Posts by danak6jq@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #ARBLVvusZNwxBgb9CS by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2022-12-31T22:41:15Z
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@cross @brouhaha sometime in the last decade I was thinking about a life membership. I suppose I'll live enough years yet to break even (or better) and I'm all for supporting the advocacy work. Yet, QST doesn't seem to bring me the joy it used to, how about another effectively useless QRP 40m project (with Arduino now!) ? (Beginning hams should NOT start out with QRP, that's ridiculous)
(DIR) Post #ARBLVwlLQJuvoP92ye by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2022-12-31T23:11:57Z
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@ka9q @cross @brouhaha I built my first transmitter, a 40m QRP MOPA, maybe 1W. Made no contacts until I called my mentor across town. Someone loaned me a real radio (DX-60B IIRC) a month or two later and *that* was encouraging. QRP radios are boutique items that require skill, experience and patience to operate.
(DIR) Post #ARVWpyekjqjGCmDKnw by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-01-10T17:53:15Z
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@shaman Legit evidence.
(DIR) Post #ASxpzieWTYJErjeVu4 by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-20T19:55:53Z
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Makers of supermini- and mainframe computers were just bonkers about ECL in the mid-1980s, and CMOS wholesale replaced ECL by 1990.
(DIR) Post #ASxpzkmkXw4vTpW70K by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T06:33:21Z
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@rwwh @carlsonj looks a bit like a RAM board in the way it is organized
(DIR) Post #ASxq9QegFE8JwYM8jA by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T04:38:42Z
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@brouhaha Oh, this is the example I use of the rapid switch-up in the late 1980s. VAX 9000 is a story unto itself, starting with the remnants of the glorious calamity that was Trilogy Systems. NVAX really changed things.
(DIR) Post #ASxq9RcaeU3UwMNz6m by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T05:38:34Z
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@rwwh @brouhaha that VAX 9000 module has to be quite neat! Alpha really should have been victorious, but DEC had arguably lost their corporate mojo. DEC Microelectronics was smokin' in the '90s
(DIR) Post #ASxqPxk6zeVzCDmS00 by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T07:24:37Z
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@azonenberg I have so. many. questions. (not the least of which is "what RAM do you use with a 40GHz CPU?". I bet the answer is 40GHz ECL RAM)
(DIR) Post #ASzWv3KydJtel1UWJc by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T02:22:15Z
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@stuartmarks ECL was king of speed from primordial days (early 1960s) until the late 1980s. Power/heat were the huge reasons, the density of integration is higher for CMOS. You know the story of DEC VAX 9000 vs NVAX?
(DIR) Post #ASzWv4hLZdNuygxtp2 by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T03:54:18Z
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@bsmaalders @stuartmarks "expensive" seems like such an understatement for the VAX 9000.
(DIR) Post #ASzWv4pV5JuHNymPWy by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T02:31:10Z
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@stuartmarks Bonus points: the VAX 9000 bought the packaging IP from Trilogy Systems - the Gene Amdahl venture that spectacularly imploded in the early-mid 1980s. That's worth a read, too.
(DIR) Post #ASzWv6CZyzxhdqaM8u by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-21T05:50:36Z
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@danmcd @bsmaalders @stuartmarks In maybe 1994, I had the chance to buy an apparently complete VAX-11/780 just taken out of service, with disk(s), tape drive, etc., for $700 - because that was the gold salvage value at the time. Didn't go for it.
(DIR) Post #ASzXNp1quWcWmKGRBg by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-22T03:34:41Z
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@bsmaalders @danmcd @stuartmarks the 80s were pretty wild, just thinking of single-chip CPUs, the i860, i960, Am29k, WE32x00, M68k, M88k all came and went (i960, AM29k, M68k lived longer as embedded processors). MIPS, SPARC, Alpha came and lasted for a while (though MIPS becmes embedded and recently re-focused on RISC-V). PPC emerged as the decade ended. Never mind the CCI Power6/32, or the holdouts from the 70s like AM100
(DIR) Post #ASzXNr1DVrIgwvyxTU by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-02-22T05:44:12Z
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@danmcd @stuartmarks @bsmaalders Encore started-out with NS32032, another one of the 80s CPUs I forgot
(DIR) Post #AWEa5JExaQmS2bS1z6 by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-05-04T15:51:19Z
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You only turn 60 once. Truly enjoyed a simple meal of sashimi with my wife of 34 years. #Birthday
(DIR) Post #AZRJ6FZHPC6cC76CR6 by danak6jq@mastodon.social
2023-09-04T23:57:22Z
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@lowqualityfacts If they're a mile away, spot on