The Antenna

finding signal in the noise

retro computing

An experiment in personal news aggregation.

retro computing

(date: 2024-10-26 06:11:17)


This Week on The Analog Antiquarian

date: 2024-10-25, from: Digital Antiquarian

The Voyage of Magellan, Chapter 17: A Philippine Thanksgiving And a quick programming note as well: I’m afraid I won’t have an article for you on this site next week, folks. I’ll see you in two weeks instead. Thank you for your patience!


https://www.filfre.net/2024/10/this-week-on-the-analog-antiquarian-2/


Late breaking news from RISCOSbits

date: 2024-10-25, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

Some late breaking news from RISCOSbits (just incase you need another reason to be at the show tomorrow….


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2119.html


RISCOSbits at the London Show… again!

date: 2024-10-25, from: RiscOS Story

No, they aren’t making two appearances – it’s another press release! With only a day left until until London 2024 – it’s tomorrow, folks – another release has come in from RISCOSbits, with details of even more goodies to be found on their stand. So with no further ado, here’s what it says: In last minute stop-press news, RISCOSbits are pleased to announce a few additions to the London Show stand. For those of you who are in the market for a RISC OS laptop, RISCOSbits may have exactly what…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/riscosbits-at-the-london-show-again/


ROD updates RISC OS Direct release

date: 2024-10-25, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

ROD has updated their version of RISC OS to 5.31


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2122.html


R-Comp’s N.Ex.T show – London 2024

date: 2024-10-25, from: RiscOS Story

As preparations for the London Show get hectic here in the RISCOSitory bunker, more news has arrived from R-Comp: R-Comp and RCI are pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at the London show this weekend. We’ve already announced about our monitor offerings and software, so the main focus of this announcement (and of our stand in general) is our RISC OS Project N.Ex.T (NVMe Extreme Technology) encompassing N.Ex.T boxes, Hydra, mini.pi, Pinebook Pro and RK3399. Visitors to the show will be able to see (and buy) a wide…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/r-comps-n-ex-t-show-london-2024/


What will R-Comp be showing N.Ex.T?

date: 2024-10-25, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

R-Comp will have a range of high end RISC OS systems for you to see and buy at tomorrow’s London Show based on their Project N.Ex.T (NVMe Extreme Technology)


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2121.html


RISC OS Developments TCP/IP stack opens up portals!

date: 2024-10-24, from: RiscOS Story

Don’t worry – these are the good kind, not the dangerous ones depicted in some sci-fi movies! Another announcement has come out from the direction of RISC OS Developments, this time bringing news of an updated and enhanced version of their TCP/IP stack – which some people might find particularly useful this very weekend at the London Show if they still have time to install it this close to the event! And because it is this close to the event, and the RISCOSitory bunker is in chaos as I try…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/risc-os-dev-tcp-ip-stack-portals/


R-Comp bringing OLED and high refresh rate monitors to London

date: 2024-10-24, from: RiscOS Story

Before you head to the London Show on Saturday, take a glance at your monitor and think about whether it’s time to upgrade to something newer. If it is, R-Comp may have something just for you – they’ll be bringing a range of monitors with high refresh rates and OLED displays. Here’s Andrew Rawnsley’s press release in full: We are pleased to announce that at the London Show this weekend we will displaying a range of high refresh rate monitors, including stunning OLED displays. There are essentially three components here:…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/r-comp-oled-high-refresh-rate-monitors-london/


RISC OS Direct 5.31 now available

date: 2024-10-24, from: RiscOS Story

With Wi-Fi and web browser! Some very welcome news from RISC OS Developments, just a couple of days before London 2024 is the release of RISC OS Direct 5.31 – which includes a new internet stack and Wi-Fi facilities, as well as Iris, the web browser the company has been developing for quite some time. There’s a lot more in there as well, so because of the timing, here’s Andrew Rawnsley’s press release in full: RISC OS Developments is pleased to announce the release of RISC OS Direct 5.31, complete…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/risc-os-direct-5-31/


New release from KevSoft: CardInfo

date: 2024-10-24, from: RiscOS Story

Kevin Wells has a new application that may be of use to people running small businesses that take payment by card. Called CardInfo, the program works in a similar fashion to many of the other apps he has available in that it uses Wget to relay information input by the user to a third party website and display the results. In this case, the website is API Layer – specifically, their BIN (Bank Identification Number) Checker, which can be used to look up information about those pieces of plastic. The…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/new-release-kevsoft-cardinfo/


Gnome 47.1 Released with a Few Fixes

date: 2024-10-24, from: Linux Magazine

The latest release of the Gnome desktop is all about fixing a few nagging issues and not about bringing new features into the mix.


http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Gnome-47.1-Released-with-a-Few-Fixes


b.log 2024/10/24 - Range Panic, Anaglyph.

date: 2024-10-24, from: Richard Murray’s blog

Range Panic, Anaglyph.


https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20241024


A new mTCP is available

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

mTCP provides TCP/IP applications for your PC compatible retro-computers. Mike Brutman recently released a new version with bug fixes: “Version 2024-10-20 is available. It has a few bug fixes. It also allows mTCP programs to operate at the same time NetDrive is active. (If you know how packet drivers work, that is no small trick.)” The mTCP NetDrive programs are also now included in mTCP. (The mTCP NetDrive servers are still in a separate download.) You can download it from the mTCP website. Thanks Mike!


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/a-new-mtcp-is-available/


New DOS version of Make

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

Make is a standard tool for developers, to automate when to compile or build new parts of the program, without compiling everything. This is extremely useful for large programs. Gregory Pietsch has started writing a new version. From the announcement: “This is my attempt at writing a better make for FreeDOS than all the makes out there. This includes dmake (a toy make) and even GNU make if I can. After two weeks of writing, I came up with this. .. Other PD versions of make use a singly linked list as the primary data structure. I wanted to get away from that, especially in places where I’d have to go over the whole list to find something. This version uses a map, with an AVL tree as the internal data structure. The program also uses dynamic arrays and dynamic strings to simplify the handling of macros.” This is version “0.0” so is pre-alpha and “may be buggy, missing a few parts, or not have proper documentation, but at least it runs and could convince others that it could be something good.” You can download it from /devel/make/make in the FreeDOS Files Archive at Ibiblio.


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/new-dos-version-of-make/


WDE version 1.1

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

WDE is a modular disk editor capable of allowing users to manipulate data stored in various ways on different kinds of storage. The new version 1.1 was recently released, which includes these features: * fixed: mounting logical drives from image files didn’t adjust the “last sector”, thus cluster numbers beyond logical disk size weren’t rejected. * fixed: if current device was an image file, hitting Ctrl-Enter while in sector 0 of a logical drive did switch to a real physical disk. * save file chain: last update date & time now copied. * cmdline option -n added. * file AND directory names are accepted. You can read the full release notes and download the new release from the WDE GitHub.


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/wde-version-11/


FreeDOS at OpenAlt 2024

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

Lukas Kotek will give a conference talk about FreeDOS at this year’s OpenAlt 2024 conference, coming up soon on November 3. From the session description: “The lecture will introduce the retro laptop Pocket 386 introduced this year (follower of projects like Book 8088 and Hand 386), for which the number 386 is not just a coincidence. What are its parameters? What can a laptop be used for? How will FreeDOS work on it with regard to the Czech environment? And what is this open source DOS-compatible operating system that is still being developed today? What are the real experiences after a few months of use? The lecture will provide answers to these and other questions, while the presentation will of course take place directly from the Pocket 386 laptop.”


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/freedos-at-openalt-2024/


7-Zip 24.08 for DOS

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

Darik Horn shared this update a few weeks ago: “A beta-quality 7-Zip 24.08 package for FreeDOS is available .. This package contains two executables: 7zr.exe .. This is the reduced build that contains support for only the formats that 7-Zip can create; namely 7z, bz2, gz, tar, xz, and zip. .. and 7za.exe .. This is the aggregated build that contains support for all of the containers and codecs that 7-Zip can unpack. All sixty-three secondary formats are included in this DOS build.” You can find it in Darik’s GitLab.


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/7-zip-2408-for-dos/


SQLite 3.46.1 for DOS

date: 2024-10-24, from: FreeDOS News

SQLite is a programming library to implements a local database engine, useful for programs that need it. Ben Collver has compiled version 3.46.1 for DOS. From the announcement: “Here’s SQLite 3.46.1 compiled for DOS using DJGPP. Thanks to Superllu’s DoJS for clues about changes and compile-time options needed. The DJGPP diff and Makefile are in the src/ directory.” You can download it from Ben’s gopher site or Ben’s website.


https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2024/10/sqlite-3461-for-dos/


RISCOSbits at London Show

date: 2024-10-24, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

RISCOSbits have sent us a press release with details of their offerings. It is much funnier than my rewrite, so I have reproduced it below…. (spoiler - they suggested you might want to check back on friday afternoon just incase there is some late breaking news)


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2118.html


R-Comp monitor offers for London Show

date: 2024-10-24, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

R-Comp have let us know that they will have some really nice IPS and OLED displays available to buy at the London Show (along with some drivers)


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2120.html


RISCOSbits at the London Show

date: 2024-10-24, from: RiscOS Story

It’s just two days until London 2024, which takes place on Saturday, 26th October, at the Harrow District Masonic Centre. A long and detailed announcement has arrived at the bunker from Andy Marks of RISCOSbits, so to save me time (I have to get ready for the show as well, you know!), here it is in full: RISCOSbits will be bringing a full range of RISC OS computer systems to buy and take away from the London Show, based on our open-sourced, innovative and ultrafast NVMe drivers (produced in conjunction…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/riscosbits-at-the-london-show/


London show roars again

date: 2024-10-23, from: RiscOS Open

After a short interlude, the London show is back in a new venue this Saturday the 26th October from 11am. The organisers have lined up an impressive list of exhibitors, all bringing the latest software and hardware developments in the RISC OS world for you to explore.

Show banner


http://www.riscosopen.org/news/articles/2024/10/23/london-show-roars-again


System76 Unveils an Ampere-Powered Thelio Desktop

date: 2024-10-23, from: Linux Magazine

If you’re looking for a new desktop system for developing autonomous driving and software-defined vehicle solutions. System76 has you covered.


http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/System76-Unveils-an-Ampere-Powered-Thelio-Desktop


VirtualBox 7.1.4 Includes Initial Support for Linux kernel 6.12

date: 2024-10-23, from: Linux Magazine

The latest version of VirtualBox has arrived and it not only adds initial support for kernel 6.12 but another feature that will make using the virtual machine tool much easier.


http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/VirtualBox-7.1.4-Includes-Initial-Support-for-Linux-kernel-6.12


Vote for the October 2024 + Post Topic

date: 2024-10-22, from: Computer ads from the Past

Your options are a couple of games, an Apple clone and a memory expander


https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/vote-for-the-october-2024-post-topic


Elesar click and collect at London Show

date: 2024-10-21, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

We are seeing a steady stream of news (along with gossip, rumours and stuff we cannot publish yet)…


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2117.html


Preview the London Show in, er, London – 21st October

date: 2024-10-21, from: RiscOS Story

In case you hadn’t noticed, the next major RISC OS event will be taking place on October 26th – the London Show – which just happens to be this coming Saturday. The show is organised by the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL), whose regular schedule has their next meeting on 21st October. And if you aren’t awake yet, that’s tonight. With the timing of the both putting them so close together, the obvious topic matter for the meeting is the show itself – and that’s exactly what the…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/preview-london-in-london-21st-october/


b.log 2024/10/20 - The things you miss, Smacking, Pop music, Common sense, Tories being Tories, Tea v0.16.

date: 2024-10-20, from: Richard Murray’s blog

The things you miss, Smacking, Pop music, Common sense, Tories being Tories, Tea v0.16.


https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20241020


AI: Liquid Neural Networks in few words

date: 2024-10-20, from: Paola Zaino’s blog

Given all the questions I have received on the matter of Liquid Neural Networks from people interested in my zLNN foundational LNN library, I have decided to write an article to explain LNNs in the hope of helping people to find answers to initial questions. Disclaimer This article is merely a short introduction to Liquid […]


https://paolozaino.wordpress.com/2024/10/20/ai-liquid-neural-networks-in-few-words/


WROCC Newsletter Volume 42:1 reviewed

date: 2024-10-20, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

The delayed April release of WROCC magazine has now been sent out to all members. This is the monthly club ‘mini’ magazine which all members receive as one of the club benefits.


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2116.html


See the ‘fastest’ RISC OS machine on Chris Hall’s stand at the London Show

date: 2024-10-19, from: RiscOS Story

You might want to make a bee-line for the Harrow District Masonry Centre next Saturday to visit London Show, at which Chris Hall says he’ll be demonstrating what he believes is the fastest RISC OS computer. Or computers, because he explains that he considers it to be a dead heat between two, which he says are “a DeskPi Mini IO board using an M.2 1TB NVMe drive running RISC OS Developments Block Drivers (6-Oct-2024) and a Pi Foundation IO board using a 1TB ‘FAST’ SATA drive running RISC OS Bits…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/fastest-machine-chris-hall-london-show/


It’s (not) all Dutch to MACadd

date: 2024-10-19, from: RiscOS Story

Kevin Wells’ application for looking up information about MAC addresses has been updated to version 2.04, and now includes Dutch in the range of languages that can be deployed in its user interface. This joins the recently added French and German, as well as the already present English. In case you don’t know, a MAC addresses are codes assigned to network interfaces that you’ll find in devices of all sorts that allow them to connect to and communicate with other devices locally, and often beyond – remote servers on the…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/dutch-added-macadd/


Historical data range extended in Currency

date: 2024-10-19, from: RiscOS Story

A new version of Currency is available from Kevin Wells. The application provides a means for checking exchange rates and perform other related tasks from the RISC OS desktop, by using Wget to relay information to and from third party websites. One of those related tasks is to look up a limited amount of historical exchange range data. This was previously four weeks worth, but in version 2.05 it has become six weeks. As well as that improvement, there was a certificate issue pertaining to fetching the historical data, which…


https://www.riscository.com/2024/historical-data-extended-currency/


How fast is Fast?

date: 2024-10-19, from: Icon Bar, RISC OS News

In a week’s time, you will be at the London Show (you know it makes sense). Chris Hall will be exhibiting and he has kindly written us an exclusive preview on the speed comparisons he has been running and will be showing you.


http://www.iconbar.com/comments/rss/news2115.html