Philip Stortz wrote: > not to waste space, but i'm 39. not to brag, but i do have a genius IQ. > then again i'm also dyslexic, and for several years have had severe > migraines and cluster headaches which tend to cause serious mental > impairment (and i can never spell well). i'm not in mensa, seems like > they tend to be awfully elitist. i've been playing with electronics > since kindergarten, and seriously play with electronics since 7th grade. > i've been playing with computers since 9th grade, which at that time > meant using a cdc machine over leased phone lines at 300 baud on a > printing terminal, using basic no less. i took the one programming > class they had at my high school later (any one could use said > terminals, nearly any one at least), got to work on a mighty pdp 11 > (ha!)
I have a PDP-11 Dectape drive (rackmountable), huge thing. Is this worth anything? I was just watching a show on the history of computing (History Channel), & they were in a museum (Intel Corp, Hewlett Packard) that had all this ancient hardware going back to the 60's. The Dectape should be in there, not tossed in the garbage. I also have 2 brand new DEC VR17 (vectorscope). They used to have an "asteroids" video game (on a PDP11!), this was back in the 70's. Same thing as above, it ought to be in a museum, not sent to a recycling center to be destroyed. I have a couple Altos Z80 based machines (integral Shugart 8" floppies, 2 of them), are they worth anything? I assume Altos was an offshoot of the Xerox PARC Alto system (which inspired the Apple GUI). I started out with a SWTPC 6800 (used the original Motorola 6800, that competed with the Intel 8080. That the MITS Altair 8800 used), no longer have it. I switched over to Processor Technology SOL-PC, still have it. This is all 20-25 years ago. I used to dial up the local university's time-share system using a 300 baud modem, using these PCs. > and an apple II, with the massive 170 k floppies (something like > that). i then did an independent study learning pascal on the apple II, > which required frequent floppy swapping just to write and then run a > program. I have a Morrow's Micro Stuff 8" Shugart floppy (IBM blue metal enclosure, real beauty), with original CP/M manual. Is this stuff worth anything? > > > i've also designed and been the only tech in the company to work on > electronics in an ultra high vacuum (10^-10 torr), including having to > solder after electronics were mounted in one case and designing and > building the electronics that normally wound up in them, usually > soldered and cleaned before installation. this was on an absolute > gravimeter that measured gravity to so accurately that any more accuracy > would require barometer readings of the sky above at several altitudes > to compensate for atmospheric density/gravity pulling up. they were > only $400,000 depending on options, and sold mostly overseas, the > japanese loved them and 2 different agencies bought them. > > there are however many childish persons on this list, and i've certainly > been foolish enough to take the flame bait before. remember, you're not > only allowed to be stupid in america, it affords one substantial legal > immunity, a smart person is in deep doo doo if they do something > illegal, a stupid person can use the Ray-gunz excuse "I can't recall" > and still be president! > > the american educational system is rather poor, and getting worse. > frankly, i think it's political, the ignorant are easier to rule, those > who know history don't want the government repeating past mistakes that > those in power never learned from or some how think they are above. > even colleges in this country have slipped badly, some of the intro > level courses i took were so simple that reading anything in parenthesis > in the text made you want to scream because it was at what should have > been an 8th grade level! the same thing has happened to television news > in this country, i learn far more about what's happening in the world > and even in the u.s. watching the bbc news! it's truly tragic... > > David Stormo wrote: > > > > I'm only slightly curious, but I must ask: how old are those of you > > bickering over this time/space wasting nonsense? I hope I don't hurt > > anyones all important feelings but I imagine that you are all recently > > rolled off the American educational system assembly line. Am I right? > > Just remember children that an inconvenience is only and adventure > > wrongly considered. > ------- > > -- > "Promise me, promise me this day, promise me now..." he asked. "Even as > they strike you down, you will remember: humanity is not our enemy. The > only thing worthy of you is compassion...Hatred will never let you face > the beast in human beings. One day, when you face the beast alone, with > your courage intact, your eyes kind...out of your smile will bloom a > flower. and...on the long, rough road, the sun and the moon will > continue to shine." 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