On 2/9/2024 5:08 AM, Steve Lewis via cctalk wrote:
> There's a good chance I'll make it to the upcoming VCF SoCal coming up on
> Sat. the 17th.
>
> Some things I'm looking for:
> - recently an associate of mine gifted me their original 1978 TRS-80 (Model
> 1). But not much in accessories. I have a suitable tape deck, but other
> accessories might be nice. His father used this particular unit while he
> worked in the Tandy Towers in downtown FW (that's all I know about it so
> far).
>
Checkout the MISE and MIRE from Bartlett Labs
and the FreHD from Ian Mavric.
bill
There's a good chance I'll make it to the upcoming VCF SoCal coming up on
Sat. the 17th.
Some things I'm looking for:
- recently an associate of mine gifted me their original 1978 TRS-80 (Model
1). But not much in accessories. I have a suitable tape deck, but other
accessories might be nice. His father used this particular unit while he
worked in the Tandy Towers in downtown FW (that's all I know about it so
far).
- any IBM 5100/5110 parts (including 8" disks); an associate here in Texas
has gotten their IBM 5114 disk drive unit working, so we'd be interested in
maybe copying disk files over to QIC tapes, and then somehow off-system to
archive. And I'm still looking for a copy of "PC51" (a 5110 BASIC
emulator that ran under MS-DOS 2.0), it was by CORE NET. Probably at most
only a few hundred customers bought it (at its $3000 price tag) around 1983.
- any parts for a Sharp PC-5000. Mine works, but I've been looking for a
Sharp CE-510F floppy disk drive (that has a "special" 37-pin connector that
makes it only work with some of the Sharp models - and I've verified it is
not the same as the 37-pin connector used on the IBM PC 5150 controller
card).
- anyone who can replace the screen on an Atari Lynx. I have the parts,
just don't have the talent :)
- a ThinkPad 385CD. I have one and it's in really decent condition, but
thinking I'd like to have a spare. Nice thing about the 385CD is it has
both 3.5" floppy and CD-ROM. [ I'm specifically looking for 486DX or
Pentium, so mid-1990s, not late 1990s - I have plenty of Pentium 3's and
onward; going for a "period correct" OS/2 Warp setup, even though I do
have ArcaOS on some 2001-era systems ]
- I guess while I'm at it, I've also been seeking for a working Datapoint
2200 (or equivalent variant, any 1974 or earlier) or Wang 2200. Even just
seeing either of those in working condition would be neat (working in terms
of still booting to BASIC). I was surprised I didn't see one at VCF in
Dallas last year (but they did have a HP9830 and Tek4051, those were neat
to see and still working).. The Wang systems have some decent emulators,
but I don't recall emulators for the early Datapoints.- so I've been
curious about their font and if it was as good at the brochures show.
I've read that the thing that really got Datapoint some money (initially)
was they pulled off crisp 80-column early on (and from the IBM SCAMP
journals, I read that even IBM struggled to do 80 cols - part of why the
IBM 5100 was only 64-column).
I just happen to be near LA that weekend, so hopefully it works out that I
can get to this VCF event. Is it the first time being held in that area?
Cheers, hope weather all works out for this event!
-Steve
Just saw on Twitter that the parts (main ones being front panel
castings) arrived, he's going to start kitting and sending to a
fulfifllment center in Florida.
I'm sure the audience here knows this, but this puts as marker in the
record here, since it's been ongoing for 3 years (according to Oscar).
Now to figure out how to get one.
thanks
jim
>
>Anyone have a VMEbus system they use at least occasionally? If so, what
>make/model/config?
I still use a couple of PPC VME boards (DY4 / Curtiss Wright 182/183/184, both
Conduction-Cooled and Air-Cooled) to test the tail end of hardware that we are
still shipping (by now EOL and basically NOS).
But it's work, I don't find them interesting.
If someone here has the warm fuzzies for PPC VME, we can talk :-)
W
Hi folks,
I’m working on a vt220 debug/repair and have gotten to the point where I need to trace firmware execution at boot. I’ve managed to dump the proms (close to but slightly different from the versions in Lars’ GitHub) and the 8051 internal rom, and can load and disassemble these with the s51 simulator. I also have an HP 1660 logic analyzer successfully configured and clipped up to capture instruction traces.
I’m about to dive in to commenting the disassembly listings, but figured I’d ping here to see if anybody might have done this already in case I wouldn’t have to start from scratch?
thanks much,
—FritzM.
Note to those people too lazy to update their subject line... it is
REALLY getting tiresome looking for information about the SoCal VCF and
finding not one post giving any information about it let alone the
multitude of posts seemingly with the subject line "VCF SoCal"!!!
Sheesh!!! Kind of makes search totally (almost) useless.
I'm still not sure of the date(s) or location except that it is in
February somewhere in southern Orange County, CA USA.
I recently acquired a stash of 5.25” Northstar-related floppy disks. About half are soft sector for the Northstar Dimension, the other half are 10 sector for the Advantage 8/16.
There are, however, about a dozen 10 sector floppies all modified in the same curious way: they have had a write protect sticker stuck over the index hole. Some with the sticker on top, some on bottom; can’t think of any reason that would matter as blocked is blocked. But I’ll mention it.
They seem to have something to do with the Dimension, maybe, as a couple of them are marked with NetWare 1.1.1 related labels (all handwritten). There is a set of what appears to be WordPerfect install floppies (though they don’t say WordPerfect specifically) . A couple also mention the odd term “smutched”. One is actually labeled “smutch.exe”.
Tim Mann’s Catweasel tool (cw2dmk) was unable to find any valid sectors on them, using the option to ignore the index pulse. I am aware that some drives won’t enable data if the pulse is missing entirely but I used a drive that doesn’t care (Teac FD-55BR - I have used it to read unpunched “flippy” disks) and still got nothing.
Does the Dimension really not need the index pulse, despite otherwise using an apparently standard WD-style format? Is something else going on? Does any of this ring any bells with the collected wisdom of the list? What am I likely dealing with here, if I want to recover the contents of these disks?
Thanks.
ok
bear.
>
>The drive works perfectly for double sided disks (using the
>appropriate index hole).
Yea, 8" drives are a bit funny like that.
You know this, because context. Some future google-ologist might not.
So. 8" drives have a different index position for SS and DS.
In your case I suspect either the emitter LED or the receiver
phototransistor ro maybe the wiring or what ever conditioning on the
PCB is b0rken for the SS sensor.
Assuming of course your drive has two sensors -- I have not yet owned
an 8" drive like that, the ones I have had were dedicated SS or DS.
W
USA here, anyone have a Sharp x68000 keyboard and mouse to sell?
The one that I've repaired and am trying to complete is the desktop
version, black, mini-din connector.
--
: Ethan O'Toole
>I have found that computers are much like motorcycles: many of the
>most interesting were never available in the US.
Computers are much like motorcycles: many of the most interesting
ones were TERRIBLE!
W
