betamaxthetape

I'm typing this from my rarely-used Chrome install. Firefox just broke for me, and killing all the processes and / or restarting isn't helping.

Edit: I am on Firefox 91.4.1esr, so clearly it isn't just the latest versions that are affected.

Indeed it can - if the impedances are not matched correctly, the transmitted signals can end up being reflected back down the antenna, causing damage to the transmitter.

The Wikipedia article on Standing Wave Ratios [1] has more on this topic.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave_ratio

It seems that the flow has reduced somewhat in recent months: Alexa haven't been providing crawl data to the Internet Archive since January 2021. (You can see this by looking at the "Items" graph on the Alexa Crawls collection [0])

[0] https://archive.org/details/alexacrawls?tab=about

No effect, I believe, since Alexa haven't been providing crawl data to the Internet Archive since January 2021.

You can see this by looking at the "Items" graph on the Alexa Crawls collection [0]

(I am not associated with the Internet Archive - just a very happy user!)

[0] https://archive.org/details/alexacrawls?tab=about

HyperCard 3.0 was an unreleased in-development version of HyperCard that Apple was developing in the late 1990s before the entire project was cancelled. So I suspect that wasn't the version your parents got you!

(On the other hand.... if it actually was, please get in touch! I've been looking for a copy for years.)

I'm impressed at the level of detail in this guide, and have bookmarked it for when I (eventually) get round to fixing my decks (one with an electrical issue affecting the left channel, one with mechanical issues, and several more with just general "issues" that will need to be diagnosed before any repair can be carried out!)

Join Archive Team [1]! As that site says, "Archive Team is a loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage". We have a number of volunteers actively monitoring various sites and searching for others that are shutting down (there's a lot), which are noted on the Deathwatch [2].

Typically the process is as follows:

1. A site announces it is shutting down.

2. Archive Team discovers the site is closing and adds it to the Deathwatch.

3. Members of Archive Team collaborate to write scripts to extract user data from the website, using an existing archiving framework [3] developed for / by Archive Team.

4. Members of the public are invited to run instances of the archiving software [4], resulting in a distributed archiving network. This is often quite powerful, and has to be managed carefully to avoid overloading the site being archived.

5. Once completed, the data is (in many cases) uploaded to the Internet Archive to be stored permanently. Note that Archive Team is not affiliated with the Internet Archive, although we greatly appreciate their willingness to host this sort of data.

I'm not particularly actively involved with Archive Team at the moment (too busy with real life!) but I was heavily involved with a few projects, the most significant being the project to archive Yahoo Groups in 2019, which was quite complex due to the site structure (and Yahoo being less than helpful [5]). We got a lot (much more than I ever expected to get) but the majority of all that data was deleted.

[1] http://wiki.archiveteam.org/

[2] http://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Deathwatch

[3] http://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Dev/Seesaw

[4] http://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/ArchiveTeam_Warrior

[5] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/verizon-reported...

As someone who scrapes sites as a hobby..... I can only wish you good luck! ;)

So long as you're small, and aren't either (a) stealing away too many customers or (b) imposing too large a load on the site's resources, you'll probably be fine. But once you get large enough to be noticed, you may have a problem.

This is an interesting idea. I agree with you that going to get a Covid test from a local pharmacy has made me wish that other similar diagnosis were available from pharmacies, rather than requiring a trip to a hospital.

I'm curious as to how you will integrate into the existing UK healthcare system. Will you have access to my NHS records? Will the results of these tests appear on my NHS records? Will these tests be covered by the NHS?

(I'm not in the healthcare profession so please forgive me if these questions are obvious to those that work in the UK healthcare!)

I don't want to detract from the article, but that picture is a bit odd. You've got a Macintosh Classic (or Classic II, which shares the same case) with the Apple logo and model name covered over (why?).

Then there's the keyboard / mouse combination. The keyboard is an Apple Keyboard II [1] (or a minor variant - there were a few different models, with adjustable height and different switches), which came with the Macintosh Classic and uses the ADB connection. But the mouse is a Macintosh Mouse (M0100) [2], that uses the DE-9 connector, a connector that the Classic / Classic II did not have.

I know this is being pedantic, and in the end it doesn't matter, but it does annoy me that the computer / keyboard / mouse combination presented would not work together. Like the above poster, I expected better of the Harvard Innovation Lab.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_keyboards#Apple_Keyboard...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_mice#Macintosh_Mouse_(M0...

This is really interesting and not something I was aware of. (Although now the fact that an hour of MiniDV footage is 12GB makes more sense!).

I wonder if this is what DV Rescue (linked in my above post) is doing? If it's not doing this, it's certainly something that it should be doing.

You're also 100% spot on with the idea of using different drives to recover "tricky" tapes - I have two MiniDV camcorders exactly for that purpose. But I was doing it the "long" way of trying a tape in one, and if it didn't work well, trying it in the other. It didn't occur to me that I could try combining the results of both.

A quick online search leads me to Data8 [1], which I admit I've never heard of. Do you think that could be the format you're thinking of?

I know that SCSI drives were made for DDS [2], which (at least, initially) used the same tapes as the DAT audio format. But those used 4mm tapes, so probably aren't what you have.

Alternatively, it could have been a custom built system that recorded data onto video 8mm tapes. That will probably be a bit harder to get the data off unless you know the details of the setup used.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data8

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Data_Storage

Once the tapes have been digitized, the excellent and open source DV Analyzer tool [1] can be used to inspect the digitized file and produce a report indicating sections where there may be issues with the video and / or audio of the tape.

I digitized a large number of family MiniDV tapes a few years ago, since the quality of the footage on the original tapes is better than the DVD recordings made at the time (due to both the DVD MPEG2 recording scheme and the fact that the camera was connected to the DVD recorder over composite video). But some sections of a few of the tapes had suffered serious deterioration, rendering the resulting footage unwatchable.

Using DV Analyser was a great and quick way to identify the clips with a higher than expected number of errors, so I could try to re-grab those tapes, and (if that failed) go back to the DVD recordings. Much quicker than watching every video through in real-time!

There's also the DV Rescue tool [2] (also open source), which seems to actively assist in fixing detected errors, but I haven't got any experience with that.

[1] https://mediaarea.net/DVAnalyzer

[2] https://mediaarea.net/DVRescue

I thought this was interesting due to the type of light bulb. LED and CFL lighting has been known to cause RF interference [1], but I wasn't aware that it was also possible with incandescent bulbs.

[1] https://www.ukqrm.org.uk/lighting.php

This tool appears to be using the Wayback Machine's CDX index to assist with the download.

The CDX basically lists all the pages of the site that are archived in the wayback, as well as when each page was archived (e.g: "page x was archived 3 times, on these dates"). Using the CDX allows the tool to download a specific copy of the site (e.g: the latest) rather than trying to download every copy of the site that the wayback machine has.

This is important because for most sites, the wayback has multiple copies, and they're all interlinking. For example, the copy from May 2020 might not be complete so one of the links in that copy will take you to the January 2018 copy. Not a problem for a human viewer, but a bot / crawler will see pages in the January 2018 copy as separate from those in the May 2020 copy, so will begin downloading the January 2018 copy (because wayback URLs are of the form web.archive.org/<timestamp>/<archive-url> rather than web.archive.org/<archive-url>/<timestamp>). This copy will (inevitably) lead to other copies made at different dates, and before you know it you're downloading hundreds or even thousands of copies of the same site.

[source: tried to download a site from the wayback machine several years ago using wget - it didn't end well!]

Sony equipment use to have a way of doing this as well, via the S-Link[1] / Control-A1 bus on stereo equipment (and some video equipment too, I believe). There's a handy Arduino library[2] for doing this - a couple of years ago I added support for the dual cassette deck I have, although the PR hasn't been merged yet. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the Slink-e [3], a commercial product that seemed to be very capable (unfortunately it is now discontinued).

In fact, these protocols are (I believe) more capable than a regular "Remote" socket since they allow bi-directional communication, meaning you can both send commands to the equipment and request data from them. But it's been a while since I've looked at them in detail.

Also, I recall being confused by the several (seemingly incompatible) systems offered by Sony: S-Link, Control-A1 and Control-A1 II.

[1] http://www.brian-patti.com/s-link/

[2] https://github.com/Ircama/Sony_SLink

[3] http://www.nirvis.com/slink-e.htm

The machine I have is very similar to that (Tascam 38), although the Teac 80-8 has the advantage of being able to run at the correct speed (7.5ips while the Tascam 38 only runs at 15ips).

From reading the papers published at the time (mid-to-late 60s), it seems the encoding scheme was based off a comb-filter, although I don't honestly understand enough to actually describe how it works.

I've had the tapes for around 5 years now, and managed to do basically nothing. It would be good to finally make some progress! I'll send you an email.

They are half-inch wide 7-track tapes. It's the 7-track bit that makes them difficult to read (I have a half-inch machine but it's 8-track). I think it was NASA and a few other government agencies using this 7-track format (or 1-inch 14-track), rather than the 1/2-inch 8-track / 1-inch 16-track used in audio studios.

The workflow for these tapes is described on the Chilton Computing website [1].

(Note: this is analogue 7-track, not to be confused with the digital 7-track format used by early IBM mainframe machines).

[1] http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/applications/satelli...

A great "tear down" of a really interesting device. I'd be curious how you ended up with this?

I'm sceptical that the satellite is Ariel 1 or Ariel 2 for two reasons: (a) Ariel was the British satellite programme, and I think that General Electric would have based the design on an American satellite. (b) Ariel 2 was build by Westinghouse, a rival to GE. My guess would be that it's a generic design, but I would love to hear an update if you find out for sure.

(I'm interested in the Ariel satellites, particularly Ariel 3, since I've ended up with a few of the original Ariel 3 telemetry tapes from the STADAN tracking stations. Still trying to work out a viable way to read / understand them...)

It is important to note that "debt" is perhaps a misleading term when considering student loans in the UK. The money must be repaid as a percentage of earnings (9% of everything earned above £27,295, so if you don't earn above £27,295 you don't pay anything), and after 30 years any remaining debt is wiped. In this way the "debt" is much more equivalent to a tax than a loan.

Money Saving Expert have a very good guide that details this further [1].

[1] https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tui...

The Twitter website on mobile devices. I've just timed myself to see how long it took to view my own twitter profile on my phone (I don't use Twitter on my phone, hence I'm not logged in).

It took 15 seconds to load the profile, but I couldn't view any tweets until I'd pressed the "Not Now" button to the pop-up asking me to install the app. Five seconds later, I was able to view my most recent / pinned tweet.

This is all for a service that delivers a timeline of (primarily) text, with some images and video. It should not take 20 seconds to load!

I'd agree that mechanical mechanisms may break more easily than microprocessor equivalents, but I'm not sure about the argument that they are more difficult to repair.

With microprocessor-driven systems, the solutions seems to be to replace the entire PCB, which is often completely custom to the manufacturer or even the specific model of machine. Trying to source a reasonably priced replacement is often difficult, and there's no easy way to diagnose and repair a broken PCB.

HyperCard did get a fairly substantial upgrade with HyperCard 2.0. Indeed, the second version of The Complete HyperCard Handbook included another interview with Bill Atkinson, discussing some of the changes made and the direction HyperCard was heading in.

The real trouble for HyperCard came when it was moved to the Claris subsidiary, who started charging for it [1]. No longer was the full version bundled with every Mac sold, which had helped HyperCard become ubiquitous until that point.

[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/apples-lost-decade-hypercard-a...

I believe so. At least, they accept donations of wax cylinders.

https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360017876312-How-...

Optical turntables have major issues with dust and dirt. The records need to be extensively cleaned prior to being played [1], even for unplayed "virgin" vinyl. 78rpm (shellac) records are older than vinyl records, and tend to have more dust / dirt, so would require a lot of cleaning prior to archiving.

Although the more expensive of the optical turntables (the LT-master) has 78rpm capabilities, such capabilities are optional even on this high-end version.

I think it's basically down to costs - the costs of cleaning each record (I know they're cleaned already, but the process may need to be more involved to remove all dust), along with the tens-of-thousands for the player, probably don't make this economical on the scale the Internet Archive are looking for.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable#Performance

It's worth noting that the Internet Archive are always on the lookout for more records to digitize, so if you (or someone you know) has a collection and wants to see them go to a good home where they'll be preserved, you can donate them [1] to the Internet Archive (they also take 33/45rpm records, books, CDs, etc...).

(I'm not affiliated with the Internet Archive)

[1] https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360017876312-How-...

Indeed. The "gayme" one you mention is called Caper in the Castro, and is considered one of (if not the) earliest known LGBTQ video games.

https://obscuritory.com/adventure/caper-in-the-castro/

I've mentioned this several times on HN before, but I maintain a collection [1] of over 3,500 HyperCard stacks hosted by the Internet Archive. The great thing about modern technology is they're all emulated in-browser - just select the one you want and press start.

You've got silly little animations[2], sound samplers[3], choose-your-own adventure stories[4], reference guides[5] and teaching materials[6]. But there's so much more in the collection.

I thoroughly recommend that those unfamiliar with HyperCard have a browse of the collection and see what was made possible by this groundbreaking 1980s tool.

I'm always looking for more stacks for the collection - if anyone reading this has any (either already as digital files or on floppy disks), please do email me: HyperCardOnline@gmail.com

[1] https://archive.org/details/hypercardstacks

[2] https://archive.org/details/hypercard_computer_sind_doof

[3] https://archive.org/details/hypercard_cheapsequencersit

[4] https://archive.org/details/hypercard_inigo_gets_out

[5] https://archive.org/details/hypercard_macprinters-11

[6] https://archive.org/details/hypercard_usgs---teaching-earth-...

There's also the FluxEngine: http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/

(I use it as it has support for reading and writing 800KB Mac disks, which would otherwise require a special floppy drive that can change the rotation speed).

I assume there are off-site backups, though?

Asking as someone who was impacted by the OVH fire last week, and I didn't have recent backups and therefore lost data.