@meFrans

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meFransMay 12
Astronomy Picture of the DayMay 12
Gaia Reconstructs a Side View of our Galaxy

Illustration Credit: ESA, Gaia, DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250512.html #APOD
APOD: 2025 May 12 – Gaia Reconstructs a Side View of our Galaxy

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

meFransMar 30
JessamynMar 30

Mentioned this over on Bluesky but in case you're here and not there...

Every Californian with an email address and an internet connection can now visit California’s Bookshelf and access more than 300,000 ebooks and audiobooks via the Palace Project app. Linked PDF describes the program.

https://www.library.ca.gov/uploads/2025/03/pressrelease-2025-03-26-californiasbookshelf.pdf

meFransMar 30
Natasha Jay (she/her) 🇪🇺Mar 30
The hour being changed, at Stonehenge
meFransMar 28
Jef PoskanzerMar 28
Happy 55th birthday to the PDP-11! Which had the best front panels ever.
meFransMar 12
Nick @ The Linux ExperimentMar 12

As promised, here is an interview with @ryanleesipes from #Thunderbird, on the whole #Mozilla and #Firefox terms of use situation.

We talk about why this had to happen, how Thunderbird will handle their own Terms of Use, what's happening at Mozilla, and what's changing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctg5QzSt5tg

Clarifying what's happening at Mozilla: an Interview with Ryan Sipes from Thunderbird

YouTube
meFransMar 12
JA WestenbergMar 12
Every time a tech company says “We’re focused on improving the user experience,” a beloved feature dies, they add chatGPT and their CEO donates $100m to the nearest Nazi
meFransMar 11
Wary JerryMar 11
meFransFeb 21
OSNewsFeb 20

Trans rights are human rights. This is a non-negotiable fact. No ifs, buts or maybes.

This new page is now linked to very clearly on our front page.
https://www.osnews.com/trans-rights-are-human-rights/

Unlike most other tech media, we will not be wishy-washy or even silent about what's happening to trans people in the US.

Trans rights are human rights. – OSnews

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Jef PoskanzerMar 28
Happy 55th birthday to the PDP-11! Which had the best front panels ever.
Show threadFubaroqueMar 28

@jef Showing the address bus and the data bus… what more do you want? 🤩

#perfect

Show threadTobyMar 28
@jef Is there no love for the Univac 1108 anymore?
Show threadJohn MaxwellMar 28
@jef Yeah. Those're so pretty that I don't even mind replicas.
Show threadpzmyers 🕷Mar 28

@jef Wait. I used to work on one of those, but it wasn't that long ago. 1975…oh, wait.

Now I feel so old.

Show threadEnema CowboyMar 28
@jef It is aesthetically more pleasing than the front panels of Data General Machines.
Show threadChristine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Mar 28
@jef I loved the satisfyingly chunky feel of setting those Toblerone shaped switches that came out with the PDP11/40 and carried on with the 11/45 and 11/70. I was always afraid those more spindly switches on the 11/20 would break off if handled too roughly. We had an 11/40 mated to an 11/20 with a Unibus Window. The 11/20 provided filestore and editing for 15 student teletypes and I wrote the multitasking operating system to provide the assemble/run service for their projects.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinMar 28
@jef There was a time when I could toggle the 11/45 boot sequence into those babies in about 5 seconds with my eyes closed.
Show threadPeter LudemannMar 28
@lauren @jef Me too ... there was on option for reading the boot sequence from some kind of ROM but it was $$$.
The mainframe booted from a card reader.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinMar 28
@PeterLudemann @jef I'll never rid myself of the pre-fsck memories of manually plowing through crashed filesystems with icheck and dcheck and ncheck and my personal favorite clri, etc. deep into the night as users were screaming bloody murder for the system to come back up.
Show threadMike StockdaleMar 28
@lauren @jef Yep, me, too, those were the days...
Show threadEric GoodwinMar 28
@jef learned PDP-11 Assembly back in university. Still have a soft spot for it
Show threadThe FudeMar 28
@jef Aah...yes; thanks for sharing. I fondly remember working with one.
Show threadShafik YaghmourMar 28
@jef https://hachyderm.io/@shafik/111859824914436235
Shafik Yaghmour (@shafik@hachyderm.io)

Attached: 1 image The C abstract machine (pdp-11) #programming

Hachyderm.io
Show threadOphitoxaemiaMar 28
@jef I programmed one of those that controlled a plotter. So long ago I forgot what they looked like!
Show threadGuillaume RossMar 28
@jef My dad had that 11/70 switch panel with the red-pink-purpleish keys at some point, no idea where it is now :(
Show threadGuillaume RossMar 28
@jef I never USED it used it (cause obviously it was in our house and we didn't have the PDP-11 at home) but I thought it looked so LCARS-ish, I loved flipping the switches on it
Show threadjwzMar 28
@jef So nice. Giving a real LCARS vibe.
Show threadJoeMar 28
@jwz @jef The first assembly language I learned. The low-end ones didn't have a boot ROM so you actually toggled in the boot loader; I've done this back in the early 1980s. https://gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11_Bootstrap_Loader
PDP-11 Bootstrap Loader - Computer History Wiki

Show threadrrmuttMar 28
@jwz @jef somebody made a lovely replica https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11
PiDP-11 | obsolescence

obsolescence
Show threadmike805Mar 28
@jef Someone had a think in octal mindset there.
Show threadBob HorowitzMar 28
@jef In 1975, while working for Local Electronics, I wrote an assembler for the PDP-11/45 and 11/70. I spent a lot of time flipping those switches and booting.
Show threadlisa cMar 28
@jef No idea what this is but it’s pretty
Show threadSimplyTheGuestMar 28
@lmc @jef mini-computers! Back from the 70s before all computers turned beige or black. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11
PDP-11 - Wikipedia

Show threadΣ(i³) = (Σi)²Mar 28
@jef
The pdp11 is the best (and only valid) anti-vax argument in existence...
Show threadDiane BruceMar 28
@jef I always loved assembler on the PDP-11.
Show threadMarty FoutsMar 28
@jef For a rack mount system sure. But the IBM 1620 would like a word. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOaJU5Dq15eODJrVR1eMg-eJBSTWl-pj2ovgvnSGUDMVyxgjlplpTCGoMTpVQWCJLVnvnTAsQzwDupZ7MzJGAWavKNJYfkpVNbcCSKWcImcXUxwAsRuqIuNRlNdbSwHCfye2wwyGA-i_Y/s1600/IBM+1620+front+panel+-+enhan.jpg
Show threadLeonard RitterMar 29
@jef i bet one can program some ill trap beats on these
Show threadMercMar 29

@jef It's amazing to me that DEC went with such a user-hostile data entry system, when the PDP-11 came out years and years after the FADAC.

The FADAC uses a data-entry system that looks fairly modern and easy, and an output system that could be mistaken for a modern monitor.

https://youtu.be/d_I_4CqZxoI?t=26

Compare that to the PDP-11:

https://youtu.be/0n3UFtiyxwA?t=282

Don't get me wrong, the industrial designer did a fantastic job. But, really, entering octal data by flipping a series of binary switches?

FADAC is used by US 25th Infantry Division to direct artillery fire at Division H...HD Stock Footage

YouTube
Show threadLarry HornMar 30
@jef
I saved the front panels from the PDP-8/e and PDP-11/70 my employer discarded. Prized possessions.
Show threadWinchell Chung ⚛🚀Mar 30

@jef

That front panel is so 70's. I love it!