One for the Linux curious:

[DrEntropy]

Came across this article today. Interesting.

 

[PAUL161]

Doc, interesting that you posted that article, this morning, Microsoft in two of my computers got blasted with some sort of spam attack, covered the whole page and won't let you X it out! I'll deal with them later, IN THE MEAN TIME, I switched over to my Linux machines, which is what I'm on now and have none of those pests bothering me! Funny, but not funny, in Windows, my virus software didn't catch it. Hmmm. PJ

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Couple of things here. I remember an article I read some time ago about Windoze....and SPAM, hijacks, exploits...discussed at some big conference...and Billy came back and instructed his minions to fix the holes....which was done in typical MS style, with patches..that continue to this day...rather than addressing the underlying issue in the source code.

Then, if your latest and greatest MS OS is using the latest and greatest Defender AV...you will probably experience the same kind of stuff you are experiencing even now.

Then there is Defragmenting....ever wonder why you have to defrag a MS OS so often....and there isn't even a defragmenter available for Linux based (at least not Ubuntu)?

The guy made multiple billions from a faulty source code they cannot fix.

 

[DrEntropy]

Under all the glitz, it's still DOS.

 

[NutmegCT]

CP/M -> QDOS -> DOS -> graphics intensive cpu hogs

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol:

If you want a CPM/80 manual, I have one I'd sell, Tom. And the floppy the program is housed on. :smirk:

 

[NutmegCT]

Need to borrow anything from my Osborne shelf?

And good ol' s/n 14649 still works:

I wrote my dissertation on that critter - just after I bought it and learned WordStar. Fancy-dancy machine, even had double density disk drives and a 300 baud plug in modem. Yowzah!

 

[DrEntropy]

Back-when, a pal and fellow Lotus owner was a sales weasel for a downtown Pittsburgh computer outfit. Sold IBM mainframes. He would bring home an Osborne "suitcase" and we would "telnet" into the company machine to play a version of Pong. We thought we were on the bleeding edge of technology. :highly_amused:

 

[NutmegCT]

Using a business machine for fun? Scandalous! Mine boots with Osborne cp/m 80, and came with WordStar, VisiCalc, and dBase II. But you could download 100s of games from FOG (First Osborne Group - an online BBS out in California).

(Considering how the use of computers has changed since the 1970s, Pong and TelNet was just the tip of the iceberg.)

 

[DrEntropy]

(Considering how the use of computers has changed since the 1970s, Pong and TelNet was just the tip of the iceberg.)

And folks are walking around carrying cell devices with capability so far beyond those IBM freezer chests it's nearly inconceivable!

 

[JPSmit]

And folks are walking around carrying cell devices with capability so far beyond those IBM freezer chests it's nearly inconceivable!

IIRC 64k of memory put a man on the moon. Now there is more technology in those electronic greeting cards.

 

[Bob McElwee]

i always try to imagine 4 tape drives and 2 2311 disk drives connected to my iPhone!

 

[Basil]

When I was working as an analyst, one of our systems that was not connected to the internet and locked up in a vault ran Ubuntu. Seemed like a pretty decent OS.

 

[DrEntropy]

When I was working as an analyst, one of our systems that was not connected to the internet and locked up in a vault ran Ubuntu. Seemed like a pretty decent OS.

Surprising it wasn't running UNIX.

 

[DavidApp]

Thanks Doc.

I have a laptop that has lost a windows file and will not boot. The boot/rescue disk I made when it was new does not work so I thought I would give Linux another try.

Had attempted to load it one time years ago with no success. Wanted all kinds of info that I had no idea where to find. The guy at work that gave me the copy loaned me a book that was 2" thick to help with the install. Never got it going.

Downloaded Mint yesterday and made a USB boot copy. Got my laptop going and am trying it out. So far I am liking what I see.

David

 

[DavidApp]

Still have my Amstrad PC. Not sure if it will still boot. It ran on 2 floppy discs and I added a 10 Meg.hard card.

Some of the software left over from those days. The Cadd program used a 9 pin dot matrices printer to produce drawings.
Copy of Wordstar 6.0. It is NIB

David

 

[PAUL161]

I think I've tried most of the Linux OP systems and for me, I keep going back to Linux Mint 17/18, easy to use and get around in. Thunderbird mail works fine and just about anything that Windows excepts, Mint will except. Nice system and no constant bugging by MS to update or please wait while configuring your computer. I wouldn't even have Windows if it wasn't for the fact that a few programs I use don't like the Linux platform, but I'm working on that.

 

[DrEntropy]

For my purposes Mint is a bit too "workstation" oriented. But I've a background learning and running RedHat and CEntOS from their beginning. Admittedly, I now rarely revert to command line (level 3) mode, as the GNOME GUI will do most all tasks with mouse clicks instead.

I even fettled about with IBM's OS/2 in the late '80's ~ early '90's, through to "Warp". But it was clumsy and to me looked like it would end up second fiddle to MS Windows as the preferred OS in the coming PC's for "everyman" consumers. And as the 'net expanded, the `NIX family was obviously going to run the server side of computing, so i kept up with that as well. Apache is still kinda big with server farms. :wink:

 

[GregW]

My issue with OS/2 was it would run yesterday's MS software. 16 bit was what they were allowed where NT was switching to 32 bit around that time. Played with Be as well. Neat idea, no support from vendors.

 

[DrEntropy]

Some of the software left over from those days. The Cadd program used a 9 pin dot matrices printer to produce drawings. Copy of Wordstar 6.0. It is NIB

Wordstar! I think I'm havin' flashbacks with a blue background!