At 09:37 PM 9/9/98 -0500, Doug Yowza wrote:
>
>Note the smiley. I liked it, though. It's almost believable. You can
>construct an entire alternate reality on this kind of stuff.
I recently saw a web site with dozens of fake press releases like this
one about TeX. Some were funny, many were not. I forget where it was,
and my bookmarks aren't telling.
>What do you think it would take for Linus to sell out?
Sell out? To me, the more interesting prospect is that there's no
reason to buy him out, or anyone else out. For that matter, he may
have already sold out; see below.
I've been cultivating a pet theory lately regarding the assimilation
of Linux by Microsoft.
I believe it would be possible to refine a layer of compatibility
into WinNT that would allow more and more Linux software to be
recompiled to run under WinNT as-is (or someday, even running the
executables directly.)
I like tossing this idea on the table at programmer lunches just
to see the reactions it provokes. Because of the freeware nature
of Linux, as long as Microsoft abides by the rules of releasing
the *relevant* source code, they'd be free to assimilate as many
freeware tools as they like. Today they'll ship you a service pack CD
for $9.95; tomorrow they might ship a $9.95 Linux compatibility CD,
or even give it away as a promotion.
The average Linux-head has a hypocritical hatred of Microsoft
when considered in the light of their devotion to portable,
run-everywhere source code. Why shouldn't Linux freeware run
under NT, too?
Of course, Linux is many different components. The bulk of it,
as Richard Stallman tries hard to remind us, is based on GNU tools.
Linus made the kernel, and hordes of programmers have refined
the drivers and many other parts.
For a while, there's been a project to make a Unix compatibility
layer for GNU tools, at <http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32/>.
Steve Chamberlain <sac(a)transmeta.com> was the original author of
this CygWin32 software. Note the e-mail address - Transmeta,
Silicon Valley's mystery company of the moment. Oh, that's
where Linus works now, too. Speculation about Transmeta includes
the development of graphics chips and emulator chips that mimic
various CPUs and OSes.
When I present this possibility to Linux-heads, their first reaction is
a fearful "But why would Microsoft want to do that?" I respond,
"To run all that great Linux application software," a double-whammy
that underscores the lack of anything truly comparable to
Microsoft Office in the Linux market. To ask why Microsoft would
assimilate Linux forces one to consider which Linux apps are most
useful to anyone but the most nerdy.
Do we really need to reproduce the kernel? WinNT already has a
microkernel architecture that, in theory, allows different OSes
to be placed on top - that's how Win32, OS/2, POSIX and DOS/Win16
live there. See <http://www.sysinternals.com/ntdll.htm>
and other pages there for a nice discussion of this.
Implement a layer of HAL that talks to Unix-style device drivers, add
an X Window server to the top layers, expand the present POSIX support,
enhance the GNU Win32 effort, make a more Unix-like shell, and presto,
Microsoft assimilates a great deal of Linux. All the Linux programmers
are working for Microsoft, unless they explicitly do something to
prevent it.
Think I can sell the idea to Uncle Bill, or do you think he's already
Microserfs working on it? And perhaps even Ballmer is thinking about it:
<http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_smgraph_display/0,3441,2134010,00.ht
ml>
Freedows is an interesting effort to run Windows apps under Linux:
<http://www.freedows.org/english/high/index.html>.
As for the ten-year-rule, I think the assimilation of Linux into
WinNT will be good for emulators in general, making it possible
to download old Apple II executables and double-click on them
and automagically start the right emulator.
- John
If no one has the LCD, I have a color/mono (switchable) Magnavox
Professional CGA/composite (switchable) monitor with built-in sound that I
can use. Does anyone have the pinouts for the LCD? I have an old CGA LCD
that I may be able to use to make my own (maybe).
ThAnX,
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
----------
> From: Jim <jim(a)calico.litterbox.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: WTB: Apple // (I think)
> Date: Thursday, September 10, 1998 12:09 AM
>
> You're looking for an apple IIc. Unfortunately the LCD screen is a VERY
rare
> perepheral commanding a multi-hundred dollar price. The 9 inch diagonal
> green monochrome screen isn't MUCH bigger and is far more common.
>
> You can get them refurbished (I think) from alltech electronics
(www.allelec.com)
> or go to comp.sys.apple2.marketplace - I think the basic 2c is going for
> around US$22 for the machine and the power supply.
>
> The 9 inch monitor goes for $49US from Alltech - refurbished. Probably
> less on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace.
> --
> Jim Strickland
> jim(a)calico.litterbox.com
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why was the LCD so rare, anyway?
It seems that with a battery, this could be a real laptop.
How much did the LCD cost then?
>
>You're looking for an apple IIc. Unfortunately the LCD screen is a
VERY rare
>perepheral commanding a multi-hundred dollar price. The 9 inch
diagonal
>green monochrome screen isn't MUCH bigger and is far more common.
>
>You can get them refurbished (I think) from alltech electronics
(www.allelec.com)
>or go to comp.sys.apple2.marketplace - I think the basic 2c is going
for
>around US$22 for the machine and the power supply.
>
>The 9 inch monitor goes for $49US from Alltech - refurbished. Probably
>less on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace.
>--
>Jim Strickland
>jim(a)calico.litterbox.com
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
MICROSOFT BUYS TEX, PLANS NEW PRODUCTS
STANFORD PROFESSOR REAPS WINDFALL
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, USA (CNEWS/MSNBC) --- In a major move into the
scientific publishing market, Microsoft Corporation announced today that it
has purchased all rights to the computer language and document compiler
known as TeX (pronounced, "tech"), and plans a major new product line based
on the 20-year-old software.
Stanford Professor Donald Knuth (pronounced, "kah-nooth"), the author of
the widely-used TeX software, in a joint press conference at the university
campus with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, acknowledged that the two had
been negotiating for some months. "I felt that two decades of TeX in the
public domain was enough. I am reasserting the copyright to my original work
in TeX. Microsoft will carry the ball now, and I can get back to my
computer science research." Knuth acknowledged he was paid a "seven-figure
sum" from Microsoft, which he will use to finance his work on a project he
has code-named "Volume 4".
At the press conference, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the acquisition
was "the kind of cooperation between academia and industry that builds
prosperity for both." He added that TeX would "finally give Microsoft a
foothold in mathematical desktop publishing" that has eluded the software
giant since its founding. Drawing gasps of surprise from the college
audience, Gates asserted that "TeX will soon be biggest jewel in the
Microsoft crown."
Apparently the jewel metaphor will include a hefty, unavoidable price tag
for future TeX users. Gates outlined plans whereby all existing TeX
compilers would be phased out, to be replaced by a new Microsoft master
implementation written in C++. Beta versions for public testing on Windows
95 and NT platforms are expected in late 1998, issuing from a new
205-programmer project laboratory at Microsoft's Redmond campus. Microsoft
TeX for other platforms, such as Unix workstations, will follow at an as-yet
unspecified date. According to Gates, "the master TeX from Microsoft will
ensure that the incompatibilities across platforms are once and for all
eliminated." TeX software is widely used due its portability, although
variations among operating systems have been troublesome due to
uncoordinated development.
Unlike the technical aspects of the project, Gates explained that pricing
for Microsoft TeX has already been firmly set. The single-user retail
product is expected to have a street price of about $600 and consist of
three CDs. When heckled by an graduate student complaining about a high
price for a formerly free product, Gates seemed startled, explaining that
a "student edition at $299 is likely" and that "Microsoft will use the
revenue to make TeX better."
Most current users of TeX have paid nothing for their implementations,
derived from Professor Knuth's formerly-free work. Before leaving the
podium, Gates made a final comment that "TeX hasn't changed in years. What
kind of a product can that be?", and then handed the microphone to an
assistant, introduced only as the project leader for Microsoft TeX.
The assistant displayed an overhead presentation using the current test
version of Microsoft TeX. Equations and tables could be seen dissolving into
each other in a morphing action between frames. "No one has ever done that
with TeX," Gates announced from an audience seat at one point. "It's the
kind of sizzle that can really enliven a dull paper at an academic
conference." Some onlookers were not convinced, especially when the program
crashed midway through the demonstration, resulting in a five-minute delay
while Windows 95 was restarted. Microsoft technicians later blamed a
third-party display driver.
The impact on the large base of existing TeX users was unclear. During a
question-and-answer period, Gates said that the "TeX" trademark would be
registered as the exclusive property of Microsoft, and could not appear in
any competitive or free software. "We are granting of our own good will
until the 3rd quarter of 1998, free use to any existing TeX vendors or
public-domain authors. That's plenty of time for an orderly phase-out and
change-over to Microsoft TeX, or no TeX at all. After that, our legal
department will be contacting them."
A Microsoft attorney added that some of the project personnel would be
dedicated to searching the Internet to find non-Microsoft TeX software.
"Archives and collections of TeX-related programs will not be permitted.
The standards must be enforced, or they become meaningless. We are rescuing
a fine piece of work from being diluted into worthlessness. You would not
believe the number of programs that have been based on TeX without any
central, controlling authority. We will stop this infringement."
Some large organizations dependent on TeX were stunned by the announcment
and had not yet formed plans for dealing with the change. At the American
Mathematical Society, whose publications largely depend on TeX for
typesetting, editor Barbara Beeton was incensed. "I can't believe Don
[Professor Donald Knuth] sold us out like this. We should have never based
a publishing enterprise of this scope on so-called public-domain software.
What were we thinking?" Publication schedules for the rest of 1998 were on
hold, and journal editors scrambled to reassure their authors that deadlines
would not slip more than a few months.
Certain small businesses are also expected to feel the impact of the
Microsoft ownership of TeX. Palo Alto restaurant owner Wu Chen appeared
unhappy at the news, stating that "for ten year I print new menu every day
with TeX, now I will pay big time." He displayed a crumpled, grease-spotted
take-out flyer, and with tears in his eyes explained how multiple columns,
exotic typefaces, and daily price changes could all be printed by TeX in a
multi-lingual format. "In Wordperfect this would be a long journey."
Commercial vendors of TeX software stand to lose everything in the face of
the new Microsoft monopoly. While most derivatives of TeX were freely
published, several companies had made a business of publishing proprietary
versions. One anonymous source from a leading TeX firm said that "publishing
TeX was a gold mine while it lasted, and the Internet let us mine it deeper
and deeper. Now this is a cave-in right on our heads. TeX was a monumental
work of beauty and utility, freely given to the world by one of the finest
and most generous minds of the 20th century. Now it belongs to a lucky
dropout. We're finished."
>> There's nothing better than mixing computers and Lego!
>
>Nonsense!. A Fischertechnik robotics kit controlled by a calculator is
>infinitely more fun :-) :-) :-)... And yes, I have done that.
Well that figures! ;-)
What kind of calculator? Something simple, or more like a TI-86 (which I
consider a computer)?
Tom Owad
--
Sysop of Caesarville Online
Client software at: <http://home.earthlink.net/~tomowad/>
Hi,
Well, Microsoft has been in the Unix camp before, with Xenix and
SCO. [Witness my Trs-80 Mod 16 runs it].
But speculation aside, Apple is the one gobbling up both Unix and
[Windows application functionality] into their new OS. That's scary
in a very comfortable way. The old NeXT underpinnings with Linux
innovation, etc. is turning out to be ultra-powerful!
Thomas
> Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 00:04:13 +0100 (BST)
> Reply-to: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: robots?
> > There's nothing better than mixing computers and Lego!
>
> Nonsense!. A Fischertechnik robotics kit controlled by a calculator is
> infinitely more fun :-) :-) :-)... And yes, I have done that.
So, what ? Isn't there a logo for your calculator ?
Just one more step of fun!
Gruss
H.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
Hello readers.
I have two questions which are in a sense related.
I have a problem with my PDP-11/35 and withn XXDP+.
When I boot my 11/35 it reports RT11-SJ (S) V04.00E. This version
runs perfectly. When I try to boot RT11-FB V5.4 the VIRTUAL LED on
the console goes on and at that moment the system hangs.
I did check all the required jumper changes on the other CPU boards
but the memory management unit M7238 was already installed in the
system and the jumpers all seem to be correctly set.
Anyway, when I boot that RT11-FB version on my PDP-11/34 it runs
just fine. Needless to say that both are _real_ machines.
When that RT11 version is booted on the 11/35 the ADDRESS LEDs show
076602 and the DATA LEDs show 177620. The MMU occupies address range
777600-777676. Is this a coincidence ?
Last week I got the RL02 drives connected to the 11/35. I have a
pack with XXDP+ on it and I hoped to run the diagnostics for the
CPU and the MMU. When I have XXDP+ booted (that goes well) and enter
the command "R BKTGD1.BIC" the READY light and on the 11/35 the ADDR
and DATA LEDs blink a few seconds but then the system hangs.
ADDR LEDs show 001156, DATA shows 000767. On the console terminal is
the text "KT11-D EXERCISER DBKTG-D".
Does anybody have any clues on how to proceed?
How do I use XXDP, any manual anywhere ?
TIA,
Henk Gooijen
gooi(a)oce.nl
Hello.
Please forgive me if I mess up on any model numbers or names here. I'm not
all that familiar with Apple computers.
I'm looking for an old Apple // (?) - The small portable type. I'm looking
for the older model with the 5.25" built-in disk drive (external p/s). I'm
looking for the type with the LCD display. If you have one without one,
let me know anyway. I don't want to pay all that much for one (w/o LCD),
because they're fairly common (my school probably has about 20 on each
floor, but they don't want to get rid of any of them).
I need it to replace an old Franklin Ace 1200 that's a little too big for
the limited space that I have. All I'm basically looking for is the main
computer. I'm not looking for any manuals, disks, monitors (unless it's
LCD), or anything like that. I'll I'm asking is that it works (I have a
monitor).
As for the Franklin, if anyone's interested in it, make me an offer
(+shipping). It's an Apple ][+ compatible w/dual built-in 5.25" disk
drives, 80-column and 40-column card, joystick, Amdek 13" color composite
monitor, Original system disks, AppleWorks, and all the manuals. The
computer works great, but it's just too big. You can see what it looks
like at:
<http://www.ncsc.dni.us/fun/user/tcc/cmuseum/ace.htm>
It's not a very good picture, but it is the same unit that I have. The
printer card, however has been switched in mine (I think), and was used
with a Star Gemini 10-X printer (until it died). I'll also include the
printer cable (connects to Centronics -standard printer). The version of
AppleWorks also takes care of the missing open and closed-apple keys.
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
