test-drb February 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

147 participants
783 discussions

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

Just curious if I should really keep this rather well designed computer Its an "Olivetti M24 Personal Computer". I'd never seen an Olivetti before, which is why I saved it from the scap heap. Now is it scarce or nice enough to attempt to get running? If not, it becomes my new post box - rip out the drives and contents, sit it on top of a pole outside the house, paint the house number on the monitor screen :) Should look good! Also found, and free for a good home (cover my costs) a great … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

Stupid BIOS tricks

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I just downloaded the assembly source to a generic XT bios. It compiles, but I can't apparently run it from a command line, or boot off a floppy disk that has the thing rawritten on it. Is there a way I COULD do it without getting a ROM burner? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

27 years, 1 month

C64 Modem issue

by kroma＠worldnet.att.net

>I have a C-64c and a Commodore brand 1200 modem. Since I still haven't had >a chance to resolve the problem with my 1541 disk drive, I'd like to >explore using the modem a bit. Can it be done in BASIC? Meaning, can I >issue certain BASIC commands to init the modem and dial out? It's been a >while since I've messed with any Commie machine, and when I did, I couldn't >afford the "luxury" of a 1200 baud modem. This may be something simple, and >I'd appreciate any help, even a … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

Kaypro 4 modem

by alanr＠morgan.ucs.mun.ca

I just got my hands on a Kaypro 4 in excellent condition, complete with software and manuals. However, I cannot seem to get the internal 300 baud modem working. I have two programs here with it, one is KERMIT for the Kaypro II CP/M 2.2, and the other is Superterm Version 5. According to the addendum with the machine, the version of Superterm that I have was modified for use with the internal modem on the Kaypro 4, however I cannot seem to get the modem to do anything. Would this modem accept AT … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

Is there some special trick required to get RT-11 to sysgen?

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

I do @sysgen and it runs out of memory every time. Under RT11XM. I have 2 MW of RAM here, shouldn't that be enough? -------

27 years, 1 month

System/34 contd.

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

UHOH! That means that I will have to move the thing! It's against the wall! With three 74-pound terminals on it, no less! This machine ran in 1980, when it was last used. Possibly, it has been eaten by the two- foot long rats that live in our building. To restate what I previously said, it needs a 220-v power source and I am trying to run it in an area that only has 110-v plugs. >[Previously, a load of questions...] >The CE panel is the Customer Engineer panel. WHile facing the front of … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

System/34 contd.

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

For one thing, what is the CE Panel? The thing is in a corner, with the end that has the floppy drive on it visible, as well as the side that has a small power switch on it. I went down to Radio Shack, they only had 220-110 transformers that could handle up to 40 Watts. I have a hint this might not be enoug ;) Also, they had 110-220 transformers. Could I just wire one of those backwards and get the same result? Wouldn't it be easier to just wire two 110 volt plugs together like I was told I … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

9370 is a dog! Was: Re: Re[2]: Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> > Possibly. But I'm not convinced. I seem to remember the biggest IBM > > 3090 system drew about 250kW (I'll have to look that up too!). I > > imagine a typical system might draw perhaps 50kW. > > That is probably for a typical installation. The actual processor is > nowhere near that value (still enough to make the utility very happy, > however). A big string of DASDs adds up very fast, especially the power > sucking IBM disks (why is that? Really big … [View More]

27 years, 1 month

IEEE-488 and Commodore (was: GP-IB)

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

From: Yowza! <yowza(a)yowza.com> Subject: GP-IB (was Re: Atari 8-bit Find) >On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Larry Anderson & Diane Hare wrote: >> Remember if you find a hint of something you are collecting at a thrift, >> look around for other components (i.e. if you find a Commodore IEEE-488 >> cable start looking for PET/B-128 drives, printers, computers, tapes, >> disks, manuals, etc.) >Which reminds me: why didn't IEEE-488 ever become a big hit in the >… [View More]computer biz? It's been around since the 60's, is standard, has good >performance, has IC support, can handle a bunch of devices, etc., but it >became relagated to a niche of scientific instrument control for some >reason. Here is an interesting tidbit I found a year or so ago which partially answers at least Commodore's part of the question: **QUOTE** From: brain(a)garnet.msen.com (Jim Brain) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: PC's as 64 HD's and the 6522 chip! Date: 7 Apr 1994 13:48:35 GMT Right after I posted about hooking a 6522 VIA up to a PC parallel port to turn the PC into a "char-banger" instead of a "bit-banger", someone posted that they had thought the 6522 had a problem with the shift register. The poster also said that Jim Butterfield had alerted him and others to it. Well, I have been in correspondence with "The Commodore Man", so I asked him to elaborate on the topic. Here is the two responses: > Yes, it's true. Although I didn't get official confirmation of this >long after, when a Spectrum article quoted the designers. > As you know, the first Commodore computers used the IEEE bus to connect to >peripherals such as disk and printer. I understand that these were available >only from one source: Belden cables. A couple of years into Commodore's >computer career, Belden went out of stock on such cables (military contract? >who knows?). In any case, Commodore were in quite a fix: they made >computers and disk drives, but couldn't hook 'em together! > So Tramiel issued the order: "On our next computer, get off that bus. >Make it a cable anyone can manufacture". And so, starting with the VIC-20 >the serial bus was born. It was intended to be just as fast as the >IEEE-488 it replaced. > Technically, the idea was sound: the 6522 VIA chip has a "shift >register" circuit that, if tickled with the right signals (data and clock) >will cheerfully collect 8 bits of data without any help from the CPU. >At that time, it would signal that it had a byte to be collected, and >the processor would do so, using an automatic handshake built into the >6522 to trigger the next incoming byte. Things worked in a similar way >outgoing from the computer, too. > We early PET/CBM freaks knew, from playing music, that there was something >wrong with the 6522's shift register: it interfered with other functions. >The rule was: turn off the music before you start the tape! (The shift >register was a popular sound generator). But the Commodore engineers, >who only made the chip, didn't know this. Until they got into final >checkout of the VIC-20. > By this time, the VIC-20 board was in manufacture. A new chip could >be designed in a few months (yes, the silicon guys had application notes >about the problem, long since), but it was TOO LATE! > A major software rewrite had to take place that changed the VIC-20 >into a "bit-catcher" rather than a "character-catcher". It called for >eight times as much work on the part of the CPU; and unlike the shift >register plan, there was no timing/handshake slack time. The whole >thing slowed down by a factor of approximately 5 to 6. > There's more (the follow-on C64 catastrophe), but that's where it >happened. --Jim And the saga continues ... > When the 64 came out, the problem VIA 6522 chip had been >replaced by the CIA 6526. This did not have the shift register problem >which had caused trouble on the VIC-20, and at that time it would have >been possible to restore plan 1, a fast serial bus. Note that this would >have called for a redesign of the 1540 disk drive, which also used a VIA. > As best I can estimate - and an article in the IEEE Spectrum magazine >supports this - the matter was discussed within Commodore, and it was >decided that VIC-20 compatibility was more important than disk speed. >Perhaps the prospect of a 1541 redesign was an important part of the >decision, since current inventories needed to be taken into account. > But to keep the Commodore 64 as a "bit-banger", a new problem arose. >The higher-resolution screen of the 64 (as compared to the VIC-20) >could not be supported without stopping the CPU every once in a while. >To be exact: Every 8 screen raster lines (each line of text), the CPU >had to be put into a WAIT condition for 42 microseconds, so as to allow >the next line of screen text and color nybbles to be swept into the chip. >(More time would be needed if sprites were being used). > But the bits were coming in on the serial bus faster than that: aD >a bit would come in about every 20 microseconds! So the poor CPU, frozen >for longer than that, would miss some serial bits completely! > Commodore's solution was to slow down the serial bus even more. >That's why the VIC-20 has a faster serial bus than the 64, even though >the 64 was capable, technically, of running many times faster. > Fast disk finally came into its own with the Commodore 128. --Jim Now someone also told me at one time that they had seen a fastloader that same someone said he thought it was odd that the author of the loader had credited Commodore with the routines. Well, I can hazard a guess that the routines were the ones they had wanted to put in the 6522, but had to scrap due to the 6522 problem. Now I have no idea what the problem is/was, but I am eager to find out. However, I rescind my plans to build something around the 6522 until we find out what the problem is. Jim "Just the Facts" Brain **END QUOTE** The 64 and VIC would have had a faster drive if it wern't for the cables and the chip problems... Probably HP was doing major IEEE-488 sales and it was a strain on the cable manufactuer. IEEE-488 cables nowadays run from $40-$90 new, of course it is a standard 'get' item on my mental thrift store shopping list. -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/ Call our Commodore 64 BBS (Silicon Realms 300-2400 baud) at: (209) 754-1363 -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- [View Less]

27 years, 1 month

RSTS/E on a PDP-11?

by rcini＠email.msn.com

On Mon, 16 Feb 1998 15:06:55 -0800 (PST), Tim Shoppa <shoppa(a)alph02.triumf.ca> wrote: >>What sort of packs? What commands were you issuing to read them? >>What OS did you try to read them from? What error message did you get >>when it failed? They're RK05 packs, inserted in the DK2: device. I booted from DK0: with RT-11 v.4 and used "dir dk2:" to read the disk directory. Although I don't remember the specific error, it's something like "invalid directory." &… [View More]

27 years, 1 month

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test-drb February 1998