test-drb April 1998

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

122 participants
678 discussions

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> Would a SCSI card be an option so I could put in 1.2 and/or 1.44 fdds HUH? Neither of these are an helped/hindered by the 386. SCSI is not needed to run 1.44/1.2 FDDs. You can put scsi in there even when it was an plain xt. To run the bigger floppies you need a controller that will, most XT controllers will not. JDR and JAMCO sell a board that will do up to 2.88 drives in a XT slot. FYI I've hacked the leading edge (xt) I have to include most of what you mention including a 20meg WD hardcard. It's MONO/herc, 20meg hardcard, 1.44 floppy, multi-IO (two serial, two LPT, game). Runs dos6.22 and I've had windows3.1 to prove it runs. Allison

26 years, 3 months

Nice Find

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Are you saying that a 486 is only faster than a 286 because of the <cache? No I'm saying without the cache is run as slow as a 286! The reson is it has to wait for ram data at the ram data rates. That's 70ns in my 486 and the faster 286s used 80ns ram so the end up running about the same speed. The cache is to allow near continious reading fo ram data even when the processor is not reading in in advance of need. By doing that and using fast page read mode data can be fed to the cpu to support the higher speed. <>Funny I have unix v7 running on a PDP11 with only 256kb of ram. it can <be done. <Isn't v7 the latest UNIX distribution? No. It's PDP-11 circa 1980ish. It was followed later by 2.9bsd and 2.11bsd. <I once had an old 386 with a 20MB MFM hard drive and 2MB RAM. Windows <ran OK, but Word 2.0 ran very poorly. Strange that I've never seen <3.0. Is it rare? Not so much rare as short lifetime between it'release and 3.1s release. <Actually, Windows 3.0 came with a copy of MS-DOS executive, the <precursor to the program manager, while 3.1 didn't. That's not Funny my copy of 3.0 has program manager. MSDOS executive is a different tool. It compete against Quarterdedk, and Norton commander. <have to disable it for Windows 95, which needs at least 7.0. I have <DOS 3.3, and it's a good DOS. If only it had MOVE...I can send anyone <who wants them some copies. I THINK I have four more boxes. Five are <already spoken for. I have 3.3, 5.0 and 6.22. Move from 5.0 runs under 3.3. Allison

26 years, 3 months

More cool stuff

by dastar＠wco.com

Well, today's hunting turned up some good stuff. A Tandy 100 with manual for $15. A compact Monolithic Systems rack-mount computer. It's multi-bus based with a Z-80 CPU. It came with complete manuals, an extender card, a dual 8" drive unit, and a couple 2716/2764 (or was that 2704/2716?) EPROM programmer cards. I also got the Teletype ASR-33 that was used with this system. It had a stand, a current loop to RS-232 converter, and the complete manual set (including service manuals). The complete setup for $45. I then happened upon an AIM 65 authentically mounted to a piece of plywood. This was an amazing find in that I got the original box with all the manuals and sales literature (with technical specs). This unit also came with the optional BASIC ROMs. The manuals included were: BASIC Language Reference Manual 8K BASIC Reference Card R6500 Hardware Manual R6500 Programming Manual R6500 Users Guide AUM-65 Summary Card Also in the box was a fold-out schematic for the AIM-65 and the warranty card. Much thanks to Frank McConnell & Company for not engaging me in a bidding war over this as we discovered it at the same time. I got this for $40. The same guy also had a very rare Morrow portable I'd been searching out for a long time. A local surplus shop has one but refuses to sell it to me because they claim all their original records were stored on it. No attempt at begging or coercion would get them to sell it to me, so it was nice to finally find one. Its a portable made by Morrow which runs CP/M. I think the model is a C3P. It has two 5.25" HH floppies and a funky-looking wide screen. The guy also threw in a complete run of BAMDUA (Bay Area Micro Decision User's Group) which was a newsletter for the Morrow Micro-Decision here in the Bay Area. Also a complete run of "Morrow Owner's Review", which was a Morrow magazine for users of the Micro-Decision. Oddly enough the magazine ceased publication as late as December 1987 (I would've thought it would have ceased well before that). I also got a photo-copied service manual for the Micro-Decision which is cool since I have a flaky MD-2 that needs attention. Plus a bunch of 5.25" disks, some books (Best of Micro Vol. II & III, Ciarca's Circuit Cellar Vol. III) and some Morrow and Kaypro marketing literature. This was another $39. I also got the Sept. 83 issue of Byte from which I culled these interesting tibits: The editorial on page 4 covered the issue of FAA regulations banning the use of portables on airline flights. I wonder when this ban was overturned? Its interesting in that it mirrors the same concern over cellular phones interfering with air-to-ground communications, all of which is a bunch of hooey. Page 12 had a letter from a reader concerned about the proliferation of mice as a pointing device. "I am sorry to see Apple, Visicorp, and possibly Microsoft jump onto the Xerox bandwagon and introduce a mouse into their new integrated computing software," he writes. "The mouse is an inherently bad pointing device for at least three reasons: it consumes one to two square feet of flat desk space; it requires users to move their hands one to two feet from the keyboard in order to point at a screen object; and, because the mouse is not in a fixed place relative to the keyboard, users must look away from their work to find the mouse whenever it is to be used." He then goes on to espouse the virtues of a trackball. Needless to say I'm sure this guy died off with CP/M :) In an article on portables, an inline quote says, "Any computer can be transportable if you have a big enough truck." Ladies & Gentlemen, finally a definition of "portable". Lastly, there's an article for an S-100 PC, of all things. IBM compatibility in an S-100 bus. The funny thing is the article promises "with its S100 bus expansion capability, your system will never be outdated." How ironic :) A couple other things I got included a Voice Processing module for the strange Convergent Technologies system I have ($1) and an 8080/8085 emulator (circa 1984) in a hard-shelled carrying case ($20). I managed to find room in the garage to store the new stuff, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out. You'd think a 3-car garage would hold more. I guess the pool table will have to go soon. Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0 See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!

26 years, 3 months

ISA-PCI Conversion possible? (About MS's PC 98 Specs)

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

OK.. I've been thinking about this for a while. ISA's going to die, at least according to MS's PC '98 specs. Knowing how most designers comply to MS's hardware design, it looks like ISA's future is dim. Now, on top of all the old ISA cards I've collected, I just got an AWE 64, and my scanner and PCMCIA cards are ISA-based. So, is it possible to make a device that will make an ISA card fit into a PCI socket? Is anyone making them? Thanks, Tim D. Hotze

26 years, 3 months

Good Finds

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

This week has been pretty good and I picked up over 40 items, what follows is just a short list of the items I think are worth mentioning. PC1512DD Amstrad system complete with monitor, kb, and manuals not tested yet; IBM PS/2 8580-121 tower not tested yet; digital PC278-A DecMate II with two system diskettes not tested yet; Compaq Portable II not tested yet; Apple Mono Monitor IIe Platinum new in box with all papers and cords; Prim LTS300 Terminal Server; The Designer Pencil cartridge; HP 9121 not test yet; Apple High resolution Mono works great; IBM terminal 8535150 I think is the number; AED Colorware 767 TT; digital monitor VR290-DA; PixelView II monitor by Mirror; Toshiba T1000XE with everything manual, extra new batteries, etc; Portac unit; Sharp CE-150 printer and cassette unit; Sharp CE-159 program module; Many other items that will go into the museum someday. Keep Computing !! John

26 years, 3 months

what do I do with a Multibus?

by rexstout＠uswest.net

Just picked up an interesting unit at a hamfest, there was a box with a large power supply, a long tube with BNC connectors at each end(some sort of attenuator I suppose), and a large jumble of cards inside a backplane. Well, when I just got home now I dug through it, and found a few interesting things inside. The first card is from Intel, with an 8086 CPU and some other stuff. Attached to the CPU board are two daughterboards, one with a connector and an 8272 chip, and another with an 8203 and a bunch of EPROMs, as well as a lithium battery. There are a 50pin and 26pin edge connector on the top of the CPU board. The second board is a Netronix "Multibus PC Network Adapter" card, with an F-type connector. I don't know much about this type of network system except I don't have anything to hook into it. Third card is another one from Intel, labeled "iSBC 576", with another 8086, two connectors on the top, and an SBC576 daughtercard. Fourth card is a PROSE 2000, with a 26-pin edge connector and another connector, and a bunch of EPROMs marked "Speech Plus (c)1983", and yet another 8086 chip. Looks like the company name is Speech Plus Inc. I guess this is a speech synth. The last two cards appear to be memory expansion, made by Memtech, and have a large (50 pin) connector on the top, and "ISBC254S" silkscreened into the board. So, does anyone know what to do with this thing? How do I set it up? What kind of OS does it run? I'm thinking it may have been a repeater controller(I did find this at a hamfest...), which would make sense, with the speech synth being the automatic ID'er. Where do I find info on all this multibus stuff? Thanks -------------------------------------------------------------- | http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html - Computers | | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/ - Star Trek | | orham(a)qth.net list admin KD7BCY | --------------------------------------------------------------

26 years, 3 months

ISA-PCI Conversion possible? (About MS's PC 98 Specs)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 98-04-04 03:45:54 EST, you write: << OK.. I've been thinking about this for a while. ISA's going to die, at least according to MS's PC '98 specs. Knowing how most designers comply to MS's hardware design, it looks like ISA's future is dim. Now, on top of all the old ISA cards I've collected, I just got an AWE 64, and my scanner and PCMCIA cards are ISA-based. So, is it possible to make a device that will make an ISA card fit into a PCI socket? Is anyone making them? >> this question seems to be similar to another problem; people want to use isa cards in a mca machine, and it's just not possible. best just to keep a legacy machine around since it seems there will always be isa cards around. gee, gotta love that pc97 criteria. silent posting and no memory count? harrrrumph, really good for problem determination! 8-\ david

26 years, 3 months

PS/2 M30 available...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<People are moving to Texas and don't wanna have to haul it. <IBM PS/3 model 30, VGA monitor, a whole box of software, <printer of some sort. Any takers? <They want about $50, but will take any reasonable offer. They are kidding. It's an 8mhz 8086, ISA8 two floppies and it may have a color monitor of the older coarse dot pitch. Not worth 50$, 10 or 15 maybe. It would cost too much ship it or I'd be interested in it for the monitor. (I'd keep the box as it's small and a robust design turbo XT) Allison

26 years, 3 months

VAXstation 3100 M30

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

> Basically I've got a really stupid question, does the external SCSI bus > HAVE to be terminated? If so any idea's on how to go about doing that > without finding a DEC terminator? Yes, it needs termination, unless there's nothing connected *and the cable between the controller and the last socket* is extrememly short -- which it often isn't. This rule applies to SASI, SCSI (aka SCSI-1), SCSI-2, and SCSI-3. Otherwise, you'll get signal reflections, which, at best, will limit the speed the bus can run at. There should be a terminator at each end of the bus. There are two kinds of terminators: active and passive. In passive types, each signal has a 220 ohm resistor to +5V and a 330 ohm resistor to ground. They hold the voltage on an idle line at about 3 volts, and (assuming the power supply impedance is negligible) form an effective impedance of 132 ohms. The ideal impedance depends on the cable, but it's generally about 110 ohms. It's this terminating impedance that prevents reflections. Active terminators do the same job, but each signal line is connected via a 110 ohm resistor to a 2.85V supply. These are a somewhat better impedance match and often have a better high-speed response, so they're recommended for faster SCSI busses. Being exceedingly stingy, I built an active terminator using a pile of miniature resistors, a voltage regulator, a couple of capacitors, and a plug. Oh, and an LED for show. I don't believe any electronic device should be LED-less, and if it flashes, so much the better :-) I would recommend buying a terminator, though; building mine was quite fiddly and time-consuming. > I'd like to be able to run it without the terminater, since I don't have > one, but would like to know if it's possible before I go digging up the > rest of the stuff I need to see if it works. If your bus ends at a 68-pin socket (which is a DEC special, not part of the SCSI spec, unless it's Wide SCSI), it might be relatively hard to find a terminator plug. But most devices have provision for terminating resistors on the the device itself. All the RZ drives and CD ROM drives I've seen do. Usually these are in the form of three single-inline resistor packs, each with 8 pins, and containing six pairs of 220/330 ohm resistors. Toshiba CD-ROM drives use two 11-pin networks, though. They cost about 40 pence each from electronics suppliers in the UK; I expect they cost about the same in the States. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

PS/2 M30 available...

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

People are moving to Texas and don't wanna have to haul it. IBM PS/3 model 30, VGA monitor, a whole box of software, printer of some sort. Any takers? They want about $50, but will take any reasonable offer. If it doesn't get sold, it gets dumpstered. (I have no room for it...) -------

26 years, 3 months

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test-drb April 1998