test-drb October 2005

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

264 participants
655 discussions

Fischer Technik and similar logic-enhanced toys (was Re: OT:Language for the ages)

by henk.gooijen＠oce.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org > [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks > Sent: woensdag 19 oktober 2005 5:25 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Fischer Technik and similar logic-enhanced toys (was > Re: OT:Language for the ages) > > On 10/19/05, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > Real nerds use Fischer-Technik. > > I saw that stuff in the early 80s and couldn't come close to > affording it. > > > Fischer Technik has gone down spectacularly since I was a > kid. In the > > old days there were fairly simple elecrronic modules (alas so > > expensive that I couldn't afford enough of them) -- things like a > > double pole changeover relay, analogue voltage comparator, > AND gate, > > OR gate, flip-flop, monotstable, etc. > > I remember that stuff - in particular, I remember enough > logic for an elevator controller and a traffic light. > > I'd _love_ a way to home-brew some sort of snap-together logic toy. > For that matter, I'd love a way to make something like a DEC > Logic Lab from stuff around the house (i.e. - a 2 sq ft board > covered with logic and plug points)... One could use banana > jacks, etc., for the interconnects, but at retail pricing, > that would start to add up to real money real fast. > > -ethan I read a few months ago an interesting article about a virtual building blocks piece of freeware software to be downloaded from http://www.muvium.com/ It is the "link" Virtual Breadboard, but it is already also for months announced with "Coming Soon.." I regularly keep watching this site ... - Henk, PA8PDP. This message and attachment(s) are intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or agent thereof responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone and with a "reply" message. Thank you for your cooperation.

18 years, 9 months

Fischer Technik and similar logic-enhanced toys (was Re: OT: Language for the ages)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 10/19/05, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > Real nerds use Fischer-Technik. I saw that stuff in the early 80s and couldn't come close to affording it. > Fischer Technik has gone down spectacularly since I was a kid. In the old > days there were fairly simple elecrronic modules (alas so expensive that > I couldn't afford enough of them) -- things like a double pole changeover > relay, analogue voltage comparator, AND gate, OR gate, flip-flop, > monotstable, etc. I remember that stuff - in particular, I remember enough logic for an elevator controller and a traffic light. I'd _love_ a way to home-brew some sort of snap-together logic toy. For that matter, I'd love a way to make something like a DEC Logic Lab >from stuff around the house (i.e. - a 2 sq ft board covered with logic and plug points)... One could use banana jacks, etc., for the interconnects, but at retail pricing, that would start to add up to real money real fast. -ethan

18 years, 9 months

Compute magazine (retry)

by holger.veit＠ais.fraunhofer.de

Somewhere my last posting didn't find its way to the list, although there were some downloads of the files below. Retry (with few typo corrections):: Hi, for quite some time I have some magazines of COMPUTE ("Club Of Microprocessor Programmers, Users and Technical Experts"), a newsletter sponsored by National Semiconductor, lying around which I consider worthwhile to be conserved for the past. The date I am talking about is around 1975..1977. Some questions: 1. I have only some issues, namely V2N7...V2N12, V3N4...V3N7. Does anyone have other issues (and is willing to scan or copy those)? I'd be very interested in this epoch. 2. Scanning: You find a sample issue at http://www.ais.fraunhofer.de/~veit/v2n7.pdf (2MB). This was scanned B&W 400dpi, stored as TIF and converted with Acrobat. My problem is that even with this some listing pages are barely readable, see page 5 for example. This is probably because of lack of contrast; the magazine is printed on light brown paper with dark brown text; other issues use blue or green text color which is probably even less readable in a scan. If one scans in color with 600dpi (as in sample http://www.ais.fraunhofer.de/~veit/3x.pdf, 2MB) this will result in much larger files - the raw TIF is 95MB on my disk, which is not a diskspace issue for me, but for downloaders; expect a single issue to be 40MB and more in size. Do the "professional scanners" here, like Al, have a recommendation for resolving this? Regards Holger

