OT: The Geek Test

Schweickart. Shortly before "Houston, we've got a problem here..."

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Bzzzt. Wrong mission.

Naah, when everyone else was messing with that, I was running RT-11 on my H11 using 8" floppies.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

BZZTT!!! You just lost 5 geek points! Read the rest of the thread...

David Erbas-White

Bob Kaplow wrote:

Rocky "memory challenged" Firth

I remember 8" floppies on our S100 bus system. Not a bad architecture, actually. A master CPU, a disk controller, and 1 slave controller with

64K RAM for each "dumb" terminal (ours were Televideo 925's) Started with 8 bit systems, then replaced it with 16 bit 80186's running TurboDos (a souped up MPM). I remember it would take 12 hours to format a hard disk! Once those dots filled up the screen, there was no way to tell that it was still running, so you just came back the next day to see.

we later graduated to a Motorola 68000 system running Sun OS 4.1 (BSD). Since then I've worked exclusively on Sun Microsystems hardware running Solaris, which has been 64 bit for ages.

unix r0olz!

- iz

Bob Kaplow wrote:

This isn't quite a home/desktop setup:

They do now.

What they lack in ECC memory and redundant power supplies and mission critical components,they make up for in sheer numbers (and cheaper anyway) and longer typical product lifecycles. If one fails, rollover to another. Virginia Tech installed a 1100 node cluster (3rd fastest in the world), but plenty of sites have also installed server format systems and yet others grid format systems.

For the types of service contracts this type of customer has become accustomed to you still have to go to a third party, but anyone with experience in BSD unix ought to be fine.

Jerry

2000 quatloos! If you have a Royal Fisbin, 3000.

Randy

Nixie tubes are available New Old Stock if one searches hard enough. AFAIK most production ended in the mid-late 70's with a few types lingering on the lines into the early 80's - with the exception of Russia: they continued to make them until at least 1994. Russia and China still have operational tube factories, but most production now is geared to audiophiles. I'm fairly sure nixie tubes (note small "n") are no longer mass-produced anywhere, though there may be

You can add 2 more geek points if you can dig up either a 50 ohm or 75 ohm BNC terminator from your coat pocket. :-)

What do I get for having a printed copy of the rules of Fisbin?

- Robert

Randy wrote:

Yea, I figgured that out about as dast as I hit the return key. CANCEL doesn't seem to work very fast...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

I think this was one of my college CS textbooks on computer archetecture.

You should upgrade your memory to 60 bits!

(One wag said that RISC stood for "Really Invented By Seymour Cray".)

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

terminator

Coat pocket? Just gloves and keys. Desk drawer? Several!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

FRAUD! Rules for Fisbin are like the rules for Calvinball...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Don't get so worked up about it...

I really *do* have a copy.

I guess I'll have to scan it in to show you...

- Robert

The Other James wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com:

Doesn't count if it's in my printer cabinet rather than my pocket?

len.

Not my coat...does my underwear drawer count?