On Mon, 17 Aug 1998 16:40:15 +0200 (CEST), Jason writes:
cl> Another setback is it's HD. It's a 20MB Western digital -
cl> and slow as a turtle. Does anyone, by any chance, have a spare
cl> XT-compatible IDE HD without a stepper motor driving the heads??
Those hard disks were very slow, and noisy too. They also suffer from
sudden head stiction. You are lucky it is a Western Digital.
Older machines had Miniscribe hard disks which were worse.
You can switch off the XT-IDE hard disk port with switch 8 of the
DIP switches in the Philips XT and install a regular MFM disk controller
and hard disk in the machine. Works like in any other XT.
Kees
--
Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - pb0aia at amsat dot org
Sysadmin and DEC PDP/VAX preservationist - http://vaxarchive.ml.org
Net-Tamer V 1.08.1 - Registered
> >
> > Yeah. All the docs would be cool. The thing that really
> bugs me is that
> > I dont remember how to boot one :)
> >
> > Sure did meet Allison, she's still got a Compupro RAM card floating
> > around somewhere for me. Since we work mere blocks from
> each other, it
> > shouldn't be tough to get it from her.
> >
> > We can meet up at the Sept flea somewhere, I'll have my PDP
> collecting
> > girlfriend in tow.
> >
> > I actually want to entertain the idea of maybe joining up
> with the west
> > coast folks to see if we can get a VCF together for us east
> coasters.
> > Hell, cant be any worse than running a Japanese Animation or Sci-Fi
> > convention (both of which I have done in the past).
> >
> > Tony
>
> We should consider doing it with the Trenton Computer Festival
> http://www.tcf.net which was full of old stuff in the good
> old days -- but
> it's been moving to newer stuff (and PC's) lately. I haven't seen an
> 8 or 11 there for a couple of years.
>
> I've seen Sun3/4's, DecStations, some old PC stuff in
> addition to the current
> stuff.
>
> Bill
>
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.
Tony
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:
1. They're really common (at least, here they are)
2. You can get floppy, Winchester, or Tape
3. IEEE implementation is a little more 'standard'
But then again, mebbe you *need* to read commo disks with this
thing. Either way; well done, guy. Don 'cha love twiddling
those bits?
In this neck of the woods anyway, Commodore IEEE related 'stuff'
is pretty scarce . . .
Jeff
< As for noise, yes. It's noisy by today's standards. All of the old
< drives were touchy WRT handling. I didn't consider it more so than
< any other 8 year old drive.
The ST251 is easily over 12 years and known for spindle problems.
It runs real hot. Not a great drive compared the Quantum d540 (31mb)
that is voicecoil(fast), reliable and known to be very unfussy about
handling. Also the ST251 was very flakey compared to it's 20mb
counterpart the st225. Not all were touchy WRT to handling. The biggest
problems is that between new developments and company turnovers some
really poor drives made it out the door due to design errors or worse
poor quality control.
I still use st506, st412 and st225s but NOT st251s. I also have some 7
Quantum D540s that refuse to die in my PDP-11s, vax, and CP/M systems.
Allison
A recent storm blew a tree over and into my garage. It so happens
that I had an computer near the spot where the tree went through
the garage. Although not physically damaged by the tree, there was
a lot of water damage to the computer and especially the monitor.
Being an older machine, I am not sure how to place a value on it
for insurance purposes. If anyone out there has seen anything
recent on the machine as to what they are selling for,
I would appreciate sharing of that info.
The computer is an IBM RT Model 135, Type 6150. It has a 5 1/4 floppy,
and two hard drives (100MB & 300MB), plus the usual video and
network card.
The monitor is an IBM Model/Type 5081-19, 19" color with RGB inputs.
I am not trying to come up with some inflated value for this thing
to take advantage of the insurance company, just a reasonable fair
value to settle the claim. The machine worked fine before I parked
it in the garage. I know that there is probably cases where the
machines have just been thrown or given away, but would like to get
some compensation for it, if nothing else for what was a working
19" color monitor.
Thanks in advance for any helpful info.
Mike Thompson
mzthompson(a)aol.com
My profile's on my III's can't be accessed through Prodos, but need a disk
called catalyst to get to the drive. If you need a copy email me
personally.
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, August 07, 1998 8:45 PM
Subject: Apple III & Profile
>
>Greetings,
>
>I finally got around to trying the Profile hard drive someone gave me,
>with my Apple III, but I can't get it to work. I haven't tried
>formatting, but I wan't to leave that as a 'last resort', in case there's
>something useful on the drive.
>
>I opened up the drive when I first got it, to see what's inside. The
>actual drive mechanism is a full-height 5.25" jobbie, and IIRC it's 5MB.
>I don't remember who the manufacturer was.
>
>I power up the drive first, and wait until the READY light stops blinking.
>I have no Apple III docs, I just 'guessed' that that was the proper
>procedure. I don't know if it is yet.
>
>I then boot up the III with the SOS 1.3 Utilities disk. I've used the
>configuration program to make .PROFILE active. The configuration file
>reports the following:
>
>item field value
> 1 - Device Name................ .PROFILE
> 2 - Device Type................ $D1 Block, Read, Write ( range
00..FF )
> Formatter present; NonRemovable
> 3 - Device Subtype............. $02 ( range
00..FF )
> 4 - Driver Status.............. ACTIVE
> 5 - Comment
> Apple /// SOS Profile Driver (C) Copyright 1981, Apple Computer
Inc.
