test-drb April 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

280 participants
1162 discussions

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Torquil MacCorkle III [mailto:torquil@rockbridge.net] > So after a lot of deliberation over the Computers in 1986 > thread. I > decided on some that would work for me. I've forgotten two important ones from my list. One was the Apple II GS, of course. You can find the other here: http://www.scd.ucar.edu/computers/gallery/cray/xmp/xmp.html Space and power permitting, of course... :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 8 months

Technical Forums

by talk-lists2＠civilnews.com

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22 years, 8 months

Shoddy Hardware (Was: Re: WW fixtures (was Re: "New" PDP-8))

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> > From: Douglas H. Quebbeman [mailto:dquebbeman@acm.org] > > > Chris Smith and I were discussing repair techniques offline, and the > > above were amongst the discussed techniques. > > > However, I prefer erecting totems next to the troublesome devices... > > I still maintain the usefulness of runestones, incense, and rituals > involving chant and the drawing of "signs of power" around > the device. As before, no disagreement, I just think those things come built-in... except for the chant, and for that "down, not across" coupled with shaking an etherkiller at the thing, should be sufficient... -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

22 years, 8 months

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Torquil MacCorkle III [mailto:torquil@rockbridge.net] > Pardon the ignorance here, > But which would you guys consider to be the most modernly > functional one > of the 1986 bunch? > (What I am trying to do together here is get a setup of only > stuff made in > 1986.... It'd be neat to have a system exactly the same age as me :)) Well, here's my list: AT&T Unix PC. 512k to 4M of ram [usually 1M], 40 to 60M hard drive, all in one system with a monochrome green screen, removable keyboard, and 3 button mouse. It also had a 5.25" floppy. It ran Unix SystemV R 3.0 or 3.5, I vaguely remember a port of some other system to run on it. Check some of the web pages you can find. There was a built in graphical windowing system, dynamically loadable drivers, and if you could get the ethernet board, or extra serial ports, you could run multi-user configurations. It could read/write (through special bundled software) MS-DOS disks, and there was also a DOS board for it with an 8088 CPU or something like that, and some RAM to let it actually run DOS, and DOS apps. These are pretty cool. See if you can google yourself a picture of one. :) Next: If you don't mind being something like a year off -- it was likely in prototype stage in 86, but released in 87 -- VAXStaion 2000 would be an excellent choice, too. It is a small (literally the size of a large lunchbox) VAX, with a built-in b&w framebuffer (for VWS, or X11), can accommodate an internal disk of up to 150M, and memory or (my memory is somewhat fuzzy on this) 8 or 12M, but you usually see it with something like 4M of RAM. You can also (if you use a lower-capacity, half height hard disk) fit a 1.2M floppy drive in there. There is a special inch- high expansion that screws on to the bottom of the unit to give it an external plug for another disk, and a tape drive (95 or so MB tk50). I believe it will run VMS, Ultrix, or possibly NetBSD. I would (and do on mine) run VMS on it, though. For a graphical workstation (that will actually plug into the wall! SGI didn't at the time), this is from Intergraph's page -- it ran a Unix-oid called CLIX: http://www.intergraph.com/ingrhistory80s.htm In 1986, at the Design Automation Conference, Intergraph introduced the InterPro 32C - the industry's first workstation with a processing speed of 5 million instructions per second (MIPS). This RISC-based computer was powered by the Clipper C100 chip from Fairchild Semiconductor and offered workstation performance that was five times more powerful than the VAX-11/780. Two separate 4K byte cache memory management units were linked to the CPU chip via a dual, dedicated 32-bit bus architecture. The unique combination of cache design and size provided for unparalleled instruction processing speed. The Clipper processor utilized the UNIX System V operating system. The second processor, an Intel 80186, was the I/O processor. And an Intergraph Raster Operations Processor executed the graphics commands and display operations. Then for the normal stuff, you may want to also consider: The Amiga 1000 (Launched in the UK that year...) Atari 1040STF (These had a GUI in the ROM, but didn't multitask without an add-on) The Tandy TRS-80 "Color Computer 3" (Not as impressive as the Amiga or Atari, but they're cool, especially if you have disk and tape interfaces, and perhaps a copy of OS-9) I have wanted one of these for a while, myself. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 8 months

WTB: Old Computers

by mythtech＠mac.com

> So after a lot of deliberation over the Computers in 1986 thread. I >decided on some that would work for me. > > If anyone has one of the following please let me know: > >Apple IIgs I (along with probably many others), can deal you an Apple IIgs if you wish. However, I do NOT have any complete systems I can part with, just CPUs (I own only one complete system, so that is mine, but I aquired 4 CPUs not so long ago, and they are currently just taking up space in my garage). I might also have either 3.5" and/or 5.25" drives to go with the CPUs (I have to check what is in the box). But I know for a fact that I do not have any monitors or keyboards or mice (although, in all 3 cases, generic Mac equipment will work, ie: any RGB monitor will work, or a plain composite monitor, and any ADB mouse and keyboard will work) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 8 months

