Discussion:
Convergent Technology Workstations and "Rats game"??
(too old to reply)
c***@gmail.com
2016-12-12 04:47:08 UTC
Permalink
Let's see, a bit of thread necromancy here, 13 years later. We were developing translation tools in 1983 and for a while we had the CT terminals as part of our lineup. Rats was so addictive; I hacked into the image files and replaced the big rats with little ones, and the little rats with pixels. It made the game so much more challenging. I discovered that if you navigated yourself to a zone opposite a rat factory but with a wall between you, the rats would still sense you and shoot like crazy, invariably blowing up the factory in the process.
d***@gmail.com
2017-11-26 06:17:40 UTC
Permalink
Waay back around 1982, I had the rare privilidge to buy one of the
pre-peroduction prototypes of the not too famous Convergent Technology
workstation. It was a OEM product, resold under various brands, maybe
Burroughs, NCR, and Univac? Not sure.
Anyway, at the time it was a STEAL, I got a 8086 CPU, a 14megabyte hard
disk, 256K bytes of RAM, a green-screen hi-res (for the time) monitor, and a
fancy keyboard. (No mouse), (no graphics, eacept downloadable character
font graphics). No case, just open chassis, open monitor, three uncased
power supplies, all screwed onto a sheet of plywood.
It was a STEAL for only $3000.
It had a very advanced operating system for the age. While PC's barely had
PCDOS, this OS had a non-modal screen editor, long file names, a form-based
command processor, a fuss-free local area network and file-sharing,
spreadsheet, good word processor, FORTRAN, BASIC and Pascal compilers
(shoddy Msoft ones). Text windows.,
an awesome assembler, system source code, custom build system options, and
more that I've forgotten.
In My Humble Opinion, a HECK of a lot better computer than the IBM PC.
But as we know the PC won out.
And oh yes, an addictive and fun "rats maze" game that I played for hours
and hours. Pretty good graphics considering it was all character-font
based.
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Drool.... drool...
( Eventually after a few years the custom hard disk controller died and I
tossed the whole shebang in the dumpster. Sad, but that seemed like the
only option at the time.)
Regards,
George
I remember the game fondly as well. I worked as a district admin in the Atlanta Regional office and spent many hours after work and during lunch hour playing the game. Would love to get a copy to play now.

If you do find a copy / version that would play I would be ecstatic...

Dave
Gene Wirchenko
2017-11-26 18:00:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by d***@gmail.com
Waay back around 1982, I had the rare privilidge to buy one of the
pre-peroduction prototypes of the not too famous Convergent Technology
workstation. It was a OEM product, resold under various brands, maybe
Burroughs, NCR, and Univac? Not sure.
Anyway, at the time it was a STEAL, I got a 8086 CPU, a 14megabyte hard
disk, 256K bytes of RAM, a green-screen hi-res (for the time) monitor, and a
fancy keyboard. (No mouse), (no graphics, eacept downloadable character
font graphics). No case, just open chassis, open monitor, three uncased
power supplies, all screwed onto a sheet of plywood.
It was a STEAL for only $3000.
It had a very advanced operating system for the age. While PC's barely had
PCDOS, this OS had a non-modal screen editor, long file names, a form-based
command processor, a fuss-free local area network and file-sharing,
spreadsheet, good word processor, FORTRAN, BASIC and Pascal compilers
(shoddy Msoft ones). Text windows.,
an awesome assembler, system source code, custom build system options, and
more that I've forgotten.
In My Humble Opinion, a HECK of a lot better computer than the IBM PC.
But as we know the PC won out.
And oh yes, an addictive and fun "rats maze" game that I played for hours
and hours. Pretty good graphics considering it was all character-font
based.
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Drool.... drool...
( Eventually after a few years the custom hard disk controller died and I
tossed the whole shebang in the dumpster. Sad, but that seemed like the
only option at the time.)
I remember the game fondly as well. I worked as a district admin in the Atlanta Regional office and spent many hours after work and during lunch hour playing the game. Would love to get a copy to play now.
If you do find a copy / version that would play I would be ecstatic...
Rats was great. I remember staying late and nearly late for an
accounting class, but I finally won a game. Then, I got really good.

