test-drb October 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

259 participants
770 discussions

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Mike Ford <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> > PS2 is last year, by Xmas all his friends will be talking about Xbox and > GameCube. We have N64, and I resisted forever getting one, and relented > only as the price dropped to about $150 with a game (he just HAD to have > Zelda). Keep in mind this is a razor blade industry, regardless of the high > price of the console, the real money and costs will be in games etc. > > My recommendation is to forget the console, and put together a gaming PC. > Better intelligence to the games, and immensely greater selection and > usefullness. Are you talking about a MS Windows box here??? As a PC builder I must say that if I were into serious gaming I would absolutely buy a game console. Say you buy 3 pricey, high-quality games for your PC. Chances are one of them won't like your video card. Or the version of DirectX you're running. Or the gamepad you're using. Or the motherboard's chipset. Or it'll step on another game by replacing DLLs. Or it'll change the sound settings so the other games have problems. Not my idea of *fun*. On the other hand I suppose you could consider the "real" game to be getting more than 3 high-quality games to run on the same Wintel box ;>) Glen 0/0

23 years, 6 months

first step getting VAX 6000-400 booted ...

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, after my pretty good VAX treck last weekend (more details coming up on my project web site at a later time) I finally have SDI disks. I hooked one up last night and did all the checking as per the RA9x manual (yes I have one plus many more, will scan those at some time...) and it seems to be O.K. (even though it was pretty messed up stored in a barn among lots of birds for many years). Here is one para about where I am at and then I have some specific questions for Geoff Roberts or Ragge or anyone who has had experienced any luck with getting a 6000 up to operation. I have bootable tape for Ultrix 4.1 and VMS 5.3 both TK50. None of them work. I seem to have no luck with the TK70 and I have no way finding out what's wrong. I tried to boot from that RA90 disk, even though I don't know what's on it. It has unit #0, so I thought it might be a system disk. But that too failed with some I/O error very early in the process. I also have a TU81+ and VMS bootable tape on 9-track, maybe that's more reliable? Tonight's project is to move the TU81+ into the basement and hook it up. I'm afraid I'll get stuck there too and what then? Network booting? Here's some more detail and questions: The TK50 boot proceeds for quite a while, although it never shows any message on the console about where it is at before it halts due to some unspecified error. However, about one or two minutes into the tape running the system-panel's FAULT light comes on and at the same time both yellow and green LEDs on the TKB70 board extinguish. That's for about a second or two. Then the lights go back to normal and the fault light turned off. Another 30 seconds to a minute tape streaming and the same light-spiel happens again: fault on, TKB70 LEDs off, and back to normal. Now a shorter time (like 10 seconds) of tape streaming and again. From now on that repeats for about 4 or 5 more cycles and finally the system is halted and console says: system halted due to previous error. However, no error message is being printed. I have no idea where I am in the process. I have tried cleaning the TK70 read/write head of course. I have tried a different copy of that Ultrix tape. It's always the same. Is this bliking of fault and shutting off of both TBK70 LEDs normal for media read errors or does it indicate something more serious? How can I tell where in the process I am? Is there an error flag somewhere in memory that I could EXAMINE to find out what is wrong? BTW: at first I had my CIBCA cards in and the boot process would halt earlier: system would say "insufficient memory for CI" and "10% or more of the memory is bad". Who is checking memory there? I could not find anything in Ultrix 4.2 sources that would generate such a message. And why would it anyway, because my system check tells me that I have 512 MB of memory OK. Or does it speak of 10% of the CIBCA's internal memory? Is there a boot flag that I could turn on that would cause the loader etc. to be more verbose? Has anyone tried booting Ultrix over the network? I am going to try that but all I have is Ultrix on TK50 (that doesn't work) and sources without any VAX running to compile them on. Is there a cross compiler suite? I'd like to compile with the DEBUG flag set. Thanks for your suggestions, -Gunther -- Gunther_Schadow-------------------------------http://aurora.rg.iupui.edu Regenstrief Institute for Health Care 1050 Wishard Blvd., Indianapolis IN 46202, Phone: (317) 630 7960 schadow(a)aurora.rg.iupui.edu------------------#include <usual/disclaimer>

23 years, 6 months

Epson QX-10 to good home

by vcf＠vintage.org

Walter has an Epson QX-10 that he wants to find a good home for. Please contact him directly. Reply-to: <wdthompsonjr(a)myexcel.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 20:51:19 -0500 From: Walter David Thompson Jr <wdthompsonjr(a)myexcel.com> To: vcf(a)vintage.org Subject: Query Hi, I have an Epson QX-10 in excellent condition, including the 300 baud modem and the 8088 sisterboard upgrade, monitor, keyboard, software, technical manuals, etc., along with a second cpu box for parts. Any thoughts on the best way to find a collector who might be interested? Thanks for your help. Walter Who is Walter From Virginia, Anyway? http://www.greatestnetworker.com/comunity/myface.tcl?is=6121 --- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

