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Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

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Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#91
post #82

I think there is something kind of fun about purposefully using "outdated" software, and even valuable sometimes, in the same way that it's useful to use a dead language like Latin nowadays; it's not changing so there's sort of a bit of "equality" to it, for want of a better word. For example, I've actually thought it might make sense for people to release new software on DOS or the Sega Genesis, simply because they'…

There are a good number of old devices that still have a devout following. For MS-DOS you might check out e.g. Planet X3 [1]. Or how about Super Boss Gaiden [2], a game for a prototype console of which (AFAIK) only one unit is in existence (but you can play the game on an emulator, which apparently exists for this obscure console). [1] http://www.the8bitguy.com/product/planet-x3-for-ms-dos-compu... [2] https://playst…

I knew about Planet X3 but somehow Super Boss Gaiden completely missed my radar. I will be playing this shortly!

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, I wonder if all this work could contribute to a "modern" terminal floss office suite. Lotus is not is not open source. You would need to get IBM to release it as open source, which of course means they would have to have the code stored somewhere. While we're at it we can get microsoft to release the dos versions of works and visual basic, and whoever owns wordperfect to release that.

Wordperfect at least existed for Unix platforms so might be somewhat portable to linux. I don't remember Lotus or Microsoft ever being on Unix back in the day. Though Lotus did have Improv on the NeXT so maybe they did...

WordGrinder is probably the only thing I can think of that’s open source and in the same spirit.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#93
Patience exhibited by the author is incredible. These days I get angry after maybe an hour or two of running into one issue after another—because I know that their supply is pretty much endless, while victories over unreasonable software begin to feel smaller and rather meh.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. First time I've ever seen "@" referred to as the "monkeytail sign" (pg 15)

In English seeing it referred to as "monkeytail" looks weird, but in my native language Dutch it's often referred to as "apenstaart" or "apenstaartje" which means "monkeytail" resp. "little monkeytail". Though more and more often it's referred to as the English "at". (Which, as I come to notice now, is almost exactly what the Wikipedia article in the sibling comment says)

[deleted]

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#95
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. First time I've ever seen "@" referred to as the "monkeytail sign" (pg 15)

Globally it has a variety of often charming interpretations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign#Names_in_other_languag...

> snabel-a, the Swedish/Danish name (which means 'trunk A', as in 'elephant's trunk')

This one is my favorite but I am biased because I grew up to this name. Always found it a funny name though.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#96
post #3

A bit off topic, but what I've wanted forever and never found is a spreadsheet that deals in units natively. So if one cell is in Newtons and I divide it by a cell that is in m/s^2 I want the resulting cell to be in grams. Units should propagate through the sheet automatically. Unit prefixes can either be automatic (km, m, mm, um, etc) or fixed as you would with a format setting. Google calculator is the closest thin…

Not a spreadsheet, but Soulver and NoteCalc allow you to label and reference previous calculations in the same way a spreadsheet does.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He mentioned another one as well.

Heh heh. Poor reading skills on my part. The Cirrus Logic VGA drivers might have come from here: http://ftp.mpoli.fi/pub/pub/unpacked/hardware/display/cirrus... The HighPrint driver I'm less sure about.

Oh wow, Metropoli is still alive? I haven't seen that domain in ages.

I was actually active on the BBS back in the day, years before WWW came on the scene and blew up the internet. Hell, I think my first widely known email address would have been @mpoli.fi one - and, this being in early 1990s, I actually walked over to the owner's house to pay the account creation fee in person.

As far as the tech scene goes, you can probably trace most of the Finnish old guard to that system.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#98
post #82

I think there is something kind of fun about purposefully using "outdated" software, and even valuable sometimes, in the same way that it's useful to use a dead language like Latin nowadays; it's not changing so there's sort of a bit of "equality" to it, for want of a better word. For example, I've actually thought it might make sense for people to release new software on DOS or the Sega Genesis, simply because they'…

> in the same way that it's useful to use a dead language like Latin nowadays; it's not changing so there's sort of a bit of "equality" to it, for want of a better word.

You might think so, but reading scholastic Latin from the 1700s is radically different from reading classical Latin from the -100s. Cicero was writing in his own native language, and he used the wordings that came to him.

Isaac Newton was also, kind of, writing in his own native language. Latin was used only for the purpose of communicating with an audience; it was a channel by which you could encode English and someone else could then decode French.

But what you get by applying a set of rigid encoding rules to early modern English isn't all that similar to what you get by training an infant to speak classical Latin and then letting them express themselves in the way that feels natural to them. Scholastic Latin is much easier for the modern person to read than classical Latin is; it is essentially modern language under a thin disguise.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#99
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't downgrade a modern browser to ssl 3 (the most recent version supported by IE3) because modern browsers dont support sslv3 (prior to dropping support there were also some fixes for downgrade attacks). Dont get me wrong, supporting sslv3 is still a terrible idea. It would be interesting to know though what the most secure possible setup is for servers supporting ie3, both when a modern browser connects and wh…

Is what you say still true if you also want to support IE4, 5, 6, 7, etc? You'd want functionality for all the browsers, and strong privacy for the latest versions of browsers. I assume if you're supporting ie3 you also want to support every newer version.

You are correct, I support every known browser, and I test with every browser I can get my hands on.

It doesn't mean every single browser will work, but with each tested browser, the chances of that increase.

I consider all our communications to be monitored, and put accessibility above so-called privacy.

Anyway, I don't believe SSL provides privacy in any reasonable way except against the most basic of attackers.

For text-based websites which only provide information for reading and do not deal in commerce, I think making SSL optional is perfectly reasonable, and our SSL obsession has hurt us tremendously in accessibility, while adding a huge attack layer and obfuscating our own communications from ourselves.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 arbitrary resolution

#100
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh heh. Poor reading skills on my part. The Cirrus Logic VGA drivers might have come from here: http://ftp.mpoli.fi/pub/pub/unpacked/hardware/display/cirrus... The HighPrint driver I'm less sure about.

Oh wow, Metropoli is still alive? I haven't seen that domain in ages. I was actually active on the BBS back in the day, years before WWW came on the scene and blew up the internet. Hell, I think my first widely known email address would have been @mpoli.fi one - and, this being in early 1990s, I actually walked over to the owner's house to pay the account creation fee in person. As far as the tech scene goes, you can…

Heck, that reminded me of The Well! Looks like they're still going strong. :D

https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/510/State-of...

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