Episode 149 - IDRIS Is Not UNIX

Advent of Computing

#Tech #History #Sean S Haas #Sean Haas #Computer

30:55

A secret field that summons lightning. A massive spiral that disappears into a salt lake. A celestial observatory carved into a volcano. Meet the wild—and sometimes explosive—world of land art, where artists craft masterpieces with dynamite and bulldozers. In our Season 2 premiere, guest Dylan Thuras, cofounder of Atlas Obscura, takes us off road and into the minds of the artists who literally reshaped parts of the Southwest. These works aren’t meant to be easy to reach—or to explain—but they just might change how you see the world. Land art you’ll visit in this episode: - Double Negative and City by Michael Heizer (Garden Valley, Nevada) - Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (Great Salt Lake, Utah) - Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt (Great Basin Desert, Utah) - Lightning Field by Walter De Maria (Catron County, New Mexico) - Roden Crater by James Turrell (Painted Desert, Arizona) Via Podcast is a production of AAA Mountain West Group.…

about a year ago 58:47

MP3•Episode home

Selected Sources:

https://archive.org/details/aquartercenturyofunixpeterh.salus_201910/page/n196/mode/1up - A Quarter Century of UNIX

https://github.com/hansake/Whitesmiths-Idris-OS - Co-Idris disk images and executables

171 episodes

Episode 149 - IDRIS Is Not UNIX

Advent of Computing

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

Selected Sources:

https://archive.org/details/aquartercenturyofunixpeterh.salus_201910/page/n196/mode/1up - A Quarter Century of UNIX

https://github.com/hansake/Whitesmiths-Idris-OS - Co-Idris disk images and executables

171 episodes

#Tech #History #Sean S Haas #Sean Haas #Computer

All episodes

1
Episode 157 - Only S1 Users Will Survive! 1:04:40

7 days ago1:04:40

1:04:40

The S1 operating system can do it all! It can run on any computer, read any disk, and execute any software. It can be UNIX compatible, DOS compatible, and so, so much more! But... can S1 ship? Today we are talking about an operating system that sounds too good to be true. Is it another example of vaporware? Or is S1 really the world's most sophisticated operating system?…

1
Episode 156 - RPG, a Different Paradigm? 1:04:10

21 days ago1:04:10

1:04:10

How do you make a computer act less like a computer? It sounds like some kind of riddle, but in the early 1960s it was an actual problem. As IBM customers transitioned from tabulators to computers they ran into all sorts of practical issues. Programmers became a hot commodity. But how do you find a programmer in 1959? And how can you even afford such a luxury? Wouldn't it be better if you could just use your new computer as a tabulator? Well, with RPG, all that and more was possible.…

1
Episode 155 - LINC 58:21

5 weeks ago58:21

58:21

In the early 1960s a neat little machine came out of MIT. Well, kind of MIT. The machine was called LINC. It was small, flexible, and designed to live in laboratories. Some have called it the first personal computer. But, is that true? Does it have some secret that will unseat my beloved LGP-30? And how does DEC fit into the picture?…

1
Episode 154 - ACTing Up 1:20:48

7 weeks ago1:20:48

1:20:48

The LGP-30 is one of my favorite computers. It's small, scrappy, strange, and wonderous. Among its many wonders are two obscure languages: ACT-I and ACT-III. In this episode we are exploring the ACTS, how the LGP-30 was programmed in practice, and why I've been losing sleep for the last few weeks.

1
Episode 153 - The Keypact Mystery 55:07

9 weeks ago55:07

55:07

When I was down at VCF SoCal I ran into a strange machine: the Keypact Micro-VIP. It's a terminal without a keyboard, covered in dials, with a speaker and a switch labeled "voice". This chance encounter with the unknown sent me down a wild path. It involved the creeping spread of computing, chicken feed, door to door life insurance salesmen, and at least one early hacker.…

1
Episode 152 - LIVE at VCF - Reviving Retro Panel 1:00:06

11 weeks ago1:00:06

1:00:06

A special treat from VCF SoCal. While visiting I had the chance to host a panel on restoration and preservation. I was joined by: David from Usagi Electric ( https://www.youtube.com/@UsagiElectric) Rob from Souther Amis ( https://www.southernamis.com/) Jim, Former Executive Director Computer Museum of America ( https://computerhalloffame.org/home/about/)…

