test-drb September 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

160 participants
610 discussions

by owad＠applefritter.com

I recall reading an article a while back about the possibility of building computers based on a number system other than two (octal, IIRC). If memory serves me right, it was found possible to do, but not practical and less efficient than binary. I now have need for some basic information on the possibility of non-binary computers, but am unable to find anything. Can anybody point me in the direction of some info? Thanks. Tom Owad ---------------------------Applefritter--------------------------- Apple prototypes, Apple II & early Mac clones, and the Compubrick. ------------------<http://www.applefritter.com/>------------------

25 years, 12 months

no rom basic

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

royston hill wrote: > > > > Hi ,can you assist .we have a old 386 with a conner 80 meg HD .We > needed > > to clean same and used the zero fill from disk manager on boot up. we > > got message NO ROM BASIC >SYSTEM HALTED we cannot find anything on > this > > error message.or what we did wrong ?????? regards from africa ROY > HILL Umm, perhaps I missed part of this thread, but the procedure is fairly simple . . . NO ROM BASIC means "no bootable operating system found." 1) Boot from a floppy which also has fdisk.exe and format.com on it. 2) After boot, run fdisk and DELETE any existing partitions. 3) Create a new, single partition which utilizes the entire drive and answer YES when asked if you want to make the partition active. 4) Exit fdisk. 5) Reboot from the floppy drive. 6) Execute the command FORMAT C: /S 7) Remove the disk from the floppy drive. 8) Reboot, and you should get a C: prompt. If not, check for viruses and try again. 9) If still no success, make sure the drive is properly configured (as "master" or "single drive" depending on your configuration). Also make sure that the CHS values have been properly entered into your system BIOS. 10) If still no success, try a different drive. Regards, Glen Goodwin 0/0

25 years, 12 months

no rom basic

by edick＠idcomm.com

One common cause for this message is the lack of an active partition on the boot drive. If you can attach this drive to another (preferably diskless) system and read it then perhaps the problem will be solved if you use FDISK to "make the partition active" before attempting to boot from it. Normally when you FDISK the drive, it automatically makes the partition active. If you have more than one partition, it could, depending on what the DOS version was, decide to let you tell it specifically, without asking whether you want the partition made active (which you can only do on the "boot" drive) after telling it how large to make a primary partition. Even the latest version leaves the partition inactive if you've specified you want to use less than the whole disk. It does prompt you to make the partition active or not, though. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Gene V. McNeil <cushite(a)earthlink.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, September 05, 1999 2:01 PM Subject: Re: no rom basic >I found this software that can fix the problem, it's called Hard Drive >Mechanic 3.0 & Bootable Rescue Disk. > >Made by Higher Ground Diagnostics, Inc. > >I think this will help, if its not to late. > >Gene >cushite(a)earthlink.net > > > >royston hill wrote: >> >> Hi ,can you assist .we have a old 386 with a conner 80 meg HD .We >needed >> to clean same and used the zero fill from disk manager on boot up. we >> got message NO ROM BASIC >SYSTEM HALTED we cannot find anything on >this >> error message.or what we did wrong ?????? regards from africa ROY >HILL > > >

25 years, 12 months

no rom basic

by cushite＠earthlink.net

I found this software that can fix the problem, it's called Hard Drive Mechanic 3.0 & Bootable Rescue Disk. Made by Higher Ground Diagnostics, Inc. I think this will help, if its not to late. Gene cushite(a)earthlink.net royston hill wrote: > > Hi ,can you assist .we have a old 386 with a conner 80 meg HD .We needed > to clean same and used the zero fill from disk manager on boot up. we > got message NO ROM BASIC >SYSTEM HALTED we cannot find anything on this > error message.or what we did wrong ?????? regards from africa ROY HILL

25 years, 12 months

evolution of misinformation (was: Computer Museum opens in San Diego

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> > A display case shows the progression of storage disks, starting wit <> > one from 1965 that's the size of a tractor-trailer tire. It held 2. <> > megabytes of data and had to be sandblasted to be erased. <> > Had to be sandblasted to be erased? Huh?? < <> We've seen that particular bit of silliness before. Once an authoritativ <> statement of wrong information is made, others will follow, and if/when <> challenged merely refer to the authority. < <I assumed that by "particular bit of silliness" you meant "the 'erased by <sandblasting' idea" but after a little thought, I realized that maybe you <just meant "the spreading of a patently false statement". Let us assume this was likely a military system where media destruction is commonplace. In that case sandblasting would certainly render it unreadable, permanently! Then again it may just be shear sillyness passed along. Allison

25 years, 12 months

esdi hard drive identification

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Jay, First the RQDXn series are NOT ESDI. They are vanilla MFM. So the common drives that work are: ST225 RD31 20mb C/H 615/4 St251 RD32 40mb 777/6 Quantum D540 RD52 30mb 512/8 Micropolus 1325 RD53 70mb 1024/8 Maxtor 2190 RD54 159mb 1224/15 NOTES: *ST251 are generally terrible for reliablity, The D540 is a better drive and much faster. *M1325 (the 1300 series!) are prone to problems with heat and age. The Cylinder and heads were given as a guide to picking other drives that may match. With the right cables and all a RQDX2 addresses 1 RX50 and two RDxx drives or 1 Teac fd55F(or GFR) plus 3 RDxx. In this case the TEAC drive is jumped to run as a single RX50 (slow spindle and single sided). Others may be possible but you will need the X11 formatter to make it work. Allison <One of the surplus stores in my area just got in a load of 5-1/4 form facto <hard drives. They look just like the ones my PDP-11/73's use (RD51 or 52, <can't recall). I believe my controller is a RQDX2, not a RQDX3. My drives <are 30mb. < <I was wondering, is there an easy way (short of looking up the model <numbers) to visually determine if any of the drives are ESDI and might wor <with my 11/73? < <Thanks! < <Jay West <

25 years, 12 months

QBus question

by kees.stravers＠iae.nl

On Thu, 2 Sep 1999 12:23:41 -0600 (MDT), vaxman(a)oldy.crwolff.com said: >In a previous messages (long since retired to /dev/null), someone >mentioned the QBus spec was in the PDP 11 bus handbook. The copies >I have (1979) have specs for the Unibus and the LSI-11 bus. Is >LSI-11 and QBus the same? or Similiar? If they are different, >what is the spec name/DEC part number I should look for. AFAIK the LSI-11 bus is a subset of the Qbus. Maybe these links will help you. Kees. http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/QBusConns.ps Q-bus connector pinouts http://www.telnet.hu/hamster/dr/qbus.html Qbus tutorial http://www.netbsd.org/Library/Hardware/Busses/Q-bus/index.html QBUS docs ftp://ftp.netbsd.org./pub/NetBSD/misc/ross/qbus/ QBUS design tips ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/hardware/ -- Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - kees.stravers(a)iae.nl http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/ my Computer Home page http://www.vaxarchive.org/ documentation on old VAX systems http://vaxarchive.sevensages.org/ VAXarchive mirror Net-Tamer V1.08.1 - Registered

25 years, 12 months

esdi hard drive identification

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>One of the surplus stores in my area just got in a load of 5-1/4 form factor >hard drives. They look just like the ones my PDP-11/73's use (RD51 or 52, >can't recall). I believe my controller is a RQDX2, not a RQDX3. My drives >are 30mb. If they're for use with a RQDX2 or 3, they'd better be MFM (ST-506) interface drives, not ESDI drives! The connectors are the same, but the signals are quite different. >I was wondering, is there an easy way (short of looking up the model >numbers) to visually determine if any of the drives are ESDI and might work >with my 11/73? Most any ST506 drive can be pressed into use with a RQDX1/2/3, with an appropriate low-level format (via XXDP's ZRQB?? or ZRQC?? formatter). The RD52 is a Quantum Q540 or an Atasi AT3046. Capacity around 30 Mbytes. There was also a CDC drive used, I'm not sure what the model number was. The RD53 is a Micropolis 1325 (early ones) or 1335 (later ones). Capacity around 65 Mbytes. The RD54 is a Maxtor XT2190. Capacity around 140 Mbytes. Won't work with a RQDX1/2, only a RQDX3. If you're really interested in pursuing the use of random MFM drives on your RQDX2 or RQDX3, pay close attention to the notes that Terry Kennedy has kept in ftp://ftp.spc.edu/third-party-disks.txt for the past decade or so. There are many details about the use of non-DEC-branded-drives, and in particular there are some suggestions for formatting them with XXDP. -- 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, 12 months

esdi hard drive identification

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

One of the surplus stores in my area just got in a load of 5-1/4 form factor hard drives. They look just like the ones my PDP-11/73's use (RD51 or 52, can't recall). I believe my controller is a RQDX2, not a RQDX3. My drives are 30mb. I was wondering, is there an easy way (short of looking up the model numbers) to visually determine if any of the drives are ESDI and might work with my 11/73? Thanks! Jay West

25 years, 12 months

FS: Apple IIe tech Ref manual

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

For sale: Apple IIe Technical Reference manual hardback with plastic covered dust jacket. The first couple of pages have been torn out (page v is the first page) otherwise it's in fine condition, no marked or damaged pages. $10 plus shipping. Joe

25 years, 12 months

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test-drb September 1999