test-drb November 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

211 participants
749 discussions

DEC field service (was Re: HP's not cool? (was Re: pdp-11/60 Semi-Rescue))

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 22, 18:04, Bill Pechter wrote: > Boy the number of 4:55pm calls on Friday used to really %R$^& me off > including the one a printer at Roche medicalwhere the customer shimmed the > ribbon path with test tube lids and left scalpul blades in the LP25 when I > got sent out to work it. > > The printer was obviously having problems for at least a day or so > before they finished their medical test runs -- but they waited to call > until it was completely unreadable. Sounds like one I had to deal with when I worked for a third-party maintenance company. I was trained on Q-bus and mostly worked in the regional workshop, but I did a few fill-ins on other stuff. Anyway, one afternoon I was sent out to the head office of a well-known bank in Edinburgh, to deal with a printer (not on normal contract, but a fix-on-fail pay-per-fix deal). I was ushered into a room with four middle managers, one of whom was highly resentful that the Epson FX80 on his PC AT had stopped working, and even more resentful that someone was going to get in his way in order to fix it :-) The problem was simple -- it was so clogged with paper dust that the head couldn't move all the way to the margin. I don't just mean there was a lot of dust on the carriage and bars, the case was *full*. I politely suggested the owner might like to clean it (or have it cleaned) periodically, and got a stream of invective about how he'd complained it was making his printouts dusty, it was my problem not his, he was far too busy to ever do anything of the sort, and it was a maintenance company's job anyway. Well, I though of showing him the page in the manual about user maintenance, but it would obviously have been a lost cause... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years

Oscilloscopes

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

My sentiments exactly. I should *never* have sold my 465B. It was in pristine condition, and I sorely miss it today. I would seriously look for a *nice* 465. They're old, but there were alot of them made, and they're pretty reliable (well, I never had any trouble with mine, anyway). On Tue, 23 Nov 1999 14:45:59 -0800 Al Kossow <aek(a)spies.com> writes: > "Is Fry's a good place to get scopes?" > > Fry's isn't a good place to buy anything. They would be the LAST > place I'd buy any test gear from. > > I personally think you'll be better off with a late model used > TEK scope (my fav is the 2465A right now) than anything you'd > be able to buy new in your price range. > > You should be able to find a 2465 in decent shape for $1000-$1500 ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

26 years

Great Find Today

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

A co-worker came and placed a complete copy of Windows 1.0 on my desk today. Wow it has all the paperwork nothing was mailed in. The manuals are in great shape as is the 5 1/4 diskettes ( I will be backing them up to the zip drive or cd) and the box is in fair shape with small signs of wear. Also got 6 manuals today, one was a service manual for the PC40-III commodore.

26 years

Own Your Own Internet Store

by edick＠idcomm.com

I use a hotmail account for situations as you've described. Just the other day, I got a chilly little notice from them indicating that they were about to purge a few of my files because I had a lot of stuff there. I had, on that day, received 76 new emails, of which 72 were spam. 6 of those were spam with sender addresses within HOTMAIL. I figure they can't be doing much to discourage spamming if they go right ahead and forward what they obviously recognize as having counterfeited their own domain into the sender address. Hotmail has a destination, i.e. abuse(a)hotmail.com, to which you're encouraged to send your complaints, particularly in the form of uncommented forwarded spam, complete with headers. Now, I don't know that they DO anything, but you'll get this neat little reply from them, indicating that they do a bunch of stuff to discourage spamming via their facilities. They also tell you that some folks counterfeit their domain as a sender address, and how you can tell it's a counterfeit address, etc. What I think would help would be if the domain from which spam originated were blocked from sending email, particularly for the larger concerns whose income/existent is dependent on large volumes of mail, etc, THEY would take steps to prevent it. If it were simply made impossible to send the same message to more than one destination address, that would help, as would disallowing sending the same message twice. I'm not an expert, and I don't doubt that the spammers will find another way to do the same thing. What disturbs me is that they're chewing up bandwidth that we're all eventually going to have to pay for in one way or another, most probably by paying for internet bandwidth the way we pay for long distance phone service. Now, that would help get rid of those annoying little 800KB "greeting cards" of which those little old ladies like to send thousands a day, but the spammers would still chew up the bandwidth. Regulation is an ugly thing, and it's not likely that the sort of regulation that people in the US come up with will help anything. They're always trying to legislate good sense, particularly the folks living near the San Andreas fault, who are apparently the world leaders in this. It's not their domain alone, however. The type of regulation that will come about as a result is likely to be the sort of regulation that folks like Adrianna Huffington promote, i.e. don't let anybody put anything out on the internet just in case my little kid might stumble into something I don't want him/her to see. They are overreacting, aren't they? Gawd! I have never run into a nudie by accident, and, quite frankly, I can't even find decent ones when I want to! Nevertheless, it would be nice to watch the halftime show at the superbowl and see them take the 100 worst spammers and slowly dip them into a solder pot. <end of rant> Dick -----Original Message----- From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 12:22 PM Subject: Re: Own Your Own Internet Store >Upon the date 12:29 PM 11/23/99 +0000, sports111opp(a)hotmail.com said >something like: > ><rudely intrusive HTML msg snipped> > >Could these guys have sent this as a vindictive attempt at getting back at >us for your good attempt at LARTting them Bruce? If so, *really* LART them >next time :-) But that Hotmail account helps to make them a bit invisible >I think. BTW, you asked u.wash to try to limit access to the list only to >those who are subscribers. I hope they don't take the simple route and >simply bar any Hotmail-sourced messages from getting through. Some >ClassicCmp subscribers could use Hotmail as a quick, simple email provider >-especially if they're traveling, etc. > >Regards, Chris >-- -- >Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian >Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net > Member of Antique Wireless Association > URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/

26 years

Oscilloscopes

by dylanb＠sympatico.ca

Couldn't agree more Al. I have and use a 2465 on most analog and 4 trace matters. I have a THS720A for "inside the rack" and I use my TDS654 for high speed glitch problems. I would highly recommend anyone buying a 2465 on EBay... Excellent scopes to 300Mhz and really inexpensive... much better than the 465. -----Original Message----- From: Al Kossow <aek(a)spies.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 5:46 PM Subject: Re: Oscilloscopes >"Is Fry's a good place to get scopes?" > >Fry's isn't a good place to buy anything. They would be the LAST >place I'd buy any test gear from. > >I personally think you'll be better off with a late model used >TEK scope (my fav is the 2465A right now) than anything you'd >be able to buy new in your price range. > >You should be able to find a 2465 in decent shape for $1000-$1500 >

26 years

Splitting TIFFs (was Re: Yet more on -8/m Mem problems)

by fmc＠reanimators.org

ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > My guess is that tifftopnm (which is what I normally use) is only going > to extract the first page as well. Anybody got a utility to pull the tiff > apart into individual pages? Look for tiffsplit, which I think comes with libtiff (so if you built the PNM stuff with TIFF support, you may have it installed already). -Frank McConnell

26 years

List spammer traced

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Our latest list spam has been traced. LARTs have been launched. I've also sent a query to CLASSICCMP's human contact asking if things can be configured to allow postings only from those who subscribe. It wouldn't stop a Really Determined spammer, but it would make them a lot easier to track down. We'll see what happens. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 "Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."

26 years

Did the list change?

by jfoust＠foust.org

I resubscribed at a different domain that I own, so I'm back on the list and receiving messages. I'd like to figure out the problem with U-Wash not sending to threedee.com nonetheless. - John

26 years

E.U.N.U.C.H. (Cooling)

by rgarner＠Brocade.COM

Sipke de Wal, I passed your concern about Beryllium Oxide to someone here. His response: The only danger is as mentioned below, dust which does not happen by accident. It is necessary to seriously grind or file the hard material to create dust. As long as you do not try to machine it or file it or break it up there is not problem. So, assemblers should be warned not to mistreat it, breaking grinding or filing it. When I use it I also use thermal compound to make a good thermal connection. This greasy substance also provides a measure of added protection because if the BEO were accidentally scratched or broken any small particles would become mixed into this greasy compound and not become airborne. It has the properties of: 1. a dielectric constant of about 6 for low capacitance 2. a very low thermal resistance for cooling If there is great fear of using it alumina can be substituted: 1. dielectric constant of 10 2. low thermal resistance but not as good as BEO. Ron Miller > -----Original Message----- > From: Sipke de Wal [SMTP:sipke@wxs.nl] > Sent: Thursday, November 18, 1999 10:40 AM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: E.U.N.U.C.H. (Cooling) > > Beware !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > Beryllium was mentioned here. Beryllium Oxide was used in the thermal > conduction stuff HF-transistors decades ago, but this ceramic stuff can > be quite lethal. If it breaks and you inhale a few microns of the dust > there off, lungcancer can almost be guarantied within a decade !!!! > > Stay away from BEO !!!!! > > Sipke de Wal > > > > Hans Franke wrote: > > > > > At -100 Celsius: Al, 241; Cu, 420, Ag, 432. Interestingly enough, at > these low > > > temperatures Beryllium is pretty good at 367. > >

26 years

Apple ][+ find and info/sw request...

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 22, 8:19, Eric Smith wrote: > ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > > Incidentally, back when Apple ][s were current it was generally claimed > > in the UK that if you plugged anything but a colourcard into slot 7 you > > would do serious damage to the machine. Looking at the schematics I can't > > see a reason why this will do any damage, but I've never had the courage > > to try it. Anyone know anything about this? I remember being told that, and remember the sticker over Slot 7 (one of my Europluses still has the sticker) but I don't know if there was any cause for concern. I think the purpose of the sticker was simply to ensure people left Slot 7 free in case a colour card was added later. > Probably just an urban legend, like the ones about how all your memory > chips need to be from the same vendor, and how they must all be the > same speed, and how you shouldn't use 120 ns DRAMs in a computer designed > for 150 ns DRAMs, and similar BS. Probably. The only things different about Slot 7 are pins 19 and 35 -- which carry sync and color-ref signals from the motherboard to Slot 7, but are unconnected on the other slots. According to the circuit diagram, anyway. Unless some card used those pins for some non-standard purpose, it shouldn't matter. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years

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test-drb November 1999