In a message dated 09/02/1999 7:05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes:
> I've heard that there are knifes available that can be used in them to
> cut strip lines on copper PCB and knifes for cutting out vinyl and other
> materials but I don't know what they cost or where you can get them. Does
> anyone know any more about them?
>
> Joe
Hmm -- most vinyl cutters are in reality just cheap single-pen plotters with
the equivalent of an Exacto knife in them. Check with wholesale suppliers of
machines for the signage or awards industries and you should be able to turn
up someone who can provide a cutting tool which will come close to -- if not
exactly match -- the holders for your pens.
Or, you can e-mail me off-list & I'll point you in the right direction.
Glen
0/0
> My name is Bo Zimmerman. I've been collecting computers (and calculators,
> and disk drives, and printers, etc, etc) made by Commodore Business Machines
> for about three years, with my primary interest being programming and
> tinkering (upgrading, networking, etc.) If anyone is amused by such things,
> I maintain a web site of my collection at
> http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/index.html.
Welcome to the list! I grew up on the PET, and there are several other CBM
people on the list. Larry Anderson is our resident expert, I think.
> My question concerns insurance, and is the reason I was referred to this
> fine gathering. Does anyone here carry insurance against fire (or theft?!)
> for their collections?
IIRC my home contents insurance doesn't cover my collection. I intend to change
that... man~ana...
When I brought a Tek 4052 to the USA for the VCF last year, I insured it for
2000 pounds (about $3000 US), which cost me 100 pounds just for the 2 weeks I
was out of the UK. With a policy excess of 100 pounds, I didn't bother claiming
for the minor chassis bends and keyboard damamge when the airline dropped it.
It still worked, after all!
I don't know whether my insurance experience is typical. Anyone else?
Philip.
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There's no doubt that there were several really good CP/M machines out there
but I suppose when you say CP/M "machine" you're not referring to the boxes
built to order by the dealers. These were often S-100 boxes with Cromemco
boards, running 5-6 MHz using ultra-fast PERSCI 8" floppies and PRIAM or
similarly big and expensive hard disks. Soldier of Fortune magazine had two
boxes built with Systems Group boards, in CCS mainframes and using KONAN
SMC-100 adapters to their CDC Lark SMD drives.
Unquestionably, if you're looking for a computer "brand" it would have to be
either a Kaypro or, of course, the Apple-II, with a Z-80 card, 16K memory
add-on, SVA 8" drive controller, and the VIDEX or similar 24x80 display
board. You could actually use that for useful work. At the age I'd reached
by 1980, (35) I was still able to read the Kaypro display, however, but the
full-sized one normally used with the Apple][ was easier to use. In any
case, I read somewhere that there were as many Apple ][ machines running
CP/M as any other single system.
I never learned to like them, though . . .
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim <DD950(a)prodigy.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: Best CP/M machine?
>No Doubt about it, you need a Kaypro.
>
>They came with just about all the software you would need to run a small
>office, Wordstar, DataStar, DB2, Basic and the list went on.
>
>They were very reliable. I used mine right up until 1991. The Kaypro 2X I
>had bought in 1984 ran WordStar faster than the IBM Xt's.
>
>As they were the portables of the day, it will take up less space than some
>of the other CP/M machines of the time period.
>
>My two cents.
>
>Jim
>
>
>"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer,
>a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and
>explode once a year, killing everyone inside."
>( Robert X. Cringely, "InfoWorld" )
>
>
>
>
>
Hi!
just wanted to let you know that there was a major
update of the HomeComputer-Museum web-pages.
During the last months I took a lot of photos
(computers and especially boxes) and finally
have quite a few pictures of the HCM machines
on the web.
You may want to have a look and maybe you even
consider putting a LINK to the HCM at your own web page!
BTW: I am always interested in trading some computers!
Stefan Walgenbach,
http://www.HomeComputer.de
mailto:Stefan@HomeComputer.de
>>>I had one fellow describe to me how he rigged his pen in the 7475 so he
>>>could draw his PCB layouts directly on the copper. That certainly wouldn't
>>>work with my inkjet printer!
>>
>> I've heard that there are knifes available that can be used in them to
>>cut strip lines on copper PCB and knifes for cutting out vinyl and other
>>materials but I don't know what they cost or where you can get them. Does
>>anyone know any more about them?
>>
>> Joe
>
> Gerber, I think, used to have a system using a tiny router (like a drill
> bit, except designed to cut sideways) to cut out circuit traces for board
> prototyping.
>
> Roland packaged a system with a plotter and swiveling exacto knife "pen"
> that most sign shops used to cut letters for banners etc.
I think Mike has hit the nail on the head here. Unlike a pen, a knife only
works in one direction. The "pen" of a cutting plotter MUST swivel for it to
work - and giving it some degree of caster to swivel itself loses accuracy
really fast.
I like the idea of a router in the pen part of a plotter - but it's a lot of
mass for the pen carriage to move around!
Philip.
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This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept
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Power Technology Centre, Ratcliffe-on-Soar,
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Does anyone know of any possible sources in the Syracuse, New York area
that they'd be willing to share / divulge / point at? I'm particularly
watching for DEC Q-bus goodies....
Thanks...
Stan
In a message dated 9/2/99 9:11:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
rexstout(a)uswest.net writes:
> So, now I have an Amiga 500 with p/s, A520 video adaptor
> and what looks like a printer cable. No disks :-(, but it did have the
> original box(wow! a 7MHz 68000 and 512K RAM!!!). Also got a C64 with 1541
> drive, two joysticks and probably 50-70 disks(haven't gotten around to
> counting. But hey, Pac-Man is in there!). The C64 seems to be working just
> fine(not sure about the drive yet), but the Amiga isn't. When I finally
> figured out how the A520 worked, all I could get on my Apple composite
> monitor was a green screen with a blank area at the top(looked kinfa like
> the video is off a bit inside the monitor, which is partially true but it's
> not THAT bad... just some hidden text on the edge usually) which blinks
> maybe every 10-15 seconds or so. No sounds, no text, not really any video
> at all. The power light is kinda flashing, maybe once every second or
> two(haven't timed it yet). Any ideas on what's wrong? I'll hold off on the
> how do I use it questions until after I finish raiding the local library of
> the computer books, but feel free to send me any tips and tricks for these
> systems...
>
hmmm, if you have the A520 adaptor plugged in, you should be using the RF out
plug, or least that's what i used on mine. the amiga wont beep, but the disk
drive shoud be polling for a system disk; you should hear it. the screen
should show a hand holding a disk that says WORKBENCH.
power light certainly shouldnt flash! check to see if there's a memory wedge
installed undneath the computer. It's under the trap door. try taking it out
for testing.
Jake:
On Thu, 2 Sep 1999 01:31:26 -0400 (EDT) Jacob Ritorto <jritorto(a)nut.net>
writes:
<Cool stuff about MIX C ala c-128 SNIPed>
> PS. I'm still M$ free, BTW, but I sold out about three years ago and
> now use commodity hardware w/FreeBSD in addition to my pdp11s running
> 2BSD
You've aroused my interest with this. You run *BSD in a PDP-11? WHich
model PDP do you have that does this? I have a lead on an 11/73 I can
probably get for next to nothing (with a SCSI HD controller!).
I presume you're running Net/2 or some derivative thereof.
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.
How about the Dimension 68K? CP/M _and_ Apple, TRS-80 and MS-Dos all in one
machine with a separate floppy drive for each.
Neil Morrison
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [SMTP:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk]
> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 5:15 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: Best CP/M machine? -- sorry
>
> > You recently posted a message which only contained the text from my
> original
> > inquiry -- an editing error, perhaps? If so how about resending your
> reply?
>
> Ooops!!!
>
> Here you are
>
> -------------------------------------------
>
> > What was the best CP/M based machine for business? Are applications and
>
> > utilities still obtainable? What about development tools and
> documentation?
> >
> > Your opinions, please.
>
> I am going to leave out all the S100 machines. Not because I don't like
> them - I do. But an S100 machine is really defined by what cards you put
> in it, rather than the box. And thus there are far too many choices to
> reasonably commment on.
>
> OK, so restricting the list to essentially pre-configured machines, and
> remembering that I'm a hardware hacker, the ones I particularly like are :
>
>
> The Epson QX10. It's got up to 256K of bank-switched RAM. It's got an NEC
> 7220 graphics chip and a bitmapped display (on which it supports multiple
> text fonts). It's got the wonderful Epson voice-coil floppy drives.
>
> The DEC Rainbow. A twin-processor machine, Z80 and 8088. You can run
> CP/M-80 programs on the Z80, with 62K (IIRC) of memory. There's an
> optional bitmapped colour card with (yet again) an 7220.
>
> There were 'business' progams (spreadsheets, word processors, etc) for
> both of those. Development tools (at least an assembler) should be
> available somewhere.
>
> -tony
>
> I remember you mentioning the PMI modification that makes the >11/73
into an 11/83 on INFO-pdp11 a few years ago. Could you please give
>step-by-step instructions on doing that here? Does 2.11BSD have the
>smarts to use this, or is it a wholly-hardware-incarnated thing? I
>notice my '73 lagging a bit on memory-intensive stuff.
All it takes is a KDJ11-B, the proper memory, and the proper ordering
of the CPU and memory in the backplane. I've forgotten the exact
designation for the memory, I think it is MSV11-J or MSV11-Q..
(don't quote me... I have to check)
The memory boards are placed in the bus before the CPU... if you have
one memory board, it goes in slot 1 and the CPU in slot 2. If you
have two memory boards, they go in slots 1 and 2 and the CPU goes
in slot 3.
Use of PMI is entirely hardware-related, with no specific software
support required to enable it.
I have three machines so configured.
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
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