I've been watching this thread with some interest, as I'm curious how large
a board with 512Kbytes in 4116's would be. I've got some boards downstairs
which have sites for 288 4116's on each. That's 576KB, though it's
organized as 64-bit words with off-board SECDED which makes it 512 KBytes
with correction. These boards are about 15"x22" which is quite a bit large
for any of my S-100 boxes. The compupro boys often were fairly ambitious
with their "features" and may have planned a different
jumpering/multiplexing scheme for the power, addresses, etc, which were
different once the 64K parts became available. However, considering what it
took to make a memory board, even 64K parts would have left it a difficult
task to fit all those DRAMs on the board, considering 1982 or so technology.
I worked on a board from "little machines, inc" in '80 or so, which had on
it about 250 IC's including some of the first sipps I ever saw on one side
of the board (Multibus-1) and about 1000 passives and discretes on the other
side. I think the combined RAM on the board came up to 512K, though the
parts with which you could do that were not available. That board used
every modern LSI and space-preservation strategy available at the time, yet
was truly 10 pounds of SH*T in a 5-pound bag. The Godbout boys were really
not inclined to use the most costly technology available. Hence, I doubt
the CompuPro board in question held 512K of 4116's.
The question remains, "What is it?"
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Don Maslin <donm(a)cts.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 24, 1999 12:01 AM
Subject: RE: More on the Compupro
>On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Arfon Gryffydd wrote:
>
>> >1. "Disk n" disk controllers, n=1, 1A, 1B, 2, 3, or 4.
>> >2. "CPU nn" CPU cards, nn=85/88, Z, etc.
>> >3. "Interfacer n" I/O boards, n=1 to 4
>> >4. "System Support" boards, with real time clock, console port, etc.
>> >5. "RAM nn" boards, nn usually greater than 16.
>>
>> >>On a more serious note, I looked inside and there was:
>> >> A Z-80 cpu card.
>> >> 2 cards with 512K on them and were labled Disk something.
>> >
>> >Well, then, these are your disk controller(s). The "something" that
>> >comes after Disk is very important in identifying them!
>> >
>> >The "512K" sounds like a Compupro board etch identifier, but I just
>> >looked over my Compupro Disk 1's, 1A's, Disk 2's, and Disk 3's, and
>> >none of them say 512K. Maybe it's a Disk 1B? Disk 4?
>>
>> Nope... I suspected RAM disc cards because 512K is the AMOUNT of RAM I
>> counted (a board covered w/ 4116s). And there were no connectors to the
>> boards other than the card edge.
>> There are two of these mystery boards.
>
>SemiDisk, perhaps?
> - don
>
>>
>> >> A wire wrapped (home-brew looking) card that looks like the 8" drive
>> >>interface.
>> >
>> >What makes you think that it's the 8" drive interface? Look for the
50-pin
>> >cable coming from the drive box and figure out where it's going.
>>
>> Uh,I thought it was the drive interface because it had a 50pin cable
>> comming off it that matched the 50pin connection to the 8" drives box.
>>
>>
>> >> Another card covered with 6116 Ram chips.
>> >
>> >32 6116's gives you 64Kbytes, a comfortable amount for running CP/M-80.
>> >Your description matches that of the Compupro RAM17, though lots of
>> >of other manufacturers made similar boards that might be in your system.
>>
>> Yep, that sounds right.
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>> Tired of Micro$oft???
>>
>> Move up to a REAL OS...
>> ######__ __ ____ __ __ _ __ #
>> #####/ / / / / __ | / / / / | |/ /##
>> ####/ / / / / / / / / / / / | /###
>> ###/ /__ / / / / / / / /_/ / / |####
>> ##/____/ /_/ /_/ /_/ /_____/ /_/|_|####
>> # ######
>> ("LINUX" for those of you
>> without fixed-width fonts)
>> ----------------------------------------
>> Be a Slacker! http://www.slackware.com
>>
>> Slackware Mailing List:
>> http://www.digitalslackers.net/linux/list.html
>>
>
>> >> 2 cards with 512K on them and were labled Disk something.
>> >
>> >Well, then, these are your disk controller(s). The "something" that
>> >comes after Disk is very important in identifying them!
>> >
>> >The "512K" sounds like a Compupro board etch identifier, but I just
>> >looked over my Compupro Disk 1's, 1A's, Disk 2's, and Disk 3's, and
>> >none of them say 512K. Maybe it's a Disk 1B? Disk 4?
>>
>> Nope... I suspected RAM disc cards because 512K is the AMOUNT of RAM I
>> counted (a board covered w/ 4116s). And there were no connectors to the
>> boards other than the card edge.
>> There are two of these mystery boards.
>
>SemiDisk, perhaps?
That certainly seems to be the idea, though I'm puzzled as to why the
board would say "Disk something" on it. All my Compupro ramdisk-type boards
say "M-Drive" on them.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
>I was recently told that DEC sold an RSX-11M emulator that run as a process
>on VMS for people who had old RSX code they wanted to run. Is this true?
Yes, it is. This is the start of the SPD (see
http://www.mentec.com/SPDS/vaxrsx.html for the whole thing):
SPD 26.73.08
VAX-11 RSX, Version 2.5 is a member of a family of operating system and other software products produced by
Mentec Inc. for the PDP-11 family of computers. It is available from Mentec Inc. or Digital Equipment
Corporation subject to a software license issued according to standard terms and conditions.
Description:
Overview
VAX-11 RSX is an emulator of the RSX Operating System family which executes on all VAX systems. VAX-11
RSX runs in compatibility mode on processors that support a PDP-11 instruction set subset in hardware or
microcode, and also runs on processors without this support by providing its own software emulation of the same
PDP-11 instruction set subset.
