Today, I found two things in the trash. One is a VCR that eats tapes.
Please e-mail me privately if you know what to do about that. The
other is a TI99/4A with all of the packaging, but without the main
manual, and any cartridges it might have come with. I will still go
back tomorrow and check to make sure I didn't leave anything. Anyway,
do I HAVE to have a cartridge to power it up? When I turn it on with
the enormous TV switchbox, the TV shows nothing but snow. I flip all
of the switches, but none fix the problem. Also, the little light on
the TV switchbox doesn't turn on. Suggestions? Also, was there a
word processor or something for it? Could someone send me a cartridge
or two?
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>If you want it bad enough everything is possible.
>I do belive it is our duty to perform these tasks. An x1541 cable allows
you
>to connect a commodore disk drive to a PC why not make it the other way
>around and use the PC as a disk drive "server" for the C64, VIC20 and C128?
>And that is only one thought.
I believe that's already been done.
-- Kirk
Hi Soe,
< I went to a thrift store today and found something called a VaxStation
<2000. Does anyone know what it is? I *think* the model number on it is
<1410F-A. It's a box about 12 x 12" and 10" thick and has a handle on th
VS2000 aka baby vax. Nice machines using the first generation micorvax
chip. They can be found with up to 14mb of ram but 6-12mb are typical
and only 4meg needed to run VMS or Ultrix. They can take RX33(1.2mb)
floppy and or any MFM drive like RD31(20mb st225), RD32(40mb st251),
RD52(quantum D540 31mb), RD53 (micropolus1325 71mb) or RD54(maxtor 2990
159mb). There is a scsi bus but the rom boot only knows an oddball tk50
off that. The base machine did hires(1280x1024) video to a 19in mono
monitor and there was color too. By shorting pins 8,9 of the db9 port
you could connect a terminal instead. VMS is available via hobby license
and is a very robust and sophisticated operating system and will fit on
a single RD54 or can be made to fit in an RD53 without decwindows. There
is a fair amount of free software for VMS as well.
Also most have 10b2 eithernet unless someone robbed the lance card.
I have three of them, I call them a half cubic foot vax. The taller ones
have a base that addes expansion connectors for a like sized box that can
hone another MFM disk, floppy or TK50 tape.
Generally speaking I find them for free to maybe 15$ as they are on par
with slower 386s meaning they run all the VAX software but it's only .9
vups. Despite that I've used one to serve several users and notes
conferences (like a newsgroup). Their upside is that the power needs
are only 160w at 110v and they are small.
Allison
And then CNN would show UN jeeps pulling dozens of PCs with shotgun
holes from soggy trenches in rwanda...
>
> Or you could install linux on them and donate them to 3rd world
> countries as mail/usenet uucp machines for individual
> villages. This is a _useful_ and humane thing to do!
>
>--jmg
>
>> Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 16:00:30 -0400 (EDT)
>> From: Captain Napalm <spc(a)armigeron.com>
>> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
>> Subject: Re: Wirehead Update
>>
>> It was thus said that the Great Zane H. Healy once stated:
>> >
>> > >The other thing I need to do is find uses for the pile of 386 and
486
>> > >boxes in my garage. It's 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall, neatly
stacked.
>>
>> Well, you could install Linux/Beowulf on them and get supercomputer
>> performance, then rent space on them. Beowulf is clustering software
for
>> Linux developed at NASA and freely available. It's been used in
several
>> other labs with great results (from what I hear).
>>
>> Check out http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/beowulf/ for more
information.
>>
>> > Of course the smartalick answer that came to mind was to turn them
on end,
>> > get some cement, and build a shed useing them instead of bricks :^)
>>
>> Of course there's always that.
>>
>> -spc (Or set up a massively parallel web server and rent space out
on it)
>>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
On Apr 9, 13:59, Bill/Carolyn Pechter wrote:
> I head crashed an RK05 at DEC Princeton running RT11 on the finance 11/70
> during a PM once. The head hit a 1/4 inch bulge in the disk platter
Many years ago I worked in a high school that had some PDP-8s, one of which had
a pair of RK05s and a collection of packs of dubious heritage. One of the
parents was a DEC engineer, and volunteered to service the drives and check the
packs. Two he condemned, on the grounds that using them might well damage the
drive, but one in particular apparently passed his inspection, except that it
rattled when it was picked up. Since this was the system pack, he was asked
about this. He re-affirmed that it was OK, but agreed to open it up for a look.
Out fell a Number 8 1" long woodscrew... but the pack was still worked fine.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Hi. Does anyone know what happened to him? Did he unsubscribe? I've tried
to contact him privately, but with no luck. I didn't get an error message,
however.
Thanks,
Tim D. Hotze
A uVAX 2000 is a single board uVAX II with onboard peripherals. DEC
sold them as workstations (VAXstation 2000) or as a small server
(MicroVAX 2000). They are not CPU upgradable, but you can add expansion
memory out to 16MB, an 8 port async serial board (thats the big DB
connector that doesn't go anywhere) and a sync serial port. Standard
was the MFM interface for a Micropolis 1325 (RD53) or Maxstor 2190 disk
(RD54). The SCSI port was only supported for the TKZ50 tape drive, an
old 95MB DLT type drive, although I think there was a 3rd party SCSI
disk driver from Trimarchi (now out of business). The VAXstation had a
graphics display for a non-standard monitor.
Jack Peacock
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe [mailto:rigdonj@intellistar.net]
> Sent: Thursday, April 09, 1998 9:41 AM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: what is a Vax Station 2000?
>
>
> I went to a trift store today and found something called a
> VaxStation
> 2000. Does anyone know what it is? I *think* the model
> number on it is VS
> 1410F-A. It's a box about 12 x 12" and 10" thick and has a
> handle on the
> front. It looks about like one of the small coolers that
> holds a six pack
> of your favorite refreshments. It has a bunch of connectors
> on the back
> includeing a BNC connector (LAN?) and SCSI connector and a
> large DB style
> connector with 4 rows of pin sockets.
>
I went to a trift store today and found something called a VaxStation
2000. Does anyone know what it is? I *think* the model number on it is VS
1410F-A. It's a box about 12 x 12" and 10" thick and has a handle on the
front. It looks about like one of the small coolers that holds a six pack
of your favorite refreshments. It has a bunch of connectors on the back
includeing a BNC connector (LAN?) and SCSI connector and a large DB style
connector with 4 rows of pin sockets.
Since Bill is absent, I'll presume to speak for him and the rest of us
founding members. You'll notice that the name of the list, same as its
charter, is "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers", not
"preservation" although that is something we are all concerned with.
Webster's defines "collect" in this sense as "to collect objects", which
implicitly requires their acquisition! Blatantly commercial advertisements
are not allowed, but collector for-sale ads are explicitly part of this
newsgroup and are welcomed.
Not only that, but offering items on Ebay instead of on this list, opens
them up to the speculative investor masses and creates much higher prices
than trading among collectors would produce. Trust me, it's much better to
have them advertised here than on Ebay.
Kai
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Davie [SMTP:adavie@mad.scientist.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 1998 6:11 AM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: my objection to recent postings
>
> I object to the use of the Classic Computer mailing list for advertising
> for-sale items on an ongoing basis for profit. I consider the use of this
> list in this way akin to dropping advertising leaflets in my mailbox, or
> ringing me up and asking if I want to buy insurance.
> Surely, the newsgroups and eBay, etc., are an appropriate place for
> regular
> sales?
> A mailing list dealing with the preservation of classic computers is not.
> Cheers
> A
Andrew Davie scribed...
>I object to the use of the Classic Computer mailing list for advertising
>for-sale items on an ongoing basis for profit. I consider the use of this
>list in this way akin to dropping advertising leaflets in my mailbox, or
>ringing me up and asking if I want to buy insurance.
I'm going to assume that you're referring to Russ Blakeman's posts (please
forgive me if this is inaccurate), and possibly to the postings of
'classic' systems in need of rescuing.
My take on this is that I'm sorry you feel that way. For my part, I'm darn
glad to have someone posting to the list who seems to have a steady stream
of older gear available, and pretty decent prices to boot.
There's still plenty of good information to be had in the list. The few
'For Sale' postings I've seen from Russ and others (Jim Willing for another
example) have, if anything, increased the value of CLASSICCMP for me. Also,
as I recall, CLASSICCMP's charter allows for the posting of such blurbs as
long as what's being advertised is computer-related and of 'Classic'
(greater than ten years old) vintage.
As for systems needing rescue, darn few people who post that they're
getting rid of systems to comp.sys.dec or comp.sys.dec.micro even know this
list exists. I will always forward such notes, if I happen to see them,
over to the list server. I know that doing so has resulted in at least a
couple of rescues that might otherwise have ended up with the scrappers.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
<Dang...I was at a local scrap yard (they bust things down and sell the di
<materials) and there was an Altair faceplate (smashed up and unuseable) l
<in the top of the bin of steel. I wonder if the person that "donated" it
<scrapper knew what he or she had before they did this terrible
Whats scarier is the altair with the excepion of the board and transformer
was 90% aluminum, especially the front panel.
Allison
At 10:54 AM 4/7/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I have a NOS SwTPc 6800 MP-A CPU board. This was the first SS-50
[...]
>Here's the wrinkle: It's an unbuilt, BARE board. Given the somewhat
>historic nature of this article, what would you do? Build it as
>originally designed (most of the parts are still available), or
>leave the board blank, as is?
As with the Mac someone asked about, my answer is leave it as is; you can
always build it later. Sure, assemble all the parts while they're still
available, but don't do it until necessary.
P.S., I still need your new address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.sinasohn.com/
Kai Kaltenbach <kaikal(a)MICROSOFT.com> wrote:
>Not only that, but offering items on Ebay instead of on this list, opens
>them up to the speculative investor masses and creates much higher prices
>than trading among collectors would produce. Trust me, it's much better to
>have them advertised here than on Ebay.
Yes, absolutely. For the first 30 seconds, it seemed like online
auctions would be a great way to pick up discontinued items at a
good price, but the high quality of information and easy availability
drove prices up. Good for sellers, bad for cheapskate buyers.
I find the online "auctions" drive prices for conventional PC stuff
exactly to the average retail price, or sometimes even above that.
As I wrote on 2/23:
>Regarding the three Altair machines that were recently posted
>to the net auction at ebay.com - they went from $1525 to $2025.
>Mind you, these weren't complete systems. The software, extra
>drives, etc. were auctioned separately.
I was in contact with the guy who sold these before he submitted
them to ebay. For a moment, I thought I had a line on a good deal:
a well-off surgeon / ham / computer junk had died and his family
didn't know what to do with the multiple garages of stuff. For
the computers, they turned to the one computer-head nephew, who
was smart enough to know the value of the machines as well as how
to get the highest price - which I wholeheartedly but sadly supported. :-)
Van Burnham <van(a)wired.com> wrote:
>van burnham http://www.futuraworld.com
>production manager
>wired 520 third street fourth floor san francisco ca 94107 united
>states
Oh, no. Now we know we're cool, if Wired is watching. :-)
That'll do wonders for prices if we get on the "Wired/Tired" list.
As for list fragmentation, I'm tempted to reconfigure my extranet
news server to support a prototype handful of classic computer
news groups, just to see what happens. Private news servers make
so much more sense than mailing lists. How many people are on this
mailing list?
Greg Troutman <mor(a)crl.com> wrote:
>Me too! After thousands of shipping transactions, I now discourage
>would be shippers from using UPS and going with USPS.
After thousands of UPS shipments, I say the opposite: the Sloth Office
drives me crazy. They don't crush, they simple *lose*. Damage is
most often a function of packaging materials. Don't re-use boxes
unless they're in great shape. Be sure the box and packing materials
match the mass and CG of the item inside. Yes, both UPS and USPS
toss the box to the back of the truck and pile other boxes on top.
Be prepared.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Come on guys, give it a rest. Half the postings in the last 30 hours or so
have been some stupid argument about posting evil capitalist for sale ads
on the list. Compare the total size of this drivel with the size of the
ads. Talk about computers, OK?
--
David Wollmann |
dwollmann(a)ibmhelp.com | Support for legacy IBM products.
DST ibmhelp.com Technical Support | Data, document and file conversion for IBM
http://www.ibmhelp.com/ | legacy file and media formats.
Hi Zane,
----------
> From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: DEC RRD-40 CD-ROM
> Date: Wednesday, April 08, 1998 12:53 AM
>
> OK, I'm stumped. What are the switch setting for the 4-switch DIP switch
> on the back of a RRD-40 drive? I managed to come up with a working
> configuration, but how safe is SCSI address 0 under VMS? I know the
> Hobbyist CD at least boots through the hardware search in Standalone
backup
> (didn't have time to install tonite). Also what's the 4th switch for?
if you have only four of them, should be parity. on the RRD-42 you have
five of them, the fifth switching the 512/2048 bytes mode.
I'm not sure about the rrd40, but hope it helps...
cheers,
emanuel
First the Mindset PC...
I just received 2 Mindset PCs, one in the original boxes. I plan on
testing the one in the original boxes and then storing it away. The
other I plan on using. Here is what I know about these so far. They
were 80186 based. Base unit came with 64K RAM, 32K for programs and
32K for video and 32K of ROM. It included 2 ROM/NVRAM cartridge
ports up front. The expansion unit plugged into the top of the
base unit and raised the RAM to 256K and added 2 360K floppy drives.
In place of slots, the system has 6 cartridge ports in the back, 3 in
the base and 3 in the expansion unit. Things like RS-232 ports,
parallel ports, etc came in cartridges which slid into these ports.
It also included a mouse. It had enhanced graphic features (for the
time) driven by some special chips I believe. Connections in the
back provide for RGB, Composite and TV hook-ups as well as Audio
connections. And a cool graphics program called Lumena which
included some animation capabilities. I understand there was some
sort of genlocking capability as well. It almost appears that
this was the "Amiga" of the Intel world. I'll know more after I've
had a chance to do more than unpack and power up the system.
I would like to know if anyone else here has one of these or any info
for them. I have the Disk Operating System Manual and the Mindset
Operation Guide but no real hardware refs. I'd be interested in any
info on the hardware itself or software, carts, etc.
Now for the Fortune 32:16...
I've had two different models of these for a while now but without
the Fortune terminal. These are 68000 Unix based systems and it
appears that you need special keys on the terminal to cleanly startup
and shutdown the system. I have been travelling and need to look
into this a little better. Anyway, if anyone has one of these
terminals they would like to pass on or could find out what code
sequence the special keys send so I could re-program my terminals I'd
really appreciate it.
Thanks.
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
Hi,
>>> One was donated to me a while ago after standing unused in a garage for
>>> a few years - apparently it was working when it went into store.
>>> However, nowadays if I put the system disk into the drive it seeks the
>>> heads, spins a couple of times, then all goes silent.
>>
>>Start out by opening the case and reseating all the boards in the
>>cardcage. I seem to recall that there's quite a few boards in there,
>>using 43 way edge connectors. Then check the PSU outputs - a good place
>>to do that is at the 8" drive DC connectors, as at least that pinout is
>>standard.
I seem to remember that the PSU outputs were good - at least everything
was as it should be at the drive connectors. The machine's in storage
about 200 miles away from me at the moment, so unfortunately I can't
check (one day I will get a place with a bit of space!!!)
I never stripped the machine down and rebuilt it though.
>>BTW, if you don't have the key needed to open the back of the machine,
>>either pick the lock (it's a trivial wafer tumbler one) or flip the
>>machine sideways and unscrew the plates on the bottom. That will release
>>the back cover. The rest of the case then comes off.
Heh heh, yup - I remember doing exactly that...
>>> There's no cursor or anything on the monitor, but having never seen the
>>> machine working myself I don't know if it should display anything at all
>>> before a successful boot completes.
>>
>>Have you got the monitor cabled up correctly? There's a 10 way (?) ribbon
>>cable _and_ a mains lead to connect.
The monitor is getting HT power to the tube OK, and from what I remember
the ribbon cable would only plug in the back of the system unit one way
round, so that should be ok. It bothers me that there's no cursor or
anything on the screen, but I don't know if there should be - chances
are good that what little ROM this machine has would contain just enough
to boot from disk and nothing else.
It's a shame that the disks I have aren't known to be good - I have 2 or
3 system disks but all of them give the same results - disk seeks and
spins on power up and then all goes quiet.
let me know when you get your Diamond running! :)
cheers
Jules
>And more importantly, personal e-mail should stay between individuals that
>the e-mail is communicated to, and not made public without consent. This
>posting of private messages to the mailing list that some people have
>taken to doing is <snip>, and I swear the next time someone
>does this I will go medieval on their <snip>.
On this issue, I have to agree with Sam. I mean, personal issues are not
what we're talking about here. This is the ClassicCmp mailing list, there's
an entire alt.psychology section of Usenet. Use it for personal
issues/problems. Also, private messages are PRIVATE. If they were meant
for the group to read, then they should have been sent there in the first
place. Only publisize messages when it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
>Have some fucken integrity.
This is what I disagree with. We're all reasonable. Now, you're going to
complain about all of us being toddlers, but before you do, think of this.
There are impressionalbe children on this list, myself being one of them.
If you have a problem, treat it like a gentleman. We're all civilized
enough to let people have their say. Make opinions pleasant for everyone to
read. There's no reason to resort to profanity to expres emotions, or, more
often then not, not expressing them.
Tim D. Hotze
> > I am afraid most of it is based (obviously) on British and
> European computers.
>
> Why 'obviously'? I'm also a UK collector, but I think I've
> got more US
> machines than UK/european ones. In fact, when you move towards bigger
> iron (minis/workstations/mainframes) you almost certainly end
> up with mainly
> US machines.
>
I learn something new almost every day on this list...Today I learned
that computers were actually made in Europe and not just in the U.S.
Now if someone would just explain why anyone would want to collect a
euro-computer?
Jack "tongue planted firmly in his US-centric cheek" Peacock
I object to the use of the Classic Computer mailing list for advertising
for-sale items on an ongoing basis for profit. I consider the use of this
list in this way akin to dropping advertising leaflets in my mailbox, or
ringing me up and asking if I want to buy insurance.
Surely, the newsgroups and eBay, etc., are an appropriate place for regular
sales?
A mailing list dealing with the preservation of classic computers is not.
Cheers
A
At 17:23 08/04/98 -0700, Jack wrote:
>I learn something new almost every day on this list...Today I learned
>that computers were actually made in Europe and not just in the U.S.
>Now if someone would just explain why anyone would want to collect a
>euro-computer?
> Jack "tongue planted firmly in his US-centric cheek" Peacock
Hmm,"The tongue goes where the tooth hurts"
Riccardo
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? AND PHONECARDS I-47100 Forli'/Emilia-Romagna/Food Valley/ITALY ?
