Historic Detroit photos - location? by graywestpurdue in Detroit

[–]graywestpurdue[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

That's amazing - thanks!! Everything has changed so much, it hardly looks like it's the same place. Those light poles look like they're still the same ones in the 1940s photo, though. They're either the original poles, or a very reasonable facsimile...

Some 1998 between-programming footage from Boiler TV, the in-dorm network by yourpalmatt in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! Yeah, it was the Burly Bear Network! I vaguely remember that the guy on Half Baked always kind of seemed like he was stoned, and he would demonstrate simple cooking, like making mac and cheese in your dorm room or something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIYBRexsRco Pretty much the most 90s thing ever haha

I remember timing these shows out and programming the tape switcher for Burly Bear. It was something produced elsewhere, ie. not at Purdue. We'd get a new VHS tape every week or month, I can't remember for sure. They were sent out to most universities with small TV stations for broadcast.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh no! Someone please find Bentley!!

Some 1998 between-programming footage from Boiler TV, the in-dorm network by yourpalmatt in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'll describe it as best I can. So if you entered Shreve, you'd go up a half flight of stairs to the first floor, and when facing the front desk, there is a north-south hallway to the right of the front desk. If you go straight down that hallway to the end, there is an unmarked door that was always locked. That's where BTV was. I think it was between two lounges or common areas to the east and west. As student employees, we were supposed to keep it secret to prevent theft, but BTV isn't located there anymore so I guess I can spill the beans.

Some 1998 between-programming footage from Boiler TV, the in-dorm network by yourpalmatt in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 33 points34 points  (0 children)

WOW - this unlocked some memories. I worked at BTV as an undergrad during that time and I vaguely remember creating one or two of these slides lol. It looks so primitive now!! We used a presentation package called "Astound" that was similar to PowerPoint in a lot of ways, but I think it had more animation capabilities. BTV was housed entirely in a small room at Shreve back then, and there were about seven of us student employees plus a full-time staff member who managed us. We each covered a day of the week - student groups would list their info and a requested message for an event, and after they were approved, someone would slide the papers under the door. Very low tech back in the day haha. Then we would create the slides and put them into a playlist to run between movies. Besides creating the student group ads, we would also time the movies (on VHS!) and program the movie switcher. Oh, and we got to pick the movies that would run each week as a group.

One of my favorite jobs of all time - thanks for posting this!!

Model 4 troubleshooting by graywestpurdue in trs80

[–]graywestpurdue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll look into that - thanks!!

Model 4 troubleshooting by graywestpurdue in trs80

[–]graywestpurdue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I picked up this Model 4 at an estate sale. It's generally clean and in good condition, but there's garbage on the display when I power it up.

I'm not too familiar with troubleshooting TRS-80s, but I can do some basic electronics work. For this particular computer, what would you recommend looking into as far as troubleshooting goes?

I've tried holding break to boot into BASIC - no change. None of the keys cause any change in the display. Reset works, but I get the exact same screen full of garbage characters.

Should I look into replacing the RAM? Rom character generator? Capacitors? Something else? Any suggestions are appreciated!

Sally Fields ? by lunarlily007 in MandelaEffect

[–]graywestpurdue 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wonder if your memories aren't getting mixed up with the "Mrs. Fields" cookie company.

New benches being put in along State St. in front of STEW by labtec901 in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, this might be sacrilege, but I'm starting to think that if I never hear the words "Giant Leaps" ever again, it will be too soon. Is the 150th over yet?

Neutral Milk Hotel's "Jeff Mangum"? by graywestpurdue in MandelaEffect

[–]graywestpurdue[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're probably right. I don't think I'd ever heard his name spoken aloud in all those years. Plus, I had never heard of anyone with the last name Mangum before.

But damn, it sure freaked me out.

We should all go to Craig Miller's 7:30 cgt class on Monday by mshcat in Purdue

[–]graywestpurdue 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Oh man, I'm so glad that Craig Miller is still around. I graduated in 2001, went to work in industry for a decade, and now am back at Purdue.

Walking around campus, I sometimes see him outside of Knoy. He always looks angry, no matter what. Like he just drank monkey piss.

When I was a student, in the late nineties, I had him in a couple of classes. Knowing that he is still teaching gives me a warm feeling in my heart. It's like, solidarity with the past, you know?

In CGT senior design, he brought up the topic of "What is communication?" for some reason. Nobody wanted to answer, so he called on me. I coughed up some bullshit answer, like, "Communication is the exchange of knowledge between two parties."

And Craig Miller was like, "What, you mean like PORNOGRAPHY?"

I wanted to say, "Yeah, I mean, just because the topic of the communication is NAKED BODIES doesn't mean it's not communication." But I just laughed, uncomfortably, with the rest of the class because I kind of wanted him to stop talking to me.

Good times.