28 Sep
2005
28 Sep
'05
12:30 a.m.
Re: "I've seen an LED map light that plugs into and gets its power from USB.
It seemed to work OK."
That's nothing. Computer Geeks is selling a motorized USB "Aquarium" ....
a
clear plastic "tank" in which motorized fish (or perhaps just a mural of
fish) move, powered from a USB port.
28 Sep
28 Sep
4:01 p.m.
Re: "I've seen an LED map light that plugs into and gets its power from USB.
It seemed to work OK."
That's nothing. Computer Geeks is selling a motorized USB "Aquarium" ....
a
clear plastic "tank" in which motorized fish (or perhaps just a mural of
fish) move, powered from a USB port.
Whule I can see the point of taking power from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't it be
simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own mains
adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a 5V PSU?
-tony
6:33 p.m.
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Tony Duell wrote:
Whule I can see the point of taking power from the
computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't it be
simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own mains
adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a 5V PSU?
Are modern machines good for anything ELSE?
How well do they do that?
I'm not sure that I'd trust modern machines with anything that
needed precise regulated voltage.
6:53 p.m.
New subject: Apple II on Lost
Just a heads up, for those who haven't watched last week's or this week's
episode of Lost. They made it down in to the strange bunker and it
appears to be a fallout shelter of sorts. Looks to be done in a late 70's
motif. There's a full Apple II setup (two disk II drives) though they
never show the name. Wierdly they have some reel to reel stuff in the
background.
Marty
29 Sep
29 Sep
12:50 p.m.
New subject: Apple II on Lost
In message <200509290153.j8T1r5C4009080 at alpha2.csd.uwm.edu>
Martin Scott Goldberg <wgungfu at csd.uwm.edu> wrote:
Just a heads up, for those who haven't watched
last week's or this week's
episode of Lost. They made it down in to the strange bunker and it
appears to be a fallout shelter of sorts. Looks to be done in a late 70's
motif. There's a full Apple II setup (two disk II drives) though they
never show the name. Wierdly they have some reel to reel stuff in the
background.
Looks like the UK is running a bit behind you - just saw the ep where Sayid
gets kidnapped by the infamous "French lady" from the radio transmission.
"Sixteen years, has it really been that long?"
Later.
--
Phil. | Acorn RiscPC600 SA220 64MB+6GB 100baseT
philpem at philpem.me.uk | Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxe R2 512MB+100GB
http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | Panasonic CF-25 Mk.2 Toughbook
... Today is cancelled due to lack of interest!
1:40 p.m.
New subject: Apple II on Lost
Philip Pemberton wrote:
In message <200509290153.j8T1r5C4009080 at
alpha2.csd.uwm.edu>
Martin Scott Goldberg <wgungfu at csd.uwm.edu> wrote:
I think series two's just started here... which is annoying as I saw
only two episodes of series one when I left the UK, and they don't seem
to be doing repeats here yet. Hopefully they'll run them again in the UK
on terrestrial TV sometime so I can catch up :)
Just a heads up, for those who haven't watched
last week's or this week's
episode of Lost. They made it down in to the strange bunker and it
appears to be a fallout shelter of sorts. Looks to be done in a late 70's
motif. There's a full Apple II setup (two disk II drives) though they
never show the name. Wierdly they have some reel to reel stuff in the
background.
Looks like the UK is running a bit behind you 
28 Sep
28 Sep
9:15 p.m.
On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:33:20 -0700 (PDT)
Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote:
There are Middle-era PC Clone machines that are pretty much only useful
as power supplies. A few times when I've needed quick-and-dirty 12
volts I have taken an old clone supply and tapped into the yellow and
black of a drive cable connector. The only thing is, the PC switchers
won't start up and regulate properly without a nominal load on the 5
volt line. So you plug in and duct tape an old 3-1/2" hard drive to
the power supply and use it as a 'dummy load.'
I've used such contrivances for example, as the power source for an old
'286 laptop that I didn't have the power adaptor for.
