18 Mar
1998
18 Mar
'98
7:18 a.m.
I think we all need to take a step back, grab a few drinks, and try and
look at what's going on here.
So far, everyone has had some valid points. If we interpret the FAQ
literally than perhaps Sam is right. I would tend to believe, however,
that Bill Whitson's original idea was to have "liberal" restrictions on
the group so as to perpetuate discussion of "classic" computers. Not all
posts have adhered to the exact words of the FAQ. Some examples
might be posts on logic probes or on "orphaned" machines that aren't
necessarily 10 years old. The idea behind these posts is that it might
be something that interests people who like to talk about classic
computers or that this mailing list might actually be the best place to
get info on that topic. There are noted exceptions of course, but I
think that what would be best would be to ignore these posts and just
delete them as was earlier suggested.
I guess the main thing I'm trying to say is that the FAQ should'nt be
treated as gospel but as *general* guidelines that should (normally) be
adhered to. This means that instead of launching inquistions against
people who may post off topic, a "Hey, please try and stay on topic for
now on, but, yeah, I don't like AIWA CD players either" would be nice.
There really is no need to attack poeple either. We all have our "allegiences"
and we've all probably have had some kind of altercation with Sam in the
past but I really think that we shouldn't take all this THAT seriously! Sam
has called me an ass recently too. SO WHAT? I sent an e-mail back to him
and called him an asshole too. CASE CLOSED. We're ALL assholes to
some degree but when it comes down to it, if I need help putting an Apple II
back together (something I know NOTHING about) than Sam is here to help.
So... on that note. I am in need of some old removable SyQuest disks for
an SQ555 drive. (the 44mb variety) Anybody know where I might find some?
The local 'puter store still sells them for $40 a pop!
Thanks,
Les
lfb107(a)psu.edu
18 Mar
18 Mar
8:36 a.m.
On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, Les Berry wrote:
So far, everyone has had some valid points. If we
interpret the FAQ
literally than perhaps Sam is right. I would tend to believe, however,
that Bill Whitson's original idea was to have "liberal" restrictions on
the group so as to perpetuate discussion of "classic" computers. Not all
posts have adhered to the exact words of the FAQ. Some examples
might be posts on logic probes or on "orphaned" machines that aren't
necessarily 10 years old. The idea behind these posts is that it might
Good point. But let me make an example here. And I'll use Tony Duell (my
apologies in advance).
Tony on content alone is by far probably one of the most on-topic
contributors here. He also strays once in a while and posts off-topic.
However, his contribution to the discussion far outweighs his occasional
drifiting into topics wholly unrelated to classic computers, and that is
entirely acceptable.
There are many others like Tony here as well. Their contribution adds
value to the discussion. Then there are others who have posted more
off-topic material than on. What relevant contributions they have made
are outweighed by their off-topic drivel.
Are you in the former category, or the latter?
I guess the main thing I'm trying to say is that
the FAQ should'nt be
treated as gospel but as *general* guidelines that should (normally) be
adhered to. This means that instead of launching inquistions against
The problem is that in recent weeks the guidelines have not "normally been
adhered to". The guidelines have normally not been adhered to. The
solution is that people need to quell their impulse to perpetuate and
off-topic thread. Once it goes, to two or more messages, it should be
taken to private e-mail. Its not hard.
past but I really think that we shouldn't take all
this THAT seriously! Sam
has called me an ass recently too. SO WHAT? I sent an e-mail back to him
and called him an asshole too. CASE CLOSED. We're ALL assholes to
some degree but when it comes down to it, if I need help putting an Apple II
back together (something I know NOTHING about) than Sam is here to help.
Exactly.
So... on that note. I am in need of some old
removable SyQuest disks for
an SQ555 drive. (the 44mb variety) Anybody know where I might find some?
The local 'puter store still sells them for $40 a pop!
What size are these? I think I know where to get some for cheap.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
8:54 a.m.
New subject: DING DING! Back to your corners... WAS: Re: Irreverence to irrelevance
Now, you're a guy with a balanced attitude. Good post.
You're right. The list isn't going anywhere. I like everyone here and
think the list is wonderful (with one exception). This list has some of
the most intelligent, motivated, interesting people I've ever seen.
I sit in awe of some of you folks that collect the really big iron or
those of you that seem to come up with cool computer after cool computer.
I really do love this list. I left the list for two months there in
December and January due primarily to my last altercation with you know who.
But I came back because everyone else makes up for it a million times over.
And, come on, even the off-topic stuff isn't THAT off-topic! In Usenet,
in every newsgroup you get spam about this or that goofy product or
postings like "Stop the War in Iraq". At least our off-topic posts are
still generally about computers.
To be honest, having seen some of the postings today...I feel a bit like
I'm shooting ducks in the barrel. When you accuse someone of foul
language and they respond with foul language...well, what am I supposed
to do with that? If everything was that easy, we wouldn't even need
juries...everyone would just walk in and, in response to the accusation
of murder, run at the judge with a knife and scream, "I'm gonna kill you!"
I've gotten several private emails from individuals praising me and
several more suggesting that what I'm doing is pointless even though they
dont' disagree with me in principle and a few more saying they understand
my viewpoint but disagree with my approach...but nobody's sent me an
email saying "Leave Sam alone! He's a nice guy and he's completely right
and you're completely wrong to be angry about his behavior!"
Basically, today has shown me that I'm preaching to the choir. I didn't
realize it until now I guess. I guess I was concerned that his idea of
shutting down the list and taking control of it might have a following I
hadn't detected but that's obviously not the case.
