2022-10-14                         from the editor of ~insom
   ------------------------------------------------------------

   Back in some unproductive retro loops. Recent things:

   - The DOS Protected Mode API on Wikipedia.

   - Installing Plan 9 (9front) on a VM, reading related
   papers. Breathing in its aesthetic.

   - Installing Haiku Beta 3 on a VM. Doing some basic
   computing in there.

   - Installing Watcom C compiler.

   - Lisp stuff, again: specifically Scheme, specifically
   Prescheme and Scheme48.

   - Watching videos about building "new" 486~ class machines
   (using PC104, for example).

   - ... and videos about running "old" x86 machines, mostly
   through eBay and just ... pain.

   These are perfectly fine hobbies for people and interesting
   systems on their own, but I know this pattern. I spend a few
   evenings or more obsessing about this stuff, then I start to
   realise that computing was just _more difficult_ in the past
   and even if I was to set up one of these old systems exactly
   how I like: it has no future. Or, rather, it does have a
   future -- I just already live in it.