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

by manney＠lrbcg.com

A Customer needs a Mac IIsi monitor. Please email you offering to manney(a)lrbcg.com or call (419) 663-0700 (Work) 9-5, EST or (419) 663-3371 (Home) Thank you.

27 years, 6 months

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IBM type 4836?

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

A friend asked me about what he says is an IBM unit that is running Windows 3.1 and he says it says a type 4836. That number isn't clciking with me, anyone have any ideas of what this is, or is he possibly reading a tag from an add-on/in card? I saw a reference in IBM Finland to a 4836 multiplatform emulation card but nothing else.

27 years, 6 months

2
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IBM type 4836?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/13/99 11:30:14 AM Pacific Standard Time, rhblake(a)bigfoot.com writes about the 4846 machine type: << The guy is supposed to bring the main unit in today at work and I can see what this thing is up close. I have a feeling he's misread it as his physical description sounds a lot like a PC or XT. >> probably so. then again, i spoke with more than one induhvidual who has a 3278 terminal or similar thinking they actually got a working computer to run windows. david

27 years, 6 months

1
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OFF TOPIC Radio comments...

by ddameron＠earthlink.net

At 11:11 AM 1/8/99 -0500, Bill wrote: >OT followup follows... >WEAF became WNBC, the flagship of the now defunct NBC radio network. >The network was sold of by General Electric ( -- who was stopped from >buying RCA in the '30's by anti-trust issues -- ) to Westwood One >which has now been partnering with Westinghouse (now the owner of CBS). > Wasn't RCA started as some sort of "holding" company, that didn't manufacture products of their own? They first sold items made by (you guessed it) General Electric and Westinghouse. Later they acquired Cunningham who were also making vacuum tubes/valves and included them in the name "radiotrons" for them. -Dave

27 years, 6 months

6
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Rescue needed: Prime hardware w/software!

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

Group, I've been looking to get involved in the rescue of a mini and it look like this one could be close to home (<100 miles).

27 years, 6 months

1
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Seriously *bad* ebay auction...

by paulk＠microsoft.com

> This guy is looking to sell his TRS-80 Model 1 for a minimum bid of $300! > :-/ And if you hurry, you can pop on over to Yahoo auctions and pick up an Apple //e with, quote, "lots of software, accesesories, etc". Only a mere $600. And, hey, no bids yet!! http://auctions.yahoo.com/auction/2190993. Have a ball. > Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- zmerch(a)30below.com Hardee har, Paul Kearns paulk(a)microsoft.com

27 years, 6 months

3
3
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Tandy 600 acting screwy

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Hi! I've got an old Tadny 600 laptop that I used to use for quick note-taking. I "retired" it about a year ago when the battery would no longer run the floppy and I had been given a Tandy 1400HD. Since then, the hard drive controller in the 1400 has "lost the magic smoke", and I'd like to get the 600 running again. I replaced the NICd cells, charged them overnight, and pressed the power switch. What do I get? Garbage filling the screen. I do the 5-finger salute cold boot. Here's what I get: -------- Uncoop System Load: Disk Error. Retry (Y/N)? _ -------- Disk error? from what I remember, this thing booted from ROM, and I don't have any sort of system disk. I hit n. It turns off. Great. I press power again, get two beeps, and this in the center of the display: -------- Unable to restart, critical system data damaged. Hit any key to reinitialize system. -------- Wonderful - system data damaged- doesn't sound good. I might as well hit any key - can't get any worse. I hit "enter". To my surprise, I get the old, familiar Microsoft Works 1.20 screen. I use the arrow keys to move the cursor over "WORD", and hit enter. At the bottom of the screen, it says: RUN application: WORD That's where it's been sitting for 5 hours, because I can't turn it off, either. I also noticed that the "free memory" said that there were 976560 bytes free. A year ago, there was only 32k. Anyone have any suggestions? ThAnX, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 6 months

6
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Prime Hardware Doc.

by jpl15＠netcom.com

So..... what little space remained in my living room is now occupied with to big racks of Prime system. Its got 1 CPU, 48M of RAM, 32 ports, a Seagate Sabre, A Century 300M, a CDC 9766 top-loader, and a Kenndy 9100. I have many reels of tape, and about three linear feet of operating documentation. Maybe this weekend I can cable it up and light the fires. But since I am mostly a DEC collector, I have no idea where to start looking for Engineering and Maintenance docs on this machine, and I have not had time (yet) to sift thru the Web for clews. If there is, by chance, someone on this LIst who has leads to Prime engineering printsets, I would be mightily pleased to communicate with you. From spending the last few nights reading the OS stuff... I am impressed by the simplicity of the user interfaces and the operator environment... just the thing for a CompuDummy like me. Thanks in advance... pix of the Device will be loaded up to my neglected webpage this weekend (honest!). www.lightsound.org Cheerz John

27 years, 6 months

1
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Rescue needed: Prime hardware w/software!

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

Forwarded from a newsgroup posting - please reply to original poster. -jim --- Newsgroups: comp.sys.prime From: Brian Phillips <bphillip(a)venus.treco.net> Subject: Two Primes must go Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 16:02:39 -0500 This is my second posting. I posted this information a few weeks/months ago but now the machine is downed and waiting for pickup. System #1 =================== Hardware: =================== 1 6650 2 770MB disks 1 820MB disk 1 1.3GB disk (SCSI) 3 LACs (ICS3, 64 port capacity each) 192 CLACS (serial, 9-pin male) 2 URC dataproducts printer interfaces 1 SCSI-II controller 1 10GB 8mm Helical tape . . . . . . . . . (MAYBE) 1 Telex Tri-density 9-track tape 1 LHC (LAN Host Controller (TCP/IP)) 1 PT250 console terminal Software: =================== Primos r23.2 Information v8.2-23.2.0 TCP/IP v2.4r22 supports telnet, ftp, smtp (and Primenet,RJE,EMACS,PNX,Talk to name a few) System #2 =================== Hardware: =================== 1 2450 1 LAC (ICS3) 24 CLACS (serial, 9-pin male) 1 120MB disk 1 256MB disk 1 60MB cartridge tape Software: =================== Primos r22 (?) Information v8 (?) Primenet Any takers? Brian Phillips Treasure Coast Internet, Inc. (http://www.treco.net) 759 S. Federal Hwy. Suite 316, Stuart, FL 34994 (561)286.6998 FAX: (561)286.7089 Modem: (561)286.2880 Ft Pierce 879.6177 Ft Pierce Modem: (561)879.9939 ---

27 years, 6 months

1
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Computers for Kids

by rkneusel＠post.its.mcw.edu

>> For programming, I would recommend BASIC, TO START WITH, followed by an >> introduction to C and assembly as soon as basic principles are >>understood. > >I don't see anything wrong with BASIC as a useable language for kids. I >don't know why people are so down on it. Ok, so it doesn't have >functions, and no, I wouldn't try to build a career out of it. I don't >think throwing C and assembler at a kid "as soon as the basic principles >are understood" would be necessarily productive. Let them have BASIC >until its apparent they've outgrown it, then let them explore other >options (but please keep them away from COBOL and Pascal :) > >Sellam Alternate e-mail:dastar@siconic.com Why not Forth? Simple, interactive and gives immediate feedback. It also has "high level" constructs, no GOTO, but is "low level" at the same time. My six year old son loves it. The RPN style didn't bother him a bit (why would it when he knew of nothing else?) Ron Kneusel rkneusel(a)mcw.edu

27 years, 6 months

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classic computer stuff in Scientific American

by cswiger＠wilma.widomaker.com

Alex Knight[SMTP:aknight@mindspring.com] reports: >One of my more interesting acquisitions along the way of looking >for early-model calculators has been a nearly-complete set of >Scientific American magazines from 1965-1978. In the 1960's Good collection. All that Martin Gardner and Dr. Matrix, Conway's 'Life'...waaaaa So do you have the Sept. '74 issue in which the Amateur Scientist, IIRC, taught us how to breadboard 74xx logic gates - so then one could build a machine to solve 'truth tables' as in Irving Copi's "Symbolic Logic"? What fun they were. Karnaugh maps were just ahead. Chuck cswiger(a)widomaker.com

27 years, 6 months

1
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Computers for children

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 10:00 PM 1/12/99 -0800, Sam Ismail wrote: > >Gee, I wish I was your daughter. My dad's idea of cirriculum was: > Raking Leaves Rake > Mowing Lawns Lawnmower [...] >I had to learn everything else on my own :) No personal aspersion on Chuck's plan, but in both Sam's dad and many other parents I've seen, the curriculum (in general, not just computer-centric) seems to be driven by the parent's interests and perhaps the child's own natural interests are forgotten. My three-year-old likes to doodle on my Pilot and PC, but something inside me wants to let him be a kid for a while, as opposed to pushing him to become the latest "youngest NT certified engineer." When I furnished him with an old Mac SE with a kid-paint program, he enjoyed it, but after a while he removed the mouse and used it to lasso his fire truck until the magic smoke left the mouse. Yes, there's a 100bT port in his bedroom, and a T-1 to the house, but I haven't told him about that yet. It's scary how the words "e-mail" and "dot com" worked there way into his vocabulary, though. I flinch when I see how computers are used in schools. I help the local school board with some technological issues, and recently took a tour of the new network wiring at the high school. They've got fiber to the closets, DS-3 feeding the place, video distribution, it goes on and on. "What's it going to be used for," I asked the director. "Well, it might be ten years before we get the budget to refurbish, so we thought we'd ask for as much as possible, and we'll let the teachers figure out how to use it." Meanwhile, the teacher's union is requesting funding for substitutes so that teachers can take mornings and afternoons away from their classrooms in order to attend seminars to learn how to use the marginal Win95 machines they have now. Meaning, of course, that they don't know how to use what was installed from the last round of funding. The only use of the Net I saw on the tour was five kids in the library, surfing sites about their favorite bands. Surprisingly, the "porn filter" consisted of keeping the monitors in sight of the librarian's desk. Of course, we all know the Web is peer-reviewed and scholastically approved, so any material you find there is OK to cut-and-paste into a book report. - John

27 years, 6 months

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No subject

by dhansen＠zebra.net

27 years, 6 months

1
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RT-11 Help

by mbg＠world.std.com

"Mike" <dogas(a)leading.net> wrote: >an MSCP disk ??? This was a cardkey application for a rather large site >so mayhap the app did this... The problem is that we need to know a little more of the system configuration first... do you know exactly what the system has? If you know it has MSCP disks, then we need to know how they have the partitions setup. >>What you may want to suggest to him is to >> >> 1) Delete all sensitive files from all disk partitions > >how? DELETE myfile?? Yep... standard DCL (Digital Command Language), not something obscure like 'rm' (Sorry... couldn't resist :-) >>Not counting the documentation which can be purchased for it... > >really? where? sign me up. ;) As someone else has already mentioned, a Doc set is something like US$1300+... I doubt hobbyists will run out and buy it... that's why the best you can probably hope for is someone who can let you 1) borrow, 2) have, or 3) copy select pages/manuals of their doc set. 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 6 months

1
0
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NorthStar Dimension

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

Was anyone aware that in 1984 North Star Computers introduced the North Star Dimension, a DOS-compatible "workstation"? Seems to have been a typical IBM PC XT clone. North Star's last foray into computers before they folded altogether no doubt. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 12/27/98]

27 years, 6 months

1
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Seriously *bad* ebay auction...

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

Not in the same league, but I noted to the seller of an Altair 8800b currently on eBay that, despite the item description's statement to the contrary, $3000 was NOT a low starting price. He begged to differ, stating that these things are going for over $6000 now. A -----Original Message----- From: Kirk Davis <kbd(a)ndx.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, January 13, 1999 6:41 PM Subject: RE: Seriously *bad* ebay auction... Hey, don't forget that $100 Atari Belt buckle (only one at that price!!!) :-)

27 years, 6 months

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FW: Fellow needs help using a paper tape reader

by kyrrin＠my-dejanews.com

Can someone please get in touch with this guy? He asks a most interesting question. Thanks! Attachment follows. -=-=- <snip> -=-=- From: "Bill Mohler" <bill(a)cs.oberlin.edu> Newsgroups: sci.electronics.misc Subject: Help: Paper tape reader to PC Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 14:51:55 -0500 Organization: A poorly-installed InterNetNews site Lines: 11 Message-ID: <77g9a4$ie4(a)news.cc.oberlin.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: pmohler.physics.oberlin.edu X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Path: news1.jps.net!news.pbi.net!131.119.28.147!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.cis.ohio-state.edu!malgudi.oar.net!news.cc.oberlin.edu!usenet Xref: news1.jps.net sci.electronics.misc:7212 Greetings, Any advice on how to attach a paper tape reader to an IBM compatible computer? How about making the PC emulate a tape reader? Sounds crazy, but we run some software from paper tape...would be easier if it were on disk. Thanks! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com "...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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Bulbs in parallel

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 01:31 PM 1/11/99 -0600, you wrote: >> > Or an entire digital computer out of ropes and pulleys? >> >Gag? Mechanical computers are serious stuff, Hans. Like Danny Hillis' >tinker-toy tic-tic-toe machine: See also: http://moose.spesh.com/lego/ http://weirdrichard.com/machine.htm There was another one, but I can't seem to find the page now. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/

27 years, 6 months

1
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y2k stuff

by Jgzabol＠aol.com

In einer eMail vom 12.01.1999 15:06:43, schreiben Sie: << I've come across enough machines that use 6-bit characters internally.... 6 Bit ? thats new - I never have seen a 6 Bit byte computer - I know 6 Bit only from some serial line encodings. >> 6 bit characters were quite the standard BEFORE /360 days, say for CDC 6600, CDC 7600 (the most powerful computers from mid-60s until the appearance of the CRAY-1 machines, forerunners of the Cyber 170 series), or IBM 7030, IBM 7090, IBM 7094 say, back in the '60s. They were not called bytes, and could not be addressed directly; there were 36 bit or 60 bit words, and shift / logical instructions used for character manipulation. In fact this is probably the origin for the six character namelength limit in FORTRAN IV : 6 chars x 6 bits = 36 bit word. John G. Zabolitzky

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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What's a VAX 6000/300 ?

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

My guess is that it isn't "classic" yet, but there is a nice example of one at Berman for _next week's_ auction. (unless they are saving it and the tape drive for someone) --Chuck

27 years, 6 months

2
2
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computers for children

by fauradon＠pclink.com

I just can't wait till mine grow up too ;) >My son (6) fell in love with the Kaypro II as soon as he saw a picture of it >on the web, so I've promised him I'd get one.... not bad for the son of a >"Microserf". (grrr.) > >- Joe > >

27 years, 6 months

1
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Computers for children

by roblwill＠usaor.net

I remember that *My* first computer was a 286-16 with 4 MB RAM, DOS 3.3, a 1/2 x CD-ROM and a 360k floppy. The keyboard was missing a few keys, the case (XT) had gotten rusty from sitting in a damp basement, and I had found the EGA monitor in the garbage (I had to replace the power cord). It didn't have a mouse, and when I finally was given an old mouse, I found out that neither serial port worked. I eventually bought a serial card for $1, and a copy of Windows 3.0 for $10 (on CD, in 1992). It was the first program that I ever had on CD. It took 5 hours to install. The printer was a Tandy DWP ][ that I was given by someone who got rid of their TRS-80. Instead of buying a cable for it, I ripped the D-connector out of the fried serial board and made my own cable. I used Windows Terminal to connect to a local BBS with a 2400 manual-dial Racal-Vadic modem that I found a Salvation Army for $3. The computer was running up until two years ago, when the HD crashed (heads?) and a cloud of tan/orange smoke billowed from the front of it. I pulled the serial card, CD-ROM controller and video card. I gave the monitor and vid card to a cousin that was building a computer, the case/MB/floppy/HD to a computer recycler (since out of business), and the CD-ROM is still chugging away on my 5170. I think that entire system cost me about $20. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 2:35 PM Subject: Computers for children >This'll probably offend many. > >I think that an 8 year old would be best off with a machine with CD-ROM >capability. And a good size stack of reference disks, including >Encyclopedia Brittanica, atlases, and several collections of literature. > >There should also be WWW access, preferably with at least minimal >graphics capability. > >If you really want to splurge, a cheap color inkjet printer. > >For programming, I would recommend BASIC, TO START WITH, followed by an >introduction to C and assembly as soon as basic principles are understood. > > >In the PC world, that would call for 386SX with VGA video, and DOS 3.10 >or above. (preferably 6.2x) I would also recommend Windoze Notepad and >Windoze Write for word processing. > >Once the kid has gotten thoroughly into it, THEN maybe a birthday present >of a set of Linux disks? > > >How much more than a C64 would a generic 386 AT cost? Do you need some >of us to contribute some parts? > >-- >Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com >XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com >2210 Sixth St. (510) 644-9366 >Berkeley, CA 94710-2219 > >

27 years, 6 months

1
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Computers for children

by kurtkilgor＠bigfoot.com

> Apparently you have not tried Visual Basic... How is that as easy as ROM BASIC? You turn the computer, and Visual Basic pops up immediately? I've yet to see such a computer (and if I do, I'll bash it to pieces with an axe, but that's another story)!. > At what level are you talking? I have not seen any sofware for kids (like > the knowledge adventure or humongous entertainment series) that would run on > Linux. It is hard to get a kid used to play with windows for 6 years and > tell him that it is crap and the one where you have to type long commands is > a lot better. We're talking about teaching _about_ computers, not teaching _with_ computers. Granted, Alvin and the Chipmunks software won't run on Linux (usually), and M$ Actimates won't work with it either...(echo "Hello, World!" > /dev/barney, anyone?) but those things won't help someone who wants to learn how a computer works.

