test-drb April 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

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Last Chance for GRiDPad's

by dogas＠leading.net

Hi Uncle, been away for several days... Did I miss anything? Thanks - Mike

25 years, 12 months

Hallelujah!

by dogas＠leading.net

Amen. :) - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net -----Original Message----- From: Max Eskin <max82(a)surfree.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, April 03, 1999 11:44 PM Subject: Hallelujah! >I've finally gotten around to reading a LISP book that I had bought months >before, and I can see why people refer to LISP as a religious experience >(I've seen that said at least twice). It's really a wonderful language. I >wonder how it is worse than BASIC or Perl. Also, although I didn't really >take the time to really understand smalltalk (Squeak is slow and >unstable), I can see the beginnings of smalltalk in LISP. Wow. This thing >really is pretty amazing. This should be taught in every computer >programming course, along with PAL-8, C, and Perl. I am now certain that >if a language is hard to learn (C++ comes to mind), there's something >wrong with it :) > >--Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com) > >

25 years, 12 months

OT: ABS - or is it Pure BS/wheel sensors

by roblwill＠usaor.net

I'm not sure if anyone else knows about what I'm talking about, but in my Jeep (pre-ABS), there's a little panel on the dashboard (not original). There's 4 LED's on the panel (one corresponding to each wheel). When the wheel corresponding to a particular LED is completely stopped, the LED lights steadily red. When the wheel is turning, the LED flashes green (one flash for each revolution). Anyone know how this would work (with out me pulling it out of my Jeep)? It would be probably a good accessory for non-ABS cars. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

25 years, 12 months

ABS - or is it Pure BS

by hhacker＠home.com

>2) even if the ABS system fails it still works just like non-ABS brakes. unless >the vacuum (power assisted) system fails or the brake line is cut, or (very >unlikely) the piston sticks open, the brakes will work just fine. > ABS - American Bull Shi... I have noted one difficulty with ABS, and that is its failure to operate on snow and ice. Since I live in Southern California, I do not get that much snow but, in any quick application of my Mustang's breaks, on snow covered roads, they always seem to lock up. Well, the pumping action occurs but, at each application of the pump, I notice wheel lock-up. There is no stopping. William R. Buckley

25 years, 12 months

microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture

by mbg＠world.std.com

>>Sure. And the microcode compilers I've written and used are much better >>at optimizing horizontal microcode than I have the time or patience to >>do by hand. >Your lack of time and patience is not equal to the claim you make >regarding the quality of optimisation possible. well put... I've yet to find a compiler which can produce code which could not then be further optimized in some way by a person well versed in that machine's architecture... 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, 12 months

Needed: RM80 (for KS10 restoration project)

by acorda＠nswc.navy.mil

I've finally managed to partially satisfy my nostalgic obsession to resurrect a PDP-10. I just recently located a KS10, and, after a 480 mile mile trip in the back of my poor little pickup truck, it is now safely sitting in front of my garage (still in the truck... It will be _in_ the garage as soon as I can con a couple of my friends into giving me a hand. This is not a light load :-) The next thing I'm going to need is a Massbus drive (preferably, an RM80) If anyone has one of these that they would be willing to part with, please drop me an email note. I'm located in Virginia, but I'm willing to drive a reasonable distance to pick one of these critters up (the closer the better, of course :-) Shipping would be impractical. The other possibility is to build an adapter that I could stick in a PC which would emulate a Massbus device, but to do this, I'd need pretty complete specs on the Massbus (i.e. pinouts, timing, etc.) Does anyone happen to have this info? I've done a dejanews search, but nothing really useful turned up. If I can locate a partially complete RM80 (i.e. one with the Massbus to modified-SMD adapter still present and intact in the drive pedistal, then I might try to build an adapter to emulate the modified-SMD interface supported by the massbus adapter cardset. I suspect this might be a simpler emulation, but it would still require info on the modified-SMD interface supported by the RM80. If anyone has details on this interface, please let me know! BTW, I'm also on the lookout for TOPS-10 and/or TOPS-20 load tapes (or images thereof, or bits and pieces... whatever I can find that will get me closer to bringing this critter back to life! -Thanks in advance... -al -acorda(a)geocities.com

25 years, 12 months

Apple stuff....

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Jason Willgruber <roblwill(a)usaor.net> wrote: > Does anyone have (or know where to get) an old (b/w) Apple > ImageWriter printer for under $20? I have an untested ImageWriter that I got last month that was attached to the Apple //c+ that was the object of my interest. I would be willing to let it go for $20 plus shipping. > I also need a cable to connect an Apple //c to a printer. I only have the one cable that came with the //c+. I could get you the pinout if you needed it. -ethan _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

25 years, 12 months

microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture

by clintw＠colorado.cirrus.com

> > ::> > I have heard of Airbuses crashing because the controls were poorly > ::> > designed. I've never heard of a 777 crashing. I've also never heard of any > ::> > medical machines failing, though this would tend to be underpublicized. > > ::Actually, the THERAC-25 radiation therapy machine is a good example of > ::poor hardware AND software design which killed a number of people by > ::giving them too high a dose of radiation, either for too long or > ::without the proper screen in place. > > !?! > > Has this been documented anywhere? Where did you find this out from? > I read an article about it several years ago, but I don't remember what magazine it was it... One of the IEEE or ACM periodicals, I think. A quick Alta-Vista search on "therac" turns up 476 matches, but a lot of them are CS student papers. Take a look at http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/Therac_25/Therac_1.html This is a reprint from IEEE Computer (might even be the original article I saw :) clint

25 years, 12 months

microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture

by clintw＠colorado.cirrus.com

> > > Max Eskin <max82(a)surfree.com> wrote: > > > > I have heard of Airbuses crashing because the controls were poorly > > designed. I've never heard of a 777 crashing. I've also never heard of any > > medical machines failing, though this would tend to be underpublicized. > Actually, the THERAC-25 radiation therapy machine is a good example of poor hardware AND software design which killed a number of people by giving them too high a dose of radiation, either for too long or without the proper screen in place. clint

25 years, 12 months

Lisp, the machine language. Was Re: Hallelujah!

by ss＠allegro.com

William writes: > My wish is for a computer system that provides for dynamically modifiable > microcode, so that my self-modifying programs could obtain a new level > of self-modifyability! Ah..a few decades too late :) The Burroughs B1700 (and B1800 and B1900) could have been used that way, I suppose. The machine had multiple microcode sets, executed by picocode. (IIRC, Picocode was written in an ALGOL-like language) I don't recall seeing any particularly protection mechanism that would have prevented you from modifying a microcode on the fly. The COBOL compiler determined which microcode to use, based on things like the number of variables used by the program being compiled. (If a program used a small number of variables, it could be compiled to a microcode instruction set that had more compact instructions because the number of address bits was smaller.) Another microcode instruction set was used for the primary OS programming language (SPL? XPL? can't recall). I seem to recall several other microcode sets being around as well. When processes were "time sliced" (multi-programming), the microcode was also time sliced. (I.e., process A might be using one microcode, while "simultaneously" process B might be using a different microcode). > As for the Lisp difficulties, remember, it takes only a few of the basic > operators to define the language. All else can be derived from same, > and AFAIK is derived from same. So, there is no need to implement > derivable functions in microcode. > > William R. Buckley >

25 years, 12 months

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test-drb April 1999