test-drb March 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

292 participants
932 discussions

by dougq＠iglou.com

The End of Classic Computing, and in fact, the end of Computing as a hobby for almost all of us, is on the table in the U.S. Congress in the form of The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). This insidious bill would strike at the very heart of this community, the software that keeps our ClassicComputers running, unless we or someone incorporates anti-pirating measures. Now, if that sounded inflammatory, it should. It's not quite accurate either. The bill will cover only software created from the time of the bill's passage and on into the future. The stuff we play with now would therefore be exempt. There appears to be a loophole for stuff you do that you never distribute. There also appears to be a loophole for computers that do not contain microprocessors. But there would be a horizon coming soon. If the bill is passed, computers and software being developed now, once 10 years old, might be on-topic, but you'd be breaking federal law to share software. Sponsored by someone who must surely be certifiably insane, one Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina, if you want more information, see: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51274,00.html This will require lots of work to defeat, I think, as the politicians have bought into the fantasy that a pirated copy of something conctitutes a lost sale. A true emperor's fine new clothes scneario... Regards, -dq -- -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (dougq(a)iglou.com) [Call me "Doug"] "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

22 years, 8 months

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On April 1, Chad Fernandez wrote: > How much lead does solder dor electronics contain? I thought only > solder for pipes contained lead? Nope. Solder for electronics us usually around 60% lead. You're probably thinking of acid core vs. rosin core. -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

Unix disk images and archiving

by cdl＠proxima.ucsd.edu

> Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 20:27:57 -0500 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > From: Jeff Hellige <jhellige(a)earthlink.net> > Subject: Re: Unix disk images and archiving > Sender: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > > >As I recall from experience upgrading a Cube from a 68030 to a 68040 > >CPU board, NS 1.0a and earlier would not boot on the 68040. They were > >written without knowledge of the future differences between a 68040 and > >a 68030, which are significant at the system stack level. Just something > >to think about. > > Will 2.X boot on an '040? I knew that 1.X and below won't > work on the '040 but thought that it applied to 2.X as well. My main > reason for wanting to archive all the OD distributions that I have is > because it's quite easy to come up with a CD of 3.X but rarely do you > ever hear about someone with the earlier versions and they need to be > archived while there are still a few of the finicky optical drives > still functioning. When I got my 68040 Cube upgrade kit it came with a motherboard and an OD of NeXTstep 2.0, and a NeXT SIMM-puller tool. And some instructions about the sequence in which to change things. All this information is coming out of my occasionally fallible memory. But I'm sure that I was using NS 2.0 and 2.1 long before I had a CD reader. carl

22 years, 8 months

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> > Odd... This really is a strange concept for me. My first computer > (coincidentally a Sinclair) came as a kit and I had to take a soldering > iron to it before I could use it... And no I couldn't have afforded to > replace it if I'd made a mess... > Since then I think I've taken a soldering iron to just about every > computer I've owned. Including machines that I couldn't replace even if I > did have the money. And I've never made matters worse. > Where does this idea come from that a soldering iron will damage a > computer. Round here it's generally used to improve the performance of a > machine... Tony, not everyone has the same skills you do, and that's a good thing. For some of us a soldering iron is an instrument we use to build or repair circuitry. For others, it's an implement of destruction. I'll wager there are plenty of people on this list who have skills you don't possess. That doesn't make them better than you, just different. The one thing we all have in common on this list is the desire to preserve and use old computers, and we all try to use our skills to do what we can to achieve that goal. Do you really thinks it's unreasonable for someone to say "I'm not confident of my soldering skills so I don't want to risk this computer's health by soldering it?" To me, this is a very rational attitude. It sure would be boring if we were all the same . . . ;>) Does any of this make sense to you? Glen 0/0

22 years, 8 months

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On March 31, Doc wrote: > Umm, Have you looked at your .sig lately? > > > -- > > Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, > > St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar Yup...I know it's getting stale. I'll provoke Sridhar again soon; I'm sure he'll come up with another good quote. :) -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: R. D. Davis <rdd(a)rddavis.org> > All that person needs to do is get a soldering iron, solder, some bits > of wire, a scrap circuit board, something to tin the iron with [snip] Sure, and all a person needs to do to become a violinist is to buy a violin . . . > and start practicing. Practice doesn't always make perfect. Some people can't learn how to play. > Learning to solder properly is not difficult. I was given a soldering > iron and Radio Shack P-Box kits to build as a young child, when I was > in elementary school. Hence, soldering is the sort of thing that even > a young child can learn to do Sure it is. I learned as a child, from my mother. > so there's no excuse for any > computer-collecting adult to not know how to do it. Knowing how to do something and being able to do that thing are entirely different. If my eyesight is gone and/or my eye-hand coordination is gone and/or I have tremors, all the knowledge in the world won't get the job done. Glen 0/0

22 years, 8 months

Apple CHRP prototype machine...

by jon＠slurpee.org

I have one of these: http://www.applefritter.com/macosppc/starmax/ if you're on the newsgroup and interested, make me an offer (trades may be acceptable also) I figure if I keep it its just going to gather dust because I dont have time to play :) Thanks, jon

22 years, 8 months

IBM PS/2 Part wanted for 9577

by fernande＠internet1.net

If I recall correctly, IBM had a special stand for the PS/2 Model 77 so that it would sit on it's side. Does anybody have one they want to get rid of? I have one for a generic PC but it doesn't quite fit the PS/2 correctly. I've almost got my new 9577 reassembled...... been cleaning it :-) Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

22 years, 8 months

What showed up at TRW?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

What showed up at the swap meet? Anyone see anything interesting? Paxton Astoria, Oregon USA

22 years, 8 months

Problems with Ersatz-11 and CDROM

by jhfinepw4z＠compsys.to

I realize that there are probably very few individuals interested in this topic, however here goes. I am running E11 (Ersatz-11) under Windows 98 so that I can run RT-11. It works great in almost all respects and I can even live with this one minor problem. However, perhaps someone might be able to suggest what needs to be fixed. I have just acquired a CD-RW and been successful is making copies of my files to a CD-R and over the past week a few test files to a CD-Erasable. I am using "Nero Burning" as the software which "writes" to the CD and while I am a bit disappointed that the write speed to the erasables is only 2x as opposed to 16x for the WORM media, I can easily live with that and it is not a problem. I have also discovered how to "DUMP" to the screen any of the 2048 byte blocks on the CD - in hex of course. And finally, I discovered how to copy a single file to the CD starting at block zero of the CD media - or at least I have done so with the erasable media and I hope it can be done with the WORM media as well. The only thing I have not found out as yet is how to copy all of the sectors written to a CD back to a file on the hard drive so that more than one copy can be made to more blank CDs. I doubt if that will be a problem - I just have not even bothered as yet to try. When I copy a single file to the CD using Nero and the "File" menu o File o Burn Image o Open o Foreign Image Settings - Block Mode 1 - Block Size (2048 Bytes) - Image Header (0 Bytes) - Image Trailer (0 Bytes) o OK o Ignore - during this test, the Image file is not a multiple of 2048 bytes o Write where each "o" indicates another menu sub-level. Nero does correctly write the file to the CD as far as I can tell - except perhaps for the last few blocks since the size of the image file was not a multiple of 2048 bytes. Using C:foobar.DSK as the Image File I wrote to the CD, then using Nero and "Recorder"/"View Track", I can look at each 2048 byte block the CD to verify that the Image File Foobar.DSK was written to the CD and under E11 I can give the commands: MOUNT DU0: CDROME:/RO MOUNT DU1: C:foobar.DSK/RO Then under RT-11, I can also give the commands DIFFERENCES/BINARY/DEVICE DU0: DU1:/START:64./END:last-block-3 which results in a perfect compare. Under RT-11, I can also do a DUMP/TERM DU1:/ONLY:any block including block numbers between zero and 63. DUMP/TERM DU0:/ONLY:only block numbers 64. or greater. NOW!! Here is my problem and the question. Why can't E11 read blocks zero to 63. on the CD? I can see them under Nero and DUMP these blocks to the monitor under Nero. I could easily modify the MSCP device driver for RT-11 and automatically add 64. to every block number before I try to read it from the CD, but that would really mean a new device driver (CDX.SYS seems like a good name). I would also need to decide if that should be just for partition zero (my preference) or all the 20 or even 21 partitions on the CD. Or perhaps, someone has already discovered the answer why Nero can read those blocks under Windows 98, but E11 can't. By the way, one other solution is to just not use partition zero under RT-11 under E11 under W95/W98. Before I could burn my own CDs, that was the way that Tim Shoppa set up the RT-11 Freeware CD in any case. However, now that I have been able to actually read blocks zero through 63. from the CD under Nero, it seems too soon to give up on E11. I suspect that a partial answer may be that Nero uses W95/W98 operating system calls that are not used by E11 which is essentially a DOS program. If true, that obstacle might be overcome if the modification to E11 is simple enough. PLEASE!!! Can anyone suggest what the difficulty might be? Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

22 years, 8 months

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test-drb March 2002