> 6 - Configuration Block data
>
> Slot Number................ 04
> Unit Number................ $00
> Manufacturer ID............ $0001 Apple
> Block Count................ $2600 (9728)
> Version ID................. 1.00
>
>I can't edit the configuration block data, though. If I go down to item 6
>and hit RETURN, I get to the "Edit Driver Configuration Block" screen,
>which looks like it should have at least 16 values on it. It only
>displays "[FF]" at location 00, though, and although it says I can use
>arrows to go to other values, the arrows don't do anything.
>
>If I go to the "Device handling commands" section from the main menu, and
>attempt to Verify .PROFILE, the READY light on the Profile blinks, there
>is a clicking noise, and the READY light goes out. The program reports
>".profile - Volume not found". The READY light stays out for a while,
>blinks a few times, then comes back on and stays on.
>
>If I go to "List devices configured", it pauses when it gets to .PROFILE,
>and reports "(no directory)", and the drive behaves exactly as with
>Verify.
>
>It's possible the drive just needs to be formatted, but as I said, I don't
>want to do that until I'm sure there's nothing salvageable on it.
>
>I'm not even sure I've got the cabling right. I assumed it takes a
>straight-through 25-pin cable from the ProFile controller to the drive
>unit. No twists or turns along the way?
>
>Also, I've got two Profile controllers, one in slot 3 and one in slot 4.
>I coulfn't get it to work at all from the one in slot 3, simply because it
>seems to have been preconfigured to look at slot 4.
>
>Any helpful info will be appreciated.
>
>Hopefully I don't get frustrated and try formatting the unit before I get
>a reply. :)
>
>
>Doug Spence
>ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
>http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
For something this old, (and worthless?) you can't really put a price on it.
I have one also, but really has no value to anyone but myself. $100 maybe? If
you don't keep the machine, i sure could use a keyboard...
In a message dated 98-08-17 09:51:22 EDT, you write:
>The computer is an IBM RT Model 135, Type 6150. It has a 5 1/4 floppy,
>and two hard drives (100MB & 300MB), plus the usual video and
> network card.
>The monitor is an IBM Model/Type 5081-19, 19" color with RGB inputs.
>I am not trying to come up with some inflated value for this thing
>to take advantage of the insurance company, just a reasonable fair
> value to settle the claim.
>Has anybody heard of the Imsai Vdp 40 machine? What is it, and
how many have been made?
Not sure how many were made, but the VDPs came out in the late 70's,
around '78 or '79 as I remember. I bought several to use as special
purpose POS terminals in a casino. They were in a "standard" size
IMSAI/S-100 case, but they had a short motherboard (8 slot? have to
look) and bays for two full height 5.25" floppies. Typically they came
with an IMSAI 8085 CPU card, a two board floppy controller (not very
reliable), PerSci floppies, and a 64K DRAM memory board. The power
supply was scaled down from the big 500 watt version, plus it had an
extra regulator board for the floppy power. There was no front panel,
just two buttons, RESET and INT (I think this was connected to one of
the S-100 interrupt lines), and a power switch.
IIRC there were three basic models, the /40, /42, and/44. The 44 was
the high end, full 64K and the fast PerSci disks. Just before IMSAI
folded, they were offering a hard drive interface to some type of 5MB
top loading drive (I think it was some CDC drive equivalent to the DEC
RL02), at least the salesman called and tried to sell me some, but I
never actually saw them. IMSAI was famous for it's vaporware.
System software was CP/M 2 with NED (aka WordMaster), a nice video
terminal oriented editor.
I still have one, though it does need a little work on the motherboard.
How I got it was an interesting story in itself. Originally I had
bought four of them for a customer, in late '78, just before IMSAI
folded. After they were installed I didn't have too much contact with
the customer, but I knew they were in use for several years. About 12
years later a friend of mine came over one night, dumped a VDP40 on my
table and said I could have it. He had paid $5 for it at a yard sale,
knew I had some IMSAIs, thought I might want it. I opened it up, and to
my suprise found the custom serial card I had wired for the original
customer still in there, it was one of the original VDPs I had bought.
No idea how it wound up at a yard sale.
Jack Peacock
I've been trying to make an archive copy of my Mindset
software, because all of the commercial software for
the Mindset requires the original disk to be inserted
before running, including Microsoft GW Basic !
Does anyone have (successful) experience copying Mindset
disks, or know of a real kick butt copy program for the
IBM PC?
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
=========================================
Guys:
I just wanna thank Seth and Allison for advising me on the uVax I was
contemplating.
The guy wanted $75 (which seemed reasonable), but I decided not to enter
the VAX
arena at this time. I have way to many things on the stove as it is.
Besides, after much soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that I'm
not really
a VMS kinda guy.
BTW-- I met Tim Hotze IRL this weekend. He's a nice kid. But since he's
moving
overseas, he can't bring all of the hardware he wants with him! Bummer.
He'll
have fun with the Apple ]['s I got for him, though.
L8r.
Jeff
