< If people out here in the east are really interested, I'm willing to
< lend my convention experience... Lemme warn ya beforehand, Its alot of
< work.
I wasn't thinking of a real convention... more like a remote tailgate
party.
Allison
A minor success story compared with some I read here, but I wanted to
share it with you...
This weekend I finally got my Tektronix 4052 graphics computer loading
and saving on a Commodore 8050 disk drive. The problems:
Commodore's weird handling of IEEE-488 protocol, especially with OPEN
and CLOSE. This requires bit 7 (the 128s bit) to be set when sending a
secondary address; bit 4 - usually the 16s bit of the address - tells
the drive whether it's an open or a close.
This was easily solved - the Tektronix WBYTE statement gives full
control over such things.
But the Tek is designed as a tape based machine. You FIND a file on the
tape and type OLD to load it. The machine then resets and loads the
program.
On a disk, you WBYTE @40,240: some bytes to specify the file name. But
if you type OLD @8,0: it asserts IFC during the reset, thus causing the
drive to have forgotten all about your program by the time it comes to
load it...
So I toyed with the idea of cutting the IFC line in a suitable cable.
But then I came across the APPEND statement. "APPEND @I/O address:line
number" loads a program without resetting, renumbering it to start at
the specified line. Neat.
So I now have a program to display the directory of the disk, prompt you
for a filename and APPEND the file on the end of itself. It then
performs an INIT (initialise variables, IFC and things) and drops into
the program.
Saving is easier, so less automated. You type something like
WBYTE @40,241:48,58,80,82,79,71,82,65,77,32,78,65,77,69,-13
WBYTE @63:
SAVE @8,1
WBYTE @40,225,63:
Not perfect, but it works. If anyone has an 8050 at the VCF, I'll
happily demonstrate!
Now, has anyone got a PET hard drive? And, for that matter, has anyone
got a MUPET system for sale?
Philip.
OK, I've read through the entry on the DLV11-F in the "Microcomputer
Interfaces Handbook" (I love finally having some documentation). According
to it this card supports either a 20ma current loop interface or
EIA-standard lines, but doesn't include modem control.
My first question is, am I correct in assuming that I can attach a VT100 to
it with the proper serial cable? I know I could use the 20ma current loop,
IF I had a VT100 with that interface.
Anyway does anyone have the pinout for a BC01V-X or BC05C-X modem cable?
My guess is that it's a 40-pin ribbon connector on one end and a DB25
connector on the other. Unfortunatly I don't seem to have the pinout for
the 40-pin connector or I'd see about putting this together.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
I acquired a PDP-8/L not too long ago, and in discussion with the
original owner he advised I have a fire extinguisher on hand when I power
it up.
That concerns me, as I'd rather not burn up a PDP-8/L (or the house).
What can I do to ensure the -8/L wont catch fire (or do anything else
equally bad) when I turn it on? I don't have a very good knowledge of
electronics, but I can certainly open it up and examine boards.
Tom Owad
--
Sysop of Caesarville Online
Client software at: <http://home.earthlink.net/~tomowad/>
>>Don't forget the most important thing, you can REALLY control the spark
>>curve :)
>
> Yes and the transmission shift points in some cars.
What?!? Took me a couple of minutes to work out what you're even
talking about, there.
These (mostly non-electronic) analogue computers were quite popular in
larger cars (in the UK, anything with more than 2.5 litres - 150 cu. in.
- of engine) in the early 'seventies, but they were inefficient and
unreliable and I never use them if I can avoid it...
I refer of course to automatic gearboxes. If you want control over the
transmission shift points, get a manual gearbox with electric overdrive.
Every time!
(Hmmm. Thinks... I don't think I've seen an electric overdrive on a
car made later than 1980. But automatic gearboxes are still alive and
kicking. It's a strange world...)
Philip.
Uncle Roger asked:
>A quick question... How many people know how to work on their cars? How
>many drive older vehicles without as much "black-box" stuff?
'68 Plymouth Sport Suburban (= 3-seat Fury wagon *not* the Chevy Suburban).
I'll work on the stuff that makes it go but I let professionals
handle the stuff that makes it stop or turn.
I sometimes fantasize about a medium big terrorist nuke at very
high altitude using EMP to shut down all the microprocessor-controlled cars
in the state. I don't think that would stop my car with its points and
coil. 'Course, the road will still be jammed full of inert new cars....
....and my classic computer collection will be garbage! Auuugghh!!!
I don't fanatasize about that very often.
- Mark
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Asteroids headed toward planets
inhabited by beings that don't have
technology adequate to stop them:
Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
At 06:47 PM 8/15/98 -0500, you wrote:
>> Whether that is true or not is completely irrelevant to the pricing of
>> Altairs as collectibles.
>
>Not at all. It's the *perceived* significance and rarity that makes these
Exactly! That perception need not have any basis in fact.
>Bill Gates first wrote BASIC for the Schmaltztair rather than the Altair,
I'm not sure how much Gates has to do with the perceived value of the
Altair; it may be that people just think of it as the "first".
>those brilliant bastards at Ty came up with a scheme for artificial
Doncha wish ya was one of them? 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
At 11:30 AM 8/15/98 -0700, you wrote:
>I don't think ZDNet will post my comments, as mine started with:
>
>Piracy YES. Commodore 64 NOT!
Actually, they did; it was my comment that didn't get posted. I berated ZD
(et al) for proclaiming a computer dead simply because they do not receive
any advertising income from its users.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
At 04:11 AM 8/15/98 GMT, you wrote:
>inflation of the price of something that should belong to people who
>respect it as other than a "collectors item". Now I'm sure this
Why does this idea always come from the people who don't have/can't afford
the objet in question? If works of art, classic computers, '56 corvettes,
etc., should all belong to the people, then maybe we should all switch to
socialism. I have no problem with that. Everyone on the list could then
turn over their classic computers to the state, and take 3 or 4 homeless
people into their apartments. Certainly, if old computers should be shared
amongst all, then more so should food and shelter.
On the other hand, if we want to stick with the system we've got (and if
you've got a roof over your head that doesn't leak, you're doing pretty
well with this system) then we have to accept that artwork, cool cars, hot
babes (and hunks), and computers all go to those who can afford them, and
we need to quit whining about it and work to get ahead so we can be one of
those who can afford a $12K altair.
In the meantime, there are plenty of other computers out there to play with
and if you're just interested in it as a technical toy, Compupro's were
much better, or you can design your own S-100 box. And I doubt someone who
paid $12k for an Altair is going to use it as a boat anchor or flowerpot,
so don't worry about its survival.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
I dunno. I was thinking more in terms of hardware
availability, and actual adherence to the IEEE
standard. I used to play with GPIB alot, but that
was some years ago . . .
Jeff
At 03:58 PM 8/17/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At 01:45 PM 8/17/98 -0700, you wrote:
>>At 07:14 PM 8/17/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>>A minor success story compared with some I read here, but I wanted to
>>>share it with you...
>>
>><Story on how our intrepid hero kludged Commo and Tek Snipped>
>>
>>Maybe you would have been better off using an HP IEEE disk drive:
>
> Will these use HP drives? Has anybody tried using one on a Tek or PET?
>
> Joe
>
