- cctalk - classiccmp.org

by vivianne＠chinstrap.org

Hi all, I'm looking for various Itanium systems: IBM eServer xSeries 380 IBM IntelliStation Z Pro Type 6894 Fujitsu Celsius 880 Silicon Graphics 750 HP i2000 HP Integrity rx4610 Dell Precision Workstation 730 Dell PowerEdge 7150 If you have a system you want off your hands, I'll pay! Thanks, Vivianne

1 year, 5 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 21 >Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2023 04:35:28 +0100 >From: Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks. > >On Sun, Jun 4, 2023 at 10:57 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk ><cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> On Sun, 4 Jun 2023, Rick Bensene via cctalk wrote: <> > an example of early "mobile computing". (Tongue firmly in cheek). >> >> The original Osborne 1 had a 12V power input! > >Actually it's +12.6V and +5.6V and you have to supply both voltages. >It's one diode drop to the +5V (logic supply) and +12V (DRAM, disk >motors, monitor supply), the -5V for the DRAM is produced on the logic >board. > >I am told it was never used and that the Osborne battery pack came >with an inverter to provide 110V AC. > >-tony It (the Osborne Powr-Pac (tm) ) has a what the manual says is a DC-DC inverter that plugged into a Gould lead-acid battery (or the cigarette-lighter socket in a car) at one end and the AC input of the Osborne 1 at the other. I have read on this list that Lee denies that OCC ever sold them, but I have one that I bought for $50 at Compumat in Chicago on October 10, 1983 -- I still have the unit, receipt, and User Registration card. It came with a glossy-printed grey-and-blue manual, like other contemporary OCC products. If anyone wants a copy, I can email you a PDF scan of the user manual. Bob

1 year, 5 months

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Source for NEW (unused) punch tape

by robotguy＠gmail.com

For various reasons (including, but not limited to, insanity and obsessiveness*) I am building a diode laser based tape punch. It's not specifically for a classic comp, but I'd like to stick with standard format so that it'd be useful for making custom tapes for members in the future. I will probably need to make dozens of tapes so using actual, vintage rolls is out of the question. Does anyone know if 1" tape is used for anything else and where I might find some new? Otherwise I may have to add paper-slitter to my project list and make my own. *I've had the idea of a lost-media ARG stuck in my head for years.

1 year, 5 months

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Looking for information on Data General 602X magtape drive

by Bjoren Davis

Hello CCtalk, I recently bought the mortal remains of a Data General 602X magtape drive on craigslist. Apparently it had been stored outside. When I got it it had mudwasp nests and mud all over it and everything that could rust had. When it was decomissioned it was just cut out, so it's missing its chassis, hinges, controller board, power supplies, vacuum blower, vacuum pressure limit switches, etc. The cables to the heads are just cut (no connectors). But boy does it look cool, and it *does* have all three of its transport motors and its console PCB. There's very little identifying information on the drive. The front of the drive has a label "9 TRACK 800 BPI". The console PCB says "COPYRIGHT © 1973 BY DATA GENERAL CORP" "CONTROL BOARD FOR 75 I.P.S. DRIVE DGC NOVA 107-000275-17 /16" and has a sticker on the back "DRAWING NO. REV. 005-005-525-02 005-001-743-11". The date codes on the few chips I can read place it from 1976. I think all of this adds up to this being a model 6021 or 6023. I've been slowly disassembling, cleaning, and repairing it. The DG documentation at bitsavers is really good, but, sadly, the schematics are not available there. Does anyone have such schematics? I'm especially interested in the analog portion that connects to the heads, the connection to the BOT/EOT sensor, and a schematic for the console board I actually do have. My goal is to replace all of the missing controller parts with some SOC boards (e.g., a Teensy 4.1), ultimately to be able to use this drive to read and write tapes. I'd love to reuse the console board as it is. I've already replaced the vacuum blower with a $30 Bosch vacuum cleaner I also bought on craigslist. Thanks. --Bjoren

1 year, 5 months

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IBM RT Graphics

by Jonathan Katz

Hello! I have an IBM 6152 aka IBM RT system I rescued. (It may be a 6151?) I'm 90% sure it has colour graphics. The system does seem to POST correctly (according to the LED on the front) but the CRT is dead. I'm wondering if anyone has built an adapter to hook this to a VGA monitor. I'm a bit confused by the pinout. It has high and low bits for the RGB (and associated grounds for each colour.) So I'm not sure how that would work hooking to a more modern monitor. http://bio.gsi.de/DOCS/IBM/615x/faqshard.html Otherwise I need a crash course in fixing CRTs. -- -Jon +44 7792 149029

1 year, 5 months

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First non-IBM PC-DOS Compatible PC

by Tom Gardner

Hi: Doing some research for historical purposed – no litigation at all – trying to identify the first “legal” PC-DOS compatible PC, “legal” in the sense that it’s BIOS was not a copy of an IBM BIOS. Eagle gets the honor of being first MS-DOS compatible and getting sued for copying IBM’s BIOS 😊 The Compaq Portable which shipped in November 1982 is generally credited with the first legal MS-DOS compatible PC. AFAIK it could not run PC-DOS and those applications which depended upon certain IBM BIOS commands would fail. The first “legal” BIOS is generally considered to be from Phoenix which was announced in May 1984 and so far I have been unable to determine its first system deployments. FWIW Wikipedia points to HP, Tandy and AT&T as some time adopters of a Phoenix BIOS but my research so far is that Tandy’s T1000 family announced in October and November of 1984 was the first system to be PC-DOS compatible and it did not use a Phoenix BIOS! Such PC-DOS compatible HP and AT&T systems were much later and the Tandy BIOS was written by programmers of Tandon Corporation, the OEM supplier of the first Tandy T1000s. Can anyone identify a PC-DOS compatible PC announced earlier than October 1984? Citations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Tom

1 year, 5 months

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Fwd: [TUHS] Pixel 100/AP UNIX Computer

by David Barto

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: segaloco via TUHS <tuhs(a)tuhs.org> > Subject: [TUHS] Pixel 100/AP UNIX Computer > Date: June 7, 2023 at 12:17:14 AM PDT > To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society <tuhs(a)tuhs.org> > > After talking with the folks I bought the recent documents from, they let me know they are also selling a piece of hardware: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125714380860 > > After the link is an auction for an Instrumentation Laboratory Pixel 100/AP. A small booklet included with the many documents I received indicates as of 1982 the Pixel 100/AP ran a System III derivative. The booklet goes on to present a summary of user commands and options. Despite the System III basis, included among these are the C shell and ex/vi. > > I have no room for hardware or honestly at that price point it'd be worth the preservation effort. Hopefully it finds a good home, it includes an almost complete documentation set save for the small booklet I've got (which could be separate promo material for all I know) > > In any case, there were a few letters amongst the documents suggesting the original owner was involved in the production of this system, particularly in the area of OS details. If I find any noteworthy information I'll pass it along. > > - Matt G. > > P.S. If anyone knows of a preservation effort accepting new machines I can pass this along. This was originally posted to “The Unix Historical Society” email list and I asked the original author for permission to forward it here. If anyone is interested in such equipment. David There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third works. --Alan J. Perlis David Barto barto(a)kdbarto.org

1 year, 5 months

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The Colony source

by Hugh Pyle

David A. Smith has posted the source code for The Colony (for Mac, PC and Amiga) - the first realtime 3d adventure game. https://github.com/Croquetx/thecolony

1 year, 5 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 7 >Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2023 02:41:56 +0000 >From: John Floren <john(a)jfloren.net> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks. >To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> > >It's funny that luggable power packs come up here as I'm trying to revive my Otrona >Attache... The power supply does nothing on AC input, even after a recapping, so I >thought I'd investigate the "DC Power Option" described in the manual. Unfortunately I >can't find any record that Otrona ever actually *sold* a "DC Power Option", which >would plug into an unpopulated 6-pin Molex connector on the back of the device. >Interestingly, the header inside the power supply labeled "DC Option" is a 7-pin >header, so I'm not sure which pin was "optional" for the external connector! > >I'd just replace the power supply wholesale with a little ATX supply or something, but >the machine needs 5V, 12V, -12V, and 15V; the latter is used to power the CRT and >represents a real challenge! I've yet to find anything that outputs all 4 levels at a >reasonable price. > >john > I have an Otrona Attache 8:16 with the DC option, so it was sold. (I used both the Osborne and the Otrona in Peru, so having a battery option was an advantage.) However, my Attache has the disk drives that both spin up at the same time, and the DC option does not supply enough power to properly spin both drives, so the computer will reboot if you try to read or write anything to disk while on DC! I’m traveling now, but will open up my Attache and take some pictures for you in a couple of weeks. Bob

1 year, 5 months

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Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Tony Duell

As you know I've recently restored a couple of CP/M luggable computers. I also have many other machines with floppy disk drives, 3", 3.5", 5.25" and 8" The machine I connect to the internet with is a more modern laptop runnng Windows 8.1. Essentially its only interfaces are USB ports. I would like to be able to : Download disk images (I assume in .IMD or .TD0 format) and write them to real floppy disks to use in my old machnes If possble, for the more common filesystems like MS-DOS or CP/M, be able to work with these images on the modern PC at the file level. For example, if I download a CP/M progam as a .COM file I'd like to be able to put it into a disk image of a Philips P2000C disk, then transfer that image to a real floppy and put it in a drive on the Philips machine. I understand there are designed based on a modern microcontroller that connecct to a USB port and a disk drive. Software on the PC translates between the disk image and the accurately-timed pulses corresponding to flux transitions on the disk. This unit links to a real disk drive, you run the software and it reads/writes a real disk in said disk drive. Now... I can handle a 'scope. I can handle a logic analyser. I can handle a soldering iron. I can handle an engineer's lathe. I can rebuld and align floppy disk drives. I can program most 8-bit micros along with PERQ microcode, PDP11 mahine code, etc BUT I don't have a clue when it comes to modern PCs, modern microcontrollers or USB ports. So what I am asking is for people to describe what to do as in : Buy this microcontroller board Buy this blank PCB and solder the components given in the BOM to it. Download this software and install it by doing this. Connect a standard floppy drive to this connector Run the software, specify the disk image file and sit back. -tony

1 year, 5 months

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