It's no secret that I've been fascinated by odd UNIX clones for a while. When I got invited back to speak at VCF West this year I decided to share that fascination with a captive audience. In this talk we look at Idris and CROMIX, and ask the simple question: why would you want UNIX free UNIX?

VCFed will be posting the video version of this presentation in the coming weeks. I'll add a link here once that's up.

SEE my slides, here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v21An2jTGbKn4HV7Orr7xQcjnj3Cju_iMgNX50UcjeI/edit?usp=sharing

Install Co-Idris: https://github.com/hansake/Whitesmiths-Idris-OS

Install ST-Idris: https://github.com/9nut/IDRIS-OS-for-Atari-ST

And DEFINITELY install CROMIX: https://www.sydneysmith.com/wordpress/run-cromix/

In 1950 Northrup unveiled their MAgnetic Drum DIgital Differential Analyser. The machine is a wild piece of technology; a rendering of an analog computer in digital encoding. But how did we get here? How did a project to guide a missile lead to a mass produced computer? And what does it have to do with suspiciously dry martinis?

Selected Sources:

https://sci-hub.st/10.1109/MAHC.2003.1179869 - 2003 paper on MADDIDA

Like Advent of Computing? Then check out the after show! Adjunct of Computing is now LIVE: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts

EMUL-8 is a fascinating programming language. It's described in just one paper from 1977. It's a mix of features from APL, LISP, ALGOL, and SNOBOL. And, I think, it's a wonderful window into how counterculture and home computing collided.