Where Have You Gone, Peter Norton? (2014)

[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

[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.

[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

[Dnguyen]

Great Scott! I was there! Good times.

[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/...

[stiray]

Oh, Norton Utilities.. Disk Editor... I am still pissed off on Symantec that they destroyed this beautifull product.

Anecdote: at the end of primary school (~16 years old or something) we had a teacher who has took time at the end of school and meticulously removed all the games that "came" to public computer in his class. It was cat and mouse game and I think he enjoyed it a lot, on our side, how to hide a game and on his, how to find it (and due to he started using Norton Commander the trick of renaming directory name to whatever±alt+255 didnt work anymore). Then the disk editor came to play, I think he wasted two days to remove directory name with real space at the end. At the end, he got a directory games on root and deep down in there directory with edited entry to point on root ;)

[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.

[dugmartin]

I went through that book at around the same age and loved the format - seeing the hex editor “come to life” helped me internalize that complex programs can be built incrementally. It also helped me sail through my assembly language class years later when I was in college.

[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.

[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.

[core-questions]

Does anyone remember the Norton Desktop shell for Windows 3.1? It turned 3.1 into something beating the Mac in terms of a desktop experience. Absolutely amazing levels of customization, a full shell scripting language with GUI components reminiscent of Tk/Wish, I could go on.

That desktop plus the whole set of Windows 3.1 programs were a killer combo.

[h2odragon]

Xtree was better

[signal11]

nc was awesome — it still lives on in a way, as inspiration for Midnight Commander[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Commander

[pdonis]

Yes, Norton Commander was my go-to utility during the DOS era.

[mhd]

For a short time, my nickname (not just internet pseudonym, but real-life monicker) was "ndos" as someone in my circle of nerdy friends liked to call me that (I actually used 4dos, not its licensed variant, but let's not be too pedantic).

And yes, while it wasn't as great as the DOpus my Amiga friends always showed me, it was one of the great DOS apps.

[glandium]

I was more of a PC Shell (from PC Tools) person.

[dakna]

Even today, on every OS, I still manage files using a two-pane window and the keyboard unless I'm using a terminal.

[Shorel]

Yes.

And I still find weird that Midnight Commander has no quick view functionality.

[gesman]

yum -y install mc

:)

[dang]

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

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

[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.

[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

[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

[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

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

[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

[SuperGent]

Don't forget Sid Meier and Clippy!

[paggle]

The model for Mavis Beacon?

[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"

[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...