test-drb August 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

161 participants
565 discussions

by mark_k＠iname.com

Hi, Is there a web site that, on entry of an IBM part number, returns what that thing is? I picked up an old (made in early '89 from date codes on the chips) IBM 8-bit ISA card the other day. It's half-length, and the only connector on the rear panel is a BNC. There are no jumpers on the card. Part number is 25F8545. Searching for the part number on the IBM web site didn't turn up anything. On Dejanews, one posting mentioned that part number. This card might be a "3270 emulator" apparently. Can anyone shed more light on this? What exactly is it? -- Mark

25 years, 3 months

To be posted shortly - BIOS source code

by rcini＠msn.com

Hello, all: I just finished two projects for the PeeCee. I've finished scanning and correcting the source code for the original IBM PC and IBM PC/AT. Right out of the Tech Ref books. I haven't tried to re-compile the BIOS, but I'm reasonably certain that the files are free of spelling errors, having taken me months of on-and-off line by line editing. These will be posted to the secure portion of the site since IBM's wallet is much bigger than mine :-) These will be posted in the next day or so (since I left my Zip disk at work). I'm also going to post a copy of the VIC-20 Kernal ROM source code, as decompiled by yours truly, and as featured in a series of articles in the C=Hacking e-zine. This one recompiles fine. Enjoy. ----------------------------------- [ Rich Cini/WUGNET [ ClubWin!/CW7 [ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking [ Collector of "classic" computers [ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ <---------------------------- reply separator

25 years, 3 months

Antiques Roadshow (was: Re: Re. imsai 2)

by cdrmool＠interlog.com

I'm not suprised at the AR comments. My brother is a master craftsman. He restores antique furniture for a living and has done so for the Royal Ontario Museum. He has, on occasion, and for his own amusement, mad e copies of rare antique pieces and shown them to the experts, sometimes side by side with the originals. The experts are often wrong in chosing which is the copy. I wonder how long before fake old computers start to appear? I'm very proud of him in that he is totally self taught and that he would never profit from the fakes. colan ____________________________________________________________________ Vintage Computer Collectors List and Info: http://members.xoom.com/T3C Mail us at: T3C(a)xoommail.com -----Original Message----- From: Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com <Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, August 23, 1999 1:08 PM Subject: Antiques Roadshow (was: Re: Re. imsai 2) > > > >> At 10:39 AM 8/22/99 -0400, Bill Sudbrink wrote: >>> >>>"Gee, that's too bad. If you hadn't rewound the transformer on that >>>IMSAI, it would be worth $50,000. But since it works, it's only >>>worth $25. Remember folks, never fix anything. The original non-working >>>lump of metal is worth far more than a machine that does what it was >>>actually designed to do." >> >> I guess you don't watch the Antiques Roadshow very often. They routinely >> dash people's hopes by saying "Gee, if back in 1950 you hadn't refinished >> this 1820 chest of drawers, it would be worth $25,000. But now it's >> worth $250." >> >> It all comes down to each person's perception of value. And of course, >> the sale price is ultimately determined one buyer and one seller. >> >> - John >> >> P.S. For the non-USAians, "Antiques Roadshow" is a television program >> on the public television network. It travels from city to city, opening >> up a convention hall to the public to bring in their antiques for free >> appraisal by their teams of expert auctioneers and collectors. > > >We have a similar show in the UK, also called Antiques Roadshow. One of the few >TV shows I actually enjoy watching. Alas I was away when it came to Coalville, >so I couldn't take any classic computers to see how they reacted... > >I'm not sure of the accuracy of some of their comments though. Examples from >when my parents caught it at their town (and got on TV!): > >1. My mother took some WW2 propaganda posters. Was told they were almost >worthless. Later on, an official came up to her and said they wanted to film >the posters. So they went through the same rigmarole again. But on camera she >was told they were worth at least 100 pounds (I can't remember whether each or >for the set) > >2. My parents also invited them to look at some antique furniture in situ. One >writing desk they were particularly interested in, shipped it to the filming >venue, etc. They pointed out all the things to look for, and claimed that the >evidence proved it was original and had never been restored. My father forebore >to say that it had come back from the restorer's workshop only 2 months earlier >- and we'd all seen the state it was in before it went... > >(We think they must have lost a lot of footage that day. A lot of interesting >things they filmed weren't shown, and they filled up time with pointless >activities that had little bearing on the antiques...) > >Philip. > > > > > > >

25 years, 3 months

2 FREE DEC Rainbow 100+'s in UK (forwarded)

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

Found this on the Obsolete Computer Helpline....contact the author below in the UK, not me. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lee davison <lee.davison(a)mercom.co.uk> Ludlow, Shropshire UK - Tuesday, August 24, 1999 at 17:21:38 FREE! Two (at least) DEC Rainbow 100+ machines, keyboards, mono monitors and any other DEC bits I have. AFAIK they both still work and have 10MB hard drives in them. The lucky recipient of these must either collect them or pay shipping. I'll keep them until the end of the month but after that they are scrap. They are heavy and fairly big and I need the room. Cheers, Lee.

25 years, 3 months

New toy

by donm＠cts.com

Over the weekend, I acquired a new toy called an Intel Wildcard WC88. It consists of a card in 72 pin SIMM format - only taller - that contains a surface mount 8088 chip hiding under a glob of epoxy. Also carries an xtal, 640k memory, another - unidentified - chip under epoxy, a BIOS EPROM, and a few glue chips. The edge connector is 72 pin SIMM style. There is also a (basically) passive motherboard that carries a 72 pin SIMM socket, a keyboard connector, three 8-bit ISA sockets, and a handful of chips. The Award BIOS displays a message on bootup that 'this is a demonstration BIOS and is not to be sold'. I have searched the Web to no avail seeking any reference to this mini-XT. If anyone has one or has heard of one, or... I would certainly appreciate hearing from them. I have know idea what Intel intended when they put this thing together - for sale, demo, sales tool, ??? But I'd like to know. - don

25 years, 3 months

Re. imsai 2 (OT)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Of course no program should ever intentionally use undefined opcodes, but <copy-protection systems often do in my experience. So it's useful if <emulators do the Right Thing with them. In the case of 8085 and z80 they were actually useful extensions and worth using. Those that came to depend on them kept spcing the part to have them and the vendors would make sure they were there. Allison

25 years, 3 months

Heathkit Analog Computer info?

by dcoward＠pressstart.com

Dave Dameron said: >Is this the one with 12AU7 (ECC82) twin triode amplifiers? (Or does the >EC-1 use them also?) I might have some partial schematics... >Cool. >-Dave In the manual I have each amplifier has a 12AX7 and a 6BQ7A twin triode plus a 6BH6. > What do you want for a copy of the Operations guide? The one I >have coming (the owner forgot to pack it) may or may not be complete. I'm sure we can work something out. I've being searching for a first born child (boy or girl) for a completely unrelated hobby. OR you could just keep me up to date on your music experiments. Keep in mind that this Operations Manual has theory but no example programs. It's the EC-1 Operations Manual that has the example programs. A good source for magazine articles on analog computers is the American Journal of Physics. Including one article on replacing the Heath ES-201 amplifiers with 741 op-amps. They have a searchable index on the web. And I found the issues at the S.F. Public Library (other libraries may differ). Other magazine called "Simulation" in their Febuary 1997 issue had an article on simulating an analog computer in Excel. Which looks like a great way to "single step" your program before moving to the computer. (See Windows does have a use) :) > My 'real world' use for this machine is to participate in the >production of what might be termed "chaos music", and other sounds >that could be produced when the output of the computer is applied to >the inputs of an analog synthesiser. Speaking of computer music generated by old machines, if you don't already have a copy, I recommend "Music by Computer", John Wiley and Sons, 1969, 139 pages. This book was started from papers submitted to the "Computers in Music" session at the 1966 Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco. In a pocket in the back cover is four 7" floppy records with a total of 8 sides, containing examples of computer generated music and sounds samples to accompany each paper. > To those who asked for pictures.. as soon as I have time I will >put up a few, as well as some print advertising for it and an >article in a Popular Electronics I found describing it. I don't think I've seen this article. (hint) :) Regards, --Doug ========================================= Doug Coward Press Start Inc. Sunnyvale,CA =========================================

25 years, 3 months

Damn fools (was Re: Dell "Oldest PC" winner on zdnet)

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Sat, 21 Aug 1999 20:40:31 -0400 (EDT) William Donzelli <aw288(a)osfn.org> writes: < Bunch of stuff SNIPped > >The other troublesome comment was about the recyclers: "That's pretty >much what my local scrapper does . [tomb raiding for gold]. . .". Now these Yeah, that's what I said, and it's based on my experiences with a local party. I bring him a pile of stuff culled from his various heaps, and the question is "Let's how much gold you got there". That's all it boils down to, because that's how he chooses to operate his business. I've tried to impress upon him that this stuff is worth more alive than dead, but he is slow to understand. I made this statement because it parallels the 'treasure hunter' mentality towards archeological digs during the early part of the last century. "How much gold we got?". Alot of history got melted as a result. But I'm tired of talking about this. The good people know who they are, and everyone else seems to know who they are. The assholes tend to remain clueless, but we can usually work around them (or at least pick up the pieces after the fact, which is what I do). Jeff ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

25 years, 3 months

Wanted: jumper settings for Teac FD-235HF-101

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > some recognizable names (D0, D1, FG, H-HI...) and at least one with a > > mysterous name (OP)... > > AFAIK, pin 16 on a standard floppy is the MOTOR ON signal... > Silly suggestion. Have you tried linking pin 16 on the drive to the drive > select line (pin 14 most likely). Leave the drive select wire connected > there as well. So that the motor goes on whenever the drive is selected. I have not tried jumpering any pins together among other reasons because on my Amiga schematics, pin 16 is driven by a discrete transistor rather than directly off of a Gary pin (custom chip used in Amiga floppy controller). > Alternatively, what about using whatever pin on the DB25 corresponds to pin > 10. That's what becomes pin 16 after the IBM-twist, and thus is the > motor-on signal for the second drive. That's probably the more likely > setup, actually. According to my records... 2 - chng 4 - inuse 1 6 - inuse 0 8 - index 10 - sel 0 12 - sel 1 14 - inuse 1 (yes, it's tied to pin 4 on the schematic) 16 - mtron 18 - dir 20 - step etc... Do I have this wrong? -ethan === Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away. Please send all replies to erd(a)iname.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

25 years, 3 months

New Document on Highgate's pdp-8 Web Site

by mranalog＠home.com

Kevin McQuiggin said: > Hi Gang: > The most recent addition to http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/pdp8 is the Small > Computer Handbook, 1966 edition, sections 1 and 2. > These were contributed by Doug Coward. You can reach Doug at the highgate > web site. > Further contributions of pdp-8 material welcome, I just wanted to add: Thank you Kevin, for taking this material under your wing. And to everyone else, this DEC handbook states the following on the rear cover: "This first edition of the DIGITAL Small Computer Handbook is designed to be a sourcebook of basic computer technology for the computer user and student. In addition to detailed material on computer fundamentals and programming examples, this book includes three user handbooks covering Digital's popular Family of Eight scientific/engineering computers - the PDP-8, LINC-8, and the new PDP-8/s." "sections 1 and 2" consist of the "computer fundamentals" section and the PDP-8/s section. Currently this is a 69MB file of 300 dpi scans. This is the first time that I have scanned any documents of this size for anyone besides myself, and I'm hoping to find out if these scans are convertable to a more manageable format or if I need to make some adjustments, before begining on the last two sections (PDP-8 and LINC-8) which make up 2/3 of the handbook. And in the process, I want to learn the process of converting scans to a smaller format (without starting an argument) because I also have about 590 pages of COSMAC/ELF docs scanned and ready to convert in addition to a few other that are in progress. Maybe one of these days I'll even get around to scanning some analog computer docs. :) Regards, --Doug ==================================================== Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com (work) Sr. Software Eng. mranalog(a)home.com (home) Press Start Inc. http://www.pressstart.com Sunnyvale,CA Curator Analog Computer Museum and History Center http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog ====================================================

25 years, 3 months

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test-drb August 1999