If I send any of you messages, I would expect that they
will be held in confidentiality. I will certainly give
the list a chance to input before making any decisions.
If I wished to communicate to everyone, I would post to
the list.
--------------------------------------------------------
Bill Whitson bcw(a)u.washington.edu
Network Administrator (425) 352-5209
University of Washington - Bothell Help Desk: 2-5275
Yesterday I began talking to people about taking over list
functions. The response has been amazing and overwhelming.
Before making any decisions, I am going to go over the
list archives and attempt to read the list for a week or
two to get a feel for what's going on. If you have strong
feelings about how the list should be run, or by whom it
should be run, please e-mail me directly.
--------------------------------------------------------
Bill Whitson bcw(a)u.washington.edu
Network Administrator (425) 352-5209
University of Washington - Bothell Help Desk: 2-5275
:::cautiously leaving bomb shelter in order to post:::
back in the 1980s, i came across a book that also had a design for a robot dog
but i think this was a different book. it was built around a 8085A and 8155
support chips, totally wire wrapped and included schematics for building a
programmer to program the robot dog itself. i never did get around tuit, but
would have been fun to build. why didnt robots catch on as big as computers
did? i remember robots were the thing back in the 1980s like the web is now
but never really gained critical mass. there were a few models made, ( hero 1
and 2, rb5x, et al) but nothing really caught on.
::returning to bomb shelter, continuing to delete 97% of classiccmp messages
for the moment:::
In a message dated 98-03-18 21:28:38 EST, you write:
<< > >I have here a book from the Philips Technical Library called 'Practical
> >Robot Circuits' published in 1960. The first half of this book contains
> >the design for a robot 'dog' using essentially an analogue control
> system
> >(mostly amplifiers and comparators) to process the signals from various
> >sensors (photocells, microphones, thermistors, etc). The outputs of the
> What can this "dog" do? Does it have any kind of interesting
> abilities?
Not a lot. To keep it simple there's no 'learning by experience' (the
book does mention this in passing) or large memory stores (using only
valves and relays, that's not suprising). Looking quickly at the book I
can find :
1) Detecting/following a light source (turning its 'head' towards it,
moving towards it).
2) Detecting a sequence of 2 tones (its 'name') and coming towards the
sound source
3) Detecting that it's walked into something and backing off.
4) Detecting a hot object ('food'), turning its 'head' towards it,
licking it.
5) Using a sonar (accoustical radar) system to detect objects and avoid them
OK, trivial compared to what can be done with even a PIC microcontroller.
But I'd still like to make one one day....
>>
I just acquired a couple of Osborne 1's and one of the two of them has a
Drive C: in it. I got some docs with the boxes but nothing describing
this exciting little add-on. I've scoured the classic computer mailing
list archives and I've found a previous question (from may of last year)
on just this topic, unfortunately nobody really knew anything then. Any
help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers and thanks,
Dan
ps -- I'm currently in dire need of a CRT for a TRS-80 Model 12.
At 04:12 AM 3/19/98 GMT, Bill Richman wrote:
>How many do you need? I've got about 15 that aren't doing anything
>important. I bought two of the SQ drives when they first came out,
>sank a bundle into the cartridges, and then they flaked out on me.
>One drive had some kind of head crash and started eating cartridges,
>and the other one just ceased to function. Frankly, I was not
>impressed. Perhaps their new products are better. Do you know of any
>way to re-format a SQ disk that has been bulk-erased? I had this
>bright idea several years ago that maybe just completely clearing the
>disks by bulk-erasing would be a good thing. I'm thinking now that I
>obliterated some factory tracks that the drive can't reproduce.
>Ideas?
To tell you the truth, I don't know the first thing about these drives. I just
got one for free a whilke ago and was really just wondering if the damn thing
worked or not.
I'll let you know what i find out tho...
Les
At 12:48 PM 3/17/98 -0600, you wrote:
>be asked again - What are the top ten hotspots for finding old
>equipment?
In no particular order:
Friends and Family (and the companies they work for)
Thrift shops
Garage Sales
Dumpsters
Surplus dealers
Internet (this list, especially)
hamfests/swapmeets/fleamarkets
classified ads
typewriter/office equipment repair businesses
Okay, that's only nine. Sorry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.sinasohn.com/
Jack Harper <jharper(a)bs2000.com> wrote:
>Question - I very recently obtained a Symbolics 3650 lisp machine -- along
>with six large boxes of associated 'stuff'.
> Does anyone on the List have
>any experience or have any available spare parts or documentation -- or,
>most important, actual experience with Symbolics lisp machines???
I know of them from the computer graphics market. (I'd love to get
one, if you have two. :-) I think the 3D modeling / rendering
software was sold off to various other companies (Triple-I / Autologic)
and these days at least the concept of a Lisp-based modeler can
be found at www.nichimen.com .
The symbolics.com domain is still registered, and by reading between
the lines of some messages I found, I think it's owned by some
Symbolics enthusiasts or employees in Princeton Junction, NJ.
There is/was apparently a related newsgroup or mailing list. Go to
www.dejanews.com and search "info.slug" (with the quotes). I found
a message that said that Symbolics had laid off its last three
employees just this past January, and that the lawyers are
fighting over the assets.
Good start on your Lisp history page. I have one for UCSD Pascal.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
I've got a spare SQ 555 as well as about a dozen carts that I'd
be willing to let go... a trade for something nifty would be great!
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Hi, folks,
Like most of the list subscribers, I'm a scrounge. To this end, I've
placed on my web page listings of electronics and computer-related surplus
stores and swap meets in Washington and (northern, Bay Area) California.
Oregon (Portland and Vicinity) will be added as soon as I can swing a
survey trip there.
Hoping these listings may be of use to at least a couple of you, the URL is:
http://www2.jps.net/~kyrrin
Or...
http://table.jps.net/~kyrrin
Enjoy...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
And that request is:
Would Sam, Wirehead Prime, and 'Joe' PLEASE move your mass argument to
private E-mail? You can bash each other all you want over there.
If the noise level doesn't drop soon, I may fade away as well. Gad, Usenet
is less noisy at the moment...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."