Clearly most people are happy with the group
and I see no reason that it won't continue for a long, LONG time to come.
We're a LONG way from being as bad as Usenet in terms of off-topic postings!
So rather than trying to trash what works we should count our blessings I
think. But it's obvious that nobody wants to trash this group despite
the rantings of someone who's demonstrated better than I possibly could
where the truth really lay.
I think this list is GREAT and love the conversations, off-topic or
on-topic. I may delete 50 messages but only because I'm interested in
something else not because I find them offensive or annoying.
Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
PS: I didn't think my logic probe questions were off-topic since they
related DIRECTLY to the repair of a truly classic machine...an SWTPC 6800
Micro circa 1975. Not that you were accusing me but I don't want you to
think that it was off-topic.
On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, Les Berry wrote:
I think we all need to take a step back, grab a few drinks, and try and
look at what's going on here.
So far, everyone has had some valid points. If we interpret the FAQ
literally than perhaps Sam is right. I would tend to believe, however,
that Bill Whitson's original idea was to have "liberal" restrictions on
the group so as to perpetuate discussion of "classic" computers. Not all
5:12 p.m.
How many do you need? I've got about 15 that aren't doing anything
important. I bought two of the SQ drives when they first came out,
sank a bundle into the cartridges, and then they flaked out on me.
One drive had some kind of head crash and started eating cartridges,
and the other one just ceased to function. Frankly, I was not
impressed. Perhaps their new products are better. Do you know of any
way to re-format a SQ disk that has been bulk-erased? I had this
bright idea several years ago that maybe just completely clearing the
disks by bulk-erasing would be a good thing. I'm thinking now that I
obliterated some factory tracks that the drive can't reproduce.
Ideas?
On Wed, 18 Mar 1998 13:18:27 -0500, lfb107(a)psu.edu (Les Berry) wrote:
So... on that note. I am in need of some old
removable SyQuest disks for
an SQ555 drive. (the 44mb variety) Anybody know where I might find some?
The local 'puter store still sells them for $40 a pop!
-Bill Richman
bill_r(a)inetnebr.com
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r
(Home of the COSMAC Elf Simulator!)
7:04 p.m.
New subject: Bulk erased SyQuest carts WAS: Re: DING DING!
impressed. Perhaps their new products are better. Do
you know of any
The SyJet is very nice, but runs VERY Hot.
way to re-format a SQ disk that has been bulk-erased?
I had this
bright idea several years ago that maybe just completely clearing the
disks by bulk-erasing would be a good thing. I'm thinking now that I
obliterated some factory tracks that the drive can't reproduce.
Ideas?
Have you tried a low-level format of them? Do you have access to an Amiga?
My recommendation would be to format them out on the Amiga, then format
them on the machine that you want to use them on. I've heard of people
trashing SCSI drives doing wierd stuff to thier format, and then being able
to use them after formating them on an Amiga.
Don't know the specifics, but I do know that the Amiga does a very intense
format, and it takes a long time to fully set up a decent sized disk to be
used on the Amiga because of this.
I've got to agree with the original comment on the price of the disks.
I've bought a used 44Mb drive with 3 carts, and a 88Mb drive with 2 carts.
Both times I payed what one new 44Mb cart would cost. Still based on the
availability these things must be being used by someone for something. My
guess would be the Publishing industry still uses them quite a bit since
it's usually in Mac catalogs and stores I see the carts for sale. Of
course a new TK-50 costs about the same (~95Mb Tape).
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
19 Mar
19 Mar
6:58 a.m.
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22 Mar
22 Mar
4:07 p.m.
New subject: SID chips
Hi!
I have a question re. the Commodore 64c - what was the number of the SID
chip? I assuem that the C64c had one, but the most likely chip was
numbered 8580R5, whereas I was expecting a 6581 or 6582.
Thanks heaps,
Adam.
-----------
Email: adam(a)merlin.net.au
Web Site: http://www.on.net/clients/bears/
Furry Code: FMa3m A- C** D H+ M++++ P+++ R+ T++ W* Z Sm#
RLCT/C a+ cm+++ d++ c++ f h++++ iw++ p++ sm**
24 Mar
24 Mar
6:26 a.m.
New subject: SID chips
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20 Mar
20 Mar
8:20 a.m.
New subject: DING DING! Back to your corners... WAS: Re: Irreverence to irrelevance
On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
Probably more related to track density which is now well in excess of
2000tpi!
- don
donm(a)cts.com
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Don Maslin - Keeper of the Dina-SIG CP/M System Disk Archives
Chairman, Dina-SIG of the San Diego Computer Society
Clinging tenaciously to the trailing edge of technology.
Sysop - Elephant's Graveyard (CP/M) - 619-454-8412
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
see old system support at http://www.psyber.com/~tcj
visit the "Unofficial" CP/M Weg site at http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm
with Mirror at http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm
Since the late
60's, most servo-writing equipment uses laser interferometers
to lay down the tracks. "Special" certainly *is* the operative word
here!
I'd realised it wasn't a mechanical stepper motor (nowhere near accurate
enough), but I'd not realised that it was a laser interferometer. Ouch!
I'm suprised it has to be _that_ accurate, since surely minor errors in
track position would be compensated for by the servo system of the drive.
But I guess the makers know what they are doing.
Tim.
-tony
9651
days inactive
9657
days old
11 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
adam＠merlin.net.au -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
bill_r＠inetnebr.com -
dastar＠wco.com -
donm＠cts.com -
healyzh＠ix.netcom.com -
lfb107＠psu.edu -
shoppa＠alph02.triumf.ca -
wirehead＠retrocomputing.com