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Classic Computer ONLY Day -- (Can you do it?)


Omega-TI

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Can you make it through ONE SINGLE DAY... only using one Classic Computer? Without CHEATING? ;)

 

If you want to participate, the rules are simple:

 

1) You have to use the Classic Computer for EVERYTHING, (except to log on to Atari Age) or use your cellphone or regular telephone for normal daily communications.

 

2) Log in occasionally and let us know your frustrations, or insights about what it's like.

 

Now, "WHY" you ask would anyone in their right mind want to do this?

 

a) The fun of it.

b) The nostalgia.

c) Possibly discover a need for new programs for your classic computer.

d) The unknown.

 

If you're up for the challenge, leave a quick message with "I'M IN".

It starts SUNDAY 10/19/14 @ 00:00 your local time.

It ends on MONDAY 10/20/14 @ 00:00 your local time.

 

 

 

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Guess this is more of a challenges for youngsters then for those 30+ of age. It not that difficult to do. Have spend whole holidays without computer, phone or game.

 

Heck, I can do that at home so long as I have a good book. I've definitely spent almost all of several days in a library doing research, too, without a computer.

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<GRIN> The object is not to go without a computer all day while reading a book or doing something else, it's to actually USE your Classic Computer for all applications you would normally use your modern one for. Like, word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, Internet, scheduling, etc.

 

How many things can your Classic Computer still do for you, and to come here with ideas and things you've learned that can IMPROVE your classic computer in the modern era.

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Kicker about this is my CoCo doesn't have a disk drive and all my productivity software is on floppy. Except for Telewriter 64. I think I have a copy of that yet. And my TI just has games.

 

And I suppose emulation is out of the question? ;)

 

I could see about flipping through my magazines and type in a check book ledger program, though.

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Everyone in my lab and office are trained in 8-bit AppleWorks and an older version of MS Office, Win98, and DOS 6.22. On regular occasion we exercise working with paper filing and older technology.

 

 

And I suppose emulation is out of the question? ;)

 

Not at all! But there are additional guidelines to follow:

 

1-

The only thing you use from your "desktop" is the emulator program itself and the tools or dropdown boxes for getting a disk image into and out of that emulator. Each disk image should be on some sort of physical device to simulate the inconvenience of inserting and removing a real floppy. Think USB floppy, JumpDrive, SD card, or CD-R/W. If you keep your emulator disk images on your desktop, they need to be in separate folders and you must ad 10 seconds' time in between swapping disks to simulate physical actions associated with a floppy change.

 

2-

To transfer a disk from one emulated computer to another emulated computer on a different physical machine you should again use a real USB floppy, JumpDrive, SD card, or CD-R/W.

 

3-

No speedup tricks or unlimited framerates. No super-duper hires screens or multiple instances. No special tricks that the original machine couldn't do.

 

4-

No network connection unless you're simulating a modem or telenet - and then it must operate at retro speeds like 300/1200 baud. If you can't do that, then you need to calculate out the length of time it would take to do a transfer and then not use the computer until that time elapses.

 

5-

You can have your emulator dump printed material through a modern-day printer. But again, you must not use the computer until a certain time has passed. The amount of time you have to wait would be the equivalent to the amount of time a dot-matrix printer would take to do the same job. No instant 5-second laser printer blasts permitted! You can use whatever facility your desktop offers for printing, i.e. you need to load a word processor or .PDF editor to print the emulator's output.

 

6-

No specialized input devices allowed to be used in the emulator, like mice or digitizers, scanners or other stuff; unless the original machine supported that functionality. But of course you can use a mouse to facilitate disk image changes and pull-down menu operation.

 

7-

You are not allowed to switch emulated machine configurations once you being. Just like in the old days, you had to take things apart to add memory and accelerator cards and chips. If you do, then you must set aside time and money to simulate the hassle and expense of a hardware upgrade.

 

8-

You can use a simulated HDD image if the original hardware supported hard drives. Your image should be sized ahead of time. You should also use the emulator and original-machine-native tools to add information to the image.

 

There's more..

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<GRIN> The object is not to go without a computer all day while reading a book or doing something else, it's to actually USE your Classic Computer for all applications you would normally use your modern one for. Like, word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, Internet, scheduling, etc.

 

How many things can your Classic Computer still do for you, and to come here with ideas and things you've learned that can IMPROVE your classic computer in the modern era.

 

8-bit machines will have problems with today's websites. 16-bit, 32-bit, and hybrids will have less difficulty. And the sad/annoying thing is that the hiccups stem from bloat and un-necessary video and advertising. Not to mention frivolous APIs..

 

Spreadsheets, WP, gaming, note taking & scheduling.. That should all work nicely.

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Not at all! But there are additional guidelines to follow:

 

4-

No network connection unless you're simulating a modem or telnet - and then it must operate at retro speeds like 300/1200 baud. If you can't do that, then you need to calculate out the length of time it would take to do a transfer and then not use the computer until that time elapses.

 

 

Actually, I planned to do quite a bit of Telnet BBSing after work that day. From the old photo below you can see that I did use a "Practical Peripherals PM2400SA", so I've got my Lantronix UDS-10 set to 2400 baud.

 

gallery_35324_1001_419308.jpg

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I have a grievance with # 4 as well since my 84 apple //c can hit 9600 baud without effort and some well documented drivers do 115200 baud, and my mac SE out of the box does 19200...