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Tony Duell wrote:
> Whule I can see the point of taking power from the computer for an
> interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't
it be
simpler if
devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own mains
adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a 5V PSU?
Are modern machines good for anything ELSE?
How well do they do that?
I'm not sure that I'd trust modern machines with anything that
needed precise regulated voltage.
29 Sep
29 Sep
12:24 p.m.
There are Middle-era PC Clone machines that are pretty
much only useful
as power supplies. A few times when I've needed quick-and-dirty 12
volts I have taken an old clone supply and tapped into the yellow and
black of a drive cable connector. The only thing is, the PC switchers
won't start up and regulate properly without a nominal load on the 5
volt line. So you plug in and duct tape an old 3-1/2" hard drive to
the power supply and use it as a 'dummy load.'
In other words it's a kludge. Most, if not all, PC power supplies take
the reguation feedback loop from the 5V output (after all, that's the
important one in the intended application), the 12V line tracks along.
And I doubt there's a crowbar on the 12V line.
And then something fails, you don't have schematics, the parts are
unobtainable, so you grab another old PC power supply and kludge that one
to work...
Personally, I value my toys enough to give them a properly designed power
supply. One that I know is regulated from the output I am using, with a
crowbar, and with proper docuemntation.
-tony
28 Sep
28 Sep
9:02 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Haven't you guys seen the USB-powered "personal massager"?
I guess it's intended for those late-night surfing sessions, when
your, uhh, _neck_ gets really stiff.
Doc
Re:
"I've seen an LED map light that plugs into and gets its power from USB.
It seemed to work OK."
That's nothing. Computer Geeks is selling a motorized USB "Aquarium" ....
a
clear plastic "tank" in which motorized fish (or perhaps just a mural of
fish) move, powered from a USB port.
Whule I can see the point of taking power from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't it be
simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own mains
adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a 5V PSU?
29 Sep
29 Sep
12:21 p.m.
Haven't you guys seen the USB-powered
"personal massager"?
Not having got anything with a USB port, or even the option of a USB
port, I tend not to look at anything that claims to be USB compatible.
I guess it's intended for those late-night surfing sessions, when
your, uhh, _neck_ gets really stiff.
Presumably if you use it a bit lower down, then a certain organ _gets_
really stiff :-)
-tony
4:07 p.m.
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Tony Duell wrote:
Oh, so you've used one?
;)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
I guess
it's intended for those late-night surfing sessions, when
your, uhh, _neck_ gets really stiff.
Presumably if you use it a bit lower down, then a certain organ _gets_
really stiff :-)
9:39 p.m.
I guess it's intended for those late-night
surfing sessions, when
your, uhh, _neck_ gets really stiff.
Presumably if you use it a bit lower down, then a certain organ _gets_
really stiff :-) Oh, so you've used one?
;)
A USB powered massager is a sillier toy than using your Palm.
28 Sep
28 Sep
10:28 p.m.
[...] a
motorized USB "Aquarium" [...]
Whule I can see the point of taking power
from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't
it be simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own
mains adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a 5V
PSU?
Not simpler, but in a lot of cases more portable.
You may not use laptops enough to think of them, but there are a lot of
people who border on attached at the hip to theirs. They may not have
a mains outlet handy, but they *always* have a powered USB port handy.
That doesn't describe you, I assume; it doesn't describe me either. We
aren't part of the target market for that thing....
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
29 Sep
29 Sep
12:29 p.m.
[...] a
motorized USB "Aquarium" [...]
Whule I can see the point of taking power
from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't
it be simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own
mains adapters? Or is a computer now regarded as simpler than a
5V PSU?
Not simpler, but in a lot of cases more portable. You may not use laptops enough to think of them, but
there are a lot of
people who border on attached at the hip to theirs. They may not have
a mains outlet handy, but they *always* have a powered USB port handy.
