Applies to Australia Only

[Urs42]

I've found this Label on an old DEC 3000 Model 600 System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_3000_AXP in our Computer Museum.

Good that i'm not in Australia...

[miguelvp]

hmm, not sure how I feel about calling a 1995 computer a museum piece, or the AXP alpha chip at that.

Maybe I'm on denial and 21 years is museum worthy.

As for the sticker. In Spain you couldn't freely plug anything you wanted to the telephone system, I think it was the same in the US earlier on.

Only pieces of equipment that were tested by Telefonica or distributed by them were allowed to be plugged-in.
So I couldn't take a modem from the US and use it in Spain, well I could, but it wasn't legal.

[Urs42]

hmm, not sure how I feel about calling a 1995 computer a museum piece, or the AXP alpha chip at that.

Maybe I'm on denial and 21 years is museum worthy.

I think that normal 21 years old PCs are not museum worthy, but more special hardware is in my opinion.

Only pieces of equipment that were tested by Telefonica or distributed by them were allowed to be plugged-in.
So I couldn't take a modem from the US and use it in Spain, well I could, but it wasn't legal.

Yes, it was the same here in Switzerland. But this rule was only for Modems and not for Computers.

[rrinker]

 Yup, was the same in the US, you could only plug in official Bell System products - no third party phones, answering machines, or other unapproved equipment. With the breakup of ATT and the Bell System, it became legal to get your own equipment and plug it in on the phone network. Back in those days, you didn't own anything (at least residential customers), the phone was rented with a monthly charge on every bill. Though if it happened to break, they would just put a new one in, no problems. Those old phone seldom broke though, they were built like tanks.

[miguelvp]

Calling a Z80 based system a museum piece makes me feel old because I was in my teens.

Calling a 64bit DEC Alpha AXP chip based system a museum piece makes me feel super old.

Hey, they had 128 bit internal data bus and 2MB level 2 cache. Few chips now can claim that

But I get it, since Intel bought the rights and Compaq bought DEC and now HP got Compaq, I guess Alpha based workstations and servers are history.

Strange to see them go for just $300 on ebay.

[tooki]

I've found this Label on an old DEC 3000 Model 600 System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_3000_AXP in our Computer Museum.

Computer museum? In Switzerland? Is it public?

[xygor]

... With the breakup of ATT and the Bell System, it became legal to get your own equipment and plug it in on the phone network.

Actually it was in 1968, before the breakup and was due to the Carterphone decision.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone

[VK3DRB]

$12,000 fine?

That is nothing compared to a $5,000 fine PER TREE removed from you own land without paying "protection money" to the local council municipal council in the form of a permit.

One bloke was up for $100,000 in fines for illegally removing trees from his own land. His house survived the bush fires. His local residents who were not allowed to remove trees either perished or lost their homes. http://www.smh.com.au/national/fined-for-illegal-clearing-family-now-feel-vindicated-20090212-85bd.html

In my case, the council cost me an extra $500 for the paper work and permits to remove one solitary problematic tree from my land. I obeyed the law. It was better than to pay a $5,000 fine. I see it as do-gooder tree-hugging greenies who have infested our government took $500 off me which was not theirs; which could have been used to buy something useful like some electronic test equipment.

In my opinion, the only good trees to have on a normal house block are fruit trees. All other trees should be poisoned.

[zapta]

That is nothing compared to a $5,000 fine PER TREE removed from you own land without paying "protection money" to the local council municipal council in the form of a permit.

[helius]

The system's user guide explains these labels:

"For Users In Australia: The yellow warning label attached to the shipping container and system unit is required by the country of Australia for systems that provide ISDN functionality but are not yet certified for use in Australia. Disregard these labels if your system is not located in Australia."

it also notes

"For Users in Germany: To comply with certain international standards, Digital includes German regulatory information (sometimes referred to as the FTZ postcard) in every system and monitor box. Disregard this material if your system is not located in Germany."

These machines and several others from the 1992 timeframe had ISDN BRI (64Kb+64Kb+16Kb) S/T interfaces built in, but not every country had the technical or regulatory infrastructure to support ISDN. So the ports were typically blocked with a sticker with a red triangle.

[Halcyon]

In my case, the council cost me an extra $500 for the paper work and permits to remove one solitary problematic tree from my land.

Was this recently? Do you live in a declared "bushfire prone area" in NSW? If so, you could have removed the tree without council approval under the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice. State (and federal) law trumps any local government acts or regulations. If a local government act conflicts with a state or federal law, the "higher" one wins.

Of course there are caveats (which are explained here), but basically you can clear trees within 10 metres of a home and underlying vegetation within 50 metres of a home without seeking approval.

It all basically came about following the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires where almost 250 buildings burnt and 2 people died. The Rural Fire Service and NSW Government finally took the common sense approach, however the initial boundaries included areas such as Mosman (basically North Sydney, surrounded by water) and residents abused it and began chopping down trees which blocked their multi-million dollar water views. After that, they amended the areas were considered "bushfire prone".

[Urs42]

Computer museum? In Switzerland? Is it public?

The museum is not public yet, we had to move, and i'ts a big mess now. The old Location was not really good for public access, i think that this will change with the new location.

There is an other Museum in Solothurn: http://www.enter-online.ch/

[vk6zgo]

In my case, the council cost me an extra $500 for the paper work and permits to remove one solitary problematic tree from my land.

Was this recently? Do you live in a declared "bushfire prone area" in NSW? If so, you could have removed the tree without council approval under the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice. State (and federal) law trumps any local government acts or regulations. If a local government act conflicts with a state or federal law, the "higher" one wins.

Of course there are caveats (which are explained here), but basically you can clear trees within 10 metres of a home and underlying vegetation within 50 metres of a home without seeking approval.

It all basically came about following the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires where almost 250 buildings burnt and 2 people died. The Rural Fire Service and NSW Government finally took the common sense approach, however the initial boundaries included areas such as Mosman (basically North Sydney, surrounded by water) and residents abused it and began chopping down trees which blocked their multi-million dollar water views. After that, they amended the areas were considered "bushfire prone".

You aren't a Ham,or you wouldn't be asking "do you live in NSW?"

VK3 is an Amateur Radio State prefix,just like VK6.
Hint:- the callsigns follow the same conventions as Broadcast Stations.

[Brumby]

I had an interesting experience with a VK2 callsign a few years back.

... and, no, I'm not a ham.

[Halcyon]

You aren't a Ham,or you wouldn't be asking "do you live in NSW?"

VK3 is an Amateur Radio State prefix,just like VK6.
Hint:- the callsigns follow the same conventions as Broadcast Stations.

I'm aware, but no, I'm not a Ham. I just prefer not to make assumptions.
Also, the information was for anyone reading it, not just specifically for VK3DRB.

[vk6zgo]

You aren't a Ham,or you wouldn't be asking "do you live in NSW?"

VK3 is an Amateur Radio State prefix,just like VK6.
Hint:- the callsigns follow the same conventions as Broadcast Stations.

I'm aware, but no, I'm not a Ham. I just prefer not to make assumptions.
Also, the information was for anyone reading it, not just specifically for VK3DRB.

I wasn't "having a go".

I realised that my reaction------"VK3,that's Victoria" is really confined to a relatively small number of people.

Many more people would have associated "2"with NSW,"3" with Victoria & so on,years ago when MF radios had Station callsigns marked on their dials,rather than an anonymous 550---1600!
And Stations call themselves all sorts of silly names these days!

Hams are supposed to change their prefix if they move Interstate,so the "3" almost certainly puts him in Victoria.

As you pointed out,the information you provided is very useful for members in NSW.
It is also of great interest for those of us in other States,or even Countries,

[Halcyon]

I wasn't "having a go".

I wasn't accusing you either. It's all good :-)