Novell's rats game (nlsnipes) was nowhere near as good, but I do
have it. I just tried to run it under DOSBox, but it wants share. I
have had it running before; I do not remember what I did.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko
d***@gmail.com
2018-07-21 04:55:12 UTC
Permalink
Just following up to a comment, a mere 15 years later — I thought that Rats was a simple, but wonderful, game, and I spent many hours at it. Even now, I'm sorry that it's not in the Play Store.
c***@gmail.com
2020-05-18 08:57:26 UTC
Permalink
Ahhh Rats! One of the first video I played as kids ... on CTOS while dad compiling program during weekend.
I would love to find the source or binary in some sort.

Thx for pointing to dos/snipes, I would not have figured it out without this post.
c***@gmail.com
2020-05-18 15:25:48 UTC
Permalink
Waay back around 1982, I had the rare privilidge to buy one of the
pre-peroduction prototypes of the not too famous Convergent Technology
workstation. It was a OEM product, resold under various brands, maybe
Burroughs, NCR, and Univac? Not sure.
Anyway, at the time it was a STEAL, I got a 8086 CPU, a 14megabyte hard
disk, 256K bytes of RAM, a green-screen hi-res (for the time) monitor, and a
fancy keyboard. (No mouse), (no graphics, eacept downloadable character
font graphics). No case, just open chassis, open monitor, three uncased
power supplies, all screwed onto a sheet of plywood.
It was a STEAL for only $3000.
It had a very advanced operating system for the age. While PC's barely had
PCDOS, this OS had a non-modal screen editor, long file names, a form-based
command processor, a fuss-free local area network and file-sharing,
spreadsheet, good word processor, FORTRAN, BASIC and Pascal compilers
(shoddy Msoft ones). Text windows.,
an awesome assembler, system source code, custom build system options, and
more that I've forgotten.
In My Humble Opinion, a HECK of a lot better computer than the IBM PC.
But as we know the PC won out.
And oh yes, an addictive and fun "rats maze" game that I played for hours
and hours. Pretty good graphics considering it was all character-font
based.
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Drool.... drool...
( Eventually after a few years the custom hard disk controller died and I
tossed the whole shebang in the dumpster. Sad, but that seemed like the
only option at the time.)
Regards,
George
Has anyone a good screenshot/picture? I would like to mimic the look&feel in snipes.
https://github.com/Davidebyzero/Snipes
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49073
c***@gmail.com
2020-05-19 16:35:57 UTC
Permalink
I do not know if this is one of you but found some rare screenshot here
https://flic.kr/p/5XkxY2
https://flic.kr/p/5XpR25
https://flic.kr/p/5XkvD6
https://flic.kr/p/5XpF1L
s***@gmail.com
2020-05-25 00:49:00 UTC
Permalink
I loved the Generic Print System! I developed and successfully sold a sysyem I called "Print Master" that used it. It's primary function was being able to print 132 column mainframe output landscape on A4 laser printer paper. What fun! Those were the days!
Peter Flass
2020-05-25 17:55:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by s***@gmail.com
I loved the Generic Print System! I developed and successfully sold a
sysyem I called "Print Master" that used it. It's primary function was
being able to print 132 column mainframe output landscape on A4 laser
printer paper. What fun! Those were the days!
Sounds interesting.
--
Pete
Dan Espen
2020-05-25 19:11:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by s***@gmail.com
I loved the Generic Print System! I developed and successfully sold a
sysyem I called "Print Master" that used it. It's primary function
was being able to print 132 column mainframe output landscape on A4
laser printer paper. What fun! Those were the days!
Where I worked we did 4 up on US Letter.
No special software was required although I did create an ISPF panel
to take the JCL coding out of the users hands.

The 4 up printing was surprisingly readable on the Xerox 9700 and
all of IBM's PSF printers (3811, 3820).
--
Dan Espen
Gerard Schildberger
2020-05-25 21:18:13 UTC
Permalink
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)


Attributed to Lily Tomlin and/or Robert Reisner:


“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”

________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
c***@gmail.com
2020-06-06 15:41:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
hi,

do you remember if what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)?

I try to write my own version of the game ...
c***@gmail.com
2020-06-06 15:41:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
hi,

do you remember what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)?

I try to write my own version of the game ...
George T Peppel
2023-05-03 11:12:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by c***@gmail.com
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
hi,
do you remember what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)?
I try to write my own version of the game ...
We called them "anklebiters" at Burroughs. I do remember they were fast but I am forgetting their full behavior.
Carlos E.R.
2023-05-03 11:43:15 UTC
Permalink
Didn't you notice that you are replying to a thread from two decades ago?
Post by George T Peppel
Post by c***@gmail.com
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
hi,
do you remember what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)?
I try to write my own version of the game ...
We called them "anklebiters" at Burroughs. I do remember they were fast but I am forgetting their full behavior.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
Jan van den Broek
2023-05-03 14:08:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by Carlos E.R.
Didn't you notice that you are replying to a thread from two decades ago?
In my opinion the error is Googlegroups allowing this.

[Schnipp]
--
"There's an eyeball in my Martini"

Jan v/d Broek ***@sdf.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf.org
Kerr-Mudd, John
2023-05-03 16:26:00 UTC
Permalink
On Wed, 3 May 2023 14:08:18 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Jan van den Broek
Post by Carlos E.R.
Didn't you notice that you are replying to a thread from two decades ago?
In my opinion the error is Googlegroups allowing this.
[Schnipp]
But I'd welcome a rewrite of the game to.. well for me. MSDOS. I might
tackle it myself, if had more of a spec.

Ah
https://convergentaws.blogspot.com/2022/02/finding-and-implementing-rats-of-maze.html
has a lot of info. Maybe later.
--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.
Peter Flass
2023-05-03 20:34:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan van den Broek
Post by Carlos E.R.
Didn't you notice that you are replying to a thread from two decades ago?
In my opinion the error is Googlegroups allowing this.
[Schnipp]
Right, or at least it should give a warning “the message you’re replying to
is more than xxx days old, do you want to continue.” Google should hire us
old-timers to fix their code.
--
Pete
Charlie Gibbs
2023-05-03 21:35:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Jan van den Broek
Post by Carlos E.R.
Didn't you notice that you are replying to a thread from two decades ago?
In my opinion the error is Googlegroups allowing this.
[Schnipp]
Right, or at least it should give a warning “the message you’re replying to
is more than xxx days old, do you want to continue.” Google should hire us
old-timers to fix their code.
Or not. Considering how far Google has insinuated its tentacles into
our lives, the last thing I'd want to do is help them in any way.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | You can't save the earth
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | unless you're willing to
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | make other people sacrifice.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Dogbert the green consultant
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2023-05-04 04:51:55 UTC
Permalink
On Wed, 3 May 2023 13:34:38 -0700
Google should hire us old-timers to fix their code.
Google (also Amazon and Meta) have been pinging me about working for
them on and off for the last decade, apparently I'm talent they'd like to
acquire. I haven't been desperate enough yet.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
Nicholas D. Richards
2023-05-04 06:39:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Wed, 3 May 2023 13:34:38 -0700
Google should hire us old-timers to fix their code.
Google (also Amazon and Meta) have been pinging me about working for
them on and off for the last decade, apparently I'm talent they'd like to
acquire. I haven't been desperate enough yet.
Or you are dealing with people with evil intentions.....

as you were.
--
***@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"
Vir Campestris
2023-05-11 16:43:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Right, or at least it should give a warning “the message you’re replying to
is more than xxx days old, do you want to continue.” Google should hire us
old-timers to fix their code.
I had a perfectly good job. I stopped when I decided I had enough money
to do the things I wanted, but might not have enough time.

I imagine that's true of a lot of people.

Andy
greymaus
2023-05-11 17:27:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by Vir Campestris
Post by Peter Flass
Right, or at least it should give a warning “the message you’re replying to
is more than xxx days old, do you want to continue.” Google should hire us
old-timers to fix their code.
I had a perfectly good job. I stopped when I decided I had enough money
to do the things I wanted, but might not have enough time.
I imagine that's true of a lot of people.
Andy
A bit of a story from many, many years ago.

The machine was not working, so a learned man came from afar,
contemplated it for a while, then turned a screw, the machine started,
and the learned man presented his bill

"How can you justify charging so much for turning a screw?."#

"I knew which screw to turn."

Then there was the hospitals where someone noticed that patients died
between 6 and 7. The cleaners would plug out things to plug in vacuum
cleaners.

equally old
--
***@mail.com
Where is our money gone, dude?
Mike Spencer
2023-05-11 18:09:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by greymaus
A bit of a story from many, many years ago.
The machine was not working, so a learned man came from afar,
contemplated it for a while, then turned a screw, the machine started,
and the learned man presented his bill
"How can you justify charging so much for turning a screw?."
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."


In the more grease-stained trades,

s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/

and so on.
Post by greymaus
"I knew which screw to turn."
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2023-05-11 19:57:36 UTC
Permalink
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and hitting
with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
Johnny Billquist
2023-05-12 10:13:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and hitting
with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.

Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.

Johnny
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2023-05-12 11:50:51 UTC
Permalink
On Fri, 12 May 2023 12:13:05 +0200
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the
bill and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out
and hitting with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
I'm pretty sure it was ancient when I heard it circa 1980.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
greymaus
2023-05-12 14:31:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and hitting
with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.
Johnny
This is alt.FOLKLORE.computers. just a thought from olden time that
came to me .
--
***@mail.com
Where is our money gone, dude?
Sn!pe
2023-05-12 17:25:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by greymaus
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and
hitting with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.
Johnny
This is alt.FOLKLORE.computers. just a thought from olden time that
came to me .
Percussive maintenance was certainly a thing in 1969.
--
^Ï^. – Sn!pe – My pet rock Gordon just is.


Charlie Gibbs
2023-05-12 20:47:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Sn!pe
Post by greymaus
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and
hitting with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.
This is alt.FOLKLORE.computers. just a thought from olden time that
came to me .
Percussive maintenance was certainly a thing in 1969.
I've heard it referred to as a "broad-spectrum seismic impulse".
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | You can't save the earth
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | unless you're willing to
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | make other people sacrifice.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Dogbert the green consultant
Peter Flass
2023-05-12 21:39:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Sn!pe
Post by greymaus
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and
hitting with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.
Johnny
This is alt.FOLKLORE.computers. just a thought from olden time that
came to me .
Percussive maintenance was certainly a thing in 1969.
The six-inch-drop was a way to fix terminals and PCs au aulden days.
--
Pete
Charlie Gibbs
2023-05-12 23:29:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Sn!pe
Post by greymaus
Post by Johnny Billquist
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On 11 May 2023 15:09:46 -0300
Post by Mike Spencer
The bill presented is for $101.00. The defence is, "One dollar for
turning the screw; $100 for knowing which screw to turn."
In the more grease-stained trades,
s/turned a screw/whacked it with a hammer/
That was the version I first heard - with an extra zero in the bill
and without the 1 at the end - the figures were $50 for call out and
hitting with hammer, $950 for knowing where to hit.
It's an old story that have been around in multiple variants for a long
time.
Just google for "where to tap", and you'll find a bunch.
This is alt.FOLKLORE.computers. just a thought from olden time that
came to me .
Percussive maintenance was certainly a thing in 1969.
The six-inch-drop was a way to fix terminals and PCs au aulden days.
The contacts on the circuit boards in our mainframe terminals
(Uniscope 200) weren't gold-plated, and would often corrode.
A quick once-over with a pencil eraser usually fixed things.
(You'd have to be careful doing a six-inch drop - they weighed
50 pounds.)
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | You can't save the earth
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | unless you're willing to
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | make other people sacrifice.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Dogbert the green consultant
Mike Spencer
2023-05-13 00:09:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by Sn!pe
Percussive maintenance was certainly a thing in 1969.
I had an IBM 19" CRT that, circa 2010, responded to percussive
maintenance. Eventually I took it apart and firmly attached the loose
item. No more percussion until last month when I retired it.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
Joe Makowiec
2023-05-12 20:46:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by greymaus
Post by Vir Campestris
Right, or at least it should give a warning “the message
you’re replying to is more than xxx days old, do you want to
continue.” Google should hire us old-timers to fix their code.
I had a perfectly good job. I stopped when I decided I had enough
money to do the things I wanted, but might not have enough time.
I imagine that's true of a lot of people.
Andy
A bit of a story from many, many years ago.
...
Post by greymaus
"How can you justify charging so much for turning a screw?."#
"I knew which screw to turn."
I've heard a version of the story attributed to Charles Proteus
Steinmetz. He had gone his own way, perhaps nudged a bit in that
direction by General Electric. But nobody understood his material* as
he did, so he got called back in. They gave him the specs and plans
for the device they were having trouble with. He returned home and
contemplated the problem for a couple of days, came back, grabbed a
piece of chalk, marked the device, dropped a bill for ${large number}
on the table and left.

A few days later, comes a missive from GE - they want an /itemized/
bill. (Bean counters are always with us.) So Steinmetz sent the bill:
- $100 placing chalk mark on device
- ${large number} - $100 knowing where to put the chalk mark

GE, at least according to this story, paid.

