Just curoius...where does one purchase new filters for DEC RK05 drives?
I have three new ones, so I'm not in any immediate need. But, I'd just like
to establish a source.
Also, since I don't have the maintenance manual yet, what's the hours in
service between filter changes?
FYI...I contacted Dialight, the manufacturer of the LED replacement
lamps for the RK05 drives. The lamps are still manufactured, but they're a
"custom" part. Minimum order of each color is 90 at $2.47 each. If anyone is
interested, let me know. The sales rep at Dialight is researching the specs
on it since she is not familiar with what makes the part custom.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Last week-end, I got an original Atari 2600
brown console, in the original box. Haven't tried it yet...
Rich Cini/WUGNET
<nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use)
ClubWin! Charter Member (6)
MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
============================================
At 04:51 PM 1/5/98 EST, you wrote:
>I'm sorry, but if people say it's ok to pirate old games, even more people
>than now will start to say, "Well, this game is not that new", and pirate IT.
>Now, I have nothing against software piracy on a simple basis: either I get
>the program for free, and the compay loses 50 bucks, or I don't get the
>program at all, which means that the company is still 50 bucks short.
However,
>my 14.4 modem helps me keep my morals straight :)
I guess we should just take this on a case by case basis. Most home pirates
never get caught. The "software cops" always go after the bigtime
distributors, people who make the copies and distribute them to others. I
don't think it really matters, because people are gonna do what they want
to do no matter what (Like me).
>How many people do you suppose would buy the original frogger? Even for $5?
>Even if someone put a rack of frogger diskettes for free out in CompUSA or
>something, how many would take it?
I sure as heck would. I never pass up on anything free. I would also pay $5
for the original Frogger if I had an XT or 286 sitting at home.
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
Didnt ESDI come out when the IBM PS/2 announced?
In a message dated 98-01-05 21:31:57 EST, you write:
<<
> MFM (early 80's?)
Very early 80's, I think, for the ST-506.
> RLL (late 80's?)
I tend to think of this as a minor variation of MFM, myself :-)
> SCSI (late 70's?)
The first official-type "SCSI specification" was proposed by an
ANSI committee in 1984. It was almost backwards-compatible with SASI
(Shugart Associates System|Storage Interface) which had been kicking
around since 1978 or 1979.
> ESDI (?)
Mid-80's
> IDE
aka "ATA", clostely related to the announcement of the IBM AT... which would
put it around 1985 or shortly afterwards? This wasn't really a new standard;
the IDE bus interface looks exactly like a WD1002 hooked up to a MFM drive!
> any others?
The SA4000 and SA1000 interfaces date from the late 70's.
And let's not forget the granddaddy of them all, SMD! (CDC, 1975 or so?)
And SMD's immediate descendant, the MASSBUS...
Tim. (shoppa(a)triumf.ca)
>>
> At 08:48 AM 1/5/98 -0600, you wrote:
>
> >Two, that today's computers run old software too quickly - that doesn't
> >sound like archaic software to me, if it's running directly on today's
> >machines and OSes.
>
> Try loading up Buck Rogers and the Planet of Zoom! on a Cyrix 200 and see
> how well it plays. Same goes for Frogger. :) They run blindingly fast,
> making them utterly worthless unless you use one of those slowdown utils,
> but most of those only run right on 486s.
There is a PC-based game I got on a shareware CD that came with my Pentium-75
called "Galactic Food Fight". It is blindingly fast as well. It's shareware,
so if anyone wants a copy....
> Three, that ancient games don't "hurt" today's
> >software market. Doing what?
>
> Doing what? Being available for "free" (illegally) out there for people to
> get to them. The fact that people are still playing them doesn't affect
> today's game market at all. It's a whole different ballpark out there these
> days.
I'm sorry, but if people say it's ok to pirate old games, even more people
than now will start to say, "Well, this game is not that new", and pirate IT.
Now, I have nothing against software piracy on a simple basis: either I get
the program for free, and the compay loses 50 bucks, or I don't get the
program at all, which means that the company is still 50 bucks short. However,
my 14.4 modem helps me keep my morals straight :)
> >so ... so, you say they should give up on them? A tenth of something is
> >still something.
>
> But repackaging the games and shipping them would up the price to at least
> $10.00 a piece, and you would have to come up with a cheap way to make sure
> the games ran at original speed on all systems, another few bucks for R&D
> right there, so you'll probably end up spending $50.00 for a compilation CD
> with maybe 10 games on it, and nothing else. (Can you say "Roberta Williams
> Sierra Compilation"?)
>
> Why not release the games as shareware, with no set ammount defined? People
> could pay what the game is worth to them. I think Maxis did that with the
> original SimCity.
