test-drb June 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

164 participants
610 discussions

by PATTON2R＠aol.com

Hello all, Anybody else out there have a Sanyo MBC 555 computer? Anybody out there have MS-DOS version 1.25??? Robert Patton II PATTON2R(a)aol.com

25 years, 6 months

Who says familiy activities are extinct? ^_^

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 6/17/99 9:45:36 PM US Eastern Standard Time, tomowad(a)earthlink.net writes: > >A Laser 128. No power supply. What's this? > > It's an Apple IIe/IIc compatible. Unlike most "clones", VTech created > their own Apple II compatible ROMs and the machine is 100% legal. I've > never had any compatibility issues with mine, either. An ordinairy Apple > IIc power supply will work with the unit. > > Tom Owad > the only compatibility issue i had with the laser was that it wouldnt work with aol when they supported it. i had to borrow a //c to logon. i think laser claimed 99% just for these type issues. It's my understanding that the laser128 had the universal disk controller builtin so it handled pretty much any apple drive that could be plugged into the disk drive port.

25 years, 6 months

Who says familiy activities are extinct? ^_^

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Actually, you can link 2 together - Tx terminals on one to Rx terminals <on the other and vice versa. Works with twin twisted pair cable up to a <few hundred metres (? Maybe a little more). If it's a short haul modem the limit is some 4000ft at something like 9600 or maybe even as fast as 38.4k. Used to used them in the DEC Mill for links off the eithernet using synchronous DUV-11s. Allison

25 years, 6 months

Sol-10

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Complex. This has two ROM sockets on it along with a switch to select one o <the other. The one at C000 is labeled "N* C000" and the one at F000 is <labeled "*80.2 F000". No idea what they are for as the NS* controller has it's own boot roms nominally at E800h. The C000h address is nothing special for NS* dos. Allison

25 years, 6 months

Who says familiy activities are extinct? ^_^

by tomowad＠earthlink.net

>A Laser 128. No power supply. What's this? It's an Apple IIe/IIc compatible. Unlike most "clones", VTech created their own Apple II compatible ROMs and the machine is 100% legal. I've never had any compatibility issues with mine, either. An ordinairy Apple IIc power supply will work with the unit. Tom Owad

25 years, 6 months

Off Topic about GRiD and 1958 Oscilloscope- Help requested.

by fluke＠mcs.net

I've gotten my hands on a touchscreen GRiDpad. I don't recall the model number, but its just an LCD panel with some buttons along the side, and a stylus. I found a keyboard port pinout for it and build a power adapter, and can get it to ask me to abort, retry, or fail, but I cannot get it to do anything remotely useful. The appeal of this system is that I am a religious GEOS user for MSDOS pc's, and the idea of having touchscreen-GEOS is pretty cool (GEOS has built in support for the GRiD's goofy video resolution, I believe, as well as support for its touchscreen-mouse driver). My question is this: What do I put on a hard drive to get it to boot? It seems reluctant to boot off of a conventional micro-IDE drive that has MS-DOS on it, and if I don't have a drive plugged in it says GRiD Bios v. something.something. When I first got it it had no HD in it at all, just two PCMCIA looking slots, which I would assume to be PCMCIA sockets. One of these sockets is on a daughter board adjacent to a micro-IDE connector. I am stuck. I've had this in my basement for quite some time, but I can't figure out how to get it to boot anything. On a side note, I've also picked up a 1958 Tektronix O-scope (the school I go to was tossing it). It works fine, aside from the fact that the CRT on it scans so far to the left as to be almost off the screen. Does anyone out there have experience with this vintage of oscilloscope? Thanks! Greg

25 years, 6 months

Help needed on HP 7900A disk drive (mechanical)

