test-drb November 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

185 participants
940 discussions

by franke＠sbs.de

>> It looks like a bunch of Altairs are coming on the market to feed the >> recent speculator frenzy. A couple of New Mexicans are dumping their >> Altairs. It looks like one was a Pertec employee, and the other is a >> surplus dealer who bought out a bunch of Altair stuff in 1984. >> The latest victim paid $4060 for a mere "turnkey" (no blinkenlights): >> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=39333791 USD 4600 ? Geee - you're all crazy Americanos. > I especially like how he gives the TRS-80 all the credit for destroying > the Altair. Someone take the blinders off this guy. Maybe around his frieds the TRS realy took over - just remember how narrow some peoples view is. Gruss hans -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

25 years, 8 months

apple //c

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

anybody want one? complete, but no power supply and not tested. $5 or something around that.

25 years, 8 months

VERY OT REQUEST: Need to know power supply specs for Acer Prisa 310S scanner

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

I need to know what the specs are for an Acer Prisa 310S scanner power supply. I know its 15VDC at 1A, but is it center negative or positive? Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 11/02/98]

25 years, 8 months

SCSI questions

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

>> 1) Is the SCSI drive (a 170 MB Toshiba) toast? Can it be fixed? It *should* be OK; but it does depend on the drive. I've accidentally connected stuff up backwards once and no harm came of it. > >> 3) There's no separate SCSI setting under "drive type". Should I use "no >> drive", or set the parameters to something? I don't know about integrated controllers - depends on whether the controller has a BIOS to it or whether it's just dumb. Sounds like you've got a standard AT BIOS that supports IDE drives, in which case the SCSI controller's either completely dumb and you have to boot from an IDE drive, or (as with standard SCSI controllers) there's a seperate SCSI BIOS which needs some key-combination entered (such as CTRL-A on Adaptec cards) on boot up in order get into it and set up your SCSI devices. If you know who made the motherboard, you may be able to find info on the web somewhere... cheers Jules > >

25 years, 8 months

Acorn BBC Micros

by franke＠sbs.de

>> 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 definitely notice the 50Hz vs 60Hz difference on my computer. It is visible when using a still picture like a computer output. 60 Hz gives a more stable view, but on the other hand, the poor NTSC coulour signal just damages the view again, so again the result is bas - taking this and the lower resolution (less horizontal and vertical lines in NTSC) I'll prefer the flicker. THe best was still using PAL with 60 Hz - some homecomputers of the 80s could be programmed for that - less flicker and high resolution and biliant (or at least as briliant as a narow band colour signal can be) colours. > I might > not notice it with a TV signal, though - I've never watched PAL > television. (But I've watched 50Hz 'EuroDemos' on the TV.) EuroDemos ? Whats that ? >> 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. > Our current television (JVC model no. AV-27965, manufactured in 1995) will > definitely _not_ synch to 50Hz. This annoyed me. All of our old > tube-based monstrosities are perfectly happy with 50Hz. > But north American televisions are primitive relative to European ones. I > would _really_ like it if they'd put SCART connectors on the sets over > here! The funny thing is that Japaneese companies have also stron sales in Europe - and use the same designs in Europe and the US ... But as always, they add only as many features as the 'local' companies offer. Gruss Hans I used an SONY TV for the ATARI ST, 10 years ago. -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

25 years, 8 months

Future Collectables

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/8/98 3:45:59 AM Pacific Standard Time, yowza(a)yowza.com writes: << When desktops disappear, and only notebooks survive, then the first laptops will be very collectible. If pen-based computing continues to gain ground, then the first pen-based machines will be nice to have. If wireless communications becomes commonplace.... If voice recognition replaces the keyboard.... There are lots of future collectibles out there. >> Doug is right. Look for the first developers of an idea. Limited production runs of a popular item. Any collector will tell you that a lot depends on rareity. An item produced in the millions is less valuable than one produced in the thousands. Prototypes of popular machines will be very valuable. Machines that bombed in the market will be valuable. Accessories and documentation that disapears readilly will be valuable. Hm, how about masks of 386, 486, 586 chips.... from the manufacture process. Very rare and often beautiful. Most companies desroy them. Test runs of a product that didn't make it to market (anyone remember the Biin machine. I doubt there is a single example of that one left.) The Gold plated Cyrix Chips. Most will go to scrap for the gold content. Beauty has little value untill much later. Add art and design to your collectors criteria. Some of the speciallized gear to make systems work. Ethernet repeaters, thick cable, some of the first fiber optic gear, routersand other peripherals. Anything that helps popularize or develop new concepts and revolutionary equipment changes. Yes the iMac will be collectable because it is taking a lot of new people into the land of computerdom. It is a revolutionary device, the thought of unpacking it from the box, plugging it in and going to work is very attractive to new computer users. How many computers of today will survive when crashes become totally unacceptable. It will be 20 years though, before it gains value as a collectable. Any limited edition iMac that Apple may make will be collectable. This is going to be the first computer for millions of people. Follow important people in the field. Many of the computers Steven Jobs had a hand in are collectable. I bet there will be more. Paxton

25 years, 8 months

PCjr with no disk drive?

