[cctalk] Re: Microinterfaces Corp Run/CPM/Z80 Software?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 7:36 PM Christopher Satterfield via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Was wondering if anyone had one of these and/or maybe had the software
> floppy kicking around? It's an ISA card with a Z80 + RAM to shove into an
> ISA slot for CP/M compatibility. Of course, information's sparse online and
> forget software.
>
> Here's a picture of said card, https://i.imgur.com/eJh2on5.jpg .
>
> -Chris
>

I have one and have imaged the disk that came with it, which is version 7.4
for Z80. I seem to remember reading there was an 8080 version around
somewhere to; I've been wanting to find that one. I haven't tried out the
card yet.

Chris, I'm sending you an offlist email with a link to it. If anyone else
wants it, please let me know.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 7:36 PM Christopher Satterfield via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Was wondering if anyone had one of these and/or maybe had the software
> floppy kicking around? It's an ISA card with a Z80 + RAM to shove into an
> ISA slot for CP/M compatibility. Of course, information's sparse online and
> forget software.
>
> Here's a picture of said card, https://i.imgur.com/eJh2on5.jpg .
>
> -Chris
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Cctalk subscription disabled

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, May 11, 2022, 4:06 PM Dave Wade G4UGM via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Jay,
> Thanks for that, I hope its fixed,
> Dave
> G4UGM
>
> > -Original Message-
> > From: cctalk  On Behalf Of jwest--- via
> > cctalk
> > Sent: 11 May 2022 13:18
> > To: 'Tom Hunter' ; 'Adrian Stoness'
> > ; cctalk-ow...@classiccmp.org
> > Cc: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> > 
> > Subject: RE: Cctalk subscription disabled
> >
> > Yes, Adrian is correct – known for some time but my time/focus has been
> > elsewhere. Addressed yesterday, should make gmail less fussy.
>

Jay,

You may also want to look at the timing the list software uses for deciding
when to notify people they've had excessive bounces; I got this on April
*24*, fully two weeks after I stopped getting messages; a similar thing
happened on March 21, but that one was only one week late:

Your membership in the mailing list cctalk has been disabled due to
excessive bounces The last bounce received from you was dated
10-Apr-2022.  You will not get any more messages from this list until
you re-enable your membership.  You will receive 1 more reminders like
this before your membership in the list is deleted.

>
> >
> >
> > J
> >
> >
> >
> > From: cctalk  On Behalf Of Tom Hunter
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 7:06 AM
> > To: Adrian Stoness ; cctalk-ow...@classiccmp.org
> > Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> > 
> > Subject: Re: Cctalk subscription disabled
> >
> >
> >
> > I wonder if this problem is related to DMARC anti-spam.
> >
> > Maybe the following would help the list admin:
> >
> >
> >
> > https://wiki.list.org/DEV/DMARC
> >
> > https://dmarc.org/wiki/FAQ
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 11, 2022 at 2:26 PM Adrian Stoness  >  > wrote:
> >
> > gmail is causing it
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, May 11, 2022 at 1:15 AM Tom Hunter via cctalk
> > mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote:
> >
> > I didn't receive any cctalk messages for a few days, so I checked my Spam
> > folder (empty) and then the archive which had several new messages I
> > haven't seen. I then checked my cctalk membership configuration.
> > Surprisingly "Mail delivery" was disabled.
> >
> > Some time ago I received a few emails from the list server about
> "excessive
> > bounces" saying that I should simply reply to the email otherwise my
> > subscription would be disabled. I replied and didn't think too much
> about it.
> > This time I got no "excessive bounces" email but my subscription got
> > disabled.
> >
> > I got an otherwise reliable @gmail.com   email
> address.
> > Does anyone else here have problems with this? Is there some way of
> > preventing this from happening?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Tom


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: RP/M2 by Micro Methods Inc

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Sat, Jul 17, 2021 at 9:52 PM David Griffith via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
> I found a copy of RP/M2 for the IBM PC by Micro Methods Inc. with manual
> and some floppies, 8" and 5.25".  According to the manual, this was a
> CP/M compatible operating system.  Doing a web search doesn't tell me
> anything more than a couple offhand comments.  Does anyone here know
> anything interesting about this?
>

David, might you be willing to post it somewhere? I have a few V30 chips
and have been wanting to try some CP/M-80 stuff on them out of sheer
masochism. I've found some packages letting you run (some) CP/M-80 binaries
from DOS, but it's interesting that RP/M2 is a full OS that doesn't run
under DOS.


>
> --
> David Griffith
> d...@661.org
>
> A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
> Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
> A: Top-posting.
> Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Seeking Zenith Data Systems Z183-92 documentation

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 1:50 PM JP Hindin via cctalk 
wrote:

>
> Good afternoon all;
>
> I picked up a ZDS Z183-92 laptop over the weekend alongside a Kodak
> Diconix 150 portable inkjet printer.
>
> The prior owner doesn't think he ever had a power supply for the Z183,
> although he discovered that it does power up sort-of from the Diconix
> power supply wallwart(!)
>
> The underside of the laptop has "12V" - and nothing else - so my
> assumption is I need to find a 12V pack of suitable amperage. The Diconix
> supply is 9VDC. The 9VDC is enough to bring up the LCD and at least some
> of the internals (presumably the +5v ones) to have it _appear_ to POST,
> but neither of the disks sound like they're running (either the internal
> HDD or the 3.5" drive). I presume the internal HDD requires the +12v to
> spin up, but I haven't dug into it yet.
>
> Anywho - if anyone had any documentation on this machine I would very much
> appreciate a scan. Or just confirmation what the power supply is supposed
> to be outputting would be very helpful.
>
> Thank you!
>
>   - JP
> 50441
>

Is that close to a ZWL-183-93? My partner just picked up one of those, and
its brick can be described as:

Model 150-308
DC 16.5v 2A
Center neg

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Vintage computing spots in Chicago?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 8:30 AM John Herron via cctalk 
wrote:

> Made the mistake of not defining that path early on so mostly personal/home
> computing. But anything I find interesting or historically interesting
> often finds a way home. I think my largest sets are Commodore and
> Tandy/radio shack.
>
> I see a store called freegeek and "Chicago computer club" which seems to be
> a store but geared towards businesses? I'm wondering if either of those
> would be worth a visit.
>

FreeGeek is a fun place to poke around. The last few times I was there they
had some older PC, Mac, and Commodore (including Amiga) stuff, and I
believe a Coleco ADAM set in box. They also have some older game consoles.
Not a huge selection, but it's a fun place.


> On Tue, Jan 7, 2020, 12:11 AM Tom Uban via cctalk 
> wrote:
>
> > On 1/5/20 5:39 PM, John Herron via cctalk wrote:
> > > I'll be in Chicago for a week soon for a work event. Limited time for
> > > myself but I'll have some time Sunday to maybe Uber around. Any
> > suggestions
> > > or cool spots for a computer collector to hit?
> > >
> > > I see a museum of broadcast communications is close to where I'll be
> > which
> > > may be neat. Not sure if there are any used stores that might have
> > vintage
> > > computers but always willing to try.
> > What do you collect?
> >
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: A plethora of DEC manuals

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, Nov 6, 2019 at 1:59 PM Electronics Plus via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> https://www.manualslib.com/brand/dec/


Ah yes, the good old DEC DesignJet.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Archiving information, was Re: ADM-3A question

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 7:38 PM Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
wrote:

> Anyway, the whole 'how do we find the info' is a part of why I started
> working on CHWiki, once I discovered it - in addition to the usual
> advantages
> of wikis (good for collaboration, good for adding stuff incrementally), it
> would put all the info in one place, a 'one stop shopping' for old computer
> info.
>

Psst: it would've been a good idea to share the URL to CHWiki. It's
http://gunkies.org/wiki/Main_Page - the address to a site I was already
familiar with, but not under the name you used for it. (It was a bit hard
to find with Google, which just goes to show...)

