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Microsoft's 6502 BASIC Is Now Open Source

Slashdot
2 months 1 week ago
alternative_right writes: For decades, fragments and unofficial copies of Microsoft's 6502 BASIC have circulated online, mirrored on retrocomputing sites, and preserved in museum archives. Coders have studied the code, rebuilt it, and even run it in modern systems. Today, for the first time, we're opening the hatch and officially releasing the code under an open-source license. Microsoft BASIC began in 1975 as the company's very first product: a BASIC interpreter for the Intel 8080, written by Bill Gates and Paul Allen for the Altair 8800. That codebase was soon adapted to run on other 8-bit CPUs, including the MOS 6502, Motorola 6800, and 6809. The 6502 port was completed in 1976 by Bill Gates and Ric Weiland. In 1977, Commodore licensed it for a flat fee of $25,000, a deal that placed Microsoft BASIC at the heart of Commodore's PET computers and, later, the VIC-20 and Commodore 64. The version we are releasing here -- labeled "1.1" -- contains fixes to the garbage collector identified by Commodore and jointly implemented in 1978 by Commodore engineer John Feagans and Bill Gates, when Feagans traveled to Microsoft's Bellevue offices. This is the version that shipped as the PET's "BASIC V2." It even contains a playful Bill Gates Easter egg, hidden in the labels STORDO and STORD0, which Gates himself confirmed in 2010.

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msmash

AI Not Affecting Job Market Much So Far, New York Fed Says

Slashdot
2 months 1 week ago
Rising adoption of AI technology by firms in the Federal Reserve's New York district has not been much of a job-killer so far, the regional Fed bank said in a blog on Thursday. Reuters: "Businesses reported a notable increase in AI use over the past year, yet very few firms reported AI-induced layoffs," New York Fed economists wrote in the blog. "Indeed, for those already employed, our results indicate AI is more likely to result in retraining than job loss, similar to our findings from last year," and so far the technology does not point to "significant reductions in employment." There has been broad concern that AI could create major headwinds for hiring in the coming years, with the technology hitting highly-paid professional and managerial jobs the hardest. Investors are plowing cash into AI investments at a time when employment has already begun to show some softness, although job market changes related to AI will almost certainly play out over a long time horizon. The New York Fed blog noted that the modest impact on jobs so far may not hold in the future. "Looking ahead, firms anticipate more significant layoffs and scaled-back hiring as they continue to integrate AI into their operations," New York Fed researchers wrote.

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msmash

Harnessing GitOps on Linux for Seamless, Git-First Infrastructure Management

Linux Journal
2 months 1 week ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

Imagine a world where every server, application, and network configuration is meticulously orchestrated via Git, where updates, audits, and recoveries happen with a single commit. This is the realm GitOps unlocks, especially potent when paired with the versatility of Linux environments. In this article, we'll dive deep into how Git-driven workflows can transform the way you manage Linux infrastructure, offering clarity, control, and confidence in every change.

GitOps Demystified: A New Infrastructure Paradigm

GitOps isn't just a catchy buzzword, it's a methodical rethink of how infrastructure should be managed.

  • It treats Git as the definitive blueprint for your live systems, everything from server settings to application deployments is declared, versioned, and stored in repositories.

  • With Git as the single source of truth, every adjustment is tracked, reversible, and auditable, turning ops into a transparent, code-centric process.

  • Beyond simple CI/CD, GitOps introduces a continuous reconciliation model: specialized agents continuously compare the actual state of systems against the desired state in Git and correct any discrepancies automatically.

Why Linux and GitOps Are a Natural Pair

Linux stands at the heart of infrastructure, servers, containers, edge systems, you name it. When GitOps is layered onto that:

  • You'll leverage Linux’s scripting capabilities (like bash) to craft powerful, domain-specific automation that dovetails perfectly with GitOps agents.

  • The transparency of Git coupled with Linux’s flexible architecture simplifies debugging, auditing, and recovery.

  • The combination gives infrastructure teams the agility to iterate faster while keeping control rigorous and secure.

Architecting GitOps Pipelines for Linux Environments Structuring Repositories Deliberately

A well-organized Git setup is crucial:

  • Use separate repositories or disciplined directory structures for:

    • Infrastructure modules (e.g., Terraform, networking, VMs),

    • Platform components (monitoring, ingress controllers, certificates),

    • Application-level configurations (Helm overrides, container versions).

  • This separation helps ensure access controls align with responsibilities and limits risks from misconfiguration or accidental cross-impact.

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George Whittaker