HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dahe@cl.cam.ac.uk (David Elworthy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters?
Date: 21 Aug 92 11:31:25 GMT
Reply-To: dahe@cl.cam.ac.uk (David Elworthy)
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <1992Aug20.153802.1@vxdesy.desy.de>, burke@vxdesy.desy.de writes:
|> [...]
|>   Maybe Acorn should add "spilling vodka in your keyboard is unlikely to
|> enhance it's lifespan" to their helpful hints at the beginning of the
manual.
|> It would fit in well with "try not to poke knitting needles into the psu",
|> "dropping the machine in a bowl of water won't improve it's performance" and
|> "swinging it around your head by the mouse cable is probably a bad
move". All
|> right, those aren't exact quotes, but I'm sure it says something like
that :-)
|> Maybe we could start a competition for the best piece of advice for a novice
|> user?
|> 

Caution: the floppy disc drive will not read data off doughnuts,
whatever their density.

|>   Going off on a tangent, why don't Acorn manuals have authors? I'm sure
|> *someone* must write them; have Acorn marketing decided that we
should see them
|> as a faceless single entity, or are the authors just too ashamed to admit
|> it? :-)
|> 

When I was at Acorn (some while back), I think this question did come
up. As I recall, it was rejected because if you do this, then you should
probably put the application author's names on the programs as well. You
can find out most of the names (though not what they did) using that
funny SYS call. Another argument against it is deciding who an author
is. For example, the RO2 user guide was first-drafted by an outside
contractor. He made a bit of a mess of it, so a substantially new guide
was written by me and someone else. Several people then polished,
modified and extended bits of it. So who can be said to be "the
author(s)"? The same applies to applications: if someone contributes a
few lines of code, are they an author of it or not. The final reason for
not putting names on things is, of course, that someone might ring up
and ask you why it's no good (though this is not a problem with the bits
I wrote, of course...).

-- david elworthy
Xref: sparky comp.sys.acorn.advocacy:54 comp.sys.acorn:8280
From: tomc@siesoft.co.uk (Tom Crossland)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:28:53 GMT
Reply-To: tomc@siesoft.co.uk
Organization: Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Ltd.

smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
: Does anyone have any interesting stories of disasters or near disasters
: connected with their Acorn machines?

I  once  dropped a (full) cup of coffee on my 330 Meg SCSI. It
kept  working  for  5 mins, then spun down. After applying the
hair  dryer  to it for half an hour or so, it worked again. It
was  one  of  those  big  jobbies  (800000  inch triple height
drives)  which  you used to see in old VAXes and things, so it
was  quite  robust.  Mind  you, it died of old age a couple of
months after the coffee disaster.
--
___ _ __
  ((_))))...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: FormEd and FontEd
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 02:26:56 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

zoetl@isa.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Gunnar Zoetl) writes:

>while we're at the topic of improving !Formed: one thing I heavily
>miss is the possibility to copy single window descriptions from one
>template file to another.

Well, deleting all but one and saving that one, then loading the other file
and then loading the one... isn't too difficult...
What I find more annoying is "copy this set of 12 icons into *that* window"
- The only way to do it is to re-create them in the new window.
-- 
_________________  "I'd like to answer this question in two ways:
  /____ _ _/_ __       First in my normal voice, and then
 // / //_//_ /_/       in a silly, high-pitched whine." (Monty Python)
From: dwallin@acorn.co.uk (Dick Wallin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 19 Aug 92 12:57:02 GMT
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England

In article <1992Aug18.221012.8989@csd.brispoly.ac.uk> r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (R Voisey) writes:

>In article <1992Aug17.181716.19760@cs.nott.ac.uk> smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
>>Does anyone have any interesting stories of disasters or near disasters
>>connected with their Acorn machines?

A couple of years back, I dropped my 440/1 down a full flight of stairs on
my way to a demonstration. It landed on a wooden floor on the lower corner
by the power supply, and has left a dent in the floor about 1 cm deep. The
case was obviously skewed!

