Thread View: alt.folklore.computers
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Started by Jeff Petkau
Fri, 21 Sep 1990 22:19
Re: BESM-6; hyphenation
Author: Jeff Petkau
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 1990 22:19
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 1990 22:19
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In article <22...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> pet...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Peter Deutsch) writes: |> > Talking about how-to-turn-off-machine I forgot to say |> > that BESM has a software feature to block power turnoff |> > (I think it's a quite valuable idea, especially for Unix |> > machines; what's about self-turning-on machines? ;-). |> |> i have seen such a unix machine---the off switch just started a software |> routine that does synch and then turns off the power via software. The Tandy 200 laptop did one better: it was not only turned off by software, but on again as well. The internal clock could be set to turn on the machine at any given time and run a specific program. Made for a handly alarm clock. (And turning off your power bar wouldn't even override the software shutdown, unless you also took out the batteries). On another note--these things had to be the most indestructible computers of all time. Mine once had 1.35 litres worth of big gulp go in the keyboard and out the serial port; before that mess was all cleaned up, it went over the edge of a stairwell and fell twenty feet onto tiled concrete. I found all the little pieces, snapped them back together, and it worked fine. It also housed an ant colony for a few months. I think they were feeding off the last of the coke stains. Jeff Petkau: pet...@skdad.USask.ca Asterisks: ***********************
Re: BESM-6; hyphenation
Author: SL... Roger Ivie
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 1990 16:05
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 1990 16:05
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In article <1990Sep21.2...@herald.usask.ca>, petkau@herald.UUCP (Jeff Petkau) writes: > In article <22...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> pet...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Peter Deutsch) writes: > |> > Talking about how-to-turn-off-machine I forgot to say > |> > that BESM has a software feature to block power turnoff > |> > (I think it's a quite valuable idea, especially for Unix > |> > machines; what's about self-turning-on machines? ;-). > |> > |> i have seen such a unix machine---the off switch just started a software > |> routine that does synch and then turns off the power via software. > > The Tandy 200 laptop did one better: it was not only turned off by software, > but on again as well. On the Epson Geneva, the power switch is managed by a little 4-bit processor that's always running at about 100 KHz or so. It knows how to turn the Z80 on when you turn the power switch on and the Z80's already off, but if the Z80s on the 4-bit just says "Excuse me, Mr. Z80, somebody turned the power switch off". The Z80 has come back and tell the 4-bit processor to turn it off. You guessed it; if you're stuck in an infinite loop with interrupts disabled, you have to reset the machine before you can turn it off. -- =============================================================================== Roger Ivie 35 S 300 W Logan, Ut. 84321 (801) 752-8633 ===============================================================================
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