Posts
Oh, well - I've forgotten the model numbers. This is what happens when you take the time at a party to learn someone's name - you learn their name and make the whole evening special but you sacrifice some other random piece of information. In this case, model numbers.
As far as I can tell, I used a PDP-10:
(Taken by Ed Thelen of material owned by Computer History Museum under the non-commercial rule.)
Followed shortly by a VAX 11/780:
Talk about good times. I had access to these only because I was friends with the system administrator at school. He set me up (I think I basically whined a lot until he did) with a user name and password. My first user name and therefore email address ever was "tomato". I don't know why I chose that. He said "What do you want for a user name?" and I spouted out "Tomato". So I was known as "tomato" for a few years. Whenever I logged in I'd hear "Hey, there is a Tomato on the system!". I had email and was able to send/receive with a few friends that were online also - mostly right there at the school.
A few years ago a customer was walking through my company and he was talking about how he had made all of his money in the "internet" and how he had his first email address in 1988. That's how he started his conversation. It was like "How did you get rich in the internet?" and his first statement was "I had my first email address in 1988". Obviously there was something else involved because I had my first email address in 1983 and I didn't make it big in the internet. Of course, the internet wasn't really there yet so much back then. I think there was ARPANET, etc - but I'm not going to go into all of that.
I didn't do anything really constructive on either of these systems at the time besides read newsgroups. Later, maybe around 1987 I had to have a "real" account because I had a class on the VAX so the "tomato" account went away and I moved to something like just "wilso_d" or something else mundane. At that point I was taking an operating system class and we had to write our own OS in something like C or Pascal. It's all vague at this point, but none-the-less, this was my moment to both PDP and VAX systems. Both were pretty good considering the time frame. All text-based as I recall with dumb-terminals. I think the world really was faster before the advent of fancy graphical user interfaces (aka Windows).
You can read more about the VAX here.
Is it "Write A Blog Every Day For A Month" again? Because I'm already 10 behind. So here is a post from about two years ago where I said "Oh, I'm going to post about every computer I've ever used!" and then I stopped, right after this one. Lord Kalvan has been posting about a bunch of old computers and it reminded me of my original intent.
So here goes - I'm going to take a few posts to talk about the different computers I've used. I'll start with the very first one. This is the Commodore CBM-8032. This came out around 1980 and had a massive 32k of RAM. It had an 80 column by 25 line green monochrome screen. The CPU was a 6502 2Mhz.
This was owned by the science department at my high school. 1980 (10th grade for me) was well before the school had computer labs, etc. This was the ONLY computer in the school and we found it in the back of a store room where it wasn't being used.
It was beautiful. I used this from 1980 through 1982.
The base model used tapes, but the school actually had a dual floppy drive for it. I sent a letter to Commodore to see if they could send me any information on it, and they sent me a copy of their Commodore magazine. It was cool because it was filled with source code you could key in and also had instructions on how to do things with the system - like print. Yeah, this was before all of the magic we rely on today. Internet? Ha! I don't think so.
My first program was in BASIC and said something like:
10 PRINT "DEWITTE"
20 GOTO 10
and I'd run it... and run it.. and run it... There were three of us who started hanging around the back of the science room every chance we had - before school, after school, during lunch. We'd write programs and key in games and play them. One I recall the most is StarTrek (where you were a big E (for enterprise) and it moves around looking out for K (Klingons). Ah, good times, good times.
I would send a note to Commodore and when I received a reply, it would come from a different address. I thought something was up - they kept moving. Eventually I think they went away, but that wasn't until after the Vic-20, Commodore 64, and the Amiga. The only one of these I seriously used was the Amiga, but that's for another post.
I used to sit in the back of the classroom and just write mindless programs and listen to Supertramp on a cassette boom-box that I built (yes, built - and sad really because I don't have a single picture of it).
Somehow, this doesn't seem very spacey...
Chicken tractor coopChicken tractor coop - $400 (Norfolk)
Date: 2009-10-20, 3:16PM EDT
This is a brand new, never used chicken-tractor coop from
Egganic Industries. It holds 2-3 chickens. Designed for laying hens. Get fresh
eggs every day.
It retails at $499. You won't be able to build as safe or convenient a coop for less. I've already assembled it and it can be transported on a pick-up truck bed.
