Ltning

@ltning@weirdr.net

He/him. This is one of my alter egos in the retro world. Read about this instance on front page. My goal is to be able to post here from a 286* running DOS. Might be a while..

and enthusiast with a craving for retro (mostly PC) hardware. Four kids and a wonderful patchwork family.

*Speaking of 286es: http://floppy.museum/

25 following, 55 followers

📌 29 ★ 11 ↺

Ltning »
@ltning@weirdr.net

After a fair bit of fiddling, this instance is now .. operational, I think? And this is officially my first post here.

See also my main fediverse presence: @ltning@anduin.net

About this instance, at the time of writing:
- OS: 10
- Reverse proxy: nginx
- CPU: Dual Pentium Pro Overdrive, 333MHz
- RAM: 512MB EDO
- NIC: 3Com 100Mbit PCI NIC
- Storage: SATA 1.0 (CF and SSD)


    ...
    2 ★ 2 ↺
    Anders Gulden Olstad boosted

    Ltning »
    @ltning@weirdr.net

    Posting and boosting this certainly put the box under some duress.. Changed ssl_ecdh_curve from secp521r1:secp384r1; to X25519:prime256v1; now; let's see if that helps.

    7 ★ 5 ↺
    rk: could be an enum boosted

    Ltning »
    @ltning@weirdr.net

    Trying to optimise http://floppy.museum for (even) older browsers. Some of the issues I'm trying to solve include utf8-to-latin1 translation (the original HTML has some silly double- and triple-byte characters), and variations of JPEG that simply aren't understood.

    Turns out Netscape 2.02 is too easy, so in this picture is IBM WebExplorer v1.1h running on OS/2 Warp Connect. Using the magic "work area" feature of folders (mark a folder as a work area to have the OS manage objects within it as a kind of unit), I can open several windows at once. True multi-process browsing 😉


    OS/2 Warp Connect with four browser windows, a text mode editor editing config.sys, the parent "work area" folder and the launch pad.

    Alt...OS/2 Warp Connect with four browser windows, a text mode editor editing config.sys, the parent "work area" folder and the launch pad.

      Ltning boosted

      ltning »
      @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

      "You find armed women in swimsuit sexy."
      (But then again, you find all women sexy!)

      This is a game I think would like (A short thread).

      Picture of screen showing an ex-girlfriend of Larry's wearing a swimsuit and pointing a gun at him.

      Alt...Picture of screen showing an ex-girlfriend of Larry's wearing a swimsuit and pointing a gun at him.

        ...

        ltning »
        @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

        He could, in fact, be tied down.

        Picture of screen showing Roger Wilco strapped to a chair, with a scantily-clad, angry-looking woman on either side.

        Alt...Picture of screen showing Roger Wilco strapped to a chair, with a scantily-clad, angry-looking woman on either side.

        ...

        ltning »
        @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

        "You find angry women in black latex sexy."
        (Then again, you are a nutcase, Larry!)


        Picture of screen showing angry woman clad in Latex, presumably about to torture our hero.

        Alt...Picture of screen showing angry woman clad in Latex, presumably about to torture our hero.

          2 ★ 1 ↺
          Anders Gulden Olstad boosted

          Ltning »
          @ltning@weirdr.net

          The sound of a 486SLC doing a SSH handshake.

          Alt...Electronic noise from the CPU/RAM while handshaking.

          8 ★ 5 ↺

          Ltning »
          @ltning@weirdr.net

          Baking my next project, a thread...
          [Edit - fixed attachment]

          I've said somewhere I want to run NetBSD on a . Now obviously that's not actually possible, but I should be able to do the next best thing - run it on a 286 upgraded to a 486SLC!

          But wait, most 286es only support 4MB RAM, although the ol' chum of a chip supports a whopping 16MB. So I have to find a motherboard that can do this.

          Thing is, I already have one. See picture. But it's currently occupied doing very important Enterprisy stuff - it runs IBM OS/2 1.3 Extended Edition..but at least I know what I need!

          otherboard with a soldered 20MHz 286 CPU and a Citygate chipset.

          Alt...otherboard with a soldered 20MHz 286 CPU and a Citygate chipset.

            ...
            3 ★ 0 ↺

            Ltning »
            @ltning@weirdr.net

            So as usual, its eBay to the rescue. Found a board just like it, except there's good news and bad news: the good news is the CPU is socketed on this one, making the upgrade job a lot easier.

            The bad news? See picture.

            Zoomed-in picture of the new mainboard, showing green gunk on the board itself and in the RAM sockets. Yuck!

            Alt...Zoomed-in picture of the new mainboard, showing green gunk on the board itself and in the RAM sockets. Yuck!

              ...
              1 ★ 0 ↺

              Ltning »
              @ltning@weirdr.net

              I'm a bit of a n00b at this, but I have salvaged a couple of boards before using vinegar and a toothbrush, so I'm trying my luck with that. After applying the vinegar and watching, hearing and smelling it sizzling, I dunk the affected part thoroughly for a few minutes...

              Kitchen paper dunked in 12% vinegar, placed on the affected part of the motherboard to allow the vinegar to do its magic without disappearing into thin air.

              Alt...Kitchen paper dunked in 12% vinegar, placed on the affected part of the motherboard to allow the vinegar to do its magic without disappearing into thin air.

                ...
                4 ★ 1 ↺
                Network == Abstraction Layer boosted

                Ltning »
                @ltning@weirdr.net

                And I know one should not apply regular water to electronics, but I'm trusting Oslo Waterworks to supply me with nice, clean water from the tap. It comes at high pressure to boot, so I can quickly get rid of all the vinegar to prevent it from slowly eating through everything. As long as I dry it properly and quickly, it should be fine, I'm told.

                I said I was baking - It was not a randomly chosen term.

                The mainboard is literally in the oven! 60 degrees Celcius in hot air-mode for, say, an hour or so should do, I guess.

                Alt...The mainboard is literally in the oven! 60 degrees Celcius in hot air-mode for, say, an hour or so should do, I guess.

                  ...
                  3 ★ 1 ↺
                  Network == Abstraction Layer boosted

                  Ltning »
                  @ltning@weirdr.net

                  And it lives! Apparently I'm officially operating a Motherboard Bakery! :)
                  Now I need to get it properly configured and tested with DOS, then I can move on to the next steps - which involve the CPU upgrade, and assuming that works, creating actual, physical floppies.

                  (In other news, the instance on this poor Pentium Pro server is sweating hard whenever I post something. So let me know at @ltning@anduin.net if you have problems receiving/reading my posts. I've made some tweaks but it will be unavoidably detained for a while following each post, my apologies for that..)


                  Picture of BIOS during boot. It's a 1990 American Megatrends BIOS, for the TD60C board, BIOS version 2.42B. It shows a 20MHz CPU clock and 15872 KB RAM tested OK.

                  Alt...Picture of BIOS during boot. It's a 1990 American Megatrends BIOS, for the TD60C board, BIOS version 2.42B. It shows a 20MHz CPU clock and 15872 KB RAM tested OK.

                    ...
                    2 ★ 1 ↺
                    Headbanger75 boosted

                    Ltning »
                    @ltning@weirdr.net

                    Herewith, the actual machine. Some specs ..
                    - Motherboard: Zida TD60C
                    - CPU: Harris 286 28MHz
                    - RAM: 16MB "RainbowRAM", 55ns (check out the LEDs!)
                    - Graphics: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5422, 1MB
                    - Network: 3com EtherLink III (3c509)
                    - Floppy: 2-in-1 90mm (3.5") and 1.2" floppy drive
                    - Storage: Promise DC200M caching IDE controller, 2.5MB cache
                    - SCSI: Sound Blaster 16 SCSI :D


                    Dark-ish picture showing motherboard mounted horizontally on a transparent acrylic surface. Underneath a combined 5.25 inch and 90mm floppy drive. The installed RAM lights up in different colours, four sticks with blue, purpole organge and yellow LEDs, respectively. VGA, network and sound cards are also visible.

                    Alt...Dark-ish picture showing motherboard mounted horizontally on a transparent acrylic surface. Underneath a combined 5.25 inch and 90mm floppy drive. The installed RAM lights up in different colours, four sticks with blue, purpole organge and yellow LEDs, respectively. VGA, network and sound cards are also visible.

                      ...

                      Network == Abstraction Layer »
                      @overunderlay@bsd.network

                      @ltning any 286 over 16mhz is a unicorn!
                      Great find!

                        2 ★ 0 ↺

                        Ltning »
                        @ltning@weirdr.net

                        Well .. that went sideways. Despite many attempts, I have yet to find a 286 - or a 386sx for that matter - that will boot the NetBSD floppies without failing in some way or other. I'm not yet certain (perhaps someone here knows?), but there may be instructions missing from the various 486SLC and 486DLC CPU variants that my ugprade modules have. Or there are other bugs that I have not been able to figure out.

