HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micros,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Pro 350
From: don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (Don Stokes)
Date: 21 Jan 93 11:41:23 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Wolery

Tony.Duell@launchpad.unc.edu (Tony Duell) writes:
> I was recently given a DEC PRO 350, and a motorised stand for it.

AAAAAARRRRGHH!!!!!!

I've had a DEC Pro/Rainbow/DECmateII stand for a year or so (NZ$50 from
a govt. department that was chucking out loads of DEC gear).  It has both
male and female power sockets and a kick switch.  I always assumed it was
to turn the monitor on or off or something (the stand is designed for a
VR241).  I always considered this a daft idea, and never used it.

I just read your message, thought "Hmmmm?", plugged the thing in, and
kicked the switch.  It *is* a motorised stand!  Gee.  Learn something
new every day....

Still, I'll probably disconnect it -- I'll just fiddle with it now.... 8-)

--
Don Stokes, ZL2TNM (DS555)                        don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (home)
Network Manager, Computing Services Centre            don@vuw.ac.nz (work)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand              +64-4-495-5052
From: koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl (Koos van den Hout)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: VIC-20 returns!
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 11:32:53 GMT+2
Organization: HIN / BBS Koos z'n Doos
NewsSoftware: Rnf 0.73b

terjej@edb.tih.no (Terje Johansen,o90b) writes:

>As a joke and as a remembrance of my first computer-days,
>I bought a VIC-20 with a cassette-player yesterday.
>I was thinking of maybe connect it to some device, like a simple 
>window-alarm circuit with a bell or something. Anybody done something
>like this?

I had one (brrr... past tense...) and I played around with the user I/O
port a lot. Managed to blow some external parts, the I/O chip survived
everything.
The I/O chip is a 6522, so you can do a lot with it. Input, output,
programmable IRQ's on line changes....

>Hell, humorous suggestions will also be appreciated - just remember
>that with 3.5k Ram there are SOME limits to what can be done...

I know. I had this one game for it that had 5 different playscreens, which
fitted so perfectly in 3.5k RAM it refused to load when the file was given
a name.

So :

SAVE
OK
LOAD
PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
LOADING
OK

SAVE "NIFTYGAME"
OK
LOAD
PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
LOADING "NIFTYGAME"
OUT OF MEMORY ERROR

(All caps ofcourse!)

                                        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   : kvdhout@hut.nl                        Fido: Sysop @ 2:500/101.11012 |
| Schurftnet : KILL !!!                    (We want callers!!!)               |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: wolff@liberator.et.tudelft.nl (Rogier Wolff)
Subject: Re: Smart Disk Drives (C64)
Organization: Delft University of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:44:28 GMT

jgreco@solaria.mil.wi.us (Joe Greco) writes:

>In article <rjg.727134176@pulaski>, rjg@doe.carleton.ca (Richard Griffith) writes:
>: Does anyone know anything about the undocumented bootstrap program for
>: the C64. From looking around I seem to recall that a special file
>: name (possibly beginning with a @, it has been a while) if it existed
>: would be loaded into the RAM in the drive and then executed. 

Nah..
>:
>: I never tested it but can remember looking at the code.

>There is a technique used by the 154x and 157x drives to load a service
>diagnostic routine from disk and execute it (kinda a last-ditch effort to
>determine what is wrong with a half-functional drive).  This may be what you

Nah... (well. maybe you are right too, but what I remember is the follwing:)

You can tell the drive simply to execute code at address <something>.
The fastest way to do this is to load a block from disk into a buffer, 
and then execute it. Another way is to download it into the buffer from 
the C64, and then execute it. (this is the way to debug the things: you 
have a copy in the '64, download and execute it till it works....)

					Roger.




-- 
****   a 486 in V86 mode is like a VW buggy with a 6 litre V12 motor.  ****
EMail:  wolff@duteca.et.tudelft.nl   ** Tel  +31-15-783643 or +31-15-142371
From: entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Creator's room
Date: 22 Jan 93 11:51:17 GMT
	<ENTROPY.93Jan19075507@kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
	<1993Jan21.222450.7487@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>
Organization: Not Proud Programmers

In article <1993Jan21.222450.7487@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>In article <ENTROPY.93Jan19075507@kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu> entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy) writes:
>>The real question is...did you find this out for yourself, or were you
>>told about it?  I remember spending hors trying to figure out what
>>the hell that dot was for, and being pretty surprised when I got
>>through th
>
>No, I a friend and I spent a good several hours hunting around the whole
>Adventure game looking for the dot. He had heard about the procedure, but
>actually finding the dot and the hidden room was still hit and miss.
>
>Was the hidden room story actually written someplace or did someone just
>find it by accident?  Or did the programmer leak the info?

I found it after I ran into the dot by accident while looking for an
object the bat had stolen, and noticed that it had an effect on the
color of those thin walls.

I kept my mouth shut on this (besides showing a few friends) because I
knew at the time that Atari programmers really weren't supposed to put
their names in their programs.  But someone else wrote into one of the
Atari gaming rags of the time (I forget the name) and described how to
do it, about 2 months after I found it.

According to email I've received, Warren Robinett had already left
Atari by the time this became known, so he never got in trouble for
it.

Cheers,
entropy
--
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu
entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law.
Boycott AT&T, Lotus, Apple, and Xerox.  Join the League for
Programming Freedom!  Write to lpf@uunet.uu.net for more information.
From: ath@linkoping.trab.se (Anders Thulin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: all folklore
Date: 27 Jan 93 08:41:57 GMT
Organization: Telia Research AB, Teknikringen 2B, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden

In article <XcoXXB6w165w@mertwig.uucp> daniel%mertwig@uunet.uu.net  (Daniel Drucker) writes:
>
>I'm writing an essay on 'computer folklore', and I know that I'm
>really not qualified to do that, but hey, its for honors credit. I'm
>in search of ANY kind of things having to do with such; like songs,
>sayings, everything. Things like blinkenlights.
>(Yes, I know about the Jargon file!)

This is not FTP, but its fairly good nonetheless:

  Karla Jennings: The Devouring Fungus - Tales of the Computer Age
  W.W.Norton, 1990 (?)

-- 
Anders Thulin        ath@linkoping.trab.se        013-23 55 32
Telia Research AB, Teknikringen 2B, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
From: jamesp@agora.rain.com (James Price)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: i is for iteration
Date: 24 Jan 93 22:48:25 GMT
Organization: Open Communications Forum

In article <1993Jan22.003224.11764@midway.uchicago.edu> jrs8@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1993Jan20.173244.1@indyvax.iupui.edu> harvey@indyvax.iupui.edu writes:
>>In article <C155BM.Dq6@hatch.socal.com>, richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) writes:
>>> This reminds me of the old joke:  God is real unless declared interer.
>>
>>If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions?
>
>If God is perfect, then He must be an integer.  With integers, you can't
>have continuous functions.

Isn't it obvious by now that God is irrational?

James
-- 
jamesp   I regret to say that we of the F.B.I. are powerless to act
   @     in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way 
 agora   obstructed interstate commerce.
rain.com                                    -- J. Edgar Hoover
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: hacker language articles
From: stoddard@milori.ccit.arizona.edu (MJ STODDARD)
Date: 25 Jan 1993 08:45 MST  
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

>In article <93021.155838JIM@UCF1VM.BITNET> JIM@UCF1VM.BITNET (Jim Ennis) writes:
>>  I am trying to assist a friend in writing a paper about the history of
>> computer hacker/user language.  I have a copy of the Jargon file and
>> a couple of the book references from the end of the file.  I am looking
>> for any suggested magazine articles which the net might know of which
>> describes instances of hacker language or how the language came about.
> 
Geoffrey James' _Zen of Programming and _Tao of Programming provide
a great deal of completely frivolous information on the who, what,
and why of computing.
MJ
From: michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Atari 1450 XLD
Date: 25 Jan 93 18:38:56 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

In article <1993Jan24.203953.11538@athena.mit.edu> joshg@athena.mit.edu (Josh Gagliardi) writes:
>
>Many years ago, my father used to get a catalog of gifts he could order from
>his company in return for having sold equipment.  We looked through the
>catalog one year, and here was this neat computer, the Atari 1450XLD.  It
>had a built in floppy drive, a little space above it for diskettes, and 
>a modem, I think.  We ordered it, and after almost a year of little 
>"Manufacturer's delay" postcards finally got an 800XL with a disk drive in 
>the mail.  what happened?  Was the machine ever built?
>
In a word:   NO.

The Atari XL line was to contain 4 models:

   The 600XL  (a 16K machine to replace the old Atari 400- the one with the
                    membrane keyboard.  RAM expansion to 64K was planned)

       800XL  (a 64K machine to replace the old Atari 800 and the 1200XL 
               which bombed.  Had a "expansion slot", only 1 cartride slot
               [the 800 had 2], and 2 joystick ports [the 800 had 4])

       1400XL (a 64K machine with a built-in modem)  NEVER PRODUCED!!

       1450XLD (a 64K machine with a built-in floppy drive.  The drive was
               in a LARGE bay on the top of the machine, thus the monitor 
               would sit on top of this.  There was a bay beside the drive
               for flopies.  May also had a built-in modem, too.
               Also NEVER PRODUCED.  Supposedly the only ones made were 
               used by Atari to run their own BBS)

The XL line was then replaced by the XE line (came out at the same time as
the STs:

      65XE (a 64K machine to replace the 800XL)

      130XE (a 128K machine)

      XEGS - the XE Game System- a 65XE packages as a game system ala VCS et al.
            Included a detached keyboard and a light gun.


The Atari 1400XL & 1450XLD are thus true examples of vapor hardware.


-- 
<< Michael Rogero Brown                      | Disclaimer: I speak         >>
<< CS Graduate Student-Florida Atlantic Univ |  only for myself.           >>
<< Internet: michaelb@sunrise.cse.fau.edu    | All my opinions are         >>
<< BitNet: m_brown@fauvax                    |  that: mine & opinions.     >>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen)
Subject: Computer Writes Book?
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering & Applied Science - Dallas
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 00:25:38 GMT


I saw the following in the Books column (by Olin Chism) of the Dallas
Morning News Sunday January 24, 1993. Copied without permission. It
concerns a computer program that allegedly wrote a book in the style
of Jacqueline Susann. 

I think this is a stunt. I don't really believe a computer program
wrote this book. However, if anyone has any information about this
book or the author that would give this some credibility I would like
to hear about it. Comment on the general idea would be interesting as
well. I don't think the idea itself is impossible, it just seems like
this case is a little far fetched. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Birch Lane Press of New York says that Scott French, a
free-lance writer and computer consultant from California, invested
eight years and $50,000 to develop a computer program that writes like
Jaqueline Susann. Mr. French's electronic novelist has output Just
This Once, a 256 page sizzler that Birch Lane will publish next
summer."

      "The first thought of any good skeptic is that Birch Lane is
pulling a fast one. Remember "Naked Came the Stranger", the potboiler
that Lyle Stuart published back in the 60's? And how Penelope Ashe,
its author, turned out to be a whole committe of jokesters? Well, Lyle
Stuart is a subsidiary of Carol Publishing Group, which also owns
Birch Lane."

      "Suspicians are not allayed by the tone of the commentary in
Birch Lane's catalog: "Scott French, a self-professed fan of
mega-selling author Jacqueline Susann, imagined what it would be like
if she were still alive. Secretly he hoped that, following her
premature death, Susann had be frozen, a la Walt Disney. The doctors
could thaw her out by setting a giant microwave to the Low/Defrost
setting, then cure her cancer and put her back in front of the
typewriter where she belonged...""