1
Episode 151 - The Friden Flexowriter 1:00:33

15 weeks ago1:00:33

1:00:33

Have you ever looked at an old computer and seen a weird typewriter thing tacked on? In most cases that's a device called a Flexowriter. It's half electric typewriter, half teleprinter, half tape reader, and all business! This episode we are chronicling the rise, fall, and weird business dealings of the Flexowriter.…

1
Episode 150 - Starting Windows Up 1:05:06

17 weeks ago1:05:06

1:05:06

In the modern day Windows is a power house, but that wasn't always the case. In this episode we are looking at the fraught development of Windows 1.0. During development it was called vaporware, it was panned in the press, roasted at at least one trade show, and even called... "eclectic". Through it all a vision in lime green would take form.…

1
Episode 149 - IDRIS Is Not UNIX 58:47

19 weeks ago58:47

58:47

This episode we are taking a trip back to UNIX world. We're looking at IDRIS, the first clone of UNIX. It was supposed to be highly compatible, but use no code from Bell Labs. IDRIS ran on everything from the Intel 8080 up to the IBM System/370. There was even a version that could run MS-DOS programs. Sound too good to be true? Well, that may be the case. Selected Sources: https://archive.org/details/aquartercenturyofunixpeterh.salus_201910/page/n196/mode/1up - A Quarter Century of UNIX https://github.com/hansake/Whitesmiths-Idris-OS - Co-Idris disk images and executables…

1
Episode 148 - Is BLISS Ignorance? 1:03:21

21 weeks ago1:03:21

1:03:21

In 1970 a little language called BLISS emerged from Carnegie Mellon University. It was a systems language, meant for operating systems and compilers. It was designed, in part, as a response to Dijkstra's famous Go To Considered Harmful paper. It had no data types. It used the most bizzare form of the pointer I've ever seen. And it was a direct competitor to C. Sound interesting, yet? Selected Sources: https://bitsavers.computerhistory.org/pdf/dec/decus/pdp10/DECUS-10-118-PartII_BlissReadings_Dec71.pdf - Readings on BLISS https://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/cs257/archive/ronald-brender/bliss.pdf - A History of BLISS…

1
Episode 147 - Molecular Electronic Computer 54:48

23 weeks ago54:48

54:48

In 1961 Texas Instruments unveiled the Molecular Electronic Computer, aka: Mol-E-Com. It was a machine that fit in the palm of your hand, but had all the power of a much larger computer. This was in an age of hefty machines, which made the achievement all the more marvelous. How was this even possible? It was all thanks to the wonders of molecular electronics, and a boat load of funding from the US Air Force. Selected Sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071831/http://corphist.computerhistory.org/corphist/documents/doc-496d289787271.pdf - Invention of the Integrated Circuit, Kilby https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD0411614/page/n15/mode/2up - Investigation of Silicon Functional Blocks, TI https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0273850.pdf - Silicon Semiconductor Networks, TI…

1
Episode 146 - The Z4 58:00

25 weeks ago58:00

58:00

The Z4, completed by Konrad Zuse in 1945, is a computer with a wild story. It was made from scrounged parts, survived years of bombing raids, moved all around Berlin, and eventually took refuge in basements and stables. In this episode we will follow the Z4's early days, and look at how it fits into the larger picture of Zuse's work. Along the way there is looting, rumors, and even... IBM! Selected Sources: The Computer, My Life - Konrad Zuse's autobiography https://web.archive.org/web/20090220012346/http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/370000/361515/p678-bauer.pdf?key1=361515&key2=3342588511&coll=&dl=acm&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 - Plankalkul, F.L. Bauer and H. Wossner https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9787324 - Architecture of the Z4, Rojas…

1
Episode 145 - Zuse's Mysterious Machines 1:00:39

27 weeks ago1:00:39

1:00:39

In 1933 Konrad Zuse, a German civil engineer, caught the computing bug. It would consume the rest of his life. According Zuse he invented the world's first digital computer during WWII, working in near total isolation within the Third Reich. How true is this claim? Today we are looking at Zuse's early machines, the Z1, Z2, and Z3. Selected Sources: The Computer -- My Life, by Konrad Zuse https://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.1886 - Z1 Architecture paper by Rojas https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/85.707574 - Z3... Turing Complete? also by Rojas…

1
Episode 144 - RABBITS 21:20

29 weeks ago21:20

21:20

:(){ :|:& };:

1
Episode 143 - The Haunted Hard Drive 21:42

30 weeks ago21:42