[cctalk] Re: Keyboard Blockers?
O my Lord what have we here? Service Merchandise? They seemed to be the sole supplier of the ITT Xtra pcs. I had the ITT Xtra XP, an xt/80286 hybrid (no 16 bit isa slots). The memories!! I learned how to hack games on some Origin title. A.D. 2042 or what have you. Sent with Proton Mail secure email. On Sunday, March 10th, 2024 at 10:13 PM, Douglas Taylor via cctalk wrote: > I took a second look and here are the keys that were 'locked': > Set Up > Break > Del > Line INS Char > Line DEL Char > Scrn CLR Line > INS Repl > Escape > Home > All the Arrow keys, up, down, right, left > > It's a standard ASCII Wyse Keyboard > > Doug > > On 3/10/2024 6:10 PM, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote: > > > > I thought, at first, some dirt or debris had gotten stuck there, but > > > on closer look I saw something black below the keys that seemed to be > > > stuck. I pulled a key cap off and found a U shaped piece of black > > > plastic that was put there on purpose to prevent you from depressing > > > the key. > > > > > The question came to mind; "What sort of application would be so > > > crude that you would have to prevent the user from depressing certain > > > keys?" > > > > I saw this in at least two applications: > > > > 1. The Service Merchandise chain > > (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise) used serial > > terminals for their in-showroom catalog ordering. Some keys were > > blocked somehow, though I never peeled up key caps to see how. :) > > I want to say that backspace was one of the blocked keys, the > > aggravation of which is probably why I remember this. > > > > 2. CLSI library systems (LIBS100 on PDP-11). Ours here had ADM-3A > > (iirc) terminals with the break key blocked, iirc, though there were > > plenty of other ways to discombobulate the thing inadvertently. It was > > also available via dialup from keyboards that were not so modified. > > > > I once heated up a paper clip to read hot and shoved it through the stem > > of a TVI-925's SEND key, which was used for block mode functions, and > > caused the terminal to vomit screen contents back to the host. Unwanted > > presses of course produced a heck of a mess. (Older versions of our > > application ran in block mode, but you could always hit ESC-S to send > > the screen, and it was unfortunately easy, at least for me, to thwack > > SEND by mistake.) > > > > De > >
[cctalk] Re: Keyboard Blockers?
I took a second look and here are the keys that were 'locked': Set Up Break Del Line INS Char Line DEL Char Scrn CLR Line INS Repl Escape Home All the Arrow keys, up, down, right, left It's a standard ASCII Wyse Keyboard Doug On 3/10/2024 6:10 PM, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote: > I thought, at first, some dirt or debris had gotten stuck there, but > on closer look I saw something black below the keys that seemed to be > stuck. I pulled a key cap off and found a U shaped piece of black > plastic that was put there on purpose to prevent you from depressing > the key. > The question came to mind; "What sort of application would be so > crude that you would have to prevent the user from depressing certain > keys?" I saw this in at least two applications: 1. The Service Merchandise chain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise) used serial terminals for their in-showroom catalog ordering. Some keys were blocked somehow, though I never peeled up key caps to see how. :) I want to say that backspace was one of the blocked keys, the aggravation of which is probably why I remember this. 2. CLSI library systems (LIBS100 on PDP-11). Ours here had ADM-3A (iirc) terminals with the break key blocked, iirc, though there were plenty of other ways to discombobulate the thing inadvertently. It was also available via dialup from keyboards that were not so modified. I once heated up a paper clip to read hot and shoved it through the stem of a TVI-925's SEND key, which was used for block mode functions, and caused the terminal to vomit screen contents back to the host. Unwanted presses of course produced a heck of a mess. (Older versions of our application ran in block mode, but you could always hit ESC-S to send the screen, and it was unfortunately easy, at least for me, to thwack SEND by mistake.) De
[cctalk] Re: Keyboard Blockers?
> I thought, at first, some dirt or debris had gotten stuck there, but > on closer look I saw something black below the keys that seemed to be > stuck. I pulled a key cap off and found a U shaped piece of black > plastic that was put there on purpose to prevent you from depressing > the key. > The question came to mind; "What sort of application would be so > crude that you would have to prevent the user from depressing certain > keys?" I saw this in at least two applications: 1. The Service Merchandise chain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise) used serial terminals for their in-showroom catalog ordering. Some keys were blocked somehow, though I never peeled up key caps to see how. :) I want to say that backspace was one of the blocked keys, the aggravation of which is probably why I remember this. 2. CLSI library systems (LIBS100 on PDP-11). Ours here had ADM-3A (iirc) terminals with the break key blocked, iirc, though there were plenty of other ways to discombobulate the thing inadvertently. It was also available via dialup from keyboards that were not so modified. I once heated up a paper clip to read hot and shoved it through the stem of a TVI-925's SEND key, which was used for block mode functions, and caused the terminal to vomit screen contents back to the host. Unwanted presses of course produced a heck of a mess. (Older versions of our application ran in block mode, but you could always hit ESC-S to send the screen, and it was unfortunately easy, at least for me, to thwack SEND by mistake.) De
[cctalk] Re: Keyboard Blockers?
