<div dir="auto"><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Aug 9, 2019, 9:23 AM Alvin Starr via talk <<a href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">talk@gtalug.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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On 8/9/19 8:03 AM, Russell Reiter via talk wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Aug 9, 2019, 2:45
AM Kevin Cozens via talk <<a href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org" rel="noreferrer
noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">talk@gtalug.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On
2019-08-02 8:03 a.m., Russell Reiter via talk wrote:<br>
> On Fri, Aug 2, 2019, 7:23 AM Stewart C. Russell via
talk <<a href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org" rel="noreferrer
noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">talk@gtalug.org</a> <br>
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I recently discovered I have a cassette tape with 4K BASIC
for Altair 8800 <br>
dated 1976. I have now archived the audio on that cassette
that on to my <br>
computer. I have other cassette tapes I used with old
computers that I'm <br>
doing to digitize and attempt to decode.<br>
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<div dir="auto">There are also technologies which were developed
but which got overwhelmed by rapid changes in other areas. The
lazer optical turntable for playing old records is one. </div>
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<div dir="auto"><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable</a><br>
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<div dir="auto">Also from this link, a camera which scans the
vinyl grooves and uses software to reconstruct the sound. Both
of these technologies were eclipsed by compact disk
technology, yet each of them could (probably) non
destructively read the records and reconstruct the sound. Sort
of a microfiche picture treatment of sound, instead of its
traditional use for tiny copies of text and pictures.</div>
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The problem with records in general was the destructive playback
systems the more you loved your music the worse it got.<br>
The old 78RPM recordings were made of a shellac material that I
believe was more resilient than vinyl but both the masters and
produced records were subject to degradation with use.<br></div></blockquote></div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">There were lots of hand crank gramaphones around when I was a kid. Those shellac disks were brittle and since most of the players had old springs the playback speed was inconsistent, but that was all part of the fun.</div><div dir="auto"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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It is interesting to realize that a lot of this "old
school technology" has <br>
survived many a decade yet modern devices like CDs, DVDs,
and hard drives <br>
often have much shorter shelf lives.<br>
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<div dir="auto">One of the philosophical founders of media
theory, Marshal McLuhan said; "the medium is the message."
This is probably more true today than it was when he coined
the phrase, given all the hyperbole around the collection of
metadata on the net these days.</div>
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<div dir="auto">The issue with recording data electronically is
bit-rot. This problem is amplified by making a copy of a copy
of a copy etc. Having a master copy, no matter what the form,
would be be beneficial for any data recovery expert, should
they have an urgent need to reconstruct the original data
after suspected corruption.</div>
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bit-rot is not new but dates back to the earliest recording
technologies(clay tablets) where people copying something they would
make errors and the meaning of the work would change slightly.<br>
When books were copied by hand the error rate was very high but the
move to the printing press dramatically reduced the error rate.<br>
The current state of the art in error detection and correction has
an amazingly low error rate and some schemes can suffer large chunks
of data loss.<br>
What are the chances that someone on this mailing list will see a
misspelled word due to bit-rot?<br>
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I have some old records that I converted to digital recordings
because I liked the music and cranking up the old gramophone is so
much more work than point and click.<br>
I can assure you that my "master" copies suffered from bit-rot but
at least now the loss per replay has gone down by a factor measured
in 10 to the power of some number.<br>
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<div dir="auto">We can't reverse entropy, at least not yet. The
best we can hope to do is retard it. Whether data is corrupted
by dust and scratches in vinyl or cd records, we should always
be able to recreate the old technology used for the creation
of media at the time it was originally written. Except of
course that which is lost to the ancient past, like the lazer
anti gravity devices used by the Egyptians to cut and stack
rocks into pyramids. </div>
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<div dir="auto">We have the lazers but fall short on the
anti-gravity devices. Personally I believe that if we don't
bit-rot the planet first, we will get there eventually. <span style="font-family:sans-serif">;-)</span> <br>
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What happens when we digitally encode the world with next gen ECC
systems.<br>
We can live forever and never have to worry about forgetting our
stupid mistakes because they will be preserved with perfect digital
fidelity.<br></div></blockquote></div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Forgetting something is a great gift. One cancer researcher said that cannabis may help his patients because it makes the cancer cells forget to divide and multiply.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Its possible the universe may be entirely mathematical in nature and physicality is just one its many abstractions. The free electron theory led researchers to the god particle. However Professor Higgs said; I'm an atheist, so please don't refer to the discovery using that metaphore. At this point it may be more than just vague theory that the universe is holographic, with each bit of it mathematically predisposed to recreate itself in its own entirety.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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<pre class="m_-973255320141570591m_-8461712388760534553moz-signature" cols="72">--
Alvin Starr || land: (647)478-6285
Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133
<a class="m_-973255320141570591m_-8461712388760534553moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:alvin@netvel.net" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">alvin@netvel.net</a> ||
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