test-drb June 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

281 participants
616 discussions

by lcourtney＠mvista.com

Seen on comp.os.vms - contact Andy directly. Lee Courtney "Andy Bustamante" <a_c_bustamante(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<HHsCc.76837$II6.4559(a)newssvr29.news.prodigy.com>... > We've got marching orders and will be disposing of assorted equipment > including 2 x Alpha 1000s, > 320mb and 384mb. I don't expect these to bring in much on the used market > and am trying to get approval to pass these on to a hobbyist in the San > Diego area. You'll need to arrange pick up, once I have disposal > authorized, I won't ship these. I expect this to be a quick timetable once > I have the okay. Any interest? > > -- > > > Andy Bustamante > Remove the ASCII 95s for e-mail > > >

20 years, 2 months

^_^ meay-meay!

by cctalk-bounces＠classiccmp.org

I don't bite, weah! password -- 80660

20 years, 2 months

"Nobody programs in machine language" (was: Modern

by ken＠seefried.com

I'm a big proponent of teaching my students assembly, though not machine language, but the following was simply silly... From: Fred Cisin <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> >Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project, >if you do not have an understanding of machine language, >then you can not write a good "driver", or anything else >that directly addresses hardware. True. But what percentage of programmers write drivers (clue: it's small). >Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project, >if you do not have an understanding of machine language, >then you can not write a good operating system, or any >other system software. True. But what percentage of programmers write operating systems (clue: it's small). >Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project, >if you do not have an understanding of machine language, >then you can not write a good game, or anything else that >needs to be efficient. Completely not true. Modern games (as in most anything past the 8-bit era) are written predominately if not exclusively in higher level languages (C, C++ or C#) and rely much more on content (story, textures, skins, etc.) than anything that has to be written in machine language for success. And the engines driving these games haven't been written in machine (or assembly) in a long, long time. Modern games use DirectX or OpenGL and are written in high level languages. Even Carmack doesn't program in machine language in modern history, and he's the demi-god of game optimization. You can download the source to many older games if you don't agree. I don't even need to go into things like Cg and how far they absract writing good games from machine language. >Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project, >if you do not have an understanding of machine language, >then you can not do a good job of optimizing ANYTHING. Total rubbish. There are lot's of kinds of "optimizing", not all of which mean "doing it the way that Fred thinks it should be done" or "doing it in the absolute fewest instructions". If you are going to use words like "ANYTHING" (esp. with the caps), you need to include optimizing for a vast array of criteria. Is machine language the only way to optimize for user interface? Probably not, except for extremely narrow definitions of optimized. Is machine language the way to optimize for dynamic logic (like different tax laws from one year to the next)? Probably not. Is machine language the way to optimize for realistic, modern deadline or budget? Almost certainly not. >Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project, >if you do not have an understanding of machine language, >then you can not do a GOOD job of programming anything. Total rubbish. I can't build an engine from scratch, therefore I can't excel at driving a car? I can't build a spin cast reel, therefore I can't fish. The folks who program Quicken have to know machine language to do a GOOD job at writing tax software? Rubbish. The folks at Adobe have to know machine language to do a GOOD job of rendering Acrobat pages? Rubbish. The Gnome, KDE, QT, etc., folks haven't done a GOOD job, for all values of GOOD, because they use high level languages. Rubbish. You can do anything in machine language. Can you do nothing well without it? Rubbish...Obviously you can.

20 years, 2 months

Amiga 2000 help/info needed.

by netsurfer_x1＠fastmailbox.net

I just today acquired an apparently stock Amiga 2000. Unfortunately, I have no boot disk for it & it has no hard drive. I cannot get it to show the "Insert Disk" animation (does it even have this?). The screen flashes between gray & white. My apologies for the stupid questions, but Amigas are new animals to me!

20 years, 2 months

FW: Australia Computer Museum in trouble

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Hi, gang, I figured this article would be of interest. Apparently, the Australian Computer Museum is on the verge of losing their space due to lack of funds. http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/23/1254203.shtml?tid=126&tid=137 Keep the peace(es). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m "If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"

20 years, 2 months

Commodore/PET Cassette to PC transfer...

by wolfgang＠eichberger.org

Hi, I'm on this list for a while now, mostly passive as reader... This week I tried to get some of my older PET/CBM Cassettes onto my PC. This Tapes are originally written with a Rom- upgraded Pet 2001 (the model with cricklet-keys) around 1980. Everythings working so far, I have a digital image now in case the tapes fail. But I really would like to convert the (now wave)files to an emulator readable format. I tried tapeload, tape64 and wavprg and had nearly no success. Is someone out there with some more experience on this? The Pet's datasette is a little buggy at the moment, so I'd like a standard Audio Deck. Maybe It is an issue that I only have a stereo deck? At http://www.funet.fi/pub/cbm/crossplatform/transfer/datassett e/index.html are plenty of infos, but I have no Idea where to start... Regards, Wolfgang Eichberger PS.: I'd really like to obtain a disk-drive for my Pets, in case theres someone who has one for sale or so...

20 years, 2 months

Commodore/PET Cassette to PC transfer...

by wolfgang＠eichberger.org

20 years, 2 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by Lee.Davison＠merlincommunications.com

>> Then you'll know why the HV supply is almost invariably voltage >> doubled AC and not rectified and smothed DC. From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk > I know it is (the magnetron itself is one of the diodes in the doubler, > along with one capacitor and a semiconductor diode), but I don't actually > know _why_. Presumably it's to simplify the insulation of the transformer > or something. Water molecules [1] have three resonant frequencies around 2.45GHz and to couple the H field microwave energy into the water you need to be operating at one of these frequencies. A magnetron when used as an oscillator has a frequency that is voltage and output load dependant, so having a varying supply will sweep the frequency across the whole operating range. When you get near a resonant frequency the output load changes and this bcomes the dominating effect until the voltage changes enough to pull the frequency to the next resonant point. This way you can be sure to couple most of the energy into the water. From: Dwight K. Elvey > Also, once the magnetron gets to the threshold voltage, it likes to > run at a constant volage. ... If you try to feed it with a fixed voltage, > it will destroy the tube. Magnetrons, even those in microwave ovens, can be run from a constant (fixed) voltage without any danger of destroying the tube. This works whether using it as an oscillator or an amplifier. Lee. [1] other OH bonds will absorb energy in this band such as those in carbohydrates, but not nearly as well. ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________

20 years, 2 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 54

by lgwalker＠mts.net

> Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:58:45 +0100 > From: "Geoffrey Thomas" <geoffreythomas(a)onetel.net.uk> > Subject: Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & > headcount... ; -)) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <000101c457bc$253c6640$bb72fea9@geoff> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > Don't forget that there is more then one generation at work in an industry > > at one time. Lots of people on this email list probably work with younger > > techs who don't know half of what they do. Once the senior people retire > (or > > get fired because they cost too much on a spreadsheet) its up to the > younger > > ones to pull the slack (if they were smart enough to hire any before the > old > > ones got the boot), and quite a few are not up to the task. It takes time > to > > notice your workforce is deficient, and by then its too late to do > anything > > about it. > > This is what has happened to the rail industry in Britain, it frightens me > to think of the skills that have been lost -particularly in track > maintenance -not very high tech. you may think , but the number of > crashes/accidents we've had since privatisation started on an accountant's > spreadsheet. The fact that the industry now swallows more money for an > inferior service is common knowledge , we all know where the money goes > (went - it's called asset stripping ) but vested interest and political > lethargy prevent any radical solution.As with our health service there is > now an inverted bloated bureaucratic pyramid stuffed full of accountants and > clerks. > > Geoff. I worked many years in the rail running trades in Canada. As in many countries the workforce has been slashed, while the top end has ballooned. The caboose which was once the last human warning source has been replaced by a sensor. Sensors can't see anomalies such as a "hot-box" on passing trains or problems with the boxcar string itself. As we all know electronics are plagued with many anomalies. And even the best software designers can not possibly duplicate the warning signs learned by many years of experience of being there. Does the public think that a computer can duplicate the knowledge of a flight controller ? We have many years to go to replace the often flawed knowledge of humans but bean counters should be easily replaced and the "decision-makers" were outmoded years ago if sufficient will were available. Watch out for "Hal" tho, he might be a clone of some psychotic Enron "executive" Lawrence

20 years, 2 months

Yet another same-old, same-old classic gaming article

by evan947＠yahoo.com

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=1&u=/ap/2004… I have to laugh when I see stories like this one. On one hand, I'm laughing for joy, since any such mainstream press (of gaming or computers) is great for the growth of our hobby. On the other hand, I'm laughing at the sillyness, because every few months some new reporter hears about our hobby, writes the SAME story about Atari joysticks, and thinks he or she is the one who scooped it. (As a reporter myself and a collector, you can see why I find this funny.) The same thing happened with VoIP. I was technology editor of Internet Telephony magazine from early 1998 to mid-2000. But in the past few years, every mainstream reporter heard that, hey, you can make free phone calls using your PC and the Internet... (which of course is about 1/25 of the real business-class intentions of the VoIP industry.) Anyway, I'm just pointing out that there's another article about our cousins in the classic gaming world... thought ya'll might care. :) PLEASE don't use this as another reason for a million replies about how bad "the press" is. (Honestly, it hurts my feelings.)

20 years, 2 months

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test-drb June 2004