At 07:38 AM 2/2/2003 -0500, you wrote: I met him in the mid sixties in Poughkeepsie during development of the operating system for 360. I was working with Stretch (7030) at the time which was being used to simulate the 360 before we actually had one.

Actually, DEC is still somewhat around -- it was absorbed into Compaq in 1997, and, of course, Compaq was absorbed into HP last year. As such, HP now holds all the rights and histories to everything DEC and Compaq. DEC/Compaq provided contract on-site tech support to my current and past two retail firms. HP provides those services now, with the same (if older) DEC and Compaq field techs. I still work with many of them in my current tech support position. I don't know about DG at all, but Honeywell still makes peripherals, including digital cameras, for modern systems. Honeywell's done cameras, through its photographic division, since at least 1959, in association with the Japanese firms Petri and (later) Pentax. They also had flirting relationships with Vivitar and Minolta. I still love my ancient Honeywell/Pentax 35mm and it's Vivitar lens collection. And, while we're asking, does anyone know what happened to Burroughs? As I left the Air Force in 1991, I was working with a cantankerous, already jurassic, cobbled-together system produced by "Convergent Technologies -- an abortive fusion of Burroughs and NCR. It's "banded" 512K memory board nearly neasured a square foot by 1.5" thick, and was banded to *prevent* it And further... Where did DataPoint go? I remember it was absorbed by some other firm, but don't remember by whom. As I remember though, they made a nearly indestructable external modem, back in the 12-2400bps days... Cheers! Ed San Antonio, Tx, USA From: "Hans B Pufal" <hansp(a)aconit.org> DG years.

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Ed Tillman wrote: But DEC as a company is long gone. I am *well* aware of what happened with the DEC -> Compaq -> HP thing. This doesn't count. Burroughs and Sperry merged to form Unisys. Peace... Sridhar

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Jeffrey S. Worley wrote: Wouldn't have a floppy boot set for CTOS, wouldja? I have a fully functioning B26 with drive slice. Boots to a login prompt from the harddrive, and I don't have any passwords. Doc

No luck on that one... I never had access to the operating system. I was "strongly encouraged" to write applications to get a poor B26 network to talk to both Honeywell and Sperry mainframes. I was quite the unhappy camper at the time -- I could get it to talk to the Sperry, but nearly never to the Honeywell, even with Honeywell and Sperry emulator packages. (I was a 1Lt at the time, and they hadn't bothered to tell me they'd fired a GS-11 lifetime programmer for the same "failing...") Needless to say, I don't have any love lost for CT or C3 systems. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeffrey S. Worley" <Technoid(a)30below.com> To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 01:53 PM Subject: RE: Convergent Technologies; Was RE: Old Computer Companies

Quothe Jeffrey S. Worley, from writings of Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 11:39:56PM -0500: [...] Like many others on this list, I had to sign up for Uncle Sam Screwge's draft at the local post office, but at least now I'm too old to have to go. Sorry that he and 'W'easelboy's daddy snagged you into the gulf-war as one of their experimental guinnea pigs. Hopefully you won't get called back into part II of the Bush/Hussein family feud. By the way... today the Sears repairman arrived to verify the validity of complaints from my parents about their new washer and dryer (absolute pieces of cheaply-made and annoying junk - beware) that replaced approx. 25 and 35 year old machines that were well made and worked nicely (until Sears/Whirlpool discontinued parts to repair them with). His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked around at my collection of electronics and computer equipment; as he was leaving, he remarked that he hopes that no one calls the eff b aye about what all I have, as they might think I'm "building a satellite or something." Zog! Now, are those of us in the US to be considered criminals because we collect, build and hack all sorts of computer and electronics equipment as a harmless hobby (or is the knowledge and ability to do this now considered dangerous by our elected idiots, since they obviously lack the ability to think intelligently about anything?)? -- Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

On Monday, February 3, 2003, R. D. Davis wrote: It's OT, but I simply can't resist posting this. Whether or not you support a USA-vs-Iraq war, this is just friggin' funny. http://aztlan.net/attack.htm Just remark in return that you hope no one decides to use their PDP-11/70 Digital Death Ray on him! :-) -- Jeffrey Sharp

Just tried, result: The requested URL could not be retrieved The following error was encountered: URL blocked by SmartFilter. This means that:The requested URL has been defined as belonging to the blocked category Forbidden, this page (http://aztlan.net/attack.htm) is categorized as: Hate Speech, Opinion, Politics, and Religion Jep, having an opinion is a bad thing Beeing a good citizen means having no idea about anything. :)) See, and good citizens would even belive you! Gruss H. -- VCF Europa 4.0 am 03./04. Mai 2003 in Muenchen http://www.vcfe.org/

Nop, serious. Company Account. Tey think they have to 'save' their employees. so I still get all the Spam Mails, and can of yourse go onto all the new sex sites... -- VCF Europa 4.0 am 03./04. Mai 2003 in Muenchen http://www.vcfe.org/

On Mon, 3 Feb 2003, Jeffrey Sharp wrote: That's great! Here's another one that says it all: http://www.siconic.com/crap/Rumsfuck.jpg Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

What I've been wondering about is, how long before we start setting off alarms in some Government agency due to our abnormally high use of electricity? Or due to the abnormally high level of heat in area's of our home? Zane

Hmm... Seems like ya just can't win... lotsa heat, no light and no electricity, and they'll come looking for ya too... :) Cheers! Ed San Antonio, Tx, USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryan Pope" <bpope(a)wordstock.com> To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 03:21 PM Subject: Re: Collecting, Hacking and the Spooks (was: Gulf War, dummies, our

Quothe Zane H. Healy, from writings of Tue, Feb 04, 2003 at 01:19:25PM -0800: Hmmm... Just for fun, I suggest that we all buy lots of grow lamps as well, as I hear the spooks are suspicious of those too and do checks for them... place them near a frosted window and leave them lit all the time... grow some sort of house plants or herbs (they're not illegal yet), but keep lots of beakers, bunsen burners, contraptions that look like stills with valves connected to computers, etc. near the plants just for the heck of it... use 'em to prepare cups of herbal tea, herbal remedies, dinner, or whatever. If everyone did something "suspicious," yet harmless, like that, it sure would screw up Big Brother's spook system. :-) Oh, yeah, buy lots of "suspicious" books as well, as I hear they're trying to keep track of the books we read. Now then, where'd I put my copy of "Computer Controlled Potato Launchers and High Power Spark Gap, and Other, RFI Generators for Novice Jeffersonian Revolutionaries?" ;-) -- Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

On Tue, 4 Feb 2003, Zane H. Healy wrote: Back when I used an ES/9000 in my parents house, I managed to attract the attention of the law. There were two DEA agents from the local office with one of the local sheriff's deputys with him. They showed up and asked me if I was growing marijuana. I said something to the effect of, "What gave you that idea?" They showed me a report from the power company. I laughed and told them to come look for themselves. They were quite unprepared for the size of my computer, I can tell you that. 8-) Peace... Sridhar

R. D. Davis said: Person 1: "Respected Evil Overlord Jarkko, what are thou scheming with this Evil Collection of Vintage Machinery ?" Evil Overlord Jarkko: "I shall build a satellite!" <cue evil laughter and screaming tires from all those FBI cars> Satellites are bad, something must be done!!!! -- jht

That, alas does not suprise me. Very little made today is made properly. Yes, serious computer collections have this effect. As do serious toolkits. Since when has building a satellite been illegal? I am convinced that most governments don't want to deal with a public who can think for themselves (after all such people might realise what the government is trying to get up to...) That's why they try to dumb everything down... -tony

