6 Dec
2021
6 Dec
'21
4:25 a.m.
Probably time to move this to COFF, but
along the line of Fission for Program Comprehension....
I wonder how many of you don't know about Don Lancaster.
Pioneer in home computing back when that meant something, inventor of a
very low cost 1970s video terminal (the TV Typewriter), tremendously
skilled hacker, brilliant guy.
Also still alive, lives a couple hours away from me in Safford, AZ, and has
been doing fantastic research on Native American hanging canals for the
last couple decades.
Anyway: he wrote a magnificent piece on how to understand a (6502) program
from its disassembly, which reminded me of Gibbons's work:
https://www.tinaja.com/ebooks/tearing_rework.pdf
I don't think Don ever had a lot of crossover with the more academic world
of Unix people, but he's one of my heroes and I have learned a hell of a
lot from his works.
Adam
6 Dec
6 Dec
2:11 p.m.
New subject: [TUHS] Book Recommendation
Adam - first thank you. Pleased to know he's still kicking around.
On Sun, Dec 5, 2021 at 11:26 PM Adam Thornton <athornton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think Don ever had a lot of crossover
with the more academic world
of Unix people, but he's one of my heroes and I have learned a hell of a
lot from his works.
Not true at all. If you grew up as EE, in the late 1960s/early 1970s it
was hard to not know about him since he was so prolific. FWIW, before I
went to CMU, he was already a hero and I had a number of books from the
late 1960's. When I was freshman in the early 1970s, his TTL Cookbook was
an optional text for the intro to EE course [I already had it but a number
of my mates had never seen it before]. His CMOS Cookbox was not published
yet, but when it was, I bought it.
Side story, I want to say about 1969/70, after reading one of his articles
in Radio-Electronics I sent him a (US snail mail) letter asking him for
help in designing an RF interface to a TV. He replied to me but told me
such a design would be illegal to make as it would run afoul of FCC rules.
I wish I had kept that letter, but he reversed himself a few years later
with his TV Typewriter and Son of Video books. My guess is he had been
researching the idea for one of the magazines when I contacted him, and
must have gotten a ruling from legal counsel about publishing the same. I
always wondered what made him change his mind a few years later. Since he
seems to publish an email, I think I'll have to write him and ask that way
to see if he responds.
Clem
ᐧ
2:22 p.m.
New subject: [TUHS] Book Recommendation
[TUHS to Bcc]
On Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 9:15 AM Clem Cole <clemc(a)ccc.com> wrote:
Adam - first thank you. Pleased to know he's
still kicking around.
On Sun, Dec 5, 2021 at 11:26 PM Adam Thornton <athornton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Indeed, still well-known: I have both his TTL and CMOS cookbooks within
easy reach.
- Dan C.
I don't think Don ever had a lot of
crossover with the more academic
world of Unix people, but he's one of my heroes and I have learned a hell
of a lot from his works.
Not true at all. If you grew up as EE, in the late 1960s/early 1970s it
was hard to not know about him since he was so prolific. FWIW, before I
went to CMU, he was already a hero and I had a number of books from the
late 1960's. When I was freshman in the early 1970s, his TTL Cookbook was
an optional text for the intro to EE course [I already had it but a number
of my mates had never seen it before]. His CMOS Cookbox was not published
yet, but when it was, I bought it.
1006
days inactive
1006
days old
2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Adam Thornton -
Clem Cole -
Dan Cross