The collected works of sgifanatic - Page 3

On the one hand, I am a little miffed my conservative $10 bid got me nowhere with this. On the other hand, I'm happy to see so much SGI collector enthusiasm. On the third hand, $33 for a darn mug that you can make for < $10??? On the fourth hand, some would say the mug is less obsolete than the gear I have spent thousands accumulating.

Touche'

Who would have foretold an SGI mug auction could lead to so much self doubt & soul searching...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SGI-silicon-gra ... NA:US:3160

hamei wrote:

robespierre wrote: They're made by and for machines, to SEO certain search terms with links to and from other useless sites.

Could we make seo a capital offense ? Zero tolerance ?

Seriously, if they keep this crap up the web will choke itself in its own entrails.

I put forth this thought only because I am working on AI/ML and Cognitive algorithms for my day job... if a human being can tell it's nonsense, why can't a computer? This is a classification problem and it sounds to me like there is a lot of room for improvement.

robespierre wrote: For any (sufficiently powerful) formal system, there will always be a true statement that it can't prove... this has implications for spam classifiers.

A few things to consider. Yes, what you say is correct, but will it practically matter? The goal here is to approach human capability - that is a real thing that exists - so we have an existence proof of a physical thing delivering the kind of classification resolution we need. Might we scratch our heads when we encounter a page that says, "This page is spam". We might, but do we care? I don't think so. In almost all practical situations if we can approximate human capability in this area, we've come pretty close to making this a non issue.

Now, if the human brain isn't merely a physical thing, and there are quantum pixies (ala Penrose), or diktats from the Higher Dimension guiding our spam classification capability, then perhaps we are in fact in trouble.

Just a quick update on where I am with everything, per my original list:

1. G4 Cube - 500 Mhz - came with 192MB, I've upgraded to 1.5GB. -- UPDATE: nothing changed; want to fix the reboot issue and do a new OS + app install

2. Apple II GS [Yet to arrive] with display and some games. -- UPDATE: has since arrived. Works great, but I haven't really done much. Have booted into the IIgs demo disk with the silly mouse tutorial ("IIgs territory..") Also have a adtpro cable now from Dr. Ken - but haven't been able to do an ADT pro setup yet.

3. Commodore 64 - I've also ordered an SD2IEC cartridge which allows SD cards with C64 sw images to be plugged in [Has yet to arrive] - UPDATE: This has arrived. I got the SD2IEC going, built an image with tons of games. Got an Atari joystick which is pretty sucky and either I'm not using it right, or it's not particularly usable. Am now looking for a microswitch based Zip stick. Until then, at least this system works. Also got a Commodore 1802 RGB monitor. Pretty yellowed and the original power switch is broken. Seller hacked a flip switch onto the side. Works. The most exciting thing yet has been running Geos and Geo Paint. Pretty cool to see a GUI running in 64K RAM on a 1Mhz system. I am learning a bit about C64 oddities...

4. Mac Color Classic [Yet to arrive] - has a power on issue which I suppose I'll figure out when it arrives. Hopefully this won't be a wasted purchase UPDATE: This has been an ordeal. It arrived, but lots of issues. We've been discussing this one in that other Color Classic thread ( viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16728961 ) The news as of right now is that it was sent for recapping. That didn't fix it. It has now been shipped to yet another repair tech to see if he can get to the root of my troubles. Will end up costing a packet... even if it is salvageable.

5. Mac Plus 1MB [Yet to arrive] - UPDATE: This arrived. No HDD. The Color Classic doesn't have an HDD either. So I'm going to try to figure out the HDD situation on these systems... this one does show the bootup Mac icon. No SW. I ordered System 7.1 disks which came in. Thought they were original ones, but this is copied media courtesy of an ebay seller with a loosy-goosy description. More needs to be done to get this running.

In the meanwhile, an Atari 1040 ST just arrived. Beautiful system. Looks like I won't have to do much to get this going at all. Came with a 30MB external HDD, Atari monitor and quite a bit of SW. Never used Atari before (other than the 2600 for a couple of games, 30 years or so ago...), so there will be a learning curve here too.

I ended up "accidentally" winning auctions on a Color classic and a half. One full system, one for parts. They have yet to arrive. Now I just need four times the space I presently have, and I can display these properly

ClassicHasClass wrote: The Commodore 1802 (and its close relative the CM-141) is a piece of crap. It's actually a substandard composite monitor that cheats by taking the monochrome signal off the DB-9 RGB port a 128 would have. You don't have a 128, so the pathetic monochrome RGB mode it does offer is worthless to you, and the monitor will fail if you look at it wrong. Find a Commodore 1702 instead, which is a superior and indestructible composite monitor suitable for any classic computer.

