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What happens when an Altair hits an octal number higher than 377?

Chuck(G) said:
If you can't mentally translate 8 bits of hex to octal, you need practice.
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I can, why the sarcasm?
Chuck(G) said:
I've heard the argument many times that octal is better on the x80 CPUs
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I didnt say it was better. I didnt even imply that I actually use it, I dont. My comment was that logically it suits many x80 opcodes.
Did you get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning? :)
 
Many thanks! This really threw me for a loop when I was editing the video because I was looking for the place where I corrected the data switches, because how else could I get the right result deposited into addr 130? Took me a while and some explanation here to help understand what was going on.

For those interested the final video is here. I gotta say, I really like the Altair in spite of its eccentricities. For years I resisted shelling out for one, even when they were cheaper, because it wasn't 'the first' and I didn't see how important it was, or because I thought it seemed kind of hokey/uninteresting. Anyway, it's not the computer's fault the monkey operating it is sloppy or math deficient sometimes!
 
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Phil_G said:
I can, why the sarcasm?
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No sarcasm intended--I merely observed that the ability to manipulate between the radices improves with practice. Why are you taking it personally?

And yes, being old and arthritic, I sleep badly and was in a lot of discomfort this morning.
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you can't mentally translate 8 bits of hex to octal, you need practice.
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Maybe its because you replied to me personally, with a twice-repeated insinuation that I couldn't? :)
The 'getting out of bed on the wrong side' thing is an British idiom, sorry if it doesnt translate :)
But seriously I do empathise with your condition, mine is in the early stages but is steadily worsening especially in cold weather.
 
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Don't take it personal - but it's all public in here; we're all talking in this thread. Just because your post was the previous one doesn't make something personal about you.
 
tingo said:
Don't take it personal - but it's all public in here; we're all talking in this thread. Just because your post was the previous one doesn't make something personal about you.
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Tone is always a problem with text. Thank goodness we're not doing this with Teletypes, constantly shouting at one another!
 
Good mental practice is to play with those 8 bits in various ways using reordering or mixed-radix. That is, instead of 2-3-3 grouping, try 4-1-3, 3-4-1, etc. It's like any skill, like memorizing machine opcodes that only gets better the more you use it.
And sorry for any grumpiness; to make matters worse, I twisted my knee maneuvering a large (30") log off the firewood pile for splitting. It was very painful all night and this morning--better now after a 2 mile walk and a pressure bandage.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Good mental practice is to play with those 8 bits in various ways using reordering or mixed-radix. That is, instead of 2-3-3 grouping, try 4-1-3, 3-4-1, etc. It's like any skill, like memorizing machine opcodes that only gets better the more you use it.
And sorry for any grumpiness; to make matters worse, I twisted my knee maneuvering a large (30") log off the firewood pile for splitting. It was very painful all night and this morning--better now after a 2 mile walk and a pressure bandage.
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I got confused going from the bit patterns in the manual to full octal bytes in other programs. I tied myself in knots because I mistakenly read 010 in kill the bit as set first set of switches to zero, second set to octal 2, last set to zero, even though it should have been first set zero, second set one, third set zero. It didn't help that in the manual examples the listings were using decimal for memory addresses. Took a while to untangle that in my head.

Sorry to hear of your injury. I am dealing with blown discs in my neck. When they squish outwards they compress the spinal cord or something and the result is searing pain in one arm or the other. Age sucks.
 
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