Re: PDP-8 diagnostic tests
On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 12:31:42PM -0700, Scott Baker wrote: > Hi, > > 1) DEC documentation which more fully describes all the instruction set (in > more detail than the PDP-8 handbook) Not DEC documentation but a good resource: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/ I've written an emulator purely from these pages and it passes the MAINDEC-8E-D0AB-PB instruction tests. Here is IAC described: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/micro.html#iac > 2) Some more instruction tests in assembler source code format. I have > found lots of binary files but I would prefer assembler source code format. > I am using a pal compatible cross assembler. I don't have any of those. But I've used Krten's d8tape to dissasemble BIN files with good result: http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp-common/reference/host/index.html That and the source code listings on bitsavers. /P
PDP-8/i Panel Pics
Hi Guys I sent out a photo of the new PDP-8/i with a real one for comparison to everybody who might be interested. If you did not get the email and would like one please let me know Rod (Panelman) Smallwood
Re: Turbo Pascal v3.01a for CP/M...
On Tue, 23 Aug 2016, Jim Carpenter wrote: On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 12:10 PM, geneb wrote: I'm not after a generic Pascal. It has to be Borland's Turbo Pascal, v3.01a for CP/M. So close. I have Turbo Pascal v3.00A for CP/M. Used it on my TRS-80 Model 4. It's ok Jim. I've been inundated with copies of Turbo Pascal today. :) (and many thanks to you all!) 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_!
Re: IBM 4361 + StorageTek 4674's
His email address is: del...@ulink.net Also, the 4361 is now tested! Got this from him: **/I had the IBM 4361-5 running// //today for history files, accounts receivables, month end statements, sales tax// //register, ran a few invoices on the Telex (IBM 3287) printer. Backed up files on the// //IBM 3480 tape drive. // //There are 2 IBM 4331 units that still have some good parts. One backup IBM 4361-5// //With out some cards and diskette drives. I also have a third IBM 3203-5 missing some// //parts. I think there is 2 Telex 1600/6250 tape drives with controller built into one drive.// //One IBM 3279 display and one IBM 3287 printer. One IBM 3705 Controller missing// //Front panel but the rest is there including the four covers. /Bob-- Vintage computers and electronics www.dvq.com www.tekmuseum.com www.decmuseum.org
MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing characters output to the console. It had seemed that re-seating the processor board would fix it, but that no longer seems to be the case. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever come across this failure mode? Regards Rob
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Halt and Catch Fire Tonight Halt and Catch Fire Tonight premiere of season showing episode 1 and 2 both! thx - Ed# The tech timeline is so off :-( Mr. Robot is doing a better job of getting tech facts done well. -- Ethan O'Toole
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Cool. I supplied all of the magazines (1986) covers for this season. Look on the office tables, etc. I have these available (images not the actual mags) if anyone else wants them. Let me know privately. Bill On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 10:45 AM, wrote: > Halt and Catch Fire Tonight >> Halt and Catch Fire Tonight >> premiere of season showing episode 1 and 2 both! >> thx - Ed# >> > > The tech timeline is so off :-( > > Mr. Robot is doing a better job of getting tech facts done well. > > -- > Ethan O'Toole > >
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
> > On Aug 24, 2016, at 9:41 AM, Rob Jarratt wrote: > > I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing characters output > to the console. It had seemed that re-seating the processor board would fix > it, but that no longer seems to be the case. > > > > I was just wondering if anyone else has ever come across this failure mode? > I’ve seen similar with under two occasions. 1) Non-compliant USB adaptor - Doesn’t fully support RS232C levels 2) Poor grounding, noise in the data lines - long cable runs or devices on different sides of the (US) power main. I have not dealt with component problems on the KA630 itself. Jerry
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