? Pager(DTMF PHONES)=+39/16888(hear msg.and BEEP then 5130274*YOUR TEL.No.* ?
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Van Burnham <van(a)wired.com> wrote:
> ps...Upon reading the thread regarding the justification in
> maintaining "modifications" made to a 128K Mac, I was reminded of a
> nightmare I witnessed at a vids auction. It appears someone had
> decided that it would be considerably more "state-of-the-art" to play
> something new instead of a slow-ass game called Computer Space...and
> proceeded to destroy the original board and monitor casing in order to
> convert the sleek fiberglass metalflake cabinet to play Pac-Man
> instead. I don't see why defacing a classic Mac (or "Frankentosh" as
> they say) should be regarded as any less horriffic. Am I totally off
> here? Anyone?
No, you're just mostly off.
The 128K Mac in question was one that had been upgraded with
contemporary modifications during its useful service life, with the
intention of making it do its thing, only better. It wasn't defaced,
it was enhanced, with things that were designed for just that purpose,
by someone using it for its intended purpose. And at its core it's
the same 128K Mac.
Gutting a 128K Mac to fit an SE/30's works inside would be stretching
this notion of "enhancement" a bit more than I'm comfortable with,
because so far as I know Mac users didn't do that sort of thing and
that sure isn't what SE/30 works were designed for. (But I'm not a
Mac guy and maybe someone did do this back then.)
And if I knew of someone planning to do something like what you
describe to a Computer Space machine today, well...I think that
stretches this notion past the point of fatigue. I'd certainly
encourage him away from such a course of action. What would I have
done in, say, 1982 though? I don't know, I might have even helped do
it, though I really don't think I'd have seen any point to it even
then.
Now, that said, the goals of collectors don't necessarily have much to
do with the goals of the computer's contemporary users. Original
unmodified 128K Macs will probably be of more interest to some,
because they were The First Macintoshes (available for public sale,
anyway), and being first does have a certain cachet. And the fact
that many of their original users felt the need for such upgrades has
made unmodified 128K Macs that much rarer today.
-Frank McConnell
A real gentle-man!
enrico
Sam Ismail wrote:
>
> On Tue, 7 Apr 1998, Enrico Tedeschi wrote:
>
> > You are demontrating AGAIN that you don't care about other people feelings and
> > problems. You are NOT in charge of policing this mailgroup. If you don't want
> > to see this sort messages anymore help me to fix my problem.
>
> I'm not going to help you do shit. This is YOUR problem. This is NOT the
> problem of classiccmp! Therefore, DON'T POST YOUR PROBLEMS ON CLASSICCMP!
> I don't post how much of an ass I think you are, so don't post your
> personal crap either! And you'd better bet that when I do take over the
> list, I'll make sure YOU are on the list of moderated members since you
> have proven time and time again that you can't police yourself. So show
> some restraint and respect and KEEP YOUR GARBAGE IN PRIVATE E-MAIL PLEASE!
>
> Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Don't blame me...I voted for Satan.
>
> Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
> See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
--
========================================================
Enrico Tedeschi, 54 Easthill Drive, Brighton BN41 2FD, UK
Tel/fax(+01273) 701650 (24 hours) and 0498 692465 (mobile)
please visit my website at: <http://www.brighton-uk.com>
========================================================
Charles A. Davis wrote:
> It's also pertinent _what_ is being offered for sale, Complete and
> operational systems, will probably do great on one of the 'aution'
> sites. Random repair pieces, odd boards, documentation, weird
It seems to me if the "for sale" was restricted to 10 years or older
there would be no place for spam related "hot PII price list" stuff. I
have never received a single spam price list listing a uVAX I, an IMSAI
chassis, or a big price break on 16KB static RAM boards. Keep the For
Sale mail, but how about labeling it with the "FS:" prefix in the
subject so those who object can filter it out? I for one watch for the
occasional odd S-100 card, where else am I going to see that kind of
stuff?
Jack Peacock