🚀 go-pugleaf

MadAdmin wrote in message <7cr67q$qco$2@news-2.news.gte.net>...
>On 18 Mar 1999 14:58:59 GMT, "deathbringer" <someone@home.com> wrote:
>
>>MadAdmin:
>>
>>In response to your inquiries:
>>
>>>What OS nowdays uses FCBs???
>>
>>I ocasionally set up XT's and 286's and donate them to charities and small
>>interest groups, not to mention how many people I have given 386's to in
the
>>last 6 months, kinda trying to keep the spirit of information freedom
alive.
>>As to the OS? What ever the hardware can handle my friend :)
>>
>
>Reminds me I need to take a peek at openDOS......

Wasn't that originally called DR DOS? (Digital Research Disk Operating
System)
I think I remember something about a Lawsuit put forth by M$ over the name
name and they had to change it. Am I thinking of the same OS?

>
>>>
>>>Heh. Those were the fun days! My first few computers had full
>>>schematics. I even got hold of a macro assembler for Z80 and was
>>>putting macros in so I could do the few extra instructions on the 8085
>>>on that machine. I also soldered a ribbon cable to a socket to put
>>>inbetween the socket on the board and the Z80 so I could pull out all
>>>lines and build an external bus. Then before I ever got around to
>>>building my 8085 based robot I got sucked up into the DOS world and my
>>>CP/M, Z80, and 8085 projects all went by the wayside. It was actually
>>>painful when I got rid of all the old stuff!
>>
>>Ah...The project days...I remember my first solar roller. Took me a bitch
of
>>a time to figure out transistors at first though :) I miss playing around
>>too. Things were so much simpler then. You can do more now, but understand
>>less day by day.
>>
>
>unfortunately the complexity of the circuits has gotten to be where
>you pretty much consider it to all be FM (Fuckin Magic) You just deal
>with what goes into the magic black box and what comes out and don't
>worry about how it does what it does inbetween.

Yeah well it does cool shit, but I still wish I had more control over it at
the hardware level than we do these days...I used to love tinkering, christ
I have no Idea how many soldering iron cores i've gone through...

>
>> >I'm reacquiring a collection of odds and ends now but it's all primarily
>>486 and >newer stuff.
>>
>>You would love my shed. Stacks and stacks of Sun Microsystem UNIX boxes
from
>>85, old ataris, TSR80's, commodor 64's, christ, I think I even have a PET
in
>>there (Or did I throw that old paper weight out last year?) God knows, the
>>place is just filled with shit accross quite a few computing eras :) I
still
>>have too many XT's, Too Many 286's, and 386's etc, and one of these days
>>I'll fix them up and give them a home.
>>
>
>Between a roof collapsing on a storage shed and a relationship with a
>woman who thought all that I had left was junk I pretty much lost all
>my old stuff. :( It's a tossup though whether I miss the Kaypro II or
>the Commodore 64 more. I miss both much more than I miss my ex!! heh.

I can see your point there :)

>> >I think the smallest hard drive I have now is 70 Meg and it
>>>wasn't that many years ago that my largest one was that big!
>>
>>Really? I still have a whole whack of MFM/RLL Drives, Tape Drives, and
>>seemingly all other forms of computer data storage (except punch cards,
>>someone offered me a punch card reader last year but I didn't have the
room,
>>and I had no idea how to use the thing :) Hell, I think I even have a few
>>boxes with 8inch floppys. Not that the media is any good anymore.
>>Still...you never know.
>>
>
>I've done enough card sets in an emulator that I could probably fake
>it with a punch card reader! I worked at a place where we had reports
>that expected punch cards so they had a bit of software where you
>setup in an editor the data as if it was a punch card. They still ran
>a few actual readers but almost all input was via terminal.

Do you remember the name of that emulator?

 >I bet it's
>been 10 years since I've used an 8 inch floppy! Those things hard or
>soft sectored???

Hard I'm pretty sure. IBM first came out with them 1971, but they were
pretty much made obsolete after 1976, I think that's when IBM came up with
the 5 1/4. I don't think I even have anything to read them with though :)

>Depending on how much wear is on them and the storage
>conditions you might be surprised and find they're still usable.

I think that box is pretty much air tight, and they're all in sleeves, so if
I had something that could still use them they might work.

>>>> >Most of the stuff I dealt with was Z-80 based at the time but some of
>>the
>>>>>devices used ladder logic rather than assembler for programming!
>>>>
>>>>That makes some sense. Sounds like you have been around my friend.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Heh heh heh. I took my first computer class in 1980 and my first
>>>program written on a PC was on a TRS-80 and my most in-depth assembler
>>>programming was done on Z80. Hmmm... the number 80 figured rather
>>>prominently in my life!
>>
>>Pretty much the same here.
>>
>>>Anyhow yes I've done a little bit of everything over the past 19 years!
>>
>>Yes somehow I wish that we could bring back the days when a hacker was
>>considered an independant scientist bent on the betterment of man... Not a
>>bunch of children flaming each other in a newsgroup...
>>
>
>We get a lot of that but some of kids are OK and are here to learn
>just like us!

Well I hope they wan't to learn as much as I want them to teach. We all have
something to offer each other, and collectively, we are stronger as a whole.
As I am known to say, there is wisdom in a council of many.

>
>> >And to think that when I was a kid I wanted to be a professional bass
>>fisherman >when I grew up!!!!
>>
>>I wanted to be an astronaut. hell who knows, maybe someday I still can.
>>Though I still fight the growing up concept all these years later (grin)
>>
>
>Speaking of astronauts - unless things go wrong I plan on meeting
>Story Musgrave this summer. If you care to see what that's all about
>and what yet another of my hobbies is check out
>http://www.ipmsnats99.com

Very cool stuff my friend, I wish I could go too, but my vacation is planned
for Dec. this year, I'm off to Scotland, and I shant be back till Jan. I
have the Biggest New Year Celebration in the world to go to ;) & I won't be
back till I'm sober (Hopefully not to quickly)(grin)

<Sigs. chopped for berevity>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>The sig.....
>
>During his light-hearted keynote, Torvalds
>showed a slide predicting what his grandchildren
>will say about computing. Rounding out the list:
>"Microsoft? They used to do computers, right?"

Sometimes I wonder my friend.

                                        I Am
                                            Death Bringer