FWIW there were two of these for sale at the auction at the Goddard Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama this past week. A guy that I know went
to the auction and I asked him to try and pick them up for me but I don't
know if he did or not. He should be back in a day or two and then I'll
know. The point is there's still lots of these old odd machines around if
someone is willing to search for them.
Joe
At 04:58 PM 4/8/01 -0400, THETechnoid(a)home.com wrote:
>I often hear folks refer to thier computer as a "modem". I suppose they
>do this because that is the main function of the machine for them - being
>spammed by AOL.
>Some call it thier 'hard drive'. Some call it thier 'Windows'.
The one that drives me crazy is when people call it
"the computer", as in "I'm learning the computer now."
- John
At 11:33 PM 4/8/01 -0700, you wrote:
>On Sun, 8 Apr 2001, Chris Kennedy wrote:
>> - The radome is missing. I'm at a loss to explain how the radome
>> got ripped off the aircraft by contact on the wing -- especially
>> given that the fuselage forward of the wing root doesn't appear
>> damaged.
>
>Was the missing radome collision damage?
>Or would jettisoning the radome be standard procedure?
Jettision the radome? Surely you jest???
How do you propose to jettision something that's on the FRONT of the
aircraft when there are four LARGE whirling propellors behind it? Obviously
you never seen what happens to a propellor when it strikes a solid object.
It's one thing to stike a soft object like a person when idling on the
ground but the results are VERY different when it hits metal debris.
Especially at flight speed and engine cruise RPM. Any damage to the blades
throws the whole engine/gearbox/propellor assembly badly out of balance.
Then the blades break off and fly around like huge knives. If one hits the
fuselage it WILL go completely through it and it can cut it completely in
two. Even if the fuselage survives, the blade will usually cut all the
flight controls and the aircraft go completely out of control. And let's
not even talk about what it can do to the other engines, propellors and
fuel tanks! This isn't speculation. This is exactly what happened to a
similar aircraft (EC-121) flying out of Otis AFB. We lost the entire crew
of 23 people. All in all, the crew of the US plane is very lucky to be
alive. The pilots had to have been very good just to get the plane on the
ground in one piece. Flying back to their carrier or a US base would have
been absolutely out of the question.
Joe
>
>
>
At 05:52 PM 4/8/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Do you remember when we would call that "an Army weather plane doing
>meteorological research"?
>
>When did we start calling them spy planes?
AFTER Gary Powers was shot down in his "unarmed weather recon" plane and
he and the plane and it's equipment were put on public display in the USSR.
Before that most people in the US were naive enough to believe that we
didn't do such things. ROFL!
>
>
>What WOULD we do if the roles were reversed?
Shoot it down of course.
But this isn't exactly the same thing. This flight was over water and
not over land. We (the US), the Russians, the Cubans and a number of other
countries have been doing this for YEARS and it's been common for the
"enemy's" aircraft to escort each others aircraft. I've been in aircraft in
the North Atlantic that were escorted by Russian fighters and our fighters
also regularly escorted their aircraft. In the vast majority of the cases
there was no trouble. I'm sorry but I don't see any secret plots in the
recent US/Chinese incident. It's not uncommon for aircraft in close
formation to collide and I think it was an accident. Now both governments
are acting like tough guys and unwilling to admit any fault or apologize.
It's all rather childish IMO. Does anyone have a count on the number of
Cuban, Russian, North Korean and other communist aircraft that have landed
in US controlled bases that we've kept and reverse engineered? I can name
at least four that I personally know of.
Joe
At long last, the 7900A drive is working reliably - and passes all
diagnostics. The dual 2100 cpus are fully tested, as is the processor
interconnect kit.
The last major peripheral I have to get up and running is my 7970E tape
drive - that's being worked on right now.
Soon as that's done - I can start loading the HP2000 Access TSB operating
system. After that system is up, I'll then build an HP2000E system using a
21MX cpu instead; all parts are on-hand for that.
Items I'm still looking for desparately:
The HP2000 IOP firmware for the 21MX cpu's (I have the firmware for 2100's,
but need it for the 21MX's).
Need the diags for the 7970E on paper tape, the newer version that uses the
diagnostic configurator (have 7970E diags, but they're the old
non-configurator style).
System operators guide for 2000E (Al? Eric??, Bob Curtis wants his
manual!!).
Hmm, I don't shoot things... I blow them up.. Or make use of a nice large
sledgehammer, combined with dropping/kicking/running over the object marked
for destruction... blowtorches are fun too!
(Note: this is directed at non-living critters, mainly dead hard drives, PC
cases, and, in one memorable occasion of particular violence, an iMac
keyboard.. heh..)
Will J
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Loktite or drip some candle wax on it.
Dan
>Thanks Allison! I got the cover off and found the adjustment side of the
>terminal (left side looking at it from the front) and the focus is a screw
>that goes into what looks like an HV transformer. I've adjusted it to be
>razor sharp, now what do I use to "lock it down" ? What is that stuff that
>looks like nail polish called?
>
>--Chuck
>
Its gonna become a computer museum!
Albuquerque newspaper article:
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/294821news04-04-01.htm
>From the article...
A founder of software colossus Microsoft has purchased the Albuquerque
building where the company had its first office, parties to the transaction
said Tuesday.
A company controlled by Paul G. Allen in October purchased the
26,000-square-foot building at the intersection of California and Linn NE,
said Peggy Daskalos, whose company sold the building. Allen teamed up with
Bill Gates in 1975 to start what became Microsoft.
*snip*
According to a brief item in the current issue of Forbes magazine, the
building's sellers say Allen's company plans to turn the building into a
computer museum.
*snip*
Slashdot discussion:
http://slashdot.org/articles/01/04/05/194214.shtml
- John Lewczyk
- jlewczyk(a)speakeasy.net
In a message dated 4/7/01 7:16:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes:
> Despite the large
> number of them used by the US Navy, very few managed to get into the
> surplus market. I couldn't find a single surplus dealer that had one or
> that even knew what they were.
I got one shortly before my auction. It was like an overgrown 9845 It was
larger and heavier IIRC. and sharper corners. It was one of the first 32 bit
integrated workstations. Advertised as a mainframe on the desktop in 1985.
Ran HP-UX.. Came with either a B&W or color monitor, 512K byte Ram and a 5
1/4 floppy. You could add a 10 meg HD, internal I think. The 9000 520 also
cost $30,000 to $50,000 in 1985.
Mine had two HPIB channels. I tried to get it hooked up before the sale but
wasn't able to. A local listmember bought it so it is still within the CC
list family. It is the only one of those I ever found.
Paxton
Portland, OR
I am interested in a copy of the Eproms on this machine , they are labelled
IC16 and IC17 on the main controller board , prehaps a copy could be sent as
an email attachment .
I would appreciate any help .
Regards ,
Hilary Mansfield
