Chris Halarewich wrote:
> Howdy
>
> Just wondering if someone out there would have a extra kickstart
> disc for an amiga 1000 that they could spare to loose or copy for the
> cost of
> shipping + a few bucks?
>
> thanx in advance
>
> Chris
> Castlegar BC CANADA
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com>
>I gather from many conversations I've had that many people buying the
>Altairs see them as historic becaiuse of their connection to Microsoft.
>Some think that it marked the beginning of the microcomputer revolution
>because it launched the career of Gates. What these foolish speculators
>fail to realize is that the game is not yet won, and they are leaving the
>arena at halftime thinking their investment is secure. History will place
>a very different value on their Altair because of what Linux will do to
>Microsoft, far less than the tens of thousands that I imagine some people
>think they may be worth some day.
This may be halftime in a game that turns around but you still can't
disparage some of the plays during the first half. I don't know how bg's
career if factored into an altair's value nor do I really care. It dosen't
seem much of a reason to me to go for a MITS.
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
Since it's the GUI that attracts the idiots, I'd get behind an os that has
features which would defeat any attempt at GUI operation. The real problem
is that the people who buy the desktop systems don't use them. They
specify them and then collect a bonus, quit, and go to work for the vendor
of those systems.
Back about 15 years ago we started seeing some really decent engineering
software for DOS. You could buy a VERY good schematic capture package for
$500 (I still use mine and have yet to see anything better, even at prices
> $500k) and a serviceable PCB router for $1200. Today you can easily
spend $2e6 and end up with something which does NOTHING useful at all under
UNIX and does little more under NT. It's the GUI, stupid . . . that's the
excuse. Today you routinely pop into the GUI, run the help and find there
isn't any. Many of the software vendors of the mid-80's have taken their
fairly decent products, reduced their capabilities, introduced countless
bugs and octupled the price, relative to inflation.
We need some really stiff legislation making it an unconditional,
immediate, and irrevocally hanging offense for ALL employees of any
corporation any employees of which endeavor to sell software which is not
fully documented. That means that documentation must predict the behavior
of their software precisely to a depth of all of 2^32 inputs. That will
certainly eliminate the use of a generalized GUI!
How many times have you been told " well . . . that's interesting . . . we
didn't know that it does THAT!"
Dick
----------
> From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel(a)u.washington.edu>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: Interesting to note about Altairs...
> Date: Monday, March 08, 1999 3:58 PM
>
> Arfon wrote:
> > Micro$oft and Windblows. Now that I put that disclaimer out, Linux
doesn't
> > have a chance against Micro$oft. The vast majority of computer users
(now
> > and in the future) are idiots who don't care to learn anything other
that
> > 'click on this little picture to make it go'. Linux will do some
damage in
> > the server market and other places where you have to have someone with
some
> > computer smarts but, most corporate purse strings are again controlled
by
> > those same 'click-idiots'.
> >
> > I really wish GNU would take a good command line OS (like CP/M), make
it
> > 32/64 bit, and multi-tasking/user and add a GUI and try and compete
with
> > Winblows.
>
> This is barely on topic, but it was too tempting to reply and not just
hit
> 'd'. You have a good point, but it only leads to two objections in my
mind:
>
> 1) The 'idiotification' process is already happening with Linux; there
are
> various projects out there (like KDE and GNOME and various other window
> managers and package managers) that are attempting to make Linux look
better
> and present a "point-and-click" appearance. I mention package managers
> because click-idiots certainly don't want to deal with the compiler.
>
> 2) Your second paragraph describes a process which is already happening
with
> Linux. What did you have in mind that is different? A different
starting
> OS? (CP/M, some free version of MS-DOS) An OS that's more intelligent
> about hardware? I'm not being rude -- your ideas are probably good but
you
> need to spell them out.
>
> Then there's the matter of software. If your new OS is going to have
> commercially-written software, that provides an arena for the evil forces
> you described. (We might be able to avoid them, but the potential for
them
> is certainly there.) If you're going to stick to free software, well,
> that's mainly written by idealistic geeky people who like to mess around
in
> the source. :) So that conflicts with the design decision of writing for
> idiots.
>
> To keep this on topic -- What do you think will happen to the values of
> classic computers?
>
> -- Derek
-----Original Message-----
From: Megan <mbg(a)world.std.com>
> ...<ETA-3400 snips>...
>Now I really want to find one... <sigh>
After I get it built and have a chance to grok and run a few laps in it,
I'll let you *BORROW* it if you wish...
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
> On 8 Mar 1999, Eric Smith wrote:
>>Why wouldn't you count CD32? If they do a new set-top, and it fails, and
>
> OK, let's say we made up a chronological list of every set-top box ever
> made. Now, we scratch off the CD-32. What other famous ones are left and
> what number from first was the CD-32? I think this may be more impervious
> to your semantic games :)
>
> Anyway, I guess it depends on how you define set-top (two can play
> this...). Isn't a C-64 or Apple ][ a set-top box? Is a Sega Genesis a
> set-top? What exactly must a set-top be able to do that these three can't?
>
> --Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
A CD32 IS a set-top box, I think, by today's current definition. Said term
wasn't around when the CD32 was. But this WAS there era, was it not, of the
CD-Interactive? That also might qualify. Also Apple's abortive "Pippen"
would qualify as a proto-set-top device (and something I wouldn't mind
having.)
I always thought of a "set-top" box as having several qualities: It was
coming out of the stereo-system/VCR/video game consumer orientation. Which
means, among other things, that the remote control comes first and the
keyboard is an option. You as user are some distance from the device, not
seated in front stabbing at buttons. (Commodores and Apples get disqualified
for this reason.)
Second, there's some sense of not "turning it on and watching it boot" which
has come to pervade computers.
I installed an ESDI disk in my uVax. It didn't work. I took it apart and
discovered that the cable had been caught in the door and had ripped (flat
cable). Disconnected it and the drive and the system doesn't come up to a
prompt anymore. Sometimes the display on the back goes to 'F' and sometimes
to 'C'. I've also noticed that my DC-OK light isn't lighting up.
Is is possible I've toasted some aspect of the pwr supply? (perhaps just
switching it on and off has done this)
--Chuck
>I've got several PDP-11's, all unibus - that use the RQDX2 controller.
If you have Unibus, you can't possibly be using an RQDX2 controller.
RQDXn series was Qbus only... (the only Unibus machine it might
work in is the 11/84, but only in the qbus portion of the machine).
>A friend of mine just came up with a 380mb Maxtor ESDI drive. Will the
>RQDX2 support it?
No. You need an ESDI controller. Like the DEC KFQSA, or the Andromeda
ESDC, or an Emulex QD-22 (?)
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
>How embarassing... my 11's are Qbus - NOT unibus....
Just trying to keep you honest... :-)
Seriously, the comment still stands. The RQDXn controllers won't
handle ESDI. When you go looking for a controller, make sure it
is fast enough to handle the disks. About a year ago, I got an
ESDI controller for some disks, but it wasn't fast enough (at
10 Mbit/s) to handle the disk I had... But the Andromeda ESDC
(at 15 Mbit/s) worked just fine.
Oh yeah, I just realized I screwed up too... the KFQSA is DSSI,
not ESDI (so many TLAs, so little time)...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
