HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sarr@sinshan.citi.umich.edu (Sarr J. Blumson)
Subject: Re: Computers killing people?  (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Organization: University of Michigan, CITI
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 12:36:18 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.073420.13087@news.uiowa.edu> dsiebert@icaen.uiowa.edu (Doug Siebert) writes:
>
>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?
> 
>Kind of a gruesome topic, I suppose (sorry, Mr. Bernecky :-) ) but it is late
>and it has got me to wondering...
>
This is sort of electorcution, but probably not what you had in mind.
It is also onlt third hand or so, so it might be true:

Mel's favorite machine, the IBM 650, had a grounding strap on the drum
to drain static.  On at least one occassion this broke, turning the
machine into a fairly large van de Graf generator, with predictable
(from the subject line anyway) consequences for the next person who
touched the colsole.




(Sarr Blumson)
From: valdis@vttcf.cc.vt.edu (Valdis Kletnieks)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: IBM vs. world terminology (was: What does dd stand for?)
Date: 29 Jul 92 01:23:22 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

In article <1838@adagio.UUCP> grog@adagio.UUCP (Greg Lehey) writes:
>piles of paper: most exceptions would do the same thing. And I could
>have sworn that there was an SVC to abend your program.

Yep. And there's a macro called 'ABEND' too.

I wonder if there's any reason that the ABEND SVC was SVC 13? ;)

Other ObFolklore:

The IBM S/360 models 65 and 95 (and maybe others) had a bizzare
creature called an "imprecise interrupt".  This basically meant that
your 'STORE' opcode hit a protection or addressing error, and the
CPU didn't find out about it till 2-3 instructions later. (It doesn't
take much if you consider that 2361 Large Core Storage modules had
a 7000 ns cycle time.  Yes - this is core storage that's slower than
some disks available now.  Anyhow, I seem to remember that it was
possible to belly-up the machine by doing a stray store into non-
existent memory, then doing an SVC - and then the opsys would die
because it would take an unexpected interrupt *after* the SVC switched
to the kernel context...

				Valdis Kletnieks
				Computer Systems Engineer
				Virginia Tech
				Valdis Kletnieks
				Computer Systems Engineer
				Virginia Tech

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: You know you've been hacking too long...
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 07:36:34 GMT

> Some people have literally screamed when they've suddenly noticed that
> I'm wearing two watches.

No doubt they were familiar with the adage "Never go to sea with two
chronometers; take one or three", and feared for your mental health in
case the watches should begin to disagree.
-- 
Mark Brader			"Relax -- I know the procedures backwards."
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto		"Yeah, well, that's a quick way to get killed."
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com			-- Chris Boucher, Star Cops

This article is in the public domain.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: phillips@swanee.ee.uwa.oz.au (Christopher Phillips)
Subject: Re: MS-LOSS Stupidity (Wasn't: Computer Button Sayings)
Organization: Elec Eng, Univ of Western Australia
Date: 21 Jul 92 07:54:41 GMT

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>In article <YKHHPRC@taronga.com> peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>>In article <13438@mindlink.bc.ca> Jeremy_Reimer@mindlink.bc.ca (Jeremy Reimer) writes:
>>>If you just want a _game_, and cute little effects, the shareware
>>>market is full of these gems, and for free! (At least the FIRST episode is
>>>usually free)  Stuff like Commander Keen and Jill of the Jungle...
>>
>>Bullshit.
>>
>>A good game requires massive attention to *playability*, which comes no
>>freer than fancy graphics and doesn't look as nice in a screen shot. The
>>freeware games rarely have it, and the commercial ones seem to confuse it
>>with sizzle.

>Have you played PC Commander Keen 1 to confirm your statement?

>cjl

Yes.  Unfortunately for Commander Keen, I've played far too may superior
c64 games.  

Wolfenstien3d, though, is _impressive_.  Needless to say, I'm currently
working on a texture mapped 3d game for the c64 (no, not a wolf port,
completely different gameplay, setting, etc etc etc)

--
Christopher Jam	__________________________________________________
'Another day, another try.  But remember, SHOOT OR DIE!' -turrican
phillips@swanee.ee.uwa.oz.au		c64 forever!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: wollman@sadye (Garrett Wollman)
Subject: Re: What does dd stand for?
Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 23:02:40 GMT

In article <1hFXcx#6j2ZYD5wOOjf9yZQ3y0WrJBv=esr@snark.thyrsus.com> esr@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) writes:
>
>:dd: /dee-dee/ [UNIX: from IBM {JCL}] vt. Equivalent to
>   {cat} or {BLT}.  This was originally the name of a UNIX copy
>   command with special options suitable for block-oriented devices.
>   Often used in heavy-handed system maintenance, as in "Let's
>   `dd' the root partition onto a tape, then use the boot PROM to
>   load it back on to a new disk".  The UNIX `dd(1)' was
>   designed with a weird, distinctly non-UNIXy keyword option syntax
>   reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL (which had an elaborate DD `Data
>   Definition' specification for I/O devices); though the command
>   filled a need, the interface design was clearly a prank.  The
>   jargon usage is now very rare outside UNIX sites and now nearly
>   obsolete even there, as `dd(1)' has been {deprecated} for a
>   long time (though it has no exact replacement).  Replaced by
>   {BLT} or simple English `copy'.

And now IBM has finally gotten back at us for this usage.  A co-worker
was transferring a large (300 Meg) file from 8mm tape to his local
disk, using `dd'.  Now, as it happened, the Exabyte was located in an
IBM RS/6000(*) and his local disk was on an SGI IRIS Indigo, and so
the command he used was:

  dd if=/dev/rmt0 bs=8k | rsh midnight 'bstream >myfile'

Unfortunately for him, for some reason or another he had to abort this
command about halfway through.  So, he hit control-C.  Nothing
happened.  PLOTKA, and nothing happened.  He opened up another window,
and did `mt stat', and nothing happened---and it didn't exit, either.
Go over to a different machine, same thing.

Luckily for him, I had just managed to hang the machine by running
`tex' too many times in a row.  So, go over to the console to see
what's wrong.  Try to log in, oops, the machine's completely hung.
Now there's no recourse left but to hit the Big Yellow Pushbutton, the
ultimate escape switch on this machine.  We do this, and lo and
behold, the Exabyte starts rewinding!  When the machine finally comes
back up after checking its memory umpteen million times, however, we
get those dreaded words ``a device which was configured was not found,
run diag(1).''  The system refused to recognize the tape drive!
Eventually, we got everything back by waiting for the drive to finish
rewinding, and rebooting the machine yet again.

It took Mike an entire day to copy 300 Megabytes.

-GAWollman

(*)PS:  Why did IBM have to put such a sucky OS into a wicked fast
machine like that?

-- 
   Garrett A. Wollman  = wollman@emba.uvm.edu = UVM is welcome to my opinions
                       =    uvm-gen!wollman   =
   That's what being alive is all about.  No deity, no higher goal
   exists, than to bring joy to another person.    - Elf Sternberg
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: vargish@sura.net (Nick Vargish)
Subject: Re: What does UNIX mean?
Summary: Journos... sheeesh!
Organization: SURAnet, College Park, MD, USA, NA, Earth, Milky Way
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 00:06:35 GMT

magnus@THEP.LU.SE (Magnus Olsson) writes:

[computer-illiterate journo stories deleted]

>On a related note, the leading regional newspaper has a weekly column
>for computer hobbyists, written by some journalist who's apparently
>playing around with a little Basic programming on his PC at home, but
>who hasn't - judging from his columns - much more experience. When
>writing about different languages, he mentioned assembly language, and
>amde the remark that "it's only for experts, since you need to use the
>difficult DEBUG program, and know how to write to absolute disk
>sectors".  His latest column was about his woes installing OS/2 (he
>whined bitterly about not getting it to work without having read the
>manual first). Before starting to whine, however, he boasted about his
>technical competence - apparently he had installed several expansion
>cards, and could replace IC's inside his radio, or something like
>that. 

Jerry Pournelle writes a column for a Swedish regional newspaper?

