HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 00:55:19 GMT

In article <BxxKM0.H4r@unx.sas.com> sasjaa@morticia.unx.sas.com (James Adams) writes:
>If a program quits working, first try re-compiling it. It probably just
>needs to be refreshed...

This is actually quite useful if you've gone off and done something silly
like... oh, I dunno... upgrading your kernel or shared libs jump tables out
from under your binaries.

In which case, it DOES need to be refreshed. :)

mdw
-- 
Matt Welsh    mdw@tc.cornell.edu        +1 607 253 2737
Systems Programmer, Cornell Theory Center
  "We're going away now. I fed the cat."
From: johnb@searchtech.com (John Baldwin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: What about a pdp-8? (was: value of a pdp-11,va)
Date: 16 Nov 92 15:29:44 GMT
Organization: Search Technology, Inc.

In article <1992Nov11.172715.6490@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
	aduell@nyx.cs.du.edu (Tony Duell) writes:

>Actually, the 11/45 has the purple front panel - similar to the 11/70's
>panel, except for 4 fewer address switches/lights, no 16/18/22 bit
>indicators, and a re-arrangement of the status lights. 
> Far from being only suitable as a anchor, the 11/45 was actually faster
>than the 11/70 on some operationds, and equal speed on the others
>(assuming bipolar memory on the 45).


   Great!  Some PDP-11 owners still out there.

   Okay, I have a similar question.  My new employer is trying to get
   rid of a PDP-8.  So far, they haven't set a price; they haven't even
   decided whether to open up for bids or how they want to handle it.
   To them, its just junk.  I don't think it runs.  What's it worth?

   PS: Anybody know much about restoring such a beast to operational
   condition?    :-)


-- 
John Baldwin                                        johnb@searchtech.com
Micromeritics, Inc.                                 uupsi!srchtec!johnb
One Micromeritics Drive                             johnb@srchtec.uucp
Norcross, Georgia  30093-1877   USA         voice:  1-(404)-662-3601
From: xyzzy@mertwig.UUCP (Daniel Drucker)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 20:28:38 EST
Organization: Odd Parity Hacker's Group


  COMPUTER SUPERSTITIONS --- ADD TO THIS LIST! 

> Never ever use a unix-based computer; it is ultimately fatal; there are no
> known exceptions.

And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?
  The master coughed slightly and said, "The lesson is over for today."


--  "Xyzzy T. Plugh"                               mertwig!xyzzy@jaflrn.uucp
                     Amateur radio callsign pending
        Daniel Max P. Drucker, the 14 year old networks wizard.

"Difficulty! It's the single simplest machine in the entire Universe!" -HHGTTG
From: robert@cs.anu.edu.au (Robert Cohen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Date: 19 Nov 1992 13:02:45 +1100
Organization: Computer Science Department, ANU, Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: barnard.anu.edu.au

Murray_Moffatt@kcbbs.gen.nz (Murray Moffatt) writes:

>We've all heard of common superstitions such as not walking under ladders 
>and throwing salt over your left shoulder if you spill some, but are 
>there any superstitions to do with computers?

How about sync'ing 3 times, just to be sure.

Robert
-- 
Robert Cohen		                       email: robert@cs.anu.edu.au
PhD Student,  Dept of Computer Science,
Australian National University.            ===============================
----------------------> Code fast, execute young, and leave a pretty core!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dan@BofA.com (Dan Brockman)
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Organization: Bank of America, Capital Products, RMTG #5906
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 01:43:54 GMT

>> In article <10292323.7317.11306@kcbbs.gen.nz>, Murray_Moffatt@kcbbs.gen.nz (M
>> |> We've all heard of common superstitions such as not walking under ladders 
>> |> and throwing salt over your left shoulder if you spill some, but are 
>> |> there any superstitions to do with computers?
>> |> 

My favorite:  Use the defaults.

Actually, there are many many superstitions among the users of computers.
Something goes wrong and what exactly it is gets misdiagnosed although
the treatment applied does cure the problem.  So a system manager insists
on always having the data server machine in a room different from the 
client machines.  A programmer will use malloc(), but insist that calloc()
is buggy.  Etc.  
-- 
 Daniel Brockman             tel 415-953-0406, fax 415-622-2892
 Bank of America, Dept 5906, 555 Calif St
 San Francisco 94104 USA    email uunet!odinba!dan dan@bofa.com
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:16616 alt.folklore.urban:29347
From: mag6@po.CWRU.Edu (Martin A. Gulaian)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: How to kill chickens with your computer...
Date: 22 Nov 1992 23:53:09 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: mag6@po.CWRU.Edu (Martin A. Gulaian)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



>:There is no way that 7 hz would be the resonate frequency. Assume that sound
>:travels at 900 ft/second - in the air. That means that a 7Hz sound has a
>:wavelength of over 125 feet. Even for 1/125th wave resonance, this comes to
>:a value over 1 foot. I have never seen any chickens with heads that large.

7 Hz might not work on a chicken's head, but what about the body of, say,
a dinosaur-sized creature?  It might be very effective.  And, in fact,
large animals on other planets have evolved to take advantage of the 
principle.

This is documented in The Garments of Caean, a book by Barrington J. Bayley.
It tells about an actual visit to the planet of infra-sound, where giant
saurian predators fight subsonic battles with acoustic-tile protected
herbivores.

I am also pretty sure that the main character mentions that infra-sound was
used (by humans) as a weapon to destroy entire cities.

*Marty
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: u734120@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (John Lamp)
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 21:26:26 GMT

Murray_Moffatt@kcbbs.gen.nz (Murray Moffatt) writes:

>We've all heard of common superstitions such as not walking under ladders 
>and throwing salt over your left shoulder if you spill some, but are 
>there any superstitions to do with computers?

Never let anything electronic - especially computers - know you are in a
hurry!

This used to be a well known notice on photocopiers and printers
--------------------------------------8<-----------------------------

THIS MACHINE IS SUBJECT TO BREAKDOWNS DURING PERIODS OF CRITICAL NEED

A special circuit in the machine, called a 'criticality detector', senses
the user's emotional state in terms of how desperate they are to use the
machine.

The criticality detector then creates a malfunction in the machine
proportional to the desperation of the user.

Threatening the machine with violence only aggravates the situation.

Sub-etheric networking of criticality detectors means attempts to use
another machine may well cause another malfunction.

Keep cool, say nice things to the machine.  Nothing else seems to work.

Never let anything electronic know you are in a hurry!

-----------------------------------------8<-----------------------------

Cheers
John


--
   _--_|\             John Lamp, originating in Hobart, Tasmania
  /      \                 Phone: 002 23 1366 - Fax: 002 34 5685
  \_.--._/                   email: u734120@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au
        v <-----------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:16615 comp.sys.cbm:4670
From: edwardp@ra.cs.umb.edu (Edward P. Piecewicz)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Confessions of a Commodore Junkie (Was: Re: SMART DRUGS2)
Date: 22 Nov 92 22:51:29 GMT
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston, Dept of Math and CS

In article <92327.161137MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark 'Mark' Sachs) writes:
>In article <FRANK.92Nov19183339@sundance.twg.com>, frank@twg.com (Frank
>McConnell) says:
>>You mean C= has stopped making C-64s?  Or that they're going to?
>
>They haven't stopped. They're pouring hundreds of thousands of them
>per year into the newly free countries of Eastern Europe. I'll leave it
>up to the reader to decide whether this is a good or a bad thing... :-)

I'd say it's a good thing.  The more computers being sold in Europe, and
the U.S., the better it will be for software developers to come out with
new and exciting programs for Commodore users.

 - Ed

-- 
Internet:  edwardp@cs.umb.edu                                  - guest user -
Boston Computer Society Activist

"activist":  The BCS definition of the word "volunteer." 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879)
Subject: Re: PDP ftp archive (ENOUGH ALREADY)
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 20:57:01 GMT
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

From article <1992Nov23.185607.15965@leland.Stanford.EDU>,
by alderson@elaine46.Stanford.EDU (Rich Alderson):
> 
> Note the number of attribution arrows.  *I* was objecting to calling it an
> upgrade.  The *PDP-8 FAQ* calls it an upgrade.

All right, I'll call it a revival!  Both you and CJL seem to want detailed
history, when the FAQ is trying to give a 1 line summary of each machine!
It's hard to say much in one line.

Far more significant, though, is the question about the PDP-10's
relationship to the PDP-3.  In one of the DEC books on computer
architecture, it is stated that one PDP-3 was built, as a 36 bit machine.
Was the PDP-3 the real ancestor of the DECSYSTEM-20?  Specifically, how
much (user level) code from the PDP-3 would run on the PDP-10.  Should
I call the -3 as an ancestor, or was it an unrelated grope into the
world of 36 bits?

>>>
>>>	The DEC-20 is the outgrowth of a smart decision by DEC:  License the
>>
>>But the -20 *is* a -10.  What's the difference between a KL-10 and the
> 
> There are microcode differences between a DEC-20 and a Dec-10--the JSYS

Again, I could put an entire section on the PDP-10/DECSYSTEM-10/DECSYSTEM-20
in the PDP-8 FAQ, but I don't think the context is right.  I believe that
both the PDP-10 and PDP-11 are worthy of similar FAQ files, and in the
PDP-10 FAQ file (which I will not write) you're welcome to document the
wonderful variants of that machine to your heart's content.

But, the differences between a PDP-10 and a DECSYSTEM-20 sound like they're
far less significant than the differences between a PDP-11/20 and
a PDP-11/70.  Clearly, DEC was not consistant in their decisions to rename
or renumber machines.  Sometimes, they included great ranges of variation
for one machine, and other times, they seem to have renumbered fairly
arbitrarily.

In the same vein, whether the PDP-8 was made of discrete transistors or
TTL integrated circuits, and whether it used a negative I/O bus or an
internal omnibus for most peripheral interfaces, it was called a PDP-8,
but when the PDP-9 was rebuilt in TTL with a UNIBUS for I/O, it became the
PDP-15.  Why renumber in one case and not the other?  Beats me.

				Doug Jones
				jones@cs.uiowa.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.folklore.urban
From: taft@adobe.com (Ed Taft)
Subject: Re: HP Monitor models
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:02:56 GMT

In article <13960@pogo.wv.tek.com> kevind@pogo.wv.tek.com (Kevin Draz) writes:
>
>Reminds me of the color monitor geometry & convergence calibration
>procedures used for a Mac big-screen display company I once worked
>for.  The procedure began with "1. Face East" (referring to the
>device).  I was sure it was a joke, until it was explained to me that
>when the shadow mask is parallel to the N-S magnetic field, it
>provides the most central skew of adjustments point for an arbitrary
>position of usage in the field.
>
>Reality is often stranger than fiction!

Also more complicated. Many people think the earth's magnetic field is
nice and regular and is aligned with the earth's axis. Not so. The
north magnetic pole is somewhere in northern Canada, and the magnetic
variation (angle between true and magnetic north) has a range of about
25 degrees just within the continental United States.

I'm told there are some places on earth where the variation is greater
than 90 degrees. That is, a magnetic compass indicates north as being
in a southerly direction. This is true not only at the North Pole but
in some other places (southeast Asia?) where the earth's magnetic field
has weird bends in it.
-- 
Ed Taft      taft@adobe.com      ...decwrl!adobe!taft
From: lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Jackpotting ATM's for $$$$
Date: 24 Nov 92 01:11:37 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

>
In article <By6MIt.HB4@news.cso.uiuc.edu> robm@void.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Rob McCool) writes:
>Yes, I heard the same thing but was waiting for someone else to bring it up
>  because I didn't remember where I had heard it. The story I heard is that the
>  original ATMs were unencrypted until someone dug up the line in his/her/its
>  backyard and put a PC into it, and "jackpotted" the machine. I think it was
>  somewhere in New York. Anyway, I heard that that was why they started 
>  encrypting the data.
>
   I can't say if someone managed to jackpot one, but it wouldn't
   surprise me a bit.  The original series of ATM's by Docutel and
   others were not only unencrypted, there was NO verification
   whatever that commands which the machine received even made
   sense.   

   Using a simple datacomm emulator (the days of these types of
   ATM's FAR predated PC's....sorry...) you could make them spit
   cash.   When I demonstrated this to the DP director of an 
   [unnamed] teller terminal network in SLC, using Atlantic
   Research's Intershake DTM-2, he just turned white.  
   He also asked me just how common ARC's equipment was back then,..
   >:-)

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Subject: Re: CM5 pic - terribly sorry gentlemen, it's a dud
Summary: blinkenlights too!
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:07:57 GMT

crosby@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (CROSBY MATTHEW JAMES) writes
> Well, maybe they could issue limited editions *and* normal posters?  So the
> limited edition posters could still be valuable?

They already do.  There are the drop-down-dead-sexy-art-shot-limited-
edition-we-want-everyone-who-helped-to-feel-special prints, and the
regular 8.5x11 color glossies that get handed out at expos, CM-5
courses, etc.  If you want size, just take an 8.5x11 along to a
competent photo shop, or a copier shop with an enlarging color copier.

Now all I want is easy access to the CM-5 blinkenlights, just like we
can get on the CM-2 (although they recently took out the CM_leds_throb
mode from CM-Paris, sigh). 

Jonathan H.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Organization: The Man With Ten Cats
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 21:17:05 GMT
Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)

In article <BxzAs5.397@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman) writes:
>In article <1992Nov19.174914.28632@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)  
>writes:
>> I may be the only one to do this, but I sometimes bang on the Return key  
>a
>> few times when I want something to hurry up (that is if the Return will  
>be
>> harmless when eventually read).  This goes back to the days of using an  
>OS
>> (Primos?) that gives you scheduling preference when it sees a CR.
>
>I have observed that it seems to help to jiggle the mouse on a NeXT  
>(particularly when using NewsGrazer). More than once I have seen the  
>system sit quietly and unsresponsively for an extended period while the  
>mouse is motionless, but as soon as I move it a little (without even  
>clicking), things start happening. Theoretically, this shouldn't happen on  
>a NeXT.


It's configured to give the highest priority to the console user interface.

-- 

Rick Kelly	rmk@rmkhome.UUCP	unixland!rmkhome!rmk	rmk@frog.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: Cute inet daemon messages
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:36:42 GMT

In article <92Nov19.1325.8232@crash.canon.co.uk> tim@crash.canon.co.uk writes:
>mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh) writes:
>|Another cute thing, that I've seen in one strain of SMTP, when you use the
>|"slave" command:
>|100 Kinky, kinky. I don't support such perversions.
>
>That's NNTP, but only a pedant would pick you up on that one.

Ah, you're right. I knew something was wrong with this picture.
SMTP doesn't have a slave mode.

It sure would be kinky though.

mdw

-- 
Matt Welsh    mdw@tc.cornell.edu        +1 607 253 2737
Systems Programmer, Cornell Theory Center
  "We're going away now. I fed the cat."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: alderson@elaine46.Stanford.EDU (Rich Alderson)
Subject: Re: ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE IBM
Originator: alderson@leland.Stanford.EDU
Reply-To: alderson@elaine46.Stanford.EDU (Rich Alderson)
Organization: Stanford University Academic Information Resources
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 00:31:48 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.214059.1@vxcrna.cern.ch>, zeus@vxcrna writes:
>The 370 extra instructions were mainly to kill Amdahl at birth.
>
>The microcode of most of the 360 hardware meant that they could be
> upgraded with little hassle. The Amdahl machines were hard wired and 
>were thought to be unable to run the new O/S

They were microprogrammed.  That doesn't mean that there was microcode.

For example, on the 360/50, the microprogram was stored in blown fuses; I think
the 360/40 used ferrite cores--just like main memory.  As I recall, only the
360/44 used a writable control store.

(Some of this is from hazy memory--the book is in a storage locker.  Shamir
Husson was the author's name, I think.  Something like that, anyway.  I read it
back when programmers *did* know about the internals of their machines...)

>IBM did most of the damage by annoncing the fact that new instructions
> would come out long before they actualy announced what they were. 
>When the instructions were finaly released Amdahl had them
>copied in 6 months and retrofitted patches.
>
>This set of games cost IBM $200 million when they were sued
>by the European Community under anti-trust laws.
>
>If IBM were not in a near bankrupt state anyway the Clinton 
>administration might revive the old
>Carter anti trust suit which Regan stopped (IBM was big campaign contributor).