If you do end up getting a 128, then I'd recommend either a 1084 or a 1902, not the 1802, both of which have a "real" digital RGB mode.

Thanks for the info. The monitor is working in color with my 64, though. I will try to look for a 1702 also. And yes, I am looking for an Amiga 500/600, after which a 128 will probably be on the list of stuff to get.

robespierre wrote: The Mac Plus can only use external hard disks. You can use a (stone-age) HD20, or a SCSI disk that supports narrow single-ended mode, which is a similar situation to old SGIs.

I see. I saw a really nice mac+ on eBay, a little too late. This one also has a cd rom hooked up, along with a ram.upgrade and something called a 'fanny mac'. I need to read up on the plus so I can make a list of things I need to get it fully operational.

Here's the eBay auction I'm talking about:

http://ebay.us/XZuKIg

This looks like it should work with the Plus. I read about needing to cut a resistor leg to get > 256K SIMMs to work, but could someone more knowledgeable than me please verify if this > 2 chip 30 pin SIMM set looks legit for a Mac Plus?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301335035350

AI cannot force people to use proper names when they register a website. And I understand the difference between SEO stuffed/robo pages vs mailbox spam. However, a plugin that leverages a text classifier + learns add'l features (e.g. even loosely verified ID tying multiple properties to the same registrant - fake or real) could be used to filter out crap web pages from Google results, as an example.

But please feel free to disagree. I was just sharing my perspective.

hamei wrote:

sgifanatic wrote: On the one hand, I am a little miffed my conservative $10 bid got me nowhere with this. On the other hand, I'm happy to see so much SGI collector enthusiasm. On the third hand, $33 for a darn mug that you can make for < $10???

It's an ex-stockholder who just got an AK-47. He's going to take it out back, set it up on a fence post and blow it to smithereens. Needs a genuine article for the full satisfaction.

Ha! There is also a *rare* copy of the Enron code of ethics booklet currently on auction. I would have made the obvious joke viz the rare code of ethics, but on second thought, I'll skip it.

There is a large enough Amiga scene, especially in Europe, to allow folks to justify that kind of design. I am thinking less complex and more out of the box in the SGI context. Specifically, an ARM board that offers a modern browser over xdmcp via the Ethernet connection. Would also provide firewall, USB and similar services. Add-on would likely be external, but could be made to match aesthetics of popular SGI workstations.

You are right, its a customized image and a maybe a nice case.

Awesome! It's been more than a year since you treated us to pics of the computer room. It would be wonderful if you could share what it looks like now... in the last pics I saw, things were still in transition.

There was the original AI hype back in the 60s and impractical ETAs re success with the Turing Test. Then we discovered things were a bit harder to build than we thought.

Again, in the '80s, there was a rash of AI optimism. Advancements were made, but they did not live up to the promise(s).

Now, once more, there is massive interest in Artificial Intelligence. Call it ML, Cognitive, Deep Learning... whatever. It's AI. Who here thinks it might actually be for real this time?

For the record, IBM, Google, US MIL, MSFT, the EU etc. all do. An interesting headline from the Gartner conference:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/26 ... -2025.html

Also, by way of clarification, I'm not asking about the unanswerable subjective questions such as 'when is something sentient' etc. But rather if you believe that machines that make significant decisions on their own will become pervasive, good enough to be used pretty much everywhere and eventually, exceed human capability in the majority of disciplines.

ClassicHasClass wrote:

sgifanatic wrote:

ClassicHasClass wrote: The Commodore 1802 (and its close relative the CM-141) is a piece of crap. It's actually a substandard composite monitor that cheats by taking the monochrome signal off the DB-9 RGB port a 128 would have. You don't have a 128, so the pathetic monochrome RGB mode it does offer is worthless to you, and the monitor will fail if you look at it wrong. Find a Commodore 1702 instead, which is a superior and indestructible composite monitor suitable for any classic computer.

If you do end up getting a 128, then I'd recommend either a 1084 or a 1902, not the 1802, both of which have a "real" digital RGB mode.

Thanks for the info. The monitor is working in color with my 64, though. I will try to look for a 1702 also. And yes, I am looking for an Amiga 500/600, after which a 128 will probably be on the list of stuff to get.

