The Curious Engineer

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dfarq.homeip.net

David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more

Computing historyRetro computingDOS / vintage PCSecurity

’00’05’10’15’20’25
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5,867 from 9 Mar 2000 to 16 Oct 2026
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about daily (260 in the last year)
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personal blog
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October 2026

  1. Spyware invented October 16, 1995
  2. What was a Token Ring network?
  3. When SCO fired Darl McBride
  4. What happened to Ashton-Tate and dBase
  5. Nvidia’s first GPU: GeForce 256
  6. Ward Christensen, telecommunications pioneer
  7. The Infogrames-Atari merger of 2008
  8. Commodore’s knockoff Atari joystick from 1982
  9. When Apple Records sued Apple Computer
  10. Max Toy, embattled Commodore president
  11. Lotus: Second largest software publisher in the world (in 1983)
  12. The IBM Thinkpad’s 1992 debut
  13. Weekend content through the end of 2026
  14. Cull lumber at Menards
  15. What happened to Activision
  16. The day GIF became free to use, forever

September 2026

  1. IBM PS/2 series
  2. When Internet Explorer passed Netscape for the first time
  3. AMD’s IPO, September 27, 1972
  4. First DVD player announced Sept 26, 1996
  5. Motorola born September 25, 1928
  6. Ebay’s IPO: The rare dotcom survivor
  7. Athlon 64: How AMD turned the tables on Intel
  8. NEC V20 CPU: A bit of pep for an XT
  9. Retro emojis: We had ’em in the 80s and 90s
  10. Computer Reset, Dallas
  11. The 6502 CPU’s odd debut
  12. Diamond Rio PMP300
  13. Osborne Computer’s bankruptcy and the Osborne Effect
  14. The spy in your living room
  15. Atari 2600 launch titles
  16. When the RIAA sued a 12-year-old for MP3 piracy
  17. The first VHS VCR: JVC HR-3300
  18. What happened to Compuserve?
  19. The ill-fated HP-Compaq merger
  20. The September that Never Ended
  21. Microsoft 6502 Basic released as open source Sept 3, 2025
  22. Atari Lynx: The first color handheld game console
  23. Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982

August 2026

  1. Adobe’s August 1994 acquisition of Aldus
  2. Apple prevails over Franklin, August 30, 1983
  3. A Roku alternative streaming device
  4. Dell Optiplex 3040 and 3050 micro
  5. Anandtech shut down abruptly, August 30, 2024
  6. TEAC founded in 1953, sort of
  7. Digg v4 and lessons not learned
  8. Linux first announced August 25, 1991
  9. Windows 95 released August 24, 1995
  10. Microsoft QuickBasic remembered
  11. Adobe Systems IPO August 20, 1986
  12. Chuck Peddle joins MOS Technology, August 19, 1974
  13. What happened to Egghead Software
  14. When the Internet reached half of US households
  15. IBM PC Compact Printer model 5181
  16. Commodore’s purchase of Amiga, August 14, 1984
  17. IBM 5170 PC/AT
  18. IBM PC introduced, August 12, 1981
  19. Red Hat’s successful 1999 IPO
  20. The first pirated MP3
  21. Netscape: The IPO that went boom on its way up and down
  22. Why Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple in 1997
  23. Ebay’s 1995 debut
  24. Radio Shack’s TRS-80: Introduced Aug 3, 1977
  25. The Caldera-SCO merger of 2000

