I see another rocket has blown up.
Looks like it's time to break out those
desk top analog computers that got us
into space the first time.
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
Sunnyvale,CA
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
Yes,and it can even inspire. But it can do so
only to the extent that humans are determined
to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is
merely lights and wires in a box."
- Micro68 computer User's Manual,EPA Inc. 1976
=========================================
> Since we are off topic, read the Bill of Rights and the Constitution
> sometime if you want an idea of just how many of your rights (re:
> freedom) have been usurped in your 'best interest' by our omnipresent
> Federal Government. This spy satellite pales in comparison to the
> invasion of personal liberty that has been either legislated by
> Congress or in the case of our Constitutional Rights bent in
> interpretation by the Supreme Court under the guise of a 'living
> breathing Constitution.' Bullshit. The Constitution doesn't need
> interpretation, it is written very clearly and has been raped.
I may be naive, but I understand that the satellite was owned by
a connecticut company who was have it launched to replace the one
which went bad earlier this year, knocking out millions of pagers,
etc.
> several years. Its the payload of the first that exploded that's very
> curious to me: a high-tech spy satellite capable of listening on on
> thousands of phone calls and other communications, costing how many
> billions? You'd think they would be REALLY, REALLY careful with a toy
> like that.
So would I... and I would have suspect that such a satellite would have
been launched from vandenburg. This is part of the reason I do believe
it was a communicates satellite.
BTW - if not from vandenburg, then aboard a shuttle...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
"Max Eskin" <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>Give me a break! Rockets explode all of the time. Plus, I would guess
>some of the parts they are using are old. I have the feeling cracked
>seals could once again be the problem. Also, rockets don't rely on
>computer controls. These are 20-year old technology. It's unlikely
>they have anything more than a bunch of servos like in a model car.
Actually, from the news report I heard, it was a new launch vehicle.
The maiden flight... That doesn't contradict the idea it may be old
technology, but supposedly the vehicle was one of a new series...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
The post about the Shugart HD's reminded me of something. I'm also looking
for a hard drive and external disk boxes for a TRS-80 Model III. I'm not
sure if the HD's needed to be special for the III (never had a HD for it),
but I had model 1 disk drives on it, and they were working. So any model
disk box should be O.K.
ThAnX in advance,
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
I'd be very interested to know if you have copys of an old magazine called "Micro Cornucopia". I did a summer internship there when I was in high school.
Tony
--
On Mon, 31 Aug 1998 12:04:26 Seth J. Morabito wrote:
>[...]
>> When did the downward trend in magazines occur, or was it a steady
>> process?
>
>Old computer magazines are another passion of mine. I a large
>bookshelf full of BYTE magazine, from around 1976 to 1993, and
>leafing through these magazines is like looking through the layers
>of sediment in an archeological search. It's immensely fascinating.
>
>BYTE started out as a single-signature stapled magazine. The September
>1975 issue is 96 pages. These were the days of serious homebrew
>systems, and Byte catered to that crowd exclusively. There were articles
>about writing assemblers, about microcode, about CPU design, about MMU
>architectures, and about CP/M internals. The typical reader was putting
>together a home-made or kit-bought S100 machine, and wanted to stay in
>touch with their fellow hackers. Those were truly glory days, 1975 to
>1980, although I was too young to participate. I was busy playing in
>a stream somewhere over summer vacation :) [I guess I'm trying to make
>up for lost time by being so interested in classic computers now]
>
>BYTE stayed about this size, right up through 1980 or so. If you were
>around to remember it, there was a HUGE burst in Home Computing mania
>right around 1981. Computers were suddenly everyhere, and everyone seemed
>to have access to an Apple II or a Sinclair or (later) a Commodore 64.
>With the introduction of the IBM PC, computers gained "business"
>acceptance, and the wave crested. Anyone remember the 1982 TIME Magazine
>"Man of the Year" going to "The Computer"? That raised a few eyebrows.
>
>It was right around that time that BYTE swelled into a behemoth 400-page
>magazine. It was like hefting a book, and the spine was a good 3/4"
>thick. Every article had something good in it. There were in-depth
>articles about Smalltalk and the coming of Object Oriented Programming.
>Serious reviews of new commercial computer products. Buyer's guides.
>And still, plenty of technical articles, and source code for programs.
>
>It wasn't until 1985 or so that BYTE got back down to smaller proportions,
>and had fewer articles. They focused more PC clones, the brand-new
>Macintosh, business applications; less on hard-core internals. The techie
>articles were still there, just in fewer numbers, and the readership
>of Byte was pretty mixed, technical and business computer users.
>Computer literacy was still not what it is today, so there weren't as
>many clueless newbies. There would be plenty of time for that later.
>
>In my very humble opinion, it was around 1987 or 1988 that computer
>magazines started seriously heading downhill. BYTE remained a very good
>magazine, right up through 1993, but after that, it was fully devoured by
>"Business App-Itis", and became pretty un-interesting.
>
>These days, the only computer magazine that's anything like what
>Byte used to be is "The Computer Journal", published by Dave Baldwin.
>Unfortunately, it's quarterly instead of monthly -- there's just not
>that much demand for S100 information these days :)
>
>-Seth
>--
>"It looks just like a Telefunken U47! Seth J. Morabito
> You'll love it." - Frank Zappa sethm(a)loomcom.com
>
-----== Sent via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Easy access to 50,000+ discussion forums
"D. Peschel" <dpeschel(a)u.washington.edu> wrote:
> I'm jumping into the discussion because I just got practically a complete set
> of Micro Cornucopia. (From issue #1 until issue #51 (?) which was well into
> the MS-DOS days. I don't know when they stopped publishing.)
I think the last issue was #53, May 1990. And I hope David Thompson is
doing well these days, he certainly brought a lot of interesting reading
material my way back then.
(Looking for: #8, #10, #11, #12, #20)
-Frank McConnell
I seem to recall that someone was looking for a source for cheap LCD pan
< a while back (Allison?). Just got the current Alltronics catalog and
< they've got 640 X 480 backlit panels (Sharp LM64P80) for $39.95, and
< non-backlit for $9.95.
Both sound good but whats the drive needs? I already have a $9.95 special
but the logic to drive it would be odious and the interface was apprently
for a custom chip.
Allison
Those who would like to experiment with a VAXStation 3100 or two should
get in contact with this fellow directly.
Thanks in advance.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
From:
"Rich Irwin" <rmirwin2(a)aug.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject:
VAXstation 3100 Model 38 and Peripherals
Date:
31 Aug 1998 19:24:23 GMT
Organization:
http://www.supernews.com, The World's Usenet:
Discussions Start Here
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I have two VAXstation 3100 Model 38's and a variety of peripherals, all
in
working condition for the right price. You can pick from the list and
make
one good system if you like, or make an offer for the whole thing.
Here's my inventory (I'm working from memory but can provide exact p/n's
upon request!)
2-3100 M38 (I'm not using the built in video so can't verify on-board
video)
2-VT-320 Monitors and keyboards
2-RZ-23L disk (126MB works for most any VMS)
1-Quantum Lightning (540MB, works as boot for VMS>6 or so)
1-DEC RZ25L (1GB works as boot for VMS 5.4 and greater or so)
1-DEC (Sony) 4/8 GB tape unit (just purchased. Works for VMS 5.4 and
greater)
1-Tape TK type tape drive (untested)
1-Floppy drive (untested)
1-Toshiba 4x CDROM (works with VMS 5.4 and greater)
1-Spare SCSI interface and device plane
Misc cables, etc.
As far as VMS and media, one can join DECUS and for about $40 get VMS on
CDROM. ;>)
You should join anyway!
This is the good stuff! I'm about to finish a project with the
hardware,
so it can be yours promptly!
Best Offer for each system or the whole bundle!
Thanks and remove the zzz's!
Rich
rmzzzirwin2(a)auzzzg.com
"Max Eskin" said:
>Give me a break!
Most of my generation disowned every thing their parents
stood for, and they're paying the price. They are having
to reinvent the wheel every day. It's like the 80's were
a small version of the Dark Ages.
Well I'll quit before I really get wound up. I'll just say
thank you for making my point. Isn't it sad to think that
after landing 12 men on the moon and returning them safely,
we sink to the point where we say:
>"Rockets explode all of the time."
> Plus, I would guess some of the parts they are using are old.
>I have the feeling cracked seals could once again be the >problem."
Could it be because they don't know how to built a rocket today?
>Also, rockets don't rely on computer controls. These are 20-year >old
technology. It's unlikely
>they have anything more than a bunch of servos like in a model >car.
I was talking about the computers used to design the rockets.
But,I do think you are forgetting about the P5 based computer
running Windows 98 used to monitor the fuel pressure in the
fuel pump.
I'll bet the rocket "crashed" before it blew up.
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
Sunnyvale,CA
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
Yes,and it can even inspire. But it can do so
only to the extent that humans are determined
to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is
merely lights and wires in a box."
- Micro68 computer User's Manual,EPA Inc. 1976
=========================================
