Memories from 2008

In keeping with the 6502 theme, my first computer was an original Commodore PET back in 1978. From there I went to CP/M with an Osborne 1, which served me well until the late 80’s. I loved CP/M - I understood every byte of it. When I pressed a key, I could tell exactly why the letter ‘A’, e.g., appeared on the screen, right down to registers in the hardware. I was a Z-80 assembly language guy for years.

Now I’m old and in the way, so I’ll just fart around with Ubuntu Mate :wink:

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Naw… wrote all in machine code and saved on cassette. Not even assembler - raw hex code. Basic had to wait for my VIC20. :slight_smile:

@sgage, After seeing 6502 (Motorola-like) and Z80 (Intel-like) how in the world did Intel win out?

I hear you, Bill_MI… and Zilog had great things coming along. The Z800 should have ruled. But there is no such thing as a free market, where there is competition based on real merit, and the best tech wins. No, I got schooled on that a long time ago.

As far as the GUI end of computing is concerned, I would prefer that it would devolve not evolve. I have never found any logic in giving the GUI a complete overhaul with each new version of a operating system. Speaking mostly about Microsoft products of course, but even KDE and Gnome are clearly nothing like they once was. Is it any wonder that I’m using Ubuntu Mate today. :nerd:

I’m afraid I’ll never be very comfortable storing my data on a server that is at a undisclosed location, being maintained by a unknown team of people, who work for a company that is well known for prying into our privacy. But we all have our own idiosyncrasies. :slight_smile:

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And that, to me, is the nub of it. Well articulated.

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And I totally agree with that. I don’t suggest anyone should use Google services. I do have a gmail-account and I suspect I’m not the only one. I brought up Chrome OS as a proof of concept that it is possible (on a technical level) to build a secure OS. The key to security is to limit executables to a limited set of (screened) applications. Replacing webapps with a limited set of local applications and replacing cloud storage with local storage would free “Chrome OS” from Google.

Ubuntu has more than 50 000 packages in the main repo. Then you can add PPAs and download binaries from the web. This is not a secure system. This is user freedom. However if you stick to the main repo packages and install nothing else I would say Ubuntu provides a fairly secure OS.

We say we want security, but then we want Skype, Steam, Spotify and Chrome too so security goes out the window. At the end of the day it’s the user who has to decide where to draw the line between security and fun/convenience. For those “bad” proprietary applications mentioned above sand-boxing could lessen the security threat. However, judging from the Android experience bad apps tend to escape the sand-box by asking for ridiculous permissions. So you either give up “bad” proprietary applications or you don’t. That’s probably the biggest difference between a secure system and a black box Windows type of environment.

You can’t have the cake and eat it too when it comes to security. Android Play store is the perfect example of that. I think FOSS versus proprietary will always be the practical measurement for security (assuming the FOSS applications have been installed from a trusted repo).

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Ubuntu 8.04 was not only the first version of Ubuntu I used but also my first step into Linux as a whole. I had a lowend thought relatively new Compaq system at the time. The first computer I owned that wasn’t just a family computer. It was about two years old and ran Windows XP. With Vista around the corner I assumed XP would soon be abandoned (boy was I wrong lol) and I would be forced into the sloppy slow mess that was Vista to stay up to date.

Luckly someone Introduced me to the Linux OS which I experimented with and really enjoyed. From there I slowly learned more about the hardware as well as software and alot of my overall computer Knowledge comes from the fact that I took the time to learn Linux in the first place. Granted I am no master, I don’t have commands memorized or anything. But its due to Ubuntu’s bright orange Gnome desktop that I have an interest in computers beyond them just being a basic use machine.

Can not speak about their last few versions, but Macintosh had somewhat implemented this several years ago in OS X. The end results, to me at least, was a OS that had very few options in the area of application choices and the ability to customize the system. I’m assuming Chrome OS is much the same.

[quote=“mrtribute, post:26, topic:13601”]The key to security is to limit executables to a limited set of (screened) applications.[/quote]No. Because then it would be even easier for more “sanctioned” parties interested in intruding upon your privacy (ie: intelligence agencies) to do so. Which in turn would just open up that whole can of worms called security risks all over again.

Cannot prevent backdoors or exploits from being leaked (see WannaCrypt, for just 1 very “small” example).

[quote=“NaiGuy, post:27, topic:13601”]
alot of my overall computer Knowledge comes from the fact that I took the time to learn Linux in the first place.[/quote]

This seems to be a typical result of using a Linux based operating system. Not that it forces you to learn more about how your operating system works, but because it is the natural outflowing thereof.

Orange is a very good color :slight_smile:

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Hey @steven do u have disks to setup? heheh

Now i'm downloading http://www.oldapps.com/netscape.php?system=Windows_3.1

Will wine support or let's go with VirtualBox? :grin:

Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS (Hardy Heron) :smiley:

Golden times... :slight_smile:

:sunglasses:

I actually do have the setup floppies for both DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1. However, I no longer have a machine with a floppy drive. I see you still do though. :sunglasses:

Netscape? Been a while since I thought about that.

I have no experience with wine, but at one time I had Win 3.1 running in DOSBox.

It takes a bit of doing to get Win 3.1 to run correctly in VirtualBox. Interestingly enough, I first did this in 2010 with none other than Ubuntu 8.04 as the host system.

Here are my setup notes for anyone who might be interested.

Windows 3.1 on DOS 5.0 installed as guest in VirtualBox 3.1_3.1.2-56127 with Ubuntu 8.04 as Host. Install date 1-22-2010.

Virtual Machine: Memory 16 MB, Video Memory 12 MB, Hard Drive 120 MB.

Installed DOSIDLE.EXE for HLT loop in DOS.
Add C:\DOSIDLE.EXE to AUTOEXEC.BAT to run at start up.

Install WQGHLT.386 into \windows\system for HLT loop in windows.
In C:\Windows\system.ini under the section [386Enh] add

device=wqghlt.386

DOSIDLE.EXE and wqghlt.386 where added to keep VirtualBox from using 100% of the CPU while DOS or Windows is running.

For sound select SoundBlaster 16 in VirtualBox, and in Windows go to System Settings, Driver, and add the driver for Creative SoundBlaster 1.5, Select I/O Port 0x220 and IRQ 5.

For CD-ROM support copy oakcdrom.sys and mscdex.exe to C:\DOS. Then add the following lines to:

AUTOEXEC.BAT

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001

CONFIG.SYS

DEVICE=C:\DOS\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001

This virtual Win 3.1 system has ran on every version of VirtualBox, and on multiple host systems since that time. It's purely a novelty to me, a memory of days gone by. :slight_smile:

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Wow! :smiley:
setup floppies :floppy_disk: , i have for Win only. But sometimes i play :sunglasses:

I’ll try to perform a clean installation later. No more setups like they used to.

Thank you @steven for sharing with us :smile:

I like this sound :grin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeWvE93lHY4


OMG: LookBack: Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog :open_mouth:

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Hoary Hedgehog was the second release of Ubuntu - February 14, 2006

https://insights.ubuntu.com/2006/02/14/ubuntu-5-04-released/

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5.04 > new features including an Update Manager, upgrade notifier, readahead and grepmap, suspend, hibernate and standby support :slight_smile:

The coolest thing is to know that every contribution from developers, programmers, engineers, users and volunteers have brought us here. The force of the Community! :smiley:

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So many memories. I fell in love with Ubuntu at 7.04 and have been using it ever since. But my all time favorite was Ubuntu Studio 10.04, I held onto it for forever and I still use the theme & icons to this day on my current 16.04.

This was my first computer, and I programmed BASIC on it at 6 -7 years old. Still have nearly everything in a box somewhere and also have it emulated on my tablet so I can play the old games from time to time.

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Very true… Open source software is quite a interesting concept. Thankful for all who do contribute.

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Welcome to the forum Jeremy. Glad to have you along :slight_smile:

It has been quite fun to see how Ubuntu and other Linux distributions have grown over the years. Not to mention a Texas Instruments home computer. Very nice :+1:

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Thanks for the welcome! I’ve lurked around here for a while but figured I should go ahead and join and be more active in the Linux community.

I for one am glad that Linux has come so far. I first played around with Red Hat in the 90s, and that was not a fun experience - it put me off trying it again for a number of years. I’ve played around with other distros, but I always wind up back with some sort of Ubuntu variant.

My father sold TI computers and software on the side when I was young, so I’ve been around computers since childhood. He also did some programming in COBOL, Pascal, and Machine code. I had the TI, A CoCo, Commodore 64, and then shifted to Windows & PC stuff in the early 90s.

Used to BBS, own a computer store, and was an hardcore NT 4 supporter for ages. I pretty much gave up on MS stuff during the XP years, but Win7 wasn’t terrible. I’ve finally ditched dual booting recently as I never used Windows for anything. But I still have my old NT workstation in a closet somewhere - full tower case with a pair of dual 233 MMX processors and a whopping 192 megabytes of RAM. Boy I really thought that was something when I first built it. I still get amazed at how far this tech has come in my lifetime when I sit and think about it.

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I feel the same way. I also marvel how inexpensive it has become comparatively speaking.