Usenet Archives

The first posts from 1990/91 to comp.sys.acorn can be read
here.

That’s a blast from the past.

I missed out on the first days of comp.sys.acorn as I lost internet access after university, and didn’t get back on for a few years, using a friends Demon account which I can’t recall the name of.

But google still finds a few of my old posts to the predecessor group eunet.micro.acorn, such as this one about finding bugs in the newly released RISC OS 2.0. Apologies for the signature, I was young, and three lines weren’t enough.

Well it looks like I didn’t pop back up until 1994 on comp.sys.acorn according to google, but it’s probably wrong. Who owned madman.demon.co.uk? It could have been any one of a number of us nutcases. Anyway here’s one about the RISC PC launch. The signature is three lines shorter.

Anyway here’s one about the RISC PC launch.

And now we can finally review your review of the event, based on original footage.

Apologies for the signature, I was young, and three lines weren’t enough.

Oh, yes. Younger, Fidonet/Usenet, and user definable signatures were a marriage made in hell.

A situation made even worse by the arrival of Figlet to easily turn four lines into ten.

I guess we ought to be glad that sigs didn’t support ANSI graphics. ;-)

And now we can finally review your review of the event, based on original footage.

I’d like to draw your attention a variety of ARM clubbers; a very guilty looking Simon Burrows at 45:47, Mark Smith at 45:49 wearing what he assures me was the height of 90’s fashion knitware, and at 46:02 was Tom Hughes and someone who looks a bit like me in a suit which I’m sure I grew in to not long afterwards.

I turn up again at 53:45 feigning interest in something, but probably waiting until they move away, so I can snaffle any goodies on to floppy discs concealed about my person – hence the bagginess of the suit. If you watch the whole thing carefully I’m sure you can see that in the background of another shot.

Oh look there’s Simon trying to avoid the camera again at 54:08, I think he told the office he was only nipping out for a Starbucks, but then he’s immediately being caught criticising the light weight of an Acorn mouse – not like the solid gold ones he was used to in the city.

Sad thing is that they only seem to archive threads with at least two postings, so comp.sys.acorn.announce is a bit empty.

Sad thing is that they only seem to archive threads with at least two postings, so comp.sys.acorn.announce is a bit empty

Is there any mileage in creating a bot to post a conciliatory reply for each posting?