test-drb November 2012

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

173 participants
212 discussions

by jwest＠huey.classiccmp.org

Some of you may remember about a year ago I was approached about setting up a short term exhibit at a local museum with a theme of "Computers in Chess". They had a year or so of exhibits already on the schedule at the time. They recently reconnected with me and have asked me to submit a detailed proposal of items to exhibit. Of course, the proposal is due Dec 1st. The venue in question is a "real museum", so you can be assured of world-class facilities related to UV (light exposure), people certified to handle artifacts, environmental controls, security, etc. If any individuals or museums represented here might have ideas for portions of the exhibit and/or have artifacts, displays, etc. for loan I would very much like to see your ideas as quickly as possible. Rest assured that proper shipping, insurance, and compensation for temporary loan of items would be taken care of. The timeframe for the exhibit is May 2013, and the duration of the exhibit would be about 4 months. If your items are chosen to include in the proposal, the museum would contact you directly to arrange the loan and then provide a facillities report directly to the loaning institution or individual. It is very important to me that this exhibit succeeds. If you have any items related to "Computers in Chess" or display ideas, please email me off-list as soon as is possible for consideration. Jay West jwest at classiccmp.org

12 years, 1 month

Google v AltaVista - Re: Big Alphas (was Re: FS: HP AlphaServer DS15)

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Nigel Williams wrote: > On Sat, Nov 17, 2012 at 12:27:27PM +0100, Jochen Kunz wrote: > > Interesting question: Would google have happened if Altavista wherent > > ruined? > Yes, because they came up with a much better algorithm to determine > relevance of web pages. What I liked about Altavista is if I just remembered a fragment of text on a web page, or in a Usenet post, it could find it. This of course was late 90's. Google with page rank, along with the other search engines doing their own tweak of page rank, gave me the "most relevant to my search page" using their algorithm, and often not the one I wanted. Tim.

12 years, 1 month

discrete transistor computer

by ed.spittles＠gmail.com

On Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:18, "Dave" <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote: [snip] >> On 18 November 2012 19:14, Ed Spittles <ed.spittles at gmail.com> wrote: >> > On 16/11/2012 08:13, ben wrote: >> >> On 11/16/2012 12:50 AM, Ed Spittles wrote: >> >>>> [conversation about Wireless World articles - a digital computer >> >>>> built from reject germanium transistors] [snip] >> Fantastic! I got in touch with Hector Parr, and he directed >> me to a memoir he's written, and I now have a story: [snip] >> Hector read Alan's book and proceeded to get >> the Maths department and pupils to finance and build a >> machine called DENICE, designed from scratch but with >> inspiration from the book. >> [snip] >> His memoir can be bought at >> > http://www.lulu.com/shop/hector-c-parr/music-maths-and-machines/paperback/p… >> - there's a copy of this too on its way to me. [snip] >> >> (As for the reported cost of ?50 in the late 60's, I'm told a weekly shop > for a couple would be ?2 and a pint of rough > > cider would be 1/9d (that > is, 21 old pence, which were 240 to the pound.) According to >> http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/, >> the project would cost ?750 today, although those anecdotal prices suggest > rather more.) > > I think ?750 is probably about right, but comparisions are difficult as > prices havn't increased uniformly. My dad earned around ?22 a week. In my > first part time job at this time I earned 10/- (50p or ?0.50 in current > money) for 4 hours work at our local Woolworths. I seem to recall paying > ?25.00 for a second hand motor bike around that time. I also remember > getting over time for swapping out around 100 tills that did the old style > ?:s:D for new ones that did ?/P one Saturday night All good info! I dimly recall getting 3d pocket money, some time in the late 60's. But I was a mere nipper and pocket money is highly variable. Perhaps a better calibration might come from the job ads in New Scientist:?there's a 1965 issue here http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F4zFnwoUmHQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepa… and we see a junior technician can get GBP280-520 at the University of Keele, or an 18 year old can get GBP660 by joining the Royal Navy Engineering Service. There are job ads for programming a LEO, but the private sector isn't upfront about salaries. The Tanzanian Treasury would pay you GPB2361 with free passage to program their ICT 1500, but overseas pay won't be a good indication of the value of money. [snip] > If you find any mreo info about Denice I would be really interested... Well, I found a post by ... you! On alt.folklore.computers https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/alt.folklore.compute… (aka http://goo.gl/ebXiT) I hope to learn a little more from Hector's book when it turns up. > Dave Wade G4UGM > Illegitimi Non Carborundum Cheers Ed (Thanks to Rick Bensene for the correction on the photo:) >> Hector later taught at Barnard Castle School, where he was > photographed in >> 1978 with a different computer: >> http://ww2.durham.gov.uk/dre/pgDre.aspx?ID=DRE10345&PIC=Y >> His memoir can be bought at > > The "computer" in the photo is appears not to be a computer, but a > terminal. > It appears to be a Southwest Technical Products CT-64 terminal. > See: > http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/CT_64/CT_64.htm > > This device was probably connected either to some form of microcomputer > (e.g., Altair, IMSAI, etc.), or potentially some home-built machine, or > was connected via modem to a remote timesharing service, as was common > in schools during the timeframe. > > Rick Bensene

