Windows Windows XP Updates for SP3- through 2019...

[Brian]

Feel free to discuss computer related stuff here on the open-discussion forum! I'll check with what I've got. I use a Microsoft SP2 CD then use the SP3 upgrade. Seems to work well, I just used it on a Pentium II 333Mhz with 256Mbyte Ram and 6GByte HD. I collect COA's at work as people retire computers. My Room at home looks like WALL-E's trailer.

NOW- who wants to talk DOS, baby! Did i mention that the CF-51 has USB support that works in DOS! i also stumbled across USB drivers for Win98 and Win98se that work like a charm.

 

[dalethorn]

When I needed a professional one-page resume I paid a service to produce it. Then I got to work on a plaintext version that I could maintain, and embedded LaserJet control codes into it for formatted printing. I think those codes are still good today on any printer that can use the HP printer language.

 

[Peter Klein]

I too have WordStar Control-codes in my fingers. Started with it in the early 80s, used it on both the PC and CP/M. I've had to change editors many times due to where I worked. The first thing I did was to obtain or write a key map to use the most familiar of the WS keystrokes. I finally gave that up about 16 years ago when I switched to TextPad because that's what everyone I worked with used. By then Microsoft had re-defined and standardized too many of the classic WS keys for use in Windows and Office, which I also had to support.

I saved the bacon of many a former Mac user who had dumped their Mac files on an MS network, only to discover that the Mac-allowed but PC-forbidden characters in the filenames rendered them inaccessible in Windows file manager, etc. Poor research scientist thinks he/she has lost of years of work. Me: "No problem." I would dump the directory to a text file (dir /b >temp.bat) write a couple of quick macros and do a couple of column block moves and search/replaces, and voila:

Currier&Ives.doc
Beavis&Butthead.doc
etc.​

becomes a batch file:

ren Currier?Ives.doc Currier_Ives.doc
ren Beavis?Butthead.doc Beavis_Butthead.doc
etc.​

Run the batch file, and be a hero. Most people have no idea you can do things like that anymore.

 

[dalethorn]

Indeed - batch files are intrinsically an automation, like a computer program. If we were still in the DOS days, people could make use of those for repetitious tasks like updating a series of folders.

 

[Brian]

Most of my protected mode FORTRAN codes write Batch files and then spawn them to command.com running under it... I do some installers that way for updating the embedded systems that I designed.

I just "re-remembered" that FDISK.exe was updated in 2000 to allow use of disk drives > 100GBytes with DOS7.1... The patch is still on the Microsoft website. Seems that XP is the only OS that they really want dead!

I just installed Xlilinx development tools for a little FPGA kit-board, something that I've wanted to learn for a long time. I took a class on "A Hardware Programming Language" in 1982. Before they had FPGA's. SO- it's been a long time coming round to it. I spent most of the early 80s working with vector/parallel computers. I'm thinking of the FPGA has a parallel computer.

 

[dalethorn]

Most of my protected mode FORTRAN codes write Batch files and then spawn them to command.com running under it... I do some installers that way for updating the embedded systems that I designed. I just "re-remembered" that FDISK.exe was updated in 2000 to allow use of disk drives > 100GBytes with DOS7.1... The patch is still on the Microsoft website. Seems that XP is the only OS that they really want dead! I just installed Xlilinx development tools for a little FPGA kit-board, something that I've wanted to learn for a long time. I took a class on "A Hardware Programming Language" in 1982. Before they had FPGA's. SO- it's been a long time coming round to it. I spent most of the early 80s working with vector/parallel computers. I'm thinking of the FPGA has a parallel computer.

As to killing O/S's, I think of 2 motives: One is the old O/S doesn't make as much money, but a big part of that is because the older O/S's generate much less kickback money. Another somewhat related reason is that the older O/S's become more difficult to patch over time, but a large part of that is due to the very vulnerabilities they built in to enable the massive influx of advertising, i.e. more kickback money. I don't mean to be crude, but kickbacks in one form or another are very convenient in making contracts more flexible, or malleable.

The technique of generating and running code was one of the highly touted features of OOP, which I presume is still a big part of GUI-based systems. My biggest issue in writing Windows code is the need to install into the registry to protect copyrights etc., so Windows for most software expects a primary folder declared in the startup and/or registry, and further pointers to other folders, or to needed DLL's, etc. My mixed DOS/Windows system is real OOP in the sense that any executable or batch file in my code can call any other executable, and they need look only in the PATH to find those executables. Other resources would be located by smart code or by pointers in a database when applicable.

But the reason I built the system I did was for certain objectives - to automate my tasks as much as possible, to make the code portable between platforms and languages, to provide a simple utility development system for interested parties, and to show programmers how to easily maintain the same code in different languages.

 

[Brian]

I've installed Norton Security on my Panasonic CF-52 and CF-51 running XP service pack 3. No problems so far.

I just spent the last 2 hours downloading a WIN10 ISO to apply to my Daughter's WIN10 machine. Apparently, the last update from Microsoft turns them into "bricks" that can run Diagnostics only. Had to Boot off the DVD and repair the corrupt boot files on the Disk. Fun going into Finals week. I have Norton on it as well. I guess Norton must trust that Microsoft knows what it is doing. Bad Assumption.