You don't need anything except chickens and chicken feed. Perfect for city folks who have a backyard.
I'm selling this one because I'm getting their new Tuf-Climate Coop. Email me if you are interested or have questions.
It retails at $499. You won't be able to build as safe or convenient a coop for less. I've already assembled it and it can be transported on a pick-up truck bed.
You don't need anything except chickens and chicken feed. Perfect for city folks who have a backyard.
I'm selling this one because I'm getting their new Tuf-Climate Coop. Email me if you are interested or have questions.
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Well, it's that time again. Time to clean up the old Vox neighborhood.
Why? Well, as it turns out some neighbor I had just started posting a bunch of ... risque pictures and that just won't do. Then I had to wonder why that person was in my neighborhood in the first place, since I never read their stuff and they never read mine - which totally defeats the whole "neighborhood" concept.
While I was at it, I just randomly removed a lot of other people - mostly people no longer posting on Vox or people who post only their daily Twitter notes. I added those people to my Twitter account and dropped them here. Still others just plain never comment EVER. I always feel obliged to say something if I'm at your page and it would be nice to get the same in return, even if it is a "This Is Good" (which is unfortunate if I posted about my dog getting ran over or something similar).
Admittedly, I'm a lousy neighbor because I don't really get around as much as I used to, but I still get around occasionally and likewise some of you seem to always read my stuff and comment - thank you!
So if you are reading this and actually do keep up with me, here is the quick way to tell if you are in my neighborhood.
If you see this:
Why? Well, as it turns out some neighbor I had just started posting a bunch of ... risque pictures and that just won't do. Then I had to wonder why that person was in my neighborhood in the first place, since I never read their stuff and they never read mine - which totally defeats the whole "neighborhood" concept.
While I was at it, I just randomly removed a lot of other people - mostly people no longer posting on Vox or people who post only their daily Twitter notes. I added those people to my Twitter account and dropped them here. Still others just plain never comment EVER. I always feel obliged to say something if I'm at your page and it would be nice to get the same in return, even if it is a "This Is Good" (which is unfortunate if I posted about my dog getting ran over or something similar).
Admittedly, I'm a lousy neighbor because I don't really get around as much as I used to, but I still get around occasionally and likewise some of you seem to always read my stuff and comment - thank you!
So if you are reading this and actually do keep up with me, here is the quick way to tell if you are in my neighborhood.
If you see this:
Then you are still in. If you don't see.. THAT (^ up there) then you are NOT in my neighborhood. If you were and you think "Dang! I want to be in DeWitte's neighborhood!" then just comment and say so and I'll get you back in...
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Is it Saturday yet?
Wednesday - already? The last few days were a blur as always so today I was finally able to get back to the truck. As you recall, we were working on the defrost blower motor. I looked online and found one for $97 and then I found another for $51, but the one for $51 didn't have the "wheel" as they call it - I call it the "squirrel cage fan". In any case, I emailed the internet parts company and they emailed me back and said to call so I did. After I spoke to some guy, Frank, I think, he was able to look up the exact fan motor and was able to verify that this motor does NOT come with a replacement fan blade. He said they don't even sell it. Nice. I would have tried to use the one I had, but it is broken up in more than one place and I just broke it up more trying to get it loose from the motor.
