Review

• Book Review: Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age by Mike Hally

  3 June 2009   Tags: Book     Review     History     Retro    
  This is an interesting history of computer development around the world during the 1940s and 50s.  The book grew out of a radio series on BBS Radio 4 and contains lots of original material gained from interviews in 2001 and 2004.  It is very accessible as it focuses slightly more on the...   Read More
  
  

• Connecting a Parallel Printer to a Modern Linux Machine Using a LogiLink USB to Parallel Cable, D-SUB 25pin

  6 May 2009   Tags: Retro     Review     Linux     Hardware    
  I have a number of older printers that I would like to connect to my modern machine, but have been unable to do so because my computer doesn’t have a parallel interface. After searching the internet for a review of a usb to parallel cable that works reliably with Linux, I pretty much drew a...   Read More
  
  

• Book Review: The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.

  26 January 2009   Tags: Book     Programming     Retro     Review    
  This book, written in 1975, offers a fascinating insight into the software engineering process used at that time. The author draws from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 and OS/360, and in doing so also sheds light on how they were put together. The 1995 edition, reviewed h...   Read More
  
  

• Book Review: Fundamentals of Operating Systems by A.M. Lister - Second Edition

  7 October 2008   Tags: Book     Operating Systems     Retro     Review    
  It was fascinating to read this book from 1979 and see how operating system design was viewed then, compared to now. The biggest change being the shift in importance from batch processing to the interactive use of computers. Despite the advances since this book was written, it is surprising how m...   Read More