Hey DEC DECMATE folks!
The fellow whose msg is copied below is looking for some advice on
re-belting a DECMATE II. As I have neither experience nor manual on the
machine, I feel some of you may help instead as you're the types who really
could.
Email directly to Bill. The machine is somewhere in Minnesota. Thanks muchly!
Regards, Chris
-- --
>Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 21:42:58 -0500
>From: wdoherty <wdoherty(a)uswest.net>
>To: cfandt(a)netsync.net
>Subject: decmateII
>
>My mother-in-law (you can see why this is important to me!) has a
>DECMATEII Cira 1983. The belt on the printer broke. DEC will sell her
>the belt but nobody knows how to put it on. can you recommend sites,
>collectors, or hobbyiests who may have this knowledge? She is also
>willing to sell to a collector.
>
>Thank you,
>Bill Doherty
>
>
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa
On May 1, 5:07, R. Stricklin (kjaeros) wrote:
> Oops, you're right of course. The Indigos use keyboards that only pretend
> to be PS/2 compatible. My R4400 Indigo does not use an actual PS/2
> keyboard. I thought it did, but double-checking reveals my mistake.
>
> Sorry for the mis-information.
Easy mistake to make :-) I had to think for a few minutes to be sure that
an R4400 Indigo wasn't PS/2, because Indigo^2 keyboards etc are, and the
keyboard connector is on the same board as the R4400.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
I picked up a Rockwell Aim65 today for zero cost and seems to be in great
shape. It looks like a large calculator and the housing is in very good
condition. Also picked up a few HP cables for no charge.
Someone posted a few pages from the Lunar Module software (called
"Luminary") on a web page at:
http://www.pacifier.com/~garyn. If interested, grab it soon, as it won't be
there for long.
Its about 1800 pages long!
Its written in assembler and dated 12/19/1969
Neat!
<It would help rather more to know what kind of printer it is. The fact
<that it's a DECmate narrows down the range of possible printers somewhat,
<but really isn't enough.
there were three common ones used with it. LQP02 (daisy wheel), LA50 and
the LA75.
Are we sure the failed belt is not the RX50?
<Although I'd strongly recommend that anyone still using a DECmate for real
<work give some serious consideration to moving to something a bit more
DECmate II/IIIs are common enough a spare could be found. More likely the
RX50 fails and they can be found. An DMIII is a more modern substitute
and they tend to have long lives.
What is missed is that a DM with all the other packages also has far more
than word processing capability. Those are not easily duplicated on
a PC running wordstar.
Allison
>Just taking the keyboard and nametag is not preservation, but trophying.
>But while I discourage the wanton disregard for the actual hardware, which
>is really the part that's worth preserving, I realize not everyone has the
>facilities to store such a large artifact. I suggest you try to find
>someone in your area who is capable of and willing to store the beasts.
>
Two things please: 1..Alex posted this message since he doesn't want
to canabalilize so we need not give him that advice and more importantly,
2..Alex found it, he is a collector not a preservationist, so he can do what he
wants. We should appreciate the notice without, what I read as, criticism.
p.s. sorry for the original half-done post.
Yours in good faith.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems * www.unusual.on.ca
+1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5
Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from
the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles.
Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers &
Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6
.
>Just taking the keyboard and nametag is not preservation, but trophying.
>But while I discourage the wanton disregard for the actual hardware, which
>is really the part that's worth preserving, I realize not everyone has the
>facilities to store such a large artifact. I suggest you try to find
>someone in your area who is capable of and willing to store the beasts.
>
Two things please: 1..Alex posted this message since he wan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems * www.unusual.on.ca
+1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5
Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from
the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles.
Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers &
Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6
.
On Apr 30, 15:49, Mike Ford wrote:
> One of my friends picked up a SGI Indigo (he calls it a purple), and he
> doesn't have a keyboard for it (or mouse I suspect), what will work? He
> tried a PC keyboard I think, and got "keyboard error".
The keyboards used on Indigos and Personal IRIS machines are custom
keyboards -- you need the right one. They use custom 3-button mice as
well, which plug into the keyboard. The Indigo versions use a 6-pin
miniDIN connector which looks like a PS/2 connector, but the pinout,
voltages, and protocols are completely different. Indys and later machines
use a
standard PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse. A good source is Greg Douglas at
Reputable Systems:
http://www.reputable.com/
A useful source of information is the "This Old SGI" document, at
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2258/4dfaq.html
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
