Ethan Blanton

I'm here for old computers, radios, and cool nerdery.

I identify with #Unix #Linux #HamRadio #retrocomputing and #making.

Professionally I am a computer scientist, now primarily an educator of college students. I am a #SystemsProgrammer with deep experience in #networking, #EmbeddedSystems, and #OperatingSystems. I have also worked in #security from time to time.

Public Key

npub1pwe8ps7udeq7cqajeys7z6quuwaxmvcaz4lxu3mlemu0tggy5l7qvuc2v7

NIP-05 Address

elb@social-sdf-org.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqhvnsc0wxus0vqwevjg0pdqww8wndkvw32lnwgalua7845yz20lqzhd2le

Author Public Key

npub1pwe8ps7udeq7cqajeys7z6quuwaxmvcaz4lxu3mlemu0tggy5l7qvuc2v7

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Last Notes

2025-06-02 20:13:34

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Time to read a paper tape!
https://toobnix.org/w/pXpABkRrHnaJZ8tEz1aqjk
#retrocomputing #PaperTape #PDP11 #ComputerHistory

2025-06-02 20:09:53

Guys, guess what time it is!?!
#retrocomputing #PaperTape #PDP11 #ComputerHistory
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/615/569/738/017/996/original/fd271aa262fa96c8.jpg

2025-03-20 21:03:32

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@nprofile…6m2n It is 0x7f here (urxvt Linux), but I _use_ terminals where it is ^H; in particular, it is ^H on many hardware terminals and over some remote access tools (I think PuTTY still defaults to ^H?). I have to fix this occasionally for students using Windows when pressing backspace on one of the university servers just happily prints ^H for them.

2025-03-20 20:56:27

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@nprofile…6m2n (Note that \xFF for backspace is ... not universal. 0x7f and ^H are also common, but almost any character _could_ be used on any given terminal. The command `stty -a` will tell you what your tty thinks it's using (as erase) and if your backspace key doesn't work you can usually fix it by typing `stty erase ` (note trailing space) then hitting your backspace key and then enter, or perhaps ^V then your backspace key and then enter.)

2025-03-14 11:57:56

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@nprofile…8f02 Does OBS not work?

2025-03-09 22:40:53

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@nprofile…de2h Voxelibre is what the kids and I have been playing, as well. It's good, but it's awfully ... minecraft. I'd kind of like a great mod set that's divergent. (But I'm not writing one any time soon, so ...)

2025-03-09 22:25:34

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@nprofile…de2h what mod set do you prefer?

2025-03-09 20:43:01

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@nprofile…de2h Hmmm I don't know how to do that without the for loop. As far as I am aware, awk can't shift an array, which is kind of what you want here. That makes some sense, since it really only has associative arrays, but it's unfortunate for this use case.
You _can_ assign to $0, which will re-split fields and NF (maybe a gawkism?), but then I think you're just going to have the same problem you have now in reverse.

2025-03-09 14:25:07

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@nprofile…de2h do you just want:
BEGIN {OFS="\t"} {print}
?

2025-02-23 15:46:03

Listening to @nprofile…l9v9 's Emacsconf 2024 talk, and loading McClim takes a few moments, and he says "I do use my old computer challenge laptop all the time, so when you do this, your computer will be substantially faster, or you'll be feeling smug about how slow you're running your computer, and so there's no problem," and I identify so hard.

2025-02-20 17:24:06

The University at Buffalo department of Computer Science and engineering is hiring all levels of ladder track positions (Asst/Assoc/Prof) in: Systems, Theory, Programming Languages, and Security & Privacy. If you or someone you know is looking for a position to start as early as Fall 2025, please contact me or visit one of these links:
https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/hr/postings/55879
https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/hr/postings/55882
https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/hr/postings/55899
https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/hr/postings/55900
#HigherEd #ComputerScience #ComputerEngineering #GetFediHired

2025-02-14 12:43:52

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@nprofile…8f02 For the record, a few of your blog posts have been very interesting, or even directly helpful, to me!

2025-01-19 01:53:59

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@nprofile…rg89 @nprofile…alsz the Dasher has those, if that's what you mean. ?

