- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

Circuit protection (was: RE: Latest addition : PDP 11/70)

by steven_j_robertson＠hotmail.com

>Certainly in the US. Typical branch circuits are 15 or 20A at a nominal >115V (although voltages between 110 and 130 are common, largely as a >function of how the single phase was derived). The NEC doesn't >consider >the fact that a given appliance that's plugged into such a >branch circuit >may have an attached cord that is rated at less that >the rating of the >branch to be an issue; it simply requires that in >the absence of a >overcurrent that the rating of the cord match be >appropriate for the >current draw of the appliance. You sure about that? >From what I understand, every conductor must be capable of carrying a current greater than the breaker that protects it. Otherwise, the cord would be the first thing thing to fail in a overcurrent situation. This would present a very significant fire danger. Even the cheapest kitchen appliances have fairly heavy power cords. It's not because they draw a lot of current or the manufacturers are generous, it's because the fuses / breakers in your kitchen have a higher amperage rating than in other places in the home. So, those appliances must have heavier cords to offer protection. SteveRob _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

24 years, 11 months

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Circuit protection (was: RE: Latest addition : PDP 11/70)

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>Of course this doesn't address the issue of devices which may fail at a >current draw that is substantially above the devices nominal draw but >less than the rating of the branch -- but then neither do individually >fused outlets unless you are careful to change the fuse each time you >connect a device -- which I've certainly never observed happening in my >visits to the UK. Instead almost all appliances and devices are required In the UK, the MCB (circuit-breaker) or fuse in the main box is there to protect the ring main (the wiring in the wall). The fuse in the plug is there to protect the power cord. If the appliance needs protecting, it should have its own fuse :-) No fuse can guarantee that the appliance won't burst into flames - the appliance is supposed to have passed some minimal safety testing to make that unlikely - if it needs fuses to pass the test they'll be fitted internally. The remainder of the system does its best to ensure your iring won't burst into flames. Antonio

24 years, 11 months

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CD-R utility

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Rob Lion wrote: > >For those of you who were discussing the merits of CD-R manufacturers and >dyes a week or so ago, I ran across a Windows program tonight that might be >of interest. Apparently it can tell you the real manufacturer and dye type >used on the disc. Find it at: http://www.gum.de/it/download/english.htm Has a useful facility to copy to the clipboard too :-) So from the info below (taken from a 700MB 80min blank 16x) how worried should I be about long-term data retention? And why? And what answers would be better? Antonio ATIP: 97m 15s 17f Disc Manufacturer: Ritek Co. Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine) Media type: CD-Recordable Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

24 years, 11 months

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HP-64000 Development System Manuals

by MRiley＠avt-hq.com

I realize this is a long shot, but it is worth the try. I found an old letter in the 'classiccmp' archive: http://www.classiccmp.org/mail-archive/classiccmp/1998-06/0103.html It was from "Joe" at "rigdonj(a)intellistar.net" which is apparently a bad address now. He was trying to sell and/or get rid of a whole stack of HP-64000 Development System manuals. If Joe, or someone else, still has such manuals I would be very interested to know. We would probably be interested in purchasing those manuals. We have inherited an HP-64000 Development System and are in the process of resurrecting an old firmware project. Progress is slow. I think we could use the manuals to help understand how to use the system more effectively. I also think that we will have to support this new firmware for some time to come. Therefore, manuals (operations, service, etc.) would be very nice to have, on-the-shelf. My contact information is provided below. Thank you. Mike. -- *************************** * Notices: * * We will close at 1700 hrs on 8 August, 2001. * We will re-open at 0800 hrs on 17 August, 2001 * --->> Plan Accordingly !! <<--- * * Our electronic addresses changed in the summer of 1999. * Please update your address list and bookmarks. *************************** Michael Riley Advanced Vehicle Technologies, Inc. 1509 Manor View Road Davidsonville, MD 21035 USA +1-410-798-4038 (voice) +1-410-798-4308 (fax) support(a)avt-hq.com (e-mail) http://www.avt-hq.com (home page)

24 years, 11 months

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SCSI Scanner

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Does anyone in the S.F. Bay area need or want a UMAX 600DPI/30bit > color/flat bed/SCSI interface scanner? Comes with scanner, software (PC Win > 3.1/Win 95/Win NT), cables, terminator, and SCSI card (ISA). This was my > scanner of choice until I upgraded to a USB based scanner. I can make you a > good deal ($10 and its all yours, bwa-hahaha) or come by Saturday to our > garage sale and bargain us down :-) If no one wants it as-is, might you consider removing the lamps and selling just them (I've got one with unusably dim lamps). Regards, -dq

24 years, 11 months

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Chevy Vega Re: Cheap cars (was: 1%...)

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 09:48 PM 7/30/01 -0700, Fred wrote: >GM saved a lot of money by making an aluminum block with a friction >reducing coating (Teflon??). It worked well for a limited time. Actually they didn't add a coating to the cylinder wall. What they did was to make the engine out of high silicon aluminium, then they chemically etched away some the aluminium in the cylinders to leave high-silicon content for the pistons to ride on. This was GM attempt to get away from having to add steel cylinder sleeves to an otherwise aluminium engine block. (You CAN NOT run aluminium against aluminium.) Needless to say this design was highly dependent on high quality oil, frequent oil changes and a GOOD oiling system. Unfortunately the oil pump and oil system were a joke and Americans aren't known for frequent car maintainance. Joe

24 years, 11 months

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Newsweek mentions VCFe and Sellam

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Almost as good as Kilobaud. Perhaps you have to be a "kook" to put out a > > great magazine. (apologies and kudos also to Jim Warren) > > > Speaking of Kilobaud... does anyone have a few copies of that and > Interface Age they'd like to part with? Ray Borrill was selling his collection on E-Bay (he has health problems and needs the money), but I think he's all out now. However, last year, I saw several other people selling them, so that might be your best bet for picking up missing issues. Regards, -dq

24 years, 11 months

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O.T.: Things to do/see in San Francisco?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Hi. Totally off-topic, but my friends and I are going to be in San > Francisco the first two weeks of October, and I was wondering if > anyone can recommend anything cool to do/see. We're all vegetarians, > so vegetarian/vegan restaurant tips would be welcome. Can you find a vegan restaurant in San Francisco? Can you find a coffee shop in Seattle? Can you find a redneck bar in Louisville? Seriously, I think if you'd need any help in S.F., it would be to find where you could get a good steak; clearly, steak is not on your itinerary. Never even been there, but I'll bet you can't swing a dead cat (oops, another meat joke) without hitting a vegetarian place. Good luck! -dq

24 years, 11 months

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Chevy Vega Re: Cheap cars (was: 1%...)

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 04:43 PM 7/31/01 -0400, you wrote: >You do have an option today. Buy a nice looking car and put an Edelbrock >engine, four-barrel, intakes, etc. in it. Four barrel ???? That would be a step backwards. I'm currently running 3x 2 barrels on an Edelbrock designed intake. (original 1970 Dodge Challanger RT convertible with 440 six-pack) Gas mileage? What's that? Actually it's not too bad. I get about 15-16 MPG on the highway. But you should see what the gas gauge does when I put my foot to it and the second and third of carbs kick in! Joe >Peace... Sridhar > >On Tue, 31 Jul 2001, R. D. Davis wrote: > > > On Tue, 31 Jul 2001, joe wrote: > > > and Americans aren't known for frequent car maintainance. > > > > There was a time when frequent car maintenance was easier and more > > convenient for Americans who aren't shade-tree mechanics. What I'm > > referring to is the scarcity these days of convenient places to get a > > tune-up, grease job and oil change. Places like Jiffy Lube don't > > count, as they're as likely to damage a car as they are to change the > > oil, etc. properly. Not so long ago, there was a higher percentage of > > corner gas stations, with more than one mechanic working in them, to > > cars. One could often just drive up to a service station, pull into a > > bay, and get a car repaired without having to drop it off or make an > > appointment. > > > > Even finding a mechanic who can perform a tune up is becoming > > difficult; many don't know how to adjust points or carburators, and > > one can forget about having the dwell adjusted or getting a > > distributor curved; one shop that I called about the later had no idea > > as to what I was talking about. If they'd get all these new cars with > > ridiculously overly complex engines off the road and put carburators > > and distributors with points back in cars, people would have fewer > > problems with maintenance and finding parts 20 years later. Of > > course, Big Brother wouldn't like that, as the old cars can't be > > stopped by a high-energy blast that makes electronic components in the > > new engines break down. > > > > -- > > Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other > animals: > > All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above > Nature & > > rdd(a)rddavis.net 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to > justify such > > http://www.rddavis.net beliefs and to justify much human cruelty. > >

24 years, 11 months

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Newsweek mentions VCFe and Sellam

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > >> > > Don't be such a cynical bastard. You'll end up like Wayne Green. > > >> > Yick. Now THAT's an insult. :) > > >> to cynical bastards. > > > > > >Hehehe. I have to admit though, 80 Microcomputing was a pretty neat > > >magazine. > > As was HotCoCo; especially in the early years... > > Almost as good as Kilobaud. Perhaps you have to be a "kook" to put out a > great magazine. (apologies and kudos also to Jim Warren) Kilobaud was great, as was SCCS Interface Age/Interface Age. -dq

24 years, 11 months

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I am in the big newpaper today about my vintage computer collecting hobby...no link to me or my site but one to VCF...

by claudew＠videotron.ca

Hi Well I am in the big Montreal newspaper today but no link to me (email) or to my site... I guess the circulation of that paper is maybe around a million...(?) Headlines translates to english : "Computer Archeologists" (...) Photo of me with a TRS80 mod I in my hands and a Pet in the background and shelves in the back with some of my collection. I was counting on this to get me offers for new machines - dont think its gonna happen... They post a link to www.vintage.org (and others) but not to me (email or my site) ! What did I do? I was part of an article with a local console collector who runs a console/game collector club that I am part of. Most active members are big ebay sellers and the club site was mentionned in the article so I guess the webmaster/president of that club will get the offers for the maybe 1 or 2 interesting machines this article might "uncover"...and to ebay they will go...perhaps some of the guys should question themselves if the hobby is collecting and restoring or the "commerce" of buying and selling of that kinda stuff...one of these guys in the article even said he managed to live one year (in is car and eating once a week?) on selling carts and consoles on ebay...now everyone will think their 286 is worth $100 and an Atari 2600 is worth $120... Anyways, the article is in french. I dont know the legal/copyright implications of scanning and posting this on my site but Ill try to scan and maybe translate and post... Claude http://www.members.tripod.com/computer_collector

