test-drb July 1997

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

111 participants
442 discussions

What Classic Computer are All About - A Lovers

by cerebral＠michianatoday.com

Opps, My name is TJ Plajer, and recently reinstalled the mailer and forgot to add a space for some reason..... <G> I did follow your tips, and the drives are in a XT case and there are no bezels for the drives. there is good air flow, just they seem to run this hot. I never ran these drives before and have no idea how hot they should be. as for power cycling, they get NONE. this system has been running for 2 months continous, without any powerdowns since they were installed, so for 2 months now, the thermal stability has (hopefully) stayed the same. thanx

27 years, 5 months

What Classic Computer are All About - A Lovers

by allisonp＠world.std.com

->X-Sender: cerebral(a)michianatoday.com ->Hello there, I run a fileserver that has 2 ST-225 20 meg drives, and 1 ->420 meg IDE drive, this system runs 24/7, and has been running for 2 mo ->continuous now. My question is what is the life expectancy of these dri ->it is often said that the ST-225 series are not reliable, however they ->continue to run strong. also these things run so hot that you can fry a First off why bother withg the st225s? They are slow (st251s are faster!) and their reliability is at best ok. FYI: st225s live far longer if they are cooled. If the fan isn't noisy it isn't moving enough air past them, seriously! Also if they are in the smae box as all the other hardware they raise the other components temperature lowering their life. Heat is not your friend, this is why computer rooms are air conditioned an usuialy under 70 degrees F. Allison

27 years, 5 months

Computer Scrapyards (was: PAM computer, Convergent?)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

->I have seen many gems from DEC, mostly mid-1970s PDP-11s and early VAXe ->I have yet to see any 12, 18, or 36 bit stuff from them, however. The o there is a reason... PDP-8s were the most prolific and the production nubers were in teh low tens of thousands and many still serve. The 18bit stuff were few to start with and hard as hell to expand so they faded away. the 36bit stuff were also few but interesting. Still many made it to the bone yard for lack of takers years back. Some of the less common machines like the PDP/LINK-12s and PDP-15s were only made in the thousands. PDP-11/23s are however like flies but, one complete with software (or better diags) and clean are scarce. Allison

27 years, 5 months

Some Commie questions

by cerebral＠michianatoday.com

At 02:11 PM 7/13/97 -0800, you wrote: >My main question is on the C= 128, along with all the other stuff I picked >up, I got a Commodore 1702 monitor, and a couple 1541 drives. I've got the >drive attached, and the monitor hooked up via a RF cable (I guess that's >what it's called) through the front connection (This works for the Amiga >500 I also got yesterday). Anyway, I power the thing on, it "buzzes" the >drive like it's expecting to find something, and I don't get anything on >the display. The C=128 does not need any kind of bootfloppy, it will start up in C=128 mode. if you type GO64, it reverts to a C=64 kernal. and if you want to run CPM, then you need a CPM boot disk, however it is not required to run the machine. this is what I liked about the 128, 3 mahcines in 1! :) for your monitor, the 128 has RF output accessable from the RCA jack, a 5 pin DIN video connector that provides composite, or seperated video plus sound. also there is a RGB 9 pin DSUB connector so you can use ANY CGA monitor for 80 col. for the 1702, you need a video cable(looks like you have this), and use the separated mode for sharper graphics. the buzzing you hear is because you have connected the video out RCA jack to the audio in. You should have 5 phono plugs on the end of the video cable, and a din plug on the other. just experament with all the plugs till it works. the video plug colors usually (but not always) YELLOW - sound RED Video chroma WHITE video Luminace BLACK SOUND GRAY Composite video each manufacturer used different color chemes, and this might be wrong for other cables than mine. also the 1702 has a front panel switch that has 3 positions: 1- monochrome this just makes everything green used for composite video 2- Composite video this is just the standard video in, you can hook your VCR to it for a nice sharp TV!! 3- seperated - this uses seperate lines to feed the video, and this has the best quality >I remember that the C64's like the VIC-20 would drop you at the prompt even >if you had nothing attached, and didn't need any kind of boot floppies. Do >I need some kind of boot disk for this beast? Nope. unless you want to run CPM >I gather a CGA monitor will work, so I guess I should dig out one of the >old Mono-CGA monitors I've got in storage. shore will. > >The next question would be, is it worth trying to repair a C64's power >supply? I got two of them yesterday, both powersupplies are dead. It >looks like the 5V line is shorted to ground. I did get a copy of the Old & if it is potted, NOPE. some are unpotted and can be fixed. >New style users manuals, and a copy of "Troubleshooting and Repairing your >Commodore 64" yesterday (I love Powells Technical Books!) so I've got some >documentation. It's been too many years since I worked as an Electrician, >so my skill level is pretty low (wasn't very high to begin with, which is >why I switched to computers). > I have these manuals too and I must say that it leaves no tern left unstoned.

27 years, 5 months

CLASSICCMP digest 113

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

> From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com> > Subject: Some Commie questions > My main question is on the C= 128, along with all the other stuff I picked > up, I got a Commodore 1702 monitor (good composite/Split Composite monitor, ususally JVC or Toshiba Guts) > and a couple 1541 drives. I've got the > drive attached, and the monitor hooked up via a RF cable (I guess that's > what it's called) >through the front connection (This works for the Amiga 500 I also got yesterday). The jack on the front is RF output. > Anyway, I power the thing on, it "buzzes" the drive like it's expecting to find something, > and I don't get anything on the display. When a 128 boots up it will attempt to 'boot' whatever disk is in the drive. A boot disk isn't necessary unless you want to use the CP/M mode of the 128. To boot the 128 into 64 mode hold down the Commodore ket as you turn it on, release and you will be rewarded with a 64 bluescreen. Otherwise it will boot into 128 mode, either 40 or 80 columns depending how you have the 'columns' key locked. > I remember that the C64's like the VIC-20 would drop you at the prompt even > if you had nothing attached, and didn't need any kind of boot floppies. Do > I need some kind of boot disk for this beast? Only for CP/M.. It's a good version too! > I gather a CGA monitor will work, so I guess I should dig out one of the > old Mono-CGA monitors I've got in storage. Only in 80 column mode, the 128 has an RGBI port for that. If you have no color RGBI monitors you can always fasion a composite monochome cable by connecting to pin 7 (monochrome) and pin 1 or 2 (ground) to an RCA plug, that pin was designed for monochome composite output. The best (low cost) configuration is to have the 128 hooked up to the 1702, with the 40 column split/composite & audio plugged into the back and the monochrome 80 columns in the front. The quality of video using a proper (split composite) video cable in the back of the 1702 is excellent, I highly recommend it! > The next question would be, is it worth trying to repair a C64's power > supply? No. Unless you like chipping away Epoxy resin. > I got two of them yesterday, both powersupplies are dead. It > looks like the 5V line is shorted to ground. I did get a copy of the Old & > New style users manuals, and a copy of "Troubleshooting and Repairing your > Commodore 64" yesterday (I love Powells Technical Books!) so I've got some > documentation. It's been too many years since I worked as an Electrician, > so my skill level is pretty low (wasn't very high to begin with, which is > why I switched to computers). > Then there is the Amiga 500. About a month ago, I'd picked up a copy of > "Bards Tale" for the Amiga, so I know it works. Problem is I don't have a > copy of the two floppies that came with the computer originally (also got > the manual for this at Powells). I think I've got the Kickstart 1.2 ROMs > (it has a 1.2 on the screen when asking for the Workbench disk). That is Kickstart 1.2 allright. Kickstart 1.3 or later would be better because they have hard drive autoboot coding and 2.0+ is more compatible with recent Amiga software. I have the 1.2 Workbench and Extras Disk around here somewhere... :) > Where can > I get the disks? I don't suppose it's like the Apple IIgs software that > you can now download. The hard part would be getting it on the right format of floppy... > The second Amiga question would be, is it possible to hook up Apple IIgs, > or Macintosh 3 1/2" external floppy drive with a Amiga? I somehow doubt > it, but... Yes and no... Yes, there are plans for hooking up Macintosh 3.5" floppy drives to the Amiga, BUT, they are used only for the Macintosh Emulators for the Amiga (BTW the Amiga 500 can run a Mac Plus Emulator at just about speed.) > Thanks, > Zane >| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | >| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | >| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Mac Programmer | >-- Recap, I have the Amiga Disks and also have a split-composite cable to hook the 128 to the 1701 (for the best 40 column output). -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/ Call our BBS (Silicon Realms BBS 300-2400 baud) at: (209) 754-1363 -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

27 years, 5 months

What Classic Computer are All About - A Lovers

by cerebral＠michianatoday.com

At 09:35 PM 7/12/97 +0000, you wrote: >> >Yes, I was experimenting with lots of hds/models/brands which I got >some experience with them. If you have any questions about hds, >floppy drives, fire yours to me. :) > >Jason D. > Hello there, I run a fileserver that has 2 ST-225 20 meg drives, and 1 NEC 420 meg IDE drive, this system runs 24/7, and has been running for 2 months continuous now. My question is what is the life expectancy of these drives, it is often said that the ST-225 series are not reliable, however they continue to run strong. also these things run so hot that you can fry an egg on it! :)

27 years, 5 months

IBM 5161??

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

In message <Pine.SUN.3.91.970714101129.4470B-100000(a)crl5.crl.com> classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu writes: > > I saw an interesting relic in the thrift store the other day...and IBM PC > "Expansion Chassis" (I believe that's what it was called). It was > basically an IBM PC case with two full height hard drives instead of > floppy drives. It's model number was 5161 (if I recall correctly). > Didn't bother with it, even though it is kinda unique. Ah yes, the 5161... It is/was a device for adding 6 more slots to a PC, PC/XT or Portable-PC (basically any of the 8-bit bus system). The 5161 itself was a PC/XT cabinet with an 8-slot passive backplane (OK, there was a 14.? MHz oscillator in there) and a standard PSU. There were a pair of cards (the 'extender' and the 'receiver') and a 62 pin cable that linked them. You put the extender into one slot of the 'host' system, the 'receiver' into the passive backplane, and linked them together. You could put I/O or memory cards (although not graphics cards AFAIK) into the remaining slots of the 5161. One problem with buying one of these second-hand is that the extender card (and often the cable) is almost always missing - it's been left in the host. And that card is difficult to find. Schematics, etc are in Volume one of the Options and Adapters TechRef. > Sam -tony

27 years, 5 months

HP 9836, HP 86 ??

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 11:45 PM 7/13/97 GMT, you wrote: >GPIB = General-Purpose Interface Bus. Aka IEEE-488, and very similar to >HPIB (= Hewlett-Packard Interface bus). HP were the company who designed it, >but it turns up on all sorts of machines. It's *the* bus used for disk drives, tape drives, printers, etc. for classic (and, to a lesser extent, spectrum) HP 3000 minicomputers. Trust me, I've got a basement full of 'em. (Bought my 3000 to use -- it's what I do for a living.) Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Commodore PET's used IEEE-488 for disk drives, as well as lab stuff. I'm pretty sure I've got an IEEE-488 interface for the VIC-20 around somewhere. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

27 years, 5 months

Some Commie questions

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 02:11 PM 7/13/97 -0800, you wrote: >up, I got a Commodore 1702 monitor, and a couple 1541 drives. I've got the >drive attached, and the monitor hooked up via a RF cable (I guess that's >what it's called) through the front connection (This works for the Amiga The c1702 is a very nice monitor. On the back is (IIRC) RGB connectors (or composite? or something like that) but on the front is standard video and audio in. As in, TV. If you hook up a VCR (with a tuner or cable connection), you've got yourself a very nice TV. A few years back, I set up a VCR and 1702 combo on one of those hospital tables for my dad and he spent his time there watching movies (actually, videos of a local teen theatre group -- <http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/yptmtc/>). It makes for a very compact setup. I would love to find one or two for <$10 and use them for exactly that. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

27 years, 5 months

Classic Video Games

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 10:34 PM 7/11/97 +0000, you wrote: >Is the display looks like it was using same LED display, "hair thin" >segments under the plastic lens? That would fit with what I remember. If all the lights were lit up, it would look a lot like this: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Only a little closer, vertically. The lights really looked like little red hyphens. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

27 years, 5 months

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test-drb July 1997