At 02:39 AM 1/30/98 -0500, you wrote:
>> Have you ever seen a Zenith "MiniSport"? Uses 2" floppies? I found
[...]
>do its upload and you've got at least one disk, you can probably
>(don't count on it, but probably) attach a parallel Zip drive).
Question: when did parallel ports become bi-directional (i.e., useable for
zip drives and such)?
Or, to put it another way, how likely would I be able to (ignoring software
issues for the moment) hook up my new SyJet drive to say, my m100? What
about my DG-1?
(P.S., off-topic tip: The Parallel port SyJet is really a SCSI-2 SyJet
with a fancy cable; if you've already got SCSI, and can maybe use the
Parallel port feature...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
David Williams - Computer Packrat said:
>Also, I picked up a TRS-80 Model 4, again with out manuals or
>software. I have some software for the model 1 but can someone send
>me LDOS or other OS for the Model 4?
You can get LDOS with documentation and other Misosys software on
Tim Mann's TRS-80 page at
http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/personal/mann/trs80.html#down
or Stefan's Old Computer Stuff page at http://www.xs4all.nl/~rimmer/trs/trs.html
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
=========================================
>Agreed, "with care." But too much care for the average user. Even I, who
>like to think I know what I'm doing, repeat the mantra "Never jam in a VGA
>connector no matter what" whenever I have the D-shell in my hand, just to
>slow myself down properly.
Actually, I've jammed the $^\&* things a few times myself. The solution
(that I've come up with) is get a screw driver, (flathead) and then push it
up and straighten it out. I've done the same thing with IDE connectors. I
used the same solution, but instead of trial and error for getting them
strait, I would get it straiter, then put an IDE cable into ONLY the damaged
area, straiten it out a bit, see if it works, then try again.
>But it's not a simple ENOUGH solution because, when I'm in the field and
>detaching a monitor from its computer, 50% of the connectors I look at have
>one pin bent in an L and jammed against the inner wall of the shell. The
>design isn't adequate to real-world use, is my point -- whereas a DB9, for
>example, certainly is. I'm not saying we don't need 15 pins; I say we need
>15 THICKER pins, and since this connector is typically the only connector
>on the back of a VGA adapter, there's plenty of room.
Why not move away from this type of pins all together? Sure, it would cause
major monitor incompatibility, but VGA type connectors are aging rapidly,
and with new LCD monitors, the SVGA interface is reaching it's limits.
Maybe something like a ethernet-type connector, or, as you said THICKER
pins. Maybe switch the male-female part of this, with female-connector
monitors. And, re-align the pins so that you can use a correctly configured
(with the M-F type connectors, etc.) EGA, or CGA monitor.
>Coming Spring '98: The Windows 98 Bible by Kip Crosby and Fred Davis!
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep me updated. Of course,
MS wouldn't talk to me about reviewing it's products for my web site. :-(
Does anyone know of a conversion utiliy which will convert files from a
CP/M machine to Mac format? There is someone here willing to part with his
Kaypro 4 but needs to convert his old files first. I know there is a
conversion utility for CP/M to DOS, which then can be converted to Mac, but
then you would lose all the long filenames. A CP/M to Mac would be
preferable, any ideas?
So I have this DEC VT320 terminal in front of me and it does work (very
nicely, if I do say so). But what has me disturbed is the serial output
port on this thing - it's the stranges port I've seen. Like a phone jack
only not quite. And before I spend something like $50 on a cable, can
anyone tell me what the pin outs are?
-spc (Oh, and is it RS-232 even?)
I've started scanning photos of my collection, and want to build the web
pages for each machine. Unfortunately, I don't know everything about all
of them; so I'm asking for help. Here are the machines I've scanned so far:
Altima 2
Apple Macintosh Portable
Atari Portfolio
Data General One
Epson HX-20 Laptop
Grid GridCase3
Hewlett-Packard Vectra LS/12
IBM PC Radio
NEC PC8201A
NEC PC8401A "Starlet"
Radio Shack Model 100.
I'm looking for any info, specs, anecdotes, whatever you might know of
regarding these machines. Specifically, the specs I want to list (and I'm
open for suggestions on other info) include:
{mfr} Manufacturer
{location} Mfr's Location
{model} Model Number
{processor} CPU used
{opsys} Operating System(s)
{bits-int} bits, internal to CPU (ex: 8088 = 16b internal)
{bits-data} bits, external to cpu (ex: 8088 = 8b databus)
{ram-min} Minimum RAM
{ram-max} Maximum RAM (per Mfr)
{rom} Amount of ROM
{input} Type of input devices
{display} Display size/type
{stor-cas} Cassette Storage
{stor-fdd} Floppy Drives
{stor-hdd} Hard Drive
{expansion} Expansion Capabilities
{intro} Year introduced
{discon} Year discontinued
{cost} Intro price
{size} Physical Size
{weight} Weight
{power-volt} Power Supply Voltage
{power-conn} PS Type of connector
{power-polar} PS connector polarity
{notes} Other info
If you know of any online resources, please forward the URL's as well.
Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
Hi!
I was just offered (possibly at a small cost - we didn't discuss any
prices) a very large collection of Atari computers (800, 800xl, etc),
plus manuals, books, software, peripherals and everything else you can
probably imagine. However, I already have four Ataris of different sorts,
so I thought someone else might appreciate it more (although, if you do,
I may be interested in a couple of items *grin*). Anyway, as the
collection is in Melboune I thought it might be of the most interest to a
Melbourne collector, and I don't know any. Is anyone interested? Let me
know and I can pass the phone number on to you.
Adam.
But, of course, MY PGA did. I've got a question I've been dying to ask: Why
the heck do (S)VGA montiors have 3 sets of pins, and "older" monitors only
have 2? I mean, the increased performance, for sure, but so many of the
pins are "not used", or used for an odd purpose. Why not say put in 2
differnet plugs of 2 rows each, so that I could use my *surely* functional
SVGA when testing out old computers?
Thanks,
Tim D. Hotze
-----Original Message-----
From: Kip Crosby <engine(a)chac.org>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, February 03, 1998 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: CGA Modes (Wuz: Win 3.0)
>At 18:44 2/3/98 +0300, you wrote:
>>Isn't PGA Pin-Grid-Array? (It's probably wrong, but hay....)
>
>Na-na-na. Professional Graphics Adapter, IBM's "other" attempt (besides
>8514/a and XGA) at expensive design-grade video. It never went anywhere,
>much.
>
>__________________________________________
>Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
> http://www.chac.org/index.html
>Computer History Association of California
>
>
At 09:08 2/3/98 -0800, Kai Kaltenbach wrote:
>PGA is a three-card sandwich, not two...
Mmm, no wonder it was so pricey. How many slots did it take?
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
Hi,
Recently I picked up an EEPROM programmer (An Elan Universe 1000 to be
precise) and I want to use it read and save the contents of the EEPROMs
in my old computers. There is a small LCD display on the programmer
>from which I can select various output formats, and I was wondering
which ones are the best / most popular? The format are:
Tek Hex
ASCII Hex Space
Binary
Motorola S Rec
Intel Std & 8086
Elan Fuse Map
Jedec
Mos Tech
Texas Tags
Also any specifications for the above formats would be much
appreciated.
Again through the LCD configuration options it seems that the programmer
can be remotely controlled using the following formats:
Chessels
Philips PMDS
Intel MDS
Elan Easycom
I have searched the Web but found nothing on these protocols. Can any
body help me?
Many thanks.
--
Kevan
Old Computer Collector: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/
