The Blog

  • Forcing DOS onto an unwilling ThinkPad R60e

    I decide that doing DOS development means I need a real computer, rather than an emulator. I have an old laptop, surely making it run DOS can’t be that hard, right? The device in question is this. It’s an IBM ThinkPad R60e. It says IBM on the lid, it says IBM in the BIOS, but…

  • Bring back physical buttons!

    At least polling a physical button can be done with electronics that don’t require running code, meaning you can always program one of the buttons to be a “reset” switch if needed. Like in my car, when the infotainment system decided to lock up… No amount of frustrated tapping on the screen did anything, and…

  • Emulation Sucks

    … because it’s so realistic you still have to put up with the same problems you had 30 years ago… Ah yes, that’ll be the problem, something ate the system.ini file, because of course it did, didn’t it There’s some 30 year old muscle memory going on here, if I don’t think I can drive…

  • Dodgy DOS Development

    From the mind that brought you “let’s try to write games using just pure C” I have a new idea for making my life difficult. Let’s write DOS software using period correct tools… This is just me organising a thought, I’ve not started yet. Further research will be needed – or in other words, if…

  • Maximising the fun in Linux

    Or in other words, I ditch NixOS because it’s awkward and weird, and I install Arch because it’s awkward and weird, but in a different way. And here’s my opinion. So I’ve been playing with NixOS for a few days now and while it does have some interesting features, it’s just a bit weird. I…

  • Making Computers Fun Again

    It’s nearly midnight, I’m supposed to be going to sleep but downstairs my Surface Pro 7+ is busy compiling a Linux kernel while installing NixOS. Getting that far required a lot of fussing about and a desk fan. And it’s great fun. I’ve not had this much entertainment from my computers since they looked like…

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