Re: Ann Arbor Ambassador XL / Re: pile of gear for sale (DEC, Sun, PC, ephemera, v.35 cables, etc etc)

2017-03-28 Thread Andrew K. Bressen via cctalk 

> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 02:22:34PM -0700, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:
>>(Not sure what the XL designates, I knew them as just Ann Arbor Ambassador).
>

John Wilson via cctalk  writes:
> It's a newer version.  I think maybe 60 lines vs. 48 for the classic AAA?
> Could be wrong.
>
> John Wilson
> D Bit

Yeah, it has a pretty tall aspect ratio, 60 lines seems very believable.

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
On 03/28/2017 06:21 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
> When I did media conversion for people, I ignored their content,
> other than monitoring for quality control. Same as when I used to do
> photographic color printing, and did some for other people. Anything
> else would be seriously unethical. THAT is simple professional
> ethics.

Just so--I still do a fair amount of conversion and a lot of it is very
personal stuff.   I may spot-check the output in places to make sure
that it's not garbage, but otherwise, it's strictly not for my eyes.

Back when I used to do forensic processing for various law enforcement
organizations, I was sometimes called upon to help reconstruct data.
The only time that I paid attention to one such process, it was the
journal of a sexual predator.  It made me ill to read it and I vowed
never to do that again--and I didn't.

--Chuck

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Fred Cisin via cctalk 

How do you feel about reading dead presidents personal letters? At some
point personal information ends up being historic information.


The item in question seems to be ten years old.
THAT doesn't sound like "historical" can or should over-ride current 
rights holders.


At some point, "grave robbing" turns into "respectable archeology", but 
this doesn't seem to have reached that point.  THESE "presidents" are 
still alive, and their PERSONAL letters are not yet "history".


On Tue, 28 Mar 2017, Tony Aiuto via cctalk wrote:

"not private to begin with" is a conveniently loose interpretation of the
law. What you do on a company computer is certainly available information
to the company - I won't argue that. You can not, however, conflate that
with the many things that might be stored on company computers are
protected from disclosure outside the company and individual. A
conversation with HR about recovery from your alcoholism would certainly be
protected from disclosure.


There is a concept of "in the public eye" that takes away most privacy of 
things done in public, or as official actions.   Nixon's Oval Office 
actions did not have an expectation of privacy, but his bedroom did.
(Not that that would be interesting, I'm willing to believe from his 
values and attitudes that Nixon was a virgin)


SOME privacy ceases on death.  SOME lasts until it is clear that the 
actions are "historical" rather than "personal"



(some defunct, others not) and peoples personal files, music, videos, and
photos. I don't bother looking at any of it, only backing up hard to find
drivers or software keys then wiping the drive. If I did come across a user
that was famous (or infamous) I would probably preserve it (remove the
drive and store it somewhere) while going about my hobby interest with the
machine.


If it is a person who is alive, or RECENTLY deceased (Jobs?), it should be 
returned to them or their estate. 
Long ago, no problem.


There is not a clear line to draw.


Everything we do today is digital, sooner or later there will be no
written records at all. In the distant future historians will want to know
what we were doing in 2017 and they will have nothing to go by since all
the websites will be long gone and all our files will have been erased or
saved using backup methods nobody can make heads or tales of let alone find
the programs that can read the files and computers that the programs can
run on.


Who said, "the internet is written in sand"?


Maybe the wayback machine will keep this all, but that is not irrelevant to
this thread.

So I think a small random fraction of users lives should be around to
learn from.


But, not while they (or theirs) are still around to be affected by the 
release.



But we are not talking about users from the distant past. We are talking
about people who are still alive today - and probably discoverable with an
easy web search. We should respect their privacy.


Al's link was for Turok source code.  It came out in 2008.  I seriously 
doubt that it could be considered to be "abandoned".  Even if acquired in 
good faith through oversight or accident, it would not be appropriate to 
release somebody's source code.



--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread jim stephens via cctalk 



On 3/28/2017 6:38 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:

the guy on ebay made a big deal on the net about one SGI machine that he knew 
had video game source code on it.
Not unusual.  The more people crow about it the more hammers will swing 
on good hardware that could otherwise be repurposed.


I worked @ a company which was famous for their what I call Tidy-bug 
attitude.  They gathered up a lot of stuff about 6 months in and make a 
huge pile of free take stuff at the back door.


including one techs private stuff while he wasn't at his desk (he had 
permission) and several other such small nits.


but the satisfying bit of karma for this old hoarder was that they 
insisted on taking all the disk drives out which were of course 
"sensitive" and rather than hook them to a Linux machine or such with a 
wiper program, insisted on actually ball peening them.  just so sad.


They had three drives with irreplaceable no backed up software and pulls 
from systems which were rarely used but had software loaded which were lost.


I hate to take satisfaction but I just don't work the way of ignorant 
solutions being the way to go because they seem simple. This one really 
bit them in the ass.  An intelligent solution of wiping the hardware and 
then checking would have worked since all were sata or Pata or IDE 
drives easily readable.


but none of their data got out in the exercise.

thanks
Jim

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Tony Aiuto via cctalk 
On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 6:51 PM, TeoZ via cctalk 
wrote:

> How do you feel about reading dead presidents personal letters? At some
> point personal information ends up being historic information.
>
> If there is money (or more money) to be made associating a Computer to a
> company or specific somewhat famous people then sellers will play this
> angle for all it is worth. Anything done on company machines *is not
> private to begin with.* What exactly are we going to learn other then
> people asking for vacation days, so and so is a shitty boss, the company
> probably used some pirated software, and early artwork or code for games
> might have been pretty shitty.
>

"not private to begin with" is a conveniently loose interpretation of the
law. What you do on a company computer is certainly available information
to the company - I won't argue that. You can not, however, conflate that
with the many things that might be stored on company computers are
protected from disclosure outside the company and individual. A
conversation with HR about recovery from your alcoholism would certainly be
protected from disclosure.


> I get computers all the time with hard drive intact full of company data
> (some defunct, others not) and peoples personal files, music, videos, and
> photos. I don't bother looking at any of it, only backing up hard to find
> drivers or software keys then wiping the drive. If I did come across a user
> that was famous (or infamous) I would probably preserve it (remove the
> drive and store it somewhere) while going about my hobby interest with the
> machine.
>
> Everything we do today is digital, sooner or later there will be no
> written records at all. In the distant future historians will want to know
> what we were doing in 2017 and they will have nothing to go by since all
> the websites will be long gone and all our files will have been erased or
> saved using backup methods nobody can make heads or tales of let alone find
> the programs that can read the files and computers that the programs can
> run on.


Maybe the wayback machine will keep this all, but that is not irrelevant to
this thread.


> So I think a small random fraction of users lives should be around to
> learn from.


But we are not talking about users from the distant past. We are talking
about people who are still alive today - and probably discoverable with an
easy web search. We should respect their privacy.

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Al Kossow via cctalk 
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/turok-source-code-ebay

On 3/28/17 6:36 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 3/28/17 6:21 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> Anything else would be seriously unethical.
> 
> the guy on ebay made a big deal on the net about one SGI machine that he knew 
> had video game source code on it.
> 
> 
>

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Al Kossow via cctalk 


On 3/28/17 6:21 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

> Anything else would be seriously unethical.

the guy on ebay made a big deal on the net about one SGI machine that he knew 
had video game source code on it.

PDP-11/20 in Iowa (x3)

2017-03-28 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
> From: Philipp Hachtmann

> The 11/20 is the simplest 11 as far as I know.

'Simplest' in what sense? They certainly aren't the easiest ones to
understand, with all that random control logic! The -11/04 is far easier
to understand (for me, at least; YMMV).


> From: Ethan Dicks

> Was there ever a quad MOS memory board for the 11/20?

I'm pretty sure there was never a UNIBUS quad memory card from DEC.

> if anyone knows where to get a crate of 110V Boxer fans for around
> $5/each, let me know 

New ones (not exactly the same as the originals, but the right size in the
X/Y directions, if not identical in the Z, and 110V, with the same kind of
power connector) are available on eBait for around $10 each. Look for "120mm
110V fan".

Noel

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Fred Cisin via cctalk 
When I did media conversion for people, I ignored their content, other 
than monitoring for quality control.
Same as when I used to do photographic color printing, and did some for 
other people.

Anything else would be seriously unethical.
THAT is simple professional ethics.


Otherwise, it's on a par with accidentally overhearing somebody else's 
conversation, credit card number that they are blabbing into a cellphone, 
ets.
If and when I end up with somebody's old drive, I check for anything that 
they might want back, and wipe the rest.
On one recent laptop, I found a folder of pictures that the previous owner 
had forgotten about, and was grateful to get.
On another machine, the previous owner had lost a password to a site, but 
it was stored in the machine.  I used the "saved password" to login and 
changed it to a known one.


Not only do I not feel a right to somebody else's work, I don't have an 
interest.


An exception is that after a friend died, I saved his documents and 
his non-personal pictures, as if he had shared them with me.

(I kept his landscape photos, but erased his personal erotica)


When I get rid of a machine, I'd like to just hand it off to somebody who 
would have use for it.
But, if people are going through what's on old machines, then I will have 
to start wiping hard disks before parting with them.  There are SOME 
people whom I would trust if they promised to wipe the content after 
receiving them.  For others, . . .


That's a hassle!
Yes, it really isn't much work, but, . . .
I've got a 200MB 3.5" ESDI drive to get rid of.  But, now I don't think 
that I can do so until after I locate a WD '07 controller, connect it, and 
low level format it.  Since "scrounging" that controller is on a priority 
level comparable to cleaning the gutters, it's not happening.


I've got a crate of ST4096s.

I've got a large collection of OQOs.  I guess that before I can give them 
away, I need to get each and every one working, or remove its HDD.


When I run into a TRS80 model 1 disk with some data and system, should I 
bulk erase it, or rely on the ethics of somebody who might need a boot 
disk?  Or do I need to delay giving away anything such until I get around 
to setting up a system to read it?   Would anybody WANT a TRSDOS 2.0 disk?

APR-DOS?
or a PC-DOS 1.0 disk with the weird double side (as second drive) patch?
Gavilan MS-DOS 2.11J? 2.11K?
Gavilan "bubble memory"? (already gave that away to somebody trustworthy)


There is an implicit level of TRUST when dealing with used media and 
hardware.  Let's not abuse it.


--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Chris Hanson via cctalk 
On Mar 28, 2017, at 2:36 PM, JP Hindin via cctalk  wrote:
> 
> While I'm not specifically crapping on the guy selling this Indy - I'm kind 
> of curious how others feel about this sort of thing as it's something I've 
> been confronted with personally lately.

It’s going to make it harder for people to get castoff hardware, because 
companies are going to err on the side of destroying anything that might 
possibly be sensitive. (Just as many already do.)

Do you really think such companies will pull drives and shred just the drives 
before scrapping systems? Or is it more likely they’ll just put the entire 
systems through a shredder? And even if they did just pull drives, what if they 
use a hard-to-find interconnect, or an OS that can’t be easily reloaded?

  -- Chris

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
On 03/28/2017 02:36 PM, JP Hindin via cctalk wrote:

> But... eMails? I dunno. I've been pulling a lot of data off a Cray
> J90 and I've had a lot of people ask me to release it to the public
> and I just can't bring myself to do so. I'm _pretty sure_ that it
> belonged to NASA, which might mean some/all of the information may
> even be Public Domain - but this has people's usernames, and lord
> knows what kind of effort they put into the work. (And that's
> ignoring how not-qualified I am to make the PD assertion)
> 
> It just feels _wrong_ to me, personally.

Well, as someone who occasionally does work for JPL, I should mention
that a lot of the stuff you may find from the 80s and 90s may still be
classified--or at least sensitive.

Doubtless there are federal laws about this sort of thing and you really
don't want the black van pulling up in front of your place.

--Chuck

Re: Ann Arbor Ambassador XL / Re: pile of gear for sale (DEC, Sun, PC, ephemera, v.35 cables, etc etc)

2017-03-28 Thread John Wilson via cctalk 
On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 02:22:34PM -0700, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:
>(Not sure what the XL designates, I knew them as just Ann Arbor Ambassador).

It's a newer version.  I think maybe 60 lines vs. 48 for the classic AAA?
Could be wrong.

John Wilson
D Bit

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Toby Thain via cctalk 

On 2017-03-28 6:51 PM, TeoZ via cctalk wrote:

How do you feel about reading dead presidents personal letters? At some
point personal information ends up being historic information.


I am not a lawyer, but it almost seems like something that actual law 
should cover.


* http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/general-business-law/gbs-sect-399-h.html
* http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/intellectual-property
* http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/publication-private-facts



If there is money (or more money) to be made associating a Computer to a
company or specific somewhat famous people then sellers will play this
angle for all it is worth. Anything done on company machines is not
private to begin with. What exactly are we going to learn other then
people asking for vacation days, so and so is a shitty boss, the company
probably used some pirated software, and early artwork or code for games
might have been pretty shitty.


"Nothing to hide" arguments don't justify making this public wholesale 
(or depriving anyone of privacy).




I get computers all the time with hard drive intact full of company data
(some defunct, others not) and peoples personal files, music, videos,
and photos. I don't bother looking at any of it, only backing up hard to
find drivers or software keys then wiping the drive. If I did come
across a user that was famous (or infamous) I would probably preserve it
(remove the drive and store it somewhere) while going about my hobby
interest with the machine.


Perhaps what you should do, is contact them, ask if they want the data, 
and if they say no - or you can't reach them - wipe it. But it seems 
that even doing this much may expose you to liability, so ask your own 
lawyer.




Everything we do today is digital, sooner or later there will be no
written records at all. In the distant future historians will want to
know what we were doing in 2017 and they will have nothing to go by
since all the websites will be long gone and all our files will have
been erased or saved using backup methods nobody can make heads or tales
of let alone find the programs that can read the files and computers
that the programs can run on. So I think a small random fraction of
users lives should be around to learn from. If for some reason we nuke


How about making this an opt-in scheme, not "my stuff fell into am 
unscrupulous stranger's hands and now it's all over the internet".




ourselves into oblivion (or more likely just keep destroying the
environment until we can no long function as a society) then maybe
people down the road should look over out private files, posts, emails,
blogs, etc. to see how people could allow it to happen. You won't be
able to see government files because everything will be stamped Top


Your governments have been destroying their internal communications, or 
otherwise concealing them, for decades.


--Toby


Secret (or more likely deleted) including your own data they illegally
obtained.





-Original Message- From: JP Hindin via cctalk
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 5:36 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy
(with data, emails, etc) on eBay



This guy is on Reddit and has been posting lots of stuff from these
machines and I can't help but feel a bit suspect about all of this. While
they're old machines, the information is presumably no longer of any
commercial value and the company no longer exists... I can't help but feel
that this is an invasion of someone's privacy. The commercial content is
one thing - although whether it's truly "abandoned" runs down into all of
those arguments we see flare up in cctalk about once every two years, so
let's not go there again...

But... eMails? I dunno. I've been pulling a lot of data off a Cray J90 and
I've had a lot of people ask me to release it to the public and I just
can't bring myself to do so. I'm _pretty sure_ that it belonged to NASA,
which might mean some/all of the information may even be Public Domain -
but this has people's usernames, and lord knows what kind of effort they
put into the work. (And that's ignoring how not-qualified I am to make the
PD assertion)

It just feels _wrong_ to me, personally.

While I'm not specifically crapping on the guy selling this Indy - I'm
kind of curious how others feel about this sort of thing as it's something
I've been confronted with personally lately.

Cheers;

 - JP

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread TeoZ via cctalk 
How do you feel about reading dead presidents personal letters? At some 
point personal information ends up being historic information.


If there is money (or more money) to be made associating a Computer to a 
company or specific somewhat famous people then sellers will play this angle 
for all it is worth. Anything done on company machines is not private to 
begin with. What exactly are we going to learn other then people asking for 
vacation days, so and so is a shitty boss, the company probably used some 
pirated software, and early artwork or code for games might have been pretty 
shitty.


I get computers all the time with hard drive intact full of company data 
(some defunct, others not) and peoples personal files, music, videos, and 
photos. I don't bother looking at any of it, only backing up hard to find 
drivers or software keys then wiping the drive. If I did come across a user 
that was famous (or infamous) I would probably preserve it (remove the drive 
and store it somewhere) while going about my hobby interest with the 
machine.


Everything we do today is digital, sooner or later there will be no written 
records at all. In the distant future historians will want to know what we 
were doing in 2017 and they will have nothing to go by since all the 
websites will be long gone and all our files will have been erased or saved 
using backup methods nobody can make heads or tales of let alone find the 
programs that can read the files and computers that the programs can run on. 
So I think a small random fraction of users lives should be around to learn 
from. If for some reason we nuke ourselves into oblivion (or more likely 
just keep destroying the environment until we can no long function as a 
society) then maybe people down the road should look over out private files, 
posts, emails, blogs, etc. to see how people could allow it to happen. You 
won't be able to see government files because everything will be stamped Top 
Secret (or more likely deleted) including your own data they illegally 
obtained.






-Original Message- 
From: JP Hindin via cctalk

Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 5:36 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with 
data, emails, etc) on eBay




This guy is on Reddit and has been posting lots of stuff from these
machines and I can't help but feel a bit suspect about all of this. While
they're old machines, the information is presumably no longer of any
commercial value and the company no longer exists... I can't help but feel
that this is an invasion of someone's privacy. The commercial content is
one thing - although whether it's truly "abandoned" runs down into all of
those arguments we see flare up in cctalk about once every two years, so
let's not go there again...

