I just read a great book.

"In the begining ... was the command line" by Neal Stephenson is a great history of operating systems written in a somehwat non-technical manner. I'd say this is a must read for anyone who uses a computer on a regular basis.

In the spirit of things being free, the full text of it is online in many places including the site below:

<a href="http://www.cyberpunkproject.org/lib/in_the_beginning_was_the_command_line/">http://www.cyberpunkproject.org/lib/in_the_beginning_was_the_command_line/</a>

I've read one other book by the same author, Snow Crash, and after this one I certainly intend to read more.

Work your way backwards...
 

"Snow Crash" was a good book..."Cryptonomicon" is a GREAT book. "Diamond Age" was OK. Stephenson has shown a clear maturing of his literary style and ability to marry plot and character. I thought William Gibson plateaued after "Count Zero" (not that I haven't enjoyed most of his writing - though why he associated himself with the movie of "Johnny Mnemonic" is beyond me), but Stephenson is getting better all the time.

Thanks for the link!
 

Thanks for the link, first I have heard of it. (I saved a local copy so I could flip the bgcolor and the text color. SHEEESH!)

I have to agree Gibsons's Count Zero was better than Neuromancer, I want to read his latest, released in 2000....

You kids might want to check out some older Stephenson works- specifically the Big U and Zodiac. Both books show his style, if a bit less mature than his later works. Big U is reflective of his days at a 'mega-university' in the early eighties. As an attendee of a mega-university in the late nineties, I can't say its too far off.

I'm going though a Stepherson phase at the moment, diamond age and Cryptonomicon. LEGEND! Best autor i've found in a long, long time. I'm loving his work. Tracking down some more at the moment.

I have the "command line" book tho I admit I haven't finished it.

I read Big U a while back and it's definitely more immature in style, tho worthwhile if you are a fan.

rhetorical question
 

How is it possible for me to upgrade my system from 64M RAM to 256M RAM, add a Ati Radeon 7500LE video card and a cheapie webcam so my beloved can see me when I'm talking to her..and yet when all the dust settles, Netscape was GONE!

The directory was still there, as were the folders, but the executable was totally wiped off the HD, no trace found!

Where'd it go?

Brian

Bill Gates stole it. He does that.

Codeblue40: Please utilize ordinary black text.

I have loved all of Stephenson's novels, and I have been trying to find Zodiac: the Eco-Thriller locally. Discussions about Neal Stephenson are generally very fun to have: he does some odd stuff (such as diverging from the story for a few pages to explain Riemann-Zeta functions using the analogy of a bicycle chain in Cryptonomicon). Stephenson also has a drifting way of story telling that I quite like.

Googling for "In The Beginning Was the Command Line" returns many results, I believe that my favorite format might be the smorgasbord link.

definitely, definitely medium, medium blue definitely, blue

What? This? I think it's way too bright.
And this is barely visible.
And this...? Well, that's just crazy.

No, no. I think I'll be staying with this.

Damn coloreds moving in and ruining the neighborhood.




(*snicker*)