JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. PLAINTEXT HTTP IN A MODERN WORLD A Rant About Gemini. Tangentially related, Gemini is a modern document transfer protocol that aims to fit between the ancient Gopher protocol and the too-modern HTTP web. Its document markup language is based on Markdown so it’s very lightweight and simple to parse without complex HTML/CSS parsers. It sounds like the perfect thing to bring modern content to vintage computers, BLUETOOTH AUDIO ON OPENBSD WITH THE CREATIVE BT-W3 Since Tweeting about the BT-W2 last year, OpenBSD’s audio system has changed quite a bit and now sndiod controls output volume itself with sndioctl being the preferred utility, rather than directly changing hardware mixer settings with mixerctl as in years past. The new hardware volume control (outputs.dac) can still be seen or modified directly with mixerctl and passing it the control AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GENSEE MORE ON JCS.ORG JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. PPP OVER A WIFI232 (PPP OVER TCP) PPP Over TCP. While the physical serial cable worked well, I still want to keep my Mac connected to my WiFi232 so I can choose whether to use it to telnet to BBSes in programs like ZTerm which don’t support telnet/MacTCP, or to establish a PPP connection. You know, just like a real modem would when dialing into a BBS or dialing into an ISP. OPENBSD ON THE HUAWEI MATEBOOK X The Huawei MateBook X is a high-quality 13” ultra-thin laptop with a fanless Core i5 processor. It is obviously biting the design of the Apple 12” MacBook, but it does have some notable improvements such as a slightly larger screen, a more usable keyboard with adequate key travel, and 2 USB-C ports. It also uses more standard PC components than the MacBook, such as a PS/2-connected OPENBSD ON THE CHROMEBOOK PIXEL (2015) OpenBSD on the Chromebook Pixel (2015) posted on aug 26th, 2016 with tags laptops and openbsd, and last updated on aug 22nd, 2016. The Chromebook Pixel LS (2015) has an Intel Core i7 processor (Broadwell) at 2.4Ghz, 16Gb of RAM, a 2560x1700 400-nit IPS screen (239ppi), and Intel 802.11ac wireless. It has a Kingston 64Gib flash chip, of which AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GENSEE MORE ON JCS.ORG PROJECTS - JOSHUA STEIN joshua stein projects | github | twitter | contact | Projects. These are the projects (both technology-related and not) on which most of my time is currently spent. Pushover (2012 - present) (Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MariaDB, Objective C, Java, Javascript). Pushover is a platform and bundled client applications for sending and receiving push notification messages on Android, iOS, and Desktop devices. SERIES: C PROGRAMMING ON SYSTEM 6 Series: C Programming on System 6. Hello, cyber pals. In October 2020, I started recording videos of my development of an IMAP client written on my Mac 512Ke (upgraded to Mac Plus specs) running System 6, using the THINK C 5 IDE. This list of videos is in chronological order. To be notified of new videos as I publish them, you can subscribe to WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

OPENBSD ON THE MICROSOFT SURFACE GO 2 by joshua stein. I used OpenBSD on the original Surface Go back in 2018 and many things worked with the big exception of the internal Atheros WiFi. This meant I had to keep it tethered to a USB-C dock for Ethernet or use a small USB-A WiFi dongle plugged into a PPP OVER A WIFI232 (PPP OVER TCP) PPP Over TCP. While the physical serial cable worked well, I still want to keep my Mac connected to my WiFi232 so I can choose whether to use it to telnet to BBSes in programs like ZTerm which don’t support telnet/MacTCP, or to establish a PPP connection. You know, just like a real modem would when dialing into a BBS or dialing into an ISP. OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (7TH GEN 2019-08-13: I committed a quirk to the azalia driver to do the speaker routing by default without having to use mixerctl. 2019-08-19: A fix for a slowly-drawing console after S3 resume has been identified and committed. 2019-10-13: A quirk has been added to the azalia driver to fix a popping/clicking sound heard when listening to headphones. 2019-11-18: Support for the Intel 9560 Wi

DOLCH PAC 64

Dolch PAC 64. The Dolch PAC 64 is a portable, rugged Pentium-powered PC from the mid 1990s. It was usually used (and can usually be found on eBay) as a “portable network sniffer” complete with multiple network cards supporting multiple media types. The PAC 64 was one in a series of portable computers made by Dolch Computer Systems OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GEN This generation of X1 Carbon finally brings a thinner screen bezel, allowing the entire footprint of the laptop to be smaller which is welcome on something with a 14” screen. The X1 now measures 12.7” wide, 8.5” deep, and 0.6” thick, and weighs just 2.6 pounds. While not available at initial launch, Lenovo is now offering a WQHD IPS AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the

GARBAGE PODCAST

Your browser does not support the audio element - Download (746.1Kb) So long, and thanks for all the fish. JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. PLAINTEXT HTTP IN A MODERN WORLD A Rant About Gemini. Tangentially related, Gemini is a modern document transfer protocol that aims to fit between the ancient Gopher protocol and the too-modern HTTP web. Its document markup language is based on Markdown so it’s very lightweight and simple to parse without complex HTML/CSS parsers. It sounds like the perfect thing to bring modern content to vintage computers, BLUETOOTH AUDIO ON OPENBSD WITH THE CREATIVE BT-W3 Since Tweeting about the BT-W2 last year, OpenBSD’s audio system has changed quite a bit and now sndiod controls output volume itself with sndioctl being the preferred utility, rather than directly changing hardware mixer settings with mixerctl as in years past. The new hardware volume control (outputs.dac) can still be seen or modified directly with mixerctl and passing it the control AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GENSEE MORE ON JCS.ORG JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. PLAINTEXT HTTP IN A MODERN WORLD A Rant About Gemini. Tangentially related, Gemini is a modern document transfer protocol that aims to fit between the ancient Gopher protocol and the too-modern HTTP web. Its document markup language is based on Markdown so it’s very lightweight and simple to parse without complex HTML/CSS parsers. It sounds like the perfect thing to bring modern content to vintage computers, BLUETOOTH AUDIO ON OPENBSD WITH THE CREATIVE BT-W3 Since Tweeting about the BT-W2 last year, OpenBSD’s audio system has changed quite a bit and now sndiod controls output volume itself with sndioctl being the preferred utility, rather than directly changing hardware mixer settings with mixerctl as in years past. The new hardware volume control (outputs.dac) can still be seen or modified directly with mixerctl and passing it the control AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GENSEE MORE ON JCS.ORG PROJECTS - JOSHUA STEIN joshua stein projects | github | twitter | contact | Projects. These are the projects (both technology-related and not) on which most of my time is currently spent. Pushover (2012 - present) (Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MariaDB, Objective C, Java, Javascript). Pushover is a platform and bundled client applications for sending and receiving push notification messages on Android, iOS, and Desktop devices. SERIES: C PROGRAMMING ON SYSTEM 6 Series: C Programming on System 6. Hello, cyber pals. In October 2020, I started recording videos of my development of an IMAP client written on my Mac 512Ke (upgraded to Mac Plus specs) running System 6, using the THINK C 5 IDE. This list of videos is in chronological order. To be notified of new videos as I publish them, you can subscribe to WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

OPENBSD ON THE MICROSOFT SURFACE GO 2 by joshua stein. I used OpenBSD on the original Surface Go back in 2018 and many things worked with the big exception of the internal Atheros WiFi. This meant I had to keep it tethered to a USB-C dock for Ethernet or use a small USB-A WiFi dongle plugged into a PPP OVER A WIFI232 (PPP OVER TCP) PPP Over TCP. While the physical serial cable worked well, I still want to keep my Mac connected to my WiFi232 so I can choose whether to use it to telnet to BBSes in programs like ZTerm which don’t support telnet/MacTCP, or to establish a PPP connection. You know, just like a real modem would when dialing into a BBS or dialing into an ISP. OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (7TH GEN 2019-08-13: I committed a quirk to the azalia driver to do the speaker routing by default without having to use mixerctl. 2019-08-19: A fix for a slowly-drawing console after S3 resume has been identified and committed. 2019-10-13: A quirk has been added to the azalia driver to fix a popping/clicking sound heard when listening to headphones. 2019-11-18: Support for the Intel 9560 Wi

DOLCH PAC 64

Dolch PAC 64. The Dolch PAC 64 is a portable, rugged Pentium-powered PC from the mid 1990s. It was usually used (and can usually be found on eBay) as a “portable network sniffer” complete with multiple network cards supporting multiple media types. The PAC 64 was one in a series of portable computers made by Dolch Computer Systems OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GEN This generation of X1 Carbon finally brings a thinner screen bezel, allowing the entire footprint of the laptop to be smaller which is welcome on something with a 14” screen. The X1 now measures 12.7” wide, 8.5” deep, and 0.6” thick, and weighs just 2.6 pounds. While not available at initial launch, Lenovo is now offering a WQHD IPS AN ECOBEE AUTOMATION HACK An Ecobee Automation Hack. I’ve had an Ecobee thermostat in my house and now in my apartment for a number of years. It’s a touchscreen thermostat equipped with 802.11 wireless that can be remotely adjusted and monitored from Ecobee’s website as well as iPhone and Android applications. While the expected use case might be monitoring the

GARBAGE PODCAST

Your browser does not support the audio element - Download (746.1Kb) So long, and thanks for all the fish. JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem SERIES: C PROGRAMMING ON SYSTEM 6 Series: C Programming on System 6. Hello, cyber pals. In October 2020, I started recording videos of my development of an IMAP client written on my Mac 512Ke (upgraded to Mac Plus specs) running System 6, using the THINK C 5 IDE. This list of videos is in chronological order. To be notified of new videos as I publish them, you can subscribe to WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. BLUETOOTH AUDIO ON OPENBSD WITH THE CREATIVE BT-W3 Since Tweeting about the BT-W2 last year, OpenBSD’s audio system has changed quite a bit and now sndiod controls output volume itself with sndioctl being the preferred utility, rather than directly changing hardware mixer settings with mixerctl as in years past. The new hardware volume control (outputs.dac) can still be seen or modified directly with mixerctl and passing it the control OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) PPP OVER A WIFI232 (PPP OVER TCP) PPP Over TCP. While the physical serial cable worked well, I still want to keep my Mac connected to my WiFi232 so I can choose whether to use it to telnet to BBSes in programs like ZTerm which don’t support telnet/MacTCP, or to establish a PPP connection. You know, just like a real modem would when dialing into a BBS or dialing into an ISP. OPENBSD ON THE CHROMEBOOK PIXEL (2015) OpenBSD on the Chromebook Pixel (2015) posted on aug 26th, 2016 with tags laptops and openbsd, and last updated on aug 22nd, 2016. The Chromebook Pixel LS (2015) has an Intel Core i7 processor (Broadwell) at 2.4Ghz, 16Gb of RAM, a 2560x1700 400-nit IPS screen (239ppi), and Intel 802.11ac wireless. It has a Kingston 64Gib flash chip, of which RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

DOLCH PAC 64

JCS.ORG - JOSHUA STEIN WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator.

WIFISTATION

WiFiStation is an ESP8266 WiFi module board that connects to a Cidco MailStation Z80 computer. It allows programs to be uploaded to the MailStation over WiFi/HTTP or USB serial, and can act as a WiFi modem. Note: WiFiStation requires programs on the MailStation to be written to use it, and does not replace or remove any standard analog modem SERIES: C PROGRAMMING ON SYSTEM 6 Series: C Programming on System 6. Hello, cyber pals. In October 2020, I started recording videos of my development of an IMAP client written on my Mac 512Ke (upgraded to Mac Plus specs) running System 6, using the THINK C 5 IDE. This list of videos is in chronological order. To be notified of new videos as I publish them, you can subscribe to WIFISTATION: A WIFI INTERFACE FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION WiFiStation: A WiFi interface for the Cidco MailStation. posted on apr 23rd, 2021 with tags hardware , retrocomputing , and z80. I’ve created an adapter for the Cidco MailStation Z80 computer which adds the ability to use WiFi for data transfer, code uploading, and to act as a WiFi modem for my msTERM terminal emulator. BLUETOOTH AUDIO ON OPENBSD WITH THE CREATIVE BT-W3 Since Tweeting about the BT-W2 last year, OpenBSD’s audio system has changed quite a bit and now sndiod controls output volume itself with sndioctl being the preferred utility, rather than directly changing hardware mixer settings with mixerctl as in years past. The new hardware volume control (outputs.dac) can still be seen or modified directly with mixerctl and passing it the control OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 NANO (1ST GEN) PPP OVER A WIFI232 (PPP OVER TCP) PPP Over TCP. While the physical serial cable worked well, I still want to keep my Mac connected to my WiFi232 so I can choose whether to use it to telnet to BBSes in programs like ZTerm which don’t support telnet/MacTCP, or to establish a PPP connection. You know, just like a real modem would when dialing into a BBS or dialing into an ISP. OPENBSD ON THE CHROMEBOOK PIXEL (2015) OpenBSD on the Chromebook Pixel (2015) posted on aug 26th, 2016 with tags laptops and openbsd, and last updated on aug 22nd, 2016. The Chromebook Pixel LS (2015) has an Intel Core i7 processor (Broadwell) at 2.4Ghz, 16Gb of RAM, a 2560x1700 400-nit IPS screen (239ppi), and Intel 802.11ac wireless. It has a Kingston 64Gib flash chip, of which RESTUFF: STUFFIT AS A SERVICE ReStuff. StuffIt is the de-facto standard for file archiving and compression on Mac OS before OS X. Most old Macintosh software is preserved in StuffIt format, but a format change in StuffIt 5 makes archives created in this version unreadable in older versions of StuffIt. Since StuffIt 3.5 is the last version that works on System 6,

many

DOLCH PAC 64

SERIES: C PROGRAMMING ON SYSTEM 6 Series: C Programming on System 6. Hello, cyber pals. In October 2020, I started recording videos of my development of an IMAP client written on my Mac 512Ke (upgraded to Mac Plus specs) running System 6, using the THINK C 5 IDE. This list of videos is in chronological order. To be notified of new videos as I publish them, you can subscribe to PROJECTS - JOSHUA STEIN joshua stein projects | github | twitter | contact | Projects. These are the projects (both technology-related and not) on which most of my time is currently spent. Pushover (2012 - present) (Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MariaDB, Objective C, Java, Javascript). Pushover is a platform and bundled client applications for sending and receiving push notification messages on Android, iOS, and Desktop devices. WIFISTATION: ASSEMBLY Step 1: Verify Parts. You should have received all of the following parts: DB25 90-degree connector. 4611X-101-472LF 4.7k Ohm bussed 10-resistor array. MCP23S18 SPI chip. Socket for MCP23S18 chip. 12-Pin header and 16-pin header. Adafruit Huzzah Feather module with pin headers (your pin headers may already be soldered to the Huzzah

module)

PLAINTEXT HTTP IN A MODERN WORLD A Rant About Gemini. Tangentially related, Gemini is a modern document transfer protocol that aims to fit between the ancient Gopher protocol and the too-modern HTTP web. Its document markup language is based on Markdown so it’s very lightweight and simple to parse without complex HTML/CSS parsers. It sounds like the perfect thing to bring modern content to vintage computers, CIDCO MAILSTATION AS A Z80 DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM Cidco MailStation as a Z80 Development Platform. The Cidco MailStation is a series of dedicated e-mail terminals sold in the 2000s as simple, standalone devices for people to use to send and receive e-mail over dialup modem. While their POP3 e-mail functionality is of little use today, the hardware is a neat Z80 development platform that OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (7TH GEN 2019-08-13: I committed a quirk to the azalia driver to do the speaker routing by default without having to use mixerctl. 2019-08-19: A fix for a slowly-drawing console after S3 resume has been identified and committed. 2019-10-13: A quirk has been added to the azalia driver to fix a popping/clicking sound heard when listening to headphones. 2019-11-18: Support for the Intel 9560 Wi TOUCHPAD, INTERRUPTED Touchpad, Interrupted. For two years I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to figure out the source of a driver problem on OpenBSD: interrupts never arrived for certain touchpad devices. A couple weeks ago, I put out a public plea asking for help in case any non-OpenBSD developers recognized the problem, but while debugging an unrelated

issue

WIFI232 WITH A MACINTOSH 512KE WiFi232. Soon after being defeated by LocalTalk, I discovered the excellent WiFi232 which is a small WiFi-enabled board with an RS232 DB25 serial interface that emulates a Hayes-compatible modem. Instead of using ATDT 5551212 to dial a phone number through a modem, the WiFi232 allows one to do ATDT lobste.rs and establish a telnet

connection

CVE-2019-8575: APPLE AIRPORT FIRMWARE DATA DELETION CVE-2019-8575: Apple AirPort Firmware Data Deletion Vulnerability. posted on may 30th, 2019 with tags apple , networking , and security. On July 4th, 2018, I reported a security/privacy problem to Apple regarding the firmware on its now-discontinued AirPort wireless access points. Per Apple’s website , a “factory-default reset” of an

GARBAGE PODCAST

Your browser does not support the audio element - Download (746.1Kb) So long, and thanks for all the fish.

JOSHUA STEIN

pushover | github | twitter | rss | contact

May 2020

OPENBSD ON THE MICROSOFT SURFACE GO 2 posted to writings on may 15th, 2020 with tags laptops and openbsd and commented on eight

times

I used OpenBSD on the original Surface Go back in 2018 and many things worked with the big exception of the internal Atheros WiFi. This meant I had to keep it tethered to a USB-C dock for Ethernet or use a small USB-A WiFi dongle plugged into a less-than-small USB-A-to-USB-C

adapter.

Microsoft has switched to Intel WiFi chips on their recent Surface devices, making the Surface Go 2 slightly more compatible with

OpenBSD.

Continue reading 1,384 words...

March 2020

A USB LOADER FOR THE CIDCO MAILSTATION posted to writings on mar 31st, 2020 with tags hardware , mailstation , and z80 Last year I wrote about the Cidco MailStation and how I was using it as a Z80 development platform. One of the biggest hurdles to running code on them is that it must be uploaded over the MailStation's parallel port with a LapLink cable and some custom software (although it's certainly easier than having to pull and flash a chip). I recently created a USB data loader device that allows for easier development from a modern computer and implements the MailStation's custom data encoding routines in its firmware. Continue reading 678 words...

December 2019

ARDUINO DEVELOPMENT ON OPENBSD posted to writings on dec 17th, 2019 with tags arduino , hardware , and openbsd Back in 2017, I bought an Arduboy , a fun little Arduino development system which integrates an ATmega32U4 8-bit CPU, 32Kb of flash storage, 2Kb of RAM, a 128x64 pixel OLED display, some buttons, a speaker, and a battery in a Gameboy-like package. OpenBSD had an old Arduino package available without the Arduino IDE , and it instead included a

custom Makefile

for end-users to build off of for compiling projects. But it was all pretty old and crufty and kind of sucked the fun out of tinkering with a new piece of hardware. Continue reading 759 words...

August 2019

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (7TH GEN) posted to writings on aug 14th, 2019 with tags hardware

, laptops , openbsd

, and thinkpad , last updated on nov 18th, 2019 and commented on 11 times Another year, another ThinkPad X1 Carbon, this time with a Dolby Atmos sound system and a

smaller battery.

Continue reading 1,581 words...

July 2019

TOUCHPAD, INTERRUPTED posted to writings on jul 28th, 2019 with tags debugging , laptops , and openbsd and commented on 12 times For two years I've been driving myself crazy

trying to figure

out the source of a driver problem on OpenBSD: interrupts never arrived for certain touchpad devices. A couple weeks ago, I put out a

public plea

asking for help in case any non-OpenBSD developers recognized the problem, but while debugging an unrelated issue over the weekend, I

finally solved it.

It's been a long journey and it's a technical tale, but here it is. Continue reading 2,877 words...

May 2019

CVE-2019-8575: APPLE AIRPORT FIRMWARE DATA DELETION VULNERABILITY posted to writings on may 30th, 2019 with tags apple

and security

On July 4th, 2018, I reported a security/privacy problem to Apple regarding the firmware on its now-discontinued

AirPort

wireless access points. Per Apple's website , a "factory-default reset" of an AirPort should "remove any saved configurations and profiles" and should be sufficient for "selling or giving away your base station". On at least AirPort Extreme AP firmware 7.7.9 and AirPort Express firmware 7.6.9 (the newest available for each device at the time of reporting), a "factory-default" reset just moves the configuration file to a new location on the device, and the old file and up to two additional previous configurations remain accessible on the device. Continue reading 1,272 words... CIDCO MAILSTATION AS A Z80 DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM posted to writings on may 3rd, 2019 with tags hardware , mailstation , retro , and z80 and commented on seven times The Cidco MailStation is a series of dedicated e-mail terminals sold in the 2000s as simple, standalone devices for people to use to send and receive e-mail over dialup modem. While their POP3 e-mail functionality is of little use today, the hardware is a neat Z80 development platform that integrates a 320x128 LCD, full QWERTY keyboard, and an internal modem. After purchasing one (ok, four) on eBay some months ago, I've learned enough about the platform to write my own software that allows it to be a terminal for accessing BBSes via its modem or as a terminal for a Unix machine connected over parallel cable. Continue reading 2,392 words...

March 2019

USING AN OPENBSD ROUTER WITH AT&T U-VERSE posted to writings on mar 21st, 2019 with tags networking and openbsd and commented on 15

times

I upgraded to AT&T's U-verse Gigabit

internet

service in 2017 and it came with an Arris BGW-210 as the WiFi AP and router. The BGW-210 is not a terrible device, but I already had my own Airport Extreme APs wired throughout my house and an OpenBSD router configured with various things, so I had no use for this device. It's also a potentially-insecure

device that I can't

upgrade or fully disable remote control over. Fully removing the BGW-210 is not possible as we'll see later, but it is possible to remove it from the routing path. This is how I did it

with OpenBSD.

Continue reading 1,772 words...

November 2018

OPENBSD IN STEREO WITH LINUX VFIO posted to writings on nov 12th, 2018 with tags debugging

, laptops , linux ,

and openbsd and commented on 11 times I use a Huawei Matebook X as my primary OpenBSD laptop and one aspect of its hardware support

has always been

lacking: audio never played out of the right-side speaker. The speaker did actually work, but only in Windows and only after the Realtek Dolby Atmos audio driver from Huawei was installed. Under OpenBSD and Linux, and even Windows with the default Intel sound driver, audio only ever played out of the left speaker. Now, after some extensive reverse engineering and debugging with the help of VFIO on Linux, I finally have audio playing out of both speakers on OpenBSD. Continue reading 2,066 words...

August 2018

OPENBSD ON THE MICROSOFT SURFACE GO posted to writings on aug 31st, 2018 with tags laptops and openbsd and commented on 20

times

For some reason I like small laptops and the constraints they place on me (as long as they're still usable). I used a Dell Mini 9

for a long

time back in the netbook days and was recently using an 11" MacBook Air as my primary development machine for many years. Recently Microsoft announced a smaller, cheaper version of its Surface tablets called Surface Go which piqued my interest. Continue reading 3,019 words...

July 2018

ADVENTURES IN OPEN SOURCE posted to writings on jul 5th, 2018 with tags crystal , openbsd , and ruby In the past couple weeks I contributed to a bunch of different open source projects in different ways and I thought I'd write about some

of them.

I switched from Dropbox to Syncthing a while ago and so far it's been pretty great. I run it on my macOS server in the basement which mirrors everything on its large disks, and also on my various laptops where I selectively sync certain directories that I

need.

Continue reading 1,507 words...

June 2018

FETCHING NODE STATUS FROM AIRPORT APS posted to writings on jun 12th, 2018 with tags apple

, netbsd , and ruby

Seven years ago, I hacked together

some

code to update my Ecobee WiFi thermostat temperature depending on whether I was home. While my newer Ecobee thermostat has room occupancy sensors that make this tracking automatic, back then I had to poll my WiFi access point through SNMP to look for my phone's MAC address in its table of associated clients. Recently I needed to do something similar to pass to my Z-Wave controller but it seems that Apple has removed SNMP support from its Airport Extreme firmware some time ago. Continue reading 599 words...

March 2018

DOLCH PAC 64

posted to writings on mar 20th, 2018 with tags hardware

and retro

The Dolch PAC 64 is a portable, rugged Pentium-powered PC from the mid 1990s. It was usually used (and can usually be found on eBay) as a "portable network sniffer" complete with multiple network cards supporting multiple media types. Continue reading 1,222 words...

November 2017

SWITCHING FROM 1PASSWORD TO BITWARDEN posted to writings on nov 17th, 2017 with tags firefox , openbsd , ruby , and security and commented on 20 times I've been using an OpenBSD laptop as my workstation a lot more lately, probably because most of my hardware just works now and I don't have to think too much about it. The touchpad works when I touch it, I can be confident that when I close the lid, the laptop will fully suspend and then fully resume again when I open it, WiFi works all throughout my house (although it's not terribly fast), and my web browser is fast and stable. What amazing times we live in. In the past, one thing that frequently kept me going back to my Mac

, aside

from iOS and Android development, was 1Password . I have a ton of logins for websites and servers, and because my browsers are all configured to clear cookies

for most

websites after I close their tabs, I need frequent access to passwords synced across my laptops and phones, and 1Password has great apps for all of those except OpenBSD. Continue reading 1,534 words...

September 2017

OPENBSD ON THE LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON (5TH GEN) posted to writings on sep 1st, 2017 with tags hardware

, laptops , openbsd

, and thinkpad , last updated on

sep 4th, 2017

ThinkPads have sort of a cult following among OpenBSD developers and users because the hardware is basic and well supported, and the keyboards are great to type on. While no stranger to ThinkPads myself, most of my OpenBSD laptops in recent years have been from various vendors with brand new hardware components that OpenBSD does not yet support. As satisfying as it is to write new kernel drivers or extend existing ones to make that hardware work, it usually leaves me with a laptop that doesn't work very well for a

period of months.

After exhausting efforts trying to debug the I2C touchpad interrupts on the Huawei MateBook X (and other 100-Series Intel chipset laptops), I decided to take a break and use something with better OpenBSD support out of the box: the fifth generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Continue reading 1,557 words... Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Copyright © 2001-2020 joshua stein . All rights reserved.