I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:47:49 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 12, 3:01*pm, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

...







wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. *(RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. *I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

--Mike

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That ran off of heated rocks and bronze, didn't it?!!!!!

Not exactly, but close enough.

Things were pretty primitive in those days. :)

When I think back on our first "big" machine - a whole 2K RAM on a
12X12 PCB with a bootstrap console and a paper tape reader - SANDIA
labs went ga-ga over that much memory on a single board and PAPER TAPE
for programming - man, that was 'da bomb. :)

Literally in this case.

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
.. .

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.
Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.
Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

All this BBN and DEC ARPA makes my head spin.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:35 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
. ..

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)

Can't say, but...I did ask for her if she happened to have a spare
nanosecond and she grinned and gave me one.

It's framed, autographed and in my office. :)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:06:57 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)

Ah yes - the low hum of a power transformer keeping the finals on the
"california kilowatt" warm and waitng for that chance encounter on 40
meters with a TO or C8. :)

It's even better when the S-line is sitting idle - that soft glow of
tubes through the cabinet vents reflecting off the shelf over the
radios...nothing like it.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)



Have either of you had to buy tubes lately? Good Grief!

I decided to re-tube both the B3 and the C3 Hammonds, a M3 Hammond, two
Leslie 122 speakers and two Hammond PR-20 Tone cabinets.

Started searching for tube sets and nearly fell off my chair. The last
American made set of push-pull finals (6550's) for the Leslie's are $329.95
for a matched pair. I'd need four pairs of these. Forget it!

http://thetubestore.com/ge-6550.html

Opted for some Russian made versions for 60 bucks a pair.

Anyway, I cut back on re-tubing everything at once, and will just do one
organ/Leslie at a time. 13 tubes of various types.

Even shopping around for the best prices for tube sets for everything was
adding up to about $1,600 - $2,000.
It's a far cry from the old days of running down to Radio Shack, old tubes
in hand, using their tube tester and buying a couple of new tubes for a buck
or two each.

Eisboch

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:35 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there
really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national
coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with
too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up
Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be
"installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff,
just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)

Can't say, but...I did ask for her if she happened to have a spare
nanosecond and she grinned and gave me one.

It's framed, autographed and in my office. :)

Years ago, she was about 80 I believe, she spoke to a group of us engineers
at Bells Labs. Quite an interesting lady.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:41:08 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)

Have either of you had to buy tubes lately? Good Grief!

Oh yeah - had to get new finals for my homebrew "California Kilowatt"
about two years ago- 3-500Cs. I got Russian tubes (Chinese tubes are
crap) and they were still $110 a piece.

Dude!!

I decided to re-tube both the B3 and the C3 Hammonds, a M3 Hammond, two
Leslie 122 speakers and two Hammond PR-20 Tone cabinets.

Started searching for tube sets and nearly fell off my chair. The last
American made set of push-pull finals (6550's) for the Leslie's are $329.95
for a matched pair. I'd need four pairs of these. Forget it!

http://thetubestore.com/ge-6550.html

Opted for some Russian made versions for 60 bucks a pair.

Know what - your better off too. I've got Russian tubes in my Dad's
Collins S-line and in the KWM-2 and they are solid as a rock. All the
Mac 50s have Svetlana 6L6GCs plus other tubes all Svetlana and they
sound just as good as they did the day I bought them.

Anyway, I cut back on re-tubing everything at once, and will just do one
organ/Leslie at a time. 13 tubes of various types.

I feel your pain - analog is expensive. :)

Even shopping around for the best prices for tube sets for everything was
adding up to about $1,600 - $2,000.

Yep - been there, done that. :)

It's a far cry from the old days of running down to Radio Shack, old tubes
in hand, using their tube tester and buying a couple of new tubes for a buck
or two each.

Gone - long gone. Finished.

Radio Shack is just another Best Buy now, only smaller with a little
more "stuff".

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:18:13 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:41:08 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Wayne.B" wrote in message
. ..

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)

Have either of you had to buy tubes lately? Good Grief!

Oh yeah - had to get new finals for my homebrew "California Kilowatt"
about two years ago- 3-500Cs. I got Russian tubes (Chinese tubes are
crap) and they were still $110 a piece.

Dude!!

I decided to re-tube both the B3 and the C3 Hammonds, a M3 Hammond, two
Leslie 122 speakers and two Hammond PR-20 Tone cabinets.


Have they all been re-capped? If not, they are long overdue!

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:55:36 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:35 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
m...

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there
really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national
coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with
too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up
Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be
"installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff,
just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)

Can't say, but...I did ask for her if she happened to have a spare
nanosecond and she grinned and gave me one.

It's framed, autographed and in my office. :)

Years ago, she was about 80 I believe, she spoke to a group of us engineers
at Bells Labs. Quite an interesting lady.

Brilliant and quite down to Earth. Funny too - she spoke at a
conference sponsored by DEC, DG and Prime and had the place in
stitches with her stories.

A lot of folks just don't understand how important some of the early
female scientists were to the building of the computer industry -
Hooper, Jean Sammet, Barbara Liskof, Karen Jones - the list goes on.

Hell, when you think about it, Hedy Lamarr who had the original idea
about spread spectrum communications is partly responsible also. :)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

wrote in message
...


Have they all been re-capped? If not, they are long overdue!



The C3, yes. (B3 in a full cabinet).
The B3, no.

And you can hear the difference.

I was going to order the cap set, but found a guy that rebuilds the preamps
and installs all new caps in the process. He takes your old one as a
"core" and installs a rebuilt from his stock. He also does a "tune" up ...
cleans the drawbars, key contacts, oils the tone generator, etc. I decided
that since I've never done this, it will be worth having it done by an
experienced Hammond tech.

He's also going to make a couple of popular modifications, including fixing
the upper drawbar volume attenuation when using percussion in the normal
setting.

Eisboch

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...


Have they all been re-capped? If not, they are long overdue!



BTW, the Leslie I got for the C3 is a not-so-old 122 overhauled by Goff.
It has the big, "Goff Professional" logo on it. It, with the C3, have an
unbelievable, powerful sound.

Eisboch

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:42:43 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


wrote in message
.. .


Have they all been re-capped? If not, they are long overdue!



The C3, yes. (B3 in a full cabinet).
The B3, no.

And you can hear the difference.

I was going to order the cap set, but found a guy that rebuilds the preamps
and installs all new caps in the process. He takes your old one as a
"core" and installs a rebuilt from his stock. He also does a "tune" up ...
cleans the drawbars, key contacts, oils the tone generator, etc. I decided
that since I've never done this, it will be worth having it done by an
experienced Hammond tech.

He's also going to make a couple of popular modifications, including fixing
the upper drawbar volume attenuation when using percussion in the normal
setting.

Eisboch


Those guys are a vanishing breed. I sold my M3 to our local Hammond
"collector" many years ago. He had a small warehouse full of old
organs and parts, and also did a lot of service work. His wife was not
happy about the stockpile! Mine, which was in great shape, eventually
went to a storefront church. I sold it too him very cheap because I
knew his circumstances, and what he was doing. The guy himself was not
in very good shape, and died about 10 years ago.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:47:24 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Eisboch" wrote in message
m...

wrote in message
...


Have they all been re-capped? If not, they are long overdue!



BTW, the Leslie I got for the C3 is a not-so-old 122 overhauled by Goff.
It has the big, "Goff Professional" logo on it. It, with the C3, have an
unbelievable, powerful sound.

Eisboch


No doubt!

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:55:36 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:35 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message
om...

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there
really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all
proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local
BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national
coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with
too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have
it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up
Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid.
I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines
that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be
"installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.

Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff,
just
earlier.

Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.

Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)

Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)

Can't say, but...I did ask for her if she happened to have a spare
nanosecond and she grinned and gave me one.

It's framed, autographed and in my office. :)

Years ago, she was about 80 I believe, she spoke to a group of us
engineers
at Bells Labs. Quite an interesting lady.

Brilliant and quite down to Earth. Funny too - she spoke at a
conference sponsored by DEC, DG and Prime and had the place in
stitches with her stories.

A lot of folks just don't understand how important some of the early
female scientists were to the building of the computer industry -
Hooper, Jean Sammet, Barbara Liskof, Karen Jones - the list goes on.

Hell, when you think about it, Hedy Lamarr who had the original idea
about spread spectrum communications is partly responsible also. :)

There was a problem though. Adm Hooper was traveling around the country at
tax payer expense. Some folks don't appreciate that. 8)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

D.Duck wrote:
"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:55:36 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:35 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0800, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:

Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there
really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all
proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local
BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national
coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with
too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have
it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up
Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)

The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid.
I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines
that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be
"installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.
Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff,
just
earlier.
Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.
Heh - In '78, I was at BBN working on a joint project for the US Navy
(which is how I met Admn. Grace Hooper who was there consulting with
BBN on a DEC implementation) and as it happened, Ray Tomlinson was
involved in our project. I asked him point blank if he really didn't
know what he sent as the first remote email message and he grinned and
said he didn't have a clue.

I was told later on by somebody who was, in theory "in the know", that
it was a very naughty joke. :)
Did the storied Admn Grace have her piece of string with her? 8)
Can't say, but...I did ask for her if she happened to have a spare
nanosecond and she grinned and gave me one.

It's framed, autographed and in my office. :)
Years ago, she was about 80 I believe, she spoke to a group of us
engineers
at Bells Labs. Quite an interesting lady.
Brilliant and quite down to Earth. Funny too - she spoke at a
conference sponsored by DEC, DG and Prime and had the place in
stitches with her stories.

A lot of folks just don't understand how important some of the early
female scientists were to the building of the computer industry -
Hooper, Jean Sammet, Barbara Liskof, Karen Jones - the list goes on.

Hell, when you think about it, Hedy Lamarr who had the original idea
about spread spectrum communications is partly responsible also. :)

There was a problem though. Adm Hooper was traveling around the country at
tax payer expense. Some folks don't appreciate that. 8)

Adm Hooper did more to advance computer programming the just about
anyone else in the late 50's and early 60's. She was a great ambassodor
of the Defense Department to the defense contracting industry and the
rest of the federal government too.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:41:08 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Wayne.B" wrote in message
. ..

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I get a warm feeling just thinking about it, nothing like the soft red
glow from a rack full of vacuum tube equipment on a cold winter's
night. :-)

Have either of you had to buy tubes lately? Good Grief!

Oh yeah - had to get new finals for my homebrew "California Kilowatt"
about two years ago- 3-500Cs. I got Russian tubes (Chinese tubes are
crap) and they were still $110 a piece.

Dude!!

I decided to re-tube both the B3 and the C3 Hammonds, a M3 Hammond, two
Leslie 122 speakers and two Hammond PR-20 Tone cabinets.

Started searching for tube sets and nearly fell off my chair. The last
American made set of push-pull finals (6550's) for the Leslie's are
$329.95
for a matched pair. I'd need four pairs of these. Forget it!

http://thetubestore.com/ge-6550.html

Opted for some Russian made versions for 60 bucks a pair.

Know what - your better off too. I've got Russian tubes in my Dad's
Collins S-line and in the KWM-2 and they are solid as a rock. All the
Mac 50s have Svetlana 6L6GCs plus other tubes all Svetlana and they
sound just as good as they did the day I bought them.

Anyway, I cut back on re-tubing everything at once, and will just do one
organ/Leslie at a time. 13 tubes of various types.

I feel your pain - analog is expensive. :)

Even shopping around for the best prices for tube sets for everything was
adding up to about $1,600 - $2,000.

Yep - been there, done that. :)

It's a far cry from the old days of running down to Radio Shack, old tubes
in hand, using their tube tester and buying a couple of new tubes for a
buck
or two each.

Gone - long gone. Finished.

Radio Shack is just another Best Buy now, only smaller with a little
more "stuff".

More expensive than Best Buy also. Went in RS the other day for the first
time in years. To get a couple Lithium Batteries for my welding helmet.
Wal Mart in the same center was out of the batteries, and Walgreens only had
1. RS was 2 bucks more than Walgreens. Each.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 10:18:36 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

There was a problem though. Adm Hooper was traveling around the country at
tax payer expense. Some folks don't appreciate that. 8)

Tough - that was her job.

And she followed through for the American Taxpayer in spectacular
fashion.

Unlike...em...er...

Well, we'll leave it at that. :)

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:47:49 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 12, 3:01 pm, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

...







wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:
Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. (RIP)
The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.
Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.
--Mike
Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
That ran off of heated rocks and bronze, didn't it?!!!!!
Not exactly, but close enough.

Things were pretty primitive in those days. :)

When I think back on our first "big" machine - a whole 2K RAM on a
12X12 PCB with a bootstrap console and a paper tape reader - SANDIA
labs went ga-ga over that much memory on a single board and PAPER TAPE
for programming - man, that was 'da bomb. :)

Literally in this case.

Heck, I go back even further. Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. :)

I got in the computer biz in 1966 with IBM. One of my customers was
Army Stratcom out past Wheaton Md in the boonies. They had a 360 mod
30 that was a Arpanet node. This place was of those photomat looking
buildings with nothing inside but a guard and an elevator that took
you an undisclosed distance underground where there was a huge
complex. I suppose the cows walking around the field might have
tricked the ruskies if it wasn't for the parking lot with 100 cars in
it.


Sounds like the "highly secret" facility in Alexandria, Virginia, where
a federal government contractor "hardens" cars and trucks for the feds.
It's a huge facility, and the cars are parked in lots outside. The
ground on which it sits used to be part of a railroad yard. Aside from
that and the fact the facility has been on television a few times, why,
you'd never know.

