The DHL truck came with 77 more books today and there were many good titles
in the boxes. I picked two to pull for reviewing, digital PDP-11
Architecture Handbook 1983 and TTL Cookbook by Don Lancaster 1976 (fifth
printing).
Just curious,
Does anyone on the list have an extra unibus tape controller which has a
pertec interface and emulate tmscp?
I believe both emulex and dilog made such things.
If anyone has one collecting dust and would like to bargain, please
email me.
I have an TS05 I'd like to try out.
thanks!
-brad
I added support to SPCWR3.PA for the VC8/I.
http://www.chd.dyndns.org/pdp8/VC8/SPCWR3_vc8i.PA
This requires an EAE and now I find out that my untested EAE does not work.
The first sign of problems was that the processor paused while running
and the only way to stop it was to turn off power. The HALT switch did
nothing.
I got a copy of MAINDEC-8E-D0LB-D which is EAE test 1 and it locked up
pretty much the same way. I removed the EAE and the diagnostic halted at
a reasonable place insteading of locking up.
The EAE stops the main processor sequencer and then does it's thing and
when it is finished, restarts the processor sequencer. I seems to me
that this handoff is not occuring properly. The front panel shows that
the processor is stuck in Execute (E) State with a 7 in the IR and the
PC within one of an EAE instruction.
This not gonna be easy to fix. The over-the-top connectors prevent the
use of an extender card, so I can't probe anything easily.
Since the MAINDEC tests won't run, I will try to figure out which if any
of the EAE instructions function and which to not. Since, so far,
everything seems to hang, it might be something fundamental, and that
might be easier to find.
Suggestions, comments please.
-chuck
>>> It was a bit harsh, and I apologize.
Thank you. Same here.
>>> And I am glad that there are people like you around who can write
authoritatively on a subject that non-tech people have trouble
understanding.
Well, that's just buttering me up. Thank you though. :)
>>> I think the expectations placed on magazine writers are unrealistic and
driven by profit and advertiser appeasement.
There are always a minority of publications with lax ethics, as there are
always a minority of companies with lax ethics in any business. Please don't
let that or a famous case here and there lead you to think we're all a bunch of
bastards. (Last time this topic came up, I used the analogy of "how would
full-time computer nerds like it if I said you're all a bunch of socially
clueless acne-face loners," which totally backfired on me because a few people
replied and said "well that would be accurate...")
Jay: I'm done now. :)
Thanks for the suggestions. The 79 cutoff is
really because I have a modest but working
collection of machines from 1980-1990 (UNIX
workstations) so I've got that covered.
I thought I'd turn my attention to pre 1980's
hardware before it becomes really difficult
to track down and PDP is probably the obvious
choice.
The 11/34 looks a good choice at this stage?
Regards
Ian.
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> Hey, Mr. Fogg: I'm a reporter and a pretty serious computer
> collector, too.
> So, if it makes your tiny brain happy, go ahead believing
> that anyone who isn't in high-tech must not be as smart as
> you; that any idiot can be a good writer and researcher; that
> I spend my day like the papparazzi desperate to fill pages;
> and that it's all to inflate my ego. Oh, and that I'm one
> step from selling fries at McDonalds, that sure was clever of
> you. But you know what?
> When your computer company has layoffs, that will be
> something to write about too. Maybe then you'll be selling
> fries, or worse, reduced to helping stupid users at Fry's.
> At least they won't off-shore your job, you moron.
My company did have massive layoffs - 2 years ago - due to Microsoft
buying them. With 20 years of broad enterprise experience I've yet to be
re-employed. I have a terminal illness that is beginning to show
physical signs that HR people ask about, so re-employment is not likely.
I cannot perform the job of fry chef as I cannot stand for more than an
hour.
In my blanket generalization of *magazine* writers (not newspaper
reporters and book writers) I never made a claim of specific
intelligence. In fact I labeled them as Journalism and English majors,
not idiots that can't get a college degree. But my statement stands -
they typically don't have the background to fully understand what they
are writing about. Most magazine articles are written in a style that
presents the author as someone knowledgeable in the subject of the
article (a difference from reporters who present what they find and how
they found it). Book authors usually *are* knowledgeable in the subject,
and often partner with a writer to better present the material in a
professional and understandable manner.
My inclusion of a reference to fast-food workers was actually a vague
reference to the stabs at certain professions such as Journalism/English
repeatedly made in the comic strip "Dilbert". Some professions, such as
music, acting and writing, have a stigma of early-career joblessness
(how many actors were waiters?). It was a bit harsh, and I apologize.
This has nothing to do with technocracy or elitism. I don't expect a
lawyer or physician to build or fix their computer systems and I don't
practice law or medicine. Consumer-grade tech magazines have become a
vast wasteland of simplifications and brain-candy. I think the
expectations placed on magazine writers are unrealistic and driven by
profit and advertiser appeasement.
And I am glad that there are people like you around who can write
authoritatively on a subject that non-tech people have trouble
understanding.
Hey, if you agree with Fogg's assertion that ALL of the media are hardly
qualified to ask "you want fries with that?", then I really don't give a
(bleeped out) what you think.
--- Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> wrote:
> Computer Collector Newsletter wrote:
> > It's one thing to comment on a specific article, but there's no reason to
> > indict a whole group of people and say that we're one notch about fast food
> > workers. That is not only incredibly stupid, it's direct intolerance. He
> > might as well have been talking about a race or religion or nationality --
> > which surely would not have been tolerated here.
>
> It might help your case if you didn't:
>
> A) Keep resorting to personal insults, and
>
> B) Keep proving the stereotype.
>
> Congratulations, Mr. Reporter! You're the very first Classic
> Computers list member ever to make my killfile.
>
>
> Doc
>
>
