On 2/5/20 6:27 pm, FromTheRafters wrote:
wrote :
On Fri, 01 May 2020 08:06:06 -0400, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 25 Apr 2020 21:31:03 -0400,
wrote:

On Sat, 25 Apr 2020 20:21:34 -0400, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Sat, 25 Apr 2020 17:02:20 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 25 Apr 2020 15:21:36 -0400, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Sat, 25 Apr 2020 12:49:15 -0400, Bud Frede

wrote:

Clare Snyder writes:

On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 12:02:39 -0500, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On 4/23/20 10:29 AM, micky wrote:
Another problem with getting a heat pump is that the wirign
to the
thermostat is inadequate.** no easy way to run a new wire to
the same location**.

I don't have a heat pump, but 2 stage AC and heat. This
requires 7 wires* (including power return) to the thermostat.
I now have 10 wires* installed (3 for later use).

*I have a 2 stage furnace plus AC running on 4 wires - using a
single
stage thermostat.

I have the same setup here.

In the past I had tried various fancy thermostats and didn't
have luck
with them. The manuals were horrible and I don't think the
people who
designed the thermostats ever had to actually use them.

A few years ago when it was time to replace my furnace and AV, they
threw in a new thermostat with it. It's a White-Rogers programmable
model. I can't control it across the internet with my phone, and
I'm
sure it doesn't have all the fancy features, but it works
reliably, it
was easy to figure out how to use, and the manual was well-written.

I think this is like the old constant upgrade cycle Microsoft
did with
Office. The average person only used 10% of the features, but
they kept
adding more and more features so they could sell a new version
to you.
If it was still available for purchase, and if it would still
run on a
modern computer, many people would be happier with Office '95 or
something rather than the latest and greatest Office
whatever-version-they're-up-to-now.

There are some things that get new features that I use and that
improve
the experience. For the most part though, I'm at that 10% level
and the
rest is just added complexity and is actually a drawback for me.

It feels strange to think this way. I'm in IT and I am constantly
learning new things and growing my skills. It's just that there
are some areas where I'd like less complexity. It's less to
worry about, less hassle, etc.

I try to resist "Gear Acquisition Syndrome" and not upgrade just
because there's something new. I want what I guess I could call
"appropriate complexity." :-)

Yeah, I'm not the typical consumer, and I know that I'm not who the
product makers aim at. Maybe I'm just getting old or something...


Like the motto of my IT company here in Ontario - "appropriate
technology for the information age".
In the beginning I sold a LOT of off-lease and reconditioned
hardware
which allowed many companies to get into office and retail
computerization at an affordable price.

That is where I usually get my PCs if I can't get one for free.


in 33 years I'm on my second brand new computer (and it's about 7
years old, more or less)(Not counting my first non-ibm compatible
RatShack CoCo - which I still own)

The only new computer I ever bought was when my wife still had her
business and I was working for IBM. It was on full IBM enterprise
maintenance and if I put a call in on it, I could take the call, order
the parts and write them off. The IRS let me fully depreciate it in
the first year and write off the
M/A contract. It worked out well for me.

The only new computer I've owned in 36 years was a PC Jr. It sold for
iirc $1600, but they would take 500 off if you had the bar codes of 20
or 25 products by Kimberly Clark or some similar company, so they were
worth 20 or 25 a piece.* The last day after people had left work, I went
around and found 1 or 2 boxes of kleenex and I cut out the bar code,
without even asking anyone, but I know no one cared.*** Then a week
later of course they stopped making the Jr.
11 years later, I bought The next one at a hamfest, and it didn't work.
I gradually figured out that he had replaced one of the 2 floppies with
something special, then put it back the way it was before selling it,
but he didn't undo some change to a mobo jumper, so it thought it had
only one drive and it had two and that was enough to stop* everything,
except maybe there was a one line message on the screeen.
I've bought 2 others used at hamfests, one laptop from ebay, and been
given a bunch.

IBM diskette drives are not the same as the ones in other machines.
When other companies cloned our machines they were not exactly the
same, maybe for legal reasons.

Might have been at the introduction of the double density disk.

Disk drives were always procured from OEMs. IBM drives set a standard
that was followed by the clones but there was nothing particularly
special about them. The only thing that IBM really had full control over
was the BIOS. That was why the clones had workalike BIOSes. I read
somewhere that was the biggest mistake IBM made - the open architecture
- and they tried to rectify that with the PS2 - and why the PS2 disappeared.

This, from Wikipedia, might explain it;

The IBM copyright appears in only the ROM BIOS and on the
company logo, and the company reportedly received no patents
on the PC, with outsiders manufacturing 90% of it.

and

Perhaps Chess's most unusual decision for IBM was to publish
the PC's technical specifications, allowing outsiders to create
products for it.

Because of this, and the open architecture, I see no earthly reason why
IBM PC floppy drives would be any different to any other similar spec
OEM drive. If another PC Clone had difficulty running a PC drive, then
it would be safe to assume the clone had the issue of compatibility, not
the drive. With an open architecture like the ISA bus, any drive that
adhered to standard specifications would/should work.

For the PS/2 however, I could believe that drives may have been a little
different from standard.

Next-generation IBM PS/2
The IBM PS/2 line was introduced in 1987. The Model 30 at the
bottom end of the lineup was very similar to earlier models;
it used an 8086 processor and an ISA bus. The Model 30 was
not "IBM compatible" in that it did not have standard 5.25-inch
drive bays; it came with a 3.5-inch floppy drive and optionally
a 3.5-inch-sized hard disk. Most models in the PS/2 line further
departed from "IBM compatible" by replacing the ISA bus
completely with Micro Channel Architecture. The MCA bus was not
received well by the customer base for PC's, since it was
proprietary to IBM. It was rarely implemented by any of the other
PC-compatible makers. Eventually IBM would abandon this
architecture entirely and return to the standard ISA bus.

The above was IBMs doomed attempt to regain control of the PC market. It
was a dismal failure.


--

Xeno


Nothing astonishes Noddy so much as common sense and plain dealing.
(with apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson)