Did anyone else see this? Last night's episode of Just Shoot Me on NBC
had a scene (watching surveillance tapes with a security guard) with what
looked to me like a 780ish VAX in the background. Not like I would know,
I don't get to see a lot of VAXes, but it was huge and featureless with a
blue stripe across the top of the cabs. And what looked like some kind of
top-loader on the left-hand side.
Could be wrong, but I got a nice warm feeling anyway. I would expect to
see this kind of thing showing up when the script says "cramped room with
electronic equipment in background" ten years ago, but now?
John Wilson
D Bit
In a message dated 4/27/00 10:22:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
kstumpf(a)unusual.on.ca writes:
> Why not collect AOL memorabilia? The definition of a collectible (ideally)
> is something that wasn't made to be collected, but through circumstance
> began to appeal to people and people started collecting them.
>
> One man's treasure is another man's trash. You must admit those little
> diskette packages were distinctive, ingenious packaging, and there were
> many, many versions. These are good grounds for becoming a collectible.
>
> While they are not my cup'o tea, I hope those that can perhaps only collect
> them, instead of systems, have fun.
hmmm, i still have the apple version and pc version 1.5 still in their
packages...
hey, i betcha my aol version 2.5 beta tester coffee cup would bring in
thousands of dollars!
DB Young ICQ: 29427634
view the computers of yesteryear at
http://members.aol.com/suprdave/classiccmp/museum.htm
--You can lead a whore to Vassar, but you can't make her think--
Amongst the things which I saved from the skip I have 4 IBM 8" floppies,
the labels say:
MAP ENTRY DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
P/N=4410338 E.C.=571989 DIAGN.DISK. 1
--------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS, 0D0-FFB-FFF-FD6-143-FC0,DD6,D44,
FC2,DD9,C17-FA0,FA6,FA7
--------------------------------------------------------
STAND ALONE DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
P/N=4247991 E.C.=571931 DIAGN.DISK. 2
--------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS, LDR-FC0,LD5-FA0,E0A
--------------------------------------------------------
3340 MICRO DIAGNOSTIC DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
P/N=4247992 E.C.=571989 DIAGN.DISK. 3
--------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS, C16-FA1-FA2-FA3-FA4-FA5
--------------------------------------------------------
3340 DIAGNOSTIC DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
P/N=4247993 E.C.=571931 DIAGN.DISK. 4
--------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS, C11,C12,C14,C15,C17-FA0,C18,C19,
C1A,C1B,C1F
--------------------------------------------------------
Can anyone tell me what these are and what they were for?
I realise that they were for diagnostics of some sort and assume that
the **M.T.=5412** is probably a machine type, but I am not familiar with
IBM's designation numbers.
At the bottom of the label is what I assume is a date in the format
77/01/05 - if my assumption is correct then these must be 30 years old.
--
Regards
Pete
<< > he wrote PKZIP, and within a year ARC was no longer the defacto standard
for
> BBS's. I believe the company that wrote ARC is now extinct. Serves them
right. >>
Hmm . . . I'm not sure I understand this point of view. Katz _stole_ the
algorithm from ARC -- why shouldn't they sue?
I was using ARC and PKZIP extensively back in '88-'89 and IIRC Katz
reverse-engineered the ARC code in order to make his product work.
If this happened to me I would lose my sense of humor very quickly . . .
Glen
0/0
>3340 MICRO DIAGNOSTIC DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
>
>3340 DIAGNOSTIC DISKETTE **M.T.=5412**
>
>Can anyone tell me what these are and what they were for?
I don't know about the others, but the IBM 3340 was the *original*
Winchester drive. (Not "a" Winchester, but *The* Winchester.)
>At the bottom of the label is what I assume is a date in the format
>77/01/05 - if my assumption is correct then these must be 30 years old.
The 3340 was rolled out in 1973, but they certainly were still in service
in 1977, so that's consistent.
I'm sure the floppies are still readable; I've read many 8" IBM 3740 floppies
form the early 70's without a problem.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
>$ unzip :== $$2$dka500:[bin]unzip.exe
>$ xfig == "@$2$DKA500:[BIN.XFIG32]XFIG.COM"
>$ mxrn :== $$2$dka500:[bin]mxrn
Actually, you might want to do a HELP DEFINE and learn how to set
up logicals. Hard-coded device names scattered throughout a bunch of
command files are a pain in the rear when you later move stuff between
disks or consolidate disks. Wouldn't you rather say DISK$BIN: than
$$2$dka500: ?
On a small system the advantage may not be so obvious, but when you've
got a medium-sized VMScluster (a couple dozen CPU's, a few hundred disks),
especially with a mix of Alpha and VAX CPU's, it really pays off.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
>The most truly amazing surplus story I've ever heard was that of a fellow that
>acquired a surplus Plutonium processing plant from INEL, up in Idaho. The
>government managed to stop him from shipping it to India, but it was a close
>thing.
A close second was when the Air Force was auctioning off their never-used
Vandenberg space shuttle launch pad and auxilluary equipment. Sure, it
doesn't do you any good until you've got a shuttle to launch, but who here
wouldn't want to say "We already got one" to this?
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
One of my favorite surplus stories is when Intel sold us a new in the carton
Cryogenic compressor as part of a large lot. It turns out it was a spare for
the process line. Within a couple of weeks of us taking possession the main
compressor failed. We sold it back for more than the price of the lot. We
didn't soak them, we wanted more of their surplus.
Someone in Seattle should go look at the "gene sequencer" and see what the
Teletype is hooked up to. It could be a nice collectable.
Paxton
>Cp/M was a cross-platform operating system with several layers to provide
>support for any platform for which the base functions of CP/M were
>compiled. In other words, if your machine boots cp/m then you can run the
>vast majority of CP/M programs. Some you won't. A good example of a
>situation in which a program cannot run is if it takes advantage of
>non-standard system calls to access the video subsystem. There are quite
>a few of these programs but most are commercial such as CPT system
>accounting, spreadsheet and word processing. The CPT had a very custom
>full-page physical display.
Well thats only true if unique BIOS calls or direct IO was done. If you
used the
standard BDOS calls then compatability was assured save for sillyness like
terminal control sequences.
The worst offenders for this were the modem programs as they needed speed
and CPM could but often didn't have interrupt driven IO or IOBYTE
implemented.
>Probably the most important setting in CP/M is your terminal settings.
>CP/M software will run on anything but does have to be informed as to what
>termninal type (ie ADM3a, Soroc, Televideo, Etcetera) in order to operate
>correctly. --
Often taken care of in the install program.