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Intergraph 751 system free to good home, but act quickly

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

There's an Intergraph 751 system (VAX architecture apparently, including
hard disk, printer, and two rebadged DEC racks full of who knows what) free
to a good home in southern Wisconsin. Appears to be in not-great shape.

Unfortunately, it's been on Craigslist for a while and it sounds like the
owner's really fed up with it and wants it gone ASAP or a realty company
will take possession of it (and who knows what they'll do with it). He
originally said last Saturday, but in an email to me yesterday afternoon he
said it would have to be gone by today (7/29).

Also unfortunately, there have been several people besides myself emailing
the owner trying to arrange a pickup, and he hasn't responded to them. I
personally have no way to move or store it, so I've been trying to relay
what I hear from him to the one person I thought was in the best position
to take it.

The owner gave me his personal email address and phone number, and told me
the name of the realty company in case anyone wants to get it after it's
out of his hands; but I don't think it would be cool to post those details
here. So please let me know personally if you'd like those details.

https://janesville.craigslist.org/sys/d/evansville-intergraph-751/6936217842.html


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: VENIX on Rainbow (was Re: Wanting to get my first classic computer)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 9:09 PM Ethan Dicks via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 8:47 PM Cameron Kaiser via cctalk
>  wrote:
> > > Interesting.  I have VENIX on a Professional 350 (it was one of the
> > > machines I had on display for VCF East).  I haven't tried fiddling
> > > with VENIX on a Rainbow, though I did know it existed.
> >
> > Venix/PRO on a 380 here. I like it. Thinking about ways to make it
> > primitively networked.
>
> There is a DECNA, if you can find one.  It should work for 2.9BSD or
> 2.11BSD so it wouldn't be that hard to adapt to Venix, I'd wager.
>
> Outside of that, SLIP/PPP?  UUCP?
>
> -ethan
>

I'm really glad to see this discussion; I have a PDP-11/23+ waiting to be
poked at, but didn't know about the Professional at all; it's interesting
to see that Venix can run on the /23+ as well.

Whether it's a good choice of OS (compared to, say, 2.9BSD) or not I don't
know.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Missing posts in archive and no Subject: line

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 1:19 PM Noel Chiappa via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> So, a couple of posts yesterday did not show up in the date archive:
>
>   http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/date.html
>
> which is how I read the list. They are:
>
>   Software for Fairy YL-23 IC tester wanted
>   http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/048094.html
>   http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/048096.html
>
>   DEC KA650 VAX memory troubleshooting (video)
>   http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/048095.html
>   http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/048097.html
>
> I'm not sure what happened, but I note the next post had no Subject: line,
> and I'm wondering if that caused it. So best to make sure your posts have
> Subject: lines.
>
> Noel
>

List admin:

Please note also that the reply to the message headed "No subject" (which
Noel mentioned) actually seems to have a blank subject, as a result of
which it doesn't seem to be possible to even view it (since there's no link
to click)!  See "Next message:" at the bottom of
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-June/048087.html.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Kids these days...

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 11:44 AM William Donzelli via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Well, you said you pointed out the RFC to them...
>
> Did the page not smell fishy to you?
>
> --
> Will
>

It looked/sounded like typical IoT marketing speak to me :)


>
> On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 12:14 PM geneb via cctalk 
> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, William Donzelli wrote:
> >
> > > It is a real company, but if you look into the SEC papers, there is a
> > > LOT of shady stuff there. Its sole job may be to move money in and out
> > > of the Ukraine.
> > >
> > Interesting.  I still don't see how I "fell" for something.
> >
> > g.
> >
> > --
> > Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
> > http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
> > http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
> > Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.
> >
> > ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
> > A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
> > http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Palm usage was Re: Modems and external dialers.

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 2:40 PM Eric Christopherson <
echristopher...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 12:45 PM Cameron Kaiser via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> Not sure if this counts as "connected" but I used Palm Desktop itself for
>> my personal scheduling. I never used my Palms (an m505 and a Zire 72) for
>> E-mail, though. It did mostly note-taking, calendar and pharmacy work, and
>> some programming (in Plua).
>>
>
> Cameron, how did you like Plua and what did you do with it? I remember
> downloading it and running a few very simple things with it. I had been
> looking for Python or Ruby at the time, but happened across that and
> thought Lua seemed like an interesting language too. Sadly, I never got
> around to learning it, though.
>

Oops, sorry for sending this out to the list even though I changed the
subject line to indicate that it was offlist!

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Plua - Offlist reply (Re: Palm usage was Re: Modems and external dialers.)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 12:45 PM Cameron Kaiser via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> > > ...I was never a big fan
> > > of PalmOS, TBH. Too limited for me as a former Psion user, and the
> > > Palm devices were always very tied to a PC -- they were meant to be a
> > > way to take your Outlook (or whatever) address book and diary with you
> > > in your pocket.
> >
> > Interesting view of Palm usage that I hadn't considered.
> >
> > > I didn't use Outlook or a desktop PC PIM at all.
> >
> > Nor did I.  When I carried a Palm Pilot every day, I was using UNIX
> > 'mail' for work e-mail and did all local edits of my calendar on the
> > Palm.  I did backup my Palm Pilot, to my Linux Laptop (I still have
> > backups files from 1999 in an archive folder).
>
> Not sure if this counts as "connected" but I used Palm Desktop itself for
> my personal scheduling. I never used my Palms (an m505 and a Zire 72) for
> E-mail, though. It did mostly note-taking, calendar and pharmacy work, and
> some programming (in Plua).
>

Cameron, how did you like Plua and what did you do with it? I remember
downloading it and running a few very simple things with it. I had been
looking for Python or Ruby at the time, but happened across that and
thought Lua seemed like an interesting language too. Sadly, I never got
around to learning it, though.

(I think my first exposure to Lua was through tomsrtbt, which I ran on an
old Compaq laptop; many of its scripts were in Lua. I think I read that
that let them be compact and still expressive. But after messing with that
system and not knowing my way around the scripts, I forgot about Lua until
I found Plua.)

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Post?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 1:20 PM Lawrence Wilkinson via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
> On 29/05/19 7:07 PM, MEBA via cctalk wrote:
> > Did my post for the HP printer get posted? I haven't seen it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Mark
>
> Some mail systems will not send you an email that appears to be from
> yourself (I think gmail is one of these) so it can appear that your post
> has not appeared.
>
> You can also check the archive (e.g.
> http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2019-May/date.html ) to find
> an email - if it's in there then it was posted.
>

My Gmail account seems to like to silently delete/not deliver mails from
this list and others I'm subscribed to. They don't end up in the spam
folder, either. Over the past few months there have been several times I've
noticed replies on this list that quoted messages that I never received the
originals of; and likewise messages that show up on the archive that don't
show up in email.

As someone on another mailing list recently responded when I brought this
up there said:

"It's a habit of gmail to hold back mail it thinks might be suspect, and
deliver it to a small number of recipients, then wait to see if they
mark it spam, before delivering to more and more recipients. This can
delay messages for several days."

