HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: brendan@cygnus.com (Brendan Kehoe)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,alt.bbs,comp.bbs.misc
Subject: Re: The bogus Nixpub Posting
Date: 26 Aug 92 05:25:11 GMT
	<p0an8#h@dixie.com>
Reply-To: brendan@cygnus.com
Organization: Cygnus Support, Palo Alto, CA
In-reply-to: jgd@dixie.com's message of Wed, 26 Aug 92 01:12:35 GMT

In article <p0an8#h@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:

   I choose to run Dixie this way and that's the way it will be.

Phil chooses to run nixpub his way, and that's the way it will be.

   Of course it is his list.  The problem I have is that he represents it 
   as comprehensive and nowhere that I've seen does he disclaim the fact
   that the list represents only those sites that operate the way he
   wants them to.  

I've never seen Phil actually say anything about the list---just post
it.  Having actively followed it for over four years, and archived it
for over a year at Widener (it's still being maintained there), I have
the utmost respect for both Phil and the effort nixpub represents.

I have to remark on something that's always bothered me, particularly
after having gone through it myself.  Phil is providing a FREE
service, in his own time.  There's absolutely nothing in this world
binding him to performing it, beyond his understanding that there's a
definite need for the stuff he's collecting.  People incessantly
bitching about the inadequacies of freely available information really
angers me.  That's like stopping by a spring in Maine to fill up from
a tap bearing the sign "free spring water," only to complain to the
landowner that they should make sure it's purified better, cuz it just
didn't taste right.

   Would you want to speculate as to how many OTHER sites there are besides
   our two?

Then start your own list, contact all of those other sites, maintain
it, and distribute it.  If nixpub is so badly composed as you claim,
then your list should gain immediate acceptance.  But spite's not the
point---improving the breadth and quality of information available is.
If you have a better way, then do it, don't complain someone else's is
inadequate.

Someone had been posting a list of "other" open systems, but their
name escapes me.  I haven't seen it in a bit; some digging should make
it turn up---perhaps they'll be willing to include dixie.com without
disclosing the phone number.

--
Brendan Kehoe                                               brendan@cygnus.com
Cygnus Support, Palo Alto, CA                                  +1 415 322 3811
                       Oooh! A handsome stranger! And me, without my shoes on.
                                     --The Princess, The Emperor's New Clothes
From: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Giles' Manual Mania (Was - Re: About the 'F' in RTFM)
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:20:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Aug28.172029.22760
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO
Originator: tchrist@pixel.convex.com
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

From the keyboard of jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov (Jim Giles):
:Awk is a poor imitation of snobol.  The very fact that you mentioned both
:sed and awk is interesting also.  They do the same thing (or, to be more
:precise, there's a *considerable* overlap in functionality).  Yet they 
:do so differently - incompatibility!  If UNIX were true to it's creed
:(simple orthogonal tools each doing one thing *well* and piping them
:together), there would be one tool - or at least the two would have
:identical syntaxes for the overlapping parts of their operations.

There is one -- perl.

:|> Err, these 'GUI's you keep referring to are faster than /bin/rc?
:
:The /bin/rc I have access to is part of the system boot sequence and is 
:not a part of the naive user environment at all.  What relevance to does 
:it have to a discussion about user-level tools?  I'm talking about tools
:which are useful in writing and maintaining software for applications
:*other* than system design or system maintenance.

You're confused.  /bin/rc has nothing to with /etc/rc, which is
what you've confused it with.  Go read the Plan 9 papers and get 
back to us. :-)

Mr. Giles apparently also labors under the misconception that a GUI
is inherently a good thing.  They're not.  In fact, poor GUIs are
a significant step backwards in both ease-of-use and modular software
technologies in general.

:The terms `arcane' and `user friendly' are mutually exclusive.
:UNIX is arcane.

User-friendly too often means expert-hostile -- remember that stupidity
is its own reward.

--tom

-- 
    Tom Christiansen      tchrist@convex.com      convex!tchrist


	"Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate!"
From: deanc@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Dean Cashen)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 16:41:41 GMT
Subject: Re: NeXT Computer question
Organization: Hewlett Packard - Boise, ID
Newsgroups: comp.misc

In comp.misc / bill@prijat.cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon):
> Maybe I'm confused, but what about:
>     comp.sys.next
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
            .
            .
            .

I too posted this group, and subsequently got several e-mail messages
saying "NO, no!"  Apparantly this group has been, or was supposed to
be, obsoleted quite some time ago.  The other groups you'd listed
are probably okay though.  Apparantly the comp.sys.next group was
too "general."  So, they split them into additional groups.  Some
sys-ops (mine, it would seem) haven't yet deleted the group.  

And I thought this was simple post; look at the "*next*" entries, and
post the key ones.  Everything's more complicated than it seems. . . .

Dean
From: bill@solaria (Bill Neisius)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: PRODIGY - Speed, Cost, Usefulness, etc.
Date: 27 Aug 92 13:57:58 GMT
Distribution: usa
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Allan Bond (bond@rtsg.mot.com) wrote:
: 
: ** Is there any way to customize the service from my end to reduce the
:    amount of useless advertisements & graphics being dumped to my screen?
: 

For the IBM PC there is a program called VGAUTIL that, among other things
re-arranges the Prodigy screen so as to hide most of the advertisements.
It also allows binary uploads/downloads through the Prodigy email system,
screen capture, macro recording, etc, ....  Almost makes Prodigy bearable...
(well, not really)


Bill Neisius
bill@solaria.hac.com
Newsgroups: comp.misc
From: bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig)
Subject: Wanted: Poor man's speech recognition (something simple)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 19:06:17 GMT
Organization: Starfleet Headquarters: San Francisco

At the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, there's a computer exhibit
that features a system that asks you to repeat six words twice each,
then lets you toggle a lamp, a windowshade, a fan, music, &c. by
speaking one of the words.

This system impressed me, but what impressed me even more was that it
was running on an Apple IIe!

If primitive speech recognition is so simple that even an Apple IIe
can do it, then I'd be surprised if there doesn't exist some source
code on the net that shows how to do this.  All it entails, really, is
generating a sound sample and coming up with a deviance tolerance for
that sample during the training phase, then matching everything the
computer "hears" against that sample to see if it falls within the
tolerance.  But I don't want to bother coming up with the algorithms
myself (too much else to do :).

Can anybody point me to code that I could use to play around with
primitive speech recognition?  I have access to a Mac with a
microphone, and this looks like it could be a neat project.  Thanks!

     << Brian >>


-- 
_/_/_/       Brian Kendig  Macintosh Jedi           Live never to be ashamed
 _/_/   Starfleet Captain  Oracle Employee         if anything you do or say
  _/  Intrepid Adventurer  Saturn SL2 Owner    is published around the world
      bskendig@netcom.com  Twin Peaks Junkie    -- even if what is published
    Princeton '92! BSE/CS  Writer/Actor/Singer                   is not true.
From: Ward_Travis@transarc.com
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.peripherals
Subject: Wanted: info on older UPS
Date: 26 Aug 92 06:39:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: transarc.8eatSAz0Bwxf9kcbN3
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


    As I don't read all of these groups regularly, please respond by mail.
    If anyone else wants to know about this box, send me mail and I'll
    forward any responses I get to you. Thanks!

(cross-posted previously to c.s.hardware)

I have come across a "DataShield Turbo 2 / 300" uninterruptable power
supply which no longer seems to work. The owner claims that it worked
when last used, although that was perhaps three or more years ago. Can
anyone out there provide any information on this UPS? I have no
manuals for it at all, and little experience with UPSs in general...

The symptoms are as follows: the UPS is plugged into a properly
grounded 120VAC outlet. The "Output Enable" toggle switch on the back
is set to 1. Nothing is plugged into the "Remote Sensor" mini-jack
beside this switch. The front panel switch "Alarm/On" is set to "On"
and the Test switch (which is momentary contact) is left alone or held
down for a second (each case). No indicators light. The UPS does not
warm up. No signs of life, smoke, noises, shorts, or demonic
possession.  I eyeballed the fuse and it looks OK (I will put in a new
fuse this afternoon nonetheless). The power outlet which is driving
the UPS checks out fine. The UPS is just dead, unless there is
something to starting it up that I have not tried.

Any general comments on UPS repair and maintenance are also welcome.
For instance: is there an old lead-acid battery bank in there which
would need to have solution added? I haven't plugged anything into the
UPS outputs (120VAC three-prong receptacles), is it waiting for a load
to be presented before it goes active? Is this "remote sensor" an
input or an output (output indicating interruption, I presume), and if
it's an input, what will satisfy it?

I haven't taken the thing apart yet, so excuse my ignorance about its
internals...


--
Ward C. Travis		Pittsburgh PA	"The fact is the sweetest dream that
travis@transarc.com	(412) 338 4388	       labor knows."  - R. Frost
From: lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Giles' Manual Mania (Was - Re: About the 'F' in RTFM)
Date: 29 Aug 92 22:03:35 GMT
Organization: NetLabs, Inc.

In article <id.XBRS.HAD@ferranti.com> peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva) writes:
: In article <1992Aug27.192610.12441@wixer.cactus.org> rhodesia@wixer.cactus.org (Felix S. Gallo) writes:
: > But they are.  sed, awk, perl, tr, pr, nroff, troff, ls, tbl, pic, eqn,
: > rm, and all the other programs in my /[usr/]bin perform completely correctly
: > and predictably when placed in pipes.
: 
: They do? You got rid of the undocumented line length limitations?

Hey!  I feel lumped.

Larry Wall
lwall@netlabs.com
Newsgroups: comp.software.licensing,comp.misc
From: drice@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Keith Rice)
Subject: Re: REQUEST: info on S.P.A. license "raids"
Organization: University of North Texas
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 02:41:27 GMT

In <1992Sep1.190931.2373@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (General Protection Fault) writes:

>The people I work with are compiling a record of all of the software loaded on
>our department's computers and have asked me to see about finding more
>information on searches being done by the Software Publishers Association.
>They've heard varying versions of reports that SCA representatives are
>appearing on campuses with search warrants in hand to route unlicensed copies
>of commercial software.

>If anybody has any information of any kind (news stories, policy statements,
>etc, etc, etc...) please zap a copy through my e-mail.

The SPA has a software package called SPAudit that will assist you in
taking the inventory.  I'm not sure about the cost though.

--
D. Keith Rice -- University of North Texas -- drice@ponder.csci.unt.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beta Test: To voluntarily entrust one's data, livelihood and sanity to
           hardware or software intended to destroy all three.  In
           earlier days, virgins were selected to beta test volcanoes.
Newsgroups: comp.misc
From: peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva)
Subject: uNIX on tired iron FAQ
	Re: Help Me!!!
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:37:46 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.150111.276@lrc.edu> white_ca@lrc.edu writes:
> Can anyone tell me anything about the Onyx computer.

This is one of the first, if not THE first, micro-based uNIX boxes. I believe
it's Z8000 based.

I guess this is as good a time as any... I'm going to try and put together
a uNIX on tired iron FAQ. This will include contact information, support
info, resources, and so on for as many old uNIX boxes as possible. If anyone
has any information about Onyx, Fortune, Plexus, Zeus, 3b1, HP Integral, Wicat,
Pixar, and whatever other old no-longer-supported uNIX systems let me know.

More modern or still-supported hardware is also kosher, if it's far enough
behind the state of the art that support is getting problematical. I'd like
to include some info on anything that will run on 286 and older 386 machines
(say, under 4M (4M is small? Say it ain't so!)...).

Non-AT&T uNIXoid implementations are also welcome, from Idris and Regulus on
up to Coherent and QNX, since these tend to be smaller and more efficient.
-- 
Peter da Silva                                               `-_-'
$ EDIT/TECO LOVE                                              'U` 
%TECO-W-OLDJOKE Not war?                        Have you hugged your wolf today?
Ferranti Intl. Ctls. Corp.      Sugar Land, TX  77487-5012       +1 713 274 5180
From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: PCPLUS Question
Date: 1 Sep 92 20:30:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: mksol.1992Sep1.203051.17963
Distribution: usa
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc

In <BtM06F.p4@news.cso.uiuc.edu> weller@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Bonnie Weller) writes:

>First question is "Is this the right group to post questions
>regarding PCPLUS?"  If not could someone please stear me in the right
>direction.

>Now on with the real question.

>I am trying to load a file from my hard drive at home onto a computer
>at work.  I am remotely logged in via a modem (Telebit T1000).  When I 
>do an ALT Z and select page up, I get the prompt for a selection.  I 
>select ascii since the file is written in ascii, then I write the file 
>name at the next prompt.  It sends the file to the remote computer, but 
>it is not sent as a file.  Instead the words in the file are read as 
>separate commands.  (i.e., the first word in the file I am trying to 
>send is "Dear", the computer at work reads this as a command "Dear" and 
>I get back the message "Cannot find this command".)  When the file is
>finished being sent, the computer locks up and I have to hang up the
>line.  BTW, I can download a file from my work computer onto my hard
>drive, if after I make my selections I 'cat' the file I am trying to
>receive.  

This is just what the ASCII choice is supposed to do.  It takes the
file and moves it AS IF TYPED FROM THE KEYBOARD.  The 'receiving'
computer, of course, has no file transfer protocol running (you need
one at both ends), so it interprets your file as typed commands, which
it doesn't find.

>Soooo, How do I send files in PCPLUS as files.  What small but
>important detail am I missing?  My PCPLUS documentation is buried
>beneath a mound of boxes (we just moved) and since I am 8 months
>pregnant I do not want to go lifting all these to find it.

What file transfer protocols does the computer at work have?  USE ONE
OF THEM.  If it doesn't have any, open an editor and then do the ASCII
transfer. 

[With 'cat', it sounds like a UNIX box.  It will probably have kermit
available, and may have zmodem as well.]


-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.os.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc
From: dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (General Protection Fault)
Subject: Re: help needed on drdos update
Organization: is the refuge of the unimaginative!
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 19:25:39 GMT


In article <1992Aug31.174636.13220@unixg.ubc.ca> wangf@unixg.ubc.ca (Frank Wang
) writes:
+This help.wanted may not belong to this group but I'm desperated to
+seek some help.
+
+My computer crashed so I have to reload the DRDOS.  To make it compatible
+with WINDOWS 3.1, I have to run a UPDATE.BAT file.  The problem is
+that the two hidden file, IMBBIO.COM & IBMDOS.COM could not be updated
+(I could see it by date).  I also ran REPLACE.EXE to update those two
+hidden files, but the reply was 'access denied.'  I have no idea why
+it went through so easily but this time so difficult.  If someone out
+there know the reason, please help me.
+
+Thanks in advance.
+
+Frank
I think a call to the digital Research Inc. customer support line is in order.
These people are excellent and really do seem to have a clue!  Highly 
recommended. find the number in your DR-DOS documentation.

Keith
-- 
D.K.Higgs  DATA+@osu.edu  a.k.a  dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu _____   __o
Ohio State University Libraries, Acquisitions Department      -------    -\<,
Continuation Acquisition Division                              ------ ( )/ ( )
~~(614)292-6314~~~~~~fax(614)292-2015~~~~~~~~~~\_________/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: comp.misc
From: peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva)
Subject: Gripes about the UNIX Programmer's Manual
	Re: Giles' Manual Mania (Was - Re: About the 'F' in RTFM)
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:43:27 GMT

Jim, when you forward a thread it would help if you would explain WTF the
thread is about near the beginning of the message.

The UPM is a *manual*. It's not a tutorial, or user's guide. It's not intended
to teach people how to use the UNIX system. It's a reference tool for people
who already know... and as such it's about the best I've seen. It sure as hell
beats out VMS HELP and DEC manuals in general in that regard.

It doesn't have a conventional index, but comes with an extremely useful
KWIK index that's much more effective. I'd MUCH rather deal with that than

	copy	4-3, 5-19, 5-27, 9-22, A-1

and grovel through half a dozen pages before I find the right entry.

In article <1992Aug25.171411.9865@newshost.lanl.gov> jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:
> Are you suggesting that the converse is true - that accidents are
> evidence that roads and cars are NOT badly designed?

In this case, accidents are due to people thinking that a pickup truck is a
car. You can fault UNIX for the lack of a good standard tutorial or user's
manual, but you can't fault the UNIX programmer's manual for not being one.

I'll happily agree that the "users guides" suck dirty canal water. And that
the manual could do with more cross-references and more standardization (the
shells are particularly bad about this), which is why I'm on the CFCM.

> In fact, for the most part the UNIX tools are often *less* capable 
> than their better designed (easier to learn and to use) counterparts 
> elsewhere.  This is the primary cause of the success of windowing
> environments on UNIX, they *hide* the crummy interface.

I STRONGLY disagree here. The UNIX command line interface is an excellent
one, better by far than (for example) VMS (where I can never remember whether
a particular keyword needs to be a noun, verb, or option... is that "delete
entry 415" or "delete 415 /entry" or "delete /entry=415" or...). The big
problem with the X Window system is that (1) it itself is a user-interface
disaster, (2) it exposes way too much complexity to applications, and hence
to users, and (3) it doesn't provide a competant graphical replacement for
the shell. It *doesn't* hide the interface you so dislike.

> UNIX was evolved in a haphazard way without any 
> attempts to integrate the various features into a coherent environment.  

No, UNIX was developed with integration of various features as a high priority,
and as a result you have almost universal interoperability of programs and
interfaces. The problem is that it's got all these MIT-derived research tools
and Berkeley Quality Software hung on the side.
-- 
Peter da Silva                                               `-_-'
$ EDIT/TECO LOVE                                              'U` 
%TECO-W-OLDJOKE Not war?                        Have you hugged your wolf today?
Ferranti Intl. Ctls. Corp.      Sugar Land, TX  77487-5012       +1 713 274 5180
Newsgroups: comp.misc
From: dpotter@xstor.com (David Potter ESQ.)
Subject: Re: What is Occam's Razor
Organization: Storage Dimensions, Inc.
Keywords: n
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 23:06:50 GMT


Occam's razor:

To simultaneously define it and demonstrate it, try making the following
decision:

It is either the statement that "one should not multiply entities without
necessity" or it is a special kind of straight-razor brought to the earth
by malevolent space aliens who eat martian girls.  (Mars needs women).

You be the judge.
D.Potter

Newsgroups: comp.misc
From: crpresto@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Charlie Preston)
Subject: Re: PRODIGY - Speed, Cost, Usefulness, etc.
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 21:18:30 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Illinois State University

In article <23065@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM> bill@solaria (Bill Neisius) writes:
>: >For the IBM PC there is a program called VGAUTIL that, among other things
>
>Currently on wuarchive.wustl.edu:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/vgautil.zip
>
Thanks Bill. (Tried to e-mail to you but it bounced.)  I guess it's time to
upgrade from EGA.

Chas

Xref: sparky comp.misc:3445 comp.periphs:1194 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:22985 comp.sys.misc:650 misc.consumers:15837