[SPARCbook] Sparcbook experiences from new list member

[Michael]

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Hello,

On Feb 7, 2009, at 2:32 AM, Bill Bradford wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:46:07AM -0500, Michael wrote:
>> Too bad Tadpole/RDI/General Dynamics doesn't. I made it absolutely
>> clear that I'm not some government agency that doesn't know where to
>> stuff its cash. Maybe I should wave the NetBSD flag a bit more, after
>> all they do use NetBSD internally.
>
> Ten years ago when the big batch of 3GX systems hit the market from
> Herman
> Miller's upgrade, I called up the then-local Tadpole office in Austin,
> about obtaining a part or two that I needed (power cable?  Ethernet
> dongle?
> something like that).

No such luck here - back then I was in Germany but the only think I
lacked was the ethernet cable so I got one for an SS10 or something
from ebuy. At least they didn't use anything proprietary there.

> The geeks there were amazed that a 25 year old "kid" had a 3GX.  I
> stopped by the office a couple of days later, and they BSed with me
> a bit and sent me home with all sorts of goodies, including the part
> I needed and a complete set of manuals, at no charge.

Cool :)

> Unfortunately Tadpole has been sold and bought and sold so many
> times since
> then, that corporate culture and way of thinking is long gone.

Yeah, when they were bought out by General Dynamics things went down
the drain.

> I'm *still* annoyed at having run ads for Tadpole back in '03-04 and
> not
> getting a single thing out of them in return because they got bought
> out.
> Oh well.  It's been almost five years, guess I should get over it.

Is that even legal? Or rather, wouldn't the new owner have to pay up?

have fun
Michael

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