<![CDATA[So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time.]]>So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/a4ac08f3-ff6b-4e6f-9c58-17f8f5f0f218/so-called-inanimate-devices-can-sense-when-it-s-the-most-inopportune-time-to-fail-and-do-so-at-that-time.RSS for NodeFri, 01 May 2026 03:05:37 GMTThu, 23 Apr 2026 20:16:35 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:05:31 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff @AmenZwa @brouhaha I didn't mean to imply that a steep learning curve is a deal breaker. I'd love to dive back into ITS and MACLISP again, maybe once I'm done dealing with my late father's estate, found steady employment, moved, sold the house, and come to terms with the sudden, horrific loss of my closest friend in a way that made national news briefly, and kept resurfacing in local news for nearly two weeks. For now, I don't have the mental bandwidth.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116481532324125381https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116481532324125381Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:05:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:03:01 GMT]]>@0x0ddc0ffee @AmenZwa @brouhaha I will admit I have this condition that makes one-off timesharing systems irresistible to me. (Even more so if it's running on a one-of-a-kind machine as well.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116480578771774245https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116480578771774245Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:03:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:59:17 GMT]]>@0x0ddc0ffee @AmenZwa @brouhaha Sure, that's fair. ITS is an almost completely disjointed part of the design space. In my mind, this makes it more compelling, not less. But of course it takes effort to get to a place where you can enjoy the UX.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116480564110566958https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116480564110566958Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:59:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:32:30 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff @AmenZwa @brouhaha Certainly, to someone who cut their teeth on SysV, ITS has a steep learning curve.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116479515043961075https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116479515043961075Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:32:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:19:35 GMT]]>@alderson Thank you. As a late GenXer/Xennial, I've only ever used ITS in SIMH when I wanted to try MACLISP (not to be confused with MCL), and I'd only seen CTSS mentioned in dusty tomes of ancient lore.

I knew that CTSS was an early timesharing system, and I had the impression that it might have been less bad than an early attempt at a TSO by IBM, which was deemed deeply unsatisfactory to the various hackers, wizards, and future demigods lurking in AI labs of the time.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116479464251726835https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116479464251726835Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:19:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:07:31 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff @0x0ddc0ffee @AmenZwa @brouhaha
Of course, moderns don’t usually know what the “Incompatible” in ITS actually refers to. At most, they might know about CTSS, the Compatible Time Sharing System, but what was it compatible *with*????

IBM had created a FORTRAN run time package for the 70x family of computers. The design of the new timesharing system included as a goal allowing users to run existing software in the new mode.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/alderson/statuses/116473282688216072https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/alderson/statuses/116473282688216072Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:07:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sun, 26 Apr 2026 06:43:56 GMT]]>@0x0ddc0ffee @AmenZwa @brouhaha Indeed ITS was on my mind. It seems a system that is a pretty safe haven.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116469650949038708https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116469650949038708Sun, 26 Apr 2026 06:43:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sun, 26 Apr 2026 03:51:27 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff ITS, I'm guessing? Incompatible is right in the name. @AmenZwa @brouhaha

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116468972753039744https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0x0ddc0ffee/statuses/116468972753039744Sun, 26 Apr 2026 03:51:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:44:42 GMT]]>@alderson
Like I said, I’ve only ever smelled the TOPS-10 a couple of times, from a distance through a VT-100. The PDP-10 at my uni was guarded jealously by a select few. And we didn’t have TOPS-20.

Most in my department lived on our own VAX-11/780, on which we ran the 4.2BSD.

I also said I have a rather limited, lopsided view on OSs.

I referenced TOPS, MULTICS, etc., in the context of a joke about Internet privacy—or the lack thereof, these days.

@larsbrinkhoff @brouhaha

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116462812057919435https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116462812057919435Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:44:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:35:49 GMT]]>@AmenZwa @larsbrinkhoff @brouhaha

What did “TOPS” run on?