How many people do you suppose would buy the original frogger? Even for $5?
Even if someone put a rack of frogger diskettes for free out in CompUSA or
something, how many would take it?
> >Don't get me wrong and think I'm just flaming you... I agree, I wish
>
> Oh, not at all. I expected alot more flak from people when I started this
> thread, but was suprised at how well the members of the list are taking it.
> (so far)
>
>
> - John Higginbotham
>- limbo.netpath.net
>
BTW, where is that Linux emulator page?
-----Original Message-----
From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead(a)retrocomputing.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, January 05, 1998 7:39 PM
Subject: Re: I don't believe this ****
>
>
>> Out of curiosity has anyone else with web pages dealing with classic
>> computers been contacted by someone that wants to dispose of your
>> collection as scrap? Talk about insulting!
>
>I've never had anyone contact me. If they did, I'd ask them if I could
>buy some of their old computers by the pound. =-)
>
>Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
>
This time it is an "HM-6100 Pocket Reference Card" from Harris
Semiconductor. It is a simple one sheet affair (folded improperly,
unfortunately), describing Harris's implementation of the one chip PDP-8.
As with other offers, interested parties should give me a reason why they
need the thing, and I will shoot it out (postage is basically nothing) to
the winner. No "first come first serve" here.
Also as with other offers, I can be bribed with some equally small bit of
computer paper from the mini and mainframe world.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net
Just wanted to let you all know I have a few odd and ends up on e-bay
right. An old TRS-80 stringy floppy drive, some TRS-80 manuals, etc. Just
check for the seller coslor(a)bobcat.peru.edu for the complete listing of
what's up there now. The stringy floppy drive comes with 11 floppy
'wafers' and the auction on that will end tonight!
Just wanted to let you all know -- for whateevr it's worth?? :-)
CORD
##############################################################################
# Cord G. Coslor -- P.O. Box 308 - 1300 3rd St. Apt "M1" -- Peru, NE #
# (402) 872- 3272 coslor(a)bobcat.peru.edu 68421-0308 #
# Classic computer software and hardware collector #
# Autograph collector #
##############################################################################
#The##/ ___ /#/ ___ /##/ ___ /#/ /##/ /#/_ __/#/ /#/ /#/ _____##
#####/ /##/ /#/ /##/ /##/ /##/__/#/ /##/ /###/ /###/ /#/ /#/ /#######
####/ ___ /#/ _ __/##/ /#######/ ___ /###/ /###/ /#/ /#/ _____/###
###/ /##/ /#/ /#\ \###/ /##/ /#/ /##/ /###/ /###/ /#/ /#/ /#########
##/__/##/__/#/_/###\_\#/________/#/__/##/__/#/______/#/_______/#/________/####
##############################################################################
John Higginbotham <higginbo(a)netpath.net> wrote:
>At 11:20 AM 1/4/98 -0600, John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> wrote:
>>of people out there who like to play old computer games, but you think
>>the software owners shouldn't be free to sell to that market because
>>there's no gain in productivity or increase in "harm"? What about
>>learning or enjoyment?
>
>If you can find any message where I said that, I'd be happy to argue
>against it, but I don't think I would type that in so many words. Software
>companies SHOULD be able to sell these old games, but they can never expect
>to get the original price out of them.
It was the text in surrounding by <rant> in your January 4 message:
><rant>
>Which brings up an interesting point: Why do the self appointed software
>cops go after software archives of "abandonware" that most of today's
>computers usually run too fast anyway? Do these ancient games really hurt
>todays software market? Anything 10 years old or older should be
>freeware/public domain as far as games are concerned. They don't increase
>productivity, and the collectors of these old games aren't doing any harm
>are they?
></rant>
I'll restate what you said, as I saw it. One, there are self-appointed
software cops - you mean people who defend copyright, even of old software?
Two, that today's computers run old software too quickly - that doesn't
sound like archaic software to me, if it's running directly on today's
machines and OSes. Three, that ancient games don't "hurt" today's
software market. Doing what? Four, you say the ten-year-rule "should"
apply to games, making them (who sez?) be PD/freeware. Five, that games
don't increase productivity and that "collecting" them (pirating them?)
doesn't cause harm. And in your reply, you say that even if the developers
sell their old games, they shouldn't expect to get the old retail price,
so ... so, you say they should give up on them? A tenth of something is
still something.
My point is that people want to play games as much as use anything
else when it comes to old software. They want to recreate their
experience of years ago. Emulation and re-creation can be very handy!
I'm surprised there aren't non-MS products that streamline the gotcha's
out of running DOS, Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.x software under Win95/NT.
Or maybe there is and I haven't heard of it. I'd love to get a copy
of Brief that wouldn't hog so much CPU in DOS emulation under WinNT.
I'm still running my 1986 copy. Is that archaic?
Don't get me wrong and think I'm just flaming you... I agree, I wish
there was a better mechanism that authors of extinct software could
use to allow new life for their old software. Sort of a national park
or conservatory for old software would be nifty. If it resulted in
payments back to the registered authors, I bet it could work. You'd
need to find volunteers altruistic enough to donate their efforts in
order to be able to send other people checks. The checks might be small
or non-existent - perhaps the authors understand that the price charged
would just fund the charity set up to distribute the software. It would
be a strange sort of charity, sort of like the Old Actor's Home, except the
charity cases might be Time-Warner or the programmer who was a millionaire
at 15 with his Commodore 64 games, who's now pushing 30 and running his own
200+ person company. In terms of effort, the hard part will be tracking
down the proper owners of all that old software.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Joe wrote:
> I don't remember who asked for the part number for the HP 85 printer drive
> belt but I finally dug out my service manual and found the numbers. There
> are two belts in the printer. One drives the carriage and is PN 1500-0529.
> The other drives the paper advance and is PN 1500-0572. If one is bad you
> should go ahead and replace both. During the week you can call HP's
> automated ordering line at 1-800-227-8164 and order them if they're still
> available. Let me know if these are still available and what they cost. If
> you can't get them, let me know and I'll open up one of my 85s and measure
> the belts and to to match them up with something from Small Parts Inc or
> one of the other companies.
Thanks, Joe. Someone posted HP part numbers a while back, and my
colleague is going to try the HP order line in this country first.
Meanwhile, I have extracted the belts from my own HP-85 and measured
them - FWIW they are 175T80 and 78T80 (according to the markings on the
belts) - 0.080 inch tooth spacing, 78 teeth for the paper feed and 175
teeth for the print head.
My colleague says that if he manages to buy some new ones, he will get
me a spare set as well...
Philip.
> Once you find software on-line - One of the real bummers is that the
> 8032 does not have an RS-232 port for easy communication (read: file
> transfer via null-modem) nor is the 8050 drive compatible with any other
> Commodore disk drive (like the 4040/2031 is compatible with the 1541 thus
> making it easy to get software to a 4040 by doing a null-modem to a 64
> and writing with a 1541).
I thought the 8050 was compatible with the 1571. Am I mistaken? I know
it's not compatible with the 8252 (or whatever it's called - the double
sided 8050 that's also built into the 8296D) which is silly and v.
annoying.
> Though I am not saying it is impossible; the PET does have a parallel
> user port which is VERY easy to program. With a bit of coding knowledge
> a few parts and soldering you could whip up a PET-to-Whatever connector
> and the appropriate software for transferring files.
Absolutely. I have a couple of amusing tales about this.
In 1983-84, a friend, M J Richards, and I (aged 15 and 16 respectively
at the time) developed an adventure game for the BBC micro. But we
started by typing in all the text on an 8032, followed by compression
and encryption. We then wanted to squirt this module across to the
Beeb. Alas, MJR's Beeb only had OS version 0.10, which didn't support
input on the serial port. Also alas, the 8032SK uses IEEE-488 (GPIB)
style connectors for the user port and we didn't have any. In the end,
we used the cassette motor output on the PET and the analogue input on
the BBC. Data rate was 30 baud as I recall!
Later we wanted to produce a full program listing from a disassembler
program on the BBC. By then, 8032 had returned to Dad's office, and the
only printer we had left was a Teletype ASR33. Alas again! The BBC
serial port didn't support 110 baud. PET to the rescue again - I had an
old ROM 8K machine. A few wires and a transistor later, I had an
interface - PET received data at 4800 baud on one pin of the user port
and transmitted it (via the transistor) to the Teletype on another pin.
Finally, we wanted to port the software to other machines. Acorn
Electron port was easy - it actually runs on the BBC micro if you try
hard enough - but Commodore 64 port was more difficult. I cannot
remember if I had upgraded my PET to 32K by then - I think probably not
- but we somehow got it across the same 4800 baud link and onto tape,
whence it was loaded onto a 64.
On my list of things to do now is finish the PET port of the game...
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who actually played the game - it
was licensed to a software house called Alligata who sold it as "Xanadu
Cottage" - about 400 copies were sold, I think (BBC model B only).
Also, if anyone wants a copy for their BBC B / Electron / C= 64, please
get in touch. There are still slight bugs in the tape routines for
saved positions, afaik, but otherwise it runs well.
Finally, who would like to see / play / beta-test a PET version? And
what model(s) of PET do you have?
Terms for software distribution will be shareware - if you want to pay
for the game, a suitable donation to a charity caring for Hodgkins'
Disease (of which MJR later died) is requested.
Philip.
