weirdr.net is a Fediverse instance that uses the ActivityPub protocol. In other words, users at this host can communicate with people that use software like Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica, etc. all around the world.

This server runs the snac software and there is no automatic sign-up process.

Site description
This is a dual Pentium Pro running NetBSD.
Check out the floppy museum for hints on how to get in touch. Or, you know, ping me on the fediverse. :)
Admin account
@ltning@weirdr.net

Search results for tag #retrocomputing

[?]dan 💾 »
@billgoats@bitbang.social

It's kind of nice that gopher is slowly sneaking its way back to life again.

System 7 Today, but as a gopher site

Alt...System 7 Today, but as a gopher site

    [?]ICM »
    @icm@mastodon.sdf.org

    🌲 Seattle Computer Products S-1000 nearly running ~350ft away from their 1978 office where this machine was assembled.

    Seattle computer products S-1000

    Alt...Seattle computer products S-1000

    Seattle computer products S-1000

    Alt...Seattle computer products S-1000

    Seattle computer products S-1000

    Alt...Seattle computer products S-1000

    Seattle computer products S-1000

    Alt...Seattle computer products S-1000

      Headbanger75 boosted

      [?]DesertFOX »
      @dfx@techhub.social

      Die bislang verschollenen deutschen Originaldisketten von Microsoft Windows/386 2.11 haben nun endlich ihren Weg ins Internet Archive gefunden. Insgesamt 7 x 720K DD Disketten. Ursprüngliche Veröffentlichung im Mai 1989!

      Perfekte KryoFlux Streams und .IMG Disk Images sowie saubere Scans aller Datenträger in 300dpi findet ihr ab sofort hier zum Download:

      archive.org/details/mswin_386_

      Microsoft Windows/386, Version 2.11, Deutsch

Installationsdiskette Nr. 1

      Alt...Microsoft Windows/386, Version 2.11, Deutsch Installationsdiskette Nr. 1

      Microsoft Windows/386, Version 2.11, Deutsch

Screenshot in 1024 x 768 Pixeln

      Alt...Microsoft Windows/386, Version 2.11, Deutsch Screenshot in 1024 x 768 Pixeln

        [?]fraggLe! »
        @fwaggle@moodoo.org

        Who's got a preference for an RS232->Wifi/Telnet project and what is it? I have an ESP32 (and a bunch of 8266), a MAX232c or whatever. I want a device I can plug into a serial console and telnet (SSH would be great, but telnet is okay) anywhere, and there seems to be quite a few projects out there but none with an idiots guide, and seemingly none I can just buy...

          [?]ltning »
          @ltning@pleroma.anduin.net

          I wrote a piece about my recent attempts to add a guestbook to the #Floppy #Museum ..
          https://scrolls.anduin.net/ltning/a-tale-of-failure

          I'd boost it (the blog is federated - @ltning), but @writefreely doesn't render nicely for some reason.
          #Fail #DOS #C #Retrocomputing

          (Also @obsoletemediauk - got any new updates lately? :)

            [?]SuperIlu »
            @dec_hl@mastodon.social

            First thing at Home: trying my new game “Hera Primera”.

            It is boxed and comes with an overlay and a cartridge 🥰

            A vectrex console with the game box, the overlay and the cartridge

            Alt...A vectrex console with the game box, the overlay and the cartridge

            Closeup of the screen showing the prior art logo

            Alt...Closeup of the screen showing the prior art logo

            Game start screen showing level 2 5 lives and player 2

            Alt...Game start screen showing level 2 5 lives and player 2

            Game screen with a small space ship at the bottom, a pattern of enemy ships above, all happening on a dotted grid playfield

            Alt...Game screen with a small space ship at the bottom, a pattern of enemy ships above, all happening on a dotted grid playfield

              [?]SuperIlu »
              @dec_hl@mastodon.social

              The wild Ilu takes its prey home into its lair from

              A boxed computer game for the vectrex game system.

              Alt...A boxed computer game for the vectrex game system.

                [?]ICM »
                @icm@mastodon.sdf.org

                The SDF Computer Museum is open Mondays 10-5pm in Tukwila, WA to our BOOTSTRAP members. For details, visit icm.museum/join.html

                A group of vintage computers on a table.

                Alt...A group of vintage computers on a table.

                An assortment of machines at the SDF computer museum

                Alt...An assortment of machines at the SDF computer museum

                32 artifact placards for the SDF computer museum

                Alt...32 artifact placards for the SDF computer museum

                  [?]mbbrutman »
                  @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                  Art.

