Unanswered Questions
322 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
21
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Is an X Window System older than release 10 available online?
I'm looking for any copy of the X Window System older than release 10.
The oldest on x.org is X10R3.
Bob Scheifler doesn't have anything.
Jim Gettys may have something, but has yet to retrieve it ...
- 3,221
20
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0
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1k
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Oxford C compiler for Commodore 64
I kept one floppy from my Commodore 128 (which I used mostly in C64 mode), labelled ‘Oxford C compiler’. It is a 5.25″ floppy. Don't ask me why I kept just this one; probably because I thought I ...
18
votes
1
answer
747
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When was an image of an apple first used to promote the APL language
The APL community is contemplating the adoption of a common logo but some are worried about trouble from Apple lawyers. Now, IBM and others have been using apple motifs in promoting APL for a long ...
- 678
16
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0
answers
833
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Original instruction set for the first ARM processor
I'm studying ISAs and would really like to see the very first ISA that Sophie Wilson chose/put together when designing the very first ARM CPU while at Acorn Computers around 1983 or so.
From what I ...
- 40.3k
16
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0
answers
871
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Was there a cartoon series in the UK computer press called "Computability Brown"?
My dad was a computing professional in Scotland in the 1970s. He received a couple of industry trade magazines every week, such as Computer Weekly and Computing. In one of them, I remember there being ...
CommunityBot
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16
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0
answers
635
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Is there a simple BASIC program that demonstrates SID6581 distortion on C64?
Many songs on Commodore 64 use a SID 6581 design "flaw", distortion, as an effect. I tried experimenting with the filter and resonance registers, but was unable to reproduce the sound.
What ...
- 113
14
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0
answers
516
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Is it possible to trap 387 FPU opcodes on a 287 connected to a 386?
The 8087 and 287 FPUs were designed before the IEEE 754 standard was released. Because of this, they contain some instructions which are not compliant with it. When the 387 was released in 1987, it ...
- 26.4k
14
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258
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68060 CLKEN and CLK pins
Using an 68060 to 68040 Amiga adapter on another brand.
The adapter ties the 68040 BCLK to the 68060 CLKEN. The CLK pin on the adapter is left floating.
To run the CPU with 1/2 bus will I need to ...
- 141
14
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0
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614
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Who owns the intellectual property of Thinking Machines today?
Who owns the intellectual property regarding the Connection Machine and other products from Thinking Machines? I believe the remnants were bought by Sun, so possibly Oracle, but does anyone know?
13
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0
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426
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When was the asterisk first used for "unsaved changes" and why?
The asterisk itself has been around as a symbol since literally (pun intended) before the earliest writing systems. Among its many uses, in some user interfaces it denotes unsaved changes to a file or ...
- 231
13
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462
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Unix on the H11?
I'm curious if anyone is aware of actual uses of Unix on the Heathkit H11? I don't see any technical reason a memory-expanded H11 couldn't run Unix, but can't find any examples of it doing so.
- 21.5k
12
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0
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270
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Do any technical details of Amdahl's Aspen survive?
Aspen was Amdahl's project to build their own clone of IBM's MVS mainframe operating system.
Amdahl cancelled the project at some point in the 1980s (1987?). It was never formally released, but (...
- 3,608
12
votes
0
answers
437
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Garbage collection instruction in i386 – which one and why?
In the paper "Symbolics, Inc.: A failure of heterogeneous engineering" by Alvin Graylin, Kari Anne, Hoier Kjolaas, Jonathan Loflin and Jimmie D. Walker III, there's a mention that:
...
- 26.4k
12
votes
0
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258
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Anyone know of older mentions of the word "trap" for software interrupts than the IBM 704 manual from 1955?
I've dug into the origin of the word "trap" in computer engineering. The older documented mentions of the term I can find, is the "trapping mode" in the IBM 704, specifically in ...
- 26.4k
12
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1
answer
1k
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1990s BBS game featuring mining elements from a planet
Sometime in the 90s (sorry, can't be more specific) I used to dial in to a BBS and play a multi-player game that involved manually mining elements from a planet. It was very detailed, you got employed ...
CommunityBot
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