test-drb June 2007

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

224 participants
486 discussions

What are the really unusual or weird computers?

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 12:14 PM 6/25/2007, Liam Proven wrote: >The real point is that the Windows "start button" is not analagous or >homologous to a mechanical start button on an engine. You may as well >compare a button on Windows to a button on your cardigan. They're both >"buttons" but they have nothing in common. Just to confuse matters, today's hybrid Toyota Prius does not require the "key" in the "ignition" - it will start if it detects the key in your pocket - and the "start" button is up on the dash, a round button perhaps 1 1/2" in size, with the circle-with-a-vertical-line icon on it. But it won't start unless your foot is on the brake. Then you can move the (clearly electronic) gear shift into forward or reverse. There's a separate rectangular "Park" button. And when you pull up to a stop light, you can feel the entire car shut down except for the accessory power. There's a central 4x6" video display, too. Shows a rear-view video when you're in reverse, while you're driving it has all sorts of MPG monitoring graphs and animated graphics. - John

17 years, 3 months

Inside old games machines, was: Re: Simulated CP/M-68K?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Inside old games machines, was: Re: Simulated CP/M-68K? > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:29:55 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 6/18/07, Gordon JC Pearce <gordon at gjcp.net> wrote: >> On Sun, 2007-06-17 at 18:10 -0300, Alexandre Souza wrote: >> >> > In arcade machines, this is already done in MAME. But it would be great >> > for old computers and any kind of gear. >> >> Did any of the CPUs we know and love, like the PDP-11 CPUs, find their >> way into commercial games machines? > >I would be interested to learn if this ever happened. As far as I can >tell (hardly authoritative), the arcade industry bypassed the T-11, >probably primarily due to cost and availability. The Z-80, 6502, and >6809 were favorites in the 8-bit realm, but when they needed something >with a bit more horsepower, I don't know what was common besides the >68000 (as used in "Xenophobe", among others). The T-11 offers PDP-11 archectecture but it's not very fast and not much for availability outside DEC As other than the FALCON card or KXT-11. If any of the pdp-11 machines made it to games I'd expect it would have been a F11 (LSI-11/23) chipsets as they were faster and available before the T-11. >> I know a lot of the Atari vector >> stuff had maths boxes based on AMD bit-slice parts. > >Yep. I helped a friend fix his Battlezone with a couple of 2901s I >desoldered from a dead KA730 board. > >> It seems like the J11 processor would have been a good fit for some of >> the more advanced games. > >Perhaps, but it wasn't a cheap chip. 20 years ago, I could afford >used F-11-based gear (11/23, 11/24) because it ran around $300 for a >barebones or lightly-loaded system (disks and controller extra, etc). >I couldn't touch J-11 stuff because it was still in use commercially. > >In the mid-1980s, the 68000, then 68020 was just too cheap compared to >the J-11, I'd estimate. Same for the 6502/6581x series and they were fast enough for the price. Games for the most part were judging from their construction a very price sensitive product. Did the RISC CPUs (arm, strongarm, and friends) make it in games? Allison

17 years, 3 months

Yahoo "Web Beacons"

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

It looks like Yahoo has found a new way of tracking people online, I'd recommend going to the page for details on their "Web Beacons" and to find a link to opt out. You apparently need to do this for each browser you use. http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/webbeacons/details.html Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

17 years, 3 months

WANTED: TRS-80 video/disk interface <-> model 100 cable

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

I have the TRS-80 disk/video interface module, but not the cable to connect to my model 100. Does anyone know how to make one? Thanks- Steve. --------------------------------- Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games.

17 years, 3 months

Here's some VCF East audio recording

by evan＠snarc.net

http://www.armchairarcade.com/neo/node/1359

17 years, 3 months

Apple ][ with Alpha Syntauri

by joachim.thiemann＠gmail.com

A while ago someone asked about early synthesizer-computer stuff. I just saw this on Montreals Craigslist: "Synth?tiseur ALHA SYNTAURI SYNTHESISER - $400" http://montreal.craigslist.org/msg/359808712.html I am not in any way affiliated with whoever this is. I'd buy it myself if I had money, space and time (all in perpetual sparse supply...) but i figured some here might be up for it. Joe.

17 years, 3 months

What didn't happen in the future

by wacarder＠earthlink.net

>I'm not a DJ, but I do play music and have collected it since I was a kid (many years ago). > >My 78rpm records (that I grew up listening to) are on mp3s on my laptop. >My 33 1/3 rpm vinyl albums are on mp3s on my laptop. >My 45 rpm records are on mp3s on my laptop. >My cassette tapes are on mp3s on my laptop. >My 8 track tapes are on mp3s on my laptop. >My CDs are on mp3s on my laptop. >and the mp3s that I downloaded from eMusic, WalMart, Apple, etc. are on my laptop. I forgot to mention that some of my stuff is on YouTube too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWyNQDgtcA Loaded from the same laptop that has my PDP-11 on it. ... and now I'm done with this topic since it's not really on topic. Ashley http://www.woffordwitch.com http://www.highlonesomeband.com

17 years, 3 months

What didn't happen in the future

by wacarder＠earthlink.net

>Vinyl is dead. CDs are dying. Did anyone notice that the DJ at the >wedding party next to the unofficial VCFeast Friday dinner was >spinning mp3s? He was not ahead of his time. He is in it. > >I am not going to waste anymore time with this religious fight. > >-- >Will, the other radio DJ on this list. I'm not a DJ, but I do play music and have collected it since I was a kid (many years ago). My 78rpm records (that I grew up listening to) are on mp3s on my laptop. My 33 1/3 rpm vinyl albums are on mp3s on my laptop. My 45 rpm records are on mp3s on my laptop. My cassette tapes are on mp3s on my laptop. My 8 track tapes are on mp3s on my laptop. My CDs are on mp3s on my laptop. and the mp3s that I downloaded from eMusic, WalMart, Apple, etc. are on my laptop. They are all also on my desktop system and my iPod. And yes, those 78s do sound much better after you clean the noise up and turn them into mp3s. My PDP-11 is also on my laptop, my desktop, and my web server, running in simh. I had to throw that last line in there just to keep this thread on-topic. :-) Ashley http://www.woffordwitch.com

17 years, 3 months

What didn't happen in the future

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Vinyl is dead. CDs are dying. Did anyone notice that the DJ at the > wedding party next to the unofficial VCFeast Friday dinner was > spinning mp3s? He was not ahead of his time. He is in it. Exactly. Record companies are more than happy to sell you a $30 piece of plastic that can't be copied. There are niches, but this ain't mainstream music distribution. "disappearance" wasn't the right word, "irrelevance" was, going the way of 8-track tape and Selectavision. > I am not going to waste anymore time with this religious fight. Neither am I

17 years, 3 months

What didn't happen in the future

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> The only thing *never* predicted > was a small computer. and the disappearance of the vinyl record. record store scene in "A Clockwork Orange" for example.

17 years, 3 months

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test-drb June 2007