So I won an item on ebay for 1 cent and forgot about it, as did the seller. About three months later, he wrote and asked me to come get it, as well as “a few other things” he had in his garage. Well, I’m a fool for free stuff, so here’s what I got.
Author: j
That damned Google+ Picasa redirect
Hey Google – when I send someone a Picasa album or pic link, where do you think I want them to go? Answer: Not Google+
This can be fixed by adding a “noredirect=1” argument to the URL but placement matters:
This works:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102190732096693814506/DropBox?noredirect=1#5822348278420254786
This doesn’t:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102190732096693814506/DropBox#5822348278420254786?noredirect=1
This concludes our lesson.
Lotsa Balls
The correct name, of course, is IBM Selectric Typing Element. I’ve got a good pile and finally got around to inventorying them.
I was hoping there was a complete guide out there for IBM elements but I haven’t found it (sounds like another project.) I did find some scans of a brochure from GP, who also made elements for the Selectric line. I compiled them into a PDF for the docs site.
Quick on the mouse-stick
Saw the headline and had enough caffeine in me to jump into action and win the Internets:
AHA-2940 Under Windows 7
What’s the most popular PC SCSI card of all time? 1541C? Maybe. Or it may be the AHA-2940 family. It’s up there, anyhow. And what card did Microsoft (and Adaptec) drop support for in Windows 7? The AHA-2940. Fortunately, I found a workaround which appears to succeed:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverfiles/thread/bf0bb207-3b5d-489d-be74-56031dfe4651
Basement Electronics Lab of Dqqm, v.91b
Today’s upgrade is the home-made equipment rack. My first project involving my new table saw. No fingers were lost in this operation:
From the bottom:
– Micronta DVM
– Tektronix 466 ‘scope
– A pair of low-amperage, noisy PSUs (will be replacing as soon as I can pick out a decent one)
– China-brand frequency detector
– Micro-Seven PBX emulator
And in the front is a Heathkit analog/digital lab/trainer.
Google Books and Magazines
Here’s an interesting note…Google Books has a whole lot of magazines up now. One of them is Info World. I’ve had it come up in a lot of searches for old tech products and the articles have been very helpful. If you browse their Info World selection, the furthest you can go back is 12/22/86:
http://books.google.com/books/serial/ISSN:01996649?rview=1&lr=&sa=N&start=960
However, most of the articles that have popped up in searches have been from the early 80s – prime time for oddball hardware and non-standard systems. So where are those issues? Well, let’s tweak that URL:
http://books.google.com/books/serial/ISSN:01996649?rview=1&lr=&sa=N&start=1300
Looks like they now start at 12/11/78 – big difference!
They’re still indexed by Google yet are not browseable. Intentional or just a bug in their catalog? I dunno.
What is it?
I uncovered this while sorting out all the Apple // stuff. It has no other port on it.
Wall of DEC (and Sun)
VAXStations, VAXServers, DECStations, DECSystems, Sparcstations, Sun 3…we got it all.
Wall of CP/M
13 Kaypros, an Osborne 1 (plastic) and a pair of Altos 580s (which ran MP/M, too.)