[cctalk] Re: DEC LINC Eight auction

2023-01-10 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
The web-page explicitly says 'shipping available', which doesn't mean that shipping will be free, of course... From: "Mike Katz via cctalk" To: "ED SHARPE" , "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Cc: "Mike Katz" Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2023 10:38:20 AM Subject: [cctalk]

[cctalk] Re: Typing class in high school

2023-01-27 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
In high school I had signed up for an electronics class and then my family transferred to another city. In the high school that I then enrolled in, there was no electronics class so I was given the option of another class - I chose typing, which turned out to be a great choice. Since I had sta

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

2017-04-12 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Assembler is a sports car kit. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Cc: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 7:57:07 AM Subject: Re: If C is so evil why is it so successful? > From: Alfred M. Szmidt > No even the following program: > int main (void) { return 0; } > is guara

Re: Teletype 43

2017-05-22 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I had an employee of an electronics store tell me that the IBM modem software on the 5.25" floppy for Windows would work fine on my Macintosh... in the days long before Macintosh systems used non-Motorola processors. That was a fun 'discussion'. From: "cctalk" To: "Fred Cisin" , "cctalk" S

Re: rectangular sense core vs. diagonal

2017-06-08 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
There'd be no desk, just dust. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Thursday, June 8, 2017 7:39:40 AM Subject: Re: rectangular sense core vs. diagonal On Thu, 8 Jun 2017, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote: > Another reason why things were better in "The Good Old Days": > While removing a (spring-

Re: Xerox stores

2017-07-14 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I remember going to a Xerox store in '85 and buying a brand-new Macintosh. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 9:24:10 AM Subject: Re: Xerox stores On 07/14/2017 09:00 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > Hmmm, I really don't remember any such thing. I suspect that some

Re: early (pre-1971) edge-triggered D flip-flop ICs

2017-07-20 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Or, in today's dollars - $58. Ouch. From: "General Discussion" To: "cctalk" Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 1:35:47 AM Subject: Re: early (pre-1971) edge-triggered D flip-flop ICs On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 11:29 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote: > I have no datasheet, but I have examples on DEC M-seri

Re: HP 2108A key

2017-09-22 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Well, that explains one of my mystery keys on my keychain... I used to work with HP 1000 systems. I still have one of the HP 264x 'keys' which opened up the terminal. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, September 22, 2017 1:20:42 PM Subject: Re: HP 2108A key > Unmarked - single sid

[cctalk] Re: DEC Processor Books

2024-03-18 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I had the same experience while working for a (very) small company called Northwest Digital Research. I was asked to point to a big HP plotter that was running one of our programs... and the photograph wound up in our product brochure. Of course, I had nothing to do with that program... From:

[cctalk] Re: BASIC

2024-05-01 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
APL is very much alive - it was invented in the '60s. Lisp is slightly older and it, as well, is still in active use - and it's older than FORTRAN, which was the inspiration for BASIC. From: "Sellam Abraham via cctalk" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Cc: "Sellam Abrah

[cctalk] Re: APL (Was: BASIC

2024-05-02 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I was lucky enough to have worked initially in Focal and FORTRAN at UW (Seattle) and moved on to PL/I, Pascal and APL at SFU (Burnaby, B.C.) while being exposed to Algol, BASIC, C, GPSS, Smalltalk, Simula, SNOBOL4, XPL and many other 'esoteric' languages. Of course, various Assemblers were in t

[cctalk] Re: CP/M

2024-05-03 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Not quite. CP/M is not a rename of PL/M. PL/M is a derivative of the programming language PL/I and was used in the development of CP/M - it is not an operating system. CP/M-86 was a later development of CP/M that was designed to run on 16-bit Intel processors. CP/M-68K was another branch of C

[cctalk] Re: Antonio's call for donations (was LCM auction)

2024-08-30 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
You do realize that 'Pureblood' is a phrase most definitely associated with the Aryan Nations and other neo-Nazi, white supremacist hate groups? From: "Adrian Godwin via cctalk" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Cc: "Adrian Godwin" Sent: Friday, August 30, 2024 10:41:1

Re: BIG ol tektronix scope 555 - need it gone - make an offer

2018-12-11 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I was doing something similar, on a PDP8/L driving a Tektronix scope with a camera attached, using code written in Focal - University of Washington, 1972. I learned a great deal about font generation, given that the code had to trace out each letter shape via X, Y coordinates... From: "cctalk"

Re: OT RE: 3D printer $179.99 (today ONLY) (Was: 8-Update

2018-12-19 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
There are also filaments that can be dissolved - they're mainly used for support structures, but could also be used for 'lost-wax' casting. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2018 2:31:02 PM Subject: Re: OT RE: 3D printer $179.99 (today ONLY) (Was: 8-Update On Wed,

middle-aged APL terminal

2019-03-23 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Hi All: This is my periodic request for technical details on a Cybernex APL-100 terminal - the only documentation that I have for it is the sales brochure...

Re: What is this?

