test-drb March 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

191 participants
1003 discussions

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

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25 years, 4 months

Forwarded without comment ...

by cfandt＠netsync.net

Upon the date 09:53 AM 3/17/99 -0600, Larry Groebe said something like: >> Bruce Lane wrote: >> >>> That has got to be the DUMBest idea I've seen come along in years! >>> >> >> Let us know what you find out. I hope that "kilobyte" won't become one of >> those words that instantly marks their users as classic-computer freaks. >> I know jargon changes, but I don't want it to change in this case. >> >> -- Derek > >Here's one (slightly outdated) reference - but no question, it's not a joke. > >http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html Okay, upon closely reading the above referenced doc it doesn't seem such a pain in the neck after all. The sense that I get from the last sentence of the first paragraph is that both nomenclatures will be used. The familiar kilobyte, et al can still be used by us as we talk about our old stuff. The justification is rather clear as the article presents it. (IMO!) Regards, Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa

25 years, 4 months

HP21MX lurkers - question

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

My 7970E just came in with a 13183 controller - offline checks work great! Yahoo! Plus the 7970E came with another 21MX E series (my fourth :) ). Here's the question... all my 2113B's and 2113E's have TWO ribbon cables going to the front panel (operator panel). My 2108A and 2109B only have one cable to the front panel. Most of my 21MX docs are for the M series and they only talk about one cable going from the system PCA to the front panel. Anyone know what the reason is for the second cable (what it does), and more importantly under what circumstances is a second cable needed? I'm hazarding a guess that it's anytime there's memory feature addons (M.E.M., Parity, Fault control, etc.). Ideas? Thanks! Jay West

25 years, 4 months

Forwarded without comment ...

by geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au

-----Original Message----- From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, 17 March 1999 6:57 Subject: Forwarded without comment ... >>From Edupage: > >COMING TO TERMS WITH BYTES (Much deleted) PLEASE tell me this is an early April Fool's day joke...... Aghast...... Geoff Roberts Computer Systems Manager Saint Mark's College Port Pirie, South Australia. Email: geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au ICQ #: 1970476 Phone: 61-8-8633-8834 Mobile: 61-411-623-978 Fax: 61-8-8633-0104

25 years, 4 months

Medieval methods... (was Re: Got a question....PDP? VAX?)

by jim＠calico.litterbox.com

So... for those of us who haven't traveled in the UK (yet), how does it work post-1971? -----Original Message----- From: Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com <Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 8:04 AM Subject: Re: Medieval methods... (was Re: Got a question....PDP? VAX?) > > >> I gather the machine had some sort of support for doing arithmetic on >> pre-decimalized currency, does anyone here know what that looked like? >> It wasn't explained very well in the book. > > >I don't know how the currency was handled on Leo, but as a reference for our >American friends I shall say a few words on British currency prior to 1971. > >The basic unit was the pound. The symbol was the same as nowadays, viz. a >scripty capital L with two horizontal bars through it (though often only one bar >is written, for speed) On e-mail I generally use an ordinary L for pound (L >stands for Livre (french = pound)) > >King Offa (?9th century) fixed the value of a penny at 1/240 of a pound. Later >the shilling was fixed at 12 pence. (Pence is the plural of penny, in case you >hadn't worked it out. "Pennies" is a word coined much more recently (pun >intended)) > >So L1 = 20 s. (s stands for solidus (lat. = a silver coin of some sort) or sou >(Fr. = a coin worth not a lot)) > >1 s. = 12 d. (d stands for denarius (lat. = penny) or denier (fr. = penny)) > >Halfpence (pronounced ha'pence) were in use until 1969 (and re-introduced with >decimalisation in 1971). >Farthings (1/4 d) were in use at least until the mid 1940s, and may have been >required for Leo. > >So to computerise the currency you probably need: > >A field for whole pounds >A field for shillings (up to 19 with a carry at 20) >A field for pence (up to 11 with a carry at 12) >A field for farthings or ha'pence (up to the obvious numbers thereof) > >It would not likely be possible to ignore the fractions of pence, since even as >late as the 1950s 1/2 d had a reasonable purchasing power, perhaps equivalent to >one US dime today. > >Also, just as they do today, vendors loved prices ending ...nineteen shillings >and elevenpence ha'penny. > >Philip. > > >

25 years, 4 months

IBM PC 5150 with no drives?

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

I saw an IBM 5150 today in a thrift store. The odd thing about it was that it had no disk drives! It only had two black covers over the disk drive bays. It seems like it came from the factory this way. It is the first revision of motherboard with the cassette jack, so its conceivable that it was used with a cassette recorder and was always like this. Does anyone wish to concur on this? I'm debating if I should get it, but not for the $20 they have it tagged for. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 02/15/99]

25 years, 4 months

XT RAM Expansion Boards

by tim＠thereviewguide.com

Hi. I've had the XT for a while... it was in perfect condition. I even got all the origional boxes and manuals that came with it. A ProPrinter with demo pages, etc. were included. A whole heapin' helpin' of software, as well as several disks were included. The thing had all IBM componets, and I even have a recipt(!). I personally was shocked that you had to buy all the individual componets (well, not all, but they didn't have a complete system setup.) Anyway, it also came with a RAM Expansion board, which was installed, and a 20MB HardCard (I even have a Hard Drives of America catalog from the same time.) As anyone with a hard card knows, they have a metal board to support the hard drive on and the PCB to go into the expansion slot. It's an easy upgrade, and it really looks like it was a good idea. But anyway, because of the size of the thing, my options are extremely limited as to what slot it can go into. I ended up having to take the RAM expansion board out. So can a RAM expanion board for an XT go into any slot, or is the XT picky like an Apple II as to what can go where? Thanks, Tim ******************************************** *Tim D. Hotze - Co-Founder, The ReviewGuide* *tim(a)thereviewguide.com * *http://www.thereviewguide.com * ********************************************

25 years, 4 months

Medieval methods... (was Re: Got a question....PDP? VAX

by lundo＠interport.net

James Willing wrote: > On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, John Foust wrote: > > At 01:52 PM 3/14/99 -0500, Max Eskin wrote: > > > > > >Hey! Who you callin' a newbie :) In the timeline of data entry so far, > > >paper tape and toggle switches are most certainly medeival. [sic] > > > > Hey, there's a roll of paper tape for sale on eBay, current bid $17... :-) > > GORT?!? Looks like its time to start offering paper tape in the 'Computer > Garage' store... Rolls? After a coupla years handling rolls of that oily stuff that the ASR-33's used to feed/eat, I was glad to get hold of the fan-folded stuff for the rack-mounted readers. My best system used a Plessey R/P which could read 300 cps. Used a rubber roller, no sprockets, detecting holes optically. I've got a bunch of plastic trays with fan-folded tapes stashed away somewhere in storage. Now if only I'd saved all those holes for a lower Broadway parade! -- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Robert Lund | Out here on the perimeter there are no stars + + lundo(a)interport.net | Out here we is stoned - Immaculate + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

25 years, 4 months

Apollo 400

by emu＠ecubics.com

Hi, ---------- > From: Mike Ford <mikeford(a)netwiz.net> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Apollo 400 > Date: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 6:12 PM > > I had a pleasant afternoon poking around one of my favorite scrappers, and > noticed on an incoming cart about two dozen Apollo 400 computers (says > model 425 on the back). Hard drives are pulled, but otherwise they are > supposed to be complete. Any interest? (he is in Santa Ana CA) Are this the same as a HP300 Model 425 ? thanks emanuel

25 years, 4 months

Forwarded without comment ...

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

>> Well, here's a simple solution: anything suffixed with "byte", ie. >> kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terrabyte...is automatically a base-2 value. well I thought that was the accepted standard anyway?? :) has all of this not come about because of hard disk manufacturers deciding at some point along the line to quote disk sizes in decimal megabytes rather than actual megabytes in order to make their disks seem to have a greater capacity compared to those of their rivals?? (ie. 200Mb = 209715200 bytes = 210 "decimal" megabytes) cheers Jules

25 years, 4 months

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test-drb March 1999