Posts on TextMode Demo

Hello World

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is the first post on the TextMode demo site.

Code Examples

Here is some inline code and various highlighted blocks:

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 GOTO 10

def greet(name):
 """A simple greeting function."""
 for i in range(3):
 print(f"Hello, {name}! #{i + 1}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
 greet("DOS")

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
 char *msg = "Hello from C";
 printf("%s\n", msg);
 return 0;
}

Typography

Regular text looks like this. Bold text is highlighted in white. Emphasized text gets slash decorators.

Lists

First item
Second item
Third item

Numbered one
Numbered two
Numbered three

This is a blockquote. It has a left border in gray.

Building a DOS Theme for Hugo

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This post documents the process of creating a text-mode Hugo theme from scratch - no Bootstrap, no npm, just Hugo and SCSS.

Design Decisions

The key insight was that a DOS text-mode interface is actually simpler than modern web design. No gradients, no rounded corners, no subtle shadows. Just:

A fixed-width monospace font
A 16-color palette
Box-drawing borders (single and double)
Drop shadows made of solid color blocks

The CGA Palette

The entire theme uses only 16 colors from the original CGA adapter:

The Golden Age of Retro Computing

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 1980s gave us some of the most iconic computing interfaces ever designed. From the Borland Turbo Pascal IDE to Norton Commander, these text-mode interfaces proved that you don’t need a GUI to be productive.

The Machines

The IBM PC 5150 launched in 1981 and changed everything. Here’s what it looked like:

ASCII.PNG

MS-DOS ASCII character set - the building blocks of text-mode interfaces

The original IBM PC came with just 16KB of RAM and a cassette port. No hard drive. The operating system fit on a single floppy disk.

Essential DOS Commands

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A quick reference for the commands every DOS user should know.

File Management

DIR List files in current directory
DIR /W Wide format listing
DIR /P Pause after each screen
COPY file1 file2 Copy a file
MOVE file1 dir\ Move a file
DEL file Delete a file
REN old new Rename a file
TYPE file Display file contents

CD \ Go to root
CD .. Go up one level
CD dirname Enter directory
MD dirname Make directory
RD dirname Remove directory
TREE Show directory tree

System Commands

CLS Clear screen
VER Show DOS version
MEM Show memory usage
CHKDSK Check disk
FORMAT A: Format floppy
FDISK Partition hard drive

Batch File Example

Here’s a simple batch file that creates a menu: