HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (tuu)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Atari & Qix (was Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics)
Date: 21 Jul 92 11:16:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: darkstar.14grljINN8pe
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucscb.ucsc.edu


In article <1992Jul20.060241.1@fnalf.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
}My favorite game was Qix.  When I first saw it in the arcades, I loved
...
}If you filled the screen with 100% shading, you got promoted to a new
}blank screen-- where the Qix moved a little faster.

	Around 75%, actually.  It's impossible to get the full screen 
shaded. On higher levels, there are multiple QIXes, and splitting them moves
you to the next level (since it can't shade in the QIX), and gives you mondo
bonus points.
	Taito versions should be available cheaply. I got mine for $5 new.
-- 
/unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu   used ADB trackball WANTED          Apple II Forever!\
\Mail me:Get INFOCOM GAMES RERELEASED,ULT VI GS done,for UNIX GS&CHEAP CD info/
What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: DECtape (was: Worst tape drives)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:48:19 GMT

In article <DOUGM.92Jul28190654@bradbury.cns.caltech.edu> dougm@cns.caltech.edu (Doug McNaught) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.152904.28638@alliant.com> werme@alliant.com (Ric Werme) writes:
>>   One thing that *did* impress me on the DECtape only system was
>>that sometimes when I ran TECO I would get the '*' prompt immediately
>>and the DECtape wouldn't spin.  Only TECO, never anything else.  It
>>wasn't until I started digging into OS source that I understood why.
>
>  Ok, I'll bite--why?

I have a bootable TOPS-10 DECtape with TECO.  TECO loads into memory and
is reentrant and serially reusable.  So, it just stays in memory and gets
used by whoever needs it no matter how many times.  I believe PIP also does
that and a few others.  "Modern" O/Ses are memory pigs.

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jc@sci.kun.nl (Jan Christiaan van Winkel (ATC))
Subject: Re: What does dd stand for?
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 14:23:46 GMT

In article <1992Jul25.011759.7655@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> dougw@zippy.as.arizona.edu (Doug Williams) writes:
>I am interested in the derivation of the name of the Unix command dd.  My
>local Unix guru said he always assumed it stood for "device to device," but
>could not substantiate this claim.  Any guesses??
>

I thought the following was the true story behind the name of dd:

dd stands for Convert and Copy. Obvious acronym: cc. However that was 
already taken so they used dd instead.

BTW: from the manual pages:
=====================
NAME
     dd - convert and copy files with various data formats

SYNOPSIS
     dd [ option=value ] ...
 ......
=====================
which seems to support my view ;-)
JC
--
___  __  ____________________________________________________________________
   |/  \   Jan Christiaan van Winkel                        jc@sci.kun.nl
   |       Alternative e-mail addresses: jc@oreo.atcmp.nl and jc@atcmp.nl
__/ \__/ ____________________________________________________________________
From: jime@Tandem.com (Jim Ellignsen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: FASTRANDs?
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:12:27 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers

I've never heard of a FASTRAND breaking loose and causing damage.  When
I worked for UNIVAC we used to use FASTRANDs as a unit of measure as "in
the house had a 6 FASTRAND basement".  How could something so big hold
so little data?

Is it true or folklore that FASTRANDs, 432s,
and 1782s were made from sewer pipes?

Jim Ellingsen    ellingsen_jim@tandem.com
From: 9125113g@lux.latrobe.edu.au (Mitch Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What does UNIX mean?
Date: 25 Jul 92 15:40:55 GMT
Organization: La Trobe University

In article <7273.2A6A735C@psycho.fidonet.org> jra@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jay Ashworth) writes:
>Monte Bateman, to All on Monday July 20 1992:
>
> >> THAT's bad?  There's some psychology (?) book out there somewhere in use
> >> by some colleges that claims that Unix is a word processor.
>
>..."It's a floor wax _and_ a  dessert topping!"

Beer.  It's not just for breakfast anymore...

Mitch.
From: claird@NeoSoft.com (Cameron Laird)
Subject: Re: You know you've been hacking too long...
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 14:17:59 GMT
Keywords: workstation, hacking, risks

In article <1992Jul29.202156.4378@ttinews.tti.com> hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath) writes:
			.
			.
			.
Am I the only one who looks for control characters
(^H, ^Z, and ^C, mostly) on a telephone keypad?  I
*think* I've told callers they're going on "hold",
instead of being "suspended", but it'll happen
someday ...
-- 

Cameron Laird
claird@Neosoft.com (claird%Neosoft.com@uunet.uu.net)	+1 713 267 7966
claird@litwin.com (claird%litwin.com@uunet.uu.net)  	+1 713 996 8546
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: thayne@unislc.uucp (Thayne Forbes)
Subject: Re: Computer Relics (Was: 9 track data storage?)
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 15:54:46 GMT

From article <1992Jul23.083221.19060@news.columbia.edu>, by lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner):
> In article <1992Jul23.052322.21011@unislc.uucp> thayne@unislc.uucp (Thayne Forbes) writes:
>>
>>Lets make it more challenging.  Who still has any of these on a system
>>running today.  How about any two?  Anybody want to go for three?  I
>>have 9-track and paper tape concurrently as late as 1982 (although I
>>will concede that this use was infrequent).  I have never used core
>>memory, but Sperry used to give away little PCBs containing about 1K
>>of memory to 'Visiting Dignitaries (tm)'.
> 
> OK, no problem whatsoever:
> 
> PDP-8/e with PDP-8/a 20-slot chassis for hex cards.
> 32K implemented from 2 MM8AB 16K x 12 core planes
> PC04 papertape reader/punch
> CR8E card reader interface with Documation 400 CPM card reader; 029 keypunch
> M4/Thorn/EMI Magtape drive
> RK05 x 2 and RK8E
> TC08 DECtape controller with 4 drives (TU56 dual x 2)
> RX02/RX8E and/or DSD-210 RX01-superset 8" floppy
> InterProcessorBuffer to LINC-8 providing LINCtape support on 2 drives
> CIS console breakpoint debugger
> 8/e front panel
> 8/a front panel
> FP8A ASCII terminal front panel and battery-backup clock
> MDC8 SCSI adaptor with OMTI 5400 controller to 1.2 Meg HD floppy, QIC-02
> tape streamer, 80 Megabyte Hard disk x 2, SyQuest 555 45 Megabyte removable
> cartridge hard disk
> DECmate III as console terminal
> LA-180 parallel printer
> LA-120 serial printer
> Various additional terminals and printers (some DEC, some others)
> VT8E DMA terminal-like device
> LAB-8/e peripherals and RM-602 oscilloscope
> 
> Most of the equipment is in 3 H-960 full-height racks.  The LINC-8 stands
> next to it in its outsized cabinet.

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

-- 
           "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
                            -U.S. Vice President J. Danforth Quayl[e]
Thayne Forbes
thayne@unislc.slc.unisys.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: anton@cv.ruu.nl (Anton H.J. Koning)
Subject: Re: Multiple Wristwatches
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 09:34:36 GMT
Organization: University of Utrecht, 3D Computer Vision Research Group

In <SIMON.92Jul30101955@liasg1.epfl.ch> simon@lia.di.epfl.ch (Simon Leinen) writes:

>In article <1992Jul28.153418.57570@cc.usu.edu> ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M
>lives!) writes:
>
>   No, but rumor is that they're working on a watch that listens to
>   WWV ala Heathkit's Most Accurate Clock.
>
>Radio-synchonrized watches exist already.  I think the German
>manufacturer Junghans was first to offer one -- it is synched to
>DCF77 once a day (at night).

 That's right, I got one, in addition to the calculator watch. And no, I
 don't wear them at the same time ;-)
 The watch is the Junghans Mega 1, "The World's first radio controlled watch"
 according to the box. BTW. they now also have an analog model.

>-- 
>Simon.

********************************************************************************
*   ____  . __   ___ *             The mist crawls from the canal              *
*  (__   / /__) /__  *        Like some primordial phantom of romance.         *
* ____) / /  \ /__   *        To curl, under a cascade of neon pollen,         *
*--------------------* While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father  *
* Anton H.J. Koning  *           Your carnation will rot in a vase.            *
* anton@cv.ruu.nl    *                                    ~ Marillion ~        *
********************************************************************************
From: bobmon@sandshark.cs.indiana.edu (Bob Montante)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer Relics (Was: 9 track data storage?)
Date: 28 Jul 92 23:25:22 GMT
Organization: dyskaryotic

"Keyboard?  How quaint!"
From: terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Data General
Date: 29 Jul 92 11:21:53 GMT
Organization: St. Peter's College, US

In article <1992Jul28.143944.11045@news.columbia.edu>, gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:
> As I recall, the only time they changed it was when they did backup every
> afternoon.  My guess is that the packs were about 30" in diameter and maybe
> 3 or 3 inches thick.  They were usually white or blue plastic, with access
> to the side for the heads.
> 
> My question:  Can anyone tell me how much storage these things probably had?

  Man, this takes me way back...

  The original version, shipped on Novas and early Eclipse CPU's was the 4234
(I believe) drive, which was an OEM'd Diablo Model 44 drive (DG used the 4xxx
series for OEM'd stuff and the 6xxx for in-house). It was a 10Mb drive, with
5Mb on a fixed platter and 5Mb on the removable pack, which was about 16" in
diameter.

  DG later came out with an in-house version, the 6045 (?) and a double-density
version, the 6070 (?).

	Terry Kennedy		Operations Manager, Academic Computing
	terry@spcvxa.bitnet	St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA
	terry@spcvxa.spc.edu	+1 201 915 9381
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Direction of DECtape motion (was Re: DECtape swapping == FALSE ..)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 22:32:36 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.174933.4993@ulowell.ulowell.edu> wex@cs.ulowell.edu writes:
>
>off the head.  (and why did Linc tapes run backwards (or was it
>DECtapes that ran backwards?))


The original definition of the tape starts with LINCtape.  By the nature of
the Manchester phase encoding, the bits arrive in reverse order three at a
time (there are 3 data heads) and in complemented form if you are running the
tape backwards.  This is referred to as complement obverse data:

1234 octal reads back as 3456 to use a 12-bit example.

Tape transfers can't happen in reverse on LINCtape because the tape was
designed to have positional "mark" information for 12-bit words transferred
forwards only although searchable in both directions.

When DECtape was designed as a second-generation of tape, it was based on a
totally compatible design except for new mark codes for 18-bit data that
allows transfer in either direction, and additional details about the tape,
such as the pre-final data word as well as the final data word.  This can
help in certain systems using double-buffering, etc.

For reasons I don't know, they standardized on the data timed against a
timing clock pulse while the tape is spinning backwards to LINCtape, thus
all data is referred as "backwards" if the LINCtape is the reference point.
Note that each system can't reference the other's data, because the wrong
timing track edge is used to clock the data.  There exists an official PDP-12
and a LINC-8 evolvement of changes designed to reverse the polarity of the
timing track so that DECtape marks and data can be decoded.  The PDP-12
version does some partial decoding to help get into synchronization while the
LINC-8 gives access to the mark window itself for program decoding.  This
also allows reading some LINCtape designed for the NOVA which is essentially
a DECtape with LINCtape's data polarities.  You don't invert the timing
track polarity, but you have to program decode the mark tracks in the
same fashion as DECtape.  Overall format is otherwise the same as PDP-10/11/15
etc. DECtape.

Note that the data will be transferred in a complement-obversed fashion on
all systems if you transfer against the prevailing data direction.  The TC11
on the PDP-11 bothers to correct this so only the direction of word storage
in memory is reversed.  This is turn complicated PDP-11 programs that have to
read tapes generated on systems where the data was meant to be transferred
while moving backwards because the automatical feature gets in the way.
Additionally, the 2 "extra" bits aren't transferred via DMA, so the
timing-critical read-all or write-all operations must be used for these
formats.  This can't be done in a general-purpose environment, so there are
some restrictions when using the FLX or similar programs.  The program
must be totally in sync with the data transfer nominally every 200 microseconds
in this mode.

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer Relics (Was: 9 track data storage?)
From: liam@durie.amigans.gen.nz (Liam Greenwood)
Date: 23 Jul 92 20:30:24 GMT+12
Distribution: world
Organization: It's Home, really...

In article <1992Jul21.205524.20552@nap.amoco.com> pgravel@nap.amoco.com (Philip L. Gravel) writes:
>
>On a related topic, did you hear that Paul McCartney was in another band
>before "Wings"????    My, how time flies....
>
    Paul McCartney was in a _band_ !?? <gasp> ...

--
 Liam Greenwood ------ liam@durie.amigans.gen.nz ------ Wanganui, N.Z.
                Don't tell my Mother I'm a programmer,
              she thinks I'm a piano player in a brothel
From: cc2x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: pdp-11 memory help
Date: 25 Jul 92 16:28:09 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Cornell University

   
  Having recently gotton back from Montreal with a load of equipement,
I have come upno a probably. I can't get my pdp-11 34a to register
that it has any memory. I have 2 128k cards (M7891) one fully populated,
the other only half.
  What dip switchs must I switch to tell the pdp what memory I have installed?
I don't have the proper documentation for this. 
   Could someone tell me the switch positions for 128k, 64k and 194k.
   I have m9312 bootstrap, floating point, programmers front panel,and
the parity card.
   Thanks,
     -Jeff
   cc2x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
From: lar@ucs.usl.edu (Robert, Lane A.)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computers killing people? (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Date: 31 Jul 92 15:56:37 GMT
	<1992Jul27.144529.14224@husc3.harvard.edu>
	<1992Jul29.140116.26213@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
	<1992Jul29.165150.14686@news.columbia.edu>
	<1992Jul30.210113.1@cc.curtin.edu.au>
Reply-To: lar@usl.edu (Robert, Lane A.)
Organization: Univ. of SW Louisiana, Lafayette

In article <1992Jul30.210113.1@cc.curtin.edu.au>
zcookbruc@cc.curtin.edu.au writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.165150.14686@news.columbia.edu>, lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>> In article <1992Jul29.140116.26213@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> comrade@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Peter Cooper) writes:
>>>
>>>Falling VAX kills 20.
>>>
>>>I live in hope.
>>>
>>>Peter
>> 
>> I would prefer:
>> 
>> Falling VAX kills 11.
>> 
>> cjl
>
>Nah:
>
>Falling VAX kills 370

Or for a real massacre:

Falling VAX kills 80386

Lane
lar@usl.edu
From: rich@knoware.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Richard Hempsey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:18:44 GMT
Organization: Know Software

jelson@poincare.cs.jhu.edu (Jeremy Elson) writes:

> In article <1992Jul28.184311.5093@eskimo.celestial.com> shaggy@eskimo.celesti
> >Yeah Koronis Rift was ok, I just didn't like the theme as much as
> >Rescue's...  And what's this about my CoCo III's not being old?  it's
> >about as old as CoCo III's get, it was the second CoCo III bought in my
> >hometown (one of the clerks beat me to it...I got mine the first day it
> >was released)  I liked the CoCo, it was a nice machine, I still own
> >mine.
> 
> Coco?  What kind of game is that?  The Coco *I* know is an instructional
> program for the Commodore 64 that I used when I was about 11 (after we
> bought our first computer).

The CoCo is short for Color Computer... as in TRS-80.  Several models
were made, from the original 4k unit back in 1980, up to the 512k CoCo
III in (around) 1986.

I bought my first 16k CoCo in 1982 for $800, my first disk drive
(35tracks, 18sectors, 256bytes/sector, singlesided) for $720 in '84.  I
upgraded to a whopping 64k for $120.

Several os's were available, including OS-9, a unix-like multitasking os
(my personal favorite.)  Not bad for a 0.895MHz 6809 in 64k, eh?  (OS-9
Level II for the CoCoIII runs at 1.79MHz in as little as 128k).

It was a real hackers machine, as support from Radio Shack (Radio Shack
support = Military Intelligence) was nonexistant.  I saw machines (CoCo
1's, not 3's) hacked up to hold 512k, with 80 track DSDD floppys and 20
meg HDs.  CoCo3's were hacked to hold up to 2 megs.

CoCo's went out of production around '89, but compatible machines are
still being manufactured.

---
Richard  at  rich@knoware.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (preferred)
Hempsey  or  rich@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: imprecise interrupts
Date: 29 Jul 1992 11:51:04 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <5201@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>, valdis@vttcf.cc.vt.edu (Valdis Kletnieks) writes:
|> Other ObFolklore:
|> 
|> The IBM S/360 models 65 and 95 (and maybe others) had a bizzare
|> creature called an "imprecise interrupt".  This basically meant that
|> your 'STORE' opcode hit a protection or addressing error, and the
|> CPU didn't find out about it till 2-3 instructions later. 

 A common feature on many CPUs - lots of hardware
 doing various things simultaneously, and if one piece hits an exception, or
 whatever, you may have the actual interrupt having effect a dozen
 instructions later.

|> [...]                      Anyhow, I seem to remember that it was
|> possible to belly-up the machine by doing a stray store into non-
|> existent memory, then doing an SVC - and then the opsys would die
|> because it would take an unexpected interrupt *after* the SVC switched
|> to the kernel context...

A design error. One of the many things the hardware should do on a context
switch is wait for all abnormal conditions - either aborting ongoing
operations, or waiting for everything to finish.
Yes, I can remember analyzing dumps showing an interrupted context switch
with weird statuses, but it always turned out to be malfunctioning hardware.
A software-caused error condition, such as a write into outer space, shouldn't
cause a hardware crash (nor, for that matter, a software crash, not if it
occurred in user context).

|> 				Valdis Kletnieks
|> 				Computer Systems Engineer
|> 				Virginia Tech
|> 				Valdis Kletnieks
|> 				Computer Systems Engineer
|> 				Virginia Tech

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
From: cs@ib.cc.rl.ac.uk (C. Stratford)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Date: 30 Jul 92 07:52:31 GMT
Organization: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

In article <Bs5nsL.4wH@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> dagbrown@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Dave Brown) writes:
>CLUELESS!!!!!  The CoCo is the Radio Shack Color Computer, one of the
>neater beasts to come from the guts of Tandy...it ran OS/9 and did other
>neat things.

It was also one of the few computers (apart from the PC) to have a clone 
made of it - the wonderful (but sadly long dead) Dragon 32.  It ran all
of the same software, could use most of the same hardware, and sold
better than the CoCo (in the UK at least.)

   Chris.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | All that is gold does not glitter  | Chris Stratford                     |
 | Not all those who wander are lost. | cs@ib.cc.rl.ac.uk                   |
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Terminal intrinsics
From: don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (Don Stokes)
Date: 21 Jul 92 07:10:27 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Wolery

andersa@Sofia.DoCS.UU.SE (Anders Andersson) writes:
> It's Monday.  Time to go shopping for cables for my recently
> acquired used DEC GIGI (VK100) graphics terminal.  Has anybody
> tried connecting this thing (or anything similar) to a regular
> TV set?  Is a properly wired cable set sufficient, or is there
> a need for extra electronics?

I've had mine attached to various monochrome monitors.  It's just straight
video out the mono port.  I suspect that feeding the colour outputs to a
SCART plug will let you have colour on a suitably equipped TV, but don't
quote me on that.  GIGI does tend to overscan a bit; this may be a problem.

--
Don Stokes, ZL2TNM (DS555)                        don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (home)
Network Manager, Computing Services Centre            don@vuw.ac.nz (work)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand              +64-4-495-5052
From: adam@owlnet.rice.edu (Adam Justin Thornton)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Pronouncing Unix names
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:13:34 GMT
Organization: Milo's Meadow

In article <1992Jul29.010902.23494@uvm.edu> wollman@sadye (Garrett Wollman) writes:

>Naw... I don't think that anyone in their right mind would ever create
>a directory called `user' intentionally... There are sometimes `users'
>(note the `s'), but never `user'.  This is, of course, another fine
>point that makes things all the more difficult when trying to explain
>these things to a Civil Engineering undergrad who just got his first
>``Unix account'' (as they are wont to call them)...
>
Actually, I have, and I think the O'Reilly _Basic System Administration_
(Frisch or something close to that) recommends it.

My Linux system operates with both a /usr and a /user partition.
/usr is, just as you'd expect, the [something] System Resource side
of things, just as on any other Unix (*).  /user is where home
directories live.

As long as you don't try to pronounce the difference, it's not too hard
to figure out what's supposed to be where.

Adam

* Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T and if you forget it you will
be savagely beaten on the kidneys with large sticks.
-- 
"Man is conceivied in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the
 stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud.  There is _always_
 something." -- Robert Penn Warren | Vote Cthulhu in '92! | adam@rice.edu
If Rice shared my opinions I wouldn't have this disclaimer | 64,928