• Tag Archives 1985

  • Byte (August 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Byte – August 1985

    If you were interested in in-depth technical coverage then I think Byte was the best multiformat computer magazine around. Eventually, as the market became PC only, Byte would also. The August 1985 issue includes:

    Features

    • The Amiga Personal Computer – An advanced look at the Amiga 1000, the first in the 68000 based Amiga line of computers from Commodore. This is a very detailed preview of the machine.
    • Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar: Build The BASIC-52 Computer/Controller – A single board computer designed for running BASIC. It includes an Intel 8052AH-BASIC micro-controller, an 8K BASIC interpreter, and 48K of RAM/EPROM. Basically, this was designed to act as a controller solving a specifi problem.
    • The DSI-32 Coprocessor Board, Part I: The Hardware – A look at the hardware of the DSI-32 co-processor board which includes a National Semiconductor NS32032 CPU.
    • Programming Project: Context-Free Parsing of Arithmetic Expressions – A programming project that will help you create a program that parses normal numerical equations using the correct order of operations.

    Themes

    • Prolog Goes to Work – A look at the Prolog programming language.
    • Logic Programming – Using a procedural programming language to implement logic processing in a computer.
    • Declarative Languages: An Overview – A look at the history of programming language with an emphasis on “declarative” languages (like LISP). SCHEME, a LISP derivative was what my Intro to Computer Science class used back in the day.
    • Program Transformation – A program development methodology presented by a professor at Imperial College in London.
    • Functional Programming Using FP – Creating hierarchical programs without using recursion.
    • A Hope Tutorial – A tutorial on one of the new functional programming languages.

    Reviews

    • The Tandy 1000 – A low cost PC-compatible computer. There would ultimately be many Tandy 1000 models. This first one was like a much better IBM PCjr.
    • IBM Pascal 2.00 – A review of IBM’s Pascal 2.00 programming language. I remember using Pascal in high-school on an IBM PC but I have no recollection what version it was. This would have been like 5 or 6 years later though.
    • Review Feedback – Feedback on reviews of the Compaq Deskpro, Level 5 Research’s Insight, the HP 110, MultiMate, the MT 160 printer, ITT XTRA, the Juki 6100 printer, hardware benchmarking in general, and more.

    Kernel

    • Computing at Chaos Manor: The West Coast Computer Faire – A look at the 10th annual West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
    • BYTE Japan: COMDEX in Japan – New products seen at COMDEX in Japan include a Fujitsu lap-size portable based on the MBL8086L microprocessor and 128K of RAM, new laser printers, the NEC PC-9801M2/3 based the 8086-2 CPU at 8MHz and 256K of RAM and supporting CP/M-86 MS-DOS and PC-UX (though not PC compatible), and more.
    • BYTE U.K.: Declarative Update – A look at the Hope programming system and a couple of new books (Principles of Functional Programming and Introduction to Logic Programming).
    • According to Webster: Greetings and Agitations – Coverage of Turbo Pascal 3.0, Copy II Mac, MacTools, MacASM, MacModula-2, Megamax C and QC-20.
    • BYTE West Coast: New Microprocessor Chips – A look at the new 80386 which would eventually dominate new PCs and the 80C86 which is a lower powered CMOS version of the 8086.
    • BYTELINES – Mitsubishi at early stages of developing manufacturing technology for 4-megabyte memory devices; IBM pushes back the intro of the “PC II”; Apple lays off 1600 people; and more.

    Columns

    • Editorial – An overview of what’s in this issue.
    • Microbytes – Sinclair survives bankruptcy; Atari shows CD-ROM device at CES; new products featuring the 65816 processor; C compiler released by Manx Software for the Commodore and 128 Macintosh and Apple II; and more.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about the Macintosh, expanding Mac memory, Sanyo computers, Apple dealer support, BYTEnet, the MAGIC/L programming language, and more.
    • What’s New – A brief look at new products including Zoomracks (framework for creating database, text and appointment applications), Xecom’s MOSART 300/1200-bps modem with voice detection, Tektronix AI Systems running Smalltalk-80, the SAM 3001 AT computer, the System/36 PC, the Conquest PC Turbo, the Cardco Digi-Cam and S’more BASIC for the Commodore 64, and more.
    • Book Reviews – Reviews of Beginning Micro-Prolog, Micro-Prolog: Programming in Logic, A Software Law Primer, and Extraterrestrials – Science and Alien Intelligence.
    • Ask BYTE – Questions answered about building a 16-bit C machine, S-100 boards for North Star Horizon users, the Sanyo MBC 555, Uninterruptible Power Supplies, RS-232C on the IBM PC, chaining BASIC programs, and more.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Digital Archaeology: Floppy Disk #10 – MEMBERS.DOC

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

    I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.

