test-drb December 2000

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

192 participants
490 discussions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 6, 22:21, Iggy Drougge wrote: > I'm getting increasingly interested in Acorn's Archimedes machines [...] > I'd also appreciate some pointers to other sources for Acorn RISC machines > other than the scarce auctions on eBay, as well as good starting systems in an > area with low add-ons availability. Look for A410, A420, A440, R140 (relatively rare), A540, or R260 because these are easy to expand and cheap. A 310 is a similar machine, but not designed for more than 1MB RAM (though you sometimes see them with 3rd party add-on RAM). The A5000 and 7000 are better but more expensive/less cheap. The A3xxx series are not designed to be expandable, and the A4000 is basically just an A3000 in a different box. comp.sys.acorn.hardware is a good newsgroup to watch. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

24 years, 1 month

Garbage dump computing

by optimus＠canit.se

A URL which might be useful: http://website.lineone.net/~dustbin2000/ -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6. "I'm all man underneath my skirt." Boy George

24 years, 1 month

2.88 mb floppy drives

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 7, 0:32, Iggy Drougge wrote: > On the topic of CD drives, were there any official IBM drives with a suitable > front for machines with a 5? slot like the PS/2 8085? Yes, there's an IBM rebadged Toshiba XM3301 (SCSI) -- I've got one. It has some odd IBM firmware, and doesn't behave quite like an ordinary 3301. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

24 years, 1 month

TS1000 gets $800 composite monitor

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/05/2000 9:00:18 PM Eastern Standard Time, ncherry(a)home.net writes: > > Composite input works fine thanks to the mod Glen put in the TS1000 (tip of > > the hat :-). No sound, of course. > > What mod might that be, inquiring mind want to know ... :-) It's very complicated, involving a 75 ohm resistor, an inline female RCA jack, and a 2N3904 or anything close ;>) Ten minutes with a screwdriver and a soldering iron and you have a rock-solid display. E-mail me off-list for details. Glen 0/0

24 years, 1 month

World's Crappiest Drives (was Re: A&J Microdrive)

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Wed, 06 Dec 2000 14:09:58 -0700 "Will Jennings" <xds_sigma7(a)hotmail.com> writes: > As for the ST225, don't forget that they *love* to cook their logic > boards... there's one spot that gets hot and then the logic board > rolls over and dies... Johnny_carson mode ON I did NOT know that . . . /Johnny_carson mode OFF > Some of my favorite drives: > Anything made by Vertex I got a couple of V-185's. A little on the fragile side from a mechanical standpoint, but otherwise hard to kill . . . > CDC Sabre (I had a rack fall over with a pair of these in it and > they're still 100% AOK, despite having been mounted like 3 feet up in the > rack) Really takes a licking, eh? I have a SCSI version of this; still looking for DIP switch settings . . . > CDC FSD These are *BIG* mama's. I was seriously tempted to grab one of these at a local wrecking yard, but then I had a momentary fit of sanity . . . > CDC MMD Never heard of this one . . . > DEC RA90 (of course, I personally know one of the designers of this > drive, so if it fails, I *will* bitch at him!) These have 12" platters, right? Seems like they've been chopping up alot of these lately . . . > IBM 8102... Nothing says hard disk like 62MB in 600lbs! Gee, a drive so big, you have to measure the data density in bits/lb. Lesse here, that comes to 103k bits/lb. There you go; a new metric for measuring classic computing 'stuff'. You heard it here first . . . Jeff ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

24 years, 1 month

CDC Sabre information

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Re: ST82500N or CDC/Imprimis 97201-25G : > This sight has a basic geometry descrtiption for this drive, as does > a text file on Seagate's ftp site, but nothing more. > This sounds to me like an SMD drive subsystem... Michael- does the front of it look anything like what can be seen in the photo in this link: http://members.iglou.com/dougq/p2455/thmb_ICS&Cipher.jpg The item at the lwer left inside the large chassis is what I'm referring to. regards, -doug q

