Welcome to decuser’s blog
Topics on this blog include computing, retro-computing, operating systems, math, and whatever other technical subjects I happen to be exploring that I find interesting enough to take and share notes about.
Posts
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github actions - seriously?
This post is not a particularly informative one, but when I tried to switch to github actions for publishing the blog, uh, it went poorly.
Maybe I’ll try again later, but for the time being - sticking with publish a branch.
If you’re lost reading this, no worries. It’s github speak for if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it :).
post added 2024-09-23 19:12:00 -0600
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Research Unix Version 7 - 3.2
This is an updated note that covers building a working v7 instance from tape files that will run in the OpenSImH emulator. First, the reader is led through the restoration of a pristine v7 instance from tape to disk. Next, the reader is led through adding a regular user and making the system multi-user capable. Then, the reader is shown how to make the system multi-session cable to allow multiple simultaneous sessions. Finally, the system is put to use with hello world, DMR style, and the learn system is enabled.
The note explains each step of the process in detail.
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Will's Geometry - A Setting Out.
This is a note where I begin to develop my own geometry based on the example of Euclid, but with an eye towards addressing its shortcomings - what hubris?! But seriously, I’m pretty sure my geometry will pale in comparison. The purpose of the exploration is not to show off, but to learn more about the world and in this regard, will be interesting and educational.
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Geometry Explorations
This note describes a method for fixing Thunderbird when it hangs while indexing.
I’m posting this in case it’s useful to folks and for my own reference. It took me a quite a while to figure it out.
So you have been using Thunderbird for your email for a while, on Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, and so on, for let’s say a couple of decades. If you copy your profile around much, you are bound to hit an indexing issue where Thunderbird is unable to index your archives. You open up Activity Manager and it helpfully reports:
Indexing 32 of 14243 messages in Archives/2002-2020/2016
Read on for the fix.
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Geometry Explorations
This note sets up a series of related notes pertaining to my explorations in Geometry and by extension, Maths.
The explorations are my work in trying to make sense of the world through math. They are presented here, in part, to motivate me to express my thoughts in a more organized fashion than I might otherwise, and in part to share in the hopes that some small few might benefit or wish to chat about things.
So, enjoy and if you do, feel free to email me about it.
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MACLISP in ITS running on an emulated PDP-10
This is a longer note that describes the process of getting ITS (Incompatible Timesharing System) up and running in order to run MACLISP. ITS is quite a large system and it has many different programming languages and programs available. In this note, we will only be using lisp and emacs, but future notes will explore logo, and perhaps other languages found in the distribution.
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Franz LISP Opus 32 in 3BSD running on an emulated VAX 780
This note describes how to set up and run Franz LISP Opus 32 running on 3BSD running on an emulated VAX 780. This version of Franz LISP is Opus 32 and it is a LISP 1.5 derived LISP from 1979.
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pdp1-lisp running on an emulated PDP-1
This note describes how to set up and run PDP-1 lisp. It’s a pretty brief walkthrough. If you run into any issues, let me know.
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Rob Pike's LISP 1.5 in Go running on Debian 12
This note describes how to set up and run Rob Pike’s LISP 1.5 in Go.
LISP 1.5 was the first LISP that was made generally available. Rob Pike implemented a minimalist version of the EVALQUOTE function described on page 13 of the LISP 1.5 Programmer’s Manual https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%201.5%20Programmers%20Manual.pdf or grab a local copy
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LISP 1.5 running on an emulated IBM 7094
This note describes how to set up and run the oldest available ancestor of all extant LISPS and Schemes.
LISP 1.5 was the first LISP that was made generally available. It is available to run on the OpenSIMH IBM 7094 emulator.
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