Blathr Wayne Lorentz

I am both impressed and disappointed with macOS.

I set up a new user account so that I could telnet in to a macOS box to perform certain tasks that can only be done via telnet, and with a CLI.

Not surprisingly, in 2023, macOS doesn't come with terminal definitions for a TRS-80 Model 100. It's a 40-year-old machine, so it makes sense that I would have to build my own. Which I did.

But as I was doing so, I noticed that macOS still comes with terminal definitions for far older, and more obscure computers than the one I'm connecting to it with.

• Altos machines
• Amigas
• Apple Lisas (natch)
• 85 types of AT&T terminals
• C. Itoh (I didn't even know C. Itoh made computers)
• Commodore B-128s
• HeathKits
• I.B.M. computers running Aixterm in Japanese
• Microbees
• Minitels
• Dozens of NCR terminals
• Several types of Kaypros
• Four types of Zenith machines

Granted, these terminal definitions are just part of the stock set that is packed in with many Unixes. But I still find it surprising that after a half-century, these files continue to proliferate, and still exist, even though the number of people who would use them is basically zero.

Weekend project: Coming up with a harder, slower, less-reliable way to read the New York Times. Mission accomplished.

Show me an armored aquarium, and Iʼll show you a fish tank.

The Houston Botanic Garden isnʼt the worldʼs greatest botanic garden. Itʼs probably not even in the top 100. But itʼs less crowded than Hermann Park, and after a long series of misguided “improvements,” it's added a coffee cart, so I keep going.

Can you figure out how to close this error message dialog box? No, itʼs not by clicking on the red circled × that looks exactly like a close window control. You do it by clicking on the ellipses.

Good job, Microsoft.

“Budget Waste?” I didnʼt even know the legislature was in town this week.