138
votes
What are the software logos in MORICONS.DLL?
I wrote a short python script that extracted the icons, matched them with entries from APPS.INF and generated an HTML file. Some entries were missing, so I entered them manually, except for the ...
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66
votes
Accepted
What warning was given on attempting to post to USENET, circa 1990?
The message was
This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire
civilized world. Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of
dollars to send everywhere. ...
- 118k
57
votes
Accepted
What is this programming language having PROC, DCL, LABEL keywords?
It's PL/I, promoted by IBM as the successor to FORTRAN, Algol 60, and COBOL.
That's actual code as far as I recall, not pseudocode.
PL/I had abbreviations for keywords; "DCL" is "DECLARE".
It starts ...
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46
votes
Accepted
Looking for PC graphics demo software from the early 90s called "Unreal"
Unreal Megademo, Future Crew, 1992 possibly? Certainly has all the elements you mention.
- 3,847
42
votes
Accepted
What is the name of the publishing software used at IBM in the late 80s?
This sounds like Interleaf (released as “TPS”, “Technical Publishing Software”, in 1985), a sophisticated document creation system produced by the company of the same name, based in Massachusetts. It ...
- 118k
41
votes
Accepted
What are the software logos in MORICONS.DLL?
You’ll find the mappings for these icons in SYSTEM\APPS.INF in Windows 3; this is the file which is used by Windows Setup to detect pre-existing DOS applications on the system, and set up icons for ...
- 118k
35
votes
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What was this OS / Application on a 80286?
Since the computer was a gift from your aunt, working for IBM, the screen split in four reminds me immediately of the IBM PS/1’s “4-quadrant” interface:
(The screenshot above is from IBMulator, an ...
- 118k
33
votes
Document format for a DOS word processor where control commands begin with a dot
Almost definitely WordStar or a compatible program such as NewWord.
dot commands at the top. From the WordStar 3.3 manual:
.op - omit page numbers
.mt1 - margin top 1 line
.hm1 - heading margin 1 ...
28
votes
Was there a way to play an hourly custom sound on Macs circa 1985-1995?
The Mac had the necessary soft- and hardware to play arbitrary sounds. It is said that the 8 bit/22 kHz DAC hardware was included on Steve Jobs' request especially for his "out of this bag" ...
- 213k
21
votes
Looking for PC graphics demo software from the early 90s called "Unreal"
You can find it at https://files.scene.org/search/?q=unreal
The file you want is /demos/groups/future_crew/demos/unreal11.zip - the latest version.
There are many other fantastic demos worth ...
- 310
21
votes
Strange version of Windows 3.1 marked with a "W" logo
It was usual for OEMs to provide their own disk labels. My Windows For Workgroups disks say "DELL", rather simply, no fancy logo.
No Microsoft Windows flag, either. Didn't that only come ...
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20
votes
Is this Votan voice assistant from 1984 a real system?
There were definitely issues of scale of hardware available, but in the fall of 1977, I think it was, I got my Commodore Pet 32kB., the B version had the full-sized ("business") keyboard. I ...
- 847
19
votes
Document format for a DOS word processor where control commands begin with a dot
Looks to me like a set of dot commands found at the beginning of a Wordstar file .mt1 margin at top, .hm heading margin. Try Wordstar 3
Unfortunately, modern word processors that I know of don't have ...
- 565
19
votes
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Document format for a DOS word processor where control commands begin with a dot
WordTsar – A Wordstar clone might be able to read the files. It is open-source and cross-platform. Compatibility depends on the version of WordStar used to write the files.
It does implement an ...
- 20.5k
18
votes
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Identifying late 1990s embedded 486 UNIX-like system
Here's a manual for CROS and one for the C500C robot controller. It seems clear that the bytecode files are compiled from the RAPL-3 programming language (no filename extension for binaries, .r3 for ...
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18
votes
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Identifying this 6502 Assembler
I think it's xa (xa65):
☑ #include "foobar"
☑ define the address to be assembled to via *=$1234
☑ define labels without a colon
☑ Comments are marked with a leading ;
☑ specifying characters as ...
- 20.5k
18
votes
Accepted
Name of MS-DOS program that shows realtime update of light/dark map of whole planet
The one I know is GeoClock, though it looks like its website is no longer in operation.
It can still be found in Simtel archives, along with extra maps. You can also see an older version in action on ...
- 196
17
votes
Accepted
What are the IPSE’s, the ASPE’s, the FRIPSE’s and the GRIPSE’s?
IPSE = Integrated Project Support Environment
(or Integrated Programming Support Environment
ASPE = Ada Programming Support Environment
FRIPSE = Formal Reasoning Integrated Programming ...
- 213k
17
votes
Accepted
Help identifying format of old tape backup
I ended up figuring out that this backup was made using an extremely obscure tool called TXPLUS, which was a proprietary backup utility shipped with TapeXchange tape drives, which were tape drives in ...
- 755
15
votes
Is this Votan voice assistant from 1984 a real system?
By the mid 1980s speech recognition was already a non-issue. Experimental system were able to handle vocabularies of 20,000 Words or more. For situations with confined vocabulary like shown in the ...
- 213k
15
votes
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Is this Votan voice assistant from 1984 a real system?
Yes, there was a real Votan system; at the time of the broadcast (1984), it was apparently a pretty new product. On the Internet Archive there is an episode of The Computer Chronicles (link plucked ...
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14
votes
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Network card that came bundled with a space war game
The description of space combat over a network also matches NetWars, which was bundled with Novell DOS and Personal Netware.
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12
votes
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An old DOS application that allowed to create cards, posters, invitations, etc
I believe you are thinking of The Print Shop
I'm pretty sure I had a copy early on for one of my early PC's. Never did find much use for it, but it was available practically everywhere.
- 1,206
12
votes
Strange version of Windows 3.1 marked with a "W" logo
It looks like the base install of 3.1, which came on seven diskettes. 3.1 can be differentiated from 3.11, because 3.10 uses SZDD compression (the first four characters of a compressed file), while 3....
- 712
11
votes
Accepted
Operating system/hardware used for playing a video during a recorded trial that took place in 2013
Your image is of the menu of a DVD Video compilation authored in Nero Vision.
As such it contains no information about the DVD player hardware.
I've found multiple screenshots of this 'blue disc' ...
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11
votes
Can you remember the name of a public access Unix system, around 1990/1, Spug or Spud?
Spud's Public Usenet Domain, aka Spuddy, or Spud's Xanadu - formerly run by Stephen Harris. Featuring (and quoted from the page):
Spuddy offers the only online full usenet/mail service for free in ...
- 20.5k
10
votes
A demoscene production from mid-2000s featuring four seasons animation
Managed to find it on YouTube thanks to "best of the demoscene" compilations. It's Sonnet by Threestate.
If anyone is interested, here's a YouTube video: https://youtu.be/VauT4zzSz0g
- 2,102
10
votes
Accepted
Did XEROX 630 and 645 run CP/M?
What operating system did the machines run? CP/M?
No. It was an Xerox specific application software - like many other manufactures did during the same time.
The Memorywriter 630 was introduced in ...
- 213k
10
votes
Accepted
Novell and DOS instant messaging
The Internet Archive shows a few mentions of a product called Noteworks (or NoteWorks), capable of providing some form of instant messaging with pop-ups under DOS. It is mentioned for example in ...
- 118k
10
votes
Accepted
Basic page layout program from the PrintMaster 2.0 era
You might be thinking of PROSOFT’s “Fontasy”.
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102625431
https://www.google.com/search?q=fontasy+dos
I saw it in the late ‘80s, maybe even used it ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible