test-drb December 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

168 participants
844 discussions

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>When I was a student, and when I was supervising students, practical >jokes were _expected_. There were rules, like no permanent damage (to >physical items or data (like computer files)). Nothing against the law. >Nothing _too_ dangerous. > >And yes, I've been caught by practical jokes. And yes, I laughed >afterwards - and then played a joke in return. Like tossing charged capacitors across the room to them? Or hooking a LARGE choke and a battery to a doorknob? I would never do such a thing.:) Dan

25 years, 7 months

Compaq SLT/286

by max82＠surfree.com

Well, unfortunately, I replied to Russ's offer for a laptop dock onto the list. Not only that, I included a joke that I was glad that it's available but Russ would overprice it. If this went directly to Russ he would have gotten it, but on the list it makes it seem like he actually overpriced it. Sorry.

25 years, 7 months

OT: What if Dr. Seuss wrote computer manuals?

by manney＠lrbcg.com

Oh, on second though -- not offtopic. Dr. Seuss is >10 yrs old. <g> >What if Dr. Seuss Wrote a Computer Manual??? > >1) If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is >interrupted as a very last resort, and the address of the memory makes >your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to >report. > >2) If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the >double-click icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is >corrupted cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless >and your system's gonna crash! > >3) If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the >network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets >want to tunnel on another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the >printer down the hall, and your screen is all distorted by the side >effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse, >then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, cause as sure as >I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang! > >4) When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk, and the >microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk, then you have to flash >your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM. Quickly turn off the >computer and be sure to tell your Mom.

25 years, 7 months

SCO Unix anyone?

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

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25 years, 7 months

IBM 5161

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

i have a few of these extender and reciever cards if anyone wants to strike a deal with me. david In a message dated 98-12-04 22:00:13 EST, you write: > They're also not that useful unless you also can get the 'extender' card > that goes in the PC or XT motherboard. The cable can be made (but it's > nice to find a real one), but the card is quite complex. >

25 years, 7 months

IBM 5161

by jolminkh＠nsw.bigpond.net.au

And I have a spare cable if anyone is desparate. >i have a few of these extender and reciever cards if anyone wants to strike a >deal with me. >

25 years, 7 months

DG Aviion video

by zmerch＠30below.com

Once upon a midnight dreary, Tony Duell had spoken clearly: >> CoCo-ish question... tho CoCoists (IMHO) aren't quite as rabid as some >> other platform gurus...) > >Speak for yourself. _I_ grew up hacking the coco and I was rabid enough >to be one of the few people in the UK to have a CoCo3. Still have it. >Still love OS-9. But I'm not on the CoCo mailing list (too many machines, >too many mailing lists, my mail is bad enough as it is...) Oh, my CoCo3 is still set up in my office, next to "Goon" (my Clone -- hey, I just thought of this: I know a lot of folks who call BMW cars "bimmers"... would IBM clones rightly be called "bummers"??? ;-). My CoCo2 is still set up back at my "hacker" workbench, with the EPROM programmer (hopefully) eternally affixed to it's cartridge port -- the keyboard felt like someone dumped Pepsi & sand in it... rebuilt it; now it's one of the nicest CoCo keyboards I own. My CoCo1 is set up in my bedroom set up to the Plug-n-Power, and controls some of the lights in my house. Oh, and kiddies, cover your eyes: "Gates be damned... all of my CoCos now have Extended Basic... Couldn't buy it at RS, so what else am I gonna use my EPROMS for??? ;-) Besides, I do own more copies (I have 4 more CoCos) than I use at one time... just not in the right boxes! However, on the CoCo lists I've been on over the years, if a CoCoNut had an Amiga, he wouldn't get receive a second port to his/her posterior... many of the Amigans I've met, while generally wholesome individuals, were quite "ahem... less than goodnatured" when the found out an Amiga was not your sole platform. Of course, this is only my experience, and nowadays it doesn't seem like that anymore... so YMMV, and all that jazz. Just my obversations & opinions... AAMAF, I'm looking to acquire an Amiga 1200 & lotsa stuff with it, and have received a great deal of help from others lately on advice of this new, uncharted universe (well, for me...) >> If it is a Dallas 12887 (without the "A" suffix), I can tell you this: >> beware of the Dallas 12887. The 12887 has one shortcoming: the NVRAM >> *cannot* be reset via external means, which means if whatever machine has > >Do you mean the chip can get into a state where normal writes to the chip >fail, or that there's no way of clearing the chip other than by writing >to it. The latter could prevent a PC from booting, but if you remove the >chip and zero it in a programmer, then it would probably be OK. I was speaking of the latter, but how many "bummer" owners have a programmer that can successfully write to that chip? Ahhh... wait... this is Tony. O.K. -- How many _beginner / novice / PC only_ "bummer" owners.... etc. Outside of this list, I don't know of anyone who could diagnose a problem relating to this chip; and I'm not sure that any of the programmers _I_ own could successfully zero this chip, either. (Sorry to be down on this, but I deal day-in-and-out with folks who call me with: Them: "I couldn't get my Internet running..." Me: "Did you right click on [insert gizmo here]" Them: "What's a right-click?" Me: "That's when you push the right button of the mouse" Them: "What's a mouse?" :-/ ) Most of the folks I deal with don't know PCB stands for "Printed Circuit Board" let alone "Poly-Chlorinated Biphenyls" (toxic flame retardant). Just my (pessimistic) opinion... ;-) See ya, Roger "Merch" Merchberger

25 years, 7 months

Off topic -- playing with electrons (was Re: DG Aviion video)

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>It was in the USAF electronics tech school where we used to play >catch with capacitors. And worse. Caps weren't known as >"rectum-fires" for nothing. Another words you fished the leads up through the holes in the lab stools as well? Dan

25 years, 7 months

DG Aviion video

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

No, I'm a student. I can get in trouble for that kind of stuff :) Teacher: Why did you do that, Max? You can get into serious trouble for this! Me: It's just a harmless joke...look! (I demonstrate) Teacher: You know what, Max? Go home! (says jeez and rubs his eyes in the background) >Looks like you like to play tricks on users as well. Dan >

25 years, 7 months

DG Aviion video

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>Oh no... My jokes were a little more subtle... I still laugh thinking about the people that tried to figure out how they were getting shocked when they let go of the doornob not when they initially touched it. It was especially good to watch the person that just got shocked, when some new person grabs the doornob and just holds it while the first tries to warn them. >The -ve resistance battery was one such (an empty battery casing >containing a couple on 9V batteries and a little circuit so the voltage >would rise on load). Drives people mad... I like that idea.:) look out kids. > >The VGA-colour-swapper is another. This is a simple adapter with a DE15 >plug on one side and a DE15 socket on the other. All the pins are >straight through, apart from 1,2,3 which are wired 1->2, 2->3, 3->1. The >result is that it swaps the colours round. It's actually a useful piece >of test gear to discover quickly if a missing colour is due to the >monitor or video card. But it's the sort of thing to plug into a luser's >computer after he's spent the morning getting the colours 'right'... > Like swapping red and blue on VAXstations etc. Dan

25 years, 7 months

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test-drb December 1998