Dumas Walker wrote to GAMGEE <=-
And of course the classic "LIST". Fantastic piece of software.
Just used that a few minutes ago in a dosemu window. LIST was always
on my list of extra programs to add to any new DOS install. Now it is
on the list for dos emulator installs. ;)
Dumas Walker wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-
Man, so many people were all about xtree gold.. I was like, what's the big deal? It's just another shell you arrow-key around in. I didn't mind typing in paths to files. Imagine how stoked I was when I found tab completion, though ;)
To me, it was a Window manager before we had window managers. For a
time, the last line of my autoexec was to run Xtree.
Norton Commander was nice along the same lines, if memory serves.
IIRC, isn't Midnight Commander a clone of Norton Commander?
Dumas Walker wrote to LONEWOLF <=-
Dude, you beat me to it, I was going to chime in on "LIST". I still use it today, that and QEdit (file editor) and a LIST clone called LOOK.COM
Using QEdit to respond to this message. That one is another essential
DOS program.
I remember Norton Desktop, it was an alternative window manager
for Windows 3.x, looked pretty nice.
Nightfox wrote to Gamgee <=-
I have often thought that that "era" (let's call it '85 to '97 or so) of computing was my favorite time with computers. Sure, we now have so much more capability, and Linux, and graphics galore and all.... but.... that period of time was when I feel like I "peaked" in many abilities. All the stuff you had to know to maximize MSDOS, and batch files, and putting *so* many pieces of software together to run a complete BBS/Mailer setup. I think of it as the "Golden Years". ;-)
What I liked about that time (and I was also fairly young and didn't
get my own PC until 1992) was that upgrades were a lot more
significant, so it was a much more noticeable difference. For
instance, going from a 12mhz 286 to a 40mhz 386 or from monochrome graphics to color, or adding a sound card to a PC, were exciting
upgrades. After making those kinds of upgrades, I was excited to use
my computer. Also, home computers were still a relatively new thing in those times, so there was the novelty of it too. And things like being able to run a BBS from your home computer was pretty cool.
Although I like today's computers too, I feel like technology has
reached a bit of a plateau, and computer upgrades these days often
don't seem quite as significant or noticeable.
Dumas Walker wrote to GAMGEE <=-
I have often thought that that "era" (let's call it '85 to '97 or so) of computing was my favorite time with computers. Sure, we now have so
much more capability, and Linux, and graphics galore and all.... but.... that period of time was when I feel like I "peaked" in many abilities.
All the stuff you had to know to maximize MSDOS, and batch files, and putting *so* many pieces of software together to run a complete
BBS/Mailer setup. I think of it as the "Golden Years". ;-)
Same. It seems like I do learn things now, but a lot of it is "use
once" knowledge that I either never need again, or it is so long
between needs that I forget it. ;)
It somehow also isn't as much fun as it was when I learned something I could do back then.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Gamgee <=-
Gamgee wrote to Dumas Walker <=-
I have often thought that that "era" (let's call it '85 to '97 or so)
of computing was my favorite time with computers. Sure, we now have so much more capability, and Linux, and graphics galore and all....
but.... that period of time was when I feel like I "peaked" in many abilities. All the stuff you had to know to maximize MSDOS, and batch files, and putting *so* many pieces of software together to run a
complete BBS/Mailer setup. I think of it as the "Golden Years". ;-)
Getting a batch file, BBS, utilities and a mailer all working together
was a high point of BBSing in the DOS era. Scheduling mail runs, echo maintenance, defragging, log rotation and online games was pretty fly.
Did I just type that?
the only one who could have been downloading the porn was the
12 or 13 year old *Daughter*.. (Enter - Nanny Software..)
list of extra programs to add to any new DOS install. Now it is on the
list for dos emulator installs. ;)
Although I like today's computers too, I feel like technology has reached a
I assume TSEPro only works under Windows, or will it also run under
DOS on 32-bit machines?
Rob Mccart wrote to GAMGEE <=->computing was my favorite time with computers. Sure, we now have so
I have often thought that that "era" (let's call it '85 to '97 or so) of
Back around that time there were several BBS systems in town and
I was creating the menu screens for a couple of them.
I was writing the code from scratch at the time, and I totally
lost interest when programs like The Draw came out and any idiot
could do it.. I prefer being a Special idiot.. B)
Dumas Walker wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
I tried lots of different editors during the DOS era, but ended up
coming back to Qedit - still used it under DOSBOX for my offline reader setup as of last year. I found TSEPro, the 32-bit version of Qedit, and
am using that now!
I assume TSEPro only works under Windows, or will it also run under DOS
on 32-bit machines?
Back around that time there were several BBS systems in town and I was
creating the menu screens for a couple of them. I was writing the code
from scratch at the time, and I totally lost interest when programs like
The Draw came out and any idiot could do it.. I prefer being a Special
idiot.. B)
Wow, I bet that was fairly tedious work, doing ANSI screens that way.
Although I like today's computers too, I feel like technology has reached a bit of a plateau, and computer upgrades these days often don't seem quite as significant or noticeable.
I assume TSEPro only works under Windows, or will it also run under DOS on 32-bit machines?
Nightfox wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: Thin client PC to run
By: Gamgee to Rob Mccart on Tue Dec 02 2025 04:53 pm
Back around that time there were several BBS systems in town and I was
creating the menu screens for a couple of them. I was writing the code
from scratch at the time, and I totally lost interest when programs like
The Draw came out and any idiot could do it.. I prefer being a Special
idiot.. B)
Wow, I bet that was fairly tedious work, doing ANSI screens that way.
Recently, as RIP support has been added to the latest SyncTerm, I've
been more seriously been thinking of making RIP menus for my BBS.
There are RIP drawing tools, but for things like adding buttons,
colored borders & areas & such, I'm not sure the RIP drawing tools I've used so far support those (oddly); for those things, it seems like a similar situation where I may have to write them by hand with a text editor.
Although I like today's computers too, I feel like technology has reached a
bit of a plateau, and computer upgrades these days often don't seem quite
as significant or noticeable.
The way I overcome that was... I built my previous PC in 2012 with an intel mb and a gen 3 core i5 cpu with HDD rotators... used it for 10 years.
Then in 2022, I built a gen 12 core i9 on a gigabyte mb with 8tb of NMVMe ssd's..
This felt like an AMAZING improvement to me...
Yes, these days it seem every kid over 5 has their own computer and we forget about the 'good olde days' when it took about 2 months income to>And I think they tend to have parental controls on them too, so you can lock
buy a computer so having multiple systems was a lot more difficult so, do you keep your kids from getting used to them or do you take a chance and hope for the best?
These days, maybe a cheap tablet or smartphone would be okay for a young chil
Obviously this is a bigger problem/question when you run your business>ice room, maybe with a locking door, so a young child couldn't get in and mak
out of your home..
In that situation, if possible, I think it could be good to have a dedicated
Same. It seems like I do learn things now, but a lot of it is "use>leaps. We can now learn anything instantly with a Google search, which
once" knowledge that I either never need again, or it is so long
between needs that I forget it. ;)
Yep, for sure. Still learning also, but at a slower pace, and smaller
It somehow also isn't as much fun as it was when I learned something I could do back then.
Not *nearly* as much fun.
The idea at that time was the kids could use the computer if it wasn't being used for business at the moment. But unless you sit there and watch them every minute, kids tend to get into things and are often more clever at it than their parents..
> > 12 or 13 year old *Daughter*.. (Enter - Nanny Software..)the only one who could have been downloading the porn was the
"Research".
Back around that time there were several BBS systems in town and
I was creating the menu screens for a couple of them.
I was writing the code from scratch at the time, and I totally
lost interest when programs like The Draw came out and any idiot
could do it.. I prefer being a Special idiot.. B)
Wow, I bet that was fairly tedious work, doing ANSI screens that way.
Haha, not all idiots can even master TheDraw... Well done.
Semi-related - Sometimes it seems to me that some people expect people to
quickly answer all their texts & things. Sometimes I'm doing other
On Facebook, and elsewhere too, I get the impression that everyone is only interested in themselves. I'm there for musical projects; otherwise, I'd leave immediately. :0)) I like fediverse. Mastodon.
Yes, the complete Stardock suite offered a theme editor to create your own themes and potentially share them with the community. They had a utility that scanned hard drives to see what was taking up space. Very useful for starting a good cleanup or organization.
I wasn't really thinking of Facebook with that, but mainly things like regular text messages & emails & such.
And I think Stardock does make some other useful utilities, although they're not all unique. As far as the utility that scans hard drives to see what's taking up space, I hadn't seen Stardock's, but if that does what I think it does, I know if WinDirStat (which is free) and TreeSize, which has a free and a paid verison.
Stardock also has a Start Menu replacement for Windows 11, called Start11, which I'm using, and I like it. It's paid though, and there are equivalent free tools available. I was using Classic Shell (a Start Menu replacement) for a while; when Windows 11 was released, Classic Shell didn't work anymore, and that morphed into another project called Open Shell. I think that's a fairly decent Start Menu replacement, and it's free. There are others too.
Does Start11 also improve responsiveness? I don't remember testing it (Start8 was the first one?).
But unless you sit there and watch them every minute, kids tend to> get into things and are often more clever at it than their parents..
Yeah, it's probably best not to leave kids alone with things that are>important like that. Kids will do things and not really think about it.
The other thing that's changed over the years is it's a lot harder to>direction. I did use Win95 and maybe Win98 for a while, but mostly it's
get into the OS to change things. We used to have pretty much full
control over that if you knew what you were doing but it's a lot
harder to access things these days.
Probably some of the OS's other than Windows are still more open..
Hmmmm, yeah, that hasn't changed for me; perhaps even gone the other
Does Start11 also improve responsiveness? I don't remember testing it (Start8 was the first one?).>etty much started using a start menu replacement immediately after I started
I don't think I've noticed an increase in responsiveness with it. However, I
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