
Where Have You Gone, Peter Norton? (2014) - smacktoward
https://www.technologizer.com/2014/06/05/where-have-you-gone-peter-norton/
======
simmons
I read Peter Norton's _Inside the IBM PC_ (1986 edition) [1] a while back, out
of an interest in computer history. It struck me as being quite a bit
different than today's technical books. It had a very conversational writing
style, and it seemed like it was aiming to accommodate computer
hobbyists/enthusiasts who wanted to learn more about how their machine
actually worked. There were probably a lot more such people back in the 80's
than today.

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/insideibmpc00nort](https://archive.org/details/insideibmpc00nort)

~~~
juskrey
I remember reading a book on Delphi, some early version, it was a detective
with some coding. If only I could remember the author, can't google anything
right now.

~~~
mellosouls
Intrigued,I googled.

[https://www.drbob42.com/reviews/explorer.htm](https://www.drbob42.com/reviews/explorer.htm)

 _Ace Breakpoint 's Database Adventure_

~~~
jjkaczor
Yes, this was a great book - Jeff writes fiction these days, but has updated
his "Assembly Language Step by Step" for Linux and has a nice FOSS book on
FreePascal

[http://www.contrapositivediary.com/?page_id=1808](http://www.contrapositivediary.com/?page_id=1808)

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scottshea
When I worked at Symantec in the Peter Norton Group in Santa Monica in 1995 I
was told they really wanted to get his picture off of the box as the royalties
were too high (reportedly $1 per box but I never did confirm that). They had
started the process of minimizing its use so that they could wean the customer
off of seeing the image. Still customers loved seeing the picture so there was
a constant tension

~~~
rzzzt
I was surprised to read in the colophon of one of the books that the "arms
crossed" pose is a trademark of his:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norton#cite_note-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norton#cite_note-7)

~~~
sinuhe69
Arms crossed and rolled up sleeves!

~~~
copperx
So that was Norton? I always thought it was a random stock image.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Yes sometimes with pink shirt and makeup visible. :D

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drivers99
Peter Norton's Guide to the IBM PC was good, but his Assembly Language book
[1] was why ASM ended up being my second language, after BASIC. Then again,
that wasn't enough to know how to create working programs, at least not for a
~13 year old me. In the book, you at least learn some of it by typing in all
the code for a hex editor written in pure assembly (which utilizes calls to
MS-DOS system calls). It was pretty tedious, reminding me of how Mr. Miyagi
teaches Daniel karate through repetition. After learning C though, I was able
to write a hex editor in an afternoon, thanks to really internalizing how it
should work from typing in the assembly version. I wrote that just search for
and then remove the passwords in the Star Wars: TIE Fighter game. (I must not
have still had the assembly one anymore. Weird.)

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Nortons-Assembly-Language-
Book/...](https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Nortons-Assembly-Language-
Book/dp/0136619010)

~~~
ohadpr
I too had the fortunate experience of picking up his Assembly book around the
same age and it was indeed a magical experience. I got into real time computer
graphics programming (the demoscene) thereafter thanks mostly to the Assembly.

~~~
copperx
I, unfortunately, didn't get the privilege of getting my hands on an assembly
book. At 13, being inspired by the demoscene (I got the Unreal demo on a
Simtel CD), I begged my parents to buy me Turbo Assembler. And I somehow
thought that the included manual was going to be enough to get started (!).
The manual had a great listing of Intel instructions, but I had no
understanding of addressing modes, the stack, or what was required to make DOS
system calls. Later, when I figured it out in college, I was mad because it
was so simple and 13 year old me would have loved it.

Unfortunately, at that time there was no internet, and the public library only
carried books on high level languages.

Argh. How I envy you.

By the way, how did you figure out graphics programming?

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dang
A thread from 2016 (with a comment from a friend):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11211682](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11211682)

Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7856339](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7856339)

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playa1
Anyone else sit and watch the old console-based defrag/speed disk run?

I was ~13 years old, not much programming experience yet but I was fascinated
by the process and kept trying to figure out how it worked.

~~~
cpach
Same here, I did that on my dad’s 386/486 machines back in the 90s.

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martin1975
My fav utility was the File Explorer predecessor, Norton Commander. Hopefully
someone else remembers these great tools. :)

~~~
Andrew_nenakhov
The only piece of software from DOS/Windows I miss on Linux is an analog to
Far Manager - THE descendant of Norton Commander app. No other 2 panel file
managers come close, and mc just doesn't cut it. All those hotkeys are
ingrained in my memory despite not using the application for more than 15
years.

~~~
jasonjayr
Windows Commander (now Total Commander) was/is still good. It was the first
piece of shareware I registered, for Windows 3.1. It's still in development
today, with an Android version!

~~~
saiya-jin
Total commander is a great successor I think. Once you get used to 2-pane
logic, the efficiency boost with anything file-related is really huge. It is
fast and has so many features - tabbed panes, quick recursive file content
search, very nice comparison of 2 files, folders synchronization, built-in
navigation in archives (I often edit files directly in packages, it
recompresses them automatically) _and_ archives within archives, great
network/FTP browser and many more... it really packs few tens of great tools
into one neat package.

One of many detractors from Linux in the past from me - whenever I tried any
equivalent there, it was very slow, featureless, crashing etc. I hope these
days the situation is better.

Whenever I look at any other colleague, who use that primitive File explorer
or equivalent, how clunky and slow work it is, its sad that people don't do
this one-time effort to transition to the tool which is so vastly better.

~~~
haspok
FYI: Total Commander runs on Linux with Wine fairly well. One notable problem
with it (and Wine in general) is that it is not HiDPI-aware, so you get a
miniature UI :(

Having said that, I think Krusader comes pretty close with the right settings
/ keyboard shortcuts.

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hangonhn
Boy. His book "Inside the IBM PC" was my first intro to really understanding
how computers work and now I'm counting almost 20 years working as a software
engineer. I think that book set me on this path because, IIRC, it talked about
BASIC and might have had some programs printed in it and I typed them up in
QBASIC. From that point on, I used QBASIC's help menus to teach myself how to
program. I owe that man a debt of gratitude.

~~~
seesaw
QBASIC also had two addictive games - nibble (the snake game) and gorilla. I
progressed from these to Prince of Persia and later Doom. Peter Norton’s books
introduced me to the secrets of the PC. IIRC, he also had a book that
explained how to do TSR (terminate, but stay resident) DOS programs.

~~~
bonzini
Gorillas! I once spent a week with some friends in a house where we found an
old computer with no games except QBASIC's. I don't remember why but I
implemented "training mode" with only one gorilla shooting bananas. Probably a
feature request by someone who didn't have school that week...

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kalleboo
> _Don’t hold me to this, but I could swear that at least one version of the
> Norton Utilities sported an interface featuring an animated version of
> Peter_

That was the in the Mac version at least
[http://www.atpm.com/3.11/images/norton3.gif](http://www.atpm.com/3.11/images/norton3.gif)

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acomjean
Fun fact. The dos "Norton Commander" program lives on with its open source
linux command line tool "Midnight Commander" (mc on most linux distros).

I use it sometimes still:

[http://linuxcommand.org/lc3_adv_mc.php](http://linuxcommand.org/lc3_adv_mc.php)

~~~
romwell
FAR Commander on Windows[1] is the spiritual successor of Norton Commander.

Made by the guy who wrote WinRAR (and RAR format)[2].

[1][https://www.farmanager.com/screenshots.php?l=en](https://www.farmanager.com/screenshots.php?l=en)

[2][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Roshal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Roshal)

~~~
Fnoord
NC was for MSDOS, ie. text-based CLI. It had a TUI. MC has a TUI, akin to
NC's.

There's a plethora of dual pane file managers. I like fman (cross-platform),
which is a bit akin to Sublime Text.

~~~
mherrmann
fman author here, thank you for the mention! For a trip down memory lane and
Norton Commander see [https://fman.io/blog/dual-pane-file-manager-
history/](https://fman.io/blog/dual-pane-file-manager-history/).

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fortran77
It's nice to think of him retired, relaxing on an island, hanging out with
John McAfee and Mavis Beacon.

~~~
thristian
I don't think anyone could relax within a 50 mile radius of John McAfee:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#Legal_issues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee#Legal_issues)

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pjmlp
Peter Norton books were my first foray into 8086 Assembly, after I got into
PC, lovely.

"Peter Norton's Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC, XT, and AT"

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rmason
Peter Norton was an early rock star in the PC world. I bought and used all his
products. Then he sold out and all but disappeared.

He settled in Los Angeles and started assembling a major art collection. He
bought so much art that he started giving it away to make room for more art.

[http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/7900-peter-
norton...](http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/7900-peter-norton-
donates-significant-art-collection-to-rose-art-museu)

