HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: wcsjc@alfred.carleton.ca (John Coughlin)
Subject: Re: The most dangerous thing...
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 17:48:52 GMT

See my signature:
--
Flesh: John Coughlin                          Motto: Fortis in arduis
Net: wcsjc@ccs.carleton.ca     Vox: +1 613 957-2851     Fax: 990-7370
ObQuote: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey
          and car keys to teenage boys." -- P.J. O'Rourke
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:18179 alt.folklore.science:4428
From: ig25@fg30.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Thomas Koenig)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: mean failure time vs power-to-weight ratio (was: Re: Sig file)
Date: 21 Dec 1992 13:03:44 GMT
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Reply-To: ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
NNTP-Posting-Host: fg30.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de

In article <1992Dec18.165746.10294@cbfsb.cb.att.com> doerfler@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (ronald.w.doerfler) writes:
>>said:
>>>He plotted power-to-weight ratio vs. mean time to failure for
>>>all sorts of things -- alarm clocks, cars, gas turbines,
>>>Saturn V's, etc. on log-log paper.  You guessed it -- it's a
>>>line.
>>
>
>I might add here that plotting scattered data on a log-log graph
>has the unique advantage to the experimenter of smoothing out the 
>data quite significantly, so it looks much better.  I first heard
>of this when I was a summer intern at NASA Lewis Research Center,
>where this technique was used quite a lot.

It certainly does - especially if you use several decades for each
axis. Fortunately, most plotting software these days takes for granted
that logarithmic axes should run from one power of ten to another,
so things will even look somoother, because your data does not fill
the whole area of the plot.

The plots I like most for this are the kind where you plot, say,
x_model against x_measured over several decades for x. If you can't
show good agreement there, you have a hopeless case :-)

BTW, I did NOT make up my .signature for this thread :-)
-- 
Thomas Koenig, ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de, ig25@dkauni2.bitnet
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double logarithmic
diagram.
From: kabreuer@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Breuer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Worlds wierdest system crash!
Date: 30 Dec 92 21:42:44 GMT
Organization: CSD., University of Erlangen
NNTP-Posting-Host: faui00e.informatik.uni-erlangen.de

>>> 	Any like stories?
>>Five minutes later, an earwig came crawling out of the computer !
>Well, you should have run the de-bugger sooner :-)!
Same here. I was charged with fixing a small multi-tasker from a Pet Shop
(yes! someone had sold these poor fools a multi-terminal monster, of about
1mx1mx1m size). After getting all the dust off it (it had been standing about
for some time) I unscrewed the top to find - a mouse nest, complete with dead
mouse and a half-severed power cable. Even took a photo of it.

Ciao,
Klaus
---
Klaus Breuer, Rudelsweiher Str. 6b, 8520 Erlangen, Germany
** "Geez, I need a _reason_ for everything?" --Calvin 
** "Should I or shouldn't I? -- Too late, I did!" --Hobbes 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: slb22@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Seth "the Lesser")
Subject: Re: octal to decimal converter?
Organization: Generic American College Kids (G.A.C.K.)
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 14:23:52 GMT
Reply-To: slb22@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Seth "the Lesser")
X-Posted-From: cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
[lots o' stuff deleted]
>        R3L                     /MOVE UP THREE
[lots o' stuff deleted]
>        [snip] A minor model cheat is that R3L can't
>be used on some earlier machines.  [snip]

Charles? What's the octal value of R3L? Which machines support it?

(Just wondering....)

Seth L. Blumberg          \ Warning: This posting has been determined to cause
slb22@columbia.edu (play)   \ cancer in laboratory animals.  Please make sure
sethb@ctr.columbia.edu (work) \ that no white mice are allowed to read it.  
    > No one I know shares my opinions, least of all Columbia University. <
From: Brian.Milner@brunel.ac.uk (Brian D Milner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: ---- E L I T E ----
Date: 21 Dec 92 17:45:09 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK


        I got to 'Elite' playing --- Elite --- on the BBC B. Then I 
played it on the Atari 520ST, using a saved file editor to make myself
steenkeeeng rich. Now I have it on the IBM PC-clone, and I don't play it
'cos it's such rubbish compared to the Atari version.

        The Atari version played that Strauss Waltz from 2001 a space 
odyssey while your docking computers were engaged. Hah! I was so rich, I
never slogged about with docking computers. I used to bail out as soon 
as I left hyperspace, and so arrive at the space station instantly. Then
I'd buy a new lifeboat and be only a paltry C1000 the poorer.
        
        Anyone play The Sentinel? 10,000 landscapes, and you get a pass
code for the next one when you complete the one you're on. I got up to
~8,500 on the BBC B, then switched to the Atari. Imagine my suprise when
I found the codes were different on the new CPU. Luckily I saw the
funny side ...

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
|Brian Milner, The Computer Centre, Brunel University , West London, UK  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
|brian.milner@brunel.ac.uk | Failed films #27 -  The Sound of Mucus      |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: sibley@math.psu.edu (David Sibley)
Subject: Re: Apple IIGS being discontinued Dec 1992
Organization: Penn State Department of Mathematics
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 11:59:18 GMT

>     Besides, if anybody wrote a command-line interpreter
>Apple would probably sue them for sedition or something.

There have been third-party command line interpreters since the very
early days of the Mac.  I bought one called "FastFinder".  (And it is
much faster that Finder.)  I remember another one was called the
"Martian Operating System".  They had no popularity at all.  The basic
reason is, I think, that all the Mac programs are monolithic, so there
isn't much one can do with a CLI.  File management, but that's about
it.  You can launch a program, but you can't tell it to do anything
from a command line.

There were other things that provided even more.  MacForth, for
instance, provided a command line interface and a programing environment
where you could at least write your own utilities.  Since Forth is an
extensible language, you could actually do a lot with it in this
direction.  And a lot was done, too.  It has been around since within a
couple months of the introduction of the Mac.  And it got a lot of
support from Apple.


David Sibley   NT3O
sibley@math.psu.edu
From: kby@cco.caltech.edu (Kimo B. Yap)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What is so greate about the PDP 10?
Date: 30 Dec 1992 23:52:27 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: alumni.caltech.edu
Keywords: PDP 10, gods gift to hackers, TOPS, ITS

Closer, but I still think you missed my point.  What I meant was that on the
VAX, the system ALWAYS takes up addresses ^x80000000 and greater.  You might not
be able to access them depending on your access mode, but they're always there
taking up address space (i.e., you can't put something else there either).  This
is part of the 32-bits of address space you have, so you the user really only
ever has 31 bits.  And again, you lose another bit to the control region
structures which you also have only limited control over.
On the KL, the equivalent is having two different 23-bit address spaces and the
previous context XCT instruction to go between them.-kby
From: aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Apple IIGS being discontinued Dec 1992
Date: 1 Jan 1993 01:35:32 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, Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca (Charlie Gibbs) says:

>In article <1992Dec23.004951.6175@news.columbia.edu>
>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>
>>Apple is of the "Less is More" school.  As a casual Windows user, I would
>say
>>that the most useful feature of Windows is the bottom option of most
>>pull-downs on the left:
>>
>>Exit Windows
>
>     Amen to that!

Let me guess, you're a Mackie?

>>If this were on a Mac, what would it do?
>
>     Isn't that the shutdown option that makes it spit out all
>floppy disks and switch itself off?  "No!  I'll die before I
>display a command line!"
>

You mean that the disk drives and the power is SOFTWARE controlled, too?
Jeez, no WONDER my aunt, why can't even find the brights switch on the car
she's owned for 9 years, can use a Mac.  Sheesh!  How wimpy can you get?

>     Besides, if anybody wrote a command-line interpreter
>Apple would probably sue them for sedition or something.
>


That's anoter thing.  Aple wants to own EVERYTHING.