Carter?  *Carter*???  CARTER??????

That suit was slapped on IBM in 1969, when I was in college, by the *Nixon*
administration.  IBM was a huge *Democratic Party* contributor.  Read Watson's
_Father, Son, and Company_, for starters.

I'm not an IBM fan, but I *do* insist on accuracy in my folklore.
-- 
Rich Alderson   'I wish life was not so short,' he thought.  'Languages take
                such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'
                                                        --J. R. R. Tolkien,
alderson@leland.stanford.edu                              _The Lost Road_
From: maufr@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr N E Plum)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Line p?p?Printer Pictures
Date: 15 Nov 1992 23:40:15 -0000
Organization: Computing Services, University of Warwick, UK
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: borage.csv.warwick.ac.uk


In article <Bx7FFE.M6D@mach1.wlu.ca> veen2976@mach1.wlu.ca
 (veenstra christopher) writes:

>Greetings,
>
>  probably a faq but can't find that.  Anybody know where I can ftp some
>line printer pictures?  Have heard there are mona lisa, enterprise, and some
>others that I can't remember.

 There is one at nic.funet.fi in the directory /pub/pics/lpr-art 

 Note that there is a limited number of logins to this machine from outside
 NORDUNET, so if all lines are busy, call later, but _do_ call :-)

 There is a lot of other nice stuff on this machine as well...

 Nicolai





Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: wollman@sadye (Garrett Wollman)
Subject: Re: sync; sync; sync; was Re: Computer Superstition
Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:45:10 GMT

In article <NICKEL.92Nov18181710@desaster.cs.tu-berlin.de> nickel@cs.tu-berlin.de writes:
>The sync(1) program does nothing but invoke the sync(2) system call.
>This call writes the contents of modified disk buffers back to the
>disk. The manual (SunOS, in this case) of sync(2) states:
>
>    BUGS
>	 The writing, although scheduled, is not necessarily complete
>	 upon return from sync().
>
>An todays fast machines with fast disks this won't matter -- just type
>sync; and before you've had time to do something else the disk buffers
>will be safe.

Or today's modern operating systems which know to sync their disks
before rebooting or halting.  From reboot(1):

     -n      option avoids the sync.  It can be used if a disk or the proces-
             sor is on fire.

-GAWollman

-- 
Garrett A. Wollman   | Shashish is simple, it's discreet, it's brief. ... 
wollman@emba.uvm.edu | Shashish is the bonding of hearts in spite of distance.
uvm-gen!wollman      | It is a bond more powerful than absence.  We like people
UVM disagrees.       | who like Shashish.  - Claude McKenzie + Florent Vollant
From: Tim Phillips
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE IBM
Date: 20 Nov 92 20:09:56 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

Re the comment about simulators (on PCs?) for early computers, I asked this
Q some time ago, and recieved a reply from someone (which I subsequently lost,
sorry) who had an IBM1401 sim. If anyone gets a 709/7090 sim going, I would
*really* like to hear about it. 
 (How about a GUI sim of the 7090 console with the 36 switches :-) )

Re the IBM360, I remember running something called SUPPAK on a 7090 which,
I think, was a 360 instruction set simulation. The Suits refused to tell us
sysops what it was all about :-)

regards
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: regebro@stacken.kth.se (Lennart Regebro)
Subject: Re: Computer Superstition
Organization: Stacken Computer Club, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 21:25:02 GMT

In article <u734120.722208386@bruny> u734120@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (John Lamp) writes:
>
>>We've all heard of common superstitions such as not walking under ladders 
>>and throwing salt over your left shoulder if you spill some, but are 
>>there any superstitions to do with computers?
>
>Never let anything electronic - especially computers - know you are in a
>hurry!
>
>Keep cool, say nice things to the machine.  Nothing else seems to work.

Sacrificing electronic equipment (burning resistors for example) can have
the most astonishing effect. If the computer doesn't start to work, the
gods of computers will be awakened by the computrons released and might
give you a hint on whats wrong.

Trust me, I've tried it.


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers