Jonathan Pallant
@thejpster.org.uk
Rust Trainer and Developer, retrocomputing enthusiast
Ouch. This hurts.
The ADHD urge to buy a thing, watch all the videos about the thing, religiously track shipping until the thing arrives, excitedly open the shipping box to get to the thing, and then place the thing somewhere random and forget about it for 3-60 months.
February 5, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Ouch. This hurts.
Cool, cool, just Github dropping my release job into "Waiting for a runner" purgatory and ruining my day.
February 4, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Cool, cool, just Github dropping my release job into "Waiting for a runner" purgatory and ruining my day.
“There is no step function in quality of work in the history of human achievement that happened because people one day woke up and decided to be better at their jobs. Improvements [..] happen because of the invention of new techniques, processes, and tools.”
Great paper.
Great paper.
"Memory Safety for Skeptics" has been republished in the Communications of the ACM!
I wrote this to advocate pursuing memory safety, with or without Rust and within budget and schedule constraints.
I wrote this to advocate pursuing memory safety, with or without Rust and within budget and schedule constraints.
cacm.acm.org
February 2, 2026 at 8:06 PM
“There is no step function in quality of work in the history of human achievement that happened because people one day woke up and decided to be better at their jobs. Improvements [..] happen because of the invention of new techniques, processes, and tools.”
Great paper.
Great paper.
TFW when you check the date on the milk you’ve been drinking all week and it went off at the start of the week.
February 2, 2026 at 9:50 AM
TFW when you check the date on the milk you’ve been drinking all week and it went off at the start of the week.
Night Manager 2 - bloody hell.
February 1, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Night Manager 2 - bloody hell.
People give Raspberry Pi a lot of crap, but I've just been given a PandaBoard and ... there's nothing left of the support it once had. It's basically all gone.
However, I can still put the latest Debian on a 2012 Raspberry Pi 1. I mean, it would suck, but I can. All the support still exists.
However, I can still put the latest Debian on a 2012 Raspberry Pi 1. I mean, it would suck, but I can. All the support still exists.
February 1, 2026 at 7:27 PM
People give Raspberry Pi a lot of crap, but I've just been given a PandaBoard and ... there's nothing left of the support it once had. It's basically all gone.
However, I can still put the latest Debian on a 2012 Raspberry Pi 1. I mean, it would suck, but I can. All the support still exists.
However, I can still put the latest Debian on a 2012 Raspberry Pi 1. I mean, it would suck, but I can. All the support still exists.
Reposted by Jonathan Pallant
YES! *dances around the workshop*
This is the disk that made me buy this drive, and it’s only gone and done a 99% image of it 🎉🥳
Crucially, this means I have a copy of the only source file for the D8741A tape controller in the Executels. Beer time! 🍻
£250 well spent.
This is the disk that made me buy this drive, and it’s only gone and done a 99% image of it 🎉🥳
Crucially, this means I have a copy of the only source file for the D8741A tape controller in the Executels. Beer time! 🍻
£250 well spent.
February 1, 2026 at 6:17 PM
YES! *dances around the workshop*
This is the disk that made me buy this drive, and it’s only gone and done a 99% image of it 🎉🥳
Crucially, this means I have a copy of the only source file for the D8741A tape controller in the Executels. Beer time! 🍻
£250 well spent.
This is the disk that made me buy this drive, and it’s only gone and done a 99% image of it 🎉🥳
Crucially, this means I have a copy of the only source file for the D8741A tape controller in the Executels. Beer time! 🍻
£250 well spent.
This crap should be illegal. Sort it out Apple.
February 1, 2026 at 1:55 PM
This crap should be illegal. Sort it out Apple.
February 1, 2026 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Pallant
The PicoIDE Crowd Supply campaign is now live! Back the project to be among the first to get yours! PicoIDE is an open IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for retro systems. www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
PicoIDE
An open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for vintage computers
www.crowdsupply.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:04 PM
The PicoIDE Crowd Supply campaign is now live! Back the project to be among the first to get yours! PicoIDE is an open IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for retro systems. www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics...
> If your workflow fails to start, try re-running and it is likely to work a second time.
Amazing work Github.
www.githubstatus.com
Amazing work Github.
www.githubstatus.com
GitHub Status
Welcome to GitHub's home for real-time and historical data on system performance.
githubstatus.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:23 PM
> If your workflow fails to start, try re-running and it is likely to work a second time.
Amazing work Github.
www.githubstatus.com
Amazing work Github.
www.githubstatus.com
Throw a chair. Sieve the greens. Peel a parsnip. Andy Burnham!
If you know you know.
If you know you know.
January 26, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Throw a chair. Sieve the greens. Peel a parsnip. Andy Burnham!
If you know you know.
If you know you know.
Fat of the Land - still a banger
January 26, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Fat of the Land - still a banger
I have a SPARCengine Ultra AXi - an ATX OEM board from Sun with an UltraSPARC-IIi processor. It is in a stupid gamer case with blue LEDs, because it's funny.
But what OS should I install on it?
But what OS should I install on it?
January 25, 2026 at 1:18 PM
I have a SPARCengine Ultra AXi - an ATX OEM board from Sun with an UltraSPARC-IIi processor. It is in a stupid gamer case with blue LEDs, because it's funny.
But what OS should I install on it?
But what OS should I install on it?
github.com/orcwg/orcwg/...
> Anyone who incorporates AI-generated code into their software today is often already acting with conditional intent – and making themselves vulnerable to claims for damages, injunctions, and even criminal consequences.
Yikes.
> Anyone who incorporates AI-generated code into their software today is often already acting with conditional intent – and making themselves vulnerable to claims for damages, injunctions, and even criminal consequences.
Yikes.
github.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:59 AM
github.com/orcwg/orcwg/...
> Anyone who incorporates AI-generated code into their software today is often already acting with conditional intent – and making themselves vulnerable to claims for damages, injunctions, and even criminal consequences.
Yikes.
> Anyone who incorporates AI-generated code into their software today is often already acting with conditional intent – and making themselves vulnerable to claims for damages, injunctions, and even criminal consequences.
Yikes.
Reposted by Jonathan Pallant
How it started ... How it's going
January 17, 2026 at 9:58 PM
How it started ... How it's going
Apparently I got bored of writing software in Rust, so I'm now writing software in Rust that writes software in Rust.
It's much harder.
It's much harder.
January 17, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Apparently I got bored of writing software in Rust, so I'm now writing software in Rust that writes software in Rust.
It's much harder.
It's much harder.
Didn't expect to see my name appear in this BBC News article.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It does however mean I instantly know which town the photograph is from. As far as I know, I only have one Art Gallery named after me.
(It isn't named after me)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It does however mean I instantly know which town the photograph is from. As far as I know, I only have one Art Gallery named after me.
(It isn't named after me)
Millions of people to see their local council elections delayed
Most wanting a delay are Labour-led but two are Tory councils and one is a Lib Dem authority.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Didn't expect to see my name appear in this BBC News article.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It does however mean I instantly know which town the photograph is from. As far as I know, I only have one Art Gallery named after me.
(It isn't named after me)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It does however mean I instantly know which town the photograph is from. As far as I know, I only have one Art Gallery named after me.
(It isn't named after me)
Quick question - which is faster at Mandelbrot? PowerPC 740 @ 266 MHz (gcc 2.95 on Debian 3.0) or MIPS R5000 @ 200 MHz (MIPSpro 7.4 on IRIX 6.5)?
January 10, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Quick question - which is faster at Mandelbrot? PowerPC 740 @ 266 MHz (gcc 2.95 on Debian 3.0) or MIPS R5000 @ 200 MHz (MIPSpro 7.4 on IRIX 6.5)?
You could watch a nerve-wracking horror movie, or you could attempt to remove the second drive bay cover from a beige Power Macintosh G3 without snappging it.
I think I need a lie down.
I think I need a lie down.
January 10, 2026 at 2:42 PM
You could watch a nerve-wracking horror movie, or you could attempt to remove the second drive bay cover from a beige Power Macintosh G3 without snappging it.
I think I need a lie down.
I think I need a lie down.
Do you remember 3D TVs? How every big TV came with 3D glasses and every movie was in 3D? All the glowing reviews for how the new 3D thing was even better than the last, right next to big shiny adverts for them.
I’m glad we all moved on from that.
I’m glad we all moved on from that.
January 9, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Do you remember 3D TVs? How every big TV came with 3D glasses and every movie was in 3D? All the glowing reviews for how the new 3D thing was even better than the last, right next to big shiny adverts for them.
I’m glad we all moved on from that.
I’m glad we all moved on from that.
Reposted by Jonathan Pallant
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
Reposted by Jonathan Pallant
I wrote up some words about my most recent batch of free stuff.
Behold, the Packard SPARCbell Ultra iPower Aurora 3D.
www.thejpster.org.uk/blog/blog-20...
Behold, the Packard SPARCbell Ultra iPower Aurora 3D.
www.thejpster.org.uk/blog/blog-20...
JP's Website
www.thejpster.org.uk
January 6, 2026 at 11:53 PM
I wrote up some words about my most recent batch of free stuff.
Behold, the Packard SPARCbell Ultra iPower Aurora 3D.
www.thejpster.org.uk/blog/blog-20...
Behold, the Packard SPARCbell Ultra iPower Aurora 3D.
www.thejpster.org.uk/blog/blog-20...