[GreenKeys] younger generation greenkeyers ?

Wed Aug 31 23:58:10 EDT 2011

Hello,

Now, getting the machines to work with a PC is... depending on your
skills (and perhaps your morals...) a task that can vary from being
rather simple (comparatively) to being a massive, massive pain.

The first question I should ask, is your PC a BD box, a Windows hole,
a Linux nuisance, or a Crapple^H^H^H^H^H^H^HMac? If it's Linux or BSD
you can actually use an ASCII TTY directly with the OS as an actual
real terminal (most easiest with a real live serial port, er go why I
say BSD and Linux, not Crapple) using a line in your inittab to have
getty/agetty/ttymon/whateverthehellyourdistributioncallsit set up the
serial port for: local connection (no carrier detect), uppercase only
terminal and of course the normal serial port characteristics for a
'33 or '35 (110 baud, 7, M, 2; will be 7, E, 2 if you have parity).
With that done, you have your TTY as one more console on your BSD or
Linux system. (Of course though, things will be odd.)

If you're using a Crapple... you've got to do something somewhat
similar... except make your Mac play nice with a USB serial port first
(wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles if *THAT* works out for ya).

On Windows... sorry no you cannot use your TTY to do everything you
can normally do on the machine, however... it can be marginally
easier. The easiest thing you can do is connect your TTY up to a
serial port and then:
1. Use a terminal emulator to chat with your teletype (boring, but
interesting none the less).
2. Use a serial port-to-TCP/IP port converter software to make your
TTY talk over telnet to something (like a BSD box, or - MASSIVE HINT -
connecting to SIMH running an <insert vintage system here>).
3. Use a serial port-to-TCP/IP port converter software to make the
intertubes talk to your teletype via telnet... or connect to teletypes
over your LAN doing that.

Alternatively, you could also try and find a small QBUS PDP-11 system
if you want the TTY talking with a real, vintage machine (of course a
QBUS '11 would look more proper with a DECwriter... but let's not get
into that). Any system in a BA23 should do quite nicely, but a BA11
system with an RL02 (or two) would be far more captivating. More
captivating then that would be an actual 'blinkenlights' minicomputer;
like a PDP-8/E, PDP-12, or PDP-11/45; though of course you'd need to
find the disk systems to use with those (or a DECtape system). And an
RK05 drive (and the right media) is not really cheap... nor is the
power to run a big mini like an 11/45 or 11/70. (Though the 11 systems
can use RL01 or RL02 disks, the 8/E or PDP-12 can't. And they need a
different RK05 media from the media for PDP-11 systems (and the PDP-12
itself needs some very special and expensive peripherals to use an
RK05).)

Cheers,
Christian

On 26 August 2011 17:58, Steve Ripper <steveripper at comcast.net> wrote:
> Pete:
>
> My daughter Emily (10 years old) uses my model 33 every day. She knows to
> load Heavy Metal and prints out the daily Reuters "Today In History" and the
> local 10 day weather forecast. My son Ryan (6 years old) will sit a watch
> the model 28 hammer away all day if I don't make him do something else. I
> also let him help with the maintenance. He like to find the oiling points on
> the various diagrams. He now knows how to put the few drops of oil required
> on the easy to see and reach locations. I sure would like to find a way for
> the machines to be more interactive with a PC so they can use them as an
> input device and not just a printer. I was recently out bid on a complete
> PDP 11/45 system located in Wisconsin. We all could have had a lot fun with
> that.
>
> During this past June, I had my 17 foot enclosed trailer setup for the ARRL
> Field Day operations. This year I put a model 33 and 28 in the trailer along
> with all the other radio gear and had them running most of the time. I don't
> believe there was a single person that stopped by to see the remote setup
> that was not hypnotized by the Teletype's. I know how to use these machines
> with radios and Heavy Metal and copying ITTY etc, but my knowledge is
> limited regarding how to use these machines more interactively with a PC or
> other devices. My experience so far has been if you can get these kids in
> front of these machines it sure does spark an interest.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Steve Ripper
> steveripper at comcast.net
> Mobile: 248-787-0705
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Pete Lancashire
> Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 3:37 PM
> To: greenkeys
> Subject: [GreenKeys] younger generation greenkeyers ?
>
> On the 5 hours drive back from Georges and from other conversations with
> friends
> curious  how many under 25 or 30 green-keys (keyers ?) there are and
> can anything be done
> to interest the teens or even younger ?
>
> I've had two teens totally go nuts over watching a 35 do its thing and
> one at least said it
> helped him decide to go into engineering, one win.
>
> the other though I had was one of those two sides of a coin. There's
> still a lot of Teletype
> stuff out there, but an awful lot is just getting trashed as dad or
> uncle die off and the
> kids just call the junk man. This could have easily happed the latest
> pile George was
> given the opportunity to rescue. On the flip side there are less and
> less of those interested.
>
> Oh well .. just some thoughts on if  can or should be done
>
> BTW Thanks to George I now have the means to do what John Nagle did, A strip
> printer that what looks like with a little work will fit in a glass
> box and be ready for demo
> next year.
>
> Except for once owning a 19 that was lost in a fire, which other then
> minor adjustment
> this will my first pre 28/35 Teletype I've worked on .. be ready for
> questions !!!
>
> -pete
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