Communications@sri-unix (07/08/82)
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Date: 8 Jul 1982 0123-EDT
From: Mel Pleasant <WORKS at RUTGERS>
Subject: WORKS Digest V2 #63
Sender: PLEASANT at RUTGERS
To: WorkS: ;
Reply-To: WORKS at RUTGERS
WorkS Digest Thursday, 8 July 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 63
Today's Topics:
What does DEC Want with 1000 Mice??? (2 msgs)
Cheap Track Balls?
$68K Question
End User Interface Query
Defining the Next Generation MicroComputer Operating System
Mailing-List for "List of lists" Update Notices
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Date: 30 June 1982 23:37-EDT
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK at MIT-MC>
Subject: What is DEC doing with 1,000 mice?
By early next year, DEC will have over a thousand mice. Does anyone
know what they will be used on? A graphics terminal perhaps? I heard
their Smalltalk effort was a failure (too slow).
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Date: 2 July 1982 02:13-EDT
From: Steven T. Kirsch <SK at MIT-MC>
Subject: Mice at DEC
I just found out that the mice are for the VAX Station 100.
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Date: 30 Jun 82 17:55:34-PDT (Wed)
From: decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!ralph at Berkeley
Subject: Cheap track balls?
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.446
We are looking for a tracker ball for our human factors lab. We have
found one at $4000! I find it hard to believe that video games use
devices that are of this quality and price. Therefore, anyone know of
a source of cheaper track balls?
thanks
ralph hill
computer systems research group
University of Toronto
10 King's College Road
Toronto Ontario
Canada M5S 1A4
...!decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!ralph
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Date: 2 Jul 82 0:29:50-EDT (Fri)
From: Frank J Wancho <wancho@BRL>
Subject: $68K Question
After wading through the intermixed series of exchanges on the MC68000
"page fault problem" some time back, I was recently asked what the
outcome was, and I wasn't sure. Would someone care to briefly
summarize without starting another flame series (if that's possible)?
The reason for concern here is that some people are proposing to
standardize on the Motorola "68" family, possibly into the late '90's.
That bothers me alot - not just because of the discussion referred to
above, but because hardware is not the thing you want to standardize -
and maybe not software either - at least not for the next twenty
years! Five years - maybe.
Anyway, the second question was: how well done are the current
implementations of the 68000 in handling the supposed page fault
"problem", especially, the Unix ports. Does the Z8000 series fare
better in this aspect? What should we look out for when evaluating
these systems for use in small-scale (4-6 user) environments?
--Frank
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Date: 2 Jul 82 10:55:22-PDT (Fri)
From: decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhuxh!mhuxm!pyuxjj!pyuxcc!adi
at Berkeley
Subject: Query : End user interface
Article-I.D.: pyuxcc.285
Does anyone in the <net-land> have some experience or thoughts on the
question below ?
Given an intelligent terminal or local/personal computer
with graphics capability (including mouse and/or touchpad
devices), which of the following is a preferred way to put
an application together for a non-computer but technical
user ? (i.e. the user is a college graduate, perhaps in EE,
ME, or some other engineering or related field, but has had
very little contact with computers.)
1. A powerful command language ( a la Unix )
2. menu driven application - usually single letter or single
word responses required.
3. menu driven - menu consisting of graphics characters
4. menu driven, but allowing pointing to an entry by the
pointing device
5. Some other method (please explain)
If you have direct answers or some pointers to literature
(preferably making definite recommendations), please respond by
mail.
Please accept my thanks in anticipation.
A. D. Ingle
...!pyuxcc!adi
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Date: 5 Jul 82 18:13:45-PDT (Mon)
From: menlo70!sri-unix!hplabs!Peter at Berkeley
Subject: defining the next generation microcomputer operating system
Article-I.D.: hplabs.518
It is becoming clear that the state of teh personal computer,
and for that matter, the small business computer, is becoming limited
not by the hardware that abounds in the field, but by the software
that has, in some glaring examples, been written by individuals or
groups that appear to have had little idea of what the market desired.
Operating systems for microcomputers (at least the two leading ones,
CP/M and Unix, and their respective generics) have been greatly
maligned, to the point where one wonders when someone will set out to
define and implement something better.
I would like to do just that. However, one way to avoid the
problems of the "first generation" operating systems that have
prevailed in the past is to look at the market FIRST.
What I am wondering is: how many individuals out there who use
microcomputers regularly would be willing to attend a semi-formal
conference with, say, a scheduled 20-30 hours of meeting time, with
the specific intent of formulating a specification for the next
generation operating system. The intent is to base the system on what
the conference attendees decide is the need of the current and future
market.
I am willing to organize such a conference if there is a reasonable
amount of interest in attending. I would like to limit the attendance
to less than 5 individuals, if at all reasonable. Probably the best
way to do so would be to limit attendance to San Francisco Bay area
professionals. (Any thoughts on this?)
In any case, if you have any interest in this at all, send me mail,
and I will be glad to provide more details; things are currently in
the idea stage only.
Peter Henry
hplabs!pdh
PDH@SAIL (Arpanet)
real mail:
Peter D. Henry
PO Box 9932
Palo Alto, CA 94305
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Date: 6 Jul 1982 2330-PDT
From: Zellich at OFFICE-3 (Rich Zellich)
Subject: Mailing-list for "List of lists" update notices
cc: ZELLICH
For those of you not previously aware of it, I maintain a master list
of ARPANET mailing-lists/digests/discussion groups (currently 756
lines or ~29,000 characters) on OFFICE-3 in file:
<ALMSA>INTEREST-GROUPS.TXT
For ARPANET users, OFFICE-3 supports the net-standard ANONYMOUS
login within FTP, with any password.
To keep people up to date on the large number of such lists, I have
established a mailing list for list-of-lists \update notices/. I do
not propose to send copies of the list itself to the world at large,
but for those ARPANET users who seriously intend to FTP the updated
versions when updated, I will send a brief notice that a new version
is available. For those counterparts at internet sites who maintain
or redistribute copies for their own networks (DECNet, Xerox, etc.)
and can't reach the master by ARPANET FTP, I will send out the
complete new file. I do \not/ intend to send file copies to
individual users, either ARPANET or internet; our system is fairly
heavily loaded, and we can't afford it.
There is no particular pattern to the update frequency of INTEREST-
GROUPS.TXT; I will occasionally receive a burst of new mailing-lists
or perhaps a single change of address for a host or mailing-list
coordinator, and then have a long period with no changes.
To get on the list, send requests to ZELLICH@OFFICE-3, \not/ to the
mailing-list this message appears in.
Cheers,
Rich
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End of WorkS Digest
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