At 07:26 PM 7/24/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I was digging through some S-100 cards and came upon a Godbout active
>terminator. Do all S-100 buses require external termination, or did more
>have it built into the mobo?
Originally, the Altair (S-100) bus did not define a need for termination of
any kind. It was not until things on the bus started to speed up (using
DMA and such) that anyone apparently thought about it.
A number of companies started to put out terminator cards (active and
passive) that just plugged in, and later some manufacturers (Gotbout being
a notable example) began to incorporate (active) termination into their
backplane boards.
>Specifically, do I need to stick this card into my IMSAI?
Can't hurt. I will say however, I do seem to recall seeing a board or two
that would not run on a terminated bus, but that has been so long that I
don't evem recall what it was.
A note tho: if it is an active terminator, check the regulator voltages and
filter caps on the board with no other boards in the machine. A bad
terminator can introduce many more problems that it will solve.
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
On Jul 24, 15:50, Max Eskin wrote:
> Subject: Re: Apple ][ file conversion
> Can I make use of the Centronics interface?
Not really.
> What type of 'serial car' do you recommend? Can I use my Apple //
> w/serial port but w/o CP/M?
I was economising on letter 'd's :-) You can use any serial card in a ][
or the serial port on the //, with Kermit.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
I'm back, having had a good sulk over whatever it was I left over - darned
if I remember. :)
I'm still doing apple2GSs, but I've expanded my collection of old machines to
include an apple2e - enhanced (ordered the roms from Alltech), and just today
an Amstrad ppc 640 portable, something I've wanted ever since they were on
clearance at Underwear Computers (mostly a Commodore dealer at the time)
for 200 bucks. The handle's broken off, but the computer functions, and
runs all the dos software I've thrown at it so far.
So hello again to the list. It's good to be back.
--
Jim Strickland
jim(a)calico.litterbox.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
< What I mean is, can I transfer files to a PC via the Centronics
< interface? Can I 'print' a file in wordstar with the other end of the
< cable plugged into a null modem?
No/yes. No you can't as there is no software for that and I believe the
apple parallel was definatly outgoing only. Work great for printing
and that was what I thought you referred to.
the apple][ had the problem of all disks are foreign if they weren't
created on an apple regardless of the OS used.
Allison
"Max Eskin" <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> What kind of boards? Was it single-board or backplane or what?
> Also, what are the key differences between Hp and PC?
Why not start with the key similarities, it's a shorter list.
They both had 8088s and ran MS-DOS. OK, there you go.
The original HP150 looks like a 9" CRT in a box, with a keyboard
attached via coiled cord that goes to the back. Typically there would
be an HP-IB disc drive of some sort (probably with a 91xx model
number) around, most likely using 3.5" stiffies because HP was an
early adopter of the Sony 90mm medium, but even without that the 150
can be used as a terminal (it mostly looks like an HP2623A monochrome
graphics terminal).
If you look at the back, you'll see two DB25S connectors that are
serial ports, an HP-IB connector, a modular phone jack for the
keyboard cable, a power switch, a battery holder, and a couple of
covered slots for expansion. You might also see a thermal printer
mounted in the top.
OK, now let's go for some of the differences. The HP150 is not at
all compatible with the IBM PC at the hardware or ROM BIOS level. The
base system runs the 8088 at 8MHz, which was "faster" than the IBM's
4.77MHz, but on the other hand most applications don't access the
display memory directly as on the PC -- instead they either call ROM
services directly or behaved as though the console was the
aforementioned 2623A terminal, which was being emulated by in-ROM code
run by the 8088. So some of that extra speed was used up already.
The HP150 is also called the HP Touchscreen, because it has a
touch-sensitive screen, implemented as an array of IR emitters and
receivers mounted across the screen from each other. You touch
something on the screen, and the application gets (if it had asked for
same) an escape sequence from the "terminal" indicating what region
you touched. I'm thinking that the touchscreen resolution is
something like 40x14 (about half the 80x27 character display
resolution) but might be wrong on that.
Touchscreen trivia: after a while the holes that the IR beams need to
pass through get clogged up with dust, and the machine will fail its
power-on self test with code F000 (I think, it's been a long time).
HP came up with a fix: a little clear plastic shield that sits across
the holes in the bottom bezel.
Some sharp cookie at HP wrote a couple of TSRs for the 150 that
emulated parts of the IBM PC ROM BIOS for video and INT 14H
communications, and with these you could get a lot of PC applications
to run -- for example, with those I was able to get WordPerfect 4.1 to
run and even print to an attached LaserJet.
Tony has a later version of the HP150, called either the 150C or the
Touchscreen II. It has a 12" display, the touchscreen is optional
(not too surprising, it turned out to be not real desirable because
people didn't like reaching up to the screen all the time -- they'd
rather rest their arms on the desk and use the keyboard and/or I guess
a mouse), and better yet the touchscreen IR stuff is hidden behind
smooth IR-transparent plastic that doesn't collect dust so well.
