2025-02-11

Did the Windows 95 setup team forget that MS-DOS can do graphics? - The Old New Thing

A detailed explanation of why Windows 95 setup program utilized Windows 3.1 runtime instead of building a custom MS-DOS graphical interface. The complexity of developing necessary components like graphics libraries, window managers, and input methods would essentially mean creating a new operating system from scratch, making Windows 3.1 the logical choice.

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How Clay's UI Layout Algorithm Works

Clay, an open-source UI layout library, uses a simple three-function approach to create flexible user interfaces that adapt to screen size and content changes. The layout algorithm processes positioning in multiple passes, handling sizing calculations independently from positioning, and supports features like container fitting, growing, shrinking, and text wrapping.

FOSDEM 2025 - Comparing Fuchsia components and Linux containers

A technical comparison between Fuchsia's component framework and Linux container solutions, highlighting their similarities in blob fetching, filesystem isolation, and process namespacing. The presentation explores how different use cases and requirements lead to distinct strengths in each system, focusing on their key technological divergences.

The early days of Linux

A firsthand account of Linux's creation and early development by Lars Wirzenius, who witnessed Linus Torvalds' journey from writing a simple multitasking program to creating the Linux kernel in 1991. The kernel evolved from displaying alternating As and Bs on screen to becoming a global powerhouse running on billions of devices, including Mars rovers.

Why are Jujutsu's ID Prefixes So Short? | Jonathan's Blog

Jujutsu version control system maintains short ID prefixes (1-2 characters) for changes through a specialized ID prefix index that focuses only on active changes. The system uses revsets to define active changes and creates efficient indexes for quick lookups, making it easier to reference thousands of commits with minimal characters.

OpenBSD Innovations

A comprehensive chronicle of OpenBSD's software innovations and security features, detailing the project's significant contributions to operating system security, including privilege separation, ASLR, stack protection, and numerous system hardening measures.

Why Ruby on Rails still matters

A comparison between Ruby on Rails and Next.js frameworks highlights how Rails maintains relevance through simplicity and abstraction, while Next.js enables advanced web capabilities at the cost of complexity. The text draws parallels between vinyl records' longevity and web technologies' evolution, emphasizing how fundamental approaches remain valuable despite technological advancement.

[TUHS] 1972 UNIX V2 "Beta" Resurrected

A researcher successfully resurrected a 1972 UNIX V2 'Beta' version from DMR tapes, featuring both V1 and V2 compatibility and increased core size to 16 KiB. The system demonstrates functionality with basic commands and C compilation, though it requires specific emulation conditions to operate.

Does or did COBOL default to 1875-05-20 for corrupt or missing dates?

The document explains why some legacy systems use 1875 as a base year for dates, particularly in Social Security systems, due to practical constraints and data storage optimization in early computing. The choice of 1875 was based on logical considerations about the earliest possible birth dates for Social Security beneficiaries, rather than being a COBOL-specific implementation.

Vim After Bram: A Core Maintainer on How They’ve Kept It Going

Following Bram Moolenaar's passing in August 2023, Vim maintainer Christian Brabandt and the community worked to ensure the text editor's continuity, facing infrastructure challenges while maintaining development momentum. The project successfully transitioned leadership, released Vim 9.1 in January 2024, and now operates in maintenance mode while focusing on community health and backward compatibility.