                        Anyway, I've reduced my ambitions ever so slightly, and am now in the process of installing NetBSD (-CURRENT) on what is essentially a 386SX-class machine: 16-bit bus, 24-bit addressing, 16MB RAM, and nearly as unpleasantly slow as the 286 I had planned to use. It is however equipped with an IBM-branded 486SLC, which is from the Blue Lightning series. This one definitely has a full 486 instruction set. More hardware details will follow when I've completed the build (and installation).

                        Meanwhile, the obligatory screenshot from the installer. Note the ETA for simply unpacking base.tgz ..

                        Screenshot from installer. Shows base.txz being extracted, at a speed of 110 KB/s. ETA given is about 30 minutes, which turned out to be relatively accurate.

                        Alt...Screenshot from installer. Shows base.txz being extracted, at a speed of 110 KB/s. ETA given is about 30 minutes, which turned out to be relatively accurate.

                          Ltning boosted

                          ltning »
                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                          for the win: Using ctwm (window manager), urxvt (terminal emulator), mrxvt (tabbed terminal emulator), pload (network monitor) and, in the spirit of the 90s, hot-babe (CPU monitor), I have a nice and borderline usable "desktop" on this 486.

                          Until starts doing work of course. Then I just sit back and wait.

                            ...

                            Network == Abstraction Layer »
                            @overunderlay@bsd.network

                            @ltning I'd love to see a comparison between Dillo & NetSurf on this thing
                            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillo
                            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetSurf

                              ...

                              ltning »
                              @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                              I haven't tried either, and I don't think I will. I'm already using 20MB swap when what you see in the screenshot is running. Netsurf is painfully slow even on a dual Pentium Pro, and it coredumps if I enable the JS engine. I haven't even tried Dillo for a long time, but without SSE2 and whatnot I don't really expect it to even start...

                              When it comes to browsers, I've come to realise they're complex operating systems in themselves and there is no way for them to function on anything but a pretty modern computer. Case in point; @bob82@anduin.net and I installed NetBSD on their ~2010 Macbook Pro today, and Firefox was slow as molasses and coredumped repeatedly. Fairly sure it's due to missing instructions or whatnot. Might research more later :)

                                54 ★ 20 ↺

                                Ltning »
                                @ltning@weirdr.net

                                I did it. Be gentle. https://larry.weirdr.net/

                                pfetch output on larry.weirdr.net, showing it runs NetBSD 10.1 on a 486-class computer.

                                Alt...pfetch output on larry.weirdr.net, showing it runs NetBSD 10.1 on a 486-class computer.

                                ...
                                Older...

                                Network == Abstraction Layer »
                                @overunderlay@bsd.network

                                @ltning great work!
                                Love the LL graphic at the top

                                  Jay 🚩 :runbsd: boosted

                                  BSDTV »
                                  @bsdtv@bsd.network

                                  @ltning @jaypatelani Congratulations! When you are ready and have a chance, could you post to dmesgd.nycbug.org and

                                  bsd-hardware.info/

                                  It may save other 486s from the e-waste stream!

                                    ...
                                    4 ★ 1 ↺
                                    Network == Abstraction Layer boosted
                                    in reply to »

                                    Ltning »
                                    @ltning@weirdr.net

                                    I had to build my own kernel since the default kernel simply needs too much RAM. But once USB and a couple of other niceties were removed, it ran fine with the binaries from the i386 release.

                                      ...
                                      2 ★ 0 ↺
                                      in reply to »

                                      Ltning »
                                      @ltning@weirdr.net

                                      Most of them can do more than they announce. It's like OS/2 2.11.. IBM said it can SMP across 64 CPUs but they could only test with 32 as that was the best hardware they had at the time :D

                                      Yesterday I found a 486 board in my collection that boots and happily deals with 256MB of EDO RAM! The speed is hare-raising :D

                                        ...
                                        2 ★ 0 ↺
                                        in reply to »

                                        Ltning »
                                        @ltning@weirdr.net

                                        You must let me know when you do. All modern Unixes I know dropped 386 support a while ago :(

                                        CC: @grunfink@comam.es

                                          ...
                                          Ltning boosted

                                          ltning »
                                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                          About to be dumped.

                                          ...

                                          ltning »
                                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                          The hardware that broke me.

                                          Older...

                                          ltning »
                                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                          Who could POSSIBLY be turned off by a woman who's turned on by some sweet RS-232 "interfacing"? :D

                                          ...wait.. she's the one who'll be turning me down, isn't she?

                                          ltning »
                                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                          I'M A NERD AND PROUD OF IT!

                                          Dammit.

                                          Ltning boosted

                                          ltning »
                                          @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                          This is beauty.

                                          Ltning boosted

                                          mbbrutman »
                                          @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                                          The latest mTCP for DOS is available!

