17 Jan
2001
17 Jan
'01
5:42 a.m.
I knew about computers for a long time before I actually bought one for
myself, and from articles and books knew a bit of basic. One of my first
programs was a couple lines of basic I could quickly type in on the demo
computers at Radio Shack. It endlessly printed to the screen a string one
character at a time with about a 3 second delay between characters, "I am a
slow and stupid computer. ". Made a nice pattern on the screen.
17 Jan
17 Jan
10:58 a.m.
Thats pretty funny! I bet the folks at Radio Shack didn't think so.....
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Regards,
Jeff
In <l03102800b68b7be73d8b(a)[192.168.1.4]>4]>, on 01/17/01
at 04:58 PM, Mike Ford <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> said:
I knew about computers for a long time before I
actually bought one for
myself, and from articles and books knew a bit of basic. One of my first
programs was a couple lines of basic I could quickly type in on the demo
computers at Radio Shack. It endlessly printed to the screen a string one
character at a time with about a 3 second delay between characters, "I am
a slow and stupid computer. ". Made a nice pattern on the screen.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey S. Worley
President
Complete Computer Services, Inc.
30 Greenwood Rd.
Asheville, NC 28803
828-277-5959
Visit our website at HTTP://www.Real-Techs.com
THETechnoid(a)home.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
10:43 a.m.
On Wed, 17 Jan 2001 THETechnoid(a)home.com wrote:
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that
would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Yes, it was. I'm sure there is someone more knowledgeable that can
comment on this, but apparently it had somethin to do with setting the
refresh rate on the display to something it couldn't handle, and it would
fry it.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
12:06 p.m.
That is a little more boring than I imagined, but I'm glad it's not
another 'totally true urban legend'.
I had imagined a design fault that fried logic circuits on the main board
and didn't know it was display related. Thanks for the info!
Regards,
Jeff
In <Pine.LNX.4.10.10101171342090.1231-100000(a)siconic.com>om>, on 01/17/01
at 06:06 PM, Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com> said:
On Wed, 17 Jan 2001 THETechnoid(a)home.com wrote:
> There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets
that would fry the
> computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Yes, it was. I'm sure there is someone more
knowledgeable that can
comment on this, but apparently it had somethin to do with setting the
refresh rate on the display to something it couldn't handle, and it would
fry it.
Sellam Ismail
Vintage Computer
Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey S. Worley
President
Complete Computer Services, Inc.
30 Greenwood Rd.
Asheville, NC 28803
828-277-5959
Visit our website at HTTP://www.Real-Techs.com
THETechnoid(a)home.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
12:28 p.m.
On Wed, 17 Jan 2001 THETechnoid(a)home.com wrote:
Thats pretty funny! I bet the folks at Radio Shack
didn't think so.....
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Look at:
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/cbm/PETx/petfaq.html
and search for 'Killer Poke'
Perhaps someone - Tony perhaps? can tell us whether this did actually
exist?
--
Regards
Pete
12:41 p.m.
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12:33 p.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Heh... not sure about this one but there was one to turn the charset on
Ataris upside down that I routinly visited on store demo units.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)bellsouth.net
12:44 p.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
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1:15 p.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
There's certainly such a POKE for the
HP71B...display comes out
upside-down...
My belief is that the HP's were well enough engineered that there
were no 'Fry Pokes' accessable to the user. On Topic, one of the
neatest things I remember reading as a beginning programmer was in
the HP85 manual where it said something like:
'There is no way you can damage the computer through use of the
keyboard'.
That was the right thing to say to (somewhat shy) me.
John A.
1:23 p.m.
New subject: Pepsi (was: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, John Allain wrote:
neatest things I remember reading as a beginning
programmer was in
the HP85 manual where it said something like:
'There is no way you can damage the computer through use of the
keyboard'.
That was the right thing to say to (somewhat shy) me.
I have always reassured my programming students that nothing that they
accidentally enter through the keyboard of their computers would actually
DAMAGE the computer. One wiseguy said,"I entered a Pepsi."
After Three Mile Island, Saturday Night Live postulated that it was caused
by "The Pepsi Syndrome", the result of spilling a Pepsi into a computer
keyboard.