But... eMails? I dunno. I've been pulling a lot of data off a Cray J90 and
I've had a lot of people ask me to release it to the public and I just
can't bring myself to do so. I'm _pretty sure_ that it belonged to NASA,
which might mean some/all of the information may even be Public Domain -
but this has people's usernames, and lord knows what kind of effort they
put into the work. (And that's ignoring how not-qualified I am to make the
PD assertion)

It just feels _wrong_ to me, personally.

While I'm not specifically crapping on the guy selling this Indy - I'm
kind of curious how others feel about this sort of thing as it's something
I've been confronted with personally lately.

Cheers;

 - JP 



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread JP Hindin via cctalk 



On Tue, 28 Mar 2017, Michael-John Turner via cctalk wrote:
	Own a piece of gaming history! This Indy workstation was once owned 
by 	Acclaim Entertainment, the legendary game publisher, and was 
liquidated 	at Acclaim's bankruptcy sale in 2004. It sat untouched in a 
Brooklyn 	warehouse for more than a decade before being recovered last 
year.


	Andy Skalka: More than a hundred e-mail messages about Acclaim IT 
operations (see photos)
	Danielle Papsidero: More than five hundred e-mail messages (see 
photos)

Rob Zimmelman: Image sequence for Dragonheart game combat
EVa motion capture editing software (unlicensed)
BioMotion motion capture editing software (unlicensed)
Motion captured animation data (Dreamworks, baseball, Batman, etc.)
Licenses: various expired and/or inactive licenses for Nichimen


This guy is on Reddit and has been posting lots of stuff from these 
machines and I can't help but feel a bit suspect about all of this. While 
they're old machines, the information is presumably no longer of any 
commercial value and the company no longer exists... I can't help but feel 
that this is an invasion of someone's privacy. The commercial content is 
one thing - although whether it's truly "abandoned" runs down into all of 
those arguments we see flare up in cctalk about once every two years, so 
let's not go there again...


But... eMails? I dunno. I've been pulling a lot of data off a Cray J90 and 
I've had a lot of people ask me to release it to the public and I just 
can't bring myself to do so. I'm _pretty sure_ that it belonged to NASA, 
which might mean some/all of the information may even be Public Domain - 
but this has people's usernames, and lord knows what kind of effort they 
put into the work. (And that's ignoring how not-qualified I am to make the 
PD assertion)


It just feels _wrong_ to me, personally.

While I'm not specifically crapping on the guy selling this Indy - I'm 
kind of curious how others feel about this sort of thing as it's something 
I've been confronted with personally lately.


Cheers;

 - JP

Ann Arbor Ambassador XL / Re: pile of gear for sale (DEC, Sun, PC, ephemera, v.35 cables, etc etc)

2017-03-28 Thread Brent Hilpert via cctalk 
On 2017-Mar-28, at 2:08 PM, Andrew K. Bressen via cctalk wrote:
> I have about four or five hundred things I'm ready to stop owning.
> I'm in Boston. If anyone wants a number of objects, I could deliver
> to VCF East this weekend. 
> 
> Inventory list at: 
> http://threefingered.com/2017_inventory_3.html
> 
> I have someone interested in getting all of the TK-50s, OSF/1 and
> Digital Unix CDs, and some of the VME boards, so those things might 
> not be available.
> 
> Contact me at decruft @ mirror.to please. 
> 
> Items I'd especially like to find good homes for are the DECNIS
> cables and the Adak ISDN box, anyone interested in those items 
> is welcome to them for cost of postage and a good story about why
> you want it. 



Somebody (I don't recall who, OTTOMH)  might wish to take note there is an Ann 
Arbor Ambassador XL terminal mentioned in there.
I recall when these were mentioned on the list sometime ago somebody else 
expressed interest in obtaining one.
I'm tempted but it's a long ways away, I'll leave it for that other party if 
they're closer or more motivated.
(Not sure what the XL designates, I knew them as just Ann Arbor Ambassador).

Re: DEC VT520 in San Jose

2017-03-28 Thread Glen Slick via cctalk 
The VT520 is one of my favorite modern DEC terminals. Small and doesn't
take up a lot of room but still perfectly readable in 50 line mode if the
CRT isn't too old and tired. It also supports dual simultaneous sessions as
well, doesn't it?

You get color with the VT525, but then you need to hook it up to a suitable
display. Many of the LCD displays I have tried with a VT525 are not happy
with the display modes it uses and can result in less readable displays
compared to the VT520.

Fortunately I have been able to acquire 4 or 5 LK411 keyboards at
reasonable prices over the years. A couple were around $5 each at RE-PC in
Seattle a year or two ago.

