For my very first eBay auction, I managed to sell a single blank floppy disk
for $22.00:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=51510929
Of course, it wasn't your average, run-of-the-mill diskette; it was
a classic, or I wouldn't be talking about it here. :-)
Happy New Year!
Eric
[If I hear one more person joking about partying tonight like it's 1999,
I think I may go postal.]
This may or may not be a description of your situation, but when I worked at Heath/Zenith, we bought "Gold" floppy disk drives directly from the manufacturers of the drives (Shugart, Tandon, etc.) that were painted gold for use as duplicators in producing the commercially sold software (operating systems, languages and applications). These were hand-calibrated drives with essentially perfect alignment. Not saying that this is what you have, but it is possible.
Barry Watzman
----------
From: Bill Sudbrink [SMTP:bill@chipware.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 10:39 AM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: RE: Computer paint jobs (was Re: SOL feeding frenzy?)
In one of the Ohio Scientific C2's I have, the face
plate of one of the 8 inch floppies has been painted
gold! The rest of the unit was classic tan/brown
and the guy I got it from had no idea why.
Hi! I've got a question: has anyone ever heard of a SCSI floppy drive? I
was talking to someone about one, and he said he'd never even heard of one,
and when I thought about it, I hadn't either.
Anyway, my question is about a WANG WLTC laptop that I have. It has an
internal 10 MB JVC 16pin HD (ID 0), and an external (no internal) 360k SCSI
floppy (ID 1). In the manual, it says that a 720k floppy and a 1.2 MB
floppy was also available for it. My question is will a 1.44 MB floppy work
on it? If so, where would I even be able to find one, since I've never even
seen one until I got this huge WANG. (weighs about 18 lbs, plus the floppy
is about another 18).
Happy Holidaze
-and-
ThAnX,
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
I have decided it is time to clean out some of the computer stuff.
Following is a list of computers and components that are available.
Basically, except for the last group of DEC uVax cards & where noted
elsewhere, everything is free to those who come and pick up the items.
I basically don't want to get involved with the shipping of any large
items, such as the CPU boxes or monitors. If you just have to have
some component that I can ship in a moderate sized box, then all I
ask is a little something to cover my time and shipping.
I live just south of Terre Haute, IN, USA. If your interested in
anything, send me an email.
I would like to apologize for the length of this list. I did not realize
how much stuff there was 'til I put it in a list. I decided for now to
hold off on the Intel/PC related stuff.
Mike Thompson
----------------------------------------
Convergent Technologies
Model CR-5100-A31
Some kind of Unix box
Contains:
68000 CPU board with 64K of 8Kx8 and parallel port
Memory expansion board with 2M of 256Kx1
20 channnel RS232 board with 20 9 pin D connectors
Micropolis 1325 70mb MFM hard drive
Also have a spare 10 channnel RS232 board with 10 9 pin D connectors
I am told that this is a working machine and was being used as a
print server.
----------------------------------------
Wang components
The following are from a Wang machine, model is unknown
PM007 - PC Color Emulator board, has 15 pin D connector labeled 'Input'
and 9 pin D connector labeled 'Analog RGB'. Board measures 8x12.
PM009 - Medium Resolution Color Graphics board, has 8 pin DIN connector
labeled 'Analog RGB' & 6 pin modular connect labeled 'Local Keyboard'
Board measures 8X12
Micropolis 1325 70mb MFM hard drive.
Condition of these items is unknown.
----------------------------------------
Motorola
Model VME/10 System
Contains:
1 ea MVME400 board
1 ea MVME201 boards
Micropolis 1304 43mb hard drive, may be bad.
Also have a monitor, but no video cable.
Believe the keyboard is around here somewhere.
Also have the following loose VME bus cards:
VME Module 01-W3471, circa 1987
contains: 68020, 68851, 4mb of 1Mx1; front panel has leds for
Fail, Halt, Run, Scon, push switches for Abort & Reset, and
a 25 pin D connector. Have 2 of these.
MVME147SC-1. circa 1990
CPU with around 8mb of RAM
MVME931-1
This is a wire wrap prototyping board
The next card is for the VME bus but is labeled Jupiter Technologies.
I suspect it came from a UGC box. It contains a 68000 and around
2mb of RAM, it is marked as being an 'IOP' card.
The last 2 cards were custom made by a local company and are probably
of no use to anybody. Listed here to more or less keep track.
Condition of all this is unknown.
----------------------------------------
IBM
Model 5182
Personal Computer Color Printer
Parallel Interface, dot matrix
132 column
This works, but needs a new ribbon
----------------------------------------
Hewlett Packard
Model 2631G
132 column dot matrix printer
This has a 24 pin connector similar to the 36 pin Centronics
connector. Does anybody know the interface on this one?
----------------------------------------
Micropolis
Model 1325 70mb hard drive
This is a loose one, and condition is unknown
----------------------------------------
DEC
MicroVax 2000
I have the case, boards and power supply. The RD54 was snatched up
by a subscriber just recently.
Also have a spare MS400 2mb board and this is unused still in
original box.
----------------------------------------
DEC
DS200 Terminal Server - 4ea
DELNI - at least 6 ea
----------------------------------------
Apple
Macintosh II
I have 4 machines, 3 are working, one is dead.
Of the working:
2 have 1 floppy drive, 1 has 2 floppy drives
they all have 40mb hard drives.
2 have Viking video cards with a Viking Monoterm monitor (are a little dim)
1 has an Apple video card with a Apple color monitor
Have keyboards and mice for all three.
Have complete (I think) manuals and disks for each machine.
One machine has Interleaf loaded on it.
I have a couple spare video cards & an external 20mb drive.
I have 1 set of Interleaf manuals and 2 sets of disks.
I believe the loaded with version 6 of the OS.
I would like to get a little something for these. I might be convinced
to ship components, but do not want to ship anything big, especially
the monitors.
----------------------------------------
IBM
RT Model 135, Type 6150.
It has a 5 1/4 floppy, and two hard drives (100MB & 300MB),
plus the usual video and a network card. The monitor is a
Model/Type 5081-19, 19" color with RGB inputs.
I have a fairly complete set of manuals and disks for the machine.
The machine was working and is loaded with AIX 2.x.
I say was, as it was sitting in the garage when a tree was blown
over and crashed through the garage roof almost exactly where
the machine was. The only damage was from water, mostly running
down through the monitor. The CPU had some stuff on top of it
and I doubt that much if any water got into it. I have not tested
it since then and the insurance company has settled on it.
If you want to come pick it up, fine. I am willing to pull components
out of this and ship them. I hate to see things like the network
card go to waste. All I ask is a little something for my time and
trouble.
----------------------------------------
DEC
The following cards were pulled from uVax II's and all machines were working
at the time they were removed from service. Since I am asking a little
for any card, I will guarantee them in that I will replace (where possbile)
or refund. If your interested in multiple cards, let me know, I can
probably work out a deal.
KA630-AA / M7606 - CPU Module, MicroVax II, 4 ea $15
MS630-BB / M7608 - 4 MB Memory Module, 1 ea $10
KDA50-Q / M7164 & M7165 - SDI Disk Interface, 1 set $20
DQ256 (Dilog) - SDI Interface, 1 ea $10
TSV05 / M7196 - Tape Controller, 1 ea $10
TQK70-SA / M7559 - TK70 Tape Controller, 1 ea $10
DELNA / M7513 - Expander Module, connects ext. RD50/RX50 to controller, 3 ea
$5
TQK50 / M7546 - TK50 Tape Interface, 2 ea $10
DHV11 / M3104 - 8 Line Async Multiplexer (quad height card), 1 ea $10
DZQ11 / M3106 - 4 Line Async Multiplexer (dual height card), 2 ea $10
M9404 / M9505 - Cable Connector, 3 sets of cards plus some cables, $5
END OF LIST
--------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
---------------
-----Original Message-----
From: David Wollmann <dwollmann(a)ibmhelp.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Sunday, December 27, 1998 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: OT, but info needed: RAM uprade
>On Sun, 27 Dec 1998, Jason Willgruber wrote:
>
>
>When IBM ELS were designing the original 5150, 16-bit cards would have
driven
>the cost out of their US$4,000.00 retail target range, so they went with
the
>crippled 8088. A decision that, in hindsight, makes about as much sense as
>including a cassette drive and (what was it???) 16K RAM on the first model.
>
>
The tape drive was actually a useful idea, which should have been continued
all the way throughout the PS/2 line. It allowed whoever was using the
computer to actually make use of the ROM BASIC. The floppies aren't
available in ROM BASIC, and once a program is typed in, there's no way to
save it. The cassette drive worked in the same way that the cassette drive
in TRS-80's did. It acted as the storage device in ROM BASIC. In fact, I
don't even think the PC came with a cable to connect it to a tape deck. You
had to run down to RadioShack and pick up a TRS-80 cassette cable.
I think I actually have an entire 60-minute tape full of PC-BASIC programs
(somewhere). I think one of the not-so-smart things that IBM did was to
remove the cassette interface and to keep the now-useless ROM-BASIC in
there.
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
Thanks, I got the pointer for polaroid... I'm going to follow
up on it. As for a vt100 clone -- 1 line of 16 characters?
not much of a terminal... but I guess enough if there isn'
t much data which has to go back and forth...
Megan
On Mon, 14 Dec 1998 21:34:45 +0000, Lawrence Walker wrote:
>On 13 Dec 98 at 23:36, Kees Stravers wrote:
>> How about the Philips P2000 family? I have not seen messages about
>> those machines on the list. Z80 system, 48K RAM, 16K ROM in a cart
>> so it was easy to change programs, micro cassette recorder that was
>> operated by the computer so no fiddling with buttons, floppy drives
>> optional, video 40x24 color (viewdata/teletext character set) or
>> 80x24 monochrome. Started life as a dedicated word processor, BASIC
>> cart added later.
>> picture at http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/sroom.html
>Hi Kees, your pages are always interesting. Haven't visited in a while.
>Nice to see the additions.
>You mention that the P2000 started as a dedicated WP. Could this have
>been the Philips Micom 2000 ? If so, any other info ?
I have never heard of the Philips Micom word processor. That's not so
strange, Philips has made a lot of different computer systems, it is an
enormous task to catalogue them all. Sometimes Philips even sold the
same computer under two different names, e.g. their third XT clone was
known as the NMS9100 for the consumer market, but sold as the P3105
by a totally different section of Philips to the professional market,
and it was the exact same machine. I tried several web searches for
'Philips Micom', but all I could come up with were a couple of firms
offering conversion services for its files, and a CV of a Canadian
researcher who mentiones having written software for the thing.
I once saw a very old Philips wordprocessor, with a cabinet a the size
of a cubic metre under the desk, a separate terminal for i/o and a
weird thirteen bit parallel daisywheel printer which had no smarts at all
(the computer had to tell it how many microsteps to turn the roll and move
the head etc) but this machine used magnetic cards the size of a punched
card to save files to, not disks.
The P2000 family I was talking about has four lines that are incompatible
with each other.
- The P2000T (cassette, 40 char video) / P2000M (disk, 80 char video)
which was the most common here in The Netherlands. They were the same
internally but had different video. Most programs were interchangable.
A CP/M card was available for it from the Philips computer club. Also
a floppy disk controller for the T that was compatible with the internal
one in the M.
- The P2000C luggable, the most advanced one, CP/M, even had a 8088
'CoPower' card available for it that could run MSDOS. You could attach
an external hard disk via a SASI interface. It could read and write the
disk formats from all the other members, and of a lot of CP/M systems too.
- The P2000B/P2500, a CP/M disk system with 5.25i disks, monitor and disks
in one cabinet like the P2000M, on top of a passive backplane cabinet
like the Northstar with everything on cards. 8i floppy controller available.
- The P5020/P5040 word processor system. The P5020 was a monster system, an
all-in-one system with a 15 inch 36 line system, two 5.25i drives next
to the monitor, internal card cage with passive backplane (not the same
as the P2500). The entire thing stood on a big tilt/swivel pedestal.
Heavy keyboard made of metal, no plastic exept for the keys. The P5040
was a more modern version, smaller and looking like a PC with separate
monitor and all. There was an add-on machine, called the P5010, which
was a keyboard with a single line lcd display and a cassette drive, which
could be used to enter long texts. You then transported these texts serially
to the P5020 or P5040 for the finishing touches. Maybe this system was the
Micom, I don't know.
Some bright minds in the Philips computer club made a new ROM for the
P5010 so you could write Z80 machine code programs with it. Later there
even was CP/M for the P5020/5040. Multiplan with 36 lines really was a
treat.
I only have pictures of the P2000M and the P2000C on my pages. The other
systems are buried in the garage, it would take quite some digging to
photograph them. I'll go look if I have some magazine pictures of them.
Kees
--
Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - pb0aia(a)iae.nl
Sysadmin and DEC PDP/VAX preservationist - Visit VAXarchive!
http://vaxarchive.ml.org (primary) - http://www.sevensages.org/vax/ (mirror)
See my old computers at http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/
Net-Tamer V 1.08.1 - Registered
>
>Is it realy a colour display ? AFAIR these where B&W LCDs with
>a blueish backlight - so the dark blue is just 'less' blue
>due a switched on cell :) The only solution is to select for
>all used programms fore/background colours that match your need,
>like black on white whitch should result in light blue on dark
>blue - but belive me, the readability is poor.
>
It's Color in the fact that it uses shades of blue instead of shades of
gray. The dark blue is actually a switched off cell. I know it sounds
backwards, but when I disconnected the video cable once, and only the
backlight was on, the whole thing was dark blue.
I tried a little program that reverses the color, until something else
changes it, and it's actually easier to read (as long as the contrast is set
right). It's actually easier to read than some CRT's that I've seen,
because the letters aren't fuzzed out at the edges.
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
Hello, all:
While reading some late-1984 Byte mags, I came across a description of
the Microsoft MSX computer standard. Implemented mostly by Japanese computer
manufacturers, an MSX computer is CP/M based with 32k of RAM, a cassette
port, RF modulator, and cartridge slots for expansion. I picture a Z80-based
VIC-20 or C64, although not in that physical form.
Anyone have any info on this?
[ Rich Cini/WUGNET
[ ClubWin!/CW7
[ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
[ Collector of "classic" computers
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/pdp11/
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