[OT] Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
On Wed, Jun 27, 2001 at 08:26:55AM -0500, Jesse Pollard wrote: > a DF-32 for PDP 8 systems with 32 K bytes of disk space 32768 13-bit words (12-bit plus parity) - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
Rob Landley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > On Monday 25 June 2001 16:19, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... > > I learnt my computing on a PDP8/E with papertape punch/reader, RALF, > > Fortran II, then later 2.4Mb removable cartridges (RK05 I think). toggling > > in the bootstrap improved your concentration. Much later you could > > get a single chip(?) version of this in a wee knee sized box. > > "A quarter century of unix" mentions RK05 cartridges several times, but never > says much ABOUT them. > > Okay, so they're 2.4 megabyte removable cartridges? How big? Are they tapes > or disk packs? (I.E. can you run off of them or are they just storage?) I > know lots of early copies of unix were sent out from Bell Labs on RK05 > cartidges signed "love, ken"... Ah, the memories... (apologies for the interruptions, but just had too ...) RK05 cartriges looked very similar to a floppy case the size of an old 78 RPM record (about 12 inches across, 2 - 3 inches high). I never used them, but I did see them. They were among the first disk drives DEC ever made. Not the first (I think that was a DF-32 for PDP 8 systems with 32 K bytes of disk space). The raw storage was reported as 2.5 MB, formatted was ~2.4MB, with two recording surfaces. The drive looked very similar to a modern CD drive that would fit in about a 3U (ummm 4U?) 19 inch rack. It had 2 recording surfaces. It did have a write enable/disable switch. If I remember right these were originally made for the PDP 11/10-20 systems used for laboratory device control - chromatographs were mentioned by the chemistry department back in school. I may have an old DEC peripheral specification book at home (11/45 version). I really liked those books that DEC used to put out. If you ever needed to program a DEC interface, that book had everything. It was almost like the engineers were bragging about how easy the interfaces were to program. > What was that big reel to reel tape they always show in movies, anyway? I think they were CDC transports. > I need a weekend just to collate stuff... > > > One summer job was working on a PDP15 analog computer alongside an 11/20 > > with DECTAPE, trying to compute missile firing angles. [A simple version of > > Pres Bush's starwars shield]. > > Considering that the Mark I was designed to compute tables of artillery > firing angles during World War II... It's a distinct trend, innit? And the > source of the game "artillery duel", of course... Or the 11/34 version of the Lunar Lander (load from paper tape, graphics display on VT11 - 512x512 8 bit color). It used to be distributed as a diagnostic tool (hardware level interrupts, dual A/D conversion via joystick, I/O via VT11). Any memory, DMA, or bus configuration errors would hang the system with a known diagnostic one-liner message explaining the problem. I also saw a report of a "terminal warfare" event where the graphics display was being used for text editing when two little stick figure men would walk onto the display, pick up a line, and then walk off the screen. There was nothing the user could do until it finished. The text buffer wasn't touched, only the display buffer. - Jesse I Pollard, II Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Any opinions expressed are solely my own. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
On Tue, Jun 26, 2001 at 10:44:53AM -0400, Rob Landley wrote: > Okay, so they're 2.4 megabyte removable cartridges? How big? Are they tapes > or disk packs? (I.E. can you run off of them or are they just storage?) I > know lots of early copies of unix were sent out from Bell Labs on RK05 > cartidges signed "love, ken"... IIRC, rk05 was a removable disk drive, 1 platter to the assembly, about the size of a large pizza box. They were the standard disk drives for small DEC machines of the era. My memories from 30+ years ago, say they were maybe 10 pounds each. I would imagine you are confusing tapes with disks (ie, tk instead of rk) in terms of the release media Bell Labs sent out (at least I never saw a disk with the media, and I did have a job of trying to port the V7 compiler to a V6 system). It could be the very early customers got disks, and the later ones got tapes. -- Michael Meissner, Red Hat, Inc. (GCC group) PMB 198, 174 Littleton Road #3, Westford, Massachusetts 01886, USA Work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: +1 978-486-9304 Non-work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] fax: +1 978-692-4482 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
There seems to be a bug in the mail routing again. It may be related to the recent problem with ditto copier history outbreaks on Linux S/390 and the infamous 'pdp-11 memory subsystem' article routing bug that plagued comp.os.minix once. In the meantime can people check that their mailer hasnt spontaneously added linux-kernel to their history articles before posting them ? Alan - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
At 10:44 AM -0400 2001-06-26, Rob Landley wrote: >"A quarter century of unix" mentions RK05 cartridges several times, but never >says much ABOUT them. > >Okay, so they're 2.4 megabyte removable cartridges? How big? Are they tapes >or disk packs? (I.E. can you run off of them or are they just storage?) I >know lots of early copies of unix were sent out from Bell Labs on RK05 >cartidges signed "love, ken"... http://www.pdp8.net/rk05/rk05.shtml >What was that big reel to reel tape they always show in movies, anyway? The big-refrigerator-sized guys were generally attached to mainframes, IBM or otherwise. Here's a little info: http://www.digital-interact.co.uk/site/html/reference/media_9trk.html (but take it with a grain of salt; IBM surely didn't go to nine tracks because of ASCII!). -- /Jonathan Lundell. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: [comphist] Re: Microsoft and Xenix.
On Monday 25 June 2001 16:19, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi again, > > > > some old brain-cells got excited with the "good-ol-days" and other names > have surfaced like "Superbrain","Sirius" and "Apricot".Sirius was Victor in > the USA. If you go done the so-called IBM compatible route then the nearly > compatible nightmares will arise and haunt you, your lucky if the scars > have faded!! With the spelling cleaned up slightly, I just might want to quote that last sentence in my book. Would you object? I take it that superbrain, sirius/victor, and apricot were PC clones like the Tandy and Wang that were sort of but not really compatable? > I learnt my computing on a PDP8/E with papertape punch/reader, RALF, > Fortran II, then later 2.4Mb removable cartridges (RK05 I think). toggling > in the bootstrap improved your concentration. Much later you could > get a single chip(?) version of this in a wee knee sized box. "A quarter century of unix" mentions RK05 cartridges several times, but never says much ABOUT them. Okay, so they're 2.4 megabyte removable cartridges? How big? Are they tapes or disk packs? (I.E. can you run off of them or are they just storage?) I know lots of early copies of unix were sent out from Bell Labs on RK05 cartidges signed "love, ken"... What was that big reel to reel tape they always show in movies, anyway? I need a weekend just to collate stuff... > One summer job was working on a PDP15 analog computer alongside an 11/20 > with DECTAPE, trying to compute missile firing angles. [A simple version of > Pres Bush's starwars shield]. Considering that the Mark I was designed to compute tables of artillery firing angles during World War II... It's a distinct trend, innit? And the source of the game "artillery duel", of course... > -- > > Andrew Smith in Edinburgh,Scotland > > On 25 Jun 2001, Kai Henningsen wrote: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rob Landley) wrote on 24.06.01 in <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Now if somebody here could just point me to a decent reference on A/UX > > > - Apple's mid-80's version of Unix (for the early macintosh, I > > > believe...) > > > > http://www.google.com/search?q=%22%2ba/ux%22 > > > > Usually a good idea. > > > > > > > > Also, you probably want to look at RFC 2235. > > > > MfG Kai > > - > > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" > > in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ > > ___ > Penguicon-comphist mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/penguicon-comphist - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
