b.log 2026/03/06 - Is this really the best we can do?, Goodbye America.

Is this really the best we can do?, Goodbye America.

Nitrux 6.0 Now Ready to Rock Your World

The latest iteration of the Debian-based distribution includes all kinds of newness.

The Mystery of Rennes-le-Château, Part 1: The Priest’s Treasure

This series of articles chronicles the history, both real and pseudo, behind Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. Believe that there is a secret and you will feel an initiate. It doesn’t cost a thing. Create an enormous hope that can never be eradicated because there is no root. Ancestors […]

Proton Electronics

The Dutch based firm Post Electronics produced and sold lots of electronic components and computer systems. Like the 6502 based PC-1, PC-2, PC-3, and PIM-1 and the Z80 based CB80. They also created Ultiboard, the PCB design software that became their future in the USA. On the PROTON pages you find images, scans and software […]

b.log 2026/03/05 - The Petrol Pump Paradox.

The Petrol Pump Paradox.

Linux Foundation Reports that Open Source Delivers Better ROI

In a report that may surprise no one in the Linux community, the Linux Foundation found that businesses are finding a 5X return on investment with open source software.

PIM-1 Proton 6502 system

Gerben Voort acquired a microprocessor development system PIM-1 developed by Proton, of PC-1 fame. Here his photos of the system after the cleanup, operational again. In the future I hope to scan the documentation. See also:KIM-1 connectors: beware the Chinese cheap variants!The KIM-1 needs 2 edge connectors. The specifications are: card edge; PIN: 44; 3.96mm […]

KEMPAC system eurocards and microcomputers

Under the name KEMPAC SYSTEM Eurocards and Microcomputers for Industrial Automation a 19 inch rack system was developed in the 80ties around the 6502 by the (of TMX fame) Kuipers Electronic Engineering B.V., Zwijndrecht Gerben Voort has acquired such a system and has shared the se photos. In the future I hope to scan the […]

b.log 2026/03/03 - On typing.

On typing.

Keep Android Open

Google has announced that, soon, anyone looking to develop Android apps will have to first register centrally with Google.

Kernel 7.0 Now in Testing

Linus Torvalds has announced the first Release Candidate (RC) for the 7.x kernel is available for those who want to test it.

dev86 BCC 0.16.21 and 1.0.1

Ben Collver has been working to compile the BCC compiler in 16-bit DOS. BCC is "Bruce's C Compiler," an old "barely ANSI" C compiler that produces 8086 assembler for tiny/small models. Ben recently shared versions for testing. He adds: "The 32-bit version requires HXRT to run on DOS" and "0.6.21 and 1.0.1 are both OpenWatcom builds. The compiler is too large to compile itself." Version 0.16.21 is probably the one to try, as Ben notes that "1.0.1 has a bunch of changes, some good, and others i don't trust yet. So i am keeping both copies around for now." You can find it at Ben's BCC page. We've also mirrored it on the FreeDOS Files Archive at Ibiblio under files/devel/c/bcc. Note: Ibiblio is currently running very slow.

Setting up and Using Messenger for email – WROCC, 4th March

The next meeting of the Wakefield RISC OS Computer Club (WROCC) will take place on Wednesday 4th, March, at which the club’s own Chris Hughes will be delivering a talk on email and usenet access. More specifically, this is a follow-up talk to the one given by Martin Avison back in November, showing how to set up Pluto and Anti-Spam for accessing email. Chris will therefore be showing how to do the same using the commercial software available from R-Comp – Messenger Pro and Netfetch/Hermes. He will cover its set…

WROCC March 2026 talk on Wednesday - Setting up Messenger Pro and NetFetch/Hermes

The March 2026 WROCC talk is on Wednesday 4th March and starts at 7.45pm on Zoom. After last month's AGM we are back to the usual format/link.

Rob Napier's book on Acorn published

Rob gave a preview of his book at the Decemeber Rougol meeting.

Putting the 'C' into bee-bee-cee BASIC

An important first exploratory step to the moon is underway – creating a whole new BASIC interpreter, this time written in the high level language ‘C’. BASIC has been identified as one of nine significant parts of RISC OS which will need addressing for a future 64 bit world, and what a historic place to get started!

Why choose this approach?

We took a long hard look at the 24,000+ lines of carefully tuned Arm assembler and decided that a literal translation, function by function, was not appropriate in this instance – the results would be just as difficult to understand and maintain. A survey of other implementations of BASIC (such as Brandy BASIC and BBCBASICSDL) also ruled those out on licensing or compatibility grounds – a great deal of care and attention is needed to match the subtleties of the RISC OS Arm BBCBASIC interpreter – with a back catalogue of tokenised programs as far back as 1981’s seminal BASIC I the aim is to match nuances to the maximum extent possible.

The opportunity has also been taken to consolidate what are currently three separate copies of the interpreter in RISC OS 5 (BASIC, BASICFPA, BASICVFP) into a single module, reducing code duplication and wasted space.

CSMwrap 2.0.0

CSMWrap is an EFI application designed to be a drop-in solution to enable legacy BIOS booting on modern UEFI-only (class 3) systems. "It achieves this by wrapping a Compatibility Support Module (CSM) build of the SeaBIOS project as an out-of-firmware EFI application, effectively creating a compatibility layer for traditional PC BIOS." That means you can boot classic operating like FreeDOS directly on newer EFI-only laptops and PCs. The developers "highly recommended that the partition table used is MBR" for compatibility. Find it at CSMwrap on GitHub. Version 2.0.0 was released in February.

LABEL 1.6

The LABEL command creates, changes or deletes the volume label of a disk. Version 1.6 is a release of changes from Andrew Bird from a few years ago. It adds support in the CATS enabled version to use language specific response characters for Yes and No. Functionally it is otherwise the same as v1.5, only Open Watcom build is provided, but it still supports all previously supported compilers. You can find it at LABEL on GitHub, and the new version is the LABEL 1.6 release tag.

FDNPKG16 version 0.99.8253c

Victoria Crenshaw has been working on updates to FDNPKG16, a network-aware package manager for FreeDOS. Version 0.99.8253c was released last week with fixes and updates: * Updated translations. * Polished some things with the code. * Functionally should be the same as previous minor version. You can download it from the Package FDNPKG16 page on Victoria's server.

DUGL Player 1.0 Alpha 1

DUGL Player is a GUI video player for DOS systems, released by developer 'ffk' on February 28. The player uses external libraries LibOGG, LibVorbis and LibTheora, and supports WEBM and MPEG4. It's still in "alpha" status, and is missing several features including video sound, video seeking, detecting and handling orientation, and aspect ratio. You can find it at DOS-DUGL on GitHub.

b.log 2026/03/01 - Being fifty is better - and no I'm not sorry.

Being fifty is better - and no I'm not sorry.

b.log 2026/02/28 - Going shopping, Adventures in woodworking, Here comes the cavalry?, And so went the day.

Going shopping, Adventures in woodworking, Here comes the cavalry?, And so went the day.

Kevsoft’s Quiz creator released

When Kevin Wells released FlagQuiz in late 2025, along with a couple of subsequent updates, he said that his plan was to make it possible for people to create their own quizzes using the software – and he has now met that goal with the release of The Kevsoft Quiz Engine. As well as two files that can be downloaded (although it appears only one – the skeleton ‘MyQuiz’ is needed until and unless the Quiz Engine itself – which is currently at version 1.02 – is updated), the page…

This Week on The Analog Antiquarian

Chapter 14: The Dialogue

February 2026 News Summary

Some things we noticed this month. What did you see?

b.log 2026/02/25 - Spring doth sprungeth.

Spring doth sprungeth.

EMUF 6504 remake

A remake by Klaus Loy of the 6504 based EMUF 6504 as published in MC, see for the many original articles about the EMUF SBCs. Here the announcement. Here a local copy of the work by Klaus. See his github archive for the original. See also:KIM-1 connectors: beware the Chinese cheap variants!The KIM-1 needs 2 […]

Introducing matrixOS, an Immutable Gentoo-Based Linux Distro

It was only a matter of time before a developer decided one of the most challenging Linux distributions needed to be immutable.

b.log 2026/02/22 - Fixing Diodon, Components, ESP32 function generator?, Aaargh!, Daffodils and reminiscence, Free speech.

Fixing Diodon, Components, ESP32 function generator?, Aaargh!, Daffodils and reminiscence, Free speech.

Voices from a Future Passed – on sale from 1st March

The official Acorn biography, Voices from a Future Passed, put together by Rob Napier, will be available to buy from 1st March. The book outlines the history of Acorn Computers Ltd – the company that brought us the BBC Micro home computer, amongst many others, and designed the original ARM processor. The ARM first became the heart of their next generation of computers before going on to dominate the world when it came mobile and low-power processing; there are now many times more ARMs in the world than there are,…

Grok your railway stations in TrainTimes

A new version of TrainTimes (2.09) has been released by Kevin Wells, featuring the ability to link to a second online encyclopaedia to look up information about railway stations, as well as a small fix for using the first. TrainTimes is an application that makes use of Wget to allow people using RISC OS to look up railway timetables and related information from online resources, without using a web browser (which on RISC OS might not entirely work, and may mean resorting to another platform). In this case those resources…

Jemm 5.86

Jemm is an "Expanded Memory Manager" (EMM), based on the source of FreeDOS emm386. Jemm386 is the standard version which needs an external eXtended Memory Manager (XMM; examples: HimemX, MS Himem, XMGR ) to be loaded, and JemmEx is the extended version which has an XMM already included. Japheth has released Jemm version 5.86, with several fixes and features. Read the details at the Jemm release page on GitHub. We've also mirrored this on the FreeDOS files archive at ibiblio, under /files/dos/emm386/jemm

b.log 2026/02/21 - Car repair, And while in town, My new phone cost me E29!, The Royal FAMILY, QuickScope update.

Car repair, And while in town, My new phone cost me E29!, The Royal FAMILY, QuickScope update.

Chaos Comes to KDE in KaOS

KaOS devs are making a major change to the distribution, and it all comes down to one system.

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

This article tells part of the story of Jane Jensen. I think I became convinced when I went to CES [in January of 1997] and I walked around the show looking at all these titles that were the big new things, and not one screen had full-motion video. I realized that if I wanted anyone […]

b.log 2026/02/18 - QuickScope.

QuickScope.

FreeDOS kernel 2044

The FreeDOS Kernel (kernel.sys) is the core part of FreeDOS. Jeremy Davis has been collecting changes to the FreeDOS kernel, and recently announced a new version. Jeremy writes: "I haven't had the time to have this where I'd like it to be, but there are so many improvements from others since the last release .. I recommend using the latest release (or even automatic builds from GitHub for testing)." Kernel 2044 is an incremental maintenance release with a mix of build fixes, boot/runtime edge‑case fixes, and compatibility updates. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this version, including Andrew Bird, Bernd Böckmann (boeckmann), Jeremy Davis, C. Masloch (ecm), Tee-Kiah Chia (tkchia), Sava (lpproj), Stas Sergeev (stsp), Jiri Malak (jmalak), Tom Ehlert, and others!

Jeremy has a long list of changes on his Kernel 2044 release page on GitHub. A few highlights include: * Build and project maintenance * Boot / initialization * Environment and CONFIG.SYS handling * File system, disk I/O, and large‑file edge cases * FCB compatibility (older DOS APIs) * Redirector / networking interactions * Path handling / TRUENAME * Utilities / tooling. Most importantly, this version supports Windows 3.x Enhanced Mode with updates aimed at improving Windows 3.x Enhanced Mode compatibility, and critical patch table handling and minor IOCTL behavior adjustments. We've also mirrored the new version at the FreeDOS Files Archive at Ibiblio, under /files/dos/kernel

FDNPKG16 version 0.99.8253a

Victoria Crenshaw has been working on updates to FDNPKG16, a network-aware package manager for FreeDOS. Victoria shared version 0.99.8253a with these updates: * fixed a bug in dumpcfg with install sources flag being inverted * httpget.exe unlinks files that fail to download * fixed a lot of copyrights headers and variable names * fdinst16.exe has multi-package install and remove features. You can download the latest version that is stable at fdnpkg16.zip {zip file} or you can try a development version {zip file}. Victoria is looking for people to test the latest version, and to suggest changes or improvements.

Calvin 2.5

Ben Collver recently announced an update to the Calvin vi editor. If you like Unix vi editor, you might like Calvin. The changes in this version are key mapping: * End -- Map to $ instead of L \* Home -- Map to 0 instead of H \* R -- Replace mode * :previous -- edit the previous file from the argument list * { or }-- move backward or forward by paragraph. This editor requires 128K of memory, and also supports EGA 43-line and VGA 50-line modes. Get the new version from Archive.org and the source code from the Ben's Calvin repo.

Fontana version 1.2

Thanks to Laaca for sharing a new version of the Fontana font editor. Laaca writes: "Fontana is tool for developers. It is a bitmap font editor (with ability to import from some vector formats) which allows you to create, convert and edit fonts stored in many file formats. It shares some portions of code with my older project Kasmar which also was a font editor much simpler and with many limitations." Changes in 1.2 include: + support for unproportional (monospaced) mode + CPI archives can be saved also in WinNT subformat + default font for cp852 now contains euro symbol + overview of undefined characters in given range. You can download the new version from Laaca's website

lDebug release 10

After more than a year since the last release, there now is release 10 of lDebug (that's a small L). This is an advanced line-oriented debugger based on FreeDOS Debug/X. The new release contains some bugfixes and a few added features. It newly uses an LZEXE-based compression format for its online help pages and the packed Extension for lDebug (ELD) library. The freedos-user list has a longer announcement. Get it from the project's web page or from the FreeDOS Files Archive at ibiblio, under /dos/debug/ldebug

KIM-1 Rev D White

New project, cleanup and restore this KIM-1 . Poor thing still works but had a rough life. KIM-1 collection complete now, this one was the one I was waiting for. See also:KIM-1 connectors: beware the Chinese cheap variants!The KIM-1 needs 2 edge connectors. The specifications are: card edge; PIN: 44; 3.96mm When you search for […]

New Linux Botnet Discovered

The SSHStalker botnet uses IRC C2 to control systems via legacy Linux kernel exploits.

b.log 2026/02/17 - Allergies?, Mental health unit, What I did this evening.

Allergies?, Mental health unit, What I did this evening.

b.log 2026/02/16 - Car woes, More expense to come, French people are SO literal!

Car woes, More expense to come, French people are SO literal!

1998 Ebook!

Hi, folks… Just a quick note to inform you that the ebook for 1998 is now available on the usual page. I’m sorry this was so long in coming. I owe a huge thanks to my hiking buddy Stefaan Rillaert, who adapted Richard Lindner’s original scripts to run on Linux instead of Windows. We’ve elected […]

Hideki Sato has died

Remember when Sega made consoles? Hideki Sato remembered, because he was involved in or designed all of them — from the 1982 SG-1000 under Sega Enterprises Ltd. president Hayao Nakayama, later reworked as the SC-3000 home computer, to of course the extremely popular Mega Drive/Genesis and the technologically overwrought Saturn, to the flawed but ahead-of-its-time 1999 Dreamcast, the very last console the company released to date and one of my favourite machines. Joining Sega in 1971, he later became acting president from 2001 to 2003, and finally retired from Sega in 2008. I can think of no better summation of his career than his own, a detailed retrospective on each machine translated from the Japanese. He passed away this weekend at the age of 77 (X.com link). Rest in peace.

CJEMicros getting back up to speed and need your help

We are really pleased to hear from CJEMicros who have emailed to let us know that they are recovering after fire at their premises last year.

b.log 2026/02/14 - Figuring out an IR controller with an oscilloscope, Musings on oscilloscopes.

Figuring out an IR controller with an oscilloscope, Musings on oscilloscopes.