>> I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing >> characters output to the console. [...] > Iâ??ve seen similar with under two occasions. [...] Furthermore, "garbling" is horribly imprecise. If certain characters always get corrupted, and a given character always gets corrupted to the same thing? If it's always the same characters getting corrupted, but they get corrupted to different things on different occasions? If there's no uniformity on which characters get corrupted, but a given character, if corrupted, always gets corrupted to the same thing? If both which characters get corrupted and what they get converted into show no consistency? Each of those scenarios points towards a different constellation of plausible causes. (Furthermore "same characters" can be taken either of two ways, either "characters with the same bit pattern, regardless of where they occur" or "characters at the same place in the output, regardless of bit pattern". It could even be a cross between those.) Similar remarks apply to "losing". The post also said >> It had seemed that re-seating the processor board would fix it, but >> that no longer seems to be the case. It occurs to me that it might not have been the re-seating that was responsible, but something else incidental to that. For example, if the problem is thermal, powering it off briefly might have helped; if (to continue that theory) if the environment has been getting hotter, it may be that leaving it off briefly now doesn't cool it enough. Without more details, we can't really do much but take stabs in the dark. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTMLmo...@rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Halt and Catch Fire Tonight Halt and Catch Fire Tonight premiere of season showing episode 1 and 2 both! thx - Ed# On Wed, 24 Aug 2016, et...@757.org wrote: The tech timeline is so off :-( Mr. Robot is doing a better job of getting tech facts done well. Really? In 1981, instead of buying a copy of the PUBLISHED schematics and BIOS source code for $40 or disassembling in DEBUG or in BASIC, one had to read out binary in LEDs to see the ROM contents, and worry about IBM doing DMCA prosecution for reverse-engineering? Isn't it wonderful that we have such excellent accurate history of well publicized events of the time, from this show and "Pirates Of The Valley" (with billg cold-calling IBM to sell them on having an OS)? It must have been incredibly difficult for the producers to find ANY technical advisors who were around in those days! They should have just come to us! We could have explained to them that FORTRAN was based on Valtrep, that Englebart got his ideas from his Mac, that the 5100 holds the key to surviving the ultimate crash in 2038, the arpanet was invented to get access to FACEBOOK and to the porn that was already on WWW, and that Jobs invented the computer in order to create a market for billg's invention of the OS!
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Cool. I supplied all of the magazines (1986) covers for this season. Look on the office tables, etc. I have these available (images not the actual mags) if anyone else wants them. Let me know privately. Bill Awesome I just did some research and I guess the Amiga was coming out at the time. But V.22 wasn't a competitor to HST! :-) Pretty wild that retro computers are such a thing now that prime time TV shows are based around it. -- Ethan O'Toole
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
On 08/24/2016 09:53 AM, Jerry Weiss wrote: On Aug 24, 2016, at 9:41 AM, Rob Jarratt wrote: I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing characters output to the console. It had seemed that re-seating the processor board would fix it, but that no longer seems to be the case. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever come across this failure mode? I’ve seen similar with under two occasions. 1) Non-compliant USB adaptor - Doesn’t fully support RS232C levels 2) Poor grounding, noise in the data lines - long cable runs or devices on different sides of the (US) power main. I have not dealt with component problems on the KA630 itself. The console interface is a set of 9636, 9643 and 9639 chips (8-pin DIP). I had mine blown out about 1988 or so when a power supply failed. There are a couple capacitors and resistors related to that circuitry, too. Jon
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
On 08/24/2016 10:34 AM, Mouse wrote: I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing characters output to the console. [...] Iâ??ve seen similar with under two occasions. [...] Furthermore, "garbling" is horribly imprecise. And, of course, you should make sure it is not the terminal, cabinet kit or cable that has gone bad, instead of the CPU board. (I can see where a bad cabinet kit or internal cable could cause the serial clock to change speed, that would cause the same result.) Jon
RE: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mouse > Sent: 24 August 2016 16:35 > To: cctalk@classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters > > >> I have a MicroVAX II which has started garbling and losing characters > >> output to the console. [...] > > Iâ??ve seen similar with under two occasions. [...] > > Furthermore, "garbling" is horribly imprecise. Fair enough, let me see if I can answer more precisely. > > If certain characters always get corrupted, and a given character always gets > corrupted to the same thing? No, the corruption appears to be random. Unfortunately I don't have a protocol analyser to help, but I could try to get a log using Putty connecting via a DECserver 90M. I will try that later. > > If it's always the same characters getting corrupted, but they get corrupted > to different things on different occasions? > > If