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from the don't-take-yourself-too-damn-seriously dept.
https://vintagetek.org/tektronix-schematic-cartoons/:
Tektronix schematic draftsman redrew the engineers schematic for release in the instrument manuals. They must have had some jokers in the group because small cartoons found their way into some of the manuals and schematics. The schematic cartoons are subtle humor likely focused on the names the engineers gave some of the circuits or components. While we think we have found most of the cartoons, every now and then one of our restoration engineers shouts out from his bench that he found another. Send us a note if you find one that we have not. We are still looking for whatever instrument has this "Pilot Light".
[...] Cartoons also found their way into other documents including the 1956 Employee Handbook and ServiceScope. Arnold Rantala was a draftsman and drew a number of early cartoons. The April 1965 ServiceScope featuring Spectrum Analyzers has a number of nice cartoons including some on this block diagram.
Back in the day, I remember hearing you should get your signal generators from Hewlett Packard and your displays and analyzers from Tektronix. Good to see that Tek folk had a sense of humor, too!
For their VAX systems, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) went against the norm of providing a time-of-day clock (TOD clock) and had, instead, a time-of-year clock (TOY clock).
In this day and age of political correctness, what other companies take a light-hearted look at things and reveal it to the world? SpaceX comes to mind with the names of their drone ships on which they land their boosters (e.g. "Of Course I Still Love You"). Any others?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:39PM (2 children)
the *important* thing about VAX timekeeping is TIMEPROMPTWAIT, the amount of time VMS waited for you enter the current time during boot before asking again.
This parameter was expressed in microfortnights, which VMS approximated as seconds.
Haven't looked to see whether that's still the case in the Itanium port. Nor do I know whether it will be case in the x86 port.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Friday August 02 2019, @08:04PM
That's fun, in a nerdy way of course. "Microfortnights" - that's awesome.
I've always been amused by speed measured in: "furlongs per fortnight".
(Score: 1) by den Os on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:40PM
On VMS when a program exits the exit status code is translated to a (usually) meaningfull message.
One special value:
$ exit 2928
%SYSTEM-W-FISH, my hovercraft is full of eels
$
I guess the VMS folks at DEC were monty python fans.
Oswald
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @08:40PM (3 children)
Many of their high end bike frames are made from "Moron Tubing" -- it has more on the ends (commonly known as butted or double-butted tubing -- thicker on the ends for joining).
Photo at the bottom of this page, https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=133504 [thepaceline.net]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday August 03 2019, @04:12AM (2 children)
Support the vintageTEK museum. Jesus H. Christ, is anything sacred to the Jews? They're a people who even Jew their own god through a combination of eruvum and pilpul.
t. Lifelong Tektronix user. There are people starving on the streets and Tektronix wants to beg for monies?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @08:35AM
You're right. No one should spend their disposable money on anything other than food, housing, and everything else for the poor.
Of course, you don't have *anything* at *all* but the most basic of necessities, right? I mean, no computer, TV, only one fork and spoon. Right? Right?
Or maybe you're just arbitrarily deciding to pick on random things you don't like, and cry "But.. food! Starving!"?
I wonder if I audited your life, how much would you have spent on other things that *I* might deem silly.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday August 03 2019, @07:23PM
Corporations are people too!
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:56AM
The WWII German TigerFibel [alanhamby.com] was written in this style, with humour and cartoons throughout. That's a damn fine piece of training/technical documentation, something that many modern manuals could take a leaf from.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @09:09AM
I remember these: https://www.sm5cbw.se/tubes/humor.htm [sm5cbw.se]
About a decade ago I was dealing with Macintosh IIfx schematics reverse engineered from mainboard, there was a "twist" of data lines for expander. Near the "twist", AFAIR between bus and some expanding buffers, there was a cute drawing of an octopus with entangled tentacles. Anyone had these schematics too?
Well, they has a sense of humor too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:37PM
Something to do with not being able to copyright a schematic by itself but the cartoons were considered art and therefore copyrightable.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday August 03 2019, @07:25PM
If you don't make jokes at work, then post them on SN instead. But who would do a thing like that?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.