2025-01-17 15:50:35

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@nprofile…alsz A++ would buy
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/844/482/922/729/666/original/127c87557e2f0173.jpg

2024-12-05 20:35:42

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@nprofile…l9v9 Yeah, probably a generalized robustly-quoted string syntax and passing it to the regexp compilation function would be fine, and it would also solve other string quoting struggles.
@nprofile…qkpl @nprofile…tu3k

2024-12-05 19:10:55

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@nprofile…l9v9
I could easily be sold on some syntax other than #//, just so long as my regexps don't turn into \\\$\\\$ all over the place!
@nprofile…qkpl @nprofile…tu3k

2024-12-04 03:21:23

I was just grousing about all the extra backwhacking of regexes in lisps, and like ... why don't lisps have #// regex readers? This seems like a neat and simple solution to that problem. Just turn #/regex/ into (make-regexp "regex-with-doubled-backslashes") and everybody's happy.
Someone do this for #Emacs #lisp stat, please.

2024-11-24 23:45:21

We're losing computing history at an incredible rate, but there are people doing just amazing work out there collecting not only information about the technologies, but also the people and processes that brought them to be. If you're interested in that kind of thing but not sure where to start, let me recommend some sites that have some great stories (in no particular order):
https://folklore.org/0-index.html
https://multicians.org/
http://www.tuhs.org/
There are others, of course! #ComputerHistory

2024-11-21 13:36:21

> Our Give to You: ELSEVIER YEAR-END SAVINGS ON SHIPPING
Elsevier, it was not your shipping costs that discourage me from doing business with you.

2024-11-01 12:11:44

We are proud to finally present the fruits of our artistic labors on this November 1st:
https://lostbits.net/the-basement/
The Basement is "an avid look at yesterday's electronics" by @npub13kl…kgkj / @npub1jf6…uwja and myself. Jarek used beautiful vintage photography equipment to photograph some of my vintage electronic and electromechanical equipment, processed the medium-format film himself, and allowed me to collaborate on turning it into a beautiful zine. We hope you enjoy!
#retrocomputing #photography #teletype

2024-10-06 00:24:14

I'm sure I've posted this before, but this was my first office at the university. It was a hot seat, so I tried not to fill it too full of my #retrocomputing stuff (unlike my current, more permanent, office), but I did move a TeleVideo 910 serial #terminal in there and hook it to my desktop workstation.
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/257/623/656/476/869/original/8804e94bafae982a.jpg

2024-06-27 13:33:31

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@npub1q37…k2ta It has some pluses, for sure, but making a trivial texinfo manual is requiring me to learn a large amount of syntax that I doubt I'll use anywhere else.

2024-06-27 13:23:06

Boy, #GNU #TeXinfo sure is ... something else.

2024-06-26 13:00:28

Looking for information/#memories: In the mid-90s I had an account on a #MUD/MOO where some Linux users used to hang out. I think it was a associated with a shell account, but maybe not. I don't remember a lot of details, but there was a cabin or building in the MUD with a basement, and people would hang out in the basement and chat about stuff. A user by the pseudonym Wakko Warner (of Animaniacs fame!) gave me a lot of Linux advice. Does anyone remember this service?
Boosts appreciated!

2024-06-20 14:14:39

I'd like to introduce some students to the "joys" of #dialup using vintage hardware, but for that I need an analog #telephone PBX. (I've spent some time trying to get usable, durable modem connections over VoIP, but not experienced success.) This is a declaration that I'm in the proverbial market for an analog PBX, and recommendations for a PBX that works well with dialup modems. I'm finding that most listings are for hybrid PBXes that have been separated from their programmers.
Boosts welcome!

2024-06-06 12:11:48

I had a nightmare that I was reading my mastodon feed, and a full page ad popped over the content.

2024-06-01 02:38:21

I just updated my Medley from the Medley Interlisp Revival project (https://interlisp.org/) to get improved CLtL2 compatibility ... and boom, CL (loop)! Now to work through some CL code I've written to see if I can get it into the environment and running. #lisp #retrocomputing
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/539/035/183/073/093/original/ab0776905e0a55e3.png

2024-04-03 20:03:31

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@npub1q37…k2ta and we're thrilled to have you on board! RCF is one of my favorite places.

2024-03-22 20:03:38

I just went out to get my kid off the bus. It's cold outside, so I put on a gray pea coat over my T-shirt and blue plaid flannel pajama pants. It's snowing, so I added a black wool Stetson. Then the bus was late (probably due to the 2" of snow on the ground), so I pulled on some tan leather lined work gloves and shoveled the walk.
Fortunately it was my younger who was getting off the bus, and she is rather a sartorial free spirit. My older would have been mortified. #DadLife

2024-03-20 16:02:37

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@npub1q37…k2ta this is big!

2024-02-16 13:07:44

#1 way you know your org is using @npub1zxn…7s3u for communication: the ratio of content-bearing messages to "could you please discard your session?" messages is significantly < 1:0. #matrix #messaging #chat

2024-02-13 15:50:25

Last night I dreamed that I found a ratty point-of-sale or similar device at an estate sale or garage sale or in the recycling or something (unclear), and when I got it home and took it apart the thermal printer mechanism was a standalone unit connected to the rest of the machine by an RS-232 serial cable, so I was able to just pull it out and start printing stuff to it. Good times. #retrocomputing #dreams #upcycling

2024-01-29 03:24:35

A couple of PDP-11s and a VT-105 terminal (with photobomb by Model 28 #Teletype gear) to brighten your evening.
This is shortly after I got a #pdp11 online; at this point, one of the two RX02 drives worked reliably, the RL01 and RL02 were good, and I _thought_ the CPU and backplane was in good shape (I later learned there was a NPR chain problem on RX211backplane slot), and a lot of software ran correctly.
The rack on the right is … not suitable for this use.
#retrocomputing
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/111/837/085/649/251/787/original/16113293bd630008.jpg

2024-01-14 02:27:52

I try not to be judgy of #font designers because I can't do it, so it seems crass, but ... if #typesetting the name of your font IN YOUR FONT has bad #kerning without hand-adjustment, try harder.

2024-01-11 02:48:37

This is your periodic reminder that the Model 33 #Teletype – the device on which #Unix and the C programming language were largely developed – HAS NO CURLY BRACKETS.
The pictured source code is printed on a Model 35 Teletype, which is a different mechanism but uses the same ASCII '63 character set. Note that the Unix TTY driver (V6, in this case) knows this, and prints { and } as $ and $, respectively.
Somehow I never learned this in DECADES of learning about early Unix.
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/111/735/019/862/505/973/original/e16fc725d7dcf61f.jpg

2024-01-08 19:18:18

When @npub13yh…a5se said the #ShiftHappens packaging was being re-engineered to keep the books safe, he was NOT KIDDING. I've received computers with far poorer packing!
(The books themselves are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, I cannot wait to snuggle in and pore through them!)
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/111/721/922/423/300/224/original/2355132a1a54bd0c.jpg
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/111/721/930/600/722/430/original/28d4721fd735eeaf.jpg

2024-01-06 15:31:35

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@npub1sdt…96z3 I believe this is a more or less direct quote from The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman, which contains many related gems that you may enjoy.

2023-09-07 20:14:54

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@npub18yv…xxyn Indian restaurants in the US tend to be rather tame, and my (limited) experience in the UK was the same. You can sometimes request more, but it depends on the restaurant. Thai restaurants ... you may not be eating at the right Thai restaurants. ;-)

2023-08-17 00:22:58

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@npub18yv…xxyn @npub19hc…9pfz I was looking into this for (not unrelated) reasons the other day, and as far as I can tell the O1 BIOS has no understanding of _any_ IEEE-488 devices. That means you'd have to patch the BIOS and/or BDOS to be able to use 488 drives.
This is essentially what the "C Drive" did.

2023-08-12 21:01:30

Well, now what? #retrocomputing #mc68010 #m68k
https://social.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/110/878/657/652/301/706/original/e964ddd41b0d5b4d.jpg