Howdy folks. I've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands.
Included in my most recent rescue were a large number of 5.25" floppies
and data cassettes---on the order of perhaps a hundred to a hundred fifty
each. Only a handful of either are labeled in such a manner as to identify
the type of machine they work with.
It is safe to assume I have the hardware to use any of the media.
The possibilites include:
for 5.25" media: Apple II; Commodore VIC-20, C=64, or B128 (8050 drive);
Atari 8-bits; Heath H89A; OSI C1P; TRS-80 Model I
I'm assuming any hard-sectored media I find belongs to the Northstar
Advantage.
for data cassette: Apple II; Commodore VIC-20, or C=64; Atari 8-bits;
OSI C1P; TRS-80 Model I, or Color Computer; Tomy Tutor;
Coleco Adam; TI-99/4A; Spectravideo SVI 328
On top of this, there is the possibility that there are 'digital' data
tapes for the Meta-80 drive which works with the TRS-80. From what I can
tell, the cassettes are externally identical.
I could iteratively run the entire 'unknown' batch through each machine,
but it seems like the chance for error there is great, especially with the
cassettes.
Does anybody have any suggestions on how to do this so I end up with the
least chance of error and minimize any destruction of data?
Thanks.
ok
r.
Blah on all these lame PC (meaning personal and not necessarily IBM) pieces
of garbage... One of the Jurassic Park movies (the 2nd one I think), has a
Thinking Machines CM-5 in it... And I know there's an independant film that
has a VAX 11/750 in it, I even own that particular VAX (well until I give it
to Herr Stiebler).. that movie also feautres nifty IBM 3290 plasma display
panels, which I also own.
Will J
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
I think that the computer in Wierd Science was a Memotech FDX 500.
Rich
-----Original Message-----
From: Cameron Kaiser [mailto:spectre@stockholm.ptloma.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 11:39 AM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Vintage computers in movies
> >> > What was the computer they used in Weird Science? Didn't they use
> > > something
> >> > unusual in Ferris Buhler's Day Off(did I spell his last name
correctly?)
> >>
> >> I'm nearly certain Ferris had an IBM PC of some sort, and that the
> >> computer in Weird Science was a Commodore, of the VIC-20 or C=64
variety.
> >
> >Yeah, Ferris had a PC.
>
> The script at http://members.tripod.com/~MrHyde/ferris.txt claims:
>
> 52 INT. FERRIS' ROOM : Ferris is at his Macintosh computer. He
> has his record up on the screen.
>
> FERRIS
> I wanted a car. I got a computer. How's
> that for being born under a bad sign?
I distinctly remember that computer having a 5.25" floppy, and that doesn't
sound like a Mac to me :-)
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/
--
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University *
ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- I must confess, I was born at a very early age. -- Groucho Marx
------------
HP 2392A Terminals free for pickup or cost of shipping, pickup
preferred.
7 are located in Philadelphia, PA and 7 are in Tampa, FL. All are still
operational and include the original boxes.
Please contact Lisa Flores at Abtech Systems by phone or email to make
arrangements:
(800)474-7397 (Carlsbad, CA) or lisax.flores(a)xabtechsys.com (remove the
x's)
Arrangements should be made ASAP. There may be much more HP equipment
available in the future for free if this goes well. Abtech has HP and
Sun equipment, along with other things such as Netservers, PC's and
peripherals, etc. that are not worth shipping back to Carlsbad and may
become available to listmembers in the future.
Bill
I discharged my TV based on information I found on archives of this
mailing list and some over-the-phone advice from a friend. The only
difference was that I used a high-voltage probe instead of a resistor
(attached the ground to the ground braid and dsicharged from the metal
behind the suction cup).
I then did some looking around in the dark and my heater seems to be
malfunctioning... it doens't glow, it more sparks. The picture is really
light and fades away to black. It will occasionally come back but
usually fades again right away. So I looked along the little clear bulb
on the back of the crt and ther was a small block dot on one part that
looks like somethign underneith it had burned. The dot was about a cm in
diameter.. maybe 2, but it was very small. Does this mean the heater is
blown? If not is it a part I can buy and replace easily?
Thanks.
Phil
--
Insanity Palace of Metallica
www.ipom.com
webmaster(a)ipom.com
--
I was at the usergroup today and had a look at our Stride, which has been
parked in the entrance since we moved in. It is a grey tower (large), with a
pretty glass front featuring one 5?" flopyy drive and a tape drive. The back
is filled with a dozen or so of modular connectors, as well as another modular
marked LAN, and an unmarked IEC (?) connector.
I also found some manuals. Some were relevant to a system called Unistride (is
this an OS or a hardware system), whereas I directed my primpary interest to
one owner's manual for the Stride 400 series and one manual for the Liaison
Operating System with p-system. Another p-code system!
Judging from manual illustrations, we've got the Stride 460 system, albeit
lacking the terminal.
We don't have any boot media, though. After some investigation, it seems to
have been able to run a whole lot of OSes; Liaison/p-system, CP/M 68k as well
as System V.
Does anyone have some sources for boot media for this pretty system?
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
Isn't it true that several years ago Wang came up with a new customer
programme called "Wang Care" and the guy that came up with the name was
fired?
Anyway, whilst helping my company clear out its electronics test shop I came
away with a few goodies, namely a couple of MicroVAX 2000s, a boxed IBM PS/2
laptop, a 100mhz Oscilloscope, a VR262 mono monitor, a VT220, a huge bundle
of VAX and PDP cards, complete (I think) boardset for an RL02 drive AND a
box containing some read/write heads, some MicroVAX 3100 memory (20mb! Woo),
floppy controller and motherboard for a PRO380 (with the possibility of the
machine itself coming too) and what I can only assume is a CPU testbed. It's
an Amtron 386 PC with an interface card and strange 4 pin power-out sockets
that connect to an array of long and heavy metal-encased boxes that have
umbilicals on with sockets or connectors to plug in the CPUs themselves.
I've got modules for 8086, 8088, 286, 386SX, 386DX, 486 and 68000
CPUs......haven't powered the machine up yet though.
Anyone come across one of these before?
As for that supposed prototype Apple 1 auction, the full size picture of it
is at http://www.sfcapital.com/ebay/full.jpg..... it just seems odd to me
that it's in a case when the final product didn't have one.....
adrian/witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the Online Computer Museum
> Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 18:39:07 +0000 (GMT)
> From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
> Subject: Re: Fw: Professors worry that engineering students
> don't tinker
>
> involved). You started out making a crystal set, then added a single
> audio stage (OC71), then a second stage (another OC71), then added a
> loudspeaker (using an LT700 output transformer). And finally
> you replaced
> the crystal detector with the OC45 regenerative stage.
>
> I think the book is still around, even if the transistors are hard to
> find now. I remember the son of a technician at a place I was
> working a
> few years back was building one -- I managed to find him some OC71s.
>
> I thought just about all UK hobbyists built this at one time
> or another...
Nope - I had (and still have) my Radio Shack crystal radio kit to tinker
with, followed by one of the Science Fair electronics kits where you had
loads of spring terminals and small jumper wires to build circuits
with......I found it the other day and it was dated 1973 :)
adrian/witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the Online Computer Museum
List member Bob Stek has OCR'd a very interesting article written
by Lee Felsenstein back in 1977 for ROM magazine. The subject
of the article is how the Sol was designed and implemented, and
the whirlwind events leading up to demoing the prototype.
The original article that Bob OCR'd was supplied by Ray Borrill,
whom I just turned onto this list and may be lurking.
Ray, if you are there, take a bow and introduce yourself. Ray has
had a long and interesting link to the now vintage micro field.
Check out the article:
http://www.thebattles.net/sol20/ROM_7_1977.pdf
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
Ok... I'm now looking for some information/docs on the latest addition to
the collection around the 'Garage': a Strand-Century Mini Light Palette
theatrical lighting control console circa 1984.
And before you ask, (cause I know you will) "what does this have to do
with 'classic' computers?" Let me tell you!
Beneath the somewhat utilitarian facade of this device, (pix soon
to come) and only hinted at by the dual nine inch monochrome displays,
hides a DEC Q-bus card cage, and an LSI-11 based microcomputer! Some
'standard' DEC cards, and a couple of custom cards make up the heart of
this unit. And while it does have a floppy drive (5.25 inch), its core
operating code resides on EPROM located on the CPU card.
The unit is functional, and my intent is to put it to work in the manner
in which it was intended. But, as with most things like this... Docs is
good! <G>
THanks!
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