23 years, 6 months

How to disassemble an HSC90?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Gunther Schadow wrote: >Yup, that's how it works with the TU81. Those brackets can be easily >removed by loosening up the screws and lifing the metal pieces up and >away. Then the side walls can be yanked off by a good pull straight up. >That's how it appears to be with the HSC initially: in fact, there are >two similar metal pieces in the front that can be unfastened and pushed >inward. Yet, after this is done the sidewalls don't move any easier. >They are stuck as if glued or welded on! This is like a magic chinese >woodbox. May be there is a magic thing you have to know so everything >resolves in ease, but so far this transcendental knowledge has not >been revealed to earthly beings by the gods who dwelleth on the Mt. >Manynard or their prophets who service the fields. :-) I've not followed this from the start so I don't know how deep into the HSC90 you want to go, but the steps for upgrading an HSC90 to an HSC95 may help. 1. Power off. 2. Turn the nylon catches on the card cage cover 1/4 turn each and pull cover up and out. 3. Swap modules to taste. For removing the rear door: 1. Open door. 2. Release hinge pin by pulling down on release lever. 3. Slide door out and lift up: do not bend bottom pin. I've never (knowingly) seen an HSC6x or HSC9x so all I can say is that it sounds pretty easy so I assume you are doing something other than swapping modules? The IPB suggests that the side panels "hang" on the sides and, once the top is off, will slide upwards until they are clear of their "hooks". There may be some obvious screws involved too (it's not immediately clear whether this is a different cab variant/rev or not). Antonio

23 years, 6 months

A couple old books, 6502 and Mostek

by mhstein＠usa.net

Gee, I've been doing this all wrong; I offered several boxes of data & related books for free, but had no replies at all - just found a box that I overlooked when I tossed 'em out, so let me try adding a handling charge & offer them for $4.95 ea. & shipping :) Zilog Microcomputer Components Data Book Feb 1980 Intel Microcomputer Systems Data Book 1976 (SBC's &c) Intel Component Data Catalog 1980 Intel 8048 Family Applications Handbook Jan 1980 (Apps & Assembler listings) Intel 8080 Microcomputer Systems User's Manual Sep 1975 (Apps & data sheets) Rockwell Electronics Devices data catalog 1981 (AIM65, RM65, System65, R68000, PPS-4/1, modems &c AIM65 4 Manual sets: User, Programming, Chipset & Monitor Listing The Elementary Apple 1983, Wm. B. Sanders (Datamost) (Beginners's User/Programming) And some Mostek & Synertek sheets as well; they were mostly into F8's and Z80's; you're probably thinking of MOS Technology for the 6502, and I just happen to have the MOS Microcomputers Programming Manual so after you get your $5.00, just send me 4.95 <g> m -------------------Original Message------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 23:18:47 -0800 From: Mike Ford <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> Subject: A couple old books, 6502 and Mostek I found a couple books while digging in boxes at TRW. Beyond Games: Systems Software for your 6502 Personal Computer. Ken Skier This is a very early book, copyright 1981, covering a series of articles >from BYTE magazine. Lots of low level nuts and bolts software, a monitor, assembler, text, printing etc., but with a very basic approach, and over half the book are reference listings etc. Has a few specifics for each of Pet, Apple, Atari, and other 6502 computers. Mostek, MOS Integrated Circuit Guide. Magazine sized, 138 page, blue and silver book, copyright is 1975, but the only microprocess it mentions is the F8, and I was expecting 6502. Covers several early memory chips and some consumer calculator chips, very nice condition. I am thinking about $5 for either book, but best offer and postage gets it.

23 years, 6 months

TU81+ spooks (was: Re: first step getting VAX 6000-400 booted ...)

