does anyone have any experience using hardware copyright keys? I picked
up a couple copies of some software from a thrift shop today and some of
them ask for hardware keys- the most info i can find is something about
serial card plugs? It didn't have them in the box, and I couldn't track
down any info on who donated them. am I completely out of luck ? It
seems to me that I would have to buy a whole copy from the original
seller of the software, but I doubt they're still in business. any info?
-Eric
< How many instructions? I believe the Pentium has on the order of 80, not
< sure.
More like 100+, not counting all the addressing modes. the instuction set
for the 8086 is many times larger than the PDP-8. The PDP-8 instuction
set is 47 (most all variations included), it's very minimal.
< They weren't networked at all? I mean, there weren't instances of
< connecting two machines with cables?
Actually there was DECnet-8! Dual processor machines were not uncommon.
but they were not networked like you would current machines. It was not
the mindset of that era and generally not required.
Allison
If you want to go the underground route, there are cracking programs that
defeat the hardware (dongle) locks on some programs. But I'm not suggesting
that you do it or anything.
At 09:54 PM 7/26/98 -0500, Poesie wrote:
>does anyone have any experience using hardware copyright keys? I picked
>up a couple copies of some software from a thrift shop today and some of
>them ask for hardware keys- the most info i can find is something about
>serial card plugs? It didn't have them in the box, and I couldn't track
>down any info on who donated them. am I completely out of luck ? It
>seems to me that I would have to buy a whole copy from the original
>seller of the software, but I doubt they're still in business. any info?
>
>-Eric
>
-
- john higginbotham ____________________________
- webmaster www.pntprinting.com -
- limbo limbo.netpath.net -
REQUESTED BY: mallison(a)konnections.com
< I'm hoping someone might have spare copies of DR PL/I-86 (CPM86)
< documents (Reference Manual & Programmer's Manual).
Visit the "Unofficial" CP/M Web site.
MAIN SITE AT : http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm
MIRROR AT : http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm
It was down for a few days, if it's not up check the mirror.
Allison
The main problem with these machines is that they are still so heavily used that noone wants to give up the media (cd-roms, etc). You can try comp.sys.next.marketplace. There are also some websites... http://www.orb.com and http://www.deepspacetech.com.
Mostly what you probably need is a >300 mb standard SCSI harddrive, a cd-rom player that works with that machine [there are many but not all work] and the cd-rom media (NeXTStep 3.3 is probably the best).
If you were near me I'd tell you just to come by and I'd do a builddisk for you. Perhaps someone else will offer. $25 was a good deal- last time I checked they were still going for a couple hundred. Poor kid!
Once you get it working there's tons of software around for it, some of it the best quality available... try http://peanuts.leo.org and http://www.peak.org/next.
The machines, although great performers for their time are getting slow by today's standards. Because of that, and the fact that Mac OS X Server (aka Rhapsody) is somewhat available, the prices should be dropping lower.
Thomas
Begin forwarded message:
From: Anthony Eros <Anthony.Eros(a)digital.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 19:21:17 -0400
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: NeXtStation TurboColor
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
X-To: "'classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu'" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
I picked up a NeXtStation TurboColor box today at a hamfest. A kid had
just bought 3 monitors, 4 boxes and a small stack of manuals and sold
me the extra system box for $25. No memory or hard disk and (of course)
no monitor, cable, keyboard, mouse or software.
Does anyone have experience with these systems? Any tips on getting
the pieces needed to get it running?
-- Tony
>I'm also looking for original PL/I programs for microcomputer platforms
>if anyone has some collecting dust.
Do you mean compilers (I think DR was the only one to do PL/I), or do
you mean application programs for an 8086 that used PL/I? I used the DR
compiler to do a sports handicapping system and a mailing list system.
It used DR's Acess Manager for the ISAM file system, and DR's Display
Manager to draw forms on terminals. It ran on an 80286 based Concurrent
DOS (aka MP/M II) custom built S-100 system. I believe I still have the
source code somewhere, if that's what you are looking for.
Jack Peacock
First of all, I believe it could be untwisted by pulling off the
back cover of the connector and pulling the cable off. Also, I
believe the IBM controllers walk fine with jumper-selected drives,
just that everyone uses the half twist thing.
>I've been tinkering with my Kaypro to try to eliminate the errors that
drive B
>has been giving me. Putting in a new floppy drive didn't seem to fix
them;
>I wonder if it's the cable? (As is, the Kaypro supports two drives
(SA400 or
>equivalent). The original owner bought a little hardware thingie that
does
>something to the drive-select signals to add support for four drives;
he also
>added a connector to the cable for drive C between A's and B's
connectors.
>I currently have no drive C, and only drive B is giving me problems --
that's
>why I suspect the cable.)
