It's an intriguing idea, but unless I was looking for a job where I'd be restoring files from "ancient" archives, it wouldn't be all that relevant. Unless the Interviewer was a geek (most of them are NOT) it would be a waste of space.
They had to let 1/2 the staff go, to survive. Since I had been there for 20 years, I was making a lot more than many. I hold no bitterness toward any of them. They are good people, and I am glad that the station remains on the air to this day!
BTW, on the Commodore 64 topic, this is what I have for my C64:
Good grief. Sure, it's outdated, but the Commie 64 was more than just another computer. It was a hobby. It was a pastime. It was a learning tool. It was an EXPERIENCE. If you had the ability and knowledge, you could add new features and functionality to the machine by cutting traces and soldering wires to the leads on chips, to your extension circuitry. I added all kinds of extras to mine, including a BASIC extension, MicroMon Assembler, a cartridge "bypass" switch, etc. Can't do those kinds of things with modern PC's.
My first word processor was "Speedscript". I typed it in from COMPUTE! Magazine over several days. That program did, in six kilobytes, what WORD was doing in hundreds, back in the early 90's! I used it more than any other software on that Ol' 64!
Now, want to talk about emulators? How about this one:
Yeah, it is wasteful... but depending upon what was on those drives, it's the only SURE way to prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. As long as the shreds are being recycled, that's a good thing.:)
Dude, you deserve a lot more than a pat on the back! Kudos, man. Seriously. There is SO MUCH MORE to this life than the accumulation of goods. (How stinking SHALLOW that is!) You're making investments into the lives of others, and it is already paying HUGE dividends!
What if it's YOUR NEPHEW that discovers a cure for cancer? It could be!
Kudos, man. Bigtime.:)
My wife and I never had kids, but we have poured love into our nieces and nephews, so I can relate to that.:)
As for GTA, no, I'm not a gamer. I get the idea, tho.;)
I pray that your business prospers, not so much for the gain, but for the lives you are already touching through it. Way to go!!
First, I seriously doubt that the Almighty would damn the thing.
Second, you would only destroy a PORTION of the data. With the gear that the FBI has, they could still reconstruct significant portions of it from the undamaged parts of the disk... if they had a reason to do so.
I discovered (much to my dismay) that my C= disks were actually disintegrating within the drive! They'd read fine for a little while, then they stopped... (I did this with only 2 disks, one unimportant one, and an important one) When I popped it out to look at it, I saw that the head was slowing rubbing away the magnetic coating! The longer the head stayed on one track with the drive spinning, the worse it got.
Well, if you remember how the C= disks were set up, the directory was in track 18. Of course, that track got pasted in short order. Fortunately for me, I had made two copies of that important disk, so I had another!
I used HDD64 to create a D64 image of the other... it moved the head fast enough, that it could dump all of the data to the PC in one pass, leaving the floppy still usable. Now that I had the data on the PC, backing it up in multiple places was easy.
I also have an AMD 40Meg HD unit, but the HD inside is dying. I don't know if it will even spin-up for much longer! (It seems to be slow starting, now.) It's an OLD SCSI drive, so I can't just connect it to the PC and pull the files out. It will have to be done with the X1541 cable, a directory at a time, I think. Slow as molasses. I don't know if the drive will survive the process, so I saved as many files as I could, the last time I had it powered up. I don't know what will happen next, each time I try to power it up, it struggles. I don't know which will be the last time!
Any chance of taking over that now-closed building? You can get your business up and running, and laugh all the way to the bank... preferably in your x-boss's FACE! What a jerk!
I'm glad you were able to help those people, and also am glad you're continuing to do so! The Lord said, "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." You did good work, and people recognized that. They responded by sending others your way, and word-of-mouth spread.
I look forward to hearing how things go for you in the future! Take over that building, and GROW from there!:)
You did the RIGHT thing, and were rewarded accordingly! That is a very heartwarming story, and is in stark contrast to a story told me by a friend: He used to work as a manager in a local Radio Shack. A customer had come in, with a cordless phone that was broken. It was no longer in stock, but my friend found another, similar unit. Knowing this customer to be a local businessman, he just wrote it up as a "Promo" and gave the man the $19 (retail) phone for free. The man was very appreciative. Within days, he came back and ordered many hundreds of dollars worth of 2-way radio equipment for his business, as well as several new phones, etc.
In spite of the fact that this customer soon returned, and spent a significant amount of money, my friend's boss (District Manager) actually chewed him out for "giving away" that $19 phone! (Which only cost the company about $9!) The profit they made on the subsequent sale was irrelevant to this dolt, who insisted that my friend no longer "give away" merchandise.
My friend deserved accolades. Instead, he got his butt chewed. Needless to say, he quit soon after... QUITE disgusted.
Is it any wonder the people working in most Radio Shack stores are so clueless? Upper Management doesn't have a clue, and apparently doesn't want people smarter then they are working in their stores. Sad.
The most effective way to destroy data, is to physically destroy the media it's stored on. Running the drive through a fine grinding machine or melting it down completely, are two very secure methods.
The last time I needed my resume' was in the mid 1980's. Therefore, it was stored on a 5 1/4 floppy for my Commodore 64, in "Speedscript" format. After getting the Speedscript word processor loaded into the C64, I saved it as "ASCII" in a SEQ file. Then I booted "HDD64" on an old P200 PC, and connected the 1541 drive to it, thru an "X1541" cable. Once saved to the PC's HD, I booted Windows 98. Once done, I brought it across the LAN into my WIN2000 box, and then re-worked it in MS Word 2000. That is the format it remains in until WORD becomes obsolete!;)
I had typed Speedscript in, byte-by-byte, from a COMPUTE! Magazine article, years before. For a 6K (yes, six kilobytes) program, it did an absolutely outstanding job! I used that program more than any other on my C64 for years.
Exactly my point.:) If they were smart, they'd rewrite their equipment control software to run on good Ol' Commie 64's, with the code stored in ROMs. Someone, somewhere, may have already figured this out, and runs all kinds of super-secret, mission-critical stuff that way!
They wanted to expand their horizons. The company they bought was already successful and doing a good business, so this acquisition also will add to their bottom line.
Now they are developing new products, which are "marrying" the two technologies. I am pleased by what I have seen and have been involved with, thus far.
This particular product I mentioned earlier had no CPU in it, just a basic USB to serial converter chip, surrounded by analog interface circuitry. Essentially, it is an "update" of a now-obsolete product which required a legacy serial port. Since less computers are being made with them, changing the product to a USB-based format is a win-win. It also eliminated the need for a "wall wart" to power it, since it can now be powered by the USB.
The place I worked for was very much analog. My former boss worked for CBS Labs, and was absolutely amazing. He could design almost anything using op amps! I assisted with the design of a number of nice little products.
That company I worked for was bought by another that specialized exclusively in CPU-based devices. Gobbling-up a product line that is 99% analog has proven to be quite the paradigm shift for them, so I have been consulting and providing tech support to their staff for a while, now. I like them, they are good people, and are good at what they do. I am learning from them even as they are learning from me.:)
Sure, you CAN use a CPU, but why, when a basic analog device will do the same job? CPU's can crash. Code can have bugs that crop up. CPU's tend to generate radio frequency noise, and can be susceptible to nearby radio transmitters. (This happens to be an important factor with many of this company's analog products.)
Barring physical component failure, an R/C time constant just works. Every time. Use analog for what it is best at. Why not use CPU's for what they are best at: Computation, decision-making, and automation? Marry the two when needed.
We had a product that used a PIC and analog together very nicely. An elegant little device. It was designed before my time there, but I helped to redesign and improve the analog circuitry quite significantly. That redesign has already proven itself in a drastic reduction in the number of returned products. Can't argue with success!:)
It *is* a reiteration, because in my original post, I said, "Their solution was to throw a microcontroller into the product."
