test-drb March 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

167 participants
859 discussions

by william＠ans.net

For quite a few years, one bit of folklore that has popped up on a regular basis is that of old IBM dinosaurs running our air traffic control system. Well, I was just wasting some (work)time now looking at some recent threads on <bit.listserv.ibm-main>, and it is fairly clear that the 9020s are now all gone after probably too many years of service. The interesting thing is that the machines that replaced them, 3083s, are also now considered classics. William Donzelli william(a)ans.net

26 years, 4 months

Strange PCjr found

by Marty＠itgonline.com

I have a PCJr with a box (dimensions are same depth and height as system unit but is about 2 1/2" wide) that is mounted on the right hand side of the system unit and contains a parallel port. Is this what you are describing? Marty

26 years, 4 months

Demography?

by lisard＠zetnet.co.uk

On 1998-03-01 classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu said to lisard(a)zetnet.co.uk :On Sun, 1 Mar 1998, Captain Napalm wrote: :> Writable control stores: Don't count these out just yet. The new :>HP machines based upon the HP-PA stuff does have a writable :>control store. My friend has one of these boxes at home and he's :>been planning on playing around with this. :I've heard that even Pentiums will let you patch their microcode, yes? details...? *perk up noticeably* :but the idea as a general theme seems to be dead. I don't know the :reason for this except for speed and cost issues. we suspect it has something to do with microcode in general going out of fashion. these days even cisc machines are built with risc cores surrounded by hardware-based translators. some of the pentium clones even let you program them in their native languages. also, it's a bit difficult to write to a control store that's hardwired in silicon inside a plastic case... :< probably a better bet these days is to write a little inner interpreter for a risc, and it probably amounts to much the same thing. :True, some people are condemned to repeat history, but I'm willing :to bet that hardware byte-code engines will be pulled back into the :tar pit before they leave the cave at Sun (and other places). I :listed to a talk given by a Sun engineer on why they should build :these things, and the reasons he gave (such as byte-code is more :compact than other code) are really hard to buy. Defintely a :solution looking for a problem. there's only one reason why sun could want to do this - cheap java-only set-top boxes. it's a great way of locking out the competition (and given their current legal activities, you'd think they'd learn...) but whether it would make for the most efficient java platform is another matter. of course, there's also the proof-of-concept motive. "see? java *is* efficient, we've even built a chip with it..." :True again. p-Code made more sense then (when there was more than :one dominant architecture) than Java does now, but if Sun ever buys :into the idea of Java compiled to native code, there still may be :more hope for Java than there was for UCSD Pascal. well, if they do buy into that idea, let's hope it's at download time rather than with these damned silly just-in-time thingies (which only win if you execute a method more than once, and how do you know that until it's too late...?) elate (was taos) shows the way to go if you want platform independence these days, in our opinion. -- Communa (together) we remember... we'll see you falling you know soft spoken changes nothing to sing within her... Net-Tamer V 1.08X - Test Drive

26 years, 4 months

Apple IIc

by pb14＠leicester.ac.uk

On 6 Mar 98 at 10:44, J. Maynard Gelinas wrote: > Well, I scored an Apple IIc with an external Floppy drive, > Imagewriter printerer, and small composite green (maybe 9"?) monitor. > $20 bucks. The little white one from Apple that matches the IIc? If so, did you get the stand? > I also got some disks with it, but no games - mostly old > nibble magazine disks. This thing has a serial port on it, anyone > know what the pinout is and if these ports are compatible with > Macintosh adapters? For pinout information plus info on terminal emulators and DOS and ProDOS, try (one of) the Apple II FAQs at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/ The Nibble magazine disks were a good find too. Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

26 years, 4 months

Slightly on topic... tip for linux?

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

Does anyone know if there is a tip for Linux? (The comm program?) It had an option to go to another port if the one needed was busy. Minicom can't do that. I would like that ability, 'cause when I connect the 44 here, I'd like to have people telnet to a port and get passed straight into the DH plug, via pip, without having to have an account on the PC -------

26 years, 4 months

value of Sol 20 and Imsai 8080

by altair8800＠hotmail.com

I am in the market for a Sol 20 and and/or an Imsai 8080. I would like to know what the "going" price is so that I will know how much to pay for them if they become available to me. Any opinions would be welcome. Thanks, Bob ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 4 months

VSchool: (Directed at kids, but adult's welcome too!) Just an idea...

