Princess NO CARRIER1d ago
occult

Please don’t be shocked, but I’ve been reading old #UNIX Review magazines on Archive.org, as one does. I’ve been finding a number of interesting artifacts throughout. This June 1984 ad by Cadmus Computer Systems listed a #USENET address: !wivax!cadmus.

This is a UUCP bang path, for the kids who don’t know. The ! separates relay hops, it’s a literal routing instruction. Get to the backbone, reach wivax, forward to cadmus.

No DNS.

Machines screamed at each other to swap data.

#unix_surrealism

Feb 17 at 12:36pmWeb
Show threadoccultFeb 17

wivax was a VAX at Wang Laboratories in Lowell, MA where Cadmus was based.

The TELEX number printed right next to it is also interesting. This represents telegraph infrastructure and the infant internet, side by side in a transitional moment.

Show threadoccultFeb 17

Here’s an ad for cross-compilers and assemblers for UNIX environments.

My favorite detail here is this brag: “Over the past 3 years, we’ve built over 1MB of working code.” Cross-compilers, assemblers, simulators, and debuggers targeting six architectures across a dozen hosts. This code was dense.

The 80’s #UNIX wars were a wild time.

It’s also very fun to read the articles from the time and see what they were predicting for the future. “UNIX for the masses” was a popular topic.

Show threadoccultFeb 17

This is an original ad for a #UNIX computer company.

No AI art here! You can see the artist’s signature over the dragon’s wing.

Show threadoccultFeb 17
The art in these ads is incredible. This one for ChipCrafter by SeattleSilicon is pretty great.
Show threadoccultFeb 17
This is some proto- @prahou art right here.
Show threadoccultFeb 17

To think all of this amazing art is buried in 40-year-old computer magazines.

This one is from the July 1988 issue of "VLSI Systems Design."

Show threadDevine Lu LinvegaFeb 17
@occult strong Memphis style energy <3
Show threadoccultFeb 17
@neauoire new Radiohead album art just dropped (1988).
Show threadoccultFeb 17
There’s an LLM coding joke in here somewhere.
Show threadoccultFeb 17

@neauoire we need to normalize Lisp fan art like this.

#lisp

Show threadPlasmawizFeb 17
@occult @neauoire This is what it feels like when the Lambda Calculus finally hits.
Show threadoccultFeb 17
@plasmawiz right between the eyes.
Show threadPlasmawizFeb 17
@occult
Show threadoccultFeb 17

Editor: quick! I need art to accompany the article on internationalization of #UNIX for our Dec 1985 issue!

Illustrator on shrooms: say no more.

Show threadoccultFeb 20

Boss: I need art for an article on #UNIX networking technologies for the next issue of UNIX WORLD.

Artist: come back tomorrow.

Show threadoccultFeb 20

Computing in the year 2029 as depicted in UNIX WORLD magazine, 1985.

#UNIX

Show threadoccultFeb 25

From a 1991 SunExpert magazine article about “What’s to come” for network protocols. The article depicts a man traveling into the 2020’s, seemingly unaware of the chaos he’ll find.

He’s going to pass @prahou traveling back in time to 1991 to get some mint condition Sun workstations.

#SunMicrosystems #UNIX

Show threadoccultMar 6

Hey #Fediverse! See you all at the 1985 California Computer Show.

#UNIX #RetroComputing

Show threadoccultMar 6

Oh, this is good...

From UNIX World, 1985: "It finds the subtle bugs in my C programs" - Claude B. Finn.

40 years later, people are using Claude to find bugs in programs. What's old is new again.

#Anthropic #LLM #Claude #ClaudeCode #AI #Security #Programming #UNIX #C

Show threadMatthew MartinMar 6
@occult English to C translator! That is Claude like in more way than one
Show threadbit101Mar 6
@occult Every new language, tool, platform, library, and framework in the last 40 years was going to cut development time in half. Must be close to zero already even without Claude.
Show threadChristian Berger DECT 2763Mar 6
@bit101 @occult Developers somehow seem to turn those advances into increased complexity.
Show threadpatrislav ♾️ #RIPNatenomMar 7
@casandro I guess the economists were on to something with their rebound effect @bit101 @occult
Show threadJohn Abbe (aka Slow)Mar 8

@patrislav @casandro @bit101 @occult This was a helpful overview for me of this kind of spot-on context: https://www.caimito.net/en/blog/2025/12/07/the-recurring-dream-of-replacing-developers.html

One thing that happens in each round is that some portion of the people who are thinking they won't need programmers any more end up becoming programmers using the language/tools that were supposed to replace developers. (Business people learning COBOL, etc.)

Hoping we can lean into a future that repeats that pattern, in software and ideally hardware as well.

Why We've Tried to Replace Developers Every Decade

Every decade brings new promises: this time, we'll finally make software development simple enough that we won't need so many developers.