27 years, 6 months

1
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RT-11 Help

by dogas＠leading.net

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine(a)idirect.com> >I believe that Mentec sells a full set of DOCS (about 3' in the >13 binders) for about $ US 1300. You can also buy the V5.7 >H-kit for about $ US 1600, or it was the last time I was *trying to stuff eyes back in sockets from whence they sprung* tell me this is a fluke of international formatting. 130k pennies??? There go the eyes again... >) - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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Computer Collecting Books [WAS: Dr. Dobb's article]

by gregorym＠cadvision.com

At 04:24 PM 1/12/99 -0800, you wrote: >There is also Haddock's book of a similar name. Unfortunately, my copy has >gone missing. It's around somewhere, but Rachel has been cleaning up my >room, and I'm lucky to be able to find a clean shirt, let alone something >important like a classic computer book. 8^) > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- O- > >Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad >roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Haddock's book is A Collector's Guide to Personal Computers and Pocket Calculators, subtitled A Historical, Rarity, and Value Guide, by Dr. Thomas F. Haddock, Books Americana, Florence, Alabama, 1993. ISBN 0-89689-098-8. I found it useful as a reference, but dated; it doesn't include many machines after the Amiga 1000, and the prices are way out of date. Also, the information about many machines is incomplete (e.g. no production estimates, original list prices, details). The book also has a lot of material on 70s vintage hobbyist machines and peripherals (e.g. Altair, IMSAI, many more obscure others) that are largely unobtainable where I live. Still, fun to browse through, and one of the few references available for our hobby. Mark.

27 years, 6 months

2
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micro PDP-11 "Fatal RSTS/E system initialization error!"

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Disk is being rebuilt - wait... Sounds like the system was powered off without having run the $SHUTUP program to shutdown the system. >DU0 error UDASA P.OPCD P.STS P.BCNT P.BUFF P.BUF2 > P.LBN > 000000 000242 020006 000000 044000 000000 > 000001 > >Unrecoverable disk error on DU0 > >PC=121232 PS=030341 OV=000022 M5=001600 M6=003242 SP=041274 >R0=000000 R1=077777 R2=042125 R3=172150 R4=041410 R5=140026 > >Fatal RSTS/E system initialization error! A disk block has gone bad. Either the rebuild process was unable to read a block or unable to write one. Either way, the on-disk structure may be corrupted (someone more RSTS-saavy can explain more). The bad block is block 1 -- the home block... not good. 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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What the hell is this!? IBM test equipment

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I went computer scrounging today and found a brief case style tool box with some kind on IBM tester in it. I have so idea what it is but it has an 8" floppy disk drive in it! I got the floppy disk too. It has a NICE handset with a 4 line LED display and a full keyboard attached by a cable. There's also a lot of strange looking connectors and adapters with it. The main box has an "IPL" button and three connectors labeled "PIO", "S LOOP" and "R LOOP". The quick reference chart only calls it a "MD". There's a tag on it that says "TYPE 910x 002". Anyone know what it is and what it's for? Joe

27 years, 6 months

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Dr. Dobb's article

by bill＠chipware.com

If you haven't seen it yet, the February Dr. Dobb's has a 3/4 page blurb about computer collecting and Kevin Stumpf's _Guide_to_Collecting_Computers_and_Computer_Collectibles_ Does said author subscribe to this list? Has anyone seen the book for sale and/or bought/read it? Bill Sudbrink

27 years, 6 months

4
3
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RT-11 Help

by dogas＠leading.net

From: Megan <mbg(a)world.std.com> >possible, however, for a user application to make use of the system >library routines which allow full access to an MSCP disk -- in which >case doing the squeeze won't help. an MSCP disk ??? This was a cardkey application for a rather large site so mayhap the app did this... >What you may want to suggest to him is to > > 1) Delete all sensitive files from all disk partitions how? DELETE myfile?? > 2) Squeeze all disk partitions. > 3) backup all disk partitions (on a file, not device, basis) > 4) FORMAT all disk partitions (RT-11 Format doesn't really > do a low-level format except for specific devices, and > MSCP disks are not one that it will do -- with the > exception of RX33 diskettes) > 5) Restore the backed-up files to all partitions. > 6) Release the hardware to you... :-) > >>Where can I find a good source of RT-11 info? > >Not counting the documentation which can be purchased for it... really? where? sign me up. ;) Thanks Megan - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 6 months

1
0
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computers for children

by joe＠barrera.org

>My daughter (4) and my son (2) are both used to play with the pentium running >Winblows. If I show them a game on a c64 or Apple ][ or any other machine >for that matter they look at me weird and ask if they can play with the >pentium since I'm not using it... My son (6) fell in love with the Kaypro II as soon as he saw a picture of it on the web, so I've promised him I'd get one.... not bad for the son of a "Microserf". (grrr.) - Joe

27 years, 6 months

1
0
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computers for children

by fauradon＠pclink.com

One of the main problem in getting a kid interested in one machine is not really at the level of what they can do with it but more IMHO to what machine they are used to play with. My daughter (4) and my son (2) are both used to play with thepentium running Winblows. If I show them a game on a c64 or Apple ][ or any other machine for that matter they look at me weird and ask if they can play with the pentium since I'm not using it... I belive that if a kid is interested in programming (mine are not yet:( it is better to let them choose what machine they are attracted to. I don't know yet whether any of mine will have any interest in old machines but for the time being I'm just happy that they show any interest at all in one of them. What I'm trying to do is show them as much as I can (or as much as they can take) about other machines. I'll let them choose what they want later if they keep the interest. I can see ten years from now trying to tell my son that the C64 had an 8X1 byte for sprites and having him replying ok but how do you do hollographic simulation? Of course skill learned from old machines are valuable to understand what's going on inside of the machine but the trend today is to make abstraction of all those _annoying_ facts and use the proper library or API. (I work with Winblows programmers who have no clue how a computer operate) So I say let the kid choose. Francois.