July 2026

  1. Windows NT 4.0: Released to Manufacturing July 31, 1996
  2. When Nintendo sued Blockbuster
  3. Clive Sinclair: a US perspective
  4. IBM PS/2 E: The first Energy Star computer
  5. Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1
  6. What happened to ARCNET
  7. David Bunnell, vintage computer magazine publisher
  8. The Caldera-Microsoft Lawsuit of 1996
  9. Amiga 1000: Ten years ahead of its time
  10. The First Microsoft Product
  11. The MCI Worldcom merger, bankruptcy, and scandal
  12. Digital Research’s 1991 merger with Novell
  13. Intel founded July 18, 1968
  14. Reasons for Escom’s bankruptcy
  15. Nintendo Famicom and the secret of Nintendo’s success
  16. Code Red worm, July 13, 2001
  17. Gary Kildall’s death investigation
  18. Monorail: Pioneering $999 PCs from 1996
  19. How Donkey Kong toppled Atari
  20. Ray Kassar, former Atari CEO
  21. Why IBM bought Lotus
  22. Compute!’s Gazette magazine, 1983-1995
  23. Jack Tramiel and Atari
  24. The earliest surviving Tom’s Hardware Guide article

June 2026

  1. Apricot Computers: An underrated British brand
  2. What happened to Altavista
  3. Spyglass: A web browsing pioneer’s IPO
  4. VA Linux’s transformation after leaving the hardware business
  5. Windows 98 shipped June 25, 1998
  6. What went wrong with 3DO
  7. AMD Athlon: AMD’s game changing CPU from 1999
  8. Jay Miner, Atari and Amiga computer designer
  9. Windows ME released June 19, 2000
  10. How a Microsoft product from June 1979 led to the IBM PC
  11. Apple Disk II launched June 1978
  12. GIF’s June 1987 debut
  13. Intel’s Pentium FDIV bug and recall
  14. The failed 3Com and US Robotics merger
  15. Texas Instruments Speak and Spell
  16. Apple II: Launched June 10, 1977
  17. Eagle Computer: The rise and fall of an early PC clone
  18. First Commodore PET sold, June 5, 1977
  19. AMD 486DX4 released June 4, 1995
  20. GE Widescreen 1000: Big time TV for big budgets
  21. Cyrix 486DLC CPU: Introduced June 1992
  22. Intel 8088s and non-Intel non-clones

May 2026

  1. Why people say CRTs don’t have pixels
  2. DR DOS: Revenge of CP/M
  3. AMD K6-2 released May 28, 1998
  4. Bill Gates’ Internet Tidal Wave Microsoft memo
  5. What happened to Tandy computers
  6. Quantum Link: AOL before it was AOL
  7. Advantages and disadvantages of Windows 3.0
  8. Microsoft’s attempted merger with Intuit
  9. Kaypro II launched May 20, 1982
  10. Microsoft Antitrust case of 1998
  11. Cyberrebate.com: The worst dotcom-era idea?
  12. Processor Technology Corporation and the SOL-20
  13. Texas Instruments 486SXL CPU
  14. How Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary became rich
  15. Why the Wannacry outbreak was so bad
  16. Sony Betamax VCR: Born May 10, 1975
  17. Dell buys Alienware, May 8, 2006
  18. Intel Pentium II introduced May 7, 1997
  19. Adobe’s subscription model
  20. First desktop computer: Datapoint 2200
  21. How the Vectrex game console sunk a 124-year-old company
  22. Microsoft’s open sourcing of 86-DOS and what it means
  23. Ad Lib bankruptcy: May 1, 1992

April 2026

  1. Why Commodore went bankrupt in 1994
  2. What happened to Palm Pilots?
  3. TRS-80 Model 100
  4. How Xerox invented the GUI and lost it
  5. Apple IIc: A smaller, sleeker Apple II from 1984
  6. The first Youtube video
  7. When Escom bought Commodore
  8. Timex Sinclair 1000 computer: Revisiting its legacy
  9. Gordon Moore and Moore’s Law
  10. The last MP3 patent
  11. Apple II announced April 16, 1977
  12. Intel Celeron 266 introduced April 15, 1998
  13. Google’s acquisition of Doubleclick
  14. Cyrix 486SLC CPU: Introduced April 13,1992
  15. Intel 486 CPU announced April 10, 1989
  16. Osborne Computer liquidated April 9, 1986
  17. Atari ST introduced April 8, 1985

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