The first round of test generation for #DesmetC is complete, yielding over 30,000 test cases for integer comparison, integer arithmetic, and constant folding. Numerous bugs dating to the late 1980s were found and corrected. This is now out for review as pull request 9.
Latest #DesmetC "explorations with machete and torch": the compiler source has numbered constants for each supported C datatype. Normally you'd use enum for this sort of thing, but this codebase used #defines. The constants were numbered in a strange order, and I wanted to re-sort them in the order of the "usual arithmetic conversions", to simplify some logic. This broke code-gen, emitting illegal instructions. Several hours later, I found that CCHAR=1 and CINT=2 were directly used in hex math determining which x86 opcode to emit. When I renumbered those constants, it caused absurd instructions to be generated. After correcting that problem, we are now back to self-hosting o.k.
I'm hoping this will make it possible to retire a bunch of one-off type promotion logic scattered around the compiler, in favor of a few central functions closely mapping to the C89 standard.
Dear #SoftwareArchaeologists, do you have #𒊕𒉺𒆸 mapped on your keyboard?
Reviving Classic Unix Games: A 20-Year Journey Through Software Archaeology
https://vejeta.com/reviving-classic-unix-games-a-20-year-journey-through-software-archaeology/
#HackerNews #RevivingUnixGames #SoftwareArchaeology #ClassicGames #RetroGaming #TechHistory
How I spent two decades tracking down the creators of a 1987 USENET game and learned modern packaging tools in the process. The Discovery: A Digital Time Capsule from 1987 Picture this: October 26, 1987. The Berlin Wall still stands, the World Wide Web is just text, and software is distributed through USENET newsgroups in […]
We present an AI-assisted reverse engineering framework that achieves dramatic speedups—on the order of hundreds of times faster than traditional manual methods—by orchestrating specialized agents for evidence curation, struct recovery, and code drafting. Using this approach, we recreated a bootable prototype of Apple System 7.1 from binary analysis in just 3 days, a task that would normally require months or years. The framework enforces strict provenance tracking, tying each change to either disassembly bytes or runtime verification under QEMU. Rather than reporting abstract accuracy percentages, we emphasize artifact-based validation: screenshots, serial logs, and resource extractions that demonstrate Chicago font rendering, menu bar behavior, desktop patterns, and icon display. This work shows how carefully scoped AI assistance, coupled with human review and a structured verification loop, can transform reverse engineering from a slow artisanal process into a systematic, reproducible workflow for preserving computing history and modernizing legacy systems.
🪨🛠️ New Post
2025 is the 40th birthday of the Commodore Amiga. It is *also* the 40th birthday of Deluxe Paint. Our first retrospective examines this classic hardware/software combo.
#RetroComputing #SoftwareArchaeology #Amiga #DeluxePaint #StoneTools
stonetools.ghost.io/deluxepaint-amiga/
I've been working diligently on a #retrocomputing project which just soft-launched. You may shake your head, "Not another retro blog!" but I promise, this one's a little different; in-depth, hands-on examinations of the productivity software of the 8/16-bit era. It's called "Stone Tools"
#computerhistory #officeofthefuture #softwarearchaeology #stonetools
We’re live! 🪨🛠️ Stone Tools has soft-launched, with the first proper post coming later this week. If you think retro-computing means more than just games, you’re in the right place. Hands-on, in-depth examinations of the productivity software from the retro "golden age" (1977-1995)
#RetroComputing #ComputerHistory #OfficeOfTheFuture #SoftwareArchaeology #StoneTools
#Gravit Designer vs. #Corel Vector (4#4)
Mit diesem gvdesign Parser (#gvPa) wollen wir ermitteln, wieviel Elemente, Ebenen, Bitmaps, Fonts etc. enthalten sind.
So könnten wir einschätzen was mit SVG geht. Welche anderern Fileformate Schriften, Layer & Effekte am besten unterstützt.
Zum Schluß wollen wir untersuchen, welche Lösungen für die Zukunft geeignet wäre um flüssig mit Bitmaps und Vektor zusammen zu arbeiten.
Lust? Meld dich!
psf
David Cantrell 🏏
N-gated Hacker News
Hacker News
Kelsi🔭📷🌠
Stone Tools
Christopher Drum
CodeFreezR (he/him)