Plan B was to go to the local auto-junk "field" where you pay a guy $1 for insurance, take your tools and head out among hundreds of wrecked cars to see if you can find what you need. I held off going because I knew Nathan wanted to have the chance to look around. This guy wanted $45 for his and I had to remove it. No big deal, but at least it comes with the fan. I took off work early and went up there today, but when we got there, they had a big sign that kids aren't allowed out back for insurance purposes. What a bummer! We've been to the other local car/junkyard and Nathan went in. Oh, well - I told him to wait there and all of the mechanic-junk-dealer guys were happy to have him just sit there and be quiet. He did. Meanwhile, I went to "the second row on the right" and looked at some of the most wrecked up cars I'd ever seen. What a mess. I saw more than one engine squished all the way into the front seat. That must have been something to talk (or not talk) about for some time. I went around twice and I didn't see a truck that even RESEMBLED mine, even if I used my imagination. While I was out there wandering in the mud I decided to call the local Dodge dealer/parts counter and ask. They looked it up. "Oh, the motor is $179 and if you need the fan, that's another $87 so you can get them both for just over $260". You could hear me gasp. "Okay, thanks" I said and hung up. $260! You're kidding me, right? That's just robbery. If the internet was only $51... yeah, I know - they are an official dealer. We left and the guys working there didn't sound surprised, as if they knew they didn't have the exact right truck. Nathan had been talking about this place every since I told him that we had to go there. I told him I was sorry they wouldn't let him in and realized it was a bummer, then he said was we were leaving "I wonder if we can go out front and look at that old truck on the ramps?" They have this old, 1950's truck up on ramps - probably just for show. I thought about it for a minute and said "C'mon - the worst they can do is come out and tell us to leave." So we did, we looked at two old trucks and and old car and no one even said a word. (Jamie's right on with her theory that it's a heck of a lot easier to say "Sorry, I didn't know I couldn't do that" than to ask permission first.)
Oh, well. On a whim as we rode back to the house, I stopped at the local Advance Auto to see if they had it and to my utter surprise they had it and for only about $29. I asked about the fan blade and she said "Oh, the wheel. The wheel is $14.99". Now you're really kidding me. So for about $45, I'm getting the motor and fan blade for less than I'd get it online OR at the local junk yard where it's used AND I have to take it off myself. I was just amazed. What a great learning experience for both of us. Advance Auto really came through on that one. We came home and Nathan worked on the right rear wheel while I went to work putting the fan back in place along with the assorted covers and the recirculate valve thing. Done. We tried it out and it works. There is something now wrong with the switch, but I'll work on that next. For now, it's just good that I can have a blower working again. We'll finish checking the left brakes tomorrow and then hopefully we'll go back for a re-inspection on Friday.
Quick View of new fan going into place :
Plan B was to go to the local auto-junk "field" where you pay a guy $1 for insurance, take your tools and head out among hundreds of wrecked cars to see if you can find what you need. I held off going because I knew Nathan wanted to have the chance to look around. This guy wanted $45 for his and I had to remove it. No big deal, but at least it comes with the fan. I took off work early and went up there today, but when we got there, they had a big sign that kids aren't allowed out back for insurance purposes. What a bummer! We've been to the other local car/junkyard and Nathan went in. Oh, well - I told him to wait there and all of the mechanic-junk-dealer guys were happy to have him just sit there and be quiet. He did. Meanwhile, I went to "the second row on the right" and looked at some of the most wrecked up cars I'd ever seen. What a mess. I saw more than one engine squished all the way into the front seat. That must have been something to talk (or not talk) about for some time. I went around twice and I didn't see a truck that even RESEMBLED mine, even if I used my imagination. While I was out there wandering in the mud I decided to call the local Dodge dealer/parts counter and ask. They looked it up. "Oh, the motor is $179 and if you need the fan, that's another $87 so you can get them both for just over $260". You could hear me gasp. "Okay, thanks" I said and hung up. $260! You're kidding me, right? That's just robbery. If the internet was only $51... yeah, I know - they are an official dealer. We left and the guys working there didn't sound surprised, as if they knew they didn't have the exact right truck. Nathan had been talking about this place every since I told him that we had to go there. I told him I was sorry they wouldn't let him in and realized it was a bummer, then he said was we were leaving "I wonder if we can go out front and look at that old truck on the ramps?" They have this old, 1950's truck up on ramps - probably just for show. I thought about it for a minute and said "C'mon - the worst they can do is come out and tell us to leave." So we did, we looked at two old trucks and and old car and no one even said a word. (Jamie's right on with her theory that it's a heck of a lot easier to say "Sorry, I didn't know I couldn't do that" than to ask permission first.)
Oh, well. On a whim as we rode back to the house, I stopped at the local Advance Auto to see if they had it and to my utter surprise they had it and for only about $29. I asked about the fan blade and she said "Oh, the wheel. The wheel is $14.99". Now you're really kidding me. So for about $45, I'm getting the motor and fan blade for less than I'd get it online OR at the local junk yard where it's used AND I have to take it off myself. I was just amazed. What a great learning experience for both of us. Advance Auto really came through on that one. We came home and Nathan worked on the right rear wheel while I went to work putting the fan back in place along with the assorted covers and the recirculate valve thing. Done. We tried it out and it works. There is something now wrong with the switch, but I'll work on that next. For now, it's just good that I can have a blower working again. We'll finish checking the left brakes tomorrow and then hopefully we'll go back for a re-inspection on Friday.
