Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

I never used Lotus Agenda, but I’m told it was a popular productivity tool for MS-DOS in the late 80s. I’ve been on a retro software rediscovery kick lately, so I’ve decided to give it a whirl and write about my experiences. There is something that appeals to me about using long-abandoned software. Perhaps it’s update fatigue, there’s certainly no need to dread a major update breaking something!

Regardless, I’ve always enjoyed finding new productivity tools to try out, and I’m not afraid of steep learning curves or getting my hands dirty. I’ll usually choose powerful and flexible software over simplicity.

At the moment I mostly use taskwarrior, but I’ve lost count of all the others I’ve tried!

Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

Agenda is a PIM, a Personal Information Manager. That term has fallen out of fashion, I think a quick summary might be “anything that manages those small pieces of information we all deal with”. Things like contacts, todo lists, notes, and so on.

I found a 1989 episode of the TV show Computer Chronicles that discussed how people thought about PIMs at the time.

At the 21-minute mark there’s a demonstration of Lotus Agenda, but it’s not easy to follow, watch the clip and you’ll see what I mean. Still, you do see some interesting features:

Some form of NLP is used to extract dates and names from free-form text.
Categories are a little like what we would call tags today.
You can create custom dashboards called views.

Apparently this was an $800 software package (That’s $395 adjusted for inflation from 1989), yikes! You don’t have to pay that, Lotus made it available for free when development ceased.

In preparation for trying out Agenda, I found a copy of the original manuals on eBay for a few dollars. Just look at this monster, the user guide alone is over 700 pages, that’s not including the supplementary guides. The supplements I have are Working with Macros, Working with Definition Files, Setting up Agenda, and a few miscellaneous leaflets.

I guess that’s my bedtime reading taken care of for a while. I actually received the macro reference still in the original shrink wrap, it almost seems a shame to open it!

: Consider the plot or scenario presented. A compelling storyline or engaging scenario can make the content more enjoyable.

Masha’s relationship with the mouse is not overtly anthropomorphic; instead, it functions as a symbolic partnership. The mouse appears whenever Masha confronts a moment of doubt—e.g., when she must choose whether to give a treasured stone to a bureaucrat demanding a “cultural token.” The mouse’s brief presence offers a silent affirmation that resilience can be quiet and unassuming, yet potent. Their parallel arcs—Masha’s growing awareness of societal constraints and the mouse’s instinctual navigation of the terrain— reinforce the notion that survival often requires both intellect and instinct.

“1st Studio Siberian Mouse Masha and Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl” is an idiosyncratic multimedia project that fuses animation, experimental sound design, and a fragmented narrative to examine the tension between innocence and industrial modernity in post‑Soviet Siberia. Though the title appears chaotic, each component functions as a clue to the work’s underlying structure: “1st Studio” signals a formative, almost apprentice‑like creative space; “Siberian Mouse” evokes a small, resilient creature navigating a harsh landscape; “Masha” and “Veronika Babko” are the two central protagonists whose intersecting stories drive the thematic core; “Hard Avidcusl” (a neologism combining “avid” and “cultural”) hints at a fervent, perhaps obsessive, engagement with cultural identity. This essay unpacks how the piece uses visual metaphor, character juxtaposition, and sonic texture to comment on the persistence of personal myth in an environment dominated by the machinery of state and commerce.

The content produced by 1st Studio Siberian Mouse, including Masha and Veronika Babko's projects, has elicited a range of reactions from viewers. While some appreciate the studio's bold approach and artistic vision, others may find their content too intense or unconventional. The diverse responses highlight the complexities of creating and consuming online content.

The name "Siberian Mouse" is particularly noteworthy, as it serves as a nod to the sisters' Siberian heritage. This moniker has become synonymous with the Babko sisters, and their association with the studio has helped to further solidify their online presence.

Masha and Veronika Babko's creative process involves a deep dive into their imagination, often resulting in innovative and thought-provoking content. Their approach to storytelling and artistic expression is characterized by a willingness to experiment and push boundaries. This process not only helps them produce engaging content but also fosters a strong connection with their audience.

Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

You probably need to use other applications or services, and sync your data with your phone. Writing and reading files from outside DOSEMU is no problem, so if you just want to sync files this is no problem.

As it’s a terminal application you can also just SSH in and run it.

You probably also want to have your appointments sync with your calendar or something.

Export

There are two ways to export data from Agenda. If you have a commandline tool that you can pass arguments to, then you can write a macro that will invoke it.

