test-drb March 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

191 participants
1003 discussions

Kitchener, Ontario, Canada declared safe haven for vintage minicomputers.

by dogas＠leading.net

>So it is because of this experience I recommend shipping any precious >minicomputers >to Kitchener. They are safe here. They won't be sold, tinkered with, or >cannabalized. They >won't even be LOOKED AT. dosen't p1 ensure that? -Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

25 years, 9 months

Rebirth of IMSAI

by max82＠surfree.com

>There are games for classic computers as well ;-)... There probably What's the benefit of a person playing PacMan on a classic computer? How would it be different from a modern one?

25 years, 9 months

NEED RL11 and cables

by danburrows＠mindspring.com

I know I have some of M7762's and the cab kits to go with them but I won't be able to dig them out until next weekend at the earliest. I am open to swaps $ whatever. Dan > > > I am still looking for a good working RL11 [M7762] card and the >flat cable/adapter set for RL02s. (or two..) > > I will buy it, trade for it, cajole fo it.. whatever. > > If you have just the card itself, I could probably make the >adpaters, but I'd rather just plug the stuff in. > > Also I would like to get the schematics for this card. I have >printsets for the RL02s. > > > Cheers > >John > > >

25 years, 9 months

Just another Rinky-Dink Florida hamfest

by edick＠idcomm.com

Yes, that's probably a chassis for a 9900 system. I once marveled at the similarity to S-100 when it was shown to me in a TI sales office when I was considering using TI's 9940 single-chip microcontroller in a product. I've never seen one of these boxes that wasn't for sale, and the last time was ~20 years ago. They're quite an oddity. I wouldn't hold my breath until I see cards for one, though. This card set was not the same as the 990 card set. You can tell these cards, even with the connectors cut off, from S-100 by virtue of the S-100's on-board voltage regulators, so I wouldn't let that worry me. As little as I do remember about the system, it was quite unremarkable, not "better" than S-100 because of the lack of software, and not more attractive than it was because TI was the only vendor of boards, hence tye owned the market for both software and hardware. I'm not even sure it was appreciably faster than the typically 8-bit processors found on the S-100. It did claim to be a 16-bit architecture. They did claim to have SOME software, though I don't remember much about it. Unfortunately, I recall having tossed out what documents I had about five years ago. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, March 28, 1999 9:01 AM Subject: Re: Just another Rinky-Dink Florida hamfest >On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Joe wrote: > >> Whatta you mean I didn't pick it up? It's sitting in the middle of the >> kitchen floor :-/ Turns out that it's not exactly S-100. The sockets are >> right but they're off set to one side of the card slot so S-100 cards won't >> fit in. Someone else said it was for some kind of TI computer. Too bad. >> It's a super nice box. I'm thinking of trying to modify it to fit S-100. > >Might this be a chassis for a TI9900 system, Allison? > >If so, I'd leave it in tact as bait for the cards that go with it. >Otherwise, if you modify it you'll attract S-100 cards with the edge >connectors cut off. :( > >Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- >Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. > > Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 > See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! > [Last web site update: 02/15/99] >

25 years, 9 months

NEED RL11 and cables

by jpl15＠netcom.com

I am still looking for a good working RL11 [M7762] card and the flat cable/adapter set for RL02s. (or two..) I will buy it, trade for it, cajole fo it.. whatever. If you have just the card itself, I could probably make the adpaters, but I'd rather just plug the stuff in. Also I would like to get the schematics for this card. I have printsets for the RL02s. Cheers John

25 years, 9 months

Just another Rinky-Dink Florida hamfest

by dogas＠leading.net

Hey Joe, what ham fest was that? ;) - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net -----Original Message----- From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, March 27, 1999 2:46 PM Subject: Just another Rinky-Dink Florida hamfest > Went to another one this morning. Didn't find much except three Lisas >(two Lisa 2s and one Lisa 2/10), two HP 715/50s, two Zorbas and a *NICE* >S-100 chassis made by TI. I managed to get the L 2/10 and the Zorbas. >Pictures and questions to follow. > > Joe > > PS the HPs are still available if anyone wants them. > >

25 years, 9 months

Just another Rinky-Dink Florida hamfest

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 06:45 PM 3/27/99 -0800, Sam wrote: >On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Joe wrote: > >> Went to another one this morning. Didn't find much except three Lisas >> (two Lisa 2s and one Lisa 2/10), two HP 715/50s, two Zorbas and a *NICE* >> S-100 chassis made by TI. I managed to get the L 2/10 and the Zorbas. > >You should have gotten the Lisa 2's. They are closer to the original Lisa >than the 2/10. The Lisa 2 is really just a Lisa 1 with the 400K 3.5" >drive and an adaptor board. I didn't have any choice. Someone else grabbed the other two. I was lucky to get this one. Here's the story: I was walking around with another guy and someone we both knew drove in so we stopped to talk to him. He mentioned that he had three Lisas and we nearly had fits. We "persauded" him to go back home and get them. The other guy stood right at the seller's spot for over an hour till he returned. As soon as the seller returned he grabbed the two best looking machines. But I did OK, the machine I got had an internal hard drive, the other two didn't. I also found a complete Zorba system while I was waiting for him to return. > >You saw an S-100 chassis made by TI (Texas Instruments I presume?) and >didn't pick it up? Whatta you mean I didn't pick it up? It's sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor :-/ Turns out that it's not exactly S-100. The sockets are right but they're off set to one side of the card slot so S-100 cards won't fit in. Someone else said it was for some kind of TI computer. Too bad. It's a super nice box. I'm thinking of trying to modify it to fit S-100. Joe > >Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- >Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. > > Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 > See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! > [Last web site update: 02/15/99] > >

25 years, 9 months

Compaq Deskpro XT

by jolminkh＠nsw.bigpond.net.au

I have found an old Compaq Deskpro that turned out to be an XT. I had thought that the first desktops they made were 286's. Was this just an attempt to tap the cheaper end of the market? It is a very large box for an XT, the same size as the other early Deskpro's. Hans

25 years, 9 months

Museums

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Surprisingly good market for $100-200 computers, of the 386/486 variety. >People on Unemployment, Supporting Parent and Invalid Pensions can't >afford to buy $1500 new computers, and typically just want to play a few >games and do a little word processing...... That sounds like part of what I was thinking of as well... a place where people could bring all sorts of random PC parts and help put systems together for people who might not otherwise be able to afford a computer system... We'd be able to do a service for people... >Seriously, I think your concept is good, biggest headache is floor space, >my bet is that you need to set up in a smaller place, a country town, not >too far from a big city, but where the rents for warehouse space don't >look like the NASA budget. I suspect this is why most museums I've >seen/heard of concentrate on desktop stuff, they don't need a huge area >to house it. That is a problem... cost for space. I decided to call around today and see if I could get a ballpark idea of what space might cost. So far I've only gotten through to one place -- an old mill complex in Saxonville, Mass. When I called, I was told that all they had left was a 2500 sq-ft area... at *$8* per sq-ft. That's US$20000 (I believe for a year), $1667/month. If this could be a club formed as a non-profit organization, and if I could get $10/month out of people, we'd need 167 members just to pay for the space... Then we have electric, which I would suspect will be a major part of the cost for such a power-oriented hobby. I know of one group who has space at $3/sq-ft, and a person who posted recently saying that they had space for free... I've got a call into Whittier Partners about space at the Maynard, Mass. mill complex (birthplace of DEC) but have not gotten a call back yet. Does anyone know if there might happen to be any grants or something equivalent that such an organization might be able to apply for? Doing a little more thinking about memberships, I was thinking of a tiered approach (typical) which ranks members on their level of usage of the facilities. And maybe there could be breaks for those who provide help to others... (just some more rambling) 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

25 years, 9 months

Big Commodore PET Haul - trades? for sale?

by thedm＠sunflower.com

I am very interested in haveing a complete PET System, and I don't mind paying shipping. -----Original Message----- From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, March 28, 1999 4:57 AM Subject: Re: Big Commodore PET Haul - trades? for sale? > >Hi! > >I only seem to only have time to catch up with me mail once a week or so. >I just found your post to the ClassicCmp list about the PETs. Are they >all gone yet? > >Where are you located? Toronto area? Shipping PET stuff would be very >expensive, I think. If I had a friend in Toronto I'd send him over to >grab whatever you've got. :) > >The SuperPET is especially nice. A friend of mine has one, with an 8050 >or 8250 (don't remember which) and all the language software and manuals. > >I've been looking for a BASIC 4 system and DOS 2 or higher disk drive for >a while. All of my PET stuff is more antiquated then the stuff you've got >on the list. > >A 4032 and an 8250 would be ideal. I like the small 40-column screens. > > >On Sun, 21 Mar 1999, Chandra Bajpai wrote: > >> This weekend I bought someones entire Commodore Collection. The reason I >> bought the collection was they were unwilling to break it up, so I've got to >> find homes for most of these machines. >> (I only am keeping one) >> >> - 1 Commodore SuperPET >> - 10 CPUs: Commodore 8032, 4032, 4016 >> - 1 Spare part machine, 2 extra motherboards, ROMs etc. >> - 8 Disk Drives: 4040, 8050 and quite a few 8250s (I didn't know these >> existed) >> - Commodore printers + one daisy wheel >> - Commodore Test diskettes, repair schematics + procedures >> (including some stuff that never made it to the market) >> - Lots of manuals...even an original 1976 MOS Technology 6502 programming >> manual in as new condition! >> - Lots of software (even some SuperPet stuff) >> - Compute magazine from 1980-1983 in as new condition >> - Commodore PET Literature >> >> This stuff came out of school computer labs and some stuff when Commodore >> Canada shut down. >> All the machines seem to work OK...pretty good shape for being close to 20 >> years old. >> Need some TLC...they have various school names in marker on the side. >> >> So I need to find homes for these PCs....they are taking up a lot of room in >> my basement. >> I'm need to sell them...This list gets first crack at them...I'll consider >> interesting >> trades too... >> >> My overall want list: >> NeXT, KIM-1, A working S-100 and/or CP/M System, Lisa, Tesla coil, >> telescopes, night vision gear, GPS, Oscilloscope, Lotus Esprit SE, Robotics >> items, or anything other interesting items. > >-- >Doug Spence >ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca >http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/ >

25 years, 9 months

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test-drb March 1999