Subject: Re: CliniComp Computer and IP address
>Hmm... I've never seen any of the systems like you describe, but I would
>guess that the RJ45 jack is probably just standard 10Base-T Ethernet
>(or if the machine is really strange, Token Ring, but I would doubt that).
>If you've got a small network onhand with a machine capable of serving
>BOOTP, you might want to try turning on the BOOTP server to see if
>you can pick up the request from the machine (BOOTP is a rather standard
>way of doing such things).. you could pick up the MAC address of the
>system's Ethernet device by running a sniffer like TCPdump when it
>is broadcasting looking for an IP.
>
>_NO_ idea what this little bugger might have ran, though.. perhaps some
>variety of stylus-enabled DOS/Win 3.1 or something along those lines,
>i'd imagine.
>
>-Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net)
As far as the Network Interface is concerned I have seen Network cards that
also had auto boot eproms on them so the intended computer did not need a
Floppy or a Hard Drive to attach to the server. I think this may be the same
setup..
The whole computer sort of looks like a Picture Frame its only 2 inches deep
and measures 15 by 15 inches.. The whole computer is inside this little
frame. Very rugged and expensive looking, as most medical equipment usually
is..
The fact it has a 286 processor I am hopeful it used DOS as an OS, but there
is no way at this point to tell. If it does not than it is worthless to
me....
This computer has an excellent Display and I think displayed some sort of
medical graphics on it. One of the finest Displays I have ever seen for its
age.
It has an eprom that I would think has the whole Boot strap programmed on it
including the serial number on it, that also shows up on the display as it
boots, but who knows what OS this little bugger used. It also has 3 other
eprom sockets unoccupied..
I see that CliniComp, has a website at www.Clinicomp.com , but I do not see
this machine on it, no doubt discontinued..
Would be nice if I could find a Tech Person at the site willing to get me
some info on it, but that may be a long shot..
Anyway thanks for the ideas, I will try them..
Phil..
David,
I have tangible proof that at least part of your history is wrong. I have a Comterm Hyperion, model number 3032, serial number 3008, date code Aug. 83, sitting in front of me right now. It is _the same machine_ as the Dynalogic Hyperion. Looks just like this, except different drive doors: http://www.ncsc.dni.us/fun/user/tcc/cmuseum/HYPN.HTM
Proof? The name "Comterm" on my serial number plate is actually a metallic sticker; underneath it says "Dynalogic Info-Tech Corporation, Ottawa, Canada". So the timeline must go:
Dynalogic
Comterm
Bytec (?? never heard of them ??)
I have _never_ heard of Commodore producing this machine - Cameron Kaiser's extensive "Secret Weapon's of Commodore" site - http://calvin.ptloma.edu/~spectre/ckb/secret/ - doesn't mention it either. I think your source got Comterm and Commodore mixed up.
Regards,
Mark Gregory
-----Original Message-----
From: David Vohs <netsurfer_x1(a)hotmail.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: Looking for...
>> >I am looking for the following items. (Get ready, this is going to be a
>> >pretty varied list!)
>> >
>> >----Pictures of Computers----
>> >Commodore Hyperion (looks like a Dynalogic Hyperion, & could be the
same
>> >thing?)
>>
>>
>>Do you mean a ComTerm Hyperion? AFAIK, Comterm was the Canadian company
>>that manufactured the Hyperion for a while, not Commodore. Commodore
>>didn't get into the PC clone business until the PC-10 (unless you
>>count the A1000 Sidecar).
>>
>>Regards,
>>Mark
>
>No, I don't mean the ComTerm Hyperion. When I said Commodore Hyperion, I'm
>not bullsh!tting, I actually mean Commodore Hyperion. All I know is that
it
>looks like the Dynalogic Hyperion.
>
>By the way, ComTerm didn't make the Hyperion, a company called Dynalogic
>did. It sold relatively well (well, considering the state of the IBM clone
>market in early 1983). Not too long after they released the Hyperion, they
>were bought out by a company called Bytec, & they sold the Hyperion under
>the Bytec name. Later still, Compaq released the famous Compaq Portable, &
>we all know what happened from there (wither Bytec/Dynalogic).
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
Hmm... I've never seen any of the systems like you describe, but I would
guess that the RJ45 jack is probably just standard 10Base-T Ethernet
(or if the machine is really strange, Token Ring, but I would doubt that).
If you've got a small network onhand with a machine capable of serving
BOOTP, you might want to try turning on the BOOTP server to see if
you can pick up the request from the machine (BOOTP is a rather standard
way of doing such things).. you could pick up the MAC address of the
system's Ethernet device by running a sniffer like TCPdump when it
is broadcasting looking for an IP.
_NO_ idea what this little bugger might have ran, though.. perhaps some
variety of stylus-enabled DOS/Win 3.1 or something along those lines,
i'd imagine.
-Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net)
">After bootup is says "Requesting an IP Address", it repeats this
>over several times and then reboots to restart all over again.
"
--
"Problem is I have no way of knowing what IP address it is
looking for..
"
It's trying to OBTAIN an IP address from the net.
If you have something capable of sniffing the net, see if
it is trying to contact a DHCP server.
Subject: CliniComp Computer and IP address
>By all I can tell its a workstation with a network boot rom that
>allows it to look for a network server.
>After bootup is says "Requesting an IP Address", it repeats this
>over several times and then reboots to restart all over again.
>
>Anyone have any suggestions how I can get around this, and if
>there is no way to get around this, If I set up another computer
>as a server would it find it and connect to it as a workstation ?
>
>This thing is really neat, and I have a great use for it in my
>home automation project, so I hope I can use it.
>The display is large and very good quality for a flat panel.
>Thanks in advance to anyone with some suggestions..
After closer inspection of this computer I am convinced it is
intended as a workstation only. But is a very nice computer,
with the best resolution I have ever seen on an LCD screen.
Problem is I have no way of knowing what IP address it is
looking for..
Again after its normal bootup it says "Requesting an IP Address"
It has a standard RJ45 connector on it for network interfacing.
Can anyone here with some network experiance help me out on this.
Can I get this thing to work or is it not possible ?
I would like to set up one of my other computers as a possible
server and see if it will attach to it..
Thanks in advance to anyone with some suggestions..
Phil...
-----Original Message-----
From: jpero(a)cgocable.net <jpero(a)cgocable.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 6:02 PM
Subject: Re: Busting CRTs (was Re: Gold price was: Re: ebay feedback)
> >--- John B <dylanb(a)sympatico.ca> wrote:
> >
> >> >I just did that accidentally to a Mac SE. :-( I was trying to remove
a
> >> >cable from the innards and my hand slipped and wacked the board on the
> >> >back of the CRT and skewed it far enough to bust that little tit.
> >That was me. I heard this unmistakable noise and just sat there, a
victim
> >of my own carelessness.
Me too! Except that is generic mono monitor. The chassis was too
flexiable and it tipped down, slewing that CRT board. Snap+hiss!
Replaced it at my expenese out of my only working monitor. :-O
> >
> >> The SEs also had those bad hard drives... the Principal
> >> Secretary actually had a large screw driver next to his SE... Every
time
> the
> >> drive wouldn't spin up he would beat the crap out of it. Apple came
down
> and
> >> they agreed to replace all the flaky hard drives free immediately.
> >
> >I still have a Quantum PD1800S that has stiction. I paid $1100 for it
new
> >and they didn't consider it to be a warrantable problem. I'll never buy
> from
> >them again.
> >
The primary cause is bad cooling for those hot running HDs, I'm not
putting the Quantum in with that offenders for that problems, it
wasn't the bearing, it was grabby platters. True cause are too many
spin ups and shutdowns, letting it run too hot caused the grabby
platters. Grabby platters happens because the lube ran out from
center by flinging action when real hot. Heads happens to park at
inner cylinders and you'll know what happens...
> This brings back really funny memories. Every so often I'd get called out
to
...Snip!...
> come up to their Mac and punch it really hard. [you *had* to see their
> faces.]. Then. hear the drive spin up and walk away.
That punching that thing is what jarred free those grabby platters.
That is only treating the symtoms. The true fix is new HD and
new 3.9uF 250V NP cap & yoke male connector, resolder the
trouble spots. Use screensaver always. Customers pays the backup
job and teach them to do it regliously.
---------------
Yes and that is what Quantum did. We always used screen savers (home brewed
for security), and getting users to backup or even server based backups are
headaches... Most people don't like to do it.. most forget to leave their
computer off.. we sent them warnings and they did not care until they lost
everything.
> Those quantum drives were awful. As back up policies were rarely adhered
to
> it was my job to pull the drives apart and get the data out at any
cost....
It wasn't the quantum's problems. I see Conners and few others that
were being cooking inside those hot boxens without good cooling go
bad. The best solution is cooler running HDs for those boxens that
do have poor cooling design.
---------------------
No other drive (and we had every mac and every possible drive including):
Conners
Quantum
IBM i think
Seagate
had this problem BUT quantum. In fact, we never had a sticky platter in 10
years across a few thousand computers except for quantum.
> (were talking replacing the motor). A rep and engineer from quantum came
by
> to see what I was doing.... They weren't going to replace the new drive
that
> I had cannibalized until they were told we had enough of their broken
> garbage..
Wow. HOW on earth that is possible!? the motor spindle casing is
pressed into spindle axle. That casing has to go in order to get at
coil assembly. Yes I played with those dead quantum 40S, 80S and any
105S HH 3.5" ones that used both optical + sectors feedback
tracking. These dead ones died bec of grabby platters getting too
great to overcome and platters starts to lose data bits and the
bearings were still good and like new. Those ones that overheated
platters looks defect-free, no 4-pits and no crash trackings but
difference is it lost the surface lube/finish.
-----------------------------------------------------------
If I could not spin the platter by hand I would remove the platters and put
them in a new drive. We have a clean room for that purpose. It got
impossible on the larger, newer drives. There is a data recovery shop in
North Bay that does this kind of work too.
After getting the drive spun up I would use a SCSI util to make an image
copy of what it could to a new drive. Sometimes when the data was really
badly beaten or the dir was toasted I wrote some apps that would seek out
known headers and copy huge blocks and try and put the data back together.
Our communications server went down once and we lost all of our PageMaker
files. The drive had destroyed most of the directory entries.... so I was
pulling off huge chunks of pagemaker files and putting them back together.
Other projects of interest I had to do back in the early '90s were :
Screen Saver & Shredder (write 3 times over data put in trash) - If I
remember correctly I patched the "DrawMenuBar".. this handled the screen
saver [security]. The shredder of course wiped out all file data 3X when
trash was emptied.
Patch System File - RESOURCE was ZSYS or SYSZ?? (It's been a while..1992)...
all assembly language.. This program had to be able to attach itself to
other computers on other nets and report back by talking to a major public
domain server. It checked the server for "remote commands" inside a
hypercard file and executed them. It was 2.4K (68000). It also had to get
around Sam Intercept... that was pretty easy. This will probably be in a
book in 2004 when I can talk about it in detail.
many other projects but too recent to list yet.
---
Even fabled Barracudas die from heat. I recently aquired one that is
still good (ST12550N) and experimented on it. Heated up like mad
without airflow. Still will heat up even case w/ hd inside with some
airflow. Noted that and knew this by reputation and I put a muffin
fan at front end blowing on the "steel cage" and allowing free air
rush across the top circuit. Cool temp as it should be with this
simple fan solution.
>
> I still have a Quantum PD1800S that has stiction. I paid $1100 for
> it new and they didn't consider it to be a warrantable problem.
> I'll never buy from them again.
>
>
> -ethan
Ethan, my curious: that HD, did it run hot or bit too much warm?
That is the primary problem. PD1800S is old design and runs hot.
Did that HD sit all cooped up behind bezel or internally?
My HDs now are mounted in new ways with bigger open or 3.5" bezel
left off and they run at room temp or less. INCLUDING that "new" WD
9.1GB expert 7200rpm. The old LPS 540 is still living daily serving
as data archival along with bit more warmer fireball EX. CR, CX and
any fireballs run bit more warm or hot when cooling is poor.
----------------------
I have lost 4 Micropolis 4345WS drives over the past couple of years due to
heat. I gave up on standard mouting and just stuffed an old mini fan right
above it.
john
http://www.pdp8.com/
Wizard
> john
>They bought the rights to the Amiga hardware and software from a defunct
>predecessor, made grandiose announcements (about new products, porting the
>OS, and reviving the line), got everybody's hopes up, and then dropped the
>whole thing because it was too little too late and/or uneconomic to serve
>the declining base of Amiga users. Same thing that Amiga International,
>Escom, and several others have done since Commodore went bankrupt. Gateway
>just hurts more because they were: A) the most recent B) rich enough to be
>a credible hope C) possibly the last, best hope. I can't imagine another
>major company bidding on the rights to the Amiga after so many others have
>failed.
>A sad end to a nice OS that still multi-tasks better than most.
Actually, there's still a bit of hope yet. Eternal Computing is
interested in getting AmigaOS running on the PowerPC Open Platform, as
can be seen at
<http://www.eternalcomputing.com/psys/platforms/platforms.html>.
And Schmidt of Amiga writes:
"I remain committed to seek out partners who are interested in developing
a next-generation Amiga computer and operating system."
So there's still a chance.
Tom Owad
------------------------------Applefritter------------------------------
Apple Prototypes, Clones, & Hacks - The obscure, unusual, & exceptional.
---------------------<http://www.applefritter.com/>---------------------
In a message dated 12/7/1999 2:39:41 AM Pacific Standard Time,
mikeford(a)socal.rr.com writes:
> What about PS/2 systems?
> My salvage guy is sitting at $3 each as-is on the pallet (maybe 100+ units)
> from 386 to 486 of mixed content (many I hope to find reasonably complete).
> I have about zero interest in the 386 and below (except for a few with
> kingston 486 upgrade chips), but would like to harvest the ram etc. out of
> the others leaving him motherboards and chassis. My guess is that he is
> giving me baloney and that his "buyer" at $3 each doesn't in fact want the
> PS/2 pallets at all, just the compaq and HP vectra. Opinion?
Actuall most of the Compaq and HP Vecra is scrap. There is more demand for
PS/2 on the secondary market. "No one ever got fired for buying IBM."
$3 each is a good price. Most of the value is in the ram and CPU chip. After
you pull that there is little value left. Current motherboards use little
gold. The plastic, frame and power supply are liabilities. It costs more to
pay someone to take it apart than you get for the materials.
Yes, there are buyers out there for these systems by the pallet load. I have
someone that wants more than a 1000 PS2s The price they are offering are
similar. I have someone that will buy 10,000 Pentium 90s or better. This is
for the CPU box only.
>
> Have any of you contacted some of the scrap or recycling organizations
> (trade groups etc.)? There has to be some "computer scrapper weekly" too.
There is no computer scrapper weekly that I know of. The margins are too
small to support a publication. There are several magazines that cater to
scrap metals and recycling. However computer stuff is a very small part of
the waste stream.
There is an online group called "Tradeloop" of the dealers I am talking
about. The subscription to the group is $50 per month. These are large
computer dealers trading among themselves.
>
Today I aquired a very unusual computer called "CliniComp"
I am guessing it was used in a Hospital critical care unit.
It is a flat panel display with the whole computer (a 286) built
in its small case, I have never seen anything like it before.
Its memory (72pin) and I/O ports, Serial, Printer, Network Interface are
all built in, It does not have a hard drive or floppy drive built in.
By all I can tell its a workstation with a network boot rom that
allows it to look for a network server.
When I power it up it does a normal PC boot like memory
check, and CMOS check, then displays :
"Requesting an IP Address", it repeats this over several times
and then reboots to restart all over again.
Anyone have any suggestions how I can get around this, and if
there is no way to get around this, If I set up another computer
as a server would it find it and connect to it as a workstation ?
This thing is really neat, and I have a great use for it in my
home automation project, so I hope I can use it.
The display is large and very good quality for a flat panel.
Thanks in advance to anyone with some suggestions..
Phil