Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.misc > #17725 > unrolled thread

[Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images

Back to article view | Back to comp.misc

Contents

  [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2019-04-02 17:29 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-04-02 21:01 -0400
      Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2019-04-03 12:18 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) - 2019-04-03 23:55 -0500
    Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2019-04-03 11:00 -0400
      Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2019-04-03 19:23 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2019-04-03 16:31 -0400
        Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-04-03 22:36 -0400
          Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Bob Eager <news0073@eager.cx> - 2019-04-04 07:56 +0000
            Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2019-04-04 12:52 +0000
              Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images Bob Eager <news0073@eager.cx> - 2019-04-04 13:02 +0000
          Re: [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2019-04-04 09:20 -0400

#17725 — [Link Posting] How I Couldn't Stop Poking at Mysterious CompuServe Server Hard Disk Images

      ####################################################################
      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
      ####################################################################

<URL:https://medium.com/@mpnet/trying-to-make-sense-of-compuserve-server
-hard-disk-images-posted-on-archive-org-b1c62ce6012b>

The text below is a quotation from the URL above:
>
>  Preface
>
>  This is about digital archeology. I hope people interested in the legacy
>  of early online services will find it useful. And I hope other digital
>  archeologists more knowledgable than me will find it and provide
>  additional information. Maybe someone even feels compelled to pick up
>  where I left off?
>
>  Please bear in mind that this is the work of just a couple of long
>  winter evenings. My knowledge of traditional mainframes and
>  minicomputers was close to zero before I started this project. I might
>  have misconceived things or overlooked others.
>
>  Whatever you have to say about it, don't forget to tell me! You can
>  leave a comment at the bottom or reach me via email at compuserve (a-t)
>  cmund (d-o-t) de.
>
>  Now let's start at the beginning.
>
>  ...

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#17730

On 2019-04-02, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>  Whatever you have to say about it, don't forget to tell me! You can
>>  leave a comment at the bottom or reach me via email at compuserve
>>  (a-t) cmund (d-o-t) de.  Now let's start at the beginning.  >>

Fun article ... I was waiting for some revelations at the end, whereas
it's just a bunch of accounting data, and partially read at that.
Still, digital archeology is fun.  Compuserve, such a slice of history.
I'm shocked one of those machines/tapes dates to 2009.  Imagine.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17734

On 2019-04-03, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> Fun article ... I was waiting for some revelations at the end, whereas
> it's just a bunch of accounting data, and partially read at that.
> Still, digital archeology is fun.  Compuserve, such a slice of history.
> I'm shocked one of those machines/tapes dates to 2009.  Imagine.

Obviously Compuserve was an outfit that understood if you didn't have 36 bits
you weren't playing with a full DEC.

I was a Compuserve subscriber back around 1980. Used an early 8080-based
microcomputer and a 300-baud acoustic coupler. As I recall it cost something
like $6/hour to connect, exclusive of any phone charges. Fun times!

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

  NSA sedition and treason        -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
  Don't talk to cops!             -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
  Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17747

Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> wrote:
> On 2019-04-03, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> > Fun article ... I was waiting for some revelations at the end, whereas
> > it's just a bunch of accounting data, and partially read at that.
> > Still, digital archeology is fun.  Compuserve, such a slice of history.
> > I'm shocked one of those machines/tapes dates to 2009.  Imagine.

> Obviously Compuserve was an outfit that understood if you didn't have 36 bits
> you weren't playing with a full DEC.

> I was a Compuserve subscriber back around 1980. Used an early 8080-based
> microcomputer and a 300-baud acoustic coupler. As I recall it cost something
> like $6/hour to connect, exclusive of any phone charges. Fun times!

That's nuts. That's why I didn't want CompuServe. I was on Prodigy and 
local BBSes back then. :)
-- 
Quote of the Week: "If you're an ant, and you're walking along across 
the top of a cup of pudding, you probably have no idea that the only 
thing between you and disaster is the strength of that pudding skin." 
--Jack Handey from Saturday Night Live
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
  /\___/\   Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org /
 / /\ /\ \ http://antfarm.ma.cx. Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o   o| |
   \ _ /
    ( )

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17739

In article <E+0g8AH++0m8xR0Ah6FYGTQo@dont-email.me>,
Rich  <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>      ####################################################################
>      # ATTENTION: This post is a reference to a website.  The poster of #
>      # this Usenet article is not the author of the referenced website. #
>      ####################################################################
>
><URL:https://medium.com/@mpnet/trying-to-make-sense-of-compuserve-server
>-hard-disk-images-posted-on-archive-org-b1c62ce6012b>

So, basically this guy found some disk images, started to figure out how
to read them and gave up before doing anything useful?
--scott

-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17742

Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
> In article <E+0g8AH++0m8xR0Ah6FYGTQo@dont-email.me>,
> Rich  <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>
>><URL:https://medium.com/@mpnet/trying-to-make-sense-of-compuserve-server
>>-hard-disk-images-posted-on-archive-org-b1c62ce6012b>
> 
> So, basically this guy found some disk images, started to figure out how
> to read them and gave up before doing anything useful?

Yeah, seems just as he started to make headway, he stopped (unless he's 
saving more for another blog posting, which is sadly a far too common 
result).

But I also now better understand why the Compuserve pricing model was 
set the way it was.  They were coming from, and accustomed to, 
computing systems where every little thing one did was billed by the 
second to some account, so having an awful high per-minute rate for 
nearly anything done on Compuserve was likely seen by them as "just the 
normal way of doing things".

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17743

In article <q83170$te2$1@dont-email.me>, Rich  <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>
>But I also now better understand why the Compuserve pricing model was 
>set the way it was.  They were coming from, and accustomed to, 
>computing systems where every little thing one did was billed by the 
>second to some account, so having an awful high per-minute rate for 
>nearly anything done on Compuserve was likely seen by them as "just the 
>normal way of doing things".

Yes, this is how the world was at the time.  Lots of towns had computer
service bureaus where you could take your batch job, or to which you could
dial up and use an interactive account, and by those standards machine time
at Compuserve was pretty cheap.

Cycles were expensive, unless you could beg or borrow time from a university
or a bank or something at night.
--scott
-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17746

On 2019-04-03, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
> Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
>> In article <E+0g8AH++0m8xR0Ah6FYGTQo@dont-email.me>,
>> Rich  <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>><URL:https://medium.com/@mpnet/trying-to-make-sense-of-compuserve-server
>>>-hard-disk-images-posted-on-archive-org-b1c62ce6012b>
>> 
>> So, basically this guy found some disk images, started to figure out how
>> to read them and gave up before doing anything useful?
>
> Yeah, seems just as he started to make headway, he stopped (unless he's 
> saving more for another blog posting, which is sadly a far too common 
> result).

I got the idea he went as far as he was able to go with his own
technical ability/time/energy and then made it available for others to
continue where he left off. 

> But I also now better understand why the Compuserve pricing model was 
> set the way it was.  They were coming from, and accustomed to, 
> computing systems where every little thing one did was billed by the 
> second to some account, so having an awful high per-minute rate for 
> nearly anything done on Compuserve was likely seen by them as "just the 
> normal way of doing things".

Wasn't it said somewhere that Compuserve IDs (numerical) were somehow
related to PDP login requirements?

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17748

On Wed, 03 Apr 2019 22:36:26 -0400, RS Wood wrote:

> Wasn't it said somewhere that Compuserve IDs (numerical) were somehow
> related to PDP login requirements?

My ID was longer than I have ever seen on any PDP system.

-- 
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
 http://www.mirrorservice.org

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17749

On 2019-04-04, Bob Eager <news0073@eager.cx> wrote:
> My ID was longer than I have ever seen on any PDP system.

Some info on TOPS-10 and Compuserve user IDs:

  https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/5086/what-was-the-technical-reason-behind-the-octal-digits-used-for-compuserve-user-i

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

  NSA sedition and treason        -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
  Don't talk to cops!             -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
  Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17750

On Thu, 04 Apr 2019 12:52:38 +0000, Roger Blake wrote:

> On 2019-04-04, Bob Eager <news0073@eager.cx> wrote:
>> My ID was longer than I have ever seen on any PDP system.
> 
> Some info on TOPS-10 and Compuserve user IDs:
> 
>   https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/5086/what-was-the-
technical-reason-behind-the-octal-digits-used-for-compuserve-user-i

Yes, I was aware of that. Mine was a later one, so came in the 
1xxxxxx,xxxx era.



-- 
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
 http://www.mirrorservice.org

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#17751

RS Wood  <randy@therandymon.com> wrote:
>Wasn't it said somewhere that Compuserve IDs (numerical) were somehow
>related to PDP login requirements?

Yes, they were TENEX programmer/project number pairs.
--scott
-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[toc] | [prev] | [standalone]

Back to top | Article view | comp.misc

csiph-web