Rubenerd

It had been at least five minutes since Clara’s father handed down an old computer. I kid, but it’s been amazing reminiscing with him over these old machines, and tinkering to get them all working again.

Our latest addition to the family is a slightly more modern box: an Athlon64 from 2005, built around an Asus K8V SE Deluxe motherboard and an amazing beige Antec case. Already I can see myself filling it up with all my spare optical and disk drives, and it becoming my primary Windows XP-era game tower.

There’s just one tiny problem. I’d go into more detail about the specifications of the machine and how it works, except it doesn’t. When you power on the machine, you’re greeted with an ominous error:

Bad BIOS checksum. Starting BIOS Recovery...
Checking for floppy...
Floppy not found!
Checking for CD-ROM...

It continues cycling between the floppy and (non-existent) CD-ROM with these error messages indefinitely, along with a shrill beep. One of the internal hard drives also sounded like a screeching bird, so I quickly disconnected that.

I tried booting from my usual DR DOS 6 recovery floppy disk, and I got a different error:

Floppy found.
Reading file "K8VSEDX.ROM"
File "K8VSEDX.ROM" not found on floppy disk!

Wow, so the machine clearly can’t even bootstrap itself. I guess it’s a good thing that it failed a checksum and even offers to do a restore. The only time I’ve well and truly bricked a desktop while performing a BIOS update was my original HP Brio when I was a kid, and no cajoling with my more limited knowledge at the time could convince it to boot.

Fortunately, at the time of writing both the ASUS support website and The Retro Web have live pages for downloading BIOS updates. So I downloaded the most recent version, renamed the extracted image to K8VSEDX.ROM, copied it onto a spare floppy, and tried booting again.

Looks encouraging:

Floppy found.
Reading file "K8VSEDX.ROM".  Completed.
Start Erasing.../
Start Programing.../
   
Please turn off your system and power on again to get system back.

Alas, rebooting returned the same error.

I poked around the motherboard and documentation for any reference to read/write tab for the BIOS which some of my Pentium III boards have, but all I could find was a pin to short for resetting the clock.

I was about to call it quits on this board, as I don’t have the skill yet to remove surface-mount ICs, but then I noticed the BIOS chip was still in a socket for this generation of kit:

I peeled off the sticker, and saw a SST 39SF040 70-4C-NH IC. I went onto the usual auction sites and found a few for the princely sum of $10. I’ll drop one of these in and see if the onboard flashing utility works. If not, maybe I can flash a new one using my minipro and a suitable carrier.

An early Athlon64 board would be great! I didn’t know there were 64-bit machines with AGP; I thought they’d moved onto PCIe by that point.

I had so much fun talking indirectly with James and Zachary Kai about sandwiches yesterday, that I thought I’d do it again with some questions of my own.

Do you remember the best sandwich you’ve ever had?

At the risk of getting too sentimental, it was one of the last meals I had with my mum before she passed on. I’d made her a chicken sandwich with “the lot” as we say, and made one for myself too. The bread was a bit stale, the lettuce was more mushy than crisp, and we didn’t have our favourite Havarti cheese. But it was so good. I’d give a lot to have that with her again.

The best sandwich I think I ever bought was one at the former O’Brians outlet at Jelita, a tiny shopping centre near my old school in Singapore. I actually don’t even remember what it was; I just remember being exceptionally happy eating it as I stared out the window. It hit the spot. Forgive the 2010-era camera phone image!

Salt, pepper, or other seasoning?

A tiny bit of pepper and MSG in a tuna melt is incredible, as is dill on salmon. Otherwise I tend not to bother.

Do you enjoy sandwich-adjacent food as well?

Everything bagels are wonderful, even with just a bit of cream cheese and that’s it. Alas, while there were some amazing bagels in Singapore, I’ve yet to find even a decent one in Australia. Maybe the kangaroos keep stealing them.

I’ll admit I’m not as much of a fan of burgers or hot dogs. I feel like the ratios are off. Behind every burger is a more convenient, tastier toasted sandwich waiting to be set free. This is not a hill upon which I’m willing to die, though I would certainly stand upon it. I think I’m mixing my metaphors again.

Open sandwiches or closed?

I think it has to be closed to really be considered a “sandwich”, but open melts under the grill in the evening are great too. Bit of cheese, some onion, and a dab of mustard; heaven.

Just be careful about dropping them, because you know for a fact the messy side will be what lands first.

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Let me put it this way: go to a hot dog stand and ask for a sandwich, or go to a sandwich bar and ask for a hot dog, and see how far you get.

