test-drb January 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

145 participants
831 discussions

by pvhp＠forte.com

classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Subj: Re: DEC Sold to Compaq! Richard A. Cini wrote: >Well, you could see it coming. Poor financial performance (and hence, weak >stock price) over the last few years. Weak products. Then, DEC sells-out the >Crown Jewels (its Alpha procesor) to Intel. > > After listening to an interview with Eckhard Pfeiffer of Compaq, they >paid $9.6 billion for DEC's customer list, not its products. He mentions >nothing about DEC's products. According to the scoop on DEC web pages and in comp.os.vms and various VMS mailing list he said: We are committed to...investing in Digital's strategic assets, particularly its worldwide service organization, as well as its 64-bit leadership with Alpha microprocessors, OpenVMS, Digital UNIX and Windows NT enterprise systems, open storage, and software products," Eckhard Pfeiffer, president and chief executive officer of Compaq, said in a statement. And all the VMS geeks are tickled pink that he mentioned VMS first on the list of OSes and point out that DEC CEO Bob Palmer hasn't been known to do that. > It's a shame...but it seems to me that DEC should have seen it coming. >Death comes to the last of the old-line computer companies. Well IBM is still alive and kicking (rumour is that the whole OS/2 shop has been fired/re-assigned/real-estate liqidated but AS/400 minis and mainframes are making a strong comeback). I Don't know much about Unisys though... Peter Prymmer

26 years, 11 months

This is the end... (Compaq buys DEC)

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

Well, look here... http://www.digital.com/flash/f192 It's the end of Aplha, I know that... Compaq likes Intel, and so they'll do Intel a favor and kill Alpha off. Then all DEC will make is PC clones... And that's the end of decent architectures from Maynard! -------

26 years, 11 months

Luggables

by jolminkh＠c2.telstra-mm.net.au

>The original "suitcase" portable, I have to agree, but the lunch box >portables are quite nice. Though I expected some access to an ISA bus >in the Compaq III, there weren't any. That's the one nice advantage to >the luggable -- they're expandable, to a degree... The Portable III often comes with an expansion box that fits on the back. Makes the package a "big" lunchbox and has room for 2 or 3 ISA cards. Most I have seen have VGA and network cards in there.

26 years, 11 months

Luggables

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 01:14 PM 1/26/98 -0700, you wrote: >Yeah, I've been looking for an expansion module. Hope I see one....if >anyone sees any let me know what the going prices are... There was one for sale recently on ebay; I forget what it eventually sold for, but it was: Compaq Portable III ISA Expansion Unit. (item #3694518) You can do a search to look up the final price. Also, I know where there may be one for $100, but you have to take the Compaq it's attached to as well. 8^) (Condition unknown, etc.; it's outta my price range.) P.S., Just to let folks know, this list doesn't get anywhere near as off-topic as a couple of Land Rover lists I'm on, and it is nowhere near as well policed as the Dressage list. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

26 years, 11 months

MFM drives

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

>My two favorite tools for HD work are the "On-Track Disk Manager >program V 5", and "Hard Drive Test Specs" program. DM lets you test, >LL format, create, and prep partitions. I will give a hearty second to the recommendation for Disk Manager. Can't be beat. If you've ever swapped a hard drive, or you ever plan to, get this program! If you even know what a hard drive is, you should probably have it. Also good is LapLink Pro, which allows you to transfer itself to another computer without having to use diskettes -- handy for those older (PC) machines (like >10 years) whose floppy drives have gone south, but you want access to the hard drive. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

26 years, 11 months

IBM Portable Personal Computer (and other things)

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> I'm not that impressed with the 3270pc. I bought it because I wanted > stuff out of it, but it was all pretty much proprietary (and covered > in dust and old) lots of wire wrapping and jumpers, so I just left it > alone. Now I use it to test Linux-16. > > The REAL question is, if IBM used these as terminals which could run > software, what did they have in them allowing them to use the network > ports? I mean that was 1984, DOS might have had some hooks, but they > would have sold it. > > Were these running XENIX/86, CPM86, or what? Anyone know? Anyone have > the software... Um. As I recall, when you booted a 3270PC, it booted MS-DOS from the hard disk as usual. Early on in the boot procedure, it loaded some sort of 3270-terminal-operating-system which grabbed some memory somewhere, locked DOS out of it somehow and REBOOTED. DOS then loaded normally UNDERNEATH the terminal program. The 3270 PC had some extra keys on the keyboard - the function keys (24 of them) were where they are on a modern PC keyboard, but there was a block of keys where they were on the original PC keyboard. These keys did things like switch between your terminal session and your PC session. The keyboard plugged into the terminal card as well as the keyboard port, BTW - I think the terminal card filtered out stuff that wasn't meant for the DOS session. The point was, DOS never knew about the terminal unless you specifically piped data through the terminal program. IBM sold an API (Application Program Interface) which was a piece of software allowing programs running on the PC to type on the terminal, look at the terminal screen memory, etc. Very crude. File transfer software - not very good - was available too. The reason they were rare was that the IBM 3270 terminal protocol (SNA, Systems Network Architecture) was only used on IBM mainframes - not even on the System/3X minis. I don't know how it worked but it was EBCDIC for a start... Returning to the 5155, when I was working at IBM this was the cheapest complete system in the IBM range - it was much the same price as an XT (if not less) and it had a monitor built in. Many IBM employees bought them as an entry level system (IBM required us to sign a contract saying we wouldn't develop software for other than IBM machines - I don't know whether this would have survived a court case!) But there must be some around if only for that reason. Hope this helps! Philip. PS *** Off Topic *** Will Sam and Anthony please go and have their argument somewhere else? The first couple of posts about Anthony's personal testimony were interesting and related to computers. The subsequent argument about drugs and off-topic posts, not to mention mature adults of 17 and silly kids of 30 (I'm one of the latter FWIW) was not. Sam, you say Anthony has problems - but so do you. Will you stop jumping down everybody's throat as soon as the topic starts to drift, please? Finally, alcohol. Interesting points about Prohibition (which we didn't have over here). Thank you whoever posted them (even though off topic). Denatured alcohol here is still "Methylated Spirit" - i.e. it has had methanol added. It has also had pyridine (I think) added to make it look purple and taste foul, and it is therefore even more poisonous, but it doesn't leave a residue. On the subject of home-made booze, if you use the wrong sort of yeast, you may well get methanol in the ferment. During prohibition I'd guess that proper brewer's yeast was not easily available! Apparently potatoes are particularly susceptible, and this has given the traditional Irish spirit made therefrom, Poteen, a bad name for making you literally "blind drunk." Since I am a non-drinker I'd better say no more on that subject... Philip.

26 years, 11 months

toner cleaning

by manney＠nwohio.nwohio.com

IT IS CARBON TETRACHLORIDE that produces phosgene when it is > reduced on a hot surface. Carbon tet (tetrachloromethane) hasn't been > available for 30 years! Funny how legends continue to spread. :) H'm. Sorry for shooting off my mouth. Computers (peecees, anyway...) I know, but chem is not my cuppa tea. manney

26 years, 11 months

Mid-Atlantic Antique Computer Club

by Marty＠itgonline.com

To whom it may concern: I would like to get in touch with anybody interested in 'antique' computers, especially in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to exchange info and perhaps start an east coast collector organization. Please email me: marty(a)itgonline.com Thanks- Marty Mintzell 5635 Heming avenue Springfield, Virginia 22151 703-569-2380 email:marty@itgonline.com

26 years, 11 months

toner cleaning

by Squest＠cris.com

On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Sam Ismail wrote: > Great, but what does homemade booze have to do with collecting old > computers? Well, one guy wondered what it was that caused denatured alcohol to leave residue on his computer printed circuit boards he was cleaning. My off-topic message answered that question he never even asked. :) Now if you'd like to eat your words, start munching. :) My off-topic post was of benefit to ONE PERSON, and that's enough to justify it's creation. sq (just put the unique word "Squest" in your killfile if you don't like it.) -- -<squest(a)cris.com>---------\ ( ( | ) ) Amendment1 Congress shall make ============================> /_\ no law abridging the freedom MicroPower FM Broadcasting-/ /\_/\ of speech, or of the press.

26 years, 11 months

IBM Portable Personal Computer (and other things)

by mallison＠konnections.com

I wouldn't know if my 3270pc is original or not, but there's no extended keyboard. -Mike ---------- > From: Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re[2]: IBM Portable Personal Computer (and other things) > Date: Monday, January 26, 1998 10:44 AM > > > I'm not that impressed with the 3270pc. I bought it because I wanted > > stuff out of it, but it was all pretty much proprietary (and covered > > in dust and old) lots of wire wrapping and jumpers, so I just left it > > alone. Now I use it to test Linux-16. > > > > The REAL question is, if IBM used these as terminals which could run > > software, what did they have in them allowing them to use the network > > ports? I mean that was 1984, DOS might have had some hooks, but they > > would have sold it. > > > > Were these running XENIX/86, CPM86, or what? Anyone know? Anyone have > > the software... > > Um. As I recall, when you booted a 3270PC, it booted MS-DOS from the > hard disk as usual. Early on in the boot procedure, it loaded some sort > of 3270-terminal-operating-system which grabbed some memory somewhere, > locked DOS out of it somehow and REBOOTED. DOS then loaded normally > UNDERNEATH the terminal program. > > The 3270 PC had some extra keys on the keyboard - the function keys (24 > of them) were where they are on a modern PC keyboard, but there was a > block of keys where they were on the original PC keyboard. These keys > did things like switch between your terminal session and your PC > session. The keyboard plugged into the terminal card as well as the > keyboard port, BTW - I think the terminal card filtered out stuff that > wasn't meant for the DOS session. The point was, DOS never knew about > the terminal unless you specifically piped data through the terminal > program. > >

26 years, 11 months

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test-drb January 1998