Notices by philpem (philpem@digipres.club), page 4

My current #analogcable wants list...

- a later version of the ACC-4000 software (DEC Prioris or Proliant server running SCO OSE)
- documentation, especially the Wirelink protocol spec

Ugh. The headend runs for a while then crashes with a network error :(

Upgraded Interactive UNIX to version 4.1.1 and the issue became immediately obvious: it was running out of STREAMS queues. On 4.1+4.1a this seems to cause kernel memory corruption and eventually a TCP/IP stack crash.
On 4.1.1 the kernel barks loudly about the problem on the system console. A quick kernel tweak to increase NQUEUE to 1600 and we're golden.
Did some spit and polish on the window arrangement too, now the Wirelink windows look sensible.

Hmm. Seems like the Etherlink card is upset.

Nope, still crashing. Argh.

Okay. I'm thinking I might try a different 3C509 card.
And what the heck is "hdrops++"?

The UI looks very nice on a text terminal. Wish I knew how to trigger the function keys. Oddly the help button just makes the terminal beep.

@foone @NekoEd @koko Wow, thanks for this. I have a feeling the 486DX will be getting a 3C509 shoved inside.
I was debating whether to use Laplink but this (likely shoving it on a walled-off VLAN) seems much easier.

@foone "is thermal compound flammable" is a question I didn't want to ask this evening

From the department of cursed IC packages ... the DIP20 with odd pins, and a heatsink screw. Plessey SL414A, single channel 3W audio power amplifier.
#cursedChips #CursedPackages #Electronics

photo credit: com-place on ebay, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142567928927

I get the meaning behind "eat the rich" but read literally it sounds like a really good way to get a really nasty prion disease.

@foone if that's a serious question ... on older drives the read channel chip is usually some type of high-performance linear, and the ASICs are often TTL. both will convert a lot of electrons into heat... later drives switched to CMOS, when that became practical.

@foone In BASIC, when it asks for a keyword, pressing the key gives you that keyword. The symbols are shift+key. I think the graphics characters are behind a shifted control code - shift-something for graphics on, and another combination to go back to text.
I vaguely remember my 128K having separate symbol shift and alphanumeric shift keys.
It's wild. Eventually you remember that JPP is LOAD"".

@foone I need to look to see if anyone has modified a tape rewinder into a tape cleaner. I'm hoping it doesn't need much work.

@foone somehow I figured that any coyote x roadrunner fanfic would involve vore.

I'm disappointed that in ten years of being terminally online, I've never seen art of a coyote furry catching the Roadrunner.
The Rules of the Internet have failed me!

@foone ...on my desk, waiting for me to convert it into a VHS tape cleaner!

@foone As always, archive.org is a goldmine for stuff like that. Maybe not 1980s and 1990s, but there should be plenty of earlier stuff. I grabbed "The Man in the White Suit" from there the other week.

@foone In that case encoding to h264 and playing back with VLC is probably the way to go. you could even stream over UDP if you needed to.

@foone If it was outputting 16:9 and the TV couldn't decode WSS (or the converter didn't put a WSS tag in the VBI), you'd get a horizontally squashed picture.
the cropping may be normal overscan.

edit: also, hah, 720p to NTSC upscaler, that's a hoot.