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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment. |
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Thread Tools |
26th May 2021, 12:39 pm | #81 | |
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Liphook, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 125
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
Convex did have a number of systems in academia, including Oxford and Cambridge,therefore we had to support these protocols. The University_of_London_Computer_Centre had a six processor C3800 supercomputer with a Convex C3200 front-end. looking at this site ULCC you can see a StorageTek Silo (robot) tape Library, which the Convex had to interface to. But the most challenging task was getting the X21 interface working, I think in the end, we had to link to Convex's back in the UK office together in order to debug. So yes, thankfully all that nonsense disappeared. ref here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured_Book_protocols not much on wikipedia given how many man hours were spent. I am intrigued to know who your Convex client was ? |
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27th May 2021, 10:32 am | #82 | |
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Liphook, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 125
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
I must thank Slothie for the Fortran code to solve the dice problem, its given me many hours of playing around with these old Programming Languages. |
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1st Jun 2021, 8:08 pm | #83 |
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Liphook, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 125
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Re: Old Programming Language
Talking of old Programming Language
Did anyone write programs for the Psion Series 3 using its built-in programming language, OPL (Organiser/Open Programming Language) ? |
1st Jun 2021, 9:11 pm | #84 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Old Programming Language
I did a "Hello World" on my Psion 3A. Never got any further, well it worked, curiosity satisfied.
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1st Jun 2021, 9:34 pm | #85 |
Nonode
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 2,015
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Re: Old Programming Language
Oooh eck, I have some Psion3 stuff too.
Radio propagation formulae if I recall. I think I had one collecting survey results in dBm from a Chase GPR receiver too. |
1st Jun 2021, 9:50 pm | #86 |
Octode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Newbury, Berkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,287
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Re: Old Programming Language
I wrote several programs for my 3mx, mostly for managing contacts as I was an IT contractor at the time. It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be, the only tricky thing was using the built in database from OPL, but I worked out how to use that well enough for my needs. I used the PC emulator to do most of the actual development because you could create a larger screen area and use the extra bits for debugging information. Then I would use PsyWin to transfer the programs to the Psion. I continued to use it for years, until the screen cable broke for the nth time and getting it repaired was getting expensive. I still miss it though, it was a great little tool.
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1st Jun 2021, 10:14 pm | #87 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Culcheth, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 654
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Re: Old Programming Language
I wrote lots of programmes on my II XP that exchanged messages using the CommsLink module. The messages were used to emulate devices that would be connected to PLCs. ( Weigh scales, bar code readers, etc. )
I seem to remember that OPL was really easy to use, but don't ask me to remember any of it now !. Cheers, Buzby |
1st Jun 2021, 10:19 pm | #88 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,556
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Re: Old Programming Language
I remember it essentially being BASIC by another name. Probably why it was so nice to use.
I still have an LZ64, the official Psion serial interface for it and my copy of PsiWIN somwhere. |
1st Jun 2021, 10:33 pm | #89 |
Octode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Newbury, Berkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,287
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Re: Old Programming Language
I suppose it was, it was the Graphics and Window extensions that made it easy to use though.
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2nd Jun 2021, 7:20 am | #90 | |
Octode
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK.
Posts: 1,440
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
So maybe there was one done for the 3-series as well, although they did seem much-better on these as I've not seen any failures on these ones we had at work / on my ones (I think I've also got the OPL manuals for these). |
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2nd Jun 2021, 7:55 am | #91 | ||
Triode
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Stonehouse, Gloustershire, UK
Posts: 46
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
The programmer had to remained disciplined though because you could easily write code that was elegant, efficient and powerful but very difficult to read or maintain. I used it whilst working for an insurance company in pension scheme administration.
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Tony G4CMY G-QRP-C No 57 FISTS No 1626 |
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2nd Jun 2021, 8:26 am | #92 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Duffort, Gers, France
Posts: 714
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Re: Old Programming Language
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__________________
Stuart The golden age is always yesterday - Asa Briggs |
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2nd Jun 2021, 8:46 am | #93 | ||
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Liphook, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 125
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
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2nd Jun 2021, 12:07 pm | #95 | |||
Pentode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Liphook, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 125
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Re: Old Programming Language
Quote:
throws←?10000⍴6 Store 10 000 dice throws +/1=throws Of 10 000 throws, how many 1s? +/(⍳6)∘.=throws Frequency of all 6 possibilities So I thought I would have a go at The Dice Problem in APL but it seams so different from other Programming Languages ! |
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