Quick View of new fan going into place :
(I won't mention that once again I did a project twice: I had it all mounted in place and THEN found the gasket that is supposed to go behind it, laying in the garage. UGH! (Charlie Brown style) - but now it's all in place. That's a nice metal fan too, not like the old plastic/broken one)
Happy Sunday. Yea-UH!
I took my truck to get it inspected on Friday. For the last few years, I've had the luxury of a less-than-adequate *cough**illegal**cough** shop that did inspections. Now, I'm not saying I went there intentionally or that I was trying to break the law, but when I drove up, they said "Honk your horn" and the next thing I know, they were putting on a sticker and saying "$10 please". Actually that was two years before last year. Last year I went to the place I went to this year. The guy said "We aren't doing inspections anymore. Well, I'll do yours and you'll be the last one." I left it there and then picked it up later - no problems.
I took it there this year, dropped it off and when I came back it may as well have had the word "Clunker" written across the windshield. I mean, really. Can you find anything else wrong with it, I wondered? He said it was leaking axle grease into the rear brake area (which, may I just say, I've NEVER seen anyone remove the rear brake drum. Normally they just look at the front brakes. I vaguely remember it from the past on other vehicles, but never this one). He said blah, blah, blah $210 to fix it all (just the axle part). That didn't cover of course the broken tail light lenses (lenSES - yes, two are broken. You'd think someone came after the truck with a bat or something. I must be rough). Oh, and the defrost blower isn't blowing. I knew that, I just didn't realize that it wouldn't pass for that. Oh, it was blowing sometimes when it felt like it and I actually looked at it before once but didn't make a lot of headway.
Nathan has been ready since he heard the news. He's like the leader of a pit crew, he had the jack out and the jack stands and everything we'd need to work on it. Friday night didn't pan out. I don't recall Friday night. I don't even know what we did now that I think about it. Saturday we went Geocaching - ALL DAY. Like for miles - we hiked to the point that we can home and I went to sleep for a while. I remember it well because mom had just made fried chicken and apple pie and I was about to dig in when I woke up snoring. NO APPLE PIE FOR YOU!
Sunday we went shopping for Jamie's big thing tomorrow. I actually woke up at 5am because I was worried I wouldn't wake up at 6am which is when Jamie said she wanted to get up. So I laid there patiently and Jamie woke up and said she didn't need to get up at 6 today - that was tomorrow. Oh, well. I managed to get back to sleep and when we woke up it was off to buy food for 100 teacher-types at the Nathan's school. I'm sure she'll probably post about it, so I won't but I'll just say that there are like a million bagels and tons of fresh fruit in our house right now. Oh, and danishes - lots of danishes. I'm staring at them now, or rather, they are staring at me.
Finally after finishing the shopping and watching Eureka - I was finally ready to get started. I called the auto parts place to ask about the lens cover and he suggested a local junk yard (closed today - I have 15 days, so I'm not under the gun, well, kindof because you KNOW my track record). He said "Oh, I own a truck like that" so I picked his brain for a moment and told him about the axle grease leak. He paused for what seemed like a long time and then said "Well, first, you need to take it to a reputable inspection station." He's NEVER heard of that before. Neither have I. It sounded a little fishy. I remember when I was a kid I went with dad to take his old truck to get inspected and he went to this freak guy (a friend of grandmas) and he kept pointing out stuff. He had some weird balance/ruler thing he laid on the hood and said the truck wasn't balanced (yeah(?)) it was leaning. Which caused the headlights to be off. After that he tried to reject it because it didn't have seat belts, but it turns out trucks built before a certain year didn't have them so we had to call the state police to come down and verify - which they did. I enjoyed that, actually. I never liked that guy after that, I'd see him from time to time. I'm sure he didn't know me and I'm glad for him that he never needed help (from me) for anything.
