test-drb September 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

160 participants
610 discussions

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Wed, 15 Sep 1999 10:05:24 -0400 (EDT) allisonp(a)world.std.com writes: > > I have one of these. Does anyone know how it's hooked up? > > Anybody got the S/W for this thing? Supposedly, you can > > write any format on the planet with this thing. I've > > Nope, only softsector formats that used standard address marks. > That leaves out apple, some CBM, Most heath H89 and all northstar systems > at least. Now see, I was *certain* that the whole original purpose of this critter was to copy Apple floppies using a PeeCee. I guess it's not that useful after all. > > heard that it won't run i faster, newer machines. Does > > anyone know what the limitations are? > > The board is slow, make sure the ISA bus transactions are set up to > not exceed 8mhz and also there should be IO waits. Bet best is to find > and use an old 386 or 486. Hah! You think everybody's got 386's and 486's laying around?! Sheesh! :^) I'd use one of my 286's for this job-- assuming it could do anything useful. Peace. Jeff > > Allison > > ___________________________________________________________________ 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

Older Intel CPUs (was Re: Central Point Option floppy controller)

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- allisonp(a)world.std.com wrote: > > > and use an old 386 or 486. > > > > Hah! You think everybody's got 386's and 486's laying around?! Sheesh! > > :^) > > I'd use one of my 286's for this job-- assuming it could do anything > > useful. > > Live with it. Before I got a decent PC everyone assumed I had a Pentium. > In the mean time look in dumpsters and garbage pails for your 386, they > seems to be worthless here (Eastern MA). I've seen 12 Mhz 286 motherboards w/memory for sale at local shows for under $10. *Finding* intact 286 systems is much harder. Personally, I stick with stuff that will run Linux as a baseline of new stuff to aquire for day-to-day work (like the 486DLC w/16Mb I got for under $20 that's now a webcam running Linux from a floppy. The only reason I paid anything for it was for the 4Mb parity 30-pin SIMMs and the ultra-tiny form-factor motherboard - 1/2 Baby AT sized). I tend toward XT-class and 386-class machines, depending on the use. I never really got into 286's. -ethan === Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away in February. 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

Tandy Computers

by morrison＠t-iii.com

I called a buddy at the local Rad Shack repair depot and asked if they had any old repair manuals for the 8bit computers, pockets etc that they no longer wanted. I heard the saddest thing one can hear "We threw them all in the dumpster a month ago!" So if you have an R/S depot near you, you might want to try them and see what they may give away. Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com

25 years, 3 months

Central Point Option floppy controller

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Actually, I would avoid a 286 with the Central Point board unless you're very familiar with the particular machine's architecture. Many 286 boxes had bus speeds greater than 8 MHz As AMD and others produced 286 chips up to 12 MHz & higher, a lot of manufacturers simply kept the bus at processor speed. Those machines were incompatible with a lot of cards. By the 386 days, they went back down to 8 MHz and kept it ever since. -----Original Message----- From: allisonp(a)world.std.com [mailto:allisonp@world.std.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 10:41 AM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: Re: Central Point Option floppy controller > Now see, I was *certain* that the whole original purpose of this critter > was to copy Apple floppies using a PeeCee. I guess it's not that > useful after all. Since 90% of the apple format is done in 6502 software anything that reads that would ahve a 6502 or one of it's clones by inference. > > and use an old 386 or 486. > > Hah! You think everybody's got 386's and 486's laying around?! Sheesh! > :^) > I'd use one of my 286's for this job-- assuming it could do anything > useful. Live with it. Before I got a decent PC evenone assumed I had a Pentium. In the mean time look in dumpsters and garbage pails for your 386, they seems to be worthless here (Eastern MA). A 286 should be fine for use with that board if their software doesn't require it. I'd bet they don't need more than that. Allison

25 years, 3 months

Central Point Option floppy controller

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> Now see, I was *certain* that the whole original purpose of this critter >> was to copy Apple floppies using a PeeCee. I guess it's not that >> useful after all. >Since 90% of the apple format is done in 6502 software anything that reads >that would ahve a 6502 or one of it's clones by inference. I understood that at least the nicer Central Point Option Boards (there were several different ones made) don't have any data decoder in hardware at all. The hardware simply records when transitions take place, and then pass this list to the software that does the decoding. (The Catweasel seems to work on the same principle, but it doesn't come with the decoding software...) -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

