Hi there. I'm scarface from New Zealand. I'm pretty new to BBS's, mainly just been playing the games (poorly haha). I've also been lurking the message board a bit and thought I should take the time to introduce myself.
scarface wrote to All <=-
I'm probably a bit younger than the average age, but is nice to see
there are even younger folks getting engaged with this sort of
technology. I worry sometimes about the direction of the software industry. I'm not so sure it is always going forward haha.
I'm probably a bit younger than the average age, but is nice to see
there are even younger folks getting engaged with this sort of
technology. I worry sometimes about the direction of the software industry. I'm not so sure it is always going forward haha.
Hi there. I'm scarface from New Zealand. I'm pretty new to BBS's, mainly just been playing the games (poorly haha). I've also been lurking the message board a bit and thought I should take the time to introduce myself.
I'm a child of the late 80's, brought up with a mix of DOS, Debian, and various window's starting from 3.11. I've gotten to know a lot more about computers ever since, but always know there is heaps more out there to learn.
I'm probably a bit younger than the average age, but is nice to see there are even younger folks getting engaged with this sort of technology. I worry sometimes about the direction of the software industry. I'm not so sure it is always going forward haha.
which I use for the BBS stuff (still using Windows for my desktop, but a bit tempted to try out MacOS any year now...).
with 3.0), and it went from there. My schools also had Apple 2 and Macintosh computers, so I was familiar with those too. I was also
curious about Amiga computers but had only seen them in a couple places when I was growing up.
I'm a software engineer, and lately I've been hearing people who are worried that AI might take people's jobs. I'm not sure if that will happen, or to what extent, but I'm hoping it won't have much of a
negative impact on the job market.
Haha, I too believe that I will try out MacOS any year. Some of my school friends had macs growing up, but just seemed foreign to me. I had some
Hi there. I'm scarface from New Zealand. I'm pretty new to BBS's, mainly just been playing the games (poorly haha). I've also been lurking the message board a bit and thought I should take the time to introduce myself.
Same thing here... Plus there's a new CPU every year which always makes it tempting to wait until the next one. =)
I'm probably a bit younger than the average age, but is nice to see there are even younger folks getting engaged with this sort of technology. I worry sometimes about the direction of the software industry. I'm not so sure it is always going forward haha.
Welcome to bbsing! I suspect that most of us worry about the direction
of
the software, and general tech, industry, too. ;)
I hadn't really even _heard_ of amiga growing up eh. a few friends had apples which seemed rudimentary as I had already explored DOS and linux quite a bit. In hindsight, I likely just haven't given it the chance to explore it at the time, but I can still do today!
My high school had a couple of mac's we used in music class. the big colourful CRT unit all in one things. iMac's? Basically only used one piece of software on it, so I just .. acquired .. a windows copy. Majority of my software on my windows machine in that day would have been open source, soon to make the switch to full time linux.
I read something recently showing that kids/adolesents are growing up in a world where things "just work" to some degree of "work", and are less curious about the _how_ it works. I can't recall what journal that was in, but I guess it shows that people are studying the effect, but that sort of research is sadly slow, and lagged behind the actuality of the present.
Haha, I too believe that I will try out MacOS any year. Some of my school
friends had macs growing up, but just seemed foreign to me. I had some
Same thing here... Plus there's a new CPU every year which always makes it tempting to wait until the next one. =)
It seems to me that's the case these days. When I was growing up, computers still seemed like a relatively new thing, and it seemed that there were more people (like myself) who were curious about how they work. I like to build my own desktop computers, and I feel like I grew up in a time where a good number of people did that, and know how to fix things that go wrong. These days, even though a lot of people use smartphones & other computer technology, it seems a lot of people don't really have much idea about how it works or even a curiosity about it. It seems a bit counter-intuitive.
Same here. My first tech "job" was building and selling computers and LANs. I got bored of that pretty quick, but it was a start. Now when I hear a proud parent brag how their child is so tech-smart because they "built their own computer", it turns out they're just buying gaming PC components from amazon or newegg and assembling them. Sure, they've learned *something* through the process, but they're a long way away from turning that knowledge into a career. When I was building computers, it was still just a lot of assembly work, but you still had to know how to use 'debug.exe' to invoke the expansion ROM firmware of a "Winchester" controller, know how to low-level format a drive, know the differences between MFM and RLL encoding, platters, tracks, cyclinders and clusters and why it might matter for the customer, etc. Chips and cables weren't "keyed" and you had to know where pin-1 was and why it mattered.
Nowadays,
all those details are abstracted away from the system builder. And the software stack is much higher now than back then, so the chances of one person knowing it all is even less likely, even when they do know enough to have a job in the field. I enjoy blowing the minds of youngsters when I'm able to demystify things and explain why things (in tech) are the way they are. But I also feel bad that they may not really retain the knowledge since they didn't "live it" and that could be a big handicap for the generation(s) taking over.
Same thing here... Plus there's a new CPU every year which always makes tempting to wait until the next one. =)
That's what made the Mac secondary market so great - people ditching mostly new Macs for a slightly newer model...
Personally, I think its a disaster nowadays. Nobody knows how to debug anything. They put out the most inefficient code that is so full of errors and bugs that it would make you wince. Most folks don't even understand what the code even does just "ChatGPT told me to use this".
If you ask someone to help/assist with something outside their domain, they look at you like you are an alien. They simply don't understand
how to take skillset "A" and translate that into at least a beginning knowledge for "B".
play Fortnight or Minecraft they are "IT" experts.
What kind of Apple? I think the Apple 2 was a bit rudimentary compared
to a DOS PC, though the Macintosh was a bit more advanced than the
typical DOS PC when the Mac came out.
5200). My high school also had a computer lab with some DOS PCs in it.
smartphones & other computer technology, it seems a lot of people don't really have much idea about how it works or even a curiosity about it.
It seems a bit counter-intuitive.
I feel like it's a little weird that Intel and Apple have been doing that lately (new CPU each year). With the yearly new CPU models, it seems
hear a proud parent brag how their child is so tech-smart because they "built their own computer", it turns out they're just buying gaming PC components from amazon or newegg and assembling them. Sure, they've learned *something* through the process, but they're a long way away
from turning that knowledge into a career. When I was building
I feel like it's a little weird that Intel and Apple have been doing that
lately (new CPU each year). With the yearly new CPU models, it seems
Capitalism my friend. Sadly it is the only way people think, and not so much about societal value or impact of these practices.
Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-
It seems to me that's the case these days. When I was growing up, computers still seemed like a relatively new thing, and it seemed that there were more people (like myself) who were curious about how they work. I like to build my own desktop computers, and I feel like I grew up in a time where a good number of people did that, and know how to fix things that go wrong. These days, even though a lot of people use smartphones & other computer technology, it seems a lot of people don't really have much idea about how it works or even a curiosity about it. It seems a bit counter-intuitive.
Same here. My first tech "job" was building and selling computers and LANs. I got bored of that pretty quick, but it was a start. Now when I hear a proud parent brag how their child is so tech-smart because they "built their own computer", it turns out they're just buying gaming PC components from amazon or newegg and assembling them. Sure, they've learned *something* through the process, but they're a long way away
from turning that knowledge into a career. When I was building
computers, it was still just a lot of assembly work, but you still had
to know how to use 'debug.exe' to invoke the expansion ROM firmware of
a "Winchester" controller, know how to low-level format a drive, know
the differences between MFM and RLL encoding, platters, tracks,
cyclinders and clusters and why it might matter for the customer, etc. Chips and cables weren't "keyed" and you had to know where pin-1 was
and why it mattered. Nowadays, all those details are abstracted away
from the system builder. And the software stack is much higher now than back then, so the chances of one person knowing it all is even less likely, even when they do know enough to have a job in the field. I
enjoy blowing the minds of youngsters when I'm able to demystify things and explain why things (in tech) are the way they are. But I also feel
bad that they may not really retain the knowledge since they didn't
"live it" and that could be a big handicap for the generation(s) taking over.
[snip] When I was building
computers, it was still just a lot of assembly work, but you still had
to know how to use 'debug.exe' to invoke the expansion ROM firmware of a "Winchester" controller, know how to low-level format a drive, know the differences between MFM and RLL encoding, platters, tracks, cyclinders
and clusters and why it might matter for the customer, etc. Chips and cables weren't "keyed" and you had to know where pin-1 was and why it mattered.
Nowadays, all those details are abstracted away from the
system builder.
And the software stack is much higher now than back
then, so the chances of one person knowing it all is even less likely, even when they do know enough to have a job in the field. I enjoy
blowing the minds of youngsters when I'm able to demystify things and explain why things (in tech) are the way they are. But I also feel bad that they may not really retain the knowledge since they didn't "live
it" and that could be a big handicap for the generation(s) taking over.
Personally, I think its a disaster nowadays. Nobody knows how to debug anything. They put out the most inefficient code that is so full of errors an
bugs that it would make you wince. Most folks don't even understand what the code even does just "ChatGPT told me to use this".
If you ask someone to help/assist with something outside their domain, they look at you like you are an alien. They simply don't understand how to take skillset "A" and translate that into at least a beginning knowledge for "B".
As the workforce retires, I am very concerned about the future of anything dealing with technology. Too many folks think because they play Fortnight or Minecraft they are "IT" experts.
I feel like it's a little weird that Intel and Apple have been doing that
lately (new CPU each year). With the yearly new CPU models, it seems
Capitalism my friend. Sadly it is the only way people think, and not so much about societal value or impact of these practices.
Sometimes that is difficult, but many times an understand of general
logic
will go a long way to getting you from A to B. During COVID, we had a developer pass away unexpectedly. I am a COBOL programmer by trade. I
had
to pick up at least a basic knowledge of SAS coding (mainframe and PC) pretty quickly. There was actually a third language that a couple of
2. Juggling the order (and command line switches) for device drivers in autoexec.bat and config.sys for maximum free memory (via "loadhigh", "devicehigh", EMM, EMS, etc. (This assumes we're going all the way back to MSDOS days). ;-)
I feel like it's a little weird that Intel and Apple have been doing that lately (new CPU each year). With the yearly new CPU models, it seems
like the changes are pretty small. Some time ago, I remember seeing some
Nightfox wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: Hi all!
By: Gamgee to Digital Man on Sun Aug 31 2025 10:00 pm
2. Juggling the order (and command line switches) for device drivers in autoexec.bat and config.sys for maximum free memory (via "loadhigh", "devicehigh", EMM, EMS, etc. (This assumes we're going all the way back to MSDOS days). ;-)
One of my favorite featues added in MS-DOS 6 was the ability to have multiple boot configurations. You could modify your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT with different sections which would have different
settings & drivers loaded (or not loaded) when you boot up. This way,
if any of your software required a different system configuration in
order to run, you could easily reboot and choose the other
configuration from a menu that MS-DOS would show you (it also had a default configuration which would automatically be selected, if I
recall).
My current desktop computer from 2014 sports an Intel Celeron at 1.99 GHz, though, and is running Windows 11, so I think something newer will fly in comparison regardless of what it is. :-D
Except in Intel's case it - capitalism - isn't working. They are selling a percentage of their business to the federal government - another form of bailout - to keep from going under.
Except in Intel's case it - capitalism - isn't working. They are selling a
percentage of their business to the federal government - another form of bailout - to keep from going under.
Technically, the US government is taking stock in exchange for funds already promised to Intel under Biden's US Chips and Science act, and funds already granted through the Secure Enclave Program.
How did you manage to install Windows 11 on that? My understanding is that Windows 11 requires PCs with TPM, and I didn't think PCs that old
had any TPM functionality.
How did you manage to install Windows 11 on that? My understanding is
that Windows 11 requires PCs with TPM, and I didn't think PCs that old
had any TPM functionality.
You're right! I used Flyby11 (https://github.com/builtbybel/Flyby11) which more or less is a somewhat simplified way of/guide for downloading the Windows 11 ISO, mounting it, and executing a "Windows Server" upgrade (a special flag to the setup program, which skips the hardware checks). You can choose to keep all your files and settings during the upgrade. Worked like a charm!
Not sure how the absence of a TPM affects things -- maybe things like BitLocker and similar won't work (but I wasn't using that in Windows 10 either)...
Interesting.. Good to know. And are you using a purchased Windows 11 serial too? It would be interesting to know if an activated Windows 11 will work on an older PC. If so, I'd consider doing that with my 2014 Lenovo laptop.
TPM is just a security feature that uses cryptography to protect against malware. So I suspect Windows could run fine without it and without the additional security checks.
Interesting.. Good to know. And are you using a purchased Windows 11
serial too? It would be interesting to know if an activated Windows 11
will work on an older PC. If so, I'd consider doing that with my 2014
Lenovo laptop.
It came with Windows 8.1 "with Bing" :-D on it when it was new in late 2014, then I applied the free upgrade to Windows 10 Home when that was offered by Microsoft, and then upgraded it to Windows 11 Home using Flyby11 earlier this summer. So it (still) says that it's activated through a digital license.
4. On my first PC (a Kaypro PC), I upgraded the 8088 CPU to a VIC-20
and it was a noticeable speed increase.
Ahhhhh - the good old days!! :-)
Hi there. I'm scarface from New Zealand. I'm pretty new to BBS's, mainly just been playing the games (poorly haha). I've also been lurking the message board a bit and thought I should take the time to introduce myself.
I'm a child of the late 80's, brought up with a mix of DOS, Debian, and various window's starting from 3.11. I've gotten to know a lot more
about computers ever since, but always know there is heaps more out
there to learn.
In recent years, I mainly use linux, but dabblein other OS's in VM's. sc> I've also made a decent effort at my own OS for the x86, purely for the sc> learning opportunity of learning x86 assembly.
For work, I started off a sysadmin at my dad's work, then did university and whatnot. After uni I've been a web developer, security consultant.
On the side I do various projects in a bunch of languages. I like trying things out, even "esoteric" stuff.
I'm probably a bit younger than the average age, but is nice to see
there are even younger folks getting engaged with this sort of
technology. I worry sometimes about the direction of the software industry. I'm not so sure it is always going forward haha.
Anyhow, that's me. Using SyncTERM from ubuntu. Happy for recommendations of other clients to enjoy this though!i just use mtcp telnet for my 286 and dctelnet for my amiga 2000hd
Digital Man wrote to Gamgee <=-
4. On my first PC (a Kaypro PC), I upgraded the 8088 CPU to a VIC-20
and it was a noticeable speed increase.
NEC V20, yup, did that one too. And had a VIC-20 before an Apple or IBM/clone PC to boot. :-)
Ahhhhh - the good old days!! :-)
Yup. There was a project at my last job where we were developing a wireless hand held controller for something and each needed a unique address and there was this chicken-and-the-egg concept of how to
program the initial address for each. I suggested adding/using DIP switches for the unique address (only the lower 8-bits needed to be unique). They (the young'n hardware designers) were like... "what's a
dip switch? Hey that looks useful - let's use that". And so the controllers have DIP switches and no bespoke/bizarre provisioning
system needed. Some times the old way is still the best way.
Ah, interesting. Maybe I'll try to upgrade Windows on my laptop that
way. Thanks for sharing!
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