                                          This version includes some changes to improve TCP reliability on long running (but idle) connections, black & white Sixel graphics in Telnet, a Telnet emulation bug fix, and other small fixes sprinkled around.

                                          The source code to NetDrive (network attached storage) is also published now - enjoy reading an unholy mix of x86 assembly code talking to Golang over UDP!

                                          Spread the word! Friends don't let friends run old code ...

                                            ...
                                            Ltning boosted

                                            mbbrutman »
                                            @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                                            I hate this ...

                                            I found a really small bug in Telnet, but it's irritating. I don't want to go through the hassle of spinning an entire new update so I just patched the Zip files that I have posted at my site.

                                            If you downloaded mTCP recently (more than 20 minutes ago) please grab it again. Otherwise, live with my terrible bug that throws the Telnet session into Sixel graphics mode without reason. ;-0 (Pressing a key gets past it, but like I said it is annoying.)

                                            My apologies ...
                                            -Mike

                                            0 ★ 0 ↺

                                            Ltning »
                                            @ltning@weirdr.net

                                            Is the telnet emulation issue related to "cls" from some BBSes just giving a weird character instead of actually clearing the screen? :)

                                              Ltning boosted

                                              ltning »
                                              @ltning@larry.weirdr.net

                                              Ken sent me.

                                              7 ★ 2 ↺
                                              Jay 🚩 :runbsd: boosted

                                              Ltning »
                                              @ltning@weirdr.net

                                              I did a thing so I don't have to wait 20+ seconds to SSH into (or out of) my running .

                                              https://github.com/ltning/sshbench


                                                ...
                                                0 ★ 0 ↺

                                                Ltning »
                                                @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                @grunfink@comam.es Building snac is failing :( Checked out 2.68, but linker step fails with ld: data.o: in function srv_open':
                                                data.c:(.text+0x8b0): undefined reference to sbox_enter'.. With make -f Makefile.NetBSD. Halp? :)

                                                  ...
                                                  1 ★ 0 ↺

                                                  Ltning »
                                                  @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                  Ah. Makefile.NetBSD is missing sandbox.o. Consider this a bug report.. ;)

                                                  CC: @grunfink@comam.es

                                                    ...
                                                    7 ★ 3 ↺

                                                    Ltning »
                                                    @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                    Attempting to install #NetBSD on this 486.. gonna need some more work before that works I'm afraid.

                                                    (Read the alt text for more info)
                                                    #retrocomputing #moreram

                                                    Kernel messages from NetBSD 10.1 on an AMD 486. Panics due to low memory after showing interesting sound cards detected. No correlation I'm sure - only including to brag.

                                                    Alt...Kernel messages from NetBSD 10.1 on an AMD 486. Panics due to low memory after showing interesting sound cards detected. No correlation I'm sure - only including to brag.

                                                      ...
                                                      2 ★ 0 ↺

                                                      Ltning »
                                                      @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                      After making myself a new, smaller kernel and install floppies - only needed two, as opposed to six for the stock kernel..

                                                      Screenshot from NetBSD installer unpacking base.tgz at a whopping 600KB per second.

                                                      Alt...Screenshot from NetBSD installer unpacking base.tgz at a whopping 600KB per second.

                                                      ...
                                                      30 ★ 9 ↺

                                                      Ltning »
                                                      @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                      And here we are. is simply amazing.


                                                      Console screenshot. Plaintext 80x50 mode, with screen(1) running htop(1) and neofetch(1), split horizontally.

                                                      Alt...Console screenshot. Plaintext 80x50 mode, with screen(1) running htop(1) and neofetch(1), split horizontally.

                                                        ...
                                                        Older...

                                                        SuperIlu »
                                                        @dec_hl@mastodon.social

                                                        @ltning Uh, I need to try this on my AMD Geode LX800 board w/ 128MiB RAM...

                                                        Any tips?

                                                          Anders Gulden Olstad »
                                                          @andersgo@infosec.exchange

                                                          @ltning Tried to install via FTP and it downloaded and installed everything on the USB bootable - to the brim. I need to understand the install process better

                                                            7 ★ 5 ↺

                                                            Ltning »
                                                            @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                            Damn I like the whole css-or-bust approach to styling that has. I mean I know many (most?) others do a bit of the same but this is just delightful.

                                                            So..TLS aside, what is the most lightweight reverse proxy I can use instead of nginx in front of this thing? You know, in case I would like to move the instance from this beefy PPro to, say, a or a Wii running ? :)


                                                              ...
                                                              Older...
                                                              📌 29 ★ 11 ↺

                                                              Ltning »
                                                              @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                              After a fair bit of fiddling, this instance is now .. operational, I think? And this is officially my first post here.

