The Curious Engineer

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Liam on Linux

liam-on-linux.dreamwidth.org

Liam Proven's thoughts on IT, especially FOSS

Computing historyLinux / UnixEssays / personalTech news / industry

’10’15’20’25
Posts
126 from 1 Jul 2009 to 29 Aug 2026
Posting
weekly (32 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://liam-on-linux.dreamwidth.org/data/atom

2026 24

  1. An ultra-condensed history of computing since the 1980s for those who weren't paying attention
  2. 29
  3. August
  4. Where does mass-scale AI-created software take us?
  5. 1
  6. Is the most important question about AI whether it works or not?
  7. 1
  8. View Subjects
  9. OSes with no CLI and thoughts on the staleness of modern computing
  10. 1
  11. What was Classic MacOS like?
  12. 1
  13. View Subjects
  14. This may be the first year of a million CVEs
  15. 1
  16. View Subjects
  17. How is Haiku different from GNU/Linux or BSDs?
  18. 1
  19. Passing thoughts on Universal Blue and their ilk...
  20. 1
  21. View Subjects
  22. My review of the Tadpole-RDI Ultra Book lli from 25 years ago this month
  23. 1
  24. View Subjects

2025 34

  1. What's the point of lightweight code with modern computers?
  2. 12th
  3. Dec
  4. How the Linux-vs-BSD culture clash looked in the 1980s/1990s
  5. 19th
  6. Nov
  7. Once upon a time, Windows looked good
  8. 19th
  9. Oct
  10. The more recent history of DR GEM
  11. 18th
  12. Sep
  13. 21st century IT is kayfabe: it's all fake, just for show
  14. 27th
  15. Aug
  16. The Decade of Linux on the Desktop. You're in it.
  17. 5th
  18. Jul
  19. If only DESQview/X had been launched when Quarterdeck starting talking about it
  20. 23rd
  21. Jun
  22. I am so sick and tired of "AI"
  23. My little USB-DOS project
  24. 20th
  25. On becoming living history
  26. 3rd
  27. May
  28. How come Linux replaced Unix? What happened to proprietary Unix?
  29. 4th
  30. Why FOSS OSes often don't have power management as good as proprietary ones
  31. Apr
  32. Fun with the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (and an unexpected OpenBSD link)
  33. Basic MS-DOS memory management for beginners
  34. DOS live USB image with tools for writers

2024 1

  1. Why are hobbyist 21st century 8-bit computers so constrained?

2019 3

  1. Found a lost piece of my own work! A RH 6.2 review from PCW, August 2000
  2. 23rd
  3. Oct

2015 12

  1. Reg writings (recent publication summary, for anyone interested) [post on my tech blog]
  2. 4th
  3. Dec
  4. Remember, the world’s richest man got that way by selling people stuff they could have had for free.
  5. 22nd
  6. Aug
  7. The ultimate user interface (Blog post by yours truly)
  8. 11th
  9. Jun
  10. Why I'm not interest in an all-Apple solution but fancy an all-Ubuntu one
  11. 28th
  12. Apr

2014 2

  1. 29th
  2. Jan

2013 6

  1. People are praising e-book readers as a green alternative to books. I'm not so sure.
  2. Oct
  3. 1st
  4. Look back in sorrow. Modern tech's cool, but many things used to be so very much better than now.
  5. 20th
  6. Feb

2012 6

  1. Why Linux tech-support articles use terminal commands instead of the GUI
  2. 3rd
  3. Oct
  4. On trying out operating systems in virtual machines
  5. 6th
  6. Sep

2011 8

  1. 27th
  2. Oct
  3. 21st
  4. Sep
  5. 17th
  6. Jul
  7. 21st
  8. Jan

2010 8

  1. 23rd
  2. Nov
  3. 29th
  4. 28th
  5. Oct
  6. 29th
  7. 24th
  8. Jun

2009 2

  1. 23rd
  2. Jul

Undated 20

  1. (Forgot it?)
  2. (OpenID?)
  3. Create a Dreamwidth Account
  4. Profile
  5. LinkedIn profile & information
  6. Practicality
  7. (OpenID?)
  8. The good old days of server management, and where it all went wrong
  9. The history of personal computing & its next ten years
  10. A brief, bitter & slightly sarcastic history of the web browser
  11. Linux all-in-one server reviews
  12. Whatever happened to the GNU HURD?
  13. What if OS/2 v1 had been a 386 product?
  14. The Reg Guide to Linux
  15. (no subject)
  16. (OpenID?)
  17. (OpenID?)
  18. Computers for Cynics: a wise, wry, biased (but fair) history lesson from one of the great prophets
  19. Triumph of the Nerds
  20. Peppermint Linux