The only exception is if the “hot dog” is made with a plain slice of bread, like they have at Hammerbarn sausage sizzles in Australia. And even then, if you asked for a “hot dog” I expect you’d get odd looks.

Is there a sandwich you’re not fond of?

BLTs, sadly. I can’t get over my visceral dislike of raw tomato. The consistency and texture remind me of having a gross cold, and I gag. Same for runny egg yolks.

Otherwise, I’m a bit of a sandwich maximalist. They’re almost always great, even the basic ones with a single ingredient like peanut butter. I draw the line at “jelly” though, it has to be either a proper jam or marmalade (did I mention texture is important to me?). We’re in the Commonwealth here, damn it!

“Finger sandwiches” also seem to be popular at industry events now too, perhaps because they come in their own wrapping and don’t require utensils. Even those taste pretty great after a day of meetings.

Do you have any vegetarian or vegan favourites?

Watercres sandwiches are lovely. I’m one of those weird people who prefer the taste of margarine over butter, and it works a treat here.

I used to work down the road from a vegan bakery, and I swear their bread was utterly indistinguishable from “regular” bread made from butter. I guess it shows that technique, quality, and loving care are just as important.

When I was vegetarian I also got hooked on these “mock meat” bacon slices from the supermarket. They did not taste like bacon, but were super tasty in their own right on sandwiches. I still get them occasionally now, because they’re so damned crispy and light.

Did you parents cut off the crusts?

They didn’t for me, but they did for my sister. Provided the filling is generous enough, the crusts provide structural support and additional flavour. But there’s no judgement here if you’re a cutter. The correct way to eat a sandwich is the one that brings you the most joy.

What are your favourite sides for a sandwich?

Generally I don’t feel the need to supplement sandwiches with things, but a green salad and/or some salt and vinegar crisps are nice if I’m feeling fancy. Also corn chips, surprisingly.

I’ve also tried sandwiches dipped in soup. They’re not undelicious, but it ends up being a bit messier than I’d like.

What’s the one thing you’d like to change about people’s perceptions of sandwiches?

Sandwiches aren’t boring! Or at least, they don’t need to be. They can be simple, complicated, familiar, exotic, or whatever you want. They’re all wonderful.

I needed a palette cleanser after the last few days. So when I saw James and Zachary Kai’s posts about this important topic, I felt compelled to respond in kind.

How many sandwiches do you eat per week?

At least a few when we’re at home. I used to eat them more often. I miss them. I should eat more of them. That was a lot of sentences.

When do you eat sandwiches?

Sandwiches are the perfect late brunch and lunch food.

What’s your go-to sandwich order?

Where do I even start!?

I’m with James; the Ploughman sandwich is excellent. I also love a tuna salad with onions and a side of pickle, pictured below.

At home I reproduce the “Swimming Norwegian” I used to have at a sandwich bar in Malaysia, which is smoked salmon or trout, dill, capers, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, onion, lettuce, a bit of mayo, and pickle. This is my dinner of choice when I’m too tired to cook. It even works without the fish.

When we make our frankly annual pilgrimage to Japan, I make sure to always get an Egg Sando from Family Mart or Lawson. Wow that bread! Coming in a close second would be a Vietnamese bánh mì.

As an Australian I should like Vegemite sandwiches, but I think that only works when used as a cooking ingredient for a shot of umami, or on toast with a bit of butter.

What’s your favourite type of bread?

When I was a kid we used to get freshly baked “baps” from the local bakery which I ate with reckless abandon. Alas, they’re not as common in Australia anymore. I want to try baking my own.

Thesedays I love sourdough if I want something substantial, a baguette for something fresh and tasty, and I have dreams about that Japanese white bread that’s softer than the clouds themselves.

For an Australian toasted jaffle at home, plain sliced wholemeal works best.

My German dad also introduced me to pumpernickel when I was a kid, which tastes incredible. Don’t tell him, but I might even like the Dutch version a bit more (hides).

Do you like condiments?

Mustard is so good, I’d eat it with a damned spoon. I’m not a fan of the wholegrain mustard, but otherwise I’ve yet to meet a mustard I don’t like. German, French, Dijon (yes, that’s distinct from French), Hot English, the ones from IKEA, even the most basic American mustards in a tube. It’s all great.

I also go through an embarrassing amount of original red Tabasco.

What about pickles?

Pickles and gherkins are excellent, as are sliced picked onions, sauerkraut, and kimchi. A restaurant in Chatswood in Sydney’s north does a kimchi cheese toastie which is, if you’ll pardon the French, fucking amazing.

This was a light tuna toastie Clara and I had in Japan last year. I took one bite and it was so good I took out the OM-3. And yes, pickle was integral.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury, with one and only one exception: kaya toast. A slab of kaya and butter in a cute cube of toasted bread at a busy kopitiam with a teh tarik is basically heaven. I miss Singapore and Malaysia dearly.

Do you cut your sandwiches?

I do not, though that’s down to convenience over any philosophical stance. My parents used to cut sandwiches diagonally, which was satisfying as a kid to bite the corners from.

What’s the worst sandwich crime?

Tomato sauce/ketchup. In Singaporean: wah lao eh. In Australian: mate, what are you doing?

What’s your ideal sandwich-eating environment?

Coffee shops are my favourite favourite favourite places in the known universe, and that includes having sandwiches.

That said, probably the best sandwich environment ever was the SCVMaglev Museum in Nagoya last year. IT CAME WITH A SHINKANSEN BENTO BOX AAAAAH!

Why sandwiches?

Sandwiches unite the world. I love that local cultures are able to take something so utilitarian and make it their own.

I have a carb budget per day, which I usually “spend” on rice or noodles. But I think I need to reallocate more to sandwiches again :).

I recently wrote about using the awesome minipro tool to interface with the Minipro T48 IC programmer.

I noted these warnings each time I wrote to an EEPROM:

# minipro -l
   
[…]
Warning: T48 support is not yet complete!
Warning: Firmware is out of date.
  Expected  01.1.32 (0x120)
  Found     00.1.27 (0x11b)

The minipro(1) manpage includes the following instructions:

Firmware update files can be obtained from the manufacturer's website:
http://www.xgecu.com/en/
   
They can also be downloaded and extracted from the following repository:
https://github.com/Kreeblah/XGecu_Software
   
For the TL866A/CS, use the "update.dat" file.
For the TL866IOI+, use the "updateII.dat" file.
For the T48, use the "UpdateT48.dat" file.
For the T56, use the "updateT56.dat" file.

I went to the XGecu_Software repo, but was initially confused about what to download, what to extract, and how to use it. For my own records, and in case it’s helpful for you, I’m including the steps below.

Get the most recent firmware

1. Go to the XGecu_Software repo that Kreeblah graciously maintains, and go to the Xgpro folder.

2. Go to the most recent folder. As of writing, this is 13.

3. For the T48, you’ll want the most recent archive with T48 in the filename. As of writing, that’s this RAR archive.

Extract the firmware

The firmware comes in a RAR archive, which includes a self-extracting EXE file for fun. So retrieving the firmware is a multi-step process.

At time of writing, V1306 is the most recent version, so you would extract as below. Substitute the V1306 with whatever newer version you may have.

$ unrar x xgproV1306_T48_T56_T866_Setup.rar
$ unrar x XgproV1306_Setup.exe

You should end up with a bunch of files, including UpdateT48.dat.

A note about unrar here. Make sure you’re using the full version where possible, such as unrar in FreeBSD Ports. Don’t use 7zip or xz to extract, or you’ll get a string of errors and a bunch of zero byte files. The rar format really needs to be scrubbed off the face of the Earth.

Applying the update

Now we can update our T48. It only takes a few seconds, but I’d still advice doing this from a laptop, or a desktop with a UPS:

# minipro -F UpdateT48.dat
   
==> Found T48 00.1.27 (0x11b)
==> Warning: T48 support is not yet complete!
==> Warning: Firmware is out of date.
==>   Expected  01.1.32 (0x120)
==>   Found     00.1.27 (0x11b)
==> Device code: 32B01527
==> Serial code: Q64KD9XFLI2PZVANHQD23842
==> Manufactured: 2023-02-1918:07
==> USB speed: 480Mbps (USB 2.0)
==> Supply voltage: 5.09 V
==> UpdateT48.dat contains firmware version 00.1.36 (newer)
==> 
==> Do you want to continue with firmware update? y/n

Press y and RETURN, and it will update:

==> Switching to bootloader... OK
==> Erasing... OK
==> Reflashing... 100%
==> Resetting device... OK
==> Reflash... OK

Done!

Recently I’ve posted some, let’s just say, less then flattering comments about the current US executive in the context of global security, among other things. Maybe the sudden influx of comments from angry Americans is just a coincidence, but either way is a phrase with three words.

This is my attempt to aggregate the common themes into one.

