Slashdot Mirror

I'm sure that everyone caught the dissapointment that Todd felt from the community. People got on his back too much, something which I don't believe he expected.

Todd is not the only one. A big part of the reason I went with MassLinux was their use and support of Linux and OSS. At the time, I was a strong supporter of Linux as a Windows replacement.

Now, however, I am sitting here with a new $3500 laptop that I'm not even sure I'm going to bother loading Linux on, even though my original intent was for it to be a Linux-only machine.

How is that possible? Donated bandwidth, users sending in next month's fees ahead of time, class action lawsuit--any of these things could have helped.

To be honest, had I known the situation, say, two weeks ago, I would have gladly sent in some money to keep them going. All for Linux and Linux for all, or some pseudo-religious nonsense like that.

However, evidently users were pissed off and left Todd to stand as a one man mountain to bear the brunt of the sorting out and accusations.

That's not quite accurate. MassLinux left the users high and dry. We had no way to get in touch with Todd or anyone else at MassLinux. Todd didn't return phone calls, and for some reason I didn't call his home number (which I had, actually) in the middle of the night.

I still don't know who is involved other than Todd. Chris Gann seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Sam McClellan claims he has no relationship to MassLinux other than as a customer, even though he bought the company (according to legal documents presented to others.) The phone number listed in whois belongs to a company someone from MassLinux used to work at a year ago.

Accusations are all we had, since we had no facts whatsoever. All I knew was that I didn't exist, internet-wise.

We didn't leave Todd anywhere -- we didn't have him. We had no valid contact info. We had no info whatsoever. By the time I got ahold of his home number, I was already moving my sites.

Sure, I feel bad for Todd. I feel bad about the blight on Linux that MassLinux caused. I would like to know who is to blame -- not so much for the outage, but for the lack of contact and info.

What they should have done is on the day they were cut off, go to the local library, a friend's house, whereever, and set up a hotmail account, a web page at geocities, and posted a message(s) to appropriate newsgroups. They should have fired off a message to slashdot, linux today, etc. Then I would have gotten a list of all of the accounts they hosted and sat down to call them. Each and everyone.

But I run a real, service-oriented business. Not a mickey-mouse ISP using a toy operating system, which is the impression they have created.

C'mon guys, it's the holidays and we can't even give a little.

Sorry, I already gave, and I'm too busy getting my web sites set up again to worry about the holidays.

I'm sure that everyone caught the dissapointment that Todd felt from the community. People got on his back too much, something which I don't believe he expected.

Todd is not the only one. A big part of the reason I went with MassLinux was their use and support of Linux and OSS. At the time, I was a strong supporter of Linux as a Windows replacement.

Now, however, I am sitting here with a new $3500 laptop that I'm not even sure I'm going to bother loading Linux on, even though my original intent was for it to be a Linux-only machine.

How is that possible? Donated bandwidth, users sending in next month's fees ahead of time, class action lawsuit--any of these things could have helped.

To be honest, had I known the situation, say, two weeks ago, I would have gladly sent in some money to keep them going. All for Linux and Linux for all, or some pseudo-religious nonsense like that.

However, evidently users were pissed off and left Todd to stand as a one man mountain to bear the brunt of the sorting out and accusations.

That's not quite accurate. MassLinux left the users high and dry. We had no way to get in touch with Todd or anyone else at MassLinux. Todd didn't return phone calls, and for some reason I didn't call his home number (which I had, actually) in the middle of the night.

I still don't know who is involved other than Todd. Chris Gann seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Sam McClellan claims he has no relationship to MassLinux other than as a customer, even though he bought the company (according to legal documents presented to others.) The phone number listed in whois belongs to a company someone from MassLinux used to work at a year ago.

Accusations are all we had, since we had no facts whatsoever. All I knew was that I didn't exist, internet-wise.

We didn't leave Todd anywhere -- we didn't have him. We had no valid contact info. We had no info whatsoever. By the time I got ahold of his home number, I was already moving my sites.

Sure, I feel bad for Todd. I feel bad about the blight on Linux that MassLinux caused. I would like to know who is to blame -- not so much for the outage, but for the lack of contact and info.

What they should have done is on the day they were cut off, go to the local library, a friend's house, whereever, and set up a hotmail account, a web page at geocities, and posted a message(s) to appropriate newsgroups. They should have fired off a message to slashdot, linux today, etc. Then I would have gotten a list of all of the accounts they hosted and sat down to call them. Each and everyone.

But I run a real, service-oriented business. Not a mickey-mouse ISP using a toy operating system, which is the impression they have created.

C'mon guys, it's the holidays and we can't even give a little.

Sorry, I already gave, and I'm too busy getting my web sites set up again to worry about the holidays.

Todd Lauder seems like a nice guy (that's what I thought, anyway, before all this happened.) So let's say that what he says is what happened.

Okay, stuff happens.

The problem is that no one bothered to contact the customers.

They had access to the computers, so they had access to e-mail addresses. They could have checked whois (or their own records) for phone numbers. They could have sent out snail-mail letters, if necessary. What's the cost of a few stamps compared to going out of business?

The big problem I faced was that I didn't know what happened. For the first few days, I had to sit there and wonder if I should move my domain or not.

Had I received an e-mail, a phone call, a letter, or even spotted a message in a newsgroup (I searched!) explaining what was up, I probably would have gotten someone to host a temporary page saying "technical difficulties" or something, gotten my domain pointed at it, and waited it out.

In fact, I got a couple of offers (based on my posts here and in newsgroups) to host my entire site for free, and in reality, I could have set something up at home on my DSL connection.

But I didn't know.

So, I assumed the worst and set up my sites with a new ISP. With no news, no contact, I had to assume they had taken the money and run.

Meanwhile, with the outage going on, day by day by day, more and more of my users were slipping away from me. I don't know if I will bother continuing, because of the same reasons MassLinux offered.

Luckily for me, this is not what pays my mortgage, so I will survive. I feel for those for whom this is not the case.

As to lawsuits, yeah, I was definitely planning something to at least get back what I had paid them, possibly something more for all the time I had to devote to setting up and reconfiguring my sites elsewhere. (I've still got a couple that aren't set up quite right yet.)

I can't speak for others, but...

I've been carrying a laptop of one type or another for over 15 years. As a 6 foot, 275 pound, fairly active person, size and weight is of little matter to me. In fact, the larger size would allow for a larger keyboard, a full-size numeric keypad, and so on.

A 20" screen would mean a laptop somewhere around 16"x12" or so, about the size of two letter size pages. I would be more than happy to carry such a computer in order to have room for more sessions on the screen at the same time, or to have /. loaded next something I get paid for. 8^)

What I meant to say was:

Actually, there are a lot of people who do collect computers and are working to preserve the history of the computer industry.

Sorry... It was early...

It's a weird thing that computers, in this age when we record every darn thing ever done and collect cereal boxes or Band-Aid boxes, would have an unclear ancestry. Of course, I blame it on military secrecy.

Actually, there are a lot of people who do collect computers/A> and are working to preserve the history of the computer industry. For example, see if you know what the first personal computer was!

Coming up soon is the Vintage Computer Festival where collectors, historians, and enthusiasts will gather for a week-end full of speakers, exhibits, and trading. Don't miss it if you possibly can!

To debate what was the first computer, who invented it, and so on, check out the Vintage Computer Festival coming up October 2-3 in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

There are a lot of people out there (including myself) working feverishly to preserve the history of the computer industry.

If you have any interest in the subject, or want to find out about your professional roots, check out the VCF. It's also a perfect opportunity to show your kids what it was like back in the good old days before widely available internet access, GUI's, and virtually unlimited computer resources.

There will be exhibits, speakers, and a very active marketplace where you can pick up software, accessories, and even complete systems. One of the speakers will be Konrad Zuse's son, who will surely discuss his father's computers and their place in history relative to ENIAC.

This sounds like charging the people who make radios because it appears like the radio is broadcasting the music.

Only if the radio automatically replaced the call letters of the radio station with, for example, "Panasonic".

It's more like if someone set up a search engine with their logo, their name, their advertisers, but all the form did was pass stuff to AltaVista or Google, collect the results, and display them with, again, their logo, their name, and their advertisers.

Or, look at it this way. Suppose you developed a cool on-line game. You buy some servers, get a T-1, line up some advertising to pay for it all. All is going well. Until you notice your T-1 is jam-packed but no one's seeing your ads.

Turns out, someone else put up a front end page to your game, with their own ads. You did all the development, bought the server, and are paying for the bandwidth, but they're getting the profits. They're using your resources for their own personal gain.

It's the same as SPAM.

Only, with IP theft thrown in.

This is a sore point for me, as I know of at least one site that does this with one of my sites, and it's going to start happening a lot. Unless you can afford to pay lawyers all the time, there's not a lot you can do about it.

Of course, as I said before, I'm not sure ASCAP is the one that should be getting their panties in a bunch about it. They're just greedy.

Rumour has it that this Apple I (and the "GLM" and the "prototype" Lisa) belong to a guy named Computer Jones. If so, I wouldn't even claim it was a real Apple I, let alone the first without checking with Wozniak first.

I also don't care for the spamming LaSalle did to computer collectors to promote this. (I certainly didn't need their multi-meg attachments.)

But hey, there's not a lot I wouldn't do for $40k.

This is a museum piece...
...And it should be placed in a museum.

Actually, the former does not necessarily imply the latter. There is a never-ending debate about the value of museums. On the one hand, they are excellent for making artifacts accessible to the general public.

On the other hand, however, they are often under-funded and lacking adequate space. It is not unusual to find incredibly important items locked in a back room, or even worse -- left out in a storage yard, due to lack of display space and lack of knowledge on the part of the curators.

As an alternative, private collectors do it because they care about the items personally. They spend their own money to rescue artifacts and restore them lovingly.

Of course, none of these are always the case, but my own personal feeling is that I'd rather see something like this go to a collector who knows what they are doing rather than a museum that will stick it in a plexiglass box so the public can watch it decay.

I know that when I die, my collection will go to another collector rather than a museum.

No, really, this should probably be donated to the Smithsonian.

Well, if you have to donate it, I would recommend the Vintage Technology Cooperative (which puts on the Vintage Computer Festival mentioned in the article.)

Of course, it's a moot point as it belongs to a private citizen who is free to do with it what he wants. But you're welcome to bid on it, purchase it, and donate it yourself.

As was mentioned in the article, an attendee at last year's Vintage Computer Festival bought one for $2,000. (The buyer wants to remain anonymous.)

I have heard of confirmed sales in the $10K area, and there was apparently an auction some time ago where one sold for something like $30K (I seem to remember Woz being involved?)

This one will probably sell for $40K or more -- there are some very well financed collectors running around these days.

The one at Fry's in Sunnyvale, btw, belongs to the Computer History Association of California.

Shameless plug: Check out my collection as well -- I don't have an Apple I, but It's on my wanted list.

There are other contenders for "first" computer, going back to the 30's, but that's not really my area of interest, so I haven't paid much attention to them, I'm afraid.

Anyway, here's a few more British historical computing links for those who like nostaligia. If anyone would like to add some links to sites about other historical computers- of any nation- I'd be most interested.

Here are a few more links that you may find of interest:

• The Vintage Computer Festival (version 3.0 coming in October!)
• The Blinkenlights Institute
• The Computer History Association of California (Currently inactive, but still lotsa links)
• My own Classic Computer Collection (plug, plug)

There are plenty more, but those should give you enough to get started, and each has lots of links to explore.

Before I became an adult, I used to like these amaretto cookies. Of course, they don't have any alcohol in them, so they are available at any grocer's.

Meanwhile, I am an amateur musician. The cables running around my keyboards and synths look like anarchy itself. I don't play that much anymore. We have a friend living with us who has a babe of 10 months who just loves banging on things. She crawls around in her bare feet and likes watching leave it to beaver.

I'm afraid I have a bit of a beer belly, so I don't wear the bikini style swimsuits I did in high school. I guess that's what happens when you sit around compiling source code into binaries instead of throwing a long bomb on the football field. Oh well, I haven't hit bottom yet, while my wife is no blonde bombshell, she's pretty good looking.

My bud and I were chatting the other day about how he should get one of those bra things for the front of his cherry red corvette. Then his twin girls came out to show us pictures of the the baby chicks they had hatched at school.

I'm kinda glad I don't live in Oz -- I'd never be able to put out the San Francisco Free List.

Ooh, now there's some witty repartee!

I bet your gay as all youre saying is pointless bent stuff. Only a queer would waste their time posting commints like that.

Well, had you bothered to take a few seconds to look at my personal web page, you would have seen this picture of my wife, and possibly even found this page, all of which would have shown the falsity of your statement.

Members of the gay community are not especially known for their grammatical expertise -- some may be very skilled, linguistically, others less so. Sexual orientation has little to do with knowledge of the English language.

As for taking on a personal crusade to stand up for those less skilled than others, I am well known for loudly voicing my opinions, and I do love to write.

You, on the other hand, seem barely able to communicate, despite being, apparently from the UK where the language was popularized, and are too cowardly to post other than as an AC.

When you decide to come out of the closet, let me know and we can discuss this further.

Ooh, now there's some witty repartee!

I bet your gay as all youre saying is pointless bent stuff. Only a queer would waste their time posting commints like that.

Well, had you bothered to take a few seconds to look at my personal web page, you would have seen this picture of my wife, and possibly even found this page, all of which would have shown the falsity of your statement.

Members of the gay community are not especially known for their grammatical expertise -- some may be very skilled, linguistically, others less so. Sexual orientation has little to do with knowledge of the English language.

As for taking on a personal crusade to stand up for those less skilled than others, I am well known for loudly voicing my opinions, and I do love to write.

You, on the other hand, seem barely able to communicate, despite being, apparently from the UK where the language was popularized, and are too cowardly to post other than as an AC.

When you decide to come out of the closet, let me know and we can discuss this further.

Ooh, now there's some witty repartee!

I bet your gay as all youre saying is pointless bent stuff. Only a queer would waste their time posting commints like that.

Well, had you bothered to take a few seconds to look at my personal web page, you would have seen this picture of my wife, and possibly even found this page, all of which would have shown the falsity of your statement.

Members of the gay community are not especially known for their grammatical expertise -- some may be very skilled, linguistically, others less so. Sexual orientation has little to do with knowledge of the English language.

As for taking on a personal crusade to stand up for those less skilled than others, I am well known for loudly voicing my opinions, and I do love to write.

You, on the other hand, seem barely able to communicate, despite being, apparently from the UK where the language was popularized, and are too cowardly to post other than as an AC.

When you decide to come out of the closet, let me know and we can discuss this further.

Ooh, now there's some witty repartee!

I bet your gay as all youre saying is pointless bent stuff. Only a queer would waste their time posting commints like that.

Well, had you bothered to take a few seconds to look at my personal web page, you would have seen this picture of my wife, and possibly even found this page, all of which would have shown the falsity of your statement.

Members of the gay community are not especially known for their grammatical expertise -- some may be very skilled, linguistically, others less so. Sexual orientation has little to do with knowledge of the English language.

As for taking on a personal crusade to stand up for those less skilled than others, I am well known for loudly voicing my opinions, and I do love to write.

You, on the other hand, seem barely able to communicate, despite being, apparently from the UK where the language was popularized, and are too cowardly to post other than as an AC.

When you decide to come out of the closet, let me know and we can discuss this further.

Ooh, now there's some witty repartee!

I bet your gay as all youre saying is pointless bent stuff. Only a queer would waste their time posting commints like that.

Well, had you bothered to take a few seconds to look at my personal web page, you would have seen this picture of my wife, and possibly even found this page, all of which would have shown the falsity of your statement.

Members of the gay community are not especially known for their grammatical expertise -- some may be very skilled, linguistically, others less so. Sexual orientation has little to do with knowledge of the English language.

As for taking on a personal crusade to stand up for those less skilled than others, I am well known for loudly voicing my opinions, and I do love to write.

You, on the other hand, seem barely able to communicate, despite being, apparently from the UK where the language was popularized, and are too cowardly to post other than as an AC.

When you decide to come out of the closet, let me know and we can discuss this further.

About a month ago, I signed up with Pacific Bell for DSL service in San Francisco.

I was getting married, and figured that the higher cost would be offset by eliminating my and my girlfri^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hwife's dial-up accounts. (Okay, so that was just an excuse.8^)

Well, I did have a bit of a rough start -- they didn't show up for the first install appointment and when I called, the gal on the phone made another appointment, but didn't tell anyone about it. But the third time was a charm. A guy from Southern California (up here specifically for DSL installs) showed up, knew what he was doing, hooked things up, and voila.

I've got a splitter on the wall in the garage (along with all the other phone line stuff) which runs upstairs to my office/mess where it plugs into an Alcatel modem. The DSL modem is connected to a Kingston PCMCIA ethernet card in an old laptop with a broken screen. This runs Linux and serves as the gateway to my new home network via a Linksys PCMCIA ethernet card.

The PacBell guy was able to get a connection right away and start downloading stuff; it took me a little longer as this was my first time using Linux seriously. (Don't stick your toe in, just jump on in! 8^) But, I did figure it out, and now have another Linux box, my DOS/Win3.11 laptop, a Win3.11 box by the bed, a Mac, and a Win95 box hooked up, with my wife's big mac and my dad's pc coming on-line soon.

It works great -- I've had only two problems: one, PacBell was having a problem and was up again in an hour (like any ISP might have) and once the modem had to be reset. So, yes, I'm quite happy. PacBell provides the DSL Modem, the NIC for whatever type of computer you have (PC or Mac, ISA, PCI, NuBus, or PCMCIA) and sets it all up for you. The guy that did it for me handled everything except setting the card up under Linux -- he was a windows guy (nice nonetheless). I already had wiring in place, but he would have run it if I didn't from the garage to the attic.

The best part is the cost. The setup (includes the modem and NIC) is $199, but the monthly fee for 384K download/128K upload is $50 ($39/mo for the DSL and $10 for the ISP stuff) and includes a static IP. However, that's a minimum guaranteed download speed -- I've regularly gotten over 1.5mbps download speeds.

So, I have to say I am most happy with my PacBell DSL service and can recommend it highly, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check out, also, the Vintage Computer Festival for a chance to see and play with a lot of older gear.

Then, of course, there's always my collection. 8^)

Once we get past the cute comments about abacuses and 100-year-old accountants (my Dad turns 72 tomorrow), we can get to some real history.

In the last day or so, I've received inquiries from someone using a Canon Cat (Early work processor) and from someone still using an Epson HC-40 (early portable CP/M machine.)

They contacted me because of my classic computer collection.

There are, however, still plenty of people out there using Altairs and Model 100's and GRiD's and all the other well-known and not-so-well-known personal computers, probably going all the way back to the very first.

Not everyone has succombed to the idea that if it isn't the latest and greatest computer hardware and software, it doesn't work. I drive a 1959 Land Rover; it still gets me where I want to go. Likewise, a lot of people still use computers that do what they need to do without the cost, complexity, and learning curve that newer machines represent.

Unfortunately, Dell is ignoring the fact that the IBM PC and its successors more than anything else to destroy the innovation, creativity, and variety that had existed previously in the computer industry. Very few desktop "PC's" are collectible; virtually none would be of interest to a museum of any quality or reputation.

If you really want to see older computers, come to the Vintage Computer Festival this fall.

Once we get past the cute comments about abacuses and 100-year-old accountants (my Dad turns 72 tomorrow), we can get to some real history.

In the last day or so, I've received inquiries from someone using a Canon Cat (Early work processor) and from someone still using an Epson HC-40 (early portable CP/M machine.)

They contacted me because of my classic computer collection.

There are, however, still plenty of people out there using Altairs and Model 100's and GRiD's and all the other well-known and not-so-well-known personal computers, probably going all the way back to the very first.

Not everyone has succombed to the idea that if it isn't the latest and greatest computer hardware and software, it doesn't work. I drive a 1959 Land Rover; it still gets me where I want to go. Likewise, a lot of people still use computers that do what they need to do without the cost, complexity, and learning curve that newer machines represent.

Unfortunately, Dell is ignoring the fact that the IBM PC and its successors more than anything else to destroy the innovation, creativity, and variety that had existed previously in the computer industry. Very few desktop "PC's" are collectible; virtually none would be of interest to a museum of any quality or reputation.

If you really want to see older computers, come to the Vintage Computer Festival this fall.

Once we get past the cute comments about abacuses and 100-year-old accountants (my Dad turns 72 tomorrow), we can get to some real history.

In the last day or so, I've received inquiries from someone using a Canon Cat (Early work processor) and from someone still using an Epson HC-40 (early portable CP/M machine.)

They contacted me because of my classic computer collection.

There are, however, still plenty of people out there using Altairs and Model 100's and GRiD's and all the other well-known and not-so-well-known personal computers, probably going all the way back to the very first.

Not everyone has succombed to the idea that if it isn't the latest and greatest computer hardware and software, it doesn't work. I drive a 1959 Land Rover; it still gets me where I want to go. Likewise, a lot of people still use computers that do what they need to do without the cost, complexity, and learning curve that newer machines represent.

Unfortunately, Dell is ignoring the fact that the IBM PC and its successors more than anything else to destroy the innovation, creativity, and variety that had existed previously in the computer industry. Very few desktop "PC's" are collectible; virtually none would be of interest to a museum of any quality or reputation.

If you really want to see older computers, come to the Vintage Computer Festival this fall.

Sure, Sattelite phones will get you on-line as on a friend's recent trip, or you can use a ricochet modem like I do, and this guy does, if you're in range.

The AST PenExec was made by GRiD -- it was the GRiD 2260 "Convertible" with AST's name on it. I put the link to the AST Page because I don't have one ready yet for the GRiD version.

While not truly ruggedized, like some of the other models, the Convertible is fairly robust, and its design makes it ideal for the dual purposes for which I plan to use it. In slate mode, I will have it mounted near the dashboard to display maps and directions; in notebook mode, I'll use it in bed, under a tree, or whereever convenient for recording the days events.

In general, however, I agree -- I have not been impressed with AST laptops (or Compaq, for that matter, who knows nothing of their computers more than a year or two old, so don't lose those driver disks!)

The AST PenExec was made by GRiD -- it was the GRiD 2260 "Convertible" with AST's name on it. I put the link to the AST Page because I don't have one ready yet for the GRiD version.

While not truly ruggedized, like some of the other models, the Convertible is fairly robust, and its design makes it ideal for the dual purposes for which I plan to use it. In slate mode, I will have it mounted near the dashboard to display maps and directions; in notebook mode, I'll use it in bed, under a tree, or whereever convenient for recording the days events.

In general, however, I agree -- I have not been impressed with AST laptops (or Compaq, for that matter, who knows nothing of their computers more than a year or two old, so don't lose those driver disks!)

The first ever clamshell type portable computer was the GRiD Compass, a ruggedized computer with an alloy case and bubble memory (no moving parts.)

Since then, GRiD has continued making ruggedized laptops, including Tempest models for the military. There are other manufacturers out there as well, including the Rocky and Terradat laptops.

Personally, I plan to put a GRiD Convertible (identical to the AST PenExec) to work as the navigation and journal-keeping system in my 1959 Land Rover 109". It's not ultra-rugged, but it will do until I can afford a truly rugged machine.

P.S., that trick of driving over something isn't as impressive as it looks -- you get about 1/4 the vehicle's weight, which is evenly distributed over the entire area of the tire meeting the ground -- say 40 or so square inches (6" x 7"), so even my Rover, fully loaded, would only put about 25 pounds per square inch of pressure on the laptop.

The first ever clamshell type portable computer was the GRiD Compass, a ruggedized computer with an alloy case and bubble memory (no moving parts.)

Since then, GRiD has continued making ruggedized laptops, including Tempest models for the military. There are other manufacturers out there as well, including the Rocky and Terradat laptops.

Personally, I plan to put a GRiD Convertible (identical to the AST PenExec) to work as the navigation and journal-keeping system in my 1959 Land Rover 109". It's not ultra-rugged, but it will do until I can afford a truly rugged machine.

P.S., that trick of driving over something isn't as impressive as it looks -- you get about 1/4 the vehicle's weight, which is evenly distributed over the entire area of the tire meeting the ground -- say 40 or so square inches (6" x 7"), so even my Rover, fully loaded, would only put about 25 pounds per square inch of pressure on the laptop.

The first ever clamshell type portable computer was the GRiD Compass, a ruggedized computer with an alloy case and bubble memory (no moving parts.)

Since then, GRiD has continued making ruggedized laptops, including Tempest models for the military. There are other manufacturers out there as well, including the Rocky and Terradat laptops.

Personally, I plan to put a GRiD Convertible (identical to the AST PenExec) to work as the navigation and journal-keeping system in my 1959 Land Rover 109". It's not ultra-rugged, but it will do until I can afford a truly rugged machine.

P.S., that trick of driving over something isn't as impressive as it looks -- you get about 1/4 the vehicle's weight, which is evenly distributed over the entire area of the tire meeting the ground -- say 40 or so square inches (6" x 7"), so even my Rover, fully loaded, would only put about 25 pounds per square inch of pressure on the laptop.

Alan Kay is my personal hero too (and can you believe I went and left the digital camera behind when I knew I might have a chance to get a picture with him? (Let alone have him autograph my Xerox PARC Frisbee!)!) but you may want to check out a little more history before giving him all the credit. 8^)

Some of the ideas and innovations you mentioned should rightly be credited to Douglas Englebart. They worked together, and Englebart wasn't the only one on the team, but the work at PARC came after the work done in the late 60's at the Stanford Research Institute.

He explains why it's such a shoddy job... He did it in one day doing his research on the web. Do you believe everything you read on the web?

(I know a web page where a supposedly knowledgeable person tells a reputable interviewer that the Gavilan was the first laptop computer. (Not even close.))

And contrary to popular opionion, the MITS machine was not the first PC. (Not even close.)

Furthermore, he left out all kinds of important milestones:

• Doug Englebart and co's work with the mouse, user interfaces, and more (1969)
• The Xerox Parc innovations, including GUI's, ethernet, laser printers, and more (mid-70's)
• Dynalogic, Kyocera, GRiD, Sharp, and more, who gave us portable computing as we know it (early 80's)

There are plenty of others, of course. Some of the names he left out -- Englebart, Metcalfe, Kay, Berkeley, Sutherland, and so on, are equally, if not more, important than the names on his list.

To find out more [plug:] check out the Vintage Computer Festival or my site.

This guy did a bad job of research resulting in another incomplete and misleading web page.

First, what they did should have been unthinkable. Someone, somewhere, failed those kids. And they made a really bad choice.

(Note that kids don't always have the experience necessary to figure things out on their own. Heck, a lot of "adults" don't either.)

That the torment was not valid justification for the killing does not mean that the torment doesn't happen, or that it is not a problem. It does and it is. It needs to be addressed.

Teachers, as hard as they may try, are often faced with uncooperative -- or even hostile -- administrators, politicians, and parents. Further, being grossly underpaid (would you quit your $100K/year job to work 14 hours a day taking care of 30 kids for $30K?) means that teachers are either really dedicated or really bad. There are far too few of the former.

Still, it's not the job of a teacher to tell kids that violence is not a good solution, or that one should accept others, regardless of their differences. Values/Morals/Etc. like that are the providence of the parent. (Would you want me to teach your kids right and wrong?) Unfortunately, not only do many parents ignore their duties as co-educators, quite a few do teach violence and hatred to their children.

Also, people need to realize that if they want to have a child (or children) it means 18+ years of hard work and self-sacrifice. You can't just quit when it gets boring or unpleasant.

As to my own High School experiences... I attended my 10 year anniversary a while back. I was amazed when one guy came up to me and very sheepishly apologized for having beaten me up all the time. I honestly didn't remember him. So we chatted a bit. He's a CHP, I make $100K. I don't worry about it. 8^)

In 6th grade, I used to get beaten up regularly by a couple of girls. (Yeah, it's true.) Later on, I ran into one of them again. She was in the swim class I was teaching. She was petrified of the water. I resisted the urge to hold her underwater. But I thought about it! 8^)

Yeah, I never had a real girlfriend in HS. Now, however, I could buy a fancy car and schmoozie clothes, and still have money to buy a bimbo(s) a fancy dinner. Instead, I buy old computers, own (most of) a house in San Francisco and am getting married next month.

So, as has been said before, Go with the flow. You'll get through it, and then the good times will begin. Eventually, the jerks that beat you up now will be polishing your car for you. Beauty and strength are fleeting; intelligence counts.

First, what they did should have been unthinkable. Someone, somewhere, failed those kids. And they made a really bad choice.

(Note that kids don't always have the experience necessary to figure things out on their own. Heck, a lot of "adults" don't either.)

That the torment was not valid justification for the killing does not mean that the torment doesn't happen, or that it is not a problem. It does and it is. It needs to be addressed.

Teachers, as hard as they may try, are often faced with uncooperative -- or even hostile -- administrators, politicians, and parents. Further, being grossly underpaid (would you quit your $100K/year job to work 14 hours a day taking care of 30 kids for $30K?) means that teachers are either really dedicated or really bad. There are far too few of the former.

Still, it's not the job of a teacher to tell kids that violence is not a good solution, or that one should accept others, regardless of their differences. Values/Morals/Etc. like that are the providence of the parent. (Would you want me to teach your kids right and wrong?) Unfortunately, not only do many parents ignore their duties as co-educators, quite a few do teach violence and hatred to their children.

Also, people need to realize that if they want to have a child (or children) it means 18+ years of hard work and self-sacrifice. You can't just quit when it gets boring or unpleasant.

As to my own High School experiences... I attended my 10 year anniversary a while back. I was amazed when one guy came up to me and very sheepishly apologized for having beaten me up all the time. I honestly didn't remember him. So we chatted a bit. He's a CHP, I make $100K. I don't worry about it. 8^)

In 6th grade, I used to get beaten up regularly by a couple of girls. (Yeah, it's true.) Later on, I ran into one of them again. She was in the swim class I was teaching. She was petrified of the water. I resisted the urge to hold her underwater. But I thought about it! 8^)

Yeah, I never had a real girlfriend in HS. Now, however, I could buy a fancy car and schmoozie clothes, and still have money to buy a bimbo(s) a fancy dinner. Instead, I buy old computers, own (most of) a house in San Francisco and am getting married next month.

So, as has been said before, Go with the flow. You'll get through it, and then the good times will begin. Eventually, the jerks that beat you up now will be polishing your car for you. Beauty and strength are fleeting; intelligence counts.

First, what they did should have been unthinkable. Someone, somewhere, failed those kids. And they made a really bad choice.

(Note that kids don't always have the experience necessary to figure things out on their own. Heck, a lot of "adults" don't either.)

That the torment was not valid justification for the killing does not mean that the torment doesn't happen, or that it is not a problem. It does and it is. It needs to be addressed.

Teachers, as hard as they may try, are often faced with uncooperative -- or even hostile -- administrators, politicians, and parents. Further, being grossly underpaid (would you quit your $100K/year job to work 14 hours a day taking care of 30 kids for $30K?) means that teachers are either really dedicated or really bad. There are far too few of the former.

Still, it's not the job of a teacher to tell kids that violence is not a good solution, or that one should accept others, regardless of their differences. Values/Morals/Etc. like that are the providence of the parent. (Would you want me to teach your kids right and wrong?) Unfortunately, not only do many parents ignore their duties as co-educators, quite a few do teach violence and hatred to their children.

Also, people need to realize that if they want to have a child (or children) it means 18+ years of hard work and self-sacrifice. You can't just quit when it gets boring or unpleasant.

As to my own High School experiences... I attended my 10 year anniversary a while back. I was amazed when one guy came up to me and very sheepishly apologized for having beaten me up all the time. I honestly didn't remember him. So we chatted a bit. He's a CHP, I make $100K. I don't worry about it. 8^)

In 6th grade, I used to get beaten up regularly by a couple of girls. (Yeah, it's true.) Later on, I ran into one of them again. She was in the swim class I was teaching. She was petrified of the water. I resisted the urge to hold her underwater. But I thought about it! 8^)

Yeah, I never had a real girlfriend in HS. Now, however, I could buy a fancy car and schmoozie clothes, and still have money to buy a bimbo(s) a fancy dinner. Instead, I buy old computers, own (most of) a house in San Francisco and am getting married next month.

So, as has been said before, Go with the flow. You'll get through it, and then the good times will begin. Eventually, the jerks that beat you up now will be polishing your car for you. Beauty and strength are fleeting; intelligence counts.

QBasic was a good choice for a couple of projects that I wanted to do. I needed a language/environment that:

1. would run on older machines
2. was quick and easy
3. that I knew fairly well
4. allowed for subroutines/functions

#1 meant MS-DOS, eliminating VB, Java, etc. #2 and #3 eliminated C, Perl, etc. QBasic was available, I knew it, you can do reasonably structured programming, and so on. It fit.

Since then, one of those projects has since been ported to Perl as a CGI script, but the code remains much the same.

Anyway, I'm not ashamed of my choice; It's a quick and easy language to work with, and fits the bill. There are no bad languages, only bad programmers. 8^)

QBasic was a good choice for a couple of projects that I wanted to do. I needed a language/environment that:

1. would run on older machines
2. was quick and easy
3. that I knew fairly well
4. allowed for subroutines/functions

#1 meant MS-DOS, eliminating VB, Java, etc. #2 and #3 eliminated C, Perl, etc. QBasic was available, I knew it, you can do reasonably structured programming, and so on. It fit.

Since then, one of those projects has since been ported to Perl as a CGI script, but the code remains much the same.

Anyway, I'm not ashamed of my choice; It's a quick and easy language to work with, and fits the bill. There are no bad languages, only bad programmers. 8^)

QBasic was a good choice for a couple of projects that I wanted to do. I needed a language/environment that:

1. would run on older machines
2. was quick and easy
3. that I knew fairly well
4. allowed for subroutines/functions

#1 meant MS-DOS, eliminating VB, Java, etc. #2 and #3 eliminated C, Perl, etc. QBasic was available, I knew it, you can do reasonably structured programming, and so on. It fit.

Since then, one of those projects has since been ported to Perl as a CGI script, but the code remains much the same.

Anyway, I'm not ashamed of my choice; It's a quick and easy language to work with, and fits the bill. There are no bad languages, only bad programmers. 8^)

Try: http://www.nada.kth.se/~jas/retro/ret romuseum.html or http://www.mit.edu/afs/athe na/user/d/a/daveg/SIPB/Languages/.

See also http:/ /www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/compi lers/free/part2/faq.html for a PL/M compiler, and http://home.sol.no/~egilk/download.html for a PL/M to C converter.

While you're at it, [Plug] check out my classic computers site and the Vintage Computer Festival.[/Plug]

First off, if you go to the OJR home page, you can get to the actual article; their internal links seem to be a little screwy.

I am proud to have in my collection Several significant tablet-type computers: the GRiDPad, the GRiD 2260 and 2270 (aka Convertable), Amstrad PDA600, a Telepad 3, and (soon) a Linux Write-Top.

For more on the history of pen-computing, see:

• probably the best collection of pen-based computers in the world (though not yet documented online)
• some valuable info on the history of pen-based computing

While I love books, and have hundreds (if not thousands), I have long felt that the advantages of reading electronic-based information has definite advantages -- the same ones we have come to take for granted with the web and other electronic references. (Things like hyperlinks to related material, in-line definitions, multi-media, and so on.)

In addition, the easy, familiar format of things like the GRiDPad, CrossPad, etc. lend themselves to quick replacement of the traditional pad of paper for note-taking, surveying, and other data entry. The ease of integrating remotely gathered data into centralized databases/references will ultimately make such devices commonplace.

In short, technology such as the WebPad, e-books, and CrossPad will be augmenting more and more everyday tasks, from taking notes in meetings, to compiling grocery lists, from street corner surveys to reading the latest news while climbing the stairmaster at the gym.

P.S., if anyone has examples of early tablets (such as those from Go, Momenta, Motorola, AT&T, etc.) or other older portable computers they want to find a new home for, please feel free to contact me!

First off, if you go to the OJR home page, you can get to the actual article; their internal links seem to be a little screwy.

I am proud to have in my collection Several significant tablet-type computers: the GRiDPad, the GRiD 2260 and 2270 (aka Convertable), Amstrad PDA600, a Telepad 3, and (soon) a Linux Write-Top.

For more on the history of pen-computing, see:

• probably the best collection of pen-based computers in the world (though not yet documented online)
• some valuable info on the history of pen-based computing

While I love books, and have hundreds (if not thousands), I have long felt that the advantages of reading electronic-based information has definite advantages -- the same ones we have come to take for granted with the web and other electronic references. (Things like hyperlinks to related material, in-line definitions, multi-media, and so on.)

In addition, the easy, familiar format of things like the GRiDPad, CrossPad, etc. lend themselves to quick replacement of the traditional pad of paper for note-taking, surveying, and other data entry. The ease of integrating remotely gathered data into centralized databases/references will ultimately make such devices commonplace.

In short, technology such as the WebPad, e-books, and CrossPad will be augmenting more and more everyday tasks, from taking notes in meetings, to compiling grocery lists, from street corner surveys to reading the latest news while climbing the stairmaster at the gym.

P.S., if anyone has examples of early tablets (such as those from Go, Momenta, Motorola, AT&T, etc.) or other older portable computers they want to find a new home for, please feel free to contact me!