1237a628618d
tech



Hello Joe - 

JP> I took apart an old XT keyboard to save the keys ,maybe for
JP> spelling out some words for a school project for the
JP> grandkids. It had the F keys along the left side but would
JP> not work with the 386 and DOS 3.3.It was well made and was
JP> heavy . Very interesting. 

I always consider that disassembly and examination is the final
contribution a mechanism can make to the people who have cared
for it. It is both entertaining and educational if you take
your time and really look at what is there and how it was all
assembled to work as a unit. 

This is only true for those of us who are good with our hands
and have a technical slant to our thinking. There are people
who are not good with their hands and have absolutely no
interest in how things work. 

JP> All my E-mails from Win95 are copied onto floppies and read
JP> on my 386 using a text editor and DOS 3.3,then printed out
JP> on an Epson 9-pin printer. 

You've either been better at maintenance than I am or you are
very lucky. All of my '386 machines have died off on me, they
were good machines while I had them and contributed many hours
of enjoyment for me when using them. 

JP> I re-ink my ribbons using ink from "Computer Friends" at $3
JP> per 2 oz bottle.Searching through my basement shop,I found
JP> a 15 year old ,one pound can of A.B.Dick mimeograph ink and
JP> used this to re-ink my ribbons.It works very well.Should
JP> last me quite a while. 

I've not re-inked because I simply stopped printing anything. I
found I was throwing the printouts away more often than not.
When working on very large complex programs it was handy to
take them to a restaurant and drink coffee and use a marker to
locate areas I wanted to change but I seldom do complex
programming anymore and can just read the screen to do that now. 

If I did re-ink I would definitely wear those disposable latex
gloves that are so inexpensive now. I hate looking like I've
been working on my car with black fingers. ;-) 

JP> I disagree with the idea of eliminating floppy disks in
JP> PC's. When I spend a lot of time on a document,I want to
JP> make a backup RIGHT NOW,Then later,I can backup the whole
JP> drive. Also used to occasionally to move files from one PC
JP> to another. 

I will occasionally miss the convenience but overall floppy
disks have been a source of disappointment to me. I find many
that refuse to read _just_ the files I want. The files I do not
want read everytime. Lately files are so much larger I find I
have to use ARJ or RAR to span multiple floppies to move a
binary file from one machine to the other and at that point the
convenience isn't so convenient anymore. I've turned to XPORT
(null serial), FileMaven (serial or parallel), and Interlink
(parallel) with the appropriate cable. My 'working' machines
remain cabled 24/7 much like using network cards without the
hassles of loading network software/drivers/etc. 

JP> I disagree with the idea of eliminating VCRs.I rarely watch
JP> TV live and record most shows. 

At one time I found I was living life based on the TV schedule.
I had to be home at certain times to watch those serial TV
shows where you miss one and you can't follow the rest. This
made no sense at all and I began recording shows and watching
them at MY convenience. Much more 'human' and logical with less
waste. 

JP> I can copy desirable shows to a master tape for archiving . 

Always conscious of 'economy' I used the LP speed on my first
VCR to tape shows I knew I intended to keep. This was a mistake
and after 15 years or so the display is 'speckled'. Tracking
was going haywire towards the end and my first VCR and newer
ones today do not agree. On those even at SP speeds I get fuzz
at either the top or bottom of the displays and cannot adjust
tracking enough to remove it. Archival storage of video will,
someday, benefit when home users can create DVDs of their
favorite videos. 

JP> As a hobby,I try to repair audio and video tapes for the
JP> local public library.If the case is damaged,I can shift the
JP> tape into another cartridge.If there are wrinkles,I use a
JP> capped testtube of hot water to smooth some of the wrinkles 

JP> . 

The test tube is a good idea. Right now I cannot think where I
would get one but it's a good idea. :-) 

JP> If the tape is too bad,I just cut out the bad section and
JP> usually it makes little difference in the sense of the
JP> story. 

A sad commentary for those who did the original editing of the
video but I suppose they are encouraged to create a finished
product of a certain length and there _is_ pacing (timeline)
for movies that I'm not certain everyone is aware of. I have
intentionally edited movies I am familiar with to remove 'dead
spots' where there is little value to shorten the total length
to what I enjoy watching. Those who had never seen the movie
before might not like the 'pacing' but they allow me to enjoy
the movie even more with less waiting for useless panoramas to
complete. :-) 

I've edited audio tracks in a similar fashion to remove long
instrumental 'riffs' near the middle that I do not find
entertaining. I have even time-compressed vocals that were too
slow retaining the original sound (no chipmunk voices) but
speeding up the 'beat'. 

JP> Besides,VCRs are very cheap anyhow. 

A huge plus for the library or anyone creating videos for
_others_ to use. One of the movie critics continually mentioned
that he viewed movies only on laser disks at home. Great for
him, not much use to his grandchildren? 

JP> No way can I repair a CD this way. 

With CDs being replaced by DVDs I think development is not
going to continue. If CDs had remained as 'state of the art'
someone would've probably found a way to recover at least
portions of a damaged CD. For audio CDs (music?) the EAC
'ripper' will often read a damaged CD and create WAV files that
can recreate most of the CD onto a CDR for you btw. I helped my
son do this several times for CDs that looked like someone had
walked on them. :-\ 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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