Old computer stuff

None | 8/17/2016 | Self

[Red Badger]

Just a useless fact now.

Not to me. I measure intermodulation, albeit at very very much higher frequencies! When you 'mix' two frequencies, audio, HF, RF or microwave, or even light, you get the two originals plus their 'sum' and their 'difference'....................

[zeugma]

Yeah, the files are on my Linux desktop, which is where I was digging through some of my old archives, hence the unix-like listing. Is this better?

05/13/1998  11:23a                 254 BEEP.COM
03/11/1995  10:30p                  56 BEEP.SCR
12/22/1991  01:56p                  17 COLD.COM
02/13/1996  05:53p                  94 COLD.SCR
12/06/1992  08:25p                  24 KEY.COM
12/22/1991  01:56p                  17 WARM.COM
02/13/1996  05:54p                  94 WARM.SCR

[DiogenesLamp]

It is damned difficult to find the means to read and rewrite what’s on a ring core memory in this millennium.... believe me, I’ve tried. Ended up assuring the enire system worked (unpowered at that) before recording the output. The technology just isn’t there any more.

You have piqued my interests. About a month ago I was looking at ring core memory on Ebay with a mind to get one and make it work.

Those rings are not ordinary ferrite. They are a special type of ferrite that has very strong hysteresis characteristics.

But what I am wondering is why you might be interested in making magnetic core memories work?

[Gaffer]

An earlier Freeper had it right. A read wire and a re-write wire and one to blank it. Once you read it, you had to rewrite to it to keep the state.

[Red Badger]

Yes it was!.................

[COBOL2Java]

I started with a Commodore 64.

I had one of those, plus a Timex 1000, and a "Trash 80". :-)

[Gaffer]

I cannot tell you why, actually. The only thing I can say is wondering about what is contained in the technology of equipment from days of yesteryear. Sorry.

[COBOL2Java]

At home I was a DOS and TRS 80 guy. At work I was a UNIX nerd...

[DiogenesLamp]

pfftt. I was writing code in the late 70s. Much like you, I also used programs printed in magazines.

I was too, but it was mostly assembly. (And a little bit of basic on the new TRS-80.)

[Red Badger]

That’s the way of most if not all ‘industry’ type magazines.....................

[zeugma]

DOS was where the REAL computer guys worked!

Only because we couldn't afford a PDP11 as our home PC. I was actually working with HP-3000 minicomputers back then. I worked mainframes and minis years before I even saw a PC. I wanted to bring a HP3000/70 home. The heat it put off would be great during winter. Not so good during the summer.

[oh8eleven]

I started with a Commodore 64.
Yeah, me too. Had a lot of fun with my two sons typing in game programs from Commodore magazine.

[Gaffer]

Most certainly but the most fascinating fact is that the human ear is a wonderful mixer and it automatically selects, emphasizes, etc. the lowest frequency product.

Fascinating in my book.

When I learned this I said “bullshit”....I actually took two oscillators and speakers at the frequencies mentioned and I padded them into a summing pad. The dial tone appeared and I was a believer.

[ShadowAce]

yeah. We had the TRS-80 Model I with 16K of memory and a cassette drive.

[Red Badger]

I used X-Tree!.............

[Red Badger]

It’s mathematics!..............

[COBOL2Java]

Wow, yer old

Hey!

[zeugma]

Sheet, I thought we wuz talking old timer crap here. I remember sending and receiving emails over a Model 204 to someone in Arizona in 1989.... DOS my patootie....

Well, in my defense, I was talking specifically about some stuff I'd found when trying to find some old BBS stuff from my archives. (I'm actually looking for the original Clinton Body Count file) I don't have many archives from the various minis and mainframes I worked back in day. Not that I can still read anyway.

[Gaffer]

Understood but it is a wonderful byproduct that he human ear suppresses the two higher tones and selects the lowest product, n’est pas?

[oh8eleven]

I remember writing programs in Turbo Pascal
I did a few in my time. Borland had some great programs.
I used their Paradox database on more than one project.