there's no uniformity on which characters get corrupted, but a given > character, if corrupted, always gets corrupted to the same thing? > > If both which characters get corrupted and what they get converted into > show no consistency? Regarding all the above, it looks pretty random to me, but I will try to get a dump of the characters and compare with what they should be. > > Each of those scenarios points towards a different constellation of plausible > causes. (Furthermore "same characters" can be taken either of two ways, > either "characters with the same bit pattern, regardless of where they occur" > or "characters at the same place in the output, regardless of bit pattern". It > could even be a cross between those.) > > Similar remarks apply to "losing". Well, it does "lose" characters. It seems to be that after a short burst of characters it just gives up and I don't see anymore characters for a while, then it will show a few more after a bit of a pause (but not always). > > The post also said > > >> It had seemed that re-seating the processor board would fix it, but > >> that no longer seems to be the case. > > It occurs to me that it might not have been the re-seating that was > responsible, but something else incidental to that. For example, if the > problem is thermal, powering it off briefly might have helped; if (to continue > that theory) if the environment has been getting hotter, it may be that > leaving it off briefly now doesn't cool it enough. Unfortunately this happens both with the machine cold and warm. > > Without more details, we can't really do much but take stabs in the dark. I will try to get more info. Incidentally, the terminal and the machine *were* plugged into different sockets, but now they are connected to the same wall socket and the problem persists. Regard Rob > > /~\ The ASCII Mouse > \ / Ribbon Campaign > X Against HTML mo...@rodents-montreal.org > / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
On 8/24/2016 10:50 AM, et...@757.org wrote: Cool. I supplied all of the magazines (1986) covers for this season. Look on the office tables, etc. I have these available (images not the actual mags) if anyone else wants them. Let me know privately. Bill Awesome I just did some research and I guess the Amiga was coming out at the time. But V.22 wasn't a competitor to HST! :-) Pretty wild that retro computers are such a thing now that prime time TV shows are based around it. I don't think it's the retro computers that are the subject, but rather, the pioneering efforts and often flamboyant personalities involved. - John
Re: PDP-8 diagnostic tests
WHICH PDP-8? Every implementation was slightly different. Dig up the stuff written by Charles Lasner for the gory details. On 8/23/16 12:31 PM, Scott Baker wrote: > Hi, > > I have written a PDP-8 VHDL model and I have it running in an FPGA > https://github.com/scottlbaker/PDP8-SOC > >
RE: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
> Incidentally, the terminal and the machine *were* plugged into different > sockets, but now they are connected to the same wall socket and the > problem persists. > Actually, since connecting terminal and machine to the same wall socket, the garbling seems to have much reduced, but I do get lots of dropped characters all the same. For example the prompt to enter date and time appeared without the final colon. I then pressed CTRL-R to repeat it and it just typed "PLEASE", with no further characters, but it then echoed the date and time as I entered it. Like I said, it seems to be able to send a certain number of characters and then loses the rest. I saw the cab kit comment, and I also wonder about that too. I am pretty sure the terminal is OK though, because it seems to work OK on other machines and I had exactly the same problems when using a DECserver 90M and Putty (so no terminal at all). I can try swapping some parts around to see if or when the problem goes away. I suppose I was just hoping someone might have seen similar problems, but I can do some deeper analysis to narrow it down more. Regards Rob
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
> On Aug 24, 2016, at 11:06 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: > > I don't think it's the retro computers that are the subject, but rather, > the pioneering efforts and often flamboyant personalities involved. > > - John > Here I was thinking it was a period drama rather than a documentary!
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
On 8/24/2016 11:52 AM, Geoff Oltmans wrote: On Aug 24, 2016, at 11:06 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: I don't think it's the retro computers that are the subject, but rather, the pioneering efforts and often flamboyant personalities involved. - John Here I was thinking it was a period drama rather than a documentary! Who said anything about it being a documentary? It's a period drama largely based on the kinds of flamboyant personalities that pioneered much of the personal computer industry. While retro computers are in the show, I don't view it as being about the retro computers themselves. - J.
