Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jul
21
2015

The PiDP-8 – Recreating the PDP-8/i

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What is old is new again – this is the saga of the PiDP-8.

Back in the 1970s, I was in class and the speaker, I remember his name to this date, told us how he convinced the credit union to offer loans on computers so he could buy a Digital Equipment PDP-8 minicomputer for his personal use. Having used computers extensively in college, I was of course very much intrigued by the concept of a personal use computer…especially since I was developing systems using the Digital Equipment PDP-11 computer. But I couldn’t afford the PDP-8, and it wasn’t until 1975 that I first acquired my first personally owned computer – the Altair 8800.

Fast forward a few decades. I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts – Security Now with Steve Gibson and discovered his “attraction” to the PDP 8. Steve used the simple architecture of the PDP-8 to explain to audiences how computers work. During the same time frame, he mentioned his building a PDP-8 in conjunction with an effort by Bob Armstrong’s Spare Time Gizmos to assemble a kit, with custom panel, using a Harris/Intersil 6120 chip which “emulated” the PDP-8 architecture (see https://www.grc.com/pdp-8/pdp-8.htm). Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to construct the SBC6120 and the heart of the project, the 6120 chip was in very short supply – so that door was closed.

In early May 2015, by chance I was again listening to a Security Now podcast and Steve just happened to mention a PiDP 8 kit that was being developed. Wow more PDP-8 developments.

The PiDP-8 is a project by Oscar Vermeulen that recreates a replica of the PDP-8/I front panel (all those nice lights and switches) but utilizes a Raspberry Pi and a program called SimH[1] to simulate the PDP-8…all for a few hundred dollars! WoW!

I followed Steve’s links and wound up at Oscar’s site Obsolescence Guaranteed, (http://obsolescence.wix.com/obsolescence#!pidp-8/cbie) and quickly signed up! Oscar replied to the sign-up by sending an update of the project’s progress and I started preparing by acquiring a Raspberry Pi A+ to run the project. I downloaded Oscar’s beta versions of SimH and began reviewing and preparing the kit construction directions. In the course of my delving into this exciting project, I quickly exchanged numerous e-mails with Oscar. One of the nice features of this project is the PDP-8 emulation is a part of SimH (which includes other computing platforms including the PDP-11) and what Oscar has done is to write some code to have the Raspberry Pi (any plus version including the Pi v2 which happens to run Windows 10 IoT) communicate with the switches and lights of his replica PDP-8/I panel. However SimH and the Pi do not need the panel to run the PDP-8 emulator which is seen via keyboard and display. This means that without the panel kit, setup, testing, and running the PDP-8 emulator is possible. I was having fun and learning a lot about the Pi, the Pi operating system, and SimH.

As things with the project progressed, Oscar and I exchanged e-mails several times a week. He was overwhelmed with requests for the PiDP-8/I panel kit and decided to split the “production” into two runs, a July run and a September run based on when one signed on to the project; I was in the second run.

I continued to prepare for the kit by leveraging Oscar’s writings and web pages and assemble a manual for me to use both in setting up the Pi with his beta code as well as the construction steps for building the PiDP-8. For me having a “printed” manual was easier than constructing the kit from web pages (and due to the quirks of web pages, it was not easy to just print the pages). This was also good preparation for me and helped me understand the software setup as well as the assembly of the kit.

As a courtesy to Oscar, I provided him with my suggestions as I walked through the steps. I also found some typographical errors and worked with Oscar to get them corrected. My working with the Pi and his setup instructions provided me with a much greater insight into the Pi and the Raspian Operating System…and this was really exciting.

Then in June, Oscar asked if I wanted to get an early kit and help assess the assembly steps. YES was my instant answer and on 9 July I got the shipment from Switzerland and carefully opened the package (about the size of a “standard” shoebox).

Even more than before, I was amazed at Oscar’s engineering skills in developing this PDP-8/I panel. The circuit board was high quality and the bamboo case, a standard 6” x 12” stackable organizer, a nice “green” touch.   His creating and crafting the kit and the components is on par with Heath Kit – different but on par. The ingenious approach to mounting the 26 switches on the panel is truly amazing and almost an engineering marvel. Brilliant.