25 years, 3 months

Central Point Option floppy controller

by edick＠idcomm.com

Since PC's use MFM on their floppies and are, at the hardware level, capable of MFM and FM, and the Apple ][ uses neither, it's unlikely you'll succeed taking that approach. I recommend using an Apple][ with the Z80 card running CP/M and MODEM7 <=> Terminal or HYPERTERMINAL on your PC running Windows. DOS will work if you use Pocomm or TELIX. Other comm programs are likely to work also. That's the least painful way I can envision, since the APPLE diskettes are totally foreign to "standard" modulation schemes used with FD's and their controllers. It would not surprise me to learn that there's an easy way to do this same thing with LINUX as well. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Jeffrey l Kaneko <jeff.kaneko(a)juno.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 8:34 AM Subject: Re: Central Point Option floppy controller > > >On Wed, 15 Sep 1999 10:05:24 -0400 (EDT) allisonp(a)world.std.com writes: >> > I have one of these. Does anyone know how it's hooked up? >> > Anybody got the S/W for this thing? Supposedly, you can >> > write any format on the planet with this thing. I've >> >> Nope, only softsector formats that used standard address marks. >> That leaves out apple, some CBM, Most heath H89 and all northstar >systems >> at least. > >Now see, I was *certain* that the whole original purpose of this critter >was to copy Apple floppies using a PeeCee. I guess it's not that >useful after all. > >> > heard that it won't run i faster, newer machines. Does >> > anyone know what the limitations are? >> >> The board is slow, make sure the ISA bus transactions are set up to >> not exceed 8mhz and also there should be IO waits. Bet best is to find > >> and use an old 386 or 486. > >Hah! You think everybody's got 386's and 486's laying around?! Sheesh! >:^) >I'd use one of my 286's for this job-- assuming it could do anything >useful. > > >Peace. > >Jeff > >> >> Allison >> >> > >___________________________________________________________________ >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

Central Point Option floppy controller

by morrison＠t-iii.com

My buddy has one of these. It works fine in an older computer, but fails in a faster one. I may have to rebuild my 12MHz 286 to run it. Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Ford [SMTP:mikeford@socal.rr.com] > Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 1:33 AM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Central Point Option floppy controller > > Given the current discussion, has anyone looked the Central Point "copy > card" floppy controller over? > > I am looking at one of mine right now, and to my limited "PC" eyes it > seems > fairly normal. Barely the length of a short ISA slot, with fingers on a > edge connector as well as a set of header pins for the floppy drive cable. > It has one main chip: > > Transcopy 3 c CPS > TC19GO32AP-0036 > Japan 8819EA! the ! could be just a vertical line. > > Its about 8051 sized, maybe 60 pins. There is a 48 khz crystal, and a 1987 > copyright. Two sets of jumpers seem to select between PC/XT and AT/Compaq, > another set looks like DMA1 or DMA2. > > Remaining chips are a LS245 to the ISA bus, a 7406 by the PC/XT jumpers, > and a 8812S UM8326B next to the crystal. > > This is one of the cards I check every old PC I see for. >

25 years, 3 months

HP 7475 Plotter

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

On Monday, September 13, 1999 6:53 PM, JAMES WEBSTER [SMTP:jwebste3@bellsouth.net] wrote: > Gene, > > I do not own one of these plotters. But from my notes, > Windows 9x has native drivers for the HP7475 and HP7550 > plotters. How functional they are, I do not know. From > the Control Panel select Add Printer and proceed from > there. I would be interested in knowing how well the > native driver works. Thanks! > Jim Webster I've used a HP 7550 with the Microsoft WIN 95 drivers and it works very well. Steve Robertson - <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

25 years, 3 months

Central Point Option floppy controller

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Actually, the Deluxe Option Board will copy Apple II diskettes. I've tested this myself. As far as I can tell, it will copy absolutely any soft-sector format, and there is even a bit-by-bit mode that will sometimes work on some hard sector disks. I'll be bringing my Compaq PC (a.k.a. Portable I, 8088 with the dual full-height 5-1/4" floppies) to the VCF. It has a Deluxe Option Board installed and an internal 3.5" IDE HD run by a Silicon Valley IDE controller with BIOS. The hard drive is there so I can load the Option Board software without a lot of floppy swapping. It'll be set up as a free diskette-copying station. Kai -----Original Message----- From: allisonp(a)world.std.com [mailto:allisonp@world.std.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 7:05 AM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: Re: Central Point Option floppy controller > I have one of these. Does anyone know how it's hooked up? > Anybody got the S/W for this thing? Supposedly, you can > write any format on the planet with this thing. I've Nope, only softsector formats that used standard address marks. That leaves out apple, some CBM, Most heath H89 and all northstar systems at least. > heard that it won't run i faster, newer machines. Does > anyone know what the limitations are? The board is slow, make sure the ISA bus transactions are set up to not exceed 8mhz and also there should be IO waits. Bet best is to find and use an old 386 or 486. Allison

25 years, 3 months

Central Point Option floppy controller

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 9/15/99 9:55:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time, jeff.kaneko(a)juno.com writes: > I have one of these. Does anyone know how it's hooked up? > Anybody got the S/W for this thing? Supposedly, you can > write any format on the planet with this thing. I've > heard that it won't run i faster, newer machines. Does > anyone know what the limitations are? > > Jeff i have something called the deluxe option board. it allows: exchange data with mac users if 3.5 drive is installed. copy copy protected disks. make copies of non-IBM formats as long as they are not copy protected. edit tracks on any disk. the book says it's compatible with anything of that time. (PC->386) d -->this message printed on recycled disk space. visit the computers of yesteryear at: http://members.aol.com/suprdave/classiccmp/museum.htm

25 years, 3 months

← Newer
1
...
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
...
61
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb September 1999