test-drb June 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

165 participants
285 discussions

Advice Requested on Life Expectancy of a PC Windows System

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I would appreciate some advice on both the software and the hardware life expectancy of a PC Windows System. While the hardware / software of the second and third system are almost 10 years old, I don't consider them, let alone the first system, topics for this list. But since my goal is to support running legacy software, especially including the RT-11 operating system for the PDP-11 computer, I request your indulgence. At present, I have three systems that I am running: (a) A 12 year old system that I am very pleased with that runs 32-bit Windows 98SE. I really only use it for e-mail under Netscape 7.2 and to run the DOS variant of Erstaz-11 in FULL SCREEN mode. It consists of a 0.75 GHz Pentium III with 768 MB of memory and 3 * 131 GB ATA 100 hard drives. The power supply has been replaced, but is still inadequate, so a separate PC power supply is used to run the hard drives which were also replaced about 5 years ago - the original hard drives were only 40 GB each. Note that while this system is a bit slow as compared to the next two systems (which are about 4 times faster), it really does everything I need to do. PLUS, the backups are a breeze since I use Ghost 7.0 to back up the C: hard drive in about 5 minutes every other day producing a single image file of about 1 GB. (b) A 7 year old system that my wife uses which runs 32-bit WinXP with 4 GB of memory and 2 * 500 GB SATA hard drives. The CPU is a 2.67 GHz E8400 with 2 cores and 6 MB of L2 cache, so it still runs reasonably well. My wife uses it for e-mail, watching youtube videos and google searches. The system has probably been used about 16 hours every day and turned off every night. The battery probably needs to be replaced since the boot each day needs to reset the date / time when the boot hangs at the very start, but otherwise the hardware seems OK. The software is very out of date and needs to be replaced. Note that if 7 years is not a really long time for a WinXP system (specifically the motherboard, video card and power supply) which has been used for between 20,000 and 30,000 hours, then I could upgrade this system to 64-bit Win7, double the memory to 8 GB and, if appropriate, also replace the disk drives and the power supply. The mother board, video card (which supports two monitors) and CPU would be retained. System (c) has the identical motherboard as system (b) and was considered a replacement. (c) A 7 year old system which runs 32-bit WinXP with 4 GB of memory and 3 * 1 TB SATA hard drives. The CPU is a 2.83 GHz Q9550 with 4 cores and 12 MB of L2 cache, so it runs reasonably well. The system was never used very much, probably a total of 200 to 500 hours and sat in its box for the past 4 or 5 years until I have finally been persuaded to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and double the total RAM to 8 GB, the maximum the mother board supports. I just turned on the system yesterday and it runs correctly. My assumption at the moment is to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and replace my wife's system. One aspect that puzzles me is that the video card, the same video card as in system (b), no longer supports two monitors (which it did and was correctly tested with 5 years ago). My first question is if a 7 years old system such a (c) would be likely to have any serious hardware problems after sitting idle for 4 to 5 years. I can't see that any current I7 CPU from Intel is likely to be much better, so why buy another system? The hardware has been used sufficiently, so infant mortality should finished. But, would a new I7 system be a sufficient improvement to justify spending the money? So I intend to replace (b) hardware and software with (c) hardware plus 4 GB of memory (for a total of 8 GB of memory) and switch to 64-bit Win7. Is this a good plan? Or is it likely that the motherboard and video card in system (b) is still sufficiently reliable after 7 years to upgrade system (b) to 64-bit Win7 and use system (c) for something else? My second question is just how thin is the ice that I am skating on for system (a)? If the answer is VERY, then I have one alternative to buying a new I7 system which would be used to run 64-bit Win7. On the other hand, if the motherboard in system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000 hours, then system (c) would still be available. A lot of choices and things to consider. Jerome Fine

8 years, 10 months

Spacewar paper has been published!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

> > > > On page 24 of the slides, the computer should be an IBM 1130 not 1160. > Bob Ah! Thanks for pointing that out, Bob. The slides aren't used anymore outside of the presentation, but I will fix that. (I think there's one or two other errors in those slides...check the Spacewar demonstration photo!)

8 years, 10 months

Spacewar paper has been published!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this list has finally been published. The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT and Stanford. http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr… The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari… Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for our research. Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in. http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/ Enjoy! -Devin Monnens -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

8 years, 10 months

Advice Requested on Life Expectancy of a PC Windows System

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jerome H. Fine > just how thin is the ice that I am skating on for system (a)? > ... > if the motherboard in system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000 > hours One data point for you: I have a whole flock of old HP desktops (actually, minitowers) from the late 90's (not sure of the exact date, but I _think_ they were released before Windows 98 came out) which I'm still running. (They've been upgraded with the PowerLeap iP3/T CPU insert with 1.4MHz Celerons, and Promise IDE controllers to run faster disks.) Although I laid in spare motherboards, CPU chips, etc so far the only problems I've had are that one of the iP3/T's died, and a mouse port died (easy to work around, using a USB mouse). Of course, these are HP machines, and relatively well engineered, so I can't extrapolate to other brands, but... Noel

8 years, 10 months

Spacewar paper has been published!

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Devin Monnens wrote: >It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote >with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this >list has finally been published. > >The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to >Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a >bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper >explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and >provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at >Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT >and Stanford. > >http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr… > > >The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games >Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here: > >https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari… > >Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for >our research. > >Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including >anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or >memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data >through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in. > >http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/ > >Enjoy! > >-Devin Monnens > > Check

8 years, 10 months

Digital featured on MST3K: Beast of Yucca Flats!

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

I never expected to see this one today: footage of Digital's Puerto Rican plant on MST3K: The Beast of Yucca Flats! The PDP-8 is featured. https://youtu.be/BRhGW53eoxY?t=26m33s -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

8 years, 10 months

"Computer museum seeks BBC Micro fixers"

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

If you're handy with a screwdriver and soldering iron, and near TNMOC: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33291036

8 years, 10 months

Cray J932SE system for sale

by ethan＠757.org

Hello everyone! I have a J932SE system I am interested in selling. It has 32 CPUs and if I remember correctly 2 megawords of memory. IOS-V chassis (4x VME sparcstations that network boot from Sun Sparcstation 5 SWS that provide io path to disks.) 4x 9GB hard drives. Seagate full height with Cray firmware. The chassis exist for 24 hard drives. I have Unicos 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2. Not original media. I've gotten it to the point where the SWS side comes up (those run VxWorks) then Unicos starts to boot for install then kernel panics. I haven't had a ton of time to troubleshoot it. System was located in a hackerspace in Norfolk where there was needed power but went back into climate controlled storage after we lost the space. The CPU rack is around 6' deep and 23" wide internally. Has 5 x 5000 watt Pioneer Magnetics power supplies. Uses two 30 amp 220v feeds. The Disk/IOS rack is shallower (Same depth as the smaller J916 system) and 19" wide internally. Uses a single 220v 30 amp feed. It is the peak of my computer collecting hobby, but younger generation screwed out of housing opportunities so owning stuff like this is hard when you rent and get bumped around. So looking to find it a new home and stick with the plastic computers. Note, it probably need to be on a concrete floor. It weighs 2000+ pounds. Movable with a penske truck with liftgate by removing all of the boards. Looking for around $9000. Located in Norfolk Virginia. I relocated to a better area so pick up would have to be on weekends, I can drive down to facilitate purchase. Always stored in climate controlled storage. A much better deal when compared by weight to the Altair, IMSAI and Apple I systems. ;-) Rare opportunity to pick up a rare system! Thanks. -- Ethan O'Toole

8 years, 10 months

Fwd: unable to post to list (From Cindy at ElecPlus)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, forwarded from Cindy, who isn?t able to post for some reason. Any advice I should offer her for posting from her other ISP? - Mark Begin forwarded message: From: <sales at elecplus.com<mailto:sales at elecplus.com>> Subject: unable to post to list Date: June 29, 2015 at 8:42:42 AM CDT To: Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu<mailto:mtapley at swri.edu>> HI Mark, I sent this email to the list admin, but apparently my emails do not get through to the list. Could you help me out please? Previously I was able to send messages to the list from my work computer, but I have closed the warehouse, and now my postings never appear. I have no clue why! Perhaps because I use a different ISP at home than I did at work? At any rate, I have pile of old stuff still to move out. Many free; a small charge for some things. Could you please post this list for me, and let me know how I can do it directly in the future? Thank you! Cindy Croxton Master Handbook of 1001 Practical Electronic Circuits, Solid State Edition, $10 + shipping Quarterdeck expanded memory manager 386, includes 5.25" floppy and 2 books, $5 + shipping Getting Started with TRS-80 BASIC For Use With Models I, III, and 4, $10 + shipping Using Super Utility+ 3.X. Super Utility 4/4P, and PowerTool, $5 + shipping Radio Shack Hard Disk System Startup TRS-80 Model 4/4P $5 + shipping Earl's Word Power for RadioShack 32K Model, III, or 4 computers, includes 5.25" disk and manual, $10 + shipping TRS-80 Data File Programming, A Self-Teaching Guide, $7 + shipping Radio Shack Introduction to Your Disk System for Model 4 Free + shipping MISOSYS Catalog 86-2 lists software for the TRS-80 Free + shipping All are in excellent condition.

8 years, 10 months

TI 914 keyboard

by jws＠jwsss.com

I thought I'd seen a call for a keyboard for some terminal in the recent past. This one may be of interest on its own, or may be a good starting point for building up a keyboard for a system. Texas-Instruments-914-Keyboard-943632-1B-Vintage http://www.ebay.com/itm/221811058146

8 years, 10 months

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test-drb June 2015