                  BTC enhanced keyboard for the IBM PC or IBM XT.

                  Alt...BTC enhanced keyboard for the IBM PC or IBM XT.

                    [?]mbbrutman »
                    @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                    mTCP NetDrive users ... the read-ahead version is ready for testing. I'm looking for your feedback on how well it works in your environment. See the announcement here for download links: groups.google.com/g/mtcp/c/ktD (no sign-in required)

                    Next up ... I know how I'm going to make writes faster too. With just a little more code in the driver.

                      [?]mbbrutman »
                      @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                      NetDrive with read-ahead caching, running on a VM to a local server and to a server 50ms away. A 4KB read-ahead cache results in a 3x speedup locally and nearly a 5x speedup on the remote server.

                      Real hardware results depend on the speed of the hardware. Slow machines don't benefit much when connected to local servers, but they still get the full benefit on remote connections.

                      mTCP Netdrive read-ahead caching benchmark results.  A local server sees a 3x speedup using a 4KB cache, while a remote server sees nearly a 5x speedup.

                      Alt...mTCP Netdrive read-ahead caching benchmark results. A local server sees a 3x speedup using a 4KB cache, while a remote server sees nearly a 5x speedup.

                        mbbrutman boosted

                        [?]Jake in the desert »
                        @jake4480@c.im

                        I wasn't aware of the ads PC Connection made in the 80s and 90s with raccoons, but they're definitely great, and this is an excellent write-up on them: technologizer.com/home/2025/04

                        Art of a raccoon family sitting in a living room playing games on their computer

                        Alt...Art of a raccoon family sitting in a living room playing games on their computer

                        Art of a raccoon family (or friends) -- three of them -- sitting outside on a picnic blanket on their computers, and there's a cord leading to a barn in the distance

                        Alt...Art of a raccoon family (or friends) -- three of them -- sitting outside on a picnic blanket on their computers, and there's a cord leading to a barn in the distance

                          [?]SuperIlu »
                          @dec_hl@mastodon.social

                          After some delay I did an update of (a tiny helper library for 16-bit DOS programs).

                          github.com/SuperIlu/lib16

                          This time I added to the mix (example prj04). You can now write graphical scripts using Lua on . I also included the regular lua.exe and luac.exe binaries. This is compiled for i386/387 upwards...

                          require "prj04/func"

T = 0
FG_COL_IDX = 63
BG_COL_IDX = 0

function Draw()
	vga_filled_rect(0, 0, width, height, BG_COL_IDX)
	vga_wait_for_retrace()
	for i = 0, 10 do
		V(width / 2, height / 2, i - T, 5)
	end
end

function V(x, y, a, l)
	x = x + l * math.sin(a) * 15
	y = y - l * math.cos(a) * 15

	-- vga_filled_rect(ix, iy, ix + 4, iy + 4, FG_COL_IDX)
	vga_set_pixel(x, y, FG_COL_IDX)

	if l > 1 then
		l = l * .7
		V(x, y, a + 1 + math.cos(T), l)
		V(x, y, a - 1 - math.sin(T), l)
	end
end

vga_init()
vga_grayscale_palette()
while true do
	local k = getkey();
	if k == KEY_ESC then
		break
	end
	Draw()
	T = T + 0.01
end
vga_exit()

                          Alt...require "prj04/func" T = 0 FG_COL_IDX = 63 BG_COL_IDX = 0 function Draw() vga_filled_rect(0, 0, width, height, BG_COL_IDX) vga_wait_for_retrace() for i = 0, 10 do V(width / 2, height / 2, i - T, 5) end end function V(x, y, a, l) x = x + l * math.sin(a) * 15 y = y - l * math.cos(a) * 15 -- vga_filled_rect(ix, iy, ix + 4, iy + 4, FG_COL_IDX) vga_set_pixel(x, y, FG_COL_IDX) if l > 1 then l = l * .7 V(x, y, a + 1 + math.cos(T), l) V(x, y, a - 1 - math.sin(T), l) end end vga_init() vga_grayscale_palette() while true do local k = getkey(); if k == KEY_ESC then break end Draw() T = T + 0.01 end vga_exit()

                          require "prj04/func"

FG_COL_IDX = 32
BG_COL_IDX = 0
X_SPACING = 8
MAX_WAVES = 4
Theta = 0.0;
Amplitude = {}
Dx = {}
YValues = 0;

function Setup()
	local w = width + 16; -- Width of entire wave
	for i = 0, MAX_WAVES do
		Amplitude[i] = (math.random(10, 30))
		local period = math.random(100, 300)
		Dx[i] = ((math.pi * 2 / period) * X_SPACING);
	end
	YValues = {}
	NumYValues = math.floor(w / X_SPACING)
	for i = 1, NumYValues do
		YValues[i] = 0
	end
end

function Draw()
	CalcWave();
	vga_wait_for_retrace()
	vga_filled_rect(0, 0, width, height, BG_COL_IDX)
	vga_wait_for_retrace()
	RenderWave();
end

function CalcWave()
	Theta = Theta + 0.02
	for i = 0, NumYValues do
		YValues[i] = 0;
	end
	for j = 0, MAX_WAVES do
		local x = Theta;
		for i = 0, NumYValues do
			-- Every other wave is cosine instead of sine
			if j % 2 == 0 then
				YValues[i] = YValues[i] + math.sin(x) * Amplitude[j];
			else
				YValues[i] = YValues[i] + math.cos(x) * Amplitude[j];
			end
			x = x + Dx[j];
		end
	end
end

function RenderWave()
	for x = 0, NumYValues do
		vga_circle(x * X_SPACING, height / 2 + YValues[x], X_SPACING, FG_COL_IDX)
	end
end

vga_init()
vga_grayscale_palette()
Setup()
while true do
	local k = getkey();
	if k == KEY_ESC then
		break
	end
	Draw()
end
vga_exit()

                          Alt...require "prj04/func" FG_COL_IDX = 32 BG_COL_IDX = 0 X_SPACING = 8 MAX_WAVES = 4 Theta = 0.0; Amplitude = {} Dx = {} YValues = 0; function Setup() local w = width + 16; -- Width of entire wave for i = 0, MAX_WAVES do Amplitude[i] = (math.random(10, 30)) local period = math.random(100, 300) Dx[i] = ((math.pi * 2 / period) * X_SPACING); end YValues = {} NumYValues = math.floor(w / X_SPACING) for i = 1, NumYValues do YValues[i] = 0 end end function Draw() CalcWave(); vga_wait_for_retrace() vga_filled_rect(0, 0, width, height, BG_COL_IDX) vga_wait_for_retrace() RenderWave(); end function CalcWave() Theta = Theta + 0.02 for i = 0, NumYValues do YValues[i] = 0; end for j = 0, MAX_WAVES do local x = Theta; for i = 0, NumYValues do -- Every other wave is cosine instead of sine if j % 2 == 0 then YValues[i] = YValues[i] + math.sin(x) * Amplitude[j]; else YValues[i] = YValues[i] + math.cos(x) * Amplitude[j]; end x = x + Dx[j]; end end end function RenderWave() for x = 0, NumYValues do vga_circle(x * X_SPACING, height / 2 + YValues[x], X_SPACING, FG_COL_IDX) end end vga_init() vga_grayscale_palette() Setup() while true do local k = getkey(); if k == KEY_ESC then break end Draw() end vga_exit()

                          Picture of a notebook screen. The screen is black and filled with white dots in a circular pattern.

                          Alt...Picture of a notebook screen. The screen is black and filled with white dots in a circular pattern.

                          picture of an EeePC netbook with a black screen. There is a wave pattern drawn from unfilled white circles on the screen.

                          Alt...picture of an EeePC netbook with a black screen. There is a wave pattern drawn from unfilled white circles on the screen.

                            [?]mbbrutman »
                            @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                            And this is where real hardware asserts itself ...

                            Using a 4KB read-ahead cache on the DOS side in a VM gave a 5x speedup, which was great and expected; you ask for 1KB and you get 4KB more without having to wait a full round trip.

                            But the PCjr said no. After a week of cleaning up the code and gathering stats I understand the problem better; it's just processing packets as fast as it can. The best speed-up on that specific test is 30%, which isn't bad, but not 5x.

                              [?]mbbrutman »
                              @mbbrutman@mastodon.sdf.org

                              @distrowatch I still maintain an FTP client and server, for DOS! It runs on a version as early as 2.1 on a minimal spec PC.

                                8 ★ 5 ↺

                                [?]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.

                                  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.

                                    3 ★ 1 ↺

                                    [?]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.

                                      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 ...

                                        30 ★ 9 ↺
                                        April :verified8: boosted

                                        [?]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.

                                          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.

                                            3 ★ 3 ↺

                                            [?]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.


                                              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 ? :)


                                                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.

                                                  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)