Flaw in T. Phillips "Digital is not photography" argument

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
k.net...
"jjs" wrote in message

"Odd freeware" and PDP/11 don't go together.

Surprisingly enough, I think they do. For college kids in
the late 60's early 70's this used to be their 'personal'
computer (as in being in the computer center from 2am to 6am)
- so you can imagine what got written for it.

I was suggesting that it was unlikely that it was freeware if it was used by
a faculty member for her dissertation. Could be, but more likely it was
DEC's first word processor, the DECMate (PDP/8, a 12-bit OS). I know that a
lot of student-ware was written for the PDP/11, and for the time period you
mention, it was likely written in DEC BASIC. Omsi Pascal didn't come out
until about '77 and it was still buggy. Their only other alternative was
lower-level languages, and not many made good lower-level programs. Can you
tell I was there?

How much is the person willing to pay for a conversion,

You would need to find an 11 user with a copy of said WP program
and 8" drives. Such may not exist.

I said there's a DEC VAX 11/780 (maybe 11/785) out there. With the exchange
program (which read/writes PDP/11 formats) it can be done.

My guess the cost is zilch. Or if you go to someone who makes
a living at it, well who knows ...

The person I'm speaking of won't do squat for squat because it takes more
electricity to run those machines that it's worth and the demand for
programmers for obsolete hardware is about gone.

If the data can be moved to PC format it may be possible to
pull the text out of the files with a binary editor.

No kidding.

Now, what sort of 8" floppy: Single sided; Double sided;
Hard sectored; Soft sectored; Number of sectors; Tracks per
inch ...?

Not an issue. Open the media as a non-file structured device and go for it.
We had _lots_ of tools to discover formats.

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
k.net...
"jjs" wrote in message

"Odd freeware" and PDP/11 don't go together.

Surprisingly enough, I think they do. For college kids in
the late 60's early 70's this used to be their 'personal'
computer (as in being in the computer center from 2am to 6am)
- so you can imagine what got written for it.

I was suggesting that it was unlikely that it was freeware if it was used by
a faculty member for her dissertation. Could be, but more likely it was
DEC's first word processor, the DECMate (PDP/8, a 12-bit OS). I know that a
lot of student-ware was written for the PDP/11, and for the time period you
mention, it was likely written in DEC BASIC. Omsi Pascal didn't come out
until about '77 and it was still buggy. Their only other alternative was
lower-level languages, and not many made good lower-level programs. Can you
tell I was there?

How much is the person willing to pay for a conversion,

You would need to find an 11 user with a copy of said WP program
and 8" drives. Such may not exist.

I said there's a DEC VAX 11/780 (maybe 11/785) out there. With the exchange
program (which read/writes PDP/11 formats) it can be done.

My guess the cost is zilch. Or if you go to someone who makes
a living at it, well who knows ...

The person I'm speaking of won't do squat for squat because it takes more
electricity to run those machines that it's worth and the demand for
programmers for obsolete hardware is about gone.

If the data can be moved to PC format it may be possible to
pull the text out of the files with a binary editor.

No kidding.

Now, what sort of 8" floppy: Single sided; Double sided;
Hard sectored; Soft sectored; Number of sectors; Tracks per
inch ...?

Not an issue. Open the media as a non-file structured device and go for it.
We had _lots_ of tools to discover formats.

"Tom Phillips" wrote in message
...
No need. English was my major (along with photography) in college.

Ah kuld tell cause yer talking is so gud.

And tomatoes are a fruit and most people know that.

And poisonous!

I'd suggest we see what people think about the semantical differences
between a known troll and someone who just behaves like a troll...

How much is it to get over this bridge, anyway?

"Tom Phillips" wrote in message
...
No need. English was my major (along with photography) in college.

Ah kuld tell cause yer talking is so gud.

And tomatoes are a fruit and most people know that.

And poisonous!

I'd suggest we see what people think about the semantical differences
between a known troll and someone who just behaves like a troll...

How much is it to get over this bridge, anyway?

"Tom Phillips" wrote in message
...
No need. English was my major (along with photography) in college.

Ah kuld tell cause yer talking is so gud.

And tomatoes are a fruit and most people know that.

And poisonous!

I'd suggest we see what people think about the semantical differences
between a known troll and someone who just behaves like a troll...

How much is it to get over this bridge, anyway?

"Tom Phillips" wrote in message
...
No need. English was my major (along with photography) in college.

Ah kuld tell cause yer talking is so gud.

And tomatoes are a fruit and most people know that.

And poisonous!

I'd suggest we see what people think about the semantical differences
between a known troll and someone who just behaves like a troll...

How much is it to get over this bridge, anyway?

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Tom Phillips" wrote in message

Your argument is absolutely meaningless to any photographer living or
dead.
And I have a masters in English, so that trumps your "major".

Ah, but do you have a degree in philosophy? How am I doing? English is my
second language.

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Tom Phillips" wrote in message

Your argument is absolutely meaningless to any photographer living or
dead.
And I have a masters in English, so that trumps your "major".

Ah, but do you have a degree in philosophy? How am I doing? English is my
second language.

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Tom Phillips" wrote in message

Your argument is absolutely meaningless to any photographer living or
dead.
And I have a masters in English, so that trumps your "major".

Ah, but do you have a degree in philosophy? How am I doing? English is my
second language.

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Tom Phillips" wrote in message

Your argument is absolutely meaningless to any photographer living or
dead.
And I have a masters in English, so that trumps your "major".

Ah, but do you have a degree in philosophy? How am I doing? English is my
second language.