The machine worked during the demonstration (including hard and floppy
drives) but during the informal discussions afterwards the floppy started to
give up the ghost.

On returning home I dismantled the machine, to find the main board curved
upwrds and all the plug in chips (incl. VIDC, IOC, ARM etc) half unplugged.
I removed the board, straghtened the case, pushed back all components, and
re-engaged the spiral drive inside the floppy unit. Having rebuilt the
machine i worked perfectly again - and is still in constant daily use.

Dick Wallin.
Xref: sparky comp.sys.acorn.advocacy:56 comp.sys.acorn:8283
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy,comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Validation of Acorns DesktopC includes
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 06:17:05 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

pdenize@waikato.ac.nz writes:

>I am getting VERY tired of the poor quality of the Desktop C libraries.  I don't
>think a week has gone by where I haven't found another mistake, typo, or
       ^^^^^^
>negligent error.

> [a bit more stuff about a mere 100 or so errors Paul has found in ROLib...]

A Week? You lucky ****, you lucky lucky **** (to paraphrase Monty Python ;-)

I just spent 2 hours figuring out why RISC OS Lib was deciding to stop
bothering passing NULL events back to me. I eventually realised that if
no specific window is claiming NULLs (win_thingy_bobby_with_an_umemorable_name)
then when you close any window, RISC OS Lib stops bothering serving the NULLs
to me. And when another window is opened, they are resumed...
Now I search through all my windows (has anyone noticed how many different
windows they can find in DSEdit II? ;-( and find one that is open to pass
the null events to...

The moral of the story: Don't use RISC OS Lib.
-- 
_________________  "I'd like to answer this question in two ways:
  /____ _ _/_ __       First in my normal voice, and then
 // / //_//_ /_/       in a silly, high-pitched whine." (Monty Python)
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:17:16 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

Does anyone have any interesting stories of disasters or near disasters
connected with their Acorn machines?

The other day I accidentally inserted a RISC OS 2 ROM chip in my A440/1
the wrong way round, and switched the machine on. After about ten seconds,
I wondered why I could smell burning, and suddenly smoke started appearing
from within the computer!

The ROM chip had become so hot that the sticky label stuck to it had started
to smoulder! Luckily, having switched off and let the red-hot ROM chip
cool down, it all worked perfectly...

Simon.
From: dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk (Denis Howe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: RISC OS 3 Applications Discs
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:41:10 GMT
Organization: Computing Department, Imperial College, London, UK

In article <1992Aug12.182316.10022@cs.nott.ac.uk>
psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) wrote:

>I've just been looking at the RISC OS 3.10 Applications Discs, and
>was surprised to see that the main difference between these and those
>supplied with RISC OS 3.00 is that the BASIC !RunImage files have
>been run through a crunching program, making them almost totally
>incomprehensible.

That's a shame.  The BASIC on the Applications discs was one of the
best sources of `documentation' for some features of RO2.  What better
way to encourage people to follow standards than by supplying source
of real working examples.
--
Denis Howe <dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk>
Mail me if you're coming to the BAU Show
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Floptical Drives
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:16:06 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

I have just been reading Computer Shopper magazine, and see that 21Mb 3.5"
floptical drives are being advertised at two hundred and seventy five pounds.

This is significantly cheaper than the article supplied by Acorn related
suppliers. However is the product the same? Do the floptical drives use the
standard SCSI hard disc drivers, supplied with every SCSI interface, or do
they require special software? Which makes of SCSI interface work with
floptical drives?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Simon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
=    Simon Burrows    smb@cs.nott.ac.uk    psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk       =
=    University of Nottingham  Tel +44 533 712030   Also on Arcade & TwoC   =
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mcg@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Near Disaster; The Exception!
Date: 20 Aug 92 23:53:10 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Well, here's the exception....:

 My A5000 died, and I didn't even *DO* anything to it!

A component (or two) died on the main PCB (linked to the keyboard socket); 
Acorn apparently just replaced the whole motherboard (it was/is still under 
guarentee).

 I was using it all afternoon, had a break for dinner, tried to boot-up after 
dinner and "no keyboard - autobooting" was flung back in my face!


Oh well, you can get away with it some of the time.....
From Martin Glanvill		(mcg@waikato.ac.nz)

Dept. Maths 							      @@@@@/|@
University of Waikato						      @@@@/ |@
Hamilton							      @@@/__|@
New Zealand							      @@/   |@
								      @@@@@@@@

----------------****=====| A quote to make your day |======****-----------------
Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.
                                        -- Lillian Hellman
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
From: psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: RISC OS 3 Applications Discs
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:23:16 GMT
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham
Originator: psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk

I've just been looking at the RISC OS 3.10 Applications Discs, and was
surprised to see that the main difference between these and those supplied
with RISC OS 3.00 is that the BASIC !RunImage files have been run through
a crunching program, making them almost totally incomprehensible.

I am wondering if there is a particular reason for this? Was it necessary
to save space, or is it the result of a new policy to try to stop users seeing
how Acorn programs work? It seems to be setting a bad example to other users,
who should be encouraged not to crunch their programs unless essential.

Please could someone enlighten us?

Simon.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: RISC OS 3 Applications Discs
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 20:50:37 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk (Denis Howe) writes:

>That's a shame.  The BASIC on the Applications discs was one of the
>best sources of `documentation' for some features of RO2.  What better
>way to encourage people to follow standards than by supplying source
>of real working examples.

By supplying compiled libraries of real broken examples, of course! ;-)
-- 
_________________  "I'd like to answer this question in two ways:
  /____ _ _/_ __       First in my normal voice, and then
 // / //_//_ /_/       in a silly, high-pitched whine." (Monty Python)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Disasters?
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:38:01 GMT

I'm not sure these count as disasters, but I'll tell you anyway. I ordered a
BBC micro in about April, 1982, thinking that I'd have it for the summer
vacation (I was a student at the time). How wrong can you be! I finally got it
at the end of September about a week before I was due to go back. I unpacked it
and turned it on, and after about 10 minutes clouds of thick white smoke
started pouring forth. After switching off, a bit of investigation revealed
that it was coming from the psu; there must have been a short somewhere.
Anyway, I packed it up again and sent it back to Acorn (no dealers in those
days), thinking that (if I was lucky) I might see it again by Christmas. This
was on a Friday; to my utter amazement it came back the following Friday, the
day before I was due to go back to University. Not only had they replaced the
psu, but also fixed three (!) other faults that I hadn't noticed. Who says
Acorn can't be efficient if they try ... they never did refund my postage,
though.

  The only other thing that might class as a disaster was spilling half a glass
of vodka in the numeric keypad of my Arc last year. For a while none of the
keys along the top row would work, but after it had a chance to dry out it was
OK. It's still working, although the feel of some of the keys on the keypad is
a bit strange. 

  Maybe Acorn should add "spilling vodka in your keyboard is unlikely to
enhance it's lifespan" to their helpful hints at the beginning of the manual.
It would fit in well with "try not to poke knitting needles into the psu",
"dropping the machine in a bowl of water won't improve it's performance" and
"swinging it around your head by the mouse cable is probably a bad move". All
right, those aren't exact quotes, but I'm sure it says something like that :-)
Maybe we could start a competition for the best piece of advice for a novice
user?

  Going off on a tangent, why don't Acorn manuals have authors? I'm sure
*someone* must write them; have Acorn marketing decided that we should see them
as a faceless single entity, or are the authors just too ashamed to admit
it? :-)

e----><----p | Stephen Burke           | Internet: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
 H   H   1   | Gruppe FH1T (Liverpool) | DECnet:   vxdesy::burke (13313::burke)
 H   H  11   | DESY, Notkestrasse 85   | BITNET:   BURKE@DESYVAX or SB2@UKACRL
 HHHHH   1   | 2000 Hamburg 52         | JANET:    sb2@uk.ac.rl.ib
 H   H   1   | Germany                 | Phone:    + 49 40 8998 2282
 H   H 11111 | HERA, the world's largest electron microscope!
From: maurp@warwick.ac.uk (Emmet Spier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: RISC OS 3 Applications Discs
Date: 20 Aug 92 19:35:59 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK

RE acorn crunching (inc compressed variable names)

Err r Voisely says that Acorns BASIC app discs progs were terse & hard to
learn from but nearly every PD programmer I know started off with !Madness or
!Calc (me!) & then slowly re-coded it as you learnt what Acorn did wrong!
The very thought of starting a WIMP prog from scratch scaries me NOW & I could
do it now - four years ago you must be joking - PRMs didn't even exist!

Cheers Emm
(PS let people see your source & learn from it - that way we all end up
with better progams!)
-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 From Emmet Spier  (maurp@csv.warwick.ac.uk)
 59 Claremont Rd, Leammington Spa, Warks. CV31 3EH        Tel (0926) 426 955
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mcg@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:54:20 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

In article <1992Aug17.181716.19760@cs.nott.ac.uk>, smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
> Does anyone have any interesting stories of disasters or near disasters
> connected with their Acorn machines?
> 
> The other day I accidentally inserted a RISC OS 2 ROM chip in my A440/1
> the wrong way round, and switched the machine on. After about ten seconds,
> I wondered why I could smell burning, and suddenly smoke started appearing
> from within the computer!
> 

I accidenlty broke VR2 (the trimpot right next to the -5V input on the BBC B 
PCB), and the value of the Resistor was not specified on the PCB diagram 
(VR1 was tho!).

 I just took a stab in the dark and replaced it with a 10K ohm trimpot (with an 
unknown setting).

 Unfortunately it just gave the old "heels kicking in the air" BBC howl; 
indicating that something was not right.
 
After eliminating all options, I took (the PCB mother board) in to be repaired: 

  Keyboard IDE Cable was stuffed, the rest of the machine worked perfectly. 
 (and continues to work perfectly)

P.s. this was as a result of putting the mother board & P.S. + Disc drives into
 an AT case with a 2m IDE cable connecting a "sawn-off" keyboard to the beast; 
wicked, eh?  
From Martin Glanvill		(mcg@waikato.ac.nz)

Dept. Maths 							      @@@@@/|@
University of Waikato						      @@@@/ |@
Hamilton							      @@@/__|@
New Zealand							      @@/   |@
								      @@@@@@@@

----------------****=====| A quote to make your day |======****-----------------
"Whom are you?" said he, for he had been to night school.
                                        -- George Ade
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (R Voisey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:10:12 GMT
Organization: Bristol Polytechnic, England

In article <1992Aug17.181716.19760@cs.nott.ac.uk> smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
>Does anyone have any interesting stories of disasters or near disasters
>connected with their Acorn machines?

I've nearly blown my Arch up so many times I've lost count..  probably my
greatest trick was to plug 3Mb of RAM in the wrong way round..  Luckily the
pinouts of ZIP RAMs caters for idiots, and reversing the chip does not
reverse the power rail, as is the case with many DIL devices..  however, it
was rather monotonous having to remove and reinsert all those damned ZIPs..

The other really annoying thing I've done (which wasn't really my fault) was
to corrupt the CMOS RAM to the extent that no amount power-on-this-&-thats
would allow the machine to boot..  shorting the power backup rails didn't
fix it either at first..  took me days to get the machine going again..  and
who says software can't screw hardware?

The most interesting near disaster I've heard of happenned to a (now senior)
Acorn sales rep..  his 440 fell out of his car window whilst travelling at
speed..  apparently it still has bits of grass lodged in it if you look hard
enough.

Bob


-- 
Robert J. Voisey  :  r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk   (Janet)
GUI coders do it     Bob Voisey @ 2:252/106.0      (Fidonet)
on the desktop       Bob Voisey @ 100:104/106.0    (TurboNet)
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Preferential Treatment for Education...???
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:10:47 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

I was not saying that Acorn should not release new machines, just that they
should not actively encourage educational buyers to purchase remaining
stocks of a machine about to be discontinued.

