test-drb March 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

167 participants
859 discussions

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>* must be programmable This would exclude many millions of MCUs based on chips like 8048, 8051, z80, I960, 80186/8, and several dozen more in embedded applications like engine control, navigation, aircraft flyby wire systems or even some calcs. This would include PDP-8s, pdp-11s and whatever else burried in CNCs, MRIs and transportation control systems. <>* must be general purpose In the above cases the computer or microcomputer is running a dedicated application from ROM or loaded from other media on power up. So they are not general purpose in that case. Would this eliminate the PDP-8s used by BART as computers? <>* must have alphanumeric input capabilites See above cases again consider the possible range of inputs. The input could be barcode reader, thermal or position sensors or off a network from other computers. <>* must have alphanumeric display capabilites Consider the above and the possible outputs. The result may be generating engine spark timing, alarm output, opening a cuircit breaker, notifying another computer. Calculators as differentiated from mechanical adders, differentiated from fixed program computers. The difference can be the application more so than implementation. I tend to look to see if there is control or branching on condition to see if we are talking calc, programmable calc or more general computer. BUT by doing that do we have to look at the user interface level or the internal implmentation level? Allison

26 years, 4 months

Wanted: Apple ][ Card Info

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

OK... could it allow for me to write in C? (Or any other languages in particular) What are the chances of finding another 64K RAM upgrade to boost it to the max 128KB? Thanks again, Tim D. Hotze >pocket rocket is applied engineering's equivalent to apple's language card. >it's very small, and doesnt require a cable to the motherboard like earlier >models did. > >david

26 years, 4 months

Just wondering

by CharlesII＠nwonline.net

I remember reading a Byte article that told how to build a computer that used a variant of the Z80 by Hatichi (I think that's how you spell it). The computer was about the size of a lunch box. Apparently I have misplaced that particular issue an was wondering if any one had it and was willing to tell me where I could find the printed circuit board and the boot disks or at least send me the art work and the parts list for this particular beast.

26 years, 4 months

oddball find PS/2-50

by lisard＠zetnet.co.uk

On 1998-03-20 classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu said to lisard(a)zetnet.co.uk :I was just aquired two PS/2 model 50s. Normally I don't collect :older PC system but they are interesting. hmm. that resolves one question - if you've asked this, allison, then we must be safe to ask something along the same lines... a few weeks ago now, we picked up an ncr 286 machine with colour monitor and wonderful keyboard. model number is not obvious, but the case is flat, about 2" high (the height of a half-height disk drive) and about the size of a small paving slab; internally, the machine is very odd, with a backplane architecture, two daughterboards mounted on two boards in that backplane, and *no* expansion capacity (no free slots). sayeth the computer that it is a "class 3278 model 0129" machine. our question: it says on boot-up that it is "running at low speed", which is 6MHz - how do we get it to run a high speed? there is a switch on the lower main board that does apparently nothing, and a jumper next to it. we can't get further into the machine as we don't have the screwdriver... (it looks like a philips' head, but the slots are too small. what do we need?) or is it software switched? -- Communa (together) we remember... we'll see you falling you know soft spoken changes nothing to sing within her...

26 years, 4 months

please ID this card!

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

Pictures are worth 1000 words - my earlier text post didn't elicit any responses... maybe one of you can ID this board (or more particularly, the type of system) from the pictures. Two pics available; large and small. The connector shows the single "pin" on this side, and multiple separate pins on the reverse. http://www.comcen.com.au/~weird/boardbig.jpg [250K] http://www.comcen.com.au/~weird/boardsmall.jpg [95K] Betcha can't! A

26 years, 4 months

Bill a TRS-80 fan? (Was More List Operation Stuff)

by lisard＠zetnet.co.uk

On 1998-03-19 classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu said to lisard(a)zetnet.co.uk :Question: :Is Bill using a TRS-80 here? I think I see 64 cols per line :formatting, hmmmmmmmmmm........... or alternatively, he could have a block editor running under forth and be posting from there... ;> -- Communa (together) we remember... we'll see you falling you know soft spoken changes nothing to sing within her...

26 years, 4 months

Irreverence to irrelevance

by COAKLEY＠AC.GRIN.EDU

> > But the calculator collectors have their own lists, don't they? > > True... I'm not thinking of spamming this list with pocket calculator > questions or anything like that. I'd just not object to the odd thread on > them, particularly if they were historically significant (the HP9100...), > technically interesting, or whatever. Speaking of which, there's an HP41C at a thrift store near me. Anyone want it? Is it at all interesting? (Sorry, Allison. I thought my last message was going to the list, and not to you privately.) -- Ben Coakley http://www.math.grin.edu/~coakley coakley(a)ac.grin.edu Station Manager, KDIC 88.5 FM CBEL: Xavier OH Wow, this is global. -Mtn Goats