Oh, I do use laptops. Just not PC compatible ones, and certainly not ones
with a USB port. I'll even admit to using the 5V line on the barcode
reader port of my M100 to power a little hardware hack...
-tony
2:15 p.m.
[...] a
motorized USB "Aquarium" [...]
Whule I can see the point of taking power
from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't
it be simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own
mains adapters?
As regards a light, I use this simple device containg 4 components. A
couple of AA-size primary cells, a tungsten filament lamp, and a swtich.
Even I can keep one of those going :-).
WOW, you really cling to the obsolete technology! Filament Lamps! AA
batteries, and alkaline too no doubt... Its all Lithium power cells and
Xenon or LED bulbs these days ;) I bet you're still using some version
of Edisons carbon filament incandescent bulbs in your home too, even though
compact fluorescents cost less than $2, last 10 - 15 times longer than your
60 cent incandescent bulbs, and use 1/4 the electricity (soon to be obsolete,
though, when the cold cathode bulbs start appearing in higher wattages).
-Larry (a funny pink bunny commercial? Why I'll buy that battery...) LeMay
3:07 p.m.
You are
seriously suggesting that the fake aquarium is a portable device?
Why would anyone want to carry one around with them?
I think the fake USB aquarium is designed to be ON only when the computer is
on, in other words its only on when someone is 'working' at their desk.
As regards a light, I use this simple device containg 4 components. A
couple of AA-size primary cells, a tungsten filament lamp, and a swtich.
Even I can keep one of those going :-).
WOW, you really cling to the obsolete technology! Filament Lamps! AA batteries, and alkaline too no doubt... Its all
Lithium power cells and
Xenon or LED bulbs these days ;) I bet you're still using some version
Do you mean xenon discharge (as in a camera 'electronic flash' or xenon
filled filaments lamps. Marketroids often (delibarately?) confuse the
two. I am quite sure the bulbs in my hand torch (flashlight to you) are
gas-filled, I thought krypton, but maybe xenon.
of Edisons carbon filament incandescent bulbs in your
home too, even though
compact fluorescents cost less than $2, last 10 - 15 times longer than your
60 cent incandescent bulbs, and use 1/4 the electricity (soon to be obsolete,
though, when the cold cathode bulbs start appearing in higher wattages).
Actually, I use compact fluorescents almost everywhere (I prefer the
higher apparent colour temperature). There are 2 specific places I don't
use them -- one is over the lathe (I am worried about a possible
stroboscopic effect making the machine appear stationary when it's not)
and the second is in the darkroom (they have a significantly long
afterglow after being turned off -- several minutes -- which is a right
pain there).
-tony
4:40 p.m.
Actually, I use compact fluorescents almost everywhere
(I prefer the
higher apparent colour temperature). There are 2 specific places I don't
use them -- one is over the lathe (I am worried about a possible
stroboscopic effect making the machine appear stationary when it's not)
and the second is in the darkroom (they have a significantly long
afterglow after being turned off -- several minutes -- which is a right
pain there).
Many compact fluorescents use a 30-40Khz AC power source, so stroboscopic effects may not
be a problem unless your lathe's chuck rotates at a VERY high speed. You can also
make use of standard bi-pin fluorescent lamps with a fixture that uses an active
(high-frequency) ballast.
For your darkroom, you might want to look into the multiple-white-LED mains-powered
spotlights. Ebay is full of sellers eager to unload them.
I constructed a music stand lamp using three 14" CCFLs (surplus LCD backlight parts).
While not as bright as the 150w halogen lamp it replaces, the quality of illumination is
far superior--and I don't worry about burning my sheet music, although some of it
might well benefit from such a treatment...
Cheers,
Chuck
30 Sep
30 Sep
3:58 p.m.
Many compact fluorescents use a 30-40Khz AC power
source, so
stroboscopic effects may not be a problem unless your lathe's chuck
But if the input to that inverter is not well smoothed (and the output
not well regulated) there could still be significant mains-fequenct
ripple on the output.