As with the PDP-8 (and PDP-11 too) the panel has numerous switches and lights. The PDP-8 being an octal construct, the switches are grouped in threes with alternating colors in each group. In my preparation for painting the switches I had to locate the color Oscar called for…and it was hard…in fact impossible. It appears European and US paint stores operate differently. So I delved more into color and color systems than I ever imagined…and ultimately found a very close color equivalent – but it was quite a rewarding experience.

I’m now in the process of putting the finishing touches on the now working PiDP-8 at the same time as I’m installing the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview on several computers. At each step of the way I updated my manual and provided feedback to Oscar to help make sure the hundreds of kit builders can easily assemble their PiDP-8 kits. I’ll soon be delving into the PDP-8’s OS 8, enjoying the panel lights and switches, and learning more about the 1970’s technology that was the precursor to many computing developments. Thank You Oscar (and thank you Steve Gibson).

Overall I really like the PiDP-8 kit.  My rating for the PiDP-8 — 5 out of 5 stars.

[1] The Computer History Simulation Project, http://simh.trailing-edge.com/
Feb
17
2015

An iPad Tale

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Several years ago, in my role as an Enterprise Architect, we began to see a demand from various business components to leverage use of the growing popularity of Apple’s iPad in another example of consumer driven IT.  At the same time, Apple started to introduce the iPad2 making the iPad1 available at a discount.  Additionally, leveraging an additional discount for a refurbished model, I acquired an iPad1.

And so began my discovery of iPad technology.  I used the iPad as a note taking platform during several conferences and discovered some of the quirks of the Apple IOS operating system.  Unlike Windows and even the Android platforms, IOS does not have a visible file structure!  I did not realize this until I was at a conference taking notes with the iPad note application…a full day’s notes were instantly vaporized with some keystroke sequence I accidentally activated. Up until that time, I was sending the notes back home via e-mail (apparently the only way to preserve them) at the end of the day…lesson learned, do it hourly! (I believe you can also deposit the contents in Dropbox, but I’m not a big user of this service).

As I learned more about the iPad technology I configured it with various news applications as well as the solitaire application.  It served me well as a browser to catch up with the morning news, to pass the time.  At some point, my e-mail settings got lost and while I was able to read my e-mails, I could not send any…not much of a loss for my use.

As time goes on, Apple upgraded the IOS operating system from v5 to versions 7 and 8.  However, the iPad1 was limited to version 5.x.  As Apple introduced newer versions of the iPad and other IOS devices, applications began to leverage new capabilities of IOS especially v7.x.  Applications on the iPad1 gradually became obsolete and could no longer be upgraded.  Also, applications often crashed the operating system, especially with embedded content using pictures…in essence, my iPad1 was doing its equivalent to a “blue screen of death.”

Wanting to keep somewhat current with iPad-like technology, I sought out newer options.  First off, it had to run IOS v7 or v8.  I didn’t need all the latest features, and I wanted to manage the cost.  Apple had introduced the iPad Mini and currently has 3 generations of such.  I looked at both the iPad Mini 3 and the iPad Mini 2.  I found the screen size acceptible and the high resolution of the screen (“retina”) was nice.  I didn’t need the regular sized iPad (9″) and the smaller Mini was workable for my needs.  I settled on the iPad Mini 2, searched for refurbished or sale and found a good price at a local Microcenter computer store.

IOS hasn’t changed in some functionality limitations I’ve seen before – no visible file system.  But the smaller sized iPad Mini 2 was easy to carry, held its battery charge reasonably well, my applications ported over easy.  Additionally I was able to set up the e-mail accounts, so my reading e-mails was maintained…but in addition, I figured out how to sent e-mails although the iPad is not my primary approach to sending e-mails.

As with my previous iPad1 note taking, the ability to take notes with some formatting – like bullets – is not possible; one must use various manual characters to simulate bullets (such as a “*”), then e-mail the content, then copy into a more suitable word processor.

Pros:

  • Small size…can sometimes fit in a big pants pocked.
  • Cloud file storage available … Apple cloud and applications for Microsoft One Drive.
  • Screen resolution really good.
  • Application ecosystem very good…some nice utilities not readily available in other ecosystems.
  • Suitable for a consumption device

Cons:

  • IOS continues to frustrate with no file visibility
  • Cannot see local network attached storage/file systems
  • Pictures from the camera have to be e-mailed vice just moved to storage (I believe it can be moved to Apple’s cloud, but it cannot be moved to One Drive; I shun having to have a Microsoft Cloud,  Apple Cloud, Dropbox, Box, and an Android Cloud to use the various operating systems and features)
  • Printing on home-bound printers not easy (I haven’t mastered it yet…not sure it is possible)
  • Not really suitable for anything other than a consumption device; limited note-taking is possible.

Overall rating for the iPad Mini 2 — 1 out of 5 stars.

 

Note: Any names/trademarks used are NOT an endorsement of those items...but are provided for reference only and are owned by their owner.

Aug
19
2014

Lenovo Thinkpad 11e (Part 1 – Platform)

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I decided to adventure into the realm of Chromebooks since several news articles have begun to talk about this Google-based experience.  Some authors represent that Chromebooks are changing the PC landscape.

During visits over the past year to big-box electronic retailers, I occasionally looked at the Chromebooks for sale…generally in the $200 price range.  My impression of the physical devices at the time was they seemed physically fragile…in other words easy to break.  Contrasting this were numerous laptop devices which were much more expensive, but also much more sturdy.

I have always been a fan of the Thinkpad line, first by IBM and then by Lenovo.  I’ve owned several Thinkpads over the years and have found the construction to be well engineered.  In looking at the Lenovo line, — regular Lenovo as well as Thinkpad — I’ve always found the Thinkpad versions to be have a much better look and feel – a solid feel.

Then I saw some words about a Lenovo Thinkpad Chromebook.  While a little more expensive than similar Chromebooks, the Thinkpad moniker told me to jump in and explore Chromebooks.  And I did.  And this Blog entry is being written on my new Lenovo Thinkpad Chromebook 11e.

Lenovo offers the Thinkpad 11e (11.6″ screen) in four models – a 11.6″ Chromebook clam shell “laptop”, an 11.6″ Yoga style touch sensitive Chromebook, a 11.6″ clam shell with Windows, and an 11.6″ Yoga style touch sensitive with Windows.  In the Chromebook versions, the 11E comes with Intel processors and 4GB of memory; as with other Chromebooks, it uses 16GB of storage.  Note: most other Chromebooks use only 2GB of memory.  The same hardware platform but for Windows offers larger rotating or SSD  storage and an option for additional memory – albiet at a higher cost.

As a computing platform, the Lenovo Thinkpad 11E is worth the extra cost.  (Lenovo also makes a Chromebook based on the regular Lenovo Ideapad line – lower in cost, and only 2GB of memory…same 16GB storage.)  The keyboard I’m using right now lives up to the very high Thinkpad standards – originally by IBM and now carried forward by Lenovo. Unlike other Thinkpads, no red pointing stick, and I keep looking for the DELETE key as I write. And the rest of the platform similarly has a sturdier look and feel.  Lenovo indicates the 11E in either Chromebook or Windows versions are aimed at the education market…either as individuals or schools/universities.

The 11e uses a track pad to move the cursor, however after a little use, I found I needed a mouse for precision location pointing and actions.  And this is true of the other computers I play and use.  One mouse I tried, just didn’t work, but two others worked just fine.

Another nice feature of the Thinkpad 11e is the material of the case.  The base plate has a slightly rough surface which provides additional friction to stay on your lap.  It has a rubber-type edge that provides protections against bumps, and it has a nice matte finish to eliminate glare.  All-in-all nice.

Note:  In any assessment of platforms – laptops, tablets, desktops, etc. YOUR functional use is the most important factor.  Some people need high performance, some don’t; some people need globs of storage, some don’t (or use NAS or Cloud storage).  It all depends on your needs.  These products are viewed from my usage and needs.

Pros:

  • Thinkpad construction standards fully maintained
  • Typing on the keyboard- Superb!
  • 11.6″ screen readability very usable
  • Performance sufficient for my needs
  • 4GB of memory probably gives better performance than the 2GB versions of Chromebook
  • Rugged construction – virtually no fingerprints or hand oils accumulate (so far); nice surface, bezel, and bottom plate finishes
  • When you open the clam-shell, it powers on automatically to the login screen (it does have a power button) making for faster start up
  • Instantly recognizes USB Flash Thumb drive – no “loading drivers”
  • The 11e is targeted for the education market; others will enjoy it just as much.

Cons:

  • No DELETE key on the keyboard
  • No expandability – memory or storage
  • Rugged construction – adds some weight…not terrible though.
  • Cannot boot from USB drive.

Overall rating for the Lenovo 11e Platform — 4 out of 5 stars.

Part 2 will cover the ChromeOS.

Oct
31
2013

Dell Venue 8 pro – An 8″ Tablet – First Impressions

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Today, I received the new Dell Venue 8 pro tablet, an 8″ form factor running an Intel x86 platform (Atom processor, up to 1.8GHz).  I had ordered the 32GB storage version and used a 16GB micro SD card for secondary storage.  I also ordered the optional active pen.

Here’s some first impressions:

  • Size is OK and easily held in one hand portrait or landscape.
  • It runs Windows 8.1 so the added desktop and other flexibility is welcomed.  Since it runs 8.1, I could install my favorite browser, Firefox, and that worked out just fine.
  • To conserve main storage, I installed Firefox to the micro SD drive…no performance problems noted.
  • “Activating” Windows 8.1 was not a problem, but turning on the included Windows Office required entering the 25 character license string…difficult at best.  (Don’t know why Office had to be activated since it came OEM from Dell as part of the package).
  • My normal setup is to create a local-only admin account, and then create a connected user account with user only privileges…works OK on the tablet.
  • Once I signed in using the user account, the Venue 8 pro loaded up my standard Windows Store applications…a nice touch with Windows 8 and 8.1, even RT.
  • Windows Update took a long time.  I suspect that this Dell Tablet is not as fast as the Surface 2 (note the Surface 2 is significantly faster than Surface RT), but maybe not as slow as the Surface RT.
  • I had also ordered the Active PEN from Dell.  Given the small real estate on the 8″ and the sometimes small area for touch, the pen worked OK sometimes!  Sometimes it multiple character-ed an entry requiring clearing the field and re-entering.
  • I especially like the soft keyboard in Windows 8 and 8.1.  I find it far superior to that of Android systems which are generally better than my iPad experiences.  In each of the three platforms, there are context changes in the soft keyboard, but I still find the Windows 8 versions the best of the breed.
  • No heat problems were noticed although a little warmth was detected in the back middle of the tablet, and the small power brick where the USB cable plugs into for device power. (I haven’t tried to drain the battery yet.)
  • Screen image and resolution were OK for my eyes, although the brightness changes with the ambient light – dimmer in darkness, brighter in more light – and if you are in a “grey area” the brightness changes back and forth – an annoyance.
  • Applications seem to run OK.
  • The new icon sizes on the START screen are a help…especially the small icon…enabling more icons to appear on a single START screen.  Scrolling by touch is good on this device.
  • In my setup of the Surface 2, the wi-fi search saw 4 networks…the Venue 8 pro in the same location only saw 2 networks…potentially indicating a less sensitive radio.  (I have 2 networks in my house…the others are neighboring networks).
  • With all the applications basically installed, about 8 GB of main storage is free, the rest being taken up by the OS, the applications, and the restore partition.  Redirecting folders – Pictures, Documents, Downloads, Music – to the D: drive (the micro SD) is easy via the properties.  Good for managing space.
  • No full size USB port, only the micro port.  Connecting a flash drive will require a USB On The Go adapter…or just make multi-use of the “power cable” and get a A-female to A-female adapter.
  • The micro SD card has a nicely protected slot; documentation suggests a SIM card will also have a future slot (on a future model release).
  • The Windows Key is on the top (portrait mode) but I didn’t have any difficulties with its placement.
  • The Dell active pen works with Windows Journal…a nice feature of Windows 8.1 x86 and bringing me back to my first tablet usage, and early Motion Computing M1200 tablet…my best way of taking notes via the Journal application and passive pen.

As with other tablet devices, I consider the Dell Venue 8 pro to be a consumption device and not much of a production device; my general usage does not require large amounts of “disk” storage.  Windows 8(.1) in general suffers from a lack of applications that are common on the iPAD and Android platforms…especially some tools I like to use and news readers.  Hopefully those developers will offer same in the Windows Store.

Dell is suggesting a future keyboard, and you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard now, thus providing some easier productivity capability.  Still even with an 11″ screen, there is not enough real estate for complex operations that often require multiple desktop screens at once.  That’s why I don’t want to see the desktop go away and why some of my machines will stay at Windows 7.

Pros:

  • Windows 8.1 x86 platform
  • Light weight, easy to hold
  • Compact size
  • Windows Journal

Cons:

  • Like most tablets, not a productivity platform for me.
  • Overly sensitive brightness in non-uniform lighting areas
  • Pen occasionally causes rapid multiple character entry (perhaps needs mouse adjustments).
  • Music sound via tiny speaker…use ear phones
  • At times noticeably slow – even with Windows Update
  • Don’t lose the Pen…it costs $35.

Overall rating 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommended configuration:  Base machine with 32GB storage; 16GB and greater micro SD; active pen; a protective case with pen storage,

ED

Mar
28
2013

RSA Conference 2013

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Cyber security was the theme of this year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco 26-28 February.   Of particular note, were numerous presentations and products that concern the growing scale of tools  needed to combat today’s cyber attacks; the growing sophistication and “organization” of attackers (to include criminal groups, cracker groups, state actors, and non-state actors); and the “intelligence” that attackers gather on how enterprises protect themselves and the high-cost/generally low priority given to cyber defense.

Some common themes:

  • Large enterprises must rethink their cyber defense capabilities in light of the intensity and diversity of attacks, the extraordinary value of any lost data – real and perceived, and the scale limitations (and costs) of today’s technologies.
  • There is a need to expand the information sharing capabilities of products…not only within the product families but across product families.  An attack detected needs to share the attack parameters, rapidly, with a wide body of parties in order to quickly adapt national infrastructures to protecting/mitigating any attack.
  • Nationally, there is a need to develop standards, across product lines, that will provide the capabilities to rapidly exchange cyber attack information, while protecting privacy – thus forming the ecosystem for an agile cyber defense.
  • Enterprises should incorporate security/cyber risk management with other risk management assessments (typically focused on more business decisions) thus security risk is a component of the business risk.

Thus:

  • We need the ability to defend against the intensity and diversity of cyber attacks.
  • We need the ability to share information…not only within the product families but across product families and across providers; we need a cyber defense ecosystem.
  •  We need the ability to rapidly exchange cyber attack information, while protecting privacy.
  • We need the ability (and direction) to incorporate security/cyber risk management with other risk management assessments (typically focused on more business decisions) thus security risk becomes an equal component of the business risk and success.
Dec
30
2012

Violating the Three Click Rule – Part 1

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In the early days of computing, there was a rule that any action should be no more than 3 clicks away.  Prior to mice and web, it was 3 selections from a menu (basically a menu tree).  With the advent of the web, that same 3 click rule applied to reach any action.

There were many reasons for such a rule, primarily to keep the computer users attention to the work that was being performed and make locating some action fast.

Many web sites today fail the three click rule.  Many tablet operating systems also fail the three click rule (clicks being various touch capabilities).

Recently FIOS changed their Video On Demand (VOD) menu.  The older one pretty much held to the 3 click rule…the newer one is grossly violating it.  For example if I wanted to watch a CBS tv show…it was FREE>Entertainment>CBS and I then had a selection of CBS programs.  The new version TVShows>ByNetwork>A-C and then stepping through a flat list of all the categories A though C (about 18 clicks just to reach CBS (or even a more complicated Search)…just to get to the list of CBS shows to scroll through.

Anyone for automated fines, just like Speed and Red Light cameras, for violating the three click rule?  Its about time!

ED

Dec
30
2012

Commentary – “Lack of Applications”

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Many commentators are critical about the small number of Applications in the Windows 8/RT ecosystem.  What I fail to see is their mention that the Windows 8/RT platforms are new…thus the number of applications is not at the same level as more “mature” platforms such as Apple’s iPad and Google’s Android.

Where Microsoft and Apple differ is the latter has provided a platform where the iPhone and assorted iPad devices share the same operating system and thus the same application base.  In Microsoft’s case, the Windows Phone 8 platform and the Windows 8/RT “metro” applications do not share the same operating system although they are similar.  The result: different compilations at best and some redesign at worse.

But another factor is key…how many applications does one need.  If there are 10,000 applications available (a very small number on any platform) how many are you going to use???  I have tablets on multiple platforms – iPad 1, Nexus 7, Motorola Xoom, and Microsoft Surface RT.  My average number of applications installed is generally about 50 and the ones I use frequently are probably less than 10.  So if the ecosystem has 10,000 or 100,000, as long as the few I use the device for are available, I’m OK…its the functionality that is import.  (Note: I sometimes install applications to see their functionality and then don’t use it much afterward)

In time, as the number of sales grow, the number of applications will likewise grow.   Look more to the device characteristics and operating system than the application suite…for that will follow for successful devices and operating systems.

ED