The Future End of Classic Computing

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Ron Hudson [mailto:rhudson@cnonline.net] > Is there a simple boilerplate message I can send to my > congress critters (not that it will do any good with > Ms Fienstein or Boxer) to lodge my protest. Of course, if you're going to mail your congress-things, you may as well send copies to them as well. > I am against piracy, I think Napster has brought all this > down upon us because of the few who refuse to see it for > what it was, theft. You can't blame napster for the stupidity of politicians in the US. You can only blame the politicians, their parents, or the idiots who elected (or appointed!) them. That said, also, in defense of napster, as far as I am concerned, they were providing a service, and the fact that people chose to use it for what amounts to theft under law does not make napster guilty of theft. That's simply a case of the recording industry (for the most part) attempting to find somebody big enough to make them a lot of cash on the incident. After all, it wouldn't do them any good to prosecute their customers, who were, in fact, the actual "guilty" parties. Perhaps everyone would get along better if they spent the money they pay to buy stupid laws on customer relations. Enough on that subject, though, since it doesn't relate directly. > Oh, I suppose since I can re-compile Linux any time I want > and can change the code however I like Linux will **never** > get the stamp of government approval... ... and what will happen to "embedded" type systems? I certainly hope that I never end up having to include crap like this in a project that contains only 64k of ram. Honestly, I'm sure if it comes to that, I can find another place to live. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 8 months

WTB: Old Computers

by torquil＠rockbridge.net

Hi, So after a lot of deliberation over the Computers in 1986 thread. I decided on some that would work for me. If anyone has one of the following please let me know: Sharp X1 Turbo III Sharp X1 Turbo Z Sony Hit-Bit 500 Thomson TO 9 PLUS Apple IIgs ELORG Agat 9 Excelvision Exeltel Thanks, torquil

22 years, 8 months

The Future End of Classic Computing

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> Wrong. 4500+ copies is "mass distribution." > > http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/video-bootleg.htm > > In any event, the DMCA was intended to address not only > those who distribute copies, but those who provide > "circumvention devices" that enable others to engage > in mass distribution. Doesn't it make as much sense to > go after those involved in "mass distribution" > of the circumvention device, such as DeCSS? I just read the article... the person convicted was using what I believe is an *analog* device... but I suppose the difference between a digital device and an analog device won't matter to the Supreme Court. Now, this guy was *way* wrong... but he could have been prosecuted under any number of preexisting laws. Locally, a guy did this over 20 years ago with audio tapes (cassettes), was busted by the FBI, but worked out a deal, and not only didn't do jail time, but is considered the Premier Merchant locally for audio software... -dq -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

22 years, 8 months

The Future End of Classic Computing

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> Wrong. 4500+ copies is "mass distribution." > > http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/video-bootleg.htm > > In any event, the DMCA was intended to address not only those > who distribute copies, but those who provide "circumvention devices" > that enable others to engage in mass distribution. Doesn't it make as > much sense to go after those involved in "mass distribution" > of the circumvention device, such as DeCSS? When everyone realizes the inaudability of what would be lost if they used straight analog audio paths for copying, and thus they finally give up on digital copying, will the Entertainment Industry lobby for a AMCA? Will Radio Shack get busted for selling patch cords? DMCA is ridiculous. -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

22 years, 8 months

What editions of the VAX Hardware Reference are there?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Gunther Schadow wrote: > > >I am looking for VAX Hardware Reference for the VAX 11/780, 11/785, >86x0, the uVAX-II, and then the VAX 6000s. I suspect that's not all >in one book. But, what revisions of the Hardware Reference are there >anyway? I think the first edition is the 1978/1979, at least my >VAX Architecture Handbook bears this date. I understand that the >"Handbooks" were a 3-volume series, with volume 1 Architecture, >vol 2 Harware and vol 3 Software (VMS). I assume that they threw >out old models in more recent editions, right? Could we reconstruct >which topics are described in which edition of the Hardware Handbook? There are lots of handbooks. I have: - VAX Architecture 1981 - VAX 11/780 Hardware Handbook 1979/80 - VAX 11/780 Architecture Handbook 1977-78 - VAX Hardware Handbook 1982-83 (the above all cover the VAX 11/7xx series only) - VAX Hardware Handbook 1986 Volume 1 - VAX Hardware Handbook 1986 Volume 2 - MicroVAX Systems Handbook - VAX Systems Handbook - UNIBUS Systems - VAX Systems Handbook - VAXBI Systems There are probably further editions. I'd say the technical content went down as time went on but they do all at least provide a user-level overview. >One can't buy those any more, how does that influence the right to >compile and share copies? I wonder if one could archive the >Hardware handbooks by subject and that way compile a single volume >with complete coverage of all VAXen. DFWCUG ( http://montagar.com/~patj/dec/hcps.htm ) are scanning stuff. I've not seen any handbooks yet but you could try contacting them and seeing how far they have got to date. They do have the covers of many handbooks available. I know that one of their problems was finding a way of removing the book spine cleanly (to feed the book through a sheet feed scanner). If you try http://www.decdocs.org you see a bunch of links to other sites, some of which have a few handbooks available in various forms (although I don't think the handbooks you want are online anywhere I have seen). >Besides, there is a mystical "Perepherial Handbook" to which I have >seen reference once, but never any copy in bookstores, catalogues or >on eBay. Did it ever exist? Was it volume 4 of the series? What >items were covered over the years in there? There is a Peripherals handbook (for the cover see: http://montagar.com/~patj/dec/pdp11/index.htm ) There were several editions, one every couple of years. These handbooks (which were not really a series as such) were marketing collateral. They were put together by marketing either to give away on customer visits, or to sell on. They should not be relied on too heavily for technical information (except, I suppose, in the absence of a real technical manual). Antonio

22 years, 9 months

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test-drb April 2002