"I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch."
Posted on 03/08/2019 7:02:08 PM PST by cba123
Remember the phrase: Spring Back, Fall Forward.
s/
lol
That was an adventure...Ad block says it blocked 31 ads on that page. Took forever to get everything sorted out and load...not going to tom’s guide again.
Anyway, this means my old GPS might be no more good, won’t hurt much though, I rarely use it. Plugs into lighter type.
I was learning computer repair during Y2K. While that night happened, I was actually at an AF Base across the Potomac from the Capitol, watching two small planes fly around.
We set up a couple of computers to test everything out. One Windows 98, the latest OS at the time, and a couple running DOS, win95 and Win 3.11. The only problem we had was the win98 machine was set to think it was actually Oct 2099 instead of 1999, everything else on the network refused to open files created on that computer, the date didn’t exist yet.
Otherwise, even DOS on an old 286 worked fine. Not a problem anywhere, just the one issue, which was understandable. Transfer a file created on 10/21/2099 to a computer with the date set 10/21/1999 and it just wouldn’t open that file, date hadn’t happened yet.
We set up a DOS and windows machine to change the date while the date changed from 1999 to 2000 at midnight. No problems. Let it change while it was up and running, no problems. Set one up 100 years in the future...that was the only way we could get it to show us a problem. Everything else was fine, we played network games against that machine. Surfed online. Printed out files. Remote printing. Just that one thing was all we could find, and we tried every scenario we could think of.
The problem there was different, of course. People had been using a 2 digit date format for years. Oct 21, 1999 was 10/21/99. Not 1999, just 99. So what does the computer do when it rolls over to 2000? Go back to the year 00? Computers hadn’t been programmed to recognize the difference. It turned out it was a nothingburger though, everything just plodded right along...a bit slower of course, the fastest CPU at that time was the mighty Pentium 233MMX...64MB RAM to add to it would set you back a C note...biggest hard drive in existence was about 4.3GB...We were freakin out over the new Matrox PCI video card with 2MB memory...
now dat was a screemin’ machine ya know...My personal machine was a 233MMX, 64MB RAM, Matrox video and 2.8GB Hard drive, Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16...I think it had an 8 speed CD ROM...Can’t remember the monitor, 15” CRT...
LOL!
Unless your in AZ. Then ya dont give a rip which way.
One other state also. Cant remember which one though.
Its Hell getting old.
It was not a hoax. We reprogrammed millions of EPROMS to fix Y2K issues. Worked 24 hour shifts at Arrow Electronics programming center.
Yes, hucksters made a lot of $$ on hyping the crap out of it, but the problem was real. A lot of people worked hard to avoid the doom. You’re welcome.
In the end, Y2K was a nothing burger due to years of preparation.
I worked for a mainframe manufacturer. We started more than five years before midnight on December 31st, 1999 examining all of the hardware and software we ever sold. Had to identify all instances of two digit years and make a plan to update everything installed worldwide.
It was also a massive undertaking to educate all of our customers on what we were doing and how to inspect and repair all of their application software. Likewise to educate all of our worldwide support employees.
We wrote manuals and held classes. In many cases, customers with really old hardware and software had to upgrade or purchase new as well as update their applications. We provided features in our operating system to simulate the date and time turnover.
I spent many weekends at customer sites installing new hardware or software, or updates, or performing tests.
So while it all appeared seamless to users, it was quite traumatic within the industry. The after effect was that all large computer users were fully up-to-date and would not have to make any purchases for several years. That is what earned me a buyout and early retirement in 2001 after 37 years.
Gee, wonder how those of us who have thousands of hours of flying time before GPS ever managed to get from A to B?
The GPS problem will spur as many disasters as the Y2K problem did.
Remember all of those?
Neither do I.
GPS is totally vulnerable to spectrum jamming radio signals. It even drops in lightening storms. I would NEVER get in a driver less car. They are worthless.
On the gps satellites the week number for the oldest and most common signal is represented with 10 bits. This means the week number rolls over at 1024 weeks, or about every 19 and a half years. The second occurrence of this is next month. So it’s already happened once before.
It’s not a problem unless the GPS receiver can’t handle the rollover and most are able to do so out of the box or with a software upgrade. So it’s really up to each receiver vender to handle it.
If your phone suddenly stops working next month, you know what to complain to tech support about. 😝
"I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch."
re: “People had been using a 2 digit date format for years. Oct 21, 1999 was 10/21/99. Not 1999, just 99.”
Fail.
THINK about lone re-payment schedules, little booklets that had ALL those coupons pre-printed ... somebody had all that covered FOR DECADES before Y2K ..
Geesh.
I quit fling almost 20 years ago and do not even read the periodicals anymore, but I am certain that as of yore the modern high performance aircraft have multiple systems.
Not just two of everything, but multiple nav systems.
Here is a link that gives an overview:
/http://www.aviainfo.gov.mv/downloads/operations/pbn/pbn_p1_c2.pdf
GPS is just a icing on the cake. You coud turn the GPS off and still navigate to any point in the world and land on a CAT II or III airport.
That link looks strange, so a short note.
Most all modern aircraft have nav systems known as VOR, Distance masuring, Loran, and the old standby, ADF
The big iron will have inertial navigation systems and inertial reference systems.
There are several more, but this makes the point.
Plus even with total nav system failure, there is ATC radar and excellent ratio communication between the controllers and the aircraft....and military airports can put the wheels on the runway with radar and pilot communication only and can do so when the ducks are afraid to even walk.
The guy that wrote the article has no idea what he is talking about in-so-far as aviation goes.
re: “GPS is totally vulnerable to spectrum jamming radio signals.”
Who’s jamming you? If it’s “jamming”, the jammer can be found toot-sweet.
If *anything* emits, trust me, I can located it (AND so can others). I do this on a regular basis, usually for power line noise, and THOSE sources can be pretty intermittent at times, located on a pole almost anywhere in terms of accessibility. That’s when a mountain bike and hiking boots come in to play.
” Remember the phrase: Spring Back, Fall Forward.”
NOOOOOO....spring FORWARD and fall BACK. set the clock ahead an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall.
re: “ We started more than five years before midnight on December 31st, 1999 examining all of the hardware and software “
And BANKS had been making loans (mortgages) for HOW MANY YEARS into the future? Think amortization schedules (I had one for my house because of a second note.)
(Not to mention bonds, other multi-year financial instruments payable on some FUTURE date well past the year 2000 WITH clauses for early redemption as any time.)
This whole thing was - a charade.
Puppy uppers and doggie downers.
Better living through chemistry.
CHEERS!
re: “Most all modern aircraft have nav systems known as VOR, Distance masuring, Loran, and the old standby, ADF”
Gotcha there; ADFs are just about totally gone. LORAN C has been history for awhile now. There was thoughts of bringing back LORAN C in a limited form, but I don’t think that has materialized beyond some tests 7 - 8 years back.
Note that I made a specific point that I quit about 20 years ago and don’t know what has happened since other than a story here or there.
Much too old to fly now.
But thanks for the correction.
As for the ADF, when I quit there were still quite a few small airports that had no more than that for an instrument approach. Some surrounded by mountains.
And I used Loran a lot. It was primarily useful in areas with good ATC radar coverage where the controllers were friendly and would allow direct (off airways) routing.
A lazy man’s nav system but not good when really close counted.
By the way, where did the industry go with the idea of a heads up display?
I realize the fighters have it, but has it made any inroads in business aviation or on the big iron?
I don’t think I would like it, but I am curious.
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