In a message dated 1/30/98 6:49:52 AM Central Standard Time,
Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk writes:
> > In other words, you have either a worthless printer, or a good excuse to
> > go get yourself a SPARCstation.
>
> Oh, come off it! Surely there must be some way of finding out the
> protocol and building an interface and/or writing drivers for another
> machine!
>
umm, the Sparcprinters are pretty useless without the card and the software.
They really are dumb printers. I might have an old CD of NeWSprint, but then
you might have licensing issues to deal with.
Kelly
KFergason(a)aol.com
Tony Duell wrote:
> I suspect the real collectables will be the really obscure machines -
> development systems, parallel machines, experimental machines, etc. No
> idea if any will ever turn up second-hand, alas.
Whyever not? You got a DAP didn't you?
Philip.
I started a lot of debate when I wrote:
> Worth a try then. But am I right in thinking that the AT doesn't
> implement all the 286 modes properly? I'm sure the XT286 doesn't.
The two rumours I had heard are thus:
1. The AT had been deliberately set up so that it couldn't make one of
the transitions between modes - IBM were being paranoid and thinking of
crackers having a back door - but this "feature" was removed in the
PS/2.
This is obviously a garbled version of the things you've all been
telling me about 286s and the AT having to reset itself from time to
time. Thank you for clearing this up.
2. Intel had a fault on a large batch of 286s that couldn't do some of
the things you'd expect. IBM bought a job lot on the cheap and stuck
them in XT286s.
Can anyone tell me the origin of this latter rumour? Has it now been
discredited?
BTW What is Warp? Is it the OS/2 windowing system? If so, why would I
want to use it at all, let alone on a 286? ;-)
Philip.
PS *** Off Topic ***
I stand corrected. Uncle Roger is quite right about triangular manhole
covers. However I don't know whether this still holds up (pun intended)
if you have rounded corners and a thickness that is not negligible as
well as the lip to support the cover in its normal position.
I don't intend to try it to find out. Whoever posted that rather silly
message about System/36 was right - this discussion has probably gone on
too long.
I will leave you with a thought: Make the cover a triangle, but with
the sides arcs of circles centred on the opposite corner. (This works
for any odd number of sides, like the 50p coin I mentioned earlier)
P.
Does anyonehave the numbers to enter for an RD54 to put in a MicroVAX 2000?
II think I need the actual h/c/s numbers rathert than the MSCP ones in disktab...
The RD53 is full of errors, and this '54 seems to be woorking fune, so I'll LLF it and see about installing.
-------
>And you'll have to pardon my ignorance of the Intel parts after the 8085,
>but why wouldn't a 386 work if the 486 works? (Other than the speed
>difference.) It has always been my impression that few OS's/applications
>need whatever extra software features that differentiate the 486 from the
386.
I believe the 486 was supposed to be just a 386 with a built-in math
co-processor. Then Intel came out with the 486SX. Which was really just a
broken DX, a 486 in which the built-in math co-processor didn't work.
-- Kirk
At 08:36 PM 1/29/98 -0800, you wrote:
>> Also, what's a fair price for a Coleco Adam system: 2 keyboards, memory
>> box with datacassette drives, external numeric keypad with knob (paddle?),
>> and printer.
>
>$25 - $30 as long as it works.
I have to disagree here... I'd say $50-75, possibly as high as $100 with
the extra parts, depending on how badly one wants one. (Again, assuming
it's working.) Mind you, that's what I'd feel comfortable selling it,
wihtout feeling like I'd ripped someone off. I don't know if I'd pay that
much right now, but catch me in a good month...
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
Some things that I would like to find are an Apple //e system, a copy of
Networks II BBS, and a copy of Nexus BBS. I'm pretty sure that along my
travels I will eventually find the Apple //e but I don't know if I have a
chance of finding either piece of software.
I've done a lot of searching on the web, but I haven't found anything.
Does anyone have what I'm looking for, or are there any resources I may
be missing?
Thanks,
Mike
<On the 1802: Did COSMAC VIP actually stand for something?
COSMAC VIP was a packaged game machine that could also run simple
programs using a very tiny interpreter (512 bytes) called CHIP-8.
I have the manuals for one along with other 1802 docs and a few 1802s.
Strange chip but made a fair stack machine.
Allison
With this news, one of my first thoughts was that if Compaq intends
to make money by selling its servers to DEC customers, software
emulators of old DEC systems suddenly become very, very important!
- John
Well, here are the genuine system requirements for Windows 3.0 -- I'm pretty
sure these are correct, since I wrote this KnowledgeBase article back in
1990 :)
If you know how to get the secret credit screen, you can see my name on
there...
Let me know if you have any other ancient Windows questions.
Kai
Windows 3.0 Modes and Memory Requirements [win3x]
ID: Q58317 CREATED: 31-JAN-1990 MODIFIED: 21-NOV-1994
3.00 3.00a
WINDOWS
PUBLIC | kbdisplay
SUMMARY
=======
This article contains information on the processor and memory requirements
for the three different operating modes of Microsoft Windows version 3.0.
These modes are real mode (similar to Windows/286 versions 2.x), 286
standard mode (also known as 286 protected mode), and 386 enhanced mode
(also known as 386 protected mode).
MORE INFORMATION
================
WIN.COM automatically starts up Windows 3.0 in the proper mode for the
configuration. However, Windows may be forced into one of the three
modes through the following command-line switches:
Switch Mode
------ ----
WIN /R Real mode
WIN /S or WIN /2 Standard mode
WIN /3 Enhanced mode
Notes
-----
1. All numbers below are approximate and may vary widely depending
on the configuration -- for example, Windows device drivers chosen,
DOS version, display adapter, etc.
2. 128K of extended memory is recovered from shadow RAM usage on
COMPAQ 386 machines.
3. Memory requirements take into account memory that can be recovered
from SMARTDrive (down to the minimum cache size specified).
Real Mode Requirements
----------------------
1. The requirements for WIN.COM to automatically start up in real mode
are as follows:
a. 8088 processor or above
b. 384K of free conventional memory (393,216 bytes reported by
CHKDSK)
2. The actual real mode requirements are the same as above.
Standard Mode Requirements
--------------------------
1. The requirements for WIN.COM to automatically start up in standard
mode are as follows:
a. 80286 processor or above
b. 192K of free extended memory
c. HIMEM.SYS loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file
2. The actual standard mode requirements are as follows:
Standard mode conventional/extended memory requirements are
mutually dependent and are not fixed. A typical installation
requires a minimum of 128K free at the DOS prompt to run standard
mode, assuming sufficient extended memory is free. Standard mode
requires between 384K and 512K combined conventional and extended
memory to run (approximately).
For example, if only the minimum 192K of extended memory is free,
approximately 322K of conventional is required to run standard
mode. However, if available extended is increased to approximately
208K or greater, only 128K of conventional is required. This
example is intended to illustrate that the memory requirements are
an interrelated, variable issue.
Enhanced Mode Requirements
--------------------------
1. The requirements for WIN.COM to automatically start up in enhanced
mode are as follows:
a. 80386 processor or above
b. 1024K of free extended memory
c. HIMEM.SYS loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file
2. The actual enhanced mode requirements are as follows:
See notes for standard mode, above, relating to the
interrelationship of conventional/extended requirements. A typical
installation requires a minimum of 182K free at the DOS prompt to
run enhanced mode, assuming sufficient extended memory is free.
Enhanced mode requires between 580K and 624K combined conventional
and extended memory to run (approximately).
Note that enhanced mode is able to start up in low-memory
situations only because it provides virtual memory support;
although enhanced mode may run in such situations, it may be
extremely slow due to the large amount of disk swapping it must
perform.
============================================================================
====
Created_by: KAIKAL Edit_review: DANAS Edited: 01-FEB-1990
Modified_by: DAVIDE Tech_review: RANDOW Reviewed: 23-FEB-1990
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lfb107(a)psu.edu [SMTP:lfb107@psu.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 1998 9:11 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Win 3.0
>
>
> I might be mistaken, but I somehow recall that someone said that
> it was possible to run windows 3.0 on an XT???
>
> A buddy of mine gave me an unopened box of v3.0 but the back
> says it requires a 286.
>
> So whats the deal?
>
> Les