However, my second point (of the afterglow in the darkroom) rather
suggests these lamps have long enough persistance phosphors for there not
to be a significant strobe effect.
rotates at a VERY high speed. You can also make use
of standard bi-pin
fluorescent lamps with a fixture that uses an active (high-frequency)
ballast.
For your darkroom, you might want to look into the multiple-white-LED
mains-powered spotlights. Ebay is full of sellers eager to unload them.
Hmmm.. Fromt what I rememeber, white LEDs depend on a phosphor in the
package to get the white light (LED's being naturally a narrow-band
device). I would worry about the persistance of that phosphor, I think.
I also can't see the point in changing. The energy wasted by keeping
filament lamps in those positions is minimal IMHO (they're not on for
that long or that often).
-tony
8:59 p.m.
On 9/30/2005 at 11:58 PM ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
Hmmm.. Fromt what I rememeber, white LEDs depend on a
phosphor in the
package to get the white light (LED's being naturally a narrow-band
device). I would worry about the persistance of that phosphor, I think.
They do indeed--they're basically blue with a phosphor. But the persistence is
measured in nsec, so you'd have to be pretty fast to notice it:
http://www.knt.vein.hu/staff/schandaj/SJCV-Publ-2005/473.pdf
OTOH, changing for the sake of changing is silly. Bob Pease did an article some time ago
about replacement CFLs only made sense on applications where they're frequently used.
Otherwise, the power savings doesn't yeild a sufficient return on investment.
Cheers,
Chuck
1 Oct
1 Oct
12:38 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
OTOH, changing for the sake of changing is silly. Bob Pease did an article some time ago
about replacement CFLs only made sense on applications where they're frequently used.
Otherwise, the power savings doesn't yeild a sufficient return on investment.
Part of my reason for looking at compact fluorescents is that I
specifically want 12- or 24-volt versions that can be run from a bank of
deep-cycle batteries, charged by a combination of wind turbine and solar
panels.
At my house up north, we lose power for a few days every winter when the
120mph winds take out power lines. If I was running lights off-grid, I
wouldn't have this problem and I'd have much lower bills too.
Gordon.
10:25 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
> OTOH, changing for the sake of changing is silly. Bob Pease did an
> article some time ago about replacement CFLs only made sense on
> applications where they're frequently used. Otherwise, the power
> savings doesn't yeild a sufficient return on investment.
That "Cost/Benefit" analysis would have to take into account the changes
in pricing of CFLs. If you're paying $20 each, you may not ever get back
sufficient return on investment.
BUT,...
If you're paying $1 each for them, the ROI is substantial.
On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
Part of my reason for looking at compact fluorescents
is that I
specifically want 12- or 24-volt versions that can be run from a bank of
deep-cycle batteries, charged by a combination of wind turbine and solar
panels.
Howzbout LED lights? (where spectral characteristics are non-critical)
Those are happy with low voltage.
Last time that I tried to get 12V flourescents was 25 years ago.
Hopefully they have improved the quality since then!
OB_SUBJECT_LINE: does anybody make a USB powered CFL? :-)
12:26 p.m.
On 10/1/2005 at 10:25 AM Fred Cisin wrote:
If you're paying $1 each for them, the ROI is
substantial.
Again, it depends on the application. I've got a 60w incandescent installed in the
utility closet that holds my A/C, pressure tank and water heater. It sees maybe an hour
of use per year (if that). I won't live long enough to see any ROI for that $1
spent.
And how long will it be before something better (i.e. more efficient) comes by to replace
it? Technology is really the joker in the deck. A neighbor built his large house in
1992, taking adavantage of a $2K energy credit to use fluorescent fixtures for every one
of his 60 or so recessed lighting "cans". This was before solid-state ballasts
had become widespread, so he's got iron-core ballasts in all of the fixtures. Lots of
them buzz like crazy now--since these fixtures were installed before the sheetrock, with
the ballast external to the can, replacement is involved and costly. All in all, probably
a negative ROI if he can't live with the buzz. He would have been much better off
installing conventional fixtures and relamping when screw-in CFL's reached a good
price point--the screw-ins probably exhibit better efficiency than his existing setup,
too.
OB_SUBJECT_LINE: does anybody make a USB powered CFL?
:-)
This looks like one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-new-High-quality-USB-desk-Lamp-light-4-Laptop-PC_…
"Gentle ray, bright, without frequency change, benefit from preventing eyesight.
By using lowest work vnltages: 5v, safety & reliability High effciency, saving
energy.
It makes 20 times long life than normal daylight by placing exeed ages cold light tube.
The lamp which not only can form a comlete set with usb computer soket, but also can
directly set with city power supply.
Connect lampshade & lamp base in soft tube. economic, beauty. Convenience on easy
handle light direction."
3 Oct
3 Oct
5:23 p.m.
New subject: Off-topical Engrish burrclap Re: USB Stuff
On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, Chuck Guzis wrote:
By using lowest work vnltages: 5v, safety &
reliability High effciency,
saving energy.
It makes 20 times long life than normal daylight by placing exeed ages
cold light tube.
The lamp which not only can form a comlete set with usb computer soket,
but also can directly set with city power supply.
Connect lampshade & lamp base in soft tube. economic, beauty.
Convenience on easy handle light direction."
ENGRISH!
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
1 Oct
1 Oct
1:14 p.m.
Fred Cisin wrote:
1 Oct 2005, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
Yes. They are a bit blue, though.
Part of my reason for looking at compact
fluorescents is that I
specifically want 12- or 24-volt versions that can be run from a bank of
deep-cycle batteries, charged by a combination of wind turbine and solar
panels.
Howzbout LED lights? (where spectral characteristics are non-critical)
Those are happy with low voltage. Last time that I tried to get 12V flourescents was 25
years ago.
Hopefully they have improved the quality since then!
You can get ones that are pretty much just ordinary compact fluorescents
that run off 12v, not at all like the old "caravan" fluorescents.
Gordon.
3 Oct
3 Oct
6:24 a.m.
>>>> "Tony" == Tony Duell <ard
at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> writes:
Tony> Hmmm.. Fromt what I rememeber, white LEDs depend on a phosphor
Tony> in the package to get the white light (LED's being naturally a
Tony> narrow-band device).
Mostly true, but there now are white LEDs that don't use phosphors,
just a well chosen combination of several LED colors that create the
appearance of white -- just as your computer display does.
paul
2:15 p.m.
Mostly true, but there now are white LEDs that
don't use phosphors,
just a well chosen combination of several LED colors that create the
I've seen DMD (and I think conventional) LED packages containing a red, a
green and 2 blue LED dice. I assume the 2 blues was to get adequate
intensity of that colour. And I believe by controlling the currents
through the LEDs you could get any colour, including white.
appearance of white -- just as your computer display
does.
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
-tony
4 Oct
4 Oct
1:14 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Tony Duell wrote:
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome
green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
Gordon.
1:14 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Tony Duell wrote:
I am sure I described it a couple of weeks ago here, and I've not
downgraded [1] since then
[1] That is, to sowmthing without schematics.
OK, here you are again :
A much-hacked IBM PC/AT (8MHz system board). The mainboard has a 486
kludgeboard in the 80286 socket. I've added a couple of EPROMs and a bit of
logic to overlay the last 8K of the bios, so I could modify the hard disk
parameter table.
Thers's 512K on the mainabord. Abother I/O card adds the 128K to bring it
up to 640K + anothet 1.5M extended memory + 2 serial ports (16550s, of
course, I want to give this processor all the help it can get) and a
parallel port. Another expansion board started off life as an IBM 128K
card. I figured out it could be populated with 2 rows of 256K bit DRAMs,
and a bit of extra logic, and turned it into a 1M card. Although all the
traces for this were there, etched on the board, I can't find any mention
of this in the TechRef. And another board adds a further 2M of RAM.
There's an original IBM MDA board linked to a 5151 greenscreen monitor.
And a Colorgraph+ (Enhanced CGA card, with enough RAM for 640*200 in 8
colours, pity nothing supports it). That's linked to an NEC monitor that
was used with an Apple ][, which I modifed to add the intensity line.
The disk controller is an early IDE card, a few TTL parts, a couple of
PALs and a floppy controller chip. I added a daughterboard containing a
couple more TTL chips to flash the frontpanel drive LED when the hard
disk was accessed. It's linked to the original IBM 1.2M drive and a Teac
1.44m 3.5" drive. And to a 1.3G IDE winchester.
TO actually connect to the phoneline, I've got an old USR Sportster 14K4
modem. That, and the hard drive, are the only parts of the system I don't
have full schemaitcs for.
-tony
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a
monochrome green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
5 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 21:14:57 +0100 (BST)
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
There is a utility called 'hackrom' that I used to use to modify the
hard disk paramater tables on machines of that vintage. The software
pulls a binary image of the BIOS out into a file, let you edit the
table, and split to odd/even, and burn back to ROMs to replace the
original. You only had to open the case once to pull the stock ROMs and
plug in the new ones. I used it one time to shoehorn in a 15 meg hard
drive on a '286 system. You could basically 'replace' the parameters on
any table entry with your chosen new numbers.
Why did you need to add/overlay the BIOS to modify the parameter table?
Tony Duell wrote:
I am sure I described it a couple of weeks ago here, and I've not
downgraded [1] since then
[1] That is, to sowmthing without schematics.
OK, here you are again :
A much-hacked IBM PC/AT (8MHz system board). The mainboard has a 486
kludgeboard in the 80286 socket. I've added a couple of EPROMs and a
bit of logic to overlay the last 8K of the bios, so I could modify the
hard disk parameter table.
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a
monochrome green screen at
the moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet? There's an original IBM MDA board linked to a 5151
greenscreen
monitor. And a Colorgraph+ (Enhanced CGA card, with enough RAM for
640*200 in 8 colours, pity nothing supports it). That's linked to an
NEC monitor that was used with an Apple ][, which I modifed to add the
intensity line.
Good choice in the MDA card. Damned crisp characters and a rock steady
card. I went for years with nothing more. You don't have an IBM EGA
card for the color??
4:12 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
A much-hacked
IBM PC/AT (8MHz system board). The mainboard has a 486
kludgeboard in the 80286 socket. I've added a couple of EPROMs and a
bit of logic to overlay the last 8K of the bios, so I could modify the
hard disk parameter table.
There is a utility called 'hackrom' that I used to use to modify the Why did you need to add/overlay the BIOS to modify the
parameter table?
It's an IBM PC?AT, so there's no user-defined drive type. And I wanted a
rather bigger driver than was officially supported.
There's an original IBM MDA board linked to a
5151 greenscreen
monitor. And a Colorgraph+ (Enhanced CGA card, with enough RAM for
640*200 in 8 colours, pity nothing supports it). That's linked to an
NEC monitor that was used with an Apple ][, which I modifed to add the
intensity line.
Good choice in the MDA card. Damned crisp characters and a rock steady
card. I went for years with nothing more. You don't have an IBM EGA
card for the color?? 
1:38 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Actually it
doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet? 
1:47 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Rumor has it that Cameron Kaiser may have mentioned these words:
Smoke signals. Checksum's a pain, though.
I thought it was TCP/CP; RFC1149.
Yes, it has been implemented, believe it or not.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt
Just in case you've not heard of it. ;-)
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger | "Profile, don't speculate."
SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers | Daniel J. Bernstein
zmerch at 30below.com |
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome
green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
2:04 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Actually it
doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet? 
4:38 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Roger Merchberger wrote:
I thought it was TCP/CP; RFC1149.
Yes, it has been implemented, believe it or not.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt
I much prefer the more durable RFC-1217 myself.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1217.txt
I've been meaning to run a BZFlag server the runs a simulation, but I've
not gotten around to implementing it yet.
--
Tim Riker - http://Rikers.org/ - TimR at Debian.org
Embedded Linux Technologist - http://eLinux.org/
BZFlag maintainer - http://BZFlag.org/ - for fun!
4:46 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Roger Merchberger wrote:
Rumor has it that Cameron Kaiser may have mentioned
these words:
Smoke signals. Checksum's a pain, though.
I thought it was TCP/CP; RFC1149.
Yes, it has been implemented, believe it or not.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1149.txt
Just in case you've not heard of it. ;-)
1149 isn't realy smoke signals, though. I think IP over smoke signals
would be even more interesting.
And what of RFC 2549?
Peace... Sridhar
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome
green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
1:49 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
Smoke signals. Checksum's a pain, though.
Empty bean cans and baling twine...
Noise level goes through the roof when you get flies on the line...
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome
green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
4:45 p.m.
New subject: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
Smoke signals. Checksum's a pain, though.
Hmmm... Encrypted IP over smoke signals. Do I feel an RFC coming on?
Peace... Sridhar
Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome
green screen at the
moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
29 Sep
29 Sep
6:18 p.m.
There are 2 specific places I don't use [compact
fluorescent lights]
-- one is over the lathe (I am worried about a possible stroboscopic
effect making the machine appear stationary when it's not)
I actually wouldn't worry about that, for two reasons: (1) they have a
relatively long "on" time (partly the long-persistence phosphor, partly
the width of the mains voltage peak), and thus a rotating lathe, even
if rotating at a multiple of the strobe rate, will look blurred rather
than stationary, and (2) anyone who depends solely on the appearance of
the moving parts to tell whether a lathe is on is so stupid as to have
no business near power machinery in the first place (look at the power
switch, listen for the motor, find a smooth rotating part and touch it
lightly, the ways to tell are legion).
I even went so far as to try this. I turned out everything but one
compact fluorescent and got out my (variable-speed) electric drill.
The chuck has three holes for the chuck key and thus should "appear
stationary" when spinning at 20 rps (1200rpm, the drill's rated top
end) - remember I'm on 60Hz mains power. :)
No matter how I fiddled with it, I couldn't see any trace of the strobe
effect, not even the sort I'd expect if it were spinning at half speed
and I'd thus see two ghosts instead of one steady copy. Just blur.
I also can usually see strobe effects when I wave my hand fast in front
of flickering lights like large areas of white on a CRT. I was unable
to produce more than the barest trace of that effect with the compact
fluorescent.
Still, if it makes you more comfortable.... :-)
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
11:10 a.m.
There are 2 specific places I don't use
[compact fluorescent lights]
-- one is over the lathe (I am worried about a possible stroboscopic
effect making the machine appear stationary when it's not)
I actually wouldn't worry about that, for two reasons: (1) they have a
relatively long "on" time (partly the long-persistence phosphor, partly
the width of the mains voltage peak), and thus a rotating lathe, even
if rotating at a multiple of the strobe rate, will look blurred rather
than stationary, and (2) anyone who depends solely on the appearance of
the moving parts to tell whether a lathe is on is so stupid as to have
no business near power machinery in the first place (look at the power
switch, listen for the motor, find a smooth rotating part and touch it
lightly, the ways to tell are legion).
1 Oct
1 Oct
12:22 a.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Actually, I use compact fluorescents almost everywhere
(I prefer the
higher apparent colour temperature). There are 2 specific places I don't
use them -- one is over the lathe (I am worried about a possible
stroboscopic effect making the machine appear stationary when it's not)
and the second is in the darkroom (they have a significantly long
afterglow after being turned off -- several minutes -- which is a right
pain there).
I'd love to get properly daylight-balanced compact florries or 12V LED
lamps (the ones that fit the halogen lamp bases).
What about electronic ballast? That would strobe (if at all) at around
1kHz, so less flicker (which gives me a headache, the whole reason I
don't use compact florries) and less chance of strobing.
Gordon.
29 Sep
29 Sep
2:19 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Tony Duell once stated:
Yes, but it would tie them to the mains.
You are seriously suggestingthat the fake aquarium is a portable device?
Why would anyone want to carry one around with them?
Tony, Tony, Tony. This is *America!* You can get a device that attaches
to your vacuum (the one you clean carpets with) to cut your hair [1] (and
the fact that the company that makes it can afford *television* advertising
means there are people here that *buy* this thing). A fake aquarium powered
by a USB port seems tame by comparrison.
-spc (And don't forget---P. T. Barnum sold tickets to the Great
Egress ... )
[1] http://www.flowbee.com/
[...] a
motorized USB "Aquarium" [...]
Whule I can see the point of taking power
from the computer for an
interface converter, keyboard, mouse, something like that, wouldn't
it be simpler if devices like the aquarium, light, etc had their own
mains adapters?
2:31 p.m.
Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote:
I did see an advert yesterday for a toothbrush with a computer in it,
which was somewhat disturbing...
You are
seriously suggestingthat the fake aquarium is a portable device?
Why would anyone want to carry one around with them?
Tony, Tony, Tony. This is *America!* You can get a device that attaches
to your vacuum (the one you clean carpets with) to cut your hair
3:11 p.m.
You are
seriously suggestingthat the fake aquarium is a portable device?
Why would anyone want to carry one around with them?
Tony, Tony, Tony. This is *America!* You can get a device that attaches to your vacuum (the one you clean carpets with) to cut
your hair [1] (and
Yes, I heard about that... I find a pair of tinsnips just as effective
(for cutting hair, not cleaning carpets...)
the fact that the company that makes it can afford
*television* advertising
means there are people here that *buy* this thing). A fake aquarium powered
by a USB port seems tame by comparrison.
-spc (And don't forget---P. T. Barnum sold tickets to the Great
Egress ... )
I actually thought he had a door labelled 'To the Egress, children not
admitted'. Adults went through it, then had to pay re-admission to his
fair to collect their children :-)
-tony
5:30 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Tony Duell once stated:
Last time I checked _this_ is England...
I would be surprised if the portable fake aquarium came from anywhere
*other* than America.
Heh. I wonder if either story is actually true ...
-spc (But the sad thing is ... I can believe either one ... )
You are
seriously suggestingthat the fake aquarium is a portable device?
Why would anyone want to carry one around with them?
Tony, Tony, Tony. This is *America!* You can get a device that attaches -spc (And
don't forget---P. T. Barnum sold tickets to the Great
Egress ... )
I actually thought he had a door labelled 'To the Egress, children not
admitted'. Adults went through it, then had to pay re-admission to his
fair to collect their children :-) 
5:58 p.m.
I would be surprised if the portable fake aquarium
came from anywhere
*other* than America.
Japan?
They are masters at making useless crap.
To be honest, I do not have a problem with USB. It has always worked
properly for me. Plus, it is much easier to plug USB in blindly than a D
shell.
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org
4:11 p.m.
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote:
Holy shit, they're still selling that stupid thing???
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
5:29 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Vintage Computer Festival once stated:
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote:
Holy shit, they're still selling that stupid thing???
Yup, something has to replace the Ronco bottle top cutter.
-spc (Never saw either device in person ... )
6788
days inactive
6794
days old
47 comments
21 participants
participants (21)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
aw288＠osfn.org -
cclist＠sydex.com -
chenmel＠earthlink.net -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
doc＠mdrconsult.com -
gordonjcp＠gjcp.net -
jpero＠sympatico.ca -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
lemay＠cs.umn.edu -
mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA -
philpem＠dsl.pipex.com -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
spc＠conman.org -
spectre＠floodgap.com -
Tim＠Rikers.org -
vcf＠siconic.com -
Watzman＠neo.rr.com -
wgungfu＠csd.uwm.edu -
zmerch＠30below.com