23 Jan
2023
23 Jan
'23
4:07 p.m.
You've got that right! I have a beautiful LSI 11/93 CPU board here
given to me as defective. Scoped the problem to bad output from a GAL!
I don't think I will be able to find one of those anywhere unless i can
find somebody with a board that has some other fatal flaw!
cheers,
Nigel
Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
Skype: TILBURY2591
On 2023-01-23 10:20, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote:
> As you say, to each his/her own.
>
> But although mechanical devices are indeed more prone to issues, the same
> argument could be applied to the rest of the system; when your unobtainium
> PAL or LSI chip fails you'll probably replace it with a modern replacement.
>
> Just a question of where you choose to draw the line.
>
> Personally, I just spent some time this weekend reviving some obscure IMI
> hard drives that hadn't been run for at least 25 years and it was a real
> delight to not only get them going again but to discover that one had a
> functional OS installation on it that I thought I'd lost long ago.
>
> I suppose there's some of that the very first time you get your Gesswein
> emulator working, but it ain't the same thing.
>
> Another issue is that I have several hundred floppy disks, some with fairly
> rare stuff on them; maybe I'll get around to archiving them some day but in
> the meantime they're fairly safe on disk (unlike the box full of extremely
> rare Burroughs paper tapes that I threw out before I discovered that there
> are folks who are actually interested in that kind of old crap ;-)
>
> m
>
> On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 9:38 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> On 1/23/2023 9:02 AM, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote:
>>> Agreed; might as well just replace the whole system with an emulator
>> while
>>> you're at it.
>>>
>>> m
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 3:41 AM Christian Corti via cctalk <
>>> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Sat, 21 Jan 2023, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>>> Later today I plan to try FlashFloppy. My goal is to eventually
>>>>> replace all of my mechanical floppies with solid state ones.
>>>> Why would one want to do that?
>>>> My goal would be the opposite. Upgrade all vintage computers with
floppy
>>>> drives ;-) My experience is that, if handled correctly, floppies are
one
>>>> of the most durable media, and they are definitely more fun on vintage
>>>> equipment than any form of modern replacement. For exchanging data
>> between
>>>> the new and the old world, maybe it can be an option. But for classic
>>>> computing? No way I would replace a floppy drive if it isn't
broken.
>>>>
>>>> Christian
>>
>> To each his own. My interest is not in museum pieces that stand on a shelf
>>
>> and look pretty. I like to actually work with them. Mechanical disk
>> drives
>>
>> are so old today they are prone to constant failure. None of my
>> original TRS-80
>>
>> drives still function. If I replace them with TEAC FD55's they are no
>> longer
>>
>> original so what difference is there if I replace them with a GOTEK and
>> USB Stick?
>>
>> And the disks themselves become unreliable with repeated use. The
>> replacements
>>
>> also allow for trying things the mechanical disks are incapable of.
>> Like really large
>>
>> floppies with255 tracks.
>>
>>
>> bill
>>
>>