
MDT9100 - zdw
https://trmm.net/MDT9100
======
runjake
Back when the local cops had these, a bunch of us used to intercept their
communications with radio scanners and some software from the L0pht or some
such.

The cops would use them like some early form of proto-instant messaging with
apparently no oversight.

Lots of stories about sexual conquests, "check this slut's cleavage on 6th and
Monroe out", etc. I remember one interesting conversation one night, where a
patrol unit was requesting permission to pull over a train that was speeding
through town too fast.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
My guess is that its less likely it was without oversight, but that oversight
wasn't concerned about the contents of messages perceived to be secure. And
was this before FOIA? I feel like FOIA put a lot more government entities on
alert to keep internal communications professional.

~~~
Semiapies
The FOIA was effective in 1967; it became a bigger thing in by the late 70s.

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LeoPanthera
I have one of these, if you have any questions. I object to gutting them -
they're amazing little devices as-is. Some notes:

You can hold down Shift while booting to let you into the Windows 3.0 Program
Manager so that you can edit the GUI. (It is not, as claimed in the article,
Windows 3.1.)

Holding down Alt-Shift allows you to edit the boot drive, and then there's a
SYNC script to write your changes back. But it is VERY EASY to irretrievably
brick the device doing this, so be ultra ultra careful.

~~~
JonathonW
Maybe yours is running a different version of the software? The second picture
in the article looks like it's running the original software, and it shows
Windows 3.1 (running in 386 Enhanced Mode).

Agreed that it seems like a shame to gut the device. If it didn't boot, it'd
be a different matter, but this one looks fairly functional-- seems like
destroying a bit of history to me.

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tlb
That is a cool machine. It makes me think of something I wish I had: a
portable computer that's (a) only usable for hacking, not surfing or gaming
and (b) looks like it's for hacking.

Making good hacker laptops could be a great business. Similar electronics to
gaming laptops but with very different industrial design.

~~~
blacksmith_tb
Well, there's the Novena[1], depending on what kind of hacking you had in
mind...

1: [https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-
kosagi/novena](https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena)

~~~
thanksDr
I bought a Novena as an act of personal faith. I don't regret it, as it was a
religious choice.

It is completely unsuitable for browsing, that's for sure!

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threeio
Its funny that I remembered the new york resistor group as the people who did
my teensy morse code keyboard, when in fact its the same dude.
([https://trmm.net/Morse_Code_keyboard](https://trmm.net/Morse_Code_keyboard))

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tyingq
The rest of Trammel's site is worth looking at. He's constantly doing
something cool and interesting. I particularly like the sections on driving
analog displays...he gets asteroids running on an oscilloscope, for example.
In another post, he gets the PRU's in a Beaglebone black to drive the video
display on an old Mac SE. Working well enough to display X11.

~~~
timthorn
Nearly 20 years ago I was following the progress of his "Autopilot" project
closely, to create an autonomous rotorcraft out of a remote control helicopter
base platform. Tram went on to commercialise that through Rotomotion, but he's
moved on since.

[http://autopilot.sourceforge.net](http://autopilot.sourceforge.net)

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loeg
1.7A is pretty impressive (as in, substantial, for what that device does). My
2018 16-core PC draws like 0.5A at idle and the 30" LCD another 1.25A.

~~~
wtallis
Are you saying your desktop idles at 6 W, or are you comparing current draw
without regard to voltage difference?

In my experience, 30-50W is a more typical figure for a desktop to be drawing
from the wall when idle but not put to sleep.

~~~
loeg
No, I'm saying my desktop idles around 60W and the monitor takes about 150W,
on a 120V circuit. You're right, I didn't notice the article's 1.7A figure was
on a 12V circuit.

