Re: eval() considered dodgy - Re: Self modifying code, lambda calculus - Re: ENIAC programming

On 19 September 2015 at 19:45, Toby Thain wrote: > Thank God nobody would build such a thing into a modern language, especially > not the one that runs in almost every browser... Well, quite. :-) Or rather, :-( -- Liam Proven • Profile:

Re: Self modifying code, lambda calculus - Re: ENIAC programming

On 19 September 2015 at 19:53, tony duell wrote: > A lot of disk-based BASICs had a statement that would merge a program from > disk in this way. Sometimes the program had to be saved in ASCII, not > tokenised, > the BASIC interpretter then essentially read the file as

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

On 20 September 2015 at 05:58, John Foust wrote: > Someone's demonstrated you can hide in the firmware of hard drives. And access the hypervisor layer of an OS in various ways from programs executing inside a VM. So, for instance, much malware self-inactivates if it detects

Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

It is even possible to make a disk that is readable as multiple disk formats, so long as each is expecting the DIRectory tracks to be in different places. On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, tony duell wrote: So when used under OS-9 it acts normally (directory where the OS expects to find it), just with this

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 09/20/2015 03:03 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, ben wrote: I was just digging in to old CP/M a bit and it was/is tied mostly to the IBM 8" standard floppy and the floppy interface used at the time. Even that gave a very small amount memory per track. Ben. single sided FM/SD 77

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

>Chuck Guzis wrote: >On 09/20/2015 03:03 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: >On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, ben wrote: I was just digging in to old CP/M a bit and it was/is tied mostly to the IBM 8" standard floppy and the floppy interface used at the time. Even that gave a very small amount memory per track.

Re: DEC Alpha 3000 Model 600

On 09/20/2015 05:41 PM, Rod Smallwood wrote: I'm pleased to be able to report the successful installation of OpenVMS 8.3 - Alpha on my 3000 M600 It now runs Dec Windows on the graphics screen and a terminal on the serial port. TCPIP works and I can get to my local network OK. Now to find a

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

>Fred Cisin wrote: On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, Jon Elson wrote: Well, one would assume this is also OS specific. I would guess it would be incredibly hard to make a "disk" virus that would work on greatly differing OS's like Linux AND Windows. No telling what would happen if one of these disk

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

single sided FM/SD 77 tracks, 26 sectors per track, 128 bytes per sector 256,256 bytes (250.25K) On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, Chuck Guzis wrote: There was a good reason for that. Many early disk controllers did not have a "write index to index" fucntion that also enabled writing special (i.e. missing

DEC Alpha 3000 Model 600

I'm pleased to be able to report the successful installation of OpenVMS 8.3 - Alpha on my 3000 M600 It now runs Dec Windows on the graphics screen and a terminal on the serial port. TCPIP works and I can get to my local network OK. Now to find a browser. There must have been one Rod --

RE: IBM 026

I apparently put Abel on Mod rather than UnSub, and then moderators approved the messages. Now he's been unsubbed and I checked both lists. However, be aware the list archives are public. J

Re: Self modifying code, lambda calculus - Re: ENIAC programming

> > But in everything from ZX BASIC to BBC BASIC to GWBASIC, loading a > program erases all lines of code in interpreter RAM and replaces the > whole program with the one loaded from disk, but leaves variables etc. > intact. > BBC BASIC (when running on a BBC Micro at least) does clear (most)

RE: IBM 026

> Indeed, this whole list is about people saving computers that don't really > have any _practical_ use any more. By definition, from a purely _functional_ > perspective, their value is scrap. But our viewpoint is not that - we see > them as interesting and historic artifacts - and in that

Re: IBM 026

You 'people' certainly have a way with words...You should be very proud of your command of the English language. From: Todd Goodman To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2015 11:24 PM Subject: Re:

Re: IBM 026

"My parents sold their 57 Chevy station wagon for $50 in 1965.  What is it  worth now?" Good question.Condition unspecified and 50 years ago.Certainly a 'valid' point. Maybe Todd's new toy will be worth a lot of money in about 50 years,if he gets it working and somebody living in 2065 remembers

VARM revision J transcription

Something like two and a half years ago, I got a copy of EL-00032-00-decStd32_Jan90.pdf, a one-image-per-page scan of a paper copy of the VAX Architecture Reference Manual. I don't know where I got it, but bitsavers has a file of the same name with the same MD5 checksum at

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

At 05:57 AM 9/20/2015, Liam Proven wrote: >On 20 September 2015 at 05:58, John Foust wrote: >> Someone's demonstrated you can hide in the firmware of hard drives. > >And access the hypervisor layer of an OS in various ways from programs >executing inside a VM. Yeah, that

Re: Self modifying code, lambda calculus - Re: ENIAC programming

On 20 September 2015 at 13:54, Peter Coghlan wrote: > BBC BASIC (when running on a BBC Micro at least) does clear (most) variables > when a program is loaded. Most variables are stored in memory above the > program and if a small program was replaced by a larger program,

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 9/20/2015 7:55 PM, Chuck Uzis wrote: So it was still fragmented. So did it matter? You ran Basic or played games from cassete. That was for domestic systems, heaven help you lived out of USA for computers. --Chuck Ben.

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 09/20/2015 09:55 PM, tony duell wrote: Gee, I thought we were talking about CP/M here. How many CP/M systems used cassette for storage. Better yet, how many commerical/industrial CP/M systems used cassettes for program storage. Epson PX8? That's a commercial or industrial system?

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 09/20/2015 05:32 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: But, I had thought that there should then be a SECOND standard for 5.25", for those machines without 8" support. Gary disagreed. Having more than ONE "standard" makes it not completely a standard. Still, a 5.25" "recommended" format, or a specific

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 09/20/2015 03:46 PM, ben wrote: On 9/20/2015 2:19 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: There were several reasons why there was never a STANDARD 5.25" CP/M format. I once had the opportunity to ask Gary Kildall what the standard would be for 5.25". He replied, "8 inch single sided single density".

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, ben wrote: So did it matter? You ran Basic or played games from cassete. Sure. But, I was never happy with cassette for program nor data storage. I bought an Expansion Interface the day that it became available, but I never bought a drive from Radio Shack nor IBM. Bare

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 09/20/2015 08:48 PM, ben wrote: OS/9 was nice for the 6809 but all I had was 1 floppy with the COCO II. Ben. Before I got a (dual) floppy drive with my personal system, I used a Techtran dual cassette drive. One side was read-write, the other was read-only.It was intended as a

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, ben wrote: I was just digging in to old CP/M a bit and it was/is tied mostly to the IBM 8" standard floppy and the floppy interface used at the time. Even that gave a very small amount memory per track. Ben. single sided FM/SD 77 tracks, 26 sectors per track, 128 bytes per

Re: Self modifying code, lambda calculus - Re: ENIAC programming

On 09/20/2015 09:00 AM, Peter Coghlan wrote: CHAIN is roughly equivelant to LOAD followed by RUN. Unlike LOAD, CHAIN can be issued from a program so it can be used for a kind of overlay where one program is run and then replaced by another program when it completes. However, like LOAD (and

Re: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

On 09/20/2015 09:38 AM, simon wrote: Hi All, we have a 1039 in our space with the user guide, but without any service docs. Our specimen does not react to buttons except the reset and test buttons. the four statusleds light up on a reset and after a second the center two leds start blinking

RE: IBM 026

People who say that someone has 'more money than common sense' usually have neither. -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Todd Goodman Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2015 7:42 PM To: Able Baker Cc: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

On 09/19/2015 10:58 PM, John Foust wrote: The other recent development that makes me want to quit? Someone's demonstrated you can hide in the firmware of hard drives. https://blog.kaspersky.com/equation-hdd-malware/7623/ - John Well, one would assume this is also OS specific. I would guess

Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

Hi All, we have a 1039 in our space with the user guide, but without any service docs. Our specimen does not react to buttons except the reset and test buttons. the four statusleds light up on a reset and after a second the center two leds start blinking in sequence. paper and pens are loaded

RE: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

> Hi All, > > we have a 1039 in our space with the user guide, but without any service > docs. Our specimen does not react to buttons except the reset and test > buttons. the four statusleds light up on a reset and after a second the > center two leds start blinking in sequence. paper and pens

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

On 9/20/2015 11:53 AM, Jon Elson wrote: On 09/19/2015 10:58 PM, John Foust wrote: The other recent development that makes me want to quit? Someone's demonstrated you can hide in the firmware of hard drives. https://blog.kaspersky.com/equation-hdd-malware/7623/ - John Well, one would assume

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

On Sun, 20 Sep 2015, Jon Elson wrote: Well, one would assume this is also OS specific. I would guess it would be incredibly hard to make a "disk" virus that would work on greatly differing OS's like Linux AND Windows. No telling what would happen if one of these disk viruses got onto a hard

RE: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

> It is possible to create an executable file that identifies the OS that it > is running on and does a conditional jump to different code, assuming that > the processor uses the same instruction set. In some cases it should be possible to write a machine code program that executes on 2

Re: Backups [was Re: Is tape dead?]

>> I would guess it would be incredibly hard to make a "disk" virus >> that would work on greatly differing OS's like Linux AND Windows. This is actually a good reason to encrypt your whole disk. The disk can't serve up working malware if the bits it returns get mangled by decryption with an

Re: Multi-platform distribution format (Was: Backups [was

On 9/20/2015 2:19 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: There were several reasons why there was never a STANDARD 5.25" CP/M format. I once had the opportunity to ask Gary Kildall what the standard would be for 5.25". He replied, "8 inch single sided single density". I repeated, "Yes, but waht about 5.25"?