Admiral Shark

After Gen 3 for me. The moment they added Sharpedo, they had peaked and reached utter perfection. All downhill from thereon.

First look at the Mini Model M prototype & helping Unicomp A first look at Unicomp's upcoming SSK successor and details on how I helped test the keyboard.

Just realised it's now 5 years since I released this! When I was asked to test the then-unreleased keyboard and provide my honest opinion before launch. One of the first 'big breaks'. Honoured to be asked and the first to publish content on this fantastic Model M! sharktastica.co.uk/articles/min...

A photo of an IBM ThinkPad 365ED opened flat and running SHORK 486 Linux with the output of shorkfetch shown.

A photo of an IBM ThinkPad 365ED running SHORK 486

A photo of an IBM ThinkPad 365ED running SHORK 486 whilst its keyboard is lifted up

More SHORK 486 #Linux on an IBM #ThinkPad 365ED! github.com/SharktasticA...

shorkdir on 365ED!

shorkdir on 365ED!

A screenshot of shorkdir running on SHORK 486 Linux, showing it navigated to my /usr/bin directory and listing all its contents.

SHORK 486 Linux has gained a new custom utility called shorkdir, a TUI file browser! I originally planned to use Rover for this purpose but didn't work out, so decided to DIY! You can build it for modern Linux if you wish. Note: I know it can flicker and I'm working on it! github.com/SharktasticA...

IBM 3275/3277 Type A Keyboard, Micro Switch SW hall-effect based! A candidate for what may also be IBM Keyboard A/Model A. Type A (1971) was quickly supplanted by the very similar looking Model B-based (beam spring) Type B (~1973). Below is how to tell them apart. sharktastica.co.uk/topics/keybo...

An excerpt from a 2004 Unicomp product catalogue showing the Unicomp Mighty Mouse family and its specifications

Yes, there are versions with a TrackPoint as well (Model M4-1). Just that Unicomp appeared to use "Mighty Mouse" as an umbrella branding for all of them. sharktastica.co.uk/resources/do...

A photo of the Unicomp Model M4 Mighty Mouse keyboard from the top

2002 Unicomp Model M4 Mighty Mouse without the mouse! This was their continuation of a lineage that began with 1991's IBM PS/2 L40 SX and its Model M3 buckling sleeve keyboard, that got adapted by Lexmark into a desktop keyboard (M4) later that year. sharktastica.co.uk/wiki/model-m4

A shot of the whole keyboard

A close-up of the keyboard. It's all clean!

I even managed to preserve the label!

And now it works with modern computers!

The finished IBM Model M! It's clean, all the keys work, and hopefully it'll last another 32 years!

A screenshot of shorkfetch running on SHORK 486

shorkfetch (the Linux *fetch utility for SHORK 486) has been spun off into its own repo! It was originally a bash script, but due to abysmal performance on 486 hardware, I rewrote it in C! If you want a minimal *fetch utility, give it a shot! github.com/SharktasticA...

Roses are red,

Sandbar sharks are brown,

Sandbar sharks mostly eat benthic invertebrates and fish,

Sandbar sharks have a large dorsal fin,

Wait what were we talking about again?

A screenshot of SHORK 486's upcoming SHORKGUI running on emulated 486SX hardware

Did you get this notification?

It is!

Approx. RAM requirements in MiB:
Default build: 12 boots, 16 sensible min., 20 ideal
Minimal build: 8 boots, 10 sensible min., 12 ideal

I mean, old hardware is old hardware, you do need to have appropriate expectations (esp. if used with a spinning disk). It's quite a lean kernel config though, so you may be pleasantly surprised. SD/CF card goes a long way too. Considering it works with 486SX, the 365ED's Cyrix 586 is a premium.

GitHub - SharktasticA/SHORK-486: A minimal 486SX-compatible Linux distribution A minimal 486SX-compatible Linux distribution. Contribute to SharktasticA/SHORK-486 development by creating an account on GitHub.

Thank you! If/when you try it, please let me know if you have to use the "Fix EXTLINUX" option. See README for context: github.com/SharktasticA... I had to. My one is actually a 365ED, which uses Phoenix BIOS when I think 365XD uses IBM Easy BIOS, so they may behave differently.

Anything can run DOOM!

Yes!

@pocketunix.bsky.social I hope you can appreciate the shorkoff utility with the red ASCII shark and turn off message! I was going for Windows 9x shutdown message vibes, although the ASCII escape code palette I'm stuck with right now does not have an orange like the OG. It will do for now.

A photo of my IBM ThinkPad 365ED notebook computer running SHORK 486 and showing lsblk, df and free output

A photo of my IBM ThinkPad 365ED notebook computer running SHORK 486 and Emacs (well, Mg).

[2/2] There was some headaches though. SYSLINUX has a bug where it uses the wrong register for a fallback memory detection test when e820 is invalid/unavailable. It prevented booting on certain devices, including this 365ED. Thanks to akeym on Discord for finding it! github.com/SharktasticA...

A photo of my IBM ThinkPad 365ED notebook computer running SHORK 486 and showing its shorkfetch output.

A photo of my IBM ThinkPad 365ED notebook computer running SHORK 486 and showing the shorkoff halt tool.

[1/2] 1995 ThinkPad running a 2025 Linux kernel! Testing SHORK 486 on real hardware is progressing. Now I get to use this fantastic IBM Model M6-1 buckling sleeve keyboard with a modern OS without orphaning the laptop! This has been a dream for 7 years and I'm buzzing that it's within my grasp!

Wika ❤️

👀

A screenshot of SHORK 486 running in 86Box and given only 8MB system memory to work with.

SHORK 486 and a 2025 Linux kernel release running on 8MB RAM, a sight to behold! I'm not gonna lie, there is not much free memory to work with lol. But hey, this is a cool proof of concept. Can it go any lower... 🤔

SHORK 386 and 686 will focus on the CPUs their names suggest. Some friends have expressed interest in using 486 on more modern systems, and whilst I'm happy to accommodate with 486 for now, a 686 version is better suited for this. 386 will require using a much older kernel, which may be a challenge.

A photo of SHORK 486 running on a Lenovo ThinkPad R60 and an IBM ThinkPad T40.

SHORK Mini has been renamed SHORK 486! This smol Linux is coming along nicely and friends have been testing it on lots of devices (especially ThinkPads), even if its not 486-based! The rename is due to plans for a SHORK 386 and 686 after this - I want to do more! github.com/SharktasticA...

SPARCbook 3GX with a red track nub instead of the green one it was sold with.

The SPARCbook got a new track nub! Thanks for the info on what I needed to buy @sharktastica.co.uk

You're welcome! ❤️

Ditto. Colds suck.