classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
Subj: Re: Upcoming PBS special on bit rot
I wrote:
>I saw an advert in the latest issue of Scientific American for
>an upcoming special about archiving digital data to appear on
>PBS. It is supposed to show on the 13th (tomorrow) and alas
OK I have the magazine: there is a Review (not an advert) on page 110
of the Jan 1998 issue of Sci. Am. The television program will be:
"Into the Future: On the Preservation of Knowledge in the Electronic Age"
A film by Terry Sanders, narrated by Robert MacNeil; American Film
Foundation, 1997; Airing January 13 on PBS.
I do not know much about the "American Film Foundation" but MacNeil is
a PBS regular and PBS quite often offers transcipts and tapes for sale
at the end of many (but not all) of their broadcasts. While I have several
CRTs for use as monitors I do not own a television tuner or a VCR. (I also
note that the schedule posted at http://www.kqed.org/ implies that the
main Bay Area PBS broadcaster will not be showing Into the Future.)
Could folks who do manage to see it please post a message regarding whether
there is an address to which one could write to obtain transcripts/tapes?
Thanks.
Peter Prymmer
Well you show me what you have and I'll show you what I can find:)
Seriously I would very much like to find an Oric1 and an Atmos, I remember
drooling over the Electronique Pratique magazines when I was living in
France. There are also a few more that I have not seen around here but it
may well be like the amstrads who apparently made to Florida and not to
Minnesota (they must pretty smart machines;)
I have absolutely no clue as to what shipping from France to the US can cost
(the las shipping I did over the ocean was in 1989 when I moved to the US)
>I live in France ;-) but it IS my hobby TOO so how do we split the
>spoils?
>
>--
> Hans B. Pufal : <mailto:hansp@digiweb.com>
> Comprehensive Computer Catalogue : <http://www.digiweb.com/~hansp/ccc/>
>_-_-__-___--_-____-_--_-_-____--_---_-_---_--__--_--_--____---_--_--__--_
>
ive had that happen meself. thanks to it, i got two undisk drives and colour
composite monitor that way for my //e. in another instance, i found a platinum
//e with matching unidisk and colour monitor at a separate place as well as
stopping by a place i went once before and got my atari portfolio.
david
<< Does this happen to anyone else?
I don't usually frequent the 5 or 6 thrift shops around here, and flea
markets and yard sales I don't have time for usually, but sometimes when
I'm going somewhere else, I have this "feeling", a sixth sense if you will,
that I absolutely have to stop at these places. When I do, I usually find
really rare or super deals on old computers, the ones I used to collect
anyway, before the GriD bug got ahold of me. I live in a city of 25,000
people, and I believe I'm the only person that owns any sort of GRiD
laptop. Any GRiDs I get are usually through deals on the internet.
>>
>At 11:48 AM 1/15/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>Tat goes without saying: placing a machine in a want list is also an
>>engagement to purchase it. Otherwise the system would not work for too
long.
>>There should be an update prior to each outing to make sure that the
>>machines are still wanted.
>
> That's not practical for me. I went looking (and found :-) last
>Saturday, yesterday (found more) and I will go again today ( I know where
>there's a keyboard that I need) and again next Thursday (big NASA auction)
>for certain. I look a lot, that's why I find a lot. One of the FEW
>advantages of living in a big city.
>
> Joe
I do that too stop at garage sales and couple stores on my way from work. I
guess it was mostly meant for major events. For 'casual' shopping we
probably can E-talk before making a move (the machine is probably not going
to disapear overnight).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Francois Auradon.
Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon
At 10:02 PM 1/15/98, you wrote:
>Then you just need to find the program that allows the IBM to read/write
>Commie progs / files to the drive; which I know is out there somewhere.
>(No, I don't watch the X files... ;-)
Or maybe there's a program that'll let me read/write commodore disks in a
PC 5.25" drive. Anyone? Anyone?
>I do have somewhere the circuit that allows you to hook up an Atari drive,
>which used a similar arrangement.
I never got into building circuits and such. I'm cursed with big, fumbling
hands. Some people say I can draw pretty good
(http://limbo.netpath.net/art/), I can type, I can mouse, but please,
whatever you do, do not put a soldering iron in my hand!
If the circuit is the only way to go, I think I'll pass.
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
Thank you for the info. Now I just need to bug one of the EE's at work and
I'm up and running.
>AFAIK, no computer (at least no micro or mini) ever used the mains
>_frequency_ for anything more than a real time clock interrupt and
>running the fans.
>
snip...
>Ditto monitors. Every monitor I've ever looked inside (or read the
>service manual for) has used the mains to produce DC rails only. I've got
>a lot of 60Hz video monitors here (UK, 50Hz mains) with no problems.
>
>-tony
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Francois Auradon.
Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon
Could you provide more info on th model, I am not familiar with it. Is it on
of the PeeCee compatible type?
-----Original Message-----
From: PG Manney <manney(a)nwohio.nwohio.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, January 15, 1998 5:46 PM
Subject: Amstrad 6400 DD
>Anyone want one? A local charity that I service has one, and would probably
>get rid of it.
>
>manney(a)nwohio.com
>
>
At 08:12 PM 1/15/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I think the intended meaning was "production/general purpose" (so as to
>eliminate computers created specifically and solely for the shuttle.)
The GRiDs were made in production runs, but under govt. contracts. They
weren't made specifically for the shuttle or NASA, at least the Compass
wasn't.
>And of course, I'm on the train to work and my Haddock book is at home...
>What year was the compass?
Compass 1100 1982 (Says it on the case as mfg. date)
GRiDCASE 3 1985
GRiDCASE 1535exp 1989 (At least that's what the BIOS says)
I threw the other two in just so I could remind myself to come up with a
timeline for the GRiD page. I'd like to find the original pricing on these
suckers. Anyone know where to look?
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
At 08:13 PM 1/15/98 -0600, you wrote:
>But while I'm at it, if you are recording info about your classics,
>especially those that use wall-warts, do take note of the info for
>posterity's sake, as many show up sans original PS. (Especially voltage and
>connector polarity!) Thanks!
Dang, I knew I was forgetting something on that GRiDSPeC page. Connector
polarity. Well, probably alot more I'm missing too from someone else's
standpoint, but hey, I ain't getting paid for this project! :)
Shameless Plug:
And for those of you who haven't seen the GRiDSPeC page, it's at:
http://limbo.netpath.net/hw/GRiD
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
At 02:45 PM 1/14/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Gridpad 1910 power supply:
Whups! Sorry folks. Netscape died as I was sending John some GRiD info for
his web page, so I went to use Eudora, and missent it.
But while I'm at it, if you are recording info about your classics,
especially those that use wall-warts, do take note of the info for
posterity's sake, as many show up sans original PS. (Especially voltage and
connector polarity!) Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.crl.com/~sinasohn/
