Unanswered Questions

265 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
19 votes
0 answers
1k views

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
0 answers
407 views

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 ...
17 votes
1 answer
562 views

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 ...
16 votes
0 answers
817 views

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 ...
14 votes
0 answers
218 views

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 ...
13 votes
0 answers
415 views

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.
13 votes
0 answers
564 views

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 votes
0 answers
484 views

Is there a simple BASIC program that demonstrates SID6581 distortion?

Many songs use a SID6581 design "flaw", distortion, as an effect. I tried experimenting with the filter and resonance registers, but was unable to reproduce the sound. What conditions are necessary ...
13 votes
0 answers
894 views

In search of.... SeaWar -- NOT Battleship!

Hopefully, sufficient background Many years ago (40-45), I used to play "Sea War" on a good sized time-share system. It was a text/adventure war game between a couple remote players, played over a ...
12 votes
0 answers
420 views

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 ...
12 votes
0 answers
529 views

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 ...
12 votes
1 answer
477 views

Why can SafeDisc disks be read faster if the game was opened before?

First of all I want to say I have the games in real and I am just making safety backups. The disks are old and tend to lose data. I am using Alcohol 120 Retro edition and found something weird. I have ...
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

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 ...
11 votes
0 answers
225 views

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 ...
11 votes
0 answers
376 views

Was the RPL language for the Commodore PET ever used other than by its author?

Note that this question is about the programming language RPL for the Commodore PET, not the HP language with the same name. RPL was developed by Tim Stryker and sold through his company Samurai ...

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