HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Computer Relics (Was: 9 track data storage?)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 19:37:08 GMT

In article <norm.712496846@glsdev> norm@modcomp.uucp (Norm Brake) writes:
>jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Jul27.192741.16732@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
>>aduell@nyx.cs.du.edu (Tony Duell) writes:
>>>[...]
>>>Talking of old storage, how many still use 8" floppies (I have them on my
>>>PDP11/45 (DEC RX02), CASU super C CP/M machine, FTS-88 CPM/86 machine, and
>
>I have a pair of RX02's on my DECMATE Word Processing System.  Media
>is getting hard to find, but I think I have enough to see all of my
>kids through their term papers for the rest of their school careers.
>
>As long as it is doing the job, I can't see replacing it.
>
>Norm Brake
>norm@modcomp.com
>
As you may know, I support the DECmates with Kermit-12 for OS/8 family, etc.

I assume you have a DECmate one, so you can run RX01/02 systems and not
much else.  (I assume you never got the RL278 :-).)

Can I get a copy of WPS for DECmate I from you?  It's the one version I am
lacking.

I can send you a copy of OS/278 already configured for DM I usage, complete
with a working copy of Kermit-12 on it.  From that vantage point, we can
exchange files on the net, etc.  (OS/8 WPFLOP can convert to/from WPS
documents from/to OS/8 ASCII text files.)

I mostly work with DECmate II's, but I now have a working DM I with a table-
top RX02 pair attached; it's right next to the DM III I use as my PDP-8/e's
console terminal.  (Yes, my PDP-8 has a PDP-8 for a terminal :-).)  You first
bring up OS/278 and run Kermit-12 on the DM III and connect to the 8/e, then
you boot the 8/e :-).

cjl


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Subject: Re: What does UNIX mean?
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 13:30:48 GMT

pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin) writes:
>vargish@sura.net (Nick Vargish) writes:
>>Jerry Pournelle writes a column for a Swedish regional newspaper?
>I still read his columns, but I'm no longer sure why...

I gave up on them a long time ago.  I can get the same drivel by
walking into any retail computer store and talking to their techie,
except the techie usually knows something about what he's talking
about.

When he tries Pournelle is a pretty good writer, but he's usually a
confused and underinformed user.  It's amazing to me that Byte still
gives him that much magazine space.

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
From: johana!tsw@apple.com (Tom Watson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: DECtape (was: Worst tape drives)
Date: 30 Jul 92 01:53:59 GMT
Organization: FBN/GRQ Ink.

Look at it this way...
DecTape was the 'Floppy Disk' of its era.  Mostly equivalent in use and
function.  Probably stored just about as much too.  The 'sectors' were
just laid out differently.  I suspect that if some of the logic was
cheaper, floppy disks would have probably been used, but that was
a development from the wonderful people based in Aramok (*SIGH*).

Now for the cost of a few DecTape reels, we can buy a drive and some
floppies which preform just about as well.

Progress.

---------
Tom Watson
johana!tsw@apple.com
From: gurgle@netcom.com (Pete Gontier)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: And what about this DogCow business ? ( moof! )
Date: 27 Jul 92 19:54:28 GMT
Organization: cellular

>In article <BrwGDL.174@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Upholder@uiuc.edu (THE Upholder of Truth) writes:
>> (has anyone done anything productive with the vertical retrace manager?
>> anyone?)

Animated cursors! :-)

Seriously, though, lotsa folks use VBLs for screen animation. Also, take a
look at the VBL queue some time on a vanilla Mac. There are quite a few
entries there -- the system itself finds uses for VBLs.
-- 
 Pete Gontier // EC Technology // gurgle@netcom.com
From: michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Kernighen's "Why Pascal is not my favorite language"
Date: 23 Jul 92 20:14:31 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

I'm looking for an ftp site which has Kernighen's paper
"Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Language".  Does anyone know
where I can get it??

Thanks in advance.
-- 
<<                                                               >>
<< Michael R. Brown    CS Graduate Student-Florida Atlantic Univ >>
<< Internet: michaelb@sol.cse.fau.edu                            >>
<<                                                               >>
From: sichase@csa3.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computers killing people?  (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:26:33 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: na
Reply-To: sichase@csa3.lbl.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   

In article <1992Jul29.155922.5618@cybernet.cse.fau.edu>, michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown) writes...
> 
>However, most feel that the term "bug" existed before the moth incident.
>This is born out because the wording in the log book is (something to the
>effect): 'first instance of bug being found'.  Thus proof the term was 
>used before.

It is easy to imagine that the notion that "there are bugs in the works"
can apply to any complex machinery capable of being jammed by an itinerant
insect.  Watches, clocks, looms, etc.  Even in the absense of some kind
of definitive written usage, I tend to think that the phrase far predates
computers.

-Scott

--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"The question seems to be of such a character
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		that if I should come to life after my death
				and some mathematician were to tell me that it
				had been definitely settled, I think I would
				immediately drop dead again."      - Vandiver
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: aduell@nyx.cs.du.edu (Tony Duell)
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
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: Wed, 29 Jul 92 19:29:42 GMT


I thought the COCO schematic was virtually the same as the application
note for the 6883 SAM chip, not the 6809.
(Nice machines though. I have 5 CoCO2's, and a CoOC3. OS-9 is a great OS
for small machines.)
-tony 'PDP11 Hacker' Duell
ard@siva.bris.ac.uk
From: uerics@mcl.ucsb.edu (Eric D. Shepherd)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: And what about this DogCow business ? ( moof! )
Date: 22 Jul 92 22:10:04 GMT

Take a look at Cairo's dog character in large point sizes.  That, friend,
is the dog-cow. :)

Some twisted programmer noticed that years ago, and the dog-cow has been
a culture hero ever since. :)

- Eric S.

--
Eric D. Shepherd     | ACM Member | Apple II Alliance Charter Member | 
----------------------------------+-----------------------------------
InterNet: uerics@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu | Use FahrWorks & watch the sparks
America Online: Sheppy            | fly!      - Fahr Corp. Slogan
From: yurick@vaxr.llnl.gov
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: bogus dongles
Date: 20 Jul 92 08:26:10 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: LLNL_LIS

In article <199218.1223.15768@dosgate>, john.russell@canrem.com (john russell) writes:
> Your definition of dongle goes far too far -- on the C=64, there was at
> least one dongle that plugged into the cassette port, whose
> validation code was nothing but a continuous "Play" signal.
> 
> John

A dongle can contain a simple wire, that shorts out two pins.  Or a single
resistor.  Or an IC chip.  Or an EPROM.  Or whatever the designer thought of. 
I had a program that came with a dongle, on my C64.  The curiosity got the
better of me, and I carefully opened up the dongle, to reveal it's secret
contents.  All that I found was a 110 ohm resistor, connecting two pins of my
joystick port.  Without this resistor, my program did not run.  Luckily a
resistor isn't too hard to come across, so I bought another one (plus a new
D-connector), and made a replacement dongle.

I didn't use that particular program too often, so I was willing to chance
never using it again, if I screwed up the dongle beyond repair.

Also, it should be noted that some dongles are designed to "self-destruct", when
they are tampered with, so that you won't always be able to tell what's inside
of one by taking it apart.  Some dongles are composed of bogus components, so
if you tried to X-ray them, you still wouldn't get a good idea of their
contents. 

Joe
-- 
*****************************************************************************
*  Joe Yurick         California U.S.A.       E-Mail : yurick@vaxr.llnl.gov *
*** My thoughts & views are rarely my own, much less that of my employer! ***
*****************************************************************************
              
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris)
Subject: Re: 9 track data storage???????????????
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 21:13:22 GMT

bmarcum@world.std.com (Bill Marcum) writes:

>How about uses for those plastic write-enable rings? B|-) (bifocals)

Easy: just sell them to gullible new computer operations supervisors.  
Believe it or not, the most recent UARCO catalog I have still carries
them; catalog part number CC244145, 60 cents *each* for quantities 1-24;
down to $.49 each for 100 or more.

Joe Morris
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: DECtape (was: Worst tape drives)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 19:41:48 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.015359.13969@mumbo.apple.com> johana!tsw@apple.com (Tom Watson) writes:
>Look at it this way...
>DecTape was the 'Floppy Disk' of its era.  Mostly equivalent in use and
>function.  Probably stored just about as much too.  The 'sectors' were
>just laid out differently.  I suspect that if some of the logic was
>cheaper, floppy disks would have probably been used, but that was
>a development from the wonderful people based in Aramok (*SIGH*).
>
>Now for the cost of a few DecTape reels, we can buy a drive and some
>floppies which preform just about as well.
>
>Progress.

3.5" disks maybe.  DECtape doesn't get destroyed by a finger print or stepping
on it!

But how many people really expect to reliably read their floppies after a
few years.  I have already read 1962 Linctapes 30 years later without problems.
Does anyone know the projected lifetime for data on floppies?

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Data General
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:33:30 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.072153.3453@spcvxb.spc.edu> terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.143944.11045@news.columbia.edu>, gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:
>> As I recall, the only time they changed it was when they did backup every
>> afternoon.  My guess is that the packs were about 30" in diameter and maybe
>> 3 or 3 inches thick.  They were usually white or blue plastic, with access
>> to the side for the heads.
>> 
DEC came out with an imbedded servo version of the same overall form-factor
disk called RL01 (5 meg) and RL02 (10 meg).  I used a Western Dynex version
good for 10 fixed and 10 removable.

The neat thing about these packs is the handle.  It lays down flat in an
inscribed area.  Lifting it up 90 degrees it's a plain handle.  But if you
slide a white plastic piece on the handle before lifting it, then the lift
action is noticably more effort, and it releases the bottom cover.  Also,
the pack is always sealed this way, so you don't have exposed areas to worry
about such as on RK05 packs, etc.  Many of the drives require that you also
mount the cover above the pack as an additional interlock; no lost covers
that way!

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: gudjm@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (D John McKenna)
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 07:30:13 GMT

shaggy@eskimo.celestial.com (David Case) writes:

>Anybody out there ever play "Rescue on Fractalus"?  Hottest game I ever
>saw on an 8-bit...

I prefered the sequel(?) Koronis Rift (however it was spelt...) Instead
of flying around the fractal landscape, you drove a vehicle over it.
Incredible! The thing actually followed the slope of the ground,
dipping, swaying from side to side... I spent hours just driving around.
How cares what the actual game was like? (It was pretty good, BTW)

John West
-- 
gudjm@uniwa.uwa.edu.au  For the humour impaired: insert a :-) every 3 words
From: Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca (Charlie Gibbs)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: IBM vs. world terminology (was: What does dd stand for?)
Date: 31 Jul 92 00:34:35 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

In article <1992Jul30.145547.14960@rice.edu> adam@owlnet.rice.edu
(Adam Justin Thornton) writes:

>Well, the development terminology was "muffer", methinks.
>Contraction of "memory buffer".  Too goofy to ever see the light
>of day, though.

     Are you sure?  After all, these are the people who shortened
"alphanumeric" to "alphameric".  :-p  Makes me think of Kate Smith
singing, "God bless Alphamerica!"

Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca
"If tin whistles are made of tin, what do they make foghorns out of?"
        -- Lonnie Donegan
From: kraig@biostr.washington.edu (Kraig Eno)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Pronouncing Unix names
Date: 31 Jul 92 01:06:05 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

colombo@bronco.fnal.gov (Rick Colombo - Fermilab) writes:
>Maybe someday, someone will invent an OS with command names using REAL
>english words, like: Directory (vs ls) or Type (vs cat)... nahhhh. :-)

Maybe you're referring to VMS, which has DIRECTORY and TYPE and INITIALIZE,
among others.  But in truth no one ever types more than about 4 characters
of a command without wishing for a way to abbreviate...so once you've got
the translation map in your head (or in your fingers, where mine is),
Unix names are fine.  They're just not obvious, that's all.

Talking about the 4-letter abbreviation, a colleague and I found that even
DEC knows this...we were teaching a class and wanted to demonstrate how
error messages looked, so he typed "LOGOTU" to try to get DCL to show a
command syntax error, but it turns out that LOGO*anything terminates your
session.  It doesn't care what you type after the first 4.  Embarassing...

Kraig Eno, kraig@biostr.washington.edu
Blackberries are wonderful.  Not only do they taste good, but they grow like
weeds along the side of the road so you can pick all you want for free.
From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: half-inch tape: transport design
Date: 22 Jul 92 13:14:16 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation

prp@SSD.intel.com (Paul Pierce) writes:

>In article <jcmorris.711736167@mwunix>, jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) writes:

>>  [I asked why the older mainframe tape drives used a tape path which
>>   placed the oxide in contact with the vacuum column walls]


>The loop in the column does not touch the sides all the way down. There is
>a roller (idler or prolay) on either side of the vacuum column. The rollers
>are closer together than the sides of the column, so the tape starts away
>from the sides and only gets close at the very bottom of the loop. So
>instead of looking like a U with flat sides, the tape in a column looks
>like a U with the straight parts slanted toward each other at the top.

>So the tape doesn't touch (much), 

But it does touch, and that's what results in the deposit of enormous
amounts of oxide on the vacuum column walls.  Operators always had a 
large supply of stiff cotton blocks (and a special handle for them!)
which were used to clean the columns; used ones were so encrusted with
oxide that they looked like they had been soaked in mud.

You're right about the tapered U, but there is sufficient contact at
the widest part of the U to burnish the oxide.

>                                   but that doesn't answer the question
>of why its oxide side out. I don't know and doubt that the answer is in
>my 729 CEM's, but I'll look sometime. 

For the benefit of you newbies, "CEM" stands for "Customer Engineering
Manual", aka "how the thing works and how to fix it when it doesn't".

>                                       One thing to notice is that it
>keeps the oxide away from the rubber capstan and stop wheel.

Again for the readers who never had the "pleasure" of working with these
beasts, the tape turned the corner between the inside edge of the
vacuum column on its way to the head by passing over a plastic idler
wheel on a magnetically-activated arm.  This "prolay" could be moved to
either pinch the tape between the idler and the continuously-running
capstan (to move the tape) or between the idler and a fixed rubber bumper
(to stop the tape).  See Paul's diagram below.


>                   /                  O <- stop wheel
>                  /                   ___________________________________
>         idler -> |O    capstan -> O |O <- prolay         (head)
>                  |                  |
>                  |                  | <- oxide side
>                | |   vacuum column  | |
>                | |                  | |
>                | |                  | |
>                |/         o          \|
>                |\____________________/|
>                |          o           |


Joe Morris
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Computers killing people? (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:51:50 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.140116.26213@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> comrade@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Peter Cooper) writes:
>
>Falling VAX kills 20.
>
>I live in hope.
>
>Peter

I would prefer:

Falling VAX kills 11.

cjl
From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (tuu)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Date: 21 Jul 92 11:06:03 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucscb.ucsc.edu


In article <14443@umd5.umd.edu> matthews@oberon.umd.edu (Mike Matthews) writes:
}DungeonMaster for the Atari ST (I believe ports to the Amiga and PC were in
}the works but I don't own an ST any more so I didn't follow that)
yeah it was done for the IIGS and the Amiga.. probably other versions too.

}There's one game that I've never played but I heard it was pretty cool -- I
}forget what it's called, unfortunately.  SunDog?
	The really old game where you flew around to planets and got supplies,
right? (obviously someone else will answer since you never played it)  You
walked your man around in a top view of your ship to move things around?
-- 
/unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu   used ADB trackball WANTED          Apple II Forever!\
\Mail me:Get INFOCOM GAMES RERELEASED,ULT VI GS done,for UNIX GS&CHEAP CD info/
What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dbw@world.std.com (Daniel B Wells)
Subject: Re: Hardware hack turns Mac Quadra 900 into a 950?
Keywords: hardware, hack, mac, macintosh, ick
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 15:07:46 GMT

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: comrade@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Peter Cooper)
Subject: Re: Computers killing people? (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:01:16 GMT

chandoni@husc8.UUCP (John-Marc Chandonia, , , ) writes:

>by dsiebert@icaen.uiowa.edu (Doug Siebert):
>> After reading this an idle thought crossed my mind, wondering that if the
>> author had been hit in the head by the tape reel, would he have been remembered
>> as the first person ever to be killed by a computer?  Then I got to wondering
>> if ANYONE had ever been killed by computer.  I suppose it depends on how you
>> define it, surely people have been electrocuted while working on a computer in
>> the past.  But tossing out the electrocution possibility and the certainty that
>> many people have been killed by computer/programmer error before (i.e., the
>> type of thing we read about in comp.risks) I wonder if anyone has ever been
>> killed by a computer?

>Here's an escape sequence for VT1000 terminals:  ^]]HastaLaVista
>(a great way to kill people remotely)

I wonder if being killed by a falling VAX 11/750 counts?  It *could*
happen where I am.  The old vax lives on the top floor of a building
that has had rather severe termite problems, and the VAX may well be
past the safe loading limit.  Anyway, below the VAX is a student tavern,
often playing loud enough movement that the floor moves measurably.  I
can just see the headlines:

Falling VAX kills 20.

I live in hope.

Peter
-- 
email:  comrade@uniwa.uwa.edu.au   snail:  Peter Cooper, box 22
fax:    +61 9 380 1041                     Guild of Undergraduates
phone:  +61 9 380 3929                     University of Western Australia
"It was the banana that did it!" - Julia Marley
From: kimcm@login.dkuug.dk (Kim Chr. Madsen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: computers in movies
Date: 25 Jul 92 01:58:10 GMT
Distribution: alt

In which film was it (sci-fi), where our hero walks into a
building with a computer for identification of visitors, where
the software identifies itself as a 9.2BSD system ????

				Kim Chr. Madsen
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: rjc@onion.princeton.edu (Raymond Chen)
Subject: Re: Pronouncing Unix names
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 03:38:19 GMT

Someday, I'm going to write a program and name it "lm".  That way, its
rc file would be named ".lmrc", which, of course, would be pronounced,
"lim'rick".
--
Raymond (just another perl hacker) Chen
From: auj@aber.ac.uk (Professor Coypu)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: How Come? riddle -- the answer
Date: 23 Jul 92 10:41:48 GMT
Organization: Prifysgol Cymru (University of Wales) Aberystwyth

In article <92204.114804AUDMH@ASUACAD.BITNET> AUDMH@ASUACAD.BITNET writes:
>
>Okay, maybe the wrong group for this, but is there a name for puzzles like
>this (you are given a statement and have to figure out what happened using
>yes/no questions) and is there a collection of them anywhere?
>

I seem to remember they're called minimal information problems....


Alun.

-- 
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Alun Jones, Dept. of Computer Science, | Email : auj@uk.ac.aber   |
| U.C.W. Aberystwyth, Wales              |  144MHz FM : GW1URF      |
+--Hi, I'm a signature Virus :-) Copy me into your sig to join in.--+