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A restored PDP-11/83 serving this page on 211BSD Unix

100 points · 45 comments · davepl

  1. mlmonkey · · focus · HN ↗
    Why is the domain `pdp1173.com` when the machine is a PDP 11/83 ?
    1. ktm5j · · focus · HN ↗
      There's a couple eyebrow raising things about this post.. like the fact that there's nothing but vague details in text and one photo with an AI prompt like alt-text. I think they're just trying to get clicks for that banner ad.
      1. roryirvine · · focus · HN ↗
        Sadly, the site does seem AI-flavoured to a rather off-putting extent.

        And, as you say, the details are so vague - it's exactly what you might expect if an LLM wrote them based on reading a spec sheet rather than any practical experience.

        In particular, connecting that DEQNA to a modern network must have been a huge challenge all in itself and I'd have expected there to be a series of blog posts about just that. Maybe it's legit (and I'd love more detail if it is), but right now the presentation screams "thinly disguised ad".

        1. dboreham · · focus · HN ↗
          Dave posts frequently about his work, some on YouTube and some on Facebook. You have to be in the right groups on FB.
          1. ktm5j · · focus · HN ↗
            You and several other people here are making unsubstantiated claims about how you're super sure this is real in a way that makes it seem less real. You guys seem to know this Dave character and are doing him a solid, right?
            1. dcminter · · focus · HN ↗
              Dave Plummer's a well known YouTuber. He pops up in a couple of DEC groups that I'm in on Facebook. However I'm not a fan. He seems to take a lot and contribute only self-promotional videos.

              The photo on this page looks very AI heavy. I'm not an expert but I really don't think those light panels are real (if they're real they're not contemporary to the machines they're in).

              (Edit: I should qualify that I don't mean the panel with the octet switches, that looks roughly right - I mean the one under the 8" disks and the one on the vaguely Vax-pedestal looking thing)

              1. ktm5j · · focus · HN ↗
                Okay gotcha, sorry I was jumping to conclusions.
                1. dcminter · · focus · HN ↗
                  Given the AI-heavy page, I don't think your skepticism was unreasonable.
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