test-drb February 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

178 participants
709 discussions

Need Civilization Pointers... (was: Re: Intel 4004)

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Roger Merchberger <zmerch(a)30below.com> wrote: > No offense, but my father (who has been there several times) says it's > dangerous for the same reason he calls California "the land of Fruits and > Nuts." daemonweed[121] % fortune -o -m granola %% (fortunes-o) Living in Hollywood is like living in a bowl of granola. What ain't fruits and nuts is flakes. daemonweed[122] % I don't know how long that's been in the fortune file, but I remember it from when I lived in Maryland so it's probably before 1989. -Frank McConnell

25 years, 10 months

hamfest and HP cables

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> wrote: > I also found some HP cables. They have a DB-25 female connector and a 36 > pin Aphenol connector on the other. They have part number 13242D on them. > Anyone know what they're for? "Aphenol" connector? Does this look like it wants to fit over a card edge, or like it wants to fit a connector with ears e.g. "Centronics" printer connector? If it's for a card edge (which I think it is -- I think 13242 is the part number for this), it's the cable that goes between a 264X terminal's datacomm card and...hmm, female connector, 13242D, I'm going to guess it's to connect up to some sort of DTE-type device but I'm not sure which. -Frank McConnell

25 years, 10 months

Hard Drive Partitions

by manney＠hmcltd.net

Yes, I guess that would have been polite to have provided more details. Sorry. These are WD Caviar IDE drives, one around 200, the other around 500, master/slave jumpers correctly set, running as single drive off IDE channel #2 on a P1 (socket 7) motherboard. Running Win95 "A". The BIOS autorecognizes both drives. Thanks for any input Manney >> I have a couple of old WD hard drives I'm trying to revitalize. They say >> they have no partitions, but when I try to lay in a partition, they say >> there's no room. >> >> Would a LLF take care of this (vide recent discussion)? > >What model drives? What model controller(s)? "Old" is a flexible >term with computers, and WD has been around through a lot of the >evolution of hard disk technology. Some combos don't work at all, >attaching a WD1003 controller to a Caviar of any size doesn't work, >for example >-- >Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/> > >WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco, >and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it. >

25 years, 10 months

Intel 4004

by davidfreibrun＠home.com

in other words the 4004 is not a particularly collectible item huh? that is if everyone can get one at frys. -----Original Message----- From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Friday, February 12, 1999 5:41 PM Subject: Re: Intel 4004 >> > You have an Intel 4004? Where did you obtain this? > >> Everybody in the Valley has a bunch of them, David. We get them at Fry's. > >Why do I have a strong negative feeling against you at some moments ? > >H. > >-- >Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut >HRK

25 years, 10 months

ALTAIR stuff (was Re: E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altairdisk sells for... )

by edick＠idcomm.com

I'm not sure you're right about the assertion that 37 is enough. Maybe, but the old drives used more signals than the later ones. The shielded cables using the DC37 connectors certainly were more durable than the IDC50 types one often sees, but the cable hardware in the ALTAIR box certainly was the cheapest available. I doubt it was any more solid than the IDC types. Dick ---------- > From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: ALTAIR stuff (was Re: E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altairdisk sells for... ) > Date: Saturday, February 13, 1999 12:38 PM > > > <What I find odd about the MITS FDD is that they used a 37-pin "D" connecto > <and cable as opposed to the 50-pin more commonly seen on the 8" types. I > <found one among a set of enclosures I bought about 20 years ago. While > > Standards and common connectors. My Vt180 (uses minifloppies) also uses > D37 on the cpu end rather than 34 or 50 pin. Reason, higher reliability > connector (more costly too). Lots of system used that as the connector > instead of the now common IDCs. > > FYI even for 8" disks of the 50, 25 lines are ground there are a few unused > and others that were not often used so 37 pins are plenty. > > Allison >

25 years, 10 months

ALTAIR stuff (was Re: E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altairdisk sells for... )

by edick＠idcomm.com

There's good reason for that, namely, that the 8" FDD, for which a standard then existed, used a 50-pin cable, while there seemed to be several variations early in the mini-floppy game. The 37-pin cable you see on the IBM-PC FDC is certainly not the same, nor was it ever very important. The cable between the FDC in an S-100 box and the drives, normally 8" drives, normally packaged externally to the cardcage, was most often a 50-pin flat cable, though a 37 could have handled the task if you didn't mind that there was not a ground for every signal. The early FDD's were typically hard sectored and used more signals than were required by the later models. The insides of the ALTAIR FDD box were not simple and clean like their successors. Dick ---------- > From: Don Maslin <donm(a)cts.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: ALTAIR stuff (was Re: E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altairdisk sells for... ) > Date: Saturday, February 13, 1999 12:49 PM > > > Well, I would not venture to suggest just where it originated, but the > 37-pin D-sub connector has pretty much (there have been exceptions) been > the standard for connecting external floppy drives of all sizes. Almost > all PC (ISA) FDCs that support external drives use it, and the Xerox 820 > (CP/M) series used it. Most S-100 crates did not, as they typically ran > the ribbon cable direct from the card to the drive. > > - don > > > On Sat, 13 Feb 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote: > > > What I find odd about the MITS FDD is that they used a 37-pin "D" connector > > and cable as opposed to the 50-pin more commonly seen on the 8" types. I > > found one among a set of enclosures I bought about 20 years ago. While > > this is already promised out (once I find the top of the box), I do know > > that there's an ALTAIR hard disk controller box, apparently with a drive > > inside, judging from the weight, at Gateway Electronics in Denver, (303) > > 458-5444, if anyone's interested. It's the same size as the ALTAIR FDD > > box. > > > > Dick > > > > ---------- > > > From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com> > > > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > > <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > > > Subject: RE: E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altair disk sells for > > > Date: Friday, February 12, 1999 6:34 PM > > > > > > > > > <True enough I'm sure. MITS also produced a "mini"-floppy controller > > that > > > <was also a two board TTL set. The first board (computer interface) was > > th > > > <same board as in the 8" set (except for different RC values), the second > > > > > > Well heres where I stand on it. Never seen one, I was there, and never > > > seen an advert for one, I have back issues. Was it possible, sure. The > > 8" > > > design with some tweeks would certainly do minifloppy. > > > > > > Allison > > >

25 years, 10 months

Sun 1/100U

by lemay＠cs.umn.edu

Well, I'm taking a few polaroid's of a Sun 1/100U, and noticed a few strange things. First, Sun liked to place round colored stickers on the boards, and they placed the date and a persons initials on the sticker. The strange thing is, on the cpu board, the sticker is dated 3-22-81, which is 2 years before this board was created! Sun 'upgraded' these units to use sun 2 cpu's, and the company only started shipping the first Sun 1 units in May of 82, and the 3Com board has a date of 9-21-83 which makes more reasonable sense to me (I had heard that we purchased the last of the Sun 1 units and a bunch of sun 2's, as part of a package discount deal). Anyways, it seems strange. Another strange thing about that cpu card, is that sun apparently didnt have any 24 pin DIP sockets, because they placed 16 and 8 pin DIP sockets next to each other on two occasions to form a larger socket! Oh, and I've always wondered about the 3 MBIT connector on the back of the unit, which is in addition to the 10 MBIT connector. -Lawrence LeMay

25 years, 10 months

RCS/RI

by max82＠surfree.com

Does anyone know if RCS/RI is doing anything this sunday, and if so: what time does it start, what time does it end, and where are they located? Thanks very much --Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)

25 years, 10 months

PDP-8/E available...

by mbg＠world.std.com

Please contact the person in the message, not me... I'm just forwarding it from the newsgroup it was posted in... - - - - - Hi Folks. I am a software engineer and a "computer history enthusiast." I am looking for another such enthusiast to take over a project which I never got started... I am looking for a good home for my Digital = PDP-8e. The setup is fairly complete. The main enclosure itself appears to be fully populated with core, and I was told when I rescued it from going to the junkyard (9 years ago) that it was still working when they took it out of commission. (I have still not yet attempted to run the machine.) I have the original DEC "instrument rack" housing, a BIG whomping power supply, a 20 MB hard disk (six or eight full-sized 12 inch platters!), dual floppy drives (those are REAL 8 inch floppies), dual "minifloppy" drives (yup, the "little" 5.25 inch ones), and probably some other hardware lurking in that corner of my garage. I also have paper tapes (but no reader) for the following: * Monitor (they now call this a BIOS) * Utilities * Fortran compiler * Assembler ( I think I've got 5 different assemblers: - plain vanilla - relocating - macro - symbolic - macro symbolic - relocating macro symbolic ) * Other assorted goodies Here's what I am offering: [0] I am willing to part with all this FREE OF CHARGE! Provided... [1] You must be serious about RESTORING and PRESERVING this important piece of computer history! [2] Computer museums get first priority; then other museums, then private individuals. Ranking within these groups will be "first come, first served." Above all, I will attempt to be fair. [3] I would prefer the whole works go as a single batch to a single person/organization. If the end result is *more than one* working PDP-8 on display in more than one place, however, then I will be more inclined to split things up. [4] You are responsible for picking up the items or arranging their shipping. I've "paid" for the storage of this for 9 years, all I ask is that you pay for the shipping or pick it up yourself. [5 I would like to come see the machine in working condition (actually doing something) when you are finished with the project. I'll arrange my own transportation -- all you have to do is supply the invitation! :-) * * * Please let me know that there is someone out there with the interest in computing history to want to restore this cool machine, and with the skills to be able to do it!! Thanks in advance, -- john baldwin --=20 John Baldwin | jt.nojunk.baldwin#radio(a)link.net To decode address when replying by email: [1]remove 'at', [2] # becomes @, [3] remove spamblocker plus both = delimiters. - - - - -

25 years, 10 months

E-Over Pay strikes again! original Altair disk sells for

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I own a copy of Minidisk BASIC and it is on a 16 sector hard sectored <diskette. I also own an Altair Minidisk drive unit that has the Altair <Quality Control tags still attached with dates ranging from 4-14-77 thru <6-31-77. < <Hope this makes sense, That is truly unique as I still have some old catalogs and newsletters >from MITS and also Byte, Interface Age, Kilobaud and there is no hint of that beast.

25 years, 10 months

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test-drb February 1999