HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: daz@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (David A. Z.)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Binary clock for X Windows.
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:35:03 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization
NNTP-Posting-Host: hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu

In article <1993Jan5.123655.19305@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de> pvs9@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de (Praktikum Verteilte Systeme) writes:
)In article <BzrKA8.77I@NeoSoft.com> peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
)>In article <1992Dec23.170810.24300@src.honeywell.com> englehar@src.honeywell.com (Matt Englehart) writes:
)>> In article <TPAQUETTE.92Dec23093654@gumby.ita.lgc.com> tpaquette@ita.lgc.com (Trevor Paquette) writes:
)>> >In article 9806@aio.jsc.nasa.gov, mccoy@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov (Daniel J. McCoy) writes:
)>> >>bill@solaria (Bill Neisius) writes:
)>> >>|>Douglas W O'Neal (doug@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu) wrote:
)>> >>|>:norm@bnr.ca writes:
)>> >>|>:->bret@muppet.bt.co.uk (Bret Giddings) writes:
)>> >>|>:->|> What! another clock for wimps. I use a real clock, one that displays the number
)>> >>|>:->|> of seconds since Jan 1st 1970.
)>> >>|>:->This is starting to sound like the "We were *so* poor..." skit from Monty
)>> >>|>:->Python.  BTW, (let's see what I can come up with), *I* use the number of seconds
)>> >>|>:->since Jan 1, 1970 but in Greenwich Mean Time :-)
)>> >>|>:*I* use the number of seconds since Nov 17, 1858.  (I can't help it, I was
)>> >>|>:raised on VMS and UN*X time doesn't come naturally to me.)
)>> >>|>Oh yeah? MY clock counts from January 1, 4713 B.C. (start of the 
)>> >>|>astronomical Julian calendar)
)>> >>>OH YEAH???  My clock counts seconds backwards from Star Date 938943.1299,
)>> >>>the second coming of Jesus.
)>> >> Pah! Child's play.  *My* clock sends pulses direct to a composite screen on my
)>> >>retina via electrodes crimped into my skull which receive sync from a transmitter
)>> >>on my Moulinex food processor.
)>> >  HA! My clock actually displays the current astronomical sky and I have to 
)>> > figure out the time from the star patterns and placements!
)>> 
)>> HA! My clock actually displays the current astronomical sky from a random
)>> location in the galaxy, and I have to figure out the time from the star
)>> patterns and placements!
)>
)>Well, I started to make a clock from one of those "build a working paper
)>clock" books, but I got carried away. It's now a complete working paper
)>Analytical Engine, and I run an 80386 simulator on that. I'm booting 386BSD
)>now, and in a couple of years when it comes up I'll have Xclock running.
)>I don't think it's going to keep very good time, though... I keep getting
)>silo overflows reading WWV at 110 baud. I guess I'll need to build a paper
)>16550 to fix that.
)>
)>Which Xclock should I use?
) [stuff about running Mach on Brain machine code deleted]

	My clock is a crystal attached to an LCD display on a PC board
with some silcon logic on it and battery for power.  Fits nicely in my
pocket.

	I suggest some of you get one also.  It'll set you back about
$1 to $3, and is available at many drug and convience stores.  You can
use the excess time and money to work on getting a life.  ;->
From: sarr@sinshan.citi.umich.edu (Sarr J. Blumson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Operating Systems; retrocomputing
Date: 8 Jan 1993 15:30:20 GMT
Organization: University of Michigan, CITI
NNTP-Posting-Host: sinshan.citi.umich.edu

In article <c3y1wB3w165w@mertwig.uucp> daniel%mertwig@uunet.uu.net  (Daniel Drucker) writes:
>
>What were some of the very first operating systems? I'm interested in
>trying them out if emulators exist... (Where are there ITS emulators?
>(Is that an early OS, or is that late in comparison? I'm not very
>knowledgeable about such things...))
>
>What was the first (high-level) language to be implemented in the ITS
>system at MIT?
>

Oh, dear!  Time for the old folks to pick on young Danny again. :-)

Young fella, there were operating systems even back in the dark ages
when you wrote programs on cards and saw the results on paper.  They
did things like read the cards, tell the operator what tapes to mount
and make sure she did it, and provided some minimal system services.
These were sell established when I first encountered a computer in the
early 1960s.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what simulating one of these beasts
would mean.




(Sarr Blumson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: CLI/GUI wars (was Re: Apple IIGS being discontinued...)
From: kfl@access.digex.com (Keith F. Lynch)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Number of numbers (Was Re: PI)
Date: 10 Jan 1993 19:13:26 GMT
Organization: Express Access Public Access UNIX, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.com

In article <1iahrbINN6cg@life.ai.mit.edu> daz@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (David A. Z.) writes:
> Huh?  You mean I can't have an integer with an infinite number of
> digits BEFORE the decimal point?

That's right.  You can't.  All integers are finite, and of finite length
when expressed in base 10.

> If so, it would seem to infer (pardon the layman's terms) that there
> exists some integer so gosh-darn long, that it couldn't be multiplied by 10.

Not at all.  If you have an N digit number, and you multiply it by ten,
you now have an N+1 digit number.  For what N is N+1 infinite?

Keith Lynch, kfl@access.digex.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.arch,comp.sys.intel
From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson)
Subject: Re: NeXTstep not running on Cyrix 486DLC (was Re: Apple IIGS...)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 20:49:44 GMT

aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner) writes:


>It should.  A 486 is much faster than a 386 of the same speed.  Case in
>point: The 486SX/25 (like the one I'm using now) is a little faster than
>an AMD 386/40, but the 486SX is upgradeable for $450.

What?  I have seen two benchmarks that put the 386/40 at a faster
cpu speed than the 486SX/25.
I think that anyone who buys either is crazy right now.  Buy at
least a 486DX/33, or you are throwing your money away if you ever
intend to need full-blown 486 power.
-- 
David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
NeXTMail & MIME accepted                           BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD
From: pechter@ocpt.ccur.com (Bill Pechter)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Digigal Rainbow 100?
Keywords: digital, DEC, Rainbow 100
Date: 5 Jan 93 13:25:46 GMT
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp.,Information Services

In article <1993Jan4.222536.12258@leland.Stanford.EDU> alderson@elaine46.Stanford.EDU (Rich Alderson) writes:
>The Rainbow 100 was a dual-processor machine, containing an 8086 and a Z80.
>Does anyone remember what the distinction between the 100 and the 100+ was?

The 100+ could handle more memory without expansion cards and more
memory with expansion cards - I think.  I think it went to 896k maximum.

Bill
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Bill Pechter, N2RDI           | The postmaster always pings twice.
        Concurrent Computer Corp.     | pechter@ocpt.ccur.com
        2 Crescent Place, Oceanport, NJ 07757 - Tel:908-870-4780
Organization: Hidden - I don't speak for them...
X-Stuff:      <This should be witty, but I'm too tired right now.>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 06:58:38 EST
From: David B. Horvath, CDP <MBADBH@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Anyone care to brag?

In article <19514@mindlink.bc.ca>, Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca (Charlie Gibbs)
says:
>
>      Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach.  Those who can't
> teach become consultants.
>

   Well then, I'm one of the exceptions.  I've done.  I teach part-time
   (at local community colleges) and give seminars.  I do consulting.

>      No smileys here, I'm afraid.  The nice thing about being a
> consultant is that by the time things fall apart you've been paid
> and are long gone - probably planting the seeds of another disaster
> somewhere else.

   Not always true!  I spent 37 months (just over 3 years) at one
   client working on various projects.  Things I did came back to
   haunt me while I was there.  I knew it might, so I created
   my programs (and *documentation*) accordingly.

        - David

Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:18698 alt.folklore.urban:32788 alt.religion.kibology:5665
From: etlanar@yogi.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.folklore.urban,alt.religion.kibology
Subject: Re: Proper pronounciation of 'Kibo'
Date: 7 Jan 93 15:42:00 GMT
Distribution: inet
Organization: Ericsson Cellular Division

In article <1993Jan7.151426.18684@ericsson.se> etlcrcy@bugs.ericsson.se (Chris Cleverly) writes:
>--
>---------------------------------------     \\\\ 
>| Chris Cleverley,                    |      . . 
>| eltcrcy@deep-thought.ericsson.se    |       S    
>---------------------------------------       ~    "...I have a cunning plan..."     


You wouldn't know a cunning plan if it painted itself purple and danced on the
table singing 'Cunning plans are here again'
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Telephones (was Re: What happened to "smart buildings"? and three tangents)
Date: 11 Jan 1993 15:37:26 GMT
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 140.239.3.202

magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>>I assume
>>lawyers and homeless have killed 'em in the States,

>What have American lawyers done to kill of phone booths? I think the
>reason not to build closed booths anymore over here is vandalism; it's
>easier to do nasty things to the poor payphone if people can't see
>what you're doing.

Last I knew it was a combination of vandalism and cost.  The booths
cost more to put up and since they contained a lot of glass and/or
plastic they were easily destroyed.  The new half-shielded phones are
almost indestructible by comparison.

For the record, remember that touch-tone phones were designed as
vandalism-resistant phones -- not as user conveniences.  It was pretty
easy to tear the dial off a phone, and people did it all the time.

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
From: Tony.Duell@launchpad.unc.edu (Tony Duell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Digigal Rainbow 100?
Keywords: digital, DEC, Rainbow 100
Date: 4 Jan 93 21:35:16 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service


A DEC rainbow 100 contains both a 8088 and a z80 processor. You can either
run a version of CP/M, which I seem to recal was called CP/M 80/86, which
can run 8 bit (.COM) or 16 bit (.CMD) files. Or, you can run a special
version of MSDOS, but not standard PC-MSDOS. I have no idea where you can
get these from (They are not PD, so you won't find them on the net), and
DEC are not normally helpful, or inexpensive.
  Mind you, you have a good VT100 terminal there, even without a boot disk!
-tony 'PDP11 Hacker' Duell
ard@siva.bris.ac.uk

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: tjhendry@queen.mcs.drexel.edu
Subject: Re: Apple IIGS being discontinued Dec 1992
Reply-To: tjhendry@queen.mcs.drexel.edu
Distribution: USA
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 19:20:06 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.081753.6136@news.columbia.edu>  
lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
> Quite true, but no one should have to resort to crap like that to overcome
> the possible treachery of a giant company that wants to lockout its potential
> competition by putting up obstacles that are of no particular benefit to any
> user.  (Gee, this is starting to sound like Microsoft MS-DOS versus DR-DOS.)

Yep, that hulking, monolithic NeXT wants to keep people from buying its software. Uh huh. Gee, they have all of what, 600 people.

Has anyone thought that maybe it's not in NeXT's financial interest to say it won't run on Cyrix chips? So maybe there's a real reason for saying it?

Of course, Intel did foot the bill (or a substantial part of it) for the port.

I think the problem is in some instruction that's missing. I don't know the specifics. Someone else posted something about "bswap" being in the 486 but not the 386. If I'm not mistaken, the Cyrix chip is a  386 that's been reengineered to provide near-486 performance. If that's the case, then it may not support bswap.

Again, I don't have docs in front of me.

On the other hand, in a few months, everyone will want to run NeXTSTEP on their Pentium machines, and the Cyrix thing will become less of an issue, since they don't sell a Pentium clone.


--
Jonathan Hendry  Anderson Financial Systems
jon@afs.com  (Nextmail Welcome!) or hendryjw@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu
yone thought that maybe it's not in NeXT's financial interest to say it won't run on Cyrix chips? So maybe there's a real reason for saying it?

Of course, Intel did foot the bill (or a substantial part of it) for the port.

I think the problem is in some instruction that's missing. I don't know the specifics. Someone else posted something about "bswap" being in the 486 but not the 386. If I'm not mistaken, the Cyrix chip is a  386 that's been reengineered to provide near-486 performance. If that's the case, then it may not support bswap.

Again, I don't have docs in front of me.

On the other hand
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.folklore.urban,alt.religion.kibology
From: bdd@onion.eng.hou.compaq.com (Bruce D. Davis)
Subject: Re: Proper pronounciation of 'Kibo'
Organization: Compaq Computer Corporation
Distribution: inet
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:33:22 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.162747.20484@ericsson.se> etlcrcy@bugs.ericsson.se (Chris Cleverly) writes:
>In article <1993Jan7.154200.19475@ericsson.se> etlanar@yogi.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur) writes:
>>>--
>>You wouldn't know a cunning plan if it painted itself purple and danced on the
>>table singing 'Cunning plans are here again'
>>
>
>At least I'm not a fat bastard...
>--
>---------------------------------------     \\\\ 
>| Chris Cleverley,                    |      . . 
>| eltcrcy@deep-thought.ericsson.se    |       S    
>---------------------------------------       ~    "...I have a cunning plan..."     

what's the difference between a band of pygmies and a girl's track team???
.
.
.
one's a cunning bunch of runts...
--
bruce (spin doktor)
From: edb51@bih.no (Christian Stange)
Subject: REQUEST "Shoot yourself in the foot!..
Organization: Bergen College of Engineering, Bergen, Norway
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 11:15:41 GMT

I'm prob. gonna regret this!

I used to have two different versions of some text explaining the difference
between programing - languages, in the form " C is like  shooting yourself
in the foot ,Using Ada , CIA comes over and shoot you in the head...." and so
on. The problem is : I've lost them. 

Could someone send them to me ? PLEEEEASE!!!

(or tell me where I can find them )

TnX 1E6!

--
--------------------------------------------|
Okay, Okay; Hey I DO see the problem!       +---------------------
But lets be honest here:                    | edb51@hp825.bih.no |
do I seem to CARE ??                        |                    |
--------------------------------------------+---------------------      
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:18658 sci.math:17762
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,sci.math
From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Subject: Re: Number of numbers (Was Re: PI)
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:59:02 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1993Jan6.001936.4530@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gjm11@cus.cam.ac.uk (G.J. McCaughan) writes:
>In article <1993Jan5.192626.10661@oracle.us.oracle.com> mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan5.020509.18268@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gjm11@cus.cam.ac.uk (G.J. McCaughan) writes:

>      [claim that pi is primitive recursive]

>>Is this really true?  After all, we know that there are arbitrarily
>>long strings of consecutive 0s and 9s in the decimal expansion of PI.
>>What precision to I need to compute the Nth digit of PI if that Nth
>>digit is at teh beginning of such a sequence?  After all, you can
>>change the value of digit N by adding (for 9s) or subtracting (for 0s)
>>and arbitrarily small value if the string of identical digits is long
>>enough.

>Yeah, someone else pointed this out. The answer is sort of hinted at in the
>last paragraph of the posting you quote: namely, that decimal expansions
>aren't really the right way to define "primitive recursive", and one should
>ask instead whether there's a p.r. program that gives arbitrarily close
>approximations.

>Incidentally, I don't think it *is* known that there are arbitrarily long
>strings of 0s and 9s in the decimal expansion of pi. Nor do I expect it to
>be for ages; this sort of property is not easy to prove...

True.  I misspoke.

PI is believed to be normal.  If PI is normal then my statement is
correct.

Mike
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: d40937@aiken (Jean Yves Desbiens)
Subject: C64 (seven Zillions served)
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 10:48:33 GMT

I started in computers with the vic20 in I think 1981 (at school) 
and bought my first computer the good old C64 in the summer of 1983
(at fifteen ); I used it until early 1987.

I remember that this was a very strange time, people all around said that
everybody soon would have a computer;  there was some sort of a frenzied
campaign by Commodore to sell their things as a mix of an educational & 
game machine. They sold them by the truckloads for about 2 and a half
years then the rush to be computer litterate seemed to die down and
the whole personal computer industry went into a tailspin.
 
What I would like to know :

 - How many C64 where sold 
 - Is it still made
 - If not when did it stop production in original form, in a modified form.
 - Is the 6502 which was at its base still produced 
   
email or post at your convenience.

--
SEIZE THE DAY, MAKE YOUR LIFE EXTRAORDINARY .  "Dead Poets Society"

Jean-Yves Desbiens                  | d40937@info.polymtl.ca
Etudiant en genie informatique      | 
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal Can | To indeed be a god ...,
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.arch,comp.sys.intel
Subject: Re: NeXTstep not running on Cyrix 486DLC (was Re: Apple IIGS...)
Date: 7 Jan 93 16:54:58 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <C0Gznx.JCK@wimsey.bc.ca>, bhenning@wimsey.bc.ca (Bill Henning) writes:

| I am not sure that is the case. Did Byte not run some benchmarks about a
| year ago that showed that a 386/40 consistently beat a 486SX25 on almost
| every bencmark?

  If they did I don't believe it... I have machines of that type, and I
don't believe that anything on the 386 runs faster than the 486 (unless
you cripple the 486 by disabling the cache).

| I have an Amd386/40, 64k cache, Cyrix FasMath 387 based machine at home,
| and I don't really notice a speed difference between it and the 486/33
| 256k cache machine I have at work.

  It depends on what you do (it may be disk or video performance
limited) but running actual programs which are CPU intensive I see
almost 2x faster performance on the 486. Some DOS benchmarks may show
funny things, but the time to run real programs is what I usually care
about.

  The 386-40 is certainly a very pleasant machine to use, though, and
I'm pretty happy with the one I use for testing things.
-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
    Keyboard controller has been disabled, press F1 to continue.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.arch,comp.sys.intel
From: jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel)
Subject: Re: NeXTstep not running on Cyrix 486DLC (was Re: Apple IIGS...)
Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers,comp.arch,comp.sys.intel
Organization: Molecular Simulations, Inc.
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 19:42:34 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
X-Posted-From: hemi.msi.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Lennart Regebro (regebro@stacken.kth.se) wrote:
:
: The 486SX and the 486DX does not have the same pinout, and therefore it is
: not possible to put a DX in a SX socket. This renders the question invalid.
:

I just purchased a 486 motherboard with a single socket which accomodates an
SX (486 or 487), DX, or DX2 CPU.  There are three jumper settings: one for
486SX, one for 487SX, and one for DX or DX2.  So it would appear that a 487SX
can function perfectly well on its own.

:
: Lennart Regebro             regebro@stacken.kth.se
:
--
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
| JERRY J. SHEKHEL  | Molecular Simulations Inc. | Time just fades the pages |
| Drummers do it... |     Burlington, MA USA     | in my book of memories.   |
|    ... In rhythm! |        jerry@msi.com       |         -- Guns N' Roses  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
From: jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan R. Ferro)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What happened to "smart buildings"? and three tangents
Date: 9 Jan 93 19:19:17 GMT
	<matt-080193191825@wardmac8.med.yale.edu>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

matt@wardsgi.med.yale.edu (Matt Healy) writes:
> I understand that in many European countries you still have
> to get telcom's permission to hook up answering machines!

I've heard that in some European countries you still have to get the
electric company's permission to leave appliances plugged in for
extended periods of time.  Is this true?

ObUL: In parts of Germany, government vans armed with RF detectors roam
the streets sweeping for unregistered home electronics...

-- Jon Ferro               Einsprachigkeit ist heilbar
From: mammal@acs.bu.edu (Ronald Miller)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: "Stringy Floppy"
Date: 10 Jan 93 03:21:38 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

The Exatron Stringy Floppy ad was on the back cover of 80 Micro on just
about every issue circa 1981-2, along with ads for Langley-St.Clair replacement
video tubes (amber or green), and LNW 80 computers.  As I recall, the reviewers
of the Stringy Floppy felt that it'd probably be worth paying the extra bucks
for a less-kludgy floppy drive.

mammal@acs.bu.edu

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,sci.math