    Based on the contents, at least some of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

    A specific definition of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

    This service was text based and was accessed via whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn’t be in such archives even if they existed.

    This post includes the contents of MEMBERS.DOC which is dated September 24th, 1985. This appears to be a member list of the Close Encounters SIG. It includes username, name as well as some other info. The binary looking number indicates permissions though I don’t know what permission each bit represents. Despite there being separate user names and names, it’s pretty clear that the ‘name’ isn’t necessarily a real name. Some look like they could be real names but others are only first names or are clearly aliases. As of the above date there were 167 members.

    See the previous post here.

    ===
    MEMBERS.DOC
    ===

    Username: 1BOB        Name: bob eller                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: ACE         Name: Rick                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: AH          Name: David                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: ALESSAN     Name: John                            Ac. Topics: 0
Username: ANDERSON    Name: Diana                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: ANDRE       Name: andre                           Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: ARNE        Name: arne strand                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: BAS         Name: basil                           Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: BGS         Name: Bruce                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: BINARY      Name: paul LUSTENBERGER               Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: BOBB        Name: Bob                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: BOBW        Name: bob                             Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: BREN        Name: Brenda                          Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: BRUCE1      Name: BRUCE JAMES                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: BUSSIGMGR   Name: Paul                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: CABUYS      Name: Connie - Sig Manager            Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: CATHEE      Name: CATHEE A                        Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: CENTERFIRE  Name: Jim                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: CHESSIE     Name: Bob Kitchen                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: CHEVALIER   Name: Ken                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: CLEARSTAR   Name: Dan                             Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: CONSORT     Name: Sig Managers - SLG Associates   Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: CSG01       Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: CYBERLEADER Name: Jim Reiss                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: DAN         Name: D. Bruns                        Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: DANNYDOS    Name: Danny                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DASERVICEINCName:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DAVEIRV     Name: david irvine                    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DAVIDBR     Name: BYE                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DAVROS      Name: Jon                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DEEPAK      Name: Deepak Midha                    Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: DEOGBURN    Name: Chris deOgburn                  Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: DIAPHANOUS  Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: DIMPLES     Name: Dimples Jones                   Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: DIRIGO      Name: Bert                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DJR         Name: Dan                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: DOUGLEVY    Name: Doug                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DRAGONLORD  Name: Tim Aman                        Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DRBOB408    Name: Bob                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: DRGOLD      Name: duane goldsworhty               Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: ELECTRO     Name: Electro                         Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: ELLENK      Name: Ellen                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: ELLISCO     Name: Dick                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: EVPHRD      Name: Mike                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: EXCELSIOR   Name: MAXIMILIAN (MAX FOR FRIENDS)    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: FINGERTIPS  Name: Jay Pondy                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: FRANKH      Name: Frank Howard                    Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: FRIDAY      Name: Rich                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: FRIED       Name: Bob                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: FROGBOY     Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: FSF         Name: Dan                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: GASMAN2     Name: JOHN                            Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: GEMIGENE    Name: PHILLIP CRUMP                   Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: GEORGEK     Name: George                          Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: GERRYGOLD   Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: GUACAMOLE   Name: John Williamson                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: GUSTAVE     Name: Gustave                         Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: HANSOLO     Name: John                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: HARPO       Name: TIM CRAIG                       Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: HATCHERY    Name: Rick Curl                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: HORNET      Name: ROGER MCMILLIAN                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: IDEL        Name: Greg                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: ILLUMINATUS Name: William                         Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: ILLUSION    Name: Marti                           Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: INTECO      Name: Uwe Goetzke                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: JARED       Name: Jared                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: JCG         Name: Joel                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: JFOLEY      Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: JIMH        Name: james hopper                    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: JJM         Name: JAY                             Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: JOEY        Name: Joe                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: JOHNEASTON  Name: Karl                            Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: JOHNMYSELF  Name: John - Asst. Manager            Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: JOHNNAPLES  Name: John                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: JOHNP       Name: John Peterson                   Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: JOHNWG      Name: J. W. Gibney                    Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: JOSEPH      Name: Joseph                          Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: KAPLAN      Name: Elizabeth F. Kaplan             Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: KBS         Name: JERRY                           Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: KELLY       Name: K. Thebodo                      Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: KENNIT      Name: K.S.CRISCIONE                   Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: KISKA       Name: Joe                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: KRANKY      Name: Bill                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: KZIN        Name: MIKE BANKS                      Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: LADYLOVE    Name: Connie                          Ac. Topics:
0000000000000000
Username: LASRDISC    Name: KEVIN L. NORWOOD                Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: LODDP       Name: daniel phillips                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: LOUSCHNEIDERName: Lou Schneider                   Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: MACULA      Name: frank curl                      Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: MADONNA     Name: Libby                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: MENU        Name: soapsuds                        Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: MERONA      Name: JAY                             Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: MHW         Name: MICHAEL H. WAHLER               Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: MLR         Name: Lee                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: MMB         Name: michael m. bosen                Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: MPA         Name: Mike                            Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: NHOJ        Name: JOHN LASTAR                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: NICKX       Name: NICK                            Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: NJOHNSON    Name: Nancy                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: NUKE        Name: Douglas Alexander               Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: NYLADY      Name: Karen                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: PAULHOPK    Name: PAUL HOPKINS                    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: PAULLEWIS   Name: Paul Lewis                      Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: PEEWEE      Name: LEE HANDY                       Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: PETEVO      Name: Pete                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: PHANTASY    Name: Keith Vogt                      Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: PIANOMAN    Name: Tom                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: PIPEMAN     Name: Brian                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: PMSINC      Name: Jeff                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: POPE        Name: JOHN PAUL                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: PRINCESS    Name: Peggy - Sysop                   Ac. Topics:
1111111111111111
Username: PRINCETONFINName:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: PRK         Name: Paul                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: QUICKRODNEY Name: John                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RANGERS     Name: Peter                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RAYGEDDES   Name: Ray                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: RBS         Name: Bob                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RH          Name: Rich                            Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RHODGE      Name: Rusty Hodge                     Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: RIDPATH     Name: RICHARD PARKER                  Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RJM513      Name: RJ Miles                        Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: RODM        Name: Rod                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: RONB        Name: Ron                             Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: RONMAZUR    Name: Ron                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SASSY       Name: SYL                             Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: SCHONBERGER Name: Steve                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SEEKAY      Name: Charlie Kestner                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: SHARC       Name: SHAWN TIGRETT                   Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: SHERM       Name: Tom                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SHRINK      Name: Jay                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SKM         Name: Steve                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SKMOYER     Name: Steve                           Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SMENCIK     Name: Steve Mencik                    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SMILE       Name: Smile                           Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: SODAPOP     Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SOFTAFFAIR  Name: Bryan Eggers                    Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SPARKY      Name: Mark                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: SR          Name: STEVE RAMIREZ                   Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: STARLORD    Name: Lee Handy                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: STUART      Name: Stuart                          Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: SUMMER      Name: Steve                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: SUZIE       Name: Bill                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: SYSTOLE     Name: Greg                            Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: TELELEARNINGName: S&H ELECTRONICS                 Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: TEM84PA15330Name: TOM MOORE                       Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: TEVA        Name: B. ROBBINS                      Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: THEPHANTOM  Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: TIGLON      Name: Gayle Sims                      Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: TIGRESS     Name: Denise                          Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: TINKERBELL  Name: Dee                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: TJH         Name: Tim Hall                        Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: TJLAND      Name: David                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: TMI         Name: Tom                             Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: TRICON      Name: Bob                             Ac. Topics:
1000000000000000
Username: TROPICAL    Name: Mark                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: TSBJR       Name: TOM BERGANTINO                  Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: TSTANTON    Name: Tom                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: VERCINGETORXName: Rex                             Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: VETTED      Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Username: VIDEOTAPE   Name: Mike                            Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: VT          Name: Vicki                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: WARLORD1    Name: Jesse                           Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: WIL1        Name: Willie Boger                    Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: WILLARD     Name: Elizabeth                       Ac. Topics:
11111111011
Username: WZ          Name: Warren Zunino                   Ac. Topics:
1011111101111100
Username: YOSHI       Name:                                 Ac. Topics:
10111111011
Total number of members :   167

SM*MEMBERS>

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  • Digital Archaeology: Floppy Disk #10 – DANGER.DOC

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

    I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago. I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a while back. Since then I have been posting the contents here.

    Based on the contents, at least some of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

    A specific definition of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

    This service was text based and was accessed via whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn’t be in such archives even if they existed.

    This post includes the contents of DANGER.DOC which is dated September 30th, 1985. This is some kind of announcement I’m assuming was sent out by Delphi. Basically, it warns about various trojans and names some specific shareware files to avoid because of malicious behavior.

    See the previous post here.

    ===
    DANGER.DOC
    ===

    SEP   EXIT +
  6  26-SEP   NEW GOODIE BRIEF
  7  23-SEP   MANAGERS CONFERENCE BRIEF
  8  15-SEP   PEABO AND DICK EVANS (BRIEF)

ANNOUNCE>(SCAN, READ, HELP or EXIT): read 2

  2  30-SEP  VERY BAD SOFTWARE WARNING

EXCERPT FROM THE AUSTIN PC USERS GROUP NEWSLETTER 9/85



Warning:  Someone is trying  to destroy your data.  Beware of

the  SUDDEN upsurge  of "Trojan  Horse" programs  on Bulletin

Boards and  in the public domain.   These programs purport to

be  useful utilities, but,  in reality, they  are designed to

sack your system.



One has shown up as EGABTR, a program that claims to show you

how  to  maximize  the  features  of  IBM's Enhanced Graphics

Adapter, and has also  been spotted as a  new super-directory

program.   It actually  erases the  file allocation tables on

your hard  disk.  For good measure, it asks you to put a disk

in Drive A:, then another  in Drive B:.  After it  has erased

those FAT's too it displays,



"Got You! Arf! Arf!"



Don't  run  any  public-domain  program  that  is not a known

quantity.   Have  someone  you  know  and trust vouch for it.

ALWAYS  examine  it  FIRST   with  DEBUG, looking for all the

ASCII strings and  data.  If there is  anything even slightly

suspicious about it,  do a cursory  disassembly.  Be wary  of

disk calls (INTERRUPT 13H), especially if the  program has no

business writing  to the  diskl.  Run  your system  in Floppy

only mode  with write protect tabs on  the disk on junk disks

in the drives.



Another bit of information came from the ARPANET:  Be careful

what  you put into  your machine.  There  is out there making

the rounds  of the  REMOTE BULLETIN  BOARDS a  program called



VDIR.COM.



It is a little hard to  tell what the program is supposed  to

do.



What  it  actually  does  is  TRASH  your  system.  It writes

garbage onto ANY disk it can find, including hard disks,  and

flashes up various messages telling  you what is doing.  It's

a TIME BOMB:  once run, you  can't be sure  what will happpen

next because it doesn't always do anything immediately.  At a

later  time,  though,  it  can  CRASH your system.  Does this

remind you of some of  the imbecillic copy-protection schemes

threatened by companies such as Vault and Defendisk?  Anyway,

you'd do well to avoid VDIR.COM.  I expect there are a couple

of  harmless-perhaps   even  useful=Public   Domain  programs

floating  about with  the name  VDIR; and,  of course, anyone

warped enough  to launch  this kind  of trap  once, can do it

again.  Be careful about untested "Free" software.



Two other files that we are aware of that will also do damage

as reported in the past:



STAR.EXE



Presents  a  screen  of  stars  then  copies  RBBS-PC.DEF and

renames  it.  The  caller then  calls back  later and d/l the

innocently named file,  and he then  has the SYSOP's  and all

the Users' passwords.



SECRET.BAS



This file was left on  an RBBS with a message saying that the

caller  got the file from a  mainframe, and could not get the

file to run in his PC, and asked someone to try it out.  When

it was executed, it formatted all disks on the system.



(This file  DANGER.DOC from  JIMNET bulletin  board - Austin,

TX; Sept 85)




ANNOUNCE>(SCAN, READ, HELP or EXIT):

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