>
>So I bought a new cable. It has that stupid half-twist, so I'm
wondering how
>to coax my system into working with the new cable. I think I
understand the
>situation from the point of view of the drives (both drives are
jumpered as
>#1, and some pins are exchanged: 10 <-> 16, 11 <-> 15, 12 <-> 14).
>But doesn't the computer have to cooperate in this farce? That is,
would I
>have to reprogram my BIOS to mess things up in the same way as the IBM
PC's
>hardware, so that the drive cable can do its part and thus it all ends
up
>(sort of) working?
>
>It's worth trying the new cable (though it seems rather cheap, and
there's a
>break in the insulation, though that could be because I dropped it on a
>concrete floor at the store). But if it's too much trouble, I'll skip
it.
>
>Incidentally: God damn IBM for cutting corners this way, and making
people
>think shenanigans like this are totally normal and to be expected, and
messing
>with a perfectly reasonable interface.
>
>-- Derek
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I certainly do not want to propagate any more off-topic stuff, so
maybe e-mail would be mo bettah.
Having said that: The Model III that I have was used primarily for
R2D2, some of the ancillary robot, droid and creature noises, and a
lot of the tracks for the Alien Roadhouse Band, etc., etc. Thus I
was told by the previous owner, and corroborated by one of the
editors who worked on the pic.
Csound *is* in the digital domain, but it's output needs to be
made into a voltage somewhere; the early PDP11 versions used the
DACs of the day... in fact MUSIC IV was used entirely offline, one
coded the program, punched cards, waited until the (lowest-priority)
job was run [to tape], the the tape(s) were taken to another
facility to be rendered through DACs to am analog recording. *Then*
you debugged...
Zane, I would like very much to have an (archival only, honest!) CD
copy of the Hyman recording.
BACK ON TOPIC PART: I would love to locate some 70a vintage DACS,
prferably standalone boxes, or more DAC cards for my MINC. I am
trying to consolidate all the info/software/hardware I can around
the DEC Mini line and music. I have a wonderful picture of a PDP-5
system running a music notation and translation interface for MUSIC
IV at Bell Labs in the late 60s. It then sent code to an IBM 7094,
which output a tape to another machine, referred to only as a "PB
250 Computer" [Pitney Bowes?] [Packard Bell?] which acted as the
translator and DAC. I have soundsheets in the book of music
realized on this machine, and I'll put them up on my FTP site any
day now... (Thanks to Marvin, from whom I stole the book)
Damn, drifting off topic again... sigh.
I guess I should output a list of my collection....
Nah, too bleedin' hot right now.
Cheers to all
John
< Help? I have 2 power supplies for DEC BA123 boxes which
< no longer function. I suspect that in each case, something very
< simple has gone, such as the primary capacitors on the AC/DC
Don't ditch the failed supplies. They can be hard and expensive to
find. First failure mode on them is overheat due to failed fan. Usually
that takes the internal fuse. Open with care as the caps in them can
hold a lethal charge. Rare is the failure of the caps from what I've
seen. The high voltage chopper transistor or the input rectifiers are
more likely to be suspect.
Allison
> Zane, is your record from Norlin Company? If so, it is the (quite
>rare) demo record that Norlin put out when they bought Moog music
>from Bob (Moog). I have archived several of these demos, Moog and
>ARP and Oberhiem. Be careful if you play it, they weren't on the
>best vinyl.
Thanks... I couldn't remember Bob's first name...
When I was at WPI in the mid-70s, I got a chance to work with the
Arp AX and Odyssey (and a few others for which I forget names) to
produce some music which was used in a theatrical production on
campus (Beltold Brecht's Gallileo)...
I loved getting chances to work on those things...
> ObCLASSICCMP: One of my intentions for at least one of my PDP11
>systems is to interface it to my Moog, and obtain an old copy of
>Csound or the like.. to recreate an exact environment from the
>'childhood' of electronic music.
About a decade ago, a few friends of mine and I played with some
pdp-11 controlled music generation. We got a bunch of the TI
sound generation controllers and one person (who was adept at
IC circuit design) designed us a circuit for controlling a set of
these units from a DR11C (16-bit parallel output).
I still have one prototyped at home... it allowed up to 9 voices
(three voices/chip, 3 chips) of sound, and 3 voices of percussion.
Someone else got ahold of the Stanford music software for the pdp-10
and wrote a pdp-11 version of it... we had it playing a bunch of
the old stanford songs, and I entered a few more (like Scott
Joplin's "Crush Collision Rag"). Since the hardware connected to the
AC lights of the -10 was called the MK10, we called our board the
MK11...
Somewhere I have the schematic for it...
Later on, another friend (hi, Allison) designed a DLV11-J to MIDI
interface... I have a couple of Casio CT101 synthesizers and a
sequencer...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of ' ' |
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| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
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