BaltACDwould a Radio Shack TRS80 be a upgrade?
I once overclocked my old Timex Sinclair using a twist-tie off a bread sack and a Bic lighter.
My atari still works for simple word processing.
BaltACDWould a Radio Shack TRS80 be a upgrade?
I've worked on the "Trash 80's" at college, but never owned one.
Also still in the attic is the TI-99-4A. I'd bet it still works, but finding a TV with a twin-lead antenna connection might be a problem.
The Tandy 1000SX in the attic probably still works, too. I upgraded that with a 40 Mb hard drive (you read that right). It was nice not to have to boot from the floppies...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 BaltACD Would a Radio Shack TRS80 be a upgrade? I've worked on the "Trash 80's" at college, but never owned one. Also still in the attic is the TI-99-4A. I'd bet it still works, but finding a TV with a twin-lead antenna connection might be a problem. The Tandy 1000SX in the attic probably still works, too. I upgraded that with a 40 Mb hard drive (you read that right). It was nice not to have to boot from the floppies...
BaltACD Would a Radio Shack TRS80 be a upgrade?
When I first got involved with 'mini' computers at the Chessie TSC's. The 'mini' was the size of a refrigerator - just the processor. The 10 MB - that is right Megabite disk drive was a 12 inch platter that operated in an electronics filled cabinet the size of a two drawer file cabinet. The operating system for the 'mini' computer was loaded into it on punched paper tape.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDWhen I first got involved...
Indeed. When I was at Vandenberg AFB, providing weather support for missile launches. the operators (I was maintenance) would punch the results of upper air (balloon) soundings on paper tape, which was then sent all the way to Cape Kennedy for processing, then the results were sent back (also via teletype). A number of parameters were computed on the mainframe computer at Kennedy.
At one point we got a small computer that was supposed to do that in-house. I don't think it ever did - all we ever did was it was play tic-tac-toe. It wasn't the size of a file cabinet - more like an oversized typewriter - keyboard and monitor all in one case.
The tic-tac-toe aspect was interesting. The machine would learn from it's "mistakes." You could use a series of moves maybe twice, then the computer would block you. Until you turned the series 90 degrees. Thus one series of moves could garner you eight wins.
The TI99-4A only had 16K of RAM, but would handle two cassette recorders for storing data and programs.
Nowadays one's phone has more processing power than that mainframe at Cape Kennedy, and my micro computer has a terrabyte hard drive in it...
tree68At one point we got a small computer that was supposed to do that in-house. I don't think it ever did - all we ever did was it was play tic-tac-toe. It wasn't the size of a file cabinet - more like an oversized typewriter - keyboard and monitor all in one case.
As long as we're trading 'old geezer' computer stories, I'll relate mine. In the late 1970s as a defense contractor field engineer I assisted with some Army operational tests. Our equipment was used by the field artillery to estimate target location. Back at their fire direction center where calculations were made, they were using a large refrigerator sized computer in an oversize trailer. Their computer tech showed me the insides - all discrete components on large plug in cards.
That monster was definitely on the way out as their 'backup' computer (usually preferred) was a HP or TI hand calculator with a stored program strip. Not sure what they use today, but for quite a while now the size of a typical military use 'computer' is ruled by interface circuitry and connectors for related sensors.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
My old computer story is back in '65, the utility where I worked built a new Generating station with PDP process computers that used black paper tape for its data transfer. (shades the player piano days) but when it was being punched it filled boxes with little paper dots. So come Easter time, little boxes arrived in the interoffice mail to many of the other Engineers and Technicians in the office. When people opened them, they found a colorful plastic Easter Egg which naturally whetted their curiosity. So they opened them covering their desk and laps with thousands of little paper dots. Magnetic tape is much cleaner though it had its issues.
Electroliner 1935...little paper dots...
Ah, chads.
The chads from punched cards are retangular, and of heavier stock.
Teletype "five level" tape was punched either with chads (clean holes) or chadless (little flaps).
The little buggers aren't too popular at weddings either...
They weren't very popular in Florida a few years ago, either...
tree68 Electroliner 1935 ...little paper dots... Ah, chads. The chads from punched cards are retangular, and of heavier stock. Teletype "five level" tape was punched either with chads (clean holes) or chadless (little flaps). The little buggers aren't too popular at weddings either... They weren't very popular in Florida a few years ago, either...
Electroliner 1935 ...little paper dots...
Who wants a chad hanging?
No serious person surfs the web without using an ad blocker, of which there are many. I've always had them on my machines, whether that was for Firefox or Chrome, and I have a standing rule that any site that asks me to disable the ad blocker or white list them automatically gets scratched off my list of sites to visit, the same as with sites that insist I subscribe to read content(mostly news sites like the WJS, NYT Forbes, etc.,. If your news stories are that good then give my 5 free views per month, because if it's not local news it's not something I'm going to be reading daily.
GERALD L MCFARLANE JR No serious person surfs the web without using an ad blocker, of which there are many. I've always had them on my machines, whether that was for Firefox or Chrome, and I have a standing rule that any site that asks me to disable the ad blocker or white list them automatically gets scratched off my list of sites to visit, the same as with sites that insist I subscribe to read content(mostly news sites like the WJS, NYT Forbes, etc.,. If your news stories are that good then give my 5 free views per month, because if it's not local news it's not something I'm going to be reading daily.
Happy to not be a serious web surfer.......
They have now deleted two threads about this ads on the Model Railroader side, as this one reaches 70 posts........
Sheldon
ATLANTIC CENTRALThey have now deleted two threads about this ads on the Model Railroader side, as this one reaches 70 posts........
Your point?
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
zugmann ATLANTIC CENTRAL They have now deleted two threads about this ads on the Model Railroader side, as this one reaches 70 posts........ Your point?
ATLANTIC CENTRAL They have now deleted two threads about this ads on the Model Railroader side, as this one reaches 70 posts........
The rules are clearly different over here, but in any case the ads are still in place.
And I am already reading less........and posting less.
Ok. That's nice, I guess.
Here's a little tip for "paywall" news sites: Many of them give you 2 or three "free" articles you can read per month, and then once you go beyond that amount, they hit you up to buy a subscription if you want to continue. (cookies, basically)
You can totally thwart their strategy if you use a "live" distribution of Linux that boots from optical media....such as knoppix. Such sites will still set their cookies, but it will be set in memory only since they are unable to write to your CD or DVD. So, a simple reboot and you are able to resume reading without getting hooked by their scheme.
I've got three browsers installed on my knoppix disc, Chromium, Firefox, and Konqueror so I can run each one up to their limit individually before having to reboot. And then there is "Tor" for a 4th one, that I really haven't used much.
Incidently, as it pertains to the "slow loading" problem that is often lamented here, I've been using knoppix here going on two months without ever experiencing the "slow load" that I had cyclically experienced here with windows requiring me to periodically nuke the cookies to restore responsiveness. So this further supports my suspicion that the slow loading is in some way caused by obsolete cookies.
BaltACDI still have a XP desktop that keeps chugging along at 17.
In 2014, Microsoft announced that they would no longer support XP, so I traded it in on a new laptop with IIRC Windows 9. (MS automatically upgraded it to W10). Best Buy was giving a discount for XP trade-ins. Later Microsoft backed down and continued to support XP, but I am happy with my new faster laptop.
MidlandMike BaltACD I still have a XP desktop that keeps chugging along at 17. In 2014, Microsoft announced that they would no longer support XP, so I traded it in on a new laptop with IIRC Windows 9. (MS automatically upgraded it to W10). Best Buy was giving a discount for XP trade-ins. Later Microsoft backed down and continued to support XP, but I am happy with my new faster laptop.
BaltACD I still have a XP desktop that keeps chugging along at 17.
When Microsoft came out with their Sunset date for XP I bought a W8.1 replacement for it - I later upgraded the W8.1 machine to W10. The W10 Desktop is my primary machine, the XP machine is a node on my local network in addition to a W10 laptop and a Vista laptop. The 'data' I maintain is backed up on each of the machines.
I don't trust Clouds. Clouds can rain data in locations it is not authorized to.
Beside using a live Linux distro, a well designed cookie manager is very helpful.
I use the Firefox extension 'Cookie Quick Manager'. On news sites that only allow a few views, you can delete current site cookies and local storage, refresh the page and you should be good for a few more views. Not sure if this particular extension is available on other browsers but there should be something similar.
BaltACDWhen Microsoft came out with their Sunset date for XP I bought a W8.1 replacement for it - I later upgraded the W8.1 machine to W10.
My Dell XP laptop was a hand-me-down from my wife when I retired. It was mainly for browsing the web and was not very powerful, and was getting cranky. The Geek Squad told me that to upgrade to Windows 8 would take up most of the RAM, so I was ready to trade it in for something more up to date.
MikeF90 tree68 At one point we got a small computer that was supposed to do that in-house. I don't think it ever did - all we ever did was it was play tic-tac-toe. It wasn't the size of a file cabinet - more like an oversized typewriter - keyboard and monitor all in one case. As long as we're trading 'old geezer' computer stories, I'll relate mine. In the late 1970s as a defense contractor field engineer I assisted with some Army operational tests. Our equipment was used by the field artillery to estimate target location. Back at their fire direction center where calculations were made, they were using a large refrigerator sized computer in an oversize trailer. Their computer tech showed me the insides - all discrete components on large plug in cards. That monster was definitely on the way out as their 'backup' computer (usually preferred) was a HP or TI hand calculator with a stored program strip. Not sure what they use today, but for quite a while now the size of a typical military use 'computer' is ruled by interface circuitry and connectors for related sensors.
tree68 At one point we got a small computer that was supposed to do that in-house. I don't think it ever did - all we ever did was it was play tic-tac-toe. It wasn't the size of a file cabinet - more like an oversized typewriter - keyboard and monitor all in one case.
Heck, with the right app your smart phone can handle it.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
samfp1943Our equipment was used by the field artillery to estimate target location. Back at their fire direction center where calculations were made, they were using a large refrigerator sized computer in an oversize trailer.
In WWII, my father was in charge of a 155 mm howitzer crew. He used a piece of wood about 12" x 18" with a laminated chart on it. There were quite a few variables listed. It used wind speed, distance, etc., to calculate the shot. He claimed that by using the chart, they could hit any target by the third shot.
York1 John
blhanel Heck, with the right app your smart phone can handle it.
But only if you are smarter than your phone.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
I was curious about the details of that and found an article which pointed out that your smart phone is literally a million times more powerful than the guidance computer used in the early Apollo flights.
The AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer) had 64K of memory and ran with at clock speed of 43KHz. According to the article, a USB-C charger is "smarter" than the AGC.
Pretty amazing stuff, and nowadays we take it for granted.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/smartphone-power-compared-to-apollo-432/
I am noticing since the new "ads at the bottom" feature has appeared, browsing the forum now springs a malicious website block from Norton often enough to be annoying. This was a problem on another forum-style website with third-party ads until that site took steps to kill the problem.
tree68According to the article, a USB-C charger is "smarter" than the AGC.
This is not quite as 'stunning' as it appears at first glance. The USB-C protocol includes a number of features that must be actively monitored and managed (high available DC power, for instance) on top of the requirements for effective power conversion with acceptably low levels of RF interference. The device also has to 'know' how to communicate effectively with a diverse range of potentially connected equipment.
I at last got around to following the advice presented several days ago. I appreciate not seeing the ads at the bottom of the content I want to see.
Thank you.
Johnny
[quote user="Deggesty"]
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As you have done, I did last night! 'Ad Block' on my machine ! Now I am able to see what interests me, without having any interuptions. It was some good advice...
I do have another question: Regarding a 'message' that slides in over Outlook. It has to do with a Notice, regarding an 'unrecognized' USB device.
. I am pretty careful as to email messages. I do not open any that are not from someone on my contact list. one that appear to be advertisements, or 'sales' feelers. I seems to get 'regularly' SPAM in my 'Junk Mail' I just delete it regularly. My household Wi-FI is P/W protected, and to date has not been a problem.
Any help, or advice; would be appreciated.
samfp1943I do have another question: Regarding a 'message' that slides in over Outlook. It has to do with a Notice, regarding an 'unrecognized' USB device.
Probably an infection. You should promptly run the malwarebytes Anti-Malware, from a 'bootable' stick drive if you can.
I presume you are aware of whatever USB devices you have connected to your system. A very common 'dodge' used by weasels is to make you think there is some awful Stuxnet-like consequence about to happen to you, or some conspirator who has secretly attached a pendrive to steal precious secrets or whatever. There's probably a link of some kind that you're supposed to click, either to fix the problem or find out more about it. Do so about as readily as you'd stick your hand in a cobra's mouth.
I surmise from context that you see this happy little scam when you're reading e-mails, not in your Internet browser. It was probably imported and loaded when you clicked on something in that program, perhaps a link sent by someone who didn't realize he'd been hacked or infected himself. I expect the latest version of Anti-Malware will catch it; you might also want to update your antivirus protection 'just in case'.
Thanks, Overmod! I had had high hopes for the installation of the Malewarebite Program, as well. I had used it as a free version several years back...This time I bought the bullet. and paid for the upgraded version to be installed!
I tried to get it to work right for about a week; and followed many of their installation macro programs to work out my issues... I never could get it to corerectly install, let alone run! I was hard up against their limit of 99 installations, and still BUPKIS. So I advised them of my problems and requested my payment back; it was over a week later they responded, and offered no solutions, fortunately, I had paid with a card...Took them(the credit card) a month to get it refunded to my account.
I had had high hopes for it, but they sure poured cold water on my enthuisiam.
Rant off!
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