18 years, 9 months

Need volunteers for fun, interesting, and worthwhile project

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm working on a public service project being funded and hosted by a semi- major internet-based institution (sorry, gotta keep low-key about it in public until the big announcement). The resulting work will be a public domain utility that will be useful for everyone who works with computers, and somewhat directly relates to what we do here as computer and software collectors. If you have a couple hours to spare each week to do minimal research and data entry over the web, please contact me directly and I will fill you in with the details. Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

18 years, 9 months

Message for Jay West

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Hi Everyone, I've been trying to give Jay a link to my PDP11 board, but haven't heard back from him. When I spoke to him in person, he asked I resend him the link, and I have several times and haven't heard back so I figured my mail was getting filtered. Anyway, sorry to spam the list with this, but I couldn't think of any other way to get ahold of him. Jay, that address is http://pdpusers.dyndns.org - title is "PDP-11 User Community" (as I'll be working to get more than just a message board up on it soon) Sorry everyone. Thanks Jay! Julian

18 years, 9 months

Need Manual for Tektronix 4696

by rmay635703＠aol.com

I have an old Tektronix Colorquick 4696 inkjet printer with the good ol ink wells and I want to restore it. It works with an old Innovion / CASI futura II computer photography system from the 80's. Anyway I need to get the printer to do a clean cycle and I KNOW it had one, I just don't know what dipp switch settings were needed to make this happen. Also a list of the dipp switch settings or a manual would be very helpfull. (right now the unit prints yellow, blue and a strange dark green for black) On the same topic the unit uses a green maintenance fluid, which i'm going to run out of eventually and I am wondering if anyone knows of a good substitute OR better yet what this stuff really is? I would like to get my old futura up and running but it only works with a Balloonjet printer from around 1987 (no idea what that is) or a Tektronix 4696/4695. pictures of said system here @ colortron.tk Also general information on Innovion, CASI tech and their systems is always appreciated. Thank You For Any Information Ryan

18 years, 9 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 26, Issue 42

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 18:08 -0500 10/14/05, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > >Suppose you wanted to write an application for a manufacturing process that > >will, in all probability, run for the next 30 years.... Also depends on how inviolate the code must be, and how verifiable the system. If you need to re-create the system, FORTH can be implemented with a lot fewer gates of hardware and a lot fewer lines of code than JAVA - and would therefore be a lot easier to verify, if you need to design/build new hardware to run your legacy code on in 25 years. -- - Mark 210-522-6025, temporary cell 240-375-2995

18 years, 9 months

Public Service Announcement: AVOID "bobsbid1"

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Public Service Announcement: AVOID "bobsbid1" > From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:58:15 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Kevin Handy wrote: > >> Steven N. Hirsch wrote: >> >>> Gotta love it when the golden-eared folks apply RF transmission-line >>> theory to speaker cabling. My scepticism towards audiophile >>> snake-oil comes via heredity (my late father spent 40+ years in the >>> industry). >>> >>> >> The snake-oil industry? > >So how many people oil their snakes? It does seem hard to get a good >Hi Fi system nowdays with all the snake oil parts as you have just so cheap >stuff on the low end, and gimics on the high end. With audio nobody gives >any useful specs now days -- THD is done into a dummy load never a >real speaker. What about IM distortion too? PS. I listen to regular music; >classical I find too heavy. Every time I need an amp for audio, I build one. I have no excuse, I did audio consoles and the like. None of the chips have decent specs and reasonable solid state designs with transistor or power MOSFETs are not hard to cook up. What amuses me are the systems that have a wallwart (not switch mode either!) as a PS and claim more than 10-15W of power out. I include those that have a PS inside that is barely a wallwart. A typical wallwart can't provide that and a real amp that can do that needs a better source of power. Computer speakers are amoung the worst with the claims, most are outright fraud. Allison

18 years, 9 months

OT: Language for the ages

by vp＠cs.drexel.edu

Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote: > C is the obvious choice. In either case, you have to be careful that > you don't wreck the portability by using non-portable I/O. Er, how big is an int? a pointer? **vp

18 years, 9 months

Insanely OT -- but very funny

by news＠computercollector.com

Attack of the Gaming Grannies http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2005/id20051018_173699.htm ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net Computer Collector Newsletter: http://news.computercollector.com Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists & Museum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midatlanticretro/

18 years, 9 months

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test-drb October 2005