Pretty snazzy looking stuff! If you get bored with the TU-56, I'd love to
take it off your hands!! :-)
-- Tony
>> For a quick route to the picture...
>>
>> http://world.std.com/~mbg/move_step00.jpg
>>
>> Megan Gentry
>> Former RT-11 Developer
Can now be found on my home_systems web page... just go to my
home page, follow the link to retrocomputing, then to home
systems...
I've got the pictures all loaded, I just have to start doing the
writeup...
For a quick route to the picture...
http://world.std.com/~mbg/move_step00.jpg
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 have a Sage IV computer out on loan to a company that is using it on
their production line. It turns out that they need to use it for longer
than expected which means that they are concerned about Y2K problems with
the hardware. (They need for another year possibly)
I offered to ask around so if there is anybody out there with a Sage IV I
would like to talk to them. They are investigating too but any data I can
get would be most welcome.
Thanks
--
Kevan
Collector of old computers: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/
I don't know why I posted the previous empty reply . . . it's hell getting
old . . . <sigh>
I would mention that I had 128K in each of my Systems Group systems and
never used it under CP/M. MP/M had a mechanism for cashing in on extra
memory, but it was awkward at best under CP/M 2.2.
Needless to say, the use of a RAMdisk would speed things up, but unless
there was an extensive amount of software for managing it, and that took up
too much TPA, even a RAMdisk didn't help much.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: followup: Rinky dink hamfest
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net>
>To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
><classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
>Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 8:26 AM
>Subject: Re: followup: Rinky dink hamfest
>
>
>>At 08:40 AM 3/29/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>>Joe, CP/M-80 is 2.2,
>>
>> I looked throgh the XEROX manuals last night. There's a separate manual
>>for 2.2, CPM-80 and CPM 86 and MS-DOS 2. 2.2 is the oldest in this bunch.
>>
>>> and real computers don't need more than 64K...
>>
>> Yeah I know but 128K is nice to have.
>>>
>>>The 820, at least the later ones, used big 984K discs. I hardly ever ran
<snip>
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: followup: Rinky dink hamfest
>At 08:40 AM 3/29/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>Joe, CP/M-80 is 2.2,
>
> I looked throgh the XEROX manuals last night. There's a separate manual
>for 2.2, CPM-80 and CPM 86 and MS-DOS 2. 2.2 is the oldest in this bunch.
>
>> and real computers don't need more than 64K...
>
> Yeah I know but 128K is nice to have.
>>
>>The 820, at least the later ones, used big 984K discs. I hardly ever ran
>>out of space. There was an 8 meg rigid drive available too, but I neever
>>filled that up either. WordStar on the 820 just grinds along, and works
>>very satisfyingly.
>
> I got new manaul and 8" disk with WS 3.3. Also D-Base II and some other
>stuff.
>
>> At least 3 word processing packages were avialable
>>plus business graphics, multiplan, quite a few programming languages.
>>XWP wasn't so great, apparently a primitive WordStar, WordStar was superb
>>if cryptic, and there was another nice one, a bit glitzy and modern for
>>my taste, but put WordPerfect to shame, but hey, even a blank screen does
>>that. Don Maislin may remember the name, he likes that particular
>>programme. Ran very well on 5-1/4 inch drives.
>>
>>There was a memory expansion available for the 16/8, but I've never seen
it.
>>The DEM-II is interesting because the card rack is very like the NEC
APC-II.
>>
>>Incidentally, Hyperion's DOS 1.25 runs circles around the Xerox DOS 2.0.
>
> Do you know where I can find a copy of that? Do you still have any of
>your XEROXs? I think I have the CPU portion of an 820-II here but no
>drives (or the controller/daughter board) and no keyboard. The drives and
>keyboard should be a problem but the controller is.
>
> Joe
>>
>>On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
>>
>>> Merle,
>>>
>>> At 10:24 PM 3/28/99 -0500, Merle wrote:
>>> >The 16/8 is an interesting machine. It came in 2 versions, the
earliest
>>> >with 8" Shugart drives, a later with a DEM-II expansion case housing
>>> >5-1/4 inch drives. The CP/M-86 is not bad, but the MS-DOS is...well
>>> >MS-DOS.
>>>
>>> Not surprising considering it's only ver 2.0 . At least that's what I
>>> got in this load.
>>>
>>> > Incredibly primitive compared to CP/M 2.2.
>>>
>>> I don't know that much about CPM but this machine only has CPM-80 and
>>> CPM-86. How do they compare to CP/M 2.2?
>>>
>>> One problem is that
>>> >many were shipped with 128K memory. With the dinky drives, the
machines
>>> >are disappointing. The old 8" 820-II is a far better and more usable
>>> >machine.
>>>
>>> Better than the 16/8? I thought it was newer. How much memory did
the
>>> 820-II have?
>>>
>>> Thanks for the info.
>>> Joe
>>>
>>> >
>>> >On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Today I went to see a couple of the people that I meet at
yesterday's
>>> >> hamfest. One of them used to service XEROX computers. He told me
>that he
>>> >> threw out three rooms full of old XEROX computers less than a year
>ago. :-(
>>> >> He gave me part of the stuff that he had left, I have to take a
Truck
>>> >> (note capital) back to get the rest (estimated at two cubic yards but
no
>>> >> complete machines). So far I've found lots of docs and 8" flopppy
disks
>>> >> for the 820 and 16/8. The 16/8 looks pretty interesting, it ran CPM,
>>> >> CPM-86 and MS-DOS. Does anyone have one of these? What's your
>opinion of
>>> >> them?
>>> >>
>>> >> He has a floppy disk drive control box to manual operate 3.5",
>5.25" and
>>> >> 8" drives during alignment. Anyone have an idea of what one of these
is
>>> >> worth with the alignment disks and manuals?
>>> >>
>>> >> Alos found a Lisa mouse to go with the Lisa that I got yesterday.
>>> >>
>>> >> Joe
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >M. K. Peirce
>>> >Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>>> >215 Shady Lea Road,
>>> >North Kingstown, RI 02852
>>> >
>>> >"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>>> >
>>> > - Ovid
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>M. K. Peirce
>>Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>>215 Shady Lea Road,
>>North Kingstown, RI 02852
>>
>>"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>>
>> - Ovid
>>
>>
>
GAWD! The 8080 data sheet! I wonder if my archives go back that far . . .
I know the signals are modeled after the 8080, but are they all 8080
signals? I guess it's no wonder people liked the 8085, with its silly muxed
address bus better than the 8080 . . .
Soooo . . . the signals were named the same also, eh? pSYNC, /pWR, sMEMR,
etc???
Is there a web site which has details on the 8080=>'696 standard decision
tree?
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Sunday, March 28, 1999 8:12 PM
Subject: Re: Rebirth of IMSAI
><I've been after the original spec's for the IMSAI pre-1977 bus timing, etc
><in case anyone has that data in shareable form.
>
>Read the 8080 data sheet for the part running a 2mhz clock... the rest is
>obvious to the point of painful.
>
><I've found the schematic for my IMSAI PIO-6 board but only half the manual
><fortunately with the schematic, of the PIO-4. I don't seem to have any bu
><timing informtion, though.
>
>Thre wasn't any bus timing info published. The S100 bus was based on
>the raw 8080 timing. All the bus was is the buffered 8080 signals plus a
>few handy ones. A quick look at the processor board is everything.
>
>Allison
>
This appears to me to be an intermittent trace on the main board's video
addressing logic I'd look in the counter chains. Careful examination of the
boad may enable you to find it.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 4:18 AM
Subject: Messed up Apple (clone) video
>
>Hi,
>
>Along with a dead 4116 (which I recently replaced with a hacked 4164),
>my Microcom II+ (Apple II+ clone) has a video problem which has kept me
>from using it for the past few years.
>
>Usually when it's cold, the display is a complete mess. As it warms up,
>the image becomes clear but in four parts. Each quarter (corner) of the
>screen is a mini-image of what should be displayed on the whole screen.
>Out of each group of four pixels of what would be displayed normally, each
>will be displayed in a different quadrant of the screen.
>
>After about 10 minutes, the screen becomes normal, with occasional "zaps"
>and returns to the quartered screen image.
>
>Just about everything in the II+ is TTL, so it's probably just a matter of
>knowing which piece of TTL to replace. Does anyone know?
>
>I'm looking at the schematics (for a _real_ Apple II) now, but I have no
>idea how to locate the problem because there are several lines leading to
>the video output, and the problem chip may be farther back into the
>curcuitry and not connected directly to the output.
>
>I know that some of you are fairly expert with Apple hardware.
>
>I want to get the Microcom II+ working because it's the only machine I've
>got that's capable of using my Z80 Softcard or my SMC-II Light Pen.
>Neither will work in my Apple //e.
>
>Besides, it also has a better keyboard than the //e, once it's been worked
>in to cure the 'bounce'.
>
>
>(As an addition note on the machine's history:
>The machine was repaired at the Microcom store in early 1987, and it came
>back with a loose, drifty keyboard. I found out the reason was that the
>keyboard's curcuit board had been cracked and the keyboard only works if
>it's not screwed in too tightly. I'll get around to looking at that after
>the video is fixed. It's just one corner that's folded a bit, but there
>are traces on there! The keyboard tends to report the wrong characters
>when it's screwed in properly.)
>
>--
>Doug Spence
>ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
>http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
>
<In return for her help, she took the pdp-8/f (smaller unit than the
<pdp-8/e), a core stack from the -8/e, and a second serial line card.
<
<I believe she is pleased... I know I am...
You bet! I've wanted a physically small 8 to hack with for years.
This was lots of fun saving some really unique interesting machines.
Now to go through the bring up for a machine that may have been sitting for
too long. Any thoughts out there on the 8F power supply? I plan to pull
all the cards and load it so I don't cook anything.
<I took pictures and hope to document the procedure at some point
<in the future...
This was a fun move and Megan made it easier to do it by being persistant
and finding a good rental truck vendor with a liftgate. Nice truck!
Everything moved and none broken. A handy item to have are the nylon web
straps. They are handy to keep stuff on slides from sliding and also made
securing the racks to the walls of the truck. Other things were plenty of
rope and a good pair of movers dollies.
Allison
>Who was the nut who mounted the CPU units near your ankles? Looks like
>you're suposed to lie on your belly in order to read the displays and
>toggle the switches!
Well, the lowest of the machines (the pdp-8/e and pdp-8/f) were
actually not even configured for operation... they were simply
stuck in the racks, taking up space. The 8/f now has a home with
Allison, so there is empty space in the 11/34 rack... which I will
probably fill with an RL01 (or RL02 if I can find one).
The pdp-8/a, which doesn't have any blinkenlights, was the actual
operating machine for the person who owned it before... its
backplane can handle a hex board, which was required for the RL8
controller, apparently.
The 8/e is currently out of the rack as I figure out what I'm going
to do next...
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
