two incomplete novels.

Some works are older than others. Pages refuses to open one novel from 1996, a fun space opera that possibly has the highest chance of early sales. I haven't tried the others. Now I gotta install Word, of which I am not a fan, and investigate programs that'll open the really old files. If anyone wants to chime in with suggestions, please do! (I can always find someone with a Windows machine if need be.) Putting Google on TODO. I actually have original copies of chapters from my Apple ] days, but thankfully I updated those to the Mac and to a new millennium version of Word in what were my PowerPC days.

Incidentally, there really are three novellas in good shape.What surprises me though? There looks like about 15 short stories, many complete because I see multiple submissions in the various folders. I completely forgot about these, and was sure I never wrote short-form.

Baby steps, I guess.

[#writingLife #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@jredlund @alexandrasweetie @sfwrtr @stevendbrewer @taur10 @alan Do you mean they did the former?

You can run Classic MacOS WordPerfect under OS X, even on Arm.

https://mendelson.org/wpdos/mac-intel-alternate.html

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

RIP: Software design pioneer and Pascal creator Niklaus Wirth

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/niklaus_wirth_obituary/

Evangelist of lean software and devisor of 9 programming languages and an OS was 89

<- by me on @theregister

alecm, to random

Via @tychotithonus a novel idea: maybe it’s about time we started talking honestly about what had to be done to combat Y2K to diffuse the disinformation about it

Smart idea:

The hardest part about refuting Y2K disinfo is how many problems were fixed quietly, in part to mitigate risk of ligitation (negligence, etc.). People have stories they can’t tell.

At this point, I think enough years have passed that a formal amnesty – to encourage companies to disclose just how bad some of the problems were – would be in our historical best interest.

https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/111687949273686247

https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/copy_link?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/threads?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/mastodon?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/hacker_news?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Falecmuffett.com%2Farticle%2F108806&linkname=Via%20%40tychotithonus%40infosec.exchange%20a%20novel%20idea%3A%20maybe%20it%E2%80%99s%20about%20time%20we%20started%20talking%20honestly%20about%20what%20had%20to%20be%20done%20to%20combat%20Y2K%20to%20diffuse%20the%20disinformation%20about%20ithttps://www.addtoany.com/share

https://alecmuffett.com/article/108806

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@alecm @tychotithonus Are there really Y2K denialists now? I mean, I know there are all manner of anti-science idiots, so it should not surprise me -- but it does.

I did a lot of Y2K prevention work. It was a real thing but sometimes the work-arounds were not very onerous.

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

We Could Fix Everything, We Just Don't

https://erikmcclure.com/blog/we-could-fix-everything-we-just-dont/

«
I remember growing up with that same old adage of how you could be the next scientist to invent a cure for cancer, or a solution to climate change, or whatever. What they don’t tell you is that we already have solutions for a lot of problems, we just don’t use them.
»

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

The IDEs we had 30 years ago... and we lost

https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/the-ides-we-had-30-years-ago-and

A deep dive into the text mode editors we had and how they compare to today's

– by @jmmv but I could almost have written this myself, it aligns so closely to my own thoughts about shell editors.

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

War of the workstations: How the lowest bidders shaped today's tech landscape

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/25/the_war_of_the_workstations/

The MIT and New Jersey schools of software design, and how big lies turned into holy truths

<- by me on @theregister

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@withaveeay @theregister Thank you very much!

Only 2 comments but it seems to be doing well on Twitter and HN, so that's gratifying... 🙂

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@simon_brooke @theregister Thanks! Glad you liked it. I hope to return to the theme and the concepts.

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@dekkzz76 @withaveeay @theregister 31 boosts so far, and an unusual number of (positive!) personal comments, which is lovely. I've not looked to see if anyone's shared it in other ways.

The Reg share button doesn't tag the author, but I searched for the title and found dozens. That's gratifying. 🙂

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Asahi's Fedora remix dazzles and baffles on Apple Silicon

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/21/fed39_asahi_remix/

Take an M1 or M2-powered Mac and turn it into a fast ARM64 PC, if that's what you fancy

<- by me on @theregister

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Doom is 30, and so is Windows NT. How far we haven't come

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/19/windows_nt_30_years_on/

The difference between 1983 and 1993 is vast. Since then, not so much

<- by me on @theregister

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

What is Star Trek?

Wrong answers only, please!

lproven,
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

@foone @isotopp @cstross If there is a phaser hanging on the wall in episode 1, it must be fired, at least in stun mode, by episode 2.

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Debian preps ground to drop x86-32 as a separate edition

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/19/debian_to_drop_x86_32/

Bad news for several downstream distros, but good news for NetBSD

<- by me on @theregister

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

A new 66 million-year history of carbon dioxide offers little comfort for today

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1010053

from @aaas @eurekalert
A massive study sharpens the outlook on greenhouse gases and climate

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

With some help from the good burghers of the ClassicCmp mailing lists, I've put copies of the 2 main IBM guides to Common User Access online.

Object−Oriented CUA Interface Design:
https://www.scribd.com/document/691545759/IBM-Object-Oriented-CUA-Interface-Design-f29al000

CUA Basic Interface Design Guide:
https://www.scribd.com/document/693329404/IBM-SAA-CUA-Basic-Interface-Design-Guide

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Why tech bros are afraid of "paperclip maximiser" "AI"...

http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/paperclip-maximizer

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

'Ford flipped the switch which he saw was now marked "Mode Execute Ready" instead of the now old-fashioned "Access Standby" which had so long ago replaced the appallingly stone-aged "Off".'

http://designblog.nzeldes.com/2008/05/the-evolution-of-the-onoff-power-switch-symbol/

lproven, to random
@lproven@vivaldi.net avatar

Kernel kerfuffle kiboshes Debian 12.3 release
https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/12/kernel_6_1_ext4_corruption/

A mis-merged patch causing corruption on ext4 volumes is to blame

<- by me on @theregister

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