^ I'm not sure if the above is what happens to me; I do sometimes see
things arriving out of order, but I'm pretty confident there are certain
messages that just never show up. But then again my folders are so full of
unread (or partially unread) threads that I could just miss it once I
forget about the topic and new replies aren't being posted to it anymore to
bump it to the top.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Want/Available list

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Jan 7, 2019 at 11:40 AM Liam Proven via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Dec 2018 at 02:59, Zane Healy via cctalk
>  wrote:
> >
> > Websites are a huge inconvenience or imposition, email lists are not.
>
> Agreed.
>
> However, for a lot of younger people and those to whom "email" just
> means "MS Outlook", it's hard work. They do not understand
> complexities such as filtering, rules, quoting, signatures etc. For
> them, web fora are easier. Personally, I find web fora almost totally
> unusable and treat them as a last resort.
>

I'd like it if I could start getting all the CCTalk/CCTech messages in my
inbox again so I don't *have* to look at the archives (which I don't often
remember to do).

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Want/Available list

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 2:03 PM Carlo Pisani via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> ok, I give up.
> a forum with a bazaar should be more appropriate
> frankly this mail list looks like spam, and it's going irritating
> since it's difficult to follow and to handle
>
> but I am really tired to repeat myself about the
> http://www.downthebunker.xyz/ project
>
> probably in 2019 we will definitively close it to new members, and that's
> all.


I guess I might as well ask, since I've been wondering: What does the name
"downthebunker" mean? Is it a reference to something? I'm not even sure how
a bunker could be gone "down" (unlike in the case of, say, a street, a
beach, the block, etc.). And why the .xyz TLD? I don't know much about it
but it always looks really sketchy to me.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Did anyone see Vintage Tech Hunters on Discovery Canada yet?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Nov 9, 2018 at 6:54 AM Ethan via cctalk 
wrote:

> > You can watch the second episode on the Discovery Canada website as well.
> > I just watched both.  Very nice on the credits by the way.
>
> I tried to watch it on the drive home from work today. Youtube video had a
> strike (takedown) so it's gone. The web site had IP geolocation and
> rejected my phone. So looks like it's Canada only.
>
> So most people will need to use a VPN to get to the Discovery site from a
> .ca IP, or maybe it's nerdy enough that it will show up via various
> underground conduits of content. I am going to ping a friend tomorrow who
> has a 500TB TV rig and see if he has heard of it.
>

It'd be nice if discovery.ca would actually tell you that it's a
geographical limitation and not something else. When I try to watch, it
tells me:

> This content is not currently available for viewing in your browser. For
the best video experience, we recommend using a supported browser for your
platform. Please visit our FAQ for more info. 75"

I assume their coding is a little off there. Otherwise, I know what a FAQ
is but I wouldn't know how to instantiate it as a template on the type Va.
And what, I need a 75" display too?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Fall cleaning - 9-track drives available

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 9:44 PM Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I have four 9-track tape drives, and a dirty DEC rack, that I need to
> get rid of.
>
> Two of the drives are HP 7970B's. One has the door unattached. Then
> there's a Kennedy 9100 800/1600 bpi drive.
> Very heavy.  As found, none tested by me. Just don't have time to play
> with them.
>
> Last is a CDC drive complete with an AST clone PC with an Overland Data
> controller and software. This
> was running a few years ago but has not been used since. Has Media
> Master format conversion software also.
>
> There's also a smallish DEC rack. Could use the top painted but
> otherwise not too bad. Includes four sets of rack
> slides.
>
> All are located in Santa Cruz, CA and need to be gone soon, I need the
> room in my hangar. Come get them!
>
> Photos here: http://dvq.com/fall_cleaning/
>
> --
> Vintage computers and electronics
> www.dvq.com
> www.tekmuseum.com
> www.decmuseum.org
>
>
I see you posted an additional rack picture today, a closeup of the label.
It looks like it says H9CAB-BA, but I can't find anything online about that
(AA and AB, yes). What do you know about it?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: AlphaWindows - Protocol Information?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 11:57 AM Al Kossow via cctalk 
wrote:

>
>
> On 9/5/18 5:17 AM, Martin Hepperle via cctalk wrote:
> > In the 1990s a computer terminal standard "AlphaWindows" was proposed by
> the
> > Display Industry Association (DIA).
> > Sort of X-Windows for the poor.
>
> Very poor... only text in the windows.
>
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.terminals/ielBYV-mNLM
>
> This is kind of interesting to me, because I helped get TVI 990/995
> working in MAME.
> We obviously never had the windowing protocol information either.
>
> I wondered why a terminal needed a 68000 inside it.
>
> I'm obviously interested in anything you come up with.
>
> I guess a place to start is getting a copy of Multiview Mascot and
> watching the
> serial protocol between it and a terminal.
>
>
> --
>
> Related.. I worked on a similar product in the mid-80's, except it could
> do Tek 4015
> graphics in terminal windows. A friend just revived one of the board sets
> over the weekend.
>
> http://bitsavers.org/pdf/aed/colorware_cards/pictures/screen.jpg
>
> This was a board-level VME or Qbus product you talked to directly through
> a shared memory
> queue of virtual terminal connections.
>
>
>
Interesting stuff. I just (a few weeks ago) saw a boxed copy of FacetTerm
for Unix at a store with a lot of old electronics and computer stuff. I see
now that FacetTerm worked with the AlphaWindows standard (although I think
it could do its own thing too). Looks like it's still available for Linux.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: any data on death of Mark E Rorvig? - Microcomputers in Libraries etc

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 3:01 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk  wrote:

> Mark E. Rorvig , Denton, associate professor of library and information
> sciences, 1995-2002. Rorvig was nationally recognized as a pioneer in the
> field of information retrieval. From 1990 to 1995, while serving as an
> adjunct professor at UNT, he worked as a computer engineer for NASA at the
> Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. His research focused on
> deciphering large amounts of information and finding new ways to piece it
> together. He produced four U.S. patents on information retrieval
> algorithms. Rorvig earned a bachelor's degree in English at Seattle
> University, a master's in library service from Columbia University and a
> doctorate in information studies from the University of California at
> Berkeley. At UNT, he led the master's program in information systems.any
> one  know  him?
> I took  some  photos  for a  book he  did on microcomputers in libraries
> and  took an into  to dp  class  from him  when I started   Computer
> Exchange in  AZ I had  talked   into  course years  before   from
> someone else  but thought hey  good  to take it now things have changed and
> I am going into the biz!
>
> I talked to  him again  years  ago and  thanked  him  for admitting me  to
> an already  full class...but in looking him  up  to  get some data  from
> him  find  he  had  passed but   almost nothing out therein the  way
> of  info except   for the  brief  info in  google.  I  remember   during
> that  class period  I  got  first  pdp-8  m or  f ?   and  brought it into
> class and  showed  the students  how  I would  toggle it
>
> Funny  this is when I  got  to first  play on the HP2000 F I later to own
> surplus  form the college that  shaped  my entire  future  business  (
> still have it under glass at  SMECC)
>
>
> Having that  PDP 8 was  great  as a tty  tester!  Sold  many ttys  in the
> early  days
>
> thanks  ed sharpe archivist for smecc
>
>

I don't know about him, but I'm sorry for your loss.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: old vintage stuff for pretty cheap

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 1:26 PM, Mike Loewen via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
>I was about to say something similar.  Those items have been on Ebay
> for years, some of them still up for auction, such as this:
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/192514501391?ViewItem==192514501391
>
>The pictures are the same (what few of them actually display), and the
> pries are nowhere close
>

I noticed the few listings and pictures I tried searching for on eBay
didn't bring up any results. Is this site a case of someone storing up a
bunch of sales listings over a long period of time and then repurposing
them to scam people after most of them are gone from eBay? Or did they
manage to find those images and listings just recently in eBay?


>
> On Thu, 3 May 2018, Michael Lee via cctalk wrote:
>
> Caution to anyone looking at this site, at a quick glance it appears to be
>> a scam site, just using ebay items and descriptions for product info.
>>
>>
>> On 5/3/2018 12:48 PM, Electronics Plus via cctalk wrote:
>>
>>>  https://www.acrosups.top/vintage-computing-c-29/
>>>
>>>  Don't pay attention to where it says Old Price.
>>>
>>>  Click on the item and see the discounted price.
>>>
>>>  Free shipping over $15.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Not affiliated with seller, etc.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Cindy Croxton
>>>
>>>  Electronics Plus
>>
>>

> Mike Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
> Old Technology  http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
>

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Is This A Shill?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, May 1, 2018 at 5:20 PM, Hagstrom, Paul via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
> > On May 1, 2018, at 6:06 PM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> >
> > Personally, I find all of this hilarious.  ebay has been shady for as
> long
> >
> > as I have watched it.  I gave up seriously bidding on "auctions" years
> ago.
> >
> > Seems every time I bid and ended out the top bidder it would stay that
> >
> > way till the auction ended and then suddenly someone beat me by a
> >
> > dollar.
>
> That's just the way eBay works.  You'll win anyway if your bid is higher
> than the other person's snipe.  eBay auto-bids only whatever it takes to
> beat you, so one increment higher.  You'll notice that if you bid $1000 on
> something with a $10 opening bid, eBay displays this as a bid of $10, and
> the time runs out with no other bids, you pay $10.  And if someone else
> bids $20, they lose to your new automatically placed bid of $21.
>
> I don't think there's any advantage to not sniping, since bidding calls
> attention to a thing and does encourage people to bid it up even if your
> top snipe bid would beat them.  But this is just basically how the eBay
> game is played.  I used to snipe by hand, now I usually let a bot do it.
> It bids in the last couple of seconds, so it can look just like what you
> describe.  Sniping wouldn't work if auctions didn't have a hard end time,
> but since they do, that's how it works and they state it all quite
> clearly.  Maybe sometime something shady happens though I've yet to see any
> convincing evidence of it myself (only people claiming it happens all the
> time, all the time), but sniping is not itself shady.
>
>  -Paul
>

When you say you snipe with a bot, do you mean you use eBay's highest-bid
functionality to do it? Or do you use third-party software?

I've never been clear on how the built-in highest-bid functionality works.
I often see things where the same person has several consecutive bids,
which doesn't make any sense to me in the absence of other people's bids in
between them.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 5:40 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I keep them all. Not counting the bad ones in the SS1 and 2, I have 7.
>
> I can send them to you. I don't mind pick up the shipping costs for
> something small like that. But the $70 that is it going to cost to ship the
> SS20 to its new home is another matter.
>
> alan
>
> On 4/27/18 3:33 PM, systems_glitch wrote:
>
>> You can always send me the dead modules and I'll rebuild them
>> (GlitchWorks == me, my wife sometimes helps with assembly). Whatever you
>> do, don't throw out the dead NVRAMs -- I'll buy them or pay for you to ship
>> them or whatever, they're not making more and they're the only solution
>> that's 100% compatible.
>>
>> Yeah, the "still works but pukes errors" is the typical symptom of the
>> newer, slightly incompatible 48T02s in Sun machines. I don't recall if mine
>> kept accurate time with the newer modules.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jonathan
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk <
>> cctalk@classiccmp.org > wrote:
>>
>> The ones from Mouser work well enough in every system that I have
>> used them in. I still get the IDPROM corrupt message on boot on
>> some systems, but it holds the MAC and the systems boot without
>> intervention.
>>
>> I tried to repair a few and botched most of them. I know that I
>> should be using the GlitchWorks stuff, but it has been easier to
>> just buy something that I can plug in.
>>
>> alan
>>
>>
>> On 4/27/18 3:15 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:
>>
>> Don't get the new MK48T02/MK48T08s from Mouser et al, they're
>> not fully
>> compatible. They will retain NVRAM but the clock part is
>> different and
>> you'll get an error on that (system won't autoboot). Rebuild
>> your old
>> NVRAM! I made up some little boards to make the repair cleaner
>> and faster
>> to do (I had about 50 NVRAMs to repair):
>>
>> http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1
>> 
>>
>> There are other guides for tacking on a coin cell holder
>> without cutting
>> off the entire top encapsulation, but if you do that, it may
>> not fit under
>> SBus cards if you're doing it on a system that puts SBus slots
>> over the
>> NVRAM.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jonathan
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk <
>> cctalk@classiccmp.org > wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 1:55 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk
>> > wrote:
>>
>> - SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad
>> IDPROM; aside from that
>>   it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no
>> HDD now, and a 3.5"
>>   floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the
>> IDPROM, it doesn't
>>   have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet).
>> Like the SS2, it
>>   needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover
>> over the rear of the
>>   case is broken off.
>>
>> What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are
>> around $25 on Mouser.
>> SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD
>> are $60 plus
>> shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of
>> 25 year old HDDs
>>
>> with
>>
>> a stated service life of 5 years (according to one
>> spec sheet that I
>>
>> read),
>>
>> SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.
>>
>> When you say IDPROM, is that a Dallas built-in battery
>> NVRAM type of
>> thing? I have an SS1 with a dead NVRAM thing. Are the
>> currently
>> available versions of those new at Mouser fully
>> compatible? Those are
>> one of those things that the new versions aren't always fully
>> compatible with the old versions for some systems, even
>> though they
>> are supposed to be.
>>
>> My SS1 is also in the Seattle area. If there is much
>> demand for those
>> it's probably one of those systems I'll never get around
>> to doing
>> anything with it myself. I also have a 4/110. Those seem
>> to be a lot
>> less common, and maybe more collectible.
>>
>
Last year some time I replaced the timekeeper in my first SPARC with one I
ordered off eBay. It's been a while since I tried it in that machine* but,
last I knew, it was slow at keeping time but 

Re: Writing emulators (was Re: VCF PNW 2018: Pictures!)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 10:19 AM, Ray Arachelian via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On 02/19/18 19:36, Adrian Stoness via cctalk wrote:
> > whats invovled in makin an emulator?
> > i have a chunk of stuff for the phillips p1000
>
> Quite a lot actually.  A single CPU system is difficult enough, but a
> mainframe might be much, much harder.  The idea to use an existing
> emulator framework, such as SIMH, is a great one.
>

Ray, you've provided a few really excellent messages here.

[snip]

> Are you planning on emulating the whole machine, or just the userland?
> Might be easier to create a simulation of the OS in software on the host
> side the way that Executor did with MacOS - Cliff implemented his own
> version of MacOS 7.x, enough to be able to run most applications of that
> era, but not all.  see: https://github.com/ctm/executor.git and
> https://github.com/ctm/executor.git - some of this is called "High Level
> Emulation" and is sort of what WINE does (though wine isn't an emulator).
>

You put the same URL in twice there; did you intend for another URL?

I was quite a fan of Executor. It's cool to see that it's open source now.


> Be careful
> as there's a lot of "emu scene" folks out there with tons of free time,
> more than you might have, who will happily promise to help, but instead
> take your documentation, firmware, OS images, etc. and compete with you
> behind your back just to get there first, instead of actually helping
> you with your project.  On this latter point, I sadly speak from
> experience.
>

Wow, I didn't know about that. Good to know.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Writing emulators [Was: Re: VCF PNW 2018: Pictures!]

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 5:30 PM, dwight via cctalk 
wrote:

> In order to connect to the outside world, you need a way to queue event
> based on cycle counts, execution of particular address or particular
> instructions. This allows you to connect to the outside world. Other than
> that it is just looking up instructions in an instruction table.
>
> Dwight
>

What I've always wondered about was how the heck cycle-accurate emulation
is done. In the past I've always felt overwhelmed looking in the sources of
emulators like that to see how they do it, but maybe it's time I tried
again.

Another more-complex thing done by some emulators is compiling, on the fly,
a series of emulated machine instructions into native host machine code, to
boost performance. That's also what the Java virtual machine does.


>
>
> 
> From: cctalk  on behalf of Pontus Pihlgren
> via cctalk 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 11:22:32 AM
> To: Adrian Stoness; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Writing emulators [Was: Re: VCF PNW 2018: Pictures!]
>
> On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 06:36:13PM -0600, Adrian Stoness via cctalk wrote:
> > whats invovled in makin an emulator?
> > i have a chunk of stuff for the phillips p1000
>
> I would say it depends a lot on how complex your target machine is. But
> in essense you will have to write code for each device you wish to
> emulate mapping their functionality over to your host machine, the one
> running the emulator.
>
> As a minimum you will write code for the CPU and some sort of output
> device, such as a serial console. For some machines you might need
> images of ROM code in order to be fully compatible with existing
> software.
>
> I wrote a PDP-8 emulator for fun. The basic CPU and serial was done in a
> few hours. I then hardcoded the paper tape loader in memory and allowed
> input to be read from an image file.
>
> Adding extended memory support and running conformance tests has taken
> the bulk of the time.
>
> /P
>



-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: PC-Letter "WUI" War over User Interface 1-1988

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 10:36 AM, william degnan via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Here is an interesting article from early 1988 (probably written in min
> 1987) that compares and contrasts GUIs of the day.  Interesting that they
> do not mention OS/2 by name, by this point it would have been available,
> given I used it in Jan 1987 when I was working at IBM.  Also the XEROX
> interface was not yet dead as the author makes it seem.  If anyone used
> Page Maker on a 1987/88 Xerox machine and compared that with "Windows OS/2"
> machine trying to run the Page Maker on a PS/2 80 you'd probably agree.
>
> Basically I am unsure what planet the author was from, but you can decide
> for yourself.  Talks a little about HP's GUI product, Sun/AT, Apple
> Finder, etc.  Mentions NeXT is coming, Commodore is dead, ... opinionated.
>
> http://vintagecomputer.net/cisc367/PC-Letter_19880118.pdf
>
> Bill
>

Looks interesting. The title and the mention of OS/2* remind me of a book I
once came across, called "Windows vs. OS/2: The GUI-OOUI war" :
https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Vs-OS-Gui-Ooui-Interfaces/dp/0442017502 **

* I see OS/2 1.1 is mentioned in the article, but I haven't read it yet to
see how it deals with it.
** It would have been better for the the subtitle to sound like "the
ooey-gooey war", but alas.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Slightly OT: Computer internals book recommendations

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

Huw Davies wrote:

> Sounds like either
>
> Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by David Patterson and John
> Hennessy
>
> Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface by David
> Patterson and John Hennessy
>
> I see there’s a MIPS edition of the second book. My copy of the second
book
> has Hennessy as the first author.

Thanks. I had the Hennessy/Patterson books on my radar but wasn't sure they
would meet the criteria (haven't been able to find previews of them).

Sophie Haskins wrote:

> I want to say that earlier editions of “Computer Systems: A Programmers
> Perspective” had a bunch of discussions of buses etc in addition to
> assembly, compilers, linking, etc. but the edition I have explicitly calls
> out that they felt like it wasn’t important to have chapters on anymore :(

Sophie also wrote:

> I have the second edition (there appears to now be a third out!) but
> re-reading the preface and "what's changed since the first edition"
doesn't
> seem to say what I remembered re: buses (namely, it says nothing at all).
> It is possibly my professors were referring to a much earlier
> course/textbook (or that I dreamed the whole thing!). CS: APP is still a
> pretty useful book, but...not on this topic, it would seem.
>
> (in the second edition, the only reference to buses is on a page where
they
> note that as of its publishing, buses are much more complicated and much
> less exposed to programmers than they once were)

I have an inside scoop that a certain library is about to get rid of their
2003 printing (which is apparently 1st edition); I've had my eye on it for
a while. It doesn't really go into any detail on buses, but still looks
really useful.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: DR-DOS

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Nov 20, 2017, jim stephens via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 11/20/2017 4:27 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
> > On 20 November 2017 at 18:57, jim stephens via cctalk
> >  wrote:
> > > The archive.org snapshots may have had the blank images, but they also 
> > > seem
> > > to have grabbed the archived downloads as well.
> > > 
> > > This is an arbitrary link to the 3/26/2016 snapshot.  There are quite a 
> > > few
> > > others, and I didn't try anything yet to see if the data is good or not.
> > > 
> > > https://web.archive.org/web/20160326184121/http://www.drdosprojects.de/index.cgi/download.htm
> > Aha! Excellent!
> > 
> > Since I found the latest version, I stopped looking. That was silly of
> > me. That's very helpful -- thanks, Jim!
> > 
> Welcome!
> I am trying to figure out how to send you the files I got, in case the
> script I sent doesn't scrape them.  Now it's more than a need to send it and
> a battle of wills to send a binary that Google keeps blocking.

Where is this script?

> 
> I was up odd hours and gave up a bit ago, I suspect you already used the
> script or your own means to get their files.  But you may get my obfuscated
> binary anyway.
> 
> Thanks for figuring this out, will be interesting to look at it.
> thanks
> Jim

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Ideas for a simple, but somewhat extendable computer bus

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Nov 17, 2017, ben via cctalk wrote:
> On 11/17/2017 6:59 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> > On 11/17/2017 05:34 PM, Jim Brain via cctalk wrote:
> > 
> > > It does not have to be fast.  I rather thought, "what is the simplest
> > > multi-cpu shared bus that could be easily understood by folks and allow
> > > them to focus on multi-processing education, not bus understanding"
> > 
> > How about a serial bus?  Physically simple and not too awful logically
> > today.  Say, I2C or SPI...
> > 
> > --Chuck
> 
> Say USB-version 101101100 :)

Sorry to be dense, but are you referring to some actual USB version? Or
did you mean something like "one of the many USB versions, some not yet
released"? (101101100 is 364 in binary, but I don't see the significance
of that.)

> 
> I would say use a 68000 if your still can get them,
> but run with a 6800 style clock. The master CPU and
> shared memory on the high phase of the clock. The
> slave CPU's on the low clock PHASE (clocked by a inverted clock).
> This will give you multi-processing with a bit more than
> 64KB.
> Ben.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Slightly OT: Computer internals book recommendations

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

The fascinating discussion Jim just started on buses got me thinking
again about a book I've been trying to track down for a while. While
it's not necessarily classic-computing-oriented, it's not really about
newfangled computers either; heck, I encountered it in 2003 or so, so
it'd be pretty dated by now.

Basically, I'm looking for a certain book (although really any book in
the same vein would satisfy), which was on computer system architecture,
organization, etc.; it talked about the usual boolean logic, assembly
programming in some fictitious instruction set, an overview of two
actual architectures (I think at that time they were 32-bit x86 and
64-bit POWER). The other thing I remember very specifically was there
was a place near the back (probably an appendix) that talked about
one or more specific buses (I think at least PCI was there), with timing
diagrams to tell you what was actually going back and forth between the
bus and CPU.

