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Use FreeDOS to learn about computers

March 26, 2026
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From ‘Obsolete’ to Opportunity: How Five Old PCs Found New Purpose

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Fedora 44 Coming Soon

March 18, 2026
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VirtualBox Problem Solved

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Is there a better Pi Day than March 14?

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Let’s measure pi with a Raspberry Pi

March 13, 2026October 17, 2025
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Why I Really Like Linux

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California’s age verification law is bad for open source

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Announcing the 3rd Edition of “Using and Administering Linux”

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Category: History

Command Line History Linux Text Editors

7 ways I use ed every day

Here are 7 ways I like to use the ed editor for daily tasks.

Jim Hall
September 30, 2025September 21, 2025
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Algol 68 Code Hacking History Linux Programming

Exploring GNU Algol 68: Formatting numbers as strings for output

As I mentioned in my introductory article to this mini-series, GNU Algol 68 is in development, and as of the date of writing this article,...

Chris Hermansen
September 3, 2025September 2, 2025
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History Linux

My first Linux system

Explore this blast from the past with SLS Linux.

Jim Hall
August 25, 2025
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Hardware History

The IBM PC — 44 years old today

On August 12, 1981, the IBM PC — the IBM 5150 — was announced to the world. I’d known about it for several months as I’d written the training course for the IBM Customer engineers who were slated to repair it.

David Both
August 12, 2025February 4, 2026
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History Linux My Linux Story

Ten moments that shaped Linux

This article was originally posted on opensource.com. It's been updated and is published here with the author's permission. In August 2018, Opensource.com posted a poll...

Alan Formy-Duval
July 29, 2025July 24, 2025
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History Linux

A brief history of the Linux desktop

Let’s look back on a brief history of the Linux desktop.

Jim Hall
May 19, 2025May 18, 2025
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FreeDOS History Installation

Looking ahead to FreeDOS 1.4

Help test the next version of FreeDOS with the FreeDOS 1.4 Release Candidate 1 distribution.

Jim Hall
January 7, 2025January 2, 2025
Read More
Community History Open Source

What I’ve learned about open source community over 30 years

Open source projects are about more than just the code. It’s about the people that contribute to it.

Jim Hall
December 8, 2024September 13, 2024
Read More
History Programming

A look back: FORTRAN 77

Take a step back in time to a time when programs were punched on cards.

Jim Hall
August 10, 2024August 7, 2024
Read More
History Installation Linux Post-installation

Complete Kickstart: How to Save Time Installing Linux

Author's note: This article first appeared in the June 2008 issue of Linux Magazine but is no longer maintained there. I republish it here with...

David Both
July 22, 2024July 20, 2024
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FreeDOS History

Celebrating 30 years of FreeDOS

FreeDOS is a great example of the open source model: developers working together to create new programs

Jim Hall
June 29, 2024May 29, 2024
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FreeDOS History Linux

Why DOS only has 16 colors

Have you ever wondered why DOS text only comes in 16 colors and 8 background colors?

Jim Hall
June 8, 2024May 29, 2024
Read More
Curiosity History Programming

Comparing BASIC with FORTRAN 77

I applied what I learned about BASIC to learn the FORTRAN 77 programming language.

Jim Hall
May 25, 2024May 14, 2024
Read More
Fun History Opinion

My open source story

How I got started in open source, from GNU Emacs and installing Linux in 1993.

Jim Hall
May 19, 2024May 19, 2024
Read More
FreeDOS History Open Source

MS-DOS 4.00 released as open source software

Why it’s important that Microsoft released this old version of MS-DOS.

Jim Hall
May 1, 2024April 26, 2024
Read More
History Programming

Writing your own ‘fmt’ program

Learn a little programming to write tools that do things the way you want to do them.

Jim Hall
April 20, 2024April 14, 2024
Read More

Posts pagination

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Random Quote

Any system which depends upon human reliability is unreliable.

— Gilb’s laws of unreliability

Why I’ve Never Used Windows

On February 12 I gave a presentation at the Triangle Linux Users Group (TriLUG) about why I use Linux and why I’ve never used Windows.

Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/live/uCK_haOXPFM 

David Both ATO Interview

Last October at All Things Open (ATO) I was interviewed by Jason Hibbits of We Love Open Source. It’s posted in the article “Why today’s AI isn’t intelligent (yet)“.

“systemd for SysAdmins” Now Available

May 13,2025

My latest book — a #1 New Release on Amazon — “systemd for Linux  SysAdmins” is now available from my publisher, Apress, and on Amazon.

Technically We Write — Our Partner Site

Our partner site, Technically We Write, has published a number of articles from several contributors to Both.org. Check them out.

Technically We Write is a community of technical writers, technical editors, copyeditors, web content writers, and all other roles in technical communication.

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