test-drb August 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

161 participants
565 discussions

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Primarily for nostalgic reasons, I want a 9" video monitor and terminal keyboard on one of my systems. I've had the Micro-Term ACT-IVa keyboard for some time, and recently got a 9" monitor to go with it. When I powered up the monitor and keyboard, I noticed that the display is slightly twisted (I think the correct term is trapezoid, where the distance >from the top of the left end of the printed line to the top of the screen is not the same distance from the top right end of the same line to the top of the screen - the lines run downhill slightly). My question is - is this a tell-tale sign that indicates a worse problem is imminent? I don't mind the slight run downhill on the screen, but if that's a sign of worse to come, I'd just assume return the monitor and get a different one. There is no adjustment pot that I can see internal or external for this "twisting" effect. Thanks in advance! Jay West

24 years, 7 months

HP DraftMaster I

by hrothgar＠total.net

Hi, I thought I'd break in amongst all the big-brained stuff about part design and announce to the world that I've garbage-picked a Hewlett Packard DraftMaster I (7595A). It was easy to get home because it was only two streets over, and the wheels roll nicely. It went downhill really well, so I'm considering entering it in next year's Soap Box Derby. I'm also planning on building some shelves into it, to justify its space requirements. The machine DOES work. I plugged it into my Amiga, and managed to get it to draw a bicycle from an old PD CAD package off a magazine disk. It keeps chewing on the flimsy paper I've got, though. It has an HPIB port on it, so I'll have to write a HPGL driver for my PET one of these days. ;) Anyone know how old this thing is? HP's web site lists "DraftMaster" as one of their trademarks, but I couldn't find much else out about it. I used to work as a CAD operator at one of the big engineering firms in downtown Montreal, so this is a cool find. -- Doug Spence Hrothgar's Cool Old Junk Page: hrothgar(a)total.net http://www.total.net/~hrothgar/museum/

24 years, 7 months

HP DraftMaster I

by edick＠idcomm.com

The Draftmaster series was "current" in '88. We bought them for about $10K each in '88, though I routinely see them offered nowadays at $200. There are drivers for Windows, though I've never gotten them to work with my 7585, which was the heavier and similar model without the chart-feed (roll-fed paper). Pens from third parties are readily available and the device operates as either DCE or DTE via RS232, or HPIB. The models we bought for Martin Marietta were ETHERNET-interfaced, so that option is available as well. These have been "sucked" off the market by the vendors of vinyl signs, which can be cut from the roll-fed paper-backed vinyl stock >from which they're made. These are the signs you commonly see stuck to the inside of shop windows. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Doug Spence <hrothgar(a)total.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, August 30, 1999 11:44 PM Subject: HP DraftMaster I >Hi, > >I thought I'd break in amongst all the big-brained stuff about part >design and announce to the world that I've garbage-picked a Hewlett >Packard DraftMaster I (7595A). > >It was easy to get home because it was only two streets over, and the >wheels roll nicely. > >It went downhill really well, so I'm considering entering it in next >year's Soap Box Derby. > >I'm also planning on building some shelves into it, to justify its space >requirements. > >The machine DOES work. I plugged it into my Amiga, and managed to get >it to draw a bicycle from an old PD CAD package off a magazine disk. It >keeps chewing on the flimsy paper I've got, though. > >It has an HPIB port on it, so I'll have to write a HPGL driver for my >PET one of these days. ;) > >Anyone know how old this thing is? HP's web site lists "DraftMaster" as >one of their trademarks, but I couldn't find much else out about it. > >I used to work as a CAD operator at one of the big engineering firms in >downtown Montreal, so this is a cool find. > >-- >Doug Spence Hrothgar's Cool Old Junk Page: >hrothgar(a)total.net http://www.total.net/~hrothgar/museum/ >

24 years, 7 months

Byte 7/76 issue

by rcini＠msn.com

Hello, all: Does anyone have the 7/76 issue of Byte??? There's an article in it relating to AMS-80, a pseudo operating system/monitor for S100 machines. A related article, which I have, appeared in the 9/79 issue, the "Amsat-Golem-80." The AG80 article was effectively a product specification for a build-it-yourself Z80-based front-panel S100 machine. Seven pages of generalities. Arrrgh. As always, thanks. Rich ----------------------------------- [ Rich Cini/WUGNET [ ClubWin!/CW7 [ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking [ Collector of "classic" computers [ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ <---------------------------- reply separator

24 years, 7 months

[HP3000-L] HP3000 Classics - Looking for a good home (fwd)

by lance＠costanzo.net

Sorry about this. Was meant to go only to Stan. Long day. At 04:47 PM 8/31/99 -0700, you wrote: >buncha junk! :) Lance Costanzo Advant, Inc. 1-800-824-8418 lance(a)advantinc.com Support Solutions for HP Systems http://www.advantinc.com

24 years, 7 months

[HP3000-L] HP3000 Classics - Looking for a good home (fwd)

by lance＠costanzo.net

buncha junk! :) lance Lance Costanzo Advant, Inc. 1-800-824-8418 lance(a)advantinc.com Support Solutions for HP Systems http://www.advantinc.com

24 years, 7 months

FSOT: Decmate II word processing SW

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I picked up three slip cases of DecMate II word processing software that I don't need. I'll sell it or trade it for something that I can use. The cases and manuals have some water damage and a few of the pages are stuck together but most of the damage is cosmetic. I didn't see any disks so it's cases and manuals only. Box 1: Word Processing, the Basics. Box 2: Word Processing options, Word Processing using Math. Box 3: Word Processing User's Guide. Make an offer if you're interested or it goes back to the dumpster. Joe