24 years, 11 months

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trojan room coffee pot on ebay

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1260882480 -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

24 years, 11 months

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O.T.: Things to do/see in San Francisco?

by bill_r＠inetnebr.com

Hi. Totally off-topic, but my friends and I are going to be in San Francisco the first two weeks of October, and I was wondering if anyone can recommend anything cool to do/see. We're all vegetarians, so vegetarian/vegan restaurant tips would be welcome. One of us likes repairing and collecting vintage pocket watches and wristwatches, two of us like older Irish and classical music, one of us likes aerospace museums and aerospace/computer surplus stores. We all like plants, animals, science, art, and computers. We're probably going to be renting an apartment on the bay near Mariposa street. Is there anything we need to know about that area of town? Any suggestions or pointers would be very much appreciated. Bill Richman bill_r(a)inetnebr.com http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r Home of Fun with Molten Metal, technological oddities, and the original COSMAC Elf computer simulator!

24 years, 11 months

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small rack enclosures, seen this one?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Aug 1, 4:08, Dave McGuire wrote: > On August 1, Bill Bradford wrote: > > Anybody ever seen one of these before: > > > > http://images.sunhelp.org/rack/rack-hardware/ > Wow...I've only seen one of those once...been looking for one for a > while. Take good care of that. I've seen one other, but the owner wanted to re-use the rack for something else and all I got was some boards. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 11 months

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Speech chips again

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Aug 1, 9:54, Hans Franke wrote: > > Thanks -- some of that is helpful, even though I did find the data sheets > > on the web. Now all I need is some time to play with it... > > Well, the question is still if I should send you the data sheets ? No need, Hans; I downloaded them. Thanks, though. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 11 months

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Newsweek mentions VCFe and Sellam

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 09:57 AM 8/1/01 -0700, you wrote: >> > Don't be such a cynical bastard. You'll end up like Wayne Green. >> > >> Yick. Now THAT's an insult. :) > >to cynical bastards. And now VCF East has been mentioned on Slashdot... so far, many of the comments say "Gee, if I'd known about this event, I would've attended." My sympathies to Sellam... I know how hard it is to promote an event like this. Next time, pre-announce on Slashdot, and encourage friend-to-friend spamming in private e-mail, especially within big computer companies. - John

24 years, 11 months

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DIAB DS-90

by optimus＠canit.se

I went to the junk yard today again. They obviously don't like my intrusion (well, they wouldn't notice mine, since I clean up after going through their stuff, but some others are not as discrete...), because they had welded a mesh of iron bars in the opening in the fence. Not that it would stop us, we still managed to bring a 20", a 17" and a 14" monitor out, along with all sorts of junk. I didn't catch much this time, though. The most interesting items were a 9->15 pin VGA cable, and a pretty folder describing the advanced comfort of the Philips VCR system. =) Well, you can't be lucky each day, can you? Guess again! After coming home, I was hungry and thought I'd take a walk to the 7-Eleven, when I noticed that a skip some blocks from home contained a light table. I proceeded to investigate, when I found below the table a big box with an amazing number of TTY ports. After dragging it out, I was in for a surprise - it was a DIAB DS90-20! According to my investigations, this should be a VME-based 68020 multiuser system, running DNIX, a System III or System V version. Its predecessor DS90- 00 was also known as the Luxor ABC-9000, running ABCnix. =) The forty TTY ports on the back are sealed, so I couldn't find any I/O at all, until I found the the panel with the TTY ports would swing back to reveal blanking plates for a number of cards. I think the system has got four TTY ports, but they're not standard DB25 ports, but D15 ones. Our Tandberg terminal has got a D15 port in addition to its DB25, could these be compatible. I think the Tandberg's D15 was listed as being a V.something port. In addition to the TTY ports, there's a DIN-4 (?) port and an AC inlet. The system is turned on, off and reset with a key, which fortunately was still in the machine's lock. There's also a CEN-50, which leads me to believe that it's either got SCSI or some queer MFM controller. I'll have to pay a visit to the company which threw the machine out in order to see whether they kept any accessories or documentation. The entire system reminds me of a Stride - big bulking tower, streamer and 5? FDD, lots of TTYs, VME, m68k, AT&T licence. More info tomorrow when I'll try to power it on. UPDATE: I opened it up today, and could examine it in daylight. It is a SCSI based system, with a 140 MB full-height Maxtor drive from 1987. Opening it up is a pleasure. The side panels are removed with some firm force, then you loosen two screws and swing out panels, one of which contains the motherboard. The mobo contains a 68450 (some m68k peripheral circuit IIRC), a 68020 CPU, a 68581 MMU and a 68881 FPU. And a whole lot of other things, including some Zilog chips which I presume contain the SCSI controller. SCSI is good, that means that it may be easily backed up before I start toying with the OS. The machine is running right now. The HD is a bit on the noisy side, but I suppose it could be replaced. The mobo is also fitted with several VME slots, one of which extends into a cardcage containing three VME slots and four "DB" slots. The DB slots use a connector similar to the VME, but with only two rows of pins/sockets, and the cards are only half the height of a Europa card. Reminds me somewhat of the ABC-bus. There are also two plates for mounting additional TTYs to the four ones of the motherboard. Don't ask me where they connect. Might I add that this looks like an ideal target architecture for NetBSD? Now, if it only had Ethernet, like later models did... -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6a. G? med i SUGA, Swedish Usergroup of Amiga! WWW: http://swedish.usergroup.amiga.tm/ BBS: 08-6582572, telnet://sua.ath.cx:42512

