I think the following says all that need be said about this debate.
I received it from Mr. Ismail this evening.
Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 17:12:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com>
To: Wirehead Prime <wirehead(a)www.retrocomputing.com>
Subject: Re: Are We Not Men? (& Women?) [OT^2] (Was Re: PDP-8/Es available [NOT!])
On Sun, 25 Jan 1998, Wirehead Prime wrote:
> My mail server must have been down the day you were put in charge. I,
> for one, would like to hear Mr Whitson's comments on this matter.
Mr. Whitson doesn't have to comment on the matter as he already has, IN
THE MANNER OF A FAQ WHICH CLEARLY EXPLAINS WHAT IS AND IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
DISCUSSION FOR THIS GROUP. Any drug addled moron can determine from the
FAQ that the last five days of you blowing your wad over yourself is not
what is considered on-topic for a discussion group on CLASSIC COMPUTERS.
> Clearly there is a question of interpretation here and, seeing as how I've
> received no warnings or chastisements directly from Bill or from anyone
> else for that matter, I'll assume
> that your opinion is either that of the minority or differs from his to
> such a degree that it isn't worth the bits wasted in its transmission.
No, its really just that Bill is too busy to police the discussion.
Otherwise, I'm sure he'd be objecting. Your "interpretation" of what
belongs in this discussion must be based on the "This-is-my-life" FAQ,
because nowhere in the FAQ does it say that what you've been discussing in
acceptable. It is my interpretation that anyone who would violate the
rules of the FAQ so blatantly as you have is a total ass.
> I suspect that you would do well to discard your copy of _Roberts Rules of
> Order_ and procure a copy of _When Anger Hurts_. A (wo)man's
> maturity is
> defined not so much by his principles and unwavering rigidity in the face
> of that which offends him as it is by the depth of his patience and his
> tolerance for others in spite of his dissatisfaction with their behavior.
My god, what is your problem? Don't quote any passages from some fucken
self-help book to me. Please. I'd suspect that you'd do much better to
read the ClassicCmp FAQ over and over until it registers with you.
> As I've said, I am not only confident but resolute that the
> aforementioned discussion WAS, indeed, within the parameters set forth
> for the group...IE the discussion of computer collecting, which is driven
> by various motivations which are worthy of discussion in and of
> themselves inasmuch as they reveal why one may wish to collect one sort
> of computer over another or collect computers at all and recognizing that
> we all need some reassurance, from time to time, that computer collecting
> is not merely a deviance or eccentricity.
Yeah, that would be all fine and dandy if that is what you were
discussing, but the fact is, you were telling us all about how you never
went to college, you started an ISP, you became relatively successful with
it, you make twice the median income of your state, you married a
beautiful woman, you think drugs are bad, blah blah blah. So what!? What
does THAT have to do with collecting computers? You claim to be making
some point about the motivation for collecting computers, but where was
it? I think your point was more to brag about your accomplishment, which
I really couldn't care less about, considering: a) I don't know you, and
thus don't care and b) this is not a discussion group for talking about
how good we feel about ourselves.
> You reveal yourself in your words and the manner in which you convey
> them. Should chastisement rain down upon me by the TRUE powers that be,
> then I will accept such knowing that I did so as a mature adult and not as a
> sniveling whiner. I will know that however just or unjust such
If you were a "mature adult" you'd realize you are out of order and would
police yourself. Think about it...only a child need be chastised for
breaking rules. Why not act your physical, rather than mental, age.
> judgement may be, many will recognize my sincerity and respect me for
> my forthright and honest nature and my respect for others. But I will NOT
Blah blah blah. There you go blowing yourself again. Thus proving my
point that all you are interested in is promoting yourself. Go put up a
web page about yourself if you think you're such a fantastic guy. I think
the only thing people will realize in this case is that you are obscenely
off-topic.
> accept condescension or judgement from YOU so descend from your horse and
> stand amongst men (and women) as an equal rather than a self-appointed
> proclaimer of what is worthy and what is unworthy of discussion.
How dramatic. Are you for real?
> As for your threat of spamming, it carries little weight here as it will
> result in the implementation of various hacks which function to deny
> incoming mail from specific mail servers or from specific addresses.
How impressive.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
At 02:39 AM 1/30/98 -0500, you wrote:
>> Have you ever seen a Zenith "MiniSport"? Uses 2" floppies? I found
[...]
>do its upload and you've got at least one disk, you can probably
>(don't count on it, but probably) attach a parallel Zip drive).
Question: when did parallel ports become bi-directional (i.e., useable for
zip drives and such)?
Or, to put it another way, how likely would I be able to (ignoring software
issues for the moment) hook up my new SyJet drive to say, my m100? What
about my DG-1?
(P.S., off-topic tip: The Parallel port SyJet is really a SCSI-2 SyJet
with a fancy cable; if you've already got SCSI, and can maybe use the
Parallel port feature...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
<an Intel Multibus Single Board Computer 80/10A, and an Intel Multibus 80/
<card of some sort. The only reason I picked up the Intel Multibus board
the 80/10a was a multibus 8080 card. I have a few but they are fried.
When I get crazy I'll fix them. The 80/10 desn't date from '76 though
the '76 is the date intel trademarked the MULTIBUS name.
