test-drb September 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

154 participants
649 discussions

by roblwill＠usaor.net

> I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the fun the nerdy kids these > days could be having if they discovered classic computers. > Hey - I'm one of 'em. I've got an old drafting table in my basement covered (and full of) obsolete (286 and older) computer stuff. It's also scattered various places in my house. > Actually, there is one kid I've been talking to in e-mail (although he's > 19 now so "kid" may not be appropriate anymore). He built some sort of > digital logic contraption with relays out of an old elevator controller! > It sounds wild. He said it can do actual useful work, such as image > processing. I don't know the total details, but I'm trying to get him to > exhibit it at the Vintage Computer Festival. He said its very large and > would be a burden to move, but I'm trying to figure out a way to help him > get it to the venue. That sort of project should inspire many people > around his age to embark on similar projects of their own. > I'm only 15... I had a few plans for a few things, but the only problem is that I need to find an EPROM programmer and some old chips. Any idea where to get one - cheap?? ThAnX, -- -Jason (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#-1730318

25 years, 10 months

Re.: Does Bill Gates know how to program?

by rcini＠email.msn.com

On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 12:56:06 PDT, "Max Eskin" <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >>I believe his last program was in 1986 for a Tandy machine. He's been >>strictly buisness after that. Didn't Gates work on the BASIC on the Model 100? At the risk of a flame war...I think that Gates walks a razor-thin line between really aggressive and monopolistic. No question, he and Microsoft are successful, through a combination of luck, brass balls, and the paranoid fear of being technologically overtaken by another technology company. I also think that a portion of Microsoft's problems today can be attributed to sour grapes by some of the competition, fueled by books and articles in recent years which showcase Gates' incredible wealth and Microsoft's amazing success. Now, back to our regularly-scheduled program... The earliest programming example comes from "Gates" by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews. Gates and Allen worked on an 8080 emulator on Aiken Lab's (Harvard) PDP10s during the winter '75 break. The Altair Basic command set was lifted from DEC's RSTS-11 Basic-Plus, which Gates considered elegant. The simulator code was dated 2/9/75. "Programmers at Work" by Susan Lammers quotes Gates as saying that there wasn't a program at Microsoft (at the time; the book is (c) 1986, 1989) in which he was not involved. Microsoft's Basic interpreter products are attributed to Gates, as is the work on the Model 100. At the time, Microsoft had 160 programmers, and Gates was intimately involved in the code review process, noting that there wasn't a piece of code which he didn't read. Rich Cini/WUGNET - ClubWin!/CW7 - MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking - Collector of "classic" computers <========= reply separator ==========>

25 years, 10 months

Re.: CP/M Definition

by rcini＠email.msn.com

Contrtol Program for Microcomputers according to Digital Research ads in early Byte magazines. >>This is from the CP/M FAQ: >>Q3: Does CP/M stand for anything? >>A: (Don Kirkpatrick) {snip} Rich Cini/WUGNET - ClubWin!/CW7 - MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking - Collector of "classic" computers <========= reply separator ==========>

25 years, 10 months

CP/M definition

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Sep 20, 6:19, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote: Pete Turnbull wrote: > > The first line on page 1 of my CP/M 2.2 manual says "CP/M? is a > > monitor/control program ..." > > It is indeed a monitor/control program. That does not mean that that > is what the initials stand for. In the same way I can say that WG is > a weird geek. (Actually, it's other people who usually say that -- I > just don't actively [or actually] disagree with them). Sure, but the point I was making was simply that it's referred to differently in different places. For example, other CP/M documentation refers to it as "a control program for microprocessors" -- but the 2.2 docs don't (AFAICS). I think trying to decide on a canonical definition of what CP/M stands for is futile -- since DR were themeselves inconsistent over time. Much the same thing happens in lots of other places, and it's not unusual for someone to pick a name simply because it has multiple meanings or interpretations. I think it's significant that early DR docs don't explicitly say what the acronym stands for (or even that it's an acronym). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 10 months

CP/M definition

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Sep 19, 19:03, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote: > Subject: Re: CP/M definition > Sam Ismail wrote: > > > > This is from the CP/M FAQ: > > > > Q3: Does CP/M stand for anything? > > > > A: (Don Kirkpatrick) > > > > There are at least three popular answers - Control Program for > > Microcomputers, Control Program for Microprocessors, and Control > > Program/Monitor. The issue is clouded by authors of popular CP/M > > books giving different answers. According to Gary Kildall (the > > author of CP/M), in response to a direct question on the PBS show > > "The Computer Chronicles" following Computer Bowl I, the answer is: > > Control Program for Microcomputers. This is also consistent with > > DRI documentation. See, for example, p. 4 of the DRI TEX manual. > > > > If this is true then someone is lying (perhaps even Kildall himself). > > "Control Program for Microcomputers" is what I recall from magazine > articles in the 70s and it's what's used in my CP/M 3.0 manuals. The first line on page 1 of my CP/M 2.2 manual says "CP/M? is a monitor/control program ..." -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 10 months

NeXT tidbits (hijacking a NeXT Computer properly / other tidbits)

by thomas100＠home.com

Hi, You can blow away the netinfo database if you like... tho' it's somewhat crude. There's a simple way to hijack a NeXT computer from the console.

25 years, 10 months

NeXT tidbits [Printing]

by thomas100＠home.com

Hi, I've never figured out how to hook into a printer on another system [FROM NeXTStep/Rhapsody] which is annoying. It's easy if you're in the same location as netinfo handles everything for you... but I haven't been able to get one NeXT machine speaking remotely to another NeXT machine's laser printer without netinfo at long distances. I had better luck getting Windows networking and printing to work with my NeXT machine tho'. I expose my printer to my login account and can print from any Windows machine on the Internet to my NeXT machine once I login. Using Samba, you can have both Windows Networking and can configure your NeXT machine to look like a Postscript Laserprinter which is just _dandy_ for printing quick output from Win95 when you're away from home. Thomas

25 years, 10 months

CP/M-86 / MSDOS / DRDOS / GEM / Windows

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 22:13:47 -0600 (CST) Scott Walde <scott(a)saskatoon.com> writes: >On Fri, 18 Sep 1998, Albert J. McCann, Jr. wrote: > >> > >client was a stand-alone GEOS app. I know there were stand-alone >Win >> > >apps, but I can't remember any names. >> >> > The only one I've ever seen was the game "Balance of Power". >> > It's Windows 1.x >> >> Micrografx Designer was another. It ran a stand alone 2.x Windows. > >When I started selling computers in 1990, we had Aldus Pagemaker (v?) >on >the shelf. It included run-time windows v2.x. As did Samna's Ami (before it became 'PRO'). I still think Ami 1.0 is the best windoze wordprocessor ever written: SImple, but powerful and easy to use. It won't run under 3.1 though (sigh). > >Did this practice stop with Windows v3.0? Everything anyone has >mentioned >here was v1 or v2. > >ttyl >srw > > > _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

25 years, 10 months

Warming up an IMSAI P/S

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

At 02:49 PM 9/19/98 -0700, Sam wrote: >On Sat, 19 Sep 1998, Tony Duell wrote: > >Today I plugged in the front panel and a Cromemco ZPU. It worked! The >address LEDs 15, 14 and 13 are sequencing in a binary pattern. I don't >know what this means, but at least it shows life. I got the same results >with another ZPU. I can single-step it and see different stuff happening, >but I have no idea what its doing. I buried my friggin IMSAI manual in a >box a few weeks back. No memory installed? It is executing a RST 7 (0FFH) which pushes the current address onto the stack and jumps to 038H (070 octal), and finding yet another 0FFH there, repeats the exercise forever... You are seeing the stack pointer reflected in the lights when running... It's a good sign. -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

25 years, 10 months

High density disks on double density drives

by roblwill＠usaor.net

In PC's, I always use 1.44 meg disks in 720k drives. I just tape over the second hole, and format them in one of my 720k machines. I have one of these "doctored" disks that is 5 years old, and still holding its original data strong and true. It has even been around magnetic fields (slit off monitor onto back, right above coil), and hasn't lost a byte. -- -Jason (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#-1730318 ---------- > From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)freegate.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: High density disks on double density drives > Date: Saturday, September 19, 1998 2:41 PM > > It is neither the drive nor the controller per-se, it is the read/write > heads and the media that are incompatible. HD disk media requires a higher > magnetic field to magnetize reliably and the DD drives don't provide it. > > --Chuck > > At 01:36 PM 9/19/98 -0500, you wrote: > >I've heard that you shouldn't use high density disks in double > >density drives, that the data wouldn't be reliable.

25 years, 10 months

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test-drb September 1998