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

Hello. Several days ago, under the demography thread I briefly mentioned the "VSchool" concept. So, for those interested, here's what I want to do. Background info: The VSchool idea came from two needs: my need to create a virtual community, and, more importantly, the need for children (ages pretty much 6th grade-12th grade) to be able to learn at their own rate. At the subjects that they're interested in, or feel weak in. So, I then think of a place where all this could take place, actively, and freely. Now, Bahrain is far to remote to even begin to demonstrate something. Also, it's got limited resources and views. The Internet. It's used by far more than the population of any city, and equal to that of many countries. How I plan to pull it off: This is the area that I don't have to spend 50 lines telling you what CGI is and does. So, I'll use CGI (anyone got info on this?) to put up forms, (I can't program it... sorry...), and then we can make a chat room of some sort, possibly a Javascript password form. (Ok, so I'll need lots of help) So far, the best deal that I've seen in web hosting is digitalchainsaw (at http://www.digitalchainsaw.net) Anyway, we'll have two functions: Students will "enroll" (for free), and then they'll choose their area of expertise. There, they will be considered a teacher. In other areas, they'll be considered students. Teachers will work together to develop a curriculum. Then, they'll work together to teach others. I want to have a copmputer history as well as a computer interest group. I'm asking for your help. You would be considered a partner, if you wanted. Thanks, Tim D. Hotze

26 years, 4 months

Datanumerics DL8A is here! Have a peek @ ...

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

>>I'd rather not do this, not because I don't want to help you, but because >>I'd be a little worried about sending 4 irreplaceable eraseable chips >>through the post. I would hope somebody Stateside could help you. > > Trouble is, he's in Australia not in the US. The ROMs are going to have >to be shipped unless someone in Au has a 1702 reader. Yes. I am fairly comfortable with sending these overseas for preservation. I expect to back the code up in several places; on the web, distributed to whomever of you indicates interest, and also on duplicate EPROMS, on my computer, tattooed in hex on my shoulder... that should just about do it. :) What sort of reliability does well made, but 23 year old, wire wrap circuitry have? Is wire-wrap susceptible to "slip"? Cheers A

26 years, 4 months

Datanumerics DL8A is here! Have a peek @ ...

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

>>I expect to back the code up in several places; on the web, distributed to >>whomever of you indicates interest, and also on duplicate EPROMS, on my >>computer, tattooed in hex on my shoulder... that should just about do it. >>:) > > I think it would look better on your forehead. Be easier to read too. :-) *makes mental note* Don't do it whilst looking in a mirror! > Is wire-wrap susceptible to "slip"? > No, it's more like it welds itself on. Especially if it's good >wirewrapping. Oh, the quality looks superb. This is one well-made machine. Cheers A

26 years, 4 months

Demography

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

Joachim Thiemann wrote: > While we're at it (the buisness of veering grossly off-charter), who > else here collects electronic music equipment of about the same vintage > as the computers discussed here? I have a Korg Poly-800, Yamaha DX-7II, > 2 FB-01's, CS-01, a Sequential SixTrack, 360 Systems MidiBass, and a > homebrew MIDI interface to hook some of this to my Amiga. I have Yes, but not very enthusiastically. I've never really got into electronic music, preferring to do my composing (and most of my playing) at the piano. But, (getting a little closer to the topic) I do have a rather fun device - a Bontempi organ with a number of built in rhythms implemented in 74-series discrete gate TTL. > BTW Any of you UK guys have collections of the old E&MM magazine? I'm > missing 1 or 2 issues in the 84 (83?) season... Sorry, not something I ever read. > > > > sing and play Piano and Bassoon; I have recently taken up > > photography. > > > > Eh, who'd have figured.. another bassoon player. Who is it? I missed > > some > > important attributions. 'Twas I, Philip Belben. For what it's worth. I don't think that bassoonists are rare enough that two or three on this list is statistically significant. Still, nice to hear from another one. (On the other hand, there is probably a strong correlation between bassoonists and eccentrics, and a stronger one between this list and eccentrics.) Philip.

26 years, 4 months

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test-drb March 1998