test-drb December 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
1096 discussions

Engieers (was: Connectors (was: NEXT Color Printer find

by CLeyson＠aol.com

In replay to my moan about engineers not being able to build Christmas tree lights, Tony Duell writes: > Do you own a suitably large LART? I've given up with the LART, it just doesn't work - re-education is a better approach - but then it doesn't work on the brain dead. > I must have told the story of the 362.8 ohm resistor. In case I haven't, > it goes like this...... I used to own an 8in Shugart drive a long time ago. For some strange reason that I couldn't understand it was stuffed with E96 resisors. Perhaps they were cheaper than E24 ? > I've come to the conclusion that the best (electronic?) engineers and > programmers are all essentially self-taught. It's probably much the same > in all creative subjects. I'd agree > ......You may argue that much of engineering these days is not about making > things, and that engineers rarely need these skills (that is a separate rant)... I'd argue that engineering is all about making things. OK, perhaps engineers don't need practical skills so much these days, but an understanding of other engineering disiplines is essential. You have to be able to understand the "other guy's" point of view, whether it be hardware, software, manufacturing or management. Lawrence Walker wrote: > Well from what I've heard about the "father of electricity" and Henry Ford for > that matter, he would hire a bunch of "promising" engineers like Tesla, > take what they've already discovered, claim them as products of his own > and become a wold-famous inventor. And of course, like Marconi, become the > "inventor of Radio" which we are now celebrating, despite the fact that Tesla > won a court decision in US courts to his primacy with it. History is written by > the Victors. I hope you meant Faraday as the "father of electricity" and not Edison. As for Marconi, I'd say he "pioneered" radio engineering but wouldn't have got very far if it hadn't been for Hertz. I'm not sure how Tesla fits into the picture, he did invent the squirel cage induction motor but I'm not aware of any major contributions he made to radio engineering. Chris

22 years, 11 months

Connectors (was: NEXT Color Printer find

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 31, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote: > The only place that I have EVER met any people who claimed to be > "engineers" who might "have never heard of Amphenol" would be some > university folk who have never set foot into the real world. Ahh, those "engineers" who don't know which end of a soldering iron gets hot. A fond memory from around 1991, while working for a small defense contractor in NJ, talking with a 2nd-year "summer slave" on loan from MIT (of all places!). I'd assigned him to write some data reduction code in FORTRAN for a remote sensing project, and later wound up having to do it myself: Me: "This program needs a lot of work." Weenie: "Hah! Where did *YOU* go to school? See here:" [weenie scribbles some incomprehensible equation on the whiteboard] Me: "I didn't. But I damn well know a REAL*4 on this VAX won't deal with the IEEE-format floating point numbers from the spectrometer without format conversion, for starters. Weenie: "WHAT?! [horrified look] You actually want to RUN this program?" Me: "Of course. Why the hell do you think I asked you to write it?" Weenie: "Isn't this just an exercise?" Me: "We are a defense contractor. We build machines to kill people. Look at the size of my gut...we NEVER exercise around here." Weenie: "Does this mean I have to type this program in, like on a computer?" Me: "No. You're fired." -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

22 years, 11 months

Try it!!!! (Was - Re: One More PCB Dishwasher Question)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

Be sure of the result before you suggest. I used to also handle automotive product so I have a better than average knowledge of the ourcome. Allison From: William Donzelli <aw288(a)osfn.org> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Saturday, December 29, 2001 5:24 PM Subject: Re: Try it!!!! (Was - Re: One More PCB Dishwasher Question) >> But is not that change the same as going from COLD to HOT when you apply >> power to the chip under normal operation of the computer? > >For the big stuff, sure. Not for the small stuff (glue, I/O, memory, and >other stuff that does not suck much power). > >Here is a test. Boil some water in a big pot, as if you were to make >pasta. Turn the gas off, let it cool just a few seconds, then dump all your >favorite chips in. I am sure one will not comeout alive (or maybe crippled). > >William Donzelli >aw288(a)osfn.org

22 years, 11 months

Wanted: One Specific Piece of Software

by vance＠ikickass.org

Specifically, dBase 5 and dBase Compiler. Peace... Sridhar

22 years, 11 months

Connectors (was: NEXT Color Printer find

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>I install fire alarm systems... Now, if you had asked me which one connects >the handset to the phone, you'd have me stumped! I had been taught that was a Rj-11 "handset", which has never really sat well with me... but it is what I was taught, and it is what my telco catalogs list the part as, so I had to accept it. Thanks to that link, it is claimed to be an RJ-22, which sits MUCH better with me since it has its own designation. I can't speak for its accuracy as it is the first time I have heard that, but if I had to pick, I would go with RJ-22 over RJ-11 "handset". Oh, and I was taught in the field all my telco knowledge, never went to school... it is learned from various Bell and private installers/techs/whathaveyou... so who knows how accurate they are, but I tend to give them more credence than most schools (except maybe some Bell installers, the older ones are good, but most of the younger ones suck royally) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 11 months

