About the Author
I'm Stephan, a Linux user with a passion for open-source, UI/UX design, and exploring what makes fiction work.
In my spare time, I focus on (and write about):
- Programming (mainly in Python and Rust)
- Retrocomputing (mostly DOS but, as of January 2023, I also own a machine running Mac OS 9.2)
- Reading and Reviewing Fiction
- The odd bit of UI/UX design or literary theory
For notification of significant updates to existing posts, consider following me on Mastodon.
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Author Archives: Stephan Sokolow
Fanfiction – A Quick Overview of The Whole Pureblood Pretense Series
In the wake of the final chapter of murkybluematter’s The Futile Facade, I found myself stuck dwelling on the huge cliffhanger it ends on. Enough so, that I’ve just finished a marathon re-read of the series to wear out my … Continue reading
Posted in Fanfiction
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Fanfiction – Loopholes
I decided that this story is so different from the usual Zero no Tsukaima/Familiar of Zero fare that it deserves a full review of its own. Loopholes by DschingisKhan The basic plot is that Louise summons Tabitha from across the … Continue reading
Posted in Fanfiction
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Platformer Design Trends: Then and Now
I started playing Celeste a couple of days ago and, while I was playing it, I started tallying up some of the ways that the average modern platformer, retro-styled or not, differs from its counterparts in the 80s and 90s. … Continue reading
Posted in Web Wandering & Opinion
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Automated Testing for Open Watcom C/C++ and DOS
UPDATE 2022-10-21: Added update on 86Box’s porting status One of the hobby projects I’ve been poking at again is written for DOS using Open Watcom C/C++ (v2 fork), and, being as averse to drudgework (and spoiled by modern tooling) as … Continue reading
Posted in Retrocomputing
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Retrocomputing Category Announcement
While working on an upcoming post (a run-down of C unit test frameworks that are easy to use under Open Watcom C/C++), I realized that I’m getting enough of these retrocomputing resource posts that mentioning them from each other is … Continue reading
Posted in Retrocomputing
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A Major QtExceptHook Update
For anyone who uses QtExceptHook, my port of the old gtkexcepthook.py script to PyQt5, I have an announcement I think you’ll appreciate… I just made a major update. If you don’t use QtExceptHook, it’s a single Python file you can … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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Making a 2-button Trackball Useful on Modern Linux
I was the kind of nerdy kid who read computer catalogues for fun before his tenth birthday, and one of the nerdy things I always wanted was a Logitech Trackman Marble… an early optical trackball with a distinctive patterned ball … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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