>Magnus Olsson                   | \e+      /_
>University of Lund, Sweden      |   >----<           

Nick

p.s. Well, okay, Jerry probably would have gotten the assembly
language stuff right. It's just that his columns have become continual
whines about his Intel-based compatibility problems. (Wait 'til Jerry
writes about installing OS/2!)

-- 
|  Nick Vargish       | "I'm just another wide area network packet-herder..." |
|  SURAnet Operations +-------------------------------------------------------+
|  vargish@sura.net   | "SURAnet  and I do  not have a  relationship based on |
|  h: 301 474-1863    | mutually-shared ideologies.  Don't assume otherwise." |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dp35@mc1adm.UWaterloo.ca (Greg Moore)
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Keywords: Sigh
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 16:06:47 GMT

In article <14gri6INN8pd@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (tuu) writes:
>
>In article <viking.711430669@vincent1.iastate.edu> viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson) writes:
>}	I remember some of the older Apple II classics: Gobbler, Sabotage,
>}Car Wars, The Wizard and The Princess, and of course Brick Out.  Sigh!
>}How simply we were satisfied in those days...
>
>	Aztec, Prince of Persia [much more tolerable after being hacked onto
>a 3.5" disk], Drol, Montezuma's Revenge.. There are too many to list.. Most
>are worth finding the disks they're on every couple of weeks/months to play...
>(luckily, most/all can be played on 3.5" floppies through a few convoluted
>methods, so I don't have to hook up the 5.25" beasts)

3.5" DISK! How can anything be a classic that could be played via 3.5" disk?
I remmember my dad briging home the CBM with built in cassette.  Space
Invaders ruled! 

By the time we moved up to an Apple II in 1980, we were still on cassette for
a year and then we got two 5.25" floppies for ~$800 each.  Breakout on
cassette and Space Quarks by Broderbund on disk.

Boy, those were the days.

But then again...1975...Pong.
From: ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M lives!)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Cloned computers
Date: 30 Jul 92 14:28:10 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Jul30.191842.1120@news2.cis.umn.edu>, lemay@epx.cis.umn.edu () writes:
> In article <1992Jul30.175250.7607@cs.cornell.edu> chapman@cs.cornell.edu (Richard Chapman) writes:
>>
>>Amdahl cloned IBM mainframes in the '70s. I think Terak cloned the pdp-8.
>                                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> WRONG. Terak 'cloned' the PDP-11 (actually, LSI-11).

They didn't clone it. They bought the CPUs from DEC.

Roger Ivie
ivie@cc.usu.edu
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Mercury memory (was Re: Cathode ray memory)
Date: 30 Jul 92 10:17:22 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <1992Jul29.182042.6020@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel) writes:
>
>In a previous article, jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost) says:
>
>>Anyway what makes me respond to this is that mercury tubs were used
>>for memory at one time.  When you want to store something in memory
>>you made waves in the mercury; the waves would propagate to the other
>>end of the tank relatively slowly compared to the electronics, and
>>then you pick up what you put in when it gets to the other side.  This
>>gave you temporary memory.
>
>	Aha!  So *THAT'S* where Isaac Asimov got his "merc-pools"
>in his positronic robot novels ("The Caves of Steel" is the one
>which comes immediately to mind).  I always wondered what in the
>world that meant, when everybody used a "merc-pool" for data
>storage.  The implication (it's been years since I read these, so
>bear with me) was that these were permanent storage devices, rather
>than temporary.  I guess Asimov was extrapolating...

You make them 'permanent' by the simple expedient of having whatever
reads the information off at the output end also re-input it at the
input end, so that you've effectively got the same signal waveform
propagating around and around the cycle forever.  Had a project in
electrical engineering many-odd years ago now, which involved using a
wire acoustic delay line as a permanent memory in just that way.  (Of
course, it's only 'permanent' as long as you keep the power turned on.)

