HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: crow@coos.dartmouth.edu (Preston F. Crow)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Today's Games Destined to be Classics
Keywords: Sigh
Date: 23 Jul 92 19:55:17 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In <BrunFB.n49@watserv1.waterloo.edu> dp35@mc1adm.UWaterloo.ca (Greg Moore) writes:


>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.

I guess you haven't been reading newsgroups like comp.sys.atari.8bit.  I now
use my 386-20 as a file server for my Atari 800--most of my games are on my
hard drive and I use a device called SIO2PC that appears to the Atari to be
a disk drive, but actually just translates the info to standard RS-232 for
the PC to respond to.  And using a recent (1988?) edition of DOS (MY-DOS),
I can keep everything on one logical drive with subdirectories.  Same classic
games.  Modern conveniences.  The best of both worlds.  (And without the
Borg :-) )

--PC

Still playing Atari (and looking for 16K or 32K ram boards for my 800)

--
Looking for exciting/unusual/dynamic .sig quotes...
From: grog@adagio.UUCP (Greg Lehey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: FASTRANDs?
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:17:01 GMT
Organization: LEMIS, Schellnhausen 2, W-6324 Feldatal, Germany

In article <1992Jul28.132119.1@iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu> syswtr@iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.151227.5024@tandem.com>, jime@Tandem.com (Jim Ellignsen) writes:
>> I've never heard of a FASTRAND breaking loose and causing damage.  When
>> I worked for UNIVAC we used to use FASTRANDs as a unit of measure as "in
>> the house had a 6 FASTRAND basement".  How could something so big hold
>> so little data?
>> 
>> Is it true or folklore that FASTRANDs, 432s,
>> and 1782s were made from sewer pipes?
>> 
>> Jim Ellingsen    ellingsen_jim@tandem.com
>>    
>> 
>  That it!  Now I remember the number, the old 1782...  Still makes
>the high-class disks of today look slow (averag access was a little
>over 4ms, and worst case was a little over 8ms)

The FH1782 was not the fastest drum Univac produced. It was mounted on
a horizontal axis, like the slower drums, and had an average access
time of about 17 ms (nothing to do with the number 1782; that was the
number of heads). It *used* 1536 of these heads, if my memory serves
me correctly; the rest were spares. Memory was about 1.5 million
36-bit words.

The real speed demon was the FH-432, which was, as a faster drum,
mounted vertically. It had (surprise) 432 heads, of which only 256
were used, and I believe the storage was 256K 36-bit words. The
rotational speed was 7120 rpm, giving an average latency of 4.2 ms.
More interesting, though, was the data transfer rate: since all the
heads were fixed (``FH''), transfers could proceed in parallel. This
was exploited in two ways: firstly, data was spread out across
multiple tracks (6, I believe, in order to be able to handle 1108, 494
and 418), and the device could be connected to two channels (on the
1108, at any rate) and transfer concurrently. The transfer rate was
such that this would cause the 1108 or 494 processor to effectively
stop during the transfer: the contents of 6 tracks of 1024 words
coming across every 4.2 ms made for 1.4 million 30/36 bit words every
second; and the main store had a cycle time of 750 ns.

Marvellous technology - the storage capacity of a single 1 MB RAM SIP
($40) with the speed of a *fast* modern disk and the power consumption
of a central heating plant. To think that, only 10 years ago, I wanted
to connect one to my Z-80.
-- 
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
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Numeric weekdays (was: Americans who can't spell
Date: 22 Jul 1992 18:52:36 GMT
Organization: TMC
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <1992Jul22.113344.11488@public.sub.org>, peterk@public.sub.org (Peter Kittel) writes:
|> 
|> >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.

Actually, in those cases where the weekday is a numeric, like in airline
schedules, Monday is 1. In the U.S.
Another titbit :
When I worked in Germany around 1980, they changed our time sheets to
have the week start on Monday instead of Sunday, with major grumbling
by the accounting dept, "in accordance with international standards".

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dagbrown@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Dave Brown)
Subject: Re: Cloned computers
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 03:19:27 GMT

In article <greg.712512455@duke> greg@Quotron.COM (Greg "Maddog" Knauss) writes:
>The recent talk of various Tandy clones made me wonder how much hardware
>has been knocked-off over the years.  These are the ones I know of:
>
>Original			Clones
>------------------------------- -------------------------------
>IBM (PC/AT/etc.)		[Billions and billions...]
>Apple II(+/e/c)			Franklin (1000/1200), Laser 128
>Tandy Color Computer		Dragon 32
>Tandy TRS-80			Video Genie
>Macintosh			[Rumored.  Asian and American.]
 IBM (PC/AT/etc)                Amiga
 Macintosh                      Amiga
 Sinclair Spectrum              Amiga
 Atari ST                       Amiga
 Commodore 64                   Amiga
 BBC Micro                      Amiga
 CP/M Machines (2.2)            Amiga

--
Dave Brown
dagbrown@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Phone: (519) 725-6896
"I believe the word you're looking for is, 'AAAARRGH!!!!'" - The Penguin
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jsr@dexter.mi.org (Jay S. Rouman)
Subject: Re: Unix Roots of DOS?
Organization: Private System
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 13:32:34 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.003526.16050@NCoast.ORG> allbery@ncoast.org (Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH) writes:
>The interesting thing being that the CP/M-80 world had its own solution,
>namely ZCPR... which used the TOPS-10 (or possibly Tenex / TOPS-20)
>hierarchical filename notation.  (Considering how klunky DOS is, it would
>probably have been appropriate.  :-)

Just to add a little to this, I have used ZCPR3 a lot and still own a
system that runs it.  ZCPR3 is a wonderful system that provides search
paths, named directories, a heirarchical help system, termcaps, and a
raft of other useful features.  The file system is, however, flat not
hierarchical.  Actually, CP/M always had the ability to divide disk
drives into user area.  Unfortunately, until ZCPR3 was created, the
tools did not exist to really take advantage of this feature.  ZCPR3
placed labels on each user area, so you could say "TEXT:FOO.TXT", and
the OS would figure out what disk drive and user area you wanted.  All
the directories existed, whether labeled or not, so you could also say
"B4:FOO.TXT" to refer to a file on Drive B, user area 4.  Sub-directories
are not possible and changing the directory labels requires a partial
rebuild of the system, so it's not as convenient as mkdir and rmdir.
It's too bad that ZCRP3 wasn't ported to the 8088, but I think the
author had moved on to other things by that time.
-- 
Jay S. Rouman  (jsr@dexter.mi.org)
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: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 19:12:36 GMT

In article <hellmann.712434688@oak.cs.scarolina.edu> hellmann@cs.scarolina.edu (Douglas R Hellmann) writes:

>
>I wonder if they would try to make VAXes illegal then, since people get
>killed by them.  Makes as much sense as making guns illegal.

If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.

Why would outlaws want VAXes?

cjl

I guess DEC now agrees with Bush.  Read my lips: no new VAXes!
From: michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computers killing people?  (WAS Re: 9 track data storage???)
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:59:22 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

In article <7562@public.BTR.COM> thad@public.BTR.COM (Thaddeus P. Floryan) writes:
>
>And what about the old story concerning the etymology of the word "bug"
>as applied to computers, when Cmdr. Grace Hopper is alleged to have found
>an electrocuted moth in the innards of one of the Navy's computers?  :-)
>
There is nothing 'alleged' about it.  They taped the moth in their log book.
The book is now in some library/museum.  There is a full color photo of the
log book page on the back cover of an issue of _Whole Earth Review_.
The moth wasn't electorcuted, it was crushed in one of the relays.

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.


-- 
<<                                                               >>
<< Michael R. Brown    CS Graduate Student-Florida Atlantic Univ >>
<< Internet: michaelb@sol.cse.fau.edu                            >>
<< BitNet: m_brown@fauvax                                        >>
From: C491153@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU (John Schultz)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Cathode ray memory
Date: 28 Jul 92 22:33:39 GMT

Some people have mentioned using cathode ray tubes for memory.  Just how
was this trick accomplished?

John Schultz (caffeine abuser)   !  ABC killed Laura Palmer
c491153@mizzou1.bitnet           !  Macintosh-free and proud of it!
c491153@mizzou1.missouri.edu     !  Subscriber to the hacker ethic
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jelson@poincare.cs.jhu.edu (Jeremy Elson)
Subject: Re: Computers on TV
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 08:17:53 GMT

In article <6827@charon.cwi.nl> dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.065617.19751@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> jelson@poincare.cs.jhu.edu (Jeremy Elson) writes:
>> Yeah, I think "giga" is supposed to be pronounced "jiga"
>Oh dear.  I always pronounce it with the guttural 'g' as heard in the Scottish
>'loch' (two times by the way).  So I do not qualify?  If I really pronounced
>it with 'j', I am sure you would not understand it at all!

No, I'd understand you; I went on to write that in the context of computers,
I hear "giga" pronounced with a hard g, which is the way I pronounce it as
well. :-)

-je
-- 
Jeremy Elson
jelson@server.cs.jhu.edu (Internet) / jelson@jhuvms (Bitnet)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: panisset@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Jean-Francois Panisset)
Subject: Re: Looking for Steven K. Roberts' internet address
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 92 19:14:14 GMT

In article <1992Jul25.031719.20424@sq.sq.com> msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>> I saw a video tape of a Phil Donahue interview of a very interesting
>> gentleman named Steven K. Roberts, who, among other endeavors, travels
>> around the country on an amazingly equipped bicycle.
>
>I saw part of that broadcast this morning -- the first time I've watched
>anything on Donahue in years!  When I got to work I mentioned it to the
>person next to me, and he handed me a magazine article on Roberts.  The
>article is in the April 1992 issue of QST, a magazine for radio hams, on
>pages 25-30.
>
>Naturally, it gives Robert's radio call sign (N4RVE), but no email address.
>It also says:
>
>#  If you're interested in obtaining technical information about Steve's
>#  projects, the best way to begin is by writing to Nomadic Research Labs,
>#  PO Box 2185, El Segundo, CA 90245.  A one-year, six-issue subscription to
>#  [the magazine published by Roberts, _The_Journal_of_High-Tech_]_Nomadness_
>#  is $15, and [his book] _Computing_Across_America_ is $11.95 (plus 8.25%
>#  sales tax for California residents).
>#
>#  If you subscribe to the GENIE computer network, check out the NOMAD
>#  area--there's about a megabyte of information...

In last month's Sun Expert, Mr.Protocol wrote a column on this guy. As always,
he was entertaining and informative. Actually, anyone interested in
networking should get a copy (free) subscription to Sun Expert just
for his column, even if you don't use Sun machines at all (I'm not
sure the people at Sun Expert would be too happy about hearing that... :-)

JF

PS Just so that no one terminates my subscription: we do indeed have a number
of Suns at our site...


-- 
Jean-Francois Panisset                    
INET: panisset@mcrcim.mcgill.ca            
      panisset@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu
UUCP: ...!mcgill-vision!panisset           
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: pgravel@nap.amoco.com (Philip L. Gravel)
Subject: Computer Relics (Was: 9 track data storage?)
Reply-To: pgravel@nap.amoco.com (Philip L. Gravel)
Organization: Amoco Corporation
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 20:55:24 GMT

In article <83871@netnews.upenn.edu>, blewis@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Benn L. 
Lewis) writes:
 
> 	Has anyone ever heard of a "9track tape" as data storage? 

On a related topic, did you hear that Paul McCartney was in another band
before "Wings"????    My, how time flies....

Pretty soon we'll hear question like:

  Has anyone heard of a paper tape?
   "    "      "    " a punch card?
   "    "      "    " core memory?

Name your favorite artifact of a by-gone era....


Phil

-----
Philip L. Gravel                      Internet: pgravel@nap.amoco.com
Amoco Corporation, Chicago, IL        Phone:    (312)856-3553
----------
These opinions aren't worth the paper they're written on and
certainly don't reflect those of my employer.
From: ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M lives!)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: IBM vs. world terminology (was: What does dd stand for?)
Date: 30 Jul 92 11:37:36 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1888@coyote.UUCP>, drake@drake.almaden.ibm.com (Sam Drake) writes:
> In article <1992Jul30.065912.25948@nas.nasa.gov> eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) writes:
>>             (extra credit: what's the IBM 370 terminology for cache, not
>>included in the above list)
> 
> "Cache".  Terms revolving around "cache", such as "cache lines", are commonly
> used when discussing 370-class systems.  If anyone told you a different term,
> you might check to see if you still have your wallet.

According to "History of the IBM 360", it all started out as "muffer".

Roger Ivie
ivie@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Subject: Re: Cathode ray memory
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:23:19 GMT

C491153@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU (John Schultz) writes:
>Some people have mentioned using cathode ray tubes for memory.  Just how
>was this trick accomplished?

Maybe by treating the tube as a capacitor?

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.

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: smith@sctc.com (Rick Smith)
Subject: Re: Computers on TV (was: Re: computers in movies)
Organization: SCTC
Distribution: alt
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 13:42:30 GMT

ucacmsu@ucl.ac.uk (Mr Stephen R Usher) writes:

>In article <1992Jul24.132133.4247@webo.dg.com> kahn@emav131.webo.dg.com (Mike Kahn) writes:
>[Stuff deleted]
>>said to someone "I'm pretty sure I've got it narrowed down to the memory
>>interface or the cathode ray."  Obviously this scriptwriter's only knowledge
>>of a computer didn't go beyond his pocket calculator.  I could just see it
>>"Well here's some real technical sounding words: memory, interface, cathode,
>>and ray."

>Maybe he had only read about the Manchester Mark 1 (build 1948), it used
>cathod ray storage tubes as memory. :-)

Or the Whirlwind, the IBM 701, the IAS machine, and probably the
Illiac.  The stuff had a bad reputation for reliability, but it _was_
random access.

In any case, the phrase "cathode ray" without the noun "tube" is the
giveaway. People either say all three words (if they're trying to
impress newbies, maybe) or just use the acronym.

Rick.
smith@sctc.com     arden hills, minnesota
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: u734120@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (John Lamp)
Subject: Re: Unix Roots of DOS?
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 03:35:46 GMT

frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz (Bruce Clement) writes:

>cline@cs.scarolina.edu writes in article <cline.711789582@ebony.cs.scarolina.ed
u>:
>> Lets face it most PC software companies are too wimpy and afraid to admit
>> they had a bug, so they'd rather hide the fact. In the Mac world bug fixes
>> are seen as a sign that you care about the product enough to fix it.

>You'll be pleased to know that IBM not only admits the bugs in OS/2, but is
>allowing free distribution by ftp & over Usenet ... Check out comp.binaries.os2
,
>or ftp to 129.34.139.5 (can't remember its name) sometime.

We all know which major PC software supplier calls bugs 'undocumented features'
;-}

--
John Lamp                   e-mail: u734120@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au   _--_|\
Comcare Australia                                                 /      \
GPO Box 9905                Phone:                +61 02 23 1366  \_.--._/
Hobart TAS 7001             Fax:                  +61 02 34 5685        v
From: 9125113g@lux.latrobe.edu.au (Mitch Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: 9 track data storage???????????????
Date: 25 Jul 92 16:23:51 GMT
Organization: La Trobe University

In article <1992Jul21.202940.25411@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> rdavis@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Robert Davis) writes:
>BTW, they make very good frisbees.  Other uses include using them as 
>wrapping ribbons for Christmas packages, streamers, wall decorations, 
>adjustable-height (stackable) foot-rests, etc.  The uses for these tapes
>are unlimited!  ...they're also useful for storing computer data.

Davis to Davis, will you collect the call?

I use old 1/2" for a number of uses:

 o I fitted my kite with new tails
 o I (just today!) roped off an area of our open-plan[tm] garden so the
   kiddies in the neighborhood wouldn't walk all over my new seedlings

Two uses I'm strongly considering:

 o Typing one end to the side of a train...
 o A portable braille printer.

Any other uses?

Mitch.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: bogus dongles
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 18:03:36 GMT

In article <1992Jul20.012610.1@vaxr.llnl.gov> yurick@vaxr.llnl.gov writes:
>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. 

Reminds me of the old "12-transistor" radios that had about 6 transistors
(rejects) soldered into the corner of the board with all three leads in the
same hole!  (six were the "real" radio :-).)

cjl
From: gdh@calmasd.Prime.COM (Gerald Hall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Anyone have LEM source?
Date: 28 Jul 92 21:54:37 GMT
Organization: Computervision, San Diego, CA

LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) was a game I vaguely remember
playing many years ago.  I think it sticks in my mind because
I never had sufficient time to play to figure out how to
land the damn thing and crashed badly on every attempt.

This was a very simple game.  The only action was to regulate
the thrust of the rocket and try to land softly.  It may have
originated within the Apollo project itself, or been someone
outside playing with the problem.

If anyone has any additional information on this I would
be interested.


-- 
   /
  /	Jerry,	CalmaSD UNIX SysAdmin,	+1 619 587 3065
 /
From: dn@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Daniel Neades)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Gig or Jig or Gij or Jij?
Date: 29 Jul 92 12:06:18 GMT
Reply-To: dn@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Daniel Neades)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories

In article <1992Jul29.065601.16470@leland.Stanford.EDU>,
lga@sandman.stanford.edu (Laurent Amon) writes:
|>
|>PS for the sarcasm impaired: :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
|>---

Shouldn't that be "for the sarcastically challenged"?  :-)

Daniel.
From: willem@pub2.bu.edu (Willem van)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: And what about this DogCow business ? ( moof! )
Date: 25 Jul 92 23:19:12 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Originator: willem@pub2.bu.edu


In article <25JUL199208010523@uhdvx3>, 9999cs02@uhdvx3 (Tina Marie!) writes:
|> (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.
|> > 
|> 
|> Actually, the message is in 7.0 and up....
|> 
|> Tina Marie
|> Aspiring Mac Wizard	

I'm running 7.0.1 and all I get is the picture of mountains.  Clarus
never shows up.

			- Willem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers