$Id: a07cf90837a3c4373b82d6724b97593810766af7 $
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!
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:
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!
| Interpretation | Meaning | |----------------|---------| | Quantity | A year-long, 567-film marathon – a serious cinephile goal. | | Era | The golden years of 1956–57, packed with masterpieces. | | Runtime | Shoah, the 9.5-hour Holocaust documentary. | | Code | A hidden numeric pattern in puzzle films (rare). | | Canon | A thoughtfully curated list of exactly 567 essential movies. |
So when you hear “567 movies,” ask the speaker: Do you mean 567 individual films? The films of 1956 and 1957? The 567-minute film? Or are you proposing a new canon?
Each answer opens a different, fascinating door into cinema.
The search term 567 movies generally points to one of two things depending on the context: a specific data set highlighted in famous media representation studies, or a massive, long-term binge-watching goal for film enthusiasts.
In academic circles, the number became prominent after a groundbreaking study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which revealed that out of 1,300 popular films analyzed over 13 years, 567 movies were completely missing Hispanic or Latino speaking characters. In a broader cultural context, watching 567 movies is often set as a target for heavy media consumers, equating to watching one and a half films every single day for an entire year.
Whether you are looking at film through the lens of social statistics or attempting to conquer a gargantuan watchlist, here is a comprehensive look at what a collection of 567 movies represents. 567 Movies and the Hollywood Diversity Gap
The most historically significant use of the phrase "567 movies" stems from the highly publicized research regarding Hollywood's inclusion crisis. The USC Annenberg Study
Media researchers analyzed 1,300 of the top-grossing films over a 13-year span to gauge how accurately Hollywood reflected the real world. They discovered a massive erasure of Hispanic and Latino populations.
The Statistic: A total of 567 movies out of the 1,300 sampled featured exactly zero Hispanic or Latino characters with speaking roles.
The Impact: This meant that roughly 43.6% of the most popular movies completely erased a demographic that makes up nearly 20% of the United States population.
The Takeaway: For film critics and social scientists, "567 movies" serves as a benchmark figure illustrating the historical lack of representation in mainstream American cinema. Conquering a 567-Movie Watchlist
If your interest in the phrase leans toward the hobby of tracking media, attempting to watch 567 movies is an ultimate challenge for cinephiles. Organizing, streaming, and finishing a library of this size requires a massive commitment. 1. Curating the Perfect 567-Movie List
To prevent viewer fatigue, a massive library of 567 films must be highly varied. Diversifying your watchlist keeps the experience fresh.
The Essentials: Block out 100 spots for standard cinematic masterpieces featured on lists like the AFI 100 Years...100 Movies.
Modern Marvels: Dedicate another 100 movies to continuous modern releases and award-season favorites. 567 movies
The B-Movie Buffer: Dedicate at least 50 slots to low-budget LTX Studio B-Movies and cult classics to keep the tone light and fun.
Global Cinema: Allocate 100 slots to international films to widen your perspective beyond domestic Hollywood. 2. Time Management and Pacing
How long does it actually take to watch 567 movies? Assuming an average movie length of 2 hours, that equates to 1,134 hours of screen time.
The Daily Binge: Watching 1.5 movies every single day will get you through the list in exactly 365 days.
The Weekend Warrior: Watching 5 movies every weekend takes about 2 years and 3 months to complete.
The Casual Approach: Watching 3 movies a week will take you roughly 3 years and 7 months to complete the collection. 3. Essential Tools for Tracking Your Library
When managing a project of this scale, mental notes will not cut it. Heavy media consumers rely on dedicated software to manage their watchlists and home servers.
Letterboxd: The premier social network for film lovers is perfect for logging your diary, leaving quick reviews, and sharing lists with a community.
IMDb Watchlists: Use the massive IMDb Database to build your queue and receive notifications when your listed films hit streaming platforms.
Plex Media Server: For digital hoarders who own their media, building a home library via the Plex Platform is the absolute gold standard for organizing large collections.
Are you researching the USC Annenberg statistics for an academic project, or are you trying to build a personal cinematic bucket list?
While "567 movies" might seem like a random number, it has surfaced in various cinematic and cultural contexts—ranging from niche streaming collections to significant sociological studies on Hollywood representation.
The following article explores the different meanings and impacts associated with this specific figure in the film world.
The Significance of "567 Movies": Representation, Records, and Collections This two-year stretch produced an astonishing number of
In the digital age, numbers often tell a deeper story than the titles themselves. The figure "567" has appeared in movie-related headlines across different spheres, highlighting everything from a massive Redbox heist to the ongoing struggle for diversity in major motion pictures. 1. The Diversity Gap: 567 Movies Missing Latino Voices
One of the most academically significant uses of this number comes from a study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Researchers examined 1,300 top-grossing films over 13 years and found a startling statistic: 567 movies (roughly 43.6%) did not feature a single Hispanic or Latino speaking character.
