<You'd be surprised what you can do with 4MB RAM. Actually, lots
<of 486's shipped with 4MB and Windows 3.1. You just need to be
<conservative, and use swap. Actually, I've heard that you can get
<by with 2MB... but I wouldn't believe it even if I saw it.
I have run win3.1 in 2mb of ram and 40mb of disk(386/20). Netscape would
never run as they admit it want at least 5mb (and it's cranky at that). I
was able to run a lot of stuff and most dos programs successfully
that was in '93 coad bloat would make that harder but at 4mb you could run
quite a bit. FYI, minix 3.0 in 4mb screams.
Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead(a)retrocomputing.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 23 December 1998 13:22
Subject: Re: VAX/VMS Assistance Requested
>Ah!!!! Never mind! I started digging through the old user
>directories on the machine and found a copy of kermit.exe!
>Yes! The hacker spirit triumphs!
Ok, sounds like you're all set. If I were you the first things I'd
stick on there would be Zip and Zmodem. Kermit is painfully
slow and most installation file sets are zipped these days.
If you want to break free of the terminal server, CMUIP is a
freeware IP stack for VMS.
Good luck with it.
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Marks College
Port Pirie South Australia.
My ICQ# is 1970476
Ph. 61-411-623-978 (Mobile)
61-8-8633-0619 (Home)
61-8-8633-8834 (Work-Direct)
61-8-8633-0104 (Fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead(a)retrocomputing.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 23 December 1998 13:04
Subject: Re: VAX/VMS Assistance Requested
>Just for sake of description, I'm using a Mac SE running System 7.0.1 as
>a console to the Vax. =-)
I won't hold it against you. Whatever works. ;^)
>I do not have a qbus ethernet board. Someone on the list had them for
>$50 but I'm wretchedly poor so I make due with serial connections to my
>freebie machines.
Familiar feeling....:^) I also have a Microvax II sans ethernet.
>It's running VMS5.3-1. But that just gave me an idea. Someone on the list
>said they were doing Decnet with a Linux box. I spend ALL my time every
>day hacking on Linux boxes and have several at home. Hmmm...I'll have to
>dig back through the list postings! =-)
Hmm, NetBSD supports Microvax II's pretty well these days. If you are
more comfortable with that than VMS. (Keep the VMS license PAK's though,
you will need them if you want to reinstall VMS at some future time.)
This is the URL to the DECnet for Linux page....
http://linux.dreamtime.org/decnet/
I don't know if it works over a serial port connection on a Vax though....
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Marks College
Port Pirie South Australia.
My ICQ# is 1970476
Ph. 61-411-623-978 (Mobile)
61-8-8633-0619 (Home)
61-8-8633-8834 (Work-Direct)
61-8-8633-0104 (Fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead(a)retrocomputing.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 23 December 1998 11:56
Subject: VAX/VMS Assistance Requested
>Ok, here's the scoop. I actually have a MicroVax II on the net kinda
>sorta via a terminal server.
Uh, ok.
>But my problem is that I've got no way to
>get binaries on and off the machine.
>have no file transfer capabilities
>on it as far as I can tell
Does it have a tape or floppy drive?
>My understanding is that you can take any file, binary, text, etc and put
>it in a share archive (IE .shar) extension, transfer it to the machine in
>text mode (basically cut and paste in a terminal window or using an ASCII
>transfer) and simply execute it using a @.
>
>Does the kermit binary(ies) exist someplace via ftp
>in a .shar archive?
Not AFAIK.
>
>Maybe I'm being completely ignorant here. Because I can reliably telnet
Is the telnet function being supplied by the terminal server and not by an
IP stack on the machine itself? Does it have a network card?
Are there any other Vaxen there? An asynchronous Decnet connection is
a possibility even if it doesn't have a network card. I'm assuming it's
running VMS? Or NetBSD?
>to the machine I'd like to clean it up, make a backup image on tape,
This implies it has a TK50 or similar. Someone on the list who is closer
to you, that has Vaxen with TK tapes, might be able to send you Zmodem
or Kermit binaries on TK50 if that's the case.
That would likely be the easiest way.
Hope this helps.
Geoff Roberts
VK5KDR
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au
A couple of good finds lately:
A JDH Videomate a predecessor of TV cards. Which works with a VGA like
a VCR does with the 8-bits. Works but need a manual.
A Kraft KC-3 Joy-Stick ,swichable to work on an A-ll or PC with 9 and 15 pin
connector. Nicest J-S I've seen.
My main find tho was a "TV Typewriter Cookbook" from Sams by Don Lancaster, the
author of the TTL cookbook among others. Might be old hat to most members on
the list, but I find it's an amazing book. My apologies to those who've seen it
before.
Wozniac and others must have been influenced by it.
A quote (long) from the end of the book is interesting.
"
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
When this book was started, there was only one low-cost hobby microcomputer
(the Mark-8) and only one very dated tvt (the TVT-1). If you could get them,
2102's were $30 each and nonexistent microprocessor chips were advertised for
$300 to $400 each, without documentation, and the key interface and support
chips were a figment of the data-sheet writer's imagination. Peoples Computer
Company CC) and the Amateur Computer Society (ACS) were voices crying in the
wilderness.
An incredibly short time later, the hobbyist and experimenter are literally
swamped with microprocessor computers and CPU evalua tion kits. Well-documented
and supported CPUs are now available for $20 each in single quantities. The
2102's are available as surplus for $1.50 each, only slightly over a tenth of a
cent per bit. PROMs have dramatically dropped in price to half a cent per bit
and less .
Computer and tvt-user clubs and groups exist by the dozens. Besides PCC
(Peoples Computer Company. Box 310 Menlo Park, CA 94025), and the numerous
smaller newsletters, major computer hobbyist magazines now exist with excellent
editorial materials, professional graphics, and wide distribution. These
include BYTE, Interface and Microtek. Universities, junior colleges,
industries, and even high schools now offer microprocessor courses. There are
now dozens of retail computer stores.
Now what? Where do we go from here? The answer literally changes by the minute.
In fact, if things continue at their present explosive rate, many of the basic
principles in this book may seem quaint or primitive by the time you read this.
Let's suppose that for an instant we could freeze time at November, 1975.
Suppose further that your main interest was not in experimenting with a CPU and
software like everyone else, but was aimed at bringing tvt's and other truly
low-cost peripherals as near to reality as possible, so that something useful
could be done cheaply with the CPUs everyone else was building. Here, as I see
it, are the major tvt-related questions that you can help answer at this
instant in time:
* Can a basic low-cost tv typewriter with cursor and memory be
built to retail at the hobbyist level for $39.95?
* Can a miniature calculator-style ASCII keyboard and encoder with
quality features (2KRO, choice of strobe, tactile response, two shot
keys) be built to retail at the hobbyist level for $14.95?
* What is the longest length and highest character quality that can be
obtained with direct rf entry of an unmodified tv set?
* Can you build a legal, universal, single-channel rf modulator to retail
at the hobbyist level for $4.95?
* What is the minimum possible cost for a snap-on Selectric base-plate
adapter and converter? How fast will it operate? Can it be made to
enter as well as print?
* How do you add light-pen feedback to graphic and tvt displays?
* Can a single microprocessor such as an MOS Technology 6502 provide all
the timing and control for a stand-alone tvt?
* What are the most effective software and algorithms needed for graphic
display games and puzzles?
* Can you design a simple CPU backup for a graphics tvt that will move
chessmen following chess notation, e.g., Bishop to King's Rook 5?
* Can you build a basic compiler on a chip or two?
* What is the setup needed for a tvt-oriented wordprocessing system to
be used for addressing, printing form letters, and so on? Can this be
done without a CPU?
* What is the simplest and cheapest dedicated "super front panel" tvt
configuration you can come up with that will read out the entire memory
contents of a microcomputer a page at a time? ? Can you make it
sequentially read out locations in hex or octa1 instead of ASCII?
* Can you come up with a simple and universal locking system for video
titling and superposition on existing EIA sync programs, both for
studio and home video-recording uses? Can you make it crawl, have
variable character size and shape, etc.?
* How do you use a tvt for printed-circuit and schematic layouts?
* What is he best way a CPU and tvt can interact with an electronic
music synthesis system?
* What about video art synthesis? Can you build a super spirograph? Make
it follow music?
Where to from here? Get literature. Pour over trade journals. Join a club.
Subscribe to PCC, Interface and BYTE. Collect newsletters. Take some courses.
Read. Read. Read.
"
Now that was excited enthusiasm you don't see any more.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 23 December 1998 4:34
Subject: Re: OT: Online auctins an institution?
>Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com>
>Just tell me you are joking - next time someone copyrights the
>number 5 and you have to pay to use it ? C'mon, they CAN'T
>copyright data - only representations ... It can't go that
>way.
I seem to recall that this is the reason the Pentium(c) is called that and
not
a 586. Intel tried to copyright it, (to stop clone chip makers calling
their cpu's
"586's", and were told by the courts (?) that a numerical sequence couldn't
be
copyrighted.
>> There most certainly are companies that claim ownership of raw data, and
there
>> in not yet enough established case law in this area. Some of the courts
have
>> ruled in favor of plaintifs in these cases.
Shakespeare had the right idea. "First, lets kill all the lawyers"
The USA is not the entire world either. A company established in
say, Latvia or Kazahkstan selling such information might as well
be on the dark side of the moon as far as US courts/laws are concerned.
>Hmm, you sound realy serious. It's ridicoulus ... next time
>time some University claims the fact that the earth is measured
>25.000 Miles around and wants royalities from everyone using this
>fact ? Maybe thats a way to convert the US to the metric system ...
>just copyright all mesurements in Miles and Inches ad so on ...
Now there's a thought......:^)
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au
SUN0535 labeled drives were typically a Seagate 3610. There was at
least one other model used, but it was also in the 600Mb range.
Kelly
In a message dated 12/22/98 1:26:53 PM Pacific Standard Time,
jruschme(a)exit109.com writes:
> Either way, both should work fine on a PC. You may need, however, to move
> the jumper which causes the drive to wait for the startup command.
>
> FYI, though, I can't speak for the 524, but the 424's have a tendancy to
> get real loud as they get older. Something to think about...
>
> <<john>>>
>
> > I think that the Sun 424 is a Seagate ST1480N. I'm not sure about the
> > Sun 524 drive.
> >
> > SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > > someone wants to trade some sun scsi drives for a cd rom i have. he
said
> they
> > > are sun 424 and 535 drives. where i can i get info on these drives? i
> have no
> > > idea what capacity or form factor, much less if they will work in a pc.
Hello everyone...
I have a question:
I have a Tandy 3800HD laptop that I' trying to upgrade for a friend, with a
486-20 processor, 120 MB HD, 14.4 modem, VGA, and 4 MB RAM. It's a great
little computer, but it really can't do much with 4 MB RAM. It has 2 MB on
board, and 2 MB in (2) 1 MB 30-pin SIMMS. I have (2) 4 MB 30-pin SIMMS that
I tried putting in to put it up to 10 MB. However, when I turn it on,
absolutely nothing happens (the screen occasionally lights up). Do I need a
some sort of BIOS upgrade, or am I basically stuck with the 4 MB? It
currently has Win 3.0 on it, because even with 3.1, it doesn't have enough
RAM to do anything.
Happy Holidaze
-and-
ThAnX,
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
Hi. For those who remember, and for those who care, I'm back.
After coming back from my vacation to my new home in Guyana...
(yes, I swore off Kool Aid) and found that it had numerous
problems. After sorting most of them out, getting back on-track,
and then spending lots of time thinking about but not doing, I got
back on the list.
Ciao,
Tim D. Hotze
someone wants to trade some sun scsi drives for a cd rom i have. he said they
are sun 424 and 535 drives. where i can i get info on these drives? i have no
idea what capacity or form factor, much less if they will work in a pc.
david