All in all it arrived just before the users where I worked let it be
known that they'd really rather have IBM compatibles so they could at
least exchange floppies with people in remote offices. Good thing
HP brought out the Vectra about that time, else we might have had to
do another maintenance contract with Big Blue or something.
-Frank McConnell
PS- Hey Max! Trim quoted text!
This guy's still got a stack of QBus boards and other stuff. Get with
him directly if you're interested.
Attachment follows.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
On Thu, 23 Jul 1998 20:40:34 -0700, in comp.sys.dec.micro you wrote:
>>From: "SpaceKommander" <plectron(a)waypast.mars>
>>Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
>>Subject: More stuff for sale
>>Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 20:40:34 -0700
>>Organization: Cottage Software Inc. & Internet Connection
>>Lines: 43
>>Message-ID: <901376896.563602(a)linux2.cottagesoft.com>
>>NNTP-Posting-Host: 205.240.70.8
>>X-Trace: 901377147 KNIMWA/AC4608CDF0C usenet53.supernews.com
>>X-Complaints-To: newsabuse(a)supernews.com
>>X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.1
>>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3
>>Cache-Post-Path: linux2.cottagesoft.com!unknown(a)31.ict-max.cottagesoft.com
>>Path: blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!news.burgoyne.com!news.eecs.umich.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!Supernews60!supernews.com!Supernews69!not-for-mail
>>
>>Stuff for sale - email me.
>>Still have the TK50, cable & controller.
>>Full set of VENIX manuals and boxes (5 volumes)
>>DECmate word processing options (1 vol) and basics(1 vol)
>>
>>boards:
>>
>>2 X G114
>>2 X G235
>>1 X H207
>>2 X H217
>>1 X M225
>>1 X M3104
>>4 X M7168
>>2 X M7169
>>1 X M7231
>>1 X M7233
>>1 X M7234
>>1 X M7235
>>1 X M7236
>>1 X M7238
>>2 X M7555
>>2 X M7606
>>2 X M7607
>>2 X M7608
>>1 X M8012
>>1 X M8027
>>1 X M8186
>>2 X M8637
>>1 X M8639
>>4 X M9047
>>2 X clearpoint Q-RAM 11B with 76 256K chips per board packed in as tight as
>>you could put them.
>>
>>Can't remember which of the above is RQDX3, but they are gone.
>>
>>Bye,
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>
>>
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave (Fido 1:343/272)
http://table.jps.net/~kyrrin -- also kyrrin [A-t] Jps {D=o=t} Net
Spam is bad. Spam is theft of service. Spam wastes resources. Don't spam, period.
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At 12:01 PM 7/24/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I have a bunch of boards that I would like to move to a good home,
>otherwise I will scrap them out. _ANY_ offers over shipping costs will be
>considered.
>
>Set of boards for an HP150 system! I am not sure what the processor
>is
Are you kidding! It's an 8088! It runs at 5 MHz MOL just like a PC.
Some 150 even had the optional 8087. The 150 was one of those ALMOST IBM
PC compatibles. I have at least eight or nine of them and they're all
working. Most of them are looking for homes. Hint, hint!
(lots of HP house numbers, but I do see an 8041A and 9914A, neither of
>which are the main processors). I have a motherboard with an jack for an
>RJ45 keyboard, HPIB connector, and two RS232 ports. I also have a board
>with lots of 4164 DRAMs, another with RAMs and ROMs, another mystery
>board, and a module that says 3278 interface (HP #45641A).
The 45641 is an optional 3278 Emulation board. It costs $1200 in the '88
HP catalog.
If no one wants the boards, I'll take them for the cost of shipping.
Joe
>
>William Donzelli
>william(a)ans.net
>
>
>
>
>< So does this mean 1.2MB floppies use a lower bps than 360K disks?
>< Which controllers were these? I ought to watch out.
>
>no. All of them.
I meant, which controllers can't correctly read 360K floppies?
>
>Allison
>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
< > terminator. Do all S-100 buses require external termination, or did m
< Only the motherboards that didn't have active termination require a
< terminator. In my experience, that's a fair number of mobo's out there
My experience with 4 or 5 crates I have and many I've built up.
If it runs well or the bus looks clean to the O'scope skip it. Some busses
it's helps but still look terrible (altair with the original backplanes).
My Northstar Horizon never needed one and it's currently running at 8mhz.
The VectorMX box I have with Compupro backplane needed the terminators
installed for 10mhz. The CCS I'm using with discus hard disk and 8"
floppy doesn't require it at 4mhz or 6mhz.
One thing that seems to be true, the longer the backplane the more likely
it will ring and need termination. All Altairs seem to and IMSAIs seem
to benefit if the cpu is z80 4mhz. The quietest unterminated or
terminated backplane I own is an oddball 6 slot I have that is 4 layer
technology with ground and power are on the middle two layers.
I've found a few badly designed cpu cards and memory cards that were
terrible in that they would introduce noise onto an otherwise quiet bus!
Allison