This figure has become a benchmark for activists and filmmakers like Annette C to demand better representation, arguing that while Latinos make up nearly 20% of the U.S. population, their total invisibility in over 500 major films illustrates a systemic exclusion in Hollywood. 2. The Great Redbox Heist
On a lighter, albeit criminal note, the number 567 gained notoriety in 2013 when an Alabama man was charged with stealing 567 movies and games from a single Redbox machine.
The sheer logistics of the "Redbox 567" case became a minor internet sensation. Most people rent one or two discs; the effort required to systematically empty a kiosk of hundreds of titles—ranging from blockbusters to "B movies"—turned a local theft into a strange piece of cinematic trivia. 3. "567 Movies" as a Digital Milestone
In the world of streaming, "567 movies" often appears as a curated threshold for free movie platforms and niche OTT (Over-The-Top) services.
Writing a blog post covering 567 movies is a massive undertaking, likely referring to a "top list," a year-in-review, or a personal viewing challenge (similar to the famous "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" journey) [6].
Because covering that many titles in one go is too dense for a single standard post, here is a strategy and draft structure to make it readable and engaging. 1. Choose Your Narrative Angle
Instead of a dry list, frame the 567 movies around a specific goal or theme: The Completionist's Journey
: "I watched 567 movies in 365 days: Here's the good, the bad, and the weird." The Curated Library
: "The Ultimate 567: Every movie you need for a lifetime of home cinema." [7] Genre Deep Dive
: "567 Horror/Sci-Fi/Noir films ranked from worst to best." [9] 2. Strategic Post Structure To keep readers from being overwhelmed, use organized body content with clear headers [13]. Title Ideas The 567 Club: A Year of Cinematic Obsession
From 'A' to 'Z': My Definitive Review of 567 Essential Films
Quantity vs. Quality? My Take on 567 Movies Watched This Year The Introduction If someone says “I’m watching 567 movies,” they
: Explain why you took on this challenge or compiled this specific number.
: Briefly mention how many hours were spent, your average rating, and the oldest/newest film on the list. The Body (Categorized) Break the 567 movies into digestible subheadings so readers can skip to what interests them [2]: The "Must-Sees" (Top 10-20) short paragraphs (3-4 sentences) for your absolute favorites [19]. Hidden Gems
: Highlight 10 obscure films that deserved more attention. [7, 10] The "Hall of Shame" : Mention the bottom-tier flops to add humor and personal touch Genre Snapshots
: Group the remaining movies by genre (e.g., "The 40 Westerns," "The 100 Rom-Coms") with one-sentence micro-reviews for each [6, 20]. 3. Visual & Interactive Elements Data Visualization chart or infographic to show the breakdown of genres or decades [21]. The Master List bulleted list
for the full 567 titles at the end, or link to a spreadsheet/Letterboxd profile to keep the post length manageable [19, 30]. High-Quality Stills : Include 5-10 iconic cinematography shots from the top-rated films to break up text [20, 16]. 4. Conclusion & Call to Action
Summarize your biggest takeaway from the experience. End with a question to encourage discussion
, such as "How many of these 567 have you seen?" or "What's the one movie I missed?" [22, 13]. or provide a detailed template for one of these categories?
This two-year stretch produced an astonishing number of films that remain in the top 100 of all time (Sight & Sound, AFI, IMDb Top 250). It was the peak of classical Hollywood storytelling just before the French New Wave (1959) shattered conventions. It also gave us:
If someone says “I’m watching 567 movies,” they might mean “I’m doing a deep dive into 1956 and 1957 cinema.”
(If you want, I can populate each slot with specific film recommendations.)
In the 567 days, you didn’t just get one movie; you got an experience. You got a newsreel, a cartoon, a B-movie, and then the main attraction. Today, we binge-watch entire seasons in a weekend. But back then, a night at the 567 was an event. It forced you to sit still, pay attention, and fall in love with the unexpected opener.
In the ever-expanding universe of digital streaming, new platforms emerge almost daily. From global giants like Netflix and Hulu to niche services catering to specific genres, the competition for your screen time is fierce. Yet, amid this crowded space, a name has been generating significant buzz among dedicated cinephiles and casual viewers alike: 567 Movies.
If you’ve stumbled upon this keyword while searching for your next binge-watch or a rare cinematic gem, you’re in the right place. But what exactly is "567 Movies"? Is it a new service? A curated collection? A hidden code for film fanatics?
In this comprehensive guide, we will explore everything you need to know about 567 Movies, including its content library, user experience, legality, safety, and how it stacks up against mainstream competitors.
Despite the risks, 567 Movies has a loyal following. Why? Because streaming culture has become fragmented and commercialized. Platforms remove movies every month due to licensing deals. A film you saved to your watchlist on HBO Max might be gone the next week.
