Microsoft Updates MS-DOS GitHub Repo To 4.0

April 26, 2024 by Tom Nardi 30 Comments

We’re not 100% sure which phase of Microsoft’s “Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish” gameplan this represents, but just yesterday the Redmond software giant decided to grace us with the source code for MS-DOS v4.0.

To be clear, the GitHub repository itself has been around for several years, and previously contained the source and binaries for MS-DOS v1.25 and v2.0 under the MIT license. This latest update adds the source code for v4.0 (no binaries this time), which originally hit the market back in 1988. We can’t help but notice that DOS v3.0 didn’t get invited to the party — perhaps it was decided that it wasn’t historically significant enough to include.

That said, readers with sufficiently gray beards may recall that DOS 4.0 wasn’t particularly well received back in the day. It was the sort of thing where you either stuck with something in the 3.x line if you had older hardware, or waited it out and jumped to the greatly improved v5 when it was released. Modern equivalents would probably be the response to Windows Vista, Windows 8, and maybe even Windows 11. Hey, at least Microsoft keeps some things consistent.

It’s interesting that they would preserve what’s arguably the least popular version of MS-DOS in this way, but then again there’s something to be said for having a historical record on what not to do for future generations. If you’re waiting to take a look at what was under the hood in the final MS-DOS 6.22 release, sit tight. At this rate we should be seeing it sometime in the 2030s.

How To Cast Silicone Bike Bits

April 26, 2024 by Jenny List 22 Comments

It’s a sad fact of owning older machinery, that no matter how much care is lavished upon your pride and joy, the inexorable march of time takes its toll upon some of the parts. [Jason Scatena] knows this only too well, he’s got a 1976 Honda CJ360 twin, and the rubber bushes that secure its side panels are perished. New ones are hard to come by at a sensible price, so he set about casting his own in silicone.

Naturally this story is of particular interest to owners of old motorcycles, but the techniques should be worth a read to anyone, as we see how he refined his 3D printed mold design and then how he used mica powder to give the clear silicone its black colour. The final buses certainly look the part especially when fitted to the bike frame, and we hope they’ll keep those Honda side panels in place for decades to come. Where this is being written there’s a CB400F in storage, for which we’ll have to remember this project when it’s time to reactivate it.

If fettling old bikes is your thing then we hope you’re in good company here, however we’re unsure that many of you will have restored the parts bin for an entire marque.