Like I said, I'm sort of keen on finding the exact book I had, but I
realize that's somewhat unrealistic, so I'm open to recommendations on
any book like that. And if it can cover the relavant concepts for both
classic and newish computers, that would be great.

Basically what I hope to learn is how you actually deal with
peripherals, add-in cards, etc., on the assembly language level, and
what that really translates into on a signaling level. I only really
know a little about how to do that in memory-mapped IO systems like the
Commodores (and to be honest I don't understand how the buses work
there, just how to poke and peek.)

Thanks!

-- 
Eric Christopherson

TVTropes mention of a certain computer magazine

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

I was just wasting time with TVTropes and, on the page
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FandomBerserkButton, came
across this quote:

The editor of one early (late 1970s) British computer magazine
persistently claimed that the difference between compilers and
interpreters was "academic", even in the face of corrections from
knowledgeable readers, until one month he learned the hard way just
how wrong he was, by wasting three pages of the mag on a worthless
hex-dump of the workspace of a BASIC interpreter. The mag didn't
last very much longer after that issue.

Does anyone know what magazine this was? I'm not sure I understand what
the hex dump thing is all about.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Pine (was: Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 10:32 AM, Richard Loken via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 22 Oct 2017, Sean Conner via cctalk wrote:
>
> By gum!  Alpine does indeed translate the 'A' into a '?' and I never
> noticed.  It seems that my tiny mind simply translated the character
> and moved on.
>
>  I have:
>>
>> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>> LC_COLLATE=C
>>
>> as part of my environment, and I'm using a font that supports UTF-8...
>>
>
> And how does one know that a font supports UTF-8?
>
> And yes UTF-8 has been around for decades but as an English speaker I
> didn't have to think about unicode and locale and stuff like that.


I just joined the SunHelp rescue list a few weeks ago, and I've seen
several places where "curly quotes" get replaced by the letter b plus
another character I can't remember off the top of my head. This seems to be
a problem with their list rather than with mutt. I have to say, though,
that curly quotes are a huge problem encodingwise anyway. (It's always nice
to paste in some source code where the nice clean ASCII quotes have been
converted into matching pairs of curly quotes!)

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Pine (was: Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Sun, Oct 22, 2017 at 3:13 AM, Angel M Alganza via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Hello:
>
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 01:39:32PM -0600,
> (Yes, almost two years ago.  I'm a bit behind with
> my mail, LOL.) Eric Christopherson wrote:
>
> > I'm considering doing something that actually
> > downloads my Gmail content locally and keeps it
> > in sync periodically, but I haven't really
> > looked at what's necessary for that.
>
> Have a look at mbsync/isync if you still haven't
> done anything about it on those two years.  LOL
> It does exactly what you wanted.
>
> Cheers,
> Ángel
>

Gracias, Ángel.  As a matter of fact I *haven't* done any work on that
front lately. I will be sure to check these out.

I can't remember how long I've been using it (but apparently for at least
two years), but I use Gmail's IMAP via mutt. I know a lot of people like
*pine but when I first started seriously playing around with text-mode
Linux (since I installed it on a system that I figured was too wimpy to
support X) I started using mutt for local and POP/SMTP mail and have always
really liked it.

I use alpine in a shell account on a remote server I use, but I'm always
cursing the way it helpfully offers to automatically archive and/or delete
old messages. I know at least once I've accidentally hit a key giving it
permission to do its thing, with no chance of undoing it. I thought I had
turned that off somehow, but the last time I used it it happened again.

I'm pretty sure the first *nix email client I used was elm. I seem to
remember liking it better than pine, but I don't remember why.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: HP 9845 complete system on auction in Sweden

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 7:14 AM, Torfinn Ingolfsen via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 9:23 AM, Pontus Pihlgren via cctalk
>  wrote:
> > Hi All
> >
> > There is a very nice looking HP 9845 with peripherals and documentation
> > for sale in Sweden, on ebay owned auction-site Tradera:
> >
> > https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/290566778/hewlett-
> packard-9845-datorsystem
> >
>
> Nice!
> I really like the old HP 98xx systems.
> Unfortunately, I don't have space for such a large system.


I just did a double-take at that keyboard -- reminds me of a VIC-20.

Re: Rainbow Disk Imager

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Sep 14, 2017, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
> 
> > On Sep 14, 2017, at 4:39 PM, Warner Losh  wrote:
> > 
> > ...
> > I don't see where you read the first 2 tracks uninterlaced, and the other 
> > tracks interlaced?  For DOS formatted disks, that's what's required. While 
> > screwing up the first two tracks won't affect your ability to read DOS 
> > floppies (since they were reserved for the boot blocks), other formats 
> > aren't so forgiving and it makes the disk unbootable...
> 
> The question was about RX50 disks, which are uniformly interlaced and skewed.
> 
>   paul
> 

Does interlace mean the same as interleave?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Odd Ebay auction showed up today...

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 1:47 PM, Robert via cctalk 
wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 12:07 PM, william degnan via cctalk
>  wrote:
> > I noticed that he had not been selling as much lately, I guess he ran out
> > of the good stuff and needs to close out the business, or raise new
> funds.
> > His normal list of Altairs and such appear to have all been sold.
>
> As best we can tell, he's moved all the good stuff to a new account,
> vintagecomputerstore, operating out of a location that's nearby but
> not the same. This must be the stuff that wasn't worth hauling to the
> new warehouse.


FWIW, vintagecomputerstore doesn't seem to exist on eBay.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: oh, this is great news!

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Sep 1, 2017 at 12:43 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On 09/01/2017 10:26 AM, Kip Koon via cctalk wrote:
> > What is it that is great news.  This is all I received.
> >
> > Kip Koon
> > computer...@sc.rr.com
> > http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/User:Computerdoc
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Beulah
> Thurman via cctalk
> > Sent: Friday, September 01, 2017 1:17 PM
> > To: General Discussion On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> > Subject: Fw: oh, this is great news!
> >
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> >
> > RGVhciEgDQoNCkkndmUgZ290ICBhbiAgZXh0cmVtZWx5IGdyZWF0IG5ld3Mg
> Zm9yIHlvdSwgeW91
> > IHdpbGwgIGJlIHNpbXBseSBhc3RvbmlzaGVkKSBQbGVhc2UgcmVhZCBpdCBo
> ZXJlIGh0dHA6Ly93
> > d3cuZmVybmFuZG9ub2d1ZWlyYWltb3ZlaXMuY29tLmJyL2V4Y2Vzc2l2ZS5w
> aHA/VUU5alkzUmhi
> > R3RBWTJ4aGMzTnBZMk50Y0M1dmNtYy0NCg0KQmV1bGFoIFRodXJtYW4NCg0K
>
> What it is is spam--and itflunked the Spamassassin spam tests:
>
> X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.1 (2015-04-28) on mx2.ezwind.net
> X-Spam-Flag: YES
> X-Spam-Level: 
>
> So, why it was passed and not simply bit-bucketed is a mystery to me.
>
>
> --Chuck
>

Strangely, the original message went through Gmail just fine, but your
reply (Chuck) is flagged as spam.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: C64 to VGA

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Aug 29, 2017, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> I just mentioned the rasterlines/scanlines generated via software on modern
> PC's in the context of game emulators with Mame. This is of course not
> applicable in the situation of a C64 connected to a VGA 4/3 LCD, except if
> you you are using an intermediate hardware like that:
> 
> http://arcadeforge.net/Scaler-and-Strike-Devices:::4.html

Hmm. So this would be something that makes physical blank lines in
between the logical lines being sent by the C64?

