Log: Introduction
How did we get into this mess?
I can't remember the exact moment I decided to try and get an old operating system to run on my Chromebook. To be honest, I can't remember WHY I wanted to try either. But somehow I found myself talking to Claude about it, and soon we were fighting the Debian-based Linux container as the 'apt install' refused to find the emulator, SIMH, in one piece.
I love computers. I wish I had learned more about them years ago, but life took a weird turn. I'm here now and that's what matters. The thing is, I love computers, but I'm not very good at them. Sure, I can install software (I installed Windows 95 once from floppies) and know DOS, a little BASIC, and, more recently, a tiny smidge of Python.
Sorting out a split apt install was way beyond me or my patience, so I turned to Claude for help. Within 30 minutes, I had it running and was poking around RSTS/E V7 in my terminal as an Administrator as if it was 1979. I had absolutely no idea what anything was, or what anything did. So, I did what any self-respecting admin would do: I reached for the manual.
Manuals these days are hard to come by. I remember a time when even the lowliest ZX Spectrum games would come with at least a fold-out manual, and these behemoths would come with at least three, bound and boxed with logos and "this page intentionally blank." I had to make do with the scanned version (thank you, Internet Archive and friends—links to the manuals are in theLINKSpage).
The absolute joy of reading a manual is something only a few people actually experience. Today, people expect to pick up an app, pound the big start button, and be led by the nose throughout the whole operation. It's a bit like the software version of the Holly Hop Drive. I love reading a proper manual; it fits with what I can see on the screen. I can find the page of the bit I'm stuck on and solve it myself, therefore learning how to use the software, which is, after all, the whole idea.
So it's on and running. I'm deep in the manual and learning what SYSTAT is when I notice something. My Chromebook fan is at full blast (prior to this I had no idea it even had a fan...). 'Weird,' I thought. I checked the diagnostics to see that the fan is drawing a billion amps trying to cool the processor, which is at 95°C! Huh?
How can this be? It can stream video at the same time as playing games and music, while I have all the tabs open in Chrome AND running a virtual machine. It can normally do all of this and not break a sweat, so what on earth is going on?
I shut everything down and just had the background on. Soon, the poor fan had the temperature under control again and eventually stopped spooling altogether. A check showed the battery health was 91%—not good for a machine that was only 4 months old. A bit of Googling and I found that the emulator needed to be throttled, or it would take all that the CPU could give and then some. This was what was happening to my poor Chromebook, so if you install it, make sure to set the .ini file or your computer will turn into a pizza oven!