- This is not entirely true. There were definitely TSRs that would on a keypress save a copy of the screen in a graphics file (or text file for text screens).
I remember using one of these to take screenshots of my favorite games as a kid and save them as GIFs on a floppy disk... Ah, fun times :)
- Interesting take, but probably overkill in this case:
* the USB-to-serial drivers are standard and included in every OS. Even if 10 years from now they weren't, it's easy to fire up a VM and get it working
* Serial cables are a standard thing for anyone working with old hardware. And even if someone, 10 years from now, doesn't have one, it's not hard to rig something up, maybe even using jumper cables
* That leaves the usb-to-serial adapter itself. While these might be more at risk on first glance, the chips they work on are still produced by the millions, and I can't envision a future where those things would cost more than a few bucks new or even from places like eBay
I mean I totally get this, and I have done similar things in the past (e.g. I have a box with a PCI SCSI controller and an ISA SCSI controller, together with a dozen or so different SCSI cables and terminators, in case I need to dump yet another SCSI device...) but doing this for serial cables just seems... unnecessary?
- jgrahamc 49 days agoMore than anything this is so I don't have to go find all the right connectors the next time I want to use these devices. That drives me crazy.
- this should get a "(2014)" appended to the title as it is rather old news
- I wonder how they do things like tax filings etc. Doesn't that have to be in some standard data format? Probably a post-process done on a regular PC with the data somehow grabbed from the C64...?
- It's not a GameCube, it's just a regular PC in a GameCube-lookalike case
- FractInt[1] is still around and most certainly faster with more options. I remember playing with it endlessly in the 90s, alawys looking for new versions on shareware CDs (that was before the Internet). I think I still have a dozen or so floppy disks filled with fractal images somewhere...
- The beauty of this work lies not in practicality but in the pure joy of creation. Sure, they could have used a modern tool, but like baking your own bread when you could easily buy it, there’s a deep satisfaction in building something yourself, especially using vintage tools. There’s no pressing need—just the simple pleasure of programming for its own sake.
I say well done.
- I'm not sure what to think of a guide that "highly recommends" to install "QuickVerse Bible 4.0" AND "PC-Study Bible 2.1" ...?
Also, disabling the task scheduler, NTP and windows file sharing? Disabling Windows updates without suggesting an offline update package? yeah, no, thanks.
To me at least half of this guide sounds like snake oil or cargo cult.
But yeah, some things might be useful for some people. The trick is finding the needle in the haystack
- Actually, this guide is not bad really. Well written. There are few questionable things like installing some specific software that can be skipped. Also, Firewall is a must. Even if you harden your XP, there are still few ports left open like 135 and 445. They seem to be inactive (wrapper?) when you disable services and uninstall Microsoft Networking, but I would not trust that. Also, antivirus is useless indeed. Better solution is sandboxing or even VM.
I use Win2003 daily on more powerfull PC (i5-2400, 16GB RAM) and its indeed blazing fast. When cache is warm, everything starts pretty much instantly, so SSD is not really needed. Cache FTW!
- Yeah, I don't believe any of this until I see it running on my trusty old A2000 ;-)
- I'm sure if the tapes they found contained some form of evidence against the founders of SciHub or Anna's Archive, they would have found a way to play it back /s
- This case is screwed up. This shouldn't be a thing. At least allow the requester to pay for the recovery (limited to a certain amount) like they do with other things under FOIA.
I've litigated a lot of FOIA. I would definitely try litigating this. Why don't the NSA write all their records to an obsolete format and then destroy the writer. That way they never need respond to a FOIA request again.
I once made a FOIA request and the public body claimed they had put the records in a trash can minutes before they received my request and the FOIA "does not require a public body to reach into the trash to recover records." LOL .. another one for the appellate courts.
- I love Kagi - I asked "what unique citations can you find for a talk admiral grace Hopper gave to the NSA in 1982 titled “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People,” and it returned this citation first:
https://www.governmentattic.org/28docs/NatnlCryptoSchoolTVct...
The citation for Grace's talk is on p29.
I'd be really curious to go down this path and push more on freeing this up. Having never filed an FOIA request myself and lacking the training to litigate, do you have any advice for someone like me wanting to put some energy into this? I suppose reading up on muckrock's charter and mission is a good first step. I'd love to hear more about your experience in general if you feel like sharing.
- Edit Six Weeks Later: The tapes are preserved and released online! https://www.nsa.gov/helpful-links/nsa-foia/declassification-.../
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In addition to pushing forward on the FOIA approach, I'd suggest trying to interest whatever group the NSA has assigned with historical preservation. I'm sure they are understaffed and underfunded but at least they have an interest in preserving things like this, whereas the FOIA people's goal is to find grounds to deny requests as cheaply and quickly as possible.
I imagine there are NSA history buffs outside the agency and contacting them first to get their input on who and how to approach (or maybe even an introduction) would probably be better than a cold approach. Two things that may help:
* Make it easy for them by doing the legwork up front. Find a preservationist or museum with a working 1-inch VTR, ideally one of the "portable" ones (actually like a large suitcase vs a washing machine). It may be that removing the tape from the NSA facility makes it a much bigger ask (keeping in mind they don't know for sure what's on it yet). The closer you can make the initial proposition sound to "it just takes one of your people to get the tape for a couple hours to digitize it. We'll set it up but NOT be in the room for the playback, then NSA can decide what to do with it" the more likely success will be. (obviously, it'll probably be more complicated but once they're in...)
* Highlight that this is ONLY about preservation not release. Old magnetic tapes degrade with time. Accessing playback gear may not be possible in another decade. It's probably still savable this year but will soon be lost forever (create urgency with FOMO).
Don't even talk about release or FOIA, make it about some NSA history initiative that already has support. Ideally, they're working on a "Women in NSA" or "NSA and Early Computing" exhibit for next year. Just between us though, once you know that the video exists digitally, the grounds for FOIA denial is gone :-)
Good luck!
- These are excellent points. We know there's nothing spicy in her talk, but as soon as you mention FOIA all the sirens go off and the walls go up and everyone shuts down and gets grumpy.
And if you can find some NSA folks they would be able to make calls inside the system to get the wheels greased much faster than some FOIA intern will.
- More
I couldn't bring myself to throw them all out...