Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Rudi
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Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

Post by Rudi »

Micro printing small tugboats and Startrek Voyager replicas to the length of 0.005mm and then making them self propellent too. I wonder what they really plan to do with these?? :grin:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/3/2154 ... croswimmer
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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In a galaxy very very tiny...
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Rudi wrote:
04 Nov 2020, 19:17
Micro printing small tugboats and Startrek Voyager replicas to the length of 0.005mm and then making them self propellent too. I wonder what they really plan to do with these?? :grin: [/url]
Hi Rudi.
I acknowledge the grin, but still and all note that my Grandpa (Benjamin) Greaves probably sniffled the same remark about ferrite cores back in 1952.
HIS grandfather, if my Dad was anything to go by, almost certainly sniffed at the paper clip in 1901. How was he to know that it would achieve its greatest use in a personal computer office application! :evilgrin:

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Chris
P.S. For those of you who don't know why Ferrite Core Memory was all the rage, please click here.
For those who didn't know that there once was Ferrite Core Memory with NO sense wire, please click here.
And for those of you who hate reading but like drooling over images of one-ton five-megabyte disk drives, please click here.
C
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Talking of IBM/360 core memory, I recount the story of one 'frame' of this stuff (costing the customer many hundreds of thousands of pounds) which was being off-loaded from an aircraft at Heathrow, as part of a second-hand 360/65 (I think), imported from the States. Unfortunately, an inexpert fork-lift truck driver put one of its forks (tines? prongs?) through the centre of the bottom third of the panel with some enthusiasm, thus rendering it functionally inoperative.
A replacement 'frame' had to be ordered from the US.
I don't know what happened to the hapless fork-lift truck driver, but we had to wait another couple of months to source a replacement, to enable the mainframe to be installed!
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Rudi wrote:
04 Nov 2020, 19:17
Micro printing small tugboats and Startrek Voyager replicas to the length of 0.005mm and then making them self propellent too. I wonder what they really plan to do with these?? :grin:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/3/2154 ... croswimmer
Are they visible to the naked eye? I can barely discern a WHOLE mm even with eyeglasses. :scratch:
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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BobH wrote:
04 Nov 2020, 22:10
Are they visible to the naked eye? I can barely discern a WHOLE mm even with eyeglasses. :scratch:
No, the smallest object the unaided eye can see is about 50 to 60 micrometers (0.05 to 0.06 mm).
The objects mentioned in the article are 2 to 10 micrometers (0.002 to 0.010 mm).
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

Post by Rudi »

Acknowledged Chris. I'll never turn my nose up to any technical or medical advancements. These have proven so valuable and miraculous in these times. :thumbup:

As Hans has indicated, Bob. :cheers:
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Rudi

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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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John Gray wrote:
04 Nov 2020, 20:40
... the story of one 'frame' of this stuff (costing the customer many hundreds of thousands of pounds) ...
Hi John.
From the RadioMuseum link in my post above "The cost of core memory declined sharply over the lifetime of the technology: costs began at roughly US$1.00 per bit and eventually approached roughly US$0.01 per bit. Core was in turn replaced by integrated silicon RAM chips in the 1970s."

On that same page "... my first computer which I could buy in 1972: a used IBM model 360-30, " which fascinates me. 1972 was just four years after I wrote my first 360/30 program; I don't know whether Ernst Erb bought it as a hobbyist, or whether this was a corporate purchase. I rather suspect the former because IBM was a "rental" company back then, wasn't it? I can't see them selling a computer, even second-hand. But then, what do I know?

