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December 09, 2022

Yesterday, I left off talking about the TI-85, the second Texas Instruments graphing calculators.
The 85 had a huge problem, it was designed for college level calculus. It could be used to solve polynomial expressions. This was a problem for highschool algebra classes as well as the SATs. (I can't find any records of when the policy changed, but I know that initially, the TI-85 was banned from use on the SATs for this reason.)

What was TI's response? The TI-82 in 1993, less than a year after the TI-85.
This new calculator had many of the features people loved about the 85, like the ability to use the link cables, and a backup battery, but TI cut the functionality down to something closer to the 81, then cut the memory in order to bring down the price.
This made the TI-82 the most sought after calculator for highschool classrooms. It also makes it probably the most popular of all the models sold in the 90s.

The TI-82 was so successful, that Texas Instruments didn't release any upgrade for 3 years. But there were other models in the mean time.

In 1995, Texas Instfuments released 2 new graphing calculators taking the features of the previous models to the extreme.

The TI-80 was a cut down version of the original 81 but much smaller and capable of running on 2 coin-cell batteries.

The TI-92 was the biggest beast of them all sporting more pixels, more memory, and a full qwerty keyboard. It also used a Motorola 6800 processor at 10hz. So it was basically a Macintosh in your pocket.

While the 80 basically flopped, the 92 did really well despite the fact that it was banned from use on any national exams due to that keyboard. And it remains banned for that reason today. Despite that, college level calculus classes loved it due to its inclusion of CAS (Computer Algebra System, basically it can do everything you learned in Algebra). (I will definitely be talking more about this one over the weekend.)

In 1996, Texas Instruments finally released a successor to the TI-82, the TI-83.
Functionally the only changes were a much better screen (although at the same resolution) and a little more memory for programs (4k to be exact). The change that got most people to switch, was the new design of the case. Like Apple, Texas Instruments decided form was more important to consumers than function. (More on the 83 this week as well. This was my highschool baby.)

1996 also saw a small improvement in the 92 which was really just them fixing bugs in the firmware.

In 1997 a successor to the TI-85 was released. This was mostly the same as the 85, but with the same form factor as the 83 and the newer screen. (BTW, did I ever mention that the 85 had a wider screen?) But the big improvement, the new TI-86 had 128kb of memory while still using a z80 processor. (Yes, at this point in the story, the z80 is nearly 20 years old and still in use.)
The TI-86 was a huge success in colleges, (and it looks like the SAT board got over the whole polynomial equation thing by this point.) However, highschools still avoided it because they felt it allowed Algebra students to cheat on tests. So sales were not as good as TI had hoped.

In 1998 Texas Instruments released the TI-89. This was nearly identical to the 92, but in the same form factor as the 83, and 86. This new model nearly killed the 86. For only $10 more, it had 2x the memory, higher resolution, faster processor, CAS, and it was allowed for use on the SATs. Again, highschools avoided it, but by this point every college student had grown up using graphing calculators and colleges were dependent on them.

Also in 1998, a few revisions were made to the TI-83 and some new cheaper calculators were released. The TI-83 Plus was the last model released in the 90s and ends our history here.

To date, according to Texas Instruments, the TI-84 Plus, released in 2004 and still available today, has been the best selling of any model. But, there is nothing retro about something you can still buy brand new at Walmart.

All of these calculators, except the 83, were purchased from local thrift stores for less than $5 each since Lunduke announced handheld week.

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Which Operating Systems Are Refusing to Do Age Verification?

As Microsoft, Apple, Google, & many Linux Distros rush to implement Age Verification in their systems, let's walk through which Linux versions are fighting back.

OS Age Verification Status:
https://github.com/BryanLunduke/DoesItAgeVerify

Ubuntu 4.10, C64, & BeOS added to the Wall:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/ubuntu-410-joins-lunduke-journal

Get on The Wall with a Massively Discounted Lifetime Sub:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/50-off-yearly-and-massively-discounted

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:14:55
Lunduke's Week in Tech: June 14 - June 20, 2026

The Great Linux/BSD Display Server War(tm) continues to rage on!

Links to all the stories:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/lundukes-week-in-tech-june-14-june

Ubuntu 4.10, C64, & BeOS added to the Wall!
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/ubuntu-410-joins-lunduke-journal

Get on The Wall with a Massively Discounted Lifetime Sub:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/50-off-yearly-and-massively-discounted

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:18:06
OpenAI Buys Seat on Rust Board for $600K

How much is it worth, to the maker of ChatGPT, to have control of The Rust Foundation? $600,000 apparently.

Get on The Wall with a Massively Discounted Lifetime Sub:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/50-off-yearly-and-massively-discounted

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:09:10
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
17 hours ago

The man hired to stop data centers || Michael Hill - YouTube

Just because I Iike stainless steel, doesn't mean I want a steel smelter near my house. Same with AI and data centers.

15 hours ago

There Is A Song - Sunday Sounds

Am I a musician? No. Am I an artist? Of a kind, but closer to one whose art hangs in a fridge rather than a museum.

But there’s a song. It wouldn’t exist without me. It exists for me. It is my story, my feeling, my message.

It’s Sunday night before the first Monday of not having a job. I have a plan. I am hopeful. But am I also embarrassed? Yes. Am I scared? Yes.

So I primed Claude with material on how to best compose songs for Suno.com. Then I give my vision for the song and Claude wrote the lyrics, style and exclusions for Suno.

It is here that I review and revise as needed with or without further input from Claude.

Then it’s off to Suno where I create 4 or more versions. And then I pick out the one I like best.

https://suno.com/s/jpsYgfH3oISF056y

Here is the input I gave Claude

New song - Of Course I Am
I was fired Friday - I’ve lost jobs time and again. Even as my career trajectory keeps rising and going forward.
Am I embarrassed? Of course I am Am I scared?...

16 hours ago

Where are you from???

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Ubuntu 4.10 joins Lunduke Journal Lifetime Wall!

TL;DR

Ubuntu 4.10, C64, & BeOS Lifetime Walls are now available for Lifetime Subscribers to put their names on! Plus: Lifetime Subscriptions are massively discounted through end of June (roughly 10 days).

Ubuntu 4.10 Lifetime Wall

Remember when Linux was fast, light, and required only 64 MB of RAM?

The Lunduke Journal remembers.

Let’s celebrating those good old days by adding a new “Lifetime Subscriber Wall” of the very first version of Ubuntu (4.10), released all the way back in 2004.

This brings the total number of Lifetime Subscriber Walls up to 14 (fourteen!), with 11 Walls completely, totally filled with the names of Lunduke Journal supporters.

That’s wild!

Three Retro Lifetime Walls Open

Which means there are 3 Walls currently available to put your signature on:

  • Commodore 64 : Half full

  • BeOS R5 : 1/3rd full

  • Ubuntu 4.10 : Just opened

 

Man. Look at that Ubuntu 4.10 screenshot. So very… GNOME 2… and brown. That, right there, is how I like to remember Ubuntu.

Support The Lunduke Journal & Get on The Wall

Grabbing a Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal — and getting your name on one of the Retro Computer Lifetime Subscriber Walls — is the best way to show your support for truly independent Tech Journalism.

  1. Grab a Lifetime Subscription (1 name on 1 Wall per Lifetime Subscription), scroll down for the links.

  2. Then Email Lunduke (“[email protected]”) with which Retro Computer Wall you would like to appear on (and what name you would like to use).

Your name will then appear on a Wall… on both Lunduke.com & during the end of Lunduke Journal shows.

Note: These fill up crazy fast. We’re talking days, not weeks. First come, first served. If you want to get on a specific Wall, don’t dilly dally.

Lifetime Discount Runs Through June

For the entire month of June, Lifetime Subscriptions are discounted down to $125 (regularly $300).

How to Grab a Discounted Lifetime Subscription:

There are 3 different ways to pick up a Lunduke Journal Lifetime sub. All of them work great and include the same perks. Choose whichever works best for you!

