computer.rip

https://computer.rip/ One of my favorites.

I also like https://computer.rip/ - not personal anecdotes from people who were there, but definitely well researched and interesting technology history.

> Microwave is line-of-sight so here on the Colorado front range In such places it was common to bounce microwave trunk lines with "passive repeaters": big aluminum reflectors, about the size of a highway billboard, setup wherever a line needed to get around an obstacle. There is an excellent article about it all here[1]. [1] https://computer.rip/2025-08-16-passive-microwave-repeaters.html

Here is a great run down of that history: https://computer.rip/2024-02-25-a-history-of-the-tty.html Early versions had to be mechanically synced at the sending and receiving side. The typists had strict timings so the other end could receive it. This led to a version of punch cards that could be pre-typed and then fed in automatically, reducing the skill needed of the operator. The linage to teletypes were almost obvious. Very good read, don't want to spoil too much.

> 1. What's the point? There are cheaper and better solutions. Abuse will be minimal because infinitely simpler solutions just aren't that expensive these days. This was a very valid concern in the 80s, but it's not anymore. I would like to point out that there has recently been an interest in HF spectrum for use shaving milliseconds off the ping of high-frequency trading firms, since skipping off the ionosphere on HF bands can be slightly faster than more reliable microwave or fiber links. There is licensing trouble (a good rundown of this is at https://computer.rip/2024-10-12-commercial-HF-radio.html) and I'm sure they would love to just use ham spectrum, even if it means paying a fine later after they've cleaned up in the markets. If this works, there will be more than enough demand for such connectivity to swamp the ham bands in encrypted digital junk.

I especially like his exploration of some odd classic rock radio stations: https://computer.rip/2021-01-23-classic-rock-radio.html

Check out OP's https://computer.rip I am a complete shameless fanboy.

Hey, I didn’t read your comment as “obsidian is worse”, but “logseq’s way of operation/thinking fits me better”. Yes, Obsidian has tons of plugins, but I use exactly none of them. The features they add is immense, but I need none of them, because I just write tons of long text files, not dissimilar to old, long text files ubiquitous on the web in the early days (think https://computer.rip style writings, but as technical docs). The difference between the two is very fundamental as you say, one has an internal database while the other runs on simple Markdown files with minimal extra data on top (except search and index Obsidian keeps internally per vault). Again, there’s no hard feelings, just a hat tip to the diversity of our brains, way of thinking and creativity of people for devising these different ideas regarding knowledge management. :)

facsimile refers to communication by fax machine, an ancient method of written communication over telephone lines that was popular pre-email, and is still popular in remaining pre-email societies such as federal government departments and japan. > begrudgingly generated by the use of software read the top of https://computer.rip/

For anyone interested in the historical context, I strongly recommend this blogpost on it: https://computer.rip/2021-03-27-the-actual-osi-model.html

I'm subscribed to Matt Levine's Money Stuff[0] about finance, computers are bad[1] about retrotechnology, and A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry[2] about history. The common theme through all of these is their focus on big picture systems, which I enjoy. I'm also subscribed to the Orbital Index[3] which is about space, and is more focused on small scale current events than the others. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/money-stuff [1] https://computer.rip, run by https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jcrawfordor [2] https://acoup.blog [3] https://orbitalindex.com/

His recent posts about over the horizon radar are a super good read: https://computer.rip/2022-12-04-over-the-horizon-radar-pt-II.html

This is still a concern in 2025. If your aircraft systems break, or if you don't want to be identified, there are surprisingly few ways of identifying you nonetheless. It surprises many people to learn that we do not have full radar coverage of the continental United States, much less the oceans. Outside of the ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone), military bases, large airports, etc., planes are more or less tracked voluntarily by systems like ADS-B. From the excellent Computers Are Bad newsletter, https://computer.rip/2023-02-14-something-up-there-pt-I.html : """ It is a common misconception that the FAA, NORAD, or someone has complete information on aircraft in the skies. In reality, this is far from true. Primary radar is inherently limited in range and sensitivity, and the JSS is a compromise aimed mostly at providing safety of commercial air routes and surveillance off the coasts. Air traffic control and air defense radar is blind to small aircraft in many areas and even large aircraft in some portions of the US and Canada, and that's without any consideration of low-radar-profile or "stealth" technology. With limited exceptions such as the Air Defense Identification Zones off the coasts and the Washington DC region, neither NORAD nor the FAA expect to be able to identify aircraft in the air. Aircraft operating under visual flight rules routinely do so without filing any type of flight plan, and air traffic controllers outside of airport approach areas ignore…

I think this is not true in most of the cases. The (security) technology behind the debit/credit cards using the SmartCard chip (IC) is pretty ubiquitous. It is the same as the security technology guarding the SIM cards in your phone and even your eSIM. Basically the protocols and the interface specifications are the same. In the end, they are just smart cards. Imagine this technology not being strong enough, because I remember the days when the security of the pre-paid public phone cards was quite rabish and any kid with some skills and knowledge could forge a card with unlimited credit. It very happens that the father of the smart card technology to be a french guy [1] and the current biggest provider of this technology is the french aero-space/defense/security company Thales Group[2] followed by another frech company called IDEMIA. There is a very nice biography of the technology [3]. [1] https://artsandculture.google.com/story/roland-moreno-s-ubiquitous-inv… [2] https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/t… [3] https://computer.rip/2023-09-03-plastic-money.html