                                                              See also my main fediverse presence: @ltning@anduin.net

                                                              About this instance, at the time of writing:
                                                              - OS: 10
                                                              - Reverse proxy: nginx
                                                              - CPU: Dual Pentium Pro Overdrive, 333MHz
                                                              - RAM: 512MB EDO
                                                              - NIC: 3Com 100Mbit PCI NIC
                                                              - Storage: SATA 1.0 (CF and SSD)


                                                                ...
                                                                2 ★ 2 ↺
                                                                Anders Gulden Olstad boosted

                                                                Ltning »
                                                                @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                Posting and boosting this certainly put the box under some duress.. Changed ssl_ecdh_curve from secp521r1:secp384r1; to X25519:prime256v1; now; let's see if that helps.

                                                                3 ★ 3 ↺
                                                                Anders Gulden Olstad boosted

                                                                Ltning »
                                                                @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                Since nobody asked, here are a couple of pictures of the rig. It's not posing for the picture (I didn't tell it what was going on), so it's as messy as usual.

                                                                I'll post each picture as a reply to this post, as snac doesn't like multiple attachments..

                                                                Enjoy. And wish the poor box luck serving this.


                                                                  ...
                                                                  1 ★ 0 ↺

                                                                  Ltning »
                                                                  @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                  This is the "aquarium case", as it has become known around the office. It has a nearly-invisible batman-symbol embossed on the front, and a similar cutout in the back. Beats me why, but it's kinda cool.

                                                                  Server seen from the front. Black base with CD-ROM drive and power button in the front. The mainboard is mounted horizontally in the upper half, which is transparent. Seen are various expansion cards and the back of the CPU card itself.

                                                                  Alt...Server seen from the front. Black base with CD-ROM drive and power button in the front. The mainboard is mounted horizontally in the upper half, which is transparent. Seen are various expansion cards and the back of the CPU card itself.

                                                                  3 ★ 0 ↺

                                                                  Ltning »
                                                                  @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                  And here's the innards. Curious eyes might spot some old and dear sound cards, other than that the highlight is of course the mainboard and the CPU board, which is replaceable. And the CPUs, obviously.

                                                                  Inside of machine, showing two CPUs with fans on the CPU board, some RAM, a SCSI card, network card, SATA controller card and GPU - all 32-bit PCI. Next up are two sound cards - a Gravis Ultrasound and a Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold.

                                                                  Alt...Inside of machine, showing two CPUs with fans on the CPU board, some RAM, a SCSI card, network card, SATA controller card and GPU - all 32-bit PCI. Next up are two sound cards - a Gravis Ultrasound and a Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold.

                                                                  1 ★ 0 ↺

                                                                  Ltning »
                                                                  @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                  And finally, the screenfetch output. Full text in description.

                                                                  OS: NetBSD, Kernel: i386 NetBSD 10.0_STABLE, Uptime: 3d 2h 55m, Packages: 393, Shell: bash, Resolution: 1600x1200, WM: WindowMaker, GTK Theme: Arc-Dark [GTK2/3], Icon Theme: Adwaita, Font: Sans 9, Disk: 7.3G / 241G (3%), CPU: Intel 686-class @ 2x 333MHz, GPU: Mesa DRI R200 (RV280 5964) x86/MMX DRI2, RAM: 351MiB / 486MiB

                                                                  Alt... OS: NetBSD, Kernel: i386 NetBSD 10.0_STABLE, Uptime: 3d 2h 55m, Packages: 393, Shell: bash, Resolution: 1600x1200, WM: WindowMaker, GTK Theme: Arc-Dark [GTK2/3], Icon Theme: Adwaita, Font: Sans 9, Disk: 7.3G / 241G (3%), CPU: Intel 686-class @ 2x 333MHz, GPU: Mesa DRI R200 (RV280 5964) x86/MMX DRI2, RAM: 351MiB / 486MiB

                                                                  ...

                                                                  Anders Gulden Olstad »
                                                                  @andersgo@infosec.exchange

                                                                  @ltning I need to use that toaster for lunch tomorrow…

                                                                    0 ★ 0 ↺
                                                                    in reply to »

                                                                    Ltning »
                                                                    @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                    Any idea of its memory footprint in such a case? When doing TLS?

                                                                      ...
                                                                      1 ★ 1 ↺

                                                                      Ltning »
                                                                      @ltning@weirdr.net

                                                                      TIL today: secp* curves are orders of magnitude slower than X25519 and prime256v1. At least on a Pentium Pro/Pentium II-class CPU.

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