[Info-vax] Y3K for PDP-11 Operating Systems

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <KsmdnY-dhd7k_VzQnZ2dnUVZ_vqdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
	"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
> On 5/4/2011 9:01 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> In article<H9mdnUTgT5LYfF3QnZ2dnUVZ_uOdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
>> 	"Richard B. Gilbert"<rgilbert88 at comcast.net>  writes:
>>> On 5/3/2011 8:07 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>> In article<7d287cc3-4605-49a0-826e-fb92fc14e98d at j28g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
>>>> 	onedbguru<onedbguru at yahoo.com>   writes:
>>>>> On May 3, 2:39 pm, Henry Crun<m... at rechtman.com>   wrote:
>>>>>> On 03/05/11 20:51, Bob Koehler wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     >Bob Koehler wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In article<bdd4fd3d-bb52-43fb-ad9c-746b901f4... at gu8g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>, jjh<jjhu... at gmail.com>     writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> To make sure I understand, y3K =3D 3000, it is 2011 now...um that is 989
>>>>>>>>> years from now...or roughly  12.5 lifetimes....I seriously don't think
>>>>>>>>> that anyone in the year 3000 will want to know anything about DEC hw
>>>>>>>>> or sw.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> You obviously have not read the historical documents.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am curious, I have not read the historical documents.
>>>>>>> Can you please post a link?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As for Y3K for RT-11, since the date is presently managed
>>>>>>> up to 2099 as of V05.07 of RT-11, dates starting in 2100
>>>>>>> become the next problem.  And since adding support only
>>>>>>> for an additional 128 years seems like a complete waste of
>>>>>>> time, then 3000 CE was chosen as the next minimum step.
>>>>>>> In practice, at least an additional 4000 years would probably
>>>>>>> be added, more than enough to handle dates until the rules
>>>>>>> for the CE (Commercial Events, Common Era, Christian Era
>>>>>>> or Gregorian - all are identical and have a 400 year cycle)
>>>>>>> Calendar requires a rule change to handle years which are
>>>>>>> less than the current 365.2418 days.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So Y3K is really just Y2.1K if that makes a difference.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> IIRC there was an article by someone from DEC who promised that RSTS would be
>>>>>> patched to accept five-digit years before the year 9999. However I doubt that
>>>>>> current versions would be supported until then...
>>>>>>
>>>>> question... who cares??? I can almost guarantee that none of us will
>>>>> be here in 2099... and by that time you might be using neural-net
>>>>> technology that will make the PDP look like a TRS80.
>>>>
>>>> Hey, just what xfdo you think was wrong with the TRS80?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Other than primitive hardware and primitive software?  It was a good
>>> machine in its day but its day is LONG GONE!
>>>
>>
>> Now that's funny, here.  Just how is the Z80 more primitve than the PDP-11?
>> And software?  At least 5 different OSes.  Wide language support.  Many
>> commercial applications.
>>
>> And, at this point it is probably debatable which one between the TRS80
>> and PDP-11 has more users on both real hardware and emulators.  I have
>> quite a bit of both.
>>
> 
> I disposed of my "TRASH 80" and replaced it with a used Rainbow 100. 

I always wanted a Rainbow, too, but never had the luck of finding one.

> The lack of a few milligrams of gold plating made the TRASH 80 a 
> nightmare.  Tin oxidizes and did so on critical connectors!
 
Wow, you have gold on all your PDP-11 modules?  Maybe those old
cards are worth more than I thought.  :-)  I have a number of
TRS-80 Model-I's with the Expansion Interface and they all work
quite well. I spent more time cleaning edges connectors on my
daughters Nintendo than on the TRS-80.  And, of course, like the
PDP-11, today it is mostly done with emulators anyway.

bill
 

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>