test-drb November 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

185 participants
940 discussions

Minimum hardware requirements (Was: Old, but not "Classic"

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< 3.0 can run with CGA. It does, or at least mine does. < 3.10 SUPPOSEDLY can use the 3.0 CGA drivers, but they don't always work; < 3.1 therefore needs EGA Error! my 3.1 kit (circa 1992) has both CGA and VGA3.0 drivers along with about 15 others. I've used it with Mono, Herc, CGA, VGA. < I don't know what the mimimum RAM requirements are, but my 486 NEC lapto < can only handle "safe mode". (It has a hardware problem that prevents < upgrading the memory) For 3.1 it wants 2.0mb but I've run it on a 50Z with 1mb! For a useable system 4-8mb is the minima based not on winders itself but the apps you plan to run. Netscape(v3.0) in less than 8mb tends to crash Intermittently but with 12mb is rock solid. It will not even start up unless you have 5mb! < NB: MINIMUM requirements are NOT to be confused with RECOMMENDED < configuration. Particularly when it gets to issues of "acceptable < performance". True, also some apps may have their own want list that exceeds the minima by a lot. Allison

26 years, 1 month

modern removable media drives

by franke＠sbs.de

>> Before there where capsulated 'Winchester' type drives >> mainframes relied on removable disk stacks wit technology >> #1. Of course these had air filtration etc., but the stacks > Are you sure? On _all_ the demountable drives I have here (DEC and CDC), > the heads fly over the disk surface. They are not at a mechanically fixed > height, like on a drum. In other words, they are like #2, not #1. > I would be _very_ suprised if you could make a demountable drive where > you could remove the platter and put it back and get the position right > to 100 microns or so. That's why the head position has to be set by the > platter - i.e. the heads fly. I cant speak for any drive, but some 19 years back (1979) I've been working as a field technican for SIEMENS mainframe computers and head adjustment has been one of the most complex issues. Althrough air flow had influence, the main adjustment was done by *hard*ware. No way a fixed mounted head on a thight fited mounting could move seperatly ... and the fingers and mountings had a weight of several kilogramms :) Servus Hans -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

26 years, 1 month

modern removable media drives

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

-----Original Message----- From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com <CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, 14 November 1998 12:12 Subject: Re: modern removable media drives >>There was a ST3144A that liberally screamed in loud howling noise >>when it went through it's death throes. > >At a lab I once worked at, a Fuji 2284 (14") drive in the computer >room developed bad bearings and started screeching. We call >System Industries field service, they log into the disk control >unit remotely via a modem, check the error logs, and tell us >there's nothing wrong :-) I can relate to that. I have an RA81 here that sounds like fingernails on a blackboard when it runs, but still works perfectly. I can still boot VMS off it. I do so occasionally, just to see if it has died yet. Needless to say, it's not in active use otherwise. Cheers Geoff Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

26 years, 1 month

Old, but not "Classic"

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< > technologies. (FWIW, I found out that zip drives uses shappire < > bearings to carry the heads, that is from newsgroups so don't take < < Is there any particular problem with jewelled bearings? Watchmakers have < been using them for centuries, and the methods of making and installing < them are well known and documented. They been used in analog meter movements of quality for over 40 years and I've repaird them. Not much majik. They are a good precision low friction bearing. However I doubt they would be used in a ZIP as they never had a good reputation for shock resistance. they would however be low drag and help conserve power. Allison

26 years, 1 month

Computer History Books

by Innfogra＠aol.com

You might ask Paul Pierce, who has an IBM Tube Mainframe if he could recognize the tube set you have. His URL is http://www.teleport.com/~prp/collect/index.html Good luck in your search. Paxton Hoag

26 years, 1 month

A sign made of a vertical line of LEDs?

by franke＠sbs.de

>> Several times in the past I've seen home-brewed and perhaps >> CPU-driven signs that consist of a single vertical line of >> perhaps a dozen or two LEDs. > This has been done a number of times. One of the early electronic magazines > had a clock that you needed to scan your eyes over to read the time. A > friend of mine designed a pendulum for an art show with the LED section > about 6 feet long or so where graphics could be displayed. I don't recall a > name ever being associated with this type of display. It would be a > *really* fun thing to do now that multicolor LEDs are available and a full > color graphics unit could be done fairly "easily". Basicly the same Idea has been used for a 3D display. A 2D matrix of LEDs wil be moved fast forward and back, and the LEDs are fired right in time to give a 3D picture. It's even available in colour. But it is only visible when you are in front of the display, so it's mor like a 3D monitor, since you cant walk around. (A different aproach, but somewhat similar, works with a spiral up winding acryl plate on a rotating dish. A Laser highlightens points within this cylindical volume to produce a picture. Since the acrylic surface is spiral, the laser can reach every 3D point with the same angle - the beam comes from above or beyond). Gruss hans -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

26 years, 1 month

Old, but not "Classic"

by charlesii＠nwonline.net

classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu wrote: > > On Wed, 11 Nov 1998, Marvin wrote: > > > I frequently get given 286 and 386 computers as well as hearing about people > > that are just throwing them away. Does anyone else on this list try to find > > homes for these things, or know of homes? It seems such as waste to throw > > out perfectly good computers just because they don't run the current rage of > > the day. > > Many cities have computer recycling centers where they take PCs that can > run Windows, refurbish them, and then donate them to schools. Notice I > said "can run Windows". Unfortunately, anything that doesn't fit this > definition is foreign to them. So you'll have to find a practical > application for 286's. > > Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com > I've seen a 286 that ran Windows 3.0 pretty well. Charles

26 years, 1 month

This is totally off topic

by franke＠sbs.de

>>>BTW, anybody know where there might be a dusty Picaso lying around >>>someplace? > Try the Louvre in Paris, I'm certain you'll find several works by > Piccaso. We had some hanging around on Marienplatz some years ago, but I think nobody wanted them ... Gruss hans -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

26 years, 1 month

modern removable media drives

by mbg＠world.std.com

> my experience. And unless you put the floppy in direct physical > contact with the magnets in a PM motor or speaker, you aren't > going to cause any damage. (I've worked with floppies and hard > drives in close proximity to multi-Tesla cryogenic superconducting > magnets without any problems, so speakers and motors don't scare > me!) When I was working in the RT-11 development group at Digital, I had a DSD-880. This was an RL02-lookalike and an RX02-lookalike. But where true RX01s and RX02s from Digital didn't actually write formatting information, this unit could. I also had a floppy disk which was mounted on the side of a file cabinet using a large ring magnet (as is found in some DEC disk drives). People always figured it was a bad disk until I took it off the cabinet, put it in the DSD880, formatted it (for real) and then used it under RT before putting it back on the cabinet... It was just fun to see their eyes when I told them it was still usable... Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 1 month

A sign made of a vertical line of LEDs?

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Several times in the past I've seen home-brewed and perhaps >CPU-driven signs that consist of a single vertical line of >perhaps a dozen or two LEDs. > >The "sign" doesn't appear to be anything but a line of glowing LEDs. >Only when you view it at a glance, as your vision moves quickly >from side-to-side, do you see that it is rapidly flickering the ?vertical scanlines of a simple dot-matrix image: maybe the digits >of the time, perhaps a smiley face, or some other simple image. I don't know the name of it... but I remember that there was some sort of a contest a few years ago... Contestants were provided a number of items and had to build a display. The winning design had some sort of saw-blade which was moved by use of an electromagnet. The vertical set of LEDs would display the lines which comprised a character, and the saw-blade was moved back and forth in synch in such a way that when vieing the reflection of the LEDs in the shiny surface of the moving blade, one could make out characters. Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 1 month

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test-drb November 1998