<Stuff about Convergent Heavy Iron SNIPPED>
> Convergent Technologies of San Jose California built a number of Unix
> and other platforms, most of which were OEMed by other companies --
> NCR, Burroughs, Sperry, AT&T are the most prevalent. A few years
> after Burroughs and Sperry merged into Unisys, they bought Convergent,
> so I'm an ex-Unisys person since I got there a year later. Anything
> you find running CTOS or CTIX is a Convergent box -- the AT&T Unix PC
^^^^^^^^^^
> ran CTIX, though the name didn't show up on screen. Convergent's
^^^^
OKay, so what happened to the source for CTIX? Did it vanish? Who
does it belong to? WHo do you think I belongs to?
Just Curious--
Jeff
> 68xxx systems included the Miniframe and the Megaframe that later
> evolved into the Convergent S-Series and the Unisys 5000 series.
> (When I was there I got stuck on the damned U/6000 series, with
> bloody Intel CPUs and ISA buses).
> --
> Ward Griffiths
> They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
> Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
> Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
>
>
>
<Just make sure it's Teflon, or Tyvek based paper (if such things
<exist), using some very high-tech ink/toner most modern papers (that
<I know of) have a finite shelf-life. Now papryrus-- that's rugged!
<S.L. = Several millenia
Not a big thing, use a low acid archival paper intended for that use.
Also the printing should be done using an impact technology, it puts the
ink deeper into the fibers. Ink jet would be good save for the ink
stability is unknown, I'd suspect it's good though. Toners are wax resin
based and while storage life is good it's not great.
Allison
A Win95 Haiku
Yesterday, it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that
(found in the local newspaper :)
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
[Last web page update: 06/11/98]
<From: Robert Kirk Scott <scottk5(a)ibm.net>
<Don't know if this will work for you, but I knew I had seen something
<like it somewhere....took a while to track it down. On page 2 of their
<online catalog, BGMicro (www.bgmicro.com) has a LM 211 by Hitachi:
<480x64 dot pixel display, comes with drivers but no controller, +5v and
<-9v supply recommended supply voltages, part no. LCD1008, cost...$3.50.
Close but no cookie... the DELL mono/VGA (640x480) LCD came from BG also.
The lm211 display is very nice but we're talking 40charx8 and I want
80x24 minimum, Graphics not needed.
Allison
In a message dated 98-06-23 22:09:20 EDT, you write:
<< A Win95 Haiku
Yesterday, it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that
(found in the local newspaper :) >>
lol. i have a bunch more. message me privately if you want em.
david
<Sorry, I guess it would degrade, wouldn't it...
<Why DO EPROMs go bad?
Eprom technology relies on a stored electrostatic charge. The gate
structure it uses as a capacitor is insulated with (SIO2) glass so its
very high resistance but over time it can absorb mosture and the charge
can leak off. UV accelerates that as do xrays and cosmic rays.
The Xrays, this I know from erasing OTPs back when. I hadd help from a
site were they were using industrial xray hardware on pipes. They
thought I was nuts until I explaned that the parts were then worth about
25$ a peice and I have maybe 100 with me.
The problem with OTPs is they are plastic and are not hermetic. The best
for storage are the two slabs of ceramic types with kovar header or IBMs
titainium/ceramic package.
Allison
http://www.macworks.com/html/computers.html
have old systems for "free", although there is a $25 handling 'fee' to
make sure everything is inside. and if you're not in the kansas city
area, there's 25 for shipping too. so they're not free, but i thought
i'd just mention it if anyone for some strange reason is interested.
-Eric
Not a mac collector, or user, but I spotted a box at a computer salvage
place today that said "Macintosh II", big long box... about 2.5 feet
wide, about 1.5 deep, about 6" high? had one 3.5 floppy slot on the
right hand side and what appeared to be another slot next to it, but it
was filled in. do not know if this was one of those remarketed Lisa's or
if it is just another old mac. regardless, if it is anything, the store
is www.dexis.com (they have a back area full of junk- mainframes, minis,
racks, tons of old and quite cool stuff). let me know if it is anything
interesting, i will be happy to go pick it up for somebody.
-Eric
Incidentally, I spent a lot of time today in the Boston Science Museum.
They have some old models, even a functional steam engine, but also a
lot of hands on junk. Although kids do enjoy touching things and often
regard untouchable museums as boring, there is the issue of the
usefullness of the things, and even the issue of what knowledge we are
propagating to the children. Many of the exhibits were broken. The
robots exhibit had an arm shooting hoops. The worst it got was with the
model of the NASA Dante II robot. It was hands-on, all right: press the
up button to move a leg up, and the down button to move it down. Just
one leg. BTW, they had an early Amiga in one kiosk. At any rate, I was
kinda bored with so much floor space taken up by junk. In the Computer
Museum, there was a very interesting application of hands-on. They had a
part of a Whirlwind, with both the wire and tube sides of a panel
exposed (behind glass, of course). The tubes were on, and you could
actually feel how warm they got. Then there was an English->Punched card
translator...Now those are good.
>What I am moaning about is the 'hands-on' experiments using equipment
>that would be found in most homes (or could, at least be bought
>cheaply). It doesn't cost much to buy a battery and a bulb and test
>objects to see if they conduct. It doesn't cost much to buy a bucket,
>fill it with water and see what floats. Those are things that can
>easily be done at home. Let's have things that can't be done at home
>easily (demonstration engines, clock escapements, etc).
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
How about a system like in recent software: 'levels'. That is, the
exhibits are arranged in such a way that someone doesn't HAVE to pay
attention to any details, but they are there. I can't tell you how
annoying it is to walk through a museum and not have any idea what the
exhibits are talking about.
>I don't think museums should necessarily cater to the lowest common
>denominator. I realize they derive much needed revenue from public
>visitors and don't want to turn the dummies off, but they shouldn't
>insult the rest of us.
>> Question: Do many of you actively encourage folks (at least those
>>you know or trust!) to visit you and your private collection who are
>>not collectors/historians like us? If so, do you have fun teaching
>>them a little about old computing (or old radios, automobiles,
>>clocks or whatever your interest in addition to computers)?
I don't think the average person is interested in computer history.
Computers are not visibly works of art, like old radios. Most people
have no nostalgic memories of them except logging in to the mainframe to
update some numbers at work, or the 'do not bend...' cards. When an
average person sees an old computer, they don't say, 'remember when...'
or 'whoa, look at that disk architecture', they say,'are you crazy? What
are you bothering with this piece of **** for?'. And most modern
comuterheads are Wintel drones who don't see the meaning of a computer
without Windows (ironically, Mac users are much more aware of their
hardware).
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
