October 2023
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Farpoint Engineering

10/14/23 11:03 AM Filed in: Life | Computing
In Long Forgotten Computer Technology, written in 2008, I wrote about having used Weitek math coprocessors. In 1988, Bill J. and I developed a Micro Channel card with a Weitek co-processor for IBM PS/2 Model-80 PC's. Bill did the hardware and I did the software. We called ourself "Farpoint Engineering" and we eventually sold the design to Microway who managed to sell some boards. A few documents from that era still exist.


I wrote a terminate-and-stay-resident program to install an "int 15h" interface between applications and the hardware, but that code is long lost.
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Eric Schmidt

10/10/23 05:41 PM Filed in: Life | Computing
I recently posted the graduation program from my high school. Yorktown has graduated some notable alumni. My wife knew of Katie Couric; Eric Schmidt was one year ahead of me (even though he's a month younger than me). We knew each other from the computer lab. I saved some of the programs that we wrote in the early 70's1, including three of his. I figured I'd keep them in case I ever needed a job. I could threaten to release them as blackmail unless he hired me. Fortunately, things never came to that and now that I'm retired, I've decided to make them available for nostalgia's sake.

PERFCT (BASIC)

MLTPUN (FORTRAN)

SPAGE (FORTRAN)


[1] I really wish I still had FRESEQ, which I wrote in FORTRAN, that resequenced FORTRAN line and statement numbers like the built-in resequence command did for BASIC programs. Sometime around then I also wrote an INTEL 4004/4040/8008/8080 macro assembler in FORTRAN, but I don't have that, either.
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Procyon

10/08/23 01:41 PM Filed in: Family
Procyon.David.Bday.snapshot
Procyon was my first dog. I was in Charlottesville, VA one weekend, probably around 1977-78, visiting my then girlfriend and riding horses with the gang. I suppose we had finished riding for the day and Kathy1 was petting one of the farm dogs. I asked her if I could hold him. As I held him, I told him that I wished I could take him home with me. Unbeknownst to me, his owner had walked up behind me and said, "You can. I'm giving him away." I called my dad that night and asked if I could bring him home when I came back Sunday night. He reluctantly agreed. We had lost our family poodle, Peppy, and I suspect he wasn't yet ready for another dog. Went riding again the next day. A low branch caught my glasses and knocked them from my face. I dismounted to look for them and finally found them under my horses' hoof. My guess is that my glasses had fallen into my lap and when I got off the horse they dropped to the ground and the horse deliberately stomped on them. I didn't have a spare, but one of my friends had a pair that would allow me to drive home the next day during daylight. So I called dad and said I wouldn't be home that evening as planned and asked him one more time if it was ok to bring a dog home. With a deep sigh he said, "I guess."

I named him Procyon, which is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor - the "little dog". Later that evening I passed my dad's bedroom. He was lying in bed with Pro standing on his chest being petted. A few years later, when I told dad that I was getting married, he said, "That's fine. You can go, but the dog stays." But I got the girl2 and the dog.

The first picture I posted of Pro was here. The above picture was taken sometime after 1984. More pictures under the fold.
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Dad & Koala, Me & Monkey

10/06/23 05:54 PM Filed in: Family
Dad.Koala.snapshot
Dad with a koala in Sydney, Australia; May 1985. Taken with Kodachrome 64; AE-1 Canon; automatic exposure.

Click for larger picture.

Note that the koala is clutching a stuffed animal. That keeps their claws in the doll and not in you.


Monkey.snapshot
Me with a monkey. I don't remember this picture being taken, I have no idea where it was taken, and I have no clue as to the monkey's name. A business card was attached. Jasmine Technologies, Inc. was in business from 1986 to 1990. They made an external SCSI drive for Macintosh Computers. I was most likely working for Quadram/National Semiconductor (12/86 to 6/90). While they primarily made accessories for IBM-PC computers, they also had a NuBus color graphics card for the Mac. I could also have been early in my time with DayStar Digital (6/90 to 4/96).


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Yorktown HS 1973

10/06/23 01:13 PM Filed in: Life
Yorktown-73.snapshot
While rummaging through boxes of memorabilia I came across the program for the graduation of the Yorktown High School class of 1973. Follow the links for the program pages.

Debbie Habel graduated with distinction. She was the Cinderella to my Prince Charming in 5th grade.



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