4th of July Hypocricy (and NGEN systems back on topic)

At 02:07 PM 7/4/01 -0600, Dick wrote: . .snip free whether doncha \begin{criticism} Oh my god... this must be one of those``only in the US'' things... Really, the US stopped evolving (for the worse) as a society during the cowboy era... \end{criticism} I lived on and off in the US for 10+ years. I have been exposed to american culture since I was a child. Yet, it is still difficult for me to grasp the reason for so much cultural inertia in otherwise such sensible people. I have always thought that sensible people should be able to liberate themselves from culture and build a broader view of the world. Example: Jefferson wanted The People to be able to own guns so that the government would be afraid of The People; they would bear equal firepower. Times have changed. The People can't own nuclear weapons, and the government sure isn't afraid, because while voting can change the politicians' faces, it can't change the system. There are many people in the US who can see through all of this (take Chomsky, or even better, Benjamin Garber). But those are not the guys that CNN chooses to interview... Enough ranting... Back on topic: The Convergent Systems machines (NGEN series) that I found were sold by .... Datapoint!!! The circuit boards inside are clearly marked "Convergent"... but the user and service manuals clearly state "Datapoint 1200". I found one "CTOS boot and HD install disk" and one "CTOS HD System files" disk, but there is an empty floppy disk sleeve in the pack. Now, these floppy disks were dumped^H^H^H^H^H^Hstored under very adverse circumstances: fluctuating humidity and very fine sawdust (the university's carpentry shop was located next door). But I don't see any fungal growths. Still, I think I may have only one chance at reading and archiving the floppies. What method/hardware/software do you people suggest for the job? By the way, Tony would be anything but indifferent to the (dis)"service manuals"; they are essentially wintel-like step by step guides to decide which module/card to swap/replace... carlos. -------------------------------------------------------------- Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org