Jerry Pournelle Archives - The Silicon Underground

Thank you, Jerry Pournelle

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 05:06:39 +0000

Longtime computer columnist and science fiction author Jerry Pournelle died on Sept 8, 2017. I count Dr. Pournelle as one of my influences. I was never a big sci-fi fan, so I’ve never read any of his novels. I really

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Did Microsoft steal DOS from CP/M?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 11:00:53 +0000

Did Microsoft steal DOS from CP/M? There’s $100,000 in it for you if you can prove they did. Digital forensics consultant Bob Zeidman still says no. I’ve written about him before. But the rumors persist, hence the reward. So how would

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Cable connections are the last thing most people check…

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:33:10 +0000

Fed up with trying to host a network printer on a Windows 7 box on a mixed network, I broke down and bought a Jetdirect card for my aged HP Laserjet 4100. Don’t worry–used Jetdirect cards are cheap these days.

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The CP/M-DOS forensics don’t prove much

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 23:50:35 +0000

I saw the headline on Slashdot: Forensic evidence trying to prove whether MS-DOS contained code lifted from CP/M. That got my attention, as the connection between MS-DOS and its predecessor, CP/M, is one of the great unsolved mysteries of computing.

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SSDs and pricing

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:38:01 +0000

Mainstream SSDs cost around $2 per GB to buy right now. I was curious, so I decided to try to relate historical SSD pricing to the historical pricing of conventional hard drives. It didn’t take long for me to find

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Pontificating on how to blog

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:41:35 +0000

Several people I know have started blogs lately. Conversations with them have reminded me of a few things. I’m far from an A-list blogger, and was never anything more than an E- or F-list guy. At my peak, I got

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The "good enough" PC

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:29:32 +0000

PC World has a treatise on "good enough" computing. This isn't actually a new trend but it's never stood still for as long as it has now.

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Running ancient DOS games on modern Windows

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 13 Feb 2004 04:40:02 +0000

So today I was one of at least two people trying to help Jerry Pournelle get the original Railroad Tycoon running under Windows XP. The secret is DOSBox, a cross-platform DOS emulator.

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Why is there a stigma about meeting people online?

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 22:40:34 +0000

Steve DeLassus just made a funny observation to me. He said when he talks about me, sometimes people consider meeting and communicating with people online as somehow abnormal. And they tell him via e-mail.

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Building a Win95 box

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 17:20:07 +0000

Building a Windows 95 box? Why? You nuts?

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