Topicscomputing history10 items
Ken Shirriff's teardown of a 1980 Spacelab core-memory module makes 128 KB of RAM feel extraordinary again—each bit a ferrite ring you can point at.
Inspired by righto.com · Ken Shirriff
Ian Cortina, EI3LH, hosts a working telnet BBS in BASIC on a Casio VX-4’s 8 KB of RAM—bridged by a Pi Zero W at 4,800 baud—proving constraints can be the whole point of a networking experiment.
Inspired by ei3lh.eu · Ian Cortina
NASA’s “Big Bang” power fix keeps Voyager 2’s three remaining science instruments running another year on a probe launched in 1977 for a five-year mission—now nearly 49 years old and still returning data from interstellar space.
Inspired by space.com · Space.com
Remy van Elst updated a Linux port for the HP Prime G2 graphing calculator—console login, better keyboard and touchscreen support, X11, on-device C compilation and Doom—booting from RAM without replacing the stock firmware in flash.
Inspired by raymii.org · Remy van Elst
George Michaelson’s history of the Berkeley sockets interface—how 4.2BSD in 1983 treated a network connection like a file, made networked programs straightforward to write, and quietly became the standard path for TCP/IP software, including modern protocols that still send data through sockets.
Inspired by blog.apnic.net · George Michaelson
Apple’s first full Neuromancer teaser (premiere Jan 22, 2027) lands while I’m rereading Gibson—arguing a dense cyberpunk classic needs atmosphere kept intact if the adaptation is to earn a new generation of readers.
Inspired by youtu.be · Apple TV+
MetalNES by Ian Addisson is a transistor-level simulation of NES-001 hardware—arguing that rebuilding the console from its electronic components preserves understanding of how the original machine worked, not only the games it ran.
Inspired by github.com · Ian Addisson
Chris Garry’s Apollo-11 repository preserves the original Apollo Guidance Computer source for Comanche055 and Luminary099—transcribed from MIT Museum hardcopy with Virtual AGC—arguing that mission software deserves the same care we give spacecraft, spacesuits, and recordings.
Inspired by github.com · Chris Garry
The cyberpunk classic that coined cyberspace: washed-up console cowboy Case is hired for one last run through the matrix in Chiba City and beyond.
An essential chapter in the history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth century.