12 years, 1 month

Inventory Reduction -- IMSAI 8080, ADM3A, S100 stuff

by pjfitzpatrick207＠gmail.com

Hi All, It's time to face the fact that I simply don't have time to do much with my old computer collection and I'm going to slowly get rid of things and free up some space in my lab for "real" (meaning "paying") work. Not sure what the best way to sell this stuff is -- so I'm looking for advice -- or if there's someone on the list who's interested, we should talk. I have an IMSAI 8080, that I built in 1977 or 1978. It has the 22 slot motherboard, 24K RAM (3 x 8K Godbout boards) a serial I/O card, a NorthStar disk controller and SA400 drive with NorthStar BASIC. It all worked when I packed it away 8 or 9 years ago, but I fear the SA400 might have gotten wet in a basement flood a few years back. The computer itself stayed dry. The computer is missing two red and one blue switch handles and has a few scratches in the blue cover, but other than that, it's good. I also have a bunch of Intel multibus cards (for spare parts -- at least a couple of processors and most of the other harder to find chips). Documentation is pretty much complete. I have several floppies (copies of North Star DOS and BASIC), but I make no claim that they're still good. There's also a Lear-Siegler ADM3A terminal -- also in good condition some years ago, but again, it hasn't been powered for eight or nine years. No evidence of screen issues. I have the Maintenance Manual with schematics etc. The assembly manual was lost in the flood. Finally, I have a bunch of parts from a Z80 based system with a CPU card, a video card and a motherboard with built-in keypad and 7 segment displays. I don't know anything about it, really, and some of the boards are kind of grungy, so it's probably best considered spare parts. There is minimal, if any, documentation -- some stuff came with it, but a quick glance says it's mostly CP/M stuff, not hardware docs. I'm not sure what to do. With a bit of work, the IMSAI and terminal could be tested and running (even if I have to track down a new (?) drive, but I'm not sure I have the time to spend on it. Certainly not in the next year or so while I'm over-booked with real work. I think I'd rather sell it now, unless it makes vastly more sense to get it working and then sell it (in which case it might go back in storage for a while). As to selling it, does ebay get decent results? I'd like it to go to someone fairly knowledgeable. Is it reasonably salable in this state? All thoughts appreciated, Pat

12 years, 1 month

classiccmp status

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

1) Due to the generosity of Richard (with myself making up the balance of the cost), there is now a wildcard SSL certificate on the classiccmp server that can provide encrypted connections for any subdomain hosted under the classiccmp server. For all of you that host websites on the classiccmp server, if you're located on a subdomain of classiccmp.org and wish to take advantage of that let me know and I'll add it to your virtual host configuration. Thanks Richard! 2) We are finally "in process" of moving our datacenter (where the classiccmp server is located). We're not actually moving any machines, we're building new infrastructure at the new datacenter and then migrating services "across the wire" from the old datacenter to the new one. Then the equipment at the old datacenter will (mostly) be scrapped. Generally we don't expect any outages for the classiccmp mailing list, bitsavers repository, and related classiccmp hosted websites, but there will be short off-hours periods of time where no changes should be made to existing content. We'll do our best to make sure any relevant issues are posted here for the list. 3) Just to make sure that newer listmembers are aware, we will gladly host any classic/vintage computer related website at no cost for you. Free disk space, Free bandwidth, etc. We provide this service not just for individuals but companies and institutions. I should point out that we'll host any service for free that is vintage computer related - not just websites. We'll host mailing lists, ftp or rsyncd repositories, whatever you wish. Hosting services is what one of my companies does as it's main line of business, so you can be assured of a world class infrastructure (not just a webserver running in someone's basement or in a corner of their business server room). If you have a vintage computer related website or content and you're tired of paying a monthly fee to have it hosted elsewhere, send me an email directly (off-list) to jwest at classiccmp.org and we'll get things set up for you. Best, Jay West

12 years, 1 month

icl 1900 emulation

by francois.dion＠gmail.com

Somebody is using the Raspberry Pi to emulate an ICL 1900 mainframe here: http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/CCs/index.html Personally, I'd never heard of this computer... Fran?ois -- solarisdesktop.blogspot.com - raspberry-python.blogspot.com

12 years, 1 month

Apple ][+ and clones video

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

For those that are interested. I continued making short clips on my collection this weekend. This one was for the Apple II+. There will be no surprises here for members of this group, but some might be interested in the two clones featured towards the end of the video. the URL is http://youtu.be/Tc44R-f07KI Cheers Terry (Tez)

12 years, 1 month

My Exidy Sorcerer on YouTube

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

Sending to this list in case some are interested. http://youtu.be/f-neUEHhtCs Tez

12 years, 1 month

Interesting IEEE "Computer" article on IAS and von Neumann

by cclist＠sydex.com

Since I didn't see a message to this effect and because I'm very slow on catching up with my reading, there's an interesting article in the November, 2012 issue of IEEE "Computer" titled "Debugging on the Shoulders of Giants: Von Neumann's Programs 65 Years Later" by Barry Fagin and Dale Skrein. Briefly, the two took von Newumann's programming problems described in the 1947 "Planning and Coding Problems for an Electronic Instrument" by Goldstine and von Neumann and ran them on an IAS emulator. Not surprisingly, they discovered a few errors. I say, "not surprisingly" because at the time, the IAS computer wasn't operational. It makes a nice read for a rainy afternoon. --Chuck

12 years, 1 month

Don Maslin collection status

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> Yes. There were no obviously labeled backups. There are copies of DOS tape backup programs, though :-( > No CD-Rs, or machines with CD-R or tape drives. There were one or two CD-Rs that appear to have been > sent to him with CP/M content. It's pretty frustrating to have gotten this far and not actually have > found the files or any backups which is why I'm hoping they may still be on machines that weren't in > the storage unit. I corresponded with Don extensively in the 1990's. I know he could work with images but I think he felt more comfortable with individual floppy disks. As a result the correspondence was largely by shipping physical disks to him. I tried to encourage him to organize disk images into a directory tree as the "usual method" of working with the collection, but do not feel I made much progress. I have a very strong belief that he largely used CP/M machines to duplicate floppies. He obviously had a PC and used Usenet and E-mail and could even FTP and I know I did exchange images with him like that, but again shipping physical disks was the primary way of moving data to him. I fully expect that his archive is a large collection of 8", 5.25", and 3.5" floppies. I know nearly every unique "original" CP/M (or MP/M or CP/M-86 or whatever) distro I found, I made sure he got the original disk. Tim.

12 years, 1 month

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test-drb November 2012