11 May
2013
11 May
'13
10:15 p.m.
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e stuff to show to someone and I stumbled
across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
12 May
12 May
9:13 a.m.
From: "Cory Smelosky": Saturday, May 11, 2013 10:15 PM
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e stuff to
show to someone and I
stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
I have one of those. It's just what it appears to be. About 3 inches long, and
a little red
toy bus with the DEC logo and "PDP-8/E OMNIBUST" on each side.
I keep it as a bit of PDP-8 bric-a-brac, atop my (not yet working) FPGA
implementation of
the PDP-8/I (which I built in an oak box around an original 8/I front panel).
Right behind it I have a DEC building block like the ones pictured in the
recently ended eBay
auction 290912101738.
(No association with the seller in either of the mentioned auctions.)
Vince
10:53 a.m.
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e stuff to show to someone
and I stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
Well, some bits are obvious. It's a model bus (as in the
passenger-carrying vehicle). 'Matchbox' was a common brand of such things
in the UK, IIRC the name was used by 'Lesney Products' or some such. Such
models were quite small scale, I would guess about 6cm-8cm long.
OK, the pun on 'omnibus is also obvious. The 'bus' as in the passenger
vehicle is short for 'omnibus' which as Michael Flanders said (at the
start of 'A transport of delight' means 'To or fo, by with or from
everybody'.
And of course we all know the assciation between 'omnibus' and the PDP8/e.
The only thing that puzzels me is where that advertiisng label came from.
I don;t think it would ever have been a real advert on a full-sized bus.
Back then people didn't buy computers ;-).
My guess is that the label is not orignal. Either somebody has made it up
appreciating the joke, or it was an advertising gimmick used to promote
either the PDP8/e or a rival machien (as it 'This is what DEC's bus rally
is'
-tony
12:02 p.m.
On Sun, May 12, 2013 at 06:53:17PM +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
My guess is that the label is not orignal. Either
somebody has made it up
appreciating the joke, or it was an advertising gimmick used to promote
either the PDP8/e or a rival machien (as it 'This is what DEC's bus rally
is'
You can see the original logo peeking around the Omnibus one in the photo, so
whoever did it, it probably wasn't the Matchbox people. It'd be a cute piece
of swag though, so it makes sense that DEC would buy a bunch and add their own
stickers.
I had a similar bus as a kid. (No PDP-8/E logo though!) I forget whether
it was a Matchbox or a Corgi, but the quality was nice -- with flexible axles
that acted as a suspension.
John
12:05 p.m.
s?n 2013-05-12 klockan 18:53 +0100 skrev Tony Duell:
Could it be a creative IBM representative ?
That little joke/IBM salesman warcry:
Nothing sucks like a VAX
Or was it LUX (as in ElectroLUX) salesman who penned that ?
VAX is a (brittish ?) trademark for house vacuum cleaners.
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e stuff to show to someone
and I stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
Well, some bits are obvious. It's a model bus (as in the
passenger-carrying vehicle). 'Matchbox' was a common brand of such things
in the UK, IIRC the name was used by 'Lesney Products' or some such. Such
models were quite small scale, I would guess about 6cm-8cm long.
OK, the pun on 'omnibus is also obvious. The 'bus' as in the passenger
vehicle is short for 'omnibus' which as Michael Flanders said (at the
start of 'A transport of delight' means 'To or fo, by with or from
everybody'.
And of course we all know the assciation between 'omnibus' and the PDP8/e.
The only thing that puzzels me is where that advertiisng label came from.
I don;t think it would ever have been a real advert on a full-sized bus.
Back then people didn't buy computers ;-).
My guess is that the label is not orignal. Either somebody has made it up
appreciating the joke, or it was an advertising gimmick used to promote
either the PDP8/e or a rival machien (as it 'This is what DEC's bus rally
is' 
1:46 p.m.
New subject: Things that suck
On Sun, 12 May 2013, stefan skoglund(agj) wrote:
Could it be a creative IBM representative ?
That little joke/IBM salesman warcry:
Nothing sucks like a VAX
Or was it LUX (as in ElectroLUX) salesman who penned that ?
VAX is a (brittish ?) trademark for house vacuum cleaners.
This leads to the joke of "When $company starts making things that don't
suck is when they start making vacuum cleaners.". I had a former
supervisor giggling for most of a week with that one with $company ==
Microsoft.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
1:16 p.m.
From: "Tony Duell": Sunday, May 12, 2013 10:53 AM
Well, some bits are obvious. It's a model bus (as
in the
passenger-carrying vehicle). 'Matchbox' was a common brand of such things
in the UK, IIRC the name was used by 'Lesney Products' or some such. Such
models were quite small scale, I would guess about 6cm-8cm long.
Mine is stamped:
"Matchbox" series No. 74
Daimler Bus
Made in England
by Lesney
on the bottom.
The words "Pat App" also appear on the bottom, and the plastic axle supports
are stamped "SuperFast".
The only thing that puzzels me is where that
advertiisng label came from.
I don;t think it would ever have been a real advert on a full-sized bus.
Back then people didn't buy computers ;-).
I had assumed that DEC had contracted for some swag, back in the day.
I have also seen similar little busses on eBay in various colors advertising
other stuff.
Vince
12:10 p.m.
On 05/12/2013 07:15 AM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e stuff to
show to someone and I stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
Nooo. now I'll be outbid for sure :( I was hoping it would fly under the
radar.
It's the second I've seen on ebay so it is probably a DEC giveaway.
/P
1:40 p.m.
On 5/12/2013 12:10 PM, Pontus wrote:
On 05/12/2013 07:15 AM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
You should remember that DEC rented Disneyland for a private party at
one of the last DECUS meetings in Anaheim I recall. So a bit of swag
like this would be in line with something they would have thought
nothing of doing.
The attendance @ Disneyland for that meeting for the private party was
under 3000, one of the times that I got to go and feel it was my place
alone. We rarely saw anyone but cast members the entire night.
Apple's private party during NCC one year drew 30000 and was quite empty
too. Got to go to both.
jim
I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e
stuff to show to
someone and I stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
Nooo. now I'll be outbid for sure :( I was hoping it would fly under
the radar.
It's the second I've seen on ebay so it is probably a DEC giveaway.
/P
2:15 p.m.
On 12/05/2013 21:40, Jim Stephens wrote:
On 5/12/2013 12:10 PM, Pontus wrote:
I remember going to a UK DECUS and listening to talk by Douglas Adams,
he must have cost real money. The Matchbox toys were intended as "Pocket
Money" toys. As a young lad in the 1960's I could buy one out of my
weekly pocket money. Later when I worked as a messaging consultant we
had plenty of money for trinkets. I would guess the Matchbox buses cost
less than many of the more recent marketing gizmos DEC gave away, such
as Calculator Mouse Mats or even MagLite torches.
Dave
G4UGM
(ex Mail and Messaging Consultant, Digital, Compaq and briefly HP).
On 05/12/2013 07:15 AM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
You should remember that DEC rented Disneyland for a private party at
one of the last DECUS meetings in Anaheim I recall. So a bit of swag
like this would be in line with something they would have thought
nothing of doing.
The attendance @ Disneyland for that meeting for the private party was
under 3000, one of the times that I got to go and feel it was my place
alone. We rarely saw anyone but cast members the entire night.
Apple's private party during NCC one year drew 30000 and was quite
empty too. Got to go to both.
jim I was searching through ebay for some PDP-8/e
stuff to show to
someone and I stumbled across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DL-Lesney-Matchbox-Series-Daimler-Bus-Digital-PDP-8…
I have no idea what I have just discovered...
Nooo. now I'll be outbid for sure :( I was hoping it would fly under
the radar.
It's the second I've seen on ebay so it is probably a DEC giveaway.
/P
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days inactive
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9 comments
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participants (9)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
b4＠gewt.net -
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu -
jws＠jwsss.com -
pontus＠update.uu.se -
stefan.skoglund＠agj.net -
vrs＠msn.com -
wilson＠dbit.com