test-drb October 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

175 participants
1141 discussions

Heathkit Advanced weather station backlight problem?

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

Greetings all; I've got the Heathkit 'Advanced Weather Station' (it fits the charter: its old and has a Z-80 running it! B^} ) which (still) seems to have the classic problem of blowing fuses (and other things) once or twice a year as the fluorescent tube used for the LCD backlighting ages. There was a rumour that Heath had developed a mod for the power supply to deal with this, but this was also right around the time that Heath was bailing out of the kit business and closing their retail outlets so the staff at the time was much less than interested in trying to track down this information. I've finally got annoyed enough at this recurring ritual, that it is either time to find a fix, or off the thing in favour of a 'Davis' unit (or similar) Anyone out there have the information on this mod? (or can confirm that it never existed?) Thanks; -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

26 years, 1 month

ebay

by jim＠calico.litterbox.com

How to get what you want on e-bay 1. Bid more than anybody else through proxy bidding. This way when somebody else bids, the system will bid you up (to your max) automatically when someone else bids. If you want it bad enough, you can get it, but it may cost you. 2. Learn the fine art of sniping. I live with a longtime e-bay user (my wife) who has the distinction of a 0 second snipe - it came in and was recognised some fraction of a second before the auction closed. She did it manually too. :) There IS sniping software, apparently, too. 3. My wife assures me that EVERYTHING comes around again, btw. Especially computers. She suggests patience. 4. Finally, to avoid heartache from being sniped, don't assume you have a thing until you get the notification you won. Until you get that, the thing isn't yours. -- Jim Strickland jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there? -----------------------------------------------------------------------

26 years, 1 month

ePay

by david_a._vandenbroucke＠hud.gov

I also play and collect board wargames, and for those a major trading center is rec.games.board.marketplace, although eBay is important too. In non-eBay auctions, it's common to use a going, going, gone format, with each step occuring after a couple of _days_ of no bids. That seems a much more reasonable way to make sure that everybody who wants to be heard from has the chance. I do like eBay's system of paying just over the second highest bid, as it lets you bid once and then wait until the end. --Dav david_a._vandenbroucke(a)hud.gov

26 years, 1 month

TRS-80 Model I

by dogas＠leading.net

I've seen a VOXBOX on eBay (already priced out of my range....alas) Anyone familiar with this equipment? Any anecdotes? -Mike dogas(a)leading.net

26 years, 1 month

ePay

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Aw, that guy on the single board computers was slow... he bid a whole 11 seconds before the end! Yesterday, I had somebody come in 6 seconds before the end (luckily he didn't outbid, but he cost me money, dammit). We have a saying here in America... "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Now, I never enter a bid until the last possible moment. Kai -----Original Message----- From: Hans Franke [mailto:franke@sbs.de] Sent: Monday, October 26, 1998 10:32 AM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: ePay Sigh. I hate it. Sniped just seconds before the end. They should realy change their policy about ending time - these (automatic) snipers are realy not the way it should be. Waaaaaaaaah. Gruss H. sorry to use the list, but I had to cry ... I was happy until 5 minutes ago ... -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

26 years, 1 month

eBay (aka: ePay, eVay, oyVay, etc...)

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

In the catagory of: "it must get worse before it gets better" Starting Saturday (perhaps earlier, but the first that I noticed) eBay has been running radio spots on the national syndicate program feeds. As if there are not already enough (far too many) people out there with excessive $$ to throw around... -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

26 years, 1 month

FW: [HeathKit] HERO Robots for sale

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Semi-on-topic forward... -----Original Message----- From: John Hagle [mailto:jhagle@netsync.net] Sent: Friday, October 23, 1998 9:43 PM To: heathkit(a)qth.net Subject: [HeathKit] HERO Robots for sale Hi all. I have eight of the robots and an assortment of parts. Some manuals. In fact, at this point I am not sure of what I actually do have. If there is sufficient genuine interest in someone purchasing it all, I will inventory the collection and forward the info so we can negotiate a price that is mutually fair. Reason for sale is that I have insufficient time to do the needed work and programming etc. The joys and perils of being self employed, I guess. Date: 10/23/98 Time: 9:43:17 PM John R. Hagle N2JH ex - AA2GV and WA2SXH 6534 Klondyke Road Ripley, New York 14775 phone: (716) 736-2932 grid - FN02dg Western New York 6 meters thru 1296 --- Submissions heathkit(a)qth.net

26 years, 1 month

EDSAC celebration?

by franke＠sbs.de

> P.S. IMO history shows that British computer designs are often MUCH more > sensible than their American contemporaries. They treat the computer as a > tool to be used rather than a hunk of hardware with software slapped on later. > Too bad history shows that British computer *sales* are LESS successful than > their American counterparts. Thats not only about the Brits. When it's up for sales, the Americans are just numer 1 (maybe they had just absorbed to many magrebinian shopkeppers/merchants :) I heared a nice quote some time ago: When it comes for a new product, on should place development in Europe, production in Japan and sales in the US. Not so wrong at all Gruss H. -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

26 years, 1 month

Emulation or the real thing?

by yakowenk＠cs.unc.edu

] From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> ] ] SO how long is it before some really enthusiastic hacker creates a 3D ] emulator using a graphics engine like that in DOOM, that allows you to pop ] ... And how long before the machine on which that emulator runs is no longer supported by its manufacturer, and starts breaking down? Well, I suppose by then, state-of-the-art systems will be able to emulate *that* thing faster than the original. Prediction: 100 years from now, pick any random business, and dig into their computer system. You will find that at least some of their software is "legacy code" running under an emulator for some long-forgotten machine. And if you dig further, you will find that at least one such emulator is itself being emulated. Don't be too surprised if the legacy app is IBM 360 code running under an emulator written for a Wintel x86 box, and the x86 box is being emulated by... maybe a Java (non-virtual) machine? Cheerful thought for the day: someday the Wintel x86 platform will be long-forgotten. :-) My $0.02, the original hardware pushes all of my motivation buttons harder than an emulator could. Nostalgia, Revenge, Education, Preservationism, Usability, Money; only usability *might* be completely satisfied by an emulator. Of course, the emulator pushes those buttons harder than a complete void would. In an odd way, an emulator could hit the Money button better than the original hardware: although it doesn't have higher resale value, it should be cheaper to obtain. But this was about which you'd rather have, not which you were more likely to succeed in getting, right? So maybe the real thing wins on the Money button as well. Hmm. It seems the emulator would push the motivation buttons for when NOT to collect, better than the real hardware would: Cost, Space, Noise, Breakdowns (for us software geeks, those are not exactly fun), Transportation, and Spousal discord; all the things associated with having physical STUFF. Bill.

26 years, 1 month

64bit data 128Bit address...Re: Building a Z-80 (64bit!!!)

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

>> What the heck are you compiling that requires over 500M of RAM during the >> compilation step? Netscape? I can't even conceive of something that >>large. well we had a Java application that ran to 1.5 million lines of code (OK, the definition of a 'line of code' is somewhat flexible, but you get my point), and that would chew up somewhere around 500MB in order to build (this was about 16 months ago; my memory's hazy on the exact amount). luckily only about 30,000 lines of that were hand-written, we built a code generator to do the rest :) cheers Jules

26 years, 1 month

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test-drb October 1998