test-drb September 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

160 participants
610 discussions

Monitor tilt - fixed! (blushing very deeply)

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Ok - ok - you can all stop laughing now! :) (about me trying to turn the tube). I never touched a monitor before and don't know electronically how they work at all. Hence, my question. The biggest reason I didn't turn the coil part others were talking about was that it had a big line of hotglue around it, so it looked to me like it was supposed to stay put. I went back and delicately removed the line of glue, and the coil thingy turns easily. The picture is now perfect - so thanks a MILLION to all who responded (and didn't laugh too loudly <grin>). One last question if I can impose.... should I get out the hot glue gun and put another line of glue where the tube meets the coil in addition to tightening down the hose clamp doodad, or should I just skip the glue? Actually, it might not be glue, it looks like clear caulk. THANKS! Jay West

25 years, 3 months

Tek40xx setup mode info re-rqst

by bsa3＠cornell.edu

Someone posted instructions for the setup mode of Tek 40xx series graphical terminals fairly recently, but I can't seem to find said message in the archives. Could the original poster please email a copy of that message to me or repost to the list? -- Brad Ackerman N1MNB "...faced with the men and women who bring home bsa3(a)cornell.edu the pork, voters almost always re-elect them." http://skaro.pair.com/ -- _The Economist_, 31 Oct 1998

25 years, 3 months

HP DraftMaster I

by edick＠idcomm.com

My plotter, admittedly not exactly identical, but VERY similar, requires that you load the paper, press the button that says "chart hold" or some such, then, after allowing the plotter to look for the edges of the paper (an important step because it initializes the origin to the center of the paper), press "on-line" at which time the DTR light becomes really important. Now, the plotter will work from a null-modem arrangement if you use X-on/x-off but I've had my best luck with the cable hooked up differently. I'd go into detail, but that was with the old v3.22 OrCad drafting utility and it had to have a specially wired cable to work correctly. I've also opened the box and socketed and replaced the components on the little serial interface board, which uses a Z-80 Dart and some 1488 and 1489 drivers and receivers. If this little comm interface module isn't happy, the whole plotter knows about it and doesn't work well. Back in the late '80's, when I got mine, the HP support for these (they were still selling them) was terrible. No one really knew what was necessary to make them work. Nowadays, there's nobody there who'll even talk about them. If you want to test the thing thoroughly, you'll have to get some of the toilet paper that fits it, (mine only uses cut forms) making sure you still have the cutoff blade located in the little groove at the front and then load the paper in the paper path (straighforward, assume the obvious) and then send it various drawings which use different size paper in different orientation. These machines will feed the appropriate amount, but don't mind wasting paper, i.e. they feed the 36"-wide paper 14-15" for a portrait 'A'-size form, wasting most of the paper. That was the reason I got the single-sheet version. I don't need it to run all night unattended, but I do have to pay for the paper. You'll see that's not cheap. That may explain why the drawings in most manuals are so difficult to read, having been reduced from already-too-small drawings. The manuals may still be available somewhere, but I would get right on trying to find them if I were you. I made the purchase of my plotter contingent on complete manuals, so they were included. That became a condition after I found that Martin Marietta, after buying 20 or so of these still hadn't received a complete set of manuals even though each plotter was supposed to come with them. If you have access to a Windows box with AutoCad 12 on it (I don't have a later version to try this) you should be able to put it through its paces, as that has an internal plotter driver which operates independently of the one in WIndows. I've had no luck at all getting the Windows driver to do anything. I suspect (after watching the lights on the breakout box) that there is some incompatibility in the way they work their handshaking. Perhaps the '488 port will work for you, if you've got one with drivers in your system. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Doug Spence <hrothgar(a)total.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 2:43 AM Subject: Re: HP DraftMaster I >On 31-Aug-99, Richard Erlacher wrote: > >>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. > >So I guess this is simultaneously my cheapest (free) and most expensive >($10,000) piece of computer equipment. :) > >>There are drivers for Windows, ><snip> > >I'll have to see if there's a proper driver for AmigaOS. I don't do >Windows (at least not yet!). > >>Pens from third parties are readily available and the device >>operates as either DCE or DTE via RS232, or HPIB. > >I thought the thing wasn't working until I thought to try connecting it >up via a null modem instead of a standard serial cable. My null modem >doesn't carry the flow control lines, though, so I can overflow the >plotter's buffer at 19,200bps. If I play with the settings I might be >able to fix that, though. (There are quite a few menu items in there!) > >>Dick > > >-- >Doug Spence Hrothgar's Cool Old Junk Page: >hrothgar(a)total.net http://www.total.net/~hrothgar/museum/ >

25 years, 3 months

Monitor tilt - return it? FOLLOWUP QUESTION

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Thanks to all for the advice on fixing the monitor tilt problem. Followup question: I'm probably being overcautious - monitors have always scared me due to the high possibility of shock hazzard. I believe it was Tony who said to basically unscrew the "hose clamp like" ring, then gently turn the tube end to adjust the screen. I'm doing this with power off because I'm a chicken (and I still realize there's some voltage lurking around). On this monitor, the "hose clamp like ring" unscrews easily. The ring itself was spread slightly (mechanics piston ring expander type tool). I can tell the clamp is quite loose. On the very end of the tube is a small circuit board, about 2 inches by two inches. This is soldered directly onto the 7 or so pins in a circle on the back of the tube. Not wanting to touch the tube, I figured I'd just gently turn the circuit card on the back. I have applied as much pressure as possible without running the risk of bending or breaking the pins coming out of the tube and into the circuit card. The thing won't turn. I just wanted to double check with folks here and make sure I wasn't trying to turn the end of the whole picture tube off! Suggestions? TIA! Jay West

25 years, 3 months

FW: DEC plus lots of other for sale

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Found on Usenet. Anyone interested, please contact this fellow directly. -=-=- <snip> -=-=- On Wed, 01 Sep 1999 16:30:34 -0600, in comp.sys.dec you wrote: >>From: geomac(a)hop-uky.campuscwix.net (George McCouch) >>Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec >>Subject: DEC plus lots of other for sale >>Date: Wed, 01 Sep 1999 16:30:34 -0600 >>Organization: W3GEO >>Lines: 42 >>Message-ID: <geomac-0109991630340001(a)s03-pm28.snwestsac.campuscwix.net> >>NNTP-Posting-Host: s03-pm28.snwestsac.campuscwix.net >>X-Newsreader: MT-NewsWatcher 2.4.4 >>Path: news1.jps.net!news-west.eli.net!news.sisna.com!pants.skycache.com!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gctr.net!newsfeed.mathworks.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!news.campuscwix.net!geomac >>Xref: news1.jps.net comp.sys.dec:469 >> >>For Sale >> >>We have just upgraded our editorial front end system and our business >>system an have the following surplus equipment. >> >>25 - 286 PCs mostly AST with thicknet network cards, some VGA cards, and >>hard disk >> drives >>7 - 386 PCs AST but some generic (some 3.5 drives but mostly 5.25 floppy >>drives) >>12 - black and white and VGA monitors (mixed) >>6 - Arc net hubs >> core tape backup units >> Keyboards (these things did not have mouse cards!) >>20+ Sealed boxes of DOS 3.3 and Xywrite (word processor) >> >>2 - Varityper 5000 >>2 - Tegra XP 1000 >>2 - RTI 8400 Compugraphics emulators >>Several Racal modems >> >>DEC PDP 11/44 mainframe unit >>2 - RA 80 Drives >>1- TU 80 9 track tape unit >>Some VT 100 terminals >> >>This system was a newspaper editorial system from ATEX (formally DeWars Systems) >>The PDP was a newspaper business system. >> >>Want to move all of it, not inclined to separate. >>Located in Hopkinsville KY >> >>Everything was working when we decommissioned it on 8/28/99 And we were >>putting out a daily paper and several weekly papers with it for 9 years. >> >>Make an offer (please) >>Will consider donating to school or other institution who can use this stuff >> >> >>For More Information Please Call >>Richard Shepherd or George McCouch At: >>Kentucky New Era Inc. 270-886-4444 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com "...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."

25 years, 3 months

This is getting annoying

by bill＠chipware.com

Once again, no messages since yesterday 8/31/99 at 5 PM. Am I the only one who keeps getting kicked off? Bill Sudbrink

25 years, 3 months

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

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> back. The rollers and paint were even in good condition. After chatting a >> bit, the seller said we should make an offer. While I was pondering if he >> would take $50 or $100 for it and if I could justify that (I was in grad >> school at the time), my wife piped up and asked "How about $15?" My college >> chum and I just stood dumbfounded while the seller thought for a second and >> said "Ok." And that's how I ended up with my rack. > >I've found that making lowball offers sometimes is the *best* way to get >things from certain surplus outfits. Two places that I frequent seem to have >a tendency to accept offers for less than $25, but reject offers above that >amount (on similar sorts of items). My guess is that if you offer over $25, >they start to think that the item is valuable and that they should get a lot >of money for it. OTOH, I've learned that if you want to get rid of something, you shouldn't necessarily just say "it's free, come and get it". After all, many potential takers think that if it's free, it can't be all that desirable. But attach a price tag and all of a sudden folks want to come up and wheel and deal! -- 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

Monitor tilt - return it?

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

25 years, 3 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/

25 years, 3 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/ >

25 years, 3 months

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test-drb September 1999