(Wire acoustic delay lines work on the same basic principle.  At the
input end there's a transducer which generates a quick twist in the
wire, clockwise or counterclockwise according to whether you kick it
with a 0 or a 1 bit, and sometime later the twist propagates
mechanically down to the output end, where a sensor converts the motion
back into an electrical signal.  Been ages, but as I recall, the delay
was some large fraction of a second, and you could squeeze about 200
bits into it.  Both numbers being order-of-magnitude sorts.)
-- 
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!uknet!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132
From: russ@bbxrbk (Russ Kepler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Cathode ray memory
Date: 30 Jul 92 04:21:25 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <jimf.712419799@centerline.com> jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost) writes:
>Anyway what makes me respond to this is that mercury tubs were used
>for memory at one time.  When you want to store something in memory
>you made waves in the mercury; the waves would propagate to the other
>end of the tank relatively slowly compared to the electronics, and
>then you pick up what you put in when it gets to the other side.  This
>gave you temporary memory.
>
>It also spawned what might have been the first computer music, since
>the waves made noise as they propagated.  Intrepid users (such as the
>one who told me about all of this :-) could generate memory patterns
>that would play music as they propagated through the mercury.

I never heard of that... my "exposure" to mercury memory was in
temperature controlled columns.  The data would propagate through the
Hg using a speaker at the bottom and a microphone at the top,
connected through an amplifier.  It was something like 2 1/2 feet
high, and I don't have an idea in the world how much data it contained.

I never understood how it never managed to drift - must've had some
regeneration in the amp.  It was very sensitive to lightning in the
area as I recall - but that may have been the system as a whole (I
seem to recall that it was an old Univac 1103?).

-- 
.signature: not found.  Create?
From: grog@adagio.UUCP (Greg Lehey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Americans who can't spell
Date: 24 Jul 92 09:46:20 GMT
Organization: LEMIS, Schellnhausen 2, W-6324 Feldatal, Germany

In article <1992Jul22.113344.11488@public.sub.org> peterk@public.sub.org (Peter Kittel) writes:
>grog@adagio.UUCP (Greg Lehey) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul17.142603.5599@public.sub.org> peterk@public.sub.org (Peter Kittel) writes:
>>>
>>>Exactly. In German, the date of today is pronounced (directly translated)
>>>as "17th 7th 92". Very short and efficient. Ok, you might argue that
>>          ^^^
>>No, that's not German, that's an abomination. In German, the months have 
>>names.
>
>Huch? IMHO my above statement is fully correct. In normal conversation,
>when you are fast, or even in every business talk I can remember, this
>is the normal way to pronounce it. As I said, month names are typically
>longer than this.

Yes, your statement is correct. This doesn't mean that the names of
the months have deteriorated into numbers, just that common usage is
going in this unpleasant direction.

>>So presumably you're going to replace the names of the days of the
>>week by numbers too.
>
>Oh beware, please not :-)  But did you realize that Americans use 3-letter
>abbreviations for weekdays and Germans only such with 2 letters? Hurray,
>one of the few cases, where German is shorter and more efficient than
>American! These cases are admittedly in the *extreme* minority.

These abbreviations were invented by a Hungarian, a certain Sasomodi
Midofr.

>>I only work from 2 to 6, sometimes on a 7, but never on a 1.
>
>Huch? You work from tuesday to saturday, but never on a monday???
>You see, this is also special for Germany (and for other countries
>perhaps also?): The first day of a week is defined the monday, *not*
>sunday like in US. This is an *official* definition.

Which just goes to prove my point. I didn't know this, but anything
with that degree of ambiguity is not worth using.

-- 
Greg Lehey                       | Tel: +49-6637-1488              
LEMIS                            | Fax: +49-6637-1489
Schellnhausen 2, W-6324 Feldatal, Germany
*** NOTE ***: Headers are mangled - reply to grog%lemis@Germany.EU.net
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (John G Dobnick)
Subject: Re: 9 track data storage???????????????
Originator: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Reply-To: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 17:12:23 GMT

From article <jcmorris.712246809@mwunix>, by jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris):
> jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (John G Dobnick) writes:
> 
>>reversal.)  Phase encoding was the solution to that -- each and _every_
>>character had a flux reversal, and hence the data was "self clocking".
> 
> This isn't really an issue for 9-track recording at any density, because
> by definition the standard 9-track tape is recorded using odd parity.
> This assures that every character will have at least one 1-bit (and thus
> at least one flux reversal) to generate a pulse on the tape, and thus
> provide the necessary clocking information.

But...  what this _does_ give you is the ability to "de-skew" your
data, since each _track_ is self-clocked.  (Just imagine what happens
is your tape is slightly skewed.  Depending upon how bad the skew is,
you could wind up clocking data from three different data frames.  This
is clearly un-good.)   A single parity track won't save you from this;
_independent_ self-clocking in each data track will.

-- 
John G Dobnick                          ATTnet: (414) 229-5727
Computing Services Division             INTERNET: jgd@uwm.edu
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee     UUCP: uunet!uwm!jgd

"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation,
and is thus a source of civilized delight."  -- William Safire
From: jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (JohnC)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: And what about this DogCow business ? ( moof! )
Date: 24 Jul 92 17:42:50 GMT
Reply-To: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: The Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things

In article <BrwGDL.174@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Upholder@uiuc.edu (THE Upholder of Truth) writes:
>jon%vector0.UUCP@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US (Dazed N. Confused) writes:
>
>>willem@pub2.bu.edu (Willem van der Oord) writes:
>
>>> Also, in some versions of the MacOS (less than 7, 6.0.7?) if you hold
>>> down the option key while selecting About the Finder, you will see
>>> the original picture of mountains that came with Finder 1.0.  If you
>>> wait long enough Clarus will appear and say "Moof!" every once in a
>>> while.
>
>>     So that's why everything in the Mac world is so bloated.  So
>>many damned easter eggs.
>
>Well, the easter eggs and the 160,000 managers.. (has anyone done anything
>productive with the vertical retrace manager?  anyone?)

The OS uses it extensively internally.  When you need to draw things in sync
with the monitor refresh, to avoid flicker, you need the vertical retrace
manager.  Also, the original 60Hz retrace interrupt (which was retained for
compatibility even though it only refers to an actual monitor on "classic"
Mac hardware) makes a convenient "heartbeat" timer for various purposes.

How is it sensible to proclaim an OS feature useless simply because _you_ don't
need it?

-- 
John Cavallino                  |  EMail: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago Hospitals |         John_Cavallino@uchfm.bsd.uchicago.edu
Office of Facilities Management | USMail: 5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC 0953
B0 f++ c+ g++ k s++ e+ h- pv    |         Chicago, IL  60637
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: wex@cs.ulowell.edu (Paul M. Wexelblat)
Subject: Re: Terminal intrinsics
Originator: wex@cs.ulowell.edu
Reply-To: wex@cs.ulowell.edu
Organization: Univ. of Lowell CS Dept.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 19:55:34 GMT


In article <jimf.712425470@centerline.com>, jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost) writes:
|> From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
|> Subject: Re: Terminal intrinsics
|> Date: 29 Jul 92 15:57:50 GMT
|> 
|> smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC) writes:
|> >In article <jimf.712417131@centerline.com>, jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost) writes:

	 <  . . . >

|> >Are you sure? I know that _Unix_ was developed on the PDP (by AT&T), but
|> >I thought that _BSD Unix_ was developed on the VAX by Berkeley, specifically
|> >to take advantage of the VM facilities in the architecture.  Besides, both
|> >machines came from DEC so Unix in general owes its existence to DEC.
|> 
|> Berkeley did original work on the PDP (based on UNIX V6); 3BSD was the
|> first to run on the VAX (in 1978, UNIX V7 with VM).
|> 
	<...>

Just a nit, but 
PDP is Not a synonym for PDP-11

Some of us have programmed other PDP machines
(1,6,7,8,9,11,12,16, and, of course, the -10) [the -20 was a DECSYSTEM]
-- 
If God had intended us to vote, He would have given us candidates.

	...Wex
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith)
Subject: Re: IBM vs. world terminology (was: What does dd stand for?)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 01:39:51 GMT

Notice, too, the deliberately perverse nomenclature mutations in the
SAA CUA manual.  Apple and Microsoft use almost identical terminology
for most elements of the GUI.  

Apple/Microsoft  IBM

Menu bar         Action bar
Menu             Pull-down
Grayed out       Unavailable emphasis

etc. etc.

My theory is that IBM believes that when they urinate in
something, it improves the flavor.

--Daniel P. B. Smith
dpbsmith@world.std.com

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers