Search results for tag #retrocomputing
![[?]](https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/accounts/avatars/000/003/258/original/a83bbc76a94f41ea.jpg)
60 years of coolest little 12bit computer ever made. DEC PDP-8. The DECmate ]|[ used the intersil 6120 which is a pdp-8/e on a chip. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing
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A decmate micro pdp-8 along side a couple pdp-8/L and pdp-11
![[?]](https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/accounts/avatars/113/241/734/002/331/295/original/14efdc77c6e285a6.jpg)
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: https://groups.google.com/g/mtcp/c/ktDzPuWd1xw (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.
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.
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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.
![[?]](https://files.mastodon.social/accounts/avatars/000/497/197/original/6a584b2c0d105a2a.png)
After some delay I did an update of #lib16 (a tiny helper library for #OpenWatcom 16-bit DOS programs).
https://github.com/SuperIlu/lib16
This time I added #Lua to the mix (example prj04). You can now write graphical scripts using Lua on #MSDOS. I also included the regular lua.exe and luac.exe binaries. This is compiled for i386/387 upwards...
#RetroComputing #FreeDOS #CreativeCoding
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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()](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/376/840/897/430/522/original/a58d8ee7ec60181d.png "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()")
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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()
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Picture of a notebook screen. The screen is black and filled with white dots in a circular pattern.
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picture of an EeePC netbook with a black screen. There is a wave pattern drawn from unfilled white circles on the screen.
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.
@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.
If you are in the Atlanta area come by and say "hello" at the MIMMS Museum of Technology and Art. SDF will have a table during Tech-Splore April 26th from 10am-5pm and we’ll be demoing the PiDP-10 sn 0000 running an 8080 simulator with Altair BASIC as well as ITS and ways to access the various SDF's remote vintage systems. #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing
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A PiDP-10 on a chair in front of a DEC KA10
![[?]](https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/accounts/avatars/109/659/190/314/385/391/original/57cbf99db589be4b.jpg)
Ach, verdammt. Schon wieder unterwegs gewesen um eine Ladung Retro-Hardware abzuholen. Nicht ganz so viel wie letztes Mal. Diesmal hauptsächlich Notebooks (zwei weitere Kisten waren auf/unter dem Beifahrersitz), #Commodore-Zeugs und zwei PCs + Zubehör und Teile.
Mehr Fotos kommen später noch.
Fangen wir mal mit dem #Commodore-Zeugs an. 😀
Commodore 128D (leider ohne Tastatur 😆)
Commodore #C64G mit intaktem Siegel
1541, C2N + 2 Module
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Commodore 128D
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Commodore C64G
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Commodore C64G Rückseite
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Zeugs...
Diverse Karten. Frühe Hard Disk Controller (MFM, RLL, SCSI), eine Diamond SpeedSTAR24 und eine original VideoSeven 8-bit VGA-Karte, und etwas, was für mich nach einen Prototyp einer LANtastic-Karte aussieht.
ps: ICs mit der Aufschrift "RIFA"... sollte man die austauschen? 😂
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RIFA-ICs
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Hard Disk Controller
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VGA-Karten
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LANtastic-Karte?
Notebooks! Werde nicht alle zeigen, ist auch viel Schrott dabei.
#Highscreen #BlueNote by #Colani
roda military-grade rugged Notebook (Rocky-Serie)
Die roda computer GmbH gibt's bis heute und die bauen diese Notebooks immer noch. 🙂
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Highscreen BlueNote by Colani
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Highscreen BlueNote by Colani
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roda "Rocky"
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roda "Rocky"
I pushed an update to #DOStodon (the #Mastodon client for MS-DOS):
- Updated #curl to 8.13.0
- Updated #mbedTLS to 3.6.3
- Fixed #win32 version (works on #WinXP or newer), DLLs were missing
Grab it at https://github.com/SuperIlu/DOStodon
Screenshot is showing the win32 version running on Win10.
#Javascript #RetroComputing #MSDOS #CreativeCoding #MastodonClient #FreeDOS #DJGPP #DOjS
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PowerShell window showing debug output with DOStodon on top
![[?]](https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/accounts/avatars/110/756/697/897/240/676/original/e3d21c6c28b1a7f4.jpeg)
Office of Obsolete Men. The Floppy Museum was the only site that didn’t require HTTPS. #Solaris #RetroComputing #UNIX #CDE #Firefox
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Screen displaying Solaris 10 and CDE desktop, with a Firefox browser pointing to the Floppy Museum
I haven't touched NetDrive in a while so I got motivated and just spent two hours adding a 1 sector read ahead cache into the code. After a read request the server sends one extra block, and the DOS side caches it. On the next read the DOS side checks the cache.
Running CHKDSK against a 200MB drive across the network to a server that is 47 milliseconds away was taking around 26.8 seconds. Now it takes 17.69 seconds.
Yep, this feature is worth doing ...
![[?]](https://pleroma.anduin.net/media/e42775318fd38a77b2c02300192e27e61861443424849feef9767918512fac8b.png?name=blob.png)
Hello fellow #floppy fans! Through some fiddling and optimisation I've freed up about 180KB of space on http://floppy.museum and need something to fill it with.
Since my brain is pretty much empty at the moment, I would be very grateful for any ideas the Fediverse could offer. Some ground rules:
- It needs to fit in the space given (duh!)
- It needs to be relevant to floppies and/or #retrocomputing
- It can be software (yet another service), in which case it must run under #MSDOS on a 286, and should have moderate memory requirements (some EMS and XMS is OK, but at most 380KB conventional..)
- It can be art (but don't expect me to create any, so the license must permit this usage)
- Should not require modern browsers of hardware to access/enjoy
Ideas floated so far:
- Gopher server (problem: how to convert html to gopher pages; yes I've tried, no it's not easy)
- Rmenu (a telnet server allowing running of commands on the machine)
- Samantha Fox GIFs
Spread the word and give me ideas! The sillier the better!
![[?]](https://larry.weirdr.net/ltning/s/a144f3f92d98df1d087091538b728960.gif)
I updated #mbedTLS and #curl in #DOjS. This one took a lot longer than I expected because curl dropped Makefile.mk builds and I had to switch to #CMake or #autconf.
I went with CMake, but had to work around some weird problems.
#MSDOS and #Linux build are already green again, I'll tackle #win32 later...
Would you like to read about another 39 year old DOS bug that I found recently? This one causes an unlucky file to get truncated if it is in the wrong spot of a FAT12 partition when you move from an early version of DOS to a later one.
Get some popcorn and enjoy!
https://www.brutman.com/Adventures_In_Code/FAT12_File_Truncation_Bug/FAT12_File_Truncation_Bug.html
![[?]](https://weirdr.net/snac/ltning/s/271784d3d55493d08c915e5bb7862aaf.jpeg)
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 😉
#retrocomputing #browsers #floppy #museum #html #BrowserWars
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OS/2 Warp Connect with four browser windows, a text mode editor editing config.sys, the parent "work area" folder and the launch pad.
![[?]](https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/accounts/avatars/109/252/633/168/051/835/original/487160775622bbc8.jpg)
The Interim Computer Festival is this Saturday and Sunday at 3100 Airport Way S in Seattle from 10am-6pm. Come see the many PDP-8 systems and other vintage computers. https://sdf.org/icf #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #community
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The Interim Computer Festival Spring 2025 edition poster
How many PDP-8 systems will be at Interim Computer Festival? So far we believe 5 to celebrate 60 years of the coolest minicomputer you never heard of.
#retrocomputing #vintagecomputing
![A DECmate ]I[ running OS/278](https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/190/252/097/276/779/original/53d0319064d96ff7.jpeg "A DECmate ]I[ running OS/278")
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A DECmate ]I[ running OS/278
M-Net’s Altos 68000 getting cleaned up for the Interim Computer Festival this weekend. Access the current incarnation of M-Net/Arbornet at SDF Vintage Systems https://sdf.org #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #community
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An Altos ACS68000 that served many years as M-Net
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An Altos ACS68000 that served many years as M-Net
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An Altos ACS68000 that served many years as M-Net
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An Altos ACS68000 that served many years as M-Net
M-NET the oldest running Public Access UNIX has arrived! The original Altos ACS68000 will be on display next weekend at the Interim Computer Festival. M-NET is now under SDF.org Vintage Systems care. Thanks jfk, cross and tod! #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #community #bbs
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A bunch of shipping boxes containing the original M-NET Altos ACS68000 in a hatchback
I'm giddy because I found a 38 year old bug (possibly older even) in the FAT12 handling of DOS, and now I've proven the bug is real by reproducing the error. Later versions are affected too.
Time for another write-up ...
Welcome to NOSTROMO, a Data General AViiON mc88110 running DG/UX R4.11
This is our first m88k machine online provided by Josh Dersch
Available under the UNIX submenu a 'ssh menu@tty.sdf.org'
#vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrogaming #unix
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An image of a Data General AViiON and Sun 3/160 UNIX systems
I'll probably never own a drive to read those, but these are some very impressive floppy disk cartridges. Also, 20 megs in 1984 - that's more than a typical hard disk had at that time. 😲
#IOMEGA #Bernoulli #RetroComputing #ObsoleteMedia
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20 MB IOMEGA Bernoulli Disk in Sleeve
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20 MB IOMEGA Bernoulli Disk