On Sun, 2008-04-06 at 10:41 -0700, Les wrote: > On Sat, 2008-04-05 at 00:00 -0400, Ric Moore wrote: > > On Thu, 2008-04-03 at 19:12 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote: > > > Ric Moore wrote: > > > > cp/m had all kinda sort and list commands. I'm just not sure which would > > > > have been better, to be under the evil domination of Digital or > > > > Microsoft. <grins> cp/m ][ was pretty nice, though. It did pretty much > > > > whatever I wanted it to do. Ric > > > > > > Hey, be nice! First off, remember Gary Kildall's company was Digital > > > Research, Inc.--NOT Digital Equipment Corp. (at the time chaired by > > > Ken Olson). > > > > > > I worked for DRI on CP/M and MP/M. There were some nomenclature and UI > > > similarities between DEC's RT-11 or RSTS and CP/M, but they were NOT the > > > same company--not by a long shot. They were even on different coasts! > > > > > > IBM went with Microsoft because they arrived for a meeting with Gary, > > > but he was out flying his airplane and missed it. IBM got ticked off > > > and called Microsoft. We've never been sure if IBM was a day early > > > (as Gary always claimed) or Gary screwed up his calendar. Either one is > > > as likely as the other (IBM can be petulant and Gary could be very > > > scatterbrained at times). > > > > I bought just about every Televideo model made from Gov. Surplus. God, I > > forget the monster they built that served the 8 bit machines running > > cp/m and the 16 bit machines running cp/m86, but it ran MP/M and could > > handle either client. Pretty slick!! Televideo, when the old man ran the > > company made some very nice handling machines. Excellent keyboards. Nice > > nice stuff! I had a collection of a pile of cp/m machines, Altos, > > Televideo, Kaypro, an original ozzie, 3 Imsai machines, plus quite a few > > I had never heard of before. Got 'em for $10 apiece at Gov Surplus, just > > to play with. Remember Irv Hoff?? I talked to him on the phone a few > > weeks before he died of cancer. His contributions to the modem world > > were priceless. Ric > > > I was overseas from 1972 to 1977, and did much of my early programming > and programming study then, using Fortran and paying for time on a > company timeshare. > > I never met any of the folks I was reading about, and I was months > behind the curve, I think, (technical communications were not what they > are today), but I learned so very very much. I read every book I could > afford to buy, joined McGraw-Hill's book club and bought one or two > books nearly every month. It was tough to do that on a sailors salary > with a family to support, and studying took a lot of the little free > time I had (3 or 4 section duty, taking classes, standing watches 3 out > of 4 weekends or 2 out of three weekends), but I did get a lot done... I > earned an ASEE at University of Guam (it's part of the California system > of colleges), and got a First Class Radio Operators License, and passed > the Navy Chief ET's exam (not enough points to advance then). I did the > finals and the exams all in one week. It was punishing, but I had > operations coming up and I couldn't delay. I worked on the side some as > well. I remember getting about 3 or 4 hours of sleep a day. And I > continued that during my next shore tour as I earned an AA at Skagit > Valley Community college. Didn't realize I didn't need the AA to go on > in school. Wasn't smart enough to ask. > > I learned, I wrote software to flash lights, make noises, even to say > the hex digits in place of a readout on one of my early boards. That > way I could follow the listing as it read them back to me. I figured > out how to make a comparator and wrote a resyncing program to allow > storing data on audio cassettes at 8K baud because I was tired of > waiting for the 300 baud modem. I never experienced a drop out with my > algorithm. But I didn't patent it, I thought it was too obvious. I > designed a SAR algorithm and used the system to sample voice at about a > 10K rate. I was experimenting with voice input. I had a crazy idea of > listing programs by voice onto cassette tape and then being able to edit > them and reload them to run from assembly or some other language, but > without binary type storage, so they would always be available in source > form. Sounds crazy now, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea to > me. > > I really wanted to be able to meet and talk to some of the other early > experimenters, but I was nearly half a world away. At that time I felt > so isolated from the world of bits and bytes that even now I can feel > it. > > I hope some of the young people reading this list are inspired by our > words and our deeds to pursue ever greater goals. Maybe visit the > planets or even the stars. We are not meant to be bound, not to our > limitations, nor even to the earth. We, all people are meant to > explore, to learn, to develop, and to expand. > > Regards, > Les H > Indeed. We were put on this earth to terraform it- WE are the guardians, the park rangers, whatever. WE can make it what we want it to be. Never mind environmental issues, if we want something to remain to enjoy then we need to do something to keep it that way. Change is inevitable, and maybe future generations will do as they will with the same area- something different even. Until we can do this here, then there wouldn't be much point going somewhere else to be stranded without a clue. But yes, this is what the universe is there for- to be explored, tamed even for our use. As for computers; what really gets on my goat is that they're not put to full use. We originally put men on the moon with them, we have games that are semi intelligent that we compete against, and YET we still use them simply as a typewriter or communication device. Yes, they can be used as this, but they have so much grunt these days they could be doing the mundane of our tasks in life. Stupid M$ has made our machines dumb, and our computers still run as slow as they did under 3.1 with all the shit they put in the software. Thats why SETI and other boinc projects can use our collective wasted computing power as a supercomputer more powerful than one put to dedicated use. Really seems silly doesn't it? We dreamed of geek houses in the seventies and eighties, and still we haven't got there- and not due to the lack of technology... Anyway, thats my 2c. I do applaud your diligence Les- it was inspiring.
