HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rdippold@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: Connection Machine posters (was Re: Mean-looking iron: design decision or just cool stuff?)
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 18:29:52 GMT

barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
>development team got the low-numbered prints).  If you have a dying child
>whose last wish is a CM5 poster, we should be able to accomodate you, but

Dying child?  Just give me about an hour...
-- 
The cow is a machine that makes grass fit for us people to eat  -- John McNulty
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.games.int-fiction
From: nickel@cs.tu-berlin.de (Juergen Nickelsen)
Subject: Screen colors (Was Re: Zork/Dungeon)
Reply-To: nickel@cs.tu-berlin.de
Organization: STONE Project, Technical University of Berlin, Germany
	<1992Sep30.104700.6275@pollux.lu.se>
	<1992Sep30.125808.15973@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 03:50:09 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.125808.15973@husc3.harvard.edu>
goodridg@husc8.harvard.edu (Andrew Goodridge) writes:

[...]
> My problem is my youth. I'm only 22; I was 7 or 8 when Zork was
> worked on.  I'm not very regretful; I got to see 16 million colors
> before I was 19.  But it means I'm starting at a disadvantage.

(Sorry, pet peeve:)

Where did you see 16 million colors? Not on *one* screen at a time, I
suppose, or I'd like to see that screen.

--
Juergen Nickelsen
From: rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Counting on hands: (was: Possible UL alert)
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Date: 1 Oct 1992 14:13:07 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, dm@stekt2.oulu.fi (Hannu Helminen) says:

>I knew at that age that computers used only 0's and 1's, but that was
>all I knew about binary. I was very astonished later when I found out
>that my system was basically equal to the system actually used in
>computers...
>
>Now somebody tell that he used _three_ finger positions instead of two...

	According to "The Klingon-English Dictionary" by Marc Okrand,
Klingons originally had a trinary number system.  As I recall, the
editorial comment was to the effect that Klingons counted one-two-three
and then things got very complicated.  Followups to rec.arts.startrek.misc.
-- 
Rich Drushel ** rfd@po.CWRU.edu *** Biology Ph.D. Student ** Cleveland FreeNet
Co-Sysop, Coleco ADAM Forum --- Assistant Sysop, Science Fiction & Fantasy SIG
"Solda pung apfashat ro des-marno, / Marn ladir o armag noth yeni arno. / Hell
miryat it, / Jambo iat it, / Os lasse wei ticip kati baldo." / Old Ennish poem
From: klaus@diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Strange streets (was: Thoughts)
Date: 1 Oct 92 10:12:01 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen


In Copenhagen, the four postal districts right outside the
city center are named East, North, West, and South. East
is northwest of the center, North to the west, West to
the southwest and South to the east.

Klaus O K
Organization: The Leader Desslok School of Diplomacy
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 00:56:32 EDT
From: Norman St. John Polevaulter <MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Mean-looking iron: design decision or just cool stuff?

In article <1992Sep30.150221.5144@cybernet.cse.fau.edu>, michaelb@cse.fau.edu
(Michael Rogero Brown) says:

>HEY!  Anyway to get posters of CM-5 or CM-2?  They'd look cool in our
>lab (all we have is bare walls).  Does Thinking Machine make any posters?

Allow me to second that. There's lots of blank space in this lab that could
be filled quite nicely by a coupla mean-looking monoliths...

Hmm, this might turn into a profitable sideline for the Connection Machine
corp. :-) Hey, I'd buy a poster...

                  "Two hundredth verse, same as the first!"
[Your blood pressure just went up.]        Mark Sachs IS: mbs110@psuvm.psu.edu
DISCLAIMER: If PSU knew I had opinions they'd probably try to charge me for it.
From: koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl (koos van den hout)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: The third variable.
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 20:09:40 GMT
Organization: HIN / BBS Koos z'n Doos
NewsSoftware: Rnf 0.7b

null@diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen) writes:

>>Whois number NULL?
>
>You called?
>
>   null@diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen, Dep. of C.S., U of Copenhagen)

Ah, now I know the person behind 'segment violation - core dumped' everytime
I try to follow a null pointer.

