Stone Tools

@stonetoolsblog
271 Followers
10 Following
79 Posts

A blog exploring retro productivity software of the 8/16-bit era.
No games; just work.

#retrocomputing #computerhistory #officeofthefuture #softwarearchaeology #stonetools

Stone Tools Bloghttps://stonetools.ghost.io/
BlueSky@stonetoolsblog.bsky.social
Show threadStone ToolsMay 9

I see the below note on the Ghost status page. Perhaps one of those fake mails triggered a real phishing report.

⚠️ Active Phishing Campaign "Billing / Verification-Related Suspension"

Some customers have reported receiving emails with subject lines like "Billing / Verification-Related Suspension" from senders not associated with Ghost. The emails use Ghost's logo and link to a fraudulent website that is designed to look like Ghost.

Stone ToolsMay 9
Getting reports of the site being flagged as a "phishing" site. That's a new one on me, as I don't self-host; I rely on Ghost to do that specifically because I don't want to deal with web hosting issues like that. I've sent a message to tech support to see what's happening, but it is the weekend and the reply might be slow. Bad timing on this, because we're trending a bit on Hacker News at the moment!
Stone ToolsMay 8

🪨 PipeDream on the Acorn Archimedes 🛠️

A truly unique combination. We have the first ARM-based home computer, powering a bespoke OS, running software that says, "The barriers between productivity apps are a lie we tell ourselves."

This introduced so many new technologies, I had to run a check on "Where are they now?" The ARM chip's legacy is a given, but the other stuff in the stack might surprise you.

#retrocomputing #pipedream #arm #acorn #archimedes #riscos

https://stonetools.ghost.io/pipedream-archimedes/

PipeDream on the Acorn Archimedes

A productivity suite that willfully rejects common notions on how such software should behave, on an operating system most haven't heard of, running on a processor 30 years ahead of its time.

Stone Tools
Stone ToolsApr 18
A quick note on the upcoming publishing schedule:
Due to a 1-2 punch of "death in the family" and "I'm sick," I'm behind schedule by a couple of weeks. Publishing will return to normal, for some definition of "normal," at that time.
Stone ToolsMar 28

🪨 Aldus PageMaker on the Apple Macintosh 🛠️

It wasn't the first desktop publishing app, but it was the first of importance. I use it to rebuild the 40-year defunct #OMNI Magazine, resurrect a 40-year defunct software rivalry, and examine how the effects of the publishing revolution trickled through the public sector.

This post comes with a free gift!

#retrocomputing #mac #pagemaker

https://stonetools.ghost.io/pagemaker-mac

Aldus PageMaker on the Apple Macintosh

While resurrecting a 40-year old defunct magazine, I accidentally-on-purpose resurrect a 40-year old software rivalry.

Stone Tools
Stone ToolsMar 14
Alberto MarnettoMar 14

A playthrough of an old game? Always fun, but there are so many... Of ancient office software? Well, that is already covered by @stonetoolsblog .

What remains, then? How about a malware?

Discover with me what the first ransomware looked like, and the bizarre and puzzling history of its creator.

“Aids Info Disk: a playthrough of the first-ever ransomware”

https://marnetto.net/2026/03/14/aids-info-disk

Thanks to @snoffle.bsky.social for collecting this piece of history.

#retrocomputing #ransomware

Aids Info Disk: a playthrough of the first-ever ransomware

Stone ToolsMar 7
Show threadPaolo AmorosoMar 7

@stonetoolsblog Have you seen this?

https://unsung.aresluna.org/kapor-had-projected-first-year-sales-of-1m-but-did-53m-instead

“Kapor had projected first year sales of $1M, but did $53M instead.” – Unsung

A blog about software craft and quality

Stone ToolsMar 6

🪨 Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC w/DOS 🛠️

Did you know that #Lotus123 is still referenced in Microsoft #Excel documentation to this day, but not #visicalc I finally spent some time getting to know VisiCalc's literal killer. When I struggled to get a chart made, I turned to the only one who could help me: an AI. From 1986!
#retrocomputing #spreadsheet

https://stonetools.ghost.io/lotus123-dos

Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC w/DOS

VisiCalc started it, but 1-2-3 finished it. "It" being the discussion of what a spreadsheet can be, and also VisiCalc itself.

Stone Tools
Stone ToolsFeb 28

I wonder if any readers can help me solve a mystery.

At the beginning of this week, maybe early Monday morning in the United States, I had a sudden spike of 1,000 new readers on the dBase article. That was great to see, but I have no idea what triggered it. The Hacker News boost had already come and gone, and this one leaves behind no discernable referrer.

Is anyone aware of a mention, maybe in a newsletter or podcast, of Stone Tools and the dBase post?

Stone ToolsFeb 15
ScrewtapelloFeb 15

RE: https://mastodon.social/@stonetoolsblog/116071488450412028

Back in the 1980s, technology was advancing so quickly that every other year seemed to produce new hardware that needed new operating systems and new applications, promising new never-before-seen capabilities. But today the pace has slowed if not halted, and it seems like maybe it's worthwhile to go back and figure out what lessons we could learn about solving real problems with a fraction of the storage space or computation speed.

And so I love this blog, where the author makes an honest effort to try these old tools for what they were best at, figure their strengths and weaknesses, and even how hard it would be to use them seriously in a modern computing environment. The extra context about the history of each software package and the people who made it, is the icing on the cake - like if The Digital Antiquarian were about productivity apps rather than games.