FWIW and as some of you might know, Polymorphic was manufactured here in
Santa Barbara (also Lobo Drives/Systems, and Street Electronics.) After
Poly had gone out of business, a friend of mine ended up getting all (or
most) of the remaining Poly documentation and most of the remaining
hardware from the person who owned the Polymorphic remains. After he had
sold off some of that "stash", he gave the remaining stuff to me. I
spent a week or so taking the remaining original masters documentation
and putting it in a filing cabinet. That stuff included approximately
200 S-100 boards in various states of being built and maybe up to ten
thousand (WAG) 1/4" and 8" disks of stuff that was being worked on at
Poly when they shut down.
On my to-do list is to scan the remaining documentation (about a four
drawer filing cabinet) as well putting together the remaining Poly88s
(four- six) and other boards. I had planned on bringing some of that
"stuff" to VCFMW, but found out last night the exhibit area was filled.
So at this point, I don't know if I will be attending or not.
I am more concerned with getting the documentation scanned and archived
and will most likely end up buying a high speed double sided scanner. So
this is just a heads up that a lot (most?) of the original Polymorphic
documentation does still exist. Years ago, some highly uninformed
individual said this could not be original since there were no graphics
in the Circa early 1970 docs. He was wrong about this not being original
documentation!!! I also tried to keep any marked diskettes with the
docs. Those disks were primarily system disks. And those disks NEED to
be backed up before they degrade to the point they would be difficult to
read.
FWIW, I would have liked to get this stuff scanned, etc but at that
time, I didn't have enough money to pay attention let alone buy a
scanner to scan this stuff :).
Marvin
( I'm not sure how to change topic subjects! )
Regarding the Poly-88, I'm not seeing much about it on YouTube. If you've
got a working one, it would be good to "get one on record." If you're
willing to part with it or loan it - let me know (can also run it by
ActionRetro, although he's concentrating on some Russian imports at the
moment).
But back to the original topic, hope VCF West went well ! Looks like I've
been talked into going to the September 9th VCF near Chicago.
-Steve
On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 10:07 AM dwight <dkelvey(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Steve
> I see. You were asking if anyone had a working Poly-88.
> Yes, I believe mine is likely still working. I also have a 8813 that was
> working when I put it away.
> At the VCF, I was talking to another fellow about the video board used on
> the Poly-88. It was said by the other person that the board was basically
> copied by others and some even had the same error, causing distortion of
> the first line by incorrect timing of the H retrace time, on many monitors.
> Dwight
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Steve Lewis <lewissa78(a)gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 6, 2023 4:52 PM
> *To:* General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> *Cc:* dwight <dkelvey(a)hotmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [cctalk] Re: VCF this weekend, any one up for a trade?
>
> Oh it wasn't my Poly88 - but the person who had it, they just didn't have
> a CRT or screen to test it out with. So it may be working fine. Original
> owner, said he put it together himself (and 16K).
>
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 6, 2023 at 3:11 PM dwight via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> My Poly-88 should be working but I've not played with it for a few years.
> The last time I had it up and doing something was at the last MakerFaire .
> What Is your issue?
> Dwight
>
> ________________________________
> From: Steve Lewis via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2023 10:19 PM
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Cc: Steve Lewis <lewissa78(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: VCF this weekend, any one up for a trade?
>
> I can't make it to VCF this weekend - though I'm hoping to make it to the
> one in September.
>
> I actually am looking for something: any working IEC device for a C64 (1541
> drive, printer, plotter?). More for an experiment than collection, but do
> prefer clean and presentable.
>
>
> Earlier this year, I reached someone with a working Poly-88. But then in
> March they reported health issues and hospital stays, so I haven't heard
> since. Would be interested if anyone else is aware of a still-working one.
>
> We're still working on recovery of an IBM 5100 "launch title" tape
> (analytic functions) - practicing with other tapes first. Its 2-channel
> deal so far isn't quite that straightforward. But if the Tektronics folks
> can do it with their QIC tapes, I'm somewhat hopeful we can too (although
> late 70s/early 80s Tektronic is apparently a more proper IEEE-488).
>
> Only thing I could offer right now is a fairly not-working 5110 (display
> don't work, PSU don't work, cards don't work - but the case is pristine).
>
> -Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 3, 2023 at 8:49 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk <
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> > >> I did not get any of whatever mailings there were.
> > >>
> > >> I don't exhibit, but I do have an excessive amount of stuff to sort
> and
> > >> pack for sale and giveaway.
> > >> --
> > >> Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 3 Aug 2023, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
> > > We'll just have to organize a VCF Fred at some point. That way, they
> > come
> > > to you.
> > >
> > > I mean, after all, that's why I started the VCF ;)
> >
> > Yes, but you handed it over to a swell bunch of people before I finished
> > parting with my stuff!
> >
> > --
> > Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
> >
>
>
I'm sure there are at least a couple of you who will be attending the VCF
this weekend in Mountain View at the Computer History Museum.
Is there anything that anyone might want/need? Please send me a private
message if you're looking for something and if I have what you want I can
bring it with me.
I'll only be there Saturday.
Sellam
I sold my Lear Siegler ADM31 recently and the new owner (Ian) has found
that one of the ROMs failed before he could archive it - or it was
defective to start with.
So my question to the list is - does anyone have the ROM codes (there
are three of them) archived?
I don't think Ian is a member of this list, otherwise I'm sure I would
have spotted a post with a subject line like mine...
Thanks!
John :-#)#
--
John's Jukes Ltd.
7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
Call (604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"
On Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 9:48 AM Joshua Rice via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
>
> The Apple 1 is collectible purely because it was the first product Apple
> made.
Not really, though that's part of it. The value of the Apple 1 has more to
do with the Cult of Steve than anything else. Steve Jobs became the most
celebrated CEO of his time. He was practically a rockstar. Personally, I
think the admiration for Jobs turned into cringey idol worship, but the
fact is millions of people around the world were impacted by the products
Apple produced under his leadership, and he received the adoration.
As I said previously, the Apple 1 is now an icon, a status symbol for the
wealthy. The "Veblen Good" concept absolutely applies here. They have
transcended our motley little community of vintage computer enthusiasts.
They will continue to be held in high end collections for generations to
come.
Sellam
On 8/3/23 00:45, Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
> Value is a very much reliant on both desirability and historical significance. I guarantee most people who own an Apple 1 never use it, and it sits in a cabinet/shelf somewhere. Transversely, I’m sure there’s very few Amiga 1200’s purely on display, with the vast majority in collectors hands either tucked in a cupboard or actively used.
>
> The Apple 1 is collectible purely because it was the first product Apple made. There’s dozens of similar machines from the same time period, vcreated by startups looking to be the next big thing, that just didn’t make it. Look at SWTPC, look at IMSAI, the COSMAC ELF. Apple made it to the big time, and they didn’t, so many more people with too much money would consider the Apple 1 to be a wise investment.
>
> I’d still prefer the IMSAI 8080 or SWTPC 6800 though.
Collection values are so subjective that to me, that they make little
sense. For example, is a Mac that belonged to Steve Jobs more valuable
than the same model Mac that belonged to Harvey Schmidlap? Same
machine--I doubt that any scientific test could affirm that Jobs was
still alive in the former. But the difference to collectors may be a
couple orders of magnitude.
But then, I see little difference in value between an original painting
and an expert copy.
Yes, I know, I have no soul!
--Chuck
My IBM 1410 FPGA project now features a working 1401 mode as well, with
the flip of a switch, exactly like the original IBM 1410.
There are still a few real problems (e.g., Console I/O Input under
program control doesn't seem to be working), a few minor issues
involving console problems when doing control operations, and lots of
changes I want to make to the PC console support program, which really
should be done before tackling I/O devices.
There are posts relating to the debugging of the 1401 side of things
towards the end of the list that appears on page:
https://www.computercollection.net/index.php/ibm-1410-fpga-implementation/
JRJ
I have a HiPlot plotter - it's DMP-29, but I'm fairly sure it takes the
same pens as the DMP-2 which I also have but in a million pieces - but
right now without pens.
I have been promised some but it may be many weeks...
I'm wondering if anyone has any old (or NOS?) pens for them? What I'm
after is the dimensions with a view to 3D printing new pens - or at least
pen holders so I can fit modern pens into. (There is no height restriction
on the pen bodys)
Can anyone help?
(I'm in the UK if anyone has any physical pens available - please
let me know)
Thanks,
Gordon
I have 3 of the 4 pieces of Modular Advanced Design's MAD-1 and every now
and again I like to reach out and see if anyone might have the last missing
piece I need. The MAD-1 is sort of like the evil twin of the Mindset..
although nowhere near the graphics prowess. Unfortunately like the Mindset
the disk drives are a separate unit and unlike the Mindset the MAD-1 can't
operate without them because the enclosure also contains the PSU for the
whole computer. The floppy drives are nothing special.. just SA-455 360k.
Anyway, Sellam's msg about trades prompted me to reach out again. If you
aren't familiar here is a link to a pic of one CHM has.
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X1620.99A
Many thanks!!
Brad
Brad - The Tech Time Traveller
brad(a)techtimetraveller.com
Does anyone still use the older dot matrix printers?
The husband of a friend of mine passed away and I am helping her dispose
of his classic computer stuff. If there is interest in them, I can put
together a list of what she has (and I can see) in the six storage
lockers :).
The printers I saw today used the wide perforated paper. My memory is
non existent after about 1 hour :). My current plan is to attend VCFMW
in September, and I can probably bring stuff with me. The ones I
remember are the Diablo 630 (?), Juki, and a number of others of similar
vintage.
Yes, he had half a dozen or so Kaypro and Osbourne computers in the
first 18" or so of the storage unit plus one IBM compatible that I could
see along with maybe six B&W monitors.
There are also a number of bankers boxes filled with 5 1/4" and 3.5"
floppy disks and period books.
Marvin