24 years, 7 months

[HP3000-L] HP3000 Classics - Looking for a good home (fwd)

by sieler2＠allegro.com

Hi, Posted on the HP3000-L mailing list: Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 11:56:49 -0400 > From: Larry Folk <LarryFolk(a)KLINESTEEL.COM> > Subject: [HP3000-L] HP3000 Classics - Looking for a good home > > Looking for good homes for the following: > > 1 - HP3000 series 70 > 1 - HP3000 series 52 > 4 - 7937 disc drives > 3 - 7963 disc drives > 1 - 2617 line printer > 1 - 7974 tape drive > > All in working order....will be decommissioned soon! > > You pay packing/shipping cost and save us landfill space! > > Also have numerous 710 and 735 systems, multiplexers and miscellaneous > "stuff" available. > > ============================================================== > Larry Folk Kline Iron & Steel Co., Inc. > Information Systems Manager 1225 Huger Street > 803-251-8026 Fax 803-251-8080 Columbia, SC 29201 > Mailto:larryfolk@klinesteel.com http://www.klinesteel.com > ============================================================== -- Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com http://www.allegro.com/sieler/

24 years, 7 months

FPGAs and PDP-11's

by edick＠idcomm.com

These problems have arisen from the unfortunate fact that they're easy to fix, though it's not very efficient use of the silicon. Since there's plenty of it, not many of us are concerned about that any more. Since there's a pipeline register in every CLB, you might as well build your circuits as synchronous ones. See my comments below, please. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, August 30, 1999 7:28 PM Subject: Re: FPGAs and PDP-11's >> In times pretty much gone by, one ran the risk of having the FPGA pinout >> change due to rerouting. Todays tools generally support pin-locking, i.e. >> firmly binding the signal to a predefined pin, shuffling other resources >> instead of reassigning pins when rerouting a circuit. This can, however, >> impact timing. READ THE FINE PRINT! > >Any FPGA tool that doesn't let you assign pins yourself is fundamentally >broken IMHO. The whole point of an FPGA is that you can make changes to >the logic (and thus fix bugs) without having to redesign the PCB. > Choosing the pins at the outset isn't as important to me as choosing to have them remain what they become after the first route. > >Every FPGA tool I've used has let you assign a pin number to the I/O points. > >However, that's not what I was refering to. I was talking about the fact >that when you make a change to the circuit, the compiler will probably >re-route internal signals. Adding an output counts as a change, of course. > >And when it re-routes signals, said signals will change in timing. And >when that happens, you have the possibility, in a badly designed circuit, >of getting glitches. > I'd make two points about these comments. They're right, of course, seen in the proper light, but they're really not the case at all. Taking the second one first, synchronous circuits do not produce glitches. By definition, the outputs are clocked at the same rate as the inputs, which are, if properly designed, clocked so as to let the signals settle between clocks, there can be no glitches. Outputs are clocked, not gated. It's possible to build circuits which have glitches, but not recommended. With a synchronous circuit, the only concern, and it is significant, is the clock skew. Careful planning and cautious design can minimize/mitigate this risk. Additionally, though my experience with this phenomenon is limited, it was considered advisable to let the software determine the pinouts on the first pass through the routing process, thereby making the timing constraints the primary priority for the router to manage. Subsequent routes, particularly changes to other parts of the circuits than the critical pinouts, can be allowed to be automatically assigned as well later, but the important pins held constant, or locked. Since these routing algorithms do strange things, it's still possible you won't get the pin assignment you prefer, your odds are improved in this way. > >[....] > >> >I've done this many times (in fact, IMHO it's the _only_ way to see what >> >an FPGA circuit is really doing), but a word of warning : >> > >> >When you add the extra outputs, you recompile the circuit and probably >> >change the routing of some signals. Now, these signals will therefore >> >suffer different routing delays which means that glitches may move about, >> >appear 'from nowhere' or vanish. > Glitches can only occur when transient signals are propagated through a combinatorial stage. If circuits are pipelined correctly (meaning for the circuit in particular, not according to some cookbook) decoders' inputs will be registered, and their outputs will also be registered, hence, they can't generate glitches. Routing delays must be considered, and the skew of the clock can, therefore engender routing races, but these must be taken into account when computing the system clock rate. The clock must be chosen such that it doesn't allow such glitching. Metastability can also become a risk when different segments of a circuit are clocked with different generations of the same clock or with entirely different ones. Mitigation for those hazards must also be provided. > >> >Yes, I know that a well-designed FPGA circuit won't have problems with >> >routing delays. But if you're new to FPGA design, especially if you've >> >done a lot with TTL, you won't expect your wires to give sigificant >> >(longer than switching time of a gate) delays. > >-tony >

24 years, 7 months

old com 64 (fwd)

by siconic＠jasmine.psyber.com

Here's someone with a C64 system they want to get rid of. Please contact the owner for details. Reply-to: NHansen132(a)aol.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 15:04:08 EDT From: NHansen132(a)aol.com To: vcf(a)vintage.org Subject: old com 64 I have a Commodore 64 with monitor, ram expansion, floppy drive and software. Are you interested? ;~) Nancy Hansen~nhansen132(a)aol.com Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)verio.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Puttin' the smack down on the man! Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0! See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details [Last web site update: 08/17/99]

24 years, 7 months

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test-drb August 1999