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
> On Aug 24, 2016, at 12:21 PM, Rob Jarratt wrote: > >> Incidentally, the terminal and the machine *were* plugged into different >> sockets, but now they are connected to the same wall socket and the >> problem persists. >> > > > Actually, since connecting terminal and machine to the same wall socket, the > garbling seems to have much reduced, but I do get lots of dropped characters > all the same. Check that the shield ground and signal ground are both connected. If they are, then the fact that it depends on power suggests your RS232 interface is inadequately designed. paul
Re: PDP-8 diagnostic tests
Kudos for working on a VHDL model. Which 8 variant are you trying to model? As others have stated, the IAC does affect the link. Of the other instructions that one might think could change the Link, the ISZ instruction does not affect the link and indirection that uses the autoincrement memory locations 0010 through 0017 do not affect the Link. This is because in those cases the increment is done in the MB register and not the Link, AC. Some of the EAE instructions also change the Link. I have paper listings of many of the diagnostics and one of my projects is to get these re-keyed if I can't find a copy and scanned as PDF's so they can be uploaded to bitsavers and on my own website when I get around to bringing it up. I have done Maindec-801-1 and both of the EAE Maindec. (801-3a and 801-3b I think they are called.) The PDP-8 is an extremely simple machine. If you are confused by some aspect of implementation you are probably not doing it "the 8 way" because they way they did it was almost always the simplest way. Best wishes on your project! On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 1:31 PM, Scott Baker wrote: > Hi, > > I have written a PDP-8 VHDL model and I have it running in an FPGA > https://github.com/scottlbaker/PDP8-SOC > > At this time it has passed a basic DEC diagnostic instruction test but > I found some interesting things when getting that instruction test to pass. > For example: > > The following segment of code implies that IAC instruction affects the Link > bit > > 1797 /GROUP 1 OPERATE TEST 33 > 1798 02626 7300 CLA CLL /AC= LINK=0 > 1799 02627 1053 TAD K2525 /AC=2525 > 1800 02630 7261 CLA CMA CML IAC /TEST COMBINATION > 1801 02631 7420 SNL > 1802 02632 7430 SZL > 1803 02633 7402 HLT /CLA CMA CML IAC FAILED, AC > SHOULD > 1804 /BE , LINK SHOULD BE ZERO > > but the PDP-8 Handbook ; DEC copyright 1966; page 14 > says nothing about the Link bit being affected by the IAC instruction. > > The simh PDP-8 simulator also shows that L is affected by IAC. > > If I change this test line from > > 1800 02630 7261 CLA CMA CML IAC /TEST COMBINATION << link=0 > > to: > > 1800 02630 7261 CLA CMA CML /TEST COMBINATION << link=1 > > Can anyone point me to: > > 1) DEC documentation which more fully describes all the instruction set (in > more detail than the PDP-8 handbook) > > 2) Some more instruction tests in assembler source code format. I have > found lots of binary files but I would prefer assembler source code format. > I am using a pal compatible cross assembler. > > Thanks and Regards, > Scott > -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175
Re: PDP-8 diagnostic tests
On 8/24/2016 2:21 AM, Pontus Pihlgren wrote: On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 12:31:42PM -0700, Scott Baker wrote: Hi, 1) DEC documentation which more fully describes all the instruction set (in more detail than the PDP-8 handbook) Not DEC documentation but a good resource: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/ I've written an emulator purely from these pages and it passes the MAINDEC-8E-D0AB-PB instruction tests. Here is IAC described: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/micro.html#iac 2) Some more instruction tests in assembler source code format. I have found lots of binary files but I would prefer assembler source code format. I am using a pal compatible cross assembler. I don't have any of those. But I've used Krten's d8tape to dissasemble BIN files with good result: http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp-common/reference/host/index.html That and the source code listings on bitsavers. /P Also I did not mention earlier my PDP-8 diagnostic page: http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-8/MAINDEC/ has more or less what you asked for. It has all the base PDP-8e series CPU core diagnostics as listings in PDF, binary tape images in BIN and RIM, and disassembled sources in PAL and assembled LST. BTW my PDP-8 implementation in Verilog (not VHDL) passes all these diagnostics, as well as running chess, focal, and other such images. Don
