Hi Stephanie!
> I have a lot of the kid's computers, (Atari, Commodore, CoCo, etc), which
> I am trying to keep alive. Does anyone know if I can substitute high
> quality music tapes in place of computer tapes? Or where I can still
> find computer cassette tapes for sale?
My recollections are that the tape decks used for home computers were all fairly
cheap. Even the Commodore ones, which you had to buy specially at vast cost,
were quite cheap decks inside. (For commercial software production a friend and
I used the deck from my hi-fi, but that's another story).
The important thing is that very few of these decks could handle chromium
dioxide or metal tapes properly. Ferric oxide tapes will give you the best
results.
Other than that, use any half-way decent brand. The really top brands will give
the best results, but like many other contributors to this list, I never had any
problems with cheap tapes (I couldn't afford decent ones when I was using home
computers regularly). I have since tried the compact-cassette-sized "digital
tapes" that were popular for backups and things a few years ago, but ordinary
audio tapes work better.
After all, the home computer market had to get quite big before "computer tapes"
became readily available in small-town electronics shops and places. As far as
I can tell, the only distinguishing feature of these tapes was the short length.
Philip.
PS Do I also have to say "Welcome to the list"? This is your first post isn't
it?
Hi,
I have a working Tandy Color Computer (PAL version, as sold in the UK) to
dispose of. From memory it comes with a user manual and little else. The
previous owner seems to have added a DIN plug to the rear. Perhaps this
provides composite video & audio output which the unmodified machine does not
(RF output only).
I'd like to swap it for an old PC base unit (386SX or better) which has at
least three ISA slots. These are virtually worthless nowadays, right?
Regards,
-- Mark
Hi,
A few days ago I posted about an old PC board which had a leaky battery. I
followed Allison's advice and neutralised the stuff with lemon juice. The
fizzing/bubbling that happened when I did this suggests that cleaning with
alcohol alone (say) is not really adequate.
Anyway, after cleaning it up I checked all affected PCB traces with a
multimeter. It turns out that none of them were corroded all the way through,
so repairs weren't necessary.
Cleaning the board didn't solve the problem that this PC has. On power on, it
says (something like) 2A Keyboard failure. I can boot the machine and get into
the setup menu by pressing Alt-Esc. However, the cursor keys and space bar do
not work. At the DOS prompt, typing letter keys causes them to print twice
(ddiirr, and so on). This is using a known good keyboard to test with.
Does anyone have an idea as to what the problem might be? If it's in some
custom-programmed keyboard controller or other custom chip, obviously the
prospect of repair is slim. But the majority of chips on the PCB look fairly
standard (PC is made in 1989 or 1990).
-- Mark
Michael Soloma of Sol's Computer Works (from whom I have acquired quite a
bit of classic gear) will be having a warehouse sale tomorrow (Saturday,
May 1) here in Chicago. More information and a general list of items for
sale or free (including data books, IBM XT/AT/PS2 systems, 286-486 clones,
terminals, Apple IIs, Macs, drives, and boards) is available from his web
site at
http://www.chicweb.com/scw/
and
http://www.chicweb.com/scw/4sale-details.htm
The warehouse is located at 2650 W. Belden in Chicago, and his e-mail
address is msoloma(a)megsinet.net.
--
Scott Ware ware(a)interaccess.com
Ok, so another clue discovered:
1) Typing DX1:/Z "zeros" the directory on a
floppy.
2) Trying this on drive 1 leaves the floppy
scrambled, doing it on drive 0 seems to
work.
Trying DX0:A=DX1:MONITR.SYS/O does not write the boot block
A disk formatted and zeroed is not mbootable.
Since the source to FORMAT was included I thought I'd take a peek. It tells
the controller that is embedded in the drive "format that disk." and it does.
There is a slim changce I've got a "spare" 8" drive that I can use to check
the alignment on my drive 1. Are all 8" drives the same on their connector?
(actually there are the NEC drives in the Chrislin box that aren't being
used at the moment.
What the heck is used for "delete" on RT-11? backspace doesn't work nor
does DEL apparently.
If anyone remembers how to actually assemble something I'd appreciate it.
WHen I run assembl it gives a '*' prompt, to which I can type
DX0:SAMPLE.MAC and it will assemble it except that it doesn't recognize any
of the macro definitions because it apparently hasn't included "SYSTEM.MLM"
or whatever it is.
