2025 Shave Purchase Sabbatical - The Battlestar Galactica Year

[KQY61]

Hi,

As the restraint settles out now that we are into the second quarter, time to post some non-shaving stuff. Such as Battlestar related stuff.

I was going to launch into Tektronix stuff from the bridge of TOS. But, first, I was reminded of something IBM Battlestar related from back in The Day.

This is a mainframe terminal keyboard:

Big. Heavy. Keys you can't kill with a sledgehammer. But, very costly to produce. And these were CRT terminals so the rest wasn't too costly. Balance in the force. Oops, wrong year!

What came along next was the IBM PC. We had to lower costs, and that included the keyboard:

My first job at IBM in 1981 was to make a way for a PC to emulate a 3278 / 3279 terminal. That required an adapter card and a way to convert the protocol of the PC ASCII keyboard to the mainframe EBCDIC.... Didn't take me too long though. It was called the 3270PC, model number was 5271 (the PC was 5150).

But if you look closely, the mainframe keyboard has 24 programmable function keys. The PC one has 12. What to do? Redesign the PC keyboard into a larger version and call it the Converged Keyboard. It was used on mainframe terminals after that as well.

And what does all this have to do with BSG?

Easy. We always called the Converged keyboard....

Battlestar Keyboard!

If the Cylons attack, we'll shoot keycaps at them!

Stan

 

[Bsamps]

Still in. My face has finally recovered from that single blade February nonsense that I attempted to do. Tonight's shave will be from the razor that was gifted to me.

That month kicked my face as well. I don’t think that I will ever participate in that event again.

 

[rockviper]

Maybe only go 27 shaves next time?

 

[Guido75]

Still in. My face has finally recovered from that single blade February nonsense that I attempted to do. Tonight's shave will be from the razor that was gifted to me.

That month kicked my face as well. I don’t think that I will ever participate in that event again.

Next time use a single brand of blades rather than a single blade - that might help get through the event in a more reasonable manner! No need for a bad shave!

 

[ruckin]

Hmm, I guess I failed on single blade February because I started a new blade on the 12th of February. I am still using that blade so I guess I would have been successful in single blade March (if there was such a thing).

My state has not changed so I am still not in. WRT keyboards.. when I started the only keyboard I got to interact with was on the card punch machine. The keys where noisy by todays standards and so was the punching (printing).

Ruckin - just one good shave after another.

 

[Goblin]

That month kicked my face as well. I don’t think that I will ever participate in that event again.

Most B&B events I sign up for in a fit of enthusiasm and then fail to participate much because "stuff happens". That is one where I I simply shudder at the very thought...I guess I might be able to manage it if I decided to only shave once a week or something!

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

Such as the IBM model 029 here?

Stan

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I think this can couple us to the bridge of the TOS Galactica. This is a Tektronix 4010 graphics terminal. Used for CAD work among other things. A vector graphics system, it was used for real in the show to draw all those neat Cylon ships on board the Vipers as well as the Battlestars.

Stan

 

[Bsamps]

Next time use a single brand of blades rather than a single blade - that might help get through the event in a more reasonable manner! No need for a bad shave!

Noted. I have almost a year to figure it out.

 

[Bsamps]

Most B&B events I sign up for in a fit of enthusiasm and then fail to participate much because "stuff happens". That is one where I I simply shudder at the very thought...I guess I might be able to manage it if I decided to only shave once a week or something!

It’s still fun. Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Then again, there’s no need to cause extra drama on such a sensitive area of our body.

 

[ruckin]

Hi,

I think this can couple us to the bridge of the TOS Galactica. This is a Tektronix 4010 graphics terminal. Used for CAD work among other things. A vector graphics system, it was used for real in the show to draw all those neat Cylon ships on board the Vipers as well as the Battlestars.

View attachment 2026469

Stan

Not sure I used that exact model card puncher ... but it was a close cousin. If the 4010 is the one you needed to hit the degaus to "clear the screen and start at the top" then yup I used those too. I figured that I had it made when I eventually got upgraded to using a vt52

Ruckin - remembers when 110 baud was fast and 300 was crazy fast.

 

[Guido75]

Crew,

For those needing to scratch an itch without getting into trouble

INFO! - The B&B 2025 Group Buy Brush will be happening!!

Several of us have been working with our dear friend Rudy Vey on a group buy brush for 2025. I think this year’s brush is magnificent and I hope you agree. The handle this year will pay homage to a classic many of us know and love. But unlike the original handle, this one will feature a...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I got my start on the IBM 3277-G which was an older (for 1981) text mainframe dumb terminal with a Tek graphics display alongside. Oh, and add a resistive joystick, too.

I think that was the same as the Tek 4010 minus the Tek keyboard. I recall the manual degaussing part on the color versions.

The original IBM PC had a similar setup. Both a mono text display alongside a color graphics one. And a resistive joystick. The early DOS was from a early Microsoft and they even ported the WWI air combat game from the 3277-G as part of their first Flight Simulator.

On the 3277-G we had to be creative with file names since they were on storage that the SysOps could see. Can't call it FlyAce or anything like that. We called in JStest for joystick test. Ha!

The ironic part was having learned drafting in high school to then get into the working world and using CAD. Start Over!

Stan

 

[Berwick12]

@KQY61 can you do a sound recording, maybe 15 seconds long, of you typing anything on one of those keyboards?. A wave or mp3 file of it and upload it? I would like to loop it so when somebody gives me a menial task instead of me telling them JFGI it'll at least sound like I have smoke coming out of my ears and I'm working very hard.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

Now, to the Tektronix stuff on our TOS bridge. TM-500 six-bay rack units mostly.

They have them in racks. They have them in consoles. Must have been loaned as all this stuff cost more than the series back then. This was state of the art stuff.

Of course, the graphics terminals steal the show.

What the idea was, is test equipment in modular form so everyone could build up custom test equipment and take up less room than the older individual box way.

They had six module frame and power supply units. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 bay units. They had single and dual bay instruments. So, one picked what frame was needed for a given set of instruments. Oh, and the 5-bay frame was in a suitcase form with lid for a portable option.

I think I only see 6-bay units in this shot.

Looks like they were fond of signal generator modules and oscilloscope modules. So, they could make up waveforms to then display on the scopes. And then DC power supply modules and Digital Multimeter modules, again, so they could make the meters display different readouts.

I am still using a few of these, all these decades later. One thing about Tek stuff is it lasts forever. I use a couple different waveform generators and a few DMMs still. One frame in 6-bay and in one of my racks. The other is a 3-bay and so I can put some modules in and carry it into the field.

I don't use the O-scopes. Oh, I have a few Tek scopes around but they are not TM-500 series ones. They are stand-alone field portable ones and a TM-7000 series rack mount unit (the 7000 series being for high end scope and spectrum analyzer use). The best TM-500 scope was 80 MHz and my lowest stand-alone scope is 150 MHz and the rack mount one is 750 MHz.

If anyone is interested in a list of what the TM-500 series had, here is a list:

TM500 system - TekWiki

w140.com

The page also lists the later TM-5000 series system. That added a data port so the instruments could be read from a PC.

Stan

 

[KQY61]

@KQY61 can you do a sound recording, maybe 15 seconds long, of you typing anything on one of those keyboards?. A wave or mp3 file of it and upload it? I would like to loop it so when somebody gives me a menial task instead of me telling them JFGI it'll at least sound like I have smoke coming out of my ears and I'm working very hard.

Hi,

Here is one I found. A Model F here. Noisier then a model M. Uses metal fly plates rather then plastic ones.

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/ibm-model-f-keyboard-typing-66064/

I'm not that fast a typist....

Stan

 

[Guido75]

Now, to the Tektronix stuff on our TOS bridge.

I am glad you are showing everyone an older , not too sharp, picture, Stan! Pictures of Galactica’s bridge are proprietary information!

 

[sylbub]

Back to basics - DE89 & Palmolive - Superb shave, sometimes less is more.
Still in

 

[ewk]

Crew,

For those needing to scratch an itch without getting into trouble

INFO! - The B&B 2025 Group Buy Brush will be happening!!

Several of us have been working with our dear friend Rudy Vey on a group buy brush for 2025. I think this year’s brush is magnificent and I hope you agree. The handle this year will pay homage to a classic many of us know and love. But unlike the original handle, this one will feature a...

www.badgerandblade.com

Rudy makes a darn fine brush handle. Here is the limited bog oak handle that McBlubbered me out of last year's restraint. Still my most used brush.

 

[Guido75]

And a lovely one for sure @ewk! And the STF knot is also an excellent knot at that!