test-drb November 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

211 participants
749 discussions

The Computer Museum History Center Collections Policy

by mbg＠world.std.com

>The Computer Museum seemed to engender a remarkable amount of ill feeling >in the East, not alleviated by the flight of the collection from Boston. >Daq is the beneficiary of that great reservoir of suspicion and distrust. >He certainly has his work cut out for him, but being forthcoming and >addressing these concerns could go a long way towards settling them. I would suggest that the move from boston cannot expect to have reduced any ill feeling but increased it... 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

25 years, 7 months

Made a deal to get a Vax 6000, 2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and TOPS10???

by ndiablo＠diablonet.net

Wow; sounds like quite a nice load :) I think the SA600 is a rather largish disk rack sort of thing that housed a number of RA8x (?) drives... -Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net)

25 years, 7 months

The Computer Museum History Center Collections Policy

by spicer＠computerhistory.org

Dear Friends of Computer History, I would like to dispel a persistent meme that recurs on this list regarding The Computer Museum's non-destruction/sale/folding/spindling/mutilating of computer equipment. First, let us all take a deep breath and lower the temperature of the issue. Epithets and insults are not only unnecessary but unkind, unprofessional, and unworthy of the people within this group (and at the History Center) that genuinely seek to promote computer history by advancing solid, verifiable knowledge claims in an atmosphere of collegiality and mutual interest. Ok, now the issue (or non-issue, to be more precise). The Computer Museum and now The Computer Museum History Center is a federally-registered non-profit corporation whose mission is to preserve and promote the study of computer history and to serve as an international resource in the history of computing. To this end, it employs, with a very modest staff of 5 full-time persons, all reasonable and modern methods to actively collect and disseminate computer history across five separate collections: hardware, software, media (photos, video, films), ephemera, and documentation. It collects broadly across time and industry with no particular institutional, corporate, or personal axes to grind and this ecumenism has made it a trusted source in computer history by the media, scholars, authors, intellectual property specialists, and the general public. The Computer Museum in Boston has recently merged with the Museum of Science there since there was, essentially, insufficient public support for its activities--even after its change of focus to a hands-on, interactive "science center" model. Consequently, the historical collection of the Museum, one of the finest in the world, was moved to the west coast where, in the midst of silicon valley, there would be a financial, regional, and industrial climate that would allow the collection to be seen by the public in an environment supportive of computer history. At this time, the new entity changed names to become "The Computer Museum History Center," reflecting its institutional focus of being a place where computer history can live without financial concerns--which, as you all know, is the ultimate rate-limiting concept behind computer preservation (as well as time/spousal tolerance!). As I see it, the thought that the Museum "sells," "trashes," or "scraps" artifacts is untenable. In nearly four years as curator and manager of historical collectons at the Center, I have no personal knowledge of any such activities. On the contraty, in the best tradition of computer history, artifacts tend to move in the opposite direction--i.e. FROM the landfill/dumpster/garage TO the Center. It is thus somewhat distressting to here claims to the contrary by individuals who, again to my knowledge, have made not the slightest attempt to contact the History Center in order to discuss the issue or otherwise substantiate their public, and frequently insulting, claims. For example, why would "a list" of such non-practices be desired? Similarly, I see little point in addressing the intemperate remarks/epithets used by the individuals below. As a general principle, however, the group should understand the way Museums operate. I believe there have developed two solitudes which I am eager to bridge: on the one hand, the private collector and, on the other hand, the more formal institutional home for computer history. Private collectors bring incredible passion and subject matter knowledge to their efforts; Museums allow long-term preservation (beyond any one individual's lifespan) and an insitutional footprint for computer history that allows widespread propagation and display of computer history. Both communities need each other! Museums, as part of their legal and institutional mission, exchange and loan artifacts with other institutions of equivalent standing (I say "equivalent" mainly to ensure artifacts are protected and cared for). Museums also "de-accession" items, meaning they remove items >from inventory. There has not been a single such de-accessioning in my tenure at the Center and, as any Museum person anywhere can confirm, de-accessioning is an exceedingly rare and messy procedure--the Museum Board must be convened and solid curatorial justification given as to why an item should not form part of a specific collection. It is never taken lightly and undertaken only with great circumspection. Assuming something were to be so de-accsessioned, however, the first order of business would be to ask other Museums if they were interested in adding the item to their collections; if not, the item would likely be placed at public auction (in the interest of fairness--to not privilege or otherwise show favoritism to any one private collector). This procedure is legal, ethical, and standard operating procedure for Museums around the world. It may be painful to be "scooped" or otherwise see that the items we are particularly fond of are becoming increasingly valuable, but that is the way of the world and a sign that the general public as a whole is beginning to realize that vaue of what we collect. Even given this framework, I know of no disposal/auctioning of machines as described below; to assert that the Museum would throw out an Alto seems sheer folly. Again, it is disheartening to keep hearing the same baseless claims by individuals in this group with respect to the Museum's collections policy. These non-truths reverberate and feed on themselves--I really have to wonder for whose benefit they are made given that, again, a simple e-mail to me could have resolved the issue. Let's move on. How can our two communities work together to preserve the history of the machines and people who invented and used them? 1. I invite everyone on this list to visit the History Center in Mountain View, California. 2. Get involved! The Center belongs to the community that supports it and we have dozens of important tasks (both real and virtual) that need to be done and that can draw on the talents of everyone. Drop me a line if you're interested. 3. Visit our website (www.computerhistory.org) and offer suggestions or curate a virtual exhibit! Our site receives well over 2 million hits a month--what a way to get the word out about computer history! 4. Have your own sites linked to (or even archived) by the Center as a way of bringing attention to your specific area of interest. 5. Help the History Center by bringing interesting donation possibilities to its attention. 6. Become a member! We have probably the largest single collection of electronic computing artifacts in the world--yet we are swamped and could really used the help--$$ or time--in our preservation efforts. 7. Spread the word that what we do is worthwhile. If I haven't managed to convince you, please call me personally and I would be pleased to talk with you, on any topic. 8. Join our regular computer history mailing list-- a great way to stay informed about our activities. I hope I have helped explain how the Center operates and that it is working very hard to become worthy of the community that supports it. I fear there has been little communication between list members and the Center, something I am eager to remedy. When people stop talking to one another, it's the first sign that trouble lies ahead. Please get in touch and join us--together we can build something unique in the world that will last long after we are gone and at which future generations will marvel! We're all in this together. Won't you join us? Best wishes, Dag. -- Dag Spicer Curator & Manager of Historical Collections Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing The Computer Museum History Center Building T12-A NASA Ames Research Center Mountain View, CA 94035 Tel: +1 650 604 2578 Fax: +1 650 604 2594 E-m: spicer(a)computerhistory.org WWW: http://www.computerhistory.org <spicer(a)computerhistory.org> PGP: 15E31235 (E6ECDF74 349D1667 260759AD 7D04C178) S/V 516T Read about The Computer Museum History Center in the November issue of WIRED magazine! See "The Computer Hall of Fame - Modern Art." pp. 276 - 299.

