Pcjs.com is a webpage that emulates vintage computers in JavaScript. It is pretty amazing that this is even possible. Notice the same recipe is being calculated as the one in the Insight-live panel on the left. Doing this is fairly easy. I downloaded an original DOS floppy disk image file from that page, opened it on my Mac and replaced some of the files with those of Insight and then unmounted and uploaded it. But this, and other sites like it, are a bit of a party trick since there is no practical way to save recipes. But you can also do this using DOSBox (and other DOS emulators and virtual machines). Just download the files using the link below, put them in a folder and mount it as drive A: in DOSBox. Then switch to drive A: and type "insight".

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.
This was on the IBM-PC. Until then, Insight was running on Tandy TRS-80 Model 1 and 3 computers. The program was shipped by mail on 5.25" floppy disks. It was lightning fast, recalculating the chemistry instantly. It could handle as many 1000 recipes on a 1.44MB floppy disk and knew about 100 materials and their chemistry. While only one recipe could be open at a time, notice that a reference formula could be displayed (to compare with a calculation). Many stuck with the old DOS version of Insight well into the 2000s (and some even into the 2020s). Up until Windows XP, DOS programs could be run by simply double-clicking their program files (today DOSBOX or DOS running on a virtual machine are used). My recipe collection and associated data migrated to the Windows desktop Insight, then to 4Sight and finally into Insight-live and Digitalfire.
| Glossary |
Digitalfire Insight
A downloadable program for Windows, Mac, Linux for doing classic ceramic glaze chemistry. It has been used around the world since the early 1980s. |
| URLs |
https://dosbox-x.com
DOSBox General DOS emulator DOSBox-X goes much further than the DOSBox project, it retains compatibility with the wide base of DOS games but it is also a platform for running DOS applications, including emulating the environments to run Windows 3.x, 9x and Me and software written for those versions of Windows. |
| URLs |
https://www.pcjs.org
PCjs IBM PC emulator for browsers PCjs uses JavaScript to emulate a small collection of hardware and software that I grew up with in the 1970s and 1980s, allowing you to experience their slow CPUs, low-resolution displays, and primitive sound effects, all in the comfort and safety of your desktop or mobile web browser. |
| URLs |
https://insight-live.com/insight/recipes.php?OpenFile=uki4pTtY4r
Download Insight for DOS This link enters your Insight-live account to be able to get the file from the Files manager - so you need to be logged in. |
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