<Yeah... I figured that you had to have a pretty advanced design (with an
<accompaning fab, although I don't really know about this stuff, it seemed
<like 1 micron was the magic number for on chip caches). I've always liked
<large caches on everything: 512K on a hard drive, a meg on a motherboard,
The key was getting a fab process that could support the extra logic and
the added gates to form the cache memory and cache control. Also caching
requires a lot more smarts that are added to the basic cpu. It represents
a great increase in complexity, total number of logic on die and potentially
power consumption. Those are all parameters to be balanced.
Allison
<>I believe that at one time if you bought an 8087 FPU from IBM as a PC
<>upgrade you got an 8088 with it. Apparently some early 8088s (which ended
<>up in IBM PCs) had problems working with the 8087 (I can't remember the
<>details), so they gave you a 'good' 8088 to install with the 8087 just in
<>case you had a defective one in your machine
<>
<>-tony
<
<
<I recall it had something to do with timing problems. I remember installin
<them as a pair also.
<
<Dan
it was a board level timing error. The chips were tested as sets to match
the muffed timing . later boards would not have this problem.
Allison
<Actually, Netscape still goes wacky with 32 MB RAM, and a 4.3gig HD on a
<P200. I think that some of the free browsers (IE, Opera, Mosaic, even
<NETTAMER) outperform the overpriced netscrape.
I have 3.0+ down loaded off the net for free, is that too costly? it
runs on a 486DX2/66 with 20mb under win3.1 and it's solid. On the other
hand I've had IE on a P166 with 32mb be real nasty. If an application like
netscrap (or IE) hangs or crashes is an indication something is broke.
Video drivers, and "helper apps" tend to be first on my hit list for
problems.
It's OT but since so much of the classic data distribution is PC/internet
based I'm comfortable talking about it here.
Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)aracnet.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, 28 December 1998 11:21
Subject: VT420 Terminal to LA75 Printer
>I've no idea if these count as classic hardware, but the PDP-11/73 they're
>attached to does.
Close enough!
>It's the simple Classic Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for
>something, once you find one, you'll be swamped.
I know that feeling.
>Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420,
>and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what
>are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks
>as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal.
You might try 4800, 8, N, 1. It seems pretty common.
There should be dip switches on the LA75 somewhere to let you change the
baud rate. IIRC, if you hold down the LF key when you power up the printer,
it
should print a test page, which I think includes the serial port status.
(It's either LF or FF, not sure which)
I don't have a DEC printer on my Microvax II, it's an old CITOH 2500, I just
told
VMS it was an LA210 and it works perfectly. A Brother M1724L also works
very well that way too. (Both are 24pin Wide Carriage)
The situation may be somewhat different on a PDP with a different O/S of
course,
I don't know enough about those machines to comment intelligently.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au
Jason Willgruber wrote:
>Anyone have the DIP settings for a Seagate ST-506 (full-height 5.25", 5 MB)
>HD? I can't seem to find it on Seagate's website (or am I just looking in
>the wrong place?) I'm trying to set it up as HD [0] on an IBM PC using a
>Western Digital XT-GEN controller. The HD appears to be recognized by the
Does the drive have a Seagate logic board?
The only ST-506 I have ever found was in a Profile drive with an Apple Logo
and had a Profile logic board.
Hans
>I believe that at one time if you bought an 8087 FPU from IBM as a PC
>upgrade you got an 8088 with it. Apparently some early 8088s (which ended
>up in IBM PCs) had problems working with the 8087 (I can't remember the
>details), so they gave you a 'good' 8088 to install with the 8087 just in
>case you had a defective one in your machine
>
>-tony
I recall it had something to do with timing problems. I remember installing
them as a pair also.
Dan
>Anyway, my long quest for a DEC printer is doubly at a end. I'm waiting
>for UPS to deliever one, and I was just given one. It's the simple Classic
>Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for something, once you find
>one, you'll be swamped.
Murphy's Law.
>Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420,
>and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what
>are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks
>as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal.
>
First find out what the printer configuration is by holding the setup button
while powering it on. It will then print the full setup and leave you in
setup mode. You can then change parameters by stepping through them with
the front panel buttons. Note: the writing that is below the buttons is for
setup mode. First get to the parameter you want to change "feature" mode
using previous or next then hit "value" to toggle what you want with
previous and/or next. Then hit feature to get back to feature mode. Once
you have everything set as you want hit setup and it will save and exit to
normal. There are 2 protocols DEC and other. Other is IBM proprinter.
This is very useful for people that only have inkjets - hook one up to a
serial port and use it for routine printing. I have several friends that
have bought them from me for just that use. $4.50 for a ribbon at Office
Depot is a lot cheaper than inkjet cartridges.
Once you have the printer setup as you want it F3 for setup on the VT420.
Go to the printer menu and set your baud rate etc. Normal print mode is hit
F2 for screen print. Auto print mode is it prints everything that comes to
the terminal. Controller mode: The host can send to the printer without
displaying on the screen.
I have a VT420 book here if you want me to look up any special control
codes.
Dan
I've no idea if these count as classic hardware, but the PDP-11/73 they're
attached to does.
Anyway, my long quest for a DEC printer is doubly at a end. I'm waiting
for UPS to deliever one, and I was just given one. It's the simple Classic
Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for something, once you find
one, you'll be swamped.
Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420,
and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what
are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks
as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
Any takers? Sounds like an opportunity to make another collector happy
and, possibly, make a few bucks in the process.
Reply to the originator directly if interested.
-=-=- <break> -=-=-
On Sun, 27 Dec 1998 19:32:40 GMT, in alt.sys.pdp11 you wrote:
>>Message-ID: <36868B61.BEC1BCBA(a)barnstormer-software.com>
>>From: Todd Osborne <todd.osborne(a)barnstormer-software.com>
>>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I)
>>X-Accept-Language: en
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11
>>Subject: WTB: I Want a PDP-11
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>>Lines: 13
>>Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 19:32:40 GMT
>>NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.214.185.65
>>NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 14:32:40 EDT
>>Path: blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!news1.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!4.1.16.34!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.atl!news1.mco.POSTED!not-for-mail
>>
>>I am a collector of older computers, mostly home PC's from the late
>>70's. I would love to add a PDP-11 to my collection, as the only non-PC.
>>I have searched the web trying to find a place to buy/save one, but have
>>come up empty. I cannot afford to spend a lot, but would happy pay
>>something for one, including crating/shipping charges. It will
>>definately find a good, safe home.
>>
>>If you know of a PDP that needs a good home and would like to help me to
>>rescue it, please let me know. Email responses to
>>todd.osborne(a)barnstormer-software.com are also greatly appreciated.
>>Thanks,
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho,
Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com
Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com
"...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object,
event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."
