Hello Everyone,
I just got (from Chrislin no less!) a Chrislin Q-bus based floppy
controller called a "Flex02". This was from a clean up they did and they
have _no_ documents. Apparently there was a large fire that destroyed most
of their archives.
My contact at Chrislin said it "emulates and RX02 and the indicated jumper
specifies 'boot rom' enabled or not enabled." Which is fine except what he
didn't know is whether or not the 50 pin connector expected to go straight
to a pair of 8" floppies or to a breakout board ala the RQDXn series. So...
if anyone has docs on this board and could tell me what I need to hook it
up I'd be grateful. This is what is on the board:
Dual wide Q-bus, w/Z80A on board and some ROMs for the Z80. ROM labels are:
390028 01 P
390029 01 R
890012 01 M
890013 01 K
Edge of the board says (c) 1980 "Flex 02" Rev 5
Back (solder side) says ICIM94V1
It has a 50pin edge plug and ahead of that plug is an NEC 8255 (this is a
parallel port so it suggests to me at least that there might be some "off
board" intelligence required. No sign of a floppy controller chip.
--Chuck
I have slowed down my collecting a bit because of space (warehouse and 4
storage units full plus what's in the house), so I'm looking for manuals and
specific machines to round out certain brands/models. Today I got 30+ books
for 10 cent each and one was a CP/M-86 operating system System Guide by
digital research dated April 15, 1983 Rev. 00 in very good shape. I also
got a ton of old software include on 5 1/4 diskettes for free. A lot of
drivers and setup disk for older machines. Saturday I did pickup a Laser
Computer XT that looks just like a Laser 128 must use the same cases. I
also got two external floppies with it. Keep computing.
I use really cheap video cards and they won't do this job! The older ones
which allowed you to specify whether they interlaced or not with, say, a
switch, would do it, however.
It takes a really fast DAC to shovel out the bits fast enough to allow the
production of 1280 dots at 64KHz! Most VGA makers have settled on a maximal
rate of 65 MHz, which means they have to interlace the 1280-long lines. If
you shop for older boards, you may find some capable of doing this task, but
they may fall short of your wishes for wild and crazy game graphics, as they
haven't the features newer cards offer.
IF you find a suitable card, let me know, plz.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Walker <lwalker(a)mail.interlog.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, July 19, 1999 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: Sun Monitor (UK)
On 19 Jul 99 at 7:41, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> if the monitor is one of the SONY GDM1950 types, you can adapt
> a1280x1024-capable display board for use with it by means of a 500 ohm
> resistor between the GREEN output and the application connector composite
> blanking signal. It's not perfect, but there's a company on the west
coast
> of the US which sells boards made in just this way witha custom BIOS which
> "sort-of" fixes the remaining issues.
>
> Unfortunately, it requires you have another monitor for use outside the
GUI,
> one compatible with the DOS' 720x400, 640x400, etc. modes, etc. but these
> SONY monitors are better used that way than hauled around. The only
signal
> connections required are the three BNC coax connections to R,G,and B, with
> their respective returns on the shield.
>
> regards,
>
> Dick
>
Dick, could you elaborate on this a bit. I realize it is a bit OT but I
have
a SuperMac rebadged 19" GDM1950 that I picked up from the curb. It has 5 BNC
connectors and displayed a dark screen when I powered it up bare, but I was
encouraged because there was static on the screen. When I connected it with
the
5 BNC connectors to the adaptor I use on my NEC multi-sync 4Ds and turned it
on
without a computer powered up, for one glorius moment it displayed an azure
screen which then turned "IBM-blue" and then either to jaggies or dark(can't
recall which). Since then it only displays jaggies. I hesitate getting a
fixed-freq card for it since they are quite expensive and I'm not sure it
works. As well, I use the NEC as an all purpose display with DOS, Mac, and
PS2s
on a ABCD switchblock so it would only be a secondary unit.
The big screen is enticing however and if I could use it without having to
lay
out too much, since there's no guarantee that it is actually functioning, it
might be impossible to resist. I'm semi-retired, so money is an issue.
What is the "application connector composite blanking signal" and where
would
I find it. Would the V-sync and H-sync BNCs be ignored ?
Also do you have the name of this company that has these cards ?
I've also seen unverified info that some ATI cards work with this monitor.
Obviously you would need an adaptor but have you heard of this ? I have an
MCA ATI Mach-32 card in one of my PS2 beasts but have been reluctant to try
it
with the GMD1950 because of fear of the "magic smoke" escaping . Both my
Power
Mac 7100/66AV and PS2 80 have on-board video and secondary monitor abilities
I
believe.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
Let us know of your upcoming computer events for our Events Page.
t3c(a)xoommail.com
Vintage Computer Collectors List and info http://members.xoom.com/T3C
if the monitor is one of the SONY GDM1950 types, you can adapt
a1280x1024-capable display board for use with it by means of a 500 ohm
resistor between the GREEN output and the application connector composite
blanking signal. It's not perfect, but there's a company on the west coast
of the US which sells boards made in just this way witha custom BIOS which
"sort-of" fixes the remaining issues.
Unfortunately, it requires you have another monitor for use outside the GUI,
one compatible with the DOS' 720x400, 640x400, etc. modes, etc. but these
SONY monitors are better used that way than hauled around. The only signal
connections required are the three BNC coax connections to R,G,and B, with
their respective returns on the shield.
regards,
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Pachla <peter.pachla(a)vectrex.freeserve.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, July 19, 1999 7:34 AM
Subject: Sun Monitor (UK)
>Having recently gotten rid of my Sun 3 series workstations I'm left with
the
>monitor, it's a 20" RGB unit (made by Sony I think) and was previously
attached
>to my 3/60.
>
>Anyone in the UK interested in this? I'd be interested in swapping it for
>something I can use, like a colour VGA monitor (PLEASE!!!) or something
>obsolete.... :-)
>
>I'm located in Birmingham and due to the size of the thing I'm NOT shipping
it,
>so it's come and collect only.
>
>
> TTFN - Pete.
>
>--
>Hardware & Software Engineer. Sound Engineer.
>Collector of Arcade Machines, Games Consoles & Obsolete Computers (esp DEC)
>
>peter.pachla(a)virgin.net |
>peter.pachla(a)vectrex.freeserve.co.uk |
>peter.pachla(a)wintermute.free-online.co.uk |
www.wintermute.free-online.co.uk
>--
>
>
OK. Found and installed a 74LS32 at U30.
There are all kinds of jumper pins (with
wire wrap wires connecting various pins)
and DIP switches on this thing.
I started to try to describe all the pins
and switches on this board... gave up when
I got to 200 lines. There are 11 blocks of
jumpers and two sets of DIP switches. Could
some kind soul email me the config info (at
least for the serial port) on this thing?
Thanks,
Bill Sudbrink
have you emailed Todd Fisher of www.imsai.net fame? I asked him for
connector pinouts for the PIO4 and PIO6 boards and he did, after some time
searching for and preparing the documents, post them on his web site. I've
already checked and the MIO is not supported yet. Perhaps a little jarring
>from you would motivate him.
He's probably busy, though, as he was planning to release his new computer
in the old box, or whatever he was planning . . . by mid-summer (that's
now!)
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Sudbrink <bill(a)chipware.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, July 19, 1999 5:02 PM
Subject: RE: IMSAI MIO REV.2
>> jumpers and two sets of DIP switches. Could
>> some kind soul email me the config info (at
>> least for the serial port) on this thing?
>
>And the pin-outs for the edge connectors
>would help too.
>
>Thanks,
>Bill Sudbrink
>
In a message dated 99-07-19 11:34:59 EDT, you write:
> Does anyone know the approximate value of a TRS-80 MC-10 computer with 4k
> RAM, in good condition?
>
> Also, does anyone have any pictures of one?
its worth 2.98 without the a/c adaptor which is what i paid for one.
I meant to post this Tuesday, but things got busy.
My IMSAI is up with the front panel, CPU and
memory card. I can now reliably do all front
panel operations and can toggle in and run short
programs on either the 8K SRAM or 64K DRAM card
(only one in the box at a time). For those keeping
score:
Replaced all chips on the front panel. All are
now socketed.
Replaced two switches on the front panel.
Routed several traces around burned or otherwise
damaged spots on the front panel.
And... (this is the kicker)
Re-patched the MWRITE circuit. The original (and
incorrect) patch brought the SOUT signal to U25
pin 5. What was actually required at U25 pin 5
was NOT-SOUT.
So next, I suppose, is to get the MIO working
(at least the serial port) so I can get a terminal
on this baby. If anybody has MIO REV.2 schematics,
it might make my life easier. To begin with, all the
chips on this card are socketed. It is a very neatly
and carefully done soldering job. The following chips
are missing: U8, U11, U30 and U34. I can see the
silkscreens for U30 (74LS32) and U34 (8T20), but the
sockets hide the silkscreens for U8 and U11. Does the
absence of these chips simply indicate that one of the
functions of this board is disabled?
Thanks,
Bill Sudbrink
Hi Tony:
In a message dated 7/17/99 1:31:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk writes:
> > > and used it to get more colours). And that the luminance resolution
> > > (bandwidth) has to be limited to prevent the colour subcarrier from
> > > causing annoying moving lines in the image.
> >
> > Is this what causes the infamous dot-crawl on the Spectrum?
>
> I'm pretty sure it is, yes.
> People moan about the poor quality of computer displays on TV screens,
Thanks for the information. I picked up a TS 2068 a couple of months ago and
haven't had time to find out what causes the screen crawl. And no moaning
here -- it's handy being able to use a common household TV set for a monitor
(though I'm moving to an RGB monitor soon :>).
Thanks again,
Glen Goodwin
0/0
I thought some of you might be interested in Clearpoint's response to my
strange Sun3 board. At least I found it an amusing reaction.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 07:43:33 -0600
From: Jeff Sullivan <memory(a)clearpoint.com>
To: Adam Fritzler <mid(a)auk.cx>
Subject: re: old board
Adam:
No at Clearpoint currently has direct experience with that Sun product.
We do know from the memory stand point it was a very difficult memory
product to develop and an expensive memory product in its day.
I am sorry I can not offer more assistance.
Jeff Sullivan
Clearpoint
