Operating systems - Page 2

xilman · 2012-01-24, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodrigo

I'd be surprised if there were one. Windows 1 came out in the mid-'80s, and the Web didn't start taking off till the early '90s. And Windows itself didn't really catch on till the 3.x versions at about the same time.

Might be interesting to see if Netscape or some other early browser is "backwards compatible" with Windows 1.x or 2.x.

Rodrigo

Given sufficient incentive, I might be persuaded to build a browser for Win 1.x, not least because I've a shrink-wrapped copy of Borland's Turbo-C. The shrink-wrapping has split somewhat from plastic-fatigue but it's still basically all there.

According to the back of the package, it cost $99.95 in 1987 (compared with $450 for Microsoft C 4.0) and the system requirements are "IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 and true compatibles; PC-DOS (MS-DOS) 2.0 or later. One floppy drive. 384K.". The distkit boasts that it "Includes free MicroCalc(tm) spreadsheet with source code".

A couple of vintage systems are in my loft and still work, AFAIK. I'm one of the very few people I know who can still read 5.25" floppies; occasionally I'm asked to recover 20+ year old data from them.

Ok, so I'm odd but I actually enjoy preserving elderly computers and their infrastructure.

Would anyone be seriously interested in a project like this? You would have to put in a significant amount of effort into building the hardware and then into installing the software.

Paul

Dubslow · 2012-01-24, 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by retina

I wonder how many people spoof their headers?

For the record, I don't bother to spoof mine (except for the referer [sic] header).

How do you do that?

Xyzzy · 2012-01-25, 02:37

Quote:

Given sufficient incentive, I might be persuaded to build a browser for Win 1.x, not least because I've a shrink-wrapped copy of Borland's Turbo-C. The shrink-wrapping has split somewhat from plastic-fatigue but it's still basically all there.

http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20841

retina · 2012-01-25, 02:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubslow

How do you do that?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...on/refcontrol/

xilman · 2012-01-25, 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20841

Yup, that's the one. Thanks for letting me know about it as I wasn't aware that it was now available on the net.

Ifthis hare-brained project goes ahead I won't have to open the shrink-wrap on my copy.

xilman · 2012-01-25, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

Currently playing around with Sparc64 BSD and Linux. FreeBSD 5.0 and Gentoo 20120116 to be precise. When I left FlyBase (http://www.flybase.org) I scrounged an otherwise useless SunBlade 2500. It was the home everything-server for a couple of years until its disk caught a nasty attack of death.

After a great deal of frustration with burning bootable CDs, I eventually tried to install FreeBSD. Turns out the distkit has a checksum error for one of the packages.

.

Having much more success with Gentoo and the machine is now busy compiling and installing stuff like mad.

Paul

chalsall · 2012-01-25, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

After a great deal of frustration with burning bootable CDs, I eventually tried to install FreeBSD. Turns out the distkit has a checksum error for one of the packages.

.

Is it possible the drive you're using to burn the discs is bad?

Did the ISOs you downloaded pass the MD5 checksum test?

Have you tried booting from USB flash drives?

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

Having much more success with Gentoo and the machine is now busy compiling and installing stuff like mad.

Gentoo is an interesting idea...

But (IMHO) it's not for the faint of heart nor hairless of chest....

EdH · 2012-01-26, 16:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

... A couple of vintage systems are in my loft and still work, AFAIK. I'm one of the very few people I know who can still read 5.25" floppies; occasionally I'm asked to recover 20+ year old data from them... Paul

I still have several TI-99/4a's, a Timex Sinclair, an Apple IIe, a Z-100...

"Back in the day" I built one of the first (if not, the first**) portable, 12VDC "all-in-one (except for monitor)" home computers for use with Amateur Radio. It was a TI-99/4a with a floppy drive, a ram disk, and an RS-232 interface. I used it with a 12VDC monochrome monitor for Packet Radio work for several Field Days. This was about 1986.

**I never documented my work, but about the same time frame another individual built a similar system, documenting his for a magazine... If you've heard of one, it was probably his.

Uncwilly · 2012-02-29, 05:56

I visited this thread ~ 4 hours ago with the browser built into my shiny new Blu-ray player.

retina · 2012-02-29, 06:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

I visited this thread ~ 4 hours ago with the browser built into my shiny new Blu-ray player.

I fail to grasp why a disc player needs an Internet connection.

Uncwilly · 2012-02-29, 06:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by retina

I fail to grasp why a disc player needs an Internet connection.

Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, YouTube, etc.

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2012-02-29, 05:56	#20
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