test-drb February 2013

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

185 participants
407 discussions

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

" Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter creator Jack Dorsey are among the tech celebrities in a new video to promote the teaching and learning of computer coding in schools. Titled What most schools don't teach, the video released online on Tuesday begins with Zuckerberg, Gates and other tech icons recalling how they got their start in coding. For some, it was in sixth grade. For others, such as Ruchi Sanghvi, Facebook's first female engineer, it happened in college. Running less than six minutes, the video promotes Code.org, a non-profit foundation created last year to boost computer programming education. "The first time I actually had something come up and say 'hello world,' and I made a computer do that, that was just astonishing," recalls Gabe Newell, president of video game studio Valve. But it's not just tech leaders promoting programming in the video. Chris Bosh, a Miami Heat basketballer, says about coding: "I know it can be intimidating, a lot of things are intimidating, but, you know, what isn't?" Code.org was founded by tech entrepreneur Hadi Partovi, an early investor in Facebook, Dropbox and the holiday rental site Airbnb. The organisation aims to address a problem often cited by tech companies - not enough computer science graduates to fill a growing number of programming jobs. The group laments that many schools don't even offer classes in programming. "Our policy is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find," Zuckerberg says in the video."The whole limit of the system is there just aren't enough people who are trained and have these skills today." ?" - http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/16250929/gates-zuckerberg-urge-kids-to-c… --- tom_a_sparks "It's a nerdy thing I like to do" Child of the Internet born 1983 Please use ISO approved file formats excluding Office Open XML - http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html Ubuntu wiki page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/tomsparks

11 years, 2 months

WTB: DEC Multia/UDB (DPS-75TB, 75.24 W) PSU

by marcogb＠xs4all.nl

Does anyone have a Delta Electronics DPS-75TB 75.24 W power supply unit, perhaps a spare one and willing to sell/trade it? To clarify, it's the one found in the Digital Multia/UDB, or the VX40 of mine at least. I may also be interested in a full Multia/UDB, maybe a VX41, or a gutted one even (as long as the PSU still works fine). I may also consider a similarly-sized DEC 3000. Thanks in advance. - MG

11 years, 2 months

Raspberry Pi

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

------------------------------ On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 3:42 PM PST Liam Proven wrote: >On 26 February 2013 23:33, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote: > >I don't know how that got sent half-done! Did you send it from a pi? >> To a child born in the developed world this century, the Web is part >> of life, always there at megabit speeds, as ubiq > >... as ubiquitous as air. Computers have GUIs, windows, taskbars etc, >and come with a web browser, as does even a cheap basic old phone or >pocket music player. Games are real-time 3D, even ones on a cheap 2- >or 3- generation old games console such as might be given to >preschoolers to play with. > >No, a BBC Micro or anything from the 1980s is not a suitable teaching >tool. It is a flint axe when the kids grew up with sliced bread. It is >a dugout canoe when grandad and grandma go yachting at the weekend. nobody uses flint axes. But they do fashion numerous tools and even build their own boats sometimes. >The mere idea is laughably unrealistic. > >If you are teaching a kid to drive, you don't teach them how to build >the car first. But the first drivers of cars needed to know a lot more about them if they wanted successful outings. You don't need to know a single thing about mechanics to drive. But to be a mechanic.you do need to know how to dismantle and reassemble a car. The "kids" already know how to "drive", turn on their computers and do basic tasks. What in the world does that have to do with anything. >If you're teaching them to maintain a car, you don't teach them how to >design and construct an engine first. Another analogy that doesn't quite seem appropriate. >So, no, actually, tools like BASIC and assembly code have no >relevance today, not really. Because the days when a BBC Micro was a >computer are so long ago that these kid's *parents* don't even really >remember them. I took a class and my first foray into BASIC was on an Atari 400 w/membrane k/b. Rest assured I will never forget. >A BBC Micro is not a computer any more, because it is 2013 now. People >live in space and have a Dynabook containing the entire Hitch-hiker's >Guide to the Galaxy in their pockets - it is normal for them to have >access to basically the entirety of human wisdom, wirelessly - because >even their parents don't remember phones that attached to *wires >coming out the wall* - because these are things so cheap that even the >kids in India and China are getting them now. You engaging in delusion. At least 1/2 of the US still maintain landlines, in addition to mobile phones. If you haven't been in a hurricane lately you may not be able to appreciate their utility when cellular networks crap the bed. >Assembly code is equivalent to how to chip a sharp arrowhead from a >piece of flint. Every flippin thing that runs on any computer in the world is running assembly instructions. Assembler or analysis thereof is NEVER going away. >BASIC is equivalent to learning how to smelt iron. LOL and how many groups and community colleges are engaging in that these days. If you're unaware foundry work has seen quite a resurgence in the last 15 years. And the point being you still and for a long time will need people who understand the rudimentary elements and processes that make up the tools we use every day. If for no other reason they just are curious. How ironic that just today I had an offline conversation about a 14 year old kid who's fixing CGA monitors for extra cash!!! >And the Raspberry Pi is a kids' computer that is cheaper than giving >them that old dusty Pentium 4 in the attic, because [a] you'd have to >get the P4 working again and install software on it, [b] it's a huge >noisy ugly piece of *office equipment* and not something a kid would >want to play with, and mostly because > >[c] The Raspberry Pi costs less to buy than the electricity used by >that P4 running every evening for a significant chunk of a year. But it doesn't teach bare fundamentals. That's the point everyone is trying to make it seems. >-- >Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile >Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven >MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven >Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 >

11 years, 2 months

Raspberry Pi

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

------------------------------ On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 3:23 PM PST Dave wrote: >> Absolutely. I suspect for many people it appeals because it's a cheap computer, and they don't really have a particular use in mind for it (so it doesn't matter that it's rather middle-ground for so many situations). >> > >https://raspberryjamboree-es2001.eventbrite.com/# Being that at least it somewhat lends itself to general purpose computing, someone should devise a case, charging circuit, etc. that would facilitate the piecing together of a low cost portable/netbook, where more or less standard batteries, lcds, keyboards etc can be added.

11 years, 2 months

RGB -> VGA adaptors (was: Re: Tek 4317)

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

------------------------------ On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 3:12 PM PST Mark Tapley wrote: >Some searching on the Color Computer site leads to this: > >http://miba51.com/CoCo_VGA_Adpater.html > >Roy Justus' converter from 15.7 kHz RGB as generated by a CoCo3 to 31 kHz VGA. >At one point, another was available from Chris Hawks > >http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.tandy.coco/63638 > >I have no experience with either, nor any connection except being a >fellow CoCo user. > >Hope this helps. Everyone is building scan doublers these days it seems. Princeton probably made the first one. Amiga had at least one flicker fixer, which is a bit different, the issue there being correcting interlaced video.

11 years, 2 months

at least one of the best ways to learn computing was Re: Raspberry Pi

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

Ok ------------------------------ On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 2:59 PM PST Jim Stephens wrote: > >On 2/26/2013 1:42 PM, Chris Tofu wrote: >> I haven't looked at the pi much, besides reading an article some time ago somewhere. At first glance I can't see how it can help a person learn hardware. No clue on that one. >The way that it helps with education and learning is that instead of telling someone to go buy and dedicate a laptop or other machine to a lab purpose, and download say a DVD to load it one can tell them to obtain a Pi and an SD card image to boot it on. > >There are several examples of lab setups where this is already done both by attaching adapters to outside things (relay boards, etc.) and another which attaches to a breadboard. > >The pi is not going to be the focus of the vast majority of these things, but will be the computer vehicle that delivers the educational setup. > >It can be the center of a lesson say to learn to program things that require only what it has to interact with, keyboard, mouse an display, plus for the model b adding in a network. > >Instead of picking up $25 random ecycled machine this is intended to replace that role. Also if the need arises in the right setting it can be the focus of the lesson. I hear you. I never suggested it was useless, nor uninteresting. I find what I have learned about interesting myself. But as I stated in the other post it's not about h/w hacking as I define it, though it may be a valid very current use of the terms. >One suggested in these threads, "what not to plug into the gpio pins". Screwing up that lesson costs you another Pi. I suspect there will be people who will jump in and plug thing in randomly, but they won't get far. I suspect most people will figure out what to do with what is there. Ok. But blowing an IBM mainboard due to mishap could require a lot of chips LOL or maybe only a few.

11 years, 2 months

at least one of the best ways to learn computing was Re: Raspberry Pi

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

Where are you anyway? Canada or US? What about a clone? I might be able to find you one of those. And you're totally w/i your rights to decline, just please don't because it ain't an IBeeMer. Even an Apple might be a possibility. I can't control shipping costs, USPS isn't too bad usually, but maybe for 20-30$ I could rustle you up something. Would ship from 07731 NJ. Point taken though. But for as many people that truly want to learn discrete h/w, there is always something available for 100-150$. And often much less. One of the coolest projects I've seen to date is the Radio Electronics RE Robot brain, 80188 based. I have everything - schematics, artwork, firmware images, even a contact (named Chris!) who built the whole robot. Gernsback used to have a bbs. What I wouldn't do for those archives. But at least I have all the raw materials, and a "revolutionary" new way of making pcb's _at_home_, that works all the time I'm told. And the project is at least somewhat tried and true,being it was an actual board manufactured by Vesta Technology, who's still around. Hey Jules, I have a dead 5160 mainboard with some weird wire routing going on. For shippage. ------------------------------ On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 2:53 PM PST Jules Richardson wrote: >On 02/26/2013 03:42 PM, Chris Tofu wrote: >> Apples and IBMs are somewhat plentiful. > >Hmm, I'd love to find an Apple II or an IBM 5150 (or '60, but I'm not too bothered about having a hard disk). I don't think there are any even remotely nearby though, which means shipping (and worse still, the possibility of ebay prices)

11 years, 2 months

Raspberry Pi

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 25 Feb 2013 18:26, "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > > The talk about the Acorn and RISC OS reminds me that I've been interested in one of these, primarily to run RISC OS. What is the recommended version, price, and place to get a Raspberry Pi from? > > I assume I want a "2.0 Model B 512Mb"? I've found a seller on eBay with this and they include a case for $57. If you want to keep it super cheap, try to find a Linux user upgrading to the 512MB version. 256MB is a vast amount of RAM for Risc OS, whereas it is not enough for a graphical Linux desktop. You really don't need half a gig for Risc OS, unless of course you want to run Linux as well.

11 years, 2 months

RGB -> VGA adaptors (was: Re: Tek 4317)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

Some searching on the Color Computer site leads to this: http://miba51.com/CoCo_VGA_Adpater.html Roy Justus' converter from 15.7 kHz RGB as generated by a CoCo3 to 31 kHz VGA. At one point, another was available from Chris Hawks http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.tandy.coco/63638 I have no experience with either, nor any connection except being a fellow CoCo user. Hope this helps. At 16:39 -0600 2/26/13, <Sander> wrote: >Message: 12 >Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:29:38 -0700 >From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> >To: cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Subject: Re: Tek 4317 >Message-ID: <E1UAR9e-0000zT-PL at shell.xmission.com> > > >In article <201302260715.r1Q7FiJL027219 at ls-al.eu>, > Sander Reiche <reiche at ls-al.eu> writes: > >> Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote: >> > >> > I have other Tektronix hardware from this time frame and the video >> > output tends to be standard RGB (possibly synch-on-green) BNC >> > connectors. >> >> I'm still pursuing this, but it's taking its time. >> > > Are there any good converters for RGB? Like to VGA? > >Based on this picture, it appears that it would have RGB BNC connectors. ><http://user.xmission.com/~legalize/tmp/vintage/tektronix/xd88/20120417_1304…> > >That implies synch-on-green video signalling. If you don't have a >synch-on-green RGB monitor, then you'll need an adapter to convert >that to VGA (which splits the synch signals out on a separate pin). >These shouldn't be too hard to find because synch-on-green was fairly >common. >-- >"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book <http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline> > The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org> > The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org> > Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com> -- - Mark 210-379-4635 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Large Asteroids headed toward planets inhabited by beings that don't have technology adequate to stop them: Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.

11 years, 2 months

OT: WWVB clock with silent movement

by aek＠bitsavers.org

We just went through another round of replacing battery clocks at the radio station and I've been going crazy trying to find one that is auto-set AND has a continous-sweep second hand. You can find a dozen Chinese manufacturers, but none in the US retail market.

11 years, 2 months

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test-drb February 2013