DEC had 2 mainframe operating systems for the PDP-10 family, Tops-10 and TOPS-20, which did nor share a single line of code, and were always referred to by their full names.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/alderson/statuses/116462777131001147https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/alderson/statuses/116462777131001147Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:35:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:05:04 GMT]]>@brouhaha

Worse than that, it also morphed into British Rail’s rolling stock management system Total Operations Processing System. 😆

Just a moment...

favicon

(british-rail.fandom.com)

@larsbrinkhoff @alderson

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116462420282141344https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116462420282141344Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:05:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:42 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff @AmenZwa @alderson
I was pretty disappointed when TOPS evolved (devolved?) into being just a file-sharing utility for the Macintosh.
How the mighty have fallen!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116462403061307352https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116462403061307352Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:50:23 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff
I was referring to DEC’s Timesharing Operating System-10 (TOPS-10) OS that ran on the DECsystem-10 (PDP-10). I know very little about the “Total Operations Processing System” of British Rail. In fact, my knowledge of TOPS-10 and PDP-10 are almost as sparse, too. I grew up on the later generation DECs: the PDP-11/70 running 6th Edition and the VAX-11/780 running 4.2BSD. And I disliked the VMS that my uni ran on its VAX 8000 family of superminis.

It is fair to label me as having a limited (biased) view on OSs.

@brouhaha @alderson

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116460946944507139https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116460946944507139Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:50:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:36:46 GMT]]>@AmenZwa @brouhaha By TOPS, you mean Total Operations Processing System right? CC @alderson

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116460893431601718https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116460893431601718Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:36:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:31:01 GMT]]>Quite right, @larsbrinkhoff. Soon, the cognoscenti will be moving back to the old favourite OSs, like TOPS, MULTICS, OS/360, etc., complete with the old favourite mainframes of the eras, reimplemented on tiny FPGAs. Even such a drastic retrenchment probably will not be a long term safe place against intrusion. And like @brouhaha said, there will be a PencilOS one day, robbing us of our only current safe place—pencil-and-paper.

We have run out of places in which to hide from the TechBro Digital Overlords.😀

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116459927060452043https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116459927060452043Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:31:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:07:21 GMT]]>@larsbrinkhoff @AmenZwa @brouhaha I wrote an incompatible operating system twice. One booted a supercomputer. One runs product scanners. That last one was a from-scratch cloning of P/SOS in Linux, including system calls. Don't ask why. I've been paid to do many strange things with computers.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.stevesworld.co/users/steter/statuses/116458890290786171https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.stevesworld.co/users/steter/statuses/116458890290786171Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:07:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Fri, 24 Apr 2026 06:30:58 GMT]]>@AmenZwa @brouhaha UNIX is clearly not incompatible enough. I know a timesharing system that is.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116458275392271757https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/larsbrinkhoff/statuses/116458275392271757Fri, 24 Apr 2026 06:30:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:14:50 GMT]]>@brouhaha I worked for a Xerox research lab for a number of years, and I am still disappointed I was unable to discover the technology that senses when you have a critical deadline and jams the printer

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rrmutt/statuses/116456324501038280https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rrmutt/statuses/116456324501038280Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:14:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:48:22 GMT]]>@jef @brouhaha 😍

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116455984505030129https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116455984505030129Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:48:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:46:24 GMT]]>@brouhaha @AmenZwa I once made a pencil cluster

Link Preview Image
]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jef/statuses/116455976767889799https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jef/statuses/116455976767889799Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:46:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:40:21 GMT]]>@AmenZwa
They'll have that covered, too, in the next release of PencilOS. Keep your old pencils, and don't let them install updates.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116455953005588858https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116455953005588858Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:40:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:33:26 GMT]]>@brouhaha A few decades back, UNIX and UNIX-like OSs were a small safe haven. Now, pencil-and-paper is the only safe place left.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116455925769932898https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116455925769932898Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:33:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:30:36 GMT]]>@AmenZwa
Meta probably decided they weren't collecting enough usable data from my Linux machine, and stopped sending it keepalives.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116455914647608214https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/brouhaha/statuses/116455914647608214Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:30:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So-called "inanimate" devices can sense when it's the most inopportune time to fail, and do so at that time. on Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:29:17 GMT]]>@brouhaha corollary of Murphy's law

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.coffee/users/Tribear/statuses/116455909433034251https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.coffee/users/Tribear/statuses/116455909433034251Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:29:17 GMT