test-drb February 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

293 participants
1043 discussions

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Bill Girnius [mailto:thedm@sunflower.com] > Believe it or not, some of us are. My first computer was a > Sinclair, I > learned basic on it, I've even chatted on IRC with it at a > blazing 300 baud, > and it was the first computer I ever programmed on, learned > BASIC on it in > fact. It had a great manual that someone whom had never So you learned BASIC on it twice? :) > seen a computer > before could learn more about it. The Sinclair, Spectrum, Speccy or > whatever you wish to refer to them as, was the begining of my computer > knowledge. This foundation has provided the initial blocks > for the 12 years > I have been a Sysadmin professionally for. Oh, did I mention > we had to > solder it together as a kit too? Great. I think there are many people here who love Spectrums, but the question is, why pay money per game to download Spectrum games to your home phone and play them for some limited time, when you can have the real thing probably for much less? :) 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, 10 months

8" floppy disks

by oliv555＠arrl.net

> >Anybody have any single-sided, hard-sectored 8" disks they'd be willing to >part with? Need some for the old Wang OIS. > I diverted several dumpster-bound boxes of Nashuas a while back. They are labeled FD-132D WP-R ss/dd Hard-Sec 9024-300. These are not notched, look to be unused, NOS. Let me know if these fit the bill. Yours for the postage. -nick

22 years, 10 months

RISC/OS, IRIX

by csmith＠amdocs.com

Hi everybody. I have a curiosity which I hope to satisfy with this question, and I hope that somebody knowledgeable with the history of Silicon Graphics or MIPS can help me out here. On working with the MIPS RISComputers that I have (one in full working order -- no drive light yet -- with three more and a drive light to follow), it occurs to me that the entire feel of the machine is astoundingly close to that of an SGI. To give some examples: The boot monitor is somewhat close -- using the same or similar commands, and the same or similar naming scheme for devices. The install script for RISC/OS and SGIs 'inst' are similar in ways. The FROM environment variable in the RISC/OS installer, and the 'from' command in inst, as an example. Directory structure is very close, and the configuration files seem to be in very similar locations -- by this, I mean more so than is normal between different unix systems. "The System is Coming Up" (Yes, this message is in the default install for both systems) These are all just superficial things, but they lead me to guess that there was a large amount of heritage from RISC/OS to modern IRIX. I assume this would have shown up around IRIX 2.0 (was 1.0 the IRIS 2000/3000 version?) Does anyone know whether I've come to the wrong conclusion? Does anyone know how deep the resemblance goes? I would be tempted to try a RISC/OS binary on an IRIX system at some point. In short, is anyone familiar enough with Silicon Graphics and/ or MIPS to explain this? 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, 10 months

What am I missing?

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Jerome Fine [mailto:jhfine@postoffice.idirect.com] > I have a problem - am I the one at fault? I'm not sure there's a "fault" here. I certainly wouldn't blame you for wanting to do a proper backup. > (a) The firmware/software for the "RAID 1" controller seems to > NOT have anything that will alert the user to be able to identify > which disk drive might be bad even after a drive failure, let alone > intermittent errors. Well, if a drive fails completely, just unplug one, and if the system still boots, you've unplugged the failed unit ;) > (b) Even though my current files are (seemingly) all correct and > I have two duplicate copies, when I said that I was was going to > restore from my initial back-up from CD (I currently have no > data files, just the installed software), I was looked at as if > I was a bit crazy - why would I do a recovery if there is nothing > wrong? Even though I attempted to explain that a full back-up Personally, I'd recover to a "spare" disk, and try that disk out afterwards. No reason to possibly trash a more-or-less working installation if the recovery fails the first time. Otherwise it sounds reasonable. > includes the total recovery from scratch - at least a few times > at the beginning to establish that the procedure works, that attitude > is considered overcautious to say the least - at the worst it is: > "So what if you loose all you files, you can always rebuild the > system from scratch if you have to?" These individuals seem > to have never heard of data files - like in a legal office, the > client records don't need to be kept since everything in published > law books is how to start all over again after a fire. I think this is the windows mindset. "We can always re-build the entire system, data files and all (since our data files will all be corrupt by then) once a month or so." Some people tell me that they've had better luck with windows than this, of course, YMMV. The point is that after losing so much data to poor practices -- on the part of the user, and the people who wrote the o/s -- what's there to be afraid of? Taken a step further, what's the point in a backup at all? That's not my attitude, but I've seen it. It also seems that most "new" system management types consider backups to simply be an annoyance, and more often than not will do anything possible to get out of having to restore anything... > Is this attitude common in industry? Am I wrong? I know that > my wife has a cousin who works for an accountant who > NEVER makes a back-up of the client files. I try not to do business with people who have such poor data management practices... Had you given the name of the business, this would have probably kept me away from them for life. > If I am correct, is there any way to get my point across or is > this a Catch-22 situation? Wait until there is a failure and they actually need a backup. Announce that you have a backup, indeed, but it only contains 9000 copies of a file called README. :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 10 months

NEW email address

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

To all those on the list - I'm finally getting around to severing all ties with my old company. Please make a note of my new email address jwest(a)classiccmp.org The old address (west(a)tseinc.com) is no longer active Regards, Jay West

22 years, 10 months

WHERE IS YOUR MUSEUM? Was:Re: What's your specialty?

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: John R. Keys Jr. [mailto:jrkeys@concentric.net] > Sent: 11 February 2002 15:44 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: WHERE IS YOUR MUSEUM? Was:Re: What's your specialty? > > > It's nice to see someone else reaching their goal with having > a museum. > Where is it located? Best of luck with it. Ta :) It's in the North-East of England. The building itself needs a lot of cleaning up since the current occupier has a plaster moulding company - the whole place is practically white top to bottom! The roof needs fixing and it needs security measures too, but size wise it's spot on, and the ground floor is concrete so there's space for some big DEC iron there too...... Best of all it's 50 yards from the house..... a www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

22 years, 10 months

Old HP scanner

by Richard.Sandwell＠roebry.co.uk

Dave Brown wrote : => is a parallel => >port version. But there is another oddball ( 20? pin) connector => on the back => >too. What's it for? At a guess its a connector for an optional sheet feeder? //Rich

22 years, 10 months

Classic Game Console Search

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: John R. Keys Jr. [mailto:jrkeys@concentric.net] > Sent: 03 February 2002 03:53 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Classic Game Console Search > > > Does anyone on the list have one or all of these; The Adventure Vision > by Entex, the COSMOS by Atari, or the Microvision by Milton > Bradley? I > hope to get a Microvision in a couple days but the others are hard to > find. The COSMOS for example has only 5 known to be left and only 2 of > those are working units. I've got a Microvision with extra faceplate.....anything you need to know? a www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

22 years, 10 months

What's your specialty?

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:foo@siconic.com] > Sent: 05 February 2002 14:55 > To: Classic Computers Mailing List > Subject: What's your specialty? > > Ok, now's your chance to discuss your specialty and get the > attention of > other folks who have stuff that you may want. I collect anything related to home computing apart from IBM-compatible PeeCees 'cos there's far too many of the bloody things and they don't interest me. My definition of the 'interesting' times is from the Magnavox Odyssey to the Escom Amiga 1200 (ie the last one, not the CBM one). I'm also very interested in the development of the early machines; how they came about, what thoughts and ideas were to go into them, what actually ended up IN them etc etc. This means I'm collecting documentation, books, software etc as well as the machines themselves. Anyone got a spare Magnavox Odyssey? :) I've got one game (Baseball) but no console...... Other news: I'm buying Bo Zimmerman's spare C65, and hopefully soon will be hosting several machines from the early development of Sinclair products, such as a prototype Spectrum board and one of the prototype Grundy Newbrains. Museum premises are nearly finalised too - 500 square feet of space over 2 floors; the only downside is I'm renting rather than buying so I'm limited as to what I can actually DO to the place. a

22 years, 10 months

No one likes Otronas?

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

Now Richard, my experience with Otronas is quite different from yours (or, more likely, what you heard). I used mine (an 8:16, which I still have) for 5 years in Peru on archaeological projects, without any problems. Other archaeologists I know at the Oriental Institute here in Chicago used them for a number of years in fieldwork in the Middle East. They even got John Walker (of AutoDesk, not of the Taliband) to write an Otrona version of AutoCAD (Version 1.4, which I also have) for them, which they used quite successfully for mapping their sites. In addition to "IRS types," a number of Otronas were used at the Jet Propulsion Lab, and (at least) one was used in space in Skylab. At the time Otrona went under, they were starting to produce a Tempest-certified version. I will have to admit that the 8:16 was expensive and only partially IBM-compatable, and the graphics emulation could could be terribly slow. But all-in-all, I was quite satisfied with my Otrona. Bob Feldman -----Original Message----- From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick@idcomm.com] Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 2:32 AM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: No one likes Otronas? I personally have never seen an item with a reserve that I felt was within range of what I'd pay. As for the Otrona ... which is a local product, having been made in Boulder ... these things were trouble from the "git-go" in that several things were known sources of trouble, including but not limited to the FDC. The only ones (in terms of organization users) I've ever seen with Otrona machines have been IRS types. I wouldn't want one, even as a gift. Now, I'm not a collector, i.e. I wouldn't want a non-functional i8080 chip either, no matter what the color. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne M. Smith" <wmsmith(a)earthlink.net> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2002 6:16 PM Subject: Re: No one likes Otronas? > > Just curious if anyone has an opinion on why this didn't move. > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2001112267 While I > > don't know what his minimum is, seems like anything in this family should be > > worth about $100 or so, based on what Kaypros and a few others go for. He > > had it up once before, and it didn't sell. > > > > And I'm not interested in the merits or demerits of eBay, reputations, yada > > yada yada. I just want to know what someone thinks why a classic like this > > didn't even get bid on, except by one guy (me). > > > > --John > > > > > > I don't normally bid on items with reserves, and I think many others operate the same way. People use reserves because they think > that starting low may generate a bidding frenzy that will drive the price up. It probably has the opposite effect by attracting > bottom feeders that will never bid high, and turning off some people who might actually be interested but don't want the additional > hassle of having to bid against the seller's reserve. > > -W > >

22 years, 10 months

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test-drb February 2002