It looks likely that the new machine will cost no more than the A3000, in
fact I think less.

If you don't believe that the A3000 has been discontinued, try and get one!
The only major Acorn distributor, whose name currently escapes me, reports
that they have no more stock of A3000's, and will not be receiving any more.
If that doesn't mean it is discontinued, what does?

Simon.
From: gtoal@ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Preferential Treatment for Education...???
Date: 15 Aug 92 12:43:51 GMT
Organization: The IBM PC User Group, UK.

In article <1992Aug13.021506.10435@cs.aukuni.ac.nz> jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA) writes:
>Sure, it's nasty and horrible that Acorn have to try to sell off their last
>A3000 stocks with a special deal before the new better faster cheaper
>machine appears, but this is NORMAL in any industry with any amount of
>technological improvement. At some point, the old becomes outdated, and the
>new becomes cheaper than the old. Acorn is a BUSINESS, and have to keep
>making a profit if they can.

Well, I *hope* this is what they're doing.  Uusual acorn policy has been
to leave the old machines at full price till they're all gone, and
bring the new machines in much dearer, and not drop price until all
the old machines are sold.

Other manufacturers bring new machines in around the price of the old
machines, and discount the old ones immediately.  And consequently
sell more and keep people happier.

Acorn worry *far* too much about people putting off purchases because
the new model will be cheaper/better/etc.  What they should do, and what
it sounds like you might be saying they are doing, is to drop the
prices of the old model as soon as the rumours are out that a new one
is coming, so people buying in the time between rumour and actuality
can opt for 'old but cheaper' and still buy something...  then bring
in the new model at the price the old model was before being discounted.

G
--
From: mcg@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Re: Disasters / Near Disasters
Date: 19 Aug 92 17:05:58 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

In article <1992Aug18.221012.8989@csd.brispoly.ac.uk>, r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (R Voisey) writes:
> 
> The other really annoying thing I've done (which wasn't really my fault) was
> to corrupt the CMOS RAM to the extent that no amount power-on-this-&-thats
> would allow the machine to boot..  shorting the power backup rails didn't
> fix it either at first..  took me days to get the machine going again..  and
> who says software can't screw hardware?

Hey, I (accidently) shorted my CMOS RAM, all you do is just (D/)R-Power-ON to 
reset the defualt values; noting that the screen jumped and flickered before 
setting down after 5 minutes (no desktop).

> The most interesting near disaster I've heard of happenned to a (now senior)
> Acorn sales rep..  his 440 fell out of his car window whilst travelling at
> speed..  apparently it still has bits of grass lodged in it if you look hard
> enough.

I've heard of disc crashes, but......

From Martin Glanvill		(mcg@waikato.ac.nz)

Dept. Maths 							      @@@@@/|@
University of Waikato						      @@@@/ |@
Hamilton							      @@@/__|@
New Zealand							      @@/   |@
								      @@@@@@@@

----------------****=====| A quote to make your day |======****-----------------
Put your brain in gear before starting your mouth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
From: chughes@maths.tcd.ie (Conrad Hughes)
Subject: Re: Why isn't everything PD ?
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 12:01:21 GMT

Graham.Shaw@newcastle.ac.uk (G.D.Shaw) writes:

>The LZW algorithm is patented in the United States, by both IBM and
>Unisys (see the FAQ for comp.compression).
I _think_ that Unisys aren't pursuing software infringements on this
patent, only hardware ones.  The comp.compression FAQ says little
more than that the algorithm is subject to xxx patents; if you want
information, ask on misc.legal.computing.

Conrad
-- 
,--------------------. Suicide City, Paranoid State. Geddout! trip to, heave'n'
|chughes@maths.tcd.ie| ho, up, down, to'n'fro you have no word please leave us
+-=>Conrad  Hughes<=-+ here close our eyes to the octopus ride isn't it good to
`-------<SICK>-------' be lost in the wood isn't it bad so quiet there . . .