On October 15, Tony Duell wrote:
> > > Ahh, the 74LS181s are ALUs, as is the 'F582. Interesting that they
> > >used both. I'm curious...what kind of processor is this?
> >
> > Am I the only one who finds it a bit perverse that there are 74xxx standa=
> > rd
> > TTL circuits for such complex functions as ALUs? I thought that the way t=
>
> Actually, what suprises me is how _simple_ the 74181 gate schematic is
> (it's published in most TTL databooks). It doesn't take that long to
> understand how it works.
>
> In terms of the transistor count, I suspect there are TTL chips which are
> more complex than the '181.
The '181 is even used in the pdp11/04 and /34 if memory serves.
Anyone know of any others?
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Laurel, MD
I purchased a plastic bag mixed with new and used 5 1/4 floppy diskettes
and inside the middle was one of the famous "Fileware" or Twiggy
diskettes with it's sleeve used with the Lisa I. I could not believe
my luck as I had just watched one of these go for almost $50 dollars on
eBay for just one diskette awhile back. Now I just need to find a
twiggy drive or better yet a Lisa I. :-) Yes I went back to the
thrift store looking for more disk but no luck. The cost of the package
was $1.40 for about 20 diskettes.
>When I installed PhoneNet stuff into my mother's all-Mac shop, it
>specifically uses the yellow-black pair of standard (US) phone
>wiring and the documentation explicitly shows it as such. They
>even had a sort-of passive hub for your wiring closet to collate
>all the black-yellow pairs for a larger (floor-sized as opposed to
>room-sized) network. We had six Macs and one LaserWriter on the same
>floor of a smallish retail establishment, so it wasn't a problem.
>I can see networks near the edge of their physical spec falling off
>a cliff, though.
Yeah, phone net was designed with the idea that you would piggy back it
over your existing phone wiring... the theory being that a standard
house/business would be wired either all serial (one jack to the next) or
in a star (all jacks coming back to a central punch block). Following
this assumption, it was specifically designed to work over the unused
pair (being yellow/black in standard station wiring).
All PhoneNet REALLY cares about is having two wires from one box to
either the next box, or to a central hub. It need not be twisted pair,
and it need not be the yellow/black pair. Although, if you choose to use
a different pair, either you need to make sure you wire it to the correct
pins on the jack (and thus fake a y/b) or you will have to cut a custom
wired flat cord as the boxes all expect the wires to be the outer two
wires in an RJ-11. But there is nothing stopping you from using unused
pairs in Ethernet and just use a custom flat cord (or break them out into
their own jack).
The single biggest problem with Phone net that I ran into was it was VERY
picky over the wiring being correct. Unlike phones, you could not safely
reverse pairs in a serial setup. Also, the fact that it expects there to
be either serial wiring, or star wiring falls thru in most phone lines.
And even depending on the unused pairs wasn't a surefire idea. In every
Phone net system I installed, I was forced to do some degree of rewiring,
or correcting the wiring. POTS phones are very forgiving to poor wiring,
and many telco installers use that as an excuse to be lazy. In almost all
POTS phone setups you will find some degree of "non spec", things like
unused pairs not being connected, reversing pairs, mixing star and serial
wiring, tapping mid line into a drop to extend for a new jack. Tapping
was DEATH to phone net, it was the single worst thing you could do, as it
caused things like ghosting (items showing up after they have been
removed, or showing up more than once on the network), and random
dropouts of networked devices. It also proved hard to track, as you
almost had to physically trace every wire, looking for a tap.
But all things considered, phone net was a much more econimical way of
wiring a localtalk network. True localtalk cables were very expensive
compared to cheap 2 pair phone cable, so even with rewiring, it still
worked out to be the less expensive way to go.
Even today, phone net works as a nice quick and dirty network when all
you want is printer sharing. I keep a 25ft retractable cord and phonenet
connectors connected to a Localtalk to Ethernet bridge. It lets me
connect old Macs to the network (or my Newton) on the fly, and I can set
it up anywhere in my office. When I am done, I just unhook the phonenet
box, and let go, the retractable cord rewinds and pulls the box back to
my hub shelf, where it hangs waiting for my next use.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
> BUT... predating that was a "Macintosh Hard Disk 20" that was not scsi.
> Rather is was some drive (don't know what kind, but MFM seems sensible
> enough) that used a special adaptor board that enabled it to plug into
> the disk drive port on a bunch of the older macs. It was all enclosed
> (drive, power supply, adaptor board) in one nice zero footprint beige
> case (back when beige meant brown, and not grey like "beige" computers of
> today).
In spite of the now long-extant senility, I seem to recall that these
interfaces through the serial port, not the floppy port.
Regards,
-dq
On October 16, Gene Buckle wrote:
> > According to at least one movie I watched the part that is critical are
> > some special triacs so that each charge can be detonated within a fairly
> > tight time window.
>
> Klystron(?) I might be wrong though. I keep thinking it begins with a
> "K". For the gun type, all bets are off - it's a _much_ simpler design.
That would be "krytron". A Klystron is a microwave oscillator tube.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Laurel, MD
M H Stein:
I asked about possible 6502 and 68000 items you mentioned on this list,
but I never heard a reply from you. Is the AIM65 stuff still available?
Paul R. Santa-Maria
Monroe, Michigan USA
A friend has a 9 gig Seagate drive and an Adaptec 1542C card and is
having a helluva time getting it to work with a late model motherboard.
boots okay from an IDE drive, but the aforementioned setup hangs almost
every time.
Do you know of an incompatibility with the drive and card; i.e. too much
drive for the scsi bios to understand???
Gary Hildebrand
On Oct 16, 9:33, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
> > Now I'm thinking that the "T" in "10BaseT", "100BaseT4", etc. and the T
in
> > the line capacities "T-1", "T-2", etc. are the same thing.
> > Is that true?
>
> I thought the 'T' in 'T1' stood for "trunk", as in trunk line...
That seems very likely, given that it was invented by AT&T in the late
50's/early 60's. I'm fairly sure that's what they used the technology for
originally.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Eric Smith <eric-no-spam-for-me(a)brouhaha.com> is in trouble
in the Denver area, if anyone can help...
- John
>Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 14:16:28 -0700
>To: greenkeys(a)qth.net
>From: Don Robert House <drhouse(a)nadcomm.com>
>Subject: [GreenKeys] Need help in the Denver area
>Sender: owner-greenkeys(a)qth.net
>Reply-To: Don Robert House <drhouse(a)nadcomm.com>
>
>Eric Smith is driving coast to coast to deliver some rare computer and teletype equipment. The U-Haul truck broke both rear springs. He needs to off load the truck in the Denver area and make arrangements to come back later with a different truck. Is there anyone out there that can help us out?
>Eric's cell phone is: (408) 838 3733
>
>Thanks for any leads,
>
>Don
>--------------------------------------------------------
>Don Robert House, N.S.E.
>Curator, NADCOMM
>North American Data Communications Museum
>3841 Reche Road
>Fallbrook, CA 92028-3810
>760-723-9943 Office
>760-723-9984 FAX
>URL: http://www.nadcomm.org
>e-mail: drhouse(a)nadcomm.org
>
>
>----
>Submissions: greenkeys(a)qth.net
>Does anyone know if there is any info to be had about how the innards
>of games like Dark Tower function. I've never seen inside one but I
>presume there's a custom chip that's a microprocessor, RAM and ROM
>all rolled into one, for cost reasons.
I think I still have mine, and in working condition. Although I would not
be willing to part with it (thus why I think I still have it), I CAN open
it and send some digital pics of the chips. Maybe even draw out some
schematics.
I would guess that based on its age, there is nothing fancy in there.
Probably a simple eeprom or something for storing your stats, and
everything else was probably random gates (fighting, spinning,
whathaveyou). As far as "emulation" goes, I would think you could just
write it from the ground up following the rules of the game. Although, it
wouldn't be a true emulation, it would make it playable (and you could do
it networked EASY... now THAT would be a cool internet based game!)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
On Oct 12, 13:46, Eric J. Korpela wrote:
> Just wired the house with Cat-5 this week. 10bT has the advantage that
it's
> also 100bT with a change of equipment. (ISTR that you can use the
> unused pair in the cable for LocalTalk, but I haven't yet tried it).
That's true, you can run all sorts of things over Cat5 "structured wiring",
in fact that's the point of structured wiring. 10baseT uses two pairs
(pins 1+2, 3+6), the phone uses the centre pair (pins 4+5). ISDN uses all
four pairs.
Serial lines use either the middle pairs (for Tx/Rx) or all four (DTR/DSR,
Tx, Rx, RTS/CTS) if they follow the DEC (and other) system. Some use the
same pairs as Ethernet (which means a crossover cable for Ethernet also
works as a null-modem for Tx/Rx on serial lines).
100baseTX uses the same pairs as 10baseT.
You're not supposed to run a phone line (pins 4+5) on the same cable as an
Ethernet (pins 1+2, 3+6); it breaks the spec. However, you'll normally get
away with it with 10baseT, and it *may* work for 100baseTX over short
distances. It certainly won't work for 100baseT4 (does anybody still have
any of that?) or 1000baseTX (Gigabit) because they use all four pairs.
Nevertheless, you can buy little boxes which are essentially a Y-piece for
phone+10baseT -- you need one at each end of the cable. They consist of a
small box with two RJ45 sockets and a short Cat 5 lead ending in an RJ45
plug. You can also get similar boxes to combine/separate two 10baseT
signals (they move the second signal from pins 1+2 and 3+6 onto 4+5 and
7+8) and ones to simply double up the sockets (pin 1 to pin 1 to pin 1; ...
; pin 8 to pin 8 to pin 8) which are sometimes used for ISDN. For some
reason they tend to be different prices, and all overpriced (over here they
cost ?8 - ?15, though you can make one for about ?3 including the cost of
the box to put the PCB in).
I'd be wary of running Localtalk over a cable carying a phone or Ethernet
signal. Again, it might work, but it will probably generate interference
which might be hard to track down -- I write from experience[1]. Better
to use one cable for one service at a time. The real reason for using
different pairs for different services is partly serendipity, and partly to
avoid damage if you plug the wrong device into a cable which is already
connected to something incompatible at the other end.
In my workshop and study I have quite a lot of Cat5 (actually Cat5e, the
Cat5 standard is officially obsolete) which I use for 10baseT, 100baseTX,
serial lines, ISDN, a phone line, and even the audio to the speakers. I'm
about to add a couple of Econet adapters, and I'll probably use it for some
LocalTalk (PhoneTalk) when I get round to sorting out the non-Ethernet
Macs.
[1] More than one bad experience, but exemplified by the occasion when I
had to make a trip to Northern Ireland with a couple of technical staff
>from Acorn to visit some schools who had networking problems. The school
staff insisted everything was done to the standard, but it turned out that
their erratic network problems were due to putting LocalTalk down the
existing network cables. It had worked for a while, but when they extended
the networks, both suffered.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
A few pics of the controller to Dark Tower have been posted. You can find
them at <http://www.mythtech.net/darktower>. (Pic #28 is missing, it is
the same as 29, just out of focus).
The board is about 7" x 3" (17.5cm x 7.5cm) There isn't a whole lot on
it. 3 lights down the middle that are socketed, an LED digit display, a
pair of LEDs (IR send and recieve, it is used with the picture disc to
determine what pictures are facing out), there are a handful of
resistors, a few Capacitors, 3 transitors (9112 D 07; 9113 D 05; NP2
3704) a choke coil, 2 diodes, and 3 ICs.
The 3 ICs are all Texas Instuments, photos of them are on the web site (I
made sure you could read the numbers, but they are upside down right now)
The two connector looking things on the very end of the board opposite
the LED digit display... are in fact connectors. The white one tied to
the motor, speaker, and batteries, and the black one tied to the push
button panel for user interaction (the push buttons are a flat 3 x 4
pressure panel connected to the board by a ribbon cable.)
That is about it. I will try to draw up some basic schematics later (I'm
a little busy at work right now, hopefully I will get to it later this
week, or maybe next week).
I don't know if I will be able to do any testing of my unit. When I
opened it I found batteries had been left it in, and leaked. There is
some pretty bad corrosion of the largest IC where the battery acid
dripped on it. I am hoping it will still work when I clean it and put it
all back together, but there is a chance it has been damaged. Also, the
LED digits have suffered some damage (the laminate cover is peeling back
>from corrosion)
I will post again when I have the schematics done.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
For me, There is only one criteria for collecting - does it pique my
interest in some way? If it does, I'll add it to my classic computer
collection, and proceed to use it, for something... :-)
--- David A Woyciesjes
--- C & IS Support Specialist
--- Yale University Press
--- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu
--- (203) 432-0953
--- ICQ # - 905818
! -----Original Message-----
! From: Hans Franke [mailto:Hans.Franke@mch20.sbs.de]
! Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 3:10 PM
! To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
! Subject: Re: Collections vs. accumulations, was Re: How many
! collectors?
!
!
! > >Vintage computer collecting is really no different from
! many other forms of
! > >collecting, its simply less common.
!
! > >Vintage car buffs clearly are more advanced in their
! restoration and repair
!
! > >Firearms collecting (in the USA) is probably the most
! similar form of
!
! > >In all these forms of collecting, as well as stamps,
! coins, and any antiques,
!
! > Two basic types of collector, those who assemble sets of
! items of value,
! > whose value is enhanced by completeness of the set, and
! those who collect
! > examples of fine craftsmanship and items of special merit
! compared to there
! > contemporaries. Most of my favorite systems I would be collecting
! > regardless if they are rare or common. Things I hunt down
! mostly because
! > they are rare, often prove much less satisfying to own than
! to look for.
!
! Well, I still go for a variation of Murphey's law, which I found
! to fit at least my experiance:
!
! As soon as you aquired someting you belive to be truly rate and
! unique, A second incarnation will popup close thereafter.
!
! And as a bylaw it's stated:
!
! The price asked for the second item is as lower as more you did
! spend on the first.
!
! I got again the proof right after I returned last week:
!
! This summer I found a original tool box for a BF 109 figher
! (basicly a big wooden chest), and I payed a premium to haul
! it home ... now a good friend of mine, which I was teasing
! with my find literaly stumbeled across exact the same chest
! in an old basement - and got it for free!
!
! Well.
!
! Gruss
! H.
!
! --
! VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
! http://www.vcfe.org/
!
>To make this perfectly clear, I need the external 110VAC to 16.7VAC
>part, not the internal AC->DC part.
well, it has been a while since I looked at one, but if I understand you,
you want the big black external brick that goes between house current and
a small round power plug on the PCjr... right? That is what I think I
have one or two of still kicking around.
The one I was picturing in my mind (and why I was thinking of an odd
right angle plug), was a power brick to an old HP Deskwriter... I
realized that about an hour ago, when I kicked the HP brick that was
sitting on my floor.
Now, the problem is, I might have been thinking of the HP brick when I
was thinking I might have a PCjr power brick... but I will still look,
just to make sure. (If I have a PCjr one, I know where it would be, it is
just a matter of getting to it)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
> Not to mention that you can't get a refund, you pay $5 or $6 to get in
> whether you buy or not, and you may never see the same vendore ever again.
> Most "new" stuff are factory seconds/refurbs and they don't tell you that
> the warranty doesn't apply (saw one guy pulling the "refurb" stickers off
> boxes at one iI went to in Louisville last year) Not all of the vendors are
> crooks but there sure is a high percentage.
Well, I bought a membership and expensed it out to $CURRENT_EMPLOYER, and
they pay for the parking too... but generally you'd be right.
There is one motherboard seller selling refurbs, clearly marked, and
ditto as maybe or maybe not functional. But a few things do carry a
warranty, and I see the same faces and company names almost every time
(especially the non-hardware guys like Hacker Hut). At least 50% of the
vendors are local and have storefront operations.
Russ, are you in Fort Knox? I see you mention the area from time to time,
we should get together sometime for a pizza at Impellizeri's...
-dq
>If the internal disk is SCSI, you could attach it to any other system
>(for example Linux), and write a utility that goes through the raw
>disk looking for 'root:\([^:]*\):0:0:' and replace it with 'root::0:0:\1'
Good thought, but it's not quite that easy. As I recall, AIX defaults to
the JFS file system. This is an IBM proprietary, journalized filesystem,
and would not be trivial to "write a utility" to safely modify it. Standard
Linux (or any other Unix, for that matter) will not recognize it.
Luckily, there is a Linux port of JFS (http://oss.software.ibm.com/jfs/). I
dunno if it will mount a native JFS filesystem from a legacy AIX box, but it
should show you what you need to do to get started.
Oh, yeah...AIX stores passwords in /etc/security, or somesuch odd directory.
Wants to be a TCB, but isn't really a TCB.
I liked and respected AIX...but then I didn't pretend it was really Unix.
Ken
I need the following software packages for a project I'm working on:
Aldus Freehand 2.0
Aldus Freehand 3.0
Adobe After Effects 3.0
Macromedia Sound Edit 16 1.0
I would prefer the whole software package but at a minimum I need the
manuals. Please contact me directly at <sellam(a)vintage.org> if you've got
them.
Thanks!
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
Chad etched into stone for all eternity:
> Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
> > Picked up a 1542CF almost two years ago at a MarketPro show for $19.95.
> >
> > We had a Market Pro show here once or twice. They had nothing that I
> wanted. It was almost all new stuff and the prices were kind of high.
>
> The show I go to here in Michigan is called A1 Supercomputer sales, I
> think. It is a locally run ( I think) chain of shows. They usually
> have a good mix of new and used. The more used, the better for me :-)
They do tend to be high, new Americans seeking their fortunes... but
a few people carry surplus stuff, and it tends to be priced better if
it isn't so decript as to be not worth buying (but perhaps worth picking
up off the trash pile).
I picked up VB 5 Pro a few years back for $50, and VC++ 5 for the same.
But one vendor screwed me out of a academic VB package that came with NT;
he had it priced for $50, I made the mistake of asking if it was for real,
and immediately it became not so.
-dq
Allison, I'll have to show you the machine... maybe you could
identify the drive right off without having to open the case.
For a preview, check out the wired.com article pictures...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg KB1FCA |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
On Monday, October 15, 2001 9:25 PM, Carlos Murillo
[SMTP:cmurillo@emtelsa.multi.net.co] wrote:
> Rocket science is in the rocket engine. Navigation is
> not that hard, comparatively...
>
When all you have to navigate with is a computer that takes
a full second to multiply and a telescope that could probably
only sense the horizon it gets a bit harder..
Jim
> At 03:12 PM 10/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >Let's hope they're all bought up by domestic hobbyists...
> >
> >;-)
> >
> >-dq
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org
Sat, Oct 13th John Allain wrote:
> I appreciate all the responses.
> So why computor tubes and not computer?
> I guess it's possible that the tubes were replacements
> and weren't spec with what GAP meant to use.
Since I didn't know the answer I asked someone
who was a Philbrick employee from 1949 to 1966.
"Hi, Doug:
The standard rationale was that the purpose of the
spelling was to differentiate between
machines that did computing and people who were
employed to do so. For example, my wife's roommate,
in the early days of her post-college life, had a
math degree and was employed at MIT's Whirlwind lab
as a "computer", doing computing tasks that were too
complex for the digital machines then existing.
However, I think that George really invented the term
(a) because it was attention-getting, (b) to
differentiate his product from the competition,
and (c) because he always liked to do things a little
differently and more creatively than the next guy."
=========================================
Doug Coward
@ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
=========================================
Wow, even a users group! This is great.
The boards are beautifully done, discrete logic, and dipped in a conformal
coating. Each transistor or diode has its own serial number, which I assume
provides traceability to quality control. The card cage is cylindrical, and
surrounds where the "stabile platform" would go, except they were removed
before the computers were surplused, for reasons of secrecy. I heard once that
the whole thing cost about $1/2 million, half for the computer and half for the
stabile platform. There is a port in the card cage where a telescope on the
stabile platform gets to look out at something, presumably the sun or stars.
Thanks for the info,
John Tinker
10/15/01 3:02:34 PM, "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw(a)mesanet.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 jtinker(a)coin.org wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for documentation for a 1963 minuteman missile navigation
>> computer. Any leads would be appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John Tinker
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>I have a little info if it's the D17B (1962)
>
>(from "Proceedings of the minuteman computer users group" Tulane Univ
>1973)
>
>Type: Serial synchronous
>
>Number system: Fractional binary fixed point 2's complemant
>
>Logic levels: 0V = false, -10V = true
>
>Data word length: 11 or 24 (double precision)
>
>Instruction length: 24 bits
>
>Intructions: 39
>
>Maximum I/O words/Second: 25600
>
>Execution times: add ~78 uSec, multiply ~546 uSec, Double prec multiply
>~1015 uSec
>
>
>Memory: 24 bits + 3 timing bits
>Type: Oxide coated disk
>cycle time ~78 uSec
>Capacity 5454 words 2727 double prec (24 bit).
>
>I/O: 43 digital lines, 31 pulse type, 12 analog (from 3 8 bit A-D)
> program I/O 800 5 bit c/s
>
>
>Size: 20" high x 29" diameter
>
>Power 28VDC +- 1V @ 17 A
>
>Circuits: DTL+DRL double copperclad gold plated glass fiber laminate
>with polyurethane conformal coat
>
>
>
>The newer D37C (1964) is mostly the same except has a larger disk and more
>instructions
>
>Peter Wallace
>Mesa Electronics
>
>
Hello All,
Please respond privately.... this is going to two lists.
I have a Micro PDP11 that I would like move to a new home. It is an
11/73 that uses the CPU board from the 11/83. It is the 18mhz J11 CPU
with FPU (M8190-AE). It currently has 2megs of ECC memory, although I
have about 3megs worth of parity that could be swapped in instead.
Various other boards are included (no scsi boards :-) It is in the
tower mounted BA23. The case is clean, but has a few flaws....
scratches and the base is cracked, and one of the little horns? where
the back cover fits it cracked. Overall the case looks very nice. The
steel chassis itself could use a vacuum, However.
I could get into he ROM with a terminal, but never got it to boot from
the RD54 HD. It complained of a bad controller (m7555). I have spares,
but never tried them. It could be the drive as this particular PDP11
has a bad history with drives according to the documentation that came
with it.
The main reason I would like to move this on, is because I don't have
the time to learn about it. I know nothing of the PDP11 OS's. Plus I
have a Vax that I would like to get working, and lots of other little
projects.
In the subject line, I state "almost free". I do have some money in it,
and would like to recoup at least some of it, so I'd like to get $40 for
it. That's certainly much lower than what it would fetch on Ebay.
I live in Battle Creek, MI. It's right off of I94 about 1/2 way in
between Detroit and Chicago.
Here is the info on the cpu board from the field guide:
M8190-AE KDJ11-BF Q/U 11/83-84 CPU J11 CPU 18MHz with 2 boot &
M8190-AE diagnostic ROMs, FPJ11-AA.
M8190-AE Refs: EK-KDJ1B-UG, uNOTE N#025, N#030, N#035, N#039
Thanks,
Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA
>Sometimes I have to power cycle the whole thing to get it to boot, do
>I'm thinking that the drive might be going bad.
If it doesn't boot when you first turn it on, you might not have let it
come up to speed fully. It takes a good 20-30 seconds to come up to speed
before you can turn the mac on. The drive light will turn on, then start
blinking steady, after about 20 seconds, you will hear the drive click a
whole lot, and the light will blink rapidly for about 2 seconds... after
that, it is up to speed and safe to turn on the Mac and try booting.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>