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 11:59 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: > >> Who said anything about it being a documentary? It's a period drama > largely > based on the kinds of flamboyant personalities that pioneered much of the > personal computer industry. While retro computers are in the show, I don't > view it as being about the retro computers themselves. > > Not you. But several previous posters lamented about the aprocryphal/anachronistic quality of the tech in the show.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Who said anything about it being a documentary? It's a period drama largely based on the kinds of flamboyant personalities that pioneered much of the personal computer industry. While retro computers are in the show, I don't view it as being about the retro computers themselves. On Wed, 24 Aug 2016, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: Not you. But several previous posters lamented about the aprocryphal/anachronistic quality of the tech in the show. The problem is simply that WE are less interested in a period drama about their perceptions of the personalities of an industry that they weren't in. They might get them right; they might not. What WE would like to see is a well researched show that even gets the history right. THAT would be fun! For example: IBM at the time (pre-DMCA, pre-Lotus "look and feel") had no objections to aftermarket that did not copy the actual code, was supportive of reverse-engineering, and PUBLISHED ($40) schematics and source code. Apple, until the Lisa? and Mac was open. The secrecy of studying the machine and the threat of legal action from IBM was contrary to the current corporate cultures. The original culture clash of DRI and IBM would make a GREAT scene! (MUCH better than the completely nonsensical alternate reality of billg inventing OS and cold calling IBM in "Pirates Of The Valley") (although admittedly, even those who experienced it have divergent interpretations)
RQDX3 disk image for Gesswein's MFM emulator
I am looking for an RQDX3 compatible disk image for Dave Gesswein's MFM disk emulator. I don't have a functional disk to image and the ZRQCH0 won't cooperate.
Re: PDP-8 diagnostic tests
On 2016-08-24 3:24 PM, Don North wrote: On 8/24/2016 2:21 AM, Pontus Pihlgren wrote: On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 12:31:42PM -0700, Scott Baker wrote: Hi, 1) DEC documentation which more fully describes all the instruction set (in more detail than the PDP-8 handbook) Not DEC documentation but a good resource: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/ I've written an emulator purely from these pages and it passes the MAINDEC-8E-D0AB-PB instruction tests. Here is IAC described: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/man/micro.html#iac 2) Some more instruction tests in assembler source code format. I have found lots of binary files but I would prefer assembler source code format. I am using a pal compatible cross assembler. I don't have any of those. But I've used Krten's d8tape to dissasemble BIN files with good result: http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp-common/reference/host/index.html That and the source code listings on bitsavers. /P Also I did not mention earlier my PDP-8 diagnostic page: http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-8/MAINDEC/ has more or less what you asked for. It has all the base PDP-8e series CPU core diagnostics as listings in PDF, binary tape images in BIN and RIM, and disassembled sources in PAL and assembled LST. BTW my PDP-8 implementation in Verilog (not VHDL) passes all these diagnostics, as well as running chess, focal, and other such images. Hi Don Is it published anywhere? --Toby Don
PATA HBA and drive wanted
Hi: I'm looking for a PATA host bus adapter card (either ISA or PCI) and a PATA drive preferably UDMA/33 but no later than UDMA/100. This would probably come from a system built in the mid-1990s before the PATA interface got embedded into the chip set. It might even be from an older system that was upgraded by replacing an ST412 HBA and drive with and EIDE HBA and drive. Will rent, buy or borrow as appropriate Contact me off line Tom Gardner (650) 941-5324 t.gard...@computer.org
Re: MicroVAX II Console Garbling Characters
On 08/24/2016 11:05 AM, Rob Jarratt wrote: Well, it does "lose" characters. It seems to be that after a short burst of characters it just gives up and I don't see anymore characters for a while, then it will show a few more after a bit of a pause (but not always). Hmmm, that sounds like possibly a buffer overflow in the terminal. Some terminals had really slow micros running them, and needed to stop transmission from the host for a while. If the host is not obeying the stop-sending command (could be the terminal is using the CTS line that is not wired to the VAX, or the VAX is not set to obey Xoff/Xon characters) then this would happen. Jon
Re: RQDX3 disk image for Gesswein's MFM emulator