Devices today are made to last untill the warranty just expires. They are made cheaply so you buy the same item again in a year or 2 keeping the companies cranking them out. If EVERY washing machine lasted 35 years the market for the machines would die in a few years and the companies making them would be out of buisiness. That and most people wouldnt want to spend 5x the cost of the cheap washing machines to get the good model. Ever notice that repair shops that used to thrive repairing tv's, stereo's, computers, vacuum cleaners etc are now non existant? Everything is built to get tossed, not to be fixed and reused. High quality and commodity equipmet dont mix. The reason your 10+ year old computers still work is because they had a high markup making the manufacturer alot of money. Take away the profit and all you are left with is cutting cost (crappy components, cutting corners) just to make a small profit competeing with all the other widget makers. PC's today are the cheapest and most powerfull we have ever seen.. but they wont last 10+ years of constant use either. That and very few companies are making a profit selling the commodity stuff anymore, they are living off the fat of the good old days and when thats gone so are they. Sucks that maxtors 3 year warranties just got dropped to 1 year.. you know they dropped the quality also. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Smith" &lt;eric(a)brouhaha.com&gt; To: &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 8:29 PM Subject: Re: Collecting, Hacking and the Spooks (was: Gulf War, dummies,

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Brian Chase wrote: Are they even in the lame league as being old enough? Most of the companies I listed (DG and HP are the major exceptions) have been making systems since the '50s. Peace... Sridhar

2000? Sounds about right. They bought it for the drive unit. Regards, Jeff -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Sharp Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 9:21 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Old Computer Companies On Sunday, February 2, 2003, evan wrote: When did this happen? -- Jeffrey Sharp

On 2003.02.02 23:47 John Honniball wrote: I don't know. I hoped that someone here knows. -- tsch??, Jochen Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/

Let me get this timeline straight: Siemens/Zuse: Siemens and Zuse where different companies, and for at least 10 years in constant competition. In 1964 Siemens aquired Zuse KG and incooperated them into their line of control computer division. Some models have been produced, and further developed until the mid/late 70s. These machines never had any influence for comercial computers of Siemens. After the 2002, Siemens switched for IBM compatible machines, and did OEM RCA machines, and developed from there along the 360/370/390 path. Siemens/Nixdorf In 1990 Siemens aquired Nixdorf after the death of Heinz Nixdorf, founder and CEO of Nixdorf AG. Due legal reasons they had to keep it a seperate company (which also fitted the businessplans of that time quite well). Siemens split of their IT division and named the 'merger' Siemens Nixdorf. Merger might be a wrong term, since a lot of people belive it was just made to remove Nixdorf as competition. Well, Nixdorf never realy touched the core business, but has always been a pain in the ass for Siemens. They where 'only' strong in banking networks and POS systems. Nixdorf tried to dance on every wedding, from PCs to Mainframes, and even worse, tried to get a hold on ISDN switches. Not that they outsold Siemens, but wherever a Siemens sales man did show up, Nixdorf was already around. So when the chance opened to remove them from dirturbing business, Siemens willingly payed way much than the company was worth. Siemens/Robotron: Also in 1990 Siemens startet cooperations with Robotron, the East German Computer Manufacturer. Eventualy Siemens bought most of thir factories afterwards. Siemens/Fujitsu: In 2001 Siemens-Nixdorf joined with Fujitsu Europe to reorganize the IT business ... Still a work in progress. Gruss H. P.S.: Check this fine page about Zuses work and company: http://www.epemag.com/zuse/default.htm -- VCF Europa 4.0 am 03./04. Mai 2003 in Muenchen http://www.vcfe.org/

On 2003.02.03 03:10 vance(a)neurotica.com wrote: AFAIK they still produce embedded / industrial controll systems. Robotron was the East German computer / electronics "company". Was absorbed by Siemens. I am not very familiar with them. They made some minicomputers in the 70'es, mayby some other stuff too. AFAIK they only provide support for existing systems. No new hardware. Anyone ever seen Open Genera (Genera for DEC 3000 hardware)? I only know that it exists. If you count evaluatin kits as machines? ;-) I was not sure if you meant "somehow in business" or still producing machines. -- tsch??, Jochen Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/

On Wed, 5 Feb 2003, Jochen Kunz wrote: Ah yes. I forgot about those. I see. Did they survive reunification before they were absorbed? I'll see what I can find out for myself. That would rock. I don't think eval kits count. 8-) Peace... Sridhar

On Thu, 6 Feb 2003, Hans Franke wrote: Thought it might be possible that they would announce they were closing up at reunification. Peace... Sridhar