Anthony McPartlin is an English actor, singer and television presenter. He was born in 1975 at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He is popularly known as 'Ant', part of the 'Ant and Dec' duo act. Research Anthony McPartlin
Declan Donnelly is an English actor and television presenter and former singer. He was born in 1975 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was once one half of the pop duo 'PJ and Duncan' and later became known as one half of the television presenting team 'Ant and Dec'. Research Declan Donnelly
AutoCAD Release 10 is a two and three-dimensional computer aided drafting and design system. The product lets you define screens and optional pull-down menus and create parts libraries by drawing them, so the system can be geared to a specific requirement. The product is a general-purpose system suitable for a wide variety of applications including architectural and landscape drawings; drafting for mechanical, electrical, chemical, structural, and civil engineering; and printed circuitdesign. Drawing and editing features include move, copy, modify, dimension, scale, mirror, hatch, rotate, fill, and erase objects in a drawing. Repetitive patterns such as brick walls, memory arrays, or office components can be generated automatically. Colours and an unlimited number of layers may be used, allowing selective viewing or plotting of drawings as if on transparent overlays. The full bi-directional zoom facility allows you to work at any level of detail.
The ratio between the largest and smallest objects in a drawing can be over a trillion to one. An alignment grid can be displayed. Distances and areas can be calculated and displayed. Three-dimensional drawing capability, AutoCAD's most notable feature, lets you represent an object so it can be seen from any angle. AutoCAD Release 10 also features associative dimensioning, which automatically updates the dimensions of a drawing whenever an object is scaled, stretched, or rotated. Release 10 allows you to construct objects in CAD much as you would build a structure. The approach is modular; that is, each piece of the final drawing is created as a separate object. To build an office building, you define the plane for the front of the building, move to that plane or a view of that plane to draw, then move to the side defining a new plane, and soon until a complete two or three-dimensional structure stands. An analogy to drafting does not work because a drafting table cannot be situated in a three-dimensional plane.
AutoCAD Release 10 supports the Intel Above Board, which increases the speed at which large, complex drawings can be created and edited. It supports the Initial Graphics Exchange Standard (ICES, Version 2.0) for both input and output, so translations can be made between AutoCAD Release 10 and other systems supporting IGES. You can transfer AutoCAD Release 10 drawing files among four operating systems: PC or MSDOS, SunUNIX, DECVMS, and ApolloAEGIS. Research AutoCAD
CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) is an early microcomputer OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080 and Z80 based machines. It was very popular in the late 1970s but was virtually wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBMPC in 1981. Legend has it that Kildall's company blew its chance to write the OS for the IBMPC because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM's reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane. Many of CP/M's features and conventions strongly resemble those of early DEC operating systems such as TOPS-10, OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. Research CP/M
Datatalk is a menu driven communications package that has an underlying command language that allows the user to automate most operations, including file collection, transmission and printing. It can also provide access to a remote PC where any DOS applications can be executed, but with the display and keyboard entry occurring locally. In addition to dumb terminal operation,
Datatalk can emulate DEC VT52 and VT100, as well as Viewdata terminals. Unlike other programs on the market, the entire Viewdata character set can be viewed with any colour graphics or Hercules graphics board: no replacement ROMchips are needed. Datatalk can be used with modems that operate at speeds of up to 9600 baud. This package supports auto-dial and auto-answer modems and is packaged preconfigured for a wide variety of them. When emulating a Viewdata terminal, it will, if requested, capture screens for later viewing. It will also convert the graphics characters into normal text so that they can be loaded into other PC software. Up to 128 telephone numbers can be stored in the Datatalk telephonedirectory. The software will configure the serial port, select the correct terminal emulation, load pre-defined function keys, dial the number and perform automatic log-in. An optional file encryption module, Datacode, is available for users with sensitive data.
Datatalk emulates TTY, TVI 920, IBM 3101, ADDSA2, Lear Siegler ADM3A and ADM11, IBM 3101, Newbury 8089, Cifer, DEC VT52, Datatalk, Viewdata and VT100 terminals. It is best suited for accessing Viewdata services, like Prestel. Datatalk has some limitations, for example the VT100 emulation is not as sophisticated as some other products. In particular, it will not scroll horizontally to view all 132 columns on an 80 column screen. The text editor is restricted to 200 lines. When using this product to remotely configure another PC, it will only work with software that inputs and outputs using the BIOS services. Research Datatalk
DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) are a company founded by Kenneth Olsen and Harlan Anderson, both formerly of the MIT's Lincoln Laboratories. DEC was formed to build transistorised digital circuit modules and went on to produce the world's first minicomputer, and to become the world's major producer of minicomputers. Research DEC
The PDP-1 was the first product made by DEC, and was built to demonstrate the feasibility of building a fully-fledged stored-program computer from transistorised digital circuit modules. The PDP-1 was the first machine with random-access core memory to be sold for under $100,000 and was effectively the world's first minicomputer. Research PDP-1
The PDP-10 (Programmed Data Processor model 10) was a computer that made timesharing real. It was adopted in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, including the MITAI Lab, Stanford, and CMU. The
PDP-10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX machines (descendants of the PDP-11) when DEC recognised that the 10 and VAX product lines were competing with each other and decided to concentrate its software development effort on the more profitable VAX. The PDP-10 was finally dropped from DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the JupiterProject at DEC to build a viable new model. Research PDP-10
Reflection 1 and Reflection 1 Plus were designed by Hewlett-Packard 3000 experts to turn the IBMPC, XT, AT, or PS/2 into a fully functional HP 3000 workstation by emulating the HP 2392, 2622A, or 2624B (which activates advanced forms processing). They also emulate the DEC VT102 terminal. Both Reflection packages support speeds to 38.4K bps via direct connect. Screen features similar to those of the HP 262x as well as complete block-mode capability for V-3000 are supported. 132- column display is available through horizontal scrolling. Both Reflection packages include a proprietary built-in application programming interface (API), allowing programmers to extend the terminal emulation capabilities of the package by writing DOS applications to existing host programs. Manual terminal emulation commands, such as typing on a PC keyboard, or issuing host commands, can be simulated through API commands. In addition, both packages support Codepage 863, and print to disk capabilities. Reflection supports a type-ahead key buffer so
you do not have to wait for your HP 3000 print spoolings. It includes a complete system for transferring files between the PC and the HP 3000, VAX under VMS, and most UNIX and HPUX systems. Hostresident error checking programs are included as is support for XMODEM, with cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and KERMIT protocols. Reflection 1 Plus included all functions of Reflection 1, and added a function which lets you back up and restore PC files to a file on a VAX running VMS or UNIX. The host file transfer program maintained an internal structure in the backup file to keep track of all the PC files it contains. If something disastrous occurs and you needed to restore one or more files, you could tell Reflection 1 Plus to restore files in all subdirectories as well as the files in the specified directory. By using the command language program to invoke the backup procedure ensures timely, accurate, and automated file backups. Reflection 1 Plus supports LANS such as DEC's LAT, Novell, 3Com, Ungermann-Bass, and LANs that use interrupt 14. Both programs
support multitasking or background mode operation, so you can run DOS applications in the foreground, and hotkey back to your host session. Research Reflection 1
Reflection 2 is a software program designed to turn an IBMPC, XT, AT, or PS/2 into the functional equivalent of DEC's VT52, 102, 220, and 320 terminals. The program shares some benefits offered by other Reflection products, such as background multitasking, and on-screen 132-column display (with supported adapters).
Reflection 2 Plus includes all functions of Reflection 2, and adds a function which lets you back up and restore PC files to a file on a VAX running VMS or UNIX. The host file transfer program maintains an internal structure in the backup file to keep track of all the PC files it contains. If something disastrous occurs and you need to restore one or more files you can tell Reflection 2 Plus to restore files in all subdirectories as well as the files in the specified directory. By using the command language program to invoke the backup procedure; timely, accurate, and automated backups of files can be ensured. Reflection 2 Plus supports LANs, such as DEC's LAT, Novell, 3Com, IBM's PC Network, Ungermann-Bass, and LANs that use interrupt 14. Both Reflection packages include a proprietary built-in application programming interface (API), allowing programmers to extend the terminal emulation capabilities of the package by writing DOS applications to existing host programs. Manual terminal emulation commands, such as typing on a PC keyboard,
or issuing host commands, can be simulated through API commands. In addition, both packages support Codepage 863, DEC SIXEL graphics, and print to disk capabilities. Research Reflection 2
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Anthony McPartlin