>Charles Dickman wrote: I am looking for an RQDX3 compatible disk image for Dave Gesswein's MFM disk emulator. I don't have a functional disk to image and the ZRQCH0 won't cooperate. I suspect that I don't really understand your question, but maybe the following information might help. For both of the PDP-11 emulators that I have used, Ersatz-11 and SimH, the disk image for an MFM hard drive is just a file in the hard drive under the operating system under which either Ersatz-11 pr SimH is being run. In my case, that is usually Windows 98SE although on a few occasions I have also used the 32-bit Windows XP. In addition, the original MFM DEC hard drive on which any of those disk images were based were totally independent of which DEC controller, RQDX1, RQDX2 or RQDX3, was actually used. And while the emulator might provide information which suggests that an RQDX3 is being used, the actual disk image on the hard drive would still be the same. On the other hand, I I have never tried to run ZRQCH0 under either emulator, so there might just be some aspects that I am not aware of. But to support my experience, if I have an RK05 disk image on the same hard drive (of 4800 blocks), I can also use that identical file as a disk image for the MFM emulator for both Ersatz-11 or SimH as if it was connected to an RQDX3 in the DEC hardware world EXCEPT that, of course, that disk image would then appear as a very small MSCP device of just 4800 blocks as a DU device under the Ersatz-11 or SimH emulator. I am not sure if I explained myself correctly or sufficiently. I am just trying to say that, in my experience, a disk image of an MFM drive in the DEC PDP-11 world (specified since you mention ZRQCH0 which run on a PDP-11) on the hard drive for use under an emulator, such as Ersatz-11 or SimH, is identical to most other disk images for any other DEC, in particular for those disk images which don't have extra data to handle the disk drive blocks. That means that there are some extra blocks for RL01 / RL02 disk images, but not for many others and, in my experience, that has included DEC MFM hard drives. I hope that the above information is helpful. On the other hand, Dave Gesswein's disk emulator may handle disk images quite differently and require extra blocks such as what an RQDX3 requires and which are probably different from what an RQDX2 uses. In that case, I don't know how you might create the disk image that Dave Gesswein's emulator requires. Jerome Fine
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Taking this forward 30+ years, Silicon Valley is a period drama that gets significant details spot-on right - both in the gross generalizations that are network TV and in the nuances targeted to the cognoscenti. I work with several people who could be the template for Gilfoil. There was recently an episode with a sub-plot about code reviews and tabs vs. white space that was so perfect for me - and so meaningless to my non-programmer family. My daughter works for a start-up that has been going through rounds of financing. She is sure she has met the woman running the fictional VC firm backing Pied Piper. Between us we see it almost more as a documentary than a sit-com. On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 4:28 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > Who said anything about it being a documentary? It's a period drama >>> largely based on the kinds of flamboyant personalities that pioneered much >>> of the personal computer industry. While retro computers are in the show, >>> I don't view it as being about the retro computers themselves. >>> >> > On Wed, 24 Aug 2016, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: > >> Not you. But several previous posters lamented about the >> aprocryphal/anachronistic quality of the tech in the show. >> > > The problem is simply that WE are less interested in a period drama about > their perceptions of the personalities of an industry that they weren't > in. They might get them right; they might not. > What WE would like to see is a well researched show that even gets the > history right. THAT would be fun! > > For example: IBM at the time (pre-DMCA, pre-Lotus "look and feel") had no > objections to aftermarket that did not copy the actual code, was supportive > of reverse-engineering, and PUBLISHED ($40) schematics and source code. > Apple, until the Lisa? and Mac was open. The secrecy of studying the > machine and the threat of legal action from IBM was contrary to the current > corporate cultures. > > The original culture clash of DRI and IBM would make a GREAT scene! > (MUCH better than the completely nonsensical alternate reality of billg > inventing OS and cold calling IBM in "Pirates Of The Valley") > (although admittedly, even those who experienced it have divergent > interpretations) > >
Re: Halt and Catch Fire Tonight
Did they really just say "Tandy Shandy"??!! If that wasn't a thing then, I'm guessing it will be now 😋 -- Chris Elmquist