Get a Lifetime Subscription via Locals:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  2. Select “Give Once“.

  3. Enter “125“ into the amount field.

  4. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

Get a Lifetime Subscription via Substack:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Substack.com/subscribe.

  2. Select the “Lifetime Subscription” option.

  3. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

If you would also like full, Lifetime access to Lunduke.Locals.com (which is included):

  1. Make a free account on Lunduke.Locals.com.

  2. Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with the email address you use on both Substack and Locals (can be different email addresses).

  3. Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status on Locals.

Get a Lifetime Subscription with Bitcoin:

Bonus: Save an extra $10 with the Bitcoin option, as Bitcoin processing has fewer fees associated with it.

bc1qyjakve8fywm8pz2v99v57yhjj0vzr2vjze6fcq

  • Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com or Substack.com.

-Lunduke

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Lunduke's Week in Tech : June 14 - June 20, 2026

Lunduke’s Thoughts of The Week

The Great Linux/BSD Display Server War(tm) continues to rage on!

This week, Valve’s SteamOS finally finished its transition to Wayland by default (demoting Xorg), a move that SteamOS had put off for the last two years. And, just a few days earlier, Slackware (the oldest actively maintained Linux distro) began officially testing XLibre as a replacement for Xorg.

The trend is clear: Xorg is being tossed into the dumpster (at the encouragement of the Xorg team and Red Hat), with Wayland and XLibre each gaining marketshare.

It will be interesting to see how these changes impact overall X11 (in general) vs Wayland marketshare… which has been staying steady at roughly 50/50, across all Linux distros, for a few years now.

This is all happening at the same time as Linux is becoming increasingly developed by AI bot, with over 10% of all code submissions to the kernel being written by AI during the previous week.

The world of Linux is changing… and changing rapidly.

Some of those changes seem great. Others are terrifying.

Sometimes… well… they are both.

Ubuntu 4.10, C64, & BeOS Walls

The support shown to The Lunduke Journal, from all of you, continues to amaze me.

We are now up to 14 (fourteen!) Retro Computer Walls, filled with the names of Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscribers who want to show their support to the world.

 

The newest walls — Commodore 64, BeOS R5, & Ubuntu 4.10 (the first Ubuntu release) — are now available for you to add your John Hancock to.

Biggest Tech Stories - June 14 - June 20, 2026

Here are the major stories from the last week, with direct links to X and Substack. You can also watch / listen on a bunch of other platforms (Rumble, RSS Audio Podcast, etc.), listed on Lunduke.com.

  • OpenAI Buys Seat on Rust Board for $600K (X, Substack)

  • SteamOS Ditches X11 for Wayland (X, Substack)

  • Islamic Terrorists Attack Disney+ (X, Substack)

  • The Commodore Smartphone Blocks Social Media & Browsers (X, Substack)

  • AI Submissions to Linux Hits New Record, 10% of All Patches (X, Substack)

  • Slackware Tests Replacing Xorg with XLibre (X, Substack)

Huge thank you to all of The Lunduke Journal’s subscribers. You make all of this possible.

-Lunduke

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"C64" & "BeOS" Lunduke Journal Lifetime Walls open!

The “TempleOS” and “Macintosh System 1” Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber Walls are full! Those suckers filled up in a single week! (You can check them all out at Lunduke.com.)

But, behold! The “Commodore 64” and “BeOS R5” Walls are now available to add your names to!

  • Windows 2000 : 2 spots left

  • Commodore 64 : Space available

  • BeOS R5 : Space available

 

Those last two spots on the Windows 2000 Wall won’t last long. And, honestly, I expect the C64 Wall to by full pretty quickly.

Don’t have a Lifetime Subscription yet?

Already have a Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal?

  • Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with which Wall you would like to be on, and how you’d like your name displayed (nickname, full name, etc.).

There are roughly 12 days left in June. How many Retro Computer themed Lifetime Walls can we fill up before the end of the month? Let’s find out!

Huge thank you to each and every one of you! You make The Lunduke Journal possible.

-Lunduke

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