24 years, 11 months

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So do you still want this Northstar or what?!

by anthonycouzens＠hotmail.com

Dear sir/madam, My name is Anthony Couzens. I am the current owner and son of the original owner of The Computer Junk Shop, Widnes. I have just fallen over your message posted on the internet regarding a Northstar PC you saw in our shop some ten years ago. It may (but most likely may not!) surprise you to find out that we still have this PC, as it was the first PC my father ever bought and one that he had to travel specially to America to buy a very long time ago. He has kept it until now as part of a collection of antiques but if you were especially interested in it perhaps I could put you in touch with him. Let me know what you think! Regards, Anthony Couzens THE COMPUTER JUNK SHOP Tel: 0151 4206671 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

24 years, 11 months

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Varian Collectors Heads-Up

by jpl15＠panix.com

Goto: www.abebooks.com and do a 'search' with Varian 620/L in the Title field to bring up a copy of the Operation and Information manual for the computer. This book is from 1971 and there only appears to be one copy. I thought that there were some folks here who had Varian gear. I found this while looking for microwave tube info. Cheers John

24 years, 11 months

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Latest acquistions

by nbsdbob＠weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu

> Ok so I just picked up two very cool things for the House of VAX. They are > both DSSI to SCSI controllers. For the House de VAXentoyz, it is always marvelous! Yeah, very cool. I would almost give me eye teeth, as the ol man was want to say, for some (or even one) of those dssi-scsi storageworks modules. > One was made by DEC and plugs into a Storage works storage shelf! That one > is so cool. Turn a storage shelf into a DSSI shelf. Its very weird to see > the RZ29's in the shelf with labels DIA240, DIA250, etc. That is the critter. If you ever want to part with it....holler. I sense you will use that for 4000/xxx dssi to scsi VAXenspeak? > I also picked up three storage works shelves, two with redundant supplies > and one with only one supply. Generally they have 4, 5, and 3, RZ29's in > them. The one with 4 has the DSSI converter in the other end. I've got to > get pictures of these up on the web site soon, they are really neat. I run a few of those storage works shelves on my alphas. It is very nice to be able to mount up 7 drives on a small machine, externally, for some nice play space. Watch the jumpers inside behind the fans. There are several ways to set them. If you want to use them generically, and as a single bus, you need to check them. See the ba350ugc.pdf manual. Watch the internal slide in connectors. I have had one go bad on me, for no good reason, so have to settle for 6 drives on that one...(:+{{... Good Luck. Bob

24 years, 11 months

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Wired covers VCF east

by bills＠adrenaline.com

Brief article with a few pics: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45699,00.html

24 years, 11 months

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small rack enclosures, seen this one?

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody ever seen one of these before: http://images.sunhelp.org/rack/rack-hardware/ ITS SO CUTE. I love it.. had an RX01 and some other stuff in it (which is now all out in the garage on the workbench waiting to be cleaned up). Took me about an hour to clean up the cabinet/enclosure itself, tighten up the rails, etc.. but it ended up being a perfectly temporary home for my "home network" gear until I re-fill it with PDP stuff. I'd just never seen such a "contemporary office enviroment"-styled enclosure. The top even matches my desk. 8-) (label on it says d|i|g|i|t|a|l pdp11 system) Bill -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

24 years, 11 months

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small rack enclosures, seen this one?

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Boy, I'd love one of those. I want to get a 22U Compaq rack for my new server and RAID array, but I haven't been able to locate one nearby. Rich -----Original Message----- From: Dave McGuire [mailto:mcguire@neurotica.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 4:08 AM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: small rack enclosures, seen this one? On August 1, Bill Bradford wrote: > Anybody ever seen one of these before: > > http://images.sunhelp.org/rack/rack-hardware/ > > ITS SO CUTE. I love it.. had an RX01 and some > other stuff in it (which is now all out in the garage > on the workbench waiting to be cleaned up). Took me > about an hour to clean up the cabinet/enclosure itself, > tighten up the rails, etc.. but it ended up being a > perfectly temporary home for my "home network" gear > until I re-fill it with PDP stuff. > > I'd just never seen such a "contemporary office > enviroment"-styled enclosure. The top even matches my desk. 8-) > > (label on it says d|i|g|i|t|a|l pdp11 system) Wow...I've only seen one of those once...been looking for one for a while. Take good care of that. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 11 months

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Digital font

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hello, all: I found the font that I used on my Web site for the "pdp11" logo. It's "Century Gothic". Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

24 years, 11 months

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CD-R utility

by rnlion＠its.caltech.edu

For those of you who were discussing the merits of CD-R manufacturers and dyes a week or so ago, I ran across a Windows program tonight that might be of interest. Apparently it can tell you the real manufacturer and dye type used on the disc. Find it at: http://www.gum.de/it/download/english.htm -Rob -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GAT/E d- s:- a--- C++(++++) ULS+ P+ L+ E- W++ N+(++) o K w+++ O- M- V- PS+(+++) PE--(+) Y+ PGP t- 5- X+ R- tv b++ DI++ D++ G++ e h+ r- y ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

24 years, 11 months

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small rack enclosures, seen this one?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On August 1, Bill Bradford wrote: > Anybody ever seen one of these before: > > http://images.sunhelp.org/rack/rack-hardware/ > > ITS SO CUTE. I love it.. had an RX01 and some > other stuff in it (which is now all out in the garage > on the workbench waiting to be cleaned up). Took me > about an hour to clean up the cabinet/enclosure itself, > tighten up the rails, etc.. but it ended up being a > perfectly temporary home for my "home network" gear > until I re-fill it with PDP stuff. > > I'd just never seen such a "contemporary office > enviroment"-styled enclosure. The top even matches my desk. 8-) > > (label on it says d|i|g|i|t|a|l pdp11 system) Wow...I've only seen one of those once...been looking for one for a while. Take good care of that. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 11 months

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Speech chips again

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jul 31, 2:25, Iggy Drougge wrote: > I'm offline ATM and can't tell whether this would be relevant, but if you're > into TI-99/4A, this is a good site indeed: > http://www.stanford.edu/~thierry1/ti99/titechpages.htm Thanks -- some of that is helpful, even though I did find the data sheets on the web. Now all I need is some time to play with it... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 11 months

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VCF East on Slashdot.org

by rnlion＠its.caltech.edu

For those of you who don't normally check it out, there's an article on Slashdot.org about VCF East, linking to the Wired article. Check it out at: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/31/1547202&mode=nested It looks like there is a good amount of interest on there, or people who would have gone had they heard about it. It might be worthwhile to publicize the upcoming VCF on there, and maybe remember it for next year. -Rob -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GAT/E d- s:- a--- C++(++++) ULS+ P+ L+ E- W++ N+(++) o K w+++ O- M- V- PS+(+++) PE--(+) Y+ PGP t- 5- X+ R- tv b++ DI++ D++ G++ e h+ r- y ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

24 years, 11 months

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need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive...

by Daniel.Segel＠wcom.com

Here's the deal: I have a circa 1982 IBM PC that has a Seagate ST-251 in it attached to a Data Technology Corp. DTC-5150CI controller with a BIOS on it. Everything works fine and the PC will boot up (it's running PC-DOS 3.3) and I can navigate around and look at all the files, etc. The problem is that I want to pull the files off of this drive, and the 360K floppy doesn't appeal to me a method of transfer (the hard drive is almost full.) There are three ways I can imagine doing this: 1. Get an 8-bit ethernet card working under DOS 3.3 and somehow connect it to my home network, 2. Install a second HD in the PC that's running off a more modern controller (IDE?), 3. Install the ST-251 into a more modern PC. I've been trying to get option 3 to work for a week now, but I'm not having any luck. Any tips? I'm currently trying to get the DTC controller to work in an old EISA 486 with a 1992 AMI BIOS, but I keep getting a "HDD Controller failure" message. I've tried it both with the controllers BIOS enabled and disabled. If the BIOS is enabled, it puts up a message saying "1 hard disk" right before the other error - this is the same message I see on the PC right before it starts booting. So I know the controller itself is "working", but it's not being recognized by the BIOS. I'm not sure what's going on. Any tips? Any other ideas about how to get the data off of this drive? Should I try another MFM controller? Daniel -- Daniel A. Segel WorldCom Employee Systems User Support Phone: 916-373-4810; Vnet: 653-4810; Pager: 888-783-5951; AIM: DanSegel

24 years, 11 months

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Vintage Computer Festival 5.0

by vcf＠siconic.com

Vintage Computer Festival 5.0 September 15th and 16th, 2001 Parkside Hall - San Jose Convention Center San Jose, California http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/ Mark you calendar! The fifth annual Vintage Computer Festival is scheduled for the weekend of September 15th and 16th at Parkside Hall in San Jose, California. The Vintage Computer Festival is a celebration of computers and their history. The event features speakers, a vintage computer exhibition, and a vintage computer marketplace. We showcase all different types of computers for all differents kinds of platforms in all different shapes and sizes. EXHIBIT YOUR VINTAGE COMPUTER Vintage Computer Collectors: we want you! Exhibit your favorite computer in the Vintage Computer Exhibition. First, Second and Third place prizes will be awarded in 13 categories, including the coveted Best of Show. For complete details on the VCF 5.0 Exhibition, visit: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/exhibit.php BUY/SELL/TRADE AT THE VINTAGE COMPUTER MARKETPLACE Do you have some vintage computer items you'd like to sell? Whether you rent a booth or sell on consignment, the Vintage Computer Festival Marketplace is the premier venue for selling old computers and related items. If you would like to rent a booth or inquire about consignment rates, please send e-mail to <vendor(a)vintage.org> for more information or visit: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/vendor.php TELL A FRIEND! TELL A FRIEND! TELL A FRIEND! We really hope to see you at the VCF 5.0! And remember, tell your friends!! A printable flyer in Word format can be downloaded here: http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/vcf50.doc Vintage Computer Festival 5.0 September 15th and 16th, 2001 Parkside Hall - San Jose Convention Center San Jose, California http://www.vintage.org/2001/main/ Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

24 years, 11 months

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DEC VT180 (Robin)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

And if megan doesnt have it I do... in a box somewhere. Allison -----Original Message----- From: Curt Vendel <curt(a)atari-history.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 6:46 PM Subject: Re: DEC VT180 (Robin) >David, > > I received a Robin at the VCFE show from a great guy who used to work for >DEC. Unfortunately my engine in my car suffered some severe damage and is >still up in the Honda dealer in Massachusettes so I had no way of bringing >the unit home and not wanting to leave it in the car, I gave it to Megan who >is the resident RT-11 expert as I thought it would be the best home for the >unit. She has a huge assortment of software specifically for the Robin >VT180. > > >Curt > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "David Betz" <dbetz(a)xlisper.mv.com> >To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> >Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 12:33 PM >Subject: DEC VT180 (Robin) > > >> I just picked up a DEC VT180 that seems to work except that it came with >no >> software. Does anyone know where I can get a CP/M boot disk for it and/or >> the diagnostic disk? >> >> Thanks, >> David Betz >> dbetz(a)xlisper.mv.com >> >

24 years, 11 months

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"Early" 3.5" diskettes (was: Wired covers VCF east

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

What kind of drive??? I have a few older 3.5" drives about. Allison -----Original Message----- From: Megan <mbg(a)world.std.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 7:16 PM Subject: Re: "Early" 3.5" diskettes (was: Wired covers VCF east > >>Modern drives don't seem to mind missing shutters, and all of the early >>drives that I've tried are happy with modern diskettes with the shutter >>removed. So try taking the shutter off of a diskette and see whether >>that makes the drive happy. > >Thanks, Fred... > >I'll have to try it again... > >The next part of the problem is trying to find such a drive to >put on an -11, interfaced in such a way so that I can read/write >the diskette. Then I could try loading up an RT-11 monitor and >see if we can get the thing to boot. > > 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 KB1FCA | >+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

24 years, 11 months

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MicorVAX II

by TheDataMaestro＠aol.com

Hi, I need 1 or more MicroVAX II's. I have 2 that are in various states of disrepair and I need to fix them. Please let me know of their availability. Thanks. George

24 years, 11 months

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Whats you oldest computer

by ljcst18+＠pitt.edu

Hello All, I was just curious to know what was the oldest computer any of you own. The oldest one I actually own is an apple II+ (1978?) and the oldest one I am restoring is a HP 2114B circa 1969. Luke

24 years, 11 months

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Newsweek mentions VCFe and Sellam

by bills＠adrenaline.com

SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com wrote: > cool! is there an online link? I just found it: http://www.msnbc.com/news/606595.asp?0nw=n18#hobby

24 years, 11 months

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Chevy Vega Re: Cheap cars (was: 1%...)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On July 31, Master of all that Sucks wrote: > In New Jersey, gas is cheaper than most places, and it's ALL full-serve. > Self-serve is illegal. I grew up in NJ. This is going to sound ridiculous, but since I grew up with full-serve gas stations, when moving out of NJ the notion of self-serve took some getting used to. Weird. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 11 months

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Wired covers VCF east

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Megan <mbg(a)world.std.com> wrote: > As for the diskette being proprietary, I talked with someone at > VCF-east and they said that they though that *really* early > 3.5" diskettes were different from what we are used to now... > he thought he might have a drive and some media... (if you > are reading this, whoever, please contact me). What little I could see in the picture looked sort of like a Sony drive mechanism with the square eject button. True? Early Sony 3.5" diskettes and drives had a manual diskette shutter. You had to slide the shutter to the open position, and it would lock open. Then you could insert the diskette. When you ejected the diskette, you were expected to pinch it (that little arrow in the upper left corner used to point to the word "PINCH") to release the shutter; a spring would pull it closed. Fred Cisin probably knows more about this than I do, I just remember seeing some of the early HP stiffies that were usable this way so that they would work in older stiffy drives. They weren't hard to find in 1984 or so, though then-current drives were "automatic". -Frank McConnell

24 years, 11 months

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Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by mark_k＠totalise.co.uk

Hi, On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 Jerome Fine wrote: > I have acquired a Sony SMO S501 and some cartridges. I understand > that the company I bought them from used them for backup for at least > 5 years. While each side of the cartridge holds only 300 MBytes, at least > the total capacity (both sides) is almost equal to a CD. And although > they are a bit slow on the WRITE operation, the READ operations are > almost as fast as a hard disk drive. If you get a chance, check out a later-generation MO drive. Seek times and transfer rates are much quicker. > I don't know about retention, but I expect I will be making a backup of the > long term files about every one or two years. Does anyone know how I > might test a magneto optical cartridge for long term degradation? I assume a similar accelerated-aging regime to testing CD-R discs would work; high temperature and humidity. What you can do (and this applies to CD-R discs as well) is check the block/bit error rate. After writing to a new disk, use the SCSI READ LONG command to read the raw data from each sector (this consists of the sector data and error correction info). For each sector, see whether there is a correctable error. End up with a figure for the percentage of sectors with correctable errors. Do the same thing in a few years time, and see whether there is any difference. A more accurate variation would be to record how many "bad" bits are in each correctable sector. Depending on the drive, you may be able to get it to automatically log the number of times it has to use error correction. You could establish a proportion of the maximum possible correctable bit errors, and reject a disk if its maximum goes over that. (E.g., if up to 80 bit errors in a sector are correctable, you might reject a disk which has a maximum of 50.) Before evaluating error rates, make sure the disk's surface is clean; if you have been using a particular disk heavily for years in a polluted/dusty environment, dirt on its surface will probably affect the error rate. You're interested in the "real" error rate, not errors which go away after cleaning. Also make sure your drive's lens is clean. > Also, if I can read the cartridge, does that indicate it is as good as when > it was written or should it always be written again after 5 years just to be > sure? You can probably leave data alone for much longer than 5 years. Various MO media manufacturers quote media lifetimes of 30, 50 or 100 years. Of course they probably all use different criteria to come up with a lifetime figure... > If anyone ever sees a Sony SMO S501 for $ US 20 or less, please send it > to me and I will always appreciate and accept it and pay you for the drive > and shipping in the US and Canada. Shipping from Europe is still too > expensive. Pretty much any ISO standard 5.25" MO drive will work with the 600/650MB disks that the SMO-S501 uses; you are not restricted to that particular drive. -- Mark

