I don't think DEC was really into the PC. I mean who could want the PC when they had a beautiful PDP 11/something or other sitting in the same room? I know that is how I felt back when I had a choice which machine to use. I had the option of working on a lone Rainbow or a PDP/11-84 running RSTS. The PDP was much more fun, you could take over other consoles and make them say funny things like "whoa, what smells" or "you type like a chimpanzee with its eyes blindfolders" or my all time fav "wow, I really like how you touch my keys...". The last was reserved obviously for the very pretty young ladies who for some odd reason took a computer class instead of whatever they normally took because we usually had 99% dorky guys in the classes.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lee, Wook Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 10:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: DEC 2006 Ah, now we're really dragging out the old war horses. My first job at DEC was writing CBI courses for the DECmate WPS+ list processing module. They gave me a Robin (think VT100 with a processor and dual 5.25" floppy disks) to use at home (a little basement studio next to the laundry room in the basement of my apartment building in Acton, MA.) My second job was writing a device driver in C for a Polaroid CRT-to-film peripheral called the Polaroid Palette (had a mini-high resolution B&W CRT and a Color-filter wheel all controlled by a Z80 processor) for the very same Rainbow PC. In those days, Digital could not decide on a PC strategy. There were three different product lines that all had some potential but none of them took off. We had the Rainbow which was close to what became mainstream with an 8088 or 8086 processor, the DECmate with was basically a secretarial workstation running WPS+ and not much else and the Pro 350 which was a repackaged PDP-11 that spent a few years as the console device for some of the bigger VAXen. If I recall correctly, the Pro 350 OS was based on RSTS. Those were the good old days before 1987 and Black Tuesday. I think I had some Digital options at something like $150. Sigh. Wook -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kat Collins Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 6:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: DEC 2006 Anyone remember the Rainbow? It was DEC's attempt at a Personal computer. Launched in early '83, if I remember... ran its own proprietary DEC-OS and was not compatible with any IBM-DOS apps. It died a year or two later, but the marketing stickers held up for about 10 years!! I had one stuck to my daughter's mirror and damned if I could get it off!! And the DECwriter and the Gold key..... ahhhh - sweet memories!! On 1/11/06, joe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ah but people using DEC and attending DECUS were smarter than the average > bear.... To this day the people I meet who grew up on DEC are more well > rounded and knowledgeable in the field than the norm. > > The good ol days... Anyone remember Mike Mayfield and the RSTS/E Monitor > Internals books he wrote? Only place to get the real scoop on the internals > so you could really wreak havoc. I think he also wrote the original Trek too > so if your system was still up after poking around in the internals you > could play a video game on your DecWriter or VT52. > > I got my first official corporate support position supporting OS/2 and Win31 > on Token Ring back in the mid 90's because I knew DEC. The 8 or so people in > the panel interview started asking me questions about the equipment the job > was for (OS/2 Win31 tcp/ip Token Ring) and I couldn't answer any of the > questions so they saw DEC on my resume and started asking DEC questions and > a couple of hours later we were all laughing and I had my choice of the > three open positions they had even though I knew nothing about any of them. > :) > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John McGlinchey > Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:13 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: DEC 2006 > > My experience is just the opposite. I attended DECUS (The other DEC, Digital > Equipment Computer Users Society Symposia) a few times back in the 90's and > the casinos complained that the attendees were not losing enough money. > This was attributed to 1) most of the attendees knew the odds were against > them so they kept their money in their pockets where it belonged and 2) the > ones that did play were pretty good at it and were winning too much. > > I'll not be attending but I'm sending someone that works for me instead. > Have a good conference. > > John McGlinchey > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thommes, > > Michael M. > > Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 3:38 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: DEC 2006 > > > > I think you are going to find the same at Green Valley - > > http://www.greenvalleyranchresort.com/gaming/index.html > > > > Leave your car and house titles at home! > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > -- Kat Collins - "The Email of the species is more powerful than the Mail!" "The human voice is the organ of the soul." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