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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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ChrisGreaves wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 11:47
IBM was a "rental" company back then, wasn't it? I can't see them selling a computer, even second-hand. But then, what do I know?
You clearly weren't around in the UK in that era, since some firms made a very good living importing IBM mainframes and DASD from the US and selling them on to UK companies (with appropriate 110 V -> 240 V transformers, of course!). IBM engineers were paid to do the decommissioning at the US end, and the recommissioning at the UK end, otherwise the hardware would not be accepted for maintenance and the provision of free operating system tapes, and acres and hectares of free IBM manuals!
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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John Gray wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 14:22
You clearly weren't around in the UK in that era, since some firms made a very good living importing IBM mainframes and DASD from the US and selling them on to UK companies (with appropriate 110 V -> 240 V transformers, of course!). IBM engineers were paid to do the decommissioning at the US end, and the recommissioning at the UK end, otherwise the hardware would not be accepted for maintenance and the provision of free operating system tapes, and acres and hectares of free IBM manuals!
Hello John. You are correct. I did not reach England's shores until November 1977, and even then I was immersed in ICL1903A COBOL for the duration. Liberated, I fled to Paris and almost drowned, back in assembly-languages.

I figured that with so many IBM mainframes around surely some of them must have gotten sold-on.
I just didn't see it as a business piggy-backed on the manufacter's sales.

I do know that in 1983 I dreamed that one day, when I retired, I would be able to afford an IBM1401 to park in my house basement, so that I would have my very own computer to program, :laugh: :rofl:
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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By 1983, the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the TRS-80, the ZX81, the BBC Micro, and the IBM PC already existed! So you didn't need an entire basement anymore.
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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HansV wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 14:48
By 1983, the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the TRS-80, the ZX81, the BBC Micro, and the IBM PC already existed! So you didn't need an entire basement anymore.
Well, yes, and by the end of 1983 I had a Radio Shack MC-10 and my then-wife's cassette player. The FORTH manuals and the MC10-BASIC let me build a FORTH interpreter and a Spanish=-language application, whose purpose I forget.
But for thirteen years my dream had been to negotiate for an unwanted 1401.

This afternoon my problem is "Which of the three laptops should I take to my overnight dog-sitting assignment?" :laugh: :laugh:
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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ChrisGreaves wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 15:24
This afternoon my problem is "Which of the three laptops should I take to my overnight dog-sitting assignment?" :laugh: :laugh:
Which of the three is the most chewable one? :evilgrin:
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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And my favourite also! The bbc electron. There was a RISC machine as well but I can't remember the name of it.

Lisa

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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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HansV wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 15:26
ChrisGreaves wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 15:24
This afternoon my problem is "Which of the three laptops should I take to my overnight dog-sitting assignment?" :laugh: :laugh:
Which of the three is the most chewable one? :evilgrin:
Ha!
Fergus would never chew my laptop because I always take with me a fresh batch of home-baked dog-biscuits which, since Cod, Moose, Rabbit etc swing through my house, is always welcomed by Fergus.
Mind you, I have learned to wait until their car is out of sight before broaching the zip-lock bag.
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Moose biscuits?
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Having been in the position in the '80s of acquiring mainframes and peripherals, I can say without qualification that I could purchase or lease IBM equipment and that from other manufacturers. We could buy/lease directly from IBM (who would want to buy what was known to become a boat anchor before its cost could be depreciated?) and other equipment manufacturers. We acquired a new system about every 3-4 years IIRC.

I recall seeing a YouTube series about a young man who a bit of a phenom with computers who bought an IBM 360 and installed it in his parents basement. The hardware was given to him for removal from its former environs but he had a very hard time finding the operating system software, as I recall. His parents made him pay the increase in the cost of household electricity which I think increased by several factors.
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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HansV wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 15:43
Moose biscuits?
I made a trivial response to this around 120 minutes ago, but the Submit seems to have failed after a long response (please see thread "Long wait (60+seconds) for the Lounge")
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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Wasn't there a movie some decades ago about vessels that were placed in the human circulatory system that reported back their experiences and sightings? Are we certain that these wee craft are recent and not props left from that production? :scratch:
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Re: Leiden University Physicists seem to be Bored :)

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LisaGreen wrote:
05 Nov 2020, 15:33
And my favourite also! The bbc electron. There was a RISC machine as well but I can't remember the name of it.

Lisa
That'll be the Archimedes...
John

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