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Hi. I followed @phessler's invite so I guess it's #introduction time. My main account is @[email protected]. Incidentally, I've been an OpenBSD convert for a few years. I also happen to enjoy C and some other programming languages...
Really though, I came here for the 
-- maybe i'll stay for the 
?
pesco
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https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2 OH MY FUCKING GOD complete auth bypass in inetutils telnetd for over a decade and obviously nobody inside that decade should have been running a telnet daemon but wow
pesco
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We have "growth hackers" but no "stability hackers." "Disruptors" but no "preservers." Our entire vocabulary is oriented toward the new. We have no language for the equally difficult work of keeping existing things from falling apart.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-rime-of-the-ancient-maintainer/
This game (still) rocks.
I binge-completed the first four chapters some time in 2014, did the next four in 2016, and then sadly let the project of finishing "Software Foundations" sit idle for almost ten years. :(
Well, any time is infinitely better than never, so here I go with the significantly expanded 2025 edition!
https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/
Image warning: Screenshot spoils the solution to one exercise.
pesco
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The Amiga Pointer Archive
oh my god gothub's ssh-based signup bot is adorable! 
pesco
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We have revised the pricing tiers of our #gameoftrees based #git hosting service for the coming year.
Community tiers are now cheaper, starting at 5€/month. These tiers now just about cover the hosting costs we are spending to keep the lights on.
To compensate, prices of professional tiers have been raised slightly. Commercial support is now available for these tiers through our fiscal host and can be booked separately. Our commercial support team members are @stsp, @gonzalo, and @op
pesco
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The R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S: high school hackers from the 60s and 70s. I've known a bunch of these folks - smart cookies.
pesco
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Here we go! http://squoze.net/UNIX/v4/ #unix v4 :) i'm so happy about this! hopefully it runs too
pesco
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The Unix V4 tape read was successful
https://discuss.systems/@ricci/115747843169814700
pesco
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Petition for German residents regarding Open Source Contribution:
I would be delighted if many people would sign. Thank you!
pesco
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pesco
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pesco
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“You know you want to do more with Artificial Intelligence. Two problems have held you back: the expense of the hardware and the scarcity of #LISP programmers.” 512K of memory recommended. (Ad from Byte magazine, Jan 1985)
pesco
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For my company I have put together #gameoftrees and #OpenBSD support packages which cover tasks I have been doing via ad-hoc consulting gigs for years now. And I asked some freelancing friends from the OpenBSD community to share the work with me.
We support deployments of OpenBSD in server and firewall roles via yearly fixed-price contracts. All base system components can be supported.
From our existing client base we know for a fact that there are small and mid-sized businesses out there who run OpenBSD and would benefit from working with us. We want to find more of them.
pesco
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While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #UNIX v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973
Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition
We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
pesco
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pesco
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the other reason we think about that 1972 quote is to remind ourselves that there was no lost golden age to bemoan. to say that computers should be empowering people and not imprisoning them is…
…how do I even put it.
it is like a bottle left unattended on a table, with the lid beside it. it is like an incomplete musical composition whose words are still broken and clumsy. it is like a plant sitting on the bare concrete next to a pot full of soil.
a computer that betrays its user for some distant stranger's profit is not right. the lid should go on the bottle to protect its contents. the lyrics should be smoothed out and given grace and life. the plant should rest in the place it can flourish. and the computer should free people and not control them.
that it is so often otherwise is what we howl in anger about.
pesco
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when we find ourselves howling in anger about software or hardware manufacturers using their positions to exploit computer users, we remember something we read a little while ago:
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Computers are mostly used against people instead of for people; used to control people instead of to free them; Time to change all that - we need a... Peoples Computer Company.
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…and that it comes from the inaugural People's Computer Company Newsletter published in … October 1972.
this anger, this sense of injustice, this belief that computers should be more than the tools of the powerful … this has been going on longer than us near the bottom have *had* computers.
it predates the MOS 6502 that powered machines like the Commodore 64.
it predates the Zilog Z80 that powered machines like the TRS-80.
it predates the Z80's predecessor, the Intel 8080, that powered computers like the Altair 8800 and, more broadly, the rise of CP/M.
Microsoft might be doing disgusting things with Windows 11, but resistance to that predates their existence.
