test-drb August 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

295 participants
726 discussions

VCF 5.0 on the verge of being cancelled :(

by vcf＠siconic.com

It is with great disappointment that I must announce that VCF 5.0 has been tentatively cancelled due to a lack of interest from participants. Exhibitor and vendor sign-ups have been extremely low, and the impression I get is that interest has waned this year. I made one last push this week to encourage exhibitor and vendor sign-ons to no avail. Granted, the planning for VCF 5.0 was much shorter due to VCF East, but I thought that as soon as I sent out announcements (on July 31st) that there would have been a flood of sign-ups. That didn't happen, leading me to believe that perhaps exhibitors and vendors from past years are too busy this year with the economy being the way it is to consider participating. There are numerous advantages to holding the event on the planned dates, but without any exhibitors or vendors, there wouldn't be much of an event to present. The admission price would have to drop to a level that would not justify the cost of holding the event. However, if the interest is there, but has just not been expressed properly, then I would very much like to find out. If you did plan on attending the VCF this year, either has an exhibitor, a vendor, or just an attendee, please let me know about it. Below are three links to visit to either signup as an exhibitor, a vendor, or to indicate that you will be attending. If the response to this is positive, VCF 5.0 will go on. If not, VCF 5.0 will be cancelled. Exhibitors: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/exhibit.php Vendors: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/vendor.php Attendees: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/survey.php For general comments or feedback, please feel free to e-mail me directly at <sellam(a)vintage.org>. I do hope that there is an overwhelming response to this announcement and that the VCF will go on as planned. However, it's up to you to do your part and let me know. Best regards, Sellam Ismail Producer Vintage Computer Festival Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

22 years, 11 months

Apple II+ Keyboard Encoder

by DanielF＠McLean.gov

My Apple II+ Keyboard Encoder card is faulty and I would like to know if it's fixable. I've tried several different keyboards and 2 motherboards so I'm certain it's the encoder. I've ran a keyboard diagnostic and it is acting as if the control key is always pushed but it is not. It does it with 3 different keyboards so it's not a "stuck key" problem. Any ideas or help much appreciated. Thank you.

22 years, 11 months

NOTICE FROM THE LIST HOST (re: recent political commentary)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On August 21, Adrian Vickers wrote: > It's still possible to buy new Z80 CPUs (?2.50 in the UK); They're all over teh place here as well. They won't be going away anytime soon; they're very popular in the embedded systems market. > how many would it take to build a pentium-IV class machine? :) My guess: Raw integer performance: 500+ Reliability: 0.5 Elegance of Quality of design: 0.1 Programming enjoyability: 0.5 Innovativeness: 0.5 -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

22 years, 11 months

SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> At 04:25 PM 8/21/01 -0400, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > >I worked for a while with a Physics major who'd learned machine-language > >programming for the IBM PC using DEBUG.COM. He also had no conception of > >source file structure. [..snip..] > Ryo was already an established musician, and still is. See > http://www.google.com/search?q=ryo+kawasaki . However, he > also coded for the C-64 without an assembler. He just used > the debugger. There was no source code. We first figured > this out when we asked him how he did a certain effect, > and he started reciting the hex opcodes. He didn't really > know the mnemonics, he just memorized how to create the > hex to match the opcodes he wanted. it's a nice skill to have in *addition* to knowing how to use the assembler, construct an application, etc. for the system in question, we used SoftIce as the debugger. I'd set up bounds-checking breakpoints to catch the errors of programmer #2 (best friend of #1, the physics major), who simply *refused* to range-check any values... -dq

22 years, 11 months

new find...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On August 21, James Rice wrote: > My cube doesn't have a floppy. I've been considering looking for > another faceplate (for a floppy cube), removing the OD and just haveing > a floppy. I never use the floppy on my slab, I usually use the zip in > the external housing. > > I did notice Rob had the N4000a's. I'm considering getting on as a > spare. Rob doesn't like to ship the 21" monitors, but my wife said she > would go on a road trip to Boulder to pick one up. It's only about > 12-13 hours away from Dallas. I have a bunch of 17" and 21" NeXT color monitors here in the DC area as well, cheap, if anyone is interested. No, I won't ship them. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

22 years, 11 months

SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 04:25 PM 8/21/01 -0400, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: >I worked for a while with a Physics major who'd learned machine-language >programming for the IBM PC using DEBUG.COM. He also had no conception of >source file structure. In the early 80s I worked at Sight and Sound Music Software, which had titles for the C-64 like Kawasaki Music Synthesizer and Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker. Ryo was already an established musician, and still is. See http://www.google.com/search?q=ryo+kawasaki . However, he also coded for the C-64 without an assembler. He just used the debugger. There was no source code. We first figured this out when we asked him how he did a certain effect, and he started reciting the hex opcodes. He didn't really know the mnemonics, he just memorized how to create the hex to match the opcodes he wanted. - John

22 years, 11 months

Amiga 500 and stuff to good home

by vcf＠siconic.com

Please respond directly to the original sender. Reply-to: Jim Fraser <jcfraser(a)att.net> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 17:20:12 -0400 From: Jim Fraser <jcfraser(a)att.net> Subject: Amiga 500 and stuff Hi, I have an Amiga 500 with monitor, extra floppy drive, 500K memory card and 4 boxes of software. Also have a Panasonic dot matrix printer - all vintage 1985 - and all works. I have several of the kernel manuals too. See the attached photos. Note the original boxes. I'm about to toss everything into the trash unless there is someone interested in collecting it, or even using for spare parts. I'll pack up and split the shipping cost (from Fairfax, VA) with anyone in the US who wants it. Please let me know if anyone's interested by September 8th. Best regards, Jim Fraser jcfrase(a)att.net -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

22 years, 11 months

SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> I confronted one of the profs there, and asked him why they didn't at > least teach their students about compilers. His response: "that's for > TECHNICIANS and OPERATORS. Computer scientists don't need to know that > petty stuff." I worked for a while with a Physics major who'd learned machine-language programming for the IBM PC using DEBUG.COM. He also had no conception of source file structure. After we hired him, he was assigned some programming tasks, and sent off to do his thing. A few days later, he asked me how to include his code into the system. I asked him for the file name, and just included his module in our batch files that did the system build. Kept getting errors on his module, so I asked him to assemble it and go through the listing and correct his errors (I hadn't even looked at it). "What's an assembler?" He was keeping multiple, un-related subprograms in a single monolithic source file, with none of the assembler directives that were needed to define the program's memory model and segment use. Also, no TITLE, etc stuff to make it pretty. I took the one subprogram whoes operation I could fathom, rewrote it to comply with the memory model, added some other directives, then shot it back to him and told him to either make each subprogram a separate module or figure out which *should* be together in the same module (based on data defs, etc). He wouldn't do it, and instead kept everything together. Then, he'd go through the extra work of extracting the subprograms, and placing them in separate source modules... but he'd do this extraction *every* time he made a set of changes to his huge monolithic source. I left there in 1990; on a visit back in 1995, I found he was no longer writing code, but was confined to performing installations. Thank God! -dq

22 years, 11 months

Room for Collections

by vance＠ikickass.org

On Tue, 21 Aug 2001, William Donzelli wrote: > [collecting mainframes] > > > I do! > > What do you have, other than the S/390 G5? I have two P/390s, one P/390E, an S/390 G1, and an old non-working ES/9000 that I want to get working soon. > I try to get old IBM mainframe stuff when I can, but so far I have been > pretty unlucky getting any processors. What kind of stuff do you have? Peace... Sridhar > William Donzelli > aw288(a)osfn.org >

22 years, 11 months

Room for Collections

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On another list, there has been a long thread about SO's and room for > the hobby. Does anyone else keep their collection set up and > functioning? Does your SO understand? I'm luck in that I have a large > room to set mine up. I currently have up and running: The Prime 2455 is set up and occupying the largest space, but is still non-op. :( One of the three Apollo's (the DN2500) is on the card table that was substituting as the kitchen table... I haven't turned it on since spring, I suppose I should pack it up... The PDP-11/23 is still in the hands of the buddy who rescued it for me (yes, for me, he has enought of them)... The Tandy 2000 is in storage... the Mac IIci is set up and running. The SOL needs dusting and prayers for the tantalum caps... The Objective Design S-100 frame which sat on the SOL in a previous incarnation needs the big electrolytics reconditioned... The Zenith Z-150/151 (I added a newer CPU card) was operational until 1995, and I haven't turned it on since. I moved it from on top of the clothes dryer to a spot next to it. The monitor is still on top of the dryer, tho... However, no SWMBO to provide advise, consent, or alternatives... ;-) -dq

22 years, 11 months

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test-drb August 2001