test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Craig Smith <ip500(a)roanoke.infi.net> wrote: > Now that brings back some memories! 1969-72 at Franklin Pierce College > writing assembly and Fortran IV stuff for a 360/60 that we timeshared > with a bunch of other schools. I/O was a Teletype machine with a > cardpunch and reader hooked up to it. The good old days??? I don't think > so! You've never know true Hell until you drop a huge deck of cards > you've worked on for a week. Craig Didn't you learn the trick of drawing a diagonal line across the deck from front to back and left to right? It's not perfect, but you get most of the cards very close to their original positions the first time. You _were_ using a printing punch, right? -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/

25 years, 10 months

CDC 9" PA5N1F15 drive head locking. How?

by allain＠panix.com

> Can somene kindly tell me how to lock/unlock the heads on a CDC model > PA5N1F15 9" hard drive? Well, mine's a PA5G1M-20 (8.5x10x30", 9" platters) and it has its own auto-solenoid, which is easy to see. Just look on the platter case for a silverish round thing about 1.5". You should see it has a two wire connector and can be unscrewed from the mounting plate w/ a twist. > BTW, according to the label, this is an FSD drive - is this > the type of interface, or do I actually have an SMD drive? I belieeeeve that FSD's are just small SMD's. They seemed to have the same cabling as I recall. I couldn't find info on the PA5G1M anywhere so I found another number on the unit, "97150-340 FSD-340" and that seeked to a Seagate (guess they bought out CDC SMD's), here: http://www.mm.mtu.edu/drives/seagate/smd/st6344j.txt Here it says this FSD is a SMD. Perhaps your drive is there... first get the other model number. And we wonder why we subscribe to this list. John A

25 years, 10 months

Programming on Paper

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

On June 17, Dave McGuire wrote: > On June 17, Mike Ford wrote: > > >Having a machine to interact with allows you to test your code on the spot > > >and if you are writing in an interpreted language the error-checking the > > >interpreter provides is a godsend for the coder. Why anyone would code > > >without the interaction of the target machine is beyond me. > > > > I write perfect code, like Mozart it flows out in its final form to the > > paper, and then to the system. > > Time for the hip waders, folks...it's getting deep in here. ;) Ok, here's a quote from one of my favorite computer scientists (Tom VanVleck, who might respond to being so identified as "Me? I'm just a programmer!"): : It is possible to write perfect, bug-free code. I've seen : it done, with no tool except a pencil. The essential ingredient : is a decision, by the individual programmer, to make the code : perfect, and not to release it until it is perfect. The quote is from an article of his on the Multicians web site: http://www.multicians.org/thvv/evolution.html I left my last job as a full-time programmer in 1990. A young Russian (who had written some of the software tools used in generating the control programming for Snowflake, the never-used Soviet space shuttle) was assigned to take over my work. In the month we worked together, we became friends, and so stayed in touch after I left. A couple or three years later, Dmitri and I were having lunch, and feeling a mood which had me wondering if I'd done the right thing in giving up programming, I asked him how much trouble he'd had with my code. "None." I probed deeper, knowing he was a good programmer and that he might have misinterpreted the thrust of the question. Right out, I asked him if he would character the severity and frequency of the bugs left in the extensive codebase I'd pushed. He stopped me, saying he'd understood me perfectly the first time, and said "No bugs in your code, Doug; you write best assembly language." If only I could have found an employer who felt that way! I was ultimately fired because the boss cared more about expeditiousness than about quality. That, and I think he tired of some of my behavioral quirks..... ;-) -doug q -doug q

25 years, 10 months

Programming on Paper

by jdarren＠ala.net

Sounds like you have a problem with anal retention. When I first started in programming (1977), we had to create *complete* technical design documents before a single line of code was written. This included technical specs, data diagrams, flowcharts, screen shots, etc... About 6 weeks ago, I was evaluating a fairly complex software project and and asked the engineer to provide a flowchart of how the application worked. He stated that he didn't see the value of a flowchart and that it would slow down the development process. In his opinion, it was much easier to just read the code. I was tempted to kick his ass, but decided the best way to handle this was to prove the value of proper documentation. So, I waded through his code, found the most complex module, and created a comprehensive flowchart of just that module. Now the fun part... I got the engineer, his supervisor, our VP of technology, and another non-technical co-worker (whom had never seen the project) together for a quick quiz. I gave the flowchart to the non-technical person and started asking the group fundimental questions like; "how many parameters are passed to and from the module", "what happens if an out-of-bounds value is passed", "what is the exact sequence of events when..." blah, blah, blah. Almost instantly, the non-technical person was able to answer the questions while the two engineers waded through hundreds of lines of code. Within 30 minutes, I was able to totally embarrass the engineer *and* his supervisor in front of the VP. Shoulda kicked his ass anyway... ;-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

25 years, 10 months

Programming on Paper

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> I've met programmers who 'design' like that as well -- they > type in some code, then fiddle with loop limits, ands versus ors, > etc until the program gives the 'right answers' on the test values. Is it > any wonder some programs contain bugs.. When I first started in programming (1977), we had to create *complete* technical design documents before a single line of code was written. This included technical specs, data diagrams, flowcharts, screen shots, etc... About 6 weeks ago, I was evaluating a fairly complex software project and and asked the engineer to provide a flowchart of how the application worked. He stated that he didn't see the value of a flowchart and that it would slow down the development process. In his opinion, it was much easier to just read the code. I was tempted to kick his ass, but decided the best way to handle this was to prove the value of proper documentation. So, I waded through his code, found the most complex module, and created a comprehensive flowchart of just that module. Now the fun part... I got the engineer, his supervisor, our VP of technology, and another non-technical co-worker (whom had never seen the project) together for a quick quiz. I gave the flowchart to the non-technical person and started asking the group fundimental questions like; "how many parameters are passed to and from the module", "what happens if an out-of-bounds value is passed", "what is the exact sequence of events when..." blah, blah, blah. Almost instantly, the non-technical person was able to answer the questions while the two engineers waded through hundreds of lines of code. Within 30 minutes, I was able to totally embarrass the engineer *and* his supervisor in front of the VP. Shoulda kicked his ass anyway... ;-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

25 years, 10 months

Source for 88k systems?

by ryan＠inc.net

I'm looking for a 88k based system, preferably a Moto MVME. Anyone have one they'd like to sell to an 88k nut? Thanks, Ryan Brooks ryan(a)inc.net

25 years, 10 months

Texas Universites Surplus

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 06:06 PM 6/12/00 -0400, Pat wrote: > >Another snag you might run into is the problem with funding agencies. >When I was at Carnegie-Mellon, I worked on a DoD-sponsored research >project. We never surplussed *anything*, and we never threw anything >away (at least, in the 2.5 years that I was there). The reason was, that >our funding agency (who had paid for all of our hardware) required that, >if we wanted to surplus something, we had to first go through a process to >put it on a list to offer it to other government agencies. Only after the >equipment had been on this list for several months, with no interest from >any other agencies, could we dispose of it. We were told at the time that >the estimated time from deciding to surplus something, until we were >actually permitted to do so (assuming that it was not snapped up by >another agency in the meantime), was at least 12 months. > I'd say that if they can surplus an item in only 12 months then they're doing extremely well. I see lots of surplus computers and test equipment and ALL of it has been in storage for at least 5 five years. Some of them have been in storage for over 10 years. For example, I just picked up two HP 9825s. Both of them have tags stating that they were removed from operation in 1995 and that they must be recalibrated or tested before being returned to service. Joe

25 years, 10 months

New stuff! Wahoo!

by rexstout＠uswest.net

Added about a dozen boxes of Macintosh software and some minor hardware items to the collection, as well as a TRS-80 Model 100 with some books and a few ROM modules. Seems to be working just fine, but the bottom is covered in duct tape to keep some covers from falling off. Even got a modem cable! Oh yeah, and three boxes of aviation material, including several flight computers(Jeppesen CR-5 and CR-2, a plastic Dalton E-6B, a Cessna Model 185 computer, a Delta II Take-off computer, a half-plastic half-metal Dalton E-6B, a pair of CPU-26A/P's(all-metal), and a pair of Weems aircraft plotters). In the Mac stuff there are tons of programs, at least a half dozen copies of PageMaker, lots of odds and ends(what the heck do you do with a financial planner desk accessory? I don't even know if MacOS 8 supports those!) that I haven't sorted through yet. The MacSnap box was empty :-(, but there was an external 800k floppy drive. Anyone know of any good sites for TRS-80 stuff? OK, now the interesting part... It's an 8-volume book set called "The Secret Guide to Computers", tenth edition. Popular BASIC(Vol 1), Popular Systems(Vol 3), Popular Applications(Vol 5), Popular Languages(Vol 7), and then Hassles in BASIC(Vol 2), Hassles in Systems(Vol 4), Hassles in Applications(Vol 6) and Hassles in Languages(Vol 8). -- /--------------------------------------------------\ | http://jrollins.tripod.com/ rexstout(a)uswest.net | | list admin for orham and ham-mac at www.qth.net | | KD7BCY pdxham at www.egroups.com | \--------------------------------------------------/

25 years, 10 months

Fw: HP-85 Computer

by mrdos＠swbell.net

Can anyone help this guy out? -----Original Message----- From: David M. Curtis <kc8tk(a)ee.net> To: Owen Robertson <mrdos(a)swbell.net> Date: Monday, June 19, 2000 10:53 AM Subject: Re: HP-85 Computer Hello Owen: Thanks for replying to my e-mail. I have an HP85, but no manuals. I am looking for the command for the computer to format a tape. I knew it 15 years ago. The tape drives in the 85s are notorious for going bad. The rubber tire on the tape drive had rotted away and this makes the tape run too slowly. I was going to format a new tape to see if that would help me to get it running. Thanks, David Curtis KC8TK ----- Original Message ----- From: Owen Robertson To: David M. Curtis Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 1:17 AM Subject: Re: HP-85 Computer It didn't come with the manual for the computer itself, but it came with the manuals for the following ROMS: Matrix Printer/Plotter Input/Output Mass Storage Advanced Programming I would be glad to photo copy any information that you need as soon as I get the computer. What information do you need?

25 years, 10 months

PDP-11 Boards Need Identification / Available for Trades

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

About twelve years ago, I was digging through a dumpster in the office park where I worked at the time, and found a quantity of what I only just recently identified to be PDP-11 UniBus boards. Now that I know I have no need for them, I think they'll be going. While I'd prefer to trade them, in case I have to sell them on E-Bay, I'd like to know what it is I'm selling. Each card has what appears to be a model number, and I list those numbers below. Two things I'd take in trade: A Prime coffee mug, or almost anything of a Pr1mary nature; A keyboard encoding ROM for a SOL-20 keyboard. Maybe you'll have something really nifty I'd like, so if you want to trade but don't have the above items, drop me a line, make me an offer! Here are the board numbers: M5904 quantity three G7273 quantity three M7296 quantity one M7297 quantity one M7556 quantity one M9047 quqntity one M9300 quantity one M9202 quantity one thanks in advance, doug quebbeman

25 years, 10 months

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