26 years, 4 months

Amiga A1060 SideCar

by ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca

I finally got around to archiving what ROMs I could find in my old SideCar, and I have a few questions. I know the comp.sys.amiga.hardware would probably be a better place to ask, but I'm going to ask here anyway. :) [The SideCar, for those that don't know, is basically an XT clone that attaches to the side of an Amiga 1000, whos display normally appears in a window or on a separate 'screen' on the Amiga display.] I didn't completely disassemble the SideCar, I only took the cover off and poked around a little. I got my SideCar 'third-hand' and never had the manual for it. I never played with the dip switches or jumpers in it. Does anyone know what all the dip switches are for? There's a bank of eight of them, and another of four. Currently the 8 are: OFF, ON, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, ON. The set of 4 are all OFF. I checked through memory with DEBUG and located the BIOS code as well as the stuff the Amiga sends to the PC side via the dual-port RAM. I don't know how big the BIOS is supposed to be. It looks like it's in two chunks, of about 4K and 8K. The first section of this code lies at F4000 and goes to about F4Cxx, followed by a bunch of FF's, then at F6000 is a solid 8K chunk of code, including copyright messages from Commodore Electronics Ltd. and Phoenix Software Associates Ltd. Would all of this be in a 16K chunk in the EPROM at location U22 on the motherboard? It's a 48-pin EPROM with a sticker on it that reads "380619-02" and "Hydra BIOS 2.05". Under the daughterboard and the hard drive (I replaced the floppy drive with an ST-296N in 1991 or so) where I couldn't really see very well, were at least two other 48-pin chips, at U39 and U40. The only number I could see was "8621" on the one at position U40. I know that's not a lot of information, but does anyone know what those are? I'm just interested in how the SideCar performs its magic. I looked into the RAM area from E0000-F3FFF which is the shared RAM, and I was surprised to see some stuff in there from the Amiga side that I don't think should have been there. After the PC.boot file stuff that was loaded into the PC side by the Amiga at startup, there was the "info" program from the Amiga shell. Executing something else on the Amiga side cleared that area out, and executing "info" again (from ARP 1.3, not the real AmigaDOS) put the info code back in there. Also, some filenames from directories on the Amiga side showed up in there. What's going on? The SideCar controls the hard drive for the Amiga. Does the Amiga get the data from the HD through this memory area? I've never been able to get AREAD/AWRITE to function. They always GURU. I got the files from a BridgeBoard distribution... do I need special ones for the SideCar? Now, the main reason I actually opened the SideCar up: I installed a Seagate SL-02 SCSI controller when I installed the hard drive. It conflicted with the floppy controller in the SideCar, and in order to have floppies and hard drive running at the same time, I had to disable the floppy controller on the SCSI card. I did this by putting masking tape over each pin on the card in turn, booting up the Amiga and the PC side, and recording the results. I eventually decided, from these results, to tape over 7 of the pins on the SCSI controller card, and this has worked perfectly since. I don't know how the pins are numbered, but below is an ASCII graphic representation. :) The 5th, 6th, 10th, 18th, 19th, 22nd, and 26th pins are taped over, on the left hand side of the card, reading from front to back. xx x xx x x | ===============================| |o I hadn't recorded this anywhere, and I was a bit worried that the tape would be drying out and falling off and making my SideCar go crazy, but everything was OK. And now it's recorded somewhere. :) Oh, one other thing. The first part of the boot message is as follows: Commodore Hydra BIOS Rev. 2.05 - Test Release - Copyright (C) 1985 by Commodore Electronics Ltd. Copyright (C) 1984,1985 by Phoenix Software Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The serial number is under 1000. I'm wondering how common the A1060 SideCar is, and if anyone has one that doesn't boot up with the "Test Release" message. The motherboard says: FAB 380517-01 Rev.4 ASSY NO. 380604-01 Rev.7 ?1986 COMMODORE SIDECAR MAINBOARD Are there earlier or later revisions out there? Doug Spence ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca

26 years, 4 months

Now: Once again, whattheheckisa computer? (Was: Re: Delay lines)

by zmerch＠northernway.net

;-) Clearing the snow from my glasses, I saw Doug Yowza typed: >On Sat, 21 Mar 1998, Roger Merchberger wrote: > >> The absolute definition of a computer as I remember >> it goes thusly: >> >> "An instrument which can perform arithmatic and logical functions without >> the aid of a human." > >That's too ambiguous to me. All computers require the aid of a human at >some point. What's the diff if I pay Bill Gates to program mine or if I >work the slides on my slide rule? The difference is: there's no enter key on a slide rule. You can enter a program into a computer, and once it begins executing it may not require human interference until it has completed. If said program includes both arithmatic and logical functions between the pressing of the enter key and the output, it would fit the definition of a computer. >As for me, whenever I see little chicklet keys on a calculator, that's >enough for me to say it's not a computer :-) Ah, then you have an anti-Tandy bent, eh? For the chicklet keys on my CoCo1's preclude it from your definition??? ;-) (And, to continue along this nasty bend in the road, the membrane-only keyboards of the Timex Sinclair 1000 and Tandy's MC-10 make them akin to a microwave oven? ;-) I guess I see a lot more computers than you do! Just my $0.02USD ($0.026CDN), "Merch" -- Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed, Owner, MerchWare | nuclear warhead disarmament should zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.

26 years, 4 months

Freedom!

by ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca

Ahhh, finally I had a day that was free enough of other obligations that I could sit down and tinker with some of my old toys. The machines I played with today: Amiga 1000 with SideCar, Tandy 1000EX, Atari 800XL, Kaypro II and 2, TeleVideo TPC-I, 'A.M.A. LCD Portable' (286 luggable with LCD screen). I also had time to inspect a few pieces of junk I don't know anything about, that had been collecting dust on shelves. Anyway, it's great to have time to relax and tinker and post. I'll put specific comments and queries in appropriately titled messages. Doug Spence ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca

26 years, 4 months

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test-drb March 1998