4 ms·

Searching for Paul C. Pratt

96 points by zdw 3y ago

news_to_me 3y ago
The Gryphel Project is awesome, and Paul’s disassembler helped me obtain a listing of the ROM for the Macintosh SE/30, which I used to debug a faulty floppy drive chip. Couldn’t have done nearly as much without his work. Hope he’s doing ok.
qingcharles 3y ago
Damn, I hope he is just taking a break from online. I just had a really good friend of mine disappear from social media, didn't respond to messages, nobody could get him on the phone. I didn't know his new address as he had moved a few months ago. It took me some time, but I finally figured out who his landlord was and managed to get hold of him and he told me he found my friend dead from a heart attack a couple of months ago. And he had just completely turned his life around after several years of really bad times. Only in his 50s too...
- jacquesm 3y ago
  That's a long break. Since April 4th 2021...
  - qingcharles 3y ago
    I just took a 10 year gap from the Net. Thanks, jail. Did anyone check if he's locked up?
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      Ah good one. Coma too...
codazoda 3y ago
At the end the author talks a bit about passing his own stuff on to others. I’ve often wondered if I could or should do the same. I don’t have anything that has a big community behind it but I’ve been making random stuff for a long time. Maybe just open sourcing it is the answer, but some day GitHub (or whatever) will probably get rid of it.
- pabs3 3y ago
  There are a couple of groups that are archiving source code. Software Heritage for example continuously archives repos from GitHub and many other code hosting sites. They are also planning on an archiving service for private source code. ArchiveTeam Codearchiver is about archiving both the repos and surrounding data like issues, pull requests and discussions: https://www.softwareheritage.org/ https://www.softwareheritage.org/ https://archive.softwareheritage.org/ https://archive.softwareheritage.org/ https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Codearchiver https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Codearchiver
- guytv 3y ago
  What about other, personal stuff. What do people do to make their passwords to online services, banks, etc... available to their loved ones after they're gone, in a secure way?
  - em-bee 3y ago
    store them in a sealed envelope alongside your testament
i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
While I appreciate the sentiment behind this post I don't think it's the best thing if he happens to see it, that he gets reminded that he's gonna die some day.
- denton-scratch 3y ago
  Nah, it's better to forget about all that, and live as if you're immortal. Self-deception rules!
- guytv 3y ago
  "Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." -- Buddha
  - i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
    i mean, it's fine if you believe that to get through the day but in my experience death has never been a desirable or peaceful thing no matter how wise the person was. i had to watch a very good friend die once who never had a shred of resentment, malice, only wanted what's best for everyone. in the end I gotta tell ya, it wasn't pretty, and I'm pretty sure he'd rather not had been dying. he was 74.
- layer8 3y ago
  It’s a good reminder.
- em-bee 3y ago
  there is that old joke about someone complaining that his old friends didn't keep in touch only to show up at that persons funeral. with that in mind, i think showing that someone is being missed is a sign of care, and with older people worrying that they might have passed away is just part of that.
  - i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
    just saying, would have worded it differently, that's all
Ntrails 3y ago
> If he’s died, it’s entirely possible that Paul’s heirs might not think or care to tell anybody outside of his immediate family and friends My recent personal experience is: would that I knew who to tell let alone had contact details! Just now, 2 months after a family member died, I was discovered by some friends via her workplace and got to pass on the bad news. If I could've gotten onto a phone or ipad I would probably have found everyone, but I could not. So maybe in another 6 months I will get to tell someone else. Who knows.
- layer8 3y ago
  We used to have newspapers where you would post an obituary.
  - em-bee 3y ago
    they still exist, the problem is their reach is not wide enough anymore
jacquesm 3y ago
If you ever do a call out like this make sure that you clearly let it be known how you can be reached in a non-public way so that whoever wants to answer you isn't going to make the persons' original details public. This matters because the information of the newly deceased and people who have gone missing is ideal fodder for the kind of criminal that likes to masquerade as someone else. It also isn't a very good idea to make those details public because then others might start crank calling the person of interest.