* High voltage electricity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Proteus_Steinmetz

Ah, not quite. Footnote 13 of that article refers to this article:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022

Apparently, the victim was Henry Ford, not GE.
--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe
Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/
Niklas Karlsson
2023-05-14 05:33:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by greymaus
Then there was the hospitals where someone noticed that patients died
between 6 and 7. The cleaners would plug out things to plug in vacuum
cleaners.
Twenty years or so ago when I was doing hardware support, I had a
customer whose network switch was ceasing to function at roughly the
same time every night, then would come back to life in the morning. I
strongly suspected it was a case of a cleaner unplugging it, but in the
end, it turned out to be a case of the light switch being wired to the
outlet the switch fed from. Apparently this is not uncommon in US homes,
and his office was in a converted home.

Niklas
--
"BASH! THUD! POW! OCTOTHORPE!"
-- SteveD
Charlie Gibbs
2023-05-14 17:31:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by greymaus
Then there was the hospitals where someone noticed that patients died
between 6 and 7. The cleaners would plug out things to plug in vacuum
cleaners.
Twenty years or so ago when I was doing hardware support, I had a
customer whose network switch was ceasing to function at roughly the
same time every night, then would come back to life in the morning. I
strongly suspected it was a case of a cleaner unplugging it, but in the
end, it turned out to be a case of the light switch being wired to the
outlet the switch fed from. Apparently this is not uncommon in US homes,
and his office was in a converted home.
One of the favourite stories I remember from this froup is about a
system that would go down overnight. When the staff came in in the
morning, they would find one or more disk drives offline. Hardware
testing revealed no problems that would make a drive spontaneously
go offline. Finally someone set up a cot in the machine room and
stayed overnight. In the middle of the night he saw a janitor come
in to clean the machine room. The janitor would push his cart between
the two rows of disk drives, and would occasionally bump into one,
sometimes hitting the "offline" button.

The solution was not, as one would initially think, to move the
disk drive rows farther part. Rather, they moved them closer
together so the janitor couldn't get his cart between them at all.
Problem solved.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | You can't save the earth
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | unless you're willing to
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | make other people sacrifice.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Dogbert the green consultant
c***@gmail.com
2020-06-06 15:44:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
Hi
do you know what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)? I try to re-write my own version of the game ...
Peter Flass
2020-06-06 18:10:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by c***@gmail.com
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
Hi
do you know what was the behavior difference between the rat and the
small one (bug?)? I try to re-write my own version of the game ...
Cyril, probably asking once would be enough. ;-)
--
Pete
c***@gmail.com
2020-06-06 18:24:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by c***@gmail.com
Post by Gerard Schildberger
[CT rats game]
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Yes, no.
(Regarding the Rat's game ...)
“The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win,
you're still a rat.”
________________________________________ Gerard Schildbergr
Hi
do you know what was the behavior difference between the rat and the
small one (bug?)? I try to re-write my own version of the game ...
Cyril, probably asking once would be enough. ;-)
--
Pete
Yep indeed ... still fighting with google groups :D
c***@gmail.com
2020-06-06 15:45:08 UTC
Permalink
Waay back around 1982, I had the rare privilidge to buy one of the
pre-peroduction prototypes of the not too famous Convergent Technology
workstation. It was a OEM product, resold under various brands, maybe
Burroughs, NCR, and Univac? Not sure.
Anyway, at the time it was a STEAL, I got a 8086 CPU, a 14megabyte hard
disk, 256K bytes of RAM, a green-screen hi-res (for the time) monitor, and a
fancy keyboard. (No mouse), (no graphics, eacept downloadable character
font graphics). No case, just open chassis, open monitor, three uncased
power supplies, all screwed onto a sheet of plywood.
It was a STEAL for only $3000.
It had a very advanced operating system for the age. While PC's barely had
PCDOS, this OS had a non-modal screen editor, long file names, a form-based
command processor, a fuss-free local area network and file-sharing,
spreadsheet, good word processor, FORTRAN, BASIC and Pascal compilers
(shoddy Msoft ones). Text windows.,
an awesome assembler, system source code, custom build system options, and
more that I've forgotten.
In My Humble Opinion, a HECK of a lot better computer than the IBM PC.
But as we know the PC won out.
And oh yes, an addictive and fun "rats maze" game that I played for hours
and hours. Pretty good graphics considering it was all character-font
based.
Anybody remember that game? Anybody have the source code to it?
Drool.... drool...
( Eventually after a few years the custom hard disk controller died and I
tossed the whole shebang in the dumpster. Sad, but that seemed like the
only option at the time.)
Regards,
George
Hi
do you know what was the behavior difference between the rat and the small one (bug?)? I try to re-write my own version of the game ...
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