2019-05-15 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Hi Cindy: It looks like a gang programmer. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 11:21:36 AM Subject: What is this? https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/486774619186135050/578282338375565322 /JPEG_20190515_130651.jpg Can anyone identify/explain this to me? The sam

Re: Mac 1K

2019-05-15 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I would think that a Mac 1K would have serious performance issues... From: "cctalk" To: "Electronics Plus" , "cctalk" Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 12:31:23 PM Subject: RE: Mac 1K Make that Mac Plus 1MB. Sorry for typo! Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun

Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR

2019-06-28 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
'Is that a toonie in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?' From: "cctalk" To: "Alan Perry" , "cctalk" , "Fred Cisin" Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 10:59:36 AM Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR On 06/28/19 13:18, Alan Pe

Re: MULTIPROCESSING FOR THE IMPOVERISHED Part 1: a 6809 Uniprocessor

2019-08-06 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I built a dual-6809 in the late '70s - it was a brand-new, exciting part - and we used the E part for exactly that reason. The system used memory that had an access time that was better than the 4x clock, so that each processor could run at full speed. From: "cctalk" To: "Liam Proven" , "cct

Re: Identification of an HP minicomputer

2019-08-12 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Can you provide a picture of the front panel? 2113 implies a 21MX-E; the nine-slot version is a 2109 while the fourteen-slot would be a 2113. This might help - https://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=109 . From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Monday, August 12, 2019 2:52:18 PM Subject:

Re: Identification of an HP minicomputer

2019-08-12 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
d to figure out) so that I can actually examine the boards. Thanks. TTFN - Guy > On Aug 12, 2019, at 2:59 PM, Norman Jaffe via cctalk > wrote: > > Can you provide a picture of the front panel? > 2113 implies a 21MX-E; the nine-slot version is a 2109 while the > fourteen-

Re: Electr* Engineering

2019-08-13 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Kevin - which university did you go to? I was in the first class at Simon Fraser University that started in Computing Science (1974) rather than transferring in from another department... we often had TAs in one class that were students in the next one, as they had taken the first class earlier

Re: Electr* Engineering

2019-08-13 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
n, not the big machine it is now. Best wishes, Kevin Remember Gana and Chris Dewhurst? > On Aug 13, 2019, at 8:37 AM, Norman Jaffe via cctalk > wrote: > > Kevin - which university did you go to? > I was in the first class at Simon Fraser University that started in Compu

Re: Shipping from Europe to USA

2019-08-22 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I had an interesting experience with UPS - they shipped me a tape library from the U.S. to Canada... when it arrived, the inside was completely trashed. As in, no recognizable components bigger than a credit card. UPS insisted that the condition of the tape library was as they received it for s

Re: Vintage Computer Warehouse Liquidation

2019-09-22 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Hi: Is the IBM 5110 Basic, Basic/APL or APL? From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2019 12:40:48 PM Subject: Vintage Computer Warehouse Liquidation This is my first of many posts that I will make about this sale. I am liquidating a large warehouse filled with vintage c

Re: pdp11/05 key?

2020-04-09 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I hope that you mean 'hardware porn', not 'hardcore porn'... :) From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2020 10:22:43 AM Subject: Re: pdp11/05 key? > On 4/9/20 2:56 AM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk wrote: >> Right said Fred: >>> MOST of the other PDP machines use the XX2247 ke

Re: FedEX unsurance issues

2020-04-28 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
And UPS isn't any better. I had a package delivered with a big hole in it, and they claimed that it was given to them that way. However, the hole was right through their shipping documents... they refunded the shipping, but not the insurance on the item that they had destroyed with their forkl

Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

2020-05-29 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
C is portable by design and runs on many architectures. It doesn't need 512Kb of RAM and it doesn't depend on Unix. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, May 29, 2020 1:20:56 PM Subject: Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC On 5/29/2020 12:42 PM, John Foust via cctalk wrote: > At 10:59

Re: Living Computer Museum

2020-05-29 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Thank you. From: "cctalk" To: "Electronics Plus" , "cctalk" Sent: Friday, May 29, 2020 1:05:17 PM Subject: RE: Living Computer Museum Just to make sure everyone knows that we haven't lost our minds: Nothing is going in the skip/dumpster/e-waste recycling bin. It's a long pause, that's a

Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

2020-05-29 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Fun that I have had with Fortran: 1) Passing an integer constant where a variable was expected, and having that constant modified by the called routine; on an IBM 1800 / TSX, small integer constants were stored in an area shared with the operating system, so it was supremely easy to change the

Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

2020-06-02 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Yes, and on some machines, like the IBM 1800, small numeric constants are stored in a common location, to reduce the size of executable images. So, once you've changed 4 to 5, it means that all programs that get loaded will now use 5 when they meant 4. Usually the generated code has a way to re

Re: Ancient transistor ?computer board

2020-06-16 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Given that the encoding of the address is likely radix-64, and there are 717 characters from the '.com/' to '?authuser=0', the resulting address 'space' would be 10^1295... and the number of particles in the observable universe is estimated to be 10^80 to 10^90, depending on whether photons are

Re: AlphaServer 2100s available

2020-07-27 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Not DEC-related, but I once had an IBM 1800 shipped from where we'd purchased it to a storage locker in a different city, where I lived. All was fine until it was unloaded, and the wheels sank into the pavement. [That summer was a bit hotter than normal...] From: "cctalk" To: "Adrian Graham"

Re: PATA hard disks, anyone?