25 years, 7 months

Debugging ONMIBUS cards

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- allisonp(a)world.std.com wrote: > > That sounds like a reasonable explaination, but how, then, does the DKC8AA > > "reach into" the KK8A to implement _its_ frontpanel? I would have thought > > that the OMNIBUS is the OMNIBUS is the OMNIBUS. > > Via a cable to the KK8A. From the FP perspective Omnibus is but not > totally. Where does the cable plug into the KK8A? Did I miss a 16-pin DIP header somewhere? There are no Berg connectors. -ethan ===== Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away in February. Please send all replies to erd(a)iname.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place. Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com

25 years, 7 months

FW:

by jfedorko＠virtualadmin.com

-----Original Message----- From: Firman Kistler, Big Shot Productions [mailto:firmankistler@mailgate.bigshot.com] On Behalf Of Firman Kistler, Big Shot Productions Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 3:15 PM To: Aunt Mick; Joel Fedorko; Lauren DiNatle; Mike Davis (Tank); Tim Hughes; Tim Hunt Subject: << You might be in a country church if....... 1. The doors are never locked. 2. The Call to Worship is "Y'all come on in!" 3. People grumble about Noah letting coyotes on the Ark. 4. The Preacher says, "I'd like to ask Bubba to help take up the offering" and five guys stand up. 5. The restrooms are outside. 6. Opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an official church holiday. 7. A member requests to be buried in his four-wheel drive truck because, "I ain't ever been in a hole it couldn't get me out of". 8. In the annual stewardship drive there is at least one pledge of "two calves". 9. Never in its entire 100-year history has one of its pastors had to buy any meat or vegetables. 10. When it rains, everybody's smiling. 11. Prayers regarding the weather are a standard part of every worship service. 12. A singing group is known as the "OK Chorale". 13. The church directory doesn't have last names. 14. The pastor wears boots. 15. Four generations of one family sit together in worship every Sunday. 16. The only time people lock their cars in the parking lot is during the summer and then only so their neighbors can't leave them a bag of squash. 17. There is no such thing as a "secret" sin. 18. Baptism is referred to as "branding". 19. There is a special fund-raiser for a new septic tank. 20. Finding and returning lost sheep is not just a parable. 21. You miss worship one Sunday morning and by 2 O'clock that afternoon you have had a dozen calls inquiring about your health. 22. High notes on the organ sets dogs in the parking lot to howling. 23. When Jesus fed the 5,000, people wonder whether the two fish were bass or catfish. 24. People think "Rapture" is what happens when you lift something too heavy. 25. The cemetery is in such barren ground that people are buried with a sack of fertilizer to help them rise on Judgment Day. 26. It's not heaven, but you can see heaven from there. 27. The final words of the benediction are, "Y'all come on back now, ya hear". Firman Kistler

25 years, 7 months

The Computer Museum History Center Collections Policy

by mbg＠world.std.com

>> Specifically there are three DEC systems that TCM/Boston had, PDP-1, >> PDP-6 and a PDP-7. Where are they and what is their current status? I essentially asked the same question in private mail... I had only heard about the pdp-6 (from Stanford, if I remember correctly... and working when gifted). I hadn't heard about the others, but am suitably interested in specific answers... 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

25 years, 7 months

Saving old documentation

by pat＠transarc.ibm.com

I just posted this to alt.sys.pdp10, but I think it's an appropriate inquiry for this list, too: So, I have a few old manuals: >> "PDP-10 Processor Handbook", dated 1970 and describing the KA10; >> "PDP-10 Timesharing Handbook", same vintage, describing monitor utilities and such; >> "DECsystem-10 Assembly Language Programming", dated 1972 (? unsure, and the book isn't here with me right now), describing KA10 and KI10 and some programming utilities (MACRO, DDT, Loader, etc.) These are all phonebook-style manuals, printed on newsprint, and are all beginning to fall apart - the paper has turned yellow/brown, and some of the pages are starting to crumble like dry leaves. Can anyone suggest any ways these books could be preserved (or at least, have their disintegration slowed down)? I'm inclined to try to scan them in and OCR them to preserve the information, but I believe that would require me to take the pages out of the binding, destroying the books immediately. Can anyone suggest any other preservation methods? --Pat.

25 years, 7 months

Saving old documentation

by cfandt＠netsync.net

Upon the date 10:59 AM 11/24/99 -0500, Pat Barron said something like: >I just posted this to alt.sys.pdp10, but I think it's an appropriate >inquiry for this list, too: > >So, I have a few old manuals: > > >> "PDP-10 Processor Handbook", dated 1970 and describing the KA10; > >> "PDP-10 Timesharing Handbook", same vintage, describing monitor > utilities and such; > >> "DECsystem-10 Assembly Language Programming", dated 1972 (? unsure, > and the book isn't here with me right now), describing KA10 and > KI10 and some programming utilities (MACRO, DDT, Loader, etc.) > >These are all phonebook-style manuals, printed on newsprint, and are all >beginning to fall apart - the paper has turned yellow/brown, and some of >the pages are starting to crumble like dry leaves. > >Can anyone suggest any ways these books could be preserved (or at least, >have their disintegration slowed down)? I'm inclined to try to scan them >in and OCR them to preserve the information, but I believe that would >require me to take the pages out of the binding, destroying the books >immediately. Can anyone suggest any other preservation methods? Tough call. They are on their way to self-destruction because of that doggone cheap acid paper. This indicates they will be eventually unusable without disintegrating in your hands. Libraries and book collectors use some sort of process which neutralizes the acid and virtually reduces degradation. I haven't investigated this myself but I would suspect it could be somewhat expensive relative to the actual value of the document. Maybe when the document is relatively far along with acid destruction as you say yours are, neutralization may be fruitless. Anybody have any comments on that neutralizing process? I think to simply preserve the information I would have to carefully dismantle the manual page by page and copy them using a high quality scanner or Xerox machine. The loss of the *information* will at least be prevented. With that process I would be able to use the original covers and make a replica manual (plus a coverless second 'working' manual I could use at my programming terminal). I've got a couple of the DEC Handbooks which are breaking down like this -including the 1976 PDP-11/10 Handbook which I think is the first in that series. These Handbooks would be quite tricky to preserve in either manner as they're thick and page size is small. Regards, Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/

25 years, 7 months

SUBSCRIBE CLASSICCMP Dag Spicer

by spicer＠computerhistory.org

-- Dag Spicer Curator & Manager of Historical Collections Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing The Computer Museum History Center Building T12-A NASA Ames Research Center Mountain View, CA 94035 Offices: Building T12-A Exhibit Area: Building 126 Tel: +1 650 604 2578 Fax: +1 650 604 2594 E-m: spicer(a)computerhistory.org WWW: http://www.computerhistory.org <spicer(a)tcm.org> PGP: 15E31235 (E6ECDF74 349D1667 260759AD 7D04C178) S/V T12 Read about The Computer Museum History Center in the November issue of WIRED magazine! See "The Computer Hall of Fame - Modern Art." pp. 276 - 299.

25 years, 7 months

FA: Lots of manuals and other stuff

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

Hi All, I sent this message to the CC list auction notification address but it never appeared in my mailbaox and I havent gotten anything from that serrvice for a long time so I guess it's not working any more. I've decided to clear out some of my excess books and stuff so I've put a BUNCH of manuals on E-bay. I'm starting with IBM Technical Reference manuals and a big load of DEC manuals. Some of them are pretty unusual like the two volume Tech Ref for the IBM Converible PC. I'm also listing many old Intel books. I have a HUGE pile of HP and DEC manuals that I will be listing. Many of them date back to the early '70s. I'll be adding some DEC and HP hardware when I have time. I'll keep adding stuff so keep checking back. Here's the URL for the first book, "http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=206460875". You can click on View Seller's Other Auctions to get a list of everything. Joe

25 years, 7 months

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test-drb November 1999