OT - Old Backup Tape Hardware

Keith S. wrote:
> Jason wrote:
> > I tried a bit of CP/M but it got on my pip.
>
> Ah, Peripheral Interchange Program.

Yea Gods! It's all coming back to me, the glowing cathode tubes that bear
as much resemblance to a flat screen monitor as a football does to a
sheet of paper, the keyboards which made a "Clunk" noise everytime you
hit a key, the noise of 8" floppy drives...

> Actually that predates CP/M, it was a DEC PDP command, but then CP/M was
> based on PDP-11 stuff. Or maybe even PDP-8's, I forget.

Yup, PIP was a DEC utility on the DEC-10 (otherwise known as the PDP-10)
and PDP-11's, although the syntax was slightly different to the CP/M
version, I think it was a : that than an = sign between the file names.

Eek! I can't believe I still remember this stuff...

> Mined ewe, I first played Original Adventure on an IBM 360. And we had
> Star Trek running on a Fairchild Sentry test system (but I don't suppose
> anyone's ever heard of them).

Fairchild Sentry? Something to do with IC testing wasn't it?

Al.

Alasdair Allan wrote:

> Eek! I can't believe I still remember this stuff...

Nor can I. Or the fact that 10-6-8 was the key code for
a ';' on an IBM card puncher.

> Fairchild Sentry? Something to do with IC testing wasn't it?

Yup. A weird CPU, 36 bit words IIRC and other oddness.
Whoever wrote the game for it must have been terminally bored...

- Keith

I think I converted it to Basic a long time back - source code below:

10 Input "You are in a huge, dark cave - which way do you want to go?", d$
20 Goto 10


"Keith S." <false@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:bvvvr3$110l46$1@ID-169434.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Nigel Hewitt wrote:
>
> > It's not important but it's Bill Crowther's original
> > Colossal Cave source in Fortran. It dates from back in
> > the heady days when writing what was in essence a game
> > was a doctorate in computing because you used English
> > words (!!) to communicate with a computer.
>
> I've got it on an 8 inch floppy for CP/M if that's any good,
> not that I have anything that can read it any more.
>
> - Keith
>

"Vic" <vic@innocent.com> wrote in message
news:ceb91d9fe7e0364d771eae33a3fc163e.60200@mygate .mailgate.org

> > Any joy?
>
> I got my hands on the drive about an hour ago. I'll try to fit it in a
> machine tonight & see if it works...

Right, after much rebuilding of PCs, I've got some life out of the
drive.

I've written a tar file to a tape & read back the contents - all that
seems to work just fine.

So now I need your tape (and any knowledge you've got of how it was
created in the first place...)

Vic.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Been browsing the web... Any Multicians here?

or even those that know what Multics are :)

rhys

"rads" <rads@xxnospamxxdavidradley.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8rcv109cfu9i2lcmll3vlrg7fr1heqt323@4ax.com...
> Shortly before xmas 1998 I backed up a pc using a portable (briefcase
> sized) backup device. Five years later, it seems that one file I could
> do with is on that tape, but we no longer have the hardware to read
> it!
>
> The tape is a 3M DC 6525 525 MB. Physical size is 150x100x16 mm.
>
> Google offers this http://www.buyrate.net/dartek/16169.htm
>
> Is there anyone who could copy the tape onto a CD in return for a few
> beer tokens?
>
> Sorry for OT
>
> David
>
> rads at davidradley dot freeserve dot co dot uk

Multics was an early, not very successful, OS out of which UNIX grew.
"rnf2" <rnf2@NOSPAMwaikato.ac.nz> wrote in message
news:4028b21e@news.iconz.co.nz...
> Been browsing the web... Any Multicians here?
>
> or even those that know what Multics are :)
>
> rhys
>
> "rads" <rads@xxnospamxxdavidradley.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:8rcv109cfu9i2lcmll3vlrg7fr1heqt323@4ax.com...
> > Shortly before xmas 1998 I backed up a pc using a portable (briefcase
> > sized) backup device. Five years later, it seems that one file I could
> > do with is on that tape, but we no longer have the hardware to read
> > it!
> >
> > The tape is a 3M DC 6525 525 MB. Physical size is 150x100x16 mm.
> >
> > Google offers this http://www.buyrate.net/dartek/16169.htm
> >
> > Is there anyone who could copy the tape onto a CD in return for a few
> > beer tokens?
> >
> > Sorry for OT
> >
> > David
> >
> > rads at davidradley dot freeserve dot co dot uk
>
>

"Martin Rushton" <martin@rushtonm.dot.freeserve.dot.co.dot.uk> wrote in
message news:c0bp4m$qft$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk

> Multics was an early, not very successful, OS

Really?

It was in active use for nearly 40 years. I hope I write something as
unsuccessful as that...

Vic.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Vic wrote:
> Martin Rushton wrote:
> > Multics was an early, not very successful, OS
>
> Really? It was in active use for nearly 40 years. I hope I write something
> as unsuccessful as that...

See http://www.multicians.org/ for more information. Multics had a serious
influence on operating system design, "not very sucessful" isn't exactly
how I'd describe it.

Al.

"Alasdair Allan" <aa@ukrecscuba.org.uk> wrote in message
news:c0bsn6$14cpom$2@ID-188041.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Vic wrote:
> > Martin Rushton wrote:
> > > Multics was an early, not very successful, OS
> >
> > Really? It was in active use for nearly 40 years. I hope I write
something
> > as unsuccessful as that...
>
> See http://www.multicians.org/ for more information. Multics had a serious
> influence on operating system design, "not very sucessful" isn't exactly
> how I'd describe it.
>
> Al.

you know the same site... :)

I'm interested in the MIT LCS exokernal experiments thats going on now
tho... same hardware, 8 times increase in processing speed... I wonder if
Windows may be gonna be driven out of business... i wouldn't expect a lab
like the LCS to give MS an exclusive licence...

rhys

Vic wrote:
> "Martin Rushton" wrote
>
>> Multics was an early, not very successful, OS
>
> Really?
>
> It was in active use for nearly 40 years. I hope I write something as
> unsuccessful as that...

Ho ho.
I feel like that when somebody describes a product as a dinasaour.
If only I had a product that would dominate the earth for 160 million years...

nigelH