test-drb December 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
1096 discussions

Zen and the art of computer collecting (was SuperFast PDP11)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Both Zen and the English translation of that manual > come from the far east. Somehowe they always talk > like "one lip whispering" over there........... > Joshi and two monks were watching a flag waving atop a flagpole. One monk said "Look, the flag moves." The second monk said "Look, the wind moves." Joshi spoke thus: "Mind moves."

24 years

Prints for an 11/70

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 11, Boatman on the River of Suck wrote: > > Would 200MHz be fast enough ? A lot of the Xilinx fpga's offer 5ns pin to pin > > In a word, no. 8-) Jeeeeezus Sridhar, how fast did you have in mind? -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

Prints for an 11/70

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 13, Ian Koller wrote: > > That's the only thing I don't like about sbus. You can fill up an > > sbus card with three good-sized chips. Ridiculous. > > They make doubles. They also make double-decker triples. That's not the point. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

RIP: Betty Holberton

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

12 inches for a thousandth of a second sounds a little off...though I'm too lazy to do the math... -Dave On December 12, Geoff Reed wrote: > 12 inch copper wire IIRC for MS > > Packet of cracked pepper for NS > > packet of salt for FemtopSecond > > IIRC.... > > At 11:08 AM 12/12/01 -0800, you wrote: > > > >On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, Gene Buckle wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Dave McGuire wrote: > > > > > > > On December 11, jpero(a)sympatico.ca wrote: > > > > > Look to /. > > > > > > > > > > This is one whom coined the bug and debugging I think. :-) > > > > > > > > If you're talking about the terms, that was Rr. Adm. Grace Hopper. > > > > > > > > > > Speaking of whom, do you know where I could obtain a video tape of the > > > talks she used to give? I'm especially interested in the one where she > > > related the anecdote about her needing a wire a nanosecond (pico?) long. > > > > > > g. > > > > > > >She used to pass them out in her presentations, Gene. They were > >approximately 12" long. > > - don > > -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

What's with this Lisa?

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Jeff Hellige [mailto:jhellige@earthlink.net] > Also, the auction states that the green CRT is easier on the > eyes...isn't that false? I always thought that the paperwhite > displays, such as used on some DEC terminals and monitors such as the > Multisync GS, were easier on the eyes than the green? That depends on the eyes. ;) I certainly prefer the white. Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Need manual for Everex digital cassette drive

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas Quebbeman [mailto:dhquebbeman@theestopinalgroup.com] > I remember reading an ancient article about how this wasn't > the case; I'm sure someone less senile can recall the exact > details, but dropouts in particular couldn't be tolerated > by digital systems, where the ear (mind) will just ignore > many audio inconsistencies... I'm sure it could tolerate them fine if it had any decent error-correction mechanisim built in. :) Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Pinouts for Vaxstation 3100 monochrome cable?

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

I have a VS3100 m38 also, running NetBSD 1.5 on the built-in mono adaptor. I also have the VR262 19" mono screen to go with it. I can take my cable home tonight, where my multi-meter is. I can double check for you... BTW, are you not going to use color (adaptor) in it? --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818 ! -----Original Message----- ! From: Doc Shipley [mailto:doc@mdrconsult.com] ! Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 1:27 PM ! To: Classic Computers ! Subject: Pinouts for Vaxstation 3100 monochrome cable? ! ! ! Hi, all. ! I have a vaxstation 3100 m38 running NetBSD, and I'd like to be able ! to use the local monochrome display. I've removed the SPX ! color adapter, ! and made up a cable according to the pinouts on Kee's VS3100 page. His ! pinouts are composite on pin 9 and ground on 3 for a BC23K-03 cable. ! However, with the cobbled cable attached, I don't get any output. ! Question 1: Did I miss a jumper on the mainboard? ! Question 2: I assumed that the pins were numbered in the ! same order as ! an AUI ethernet connector. Looking at the female, I have 1-8 ! right-to-left, and 9-15 R-t-L. Is this correct? ! Question 3: I'm using an IBM Power17 display. Multisync, ! separate-sync, ! composite-sync and sync-on-green capable, I would think it would work ! with mono input on the green. It does work fine with the SPX adapter. ! Question 4: I also have a Digital VR160 display, but everything I've ! read implies that it won't do monochrome. Is that true? ! ! Has anybody been successful with a monochrome display on ! this box? Any ! help would be most welcome. ! ! Doc !

24 years

Cats around computers

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On December 13, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > Rodents *are* chewy... have you never had squirrel? > > NO. And I hope I NEVER get that hungry. Hey, it's not like I was playing Hannibal Lector to old Rocket J. himself... -dq

24 years

Wierd Things you've found inside... (was Smoking around compu ters)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > I've seen the brown recluse in my home, among several > > other species. Can't always tell which is which but I > > can tell that some are different from others. > > The brown recluse has a very clear fiddle mark on their body. You can't > mistake them for anything else. I've found them in camp showers (eeek). > They are unpleasantly fond of human company. Following up on my last remarks, then I was younger, I could see better, that's when I recalled seeing the fiddle in the house. Plus, I do seem to recall it being on the underside of the thingie... -dq

24 years

Need manual for Everex digital cassette drive

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> No problem, just file a notch in your "analog" cassette. ;) > > I'm not sure that would work, but given the improved resolution, etc, in > cassette tapes during the last several years, it just may. Actually, I remember reading an ancient article about how this wasn't the case; I'm sure someone less senile can recall the exact details, but dropouts in particular couldn't be tolerated by digital systems, where the ear (mind) will just ignore many audio inconsistencies... -dq

24 years

Cats around computers

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Thu, 13 Dec 2001, Eric Dittman wrote: > > > My wife sews (a lot!) and every now and then one of the cats will try to > > eat some thread. One day we heard one of them making strange noises at > > the litterbox. It turns out the cat had eaten a long thread, and it was > > making its way out. We had to pull it out (slowly, to avoid internal > > injuries to the cat and external injuries to us). There was at least a > > foot of thread in there. Eric- Been there, done that, with christmas ribbons... -dq

24 years

1GHz PDP-11 (Re: Prints for an 11/70)

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Dan Wright [mailto:dtwright@uiuc.edu] > The manual of the motherboard for the first PC I built had a > statement to the > following effect on the second page: > "This manual has been carefully for errors to make sure correct." It is also vaguely amusing when the author of some software documents in English (which I'm usually very thankful for, since it's my first language), but normally speaks another language. (German and French, (other Latin languages too) are exceptionally prone to this) For instance, I had an old 3d modeler for the POV raytracer whose documentation contained the following (more or less): "PV3D now is a freeware." There are also these from a (very good) Atari Lynx development page: "Thanks to a simple error Atari made. As you (maybe) know, all the Atari-carts have an encrypyed header and a check-sum over the complete rom-image. This checksum is so da?? good that changing a single-bit,the INSERT GAME message causes." (Care to guess the native language? :) >From the same page: "But 65C02-code is compact and even with C are good program possible." I've even in English noticed, that German-speakers tend to their verbs on the end of sentences put. :) (No offense, of course, I don't speak three words of German, myself...) Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

if you hadn't already known this about the PDP-8

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 13, Chris Kennedy wrote: > were to do that or not have a machine at all. The big problem > is doing useful things in the absence of a memory mapping and > protection unit of some sort (the Nova grew one early on, but > I'm too ignorant of the PDP-8 family to know if such an option ever > existed). On an 8/e, I believe that'd be the Memory Extension and Timeshare Control board. Among other things it drives the three high-order address bits to go beyond 4KW of core, but if memory serves this is more of a bank-switching scheme than anything else. But hey, it works! :-) PDP8s are Good Food(tm). -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

1GHz PDP-11 (Re: Prints for an 11/70)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 12, Richard Erlacher wrote: > If it topped out at 7 MBps, it was probably because the bus handshake was > clocked with a CPU clock, in order to ensure the CPU would "see" the > transitions. I am reminded of my favorite piece of broken english, found in a Taiwanese PeeCee motherboard manual many years ago: "If use 387 coprocessor, the clocked by CPU clock." No, I made no typos there. :-) -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

1GHz PDP-11 (Re: Prints for an 11/70)

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Dave McGuire [mailto:mcguire@neurotica.com] > I am reminded of my favorite piece of broken english, found in a > Taiwanese PeeCee motherboard manual many years ago: > "If use 387 coprocessor, the clocked by CPU clock." > No, I made no typos there. :-) I haven't had so much (documented) cheap imported hardware, but my favorite is from a sound board: "We make 100% sure that this is caused by a M/B bios bug. Please to update the bios of the mainboard with the M/B manufacturer." I was also amused once to see somebody who didn't speak English very well (nor, it appears, know what SCSI stands for) mark some SCSI controllers with a sign that said "SCASI." Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Google and Usenet Archives from 15-May-1981

by CAA007216＠mail.ono.es

Hello. I take five minutes to review one thing that maybe somebody could clear me: I've checked the Usenet Oldnews Archive in http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News.Archive/ and I saw the time limit that appears in Google (15-May-1981) is applicable there too. But I'm lightly surprised because some Newsgroups like FA.arpa-bboard has MORE threads than the finally displayed in a search. By example, this Usenet Group has 333 Threads but it only show 297 in a search. Can be possible that could exists even more news before 1981-May-15 archived in Google but not available by the moment ? Thanks and Greetings Sergio

24 years

Cats around computers

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! From: Chad Fernandez [mailto:fernande@internet1.net] ! ....... ! ! My parents still have one cat that will eat/chew ribbon.... we have to ! be careful at Christmas. A cat of long ago would eat thread (for ! sewing). My mother pulled about a yard out of him one ! day...... he was ! eating it right off the spool and swallowing it!! Sounds familiar. We can't leave Christmas presents around with bows on them. Isabelle will rip them all off to play with them, and chew them to nothingness... --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

24 years

What's with this Lisa?

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> >I always wondered why the 2 existed in the first place, > since without a hard > >drive and only .5mb of memory it was useless for anything other than > >MacWorks. > > Once you take a look at your's, since you said it started > life as a '2' and you upgraded it to a 2/5, would you mind sending > me the model/serial/date numbers off of it? No problem - I'll check it tonight and mail you on-list since it might be of interest to others...... cheers -- Adrian Graham, Corporate Microsystems Ltd e: adrian.graham(a)corporatemicrosystems.com w: www.corporatemicrosystems.com w2: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk (Online Computer Museum)

24 years

Cats around computers

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On December 13, Chad Fernandez wrote: > > I had a cat lick pictures once. They'll eat/chew on the darndest things > > if you let them. I think it is the taste..... something about the > > chemicals must be salty tasting or something. It's not like cats are > > chewy like dogs or rodents. > > Did anyone beside me read this wrong and laugh hysterically? Rodents *are* chewy... have you never had squirrel? -dq

24 years

VAX 8650 want a good home ...

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, I know where there are probably several VAX 8600s and 8650s and a good deal more stuff. My plan is to organize a treck that runs from south-central US through mid-west to NY. So, if you live along the way and dream of some big iron, here is your chance. The thing would not be for the taking, but presumably $200-$400 (just a bit above scrap value) would be it. regards, -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

24 years

What's with this Lisa?

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> >I'm going to have to check mine now, since it was originally > a stock Lisa 2 > >before I upgraded it to a 2/5 - it definitely has the drive > access light > >window, so maybe they were going to add in a LED on the floppy drive? > > The drive access light window is well above the floppy > though, more inline with where the Widget drive is normally mounted. > It would appear that they already had the 2/10 in the works when the > 2 and 2/5 were released, using them as just a modified stopgap > machine. I always wondered why the 2 existed in the first place, since without a hard drive and only .5mb of memory it was useless for anything other than MacWorks. -- Adrian Graham, Corporate Microsystems Ltd e: adrian.graham(a)corporatemicrosystems.com w: www.corporatemicrosystems.com w2: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk (Online Computer Museum)

24 years

Prints for an 11/70

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 12, Boatman on the River of Suck wrote: > > Are you wanting this to go in big, hex-width cards like old UNIBUS cards, > > or will you be defining a new form factor, connector (compact UNIBUS?), > > backplane, and card mounting system for your new UNIBUS (UNewBUS?)? > > Old style. Cool. Cards that you can actually FIT SOME COMPONENTS ON. What a concept. That's the only thing I don't like about sbus. You can fill up an sbus card with three good-sized chips. Ridiculous. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

USENET from 1981 to present on google

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> The earliest post of mine in there is from late 1994. To be fair, I wasn't > around much earlier than that, but there are still gaps even after the > Renaming. *REplies* to my first posts are there, but not the posts themselves... -dq

24 years

tektronix phaser

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On December 12, Dan Wright wrote: > > I agree...it's a great print process. I think it has much nicer looking > > output then color laser, personally...more photo-like with the glossiness and > > all :) > > It's targeted at an entirely different market than color lasers, so > that's not really a valid comparison. But yes, the Phaser III output > is *really* impressive. And if you get hungry, it's the only printer on the market with edible inks... Plus, if you run out, all you have to do is run down to WallyWorld and get a box of Crayolas... Just kidding of course; we dumped a Phaser 550 that was a toner-based laserprinter this year in favor of two Phase 850s, which use the wax-based inks. The prints do not fair well, however, in *any* form of currently produced page protectors. Even those ones they came out with for toner-prints don't work, the wax just melts onto the plastic. Perhaps glassine envelopes? -dq

24 years

What's with this Lisa?

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> Mine has the 'PTA Prototype' markings on the inside of the > front cover as well. From talking with other's it would appear that > those markings aren't uncommon. The thing I always found interesting > was that even though earlier Lisa 2 and 2/5's weren't intended to use > the internal Widget hard disk due to the lack of internal connector > for it, the faceplate still has the drive access light window for it. I'm going to have to check mine now, since it was originally a stock Lisa 2 before I upgraded it to a 2/5 - it definitely has the drive access light window, so maybe they were going to add in a LED on the floppy drive? cheers -- Adrian Graham, Corporate Microsystems Ltd e: adrian.graham(a)corporatemicrosystems.com w: www.corporatemicrosystems.com w2: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk (Online Computer Museum)

24 years

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test-drb December 2001