Connectors (was: NEXT Color Printer find

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 30, Chris wrote: > >Would they call common network connectors "8 pin RJ-11"? > >Or would they call them "8 pin telephone connectors"? > > Neither, 8 pin RJ's are an RJ-45 (11 is a 4 pin, comes in either standard > or handset sizes... can also have just 2 pins for "cheap" cords... 12 is > a 6 pin, same physical size as a standard RJ-11) It's important to note that the RJ designations specify not only the connector type, but the pinout. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

22 years, 11 months

FAQS.ORG needs funding!

by vcf＠vintage.org

Please read this message: http://www.faqs.org/save_faqs-org.html I don't know how many of you use faqs.org to get FAQs (I don't myself) but I happened to run by this message and thought I would pass it along. They're in need of funding as they've lost their previous sponsorship. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

22 years, 11 months

*DING* Unibus addressing - KZQSA SCSI adapter

by msell＠ontimesupport.com

You DEC old-timers out there will probably chuckle at my little "discovery", but I'm posting my findings for us who are "DEC challenged".... Yesterday I was pulling my hair out trying to get my VAX 4000-500 to recognize an external RRD-43 CD-ROM that was attached to a KZQSA SCSI adapter. No matter what I did, it wouldn't recognize the fact that anything SCSI was connected. The problem turned out to be the address that the KZQSA was set to. It was set to address 761400, and the 4000 was reporting the card to be a DEFQA, which to even a DEC newbie as myself, was VERY wrong. A search through the "VMS wizard" archives at Compaq.com turned up the statement that the KZQSA was shipped with a default address of 761300. So I fiddled with the address jumpers and set it to 761300 and *voila*, the 4000 found the KZQSA. I hooked the external SCSI enclosure to the card, and it found the CD-ROM. It was able to boot VMS from the CD, and I'm on my way. Again, don't laugh too hard, I hope this message helps others who are "Unibus Ignorant".... - Matt Matthew Sell Programmer On Time Support, Inc. www.ontimesupport.com (281) 296-6066 Join the Metrology Software discussion group METLIST! http://www.ontimesupport.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitler Many thanks for this tagline to a fellow RGVAC'er...

22 years, 11 months

S-100 score!

by erd_6502＠yahoo.com

My sister-in-law works at the Post Office and knows lots of the local customers. She happened to learn that one gentleman had some "old computers" in the attic. When I called him, it turned out to be an XOR S-100 box w/dual 8" drives, a Liberty 100 terminal, and some loose S-100 cards (including a Cromemco serial/parallel card still in the shrink wrap, a few 8K cards (2102 and 2114-based) and a couple of SMS video cards, one as yet unstuffed with the chips under plastic). No OS, few docs (some of the cards _do_ have manuals). He kept the S-100 prototype card he once wrapped for his first CPU (sockets intact, chips missing, wires removed). The sad news is that he mentioned that he used to have an old computer that he threw out... his son brought it home ($20 at a yard sale) back when Dad had a 386 in the living room - it was a Digital Group machine. :-( So... Anyone have any info on XOR boxen? I have a CP/M disk for the C-128 and stuff for the Kaypro, but nothing on 8". Can I mail anyone blank disks to be copied onto? What sort of information would I have to provide to be able to put together a compatible disk? Brand of disk controller? Type and manufacturer of CPU card? Serial card vendor? Also, how did S-100 video cards work? Did you still have a console terminal but use the video card as a secondary peripheral? -ethan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com

22 years, 11 months

Any AMIGA users?

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com] > Has anybody ever actually SEEN and USED any software for the catweasel > that will make an Amiga disk (NOT duplicate one that is present)? Not me, though, I've seen documents (probably in UAE) that say you can write disks to images and images to disks if you use it. The linux/netbsd/freebsd drivers, from all I've seen and heard, should access disks fine for making images and the like. > I think that "MatchPoint" might be their board that you're > thinkking of. I was thinking of compati-card, actually. I was un-aware that it had this same limitation. I may have to see if I can find one of these "MatchPoint" boards now, though. What are my chances? > What software is available for Mac to do Amiga disks? Again, I seem to remember from docs that UAE will use it directly. So you'd be stuck with a chicken-egg scenario where you need an image of the O/S (or boot disk) to get it working. :) Otherwise it would work fine. I have seen mappings for the linux fdparam (I think that's the program..) which will make your system use the format at a low level, and have heard that catweasel works with linux. In that case you can image/unimage the disks pretty simply. As for a program that reads/writes the filesystem (I assume that's what you're asking...), I don't know of one, but I believe that given the number of people interested in amiga emulation, somebody must have written one. If they havent, get an amiga emulator set-up, and chances are that will do it for you. (Again, I seem to remember mention of this in the UAE docs) I would, of course, be interested to hear from anyone who's really tried it. :) Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 11 months

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test-drb December 2001