Minutes of the FIGGY BAR RT Conference.

Date: 03/16/89   Time: 22:36EST

Attendees:
[[Gary] GARY-S]
[[Kevin] APPERT]
[[Dave] DHWEINSTEIN]
[[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS]
[[Len] NMORGENSTERN]
  
 Items discussed: Managers adding features at the end of a code write,looking
                  for ROM based F-83/8088,BYTE (de)evaluation, Bozo filters,
                  rocket ready bus, job search,i860,Forth articles now being 
                  written for TCJ and ESP,Forth for PIXAR,why Brits drive on
                  the left,Standards and JFAR redux.
Minutes:
<[Gary] GARY-S> First customer tonite Kev
<[Gary] GARY-S> I have a thought
<[Kevin] APPERT> seen the source for f83 in rom for 8088 around anywhere?
<[Kevin] APPERT> what thought?
<[Gary] GARY-S> Write your stack article for either FD or/ Computer Journal 
Dave is writing a column for now
<[Kevin] APPERT> stack?  do you mean exception handleing (like arithmetic 
overflow) ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> that's the one you told me about, isn't it ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> the one I told about was exception handleing, I don't have all 
that ...
<FIGCHAPTERS> is here.
<[Kevin] APPERT> much to say about the stack
<[Kevin] APPERT> hi jax
<[jaxaj] FIGCHAPTERS> hi!
<[Kevin] APPERT> ^^^^^^^^^palinjax
<[Gary] GARY-S> my misunderstanding, sorry - still , write the thing
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> What's up?
<[Kevin] APPERT> havinga great time at work
<[Gary] GARY-S> sky, mostly
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> 68008 is up.
<[Gary] GARY-S> are you a car richer ?
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> Yes and no. Yes I win, no I haven't chosen a car yet.
<[Kevin] APPERT> we were having a perliminary config. control meeting to list 
the things to check off before release of software on one of my jobs...
<[Kevin] APPERT> and the instr. manager decides that he has to have changes.  
back 2 weeks in the middle of a major panic on that program and two othe
rs.
<[Gary] GARY-S> what sort of project ? how many K ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> 6 k of assy language (in forth assm ) for Nsc800 processor for 
space instr.
<[Gary] GARY-S> how nice !
<[Kevin] APPERT> the reliability issues with stuff like this are scarey as all 
get-out
<[Kevin] APPERT> very bad to start making changes again this late in the program
<[Gary] GARY-S> hardware is usually based on double redundancy - what is your 
criteria ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> Jax, do you guys sell source for a FORTH-IN-ROM 8088?
<[Kevin] APPERT> we design, check, test, and call in an outside auditor
<[Gary] GARY-S> Jax must be checking on his toddler
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> We will sell our metacompiler under certain 
conditions. Why don't you just buy one of our boards? It's cheaper.
<[Kevin] APPERT> need source.  have std-bus card set for instr.
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> Toddler fine, you are right, gary, I will be in and 
out of the discussion tonight.
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> We used to sell and STD-bus card.
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> Like I said, we could sell our metacompiler source. 
But bux.
<[Kevin] APPERT> with MIL-Spec pin and socket connectors
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> sounds sexy.
<[Kevin] APPERT> what balpark?
<[Kevin] APPERT> we cannot fly card edge connectors in a rocket payload, never 
get past shake teest
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> Call me at work or visit our BBS. RCFB is 303 278 
0364. Work is 303 422 8088
<[Kevin] APPERT> ack.  will do.
<[Gary] GARY-S> You might also check with Feierbach
<[Kevin] APPERT> Byte has turned into the worlds most expensive multi-vendor 
computer catalog
<[Kevin] APPERT> they were gonna rename it "computer shopper", but it was taken
<[Kevin] APPERT> no technical content left at all
<[Kevin] APPERT> but Jerry Pornelle is fun to laugh at.
<[Gary] GARY-S> It quit pretending to be non-prejudiced evaluation a long time 
ago.
<[Gary] GARY-S> You buy ad- you get review
<[Kevin] APPERT> "I have no technical basis for holding any opinions, but here 
they are..."
<[Kevin] APPERT> at least he hasn't said anything bad about Forth
<[Gary] GARY-S> Chaos has no manners
<[Gary] GARY-S> not recently you mean
<[Kevin] APPERT> "so Seymour Cray dropped by and set up the CRAY2 in the attic .
.."
<[Kevin] APPERT> not recently, right
<[Kevin] APPERT> I just recall him saying that he didn't know anything about it,
 never anything very bad
<[Gary] GARY-S> What attic has a Cray or is that more of your JP humour ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> more JP
<[Kevin] APPERT> he seems to drop a lot of names
<[Kevin] APPERT> I'm always very impressed ;)
<[Gary] GARY-S> He put some pretty big bad-mouth on Forth for about three 
issues a year, maybe two ago
<[Kevin] APPERT> what did he say, I don't recall.
<[Gary] GARY-S> For one, he said something to the effect...
<[Gary] GARY-S> nothing meaningful or useful had ever been..
<[Gary] GARY-S> written in Forth and Forth..
<[Kevin] APPERT> oh yes, I remember hearing about that.
<[Gary] GARY-S> programmers were lost in esoterica writing useless utilities.
<[Gary] GARY-S> That's a paraphrase, but close
<[Kevin] APPERT> ah well, I always tell myself it helps the cause...
<[Kevin] APPERT> the bozos get filtered out by such noise...
<[Kevin] APPERT> and don't wind up trying to write C or BASIC programs in Forth
<[Gary] GARY-S> Now there's an idea who's time has come - a bozo filter
<[Kevin] APPERT> I remember this fellow who used to make small changes on the 
application level and re-meta-compile his whole blanged system
<[Gary] GARY-S> Table or array processed ? There'd be a lot of Bozos to filter :
-)
<[Kevin] APPERT> digital bozo processing?
<[Kevin] APPERT> with a cuisinart?  (cutting off their fingers may discourage 
them)
<[Gary] GARY-S> I think you've said, but who do you work for, Kevin ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> Lockheed Space Sciences Laboratory, Space Instr. Group
<[Gary] GARY-S> I recall
<[Gary] GARY-S> Do they actually read applications filed on that BBS in LA ?
<[Gary] GARY-S> American Teleweb is the BBS
<[Kevin] APPERT> anyway, this bozo I was telling you about got a whole 
department down on Forth, then quit the company.  got em started on C.
<[Kevin] APPERT> american telewhat?  never heard of it
<[Gary] GARY-S> It's a LA BBS that has help wanted sections for Lockheed, 
Hughes and a few others
<[Kevin] APPERT> I can only assume they do.  We are a little more selective in 
our hiring.
<[Gary] GARY-S> Should I take that personally ?
<[Kevin] APPERT> you have to prove you are willing to work 20 hours a day, and 
smile a lot at idiots from the computing dept.
<[Kevin] APPERT> nope, want a job?
<[Gary] GARY-S> I'm keeping an eye open, but no panic (yet)
<[Kevin] APPERT> ever been to silicon valley?
<[Gary] GARY-S> yes
<[Kevin] APPERT> a starter home here is 1/4 mill
<[Gary] GARY-S> I know
<[Gary] GARY-S> Commute from Redwood City :-)
<[Kevin] APPERT> not much trafic on this corner is there?
<DHWEINSTEIN> is here.
<[Dave] DHWEINSTEIN> Hullo
<[Gary] GARY-S> I do have more realistic living costs in Little Rock, for sure
<[Gary] GARY-S> Hi dave
<[Gary] GARY-S> Thought you were neglecting us now that you're a columnist
<[Dave] DHWEINSTEIN> :-)
<[Dave] DHWEINSTEIN> (sad look). Bills just piled in this week. My engine 
seized on the highway (not a Good Thing...especially at 60 with only 2 whee
ls)
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> he's just playing around. I'm in another window 
writing an article for ESP!
<[Dave] DHWEINSTEIN> <- wants an Intel 80860
<[Kevin] APPERT> ESP?
<[Gary] GARY-S> Harris sure jumped on ESP
<[Kevin] APPERT> Electonic Sex Pervesions?
<[oaxomoxao] FIGCHAPTERS> Embedded Systems Programming, a Freeman publication ..