24 years, 11 months

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Newsweek mentions VCFe and Sellam

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 7/31/2001 2:53:01 PM Central Daylight Time, dogas(a)bellsouth.net writes: > I don't normally endorse this rag in any way, but in Newsweek's Aug 6 issue > pg 8 (Periscope dept.) "Trading Pickup Lines in COBOL" VCFs and Sellam get > a nice little token mention and are charactertured to boot! > > Congrats Sellam! > > ;) > cool! is there an online link?

24 years, 11 months

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OT: HVD SCSI controller

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

At 04:38 PM 7/31/01 -0400, Sridhar wrote: >How much do these [HVD to SE converter] usually run on the open market? If someone gets one and would like a couple of full height 2.1GB SCSI drives to go with it let me know. I've got a pair I rescued from the drive sled of a decommissioned Sun 4/390 and have no use for them. --Chuck

24 years, 11 months

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Latest acquistions

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

Ok so I just picked up two very cool things for the House of VAX. They are both DSSI to SCSI controllers. One was a rack mount box containing two CDI-4000 DSSI->SCSI controllers made by CMD with front panels. The panel looks a lot like the HSC-50 front panel. One was made by DEC and plugs into a Storage works storage shelf! That one is so cool. Turn a storage shelf into a DSSI shelf. Its very weird to see the RZ29's in the shelf with labels DIA240, DIA250, etc. I also picked up three storage works shelves, two with redundant supplies and one with only one supply. Generally they have 4, 5, and 3, RZ29's in them. The one with 4 has the DSSI converter in the other end. I've got to get pictures of these up on the web site soon, they are really neat. I also picked up a bag of third party MMJ to DB25 hoods, they appear to all be males (so not too useful for my DECServer or folks connecting to a PC without a null modem gender changer. --Chuck

24 years, 11 months

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Wanted: Power Supply for DECserver 90M

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Just picked up a DECserver 90M; if anybody has the power supply for this beast (or the shelf-with-power-supply that it will fit into), please let me know. Bill -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

24 years, 11 months

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California Computer Systems (S-100)

by sglassburn＠worldnet.att.net

I am a novice to this class of computer. I have been given a near mint condition business CCS system with dual eight inch floppies. I am looking for some vintage references to help me learn the basics and schematics of these vintage bus types... I am well aware of the historical significance of these systems, but never have seen or used one before... I am a certified PC technician, and have had much experience with PC's and mainframes... I am excited to get this machine and would like to preserve it. This system includes manuals and schematics -- but I need an "S-100 for Dummies" type of reference to help me get started. I'd be glad to forward specifics if anyone has interest and patience.... Any replies would be appreciated... Very Kindly, Scott Glassburn (304)984-0559 sglassburn(a)att.net

24 years, 11 months

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Fastpath 4 boxes available

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 6/13/01 1:30:09 PM Central Daylight Time, jott(a)mastif.ee.nd.edu writes: << I have a micro channel 3com etherlink II and sound card for trade. They came out of an IBM ps/2 model 77. >> have you any details on the sound card? FRU number, or name of it.

24 years, 11 months

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Looking for info - En-link Ethernet card for the Apple II

by celt＠chisp.net

Found a card in the local thrift store's '99-cent grab-box-o-cards', labelled 'En-link Apple II Interface'. On the back is a rubber-stamped 'Protoype' label. A Google search turned up nothing - the only thing I could find was an obscure reference to the board in my Softalk article database: July 84, P 68 'Marketalk News' "An Ethernet-compatible interface that can make the Apple an intelligent terminal in a local-area network has been manufactured by En-Link (4706 Bond Street, Shawnee, KS 66203; 913-268-6606). Utilizing current standard LSI integrated circuits designed for Ethernet, the board performs the necessary framing, retries, and error checking required of the system. Other applications for the board include communication with remote printers and terminals, $1,250. $750 each in quantities of 100 or more." Anyone have more information about this thing? Specifically, I'd like to get my hands on a manual and software (does software even exist?) Mike http://tarnover.dyndns.org/ Tarnover - The Apple II Repository

24 years, 11 months

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Cheap cars (was: 1%...)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >I'm pretty sure the Cosworth's used the older iron 4cyl block, > >not the first-stab-at-the-Alcoa process, which Porsche used quite > >successfully in the 928... > > Maybe the street Vega's had it in iron, but the race engine > that was used for other things, but based on the Vega engine, was > definately aluminum. The article I mentioned talked about their > sleeving process. I didn't care for the car much, but I wanted the > engine.... The original process was supposed to put a layer of something other than aluminum on the inside of the cylinder walls... I want to say silicon, but that can't be right... But the process was producing blocks that cracked a lot. So that's when they came up with the sleeving process. Too late though for my '71, to which I'd taken an axe (Careful with that Axe, Eugene...). Choppingly yours, -doug q

24 years, 11 months

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Vaxstation/Microvax 2000 Eprom programming

by CAA007216＠mail.ono.es

Hello. I'm actually working with one Microvax 2000, one Microvax 3100 and one RZ55 SCSI external enclosure with one 359 (more or less) SCSI disk inside. I have installed VMS 6.2 in the Microvax 3100. I've backed up the VM6 6.2 in the SCSI external disk, and I'd like to try boot this disk from the Microvax 2000. Until I know, is necessary to modify the EPROM with a patch that I have. The problem to do it is, of course, the WAY to do it. And this is the matter: * How can I update/patch the EPROM of one Microvax 2000 from version 1.2 A to version 2.3 (I think this is the version of the patch) to support SCSI bootable devices, like one installed in one RZ55 external enclosure ? One additional matter about this question is: * Exists another patch that allow to boot the system from one RDD40 external CD unit ? And, like a possibility to obtain some money: * I need one CADDY for my DEC RDD40 external CDROM unit. Is there anything out there ? Just by the way... Anybody knows where I could obtain this stuff for the 2000 ? That is: * One diskette unit (I think it goes inside CPU, but I'm not sure, and additionally I'd like to know, what happens then with the RD54 disk that comes inside it actually) * One external expansion box with one additional RD5x disk. I think it uses something like one SASI connector to plug into the 2000. * One additional RS-232 ports expansion unit. I've read that it provides the Microvax (or Vaxstation) 2000 with up to... Four / Eight ? additional comm ports. And finally, there is for Europe collector/sellers: I'm searching this stuff: * one DSD400 or DSD880 double 8" disquette unit * one RL02 disk unit (I have six RL02 cartridges ready to use) * one VT102 with interface cable BCC08 or similar * one TU58 tabletop tape unit with interface cable BCC08 or similar * TWO interface connector with one Female AMD 10-pin connector in one extreme, and one standard RS-232 9-pin in the other. Anybody knows/has/sells any of this items at reasonable prices, or simply legate them ( :-))) what innocence mine ... ) ? You can send the responses to my e-mail address if you consider it better. That's all for know. I'll agree a lot a response. Thanks. Greetings and best Regards from Spain Sergio

24 years, 11 months

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Printers used with Altair

by kapteynr＠cboe.com

The printer that I would have loved to have for the Altair would have been an ASR-33 teletype machine. That was becasue it was a combined Printer/keyboard/paper tape reader/paper tape punch. You must remember that the original Altair BASIC was ONLY supplied on paper tape. ROM cards came later. There were no fonts or font styles on any popular printer at the time. That would have been a ridiculous luxury for a computer that needed only 8K of memory to run BASIC. In fact -- most printers of the day -- including the ASR-33 were UPPER CASE only. I could not afford an ASR-33 at the time. At first we had a VDM-1 video display module connected to an old TV set and a surplus keyboard (in a wooden box)attached to a parallel port. To load Altair BASIC, I got an optical paper tape reader on a parallel port. Each time we loaded Altair BASIC, we had to manully patch it through the front panel switches to work with the VDM-1. For hard copy, we later got a surplus Friden Flexowriter from Herbach & Rademan in PA and converted it from Baudot to ASCII. Hope this gives you a better idea what a "personal computer" really was in 1975. Does your Altair emulator include VDM-1 emulation ? This had some really cool extended character sets for drawing character graphics on the screen. Seeing this emulated (with Altair BASIC) would give me flashback chills :-) -Rob -----Original Message----- From: Cini, Richard [SMTP:RCini@congressfinancial.com] Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 3:26 PM To: 'ClassCompList' Subject: Printers used with Altair Hello, all: Well, I'm bored again and am looking at the Altair emulator code. There's room for enhancement in the line printer support code to support control characters of certain printers. So, here's the question. If I were a purchaser of an Altair in 1977, which printer would I have purchased? What control code would it have interpreted? Were the early printers sophisticated enough to recognize "bold", "underline" or "italic"? Maybe instead of sending the printer output to a text file, I can create an HTML file on the fly that supports the formatting codes with tags. Rich

24 years, 11 months

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VCFE

by vance＠ikickass.org

Did anyone find a black leather wallet at VCFE? Peace... Sridhar

24 years, 11 months

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Hackers: Computer Outlaws

by vcf＠siconic.com

I am pretty sure this show, which will undoubtedly be typical over-sensationalized Learning Channel tripe, is the one where I supplied many old computers for filming, including an Altair, Imsai, Apple ][, TRS-80, PET, etc. There may also be semi-sihouletted shots of me typing on a keyboard. It's set to air Wednesday (tomorrow) at 10pm on The Learning Channel. http://tlc.discovery.com/tuneins/hackers.html It features John Draper (a.k.a. Cap'n Crunch, a.k.a. freaky weirdo whom you should cross the street to avoid), Steve Wozniak, and Kevin Mitnick. Why Woz is included in this group is not entirely clear, but the producers of the show are British, so that could explain things :) It has a lot to do with the blue box of course, but Kevin Mitnick is a criminal thug, and Woz is just Woz. TLC used to be a great channel to actually LEARN stuff on. But I think I know enough about high-speed chases and asshole cops already. Can we move on to another subject, please? As great as it is, Junkyard Wars doesn't redeem the channel. All the cool stuff is on The History Channel these days :) Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

24 years, 11 months

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