Shortly after that, the U.S.A. and USSR (CCCP) normalized diplomatic
relations enough to import vodka and export Pepsi to Russia.
That was followed almost immediately by Chernobyl.
Surely that could not be coincidence!
Until their recent bailout, Apple computers ride into failure was with a
former Pepsi executive at the helm.
Coincidence?
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
18 Jan
18 Jan
7:29 a.m.
New subject: Pepsi (was: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
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8:52 a.m.
New subject: Pepsi (was: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
You would think the first principle of a consumer device
of any sort is that nothing you can do within the bounds of
reason should cause it to blow up.
Not so with the Compucolor computer. There were
a range of settings in the video chip which could cause the chip to
gradually overheat and destroy itself. Or maybe it was the
monitor... it was years ago, and my memory is fuzzy, but I think
the warning applied to the IC. I think one BASIC poke was all
it took.
Does anybody remember the whole story (or care)?
-- Ross
Tony Duell wrote:
Didn't one of the Apple ][ manuals (Applesoft Tutorial) contain a
statement like (and this is from memory..)
'You cannot damage the Apple by typing. Unless you type with a hammer. So
feel free to experiement. With your fingers'.
-tony
the HP85 manual where it said something like:
'There is no way you can damage the computer through use of the
keyboard'.
That was the right thing to say to (somewhat shy) me.
I have always reassured my programming students that nothing that they
accidentally enter through the keyboard of their computers would actually
DAMAGE the computer. One wiseguy said,"I entered a Pepsi." 
9:34 a.m.
New subject: HP85 Manuals and Modules.
Hi.
I just bought an HP85 ( in a surplus), and the machine works fine, even
the termal printer. Unfortunately the machine didn't come with any module.
Does anyone have or know where I can find the I/O Modules e/or RS232 ?????
Regards.
George Nelson.
17 Jan
17 Jan
1:24 p.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
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2:16 p.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
Tony wrote:
I've heard a rumour (and have not attempted to
test it for myself, for
obvious reasons) that using some undoucmented instructions on the HP97
(programmable printing calculator) could fry the printhead. There was
no way to generate these instructions from the keyboard in normal use,
but enterprising hackers did find ways of getting them onto magnetic
cards.
The damage would occur if you tried to print a "Non-Normalized Number"
(NNN). The microcode would get confused in a state which left the
printhead turned on. It can't handle continuous current for more than
a small fraction of a second, so it goes up in a puff of smoke.
The reason for playing with NNNs was that they allowed for interesting
displays which were useful in games.
The undocumented "instructions" of the HP-97, such as CF4, SF4, and LBLi,
*can* be generated from the keyboard using devious key sequences. But
they don't do anything.
18 Jan
18 Jan
7:53 a.m.
New subject: Drive By Pokings... Was first programs
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17 Jan
17 Jan
1:16 p.m.
THETechnoid skrev:
Thats pretty funny! I bet the folks at Radio Shack
didn't think so.....
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that
would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
Yes. ISTR that it was a case of under-specced capacitors, which would go
cookoo if the screen was programmed outside specifications.
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
Alle Verallgemeinerungen sind gef?hrlich, sogar diese.
--- Alexandre Dumas der ?ltere
1:22 p.m.
There used to be a poke on early Commodor Pets that
would fry the
computer. At least I HEARD there was one. Anybody know if this is true?
The POKE was used to speed up the screen on the early PETs
and the Commodore 'fixed' the design in later PETs causing the POKE
to do things the display hardware wasn't able to cope with.
Performing this POKE on a later PET will permenantly damage the
system after just a few seconds, though you'll definately know if a
program you're running performs it. Unfortunately, quite a few early
programs use it, as it was widely circulated in magazine articles and
such.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
8567
days inactive
8568
days old
17 comments
13 participants
participants (13)
-
archer＠topnow.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dogas＠bellsouth.net -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
foo＠siconic.com -
george_moraes＠lakelabs.com -
jhellige＠earthlink.net -
John.Allain＠Donnelley.InfoUSA.Com -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
optimus＠canit.se -
peter＠joules.org -
THETechnoid＠home.com