Katji
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- Sep 26, 2017
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I see you’re in South Africa, so sanibonani Katji . When I was living in Durban (“the last outpost of the British Empire”), working for the TAB (Tote), we had a technician who could test modems by whistling in the mouthpiece. It was a very impressive party trick.Byte and Dr Dobb's, I'd "forgotten" that.
Sun I think of as windows before people thought Microsoft invented windows.
I'm not sure if there's a US Robotics modem in my junk...I wish routers had an option to make dial-up modem sounds:
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China has changed a lot in 20 years, with much higher income. There are still problems. They are still too far away from the US for return shipping. That is my biggest concern, i.e., retailer or warranty work there, rather than manufacture. It is not such a big deal if you are in Russia or something. Language can be more of an issue in my experience too. If they are using Google Translate, good luck.I personally don't have a beef with where something is manufactured, but I do have a beef with the quality of the manufacture, servicing, how the company looks at environmental responsibility and how it views a living wage. I'm less interested in churning through gear than when I was younger, so I've been focusing my efforts on finding components that best fit my current perspective and are excellent performers. Like everyone else here, I'm amazed at the performance of inexpensive gear these days, but it doesn't meet many of my other objectives. This is exactly why I've become focused on Tom Christiansen's TCA and Neurochrome brands. Tom's engineering skill, attention to detail, high standards for the products he builds and belief in people earning a living wage are what's made me gravitate to his products. They are not the cheapest available, but they're not prohibitive by high-end standards either and the performance is top notch.
Howzit. Yes, Durban. I like it more than ever. 10 years in Johannesburg and 2 years in London, the rest in Durban. "Last outpost...", very rare to hear that. I do like the diversity. And the climate.I see you’re in South Africa, so sanibonani Katji . When I was living in Durban (“the last outpost of the British Empire”), working for the TAB (Tote), we had a technician who could test modems by whistling in the mouthpiece. It was a very impressive party trick.
When I was in boarding school in the US we had VOIP phones, and all used "DACs" of another type to get dial up internet. Sort of like the movie Hackers.Howzit. Yes, Durban. I like it more than ever. 10 years in Johannesburg and 2 years in London, the rest in Durban. "Last outpost...", very rare to hear that. I do like the diversity. And the climate.
Modem whistling...It reminds me, there was some DIY tone generating device in the US for getting free long-distance calls, something like that.
With the appropriate posh accent (“Empuh’a”), that’s how it was described to me when I first got there, during a marvellous lunch at the “British Middle East Sporting and Dining Club”, located just outside the Greyville Race Course, the only race course with an 18-hole golf course inside its track (and a road going through it). Durban’s a marvellous place, I miss it. I used to live in Waterfall, overlooking the ‘Nkutu. I wanted to go visit there this year, for my 65th birthday but COVID put that on hold.Howzit. Yes, Durban. I like it more than ever. 10 years in Johannesburg and 2 years in London, the rest in Durban. "Last outpost...", very rare to hear that. I do like the diversity. And the climate.
Modem whistling...It reminds me, there was some DIY tone generating device in the US for getting free long-distance calls, something like that.
smh I can't remember when I first had cell network connection, maybe 98-99. 1990-1995, no public access internet but I had dial-up access to a server at the university....I'm not sure why but I used to upload source code to compile it there.When I was in boarding school in the US we had VOIP phones, and all used "DACs" of another type to get dial up internet.
I can see a bit of it from my window now. I must check my photos from here.Greyville Race Course
Ah, you live on the Berea? I once made an offer on a house on the corner of Clive and Napier to be closer to the office (Avondale, corner of DLI) but it was refused. The world is small, thanks for reviving nice memories.I can see a bit of it from my window now. I must check my photos from here.
One of the places I own is a condo in Chongqing. My son is Chinese is an English Teacher & assistant soccer coach there, also has his own condo there. I hope that the Chinese will start making stuff that will last 30 years. My wife, who is Chinese used to tell me that "if it is made in China and it is not made of silk, it's long term quality is suspect". I hope that I will one day be able to not have to import quality audio equipment to there. GOOGLE TRANSLATE: Uhmmmm, NO!China has changed a lot in 20 years, with much higher income. There are still problems. They are still too far away from the US for return shipping. That is my biggest concern, i.e., retailer or warranty work there, rather than manufacture. It is not such a big deal if you are in Russia or something. Language can be more of an issue in my experience too. If they are using Google Translate, good luck.
While I agree with @raistlin65 that generalizing from personal experience produces poor quality evidence, as a careful consumer, I have to make decisions based on whatever information that I can collect. It is my choice how to use the information that I collect.
Perhaps you'll enjoy these paper models of vintage computers!Yeah, that’s me. On my desk is a Sun Blade 2000 (the “20 years Sun model”), which I haven’t switched on in ages; on top of a cupboard are a Cromemco C-10 and another Sun workstation, an Ultra 1/167 that’s no longer functional. I also have an old Ethernet hub in my mini-museum.
My wife doesn’t get the “holding on to things that you don’t use”, and due to space constraints I have thrown lots of old computers away. Still, somewhere, I wish I had kept my KIM-1, TRS-80, Beehive Superbee terminal and the nearly full collections of Byte Magazine, Dr Dobb’s Journal and Creative Computing.
Those Rockybergen models are cute. The Lisa model reminded me of the time Apple was launching the ill-fated Apple III at the 1980 NCC in Anaheim. When you visited their booth, you could get tickets for an evening at Disneyland, which they had reserved from 1900 to 2300 or something like that. In those days, Disneyland still required separate tickets for the rides, but on that night, you could do all the major rides for free. I still have the Mickey/Apple tickets; it was something rather memorable for this life-long fan of theme parks.Perhaps you'll enjoy these paper models of vintage computers!
http://rockybergen.com/papercraft
I own a 1985 Apple Macintosh and Macintosh Classic 2 which someone had left out with their trash in the 1990s. The capacitors used in the Classic are notorious for leaking, and mine needed extensive repair work. Both computers are currently functional, but I do occasionally amuse myself by booting them up and playing with them, but they're mostly just display pieces now. Not especially valuable to collectors as they were made in large numbers, but there is nevertheless still a market for them.
That's not quite right. One can choose not to use information in decision making that is unreliable. Perhaps that's what you meant.
Like a sore throat, coughing and a temperature, yes.we need a rousing discussion of the bias in attributing reliability scores to different sources of information