-Glen

On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 1:16 PM, Chris Hanson via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I’d already arranged to pick it up by the time you posted this. ;)
>
> It works great! The seller only had an HP keyboard for it though (as
> shown), not an LK411, and those are terribly expensive right now on eBay.
> Still, it works just fine, and is nice and crisp amber on black even at
> 132×50.
>
>   -- Chris
>
> > On Mar 26, 2017, at 1:01 PM, Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> >
> > Saw this on Craigslist so if anyone needs one it's reasonable at $35
> working.
> >
> > https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/6060214206.html
> >
> > Bob
>

pile of gear for sale (DEC, Sun, PC, ephemera, v.35 cables, etc etc)

2017-03-28 Thread Andrew K. Bressen via cctalk 

I have about four or five hundred things I'm ready to stop owning.
I'm in Boston. If anyone wants a number of objects, I could deliver
to VCF East this weekend. 

Inventory list at: 
http://threefingered.com/2017_inventory_3.html

I have someone interested in getting all of the TK-50s, OSF/1 and
Digital Unix CDs, and some of the VME boards, so those things might 
not be available.

Contact me at decruft @ mirror.to please. 

Items I'd especially like to find good homes for are the DECNIS
cables and the Adak ISDN box, anyone interested in those items 
is welcome to them for cost of postage and a good story about why
you want it.

Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

2017-03-28 Thread Michael-John Turner via cctalk 

Hi,

I came across this on eBay today: www.ebay.com/itm/162446083760

To quote from the listing:

	Own a piece of gaming history! This Indy workstation was once owned by 
	Acclaim Entertainment, the legendary game publisher, and was liquidated 
	at Acclaim's bankruptcy sale in 2004. It sat untouched in a Brooklyn 
	warehouse for more than a decade before being recovered last year.


	This Indy, "pup," was used for internal Acclaim business operations at 
	its headquarters in Glen Cove, NY. It features user account information 
	and internal company files for a number of Acclaim employees:


	Andy Skalka: More than a hundred e-mail messages about Acclaim IT 
	operations (see photos)

Danielle Papsidero: More than five hundred e-mail messages (see photos)
Rob Zimmelman: Image sequence for Dragonheart game combat
EVa motion capture editing software (unlicensed)
BioMotion motion capture editing software (unlicensed)
Motion captured animation data (Dreamworks, baseball, Batman, etc.)
	Licenses: various expired and/or inactive licenses for Nichimen N-World 
	and BioMotionEditor


No affiliation with the seller, but it sounds like an interesting piece of 
history. Price is $199 BIN.


Cheers, MJ 
--
Michael-John Turner * m...@mjturner.net * http://mjturner.net/

RE: Not Getting Emails

2017-03-28 Thread Rob Jarratt via cctalk 
> 
> I received this one on the list.
> 
> I haven't had any problems with list mail.  at all.
> But, that doesn't mean that everybody else has been so fortunate.
> 
> --


Thanks. I saw it appear in the archive. I have checked junk mail, but have
found nothing. I don't know how to diagnose it. My profile page says there
have been 3 bounces, but there have been many more emails than that posted
to the list. I suppose it needs the mail list admin to go and look in the
logs.

Regards

Rob

Re: Not Getting Emails

2017-03-28 Thread Alfred M. Szmidt via cctalk 
   I have not had any emails from cctalk for 2 or 3 weeks. I went to my
   subscription details and saw that emails were disabled for me. I re-enabled
   them a few days ago but I still have not received any new emails. I can see
   that there is traffic by looking at the archives, and if I am not getting
   emails I hope to at least see this one appear in the archive and hopefully
   read replies there too. Is it just me?

No.

Re: Not Getting Emails

2017-03-28 Thread Fred Cisin via cctalk 

On Tue, 28 Mar 2017, Rob Jarratt via cctalk wrote:

I have not had any emails from cctalk for 2 or 3 weeks. I went to my
subscription details and saw that emails were disabled for me. I re-enabled
them a few days ago but I still have not received any new emails. I can see
that there is traffic by looking at the archives, and if I am not getting
emails I hope to at least see this one appear in the archive and hopefully
read replies there too. Is it just me?
Regards
Rob


I received this one on the list.

I haven't had any problems with list mail.  at all.
But, that doesn't mean that everybody else has been so fortunate.

--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com

Not Getting Emails

2017-03-28 Thread Rob Jarratt via cctalk 
I have not had any emails from cctalk for 2 or 3 weeks. I went to my
subscription details and saw that emails were disabled for me. I re-enabled
them a few days ago but I still have not received any new emails. I can see
that there is traffic by looking at the archives, and if I am not getting
emails I hope to at least see this one appear in the archive and hopefully
read replies there too. Is it just me?

 

Regards

 

Rob

Re: DEC VT520 in San Jose

2017-03-28 Thread Chris Hanson via cctalk 
I’d already arranged to pick it up by the time you posted this. ;)

It works great! The seller only had an HP keyboard for it though (as shown), 
not an LK411, and those are terribly expensive right now on eBay. Still, it 
works just fine, and is nice and crisp amber on black even at 132×50.

  -- Chris

> On Mar 26, 2017, at 1:01 PM, Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> Saw this on Craigslist so if anyone needs one it's reasonable at $35 working.
> 
> https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/6060214206.html
> 
> Bob
> 
> -- 
> Vintage computers and electronics
> www.dvq.com
> www.tekmuseum.com
> www.decmuseum.org
>

Re: Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread Fred Cisin via cctalk 

On Tue, 28 Mar 2017, Systems Glitch via cctalk wrote:

Then it's a regional thing.
"Scrounge up," or to "scrounge around," is certainly commonly used to 
mean, "find something in a pile of mess" in the southeastern US. Mostly 
equivalent to "scare up."


California:  "Scrounge the keyboards, memory, and drives from the machines 
being discarded."

"Scrounge up a parallel port for the printer server"
(forage, salvage, scavenge, etc.)

But, the "pilferage" meaning does give some context to the administration 
attempts to fire a colleague for scrounging stuff from the dumpsters!

(PDP, 5170s, VT100s, Northstar Horizon, Processor Technology Sol, Lisa, etc.)

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread Systems Glitch via cctalk 
> Likely a J11 power Q or Unibus CPU of late vintage.

Looks similar to a Mentec KDJ11-B workalike, I don't remember their 
designation. Onboard RAM and DLV11-J from what I remember...

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread Parent Allison via cctalk 

On Mar 28, 2017, at 1:09 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk  
wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Henk Gooijen via cctalk
>  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi PDP-11 game players 
>> 
>> I found that the famous QIX game was ported to the PDP-11 !!
>> See http://imgur.com/a/gtPfh
> 
> I don't know which PDP-11 that is either.  It's a 3rd party card.
> Anyone recognize it?
> 
> -ethan

Its defiantely J11 powered, the white ceramic chip carrier gives that away.

Likely a J11 power Q or Unibus CPU of late vintage.

Allison

Apple 1, Commodore 65, Enigma Machine, Inventor of C++

2017-03-28 Thread Evan Koblentz via cctalk 
"What do an Apple 1, Commodore 65, Enigma Machine, and the inventor of 
C++ all have in common?"


"They all be at VCF East this weekend."

You should go, too.


Evan Koblentz, director
Vintage Computer Federation
a 501(c)3 educational non-profit

e...@vcfed.org
(646) 546-

www.vcfed.org
facebook.com/vcfederation
twitter.com/vcfederation

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread John Wilson via cctalk 
On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 04:35:46PM +, Henk Gooijen via cctalk wrote:
>Does anybody have a lead to the software? That would be awesome!

Here's a link to the VAX version:

www.decuslib.com/decus/vax_games/mqix/

So it's written in three languages ... and it's multi-user.  Could be a
useful starting point though?

John Wilson
D Bit

Re: Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread Systems Glitch via cctalk 
> Then it's a regional thing.

"Scrounge up," or to "scrounge around," is certainly commonly used to mean, 
"find something in a pile of mess" in the southeastern US. Mostly equivalent to 
"scare up."

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread Jerry Weiss via cctalk 

> On Mar 28, 2017, at 12:09 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Henk Gooijen via cctalk
>  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi PDP-11 game players 
>> 
>> I found that the famous QIX game was ported to the PDP-11 !!
>> See http://imgur.com/a/gtPfh
> 
> I don't know which PDP-11 that is either.  It's a 3rd party card.
> Anyone recognize it?
> 
> -ethan


Here is a link to other pictures of the same board.  

http://www.compsy.de/moduls/modbesch/roi%20j11-8.htm 



Jerry

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread John Wilson via cctalk 
On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 04:35:46PM +, Henk Gooijen via cctalk wrote:
>I found that the famous QIX game was ported to the PDP-11 !!
[...]
>Does anybody have a lead to the software? That would be awesome!

Nope, but I remember a VAX version that also used VT100 graphics.
Possibly the same one?  I doubt it's much of a memory hog so maybe
it runs on (or was easily ported to) the PDP-11 too.  Not that I
know where to find the VAX version either...

John Wilson
D Bit

Re: QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread Ethan Dicks via cctalk 
On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Henk Gooijen via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> Hi PDP-11 game players 
>
> I found that the famous QIX game was ported to the PDP-11 !!
> See http://imgur.com/a/gtPfh

I don't know which PDP-11 that is either.  It's a 3rd party card.
Anyone recognize it?

-ethan

Re: Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread Toby Thain via cctalk 

On 2017-03-28 11:23 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:

On 28 March 2017 at 08:54, jim stephens via cctalk
 wrote:

I need to scrounge around


Hmm. That is not a possible usage of "scrounge" the way I know it. You
can't scrounge something you already have. It doesn't mean "search
for", it means "to pilfer", to get something off someone by the
pretence of borrowing it when you have no intention of ever returning
or repaying it. I.e. it's borderline theft.

It can mean to scavenge or to forage -- to go and seek something that
isn't yours that you can take and keep or use.

It doesn't mean to borrow, to seek, to look for.



Then it's a regional thing.

Where I come from you can definitely say "scrounge up" as "to look for", 
either in one's own stuff, or "somewhere".


The pejorative sense of "scrounger" is different.

--Toby

Scrounging - was Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread Mike Stein via cctalk 
- Original Message - 
From: "Liam Proven via cctalk" 
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: Floating point routines for the 6809


On 28 March 2017 at 08:54, jim stephens via cctalk
 wrote:
> I need to scrounge around

Hmm. That is not a possible usage of "scrounge" the way I know it. You
can't scrounge something you already have. It doesn't mean "search
for", it means "to pilfer", to get something off someone by the
pretence of borrowing it when you have no intention of ever returning
or repaying it. I.e. it's borderline theft.

It can mean to scavenge or to forage -- to go and seek something that
isn't yours that you can take and keep or use.

It doesn't mean to borrow, to seek, to look for.

--
Maybe it has a slightly different connotation on this side of the pond; I don't 
think it would mean "borderline theft" for most people.

e.g:

scrounge around (for something) American English
 Leroy would scrounge around for old car parts.

We would usually use "mooch" or "sponge" for _taking advantage of_ someone's 
generosity.

What would you call posting a want on freecycle?

m

QIX game on PDP-11

2017-03-28 Thread Henk Gooijen via cctalk 

Hi PDP-11 game players 

I found that the famous QIX game was ported to the PDP-11 !!
See http://imgur.com/a/gtPfh
Back in the days, I spend quite a few Guilders on this addictive game.

Does anybody have a lead to the software? That would be awesome!

Thanks,
Henk

Re: Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread Liam Proven via cctalk 
On 28 March 2017 at 08:54, jim stephens via cctalk
 wrote:
> I need to scrounge around

Hmm. That is not a possible usage of "scrounge" the way I know it. You
can't scrounge something you already have. It doesn't mean "search
for", it means "to pilfer", to get something off someone by the
pretence of borrowing it when you have no intention of ever returning
or repaying it. I.e. it's borderline theft.

It can mean to scavenge or to forage -- to go and seek something that
isn't yours that you can take and keep or use.

It doesn't mean to borrow, to seek, to look for.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

Re: Floating point routines for the 6809

2017-03-28 Thread jim stephens via cctalk 


That's cool.  I need to scrounge around and find my copy of Forth we 
used on a 6809 tape
controller firmware.  I had forth in the diagnostic firmware that we had 
on a snapon module
and you could compose whatever diagnostic exercises you chose by 
executing the basic

test functions we had in Forth.

Thanks for posting and finding it or writing it, Eric.
thanks
jim

On 3/27/2017 10:51 PM, Eric Smith via cctalk wrote:

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 2:53 PM, Sean Conner via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:


   Some time ago I came across the MC6839 ROM which contains floating point
routines for the 6809.  The documentation that came with it stated:

 Written for Motorola by Joel Boney, 1980
 Released into the public domain by Motorola in 1988
 Docs and apps for Tandy Color Computer by Rich Kottke, 1989

   What I haven't been able to find is the actual *source code* to the
module.  Is it available anywhere?  I've been playing around the the MC6839
on an emulator but having the source would clear up some issues I've been
having with the code.


https://github.com/brouhaha/float09

I haven't modified it to assemble with a readily available assembler, so I
don't know whether it assembles into the exact MC6839 ROM image.