On 3/10/24 14:39, Douglas Taylor via cctalk wrote: [snip] The question came to mind; "What sort of application would be so crude that you would have to prevent the user from depressing certain keys?" In the late 1980's I recall being on a trading floor in Tokyo and seeing a keyboard with a metal shield that covered all but two or three keys. In this case it wasn't the application, it was a desire by the company in question to restrict their traders from using other than very specific functionality associated with the application. -- Christian Kennedy, Ph.D. ch...@mainecoon.com AF6AP | DB0692 | PG00029419 http://www.mainecoon.comPGP KeyID 108DAB97 PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97 "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration…"
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
Back in the day (early 90s, IIRC), there was a package called "SyDupe" from modesty-forbids. It could use up to 3 diskette controllers, each with up to 4 drives (grand total 3). Simultaneously copying three disks, sensing disk changes, so no keyboard interaction aside from startup. Stick a disk in, pull another out, sort of thing. Ran on DOS. The three controller restriction was due to the limit of 3 8-bit DMA channels on the Peesee. All with off-the-shelf hardware. I still have a 6-floppy version in a tower case that still runs just fine. --Chuck
[cctalk] Keyboard Blockers?
I picked up a keyboard for a Wyse terminal at a flea market the other day. When I tried some of the keys, they couldn't be depressed. I thought, at first, some dirt or debris had gotten stuck there, but on closer look I saw something black below the keys that seemed to be stuck. I pulled a key cap off and found a U shaped piece of black plastic that was put there on purpose to prevent you from depressing the key. The question came to mind; "What sort of application would be so crude that you would have to prevent the user from depressing certain keys?" One of the keys was a Break key, which sort of made sense to me, because it would halt a PDP-11 if that was the host machine. This was the first time I had ever seen this kind of thing, was this common long ago?
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
If I were to build a diskette copier today I would us some kind of magnetic flux reader/writer (like the greaseweazle). That way it is format agnostic. It can copy almost any disk that can be read. I have a script for my greaseweazle that will copy any 8" diskette (mine is setup for 8" RX02 diskettes). Granted, it copies by saving the image to disk and then writing it back out. This allows the use of either 1 single disk system or the ability to make multiple copies without having to re-read the source diskette. On 3/10/2024 1:01 PM, John Herron via cctalk wrote: If referring to commercial systems, I imagine that and discussion on copyright techniques might be interesting to a hardcore crowd. If just archiving, I also think that would be useful to the public. I only saw cd/dvd based systems and harddisk duplicators. Newer stuff though, not what I would consider vintage. On Sat, Mar 9, 2024, 3:55 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote: Does anyone have interest in vintage diskette duplication / duplication machines? Would this make for an interesting VCF exhibit? Does/did anyone use these commercially? Bill
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
Just curious--how many old Formasters are still in operation? --Chuck
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
If referring to commercial systems, I imagine that and discussion on copyright techniques might be interesting to a hardcore crowd. If just archiving, I also think that would be useful to the public. I only saw cd/dvd based systems and harddisk duplicators. Newer stuff though, not what I would consider vintage. On Sat, Mar 9, 2024, 3:55 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote: > Does anyone have interest in vintage diskette duplication / duplication > machines? Would this make for an interesting VCF exhibit? Does/did anyone > use these commercially? > Bill >
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
On 3/10/2024 1:13 AM, Travis Pierce via cctalk wrote: I definitely do. I rebuilt a Trace ST8000 last year and got it up and running. I also built a 5.25" duplicator with 12 drives a few months back. I'd love to find a commercial 5.25" duplicator. Travis On Sat, Mar 9, 2024 at 2:55 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote: Does anyone have interest in vintage diskette duplication / duplication machines? Would this make for an interesting VCF exhibit? Does/did anyone use these commercially? Bill Many moons ago I wrote software to run an 8" disk duplicator for making copies of disks for the Terak. Those were the days. :-) bill
[cctalk] Re: 5 1/4" and 3.5" disk duplication machines
Oh yes. Back in the late 80's, I delivered some 13-14 autoloader-equipped media conversion systems to norwegian, finnish and danish customers. The problem they solved, was that the customers customers had a variety of floppy disc formats, like Norsk Data, IBM, CP/M, IBM 3740 (which itself had varying densities and single/double side), and many others. These discs had to be read and/or written, but checking how each disc had to be handled, was cumbersome and error-prone. Based on a request from BBS in Norway, I developped a conversion system based on "InterMedia for Windows", Trace / Mountain 3.5" 5.25" and 8" autoloaders, and Intermec hardware. Barcodes were glued to the media, which could then be read by a barcode scanner mpunted inside the autoloaders. This barcode could be a customer-id, a filename, a project name, or whatever. Some also had a reference to the formatname in InterMedia The last customer, a Employers Union, stopped handling floppies in 2007. To give an example of the transactions handled by 1 customer (although with 3 conversions systems) : if the system was dead for 1 full day, the interest they lost on the transactions, would buy them a , new manual conversion system, about 130.000 dkk (£15.000 or so) In its most busy period, all transactions on magnetic media, delivered to the bank, would go through my systems, apart from IBM 3480-3490 cassettes. All the best Nico On 2024-03-09 22:55, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote: Does anyone have interest in vintage diskette duplication / duplication machines? Would this make for an interesting VCF exhibit? Does/did anyone use these commercially? Bill
