Another important factor is newer software that uses code from ancient
programs. Examples of this are various algorithms (that could be
y2K sensitive). Also, I'm pretty sure that there are at least a
couple of dozen lines that are exactly the same in MS-DOS 7 and in
Q-DOS. Same goes for other operating systems and software.
>> that haven't had to change, or that can't be changed. How many
>> serious businesses are still running the same unchanged sourceless
>> app since 1978, much less 1968 or 1958?
>
>Amazing, isn't it? I'm sure those same sentiments were expressed back
in
>1978, 1968 and 1958 by the same incredulous programmers who supposed
that
>perhaps their programs would still be crunching away in 1998.
>
>I don't think the software I've written thats been in the field since
1993
>will still be there in 2003, but there's no reason it can't be, and I
>would be thrilled (and amazed) to find out that it was.
>
>I'm sure the guys who wrote Sage Professional Editor back in the late
80s
>would be amazed that I still use it for all my code writing (in DOS
>windows under Win95) and swear by it (best damn text editor ever
>developed...yeah, you heard me!)
>
>SO anyway, believe it. Code from the 50s and 60s still churns away,
>calculating the taxes you owe, the fines you are assessed and the bank
>statements you received.
>
>Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Ever onward.
>
> Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 09/21/98]
>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
That's the idea behind any distributed network. If you drove a pole
into your head, you will cause damage, but you would still be able
to live, unless you hit one of a number of critical 'network hubs'
>Gang, the tcp-ip protocol was designed to survive a nuclear war.
Assuming
>there is ANY connectivity going around a hypothetically
disrupted/destroyed
>major network hub, the packets should find it. Of course that link
won't
>handle the bandwidth, but in theory the net would still *work*.
>--
>Jim Strickland
>jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I've got a spare, nearly complete set, of docs for the DEC RM80 disk drive
available. Three books:
1) RM80 Disk Drive User's Guide P/N EK-ORM80-UG-003
2) RM80 Illustrated Parse Breakdown P/N EK-ORM80-IP-001
3) RM80 Disk Drive Service Manual P/N EK-ORM80-SV-001
What I don't have is a copy of the RM80 engineering print set. I'm asking
$30/obo for all three of them. I'll pay shipping in the US. For those who
don't have one the RM80 is a 120MB MASSBUSS based disk for PDP-10s or
PDP-11s. One of these and an 11/45 and you've got the "original" classic
UNIX system. (Well classic from the sense that there were a lot of them
configured that way)
--Chuck McManis
(cmcmanis-at-mcmanis.com)
At 12:48 PM 10/21/98 -0700, Sam Ismail wrote:
>
>I'm sure the guys who wrote Sage Professional Editor back in the late 80s
>would be amazed that I still use it for all my code writing (in DOS
I'm still using Brief now and then, but it's the 1989 build.
The oldest DOS tool I found on my system today was from 1984.
>So anyway, believe it. Code from the 50s and 60s still churns away,
>calculating the taxes you owe, the fines you are assessed and the bank
>statements you received.
I'm still skeptical. I'd love to hear more first-hand reports of
the oldest code still running as-is. Come on, code from the 50s
that's never been replaced? Running on what? Under an emulator?
- John
At 12:14 PM 10/21/98 -0700, Sam Ismail wrote:
>
>So, believe it or not my naive young man, people are dumb enough to lose
>the source code.
Who you calling "young man"? :-) I'm 35 and learned BASIC on an ASR-33
when I was twelve, and have been supporting myself on my programmer
earnings since the summer I turned 18.
I certainly know the source code gets lost. I'm appalled at how much
code gets written, and then is lost, which might explain the tubs of
floppies and 8mm tapes that I use for decoration in my office.
What I don't believe are these claims that the heart of the Y2K
problem are thousands of businesses running apps as old as I am,
that haven't had to change, or that can't be changed. How many
serious businesses are still running the same unchanged sourceless
app since 1978, much less 1968 or 1958?
- John
>This reminds me of a claim I hear in Y2K discussions, but can hardly
>believe: that businesses are running the same *executables* since
>the 1950s/60s/70s, and that they don't have the source code to fix it.
All the time. In many cases, the customer never saw the source code.
(Did you get the source code to the microcontroller in your microwave
when you bought it?)
>Sure, they might not have the source to the OS, but their own apps?
I'm intimately familiar with an example where the company selling
the OS no longer has all the source code to it. (And, in one
specific case, they can't recompile a tool distributed with the OS
because they've even lost the binaries of the compiler.)
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology Voice: 301-767-5917
7328 Bradley Blvd Fax: 301-767-5927
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817
cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=36124539
mac128k in box for $260? hmmm
I have the same,except my mac has a rare documented upgrade board that
basically turns it into a mac+ complete with scsi. oooh, and i have IW2 in box
also. mine's worth $1000! lol
--- SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com wrote:
i fear it's probably that infamous cold solder joint issue. i'm
looking at a spare mac power supply board; does anyone know any exact
locations of common solder joint failures? finally, if i do touch up some
contacts with a soldering iron, MUST the high voltage lead be discharged? i'm
hoping i can just remove the protective cardboard cover, reheat the solder
joints and not even go near the HT lead or tube at all.
--- end of quote ---
In my experience, the C-shaped ring of joints corresponding to the flyback transformer go bad pretty often. Also, I've re-soldered them before without discharging the high voltage lead, and everything's been okay afterward, but maybe that's just lucky. If you DO discharge it, do NOT ground to the chassis -- I read once that the logic board components are too delicate to share ground with a jolt like that. Use the screw on a wallplate or something instead.
Good luck!
-- MB
>apple ][ users know that there is no type-ahead during disk access.
Actually, there is a one character keyboard rollover, and that's
there whether or not disk access is going on.
Tim.
i'm putting together a mac+ for someone and while testing it, i noticed it
started clicking inside. then later, the machine started making a high pitched
whistling noise, almost kinda like what you hear when you're close to the back
of a tv while it's on. the video worked fine however. i presume it's a power
supply problem, but can anyone say what component is failing here? smacking
the left side of the case would make the whistling quit, although the clicking
continued. i fear it's probably that infamous cold solder joint issue. i'm
looking at a spare mac power supply board; does anyone know any exact
locations of common solder joint failures? finally, if i do touch up some
contacts with a soldering iron, MUST the high voltage lead be discharged? i'm
hoping i can just remove the protective cardboard cover, reheat the solder
joints and not even go near the HT lead or tube at all.
david