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

I'm in need of sage advice from others on the list, due to my lack of troubleshooting/repair experience with large (14") hard drives. I'm a sophomore with electronics, but these beasties are largely mechanical and out of my meager knowledge set. Background: I finally got a brand new (yes, really brand new) blank disk cartridge for my HP 7900A disk drive. The drive has never been powered up since I got it. The spindle motor won't even start on these drives unless the cartridge is in place (there is also a fixed platter underneath). Since the drive is obviously not checked out, I wanted to get blank media to test so I didn't ruin valuable data on a cartridge I am getting later. First I very thoroughly cleaned the drive inside and out, cleaned all contacts, heads, positioner reticule, etc. etc. etc. I then checked the power supply out carefully. Then I powered up the drive (without the cartridge) and tested a number of the basic mechanical functions, interlocks, and test points on some of the cards called out by the operating manual. Then I wanted to try loading the cartridge to see if the heads would crash nicely :) Keep in mind that once the cartridge is in, there is a load switch that powers up the spindle and 30 seconds later the heads do a seek. At any time during the spin up or seek, the unload switch will immediately and very quickly retract the heads and then the drive spins down. "Problem": I put the cartridge in the drive and hit load. You can hear the spindle come up to speed. Exactly 30 seconds later as stated in the operators guide, you can hear the heads move and then the drive ready light comes on. From what I understand if there are any problems at all up to this point, the drive fault lite would come on (including a seek fail, etc.). I kept my finger on the unload switch. The second the heads came out I could hear a disconcerting noise. I immediately hit unload. I removed the cartridge, and inspected both the cartridge and heads carefully. No obvious signs of problems. I reloaded the cartridge. This time, when drive ready lit up, the drive was nice and quiet for about 25 seconds. Then I started hearing the noise again. On and off, more and more, so I hit unload. Rechecked the heads and cartridge again - no obvious signs of damage. Tried loading the cartridge again. This time it ran for a few minutes before I heard the noise. I unloaded and rechecked everything, still no signs of problems. Gee - can you tell I'm paranoid about possibly ruining the new cartridge and/or the heads? :) The sound is not quite metallic, but very close. It sounds like something rubbing at high speed but at a pretty high pitch. The best way I can describe it is that it is almost identical to the sound an 8" floppy disk makes when you put it into an RX02 drive and close the door (the media turning inside the sleeve), but much louder. I'm pretty uncomfortable proceding with diagnostics, etc. unless someone here can calm my fears as to what the sound might be. Is it just due to the fact that it's a brand new cartridge, or is it indicative of a potential head crash, just a belt issue, dust, etc? I'm pretty familiar with the whine a drive makes when the bearings are going out, and it does not sound like that sound. Any help, ideas, thoughts, etc. are MOST appreciated! Jay West

25 years, 6 months

Sanyo DOS was: Re: GRiD and misc

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 09:29 AM 6/17/99 -0700, Grumpy old Fred wrote: >On Thu, 17 Jun 1999, Marvin wrote: >> I didn't realize a DOS 1.25 was issued; I only have DOS 1.1 (1.01?) > >There was an MS-DOS 1.25, but not a PC-DOS. The second released version of >PC-DOS was 1.10 Note that the part after the PERIOD was stored >internally as ten, and the part after the period was then ALWAYS displayed >as a 2 digit decimal number. MS-DOS was released to other OEMs, who could >even change the NAME! (Z-DOS, etc.) Most of them (Compaq, etc.) called >that version 1.25 Note that the part after the PERIOD was stored >internally as twenty five. The (original) Sanyo disks that I have say "MS(tm)-DOS V. 1.25 #1.0". Even though they called it MS-DOS it was VERY modified for the Sanyo. FWIW, Joe

25 years, 6 months

it's just typical (was: First Apple I up for auction)

by edick＠idcomm.com

Well . . . O.K. . . . you made your point. Nevertheless, the average MITS board looks like a screwed up piced of junk. . . . even the bare boards! The IMSAI products were all made up very nicely, clean circuit layout, good silkscreen, nice solder mask . . . AND most of them actually worked! Dick -----Original Message----- From: Dwight Elvey <elvey(a)hal.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, June 17, 1999 1:42 PM Subject: Re: it's just typical (was: First Apple I up for auction) >"Richard Erlacher" <edick(a)idcomm.com> wrote: >> I don't know where this "reporter" got his information, but MITS did not >> build the IMSAI. It's sacrilege, that's what it is! It's like saying the >> Silver Cloud was built by YUGO. > >More like saying a Moris Minor was built by Yugo. >IMHO >Dwight >

25 years, 6 months

Sol-10

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Sol-PC: $475 kit (Sol single board computer only) Sol-10: $795 kit (Includes case, power supply and 70-key keyboard) Sol-20: $995 kit (Including case, power supply, 5-slot S-100 backplane, fan, large power supply, and 85-key keyboard) Kai -----Original Message----- From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:dastar@ncal.verio.com] Sent: Thursday, June 17, 1999 9:18 AM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: Re: Sol-10 On Thu, 17 Jun 1999, Marvin wrote: > As I recall, Bob Marsh at VCF 1.0 indicated that the SOL-20 had only been > advertised and not produced. I am confused now. Last night, I pulled out the > SOL to fire it up and see if it worked or not. In looking at the nameplate, > it says "SOL Terminal Computer Model No. 10". No, there was never really a Sol-10. The Sol-10 was just a Sol-20 without the disk controller or something like that. If yours says Model 10 then that's interesting, and Bob Marsh lied :) Maybe it was the one that didn't originally come with a disk controller? Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0! See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 05/25/99]

25 years, 6 months

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test-drb June 1999