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Comment by DonaldFisk | Hacker News Reader

Almost 20 years ago, I met Patrick at a Lisp meetup in a pub in London where he talked to us about Croma, the Lisp he developed for Web use. I learned that he was looking for a Lisp machine, and as I had a Symbolics 3630 which I hardly ever used, I arranged for someone to pick it up and deliver it to him. I wonder if it still works and if he is still using it.

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Donald! It's great to hear from you. I still have your Lisp machine and in fact booted it last time I was at my parents' home in Ireland last year. Using one was quite formative for me... Lisp machines significantly elevated my bar for what developer experiences could be and, on some level, that whole line of thinking is what led to Stripe.

Thanks for sharing! What a neat moment to observe a friendly in-person interaction, reconnected via the internet years later.

To me it seems like this is an example of how "the explosive expansion in access to opportunity facilitated by the internet" isn't limited to business opportunity.

Twitter update from pc with a photo of the machine: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1369320446827528192

Hi Patrick! Glad you that found it interesting and that it still works. I rescued it from a former employer (BT). Initially I was offered a Symbolics 3660 which was a lot bigger and had a 30 amp plug with round pins, but I turned that one down.

Interesting. In what sense(s) is the developer experience in Lisp machines different?

By the way, Patrick, while you're around: any plans to GPL CROMA at some (remote) point in the future? Have always been curious to see it...

He's 32 now. So he was 12/13?

Probably in 2005.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/limerick-pupil-s-web-languag...

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