Please don’t be shocked, but I’ve been reading old #UNIX Review magazines on Archive.org, as one does. I’ve been finding a number of interesting artifacts throughout. This June 1984 ad by Cadmus Computer Systems listed a #USENET address: !wivax!cadmus.

This is a UUCP bang path, for the kids who don’t know. The ! separates relay hops, it’s a literal routing instruction. Get to the backbone, reach wivax, forward to cadmus.

No DNS.

Machines screamed at each other to swap data.

#unix_surrealism

wivax was a VAX at Wang Laboratories in Lowell, MA where Cadmus was based.

The TELEX number printed right next to it is also interesting. This represents telegraph infrastructure and the infant internet, side by side in a transitional moment.

Here’s an ad for cross-compilers and assemblers for UNIX environments.

My favorite detail here is this brag: “Over the past 3 years, we’ve built over 1MB of working code.” Cross-compilers, assemblers, simulators, and debuggers targeting six architectures across a dozen hosts. This code was dense.

The 80’s #UNIX wars were a wild time.

It’s also very fun to read the articles from the time and see what they were predicting for the future. “UNIX for the masses” was a popular topic.

This is an original ad for a #UNIX computer company.

No AI art here! You can see the artist’s signature over the dragon’s wing.

The art in these ads is incredible. This one for ChipCrafter by SeattleSilicon is pretty great.

This is some proto- @prahou art right here.

To think all of this amazing art is buried in 40-year-old computer magazines.

This one is from the July 1988 issue of "VLSI Systems Design."

@occult strong Memphis style energy <3

@neauoire new Radiohead album art just dropped (1988).

There’s an LLM coding joke in here somewhere.

@neauoire we need to normalize Lisp fan art like this.

#lisp

Editor: quick! I need art to accompany the article on internationalization of #UNIX for our Dec 1985 issue!

Illustrator on shrooms: say no more.

Boss: I need art for an article on #UNIX networking technologies for the next issue of UNIX WORLD.

Artist: come back tomorrow.

Computing in the year 2029 as depicted in UNIX WORLD magazine, 1985.

#UNIX

From a 1991 SunExpert magazine article about “What’s to come” for network protocols. The article depicts a man traveling into the 2020’s, seemingly unaware of the chaos he’ll find.

He’s going to pass @prahou traveling back in time to 1991 to get some mint condition Sun workstations.

#SunMicrosystems #UNIX

@occult give ai access to nuclear bombs and it will playout with punch cards 🙈

@occult i hope @prahou takes me with him, i want some vintage joonk too

@occult Looks about right if things keep going the way they are

@occult can confirm this is how I use technology already, get on my level 2026

@Haste @occult Wonderful, and you do what with this way of using technology? On the photo the woman seems to wave some threads.

@Ysabeau @occult oh that’s the thing, she’s actually casting a spell using computer magic

I mainly do it to hex Republicans, and to compel the release of the Epstein files.

@Haste Imagine thinking this illustration was appropriate for UNIX WORLD magazine in 1985, geared toward business users, not realizing that in 2026 it could be used as banner art for an LGBTQ+ self-hosted Mastodon instance.

#UNIX

@occult @Haste Why does the machine cast the shadow of a floppy, what is the metaphor here

Hey #Fediverse! See you all at the 1985 California Computer Show.

#UNIX #RetroComputing

Oh, this is good...

From UNIX World, 1985: "It finds the subtle bugs in my C programs" - Claude B. Finn.

40 years later, people are using Claude to find bugs in programs. What's old is new again.

#Anthropic #LLM #Claude #ClaudeCode #AI #Security #Programming #UNIX #C

It's summer, 1985.

I get a call from my buddy to open this month’s issue of UNIX WORLD magazine to page 110.

I see they are preparing to standardize the C programming language.

I say, “This is a good thing" under my breath.

I am still punk as fuck.

They should re-create this steel-bound UNIX reference manual.

#UNIX

Hey @prahou is your computer sad or happy?

Is this Mr. Computo?

From the May 1985 issue of UNIX WORLD magazine.

#UNIX

These article illustrations are truly something.

UNIX Review, April 1985.

#UNIX #unix_surrealism

When someone asks me what the #Fediverse, #Mastodon or #ActivityPub is I'll use this illustration from UNIX Review, April 1985.

#UNIX

Oh my, it's his father!

OBEY.

BYTE Magazine, October 1983.

From the same issue, this illustration could be used in an article tomorrow about #LLM overreliance.

How @catsalad's toots get to my computer.

(BYTE magazine, July 1988)

This is how I toot.

(Amiga World magazine, March 1988)

#Mastodon #Fediverse

I found this ad for a six-degree-of-freedom 3D input device in the Summer 1989 issue of the SGI magazine "IRIS Universe".

I remember seeing stuff like this around in the 90s, but it all seemed so inaccessible at the time. Flipping through these old professional magazines, you spot some interesting engineering and industrial design.

@flexion, you should get one of these, restore it, and get it working on one of your systems.

#SGI #UNIX

@occult I only have the Magellan SpaceMouse for SGI. The Spaceball that someone had listed on eBay for a long time was far too expensive.

RE: https://vox.ominous.net/@occult/116103841606429399

@occult the historical posts in here make this a thread for @estherschindler and @nomad and @murph

Probably also for @sjvn and @hal_pomeranz

# BangPathForTheYou'veGotMail :)

We've got 3 years left to build this:

https://mastodon.social/@occult@ominous.net/116103844379755970

@FLOX_advocate @occult @estherschindler @nomad @murph @hal_pomeranz Wow. That's ah... something. Yes, something.

Just @alice sitting around thinking about UNIX.

UNIX Review, November 1984.

@occult @alice this is great. Do you know the artist?

@freenandes I do not. I see there’s a signature. If you go look up the issue, you may find it referenced somewhere.

When my posts federate between #Mastodon servers on the #fediverse.

UNIX Review, May 1985.

#UNIX