567 Movies operates on a different philosophy: digital preservation. The community that maintains the indexes sees themselves as archivists. Subreddits and Discord servers dedicated to "567 Movies" share links, discuss rare finds, and troubleshoot broken streams. This grassroots, DIY spirit appeals to movie lovers who remember the era of video rental stores, where discovery was part of the magic.
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.
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.
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.
$ ./stfjson < transfer.stf | jq '.[].items[].text'$ ./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.
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}.
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.
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 😂
Anyone trying to earnestly use 30 year old software is bound to encounter a few hiccups. Here are some of the problems I ran into. I also have an FAQ.
Alt-F3.Ins to create a new Macro, call it “Macro”F2 to open the editor, and enter this:{Macro}
{AltF4}
F5 to save it, then F6 to open the macro properties.F2 and enter {CtlF4}.I made Ctrl-S Save, and Ctrl-F Find. The defaults are Alt-W (??) And Alt-F6 (???!).
SCANCODE.COM from here, it’s a DOS TSR that can simulate keystrokes. Once you have it installed:
F10, Select Utilities, then LaunchSCANCODE Delay 3,Alt-F3 (If SCANCODE is not in your %PATH%, type the full path, e.g. C:\SCANCODE\SCANCODE.COM.EInternal Error.$_umb_a0 = (off) to your .dosemurc.
stty cols 80.
Operation not supported. A workaround is to install xtermcontrol and type xtermcontrol --geometry=80x${LINES}.Q. Can I see your GNU screen configuration to get me started?
A. Sure, here’s my main screenrc, and here’s my dosemu specific one.
I use alias agenda="screen -c ${HOME}/.screenrc.dosemu dosemu -term -E agenda" in my .bashrc to start agenda.
Q. Agenda doesn’t use 100% CPU time, but it still uses more than I would like.
A. DOSEMU simulates timer interrupts using setitimer(), and by default it requests them as quickly as possible. If the DOS application does a lot of work on every interrupt (Agenda queries the time), then it can use some CPU.
There’s a tradeoff here, you can simulate a slower interrupt timer but responsiveness will go down (i.e. how quickly the application responds to keyboard input). You can experiment with the numbers and find the optimal balance.
If you were playing a DOS game, you would probably want it high, but for an office application like Agenda you can turn responsiveness waaaaay down and it’s still totally acceptable.
To do that, set the timer option. The default value is 18, but I find 8 to be totally acceptable, maybe even 6. You can only change the timer setting on the commandline, not in .dosemurc.
$ dosemu -term -I "timer 8" -E "C:\AGENDA\AGENDA.EXE"
The lower you can set this value, the lower CPU time agenda will use.
path %PATH%;C:\AGENDA to one of your initialization files, like fdppauto.bat.Q. I’m using GNU screen, and some function keys produce garbage.
A. S-Lang tries to check if you’re using an xterm compatible terminal by doing strncmp($TERM, "xterm", 5);. GNU screen is xterm compatible, but it sets the terminal to screen.xterm-256color.
A workaround is to just make an alias for this termcap entry that starts with “xterm”. First, get a copy of the termcap entry, e.g.
$ TERM=screen.xterm-256color infocmp > termcap.txt
Now, add an alias at the top of the file that starts with xterm, e.g. I made mine look like this:
screen.xterm-256color|xterm-256color.screen|GNU Screen with xterm using 256 colors,
Now recompile it, tic termcap.txt. tic automatically installs that entry in your $HOME/.termcap directory, so it should be available immediately. Now add the line term xterm-256color.screen to your .screenrc, and the problem should be solved.
Q. I’m using GNU screen, it works but the Escape key seems slow, unreliable, or needs to be pressed twice?
A. First add the line maptimeout 50 to your screenrc, and see if that helps. If it feels better but not fixed, try tweaking the number.
If it didn’t help at all, then I think your termcap definition is wrong. Perhaps you are using a terminal that claims to be xterm compatible, but is not.
Try these steps:
$ infocmp -1 > termcap.txtkmous= and remove it, that’s mouse event reporting. I’ve found this unreliable in some vte-based terminals.$ tic termcap.txt.See if that fixes the problem. tic places compiled definitions in your $HOME/.termcap directory, you can remove them if you want to go back.
Q. How can I print something from Agenda?
A. Add the line $_lpt1 = "dosprint" to your .dosemurc, then create this shell script in your $PATH called dosprint, you can adjust to your liking. The ps2pdfwr utility is part of ghostscript.
#!/bin/bash
declare tmpfile=$(mktemp --tmpdir=${HOME}/Downloads --suffix=.pdf printjob.XXX)
if ps2pdfwr - ${tmpfile} > /dev/null; then
xdg-open "${tmpfile}"
else
rm -f ${tmpfile}
fi