--Chuck
Hi,
Ages ago I picked up some disks that would have come with GRiD computers. The
labels are as follows:
----
MS-DOS
Version 3.21 11/87
103856-00
Copyright ? 1987
GRID Systems Corporation
Mountain View, California 94043
----
GRiDMaster
(MS-DOS Format)
Version 3.1.7 10/86
103816-00
Copyright ? 1986
GRiD Systems Corporation
Mountain View, California 94043
----
InteGRiD
GRiDCase Family
Version 3.2 11/86
103814-00
Copyright ? 1986
GRiD Systems Corporation
Mountain View, California 94043
----
INTEGRiD
MS-DOS Format
Version 3.3.0 11/87
103857-00
Copyright ? 1987
GRiD Systems Corporation
Fremont, California 94538
----
Does anyone need copies of these? And what exactly are InteGRiD and GRiDMaster?
-- Mark
>Ok, so when I boot the disk labelled RT-11V02C on my H-11 it seems to
>work except if I try to use PIP to copy a file to a disk I formatted with
>HT-11 it doesn't work (gives me DIR-RD-ERR).
It's possible that HT11 had some slight variation in the directory
structure which causes real RT-11 to throw up its hands in disgust.
>I realize DEC was "famous" for not providing formatting software but is
>there a FORMAT program for this version? Interestingly PIP on the HT-11
>DISK can read the disks just not the "official" RT11
Not so much that there is no software for it, some devices had no
capability to format... You cannot format an 8" floppy on an RX01.
Even on the RX02, all you can do (with true DEC hardware) is change
a single-density RX01 to a double-density RX02 or vice versa. If
the disk has no formatting to begin with, RX02s can't help it.
The only machine, strangely enough, which could truly format RX01s
was the PDT-11/150... It writes the low-level format whenever it
writes a block... I had a RX01 attached to one of my file cabinets
at work, using a magnet ring from an RK05... but I regularly used
it on the PDT just to show people it could be done...
BTW - a side effect of this is that only those sectors actually
written by the PDT-11/150 will have single-density formatting...
if the disk is otherwise a double-density disk, the unwritten
sectors remain double-density... strange, eh?
>Contents of Disk 1: Contents of Disk 2:
>MONITR.SYS 46 5-JAN-78 RKMNSJ.SYS 46 5-JAN-78
typically, MONITR.SYS was RT-11 SJ monitor for RK05
what the bootable monitor
was called.
>DXMNFB.SYS 58 5-JAN-78 RKMNFB.SYS 58 5-JAN-78
RT-11 FB monitor for RX01 RT-11 FB monitor for RK05
>DP .SYS 2 5-JAN-78 RFMNSJ.SYS 46 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB RP02/03 disk handler RT-11 SJ monitor for RF11
(fixed head disk)
>RK .SYS 2 5-JAN-78 RFMNFB.SYS 58 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB RK05 disk handler RT-11 FB Monitor for RF11
>RF .SYS 2 5-JAN-78 DPMNSJ.SYS 46 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB RF11 disk handler RT-11 SJ monitor for RP02/03
>TT .SYS 2 5-JAN-78 DPMNFB.SYS 58 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB TT handler RT-11 FB monitor for RP02/03
>LP .SYS 2 5-JAN-78 DT .SYS 2 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB Parallel Line printer SJ/FB Dectape (TU56) handler
handler
>BA .SYS 7 5-JAN-78 DX .SYS 2 5-JAN-78
SJ/FB Batch handler SJ/FB RX01 disk handler
>SYSMAC.SML 18 5-JAN-78 CR .SYS 3 5-JAN-78
System Macro Library SJ/FB Card reader handler
>SYSMAC.8K 25 5-JAN-78 MT .SYS 6 5-JAN-78
System Macro Library SJ/FB Magtape handler
>BATCH .SAV 25 5-JAN-78 MM .SYS 6 5-JAN-78
Batch processor SJ/FB Magtape handler
>EDIT .SAV 19 5-JAN-78 PR .SYS 2 5-JAN-78
Text editor, uses commands SJ/FB Paper tape reader handler
kind of like TECO, but
different
>MACRO .SAV 31 5-JAN-78 PP .SYS 2 5-JAN-78
Assembler SJ/FB paper tape punch handler
>ASEMBL.SAV 21 5-JAN-78 CT .SYS 5 5-JAN-78
Assembler (?) I never used SJ/FB TU60 cassette handler
this one...
>EXPAND.SAV 12 5-JAN-78 DS .SYS 2 5-JAN-78
I've forgotten... SJ/FB RJS04 disk handler
>CREF .SAV 5 5-JAN-78 FILEX .SAV 11 5-JAN-78
Cross-referencer File Exchange utility (knows
about RSTS file structure as
well as interchange floppies
and TOPS-10 volumes.
>LINK .SAV 25 5-JAN-78 SRCCOM.SAV 11 5-JAN-78
Linker Source file comparison utility
>PIP .SAV 14 5-JAN-78 DUMP .SAV 5 5-JAN-78
Peripheral Interchange Program DUMP utility
>PATCH .SAV 5 5-JAN-78 PATCHO.SAV 33 5-JAN-78
Utility for patching image Utility for patching object
files files
>ODT .OBJ 9 5-JAN-78 VTMAC .MAC 7 5-JAN-78
'Octal Debugging Technique' VT11 macro definition file
I always had a problem with
the name. I always thought
it should have been 'Octal
Debugging Tool'.
>VTHDLR.OBJ 8 5-JAN-78 SYSF4 .OBJ 33 5-JAN-78
VT11 display handler object I don't know...
library
>DEMOFG.MAC 5 5-JAN-78 KB .MAC 33 5-JAN-78
Demo foreground program, SJ/FB keyboard handler, allowed
communicates with... input from keyboard (the way
TT handled device output)
>DEMOBG.MAC 4 5-JAN-78
Demo background program
>LIBR .SAV 15 5-JAN-78
Librarian utility, used to
build object libraries
>TT 1 5-JAN-78
This is not a standard RT
file...
>LOAD .SAV 7 5-JAN-78
This is not a standard RT
file, it may be part of what
is executed at boot time...?
Thanks for the walk down memory lane...
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
did you try out this PC with a KNOWN working keyboard?
I've had a few experiences with keyboards which would work with some systems
and not others. I've got one, for example, which works fine, except . . .
it is not recognized on power-up. I don't know why this is, but since it's
the only problem I've encountered with it, it's on the server, which doesn't
go through power cycles that often.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark <mark_k(a)iname.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, April 30, 1999 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: Leaky nicad battery
>Hi,
>
>A few days ago I posted about an old PC board which had a leaky battery. I
>followed Allison's advice and neutralised the stuff with lemon juice. The
>fizzing/bubbling that happened when I did this suggests that cleaning with
>alcohol alone (say) is not really adequate.
>
>Anyway, after cleaning it up I checked all affected PCB traces with a
>multimeter. It turns out that none of them were corroded all the way
through,
>so repairs weren't necessary.
>
>Cleaning the board didn't solve the problem that this PC has. On power on,
it
>says (something like) 2A Keyboard failure. I can boot the machine and get
into
>the setup menu by pressing Alt-Esc. However, the cursor keys and space bar
do
>not work. At the DOS prompt, typing letter keys causes them to print twice
>(ddiirr, and so on). This is using a known good keyboard to test with.
>
>Does anyone have an idea as to what the problem might be? If it's in some
>custom-programmed keyboard controller or other custom chip, obviously the
>prospect of repair is slim. But the majority of chips on the PCB look
fairly
>standard (PC is made in 1989 or 1990).
>
>
>-- Mark
>
> >I actually used the 9845B (Model T) for Space Shuttle flight support
> >(STS-2 through STS-24). I worked at Rockwell International Space Systems
> >Division in Downey, California (now owned by Boeing). I started out in
> >1979 doing bean-counting work. I wrote BASIC programs that create bar
> >charts, plots, and tabulated data for the Flight Systems Design and
> >Performance department. My manager, Bill Schleich, was the one who
> >developed the shuttle's roll maneuver shortly after lift-off.
<CLIP>
Fascinating! Thanks Joe.
Steve Robertson - <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>
Ok, someone has this stuff filed in the closet somewhere... B^}
I'd (and some others around) like to find copies of one or more the
various versions of the EDUSystem (timeshared BASIC) series of software
for the PDP-8.
(does anyone besides me see a VCF III demo coming on?) B^}
The one source (pun intended) that I've located on the 'net for
EDUSystem-25 is partially corrupted (in the math/init section), and so is
of marginal use...
Does someone have archives of this stuff hiding on some
disk/tape/paper/etc. somewhere?
Thanks!
-jim
---
jimw(a)computergarage.org
The Computer Garage - http://www.computergarage.org
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
>>> Coming soon to www.computergarage.org - the CBBS/NW on-line archives
>>> Coming to VCF III (2-3 October 1999) - CBBS/NW live!
