Tag Archives: computers

WordStar on FreeDOS

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After last time I tried to ftp a file from my Linux host to FreeDOos. The connection worked, but I could not do the transfer. Somehow my C drive was full. 0 bytes free. So I looked again at How to Backup VM(s) on VirtualBox to see how to restore my snapshot. This worked, although I had to use the “clone” option to restore it under another name. After the restore dir c:\ showed plenty of free space. So I tried the ftp again. I ran cd c:\net\mtcp and then used ftp (the basic ancient ftp client) to get Ws4.zip from the host. I had used this program a lot back in the 1990s. This particular zip archive has the installation files for WordStar 4.0, which was released jn 1987 and which I used at home in the late 1980s and into the 90s.

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Installing FreeDOS

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After mentioning DOS in Programming in Pascal I Downloaded FreeDOS 1.3. I had previously installed VirtualBox on Ubuntu 22.04 system using Synaptic Package Manager. For the installation I followed How to install FreeDOS on VirtualBox. It seems that I have a later version of VirtualBox than the video, so I did not see exactly what is in the video, but it was close enough. Per the video I used the VDI file type for the VM file. The installation was successful. A couple notes:

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Programming in Pascal

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Back in 2021 I wrote about APL, a computer language that I used early in my career. I have not seriously worked with it in the last 30 years, but it is still around.

Recently I read that Apple Just Released Code for Its 40-Year-Old “Lisa” Computer. This sentence caught my eye.

Much of the code is written in Pascal, an early programming language dating back to 1970, which was also used for some of the Mac’s early software.

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Web Site Updates

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I fixed some dead links and made other minor corrections and updates, but did not make any drastic changes in the longer pieces, so their style reflects the times when they were written, years or even decades ago. However, I think they are still relevant to the subjects being discussed.

Firefox problem with Ubuntu

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Following up on Jammy Jellyfish and System Updates I have been using Tyrone, my newer Ubuntu 22.04 system, for my daily work. In doing so I found an issue with Firefox: The “Save page as” “Print/Save to PDF” commands were not working on that machine under Ubuntu. I tried various Firefox troubleshooting options, but they did not help. The commands work fine with Firefox under Windows, and also with Firefox under Ubuntu 22.04 on another system (Donegal), which, however is an upgrade from 20.04 rather than a clean install. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox

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Chicon 8

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Thursday

On Thursday, Sept. 1, Mia McDavid and I drove to Chicago for Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago . This was our 5th Chicon. Previously we had attended:

Despite some glitches, we really enjoyed the Con, and visiting downtown Chicago again.

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Installed ChromeOS Flex

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I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X130e laptop. It came with Windows 10 Home Edition, which does not work nearly as well for me as the Profession Edition I have on other systems. It hangs frequently. I have also installed Ubuntu Linux on it, which does better.

These days Chromebooks are everywhere, so I have become curious about Google’s Chrome OS Flex, the installation of which can turn an ordinary old (but not too old) PC into a Chromebook. Continue reading →