2018-03-27 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Are they functional or decorative? From: "cctalk" To: et...@757.org, "cctalk" Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 11:48:22 AM Subject: Re: PATA hard disks, anyone? On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 10:19 AM, Ethan via cctalk wrote: > and well... let's just say that "newer" used disks with 4 years on t

Cybernex APL-100 terminal

2018-04-23 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Does anyone in the group have access to documentation for the Cybernex APL-100 video terminal? All that I've been able to locate is a 4 page brochure for it; they were originally made in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Oddball Terminals (Was: Re: VT100's)

2018-09-07 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Speaking of oddball terminals, does anyone have details on Cybernex APL-100 terminals? I acquired one a couple of years ago and have had no luck locating documentation for them. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, September 7, 2018 8:41:23 AM Subject: Re: Oddball Terminals (Was: Re:

Re: Unknown US manufacturer - try again

2018-09-12 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
The presence of the words 'NAND GATES' imply that this was part of some educational kit for logic training, rather than a part of a system. From: "General Discussion" To: pe...@vanpeborgh.eu, "General Discussion" Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2018 11:30:42 AM Subject: Re: Unknown US manufa

Re: helping to clean out an estate - a lot of CRAY

2018-09-25 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Hi Paul: I'm very interested in Cray items... primarily manuals / books, not software or videos; I live in Vancouver, Canada, so shipping won't be super expensive. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" , cct...@vax-11.org Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2018 6:59:11 PM Subject: helping to clean out an e

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

2018-11-08 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Having watched two episodes, I find that their estimates of profit on the items are not unreasonable - they tend to go with 'doubling our cost'... no insane, 'Oooh, that's worth megabucks'. Not being a big toy aficionado, I'm not sure about the demand for some of the items, but there's a lot of

Re: Old mainframes in Finland

2020-10-07 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
What a lovely collection of IBM 1800 systems! From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2020 11:27:02 AM Subject: Re: Old mainframes in Finland On 07.10.20 20:14, Cindy Croxton via cctalk wrote: > I received permission to share this link. These are in a personal collection

Re: APL\360

2021-01-14 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I remember colleagues competing for the most 'interesting' one-liner in APL that actually did something useful, in university. I wrote several different kinds of simulator, one of which generated APL code on the fly that was then executed... plus a database-or-two. I've been actively collecting

Re: APL\360

2021-01-15 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I have found that the ideal combination of languages to learn early are APL, Simula, LISP and Smalltalk. I was lucky enough to have started programming when that was possible. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 4:13:26 PM Subject: Re: APL\360 On 1/15/21 3:07 PM, B

Re: APL\360

2021-01-29 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
It happened to me as well - I found hundreds of warnings in the code and, after getting permission to address them, I was fired because 'we would have to recompile the Windows version due to the changes you made'; the source code was reverted to the state before I made the changes. I refuse to

Re: APL\360

2021-01-30 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
detective skills, guess which product...] From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Friday, January 29, 2021 6:57:28 PM Subject: Re: APL\360 It was thus said that the Great Norman Jaffe via cctalk once stated: > > It happened to me as well - I found hundreds of warnings

Re: Early Programming Books

2021-06-20 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
I have two books on ALGOL 60 from 1962 - A Guide to ALGOL Programming, Daniel D. McCracken A Primer Of ALGOL 60 Programming, E.W. Dijkstra For APL, there is this from 1962 - A Programming Language, Kenneth E. Iverson However, I also have a reference from 1960 - LISP I Programmer's Manual, J

Re: Early Programming Books

2021-06-20 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Basically, pre-1960, there couldn't be a 'general book on programming', since every system was a unique environment - the only languages that could even be remotely considered to be common were ALGOL 60 and FORTRAN II... and they were 'extended' by every manufacturer to provide, at least, some f

Re: HP-UX on 9000/200 series

2021-08-31 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
Hi: According to this ( [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-UX | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-UX ] ) only version 2.0 will run on MC68000 systems - you need (at least) a MC68010 to run versions newer than that. From: "cctalk" To: "cctalk" Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 11:58:20 AM Subj

[cctalk] Re: Might be antique computer parts --1620

2024-10-03 Thread Norman Jaffe via cctalk
The IBM 360 single precision floating point has a range of 10**-79 to 10**75; double precision and extended precision has the same number of bits for the exponent. From: "Paul Koning via cctalk" To: "cctalk" Cc: "David Wise" , "CAREY SCHUG" , "Paul Koning" Sent: Thursday, October 3, 2024