link collection

This is a massive hoard curated collection of some links from the great information superhighway that the internet is. The purpose of this part of my website is share some important pages that have helped me in the past while researching a specific topic, or simply something I found amusing.

It's a great place to spend a weekend's afternoon and dive into some rabbit holes. Also, the information it contains is at least a million times more accurate than the first page of any Google search these days.

The information you'll find here will be divided into the following categories for your browsing pleasure:

Operating Systems

The magical software that makes our computers useful and the developer's life a lot easier. Also a major point of bickering amongst users.

MS-DOS

Microsoft's original operating system. A very primitive command-line interface, but still better than CP/M.

How to Install and Configure MS-DOS 6.22 – The ultimate guide on how to setup the OS.
WinWorld – The best library of old PC software. Everyone should know about this by now.
Interesting DOS programs – Nice collection of free applications.
LIP6 Direction des Systemes d'Information File Lists – Massive collection of software and utilities.
CVS 1.3 for OS/2 and DOS – A 1992 port of CVS 1.3 for 16-bit MS-DOS.
Everett Murdock's Books – Some great books on MS-DOS.

Windows 9x

First versions of the 32-bit consumer version of Windows, still dependent on MS-DOS under-the-hood, very error prone and unstable.

Patch for Windows 95/98/98 SE/Me to fix CPU issues – Fixes major bugs when running Win9x on modern hardware with virtualization.
Patch for Windows 95/98/98 SE/Me to fix CPU issues – Fixes major bugs when running Win9x on modern hardware with virtualization.
Windows 9x TLB Invalidation Bug – Why Win9x crashes on modern hardware.
Setting up and Installing Sound Drivers for Windows 98SE on VMWare – How to get sound working on VMWare.

Windows

Anything generally related to Microsoft's most famous product. This knowledge should apply to almost any version of their operating system.

Cygwin Time Machine – An archive of older versions of the Cygwin mirrors. Allowing you to use older versions of Cygwin on older OSes.

Mac OS X

Apple's UNIX-based operating system that used to be amazing and is slowly turning into a glorified version of their mobile OS.

MacPorts – The only package manager you need for you Mac, be it old or new.
How to install an older version of a port – This guide will be your best friend if you plan on using MacPorts on older, specially PowerPC-based, Macs.
TN2110: Identifying Java on OS X – Lists all the official Java versions available for each Mac OS X release.
Last versions of applications for Mac OS X on PowerPC – Massive list filled with links to the last versions of applications that support PowerPC on Tiger and Leopard.
macOS PowerPC Ports – A project aimed at supporting modern open-source software for macOS on PowerPC. Includes a fork of MacPorts specifically for PowerPC.

ChromeOS

Google's own spyware operating system, made for great battery life, performance, and low resource usage. All things it's browser isn't.

How To Apply ChromeOS's Linux Container's /etc/hosts Outside of the Container in Chrome – A clever way of using dnsmasq within Crostini to simulate editing the hosts /etc/hosts file, allowing for Virtual Hosts in Crostini.

Computers

Links related to specific computers or computer parts.

Pocket 386

A modern Intel 386SX-based laptop from China.

Pocket 386 Official Page – Everything you may want to know about the device and some more.
Natalie's Pocket 386 Resources – A collection of low level resources for the device, including schematics, PCB layouts, and restore images.
retro-configs: Pocket386 (2024) – Full technical specification and misc files for the device.
FreddyV DOS Driver for ISA USB – Updated and much faster version of the CH375 USB flash ISA adapter.
Cirrus Logic CL-GD542X Display Driver Disks – Windows 3.1 display drivers for the Pocket 386 graphics adapter.
Ontrack Disk Manager – Dynamic Disk Overlay (DDO) that allows for hard drives larger than 512MB to be fully utilized on older machines.
TPC's CH375 Disk Images – Pre-formatted disk images for flash drives to work with the CH375 ISA USB adapter.
USB flash drives on 8-bit ISA bus using CH375 ISA to USB adapter – Complete resource on how the CH375, including how it works with boot ROMs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous things related to computers that have no other place to live.

Disk Prices – An amazing resource to find the best Amazon deals on storage media.
Open Directory Search – Uses Google Search filters to find hidden gems in open directories.

Programming

The art of turning ideas and logic into magical things that may be useful when run on a computer.

MS-DOS

The hellish landscape of no drivers, near and far pointers, and inline assembly.

DOS retrocoding 01 - setting up – Really nice tutorial on how to get started with Open Watcom under DOS.
Practical Watcom Makefiles, by example – Great resource on Open Watcom's makefiles.

Git

The de facto standard in version control systems. Created by Linus Torvalds and popularized by the Ruby community.

Setting up cgit on Debian – Great tutorial on how to setup cgit for a self-hosted Git server.

CVS (Concurrent Versions System)

The horrible and outdated version control system that's still plenty good enough for some BSD distributions.

Secure CVS Pserver Mini-HOWTO – Most of what you need to know to quickly setup a pserver.
Open Source Development with CVS, 3rd Edition – The bible on how to properly use CVS for open source development.

Docker

The thing that unfortunately popularized containers. Think of FreeBSD's jails, except 100% declarable, and worst in many ways.

How To Run Container Background Tasks With Cron By Using Supervisord – Running multiple services with supervidord and cron made easy.
How to move docker data directory to another location on Ubuntu – Shows how to easily move the massive Docker storage folder to another mount point with more space to hold it.

Sockets

Like driving a manual car, except it's a network. The way you create and implement protocols when no library is available.

Beej's Guide to Network Programming – At this point this is basically the bible of network programming. Definitely a required read.
Beej's Socket Examples Ported to Windows – All of Beej's great examples ported to WinSock 2. Also a great resource to learn the differences between UNIX and Windows sockets.
Programming with sockets - SCO OpenServer 6 – An amazing tutorial on how to do proper sockets programming.

C and C++

If I had to choose one language to use for the rest of my life, it would be C. It's the language I use most of the time and love it. C++ is here just for completeness, since it becomes a different language every 3 years.

Mead's Guide to getopt – The best tutorial on how to use getopt. Includes a step-by-step approach and plenty of examples with output.

Java

The language of enterprise programming. The amazing, resource-hungry VM, that brought us the Enterprise JavaBean Factory.

J2ME development in 2023 – Describes how to setup a J2ME development environment in modern times.

I began collecting these links in July of 2025, so sadly much of my resources along the years have been lost, which is the reason why this page now exists.