Happy 50th patent birthday to the IBM 327X-75 Model B Base Keyboard, the smol keyboard option for the IBM 3251 Graphics Display Station, 3276 Control Unit Display Station, 3278 Display Station, 3279 Color Display Station and 8775 Display Terminal! sharktastica.co.uk/topics/keybo...

#SHORK 486 #Linux can now include cURL, Lua & Tilde! GNU Emacs & micro are also under testing and should be available soon, pending optimisation. A #writerDeck centric edition of SHORK can now be built, which prioritises including text editors and fewer distractions. github.com/SharktasticA...

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Took some up-to-date photos of #SHORK 486 #Linux on my #IBM #ThinkPad 365ED, demonstrating kernel 7.2-rc working with 486/586 support patched back in! More photos: ftp.sharktastica.co.uk/shork-linux/...

#SHORK 486 #Linux has finally got Vim! Wasn't so easy since it turns out it's a RAM hog on 486 levels of RAM... If you have 16MiB RAM + 16 swap, 24+8 or 32, it's fine. Otherwise, opening files that trigger syntax highlighting is too much... To fix, SHORK automatically creates a swapfile for Vim.

A productive start of the week for #SHORK 486 #Linux with Cscope, Ctags, dialog, Indent, Make & NASM compiled and tested! There was also "budget" to enable 33 new BusyBox coreutils. All can now be tried from the PT1 branch! Here are all the available commands on a Plus build as of tonight!

#SHORK 486 #Linux will be getting some minesweeper! I found an interesting implementation, terminal-mines by Joel Ekström, that I forked, simplified given the target platform and added SHORK's visual cues. Available with SHORK soon! github.com/SharktasticA...

The #SHORK #Linux build script now has an option to configure SHORK 486 for serial console usage for you! Here's a demonstration of it...

A quick demo of the WIP #SHORK INSTALLER (shorkstall). If your system is too old to boot a CD, you can at least use SHORK DISKETTE as a boot disk, mount the SHORK DISC CD with it, and still run shorkstall. Note: on real 486 hardware, it won't be as fast as this...

#Linux #kernel 7.2-rc1 on #SHORK 486 now in testing with restored 586 and x87 math emulation support! SHORK DISC is now available for building and burning SHORK to a CD - just make sure you have an El Torito-compatible BIOS. SHORK DISC will soon serve as the basis for SHORK 486's installation media.

#Linux #kernel 7.1 is out & can be built with #SHORK 486! 7.1 removes 486 support, some ISA & PCMCIA network drivers & IBM PC 110 trackpad driver - all of which are patched back in! github.com/SharktasticA... SHORK 486's first release is next week as I hope to expand testing and gauge more opinions!

Yesterday, I attended a keyboard meetup in Bristol to fly the IBM/vintage flag! Naturally, I brought a venerable HAJ protector for the table! The ThinkPad displayed a continuous slideshow of other IBM keyboard/keyboard adjacent heritage! Photos of the event: ftp.sharktastica.co.uk/meetups/2026...

😔 Looks like the Model M MCANPOS & MPOS LCD keyboards have been retired, gone from TGCS's site. If true, it means we're down to just 3 Model Ms with buckling sleeve switches - original IBM ThinkPad keyboard descendents - left. 35 years of history at knife's edge. commerce.toshiba.com/wps/portal/m...

For my #Arch #Linux friends out there, shorkfetch (my shark-themed *fetch utility originally for SHORK 486) is now on AUR! Please give it a try and let me know what you think and if there any bugs or weird/overly verbose output! github.com/SharktasticA... aur.archlinux.org/packages/sho...

SHORK 486 #Linux can now be built with multi-user/password-protected support! About time I added this... I feel like we're getting close to a first release for wider testing/beta. I think the main thing missing now is a proper settings program... Soon! github.com/SharktasticA...

Been a hot minute! 🦈 SHORK 486 #Linux is now testing 7.1-rc kernels with 486 support re-added! SHORK 486 now also includes MicroPython, Lynx browser, sc-im spreadsheet editor with XLSX import/export, and mt-st for SCSI tape drives! c3270 and TN5250 for terminal emulation should be next up! 👀

I also just got tmux running on SHORK 486 Linux as I was about to head to bed! It should be committed tomorrow, pending some tidying up and optimisation! I've been trying to get this working properly for a hot minute, and thus am very chuffed that it is working now! 😁

SHORK 486 Linux now includes htop! 🦈

And here is SHORK 486 Linux with kernel 7.0.0 on real hardware!

It is done, SHORK 486 Linux is now available with kernel 7.0.0! github.com/SharktasticA...

I'm testing SHORK 486 Linux with kernel 7.0rc7! It kinda *just worked*, and naturally, I immediately threw it into the fire with 16MHz 486SX and just 7MB RAM... I'm amused at the prospect of this distro for a 1989 CPU having a newer kernel than most of the people reading this! 😆

SHORK 486 Linux now inclues shorksay, my shark-themed homage to cowsay! You can also compile it for modern Linux too: github.com/SharktasticA...

cowsay you say? How about shorksay? Coming soon to SHORK 486!

SHORK 486 Linux now has a spin on sl (steam locomotive) - shorklocomotive! Can also compile it yourself for modern Linux. Perhaps basic right now, I have more plans for it: custom colours, different shark species, and some sort of shark train for proper homage to the OG! github.com/SharktasticA...

W700 + newly improved shorkfetch with cute SHORK ASCII art and colour accent support! github.com/SharktasticA...

I made a dialog-based configurator for SHORK 486 Linux that makes it easier to tailor it to your needs. Don't need to look up and remember build script parameters and arguments! I just need to thoroughly test it and modify the README before I push it live. Probably tomorrow.

Happy 22nd birthday to the IBM PS/2 Travel Keyboard (SK-8840)! sharktastica.co.uk/wiki/8835-88...

More SHORK 486 #Linux on an IBM #ThinkPad 365ED! github.com/SharktasticA...

shorkdir on 365ED!