With that in mind, my goal was to just pull the back wheel off and see what it looked like. Yes, there was some dirty oily stuff - could be anything. I set Nathan up with the pressure washer (the NEEDS WORK pressure washer, that doesn't really have any pressure, but still can handle something as simple as that). He sat there for about 15 minutes until all we could see was metal, rust, and brake pads - which actually looked great. Next we blew it all off with the air hose and I thought about painting it in behind the pads but didn't want to hear "Oh, you didn't paint it, did you?" So I opted just to get it all dried off and then put it back together. While Nathan did that, I worked on the blower. I had to take it out. Apparently when they built the truck on the assembly line, the first thing they start with is the blower and then they kind of build the truck around it. That's my guess, at least. I had to take off more panels and covers and glove box parts and ash tray parts and miscellaneous hanging things and lights and finally I made it to the blower which I was able to see and verify that YES, it doesn't turn at all. I hooked my meter up to the power cable and checked and it was working perfectly. I managed to remove the blower but I wasn't able to get the cable out. The cable/cord went through about a 3/4" hole and the connector is like 1 1/2" large so it just got to the back and stopped. Now, who would do that? What sort of engineer would let that happen? Oh, Nathan speculated a LOT about it. That's what he does - he speculates. I didn't mention that earlier. He doesn't just sit there quietly and work, he has a lot of speculation going on. "Oh, they must have fixed that cable like that so in case the screws fell out, the blower wouldn't be able to fall down and hit your feet. The cable will stop it." I nod my head a lot. I wonder if I used to speculate like that? I suppose I did. He's like listening to Andy Taylor talk and after a while it's like a melodious story that just drones on for a while and then you'll hear "Dad. Dad? Dad??" and I'll look over and recall from memory the last few minutes when he speculated that the radio doesn't work because of the recent HD switch over and then I'll explain that it has nothing to do with the HD switch over, but I'll try not to laugh. He's so serious. If I laugh too much, he'll need therapy. Anyway, I cut the blower cable and I'll figure it out later. That was a LOT of work and the mosquitoes were perilous.
Here's the sorry blower with the "Fall on your foot fail-safe disabled":
Hopefully the junk yard will have that. As far as the brakes, we are going to pull the other rear wheel either tomorrow night (unlikely as there is too much going on) or Tuesday night and repeat the procedure. Then it's back to the left wheel. I figure I'll give it two days of driving around to see if it is actually leaking anything. I don't think it is. I think it's just years of gunk on there and no one has every looked at it before. Yeah, that's it.
I took my truck to get it inspected on Friday. For the last few years, I've had the luxury of a less-than-adequate *cough**illegal**cough** shop that did inspections. Now, I'm not saying I went there intentionally or that I was trying to break the law, but when I drove up, they said "Honk your horn" and the next thing I know, they were putting on a sticker and saying "$10 please". Actually that was two years before last year. Last year I went to the place I went to this year. The guy said "We aren't doing inspections anymore. Well, I'll do yours and you'll be the last one." I left it there and then picked it up later - no problems.
I took it there this year, dropped it off and when I came back it may as well have had the word "Clunker" written across the windshield. I mean, really. Can you find anything else wrong with it, I wondered? He said it was leaking axle grease into the rear brake area (which, may I just say, I've NEVER seen anyone remove the rear brake drum. Normally they just look at the front brakes. I vaguely remember it from the past on other vehicles, but never this one). He said blah, blah, blah $210 to fix it all (just the axle part). That didn't cover of course the broken tail light lenses (lenSES - yes, two are broken. You'd think someone came after the truck with a bat or something. I must be rough). Oh, and the defrost blower isn't blowing. I knew that, I just didn't realize that it wouldn't pass for that. Oh, it was blowing sometimes when it felt like it and I actually looked at it before once but didn't make a lot of headway.
Nathan has been ready since he heard the news. He's like the leader of a pit crew, he had the jack out and the jack stands and everything we'd need to work on it. Friday night didn't pan out. I don't recall Friday night. I don't even know what we did now that I think about it. Saturday we went Geocaching - ALL DAY. Like for miles - we hiked to the point that we can home and I went to sleep for a while. I remember it well because mom had just made fried chicken and apple pie and I was about to dig in when I woke up snoring. NO APPLE PIE FOR YOU!