                                        Grtx. KH

/-- Koos van den Hout ----------------------------------------------- Sysop --\
| Student Computer Science (AKA HIO)       BBS Koos z'n Doos (+31-3402-36647) |
| Inter-: koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl                 300..14400 MNP2-5,10,V42bis) |
| net   : vandenhout@ruumtc.tcu.ruu.nl          Fido: Sysop @ 2:500/101.11012 |
| Surfnet RUUMTC::VANDENHOUT                                                  |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: logier@cheops.qld.tne.oz.au (Rob Logie)
Subject: Quiche Eaters and Fortran
Summary: Has any one seen this article
Organization: Telecom Australia, TNE Computer Support Services
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 03:33:26 GMT

About ten years ago there circulated a Article called something like 
"Real Programmers use Fortran".  It was a article suggesting that only Quiche 
Eaters used languages like Pascal while Real programmers used fortran ( or
assembler if it couldn't be done in fortran ).

Has any one got this article ,  If so could they please mail me a copy


Thanks in Advance



-- 
Rob Logie,   Telecom Australia    | The opions expressed are mine alone and in
           ( A.C.N. 051 775 556 ) | no-way reflect the views or policies of the
NWPD-NE Computer Support Services | Australian and Overseas Telecommunications
EMAIL: logier@cheops.qld.tne.oz.au| Corporation. "These are my opinions alone"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: shri@nyx.cs.du.edu (H. Shrikumar)
Subject: Re: You know you've been reading news too long when...
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 02:20:42 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.042024.7000@NeoSoft.com> 
  peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <4370@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us> aki@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us writes:

>> ... when the 'N'-key's imprint of N starts to fade away...
>
>Or the "k" key...

Or the "Any" key ... :-)


Oh, they never have any lettering on them !! No wonder I've never
known that I have been .... 

Thanx for reminding me, I really gotta go now!

-- shrikumar
From: aal@broue.rot.qc.ca (Alain Hebert)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: "Any" key
Date: 29 Sep 92 03:09:06 GMT
Organization: Groupe de Recherche Operationnelle en Telecommunication (ROT)
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Richard G Tomasso (rgt@kepler.unh.edu) wrote:
: In addition to the "Any" key mistake. One of my favorites has always been
: when (on PC's usually) the user is promted "Please press <F1>" or something
: similar, so they press F ... then press 1 ... and wonder why nothing happens.

	Done Today: 

	Another Neurone Tape:	(': Me, ": Somebody on the phone...)

	"Hi!  How do you quit from Turbo-C Olddd version..."

	'Ctrl-Q or Ctrl-X...  Else go in F]ile and look a the hot key...'

	"There's no menu?"

	'Huh?  (I bought the first version of TC = 1.0)  Its not TC...'

	"Oops is TPascal..."

	'Gosh I don't know... Ctrl-Alt-Del!'

	"Wrong the PC just gone BLANK!  ...He's back...  Buggy software."

(With the guy on the speaker phone...  We need a little entertainment in the
 office since the Boss is back from is 2 weeks golf/business trip...)

	A geniuine phrase:

		"My software ask me to press the any key..."

		(It was a .BAT and pause NEED space!)

		'Its a protection, I will bring you the key! (Click)'

		"Driiing!  Too late I break into the soft..." Gosh!

	Have fun... (ask Bruno how long it take to install MacTCP?)

-----
Alain Hebert              | Synerlogic (a Anderson Consulting Division)
                          | 1405 Trans-Canada, Suite 300     Voice: 514-685-7575
Consultant for Synerlogic | Dorval, Qc, Can H9P 2V9          Fax:   514-685-7692
      and (part-time)     |
Sysadmin for R.O.T        | Recherche Operationelle en Telecommunication
                          | 5867 De La Roche                 Voice: 514-948-2492
aal@rot.qc.ca             | Mtl, Qc, Can, H2S 2C8            IP:   192.77.49.131
-----
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: bwatson@nyx.cs.du.edu (bruce watson)
Subject: Re: Computer comics and illiteracy
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 17:43:24 GMT

In article <1af0jnINN10r@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel) writes:
>
>	From the comic strip "Shoe" by Jeff MacNelly, Thursday 1
>October 1992:
>
>Computer Wizard:  Great news!  In the past few months they've developed
>                  a way to upgrade your computer to ten megs of REM!!
>                                                                ^^^
>Perfesser:  Huh?
>
>Computer Wizard:  More memory!  Speedier!
>
>Perfesser:  Not speedy enough, I'm afraid.  My *brain* has lost at least
>            20 megs of REM in the meantime.
>                       ^^^
>[reproduced without permission of Tribune Media Services, Inc.]
>-- 
I saw this. I thought they were talking about sleep.


