21–30 of 39 posts
> Programmers using Loglan’82 simply did not have to worry about issues keeping their Java-using colleagues up at night
Sometimes it would've been better if they just asked LLM to write an article.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thinking about it I realized that circa 2000, Poland's early desktop and home computers were probably still in use Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. There was a company named Optimus which had multiple branches that back then provided: computers (assembling and selling these), software - they've become an official distributor for e.g. Activision, Ubisoft, Id Software, D…
> due to financial management "problems" those problems were not management, founder of Optimus- Roman Kluska is one of the most briliant minds in Poland, even today. Problems were caused by the state itself, first directing Optimus to book VAT in certain way, and then the same state accusing Optimus of defrauding VAT. Roman Kluska was imprisoned and had to pay 8mln PLN to be bailed, later when he was deemed not guil…
It's fascinating to have a glimpse into a parallel history of computing that happened in a small country without the resources to make it big, but with tireless efforts of brilliant mathematicians and engineers who made the advancements against the odds. If the history ran along a parallel path, I wonder what could have been different and what would have ended up exactly the same. For the PL nerds who are curious abo…
Which evolved into Lojban:
I found this YouTube channel about the MERA-400, complete with interviews with its designer [0]. Unfortunately, it is all in Polish. [0] https://youtube.com/@mera400
Fortunately, automatically generated subtitles are often good enough.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> due to financial management "problems" those problems were not management, founder of Optimus- Roman Kluska is one of the most briliant minds in Poland, even today. Problems were caused by the state itself, first directing Optimus to book VAT in certain way, and then the same state accusing Optimus of defrauding VAT. Roman Kluska was imprisoned and had to pay 8mln PLN to be bailed, later when he was deemed not guil…
I knew a person who worked in an important role in Optimus in the early days... I have a very different image of Roman Kluska.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thinking about it I realized that circa 2000, Poland's early desktop and home computers were probably still in use Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. There was a company named Optimus which had multiple branches that back then provided: computers (assembling and selling these), software - they've become an official distributor for e.g. Activision, Ubisoft, Id Software, D…
> Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. Yes, I assumed so but figured if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s similar to the Galaksija in Yugoslavia or the rare Pecom 64 (of which I have one in my collection!), that they might still be in original owners hands in 2000 instead of museums. > Country itself changed in last 20 years and if you haven't seen it again in…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. Yes, I assumed so but figured if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s similar to the Galaksija in Yugoslavia or the rare Pecom 64 (of which I have one in my collection!), that they might still be in original owners hands in 2000 instead of museums. > Country itself changed in last 20 years and if you haven't seen it again in…
> if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s Personal possession of Home computers, printers and copiers was illegal in Poland under Iron Curtain. After all it could be, and often was [1], used to undermine the regime! Anecdote from book "High-tech behind the Iron Curtain. Electronics, computers and control systems in the Polish People's Republic" ("High-tech za żelazną kurtyną. Elektronika, komputery i syst…
Casually looking in the magazines published in 1985, during the time of the iron curtain, reveals a lot of fun stuff like games and poke codes, but also more serious stuff. Nothing here suggest that home computers where illegal to have at home.
In fact [2] suggest that home computer use in Poland was wide spread.
[1] https://archive.org/details/bajtekmagazine [2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290109777_Playing_a...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thinking about it I realized that circa 2000, Poland's early desktop and home computers were probably still in use Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. There was a company named Optimus which had multiple branches that back then provided: computers (assembling and selling these), software - they've become an official distributor for e.g. Activision, Ubisoft, Id Software, D…
> Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. Yes, I assumed so but figured if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s similar to the Galaksija in Yugoslavia or the rare Pecom 64 (of which I have one in my collection!), that they might still be in original owners hands in 2000 instead of museums. > Country itself changed in last 20 years and if you haven't seen it again in…
Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s. Take a look at the computer magazine Bajtek [1] published from 1985, which focused on games and programming.
It's fascinating to have a glimpse into a parallel history of computing that happened in a small country without the resources to make it big, but with tireless efforts of brilliant mathematicians and engineers who made the advancements against the odds. If the history ran along a parallel path, I wonder what could have been different and what would have ended up exactly the same. For the PL nerds who are curious abo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Around 2000 we were already using normal x86 machines in the offices and homes. Yes, I assumed so but figured if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s similar to the Galaksija in Yugoslavia or the rare Pecom 64 (of which I have one in my collection!), that they might still be in original owners hands in 2000 instead of museums. > Country itself changed in last 20 years and if you haven't seen it again in…
> if Poland had homegrown 8-bit micros in the mid-80s Personal possession of Home computers, printers and copiers was illegal in Poland under Iron Curtain. After all it could be, and often was [1], used to undermine the regime! Anecdote from book "High-tech behind the Iron Curtain. Electronics, computers and control systems in the Polish People's Republic" ("High-tech za żelazną kurtyną. Elektronika, komputery i syst…
And I thought owning a 4K microcomputer as a suburban California teenager in 1981 was lonely and hard! No one in my family's extended network had a computer at home, nor could they even imagine what you'd do with such a thing at home (other than maybe play games which an Atari console could do better and much cheaper).
> nobody had time for obsoleted hardware.
Sadly, the same was true in the U.S. although it was great for me. In the late 90s I built out my complete collection of every model of 8-bit micro commonly sold in the U.S. in the 80s and early 90s. All the Ataris, all the Apples (except that Apple 1 kit of course), all the Commodores, all the Radio Shacks, all the Amigas, all the Sinclairs, plus dozens more few remember as well as quite a few from overseas. And I never paid more than $25 for any of them (and many were just given to me for free).
My teenage daughter recently looked up a bunch of them on eBay and apparently the collection is probably worth north of $100,000. Of course, I told her it's only worth that if I was interested in selling them - and I'm not. :-)