---
* Ted Pedersen                                  pedersen@seas.smu.edu * 
* Department of Computer Science and Engineering,                     *
* Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275      (214) 768-2126 *

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dnichols@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols)
Subject: Re: Clever Power Down Instructions (was APPLE IIGS BEING DISC)
Organization: D and D Data, Vienna VA
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 01:45:38 GMT

In article <1993Jan22.061508.21196@gagme.chi.il.us> pv@gagme.chi.il.us (Paul Vader) writes:
>William Tyler writes:

	[ ... ]

>This is actually a power on story. While reverse engineering the warehouse
>control system for our huge automated warehouse (With almost a mile of 
>powered conveyor belts) we discovered a program called "wakeup" which when
>entered from the main console in the computer room would cause every conveyor
>in the building to start at once, five seconds after all their air horns
>go off (HONK! in 100 part harmony). The program serves absolutely no

	So! ... Did you station anyone near the power meter to watch the
disc spin when that current surge came through?  If so, did you give them
proper protective gear in case the disc fragmented from too many RPM? :-)

	If the power lines are aboveground, I bet they gave a major twitch
when the current hit them.

-- 
 Email:   <dnichols@d-and-d.com>  |  ...!uunet!ceilidh!dnichols 
		 <dnichols@ceilidh.beartrack.com>
 Donald Nichols (DoN.)  |   Voice (Days): (703) 704-2280 (Eves): (703) 938-4564
	--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
From: thompsn@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Adam Thompson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Pentia
Date: 28 Jan 93 15:17:09 GMT
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

In <1k4p7sINNj2s@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner) writes:


>In a previous article, alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith) says:

>>If a "586" is a Pentium (pl. Pentia?), then are 386s trivia?
>Nice.  I'm using a Quadrium right now (man, Apple would be PISSED if
>Intel called the 486 the "Quadrium", sounds too much like Quadra), and
>I have a bidium in my room.  But, what's an 8088?
>...
>what are they going to call the P6?  Sextium?  Will it be pronounced
>"sex-tee-um" or "sext-yum"?  I mean, REALLY.

Soooo ...
  80186 = union 
  80286 = bidium
  80386 = trivia
  486 = quadrium
  586/P5 = pentium
  P6 = sexium
  P7 = heptium
  P8 = octium (watch for intel's marketing people to grab this one - 
               "Our new high-octane chip!" :-(

Which all leads me to believe the culmination of intel's CISC line:

  What will the "P9" be called?  "None"!

-Adam Thompson
 thompsn@ccu
-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Adam Thompson        University of Manitoba        Computer Services |
| <Adam_Thompson@umanitoba.ca>                OLC Project - Unix Group |
|    UNIX -- where you can do anything in two keystrokes, or less...   |
From: aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Date: 27 Jan 1993 01:29:21 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, sunday@cup.portal.com (Sunday and Associates) says:

>	We are preparing a commercial release of T-shirts intended for
>the Usenet civilization and related societies. We would like to solicit
>your thoughts about what *saying*, slogan, one-liner, joke (including
>visual) you would like to see on a t-shirt. 
>

I've always like "You can't be too thin, too rich, or have too many
clock cycles."  But then again, there's "Kibo is an international
conspiracy of one.  The only problem is, he has the other six billion
or so of us outnumbered."

But if you want an ORIGINAL one, hmm, well...  I'll get back to you.

-- 
aj923@cleveland.freenet.edu (Nmetic polyalloy)								DestructoTab copy protect
			      _______________________							     /  ___________________(_)				
			    /  /\__________________							   /  /_/________________(_)				
			  /______________________							  \____________________(_)				
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: std2002@inel.gov (Stephen Gamache)
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
Keywords: lemmings games
Reply-To: std2002@if.uidaho.edu
Organization: University of Idaho, Idaho Falls EC
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 06:13:32 GMT

|> > Today, I determined that I've been playing Lemmings too long.  How?  Well,
|> > when my fiancee and I were approaching the door to her building and I was
|> > trying to figure out how one of us could unlock the door without the other
|> > bouncing off and heading in the other direction, I figured I was a goner.
|>
|> You just be relieved; at least one of you didn't have to block the other, and
|> thus be blown up later.

I'd like to see one of you climbing the wall while the other pounds his/her way
through.  OBTW, remember that one of you could be building a bridge, thus
delaying while the other is unlocking the door.  :-)

Steve

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       _/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/ _/    _/  _/_/_/_/ Stephen Gamache
      _/            _/      _/        _/   _/  _/        P.O. Box 2466
     _/            _/      _/         _/  _/  _/         Idaho Falls, Idaho
    _/_/_/_/      _/      _/_/_/      _/ _/  _/_/_/              83403-2466
         _/      _/      _/           _/_/  _/                   United States
        _/      _/      _/            _//  _/
 _/_/_/_/      _/      _/_/_/_/       _/  _/_/_/_/
                                                    std2002@decit.if.uidaho.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
========== long legal disclaimer follows, press n to skip ===========

Neither the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory or any of their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever,
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility regarding any
information, disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe
privately owned rights.  No specific reference constitutes or implies
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States
Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.  The views and
opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the
United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory,
and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jrs8@quads.uchicago.edu (john richard stracke)
Subject: Re: i is for iteration
Reply-To: jrs8@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 00:32:24 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.173244.1@indyvax.iupui.edu> harvey@indyvax.iupui.edu writes:
>In article <C155BM.Dq6@hatch.socal.com>, richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) writes:
>> This reminds me of the old joke:  God is real unless declared interer.
>
>If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions?

If God is perfect, then He must be an integer.  With integers, you can't
have continuous functions.

-- 
/============================================================================\
| Francis Stracke              | My opinions are my own.  I don't steal them.|
| Natl. Sci. Center Foundation |=============================================|
| Augusta, GA                  | Eat when hungry.  Sleep when tired.         |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: brea9430@mach1.wlu.ca (breadner ken u)
Subject: Re: VIC-20 returns!
Organization: Wilfrid Laurier University
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 19:03:43 GMT

VIC-20? Luxury. My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer. We sprang
for the 16K model, and I remember people asking us what we did with all
that memory.
Had eight colours, one voice sound--and terrible sound, at that. On the
bright side, it was very easy to program on, unlike any early Commodore
product which required umpteen PEEKs and POKEs to do anything at all
interesting.
-- 
Ken Breadner	(brea9430@mach1.wlu.ca)	Wilfrid Laurier University
lunatic		(the BREADbox...) 	Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 
Disclaimer: my opinions are warped. Nobody shares them.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: i is for iteration
Organization: Jim's Burger Hut and Ferengi Tavern, Deep Space Nine
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 03:03:22 GMT

>In article <C13J9p.ABA@brunel.ac.uk> cs92njc@ccws-39.brunel.ac.uk.ac.uk writes:
>Does anyone know the circumstances that surround "i" being adopted as
>the most common name for a variable in a loop...

Yes. It was after Charles Babbage's pet condor, "Ingred". 

mdw

-- 
Matt Welsh     mdw@tc.cornell.edu     Cornell Theory Center
  "Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"
From: azog@spatula.rent.com (Billy D'Augustine)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
Date: 27 Jan 93 00:56:07 GMT
Organization: A kitchen utensil somewhere in central New Jersey

In article <NICKEL.93Jan25225602@tempest.cs.tu-berlin.de> nickel@cs.tu-berlin.de writes:
>
>(*) It's a real PC, an IBM PC (*no* XT) -- otherwise I wouldn't have
>    dared to post it to alt.folklore.computers. :-)
>

Your motives are still suspect. One has to wonder, has an IBM PC made
it into loredom yet? This is scary if so. I remember the PC being 
introduced. What makes it scary? Well, I consider myself a newbie
(being around for 10 years in computerdom in general), so that means
Im not a newbie anymore?

-- 
Billy D'Augustine 	azog@spatula.rent.com

'Armies of the Gods of Hell ride across the astral plane, bearing curses
of destruction, sworn beyond the grave'
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:19364 misc.forsale.computers.other:1956