--
Bruce Watson  wats@nyx.cs.du.edu  Toy Cows, Toy Cows in Africa, Toy Cows
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius)
Subject: Producing "Zippy the Pinhead" picture on a Symbolics
Organization: University of Central Florida
Distribution: alt
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 15:01:48 GMT

I heard a rumor that there is something you can do to
a Symbolics LISP machine to make a picture of Zippy the
Pinhead appear on the screen.  It was supposedly left
by the original programmers as a joke.  Does anyone know
anything about this?  How is it done?

Mark Schnitzius
schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
Univ. of Central Florida
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:14739 comp.unix.misc:3882
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.misc
Subject: Re: vi questions - margin justification/centering 
From: johnny@futon.SFSU.EDU (Johnny Y. Chow)
Date: 4 Oct 92 11:45:09 PDT
Organization: San Francisco State University
Keywords: vi, editor 

In article <1992Sep25.190338.11561@mlb.semi.harris.com> rliles@heimdall.mlb.semi.harris.com (Ray Liles) writes:
>Two questions regarding the vi editor:
>
>	1.  Is there a way to center lines automatically?
>
>	2.  How do you force automatic justification of left and
>	    right margins, without externally running fmt?
>
>Ray
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  \  \  \                                         |  Harris Semiconductor     
>   \--\--\                                        |  Mail Stop 58-032         
>    \ |\  \                                       |  P.O. Box 883             
>      |      WA4VME                               |  Melbourne, Florida 32902 
>      |      Ray H. Liles                         |  407-729-4640 (Office)    
>      |      rliles@heimdall.mlb.semi.harris.com  |  407-729-4029 (FAX)       
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One way I know to justify the RIGHT margin during the vi  session
is  locate your cursor at wherever you want the justification be-
gins, type ESC to the command mode, press !G to get to the  shell
mode, then type nroff, return. The right margin will be justified
from the cursor till the end of the file.

        However, I do not know how to justify  from  line  ##  to
line ##. Could any one suggest some ideas as well? Thank you.

jchow@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu

ps: This letter is done by !Gnroff. :)
From: twpierce@unix.amherst.edu (Tim Pierce)
Subject: Re: Total erasure of hard drive data??
Organization: Amherst College, Amherst MA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 16:38:56 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.143401.486@javelin.sim.es.com> gfowler@javelin.sim.es.com (Gary Fowler) writes:

>The intent of my original post
>was to point out that this person didn't learn anything from the exercise.
>He was already a good C programmer.

Ah!  You didn't say *that* in your original post. :-)  I've rewritten
a number of small Unix utilities (for Unix as well as DOS!) to learn
C, learn Unix, or just to practice clear coding methods.  If he was
already a competent programmer, though, I agree with you.

-- 
____ Tim Pierce                / "You are just naive and repressed because
\  / twpierce@unix.amherst.edu /  penis envy is here and it's now and it's
 \/ (BITnet: TWPIERCE@AMHERST) /  all around you." -- Neal C. Wickham
From: wolff@zen.et.tudelft.nl (Rogier Wolff)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Total erasure of hard drive data??
Date: 6 Oct 92 11:34:19 GMT
Organization: Delft University of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering

twpierce@unix.amherst.edu (Tim Pierce) writes:

>In article <1992Oct5.182255.13846@javelin.sim.es.com> gfowler@javelin.sim.es.com (Gary Fowler) writes:
>>Well let's just reinvent the wheel.  Who wants to start by rewriting "cat"?

>Rewriting "grep", on the other hand -- especially if you own a DOS box
>or something else without such a utility -- is not a particularly bad
>idea.  (And don't remind me that I can get this from the GNUish
>project.  I did it before I had Internet access, okay?)

>>And let's do it in assembler for performance reasons.  Wasted effort is wasted
>>effort.

>But if it wasn't wasted effort in the first place, it's a moot point.

I confess I rewrote cat. And "hello world". And echo. Lets face it:
while learning to program you need some "simple" projects to get your
hands on. Most of us will start by writing "hello world". Some
will proceed to textbook questions that have already been solved,
others will write utilities that have already been written.

Now I don't want to say that I think the guy writing a 100 line program
to move the cursor on a VT100 was a genious, but I do know of myself
that when I learn a programming language, my first programs in that 
language will be far from "fluent".

					Roger.


-- 
****   a 486 in V86 mode is like a VW buggy with a 6 litre V12 motor.  ****
EMail:  wolff@duteca.et.tudelft.nl   ** Tel  +31-15-783644 or +31-15-142371
From: ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M lives!)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Usefulness of Terminal Printer Ports (was: Total erasure...
Date: 1 Oct 92 10:07:37 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Sep30.204200.15817@javelin.sim.es.com>, gfowler@javelin.sim.es.com (Gary Fowler) writes:
> 
> I once worked with a guy who went through a lot of trouble to write a program
> in C to switch a vt220 terminal to pass-through print mode, output a text file,
> then switch the terminal back to normal mode.

I once convinced VMS to do this with $BRDCST so that it could run in the
background while I was doing other stuff (at a noticeably reduced baud
rate) on the terminal.

Roger Ivie
ivie@cc.usu.edu
From: wmperry@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (William Michael Perry)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: dirty tricks
Date: 4 Oct 92 02:59:11 GMT
	<19ub05INNehl@stanley.cis.Brown.EDU>
	<1992Oct4.021310.23148@news2.cis.umn.edu>
Organization: Computer Science Student, Indiana University

>At the U of MN Sun lab a few days ago, I was startled to notice that an
>extra window had popped up on my display.. It seems an X-windows novice
>(xnovice?) had tried to log into my machine, and had instead opened an
>xterm on my display pointed at his home directory. (It was a really ugly
>blue-on-slightly-darker-blue, too, almost impossible to read, which makes
>me think he hadn't found his .vtwmrc or .mwmrc yet..) anyway. Suggestions
>from neighboring users included .tar-ing his entire home directory, then
>nuking it and giving it back later, but the one that actually got
>implemented was a line added to his .xinitrc:
>xv -root -quit .backdrop &
>where .backdrop was a nice n' juicy .gif from a.b.p.e.

   This happens all the time here at Indiana University.  Another
thing thats fun to do is make xeyes pop up (with no resize bars or
close options) in a window as large as the screen at 0,0.  Since it
shows up on top, they can't get to their root windows.  Unless they
have a function key defined to f.destroy, they are a little screwed.

   Other fun things to do are:

BTW: not sure if xterminate is a local script or not, but it kills all
active xclients here....

1) use gsh (group shell).  Not sure if this is local or not, but what
   it does it rsh to a group of machines (usually one room full) and
   execute the same command on all of them.   Never actually tried
   this, but it would be fun if the lab is full and you want people to
   leave real quick so you can grab a term.
	- gsh <cluster-name> 'setenv DISPLAY `hostname`:0 ; xterminate
          -display `hostname`:0'
   
2) write a shell script (I'm no shell expert, but the general idea is
   this:)
     while true
     do
	who | egrep '<USERNAME you don't like>  console'
	if ($status == 0) then
		setenv DISPLAY `hostname`:0
		xterminate
        endif
        sleep 300;
     done

Of course, this is all purely theoretical/rhetorical. :)

-Bill Perry
--
  William M. Perry
  No! You can't have my opinions, mine mine all MINE! nyaaaaah!
From: hlr@well.sf.ca.us (Howard Rheingold)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Oldest ARPAnet messages?
Summary: Looking for earliest mail-list or other group messages
Date: 2 Oct 92 17:56:53 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link


I'm writing a book about virtual communities and I am trying to track
down evidence of the earliest messages on the ARPAnet, specifically
group messages (were the first group messages mailing lists, as I
presume?) about subjects that aren't directly related to the task of
setting up the network. If this is a FAQ, forgive me and point me to
the archive.
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (jeff zeitlin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: thoughts
Date: 28 Sep 92 18:05:51 GMT
Reply-To: "jeff zeitlin" <jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com>
Distribution: alt
Organization: Executive Networks Information

RF::>Hah!  Cambridge does that _much_ better.  For example, Trumpington Rd.
  ::>turns into Trumpington St., King's Parade, Trinity St., and finally
  ::>St. John's St., all inside a km.  St. John's St. seems to be about 50m
  ::>long.  Of course, our streets/roads do change their names as they pass
  ::>through the "suburbs" (if you can count Cambridge as an urbis), but we
  ::>do have high-frequency naming too.

  I'm sure that you have more strangenesses in Cambridge than I do in
  New Rochelle, NY, but there is one place in New Rochelle where the
  name of a street changes for exactly _half_ of one block - and the
  half is the south side of an east-west segment!  The Columbus
  Elementary School is on Washington Avenue.  St. Joseph's Church,
  _directly_across_the_street_ is on Carniato Plaza.

  Incidentally, in Manhattan, West 12th Street crosses West 12th
  Street.  I still haven't figured that one out...

  J/
  jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
  ==================================================================
  Anything I say in this or any communication to this or any medium
  is strictly my own non-authoritative opinion, unless otherwise
  explicitly noted.  Except for myself, or where explicitly noted
  otherwise, I do not speak for any individual or organization.
  ==================================================================

 * OLX 2.2 * A waist is a terrible thing to mind.
--
Executive Network Information System  (914) 667-4567
International ILink Host
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.games.int-fiction
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Zork/Dungeon (was Re: MDL)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 01:05:56 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.140243.10188@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:

>I think I can shed a little light on one small issue here:
>
>The version known as 'cdungeon' is a relatively late addition. According
>to the docs, it's an almost "literal" translation of the Fortran
>version distributed as 'dungeon' - I think one of the few changes was
>that the password check to enter GDT has been removed. Below is the
>"HISTORY" file from a recent Macintosh port of cdungeon.



>
>History of the C Implementation of Dungeon
>---------------------------------------
>
>This version of dungeon has been modified from FORTRAN to C. The
>original was written in DEC FORTRAN, translated from MDL. It was then
>translated to f77 for UN*X systems, from which it was translated to C.
>The C translation was done with the help of f2c, the FORTRAN to C
>translator written by David Gay (AT&T Bell Labs), Stu Feldman
>(Bellcore), Mark Maimone (Carnegie-Mellon University), and Norm
>Schryer (AT&T Bell Labs). 

That's a contradiction: Change it to:

This version of dungeon (aka zork) had been modified from a prior version
written in FORTRAN into C.  The original was written in MDL, and then 
translated to DEC FORTRAN, but not necessarily by a path that implies a
direct translation.  (There are arguments about how the final DEC FORTRAN
version comes about and how it started.  A "generous" description could be that
the DEC FORTRAN version was "modeled" after the MDL version which is
copyright (c) 1980 MIT and not available legally to the authors who were DEC
employees at the time of this "modeling" of the MDL version into the DEC
FORTRAN version.)  The DEC FORTRAN version was then translated "all the way"
to f77 for un*x systems, from which it was translated into C.

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: Thoughts
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:42:46 GMT

david@indetech.com (David Kuder) writes:
|> In suburban Philadelphia (Bucks County) there is  rather major street
|> names Street Road (or is it a major road?).  Makes for fun times when
|> giving directions.

If you dial 1-800-4CIRRUS from downtown Toronto, it will claim there is a
Cirrus ATM at "Street Leonard's" (it may not actually be Leonard's, but you
get the idea: Saint Leonard's).

I once worked on a project where they decided to compress a large address
database by replacing words like "Road", "Street" with the common
abbreviations.  Using Artificial Stupidity, they did it on the entire
address (this was in England, with irregular address formats).  Thus "Green
Street Green", in Kent, became "Gn. St. Gn.".  Having overwritten the
original, of course, they tried to undo the mistake.

Yes: we got an amusing crop of people living at places like "Street Mary's
Street".
-- 
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
113 more days of Bush Presidency!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers