On Nov 9, 16:34, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> I have been in discussion with some folks about 1802's and the
possibility
> of producing a modern PCB for the Popular Electronicss Elf design. Hans
> Franke seems to think that there would be some interest in Germany for
> a few units, enough to make me consider burning a board. I would be
> curious to hear what other list members though about price, features,
etc.
> The good news is that Harris still makes the 1802 for less than $10, and
> the TIL311 displays that the Elf calls for are available for less than
$10
> each, used.
> How authentic should a modern Elf be? Try to use 1822/2101 RAM or use
> cheaper 6264 SRAM chips?
Very hard to get 1822/2101s, I expect. A compromise might be to use 2114
or similar. All the worst feartures of both - not original and not very
tolerant of power rail inadequacies :-)
> Add space for an optional 1861 video chip,
> a-la the fourth part of the orginal Elf article? Add space for a 1854
> UART? Add an I/O port?
A UART is always good on any machine...
> Classic clones, anyone?
I'd be interested.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
>I have noted the last couple of days a reference to a VAX/VMS "Hobbiest
>License". This is not something I was aware of, and I have a couple of
>MicroVAXen that could use VMS.
>Is there a web site or other source someone could refer me to?
http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/ is the definitive page :-).
Other very useful VMS resources:
http://www.openvms.digital.com/ftp://ftp.wku.edu/http://www.decus.org/
news:comp.os.vms
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
At 06:43 AM 11/16/98 -0500, Doug Spence wrote:
>
>I'm hoping to eventually locate some X-Specs 3D which worked at television
>frequencies.
>No sign of the libraries, but I've seen them somewhere.
That's the name I couldn't remember. I've got a set of these.
I've got the floppy somewhere, in one of those eight tubs of Amiga
floppies in the basement.
- John
< Okay, so if I get this machine...it looks like from some FAQs that I
< ought to be able to hook up generic SCSI drives to the machine...
Stay under 1gb for boot disk otherwise most all work. VMS fits nicely
with plenty of free space on a 240mb disk.
< Maybe my Sanyo CD-ROM will work? Anyone know of a good place for info
< on using 3rd party SCSI CD-ROMS with a VAX or with where I could buy a
< cheap VAX CD-ROM?
can't answer on this but generally there out there.
< Will I be able to network this thing in with my Linux, FreeBSD, and
< Windows box? Currently I am using thin coax and sticking it in there
< with a terminator on the end ought to do it? I guess VMS uses TCP/IP
Yes, VMS networks. It's default networking is DECnet but CMUip can be
loaded and that will get you IP. VMD is not TCP/IP.
< Anyone know of a place to get manuals for a VAXStation or some good
< beginning VMS books?
Library is where I start.
< Lastly, found the hobbyist CD for $30 at Montagor(?) Is this the
< standard deal or can I get it cheaper...I am kinda on a small
Go with that, it's cheap as it's all the versions from 5.4 to 6.1
and a pot load of other stuff (like CMUip).
< budget...all my money goes to paying of college debt and saving up for
< house for my wife and I :)
The alternat is if you have tape a TK50 kit or a helpful local friend
that can run VMSbuild.
You will need the DECUS membership (free) and also the License (free to
members). The license is the key for VMS or you will be limited to
maintenance login.
Generally I've found my vaxen with VMS still on it. That, a License
pak(key) and knowing how to crack the password (not a secret!) and your
set. Older versions of VMS V5.3 -> 6.1 are quite stable so any version
will do for the DECUS license.
If your a unix head and a bit masochistic there is NetBSD and that runs
on some of the 3100 series (not sure about the m40). Look up netBSD on
the web for more.
Allison
> I'm not exactly sure if Qbus needs terminators like Unibus
The termination issues are different. In general, with single-box
Q-bus configurations there aren't any worries about termination,
as the box designers took care of this for you. Once you get out
of the realm of "toy" machines and into serious Q-bus configurations
with multiple chained backplanes, termination issues do become
very important.
> So
>far to now, I haven't found a FAQ or website which addresses this exact
>question.
You want to look at Micronote #29, _Q-bus Expansion Concepts_. The
Micronotes are available from:
http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/hardwar…
A question for the net-savvy (of which I am certainly not one; I've
tried http://www.slashdot.com/ without any success - all I get is
"404 Not Found" errors!): I've submitted
the above index to the Micronotes to many search engines - most
notably Altavista - but none of them have indexed any of the text
files, containing the actual information, referenced in the
index. Can anyone figure out why?
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
< Ack! I need a bunch of these to get a PET 2001 going (all of the 6550s
< are bad, and I was told that the 2114 is the same part?) and a VIC 3K RA
< Expander fixed.
I don't think so. However, I have a handful of 2114s.
If I were building now I'd use 2116 (2kx8), 6264 (8kx8) or the 62256
(32kx8) as they are cheap and required fewer interconnects and simpler
layouts.
< Is there anything else that they can be easily replaced with? With som
< minor hacking that doesn't modify the computer in any major way?
2114s are a reliable part, there were some vendors that made garbage!
The NEC D444 is cmos pin/level compatable and RCA had the 5114.
Allison
Members:
Project success: Rescued a working binary of ALtair 4K
basic off the old cassette tape (after much diddling with
volume and tone controls) so you can be sure we're going
to make a fresh dump direct to a sound card and audio CD
for preservation.
Wish I could find the original docs. Sure does add a lot
of value to the machine to have easy floating point and
flow control! Next level: Startrek (and other rudimentary
games). Can't do much without strings tho. Hmmm, might
have 8K basic here somewhere...
Curious what the copyright situation on BASIC (or related
products) is? Certainly Gate's hasn't released it into
public domain.
Chuck
cswiger(a)widomaker.com
>> US UK
>>
>> NTSC -- smooth and flaky PAL -- flickery but more reliable
> 60Hz vertical scan - smooth 50Hz vertical scan - more flickery
> NTSC - flaky PAL - more reliable
Due a smaler coulour band signal. The slow colour change
is a real pain for movies but the 50 vs 60 Hz isn't
visible, althrugh when used with computers, both are
just bad.
> I think the 50/60Hz difference *may* be a problem, since a US monitor will
> prefer to sync to 60Hz.
Al long as you are using an RGB monitor, almost any will
syncronize well. For FBASthere is a problem, but most
actual TV sets should display PAL and NTSC (and 50/60 Hz)
without any doubt. Timing isn't any longer generated from
the power line. Also, since most TV controllers are IC
based, they use just one type everywhere.
This might not be true for the low price TV sets, but
any TV I (or friends of mine) had within the last
10 years could syncronize 60 Hz b&w and all (but one
tested in 1984) could also display NTSC signals.
Gruss
hans
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK