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.
<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
<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
>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
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
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
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
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
>
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
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