Pleasant@Rutgers (12/30/82)
HUMAN-NETS Digest Thursday, 30 Dec 1982 Volume 5 : Issue 111
Today's Topics:
Administrivia - Head Crash at Rutgers,
Queries - Computers for the Blind &
MIT Hacker's Glossary,
Annoucements - A New List is Borne,
Programming - Unix (7 msgs),
Computers and People - Video Games (2 msgs)
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Date: 29 Dec 1982 0028-EST
From: Pleasant at RUTGERS
Subject: Head Crash on Disks
If anyone submitted a message to Human-Nets on December 23rd or
later, please resend it to the list. Rutgers had a head crash on
one of its disk and we were forced to restore files from Thursday's
(23rd) full backup.
-Mel
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Date: 28 Dec 1982 1159-EST
From: SOMMERS at RU-GREEN at RUTGERS
Subject: Computers and Blind Youth
Does anyone out there know of any studies on the use of
micros in educating blind students. Also, I am looking for any
information on micros and terminals set up for the blind (prices,
problems, what is available and from whom).
Thanks,
Liz Sommers
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Date: 29 Dec 1982 0819-PST
Subject: Gweep Glossary
From: APAGE at USC-ISIE
After just reading a great issue of Time magazine (Jan 3, 1983 - The
Computer Moves In) and a feature article on page 39 titled "Glork!
A Glossary for Gweeps" I'm very interested in getting a copy (if
possible) of the hacker's dictionary. "Time" indicates that the
glossary has been "assembled by a network of hackers at M.I.T.,
Stanford and elsewhere", and I'm just hoping they are talking about
the ARPANET.
I also have created a file on-line of hacker jargon that I utilize
as a training aid with new users here in the ARPA environment, which
is growing rapidly from many users' inputs.
If anyone has heard of this glossary, I'd love to hear from you. If
not, please forward this message on to someone else that you think
might have an idea of who to contact.
cheers! arlene APAGE@USC-ISIE
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Date: 28 Dec 1982 1245-PST
From: Henry W. Miller <Miller at SRI-NIC>
Subject: A new list is borne...
A new list is being formed:
COMICS-LOVERS@SRI-NIC
This list will attempt to cover all aspects of of the
comics, a subsection that has been sorely neglected by SF-LOVERS (No
downplay on that list; it is merely that comics fans represent only
a small faction of that list.)
For the time being, this list will be an immediate
distribution list, although I can soon see it growing into a digest.
So, send your ideas to COMICS-LOVERS@SRI-NIC. If you wish
to subscribe, send then to COMICS-LOVERS-REQUEST@SRI-NIC. Note: if
you subscribe soon enough, I'll clue you in on what is planned
between Superman and Lois Lane.
Comically yours,
-HWM
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Date: 19 Dec 1982 2154-PST
From: Lynn Gold <FIGMO at KESTREL>
Subject: Favorite operating systems: UNIX vs TOPS-20
It's weird...whenever I ask someone who has been exposed to both
which they prefer, the answer tends to be almost exclusively
subjective. For example, I asked one of my co-workers which one he
preferred, to which he replied "Unix." I asked him what he liked
about Unix, and he said the pipelining, the way everything is a
file, and the general feel of it. I felt these were perfectly
reasonable reasons for liking it. I then asked him what he didn't
like about TOPS-20. He replied, "Well...it isn't Unix."
A similar question and answer session with someone else who
preferred TOPS-20 came out with the user liking recognition, the way
you could find your way around by just typing "?", and the general
friendliness of the operating system. When asked why he didn't like
Unix, he said "It's a flaky operating system."
I think the moral of this is that the only way you can judge either
of them is to check them both out for yourself and THEN decide.
While I admit to being more familiar with TOPS-20 than UNIX, it look
as if both have something to offer in some areas and lose in others.
--Lynn
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Date: 20 December 1982 19:37-EST
From: Stuart M. Cracraft <MCLURE @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Unix - Recovering Deleted Files
Tim Curry's mention of a recoverable file delete for Unix spurred my
interest. We recently installed a similar command on our system;
however, a nightly disk skulker does the actual deletion. You can
specify how long the deletes files are to be kept around before the
skulker can flush them. This scheme (from some guy at Hplabs) seems
much better than the one mentioned, in which they are only retained
until logout.
Stuart
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Date: 20 Dec 1982 2200-PST
From: Pierre MacKay <MACKAY at WASHINGTON>
Subject: DEL vs ^H
You ask why use the DEL (or DELETE) character for deleting an
unwanted ASCII code instead of using the ^H BACKSPACE format
effector. The answer lies in the very definitions of ANSI X3.4 and
ISO 646. BACKSPACE is a very useful character in a great many
environments. It can be used to place accents on a serial printer
(nearly all of them now respond to the code). It can be used for
pseudo-boldfacing and for underlining on even a Selectric based
serial printer, and on many others as well. Once you get stuck with
an operating system which pre-empts BACKSPACE for purposes for which
it was not intended --- I know, it was the erase character in BCD,
but BCD has been dead a long time now --- you lose a great deal of
functionality. DEL serves no function except as an erase code and
is therefore ideal for the purpose. There is no normal ASCII or ISO
character string that can include a DEL character. There are plenty
which can or should be able to include a BACKSPACE.
I seem to have spent far too much of my computing life struggling
with operating systems which pre-empted the use of ASCII control
characters for improper purposes. One of the great moments in my
text-editing experience was when the BACKSPACE SPACE BACKSPACE
response was first implemented on our operating system as a
full-duplex echo for DEL. I find the recidivism of UNIX very
unfortunate, and am glad to learn that it can be taught better
manners. Long live the DELETE code!
Pierre MacKay
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Date: 21 December 1982 08:54-EST
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC>
Subject: soft remove under unix
Hmm, your pseudo-deleted files get actually expunged when you
logout. I certainly hope you fixed the shell so ctrl-D doesn't
cause logout like I've heard it does on Unix as supplied originally.
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Date: Tuesday, 21 December 1982, 02:00-EST
From: Robert W. Kerns <RWK at SCRC-TENEX>
Subject: Del vs ^H
Date: 1 Dec 82 23:07:13 EST (Wed)
From: Andrew Scott Beals <andrew.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay>
frankly, i don't know *why* there is all this usage of DEL as
the erase character. (yeech!) why use DEL over ^H? ^H is on the
home row (both control and H on a good keyboard, that is), so
it's MUCH easier to type. WHY?
You ever try to type ^H while typing with one hand?
On a well designed keyboard RUBOUT can be easier to type than ^H.
On our keyboards, for example, it's just to the left of A, on the
home row, and double width.
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Date: 21 Dec 1982 1122-PST
Subject: UNIX user interface
From: Ian H. Merritt <MERRITT@USC-ISIB>
I prefer DEL to ^H for rubouts as a general rule, but it certainly
should NOT be used as an interrupt, since it is the second most
common data hit in most modem protocols.
On other notes, my objections to the unix user environment are not
with its configurable features, but with its initial state. A virgin
unix without any user changes is virtually useless to anybody new to
unix. A user interface should not REQUIRE any changing to become
useful, but should allow changes for the purpose of enhancing an
already well designed interface.
Unix does a very nice job of allowing one to cater his environment
to exact specifications, but its initial state is so ridiculous that
it is absolutely necessary to start changing things before one can
use the system.
My other major gripe is that it is quite SLOW and seems to buckle
under heavy load conditions. As a single user (multi-process)
system, it's fine in that sense, but on a VAX780, it has trouble
supporting 10-15 moderate users without getting very slow. VMS, a
system about which I often complain for a variety of reasons, has at
least one thing going for it: it's VERY FAST.
End of flame.
<>IHM<>
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Date: 23 Dec 1982 1047-EST
From: Tim <WEINRICH at RUTGERS>
Subject: Re: DEL vs ^H
The main problem I have with using DEL for the backspace
character is that, on so many keyboards, DEL is located very close
to the carriage return key. This can lead to some very embarrassing
errors. I agree, though, that DEL (otherwise known as RUBOUT) is
more mnemonic. Also, since many keyboards only have one Ctrl key,
which is usually located on the left side of the keyboard, many
people might find it hard to type Ctrl-H with one hand. Imagine not
being able to drink a cup of coffee and backspace at the same time!
(I note, proudly, that my own keyboard has neither of the
above-mentioned deficits. The real reason I don't like Ctrl-H is
because it reminds me of the IBM I used to work on.)
Twinerik
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Date: 28 November 1982 2207-EST
From: Dave Touretzky at CMU-CS-A
Subject: computer sex
The recent discussion in Human Nets of that obscene "adult" video
game for the Atari reminded me of an ad I saw recently in one of the
personal computing mags. It showed a guy with his clothes loosened,
staring incredulously at a TV set. (You only saw the back of the
set.) The advertiser was offering a way for you to play strip poker
with your computer. His program offered you two female opponents
who would be displayed on the screen in various stages of undress as
the game progressed. For the truly hard-up, one of these opponents
was guaranteed to be dumb, and therefore sure to lose each hand.
According to the ad, the images the program displayed were so
stimulating they could not be reproduced in the magazine. (where
have we heard that one before?)
When I read that ad, a chill ran down my spine. Not because of its
pedestrian brand of sexism. Women are still portrayed primarily as
sex objects by advertisers and the media but, while that's
objectionable, it's hardly shocking news. What blew me away was the
suggestion that someone should obtain sexual satisfaction by taking
off his clothes in front of his COMPUTER. Now that's kinky! Maybe
Weizenbaum was right. Is this where ELIZA leads?
@Begin(Cynicism)
Not to be outdone, I have designed my own offering in the category
of "sexual substitutes for the socially inept." Remember those
inflatable, anatomically correct dolls you see advertised in the
back of the sleazier magazines? The ones that are guaranteed
washable, with vibrating fingers $15 extra? Here's my idea: let's
modernize the sex doll business with microprocessor technology. If
vibrating fingers are worth $15, how much would your average loser
pay for a doll that moans "Ohhhh baaaaaaby!" (through a voice
synthesizer of course) at the correct moment? A few microswitches
in the right places and a microprocessor controller should do the
trick. Even better, our doll would be supplied with a limited
amount of intelligence (not too much, you don't want to threaten the
sensitive male ego) so that it could RESPOND interactively with
lines like "I love it when you touch my <fill in sensor location>
like that."
Now, here's the best part: we make the doll programmable. Have it
plug into your customer's home computer (except if it's an Atari),
and he can program it to call him by name. ("Oh <customer's name>,
you're such a man!") But the real reason you want it to attach to
the home computer is so that you can sell sexual fantasy cartridges
with catchy names like "The Naughty Maid" and "Bondage Slave" that
program the doll to play a particular role.
I know the computer-as-sexual-substitute theme has been around for a
while; the movie Westworld showed human beings having sex with
robots that were indistinguishable from human beings. But my
proposal is practical, requiring only a few hundred dollars of
off-the-shelf electronics and some modest programming effort.
(Slogan: "We don't just sell software, we sell sexware.") One
catch: would an electronic sex doll have to be UL listed?
@End(Cynicism)
I hope no one takes this idea seriously.
-- Dave
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Date: 29 Nov 1982 0254-PST
From: Henry W. Miller <Miller at SRI-NIC>
Subject: Video Games in Nursing homes
I'm all for it. My mother spent the majority of her last 12
years of her life in a rest home. Although it was one of the best
homes in the state, I found it very depressing. Too many of the
folks vere vegetating.
With a video game, it requires mental and physical
dexterity. Such use would tend to keep a patient at their peak.
(Of course, my Great Aunt Pearl is still going strong at 103
(104 now, maybe) by knitting mittens for the orphans in Detroit...)
When I was a teenager, I was one of those Pinball Wizards:
I could play all night on a single quarter. These new video games
have me stumped. I've never made it past the first board on PACMAN
or Donkey Kong, although I have fared well with Tempest and
Centipede. It irks me that a 10 year old can challenge me and win.
(Let me get the little so-and-so on a pinball machine, and we'll see
what happens...)
I think that using such stimuli as video games would help
keep the old folks active, which is good. (I scored 139000 on
Tempest today...)
-HWM
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End of HUMAN-NETS Digest
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