Allison
I just thought I'd give yous guys a sneak peek of some of the things I am
working on...
The Vintage Computer Festival v2.0 - the continuation of the legacy! ;)
This year's show will be bigger and better than the first. More vendors,
a bigger exhibition, more great speakers and workshops, more more more!
Tentatively scheduled for late summer. Keep your eyes open for further
announcements.
The First Vintage Computer Festival Auction - you won't want to miss this.
There will be a bunch of incredible stuff auctioned off this spring to
help fund VCF 2.0. Check the VCF web page (www.siconic.com/vcf) this May
for details.
A new & improved VCF web-site. Thanks to TCI's cable modem service, I'll
be hosting my own internet services. Among other things, I will launch a
vintage computer software archive. Online history, trivia, interviews
with industry legends, a comprehensive vintage computer gallery, and a
comprehensive list of links to other vintage computer sites on the web.
This will become the one-stop shop for vintage computing.
The Vintage Computer Collector & Trader Web BBS. This will be a BBS as
was discussed a couple weeks ago in the discussion. It will provide two
services. First, it will offer free advertising for those wanting to
buy/sell/trade vintage computer hardware, software, literature, etc.
Second, it will provide a registry for those wanting to network with other
collectors around the country. Post a message describing what you want
and how much you're willing to pay. Other collectors around the country
scour their local flea markets, thrift stores and salvage yards looking
for your requests. You work out the final details with each other.
Automatic database management insures that requests stay current. Stale
requests get removed automatically.
The Vintage Computer Software Archives - the plan is for an FTP site with
all manner of software archives for all platforms: CP/M, DOS, Unix,
microcomputers (Apple, Atari, Commodore, TI, Radio Shack, etc.),
mini-computers (DEC, Data General, Sun, IBM, etc.), mainframes...whatever
is legal to archive and make publicly available will be there. The
archived equivalents of disks, magnetic tapes, paper tapes, punch cards,
whatever, will be made available for download.
ALL THIS AND SO MUCH MORE! A VERITABLE NERD EXTRAVAGANZA TO SATISFY YOUR
VINTAGE COMPUTER HUNGER!
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
At 01:21 AM 1/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I don't know of any *real* military surplus stores around SF anymore;
>though you'd think there would be some, what with Mare Island Naval
>ShipYard, Treasure Island, Alameda (Nuclear Wessels!), The Presidio, etc.
>
>There are a few electronics surplus stores around, especially down in the
>(silicon) valley.
I wasn't into computers at the time (I was 6 or 7) But my father used to
take me on Dumpster Safaris at Charleston Naval Base, where he worked
(civilian). Man, they used to throw out all sorts of stuff, some of it just
had a few scratches on it. I remember seeing oscilloscopes, radio gear,
terminals, tools, office furniture, you could live in one of those
dumpsters (Hey, I was 6. I didn't have great expectations.) My big thing
back then was swapping wires on connections, juicing it up, and see what
explodes. Now I'm all grown up! :)
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
At 07:35 PM 1/28/98 GMT, you wrote:
>A friend is heavily into classic cars; he says a car depreciates
>typically until it hits a low at about 13 years, after which its'
>value rises. Computers probably do the same pattern although the time
>probably varies. The trick is to know when the machine hits bottom and
>which will go up from there. (If it climbs slowly, there's no hurry)
Not anymore. There's no way all these Pentium systems out today will ever
be worth anything, at least not in 13 years, IMHO. Maybe in about 30 years,
when most have been destroyed will they be truly worth something as an
classic.
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
Please, someone help me!
I have acquired, free of charge, a Sage Iv microcomputer circa 1983.
Specification is : 512K RAM, 12MB hard drive, 1 x 5 1/4 inch floppy
drive.
I need help with : Group A/B microswitch settings, cable to connect to
the serial port of an Amiga A600, serial comms settings, and what I am
likely to find on the Sage IV once it's up and running.
So far, it appears sane (Processor light blinks meaningfully) but
without a terminal connection, I'm completely in the dark.
I really would like to get this machine up and running because it was my
dream machine circa 1982/1983, and I lusted after one of these for
years. Unfortunately I couldn't afford the £7,000 price tag
(U.K./British prices - always worse than American prices!) so it
remained a dream - until now!
Anyone with the relevant technical expertise please e-mail me at:
d_w_edwards(a)hotmail.com.
HELP!!!!
Thank you for your time and consideration.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
< Actually, though, building a Transputer system is pretty easy. I did so
<back in 1989 (so it's not quite a classic). The time from opening the
<data book to having the machine boot was about 30 minutes!. That was
<using bare chips, not TRAMs as well.
Now the transputer is one that I never got to play with but would have
liked to.
Allison
At 21:06 28/01/98 -0700, you wrote:
>I have a Computone 4(?) port card. long 16 bit ISA bus with 4 RJ11
>ports and 2 RJ45 ports.
>Need info on real purpose and uses, jumpers and switches, thanks
I have several Computone still in use.
What I can say:
They are Multiport card used mainly to hook several tty-devices to a
xenix/unix box.
Usually these cards have an external multiport (DB25) small box connected.
In latest version I thnk they used space-saving RJ's
Are you shure they are true RJ11? (or they are DEC RJ with side ?)
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