24 years, 1 month

World's Crappiest Drives (was Re: A&J Microdrive)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 6, 12:54, r. 'bear' stricklin wrote: > On Tue, 5 Dec 2000 THETechnoid(a)home.com wrote: > > > Miniscribe 3650 > > I think I had one of these. 3.5" HH 40 MB MFM disk? ca. 60ms seek > times? Loudest drive I've ever heard. Maybe. I have a really nice 5MB Olivetti drive. It's 5 1/4" full height, has an excellent stepper motor, and nicely distracts you from the noise of the air conditioning. > How about the Exabyte 8200? Famous for forgetting they had tapes in them > and refusing to eject. Not only that, but it was commonly referred to as > the 'write once, read never' backup media. I haven't had that problem with mine. Come to think of it, that one's been upgraded a couple of times. Unlike the one I gave away. I can't seem to remember why I gave it away ;-) > We won't talk about the TK50. You're right, we won't, please. If anyone really needs to know why, take a look at http://home.xnet.com/~raven/Sysadmin/ASR.Posts.html#tk50 > I will, however, nominate any hard disk Micropolis made which was in a > smaller form factor than 5.25" FH. Garbage. :-) > Oh, and the Seagate Barracudas. Ran so fast they burned themselves up. At > one point we had a 50% DOA rate on these drives. The remaining ones > usually fried inside of 30 days. We never did figure out how Seagate > managed to come up with their 500k-hour MTBF on these disks. Well, you have to understand what MTBF means. It means that after some number of hours, some proportion of the test set has a 50% chance of failure. Nobody said anything about powering them up during that period. Never put a Barracuda in an SGI Indy or Indigo, it may invalidate your warranty. In fact, it may invalidate several things. Permanently. > > How about a vote on the BEST disk drives ever? > > The IBM UltraStar ES. That's nice to know, that's what I bought for my servers. > Nah, I had a 4096N which had stiction. It took progressively stronger > shocks to the chassis to get it to spin up, until finally I was beating it > with a shoe. That situation ultimately ended in a head crash and data > loss. Sounds like my ST451N (? I think) which exploded. After a while the stiction was so annoying that I cut a screwdriver slot in the exposed part of the spindle. That was fine until one day a head stuck *while it was spinning*... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

24 years, 1 month

What tools do you carry, always

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I always have a pen, two or three 3 X 5 cards, and a Phillips/flat bladed screwdriver. My wife has washed this lot more than once and she still loves me. The best tool I have is an open helpful mind, I have been given more computers by people who have asked me a "computer" question or found out that I collect old computers. I received a complete Xerox 6085 system, manuals, cables and all software because I offered to help a friend move some "old" computers. My physical tool list when I'm computer hunting or not at work. Small serv-a-lite screwdriver that has a double ended shaft with interchangeable flat and Phillips screwdrivers. Several sizes are great for cable connectors and odd case screws. Small penlight that will fit in my mouth and that I can breath around while I am taking thinks apart head down in a dark dumpster or gaylord. Small pad to write down the part/model numbers of items I can't identify, I can then look them up on the net. One flexi magnetic thing to pick up dropped screws. Fine tip permanent marker to label cables and receptacles. Small tipped needle nose pliers to disconnect cables. When I am going fast I occasionally have an old tiny speaker magnet in a plastic petri dish that I can throw screws at and they stick. Magnifying glass that folds in/out of case. I have found that my glasses get in the way if I wear them, they fall off in the worst places even with a strap, are focussed wrong especially in the dark. My eyes need help identifying disk drives, CPU type and memory chip numbers. I'm having withdrawal, I haven't looked at an unknown computer in 3 days. I need a fix. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

24 years, 1 month

WTB: VT340 or VT340+

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

All, Just to keep the word "fresh." DEC made a color graphics terminal called the VT340 (and an enhanced version with more colors called the VT340+). These were late model terminals that were supplanted by the availability of PC's that cost less and did more. They are "dual session" meaning they can be hooked up to two computers, and one of their interfaces has a standard RS-232 interface, the other is DEC RS-423. I like these terminals because they are rarely "burned in" (they have a pretty good screen saver) and they can draw pictures (always nice) and the sessions can have different color schemes so its easy to know which one you are looking at. So if you see some terminals being disposed and you see some of these, let me or the list know. Thanks, --Chuck

24 years, 1 month

UK relays

by optimus＠canit.se

I'm getting increasingly interested in Acorn's Archimedes machines, but the total number of such machines in this country should amount to a total of five. Thus, I go to eBay looking for some nice machines. The only problem is then, that every seller is UK only. My question is thus: Would some kind UK resident like passing such a parcel on, acting as a "relay" of some kind? I wouldn't mind paying for your trouble, as well as real shipping costs involved. I'd also appreciate some pointers to other sources for Acorn RISC machines other than the scarce auctions on eBay, as well as good starting systems in an area with low add-ons availability. -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6.

24 years, 1 month

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test-drb December 2000