timt@lakesys.lakesys.com (Tim Thompson) (08/24/90)
George Theall -
Since several attempts at E-mail have failed
to reach you, I will post this public:
If someone will show me a listing of all the newsgroups,
and what is to be discussed on each, I will gladly refrain
from posting messages incorrectly, if that is the case.
Until then, I go by the following assumptions:
comp.sys.dec Computers systems, dec. Encompasses
larger DEC systems, including, but not
limited to PDP-11 Massbuss, Unibus,
VAX 11/???, and VAX 8600, etc.
comp.sys.dec.micro Computer systems, dec, micro. -
Since I have a MICRO PDP-11, one must guess that
this group includes smaller DEC systems, including,
but not limited to 11/03, 11/23, 11/53, 11/73,
Micro VAX, etc.
While I am not too familiar with rainbows (The only one I've
ever seen has been sitting on consignment in a local used computer
shop for the past year and a half,) I wouldn't guess that they
are popular enough to warrant their own board.
If it IS for rainbow info only, then someone really screwed
up in naming it, as it should properly be called:
comp.sys.dec.rainbow
Thanx
--
Timothy R. Thompson
414+769-6700 Monday - Friday, 1:00 PM - 6:30 PM, CST, 414+873-1841 weekends.
uunet!marque!lakesys!timt
or: csd4.csd.uwm.edu!lakesys.lakesys.com!timtGTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (George A. Theall) (08/26/90)
>Since several attempts at E-mail have failed >to reach you, I will post this public: Ah, so this is why I never received a response when I requested privately that you reconsider the appropriateness of using this group for your ads. >If someone will show me a listing of all the newsgroups, >and what is to be discussed on each, I will gladly refrain >from posting messages incorrectly, if that is the case. You may not be aware of it but this forum consists of two groups: on USENET it appears as comp.sys.dec.micro while on BITNET/Internet it is INFO-DEC-MICRO. The connection is transparent thanks to some folks out at Berkeley. Since your access is apparently via USENET, then check out the groups news.lists, news.groups, or news.announce.newusers. Every month a set of articles is posted there describing how to use USENET and what it's about. One contains a brief description of each valid newsgroup on USENET, to wit: ----- snip, snip, snip ----- Article 1224 of news.lists: From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) Subject: List of Active Newsgroups (Updated: 1 Aug 1990) Date: 2 Aug 90 02:06:40 GMT Expires: 31 Oct 90 02:06:39 GMT [ assorted good stuff deleted, GAT, 25-Aug-90 ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsgroup Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ... comp.sys.dec Discussions about DEC computer systems. comp.sys.dec.micro DEC Micros (Rainbow, Professional 350/380) ----- snip, snip, snip ----- Note these articles have long expiration dates so they are probably still available at your site should you wish to examine them yourself. I encourage you to do so. What about INFO-DEC-MICRO? According to LISTSERV@CMUCCVMA, which is a redistribution point on BITNET, the list's charter is as follows: ----- snip, snip, snip ----- * Description of the original list (addresses as seen from ARPANET): * *INFO-DEC-MICRO@ANDREW.CMU.EDU * * This forum is meant for the exchange of information concerning * Digital Equipment Corp's microcomputers, including the VAXmate, * the Professional Series, the DECmate, and the Rainbow. ----- snip, snip, snip ----- You can check this out yourself by sending to the listserver a message whose text reads "REVIEW MD4J" (no quotes). In sum, neither description explicitly mentions the PDP-11 series. Do such machines they fall under the umbrella of "microcomputers" then? Well, I'll admit to being fairly ignorant about them, and I'll acknowledge the distinctions between types of computers have blurred in recent years, but doesn't the literature tend to refer to PDP-11s as "minicomputers" rather than "microcomputers"? >Until then, I go by the following assumptions: >... >comp.sys.dec.micro Computer systems, dec, micro. - > > Since I have a MICRO PDP-11, one must guess that > this group includes smaller DEC systems, including, > but not limited to 11/03, 11/23, 11/53, 11/73, > Micro VAX, etc. A good practice to develop is to read the articles in a newsgroup for a period of time before you actually post there. This is actually one of the recommendations Spaf makes in the articles posted to news.lists. And it avoids assumptions, erroneous ones at that, about the content of a newsgroup based on its name. (And if you don't believe me, then perhaps you'll consider posting to alt.flame for opinions about which brand of briquettes to use at the next family picnic. :-) Although this forum is by no means limited to Rainbows, I would estimate most of the bandwidth concerns them, and this however you choose to measure bandwidth - number of bytes, number of messages, or number of people who post. Apart from your ads, Timothy, one could undoubtedly count on his/her hand the number of messages appearing in this newsgroup about any of the systems you mention above, including PDP-11s. [And if anyone is inclined to do so, archives of postings to this forum are available from the INFO-DEC-MICRO file archives, albeit with a substantial time delay.] Finally, lest someone say this is the only forum for your ads, let me point out that the ad in question was posted not only to comp.sys.dec.micro but also to comp.sys.dec as well as misc.forsale. Right, Tim? George --- BITNET: GTHEALL@PennDRLS Dept. of Economics Internet: GTHEALL@PennDRLS.UPenn.Edu University of Pennsylvania AT+TNet: +1 215 898 3419 Philadelphia, PA 19104-3987
imp@dancer.Solbourne.COM (Warner Losh) (08/26/90)
Based on reading these groups for the past three years, here is what I see getting posted in each: comp.sys.dec PDP-11's, VAXen, DECstations running anything excpet VMS (although some VMS questions do get posted here). comp.sys.dec.micro Rainbows, PRO's, VAXmates and DECmates. 90% is Rainbow. However, the PRO is really a PDP-11, so there can be some cross over in the postings. Your best bet if you want to sell Q-Bus stuff is to post to comp.sys.dec and misc.forsale. However, if you post in c.s.d a lot (with the same add), people will likely flame you because technically you are not supposed to use USENET groups to post for sale things to (these are due to government requirements mostly). Groups like misc.forsale are the best place to put adds, since it enables those sites that are required by law to NOT carry advertisements to comply with the law. Personally, I don't care about these postings. I have your subject in my kill file anyway. :-) Warner -- Warner Losh imp@Solbourne.COM Me? I'm the onion rings.