Okay, here’s my blog post about my “old school cs legends” project, written in a casual, conversational style, just like the example:
So, I got this crazy idea the other day. I wanted to mess around with some classic computer stuff, you know, the stuff that made people go “wow” way back when. I’m calling it my “old school cs legends” project. The name’s probably cheesy, but whatever, it gets the point across.
Getting Started is a Pain
First thing I did was try to find some old operating systems. Figured I’d start there. Believe it or not, this was harder than I thought. I mean, you can find some stuff online, but a lot of it is in weird formats, or it’s incomplete, or, you know, just plain sketchy.
I Ended up use virtual machines, it seemed like the safest, and maybe easiest way to test all those things.
Finding the Good Stuff
After a bunch of digging, I found some decent images of old operating systems. I’m talking stuff like:
- MS-DOS: The granddaddy of them all, right? Had to have this one.
- Windows 3.1: Remember this? Running on top of DOS? Wild.
- Some early Linux distro: I’m not even sure which one I ended up with, to be honest. It’s got a command-line interface, and that’s about all I can say.
Wrestling with Virtual Machines
Getting these things to run was a whole other adventure. I spent like, a whole afternoon just fiddling with virtual machine settings. Floppy disk images? What the heck are those? I had to learn about all this ancient hardware stuff that I’d only ever read about. It’s crazy how much we take for granted these days.
I kept messing up the boot order, or the virtual hard drive size, or some other random setting. Seriously, I felt like I was back in the 90s, troubleshooting my dad’s computer. The nostalgia was real, even if it was frustrating.
Finally, Some Success!
Eventually, though, I got it all working! Seeing that old MS-DOS prompt, the Windows 3.1 interface… it was like stepping back in time. I even tried playing some old DOS games I found online. They were so simple, but kind of addictive in their own way.
That ancient Linux distro was a different beast. I could barely figure out how to do anything. I managed to list some files, but that’s about it. I’m gonna need a manual or something for that one.
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning, I think. I want to try out some more old software, maybe some old programming languages. It’s like a history lesson, but you get to actually do the stuff, not just read about it. It’s kinda fun, even when it’s making me pull my hair out.
I’m also going to try to better document this project, maybe make the set up files available, if anybody cares.
Anyways, that’s my little adventure so far. It’s been a weird mix of frustrating and rewarding. Kind of like the old days of computing, I guess!
