Dimly Lit CornersFeb 20
Any attempt to reimagine a (viable) #LispMachine would not just recreate what was, it would have to imagine what could've been and how lisp machines may have evolved since 1990s… eg: support for GUI, multitasking, WiFi, internet, World Wide Web, multi-gesture touchpads, touchscreens, multi-core cpus, 8 GB RAM, virtual machines, … just to name a few
Paolo AmorosoJan 5

This 1981 paper described an online help browser and authoring environment for TI or MIT Lisp Machines. The paper is interesting as it also briefly reviewed the state of online help systems at the time.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1015579.810973

#retrocomputing #lisp #LispMachine

Paolo AmorosoNov 19

Tim Bradshaw discusses the myths around Lisp Machines and why they were probably never competitive.

https://www.tfeb.org/fragments/2025/11/18/the-lost-cause-of-the-lisp-machines

#LispMachine #retrocomputing #lisp

The lost cause of the Lisp machines

I am just really bored by Lisp Machine romantics at this point: they should go away. I expect they never will....

Show threadlispmOct 30
@amoroso @interlisp left scrollbars were a thing on #lispmachine systems. Genera image attached. Probably something where the MIT Lisp Machine was inspired by Interlisp-D or Smalltalk?
The Medley Interlisp ProjectOct 19

In the 1980s some Xerox Lisp Machines came with an IBM PC/XT expansion card that allowed running MS-DOS software from the Interlisp-D environment, like the black window of a spreadsheet program at the bottom left. This screenshot is from a flyer of the Xerox 1186 AI workstation.

https://groups.google.com/g/lispcore/c/aCC34TmRSmc/m/KQwufgfABQAJ

#interlisp #msdos #LispMachine #retrocomputing

Show threadlispmOct 3
@demiguru @restorante @crandel @alerque @Zenie @weavejester #eine #zwei #zmacs #emacs #lisp #lispmachine Dan Weinreb's thesis describes EINE and ZWEI, the software for Zmacs, the Emacs editor on the MIT Lisp Machine: https://github.com/MITDDC/eine-1975-1981/blob/main/eine/7007637/arc.thesis/th.64
eine-1975-1981/eine/7007637/arc.thesis/th.64 at main · MITDDC/eine-1975-1981

Source code and related files for the text editor EINE from 1975-1981 - MITDDC/eine-1975-1981

GitHub
Show threadrestoranteOct 2

@demiguru

As far as I know, in Lisp Machine, the entire software, from the operating system into user applications are all available as gigantic Lisp functions.

We can use the functions in our code. We can also edit the code, even the code of the program we are currently running, save the code, then reload it.

Yes, the operating system itself can be edited, saved and reloaded.

But it is different with Emacs. It is basically an elisp interpreter with some functionalities to aid text editing. These two are all C code.

They cannot be edited, saved and reload.

Emacs in Unix possibly is different with Emacs (EINE, ZWEINE) on Lisp Machine.

#GNUEmacs #Emacs #LispMachine

@crandel @alerque @Zenie @weavejester

Show threadrestoranteOct 2

@simon_brooke

GNU Emacs as a Lisp Machine surely is very nice. But Daniel Weinreb himself disagree with that.

Is it possible that Emacs is only Lisp Machine in spirit only?

Here is the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250427073638/http://xahlee.info/emacs/misc/Daniel_Weinreb_rebuttal_to_rms.html

Note: on the debate about the original creator of Emacs, whether it is David Moon & Guy Steele or Richard Stallman, I am completely neutral.

Edit: I have ever heard somewhere that Maxima is quite similar with GNU Emacs. At the core of Maxima is an implementation of Common Lisp. Maxima is just sitting on top of the Common Lisp.

#GNUEmacs #Emacs #LispMachine #Symbolic #LMI #RMS #DavidMoon #Maxima #CommonLisp

@demiguru @Zenie @weavejester

History of LISP, Emacs, Symbolics (Daniel Weinreb Rebut Richard Stallman)

Farooq | فاروق [Master Patata]Aug 18, 2025

I updated my post "Do I need a Lisp Machine comeback?". I have added the new information I've found with chatting with folks on lisp IRC channels.

https://far.chickenkiller.com/computing/do-i-need-a-lisp-machine-comeback/

Seems like I was looking for was "residential style development" or something. Dunno yet what does it mean. But for sure I am digging something out of grave!

#lisp #lispmachine #interlisp #residentialdevelopment #development #softwaredevelopment #programming #commonlisp #clisp #cl #computing #computers #retrocomputing #wakegp #research

Do I need a Lisp machine come back?

One might say I’m too obsessed with Lisp. Or in general with “unconventional” things. Maybe I am. Or maybe dead technologies have got some buried gems which you cannot find in the modern world of computing. This story is about WakeGP. Few years ago, I wanted to start with Evolutionary Machine Learning, specifically Genetic Programming. So I started writing WakeGP software using Rust. And it’s been few months which I’m doing experiments using different parameters and algorithms to see which ones produce better results(e.g. better accuracy).

Farooq's
Farooq | فاروق [Master Patata]Aug 6, 2025

For #WakeGP researches, do I need a #LispMachine comeback?

https://far.chickenkiller.com/computing/do-i-need-a-lisp-machine-comeback/

If you are too lazy to read it all, just jump to the list in the end.

#Lisp #programmming #research #development

Do I need a Lisp machine come back?

One might say I’m too obsessed with Lisp. Or in general with “unconventional” things. Maybe I am. Or maybe dead technologies have got some buried gems which you cannot find in the modern world of computing. This story is about WakeGP. Few years ago, I wanted to start with Evolutionary Machine Learning, specifically Genetic Programming. So I started writing WakeGP software using Rust. And it’s been few months which I’m doing experiments using different parameters and algorithms to see which ones produce better results(e.g. better accuracy).

Farooq's