The PC Informant » History of technology

Windows Start-up & Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 on up

Vic Laurie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:41:49 +0000

It seems that people will collect almost anything. Vince Bognot has put together Windows Start-up and Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7. I am not sure who cares but here is his collection:

Via the Windows Club

Gopher still lives

Vic Laurie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:03:31 +0000

Unless you were using the Internet before the World Wide Web came along, you probably never heard of the Gopher protocol or the search facilities called Archie and Veronica. I didn’t realize that Gopher still lived until I saw an Ars Technica post, The Web may have won, but Gopher tunnels on. It brought me back to the days when almost everything was text and modem speeds were a few kilobits/sec. The name “Gopher” came from the University of Minnesota mascot. Here’s an excerpt from Ars Technica:

So it was no surprise that when University of Minnesota researchers developed an early protocol for organizing and sharing documents over the Internet, they named it “gopher.” The initial version of the protocol appeared in 1991; by 1993, it had been codified as a Request for Comment (RFC 1436) that laid out the protocol in some detail.

According to the RFC, gopher was designed as a client-server protocol running over TCP/IP. Much lighter than HTTP and HTML, gopher provided essentially two options: menus and documents, both of which were accessed through port 70. The system was initially text-based, though basic image serving ability came later. There was no decorative markup for menu pages, which all looked basically (and boringly) the same; on the other hand, gopher was quick and consistent.

The post goes on to describe how you can still use Gopher. A few servers remain and Firefox still supports the Gopher protocol. Internet Explorer does not. If you have Firefox, try pasting “gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/world” (without quotes) into the address bar. Note how the term “gopher” is used in the URL instead of “http”.

The first real browser

Vic Laurie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:25:43 +0000

The Web is so much a part of our lives today that it is hard to remember that not long ago we managed without it. One thing that was instrumental in the development of the Web was the Netscape browser. It was just 15 years ago that this first example of a popular browser was released. Microsoft may have eventually killed it but Netscape deserves a place in Internet history. InfoWorld takes a look back.

Unix is 40

Vic Laurie — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:03:19 +0000

Most home PC users are unaware of what is the most important operating system ever developed. Yes, it’s Unix and not Windows. That takes nothing away from Windows because Unix has played a unique role in general computing. Unix has reached its 40th birthday and eWeek commemorates it with a slideshow:

Forty years ago, a new operating system called Unix was created, and a new revolution in computing began. Today, Unix-based operating systems still run many of the biggest and most important computing systems in the world. In fact, the core of Unix can be found in every major operating system in use today, from Apple’s Mac OS X to Linux to, yes, even Windows. If Unix itself hadn’t forked into many different versions, it might very well be the dominant OS in use today. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Unix, we’re taking a look at some of the many different iterations of Unix operating systems.

The Internet Archive

Vic Laurie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:22:14 +0000

I’ve previously mentioned the Wayback Machine, an archive of old Web pages. An even more comprehensive digital collection is being constructed at the Internet Archive. The site is described:

The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

Via the Computer Learning Center at Ewing.

Finding old computer games

Vic Laurie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:19:31 +0000

Is there a DOS game that you loved and wished you had back? There are several sites that are keeping these games alive. Most games are probably single EXE files. It is interesting to note how small the files are. Remember that DOS worked with a limit of 640 KB of RAM. MakeUseOf gives four sites where free downloads of old games are available.

Keep in mind that these games were written for 16-bit DOS and may not run well (or at all) on your modern computer. Windows XP contains a 16-bit DOS emulator (not to be confused with the XP 32-bit command line) but Vista and beyond are not suited to 16-bit software.

The Internet is 40

Vic Laurie — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:15:15 +0000

On September 2, 1969 a small but exceedingly important event took place. Almost no one paid it any attention. In fact, it was the beginning of the revolution that we call the Internet. (Not the Worldwide Web, that came 20 years later.) You can read what one of the participants in this historical event says at Computerworld.

Missed opportunities

Vic Laurie — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:15:37 +0000

The history of technology is filled with instances of companies missing major opportunities. Xerox failing to capitalize on the pioneering work at its Palo Alto research facility and IBM missing the PC revolution are two of my favorite examples. These two and eight others are discussed in a PC World post, The 10 Stupidest Tech Company Blunders.

Profile of Steve Jobs

Vic Laurie — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:21:49 +0000

Anathema to some, adored by others, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs is always in the news. He has been one of the biggest influences in the tech world but his recent health problems have caused much speculation about his future role. Whatever his future at Apple, Jobs has had a profound influence on personal computing and consumer electronics. Writing in the Sunday Times (UK), Bryan Appleyard explores Jobs’ outsized personality and his accomplishments.

PCs from the 1980s

Vic Laurie — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:00:34 +0000

Ah, nostalgia. If you were one of the few who had a PC in the 1980s, you might enjoy a gallery of pictures of old PCs from the recently opened National Museum of Computing in London.