#computinghistory — Public Fediverse posts

The Virtual OS Museum opens its doors: A massive compilation of historic OSes and the emulators to run them (The Register)

https://www.theregister.com/oses/2026/05/23/the-virtual-os-museum-opens-its-doors/5243459

#OperatingSystems #OS #computing #computinghistory #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputer #emulation #technews #tech #nostalgia #museum

The Virtual OS Museum opens its doors: A massive compilation of historic OSes and the emulators to run them (The Register)

https://www.theregister.com/oses/2026/05/23/the-virtual-os-museum-opens-its-doors/5243459

#OperatingSystems #OS #computing #computinghistory #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputer #emulation #technews #tech #nostalgia #museum

The Virtual OS Museum opens its doors: A massive compilation of historic OSes and the emulators to run them (The Register)

https://www.theregister.com/oses/2026/05/23/the-virtual-os-museum-opens-its-doors/5243459

#OperatingSystems #OS #computing #computinghistory #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputer #emulation #technews #tech #nostalgia #museum

The Virtual OS Museum opens its doors: A massive compilation of historic OSes and the emulators to run them (The Register)

https://www.theregister.com/oses/2026/05/23/the-virtual-os-museum-opens-its-doors/5243459

#OperatingSystems #OS #computing #computinghistory #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputer #emulation #technews #tech #nostalgia #museum

The Virtual OS Museum opens its doors: A massive compilation of historic OSes and the emulators to run them (The Register)

https://www.theregister.com/oses/2026/05/23/the-virtual-os-museum-opens-its-doors/5243459

#OperatingSystems #OS #computing #computinghistory #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputer #emulation #technews #tech #nostalgia #museum

This is so awesome to see! Avril Harrison's famous work! I don't see an Amiga as part of the display, but if there is one out-of-view, I'm sure it is an Amiga 1000, the first Amiga of all!

https://amiga.lychesis.net/applications/DeluxePaint.html#AH_KingTut

#Inspiring

#Amiga #pixelart #CommodoreAmiga #KingTut #DeluxePaint #DanielSilva #AvrilHarrison #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computinghistory #museum #Cairo #ancientegypt #Egypt #lol

This is so awesome to see! Avril Harrison's famous work! I don't see an Amiga as part of the display, but if there is one out-of-view, I'm sure it is an Amiga 1000, the first Amiga of all!

https://amiga.lychesis.net/applications/DeluxePaint.html#AH_KingTut

#Inspiring

#Amiga #pixelart #CommodoreAmiga #KingTut #DeluxePaint #DanielSilva #AvrilHarrison #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computinghistory #museum #Cairo #ancientegypt #Egypt #lol

This is so awesome to see! Avril Harrison's famous work! I don't see an Amiga as part of the display, but if there is one out-of-view, I'm sure it is an Amiga 1000, the first Amiga of all!

https://amiga.lychesis.net/applications/DeluxePaint.html#AH_KingTut

#Inspiring

#Amiga #pixelart #CommodoreAmiga #KingTut #DeluxePaint #DanielSilva #AvrilHarrison #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computinghistory #museum #Cairo #ancientegypt #Egypt #lol

This is so awesome to see! Avril Harrison's famous work! I don't see an Amiga as part of the display, but if there is one out-of-view, I'm sure it is an Amiga 1000, the first Amiga of all!

https://amiga.lychesis.net/applications/DeluxePaint.html#AH_KingTut

#Inspiring

#Amiga #pixelart #CommodoreAmiga #KingTut #DeluxePaint #DanielSilva #AvrilHarrison #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computinghistory #museum #Cairo #ancientegypt #Egypt #lol

This is so awesome to see! Avril Harrison's famous work! I don't see an Amiga as part of the display, but if there is one out-of-view, I'm sure it is an Amiga 1000, the first Amiga of all!

https://amiga.lychesis.net/applications/DeluxePaint.html#AH_KingTut

#Inspiring

#Amiga #pixelart #CommodoreAmiga #KingTut #DeluxePaint #DanielSilva #AvrilHarrison #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computinghistory #museum #Cairo #ancientegypt #Egypt #lol

More Fun Making It (aka More Fun Fixing it) does relaxed videos about retro computing and electronics, usually fixing old 8-bit computers that have stopped working. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @morefunmakingit

They've already published almost 300 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/morefunmakingit/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #Electronics #ComputingHistory #Repairs #Commodore64 #ZXSpectrum #PeerTube

More Fun Making It (aka More Fun Fixing it) does relaxed videos about retro computing and electronics, usually fixing old 8-bit computers that have stopped working. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @morefunmakingit

They've already published almost 300 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/morefunmakingit/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #Electronics #ComputingHistory #Repairs #Commodore64 #ZXSpectrum #PeerTube

More Fun Making It (aka More Fun Fixing it) does relaxed videos about retro computing and electronics, usually fixing old 8-bit computers that have stopped working. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @morefunmakingit

They've already published almost 300 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/morefunmakingit/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #Electronics #ComputingHistory #Repairs #Commodore64 #ZXSpectrum #PeerTube

More Fun Making It (aka More Fun Fixing it) does relaxed videos about retro computing and electronics, usually fixing old 8-bit computers that have stopped working. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @morefunmakingit

They've already published almost 300 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/morefunmakingit/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #Electronics #ComputingHistory #Repairs #Commodore64 #ZXSpectrum #PeerTube

More Fun Making It (aka More Fun Fixing it) does relaxed videos about retro computing and electronics, usually fixing old 8-bit computers that have stopped working. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @morefunmakingit

They've already published almost 300 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/morefunmakingit/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #Electronics #ComputingHistory #Repairs #Commodore64 #ZXSpectrum #PeerTube

I intended to write this post about -9- months ago (not to mention maybe a few other posts as well), but the world got crazy and life got busy and, well, better late than never.