I have attempted to provide an opinionated, but grounded in clearly-established fact, accounting of the 21st century UFO wave in this series: - https://computer.rip/2023-02-14-something-up-there-pt-I.html - https://computer.rip/2023-02-17-something-up-there-pt-II.html - https://computer.rip/2023-06-07-something-up-there---nasa-and-uaps.htm… It should be understood that I am advocating for a particular interpretation of events that I think is most likely---and is markedly less spectacular than what you typically see in the media. I also haven't really taken on Grusch yet but will probably do so soon. I've been hesitant to write on Grusch because I do not personally feel him to be credible, but only time will tell. there are far too many similarities between Grusch, Bob Lazar, and Luis Elizondo, which clearly illustrates the need to be skeptical of people with fantastical claims and supposed intelligence backgrounds. Like Lazar before him, Grusch seems to be positioning his claims in such a way that they are not verifiable. It will likely take a couple of years for journalists to provide any serious review of Grusch's claims, if they ever do. These congressional hearings are far more show than substance and were never likely to produce any new information, or to seriously evaluate Grusch's credibility. We can hope that something will emerge in coming months that will offer a more definitive appraisal of Grusch but, in the meantime, I think it's by far safest to assume…

I use Feedly / NetNewsFire for feeds, rather than newsletters, but in reality they're the same, just different consumption methods. Just interesting to see NNW was in HN recently. These are the most interesting things I keep in Feedly. acoup.blog - A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - frequently linked to HN already. He's a great history writer, covering everything from Roman logistics, to analysis of current games and movies - eg. LotR battles. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC364qOwWXAzgRruHhhFMhVg - Croker vs Rover. A New Zealand guy restoring a 70s Land Rover. It's a Youtube channel, but both hilarious and informative. Infrequent too, so easy to cruise through at leisure. Atlas Obscura - https://www.atlasobscura.com/ - interesting history/geography mix. https://www.numberphile.com/ - Mathy easy-access but complex topics - mostly videos on Youtube. Very accessible, but interesting for a mostly non-math person to see real math at work. https://waynehale.wordpress.com/ - Wayne Hale - NASA flight controller. Interesting views and analysis of current space / incident management topics vs how it was done for the shuttle, along with some other commentary. Infrequent and interesting. https://computer.rip/ - Deeply geekly telco / 50s-70s computer history with some cold-war fun. Pretty in-depth, and a fun read. https://www.cringely.com/ - Cringley - weekly-monthly tech posts on bigger tech strategy with an Appleish focus. He's been around SV for years. Was early at…

Remember “Free Public WiFi”? It was viral! https://computer.rip/2023-07-29-Free-Public-WiFi.html

In a similar vein, there was an interesting discussion [0] a while back about elevator buttons [1] and how timing for door close/open works, along with a bit of the history and regulations that go into them. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35152341 1: https://computer.rip/2023-03-13-the-door-close-button.html

As a Vegas local I'll say the criticism evolved into "I'm never riding in that death trap after I found out how they skirted fire department approvals". There is as yet no fire department vehicle that can enter the tunnel. And from here [1] "Evacuation procedure basically consist of driving the car out of the tunnel, via the next station. If evacuation must be made in the opposite direction, the manual says the driver must await instructions from the OCC, as they are not generally permitted to drive in reverse." [1] https://computer.rip/2024-08-12-a-pedantic-review-of-the-las-vegas-loo…

If anyone who likes to geek out on old hardware, the image of the teller shows hardware that is part of the IBM 4700 Finance Communication System released in 1982, specifically the IBM 4704 Teller Terminal: https://kishy.ca/?p=648 Archived docs: https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/4700/ Article on the history of ATMs: https://computer.rip/2026-02-27-ibm-atm.html (ChatGPT was of no use figuring this out)

Similar post here on cities being gifted surveillance tools: https://computer.rip/2025-12-26-Flock-and-Urban-Surveillance.html

This article links to a previous one on the earlier history of air traffic control. If you find this kind of history as interesting as I do, definitely start with that one for background: https://computer.rip/2025-05-11-air-traffic-control.html

Did someone say "religious"? https://computer.rip/2020-06-14-manifest-telephone.html I said that religion does not thrive under capitalism, and of course this was the fate met by the Bell system. The breakup of the Bell system in 1982 occurred primarily in response to their very high rates, which were (accurately) seen as symptomatic of the monopoly they enjoyed. CNBC Reporting Live from Jack Welch's funeral, March 5, 2020: https://youtu.be/6opKFgvRzjE?si=ynbAEYEZBCzfuTqE Nobody is wearing masks, but there is a lot of name-dropping by the field reporter, Robert Frank, and a full obituary in the dooblydoo; don't miss them

I wanted to share one of his pieces with a friend, so I sent the URL in a text message, and my friend (a network technician) responded with "Uh, is that link safe?" The title of the piece was "Free Public WiFi" which makes it look even more suspicious, haha... https://computer.rip/2023-07-29-Free-Public-WiFi.html

OSI was was two network stacks fighting with each other, the circuit-switched telco X.25 successor and the packet-switched DEC / Xerox anti-Internet. See also https://computer.rip/2021-03-27-the-actual-osi-model.html and https://dotat.at/@/2024-03-26-iso-osi-usw.html

The OSI model hasn't been accurate representation of ip networking since pretty much day 1. It was made specifically for a different protocol, but in the stack we use today some layers are better split up in 2, some protocols exists in multiple layers. It's a nice metaphor but I think it's time to drop it! https://computer.rip/2021-03-27-the-actual-osi-model.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41019604 https://computer.rip/2024-07-20-minuteman-missile-communications.html

There's actually a KML link buried in the text: https://computer.rip/f/minuteman/90th-mw.kmz It will open directly in Google Earth and put you right on the scene in Armageddon, Wyoming, which appears to be roughly eighty miles south of Bumfark, Nowhere.

Handy place if you get caught short, at least if there was a roll - https://computer.rip/f/minuteman/teleprinter.jpg