when AI meets YOSPOS

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > when AI meets YOSPOS

bobbilljim: May 29, 2013; this christmas feels like the very first christmas to me

some texas redneck posted:

Try running a 3 line BBS, with a 4th serial port dedicated for my own dial-out stuff, all on one PC... with a serial mouse on top of that. 4 external modems - 1 US Robotics Courier 28.8k, 2 US Robotics Sportster 14.4ks, 1 Zoom 14.4k. One sportster got a lightning tickle during a storm, and I filed a warranty claim with USR saying "it won't detect a dial tone anymore, and the built-in speaker only lets me hear dialing, nothing else". The serial card it was hooked up to also got zapped, but a replacement was pretty cheap. It was a combo serial card/IDE controller, I think that PC had two HDDs and an internal CD changer.

Juggling IRQs was quite the clusterfuck. OS/2 was worlds ahead at the time, and made it a bit easier, but it was still teetering on the edge of crashing if anything got sneezed on. That's how my BBS was in 1997, anyway (OS/2 4.0 with 8MB RAM on a 486DX2/66).. In 1992 it was on a 286/8 (seriously, 8 MHz 286) with a 20MB IDE and Tandy Graphics (a hybrid of CGA and EGA). Tandy 1000 TL/2, then a Tandy 2500 SX/20, and it's been homebuilt ever since.

I wish I still had the last backup I made of the BBS. I know the software won't run on anything I own (last version of modern Telegard, from Tim Strike), but it'd be neat to slap together an old Pentium or 486, find DOS, and toss the DOS version of Telegard on it, and see what comes up (supposedly the data files are compatible between DOS and OS/2 versions). Unfortunately, that backup was to a 800MB tape, and tracking down one of those old Travan tape drives is almost impossible - I think I chucked the tape over 10 years ago anyway. Not like it'd be very readable today anyway.

I actually have one of my earliest hard drives sitting here - an old Maxtor 80MB IDE. Last time I hooked it up, it still worked great, but only had some old ANSI graphics and a copy of Telix. It got disassembled and turned into art a few months ago.

They actually still made AM-only radios for 1992?

If it's a US Robotics, I can slap together an init string for almost any situation. I wound up working 2nd level dialup support at a local ISP for a bit thanks to my godlike-powers with init strings (then they fired about half of their staff instead of layoffs when broadband started making headway).

I have some lovely softmodem that was less than on Amazon in my pc right now. It's mostly used for the occasional fax, but surprisingly, there's still a handful of dialup BBS's alive in the US. I have unlimited nationwide calling on my landline, so I've hit a few up now and then.

... one of them is still on a TI/99.

O_O dayum

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:33

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# ? May 5, 2024 22:06

pram: Jun 10, 2001

Didn't read posting anyway

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:35

DaNzA: Sep 11, 2001; :D; Grimey Drawer

Another Yunick improvisation was getting around the regulations specifying a maximum size for the fuel tank, by using 11-foot (3 meter) coils of 2-inch (5-centimeter) diameter tubing for the fuel line to add about 5 gallons (19 liters) to the car's fuel capacity. Once, NASCAR officials came up with a list of nine items for Yunick to fix before the car would be allowed on the track. The suspicious NASCAR officials had removed the tank for inspection. Yunick started the car with no gas tank and said "Better make it ten,"[3] and drove it back to the pits

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:40

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:42

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:42

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:43

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:45

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:46

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:46

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:47

Widdiful: Oct 10, 2012

same

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:47

Migishu: Oct 22, 2005; I'll eat your fucking eyeballs if you're not careful; Grimey Drawer

carputers

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:49

qirex: Feb 15, 2001

wei, wei

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:50

duTrieux.: Oct 9, 2003

BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 02: An untitled work showing computers and hard drives reportedly confiscated by Chinese police from Ai Weiwei during his detention� (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:50

pram: Jun 10, 2001

This is a remarkably lovely thread

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:52

Captain Foo: May 11, 2004; we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

pram posted:

This is a remarkably lovely thread

It's good.

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:04

Dicky B: Mar 23, 2004

misleading thread titile imo

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:05

Silver Alicorn: Mar 30, 2008; 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮

pram posted:

This is a remarkably lovely thread

now that your here!!

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:07

pram: Jun 10, 2001

I've been here the entire time you illiterate

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:08

bobbilljim: May 29, 2013; this christmas feels like the very first christmas to me

duTrieux. posted:

BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 02: An untitled work showing computers and hard drives reportedly confiscated by Chinese police from Ai Weiwei during his detention� (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

bottom row, second from the right, comnfisctaed PasswordKeeper

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:36

bobbilljim: May 29, 2013; this christmas feels like the very first christmas to me

off-brand

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:36

theadder: Dec 30, 2011

pram posted:

Didn't read posting anyway

# ? Feb 27, 2015 05:26

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# ? May 5, 2024 22:06

echinopsis: Apr 13, 2004; by Fluffdaddy

privacy is shameful - cremnob, but only about civilian matters. privacy regarding how to gently caress the public over, eg, apples board room, is highly encouraged and defended by the government

# ? Feb 27, 2015 07:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > when AI meets YOSPOS