Otherwise, you can export your data to a file.

Files

Agenda can export items to a format called STF, Structured Text File. The specification for that format is (mostly) documented in the manual, but it didn’t catch on.

I wrote a quick parser that can convert it to JSON, so now you can use modern tools like jq to manipulate and transform the data however you wish.

You can download it here, here are some examples.

Print a list of all items.
- $ ./stfjson < transfer.stf | jq '.[].items[].text'
Show all items with a due date.
- $ ./stfjson < transfer.stf | jq '.[].items[] | select(.categories[].name=="\\When")'

And so on, there are more examples in the README. If you can exchange data with other apps, you can now use stfjson to generate the correct format.

You can automate exports, Agenda has “Special Actions” in the category options. Alternatively, if it’s just a one off or for a macro, you can use the Transfer > Export command.

Commands

In DOSEMU, the UNIX command will invoke a shell command on the host.

C:\>unix uname
Linux

If there is a commandline tool that will import data, e.g. a TaskWarrior user might use task add drop off laundry at dry cleaners, then you can create a macro in Agenda that simply launches that command.

You can use something like {F10}ULUNIX task {TYPE;%TASKTEXT}.

Import

Surprisingly, Agenda supports importing arbitrary text data. One of the manuals that came with agenda was Working with Definition Files, which explains how to write a configuration file that allow Agenda to parse anything.

It even has a Regular Expression tutorial, pretty impressive for a 1980s consumer product.

Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

I quite like Agenda. It does many things well, but it’s absolutely true you could replicate most of it’s functionality with modern tools. However, I do enjoy using it, and I’m a big enough nerd that I quite like the challenge of using retro software.

I think the closest modern equivalent to Agenda would be taskwiki. It’s not a perfect match, but if you liked some of what you saw here but are not interested in retro software, try it out!

I’m still using Agenda after two weeks, and about 40% of the way through the manual 😂

Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

Bob Newell’s Agenda Page has lots of old documentation. In particular, I found this old Lotus Support FAQ from 1990 fascinating.

Masha And Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl !full!: 1st Studio Siberian Mouse

: Consider the plot or scenario presented. A compelling storyline or engaging scenario can make the content more enjoyable.

Masha’s relationship with the mouse is not overtly anthropomorphic; instead, it functions as a symbolic partnership. The mouse appears whenever Masha confronts a moment of doubt—e.g., when she must choose whether to give a treasured stone to a bureaucrat demanding a “cultural token.” The mouse’s brief presence offers a silent affirmation that resilience can be quiet and unassuming, yet potent. Their parallel arcs—Masha’s growing awareness of societal constraints and the mouse’s instinctual navigation of the terrain— reinforce the notion that survival often requires both intellect and instinct. : Consider the plot or scenario presented

“1st Studio Siberian Mouse Masha and Veronika Babko Hard Avidcusl” is an idiosyncratic multimedia project that fuses animation, experimental sound design, and a fragmented narrative to examine the tension between innocence and industrial modernity in post‑Soviet Siberia. Though the title appears chaotic, each component functions as a clue to the work’s underlying structure: “1st Studio” signals a formative, almost apprentice‑like creative space; “Siberian Mouse” evokes a small, resilient creature navigating a harsh landscape; “Masha” and “Veronika Babko” are the two central protagonists whose intersecting stories drive the thematic core; “Hard Avidcusl” (a neologism combining “avid” and “cultural”) hints at a fervent, perhaps obsessive, engagement with cultural identity. This essay unpacks how the piece uses visual metaphor, character juxtaposition, and sonic texture to comment on the persistence of personal myth in an environment dominated by the machinery of state and commerce. The mouse appears whenever Masha confronts a moment

The content produced by 1st Studio Siberian Mouse, including Masha and Veronika Babko's projects, has elicited a range of reactions from viewers. While some appreciate the studio's bold approach and artistic vision, others may find their content too intense or unconventional. The diverse responses highlight the complexities of creating and consuming online content. Though the title appears chaotic, each component functions

The name "Siberian Mouse" is particularly noteworthy, as it serves as a nod to the sisters' Siberian heritage. This moniker has become synonymous with the Babko sisters, and their association with the studio has helped to further solidify their online presence.

Masha and Veronika Babko's creative process involves a deep dive into their imagination, often resulting in innovative and thought-provoking content. Their approach to storytelling and artistic expression is characterized by a willingness to experiment and push boundaries. This process not only helps them produce engaging content but also fosters a strong connection with their audience.