You just hate “my” president

I wouldn’t dignify that orange guy with the word hate. A better word would be pity. He’s clearly an insecure, hollow person who isn’t quite with it anymore. He literally had to pay to become president to get people to take him seriously (and even then, you don’t want to know what your allies are saying behind his back, or even increasingly in front of it).

But it’s this attitude of him being “their” president that concerns me. Politics isn’t sport. I vote for politicians despite not agreeing with all their positions. Did you agree with everything your parents did? Your favourite coach? Stand up for yourself.

You’re using a computer invented in the US!

What does that have to do with Agent Orange?

Besides, the World Wide Web was invented by a Brit in Switzerland, and these devices were manufactured in mainland China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Not saying your country hasn’t made extraordinary contributions, but you’re hardly alone.

Australia invented Wi-Fi and the Flat White. The Flat Wi-Fi! Checkmate.

If I lived in a “shithole” like yours…

What does that have to do with Agent Orange?

Australia has a lower infant mortality rate, higher life expectancy, higher literacy rate, higher human development, more affordable healthcare, and we make better coffee. This is increasingly the case around the world. These are all facts you could look up.

Americans aren’t unique in this case, but Westerners in general are not taking their reduced influence in the world very well. It’s the Asian century now; get with it, or miss out.

We put a man on the moon!

What does that have to do with Agent Orange?

Besides, you might want to look up where some of those rocket engineers came from. The world also saw the moon landing thanks to Australia! It’s a fun story, and a great movie.

You don’t live here, and don’t know what’s going on

The idea you have to live somewhere to understand does have a kernel of truth to it. If more of these angry Americans left their own shores at least once in their lives to see the rest of the world, I suspect it’d instil a bit of contrition.

But you can also see stuff go down from afar, and draw worrying parallels. Half my family is German. Let’s just say, we know where this all goes. That’s why we’ve been trying to warn you.

We saved your arse in WWII

What does that have to do with Agent Orange?

Australians also followed you into Vietnam and Afghanistan, some of the worst humanitarian disasters of the 20th century. You used our country as a base, and continue to do so for reasons I increasingly can’t understand.

You’re just a liberal/leftie/something

If only it were that easy. As my Singaporean side would say: aiyo.

AMERICA. 🇨🇱

That’s the flag of Chile, mate. Which I suppose is in South America. Touché.

You just hate America

This is overwhelmingly the number one comment, and I’m sure I’m not the only one receiving it. I’ve saved it for last.

As someone with many American friends, who worked in the US for a couple of months, who loves jazz, eats apple pie, watches baseball, and who thinks NYC is the most incredible city in the English-speaking world, this makes no sense. It’s because I liked America that I find it’s current administration so frustrating and depressing. It’s like seeing your uncle stumbling drunk into a family gathering.

If you’re still clinging to him now in spite of all that’s happening, I’m not sure I can convince you to face reality. But we’ll keep chipping away. Or fries, as I think your culture refers to them. I still have dreams about that Tex Mex I had at Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and I expect that wasn’t even that special by your standards.

Conclusion

Is a word with ten letters. Cheers.

I continue to slowly amass parts for my childhood computer rebuild. My dad bought the family i486 while we briefly lived in Melbourne, and while it was ewasted many years ago, I found the purchase receipts and documentation last year.

Here’s a summary of what I’ve got so far:

From top to bottom

• The UN-1061 multi-IO card, which provided the machine with an IDE controller, RS232/serial ports, a game port, and a Centronics/parallel port.

• Rainbow serial cables, ports, and case bracket, assembled from AliExpress parts. I’m sure the original PC had grey cables, but I can’t get enough of rainbow ones since first encountering them on my Apple //e. These will be used for the mouse and dialup modem.

• A Trident TVGA-8900C, with a full 1 MiB compliment of memory. This just arrived on Friday. My dad’s invoice from 1992 references “1 MiB”, but I’m not sure if that was for this card, or the optional Tseng ET4000 upgrade that would have been much better! Either way, super happy to have this.

• An Intel i486 SX-25. This is the later model from 1992, denoted with that year and the &E on the ceramic.

• One of my spare ATMEL 28C64 EEPROMs, which I flashed with the BIOS image for the board from The Retro Web. I also submitted the original scanned documentation from my dad’s files :).

Not pictured

• The original Creative Hex-Speed CD-ROM, which is currently in my IBM Aptiva. This will be moved across to this machine.

• The original Panasonic 5.25-inch 1.2 MiB floppy drive, which is currently in my Pentium MMX machine. This will be moved over too.

• The original Sound Blaster 16 Value card, which is also in that Pentium MMX machine.

• (An earlier draft referenced the Compex RL2000A NIC we had, but I checked my notes and this was in our first Pentium. I’ll need to source a NIC that wouldn’t be too much of a pain to use that would have existed in 1992)!

The last parts needed

• The MB-1433FA motherboard, which is in transit. I am unreasonably excited to be reunited with this again.

• A keyboard controller, which the motherboard is missing along with the aforementioned BIOS chip. They’re available but a bit pricey, so I might harvest from a donor board for now, assuming they’re compatible.

• An IDE storage emulation solution. We’ve got a few options now, but I haven’t decided.

• A Panasonic 3.5-inch disk drive, or another GOTEK, I haven’t decided.

• Two IDE cable of sufficient fabulousness to connect the IDE emulator to the MIO card, and the Creative CD-ROM to the Sound Blaster.

I hope this sort of in-progress posts are interesting. I’m having a blast rebuilding this :).

I was catching up on mail this morning in Thunderbird. Then mailing lists, which I have filtered into their own separate folder structure. Then newsgroups. Then RSS, which I’ve included into Thunderbird again for convenience (more on that in a future post).

I went to a few social media sites websites I frequent and contribute to, and they all have little mail icons in their toolbars. You click them, and they open up an “inbox” with messages that are formatted… suspiciously like email.

I just think that’s interesting. We have all this technology, and have made all this progress, and so much of the mental model for interaction is still based around sending each other letters. 〒

In no particular order:

• I’m not sure I’ve ever called it out directly, but NetBSD Planet is awesome. My favourite experience is reading a post from someone who shares a common interest with me, but who also ends up blogging about something else as well. It’s how I discover and learn new things.

• Alex J. Lowry’s Electronics Homepage has so much fascinating retrocomputer stuff, and the site itself is incredibly charming. It’s what I was aiming for on my Retro Corner, but way better.

• The Guardian is reporting that the US may not sell Australia those nuclear submarines after all. Literally what we all said would happen. Let’s get France on the phone again and bail from AUKUS, our future is multilateralism.

• pgschema is a declarative schema migration tool for Postgres. I could see this being very useful.

• Poland’s favourite blogger Michał Sapka has a new phone. The number of people in my personal circle bailing from iPhones, either as a result of Tim Apple’s sycophancy, or Liquid (Gl)ass, is higher than I ever could have expected, and I can’t wait to join in. Getting an eink one is interesting, especially as a strategy to reduce distractions.

• You can turn your A2PICO into a PCPI Applicard. I C/PM what you did there! AAAAA! I kid, but what a time to be alive.

• Joel blogged what he did in January, which reminded me that I really need to read DanDaDan.

I keep window shopping for ThinkPads. I think I’ve settled on a T14, maybe an older-generation AMD if it plays well with FreeBSD and/or Linux. Under the System Expansion Slots in the web configuration tool, there’s always an option to select a Smart Card Reader. It’s disabled by default, but can be selected for the princely sum of $30 Australian.

It’s been a hot minute since I worked in a large corporate and needed to sign-in using one of these cards. I also have no intention of ever using this in such an environment; this will strictly be a personal device. Still, it has me wondering if these slots are useful for anything else? Can I hack on it, or repurpose it, or use it for something cool?

I expect the answer is an emphatic no, and that I should spend that money on groceries or something. But one can ask.

This news from Perl.com was awesome to read:

2025 was a tough year for The Perl and Raku Foundation (TPRF). Funds were sorely needed. The community grants program had been paused due to budget constraints and we were in danger of needing to pause the Perl 5 core maintenance grants. Fastmail stepped up with a USD 10,000 donation and helped TPRF to continue to support Perl 5 core maintenance.

They quoted Ricardo Signes at Fastmail:

Perl has served us quite well since Fastmail’s inception. We’ve built up a large code base that has continued to work, grow, and improve over twenty years. We’ve stuck with Perl because Perl stuck with us: it kept working and growing and improving, and very rarely did those improvements require us to stop the world and adapt to onerous changes. We know that kind of stability is, in part, a function of the developers of Perl, whose time is spent figuring out how to make Perl better without also making it worse. The money we give toward those efforts is well-spent, because it keeps the improvements coming and the language reliable.

Here here. Perl is a robust, reliable language that just works.

I’ve fallen in love with Go of late, but the majority of my personal and work projects are still held together with Perl, and I continue to write and maintain it. This is a reminder for me that I should put my money where my mouth is too.