> 
> In fact it would be much simpler to find a simple small TV for this brave
> C64 ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> On 29/08/2017 03:39, Eric Christopherson via cctalk wrote:
> > On Mon, Aug 28, 2017, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> > > The design of many games on C64 are made according to the rasterlines of
> > > PAL/NTSC CRT, so I strongly do not advise using a flat screen 4/3 for a 
> > > C64
> > > or an Amiga because the rendering is disastrous unless you add a 
> > > rasterlines
> > > generator.
> > What do you mean by "a rasterlines generator"? I'm curious.
> > 
> 

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: C64 to VGA

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Aug 28, 2017, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> The design of many games on C64 are made according to the rasterlines of
> PAL/NTSC CRT, so I strongly do not advise using a flat screen 4/3 for a C64
> or an Amiga because the rendering is disastrous unless you add a rasterlines
> generator.

What do you mean by "a rasterlines generator"? I'm curious.

> 
> 
> On 28/08/2017 03:30, Kevin Parker via cctalk wrote:
> > HI guys - not really a C64 person (I've been given a couple over the years 
> > and kept them rather than see them go to landfill).
> > 
> > Trying to fix one up for a very good friend for a house warming present for 
> > his games room (he said something the other day that
> > gave me the hint).
> > 
> > I have a genuine Commodore monitor but don't want to give him that but I 
> > have bucket loads of VGA (LCD) monitors I've scored over
> > time as well so thought I'd use one of those.
> > 
> > I've googled het subject a lot but there seems to be lots of options and 
> > views on what works and what doesn't and even how well.
> > 
> > I'd be most grateful if anyone on the list has any advice, suggestions, 
> > recommendations etc about this.
> > 
> > Thank you
> > 
> > 
> > Kevin Parker

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: nassa tapes destroyed but the family left to dispose of the computer?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Sun, Aug 13, 2017 at 7:19 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk  wrote:

> https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzakkn/nasa-
> destroyed-hundreds-of-mystery-tapes-found-in-a-dead-mans-
> basement-apollo-era
>
> well, a metal scrapper contacted NASA, so I would imagine with him.
>
> at least we know now a little more about where the FOIA request came from
>

I haven't seen anything in the coverage about what the intent of the FOIA
request was. Does anyone know?


>
>
>
> On 8/13/17 4:01 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
> > wonder where it  ended up?
>
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: ftp.compaq.com mirror

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Aug 8, 2017 at 2:19 PM, Adrian Graham via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> Managed to rescue a Compaq Deskpro EN from the scrap pile at work today
> and realised it has a proper floppy controller so I can install a 5.25”
> drive.
>
> Trouble is ftp.compaq.com  has disappeared so
> getting drivers for win98 is going to be difficult unless I have them at
> work on old driver CDs. archive.org  has a mirror of
> the whole ftp site but it’s 220gb and I’m not sure my little 150mb/s web
> connection will download that in less than a month :)
>
> Did anyone else grab it before it disappeared?
>

I've found it at
http://web.archive.org/web/20051120074512/http://ftp.compaq.com:80/ -- and
that allows you to descend into subdirectories just like on a real FTP site.

I'm guessing the one-file download you mentioned was at
https://archive.org/details/ftp.compaq.com. That page offers a torrent,
which gives you another way of downloading either the whole thing or just
parts: you can open that torrent file in a decent BitTorrent client but,
instead of starting to download the whole thing, go into the list of files
included and just check off the ones you want to download and keep the rest
excluded.


>
> cheers,
>
> —
> Adrian/Witchy
> Binary Dinosaurs - Celebrating Computing History from 1972 onwards
>
>


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Repurposed Art (ahem...)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 8:03 AM, E. Groenenberg via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
> Re-purposed art or vandalism?
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/253015301943
>
> Ed
> --
> Ik email, dus ik besta.
>
>
It (literally) looks like something out of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: db9 requirements

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Jul 5, 2017 7:20 PM, "Henry Bond via cctalk" 
wrote:

Good Evening all, hope your week is going well.

I received a sparcstation 10 today and wondered if anyone knew which db25
cable to get to connect to my DEC vt, null modem, cross over, etc, etc.


I'm also wondering about connecting a SS20 (which should be about the same)
with a PC. I foldout ordered a regular cable instead of a null modem one,
so I assume I'll need to get a null modem; but I'd be happy to be told
otherwise.


Also if anyone has experience with this machine I would be happy to take OS
recommendations.


I wanted to play with SunOS, not NetBSD, so if was suggested that I go with
version 4.1.4. I got the impression later versions don't run that well, and
if you care about SVR4 vs. BSD, the mostly pure BSD line ended at 4.1.4.

Re: Depressing article

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 3:02 PM, Eric Christopherson <
echristopher...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 9:25 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> https://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2017/07/nasa-computer-engi
>> neer-basement/
>>
>> of events that happened two years ago that had to be obtained through a
>> NASA FOIA request
>>
>
> Another depressing recent article: https://www.theatlantic.com/
> national/archive/2013/12/scientific-data-lost-forever/356422/
>

Whoops, not *recent* recent. (I only just encountered it.)


>
> --
> Eric Christopherson
>



-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Depressing article

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 9:25 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk  wrote:

>
> https://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2017/07/nasa-computer-engineer-basement/
>
> of events that happened two years ago that had to be obtained through a
> NASA FOIA request
>

Another depressing recent article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/scientific-data-lost-forever/356422/


-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Getting to NeXt Command prompt

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 12:00 AM, william degnan 
wrote:

>
> On Jun 20, 2017 12:36 AM, "Eric Christopherson via cctech" <
> cct...@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 19, 2017, william degnan via cctech wrote:
> > > [Command + ~] is a system reset.  I noticed it takes a little longer to
> >
> > Just out of curiosity: do you mean the shift key gets held down too? If
> > not, it would write it as Command + `.
> >
> >
> > Eric Christopherson
>
> Good question.  Did you try it?
> Bill
>
I don't have a NeXT -- though I suppose I could set up Previous and try it
there :)

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Getting to NeXt Command prompt

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Jun 19, 2017, william degnan via cctech wrote:
> [Command + ~] is a system reset.  I noticed it takes a little longer to

Just out of curiosity: do you mean the shift key gets held down too? If
not, it would write it as Command + `.

> boot up from the command prompt that the regular GUI way.  My guess is some
> set up processes only happen after the GUI requests them whereas if you
> boot to the command prompt everything is "loaded" such as networking
> connections.  Not 100% it might just look like it takes longer.  I have a
> few other notes about getting bash working, I will post on my web site when
> I get the chance.
> 
> Bill

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: If C is so evil why is it so successful?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 12:23 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On 04/13/2017 09:05 PM, Don North wrote:
>
> > I especially liked the Spanish language version of IITRAN:
> > http://www.ak6dn.com/stuff/spantran.pdf
>
>
> That does look like a TTY session.   But the use of "hacer" (infinitive)
> for "DO" is puzzling.   I would have made it the imperitive "haga".
>

The usted form, eh? I would have thought computers would warrant tuteo...

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: APL and descendants - was Re: If C is so evil why is it so successful?

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Thu, Apr 13, 2017, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. via cctalk wrote:
> Toby Thain via cctalk wrote on Thu, 13 Apr 2017 19:34:08 -0400
> > On 2017-04-13 6:54 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> > > So, whence APL today?
> > 
> > Still lives on -- Dyalog, J, K, etc. Recently discovered the #jsoftware 
> > channel on Freenode for APL fans.
> 
> I consider Matlab and Julia to be spiritual descendents of APL.
> 
> One thing that hurt APL in early microcomputers was that they used text
> mode with the wrong font. I would also have guessed that Basic could
> work better in really limited hardware, but some early APL
> implementations were impressively frugal.

The VideoBrain home computer had something called APL/S, but I can't
find any information on how it differs from APL. Does anyone know?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: I hate the new mail system

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 4:44 AM, drlegendre . via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I was wondering why 99% of my cctalk shows up as "read mail".. =/
>
> What a PITA, I can't tell what I have read from what I have not read - is
> this part of the 'new' system?
>

You mean in Gmail? I don't have that problem with mine. Do you perhaps have
a filter that automatically marks them read, which wasn't being run before?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Vintage Computer stuff on EBAY.DE

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:34 PM, Eric Christopherson <
echristopher...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, Martin.
>
> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:24 AM, Martin Meiner via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello friends of vintage computing,
>>
>> As I need the space at home, I am parting from some of my vintage gear.
>> They have all been listed on EBAY.DE.
>> Among others, there are two PDP11 V03 systems, a number of CRT terminals
>> and others. Have a look and see if you find something of interest.
>> Head over to EBAY.DE and search for "PDP11 V03", and then see all my
>> other actions.
>> Just thought I'd let you know..
>>
>
> I'm trying to pull up your ADM-3A (222434344378) on the US eBay site, but
> it's not showing up there. Do you know why that is?
>
> (I've never bought from a foreign eBay domain, so I'm not sure if I can
> just log in there as I would on the US site, watch items, etc., and have it
> all propagate from one domain to the other.)
>

Oh, I see it's for local pickup only (and you seem to be in Switzerland),
or maybe shipping to Germany:
"Möglicherweise kein Versand nach Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika - Lesen
Sie die Artikelbeschreibung oder kontaktieren Sie den Verkäufer, um
Informationen zu Versandoptionen zu erhalten."
translation via Google:
"No shipping to United States of America - Read the item description or
contact the seller for shipping information."

and:

"Da die Wahre raus muss, verkaufe ich den Gegenstand für Selbstabholer
(oder Transport vom Käufer selber organisiert) ab EUR 1 ohne Mindestpreis."
translation via Google:
"Since the truth must go out, I sell the object for self-pickup (or
transport organized by the buyer itself) from EUR 1 without a minimum
price."

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Vintage Computer stuff on EBAY.DE

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

Hi, Martin.

On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:24 AM, Martin Meiner via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Hello friends of vintage computing,
>
> As I need the space at home, I am parting from some of my vintage gear.
> They have all been listed on EBAY.DE.
> Among others, there are two PDP11 V03 systems, a number of CRT terminals
> and others. Have a look and see if you find something of interest.
> Head over to EBAY.DE and search for "PDP11 V03", and then see all my
> other actions.
> Just thought I'd let you know..
>

I'm trying to pull up your ADM-3A (222434344378) on the US eBay site, but
it's not showing up there. Do you know why that is?

(I've never bought from a foreign eBay domain, so I'm not sure if I can
just log in there as I would on the US site, watch items, etc., and have it
all propagate from one domain to the other.)

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: I hate the new mail system

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Mar 07, 2017, Eric Smith via cctalk wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:48 AM, Christian Corti via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> > And cctalk@... is neither responsible for the writing of the message nor
> > does it belong to the author of the message. But replies should be directed
> > there, so there should be a Reply-To: field containing cctalk@... and the
> > From: field should contain the author's address.
> >
> 
> And thus we come full circle. The "From:" header containing the original
> author's address is the cause of the unsubscribes due to bounces, and (I
> assume) the motivation for the recent change to the list behavior.
> 
> The problem is that major production MTAs will reject (bounce) email with a
> "From:" whose domain uses DKIM or SPF, when the sending MTA isn't in the
> DKIM or SPF authorized sender list. This will almost always be true when
> messages are forwarded by a mailing list. Since the bounces go back to the
> mailing list, the mailing list software then drops the entirely legitimate
> list subscriber's subscription.  :-(
> 
> The behavior you describe is certainly correct according to the RFCs, but
> unfortunately now falls apart in practice.  :-(

What makes it so that other mailing lists don't unsubscribe people when
bounces occur?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: Fluorescent lights (Was: Full immersion emulation)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Mar 06, 2017, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
> 
> > On Mar 6, 2017, at 2:11 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk  
> > wrote:
> > 
> >> From: Paul Koning
> > 
>  terrible fluorescent lighting.
> > 
> >>> There's another kind? :-)
> > 
> >> in fact you can get LEDs that fit in fluorescent fixtures, either as is
> > 
> > I've been looking for LED replacements, but I haven't seen them; I'd have
> > thought that that would be a pretty popular item, but I haven't seen them in
> > any local stores. Are they only available as an online option?
> 
> The Home Depot website lists both "remove ballast" and "keep the ballast" 
> flavors, in stock at my local store.
> 
> A much larger selection can be found online.  I've used 1000bulbs.com in the 
> past, good people.
> 
>   paul
> 

I assume the kind of LEDs under discussion doesn't have the problem of
overheating that some LEDs have when placed in enclosures without heat
sinks, right?

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Quoting under the new mailing list system (was Re: Test)

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Mon, Mar 06, 2017, Adrian Stoness via cctalk wrote:
> In a message dated 3/6/2017 5:18:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

I just noticed the above attribution introducing a quoted email; notice
how it gives the email address cctalk@classiccmp.org but doesn't give
any information on the person on whose behalf cctalk sent the message. I
know this is an issue with MUAs (whether it's actually configurable in
any given MUA or not), but I think it would get annoying pretty quickly
if the list were to fill up with messages quoting someone without saying
whom.

-- 
Eric Christopherson

Re: I hate the new mail system

[Eric Christopherson via cctalk]

On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 3:51 PM, Dave Wade G4UGM via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> > -Original Message-
> > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rich
> > Alderson via cctalk
> > Sent: 28 February 2017 21:23
> > To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> > 
> > Subject: I hate the new mail system
> >
> > OK, it's official.  I rarely criticize mail interfaces, because they're
> usually
> > mostly innocuous.  However, today's change makes life a lot more
> difficult.
> >
> > In the past, it was simple to direct a reply to an individual instead of
> to the list
> > because the originator's address was right there in the From: header.  As
> of
> > today, the list address is substituted for that, so that it is impossible
> to
> > respond privately unless you happen to have a bunch of old messages
> > archived and the person to whom you want to respond is someone who has
> > written previously.
> >
>
> "reply all" seems to put the original sender and the list in the "to:"
> field..
>

At least in Gmail's web interface, I don't see reply and reply all having
any difference here; they both put both addresses in the To:. I'll have to
check how this works in an IMAP client later.

But I for one welcome our new non-bounce-happy email system! :D


>
> > Is this a conscious choice, or a configurable with a different default
> setting in
> > a new mail system than was previously in place?  However it came to be,
> it
> > greatly diminishes communications quality (IMAO).
> >
>
> I suspect its to do with SPF records where domains publish a list of
> servers
> authorised to send mails "from" a certain domain in the DNS.
> Leaving the sender in gets the list server black-listed and the mail will
> be
> bounced by the many servers that check SPF records.


-- 
Eric Christopherson