Caimito Agile Life
Show threadTim CurryMar 7
@bit101 @occult I'm ready for things to start taking longer to do. Exquisitely lengthening the time to accomplish tasks, that's my goal.
Show threadDr. FerrousMar 7
@Curry @occult @bit101 join academia, where even glacial progress is sometimes too fast.
Show threadD2Mar 7
@Curry @bit101 @occult that’s all scope creep and stacking abstraction upon framework upon abstraction.
Show threadPino CarafaMar 7
@bit101 @occult Those promises have proven to be bullshit ever since Synon/2 was first inflicted on me in 1986
Show threadElias Mårtenson2d ago

@rozeboosje @bit101 @occult wow. I just read up on synon, dug into a bunch of screenshots of yhe development process.

I guess this is one of those things that demos amazingly well when you want to build a somple crud application.

It's still not clear to me how you do things outside of the templates. You write a separate program in COBOL and just call into it?

Show threadPino Carafa2d ago
@loke @bit101 @occult We used Synon/2 on the AS/400 35 years ago so my memory is a bit patchy but you had a choice of "templates" for commonly used design patterns. These produced a Synon/2 code framework that you can't drill into but that "did the job", but it also contained points into which you could insert chunks of RPG/400. You saved a day not having to code the basics. Then you lost a week hacking around how Synon/2 never did exactly what you wanted it to, losing more time than you saved.
Show threadSashin1d ago
@bit101 @occult ✨Lying✨
Show threadoccultMar 6

It's summer, 1985.

I get a call from my buddy to open this month’s issue of UNIX WORLD magazine to page 110.

I see they are preparing to standardize the C programming language.

I say, “This is a good thing" under my breath.

I am still punk as fuck.

Show threadHuubjeMar 6
@occult these are all so good!
Show threadoccultMar 6

They should re-create this steel-bound UNIX reference manual.

#UNIX

Show threadFlorian 'floe' EchtlerMar 6
@occult giving new meaning to "throwing the book at someone" 👌
Show threadoccultMar 8

Hey @prahou is your computer sad or happy?

Is this Mr. Computo?

From the May 1985 issue of UNIX WORLD magazine.

#UNIX

Show threadoccultMar 8
Oh my, it's his father!
Show threadoccultMar 8

These article illustrations are truly something.

UNIX Review, April 1985.

#UNIX #unix_surrealism

Show threadKarsten1d ago
@occult so good, probably after installing 4.2BSD 😸
@prahou
Show thread256kMar 6
@occult ANSI C FOR LIFE
Show threadAlice HarperMar 6
40 years of 'AI finds the bugs' and the main productivity gain is that the debugging conversation is now with a chatbot instead of a rubber duck.
Show threadTristram BrelstaffMar 7
@alicefrieren
Oh dear, I misread the 'u' in 'duck' as an 'i'.
Show threadMajor Denis BloodnokMar 9
@alicefrieren And the duck's requirements for water and electricity were rather more moderate!
Show threadGuilherme RiosMar 7
@occult "... or else it gets the hose again."
Show threadMax LeeMar 7
@occult You mistyped "using Claude to write bugs into programs"
Show threadH4Heights 🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦Mar 7
@occult VAX/VMS… RiP.
Show threadIvor Hewitt1d ago
@occult I have no 'subtle' bugs. ever. Mine tend to be more....
Show threadJamie BoothMar 6

@occult
It's only March. That's in May.

😄

Show threadOzzelot Mar 6
@occult i hope @prahou takes me with him, i want some vintage joonk too
Show threadAleksandr KoltsoffFeb 26
@occult Can't wait for the final version of UNIX!
Show threadmFeb 26
@occult the future they robbed of us
Show threadBernat RomagosaFeb 26
@meeper @occult still 3 years to go! Don't despair yet!
Show threadJuho MäntysaloFeb 26

@bromagosa @meeper @occult

There's still time for Bell riots before 2029.

Show threaddragonfrogFeb 26
@bromagosa @meeper @occult OK I'm screenshotting that and heading to the hair salon right away.
Show threadMastokarl 🇺🇦Mar 7
@bromagosa @meeper @occult Exactly:
01/2028: singularity
02/2028: human writes prompt „create a hand-held device to control computers by colorful laser beams“
03/2028: humankind finally happy again.
Show threadtoa5tFeb 26
@occult @yhancik Toya Wilcox still looks good, I see
Show threadDave FischerFeb 26
@toa5t @occult @yhancik HA! Toya was my first thought as well! What NO ONE could have predicted was the Fripp connection...
Show threadCOMPANDERFeb 26
@occult Weird. That's exactly how I make my music.
Show threadJames 🦉 #FBPE 🇪🇺Feb 26
@occult It's uncanny