96 points by zdw 3y ago

The Gryphel Project is awesome, and Paul’s disassembler helped me obtain a listing of the ROM for the Macintosh SE/30, which I used to debug a faulty floppy drive chip. Couldn’t have done nearly as much without his work. Hope he’s doing ok.

qingcharles 3y ago

Damn, I hope he is just taking a break from online. I just had a really good friend of mine disappear from social media, didn't respond to messages, nobody could get him on the phone. I didn't know his new address as he had moved a few months ago. It took me some time, but I finally figured out who his landlord was and managed to get hold of him and he told me he found my friend dead from a heart attack a couple of months ago. And he had just completely turned his life around after several years of really bad times. Only in his 50s too...

jacquesm 3y ago
That's a long break. Since April 4th 2021...
- qingcharles 3y ago
  I just took a 10 year gap from the Net. Thanks, jail. Did anyone check if he's locked up?
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Ah good one. Coma too...

codazoda 3y ago

At the end the author talks a bit about passing his own stuff on to others. I’ve often wondered if I could or should do the same. I don’t have anything that has a big community behind it but I’ve been making random stuff for a long time. Maybe just open sourcing it is the answer, but some day GitHub (or whatever) will probably get rid of it.

pabs3 3y ago
There are a couple of groups that are archiving source code. Software Heritage for example continuously archives repos from GitHub and many other code hosting sites. They are also planning on an archiving service for private source code. ArchiveTeam Codearchiver is about archiving both the repos and surrounding data like issues, pull requests and discussions: https://www.softwareheritage.org/ https://www.softwareheritage.org/ https://archive.softwareheritage.org/ https://archive.softwareheritage.org/ https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Codearchiver https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Codearchiver
guytv 3y ago
What about other, personal stuff. What do people do to make their passwords to online services, banks, etc... available to their loved ones after they're gone, in a secure way?
- em-bee 3y ago
  store them in a sealed envelope alongside your testament

i_am_a_peasant 3y ago

While I appreciate the sentiment behind this post I don't think it's the best thing if he happens to see it, that he gets reminded that he's gonna die some day.

denton-scratch 3y ago
Nah, it's better to forget about all that, and live as if you're immortal. Self-deception rules!
guytv 3y ago
"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." -- Buddha
- i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
  i mean, it's fine if you believe that to get through the day but in my experience death has never been a desirable or peaceful thing no matter how wise the person was. i had to watch a very good friend die once who never had a shred of resentment, malice, only wanted what's best for everyone. in the end I gotta tell ya, it wasn't pretty, and I'm pretty sure he'd rather not had been dying. he was 74.
layer8 3y ago
It’s a good reminder.
em-bee 3y ago
there is that old joke about someone complaining that his old friends didn't keep in touch only to show up at that persons funeral. with that in mind, i think showing that someone is being missed is a sign of care, and with older people worrying that they might have passed away is just part of that.
- i_am_a_peasant 3y ago
  just saying, would have worded it differently, that's all

Ntrails 3y ago

> If he’s died, it’s entirely possible that Paul’s heirs might not think or care to tell anybody outside of his immediate family and friends My recent personal experience is: would that I knew who to tell let alone had contact details! Just now, 2 months after a family member died, I was discovered by some friends via her workplace and got to pass on the bad news. If I could've gotten onto a phone or ipad I would probably have found everyone, but I could not. So maybe in another 6 months I will get to tell someone else. Who knows.

layer8 3y ago
We used to have newspapers where you would post an obituary.
- em-bee 3y ago
  they still exist, the problem is their reach is not wide enough anymore

jacquesm 3y ago

If you ever do a call out like this make sure that you clearly let it be known how you can be reached in a non-public way so that whoever wants to answer you isn't going to make the persons' original details public. This matters because the information of the newly deceased and people who have gone missing is ideal fodder for the kind of criminal that likes to masquerade as someone else. It also isn't a very good idea to make those details public because then others might start crank calling the person of interest.