Sunday we went shopping for Jamie's big thing tomorrow. I actually woke up at 5am because I was worried I wouldn't wake up at 6am which is when Jamie said she wanted to get up. So I laid there patiently and Jamie woke up and said she didn't need to get up at 6 today - that was tomorrow. Oh, well. I managed to get back to sleep and when we woke up it was off to buy food for 100 teacher-types at the Nathan's school. I'm sure she'll probably post about it, so I won't but I'll just say that there are like a million bagels and tons of fresh fruit in our house right now. Oh, and danishes - lots of danishes. I'm staring at them now, or rather, they are staring at me.
Finally after finishing the shopping and watching Eureka - I was finally ready to get started. I called the auto parts place to ask about the lens cover and he suggested a local junk yard (closed today - I have 15 days, so I'm not under the gun, well, kindof because you KNOW my track record). He said "Oh, I own a truck like that" so I picked his brain for a moment and told him about the axle grease leak. He paused for what seemed like a long time and then said "Well, first, you need to take it to a reputable inspection station." He's NEVER heard of that before. Neither have I. It sounded a little fishy. I remember when I was a kid I went with dad to take his old truck to get inspected and he went to this freak guy (a friend of grandmas) and he kept pointing out stuff. He had some weird balance/ruler thing he laid on the hood and said the truck wasn't balanced (yeah(?)) it was leaning. Which caused the headlights to be off. After that he tried to reject it because it didn't have seat belts, but it turns out trucks built before a certain year didn't have them so we had to call the state police to come down and verify - which they did. I enjoyed that, actually. I never liked that guy after that, I'd see him from time to time. I'm sure he didn't know me and I'm glad for him that he never needed help (from me) for anything.
With that in mind, my goal was to just pull the back wheel off and see what it looked like. Yes, there was some dirty oily stuff - could be anything. I set Nathan up with the pressure washer (the NEEDS WORK pressure washer, that doesn't really have any pressure, but still can handle something as simple as that). He sat there for about 15 minutes until all we could see was metal, rust, and brake pads - which actually looked great. Next we blew it all off with the air hose and I thought about painting it in behind the pads but didn't want to hear "Oh, you didn't paint it, did you?" So I opted just to get it all dried off and then put it back together. While Nathan did that, I worked on the blower. I had to take it out. Apparently when they built the truck on the assembly line, the first thing they start with is the blower and then they kind of build the truck around it. That's my guess, at least. I had to take off more panels and covers and glove box parts and ash tray parts and miscellaneous hanging things and lights and finally I made it to the blower which I was able to see and verify that YES, it doesn't turn at all. I hooked my meter up to the power cable and checked and it was working perfectly. I managed to remove the blower but I wasn't able to get the cable out. The cable/cord went through about a 3/4" hole and the connector is like 1 1/2" large so it just got to the back and stopped. Now, who would do that? What sort of engineer would let that happen? Oh, Nathan speculated a LOT about it. That's what he does - he speculates. I didn't mention that earlier. He doesn't just sit there quietly and work, he has a lot of speculation going on. "Oh, they must have fixed that cable like that so in case the screws fell out, the blower wouldn't be able to fall down and hit your feet. The cable will stop it." I nod my head a lot. I wonder if I used to speculate like that? I suppose I did. He's like listening to Andy Taylor talk and after a while it's like a melodious story that just drones on for a while and then you'll hear "Dad. Dad? Dad??" and I'll look over and recall from memory the last few minutes when he speculated that the radio doesn't work because of the recent HD switch over and then I'll explain that it has nothing to do with the HD switch over, but I'll try not to laugh. He's so serious. If I laugh too much, he'll need therapy. Anyway, I cut the blower cable and I'll figure it out later. That was a LOT of work and the mosquitoes were perilous.
Here's the sorry blower with the "Fall on your foot fail-safe disabled":
Hopefully the junk yard will have that. As far as the brakes, we are going to pull the other rear wheel either tomorrow night (unlikely as there is too much going on) or Tuesday night and repeat the procedure. Then it's back to the left wheel. I figure I'll give it two days of driving around to see if it is actually leaking anything. I don't think it is. I think it's just years of gunk on there and no one has every looked at it before. Yeah, that's it.