VAX-11 RSX provides special capabilities which enable PDP-11 users to develop programs for execution in the
following environments:
VMS compatibility mode (hardware-supported or software-emulated)
RSX-11M-PLUS
RSX-11M
RSX-11S
Micro/RSX
VAX-11 RSX also allows for the migration of many existing RSX applications to VMS.
>And if so is it part of the hobbiest license?
No, it isn't, though last time I checked it was part of the CSLG.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
In "Pirates" a mouse was handed about, supposedly from the Alto. Was it an
Alto mouse? Was the Alto mouse a three button? Who made it?
I know the star 8010 Dandelion and 6085 Daybreak mice were two button mice as
I have had several.
Anyway I have a mouse that looks like the one in the movie and it is possible
it came from an Alto. I would like to identify it for sure.
Paxton
GE Fanuc is a Japan based company which manufactures devices known in
the CNC field as a "control." It is essentially a computer which is used to
control the operation of machine tools, such as mills and lathes.
William R. Buckley
-----Original Message-----
From: Merle K. Peirce <at258(a)osfn.org>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 5:10 PM
Subject: Re:...
>
>We were just given a GE Fanuc case. Apparently it held some sort of hard
>drive, which has evaporated. Does anyone know what these things are?
I found a few minutes of free time and snapped a few shots of the Card
Reader I got on Sunday with my digital camera. I've got the start of a web
page up for it at the following URL:
http://zane.brouhaha.com/healyzh/C302.html
Beware the five pic's are 640x480 or smaller, so take a while to load.
Also it will probably take a few seconds for the connection to wake up.
Apparently my DSL line 'dozes' when not being used.
I still don't know anything about it other than it's a 'Peripheral
Dynamics' Model C302 Card Reader made in May of '72. The picture at the
bottom of the page shows the empty slot that I would suspect is used to
interface it with a computer.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Today I got VAXServer 4000-200 with another tower unit labeled R215F, both
for $10. I told the server does not work anyone know what else I need to
power this unit up ? I have no manuals, kb or anything else for it. Thanks
John I'm not sure of it's age as per the 10 year rule.
I was recently told that DEC sold an RSX-11M emulator that run as a process
on VMS for people who had old RSX code they wanted to run. Is this true?
And if so is it part of the hobbiest license?
--Chuck
I charged up the Epson HX-20 that I bought on Sunday, and it doesn't
seem to like me. The screen flickers out after a minute or so of use.
This seems to indicate a bad battery, but this hypothesis does not
appear to be borne out by lab tests.
Therefore, a lab report:
PURPOSE:
To determine if the battery pack from subject computer is
defective.
APPARATUS:
Battery pack in question (4xsubC, 4.8V)
Fluke 73-III handheld multimeter
Hewlett-Packard 6060B DC electronic load
Miscellaneous cables
47-ohm and 100-ohm resistors
PROCEDURE:
1. Measure open-circuit voltage of battery. Reading is 5.16
VDC.
2. Wire battery directly to load. Power on. Display reads
5.14 VDC, 0.03 A. Load is set as follows:
Range 6.0000 A
Input Off (htf do you turn it on?)
Short On (same)
Tran Off
Freq 1000
Slew .50000
Duty cycle 50.0
Mode Current
3. Dial in current at assorted amperages. Results:
Current Actual
requested (A) current (A) Voltage (VDC)
0.000 0.03 5.14
0.100 0.11 5.09
0.150 0.16 5.08
0.200 0.21 5.06
0.250 0.26 5.04
0.500 0.52 4.98
1.000 1.00 4.98
0.000 0.01 5.09
4. Try some resistance values.
Resistance (O) Current (A) Voltage (VDC)
5000 -0.01 5.11
1000 -0.01 5.11
500 -0.01 5.11
100 0.03 5.11
50 0.08 5.09
25 0.18 5.04
10 0.48 4.98
5 0.97 4.89
5. Connect a resistor across the battery terminals, and measure
the current.
Resistor: 100 ohms (spec)
102.3 ohms (measured)
Current: 47.3 mA
Resistor: 47 ohms (spec)
46.3 ohms (measured)
Current: 98.0 mA
CONCLUSION:
This battery pack doesn't look too defective, although I really
don't know too much about what the characteristics of a
functioning pack are.
Could someone who knows these things tell me if this pack is indeed
okay, as these tests seem to indicate, or if it is indeed bad?
--
Brad Ackerman N1MNB "...faced with the men and women who bring home
bsa3(a)cornell.edu the pork, voters almost always re-elect them."
http://skaro.pair.com/ -- _The Economist_, 31 Oct 1998
<#1 Jobs and Wozniak were actually working at Atari when they designed the
<Apple 1 (and was the resource for most of the parts they used), in fact, i
<was the revenues from Jobs' project Breakout that financed the trip to
That must have been later after HP!
<#2 IBM came to Microsoft looking for an operating system for the IBM PC,
<not the other way around. Microsoft originally sent IBM to Gary Kildall
<(developer of CP/M) who refused to meet with them. IBM returned to Gates
<who, in turn, bought the OS from Kildall himself for $50K and then license
<it back to IBM. These facts were totally inaccurate in the film.
Way off.
First Kildall didn't take the IBM meeting seriously and his wife working
with layers could net get to agreement on nodisclosure that IBM wanted.
Gary didn't refuse to meet with IBM, they "dropped in" and it was not
convenient.
Second Gates bought Qdos (a lofing of CPM1.3, that was copyright infringed)
>from Seattle Computer for $50k and granted a unlimited license back to them.
He would later reneg on the deal. The copyright problem would result in
the rapid design by virgins and issue of the buggy MSDOS/PCDOS V2.
<#3 Bill's hair was never that blonde.
In 1978 when I met him at PCC78 it was light but very dirty blonde!
Allison