27 years, 6 months

1
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RT-11 Help

by dogas＠leading.net

Finally.... Jacksonville pays off.... Do you know who many times I've seen computer x available in y, for pickup only, where y does not equal Jacksonville. I've got two SMS 1000s comming this weekend, a model 50 and 40, and two expansion boxes (41's ???) full of serial io running RT-11 for a defunct cardkey system. I dont know RT-11 (yet.) and am looking forward to the experience. But before that happens the seller wants to purge some sensitive employee files on the system. Can someone tell me how to tell him to 1) move through the directory structure, and 2) how to delete specific files ( some that span partitions 0 - du4 according to him ), and... Where can I find a good source of RT-11 info? Thanks - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 6 months

4
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What is this: Tektronix 4129 and 4115B

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I went to my favorite scrap place today and they had a Tektronix 4115B and a 4129 that about ready to be recycled. Anyone know what the specs on these are? They're both large desk size chassis and and huge monitors on top. Both use 8" floppy disks. Are these somthing that needs to be saved? Joe

27 years, 6 months

1
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MS-DOS FAT file system ripped off? (from WHOM?)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/12/99 7:14:45 PM EST, spc(a)armigeron.com writes: << What's the fallacy in putting the directory in the center of a disk? Seems to me it would cut down on average the seek time. -spc (The elevator algorithm favors the center of the disk in fact) >> Well, that's how os2's HPFS puts the directory. i think it would cut down on seek time since there wouldnt be as much movement just moving to the outer/inner tracks.

27 years, 6 months

1
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Dr. Dobb's article

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 01:15 PM 1/12/99 -0600, you wrote: >laugh, you'll cry, get the book. (OK, it's a book about computer >collecting, the only one I know of, and it includes anecdotes from a few There is also Haddock's book of a similar name. Unfortunately, my copy has gone missing. It's around somewhere, but Rachel has been cleaning up my room, and I'm lucky to be able to find a clean shirt, let alone something important like a classic computer book. 8^) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/

27 years, 6 months

2
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Original 128K Mac available

by paulk＠microsoft.com

> I would be interested to find out if the Apple HD20 would work with a 128k > that had been upgraded to 512k. It does. I was confused when I heard about people complaining that an HD20 wouldn't work with their 128, because it works fine with mine. Then I realized that mine was upgraded to 512k. I believe that there's not enough room in a stock 128 for the HD20 init, plus the buffers it needs, plus the rest of the operating system, plus user apps. > r. r e d @ b e a r s . o r g Paul Kearns paulk(a)microsoft.com

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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Old ASCII (was: Re: Stupid CP/M question)

by Philip.Belben＠pgen.com

> Philip.Belben(a)PowerTech.co.uk wrote about the ASCII code that was originally > a leftward-pointing arrow, but was later redefined as underscore: > >> PET has a left arrow for that code as well. Sensible, since underscore is >> available elswhere in the character set (shift-$ IIRC) but I never knew it >> used to be standard ASCII. > > Um, no. ASCII doesn't define any shift-$ character. In fact, ASCII doesn't > define any shift characters at all. It makes no association between > characters and keystrokes. All it defines is the codes for the characters, > and the functions of some of the control characters. Note that even in > the case of control characters, it does NOT define them as being generated > by a control key together with some other key. So, for instance, there is > no proper ASCII character designated "Control-C". This style of usage is > an artifact of bit-paired keyboards, as was discussed here last week. > > ASCII originally did not have an underscore character. Since the 1968 > revision, it has an underscore but no leftward-pointing arrow. > > In any case, the Commodore PET did not use ASCII, although it used an > extended character set that was derived from ASCII. So perhaps you are > thinking of one of the Commodore line-drawing characters. Despite which fact, in PET BASIC the CODE function is replaced by the ASC function. But I think you missed my point. Was I really that unclear? Let me rephrase: The decision to use left arrow for that code was sensible because the PETSCII character set has underscore elsewhere (and I still maintain it is at shift-$ on the PET keyboard. FWIW it is indeed one of the Commodore line drawing characters, but I used it as an underscore in many text-based PET applications when I programmed the machines regularly, and I still use it as underscore in PETSCII-ASCII translation), and it would therefore be redundant to include another underscore character in the character set. If you ever get the chance, have a look at the layout of a PET chicklet keyboard. It is quite clever. PETSCII, unlike ASCII, _does_ make connections between codes for shifted keys and those for unshifted keys - on the original PET keyboard the PETSCII code difference was always 128 (the screen code difference was always 64 BTW). And yet they managed the following things: Characters with horizontal lines of pixels in all eight positions followed a simple route down and up two adjacent columns of keys, yet they managed to get bottom (shift-$), middle (shift-@) and top (sorry, can't remember. Shift-# ?) onto punctuation keys so they would be available in lower case mode. Similarly with the vertical lines in all eight pixel positions. For those pedants who say there is no middle with an 8*8 dot matrix, it was the one that lined up with the small corners and tees (shifted numbers). Large corners (two outer edges) were in a little block on shifted O, P, L and colon (or possibly semicolon). Shifted O, P and L were of course unavailable in lower case mode; shift-: became a square root sign. And so on. So although PETSCII is not ASCII, don't knock it. It worked well. Philip. PS Why is it that, whenever someone misunderstands what I say, they assume I'm wrong, and they're right. And if their interpretation of what I say is obviously silly, they berate me for saying something obviously silly, rather than stopping and thinking, Can he really have meant that? Nothing personal, I hasten to add. It happens all the time. P.

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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y2k stuff

by jim＠calico.litterbox.com

What boggles the mind is that this is a problem at all. It seems hard to believe (in retrospect) that people really did deliberately build software with only 2 digit years. I know it saved a few bytes, and yes, I remember when a byte of memory was a significant amount, but still. How did standard programming practice come to be so short sighted as to assume that software infrastructure would be thrown out and replaced on a regular basis? -- Jim Strickland jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there? -----------------------------------------------------------------------

27 years, 6 months

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5.25" disks

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

I picked up an auction lot today and it contained, among other things, some 5.25" disks that are hand labelled as "1.2MB Test Media". I'm wondering if they are calibration disks for 5.25" drives. Realizing they are probably so RARE that to L@@K at them should cost $20 :-) Since I've got a couple I'd like to send one to anyone who feels confident they can tell me what they are (Tony?) Another thing this lot had in it was the 1996 MSDN developers network subscription CD binder. This basically has like all the "big" software microsoft made including copies of Win95, WinNT 3.5 and WinNT 4.0 Beta. Plus various SDKs, international versions and docs. It occurred to me that to a developer this "trash" is going to be gold to a collector in 20 years who is trying to demonstrate or renovate a "pre-millenium personal computer." So it seems to be out there and it is fairly low volume (less than 1 cubic foot) and can be had inexpensively. May I suggest we do future collectors a favor (as those who saved OS/8 did for me) and take some of this "junk" and store it somewhere safe for future generations... --Chuck

27 years, 6 months

4
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Computers for children

by meo＠netads.com

Fred Cisin said... | |This'll probably offend many. Maybe. I simply disagree - to an extent. |I think that an 8 year old would be best off with a machine with CD-ROM |capability. And a good size stack of reference disks, including |Encyclopedia Brittanica, atlases, and several collections of literature. What has that got to do with learning BASIC, or graphics? The nice thing about a Commodore, CompuColor, Mac II, etc, is the instant feedback. I realize the WWW can provide this (so long as you have a clear T3 path between systems 8^), but that's not the same. With a graphical basic, you create, you play. It's more like Legos(tm) or Tinker Toys (tm) than using a computer application. I agree that what you propose is a good thing for a kid to have, but it's a completely different topic - using the computer as a general purpose learning tool, or playing on a computer. What we were talking about was playing *with* a computer. |For programming, I would recommend BASIC, TO START WITH, followed by an |introduction to C and assembly as soon as basic principles are understood. I've yet to see a BASIC that runs on top of an OS that's as easy to get into and provides direct feedback as well as a graphical BASIC DOS. |Once the kid has gotten thoroughly into it, THEN maybe a birthday present |of a set of Linux disks? Hah. My kids started on Linux, at about 8 and 10. Yeah, I intend to (God help me) get a Win or Mac system soon, but only because there are too many things not yet available on Linux. But Linux is just fine as a newbie OS for a kid. -Miles

27 years, 6 months

1
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Original 128K Mac available

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

Ed Preble <epreble(a)rt66.com> has a Mac 128 (upgraded to 512K) available to any interested party. It comes with a travel case. Any interested parties please contact him directly. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 12/27/98]

27 years, 6 months

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supers

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au -----Original Message----- From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, 13 January 1999 4:27 Subject: Re: supers >On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Geoff Roberts wrote: > >> >Whether participating in distributed crypto challenges (like RC5) >> >qualifies as "unsavory" is yet to be determined. >> >> Nah. I suppose some might think it "unsporting", but it's just >> jealousy...:^) > >I don't think that's unsporting at all. With the latest and greatest >Pentium, all you have to do is plug a stupid little mini-tower into a wall >outlet. Victor and his gang will have to haul this huge behemoth home, >then figure out how to get the right power to it, then figure out how to >get the right cooling into it, then *pay* for that power and cooling to >run it, etc. > >If anyone is audacious enough to take on such a challenge then they >deserve the advantage :) I'm on your side.... Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

27 years, 6 months

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What's a VAX 6000/300 ?

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

-----Original Message----- From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)freegate.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, 13 January 1999 5:30 Subject: What's a VAX 6000/300 ? > >My guess is that it isn't "classic" yet, but there is a nice example of one >at Berman for _next week's_ auction. (unless they are saving it and the >tape drive for someone) It's from around 89-91 era, so it might be. I have a couple. One built in 89, (A Classic!) 1 in 90. It's a medium sized Vax, about the size of a very big fridge. The 300 series cpu's were good for about 3.8 VUPS (1 VUPS ~ 1MIPS). The middle digit of the 300 indicates the number of cpus in the system. Depending on individual machine config, this could be anything from 1-4.. The internal tape drive would be a TK70, a 280mb version of a TK50. They will also read TK50 tapes but not write to them. A typical 6000-310 would probably have 64Mb of RAM, and an ethernet adapter, plus it may or may not have either a KDB50 SDI Disk/Tape controller and/or KLESI-B controller for TU81+ tape drive. It could also have instead of a disk controller a CI bus adapter to allow it to use HSC mounted disk/tape drives in a VAXCluster configuration. Apart from the size and weight, if you have the room, they are a good, reliable machine. VMS or Ultrix only. NetBSD not supported (No XMI Bus support). They are 3 phase, but it's fairly easy to convert to single phase, and they only consume around 500w. My 6000-220 (slightly slower, but a 2 cpu version) draws about 2A @240vac from a domestic power outlet. FWIW, it can be moved by hand, though it takes about 6 guys, weighs about 200Kg, about 30 of which is a 3 phase autotransformer in the bottom. (First thing I get rid of!) They need a VTxxx terminal as a console. One of these was my first Vax, so I guess I'm sort of an enthusiast. Oh yeah, they are just about unkillable, dropping one from a great height will distort the cabinet somewhat, but it will probably not stop it working. Hope this helps. Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

27 years, 6 months

1
0
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Cosmic Rays, other Plasma, and finds

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, Right here in Figure 5-6 of NASA's Technical Memorandum 4527, Natural Orbital Environment Guidelines for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development, it shows that the Cosmic Ray environment is actually *less* severe during a solar Maximum than during a solar Minimum. Note that the effect only applies to rays with energy lower than appx. 10,000 MeV/nucleon, and these would probably be screened out by the atmosphere anyway for a surface observer or classic computer. The rays packing more than 10,000 MeV/nucleon are unaffected by solar max/min. I surmise that when the sun is putting out lots and lots of protons, the extra protons form an additional layer around the inner solar system and screen out some of the cosmic rays. Of course, this means that though there are fewer (low-energy) cosmic rays, there are more solar protons - but their energy distribution falls off rapidly above 10,000 MeV/nucleon (per Figure 5-7c). The bottom line is that unless your classic computer is on orbit, you won't see any particle radiation effects from solar max. Magnetic storms affecting power distribution grids, particlarly far north, quite possibly. On another topic, I salute Captain Napalm for his multiply-encoded message. Chuck, I disagree with you with less vehemence than he - I'd rather see text messages myself - but that was a *hilarious* rejoinder. Well said, er, shown, er, put. On yet another topic: I spotted about a month ago (and finally found my notes) the following gear at a local electronics shop (A-Tex, near the airport in San Antonio, Texas). 2 ea. HP 1615 A Logic Analyzer $31 4 ea. HP 1610 B Logic Analyzer $31 1 ea. Tek. 4105 Monitor $10 1 ea. Tek. 4404 Monitor $10 1 ea. Tek. 4025 Terminal $10 1 ea. HP 1611A logic state analyzer $?? (not marked) Each unit was about the size of a CRT terminal. The 1611 looked like it might be an in-circuit emulator for a Z-80 based on some other text on it. Conditions all unknown, no probes or accessories or manuals. Outsides were dirty and scarred, with some keycaps gone on the terminal. A) What are Logic Analyzers? (This is an embarassing question. No need to coddle me with a long answer, something like "please go *open* the Horowitz and Hill on your bookshelf" could serve.) Anybody know the frequency ranges for these particular units? Could I have fun probing the inside of my Rainbow or Mac Plus with them? Could I have fun probing My friends' PowerPC computers? Are these good prices, assuming they work? B) What do accessories for the logic analyzers (like probes) cost? Can I still get manuals? How could I test these in-situ? C) Is anybody interested enough in any of them to have me pick one up at my next opportunity and ship it (your expense for shipping, could be some time before I can get there and they might be gone already, etc. disclaimer etc.) Thanks in advance on A) and B), and please contact me seperately on C). - Mark

27 years, 6 months

20
35
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Weird find, QNX, and cooling

by cfandt＠netsync.net

At 03:48 PM 1/9/99 -0600, Doug Yowza wrote: >Hey, any industrial controller collectors out there? I didn't think so. Well, I am. That's part of my job experience -building/maintaining industrial controls. Allison has experience in this too from what I recall >from her past discussions here. A few others may lurk behind the trees too. > >I just picked up an exceedingly cool 486 box from around 1993 with a >touch-screen LCD and ethernet. The entire machine is about the size of an >Amiga box, but it's in a black hermetically sealed magnesium case. It's >running QNX 4.11, and root didn't have a password (woohoo!). The Li >battery was starting to ooze corrosive juices onto the CPU, but other than >that, it's in primo shape. Clean up that mess. I'm not sure so far but I think that battery juice is a bit toxic. Be careful nevertheless. What kind of manufacturer names are on this thing? > >I have some stupid questions: Not really stupid in this case; you're just new to it. :) > >Was there a GUI for this version of QNX? I can't find one, nor anything >that exploits the touch screen on this box. There are third-party GUI's possibly available for QNX but they are costly. Wonderware's and Intellution's interfaces are around US$2k minimum for example. There may be others cheaper nowadays. These GUIs are typically refered to in the industry as Man-Machine Interface or MMI. QNX is a small realtime OS for control systems. Applications are nearly always handwritten for each installation often using a third-party supplied MMI, etc. No typical desktop apps available for QNX as far as I know. I know little about QNX and my books and catalogs are still packed in boxes after my untimely "downsizing" last year. > >There are three fans inside the box, but it's sealed. I always thought >that fans worked by exchanging hot air for cooler air. What good are >fans inside a sealed box? The industrial environment is quite tough for electronics. Depending on the factory/machine/process, much muck could be drawn into an electronics enclosure by air circulation. In machine shops as an example, tool coolants which are sprayed onto the workpiece and tool are found in the air as an aerosol mist. The aerosol is pulled into a cabinet by the fan and collects on everything. Over time there is a coating of condensed coolant which collects dust and other garbage and prevents proper cooling of critical components. I worked on a 1978 vintage 6800-based CNC controller (not 68k, but Moto's 6800 :) which had this cooling arrangement. After about 12 years I found a 1 mm thick coating of sticky coolant glop coating most everything that was not even close to the airstream of the cabinet cooling fan. Poor idea. A standard PC used in most machine shops is even asking for trouble after a period of time. Sealed Boxes Are Good. Cooling is achieved by thermal exchange between the outer surface of the enclosure and the surrounding atmosphere. Fans inside the box ensure the air is mixed to maintain contact with the inner surface and to prevent "hot spots". On systems which had to have a LOT of electronics, especially high power motor drives and a CRT display, etc. a refrigerated heat exchanger system was hung on the outside of the cabinet with its cooling surface stuck inside the enclosure. Another lower cost, simpler way is to use the venturi-effect which uses filtered compressed air blown through a venturi thus cooling the air and pressurizing the control cabinet. Air was exhausted _out_ of the controls because of the positive pressure inside. Really old machines actually had a small air conditioner placed inside the cabinet. Usually when I built control systems I made sure I could get as much surface area as possible exposed to the outside world. I used cabinets somewhat larger than needed, air moving within, free space around exterior and absolutely no open apperatures to let junk in. Insides were kept clean with fewer electronic failures. Some non-industrial computers that have no fans, especially lo-cost mass-market types, probably had their cases made such that free flow of air around the exterior would help cool things off without relying solely on their vent holes and slots. > >Long shot: the display blanks after a few minutes, and hitting a key (it >has a keyboard port) or touching the screen doesn't unblank it. Any Hard to tell without knowing something about the software written for the thing. Of course, it is not hung on the original machine at this time so there could be some sort of interconnection which would keep the controller running. Though the display blanks this could be related to a feature in just the display panel, not so much the controller. I feel the CPU is halted early on as there are no periferals to be found, so the OS hangs thus not keeping the display 'alive'. >guesses on how to wake it back up (BTW, there's no power switch on this >thing -- it wants to be on *all* the time). 24/7 is the norm for most industrial systems. The power switch for this machine was likely the big disconnect switch on either the machine or the wall from which the AC power was run to from an overhead busbar. You never shut it off unless there was an extended plant shutdown (long vacations) or machine repairs. I haven't got Netscrape back up yet because of a disaster with windoze95 (GRRRR! Don't get me started on this damned OS which cannot handle system problems correctly. The crash was incredibly uncalled for and troublesome. Grrrr.....) but I would suggest searching for a QNX website yourself. They could have some bits of info for you to pick out. Otherwise, as an "unlicensed end user", you may not get any direct help from them. They will likely send you to a local sales rep. Depending upon how sympathetic he/she is to you being a collector type you _might_ get a little assistance or even a few bits of documentation. Good luck. -- Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/

27 years, 6 months

2
2
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Berkeley Enterprises 1956 Report

by cswiger＠wilma.widomaker.com

>In anticipation of such strawman arguments, I focused on Simon because it >shares almost all of the same traits as the Altair: > * digital > * electronic (or electromechanical, in the case of Simon) > * small > * affordable to build > * well publicized Ok, well, one of the criteria of the Patent office for registered 'firsts' is that it must have utility! What makes it fun, promising, useful as opposed to an academic intellectual curiosity? We read about early logic devices with interest, but the Simon seems to lack a certain critical mass to generate widespread enthusiasm, it's basically an ALU unit. That's like claiming a horizontal output unit, affordable to a home user, was the 'first TV', even tho a sophisticated hobbyist could buy it and use it as a part of a larger project that could actually do something useful. There's nothing really there that would cause thousands of hobbyists to get excited over the possibilities enough to rush out and plop down four grand and swamp the manufacturer with so many orders they couldn't keep up. But we want to know more - was the tape program storage, could it make decisions and branch based on comparisons, scalable, etc. Chuck cswiger(a)widomaker.com

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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IBM type 4836?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/12/99 10:39:08 AM Pacific Standard Time, rhblake(a)bigfoot.com writes: << A friend asked me about what he says is an IBM unit that is running Windows 3.1 and he says it says a type 4836. That number isn't clciking with me, anyone have any ideas of what this is, or is he possibly reading a tag from an add-on/in card? I saw a reference in IBM Finland to a 4836 multiplatform emulation card but nothing else. >> well, if the numbers are swapped around, could be 6384 valuepoint...

27 years, 6 months

2
1
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Y2K stuff

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 12:53 PM 1/9/99 +1030, you wrote: >Are they polymer rather than paper like all ours are now? Still paper, but with a few more security features. >To save money, the govt withdrew all coins below 5c, we now have $1 & $2 >coins, The US could have hundreds of millions of dollars by doing that (at least $1 coins) but it has been demonstrated around the world that the only way to do that *successfully* is to pull the bills out of circulation immediately as the coins are released. Our "Susie B" dollar was a failed attempt -- becuase the bill was not pulled. People claim silly things like it was too close in size to the quarter (BS - try it sometime) or it was too heavy. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/

27 years, 6 months

16
22
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X.25?

by kurtkilgor＠bigfoot.com

Wired (no, I don't usually read it) reports that hackers were intending to disable Iraqui computer networks, which were supposedly accessible by dialup, and using a 'vintage' protocol called X.25. Could someone tell me what sort of protocol this is and what machines it's likely to involve? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 6 months

5
4
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supers

by geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au

-----Original Message----- From: Victor the Cleaner <jonathan(a)canuck.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, 12 January 1999 19:51 Subject: supers >Not much to tell yet. It's a YMP-EL/98, the 8-cpu version of the >air-cooled "baby's first Cray" series. It's been promised to us, Congratulations. Fine catch. Just how big/fast is this thing? >but there's a certain amount of corporate bureaucracy left to >clear. Isn't there always? :^) >Whether participating in distributed crypto challenges (like RC5) >qualifies as "unsavory" is yet to be determined. Nah. I suppose some might think it "unsporting", but it's just jealousy...:^) >At the moment, we know of two other machines of the same family >that are now in private hands. Well, at least you don't have to set a precedent..... >More news when we've got it. Be very interested to hear how you get on. Especially if you get it running. Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Systems Manager Saint Marks College Port Pirie South Australia. My ICQ# is 1970476 Ph. 61-411-623-978 (Mobile) 61-8-8633-0619 (Home) 61-8-8633-8834 (Work-Direct) 61-8-8633-0104 (Fax)

27 years, 6 months

3
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