Here's the "highly secret" facility:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...0/489546dc.jpg



Those tracks on the right belong to the railroads and to the Washington
Metro. To the left is Route 1. The shopping center to the north is
called Potomac Yards.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:04:32 -0500, Boater wrote:


Those tracks on the right belong to the railroads and to the Washington
Metro. To the left is Route 1. The shopping center to the north is
called Potomac Yards.

They have something similar here. It's an underground phone switching
station. It looks like your typical switching station above ground, but
it has a two story underground "nuclear proof" complex. I'd seen the
above ground part for years without giving it much thought. I never knew
about the underground part until after the end of the Cold War.

I'm sure there are many more places around.

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

On Dec 13, 10:04*pm, Boater wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:34:37 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:47:49 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 12, 3:01 pm, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message

...

wrote in message
om...
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:54:38 -0500, BAR wrote:
Why did anyone ever pay for AOL?
There was a time when it was only Prodigy and AOL, before there really
was an internet, from the consumer standpoint. It was all proprietary
software and captive content. Other than that you just had local BBS
services. If you traveled you wanted something with national coverage.
It still is about the most stable ISP. The rest came and went with too
much frequency to actually give anyone your Email address and have it
be useful a year later. Even now I can still use my 15 year old AOL
address but my Mediaone address is dead, as is the successor
Roadrunner (ended up Comcast), Sprint then Earthlink, ended up Embarq.
and a half dozen other places that I had accounts with. *(RIP)
The software stopped being stable when they incorporated Internet
Explorer as the browser and W/9x. Prior to that it was rock solid. *I
used to use the W/3.1 version to test communication on machines that
had suspected software problems since it didn't have to be "installed"
and it would run straight from a diskette.
Before Prodigy and AOL there was Compuserve and GEnie. Same stuff, just
earlier.
--Mike
Actually there was ARPA net for a lot of us.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
That ran off of heated rocks and bronze, didn't it?!!!!!
Not exactly, but close enough.

Things were pretty primitive in those days. *:)

When I think back on our first "big" machine - a whole 2K RAM on a
12X12 PCB with a bootstrap console and a paper tape reader - SANDIA
labs went ga-ga over that much memory on a single board and PAPER TAPE
for programming - man, that was 'da bomb. *:)

Literally in this case.

Heck, I go back even further. *Our high school math club used to
program Sylvania's mainframe (this was '62) using phone jacks/plugs on
racks six feet tall and four wide - there were fifteen of them.

With vacuum tubes no less. *:)

I got in the computer biz in 1966 with IBM. One of my customers was
Army Stratcom out past Wheaton Md in the boonies. They had a 360 mod
30 that was a Arpanet node. This place was of those photomat looking
buildings with nothing inside but a guard and an elevator that took
you an undisclosed distance underground where there was a huge
complex. I suppose the cows walking around the field might have
tricked the ruskies if it wasn't for the parking lot with 100 cars in
it.

Sounds like the "highly secret" facility in Alexandria, Virginia, where
a federal government contractor "hardens" cars and trucks for the feds.
It's a huge facility, and the cars are parked in lots outside. The
ground on which it sits used to be part of a railroad yard. Aside from
that and the fact the facility has been on television a few times, why,
you'd never know.

Here's the "highly secret" facility:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...0/489546dc.jpg

Those tracks on the right belong to the railroads and to the Washington
Metro. To the left is Route 1. The shopping center to the north is
called Potomac Yards.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Nice googling!

I'm surprised they haven't tanked already.
 

Here it comes again.....



Dear AOL Pictures User:

We are writing to remind you that the AOL Pictures online photo
service will close on December 31, 2008. After this date, you will
no longer be able to access your photos through AOL Pictures.

But you still have time to transfer and save your pictures to our
partner, American Greetings® PhotoWorks®. It’s quick and easy. Sign up
for PhotoWorks today and you can also get 50 FREE prints!

American Greetings PhotoWorks provides you with:

* unlimited, free storage for all of your photos;
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your own web page.

In addition to transferring your images to American Greetings
PhotoWorks, you can also download your images to your computer, or you
can purchase a DVD archive of your AOL Pictures account.

Even if you have already downloaded or bought a DVD archive of your
AOL Pictures photo albums, you can still transfer them quickly and
easily to PhotoWorks. Just go to AOL Pictures to get started.

It is extremely important that you go to AOL Pictures no later than
Dec. 31, 2008 to take action. After Dec. 31, 2008, the AOL Pictures
service will close, and you will not be able to access any of your
images or albums from the AOL Pictures site. Further information on
the closing of AOL Pictures, as well as step-by-step instructions can
be found at AOL Pictures by clicking on the Help or Frequently Asked
Questions links.

Sincerely,

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go ahead. Make my day!