Right, the 1802 displays colour in composite mode; it's just monochrome for RGB (its RGB "support" was its selling point back in the day and suckered a lot of people who really should have bought a 1902). But it's just a sucky monitor overall.

If you're going to get an Amiga, then you probably want to just get a 1084S (the stereo version). That'll connect to pretty much any Commodore Amiga or 8-bit, including the 500, 128 and 64. The problem with the 500 is that they sprawl across desks like the flat 128 does. I like my tower Amigas much more than the 500 (and the 500 had a GVP A530 sidecar, so it wasn't for lack of power, per se).

Thanks for the input. I got a 1084S. And an Amiga 500. And an Atari 1040 ST.

Having some trouble with the Amiga, though. Got a ton of floppies with it, and many original games. Can't get hardly any to work. Some floppies - even original ones - come back with empty folder listings. Some work partially and then cause lockups. Not sure what the heck is going on. The workbench 1.2 floppy does work and I was able to try out the included utilities, the text editor and speech synth. But that's been about the extent of my fun with the Amiga so far.

Here's a pic of the Amiga:

vishnu wrote: According to their website they've got two shows planned in Stockholm this year, otherwise they're touring just about everywhere. Except the US..

Sorry to reawaken an old thread, but we were finally able to see Roxette play live, up in Boston, at the end of 2012. Took the whole fam up there and had an absolute ball. Marie was amazing, as was Per. I felt like I was a teenager again, for a few hours

skywriter wrote:

sgifanatic wrote: Now, once more, there is massive interest in Artificial Intelligence. Call it ML, Cognitive, Deep Learning... whatever. It's AI. Who here thinks it might actually be for real this time?

As long as it can surpass an indian call center, it's a huge improvement.

You won't find me disagreeing with that one

commodorejohn wrote: Not that I completely (or even mostly) agree with hamei, but pulling out the "well, well, you're just a stupid person who hates Progress and lots of other people thought new things were bad over the course of history! " argument is the tech-discussion equivalent of resorting to Hitler comparisons.

Well, it's unfortunate you think that, and it's also unfortunate that you ascribed the worst possible motive to my post.

I don't think this discussion is going anywhere, and frankly, after the comment above, I doubt it will go anywhere. Adieu.

A "new" Gateway 2000 DX2 50 recently acquired from eBay was restored with Retr0brite. There is lots still to do with this system, but just two quick before/after pics for now:

Thanks!

Lots of additional restoration pics from this project:

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum ... -of-images )

Where I am right now is that I have POST, but a failed HDD. Since I don't have a small, old ide HDD and even a 256MB CF doesn't seem to work w this BIOS, the system is not booting into an OS atm. The previous owner also removed the cdu-33 controller/sound card, so the CD-ROM is unconnected.

My plan is to:

1) upgrade to 96mb RAM (max supported, I believe)
2) find a backup psu; this one seems unstable
3) get a sound blaster w Sony interface
4) get a 800mb-1.2gb ide HDD. I believe this BIOS supports a max of 1.2gb.
5) alternative to #4, get a compatible IDE controller and larger hard disk. XTIDE was presented as an option on VCF but I can't find any pre-assembled versions to purchase

Geoman, what controller are you using? The mobo controller or a plug-in ISA/PCI?

nekonoko wrote: Excellent work. One of these days I really need to try Retr0brite; I just got a keyboard that looks like ornamental corn:

Thanks Neko.

I am going to get a UV lamp for future applications. I used sunlight this time, but only because it was the weekend and hence I could start early. Also, it was a bright, sunny day. Especially as winter arrives, the always-available, uniform UV from a lamp will probably be best.

nekonoko wrote: The only thing I can think of is that some of the keys were made with a different plastic formulation that's more resistant to UV discoloration.

Exactly. http://deskthority.net/wiki/Keycap_construction

Welcome! When you know which SGI you're getting, let us know. And share pics!!

I saw this PowerSeries SuperClient 604 based system in my October 1995 BYTE. Internet searches and eBay searches turn up nothing. Did this system have an alternate name? Any background?

After looking into this quite a bit, my conclusion is that we are looking at a system that was never shipped. The Power Series 800 Super Client. I found another ad with the same image, but an actual model number (attached).

The "PC" versions of the rs/6000 Power boxes, aka "SuperClient", were cancelled before this design made it out in the market.

http://www.os2voice.org/vnl/past_issues ... newsf5.htm

As per the link above, apparently there are/were only four of these systems in existence.

The closest, from a design perspective, is the 43p. But even this does not have that grid vent shown in the ad, to the lower left of the enclosure (while upright). It would be cool to mod one into the SuperClient that never was

This is one of the reasons why I still treasure my physical collection of BYTE magazines. Those old issues always turn up something interesting...

[THE ABOVE INFO IS INCORRECT. The 800 series, including the 850, did indeed ship. Please see my post below with correct info. Rare, but did exist.]

The 43p:

josehill wrote:

n1mjb wrote: Could it be a Power Series 830 or 850? I couldn't find a ton of details, but the Wikipedia article seems to indicate they're the PC counterparts of the Model 7248 RS/6000.

Yeah, I think that's it. Just one of IBM's PReP machines. I found a two page ad in InfoWorld , too.

Yes, we turned up the same ad and yes, its the 850. Don't believe it ever shipped.

Dang. I was wrong. It did ship. This lab had five of them:

http://users.wfu.edu/yipcw/WFUcmp98/content/phy.html

Description says the Hungarian nuclear reactors were designed on these and the files may or may not be on there. Even if they were deleted but not properly overwritten, they may be recoverable. I wonder if that has something to do with the price. A little scary, frankly.

I have a variety of embedded and other hardware, all barely used, for sale:

1) OMAP4430 PandaBoard A2 embedded system - $90 + shipping
2) Diamond BVU1000 USB 2.0 HDMI graphics adaptor 512MB 1920x1080 - this is basically a USB based graphics card. You plug it into your USB port and you get another 1080p display. Good for turning Mac or Windows laptops into multimonitor systems - $40 + shipping
3) LP-170C Pico-ITX motherboard Intel Atom D525 1.80GHz 1M cache 1Gbps LAN - $100 + shipping - 3 available
4) MSI Wind Nettop PC - this is an Atom N230 1.6Ghz based system w 2GB RAM but no Hard disk. Here's a link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856167032 $65 + shipping - 4 available
5) Zotac H67-ITX WiFi LGA1155 Intel Express Chipset Motherboard - in box, new - $60 + shipping - 2 available


If interested, please PM with offers.

I found this one in BYTE, March, 1992. Will see if I can do a highres scan.

nongrato wrote:

sgifanatic wrote: I found this one in BYTE.

"Cheaper"? Really?

Not really "cheaper" in general, but perhaps relatively cheap for the specific set of tasks it excelled at. A DX2-66 from Dell w 8MB RAM was ~ $4,500 in '92. The base model Indigo server ran $6,400 w 8MB RAM. Not sure how the disk compared, but the MIPS ratings were 25 and 30 respectively. The Indigo was certainly priced a thousand or so dollars higher, on a per MIPS basis, but then it also offered quite a bit more expansion capability and sophistication.

Unix workstations survived the 486, but the advent of NT on the Pentium truly thrashed them. There was a temporary illusion of well being created by the .com spending spree, where Sun, in particular, could do no wrong, but looking at it from a true feature/value perspective, the Pentium had already delivered a mortal wound.

Here's a higher res version. I am no graphics artist, but here is my best effort with GIMP.

Great find. Thanks for sharing the link. Will make for great leisure reading!

josehill wrote:

vishnu wrote: "SGI had gotten rid of all PCs and Macs; the company ran its entire business only on SGI hardware."

I wonder how long that policy lasted...

Quite a while, actually. Pretty much until the very late 90s, IIRC.

There is a Mac-like icon in one of the desktop snapshots on the McCrea blog. Here's the one I mean:



I've never actually seen that particular icon on any of my SGI systems. Is that a Mac on the network? Or just a generic icon for a remote system?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I ask because, for some odd reason, I'm getting an urge to set-up a 386 Un*x box. I think Interactive Unix might be a bit too esoteric for me, and I will likely have better luck with an older Slackware or FreeBSD distro.

Coupled with SunOS for Sun 386i systems, this would make it three Sun OSs that ran on 80386 processors; Solaris, Interactive Unix and SunOS for 386i.

smj wrote: Then I typically stop drinking for the night, and the urge passes by morning...

Atleast you have something to blame for this temporary madness, smj

GIJoe wrote: yeah not bad at first glance. however i looked her up and she definitely has seen better days

The more I get to know it, the less I like the aging process.

Dried components. Unexpected explosions when you turn the power on. Slow. Can't keep up with what's hot. Feels good just to come close.

Welcome! O2s are great machines and nice to hear your have the 1600SW also. They look great together!