 

why would I limit it to 300 baud, been computing since the mid 80's and my first modem was 1200 heh

 

maybe not as leet as some, but still more than valid for the retro vibe

Edited by Osgeld
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The rules for emulation, in a nutshell, are there to ensure the emulated machine doesn't gain magical superpowers above and beyond the hardware of the day. The emulated machine should have the same speed and capacity limitations imposed on it, just like the original hardware was constrained by technology of the day.

 

If it runs at 1MHz, then fine. If it runs at 20MHz, then fine.

 

Another example of a no-no would be using enahnced disk image reading. You need to read the disk images at the slow classic authentic original slow-ass speed. No instant loading or RamDisk performance, unless you had such hardware..

 

 

 

I have a grievance with # 4 as well since my 84 apple //c can hit 9600 baud without effort and some well documented drivers do 115200 baud, and my mac SE out of the box does 19200...

 

why would I limit it to 300 baud, been computing since the mid 80's and my first modem was 1200 heh

 

maybe not as leet as some, but still more than valid for the retro vibe

 

You wouldn't. Run it at 9600 baud, or 115,200 baud. If retro hardware + period software does those speeds then there isn't a problem. Can you not interpret "..must operate at retro speeds like 300/1200 baud." ?? For brevity I was not about to list all the dot and bis and bell standards.

 

Omega didn't seem to have an issue or grievance. He correctly understood the meaning that emulated communications hardware and/or modern day substitution hardware should should operate at old-school 2400 baud in his setup.

 

Now that that's taken care of..

 

Our office and lab periodically, seemingly at random, picks a day (we all vote on it) and operate all old-school. This means 4-function LED calculators when needed. Paper and pencil. Paper, cork bulletin board, chalk board, lots of individual notes. Filing cabinets. Phones that can only be dialed manually. No e-mail, no texting, no facebook. Stapler, staple remover, paper trays. Paper pads. Pencil sharpeners. Crank mimeograph. mechanical typewriters, carbon-copy slips. And more.. Little or no technology powered by electricity.

 

This is a fun thing and in no way hinders performance because we are right-sized staffed. No one is overworked and no one goes home feeling like they need to sleep.

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You're in luck! This is a one-day 24 hour, starting at 00:00 Sunday (tomorrow) and ending at 23:59:59, your local time of course!

Welcome aboard!

 

 

Well, count me on then!!!

 

But... I won't be posting here tomorrow... I'll spend the rest of the day tomorrow (in between painting the living room) playing Starflight on my 386.

 

 

/s

 

(see if you remember what that /s was for! heh)

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Well, count me on then!!!

 

But... I won't be posting here tomorrow... I'll spend the rest of the day tomorrow (in between painting the living room) playing Starflight on my 386.

 

 

/s

 

(see if you remember what that /s was for! heh)

 

That was an old DOS command if I remember right (it's been so long ago). I do remember using it after the DIR command. Didn't it have something to do with displaying systems files or sub directories? I think that was even a valid command in TRSDOS on the old TRS-80 Model I & III as well. I'll be using a 33 year old TI-99/4A for the festivities tomorrow, so no /S commands for me.

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--- Ω --- wasn't the only one thinking about this topic....

 

Computer Magazine and Book publisher, IDG was thinking of it too...

Living With 1990 Tech for a Day – Part 1

 

Living With 1990 Tech For A Day – Part 2

 

 

I could avoid Modern Tech for a day...

 

I really prefer to read all those old Magazines and Books on Paper, rather than PDF's.. I have PDF's on my Phone, ( I don't have or own a Tablet, but have a Acer Aspire One Netbook ) for when I am Out-and-About, but pulling out books to look at is my favorite way to read the information...

 

I have bought many Books and Manuals, back in the Day, and even now still buy them. Most Recently, I just got the Apple II Monitors Peeled, ( 950-0018-A ), for $4.95 ( USD ), plus $3.95 ( USD ) Shipping, and Apple II Parallel Interface Card Manual ( 030-0371-A ), for $11.42 ( USD ), with FREE Shipping. I bought this manual just after I got a couple Apple Parallel Cards in an Auction.

 

I have printed out the First Couple Years of Rainbow Magazine for the Color Computer, and JUN-1981 to DEC-1982 of Micro, ( this is where Micro started to cover the 6809 in addition to the 6502 ). When you want to Read the Articles, and Type them into you Apple ][/Atari/Vic-20-C64/CoCo, Printed Pages lay much nicer on the Desk..

 

Here is my Book Shelf, just to the Left of my Main Computer Desk. Many other books in Storage...

 

 

I don't have my UDS-10 set up, yet , but I am planning on getting a few set up on my Classic Computers.. I even have one of the RS-232 Interfaces for the C64/C128, so I am planning on getting my SX-64 connected to a BBS. I need to get an RS-232 Interface for my CoCo's and ZX-81's.

 

MarkO

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Well, count me on then!!!

 

But... I won't be posting here tomorrow... I'll spend the rest of the day tomorrow (in between painting the living room) playing Starflight on my 386.

 

 

/s

 

(see if you remember what that /s was for! heh)

That is a little overwhelming.. Maybe 'dir /s | more', instead??? or 'dir /ad | more'??

 

 

I like using a Replacement Command Interpreter from JP Software, 4DOS ( or 4OS/2 and 4NT ) which has a built in List Command.. So I use, 'dir /s | list /s' Which pipes all of DIR's output to the built in List Command, in which the /s has list read from STDIN, rather than looking for a file, which is the typical mode it is used for..

 

4DOS was released as Free Ware a few years ago for PC/MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME Systems, 4NT requires a Key, to use it, and 4OS2 and its Source Code were released to the OS/2 Community.

 

MarkO

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