[1] https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09/03/microsoft-o...
Or on the GitHub clone (162 points, 15 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47946813
> This source code is old enough that it hadn’t been stored digitally. “A dedicated team of historians and preservationists led by Yufeng Gao and Rich Cini,” calling itself the “DOS Disassembly Group,” painstakingly transcribed and scanned in code from paper printouts provided by Paterson. This process was made even more difficult because modern OCR software struggled with the quality of the decades-old printout.
I've been able to OCR letter-quality printer output to 97% (mostly Os and Xs problems).
But it seems that machine-learning text-recognition is also now biased to reject computer code because it doesn't look like human language.
1. you were using a DECwriter dot matrix printer as a terminal
2. using an ASR-33 teletype as a terminal
3. using punch cards or paper tape
4. using a glass tty that could only display 24 lines
5. when you did not have a remote terminal, and wanted to spread your code out on a table and debug it
Really depends on the program. Source code is often quite manageable. Even artifacts aren't always as large as you might expect. Busybox on my system weighs in at 1.9 MiB or alternatively 928 KiB with zstd maxed out.
But I don't really see a point to printing any of it. A situation that might require the printouts is likely to largely preclude the continued existence of modern electronics, the ability to replace batteries, or even a connection to a reliable electrical grid.
barely
It sounds like this printout has deteriorated badly and was barely readable.
Microsoft open sources DOS 1.00 on 45th anniversary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47957494 - April 2026 (19 comments)
It was fun knowing everything about a computer. That's long gone!
Linus Torvalds, a few months ago, said something to this effect when discussing AI coding tools. That his (also, mine) generation was lucky to have started with low level stuff and managed to retain the understanding of the whole stack - and kids these days don't get that. Good luck acquiring this level of feel for computers, algorithms, data structures today, when a kid's first experience with coding will be a seemingly genius chatbot.
No one understands the whole stack. There is too much specialized information.
I remember in the naughts, coming across a dos machine that was quite out of time… even for the university basement it was living in next to a pile of lead brick. Its only job was to run an instrument via an home-built ISA card and write data out to 5.25” floppies.
What uses would this code have in 2026?