-- 
aj923@cleveland.freenet.edu (So now you listen, 'cause I'm omniscient)
			      _______________________							     /  ___________________(_)				
			    /  /\__________________							   /  /_/________________(_)				
			  /______________________							  \____________________(_)				
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dutcher@seas.gwu.edu (Sylvia Dutcher)
Subject: Re: PI
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 17:44:57 GMT

In article <1992Dec29.103410.4778@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>In article <1992Dec28.195328.19162@icaen.uiowa.edu> dsiebert@icaen.uiowa.edu (Doug Siebert) writes:
>>>correct : Somwhere in the decimals of PI, one can find any given arbitrary
>>>sequence of numbers, e.g. 10^100 number 7 (7777...7777; 10^100 7s in a row) !
and later
>>It isn't proven (to my knowledge at least) that PI is nonterminating.  
>
>SIGH. Don't they teach you anything at school nowadays?
[comments on trancendence omitted]
If pi terminated, then it would be a root of a polynomial with rational
coefficients (proof: multiply by 10^k where k is the number of digits before
pi terminates).  I.e., it would not be trancendental.

A simpler proof is to show pi is irrational, i.e. cannot be expressed in 
the form a/b where a and b are integers.  Such fractions cannot terminate
(if they did, then there would be a form a/b which you get just by 
multiplying by 10^k where k is the number of digits before repeating
begins).  They also cannot repeat (simple proof -- group the digits
and factor).
  
Proof that pi is irrational (per Lambert and M. Legendre, 175?):
Lemma: If x is a rational number other than zero, 
	then tan(x) is not rational.
Proof:  Work out the continued fraction expansion for tan(a/b).  Assume
	you can factor it so it repeats (termination is simply repeating
	zeroes).  Substitute the continued fraction part which has
	repeated into the original continued fraction.  Subtract the two.
	You'll get a number other than zero.  Thus, there is no
	such factor, i.e. tan(x) is not rational.
From this it follows that if tan(x) is a rational number (other than zero)
then x must be rational or zero.  Since tan(pi/4) = 1, pi must be
irrational or zero.  We know it's not zero.

In 1873, Hermite proved that e is trancendental, i.e. there are no 
natural numbers r, s, t ... such that
  ae^r + be^s + ce^t ... = 0 (terms limited to a finite number)
with a,b,c ... rational.  Several years later Lindemann extended this
to algebraic r,s,t and a,b,c, including complex algebraic numbers.
  
Applying this to a particular polynomial, Euler's Theorem:
  
	e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0,
  
we note that it is just a special case of Lindemann's Theorem with
a=1 and r=(i*pi).  Now i is clearly algebraic (it's the root of
x^2+1=0), and 1 and zero are algebraic.  Therefore, it must be pi
that's not algebraic, and therefore trancendental.

A different, more elegant, and more rigorous proof is given by Hardy
and Wright in "An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers," which contains
a fairly elementary exposition of trancendental numbers.  [Elementary
here means rigourous, not easy to follow.]  Lots of other people have
found different proofs since Lindemann, including Wierstrass.
One of the neat things about the proof is  that the methods developed
to deal with the problems laid the foundations for analytic theory
of numbers.

  
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: klund@athena.mit.edu (Kent H Lundberg)
Subject: LD-ROM vs CD-ROM (as in LaserDisc)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 21:27:22 GMT


So CD-ROMs can hold something like 680M.  

CDs can hold something like :
(75 minutes)x(60 sec)x(44.2 kHz)x(2 bytes (16bit))x(2 channels (stereo))
which comes out to 795M (this make sense because of formatting, blah, blah)

OK, so does anyone know how much a LaserDisc ROM system could hold?
(You can quote either per-side or per-disc.)

--> Kent Lundberg
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dwolff@cozy.Prime.COM (David Wolff)
Subject: Re: Proper pronounciation of 'Kibo'
Keywords: Kibo CIA Snarf Somalia PGP
Organization: Computervision
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 18:10:12 GMT

In article <BzqBK8.MH9@rice.edu>, jbuhler@owlnet.rice.edu (Jeremy Daniel Buhler) writes:
> >> The verb form is conjugated, in Russian, as
> <much nuked>
> > I presume that Kibyat' is an imperfective verb ? :-)
> 
> For the Russian impaired amongst us...

Furrfu!

"Kibo" (as the "o" ending shows perfectly clearly) is Esperanto, and is
a noun.  ("Hey Marge!  This Kibo needs a Post-It (TM)!")

The adjective form is "Kiba" ("Oooo, you're so... *Kiba*, darling!")

Verb forms are:

Infinitive      Kibi     ("Kibi, or not Kibi, that is the question.")
Past            Kibis
Present         Kibas
Future          Kibos
Imperative      Kibu     ("Kibu *this*, Mr. President!")
Conditional     Kibus

And that's pronounced "KEE-boh".

David Wolff

dwolff@RES-C4.Prime.COM

Disclaimer:  Reflecting Computervision policy is a non-goal of this posting.
FreeAdvert:  Esperanto, the international language *that works*:
             Call (800) 828-5944 for free info package (US or Canada)
Wolff'sLaw:  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,
             but generally too late to do any good.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Old Disney Films, was Re: Apple II Games
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 12:54:07 GMT

souva@aibn58.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Ignatios Souvatzis) writes:
>   In article <ByJJ0s.MKH@geovision.gvc.com> pt@geovision.gvc.com
>   (Paul Tomblin) writes:
>   >money on before they had video games.  (And even after - I never found a
>   >video game I liked as much as a good Williams pinball machine.)
>Hm... you don't happen to know the pinball game program running on
>TRS-80 Model 1, loaded from the cassette player? One of the best

No - but I used to play "Raster Blaster" on the Apple II when I ran out of
quarters.  Definitely inspired by Williams pinball machines - fast, light
action on the flippers.  Too bad you couldn't knudge it, though.


-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@compass.gvc.com
(This is not an official opinion/statement of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"AIX: It'll remind you of UNIX" - Geoff Collyer.
From: john@gu.uwa.edu.au (John West)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Is 4004 the first microprocessor ?
Date: 3 Jan 1993 05:34:36 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: mackerel.gu.uwa.edu.au

cpc@shell.portal.com (Chris Cebelenski) writes:

> As a semi related thread, does anyone know what processors were used
> in home video game systems? (Atari VCS, Magnavox Odysessy, Intelevision,
> etc.)  Past and present?

Well.. the Atari 2600 used a 6507. Its basically a 6502 in a 28 pin pack,
missing the top 3 address lines and such useless things as interrupts.
There were 3 chips in the unit - the 6507, a 6532 (128 bytes of RAM, a timer,
and 2(?) 8 bit I/O ports), and the video controller. There wasn't enough
RAM to store a screen image - everything was loaded into the graphics chip
when the beam swept past the appropriate positions. Remember - no interrupts
to help with this.
Some quite creative programming was done.

John West
--
For the humour impaired: Insert a :-) after every third word
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: markz@ssc.com (Mark Zenier)
Subject: 8008 (was Re: What is so greate about the PDP 10?)
Organization: SSC, Inc.,  Seattle, WA
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 02:32:07 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger (frank@rover.uchicago.edu) wrote:
: In article <1992Dec16.112555.62103@cc.usu.edu>, ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M lives!) writes...
: >The 8008 inspired by the '11? It's about as far away from an 11 as you can
: >get! The 4004 probably would still have been a 4-bit machine, and the 8008
: >would still have evolved from that.
: 
: 	The 4004 was inspired by the pdp8, not the 11. Subsequent Z80, 
: 	80xx, 80xxx, etc were evolutions of that.

The 8008 was as much of a Datapoint 2200 "intelligent" terminal
as could be implemented in Pmos.  Intel wasn't "inspired" by 
anything, they were given the architecture and asked to implement
it.  It wasn't enough, so the 2200 used some less integrated CPU.

Had more registers, according to a friend who had to deal with
the beasts.   16k bytes and two cassette drives.

Mark Zenier  markz@ssc.wa.com  

Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:18446 sci.math:17534
From: samuel@front.se
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,sci.math
Subject: Re: Number of numbers (Was Re: PI)
Date: 31 Dec 92 00:25:53 GMT
Organization: Samuel Gustaf Siren

In article <1992Dec30.091130.2068@pollux.lu.se>, magnus@thep.lu.se 
(Magnus Olsson) writes:
> In article <1992Dec30.010852.143@front.se> samuel@front.se writes:
>>
>>If this is the case, does anybody know if there
>>is some common denomination for "such trancendental" numbers ?
> 
> "Computable numbers"?

Definition in this posting : Computable numbers = All numbers that are the
output of some kind of algorithm (Trancendental as well as non-trancendental,
please note that ALL non-trancendental numbers are computable). 

Example : SUM(10^-(n!)), which is a computable trancendental number.

In article <...>, john@gu.uwa.edu.au (John West) writes :
>The decimals in PI *do* appear in a highly systematic and predictable fashion.
>There are many algorithms for predicting what the next one will be.

I must admit that I have become confused now. Since, as John points out, there
exist many algorithms to determine the decimals of PI, then PI ought to
be a computable number also ! But I have a strange (and perhaps totally
irrelevant) gut feeling that this is NOT the case. What do you say, Magnus ? 
One difference between PI and SUM(10^-(n!)) is that the decimal expansion of 
the latter is much simplier to calculate, but this seems to be a VERY WEAK
argument !

My questions to any math guru out there are the following :
 1. Is PI a computable number ?
 2. If the answer to (1) is NO, then why isn't it ?
 3. Does there exist a strict definition for numbers with "pseudo-random 
    decimal expansion" ? (I will call them PRDE-numbers)
 4. What is the relation(s) between computable/non-computable numbers vs 
    PRDE/Non-PRDE numbers ? E.g. one such relation may be "A non-computable
    number is always also a PRDE-number".

/SS
-- 
+----------------------+--------------------------------------+
|                      |        / \                           |
| Samuel Gustaf Siren  |      __!_/_                          |
| SAMUEL@front.se      |    / \ |  / \                        |
|                      |   |/  || | \__oW)----------          |
| All opinions and     |   !! / /\ \                          |
| questions are my     |     / /  \ \                         |
| own /SS              |    //    //                          |
|                      |   /|    ((                           |
+----------------------+--------------------------------------+
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Waste of Resources
Date: 23 Dec 92 09:53:00 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

So I work at this movie theatre, and the chain has decided to give
one of its theatres (the one across the street from _my_ workplace)
computer-controlled ticket machines.

So there's three or so box-office stations, so each one has to be
able to push tickets through a slot and figure out the correct
change.

They bought three Tower '486s. One for each station.

They're not even networked.

<sigh>

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (C'mon, for THAT job, you really COULD use a Game-Boy!)
-- 
I'll be in San Francisco in early January. What shouldn't I miss?
E-mail suggestions to the address cleverly hidden in the header.
From: azog@spatula.rent.com (Billy D'Augustine)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What is so greate about the PDP 10?
Date: 21 Dec 92 13:49:57 GMT
Organization: A kitchen utensil somewhere in central New Jersey

In article <BzJ8s9.n0C@NeoSoft.com> peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <1992Dec18.111917.27380@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>> Successful companies make *many* products, and divisions don't backstab each
>> other.
>
>You mean, like the way IBM kept crippling their PCs to maintain an artificial
>market for the Series 3?

Can someone explain to me the IBM PC model number 3270? Ive only seen
gutted cases with this designation on it, at a used computer store I
used to work at (sad story, but they used to take hammers to such 
wonders as PDP-8s, because they had no 'value'...). Anyways, this is
stupid to me, as we all know that the 3270 was (or is), their most
successful terminal.

about all it seemed to me was either a PC or an XT, with all the 
standard options...

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

Gentlemen, shall we manufacture salsa, or oven mitts?
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: VCS processor (was Re: Game machine processors)
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 04:56:23 GMT

In article <8505@charon.cwi.nl> dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes:
>  > In <1993Jan2.180042.1@kean.ucs.mun.ca> jbridson@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
>  > >I forget the name of the VCS's CPU, but I do remember it was 6-bit,
>  > >with 12-bit address.

I don't know of any 6-bit micros, but sounds like it *could* be a PDP-8
clone chip (waits for cjl to put his oar in). That and the 4004 or TMS-1000
are the only non-8-, non-16- bit chips I can think of.

> These two can not be both correct.  The F-8 (aka 3870) is a 8-bit processor.

The 3870 was a single-chip version of the F-8 with 11-bit wide address regs
instead of the 16-bit wide ones in the 2-chip F-8.

As for the graphics, I believe that like the Timex-Sinclair the VCS (2600)
used the CPU to shift bits out to the video, which gave you considerable
versatility at the expense of chewing up CPU time like the very dickens.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.
 `-_-'   Oletko halannut suttasi tnn?
  'U`    
Tarjoilija, tm ateria el viel.