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To: Monkey Face
My memories of Las Vegas are very, very few. I was there for an exhibition -- my company was showing off its brand-new line of networked microcomputers (very rare in those days -- the first IBM PC had not yet appeared on the market) but we were having problems with them not (always) booting up. So I spent most of the show holed up in a closet somewhere, trying to figure out what was wrong in the code.

It wasn't until several weeks later that I found the problem, and then by accident. I had had an oscilloscope hooked to one of the machines' main voltage supply, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a very brief pulse downward while the machine was booting. After many tries I found the 'scope settings that would show it and... sure enough, my boss had designed the power supply with very slim margins (to save cost), and there was an instant in the boot sequence where more power was needed than the supply could provide, so the voltage dipped barely into the region where the processor could become unstable. grrr...

That's my main memory of Las Vegas. *\;-)

Don't know how much time I'll have free. Little during the days, likely, though evenings may be possible.

2,082 posted on 12/19/2007 3:40:05 PM PST by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: sionnsar

Evenings are best to see free things here, anyway. BUT! IF you decide to ride the Strip Bus, hide your wallet in a front pocket or someplace difficult to get to. Pickpockets like to ride, and though RTC tries to do all they can, you can still lose valuables.

That also holds true if you’re on a walking tour. They love to bump into you. The best is to carry things in a small flat “purse” that you can hang around your neck.

(This used to be such a nice “small town.”)


2,083 posted on 12/19/2007 4:06:51 PM PST by Monkey Face ("People with no vices usually have some pretty annoying virtues. " Liz Taylor)
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