INIT HELLO: A New Apple II Conference (Scope Creep Done Right)

https://bytecellar.com/2026/05/10/init-hello-a-new-apple-ii-conference-scope-creep-done-right/

( Note: registration is open for INIT HELLO 2026 -- to be held once again at the System Source Computer Museum outside Baltimore, MD -- until May 24th! )

( But today is the last day you can order a t-shirt! )

#INITHELLO #AppleII #Apple2forever #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computermuseum #museum #computinghistory #SystemSource #Maryland #Baltimore #blog #video #photos #retrocomputers #retrogaming #tech #vintagetech #blogpost #Apple #CRAY

I intended to write this post about -9- months ago (not to mention maybe a few other posts as well), but the world got crazy and life got busy and, well, better late than never.

INIT HELLO: A New Apple II Conference (Scope Creep Done Right)

https://bytecellar.com/2026/05/10/init-hello-a-new-apple-ii-conference-scope-creep-done-right/

( Note: registration is open for INIT HELLO 2026 -- to be held once again at the System Source Computer Museum outside Baltimore, MD -- until May 24th! )

( But today is the last day you can order a t-shirt! )

#INITHELLO #AppleII #Apple2forever #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computermuseum #museum #computinghistory #SystemSource #Maryland #Baltimore #blog #video #photos #retrocomputers #retrogaming #tech #vintagetech #blogpost #Apple #CRAY

I intended to write this post about -9- months ago (not to mention maybe a few other posts as well), but the world got crazy and life got busy and, well, better late than never.

INIT HELLO: A New Apple II Conference (Scope Creep Done Right)

https://bytecellar.com/2026/05/10/init-hello-a-new-apple-ii-conference-scope-creep-done-right/

( Note: registration is open for INIT HELLO 2026 -- to be held once again at the System Source Computer Museum outside Baltimore, MD -- until May 24th! )

( But today is the last day you can order a t-shirt! )

#INITHELLO #AppleII #Apple2forever #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computermuseum #museum #computinghistory #SystemSource #Maryland #Baltimore #blog #video #photos #retrocomputers #retrogaming #tech #vintagetech #blogpost #Apple #CRAY

I intended to write this post about -9- months ago (not to mention maybe a few other posts as well), but the world got crazy and life got busy and, well, better late than never.

INIT HELLO: A New Apple II Conference (Scope Creep Done Right)

https://bytecellar.com/2026/05/10/init-hello-a-new-apple-ii-conference-scope-creep-done-right/

( Note: registration is open for INIT HELLO 2026 -- to be held once again at the System Source Computer Museum outside Baltimore, MD -- until May 24th! )

( But today is the last day you can order a t-shirt! )

#INITHELLO #AppleII #Apple2forever #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computermuseum #museum #computinghistory #SystemSource #Maryland #Baltimore #blog #video #photos #retrocomputers #retrogaming #tech #vintagetech #blogpost #Apple #CRAY

I intended to write this post about -9- months ago (not to mention maybe a few other posts as well), but the world got crazy and life got busy and, well, better late than never.

INIT HELLO: A New Apple II Conference (Scope Creep Done Right)

https://bytecellar.com/2026/05/10/init-hello-a-new-apple-ii-conference-scope-creep-done-right/

( Note: registration is open for INIT HELLO 2026 -- to be held once again at the System Source Computer Museum outside Baltimore, MD -- until May 24th! )

( But today is the last day you can order a t-shirt! )

#INITHELLO #AppleII #Apple2forever #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #computermuseum #museum #computinghistory #SystemSource #Maryland #Baltimore #blog #video #photos #retrocomputers #retrogaming #tech #vintagetech #blogpost #Apple #CRAY

Ctrl Alt Rees makes fun cheerful videos about retro computing and retro gaming. You can follow the account at:

➡️ @rees

They've already made almost 400 videos. If these haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse them all at https://makertube.net/a/rees/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroComputing #RetroGaming #ComputingHistory #PeerTube

Happy Birthday to Claude Shannon, known by many as the “father of Information Theory.” Shannon was an American mathematician and electrical engineer. In 1948, he published A Mathematical Theory of Communication, which effectively created the field. #ComputingHistory #ACM #PioneerPOV

Hommage à l'ingénierie européenne : l'Olivetti M28. 🇪🇺
À une époque où le bus ISA imposait sa loi, Olivetti réussissait l'exploit de marier performance brute du 80286 et ergonomie soignée.
Une pensée pour ceux qui ont configuré des interruptions matérielles sur ces machines pour faire tourner les premiers environnements.
As-tu connu ?
🛠️
#Retrocomputing #MadeInItaly#RetroHardware #Olivetti #ComputingHistory

#OTD in in 1968, the first U.S. software patent was granted. U.S. Patent No. 3,380,029 was issued to Martin Goetz for a method of sorting data on a computer, recognizing software as protectable intellectual property: https://buff.ly/NpwR85K

#computinghistory

Pensée pour le Tandon LT386. À l'époque, l'intégration verticale n'était pas un gros mot : Tandon fabriquait ses propres disques durs et ses propres lecteurs. Un hardware robuste, sans fioritures, parfait pour faire tourner un noyau Linux embryonnaire ou un bon vieux DOS. Pas de télémétrie, juste du silicium et de la sueur.
#RetroTech #ComputingHistory #Hardware #Tandon

Pensée pour le Tandon LT386. À l'époque, l'intégration verticale n'était pas un gros mot : Tandon fabriquait ses propres disques durs et ses propres lecteurs. Un hardware robuste, sans fioritures, parfait pour faire tourner un noyau Linux embryonnaire ou un bon vieux DOS. Pas de télémétrie, juste du silicium et de la sueur.
#RetroTech #ComputingHistory #Hardware #Tandon

Pensée pour le Tandon LT386. À l'époque, l'intégration verticale n'était pas un gros mot : Tandon fabriquait ses propres disques durs et ses propres lecteurs. Un hardware robuste, sans fioritures, parfait pour faire tourner un noyau Linux embryonnaire ou un bon vieux DOS. Pas de télémétrie, juste du silicium et de la sueur.
#RetroTech #ComputingHistory #Hardware #Tandon

Pensée pour le Tandon LT386. À l'époque, l'intégration verticale n'était pas un gros mot : Tandon fabriquait ses propres disques durs et ses propres lecteurs. Un hardware robuste, sans fioritures, parfait pour faire tourner un noyau Linux embryonnaire ou un bon vieux DOS. Pas de télémétrie, juste du silicium et de la sueur.
#RetroTech #ComputingHistory #Hardware #Tandon

Scandinavian Retro makes English-language videos looking at retro technology from the 1980s & 1990s, especially home computers. You can follow their account at:

➡️ @retroscandinavian

If their videos haven't federated to your server yet, you can browse their videos at https://video.chasmcity.net/a/retroscandinavian/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroTech #RetroComputing #ComputingHistory #1980s #1990s #PeerTube

I was told I was “on the chopping block” in my first job in games.

Chapter 5 of my memoir is now live.

This continues my time at Software Projects in 1984, with no real idea what I was doing and nobody there to tell me otherwise, learning fast as I went.

It includes a wiped Tatung Einstein boot disk and porting *Manic Miner* and *Jet Set Willy* without the original source code.

It also marks a turning point. Getting those first games shipped, and realizing I could actually do this.

Posting on a Saturday this time instead of the usual Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

https://stevewetherill.substack.com/p/chapter-5-the-caveman-and-the-pirate

#GameDev #RetroGaming #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #80sComputing #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #ComputingHistory #VideoGames #Memoir #Writing #Substack

I was told I was “on the chopping block” in my first job in games.

Chapter 5 of my memoir is now live.

This continues my time at Software Projects in 1984, with no real idea what I was doing and nobody there to tell me otherwise, learning fast as I went.

It includes a wiped Tatung Einstein boot disk and porting *Manic Miner* and *Jet Set Willy* without the original source code.

It also marks a turning point. Getting those first games shipped, and realizing I could actually do this.

Posting on a Saturday this time instead of the usual Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

https://stevewetherill.substack.com/p/chapter-5-the-caveman-and-the-pirate

#GameDev #RetroGaming #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #80sComputing #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #ComputingHistory #VideoGames #Memoir #Writing #Substack

I was told I was “on the chopping block” in my first job in games.

Chapter 5 of my memoir is now live.

This continues my time at Software Projects in 1984, with no real idea what I was doing and nobody there to tell me otherwise, learning fast as I went.

It includes a wiped Tatung Einstein boot disk and porting *Manic Miner* and *Jet Set Willy* without the original source code.

It also marks a turning point. Getting those first games shipped, and realizing I could actually do this.

Posting on a Saturday this time instead of the usual Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

https://stevewetherill.substack.com/p/chapter-5-the-caveman-and-the-pirate

#GameDev #RetroGaming #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #80sComputing #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #ComputingHistory #VideoGames #Memoir #Writing #Substack

I was told I was “on the chopping block” in my first job in games.

Chapter 5 of my memoir is now live.

This continues my time at Software Projects in 1984, with no real idea what I was doing and nobody there to tell me otherwise, learning fast as I went.

It includes a wiped Tatung Einstein boot disk and porting *Manic Miner* and *Jet Set Willy* without the original source code.

It also marks a turning point. Getting those first games shipped, and realizing I could actually do this.

Posting on a Saturday this time instead of the usual Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

https://stevewetherill.substack.com/p/chapter-5-the-caveman-and-the-pirate

#GameDev #RetroGaming #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #80sComputing #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #ComputingHistory #VideoGames #Memoir #Writing #Substack

I was told I was “on the chopping block” in my first job in games.

Chapter 5 of my memoir is now live.

This continues my time at Software Projects in 1984, with no real idea what I was doing and nobody there to tell me otherwise, learning fast as I went.

It includes a wiped Tatung Einstein boot disk and porting *Manic Miner* and *Jet Set Willy* without the original source code.

It also marks a turning point. Getting those first games shipped, and realizing I could actually do this.

Posting on a Saturday this time instead of the usual Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

https://stevewetherill.substack.com/p/chapter-5-the-caveman-and-the-pirate

#GameDev #RetroGaming #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #80sComputing #ZXSpectrum #Amstrad #ComputingHistory #VideoGames #Memoir #Writing #Substack

Legacy Code - A History Of Computing: Book One by Zoran Bošnjak is the featured book on Leanpub!

A witty, 'fun-technical' journey through the foundational chaos of computing history. From vacuum tubes and physical wiring to the birth of software engineering. Part one of an eight-part series, offered entirely free of charge.

Link: https://leanpub.com/legacycode-ahistoryofcomputingbook1

#ComputerScience #SoftwareEngineering #NonfictionHistory #ComputingHistory

Legacy Code - A History Of Computing: Book One by Zoran Bošnjak is the featured book on Leanpub!

A witty, 'fun-technical' journey through the foundational chaos of computing history. From vacuum tubes and physical wiring to the birth of software engineering. Part one of an eight-part series, offered entirely free of charge.

Link: https://leanpub.com/legacycode-ahistoryofcomputingbook1

#ComputerScience #SoftwareEngineering #NonfictionHistory #ComputingHistory

Legacy Code - A History Of Computing: Book One by Zoran Bošnjak is the featured book on Leanpub!

A witty, 'fun-technical' journey through the foundational chaos of computing history. From vacuum tubes and physical wiring to the birth of software engineering. Part one of an eight-part series, offered entirely free of charge.

Link: https://leanpub.com/legacycode-ahistoryofcomputingbook1

#ComputerScience #SoftwareEngineering #NonfictionHistory #ComputingHistory

Legacy Code - A History Of Computing: Book One by Zoran Bošnjak is the featured book on Leanpub!

A witty, 'fun-technical' journey through the foundational chaos of computing history. From vacuum tubes and physical wiring to the birth of software engineering. Part one of an eight-part series, offered entirely free of charge.

Link: https://leanpub.com/legacycode-ahistoryofcomputingbook1

#ComputerScience #SoftwareEngineering #NonfictionHistory #ComputingHistory

Powered up the SuperSE to quickly throw together a graphic in SuperPaint commemorating Apple’s 50th anniversary. “50 Years of Thinking Different.” #Apple50 #Apple #computinghistory #technology

Happy 50th, Apple.

#Apple

#AppleComputerInc #AppleInc #fiftyyears #apple50 #Apple50thAnniversary #Macintosh #AppleII #Lisa #SteveJobs #iPod #iPhone #iPad #Mac #AppleBirthday #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retrocomputers #computers #computinghistory #tech #technews #technology #vintageApple #photo #ByteCellar

Linux User Space posts videos about Linux and free open software. It also posts about the history of Linux distributions and tools. You can follow them at:

➡️ @linuxuserspace

There are already 40 videos uploaded. If these haven't federated to your server yet you can browse them all at https://tilvids.com/a/linuxuserspace/videos

#FeaturedPeerTube #Linux #FOSS #PeerTube #ComputingHistory

I'm trying to get our local museum to adopt by Telex machine that I inherited from my grandpa.
Hopefully they'll take it, I want it to go to a good home.
#RetroComputing #ComputingHistory

The Mac Pro has been discontinued.

"It’s the end of an era: Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that the Mac Pro is being discontinued. It has been removed from Apple’s website as of Thursday afternoon. The “buy” page on Apple’s website for the Mac Pro now redirects to the Mac’s homepage, where all references have been removed.

Apple has also confirmed to 9to5Mac that it has no plans to offer future Mac Pro hardware."

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/26/apple-discontinues-the-mac-pro/

#Apple #Mac #MacPro #AppleSilicon #tech #technews #Applenews #PowerMac #endofanera #macOS #Macintosh #hardware #computinghistory

The Mac Pro has been discontinued.

"It’s the end of an era: Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that the Mac Pro is being discontinued. It has been removed from Apple’s website as of Thursday afternoon. The “buy” page on Apple’s website for the Mac Pro now redirects to the Mac’s homepage, where all references have been removed.

Apple has also confirmed to 9to5Mac that it has no plans to offer future Mac Pro hardware."

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/26/apple-discontinues-the-mac-pro/

#Apple #Mac #MacPro #AppleSilicon #tech #technews #Applenews #PowerMac #endofanera #macOS #Macintosh #hardware #computinghistory

Happy Birthday to Edmund Berkeley, a pioneer who helped found the Association for Computing Machinery in 1947 and introduced the public to computers through his book Giant Brains, or Machines That Think — helping shape the early computing community.

#ComputingHistory #ACM #PioneerPOV

I am happy with this DECSystem-10 MUD system for now; it's been a 35-year task.

If anyone is bored enough to be curious!

31 January 1991: Essex University's DECSystem-10 closes, meaning that MIST and ROCK, and the dodgy version of MUD we had on there, had to close. I had a mostly working VMS system that would run it with some extra programming, but I'd already sent out AberMUD to Vijay, and he'd sent it out to the world, and TinyMUDs were becoming common. MIST was losing its captive audience, and it needed that level of addiction and co-dependence to run, so I decided to let it die in its prime, rather than become a sad old relic that nobody played.

2003 and the next 20 years: I decided to build a TOPS-10 system on a VMS machine and install MIST/MUD and ROCK. Got quite a long way, and then discovered there was no BCPL compiler existing anywhere in the known world. A few years later, Richard Bartle told me that Paul Allen (I think) had found one. So this became possible, and Quentin (dot-co-dot-uk) took a great stab at it with some really old code, and Viktor Toth had BL running, so I figured that was enough. Sometime in this period, Bletchley Park got something that looked like a PDP-10, and they suggested that I go and put MUD onto it for the museum. It wasn't a PDP-10, but I did look into putting it onto a VAX for a while, but the management of Bletchley, as it turned into The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), was getting more corporate and boring, so I gave up bothering.

19th Feb to 22nd Feb, 2026: I decided to build a PRIMOS machine on a Simh emulator for no apparent reason. It went fairly smoothly, so I wondered again about a DEC-10. I was missing TOPS-10 anyway, so why not? Proof of concept, setting up some test systems, seeing where TOPS-10 emulators were at these days and seeing how far Quentin had really got and how much extra work was needed. Realised I am going to have to start from scratch, mostly, using a prebuilt Steuben distro of TOPS-10 7.03 as the base.

Took a couple of weeks off to ponder whether the rest was worth it, but decided my $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription may as well pay for itself with background research, so I decided to go ahead.

9th March 9 to 18th March, 2026: A long sprint, and I mostly got it all working. 92 hours of concentrated swearing and about 15 hours of destroying the planet with GPT Deep Research mode later (*), after at least 2 false starts and complete wipes. I got a system I am relatively happy with. Somewhere in there is about 4 hours of relearning TECO and fighting with getting ROCK working on code it was never meant to work on. There's still more to do, but that's just maintenance now.

BUT I FOUND ROCK! I thought it was lost forever. Somehow, that's my major victory in all this. Building the setup was hard, tedious, and very frustrating work. It probably did need somebody who knew a lot about both DEC and Unix systems management, and the MUD engine, to guide it, but it was still mostly a matter of putting together things that already existed and forcing them to work together. ROCK, though, I genuinely thought was 100% lost.

It's taken a hundred plus concentrated hours, two new dedicated hosts, a small town's water supply, and probably a few megawatts of power in the background. But this is the final re-creation of the systems I closed at the start of the 1990s.

MIST (and MUD and ROCK) will still probably end up as relics that nobody properly plays, but this project is not pretending to be anything other than an interesting throwback and museum piece now, which, 35 years after I closed it down, seems a fitting end. It also means I can resurrect Duncan Rogerson's arch-wizard, and that seems right, somehow. I will leave it up and running now.

(*) Since someone whined about my use of GPT - I could not have mentioned it, but I did because, for some tasks like this one, it saved me hundreds of hours and a lot of Googling. If I have to pick (which I do!) I'd rather use GPT than Google still. One of the useful things you can do with Deep Research is to give it a topic you want to aggregate information on (like ACCESS.USR usage) and send it away to make a summary PDF of the key points of what's useful, but triple-checked and sourced. I have read the Original TOPS-10 manuals that are wonderfully hosted on @bitsavers many times, I could knock up a perfect ACCESS.USR in a drunken stupor, whilst half asleep once, but these days I barely remember the 3-part octal protections, so I am happy to have a reference I don't need to read 10 parts of 3 different manuals to make. That's why I use AI, and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Since I work in AI Ethics and actually put into practice what I preach, I am comfortable with my use of AI, and I always disclose it :P

#history #digital #retrogaming #retrocomputing #games #mud #muds #mist #rock #computers #emulation #emulators #vms #tops10 #museum #history #bletchleypark #simh #essex #uk #computinghistory #36bit #engineering #Linux #Security #TNMOC #blog #ADHD #Autism

I am happy with this DECSystem-10 MUD system for now; it's been a 35-year task.

If anyone is bored enough to be curious!

31 January 1991: Essex University's DECSystem-10 closes, meaning that MIST and ROCK, and the dodgy version of MUD we had on there, had to close. I had a mostly working VMS system that would run it with some extra programming, but I'd already sent out AberMUD to Vijay, and he'd sent it out to the world, and TinyMUDs were becoming common. MIST was losing its captive audience, and it needed that level of addiction and co-dependence to run, so I decided to let it die in its prime, rather than become a sad old relic that nobody played.

2003 and the next 20 years: I decided to build a TOPS-10 system on a VMS machine and install MIST/MUD and ROCK. Got quite a long way, and then discovered there was no BCPL compiler existing anywhere in the known world. A few years later, Richard Bartle told me that Paul Allen (I think) had found one. So this became possible, and Quentin (dot-co-dot-uk) took a great stab at it with some really old code, and Viktor Toth had BL running, so I figured that was enough. Sometime in this period, Bletchley Park got something that looked like a PDP-10, and they suggested that I go and put MUD onto it for the museum. It wasn't a PDP-10, but I did look into putting it onto a VAX for a while, but the management of Bletchley, as it turned into The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), was getting more corporate and boring, so I gave up bothering.

19th Feb to 22nd Feb, 2026: I decided to build a PRIMOS machine on a Simh emulator for no apparent reason. It went fairly smoothly, so I wondered again about a DEC-10. I was missing TOPS-10 anyway, so why not? Proof of concept, setting up some test systems, seeing where TOPS-10 emulators were at these days and seeing how far Quentin had really got and how much extra work was needed. Realised I am going to have to start from scratch, mostly, using a prebuilt Steuben distro of TOPS-10 7.03 as the base.

Took a couple of weeks off to ponder whether the rest was worth it, but decided my $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription may as well pay for itself with background research, so I decided to go ahead.

9th March 9 to 18th March, 2026: A long sprint, and I mostly got it all working. 92 hours of concentrated swearing and about 15 hours of destroying the planet with GPT Deep Research mode later (*), after at least 2 false starts and complete wipes. I got a system I am relatively happy with. Somewhere in there is about 4 hours of relearning TECO and fighting with getting ROCK working on code it was never meant to work on. There's still more to do, but that's just maintenance now.

BUT I FOUND ROCK! I thought it was lost forever. Somehow, that's my major victory in all this. Building the setup was hard, tedious, and very frustrating work. It probably did need somebody who knew a lot about both DEC and Unix systems management, and the MUD engine, to guide it, but it was still mostly a matter of putting together things that already existed and forcing them to work together. ROCK, though, I genuinely thought was 100% lost.

It's taken a hundred plus concentrated hours, two new dedicated hosts, a small town's water supply, and probably a few megawatts of power in the background. But this is the final re-creation of the systems I closed at the start of the 1990s.

MIST (and MUD and ROCK) will still probably end up as relics that nobody properly plays, but this project is not pretending to be anything other than an interesting throwback and museum piece now, which, 35 years after I closed it down, seems a fitting end. It also means I can resurrect Duncan Rogerson's arch-wizard, and that seems right, somehow. I will leave it up and running now.

(*) Since someone whined about my use of GPT - I could not have mentioned it, but I did because, for some tasks like this one, it saved me hundreds of hours and a lot of Googling. If I have to pick (which I do!) I'd rather use GPT than Google still. One of the useful things you can do with Deep Research is to give it a topic you want to aggregate information on (like ACCESS.USR usage) and send it away to make a summary PDF of the key points of what's useful, but triple-checked and sourced. I have read the Original TOPS-10 manuals that are wonderfully hosted on @bitsavers many times, I could knock up a perfect ACCESS.USR in a drunken stupor, whilst half asleep once, but these days I barely remember the 3-part octal protections, so I am happy to have a reference I don't need to read 10 parts of 3 different manuals to make. That's why I use AI, and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Since I work in AI Ethics and actually put into practice what I preach, I am comfortable with my use of AI, and I always disclose it :P

#history #digital #retrogaming #retrocomputing #games #mud #muds #mist #rock #computers #emulation #emulators #vms #tops10 #museum #history #bletchleypark #simh #essex #uk #computinghistory #36bit #engineering #Linux #Security #TNMOC #blog #ADHD #Autism

I am happy with this DECSystem-10 MUD system for now; it's been a 35-year task.

If anyone is bored enough to be curious!

31 January 1991: Essex University's DECSystem-10 closes, meaning that MIST and ROCK, and the dodgy version of MUD we had on there, had to close. I had a mostly working VMS system that would run it with some extra programming, but I'd already sent out AberMUD to Vijay, and he'd sent it out to the world, and TinyMUDs were becoming common. MIST was losing its captive audience, and it needed that level of addiction and co-dependence to run, so I decided to let it die in its prime, rather than become a sad old relic that nobody played.

2003 and the next 20 years: I decided to build a TOPS-10 system on a VMS machine and install MIST/MUD and ROCK. Got quite a long way, and then discovered there was no BCPL compiler existing anywhere in the known world. A few years later, Richard Bartle told me that Paul Allen (I think) had found one. So this became possible, and Quentin (dot-co-dot-uk) took a great stab at it with some really old code, and Viktor Toth had BL running, so I figured that was enough. Sometime in this period, Bletchley Park got something that looked like a PDP-10, and they suggested that I go and put MUD onto it for the museum. It wasn't a PDP-10, but I did look into putting it onto a VAX for a while, but the management of Bletchley, as it turned into The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), was getting more corporate and boring, so I gave up bothering.

19th Feb to 22nd Feb, 2026: I decided to build a PRIMOS machine on a Simh emulator for no apparent reason. It went fairly smoothly, so I wondered again about a DEC-10. I was missing TOPS-10 anyway, so why not? Proof of concept, setting up some test systems, seeing where TOPS-10 emulators were at these days and seeing how far Quentin had really got and how much extra work was needed. Realised I am going to have to start from scratch, mostly, using a prebuilt Steuben distro of TOPS-10 7.03 as the base.

Took a couple of weeks off to ponder whether the rest was worth it, but decided my $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription may as well pay for itself with background research, so I decided to go ahead.

9th March 9 to 18th March, 2026: A long sprint, and I mostly got it all working. 92 hours of concentrated swearing and about 15 hours of destroying the planet with GPT Deep Research mode later (*), after at least 2 false starts and complete wipes. I got a system I am relatively happy with. Somewhere in there is about 4 hours of relearning TECO and fighting with getting ROCK working on code it was never meant to work on. There's still more to do, but that's just maintenance now.

BUT I FOUND ROCK! I thought it was lost forever. Somehow, that's my major victory in all this. Building the setup was hard, tedious, and very frustrating work. It probably did need somebody who knew a lot about both DEC and Unix systems management, and the MUD engine, to guide it, but it was still mostly a matter of putting together things that already existed and forcing them to work together. ROCK, though, I genuinely thought was 100% lost.

It's taken a hundred plus concentrated hours, two new dedicated hosts, a small town's water supply, and probably a few megawatts of power in the background. But this is the final re-creation of the systems I closed at the start of the 1990s.

MIST (and MUD and ROCK) will still probably end up as relics that nobody properly plays, but this project is not pretending to be anything other than an interesting throwback and museum piece now, which, 35 years after I closed it down, seems a fitting end. It also means I can resurrect Duncan Rogerson's arch-wizard, and that seems right, somehow. I will leave it up and running now.

(*) Since someone whined about my use of GPT - I could not have mentioned it, but I did because, for some tasks like this one, it saved me hundreds of hours and a lot of Googling. If I have to pick (which I do!) I'd rather use GPT than Google still. One of the useful things you can do with Deep Research is to give it a topic you want to aggregate information on (like ACCESS.USR usage) and send it away to make a summary PDF of the key points of what's useful, but triple-checked and sourced. I have read the Original TOPS-10 manuals that are wonderfully hosted on @bitsavers many times, I could knock up a perfect ACCESS.USR in a drunken stupor, whilst half asleep once, but these days I barely remember the 3-part octal protections, so I am happy to have a reference I don't need to read 10 parts of 3 different manuals to make. That's why I use AI, and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Since I work in AI Ethics and actually put into practice what I preach, I am comfortable with my use of AI, and I always disclose it :P

#history #digital #retrogaming #retrocomputing #games #mud #muds #mist #rock #computers #emulation #emulators #vms #tops10 #museum #history #bletchleypark #simh #essex #uk #computinghistory #36bit #engineering #Linux #Security #TNMOC #blog #ADHD #Autism

I am happy with this DECSystem-10 MUD system for now; it's been a 35-year task.

If anyone is bored enough to be curious!

31 January 1991: Essex University's DECSystem-10 closes, meaning that MIST and ROCK, and the dodgy version of MUD we had on there, had to close. I had a mostly working VMS system that would run it with some extra programming, but I'd already sent out AberMUD to Vijay, and he'd sent it out to the world, and TinyMUDs were becoming common. MIST was losing its captive audience, and it needed that level of addiction and co-dependence to run, so I decided to let it die in its prime, rather than become a sad old relic that nobody played.

2003 and the next 20 years: I decided to build a TOPS-10 system on a VMS machine and install MIST/MUD and ROCK. Got quite a long way, and then discovered there was no BCPL compiler existing anywhere in the known world. A few years later, Richard Bartle told me that Paul Allen (I think) had found one. So this became possible, and Quentin (dot-co-dot-uk) took a great stab at it with some really old code, and Viktor Toth had BL running, so I figured that was enough. Sometime in this period, Bletchley Park got something that looked like a PDP-10, and they suggested that I go and put MUD onto it for the museum. It wasn't a PDP-10, but I did look into putting it onto a VAX for a while, but the management of Bletchley, as it turned into The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), was getting more corporate and boring, so I gave up bothering.

19th Feb to 22nd Feb, 2026: I decided to build a PRIMOS machine on a Simh emulator for no apparent reason. It went fairly smoothly, so I wondered again about a DEC-10. I was missing TOPS-10 anyway, so why not? Proof of concept, setting up some test systems, seeing where TOPS-10 emulators were at these days and seeing how far Quentin had really got and how much extra work was needed. Realised I am going to have to start from scratch, mostly, using a prebuilt Steuben distro of TOPS-10 7.03 as the base.

Took a couple of weeks off to ponder whether the rest was worth it, but decided my $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription may as well pay for itself with background research, so I decided to go ahead.

9th March 9 to 18th March, 2026: A long sprint, and I mostly got it all working. 92 hours of concentrated swearing and about 15 hours of destroying the planet with GPT Deep Research mode later (*), after at least 2 false starts and complete wipes. I got a system I am relatively happy with. Somewhere in there is about 4 hours of relearning TECO and fighting with getting ROCK working on code it was never meant to work on. There's still more to do, but that's just maintenance now.

BUT I FOUND ROCK! I thought it was lost forever. Somehow, that's my major victory in all this. Building the setup was hard, tedious, and very frustrating work. It probably did need somebody who knew a lot about both DEC and Unix systems management, and the MUD engine, to guide it, but it was still mostly a matter of putting together things that already existed and forcing them to work together. ROCK, though, I genuinely thought was 100% lost.

It's taken a hundred plus concentrated hours, two new dedicated hosts, a small town's water supply, and probably a few megawatts of power in the background. But this is the final re-creation of the systems I closed at the start of the 1990s.

MIST (and MUD and ROCK) will still probably end up as relics that nobody properly plays, but this project is not pretending to be anything other than an interesting throwback and museum piece now, which, 35 years after I closed it down, seems a fitting end. It also means I can resurrect Duncan Rogerson's arch-wizard, and that seems right, somehow. I will leave it up and running now.

(*) Since someone whined about my use of GPT - I could not have mentioned it, but I did because, for some tasks like this one, it saved me hundreds of hours and a lot of Googling. If I have to pick (which I do!) I'd rather use GPT than Google still. One of the useful things you can do with Deep Research is to give it a topic you want to aggregate information on (like ACCESS.USR usage) and send it away to make a summary PDF of the key points of what's useful, but triple-checked and sourced. I have read the Original TOPS-10 manuals that are wonderfully hosted on @bitsavers many times, I could knock up a perfect ACCESS.USR in a drunken stupor, whilst half asleep once, but these days I barely remember the 3-part octal protections, so I am happy to have a reference I don't need to read 10 parts of 3 different manuals to make. That's why I use AI, and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Since I work in AI Ethics and actually put into practice what I preach, I am comfortable with my use of AI, and I always disclose it :P

#history #digital #retrogaming #retrocomputing #games #mud #muds #mist #rock #computers #emulation #emulators #vms #tops10 #museum #history #bletchleypark #simh #essex #uk #computinghistory #36bit #engineering #Linux #Security #TNMOC #blog #ADHD #Autism

I am happy with this DECSystem-10 MUD system for now; it's been a 35-year task.

If anyone is bored enough to be curious!

31 January 1991: Essex University's DECSystem-10 closes, meaning that MIST and ROCK, and the dodgy version of MUD we had on there, had to close. I had a mostly working VMS system that would run it with some extra programming, but I'd already sent out AberMUD to Vijay, and he'd sent it out to the world, and TinyMUDs were becoming common. MIST was losing its captive audience, and it needed that level of addiction and co-dependence to run, so I decided to let it die in its prime, rather than become a sad old relic that nobody played.

2003 and the next 20 years: I decided to build a TOPS-10 system on a VMS machine and install MIST/MUD and ROCK. Got quite a long way, and then discovered there was no BCPL compiler existing anywhere in the known world. A few years later, Richard Bartle told me that Paul Allen (I think) had found one. So this became possible, and Quentin (dot-co-dot-uk) took a great stab at it with some really old code, and Viktor Toth had BL running, so I figured that was enough. Sometime in this period, Bletchley Park got something that looked like a PDP-10, and they suggested that I go and put MUD onto it for the museum. It wasn't a PDP-10, but I did look into putting it onto a VAX for a while, but the management of Bletchley, as it turned into The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), was getting more corporate and boring, so I gave up bothering.

19th Feb to 22nd Feb, 2026: I decided to build a PRIMOS machine on a Simh emulator for no apparent reason. It went fairly smoothly, so I wondered again about a DEC-10. I was missing TOPS-10 anyway, so why not? Proof of concept, setting up some test systems, seeing where TOPS-10 emulators were at these days and seeing how far Quentin had really got and how much extra work was needed. Realised I am going to have to start from scratch, mostly, using a prebuilt Steuben distro of TOPS-10 7.03 as the base.

Took a couple of weeks off to ponder whether the rest was worth it, but decided my $200 a month ChatGPT Pro subscription may as well pay for itself with background research, so I decided to go ahead.

9th March 9 to 18th March, 2026: A long sprint, and I mostly got it all working. 92 hours of concentrated swearing and about 15 hours of destroying the planet with GPT Deep Research mode later (*), after at least 2 false starts and complete wipes. I got a system I am relatively happy with. Somewhere in there is about 4 hours of relearning TECO and fighting with getting ROCK working on code it was never meant to work on. There's still more to do, but that's just maintenance now.

BUT I FOUND ROCK! I thought it was lost forever. Somehow, that's my major victory in all this. Building the setup was hard, tedious, and very frustrating work. It probably did need somebody who knew a lot about both DEC and Unix systems management, and the MUD engine, to guide it, but it was still mostly a matter of putting together things that already existed and forcing them to work together. ROCK, though, I genuinely thought was 100% lost.

It's taken a hundred plus concentrated hours, two new dedicated hosts, a small town's water supply, and probably a few megawatts of power in the background. But this is the final re-creation of the systems I closed at the start of the 1990s.

MIST (and MUD and ROCK) will still probably end up as relics that nobody properly plays, but this project is not pretending to be anything other than an interesting throwback and museum piece now, which, 35 years after I closed it down, seems a fitting end. It also means I can resurrect Duncan Rogerson's arch-wizard, and that seems right, somehow. I will leave it up and running now.

(*) Since someone whined about my use of GPT - I could not have mentioned it, but I did because, for some tasks like this one, it saved me hundreds of hours and a lot of Googling. If I have to pick (which I do!) I'd rather use GPT than Google still. One of the useful things you can do with Deep Research is to give it a topic you want to aggregate information on (like ACCESS.USR usage) and send it away to make a summary PDF of the key points of what's useful, but triple-checked and sourced. I have read the Original TOPS-10 manuals that are wonderfully hosted on @bitsavers many times, I could knock up a perfect ACCESS.USR in a drunken stupor, whilst half asleep once, but these days I barely remember the 3-part octal protections, so I am happy to have a reference I don't need to read 10 parts of 3 different manuals to make. That's why I use AI, and I am perfectly comfortable with that. Since I work in AI Ethics and actually put into practice what I preach, I am comfortable with my use of AI, and I always disclose it :P

#history #digital #retrogaming #retrocomputing #games #mud #muds #mist #rock #computers #emulation #emulators #vms #tops10 #museum #history #bletchleypark #simh #essex #uk #computinghistory #36bit #engineering #Linux #Security #TNMOC #blog #ADHD #Autism