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 01:42 AM 10/30/98 -0500, you wrote: >On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, Sam Ismail wrote: > >> As far as I know it was in the ROM on the motherboard. > >If you turn the machine on with no disk in the drive and no cartridge in >either slot, you get ROM BASIC. > >There is also a more advanced BASIC on a cartridge. If you turn the >machine on with the BASIC cartridge in a slot, you get cartridge BASIC. > >This is not a guess. This is how my PCjr behaves. That's my understanding. There are three levels of BASIC for the Jr. Level 1 is the ROM BASIC, level 2 is the disk BASIC and level 3 is the cartridge BASIC. I was surprised that the cartridge BASIC was the most complete but that's what the manual says. Joe

25 years, 8 months

PCjr with no disk drive?

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 09:08 AM 10/29/98 -0800, Sam said: >The PCjr had BASIC in ROM and didn't require a floppy to boot. Was the BASIC in a plug in cartridge and optional? Joe

25 years, 8 months

Future Collectables - Mac, iMac & Atari comments

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/8/98 3:06:25 PM Pacific Standard Time, dastar(a)ncal.verio.com writes: << > Yes the iMac will be collectable because it is taking a lot of new > people into the land of computerdom. It is a revolutionary device, the > thought of unpacking it from the box, plugging it in and going to work > is very attractive to new computer users. Apple used that trick before. It was called the Macintosh. >> True, the Macintosh was a revolutionary concept and the 128K original is now a collectable. Many people bought Macs as their first computer. This generates popularity, time generates nostalgia. E-mail is pushing many computerphobic people into needing to use a computer. This is a new step in the revolution which is going to bring a great majority of people into the computer revolution. Apple & Jobs recognized the movement and, yes, used the trick again. This is generating huge sales for Apple and in 20 years down the road, nostalgia. Lets look at a simplistic history of the Mac collectables. The hottest of the predicessors is the Xerox Alto followed by the Xerox Stars the 8010 (limited production, very collectable) and 6085 (pretty, beginning to be a collectable). All of the Lisas are collectable as are any parts, documentation and software. The 128K original Mac is collectable as are parts, documentation, software and the original boxes. I suspect that early 512K Macs are growing in collectability. Right now Mac+s are a glut on the market. Early serial numbers, originals and limited editions will be valuable in the future. The production runs on the Mac + were huge. Untill the glut disappears prices will be depressed. Now is the time to buy parts machines. I doubt the Mac+ will ever be a great collectable, there are just too many of them. Many people will want one for nostalgia reasons only. Maybe in 50 years or so they will be valuable. I don't know the later Macs. Some I am sure are and will be collectables. The iMac will be a collectable because many will use it as their first computer. Most will move on to newer machines. Some of the originals wioll go ionto the closet when people upgrade. Most will go to the used market. When a new generation of power (64 bit machines) becomes availiable most imacs will go to scrap. This will be the bottom of the market. This will be the best time for the true collectors to buy parts, however most won't recognize it. As they become scarce they become collectable and prices rise. At this time most documentation and software is hard to find. Original boxes nonexistant. The machines that are buried in the closet start showing up on the collectors market. Top prices are obtained by having the origional boxes, documentation and software. Collectors pay a premium for this. This was exhibited in the record sale price of the recent Atari 1200XL on e-bay. This unit was the only totally complete system I have seen on ebay. Original boxes! If you look at the completed sales of Ataris most sales of 1200XLs are in the $30 to $100 range for complete systems without documentation, SW and boxes. Paxton

25 years, 8 months

Fw: Some DEC stuff forsale (Cheap)

by geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au

Following posted in comp.sys.dec. If any Vax collectors are interested. Be a shame to see it as razor blades or landfill. It's times like this I wish Australia was a bit closer to the USA. -----Original Message----- From: kshuff <kshuff(a)fast.net> Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec Date: Saturday, 7 November 1998 5:56 Subject: Some DEC stuff forsale (Cheap) > Cleaning out the basement for some much needed space and have some DEC stuff >I would like to get rid of, rather than the garbage man getting it. > > The following items are all in working order and the prices I've listed are >what I'd like to see, but I'm flexible and would welcome offers. Shipping is >extra... > > DEC VR290-DA 19" RGB color monitor asking $100 OBO > > VT1200 Mono X-term base, 4 meg ram asking $30 OBO > > HP 7475A Plotter, brand new color pens asking $45 OBO > > DataProducts SPG8050 Wide carridge color DMP asking $40 OBO > > (4) RA-72 1Gb 5 1/4" SDI drives asking $30 each OBO > > (1) SA-7x drive enclosure for above drives asking $20 OBO > > MicroVAX I, BA23, RX50, RD52, Ultrix v1.2 loaded asking $40 OBO > > TU-80 9-track tape drive, bare unit, no cabinet asking Best Offer > >All items located in Allentown, Pa > > > Keith S. Huff > > kshuff(a)fast.net > --------------- > > "One World, One Web, One Program"- Microsoft Promotional Ad > "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer"- Adolf Hitler > > >

25 years, 8 months

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test-drb November 1998