At the risk of turning you into more of an appreciator, here is how to run
Trek80 on your SOL:
1. Assuming that you have your cassette player properly attached to the SOL,
press the "play" button - the tape won't start until the SOL tells it to.
2. Make sure your CAPS LOCK in on. Then at the '>' prompt enter XEQ
<return>.
3. Alternatively, enter GET. After a few moments the SOL will respond with
something like 'TREK80 0000 23AB' (the beginning and end addresses). Then
enter EX 0 and you are aboard the Enterprise.
BTW, I would make a copy of the tape rather than using the original. Old
tape literally get flakey, and I've had to replace the pressure pad on
several of my original PT tapes.
And if you like Trek80 as an arcade game, you must try TARGET by Steve
Dompier. It was almost always used as an attention getter in its demo mode
by PT dealers. You fire missles at 'airplanes' and if you play an AM radio
nearby, you can hear the sound effects of missle launches, explosions, and
falling debris.
email me with your address if you would like xerox copies of Trek80, Target,
or most SOL documentation (though I don't have FOCAL docs or a copy of that
tape - are you listening, Frank?)
Bob Stek - Keeper of lost SOLs
bobstek(a)ix.netcom.com
>On a separate note, I ended up with 3 more VT100's with this, and one of
>them had a loose top, so I took a look inside, and noticed that it has
>what looks to be a Q-Bus backplane. What is the story here? Can I put
>some cards in here and have a working PDP-11? (I know figure the odds)
>I took a look through the VT100 tech manual I got today, but couldn't
>find anything about the backplane.
What you have there is a VT103... it has a 4x4 backplane (Q/Q) and a
more gutsy power supply than a standard VT100. Yes, you can build
a working pdp-11 into it... One of my 'workhorse' machines when I was
in the RT-11 development group was a VT103 with an 11/73 (KDJ11-A),
256kb and a DSD880/20 controller. I did lots of RT development and
testing on that machine... I still have the machine in my office
in Nashua, even though I am doing Alpha work nowadays.
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 ' ' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
I was surprised by an ad for a "PDP 11 plus plotter, monitors, disc units,
printer $20" and I did a half-hour drive across town to see it this morning.
What I found was a hotch-potch of branded components stacked inside a
garage, but nothing from Digital apart from the RT-11 and other software
manuals. The processor cage, or at least a separate "spare" cage, was badged
General Robotics Corp Microcomputer GRC 11/X3 and contained boards marked on
the tabs M8192, M7504 and two M8043 as well as others without marked tabs. I
guess this was a PDP clone? This computer is in the Comprehensive Computer
Catalog I last downloaded (Dec 97 date) on the "undated list".
The "in use" processor cage was mounted in the front of a steel cabinet
about 2-3' deep, about 3' high and 2' wide with a Cipher brand tape drive
(Magnetic Peripherals Inc) above it. Separately boxed was a Control Data
Drive CDC-CMD and to top it all off there was a BIG plotter, a Nicolet Zeta
3653sx (if I can read my scrawled notes correctly) about 4' wide and 18"
high. A Compaq brand monitor went with it. The folder of documentation
contained a manual for a F880 Magnetic Tape Transport but the present owner
said he sent a 5-6' high tape unit to the tip a year ago so that might have
been it. He also dumped a printer. Other documents referred to a M224X
Fujitsu 51/4" 31-86MB drive and a SRQ011 Winchester Drive Controller but I'm
not sure if they were there. There were certainly other boxes mounted in the
main cabinet.
There were two cardboard boxes full of manuals for SCO Xenix System V, LP1
Fortran, RT11 Fortran IV, RT11 Macro-11 and something called TSX-Plus V6.01,
the RT-11 User Guide and many other fat folders of RT-11 stuff.
There was heaps of irrelevant stuff stored on top and around these units so
it was difficult to see everything, and as I was not going to take it away
myself, I couldn't hang around keeping the owner away from what he was doing
any longer. He said it all came from a geophysical company office and was in
working order two years ago. All he had done is store it, but it appears to
have suffered some damage - some panels were hanging loose, and there was a
large old TV stored on the CDC drive causing the metal top to be bent in.
If any Australians (or others?) are interested in this gear, you can contact
me and I will put you in contact with the owner directly. He says he wants
the space cleared, but will keep the gear for a little while yet - he does
seem to want it to go to someone who can do something with it - and he is
not asking much money. But remember, to take it all away, you will need at
least a 1t truck!
It's out of my league to get this going - I really only collect micros! The
day wasn't wasted - I did pick up a CoCo3 128K system with a Tandy dual
floppy disk drive and Tandy monitor plus manuals, heaps of Rompacks,
magazines etc for $40, and all in perfect working order.
Phil Guerney
Brisbane - Australia.
guerney(a)uq.net.au
At 03:00 PM 8/14/98 -0500, you wrote:
>My point is that the Altair's significance has been way overstated. The
Whether that is true or not is completely irrelevant to the pricing of
Altairs as collectibles.
For example, Beanie babies are neither new in concept, well made, or even
terribly uncommon. Yet they sometimes sell for ridiculous prices.
Meanwhile, quality toys, which are far more uncommon, and were, in their
time, ground-breaking, often sell for much less. Collector value is a
function of perceived importance and perceived rarity. It may or may not
have any basis whatsoever in actual fact.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
< Unfortunatly the subject line describes how a bunch of the PDP-11/03 boa
< that I got today came. What is the chance that they are operational?
Ok, I'll guess.
You got some PDP-11 board for an older 11/03.
They arrived wrapped in aluminum foil.
Are they any good?
Well, I don't know. However, wrapping them in foil is a excellent way
to protect them from static damage. REALLY! If they were good that
will insure they stay that way assuming no mechanical damage occurs.
Allison
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
>
>>
>> Hi everyone...
>>
>>...
>> the mouse (MO100) is totally dead...it only moves horizontally...I tried
>
>So, first open up the mouse, and clean the dirt out of the sensors....
While it's open, I also recommend you check continuity of the wires in the
cable. I've had a mouse fail because there was a serious kink in one of the
wires in the cable. That cable gets a lot of flexing and the kink
eventually broke that wire. I got an intermittent fault so I could localize
it by bending the cable manually and fix it by slitting the cable open,
splicing the wire, and taping it back up. That's not a very elegant fix,
but it worked. A whole new cable with a new connector at the end would be
nicer.
- Mark
would you take $2.4000 ?
Francois
-------------------------------------------------------------
Visit the desperately in need of update
Sanctuary at: http://www.pclink.com/fauradon
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Yowza <yowza(a)yowza.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998 6:21 PM
Subject: Apple TechStep CPU Tests
>Hey, Apple weenies, I just picked up a dignostic ROM for the Mac LC, LCII,
>and CLSII. It includes trouble-shooting docs. $12000 or best offer :-)
>
>-- Doug
>
Maybe I'm thinking of all the 9600/14.4 modems I have worked with. Most of
the 2400 I came across were internals.
At 04:23 AM 8/15/98 -0400, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote:
>Odd. An awful lot of the external modems I've dealt with were 12-24
>VAC power supplies. Just about anything by Tandy comes to mind from
>the bad old days when 1200 bps was considered "fast", but I'm pretty
-
- john higginbotham ____________________________
- webmaster www.pntprinting.com -
- limbo limbo.netpath.net -
>That's why the Altair affair is so disturbing for lots of us.
>We've suddenly and quite violently been told that some of the more
>interesting and curious junk is now off limits, unless you have a
>fairly fat wallet. It's very hard to get used to, and it makes me,
>at least, very uncomfortable.
Well said... I agree entirely. It makes me really sad and somewhat
angry to think that some of this stuff can now only be bought by
people with deep pockets -- people who probably don't have any
contact with the computer field other than possibly using a PC... people
who will probably just have the thing on display, never used, or
people who's only interest is waiting for the price to climb yet
again so they can make their money back.
They essentially closes the door on the hobbyists, without whom the
home PC might never have existed.
I remember working on helping to build, and then later program one of
these machines when I was in college (1974-1978)... I've always wanted to
get one for the sake of memories, but that'll never happen now...
No, I don't want to see you kicked off the list either, but I can't
say that I will look forward to your posts either, especially if they are
about latest acquisitions/sales...
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 ' ' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Hello again, everyone.
I'm looking for a power supply for a WANG WLTC laptop. It doesn't
necessarily need to be a WANG power supply. Just as long as it's 18V DC,
and at least 2 Amps.
I'm also looking for manuals for the WANG WLTC:
- Installation instructions
- Fundamentals Guide
- DOS Command Processor Guide
- Troubleshooting Guide
- Printer Software Administration Guide
- BASIC Language Guide
Again, they don't need to be originals. They can be copies.
As always, ThAnX in advance,
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