This implies the following:
1) This product does NOT already have one. 2) It was being inserted for no other purpose than a.5 sec delay.
I think you missed that.
It is pure assumption on your part, to say that I am spouting some kind of "dogma". What "dogma", pray-tell? That using a common, inexpensive, very reliable, simple device is better than a highly sophisticated (comparatively speaking) microcontroller?
The 555 is a mature technology, with very well-known characteristics. It is also very stable. This product is intended to be used in an RF-rich environment. The MCU generates, and could be susceptible to, RF energy. This could be a problem.
There also could be occasional noise on the power supply feeding the product. This would only cause the 555 to recycle, thus reinitializing the product, but an MCU could lock up. If MCU were to lock up, that would force the user to power-cycle it. The 555 wins for these reasons. Nothing "dogmatic" about that. It's common sense.
You've formed a very negative opinion of me, my experience, and my integrity, based upon very little information. I hope this additional information has clarified why I said what I said. In all honesty, I didn't think it would have been necessary to go into such detail. Maybe next time, I should just post their schematic... no, I think not.
Slashdot Mirror
It's an intriguing idea, but unless I was looking for a job where I'd be restoring files from "ancient" archives, it wouldn't be all that relevant. Unless the Interviewer was a geek (most of them are NOT) it would be a waste of space.
If anyone's curious, the setup I used to do this is pictured here:
http://www.mymorninglight.org.nyud.net/C64/index.htm
It's still set up, and still works. I haven't tinkered with it in a while, but last time I powered it up (2 months ago) it was working.
They had to let 1/2 the staff go, to survive. Since I had been there for 20 years, I was making a lot more than many. I hold no bitterness toward any of them. They are good people, and I am glad that the station remains on the air to this day!
BTW, on the Commodore 64 topic, this is what I have for my C64:
http://www.mymorninglight.org.nyud.net/C64/index.htm
Good grief. Sure, it's outdated, but the Commie 64 was more than just another computer. It was a hobby. It was a pastime. It was a learning tool. It was an EXPERIENCE. If you had the ability and knowledge, you could add new features and functionality to the machine by cutting traces and soldering wires to the leads on chips, to your extension circuitry. I added all kinds of extras to mine, including a BASIC extension, MicroMon Assembler, a cartridge "bypass" switch, etc. Can't do those kinds of things with modern PC's.
My first word processor was "Speedscript". I typed it in from COMPUTE! Magazine over several days. That program did, in six kilobytes, what WORD was doing in hundreds, back in the early 90's! I used it more than any other software on that Ol' 64!
Now, want to talk about emulators? How about this one:
http://www.mymorninglight.org.nyud.net/C64/J64.htm
Now THAT is a COOL C= 64 emulator, if I do say so myself! :)
Yeah, it is wasteful... but depending upon what was on those drives, it's the only SURE way to prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. As long as the shreds are being recycled, that's a good thing. :)
Dude, you deserve a lot more than a pat on the back! Kudos, man. Seriously. There is SO MUCH MORE to this life than the accumulation of goods. (How stinking SHALLOW that is!) You're making investments into the lives of others, and it is already paying HUGE dividends!
What if it's YOUR NEPHEW that discovers a cure for cancer? It could be!
Kudos, man. Bigtime. :)
My wife and I never had kids, but we have poured love into our nieces and nephews, so I can relate to that. :)
As for GTA, no, I'm not a gamer. I get the idea, tho. ;)
I pray that your business prospers, not so much for the gain, but for the lives you are already touching through it. Way to go!!
First, I seriously doubt that the Almighty would damn the thing.
Second, you would only destroy a PORTION of the data. With the gear that the FBI has, they could still reconstruct significant portions of it from the undamaged parts of the disk... if they had a reason to do so.
Everything but sales and administrative.
Chief Engineer. IT guy. Morning announcer. Production director. Music Director. That's why I loved that job!
Here is what I hope to achieve, next:
http://www.wphafm.org/
I discovered (much to my dismay) that my C= disks were actually disintegrating within the drive! They'd read fine for a little while, then they stopped... (I did this with only 2 disks, one unimportant one, and an important one) When I popped it out to look at it, I saw that the head was slowing rubbing away the magnetic coating! The longer the head stayed on one track with the drive spinning, the worse it got.
Well, if you remember how the C= disks were set up, the directory was in track 18. Of course, that track got pasted in short order. Fortunately for me, I had made two copies of that important disk, so I had another!
I used HDD64 to create a D64 image of the other... it moved the head fast enough, that it could dump all of the data to the PC in one pass, leaving the floppy still usable. Now that I had the data on the PC, backing it up in multiple places was easy.
I also have an AMD 40Meg HD unit, but the HD inside is dying. I don't know if it will even spin-up for much longer! (It seems to be slow starting, now.) It's an OLD SCSI drive, so I can't just connect it to the PC and pull the files out. It will have to be done with the X1541 cable, a directory at a time, I think. Slow as molasses. I don't know if the drive will survive the process, so I saved as many files as I could, the last time I had it powered up. I don't know what will happen next, each time I try to power it up, it struggles. I don't know which will be the last time!
WFIF radio.
http://www.wfif.net/
Because I was in the same job (that I LOVED) for 20 years. The economy forced them to downsize, and that was it.
Any chance of taking over that now-closed building? You can get your business up and running, and laugh all the way to the bank... preferably in your x-boss's FACE! What a jerk!
I'm glad you were able to help those people, and also am glad you're continuing to do so! The Lord said, "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." You did good work, and people recognized that. They responded by sending others your way, and word-of-mouth spread.
I look forward to hearing how things go for you in the future! Take over that building, and GROW from there! :)
You did the RIGHT thing, and were rewarded accordingly! That is a very heartwarming story, and is in stark contrast to a story told me by a friend: He used to work as a manager in a local Radio Shack. A customer had come in, with a cordless phone that was broken. It was no longer in stock, but my friend found another, similar unit. Knowing this customer to be a local businessman, he just wrote it up as a "Promo" and gave the man the $19 (retail) phone for free. The man was very appreciative. Within days, he came back and ordered many hundreds of dollars worth of 2-way radio equipment for his business, as well as several new phones, etc.
In spite of the fact that this customer soon returned, and spent a significant amount of money, my friend's boss (District Manager) actually chewed him out for "giving away" that $19 phone! (Which only cost the company about $9!) The profit they made on the subsequent sale was irrelevant to this dolt, who insisted that my friend no longer "give away" merchandise.
My friend deserved accolades. Instead, he got his butt chewed. Needless to say, he quit soon after... QUITE disgusted.
Is it any wonder the people working in most Radio Shack stores are so clueless? Upper Management doesn't have a clue, and apparently doesn't want people smarter then they are working in their stores. Sad.
"You have questions, we have dolts."
The most effective way to destroy data, is to physically destroy the media it's stored on. Running the drive through a fine grinding machine or melting it down completely, are two very secure methods.
The last time I needed my resume' was in the mid 1980's. Therefore, it was stored on a 5 1/4 floppy for my Commodore 64, in "Speedscript" format. After getting the Speedscript word processor loaded into the C64, I saved it as "ASCII" in a SEQ file. Then I booted "HDD64" on an old P200 PC, and connected the 1541 drive to it, thru an "X1541" cable. Once saved to the PC's HD, I booted Windows 98. Once done, I brought it across the LAN into my WIN2000 box, and then re-worked it in MS Word 2000. That is the format it remains in until WORD becomes obsolete! ;)
I had typed Speedscript in, byte-by-byte, from a COMPUTE! Magazine article, years before. For a 6K (yes, six kilobytes) program, it did an absolutely outstanding job! I used that program more than any other on my C64 for years.
In case the server gets Slashdotted, here's the Coral link:
http://www.pjonline.com.nyud.net/christmas/pj2010_723
Interesting article.
Exactly my point. :) If they were smart, they'd rewrite their equipment control software to run on good Ol' Commie 64's, with the code stored in ROMs. Someone, somewhere, may have already figured this out, and runs all kinds of super-secret, mission-critical stuff that way!
Of course, I could be wrong. ;)
Could the Commodore 64 possibly be immune? ;)
I am familiar with FTDI, as my former employer used their chips in several products. Nice little devices, to be sure.
They wanted to expand their horizons. The company they bought was already successful and doing a good business, so this acquisition also will add to their bottom line.
Now they are developing new products, which are "marrying" the two technologies. I am pleased by what I have seen and have been involved with, thus far.
This particular product I mentioned earlier had no CPU in it, just a basic USB to serial converter chip, surrounded by analog interface circuitry. Essentially, it is an "update" of a now-obsolete product which required a legacy serial port. Since less computers are being made with them, changing the product to a USB-based format is a win-win. It also eliminated the need for a "wall wart" to power it, since it can now be powered by the USB.
That's fine... but it is still a source of RF, and could still be susceptible to the effects of external RF.
I don't know too many IC's that "like" having their power ramped up slowly, thus the 555 ckt.
That sounds a lot like the "Thunderbolt" article I read in the magazine. Nice job!
The place I worked for was very much analog. My former boss worked for CBS Labs, and was absolutely amazing. He could design almost anything using op amps! I assisted with the design of a number of nice little products.
That company I worked for was bought by another that specialized exclusively in CPU-based devices. Gobbling-up a product line that is 99% analog has proven to be quite the paradigm shift for them, so I have been consulting and providing tech support to their staff for a while, now. I like them, they are good people, and are good at what they do. I am learning from them even as they are learning from me. :)
Sure, you CAN use a CPU, but why, when a basic analog device will do the same job? CPU's can crash. Code can have bugs that crop up. CPU's tend to generate radio frequency noise, and can be susceptible to nearby radio transmitters. (This happens to be an important factor with many of this company's analog products.)
Barring physical component failure, an R/C time constant just works. Every time. Use analog for what it is best at. Why not use CPU's for what they are best at: Computation, decision-making, and automation? Marry the two when needed.
We had a product that used a PIC and analog together very nicely. An elegant little device. It was designed before my time there, but I helped to redesign and improve the analog circuitry quite significantly. That redesign has already proven itself in a drastic reduction in the number of returned products. Can't argue with success! :)
It *is* a reiteration, because in my original post, I said, "Their solution was to throw a microcontroller into the product."
This implies the following:
1) This product does NOT already have one. .5 sec delay.
2) It was being inserted for no other purpose than a
I think you missed that.
It is pure assumption on your part, to say that I am spouting some kind of "dogma". What "dogma", pray-tell? That using a common, inexpensive, very reliable, simple device is better than a highly sophisticated (comparatively speaking) microcontroller?
The 555 is a mature technology, with very well-known characteristics. It is also very stable. This product is intended to be used in an RF-rich environment. The MCU generates, and could be susceptible to, RF energy. This could be a problem.
There also could be occasional noise on the power supply feeding the product. This would only cause the 555 to recycle, thus reinitializing the product, but an MCU could lock up. If MCU were to lock up, that would force the user to power-cycle it. The 555 wins for these reasons. Nothing "dogmatic" about that. It's common sense.
You've formed a very negative opinion of me, my experience, and my integrity, based upon very little information. I hope this additional information has clarified why I said what I said. In all honesty, I didn't think it would have been necessary to go into such detail. Maybe next time, I should just post their schematic... no, I think not.