Hey all,
I've got a question for DECheads out there who are familiar with
the VAXstation 3100 (and DECstation 3100, for that matter) series
of DEC systems.
These little beasts don't use mounting brackets like the rest of
the desktop computer universe. They instead rely on the little
screw holes located on the bottom of standard 3.5" form factor
harddrives, and these really INSIDIOUS LITTLE RUBBERIZED GASKETS
that you wedge into various mount-holes on a metal plate inside
the VAXstation's case. The drive sits on these gaskets, you see,
and gets insulated from the scary conductive metal plate, while
still getting a little airflow under the electronics.
I'm ALWAYS missing at _least_ one gasket whenever I want to mount
a drive. Often, I'm missing all four of them at once, making life
terribly difficult. I've resorted to using non-conductive washers
and screws with _really_ big heads to kind of work around it,
but it's a sub-optimal solution.
Does anyone know where to get these little guys? Did DEC have
a part number for them? Or are they a common part available at
your local Fry's Electronics, and I just haven't found them yet?
I really need some, you see.
Thanks for any (and all) help!
-Seth
--
"As a general rule, the man in the habit of murdering | Seth Morabito
bookbinders, though he performs a distinct service | sethm(a)loomcom.com
to society, only wastes his own time and takes no |
personal advantage." -- Kenneth Grahame (1898) | Perth ==> *
--- Derek Peschel <dpeschel(a)eskimo.com> wrote:
> Fred Cisin wrote...
> > It is vitally important that you not exceed 14.8 characters per second on
> > Selectrics.
>
> .... or what? Does the Balls-O-Meter wear out? :)
As tank-like as the Selectrics are, you really _can_ wear them out. My mother
used to make her living typing court transcripts (in the evenings, from the
tapes the court reporters make during the day). One time, she took her
IBM Selectric II to a new shop for minor repair and adjustment. The shop
owner commented that he'd never seen wear on certain parts until then. When
the job was done, he asked her to try it out in the store. About a minute
into the machine-gun reverie, he commented that the two of them were going
to become fast friends. He was right. She took one of her two machines
to the shop at least once or twice per year. I don't know how fast she
typed, but it was well in excess of 100 wpm.
14.8 cps - it's not the law, just a good idea.
-ethan
=====
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The original webpage address is still going away. The
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See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details.
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Well, it must have been a brain fart. I can't find the article at all. Not
in PE, EN, CirCellar, or N&V. I have no idea where I saw it.
I did come across a project for the BS1 in "Programming and Customizing the
Basic Stamp Computer" by Scott Edwards (p. 87) for a POV message machine. It
wouldn't be too hard to add a Dallas serial clock and change the code to
make a clock.
Rich
-----Original Message-----
There was a project just for this in Electronics Now or Popular Electronics
just recently. I'd say Feb. or March issue.
If I have time tonight, I'll dig-up the article. As I recall, it uses a PIC
and a group of LEDs on a pendulum to provide the date and time using the
same "persistence of vision" as mentioned below. I don't recall if the
swinging was user-invoked, motorized or magnetic.
Rich
==========================
Richard A. Cini, Jr.
Congress Financial Corporation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
30th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 545-4402
(212) 840-6259 (facsimile)
-----Original Message-----
From: Marvin [mailto:marvin@rain.org]
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 11:06 AM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Cool hack (was Busses vs no busses)
John Foust wrote:
>
> What's the name of those signs that are composed of nothing but
> a single vertical column of LEDs, where you can only see the
> image (or the digital clock display, etc.) as your eye scans
> across it, leaving the multiplexed image in your brain?
I can't recall either, but that brings to mind an interesting project a
friend of mine worked on quite a few years ago. The Art Museum here was
having some kind of show and an artist wanted to paint electronic pictures.
My friend designed the electronics (I built the circuit boards) to put a
line of LEDs on a pendulum and paint pictures electronically as the pendulum
swung through its arc. With the multi-colored and higher intensity LEDs
available today, it would be really cool to do the same thing but with color
pictures. Doesn't sound like too hard a project especially with the speed of
todays computers.
==========================
Richard A. Cini, Jr.
Congress Financial Corporation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
30th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 545-4402
(212) 840-6259 (facsimile)
Can anybody in Europe help these people?
-----Original Message-----
From: misbrieuc(a)wanadoo.fr <misbrieuc(a)wanadoo.fr>
Newsgroups: aus.computers
Date: Wednesday, 10 May 2000 0:37
Subject: Digital PDP11
>Good afternoon,
>
>
>We use a Digital pdp 11, model 04 for the application of process
>piloting.
>
>People who have been working in the firm for a long time will remember
>that:
>
>We lack kit pieces in order to keep this material working.
>
>The research with the computer brokers brings no results.
>
>I'm therefore looking for one pdp 11 or some change pieces, in our
>companies' cupboards.
>
>Thank you for your help.
>
>
>
>
>PS: of course, the managed application is critical for the company and
>the replacement of the functions cared by the calculator would be too
>expensive.
>
From: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
>John Wilson wrote:
>>
>> Anyone who pays significantly more than the scrap value, is not looking
>> hard enough.
>
>Absolutely! The other side of that coin though is some people are not
>interested in looking, and are therefore willing to pay someone else to do
>that. Why else would something like ebay be such a success?
Because you'll find items there that you won't find no matter how much
looking you do in your piss poor geographical vicinity.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
Here's a guy with a Compaq portable up for grabs. Please contact the
original sender.
Reply-to: N5TZR(a)TDF.NET
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 00:16:27 -0500
From: Michael Cedeck <N5TZR(a)TDF.NET>
To: donate(a)vintage.org
Subject: courious if ya want it...
I have a old compac portable, (lugable). the early version of a laptop,
the one with the keyboard in the bottom , built in monitor, floppy drive.
Michael n5tzr(a)tdf.net
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
VCF Europe: April 29th & 30th, Munich, Germany
VCF Los Angeles: Summer 2000 (*TENTATIVE*)
VCF East: Planning in Progress
See http://www.vintage.org for details!
"Free? Did somebody say 'Free'?", he said in his best Jambi voice.
This message is from a microscope enthusiast list. I have no idea
what this is, but it's got 8 inch drives, so it must be a computer, right?
- John
At 12:59 PM 5/10/00 -0400, Robert Wieland wrote:
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>The Microscopy ListServer -- Sponsor: The Microscopy Society of America
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>-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
>
>
> Free to anyone who will take it away, a Tracor-Northern 55xy (not sure
>which member of the 5500 family) console unit, with keyboard but without
>monitor. Has two 8" drives on the front. A few manuals & floppies of
>software go with it. This was once used at another site to run the WDS on
>a JEOL 840, but has been sitting here unconnected in a corner for several
>years. It is complete (has had nothing taken out of it), but condition is
>otherwise unknown.
> Located at the University of Delaware, in Newark, Delaware, about five
>miles off I95.
> Respond to wieland(a)me.udel.edu
>
>Robert Wieland wieland(a)me.udel.edu
>The very concept of human governance is a moral dilemma:
>If the people are good, it is a mistake to create authorities over them;
>If they are not good, it is a mistake to create authorities out of them.
>
>
>
>Where do you get Rogue for the VAX?
I do believe that some of the latest "standard" versions just
plain compile under VMS. You'll need a C compiler and a MMK-type
make utility. I also believe nethack is available, too.
A different branch off the Rogue evolutionary tree is Moria.
There are many versions of this floating around... most notably:
$ ftp ubvms.buffalo.edu/anon
MadGoat FTP client V2.6-1
%FTP-I-ATTEMPTING, Attempting to connect to host ubvms.buffalo.edu
<220 ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu MultiNet FTP Server Process V4.2(16) at Wed 10-May-200
0 10:25PM-EDT
%FTP-I-LOGIN, Attempting to login to user anonymous
<331 anonymous user ok. Send real ident as password.
<230-Guest User SHOPPA(a)TIMAXP.TRAILING-EDGE.COM logged into SYS$SYSDEVICE:[FTP]
at Wed 10-May-2000 10:25PM-EDT, job 1f46.
<230 Directory and access restrictions apply
FTP:ubvms.buffalo.edu> cd maslib
<250 Connected to SYS$SYSDEVICE:[FTP.MASLIB].
FTP:ubvms.buffalo.edu> cd games
<250 Connected to SYS$SYSDEVICE:[FTP.MASLIB.GAMES].
FTP:ubvms.buffalo.edu> dir *moria*
<200 Stru F ok.
<200 Port 61.7 at Host 63.73.218.130 accepted.
<150 List started.
SYS$SYSDEVICE:[FTP.MASLIB.GAMES]
IMORIA.DIR;1 7 18-NOV-1997 14:41 [TKSLEN] (RWED,RWED,R,R)
MORIA_443.DIR;1 5 18-NOV-1997 14:42 [TKSLEN] (RWED,RWED,R,R)
MORIA_480.DIR;1 5 18-NOV-1997 14:42 [TKSLEN] (RWED,RWED,R,R)
MORIA_500.DIR;1 6 18-NOV-1997 14:42 [TKSLEN] (RWED,RWED,R,R)
UMORIA.DIR;1 5 18-NOV-1997 14:43 [TKSLEN] (RWED,RWED,R,R)
>P.S. I installed Tru64 Unix on my Alpha 150, but it wouldn't run right
>because I dinked with the partitioning during the install. So, I installed
>VMS/Alpha 7.21 on it, but I forgot you can't use a 2G drive for VMS on the
>boot drive... so I installed a 1G drive instead, installed VMS/Alpha, and
>it *still* wouldn't boot... Am I stupid, or what?
Huh? Since when does an Alpha have the 1G boot drive limitation? This
limitation only applies to some of the older VS3100's, AFAIK.
--
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
Rumor has it that Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) may have mentioned these words:
>On Wed, 10 May 2000, Richard Erlacher wrote:
>> I knew someone who had one of these gadgets back in the '70's. He wore out
>> a selectric in about two weeks.
>
>I know a HUMAN typist who wore one out in ONE.
>(she could AVERAGE 150 words per minute over 8 hour days! Not the
>world's fastest, but close. At the end of the day, she barely had any
>remembrance of what she had typed.)
>
>It is vitally important that you not exceed 14.8 characters per second on
>Selectrics.
>The cheap home Selectrics are way too flimsy and short-lived for ANYTHING.
>Always get the "heavy duty" models.
To bring this back on track... I could average 100-105 over a 5-6 hour
period back in my heyday, and did if for around a month transcribing a few
books into my Tandy 200... IMHO still the sweetest laptop keyboard ever.
BTW, it must have been "heavy duty" as it's still working just fine. (I
have a pretty light touch for typing...)
See ya,
"Merch"
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig.
If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead
disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.
>Assumeing you could get them connected what nobel project could this mass
>of diversified machines be commissioned to do? Obviously they are way too
>slow to do Seti@home (Wouldn't it be a kick if a really old machine found
>something significant?) but surely there could be some project that could
>be engineered to be useful?
One that naturally comes to mind is file conversion/transfer. I'ts the
primary
use here.
Another could be using the common node as the terminal to any of the
connected
clients.
>Does this even make sense?
Yes.