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Gunther Schadow wrote: >I did try MUB0 (because that's how VMS calls it for me), but >that doesn't work. I just like VMS calls my disk DUA0 but to >boot from it I have to call it just DU0. So MU0 it should be. >The CSA1 is weird, because it's really MUC6 for VMS, and it >should be another MU. The console's idea of a device name and VMS's idea of a device name will not always agree. For MSCP SDI disks (like your RA90) the device name will usually be DUAn:, where n: is the unit number you have given it. OpenVMS will sort out how to get from that unit number to a specific path to the device (possibly hanging off a CI rather than on your local machine!) The console usually does not bother with such shenanigans. It wants you to tell it how to find the device. For example, on a VAX 82x0/83x0 box you would boot as: B DUsn: where s is something like the VAXBI slot number in hex, and n is the unit number (also in hex IIRC). Of course if you put your KDB50 in slot ten then you can do: B DUAn: but that just hides the difference :-) Once VMS boots you can do: $ MC SYSGEN A A /L (that's AUTOCONFIGURE ALL /LOG) and it will go off and find most things. Then SHOW DEVICE D will list the disks (really any device that starts with D) and SHOW DEV M will show the Magtapes. The Console Storage device (CS) is generally not visible without being explicitly made so via SYSGEN, so it will generally not show up. >Yes, that would be the crucial question? Can you even boot from >TU81+. Given the rest of the orthogonal DEC design, I would be >highly surprized if one could not. Also, I'm pretty sure that >BSD used to be distributed on 9-track, bootable, presumably. But >I would appreciate a confirmation of this. If someone could test >copying a bootable TK to TU and then try TU booting? I don't know whether the VAX 6000 can cope with booting from TU81+, nor do I know what, if any, controller support it expects for a device to be bootable. (I don't know how much of a boot driver is implemented in the console and how much needs to be provided by the controller). If you do want to backup your system disk, the steps are as follows: 1. Install standalone backup on the system disk. $ @SYS$UPDATE:STABACKIT SYS$SYSDEVICE: This *should* (if I've remembered it correctly) create a standalone backup in root SYSE (i.e. $ DIR SYS$SYSDEVICE:[SYSE] should now have something in it ... don't mess or delete any of this though, most of it is effectively symlinks to stuff that matters!) 2. Boot as normal but with R5's top byte set to E, typically /R5:E0000000 should do this for you. 3. Standalone Backup should come up in a few minutes rather than a few hours! 4. $ BACKUP/IMAGE/VERIFY/IGNORE=LABEL SYS$SYSDEVICE: mua0:SYSTEM.BCK /SAVE mua0: is whatever the tape device wants to be called (MUB0:, MUB1: CSA1:, whatever). SYSTEM.BCK is just the saveset filename /IGNORE=LABEL means "I don't care how valuable that tape is, I know what I'm doing so wipe it!!" /VERIFY means it will take twice as long but there is a possibility that you may be able to restore the data one day :-) It's been a while, so this probably won't work first time. Antonio

23 years, 6 months

[OT] New toy...

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > In no time somebody is bound to post the URL to some master list. > > INTSIBTPTUTSML SETMBRWHAA (someday, even the most banal remarks will have an abbreviation)! -dq

23 years, 6 months

Do we have a VAX organization?

by mhstein＠usa.net

Maybe not just for VAXes? >From another perspective: A friend and I were both selling & supporting Cromemcos in the 80's and early 90's and, although neither of us is a "collector," as time went on and they became obsolete, we took them all back & hung on to them, first for parts and then because we didn't have the heart to throw them out. A few years ago we decided it was time to clear out the space and get rid of them, but could not find anyone seriously interested locally or on the 'Net at that time (mind you, being in Canada does make shipping a little expensive), so we hung on to them a little longer. Recently we both needed space again; he decided that it wasn't worth the time and trouble to find a good home for them and tossed most of his into the dumpster, while I thought that surely there'd be lots of people who'd give their eye teeth (and maybe even a couple of bucks) for this stuff. I did get a few inquiries for a card or two, and several people wished that I were in California or Minnesota (or that they were in Toronto, although, at least for the Californians, that's less attractive as winter approaches :). And yes, I was contacted by a couple of local collectors who will probably take a few of the systems. But on the whole, so far it has indeed not been worth the time and trouble, especially since (unlike HP & DEC) there's not much of a user community (knowledge base) out there and people prefer them to be assembled & working instead of a pile of chassis and boxes of manuals & untested cards. All this to say that it sure would have been nice if there'd been a central place with the organization & resources to arrange and/or pay for shipping the whole lot and a few bucks on top, and then dole them out to interested individuals. As it is, unless someone local actually wants it all, most of it will have to be scrapped. Thanks for the tip about the value of scrap, BTW; believe these boards & connectors were still goldplated... mike

23 years, 6 months

Apple II SCSI Card Questions

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, I just today received an Apple II SCSI card (NO docs), and I have some questions... First, a description of the card: Typical sized Apple II card, has a ribbon cable with one connector soldered to the card, and the other terminating in a female 25-pin "D" shape connector. There is a 40-pin chip labeled "NCR/5380" on one line, followed by "C476217", "6-1082073", and "8810S" on separate lines. There is also a 27128 EPROM, labeled "341-0437-A, (c) Apple '87". Aside from some glue logic, there are also two PALs, an 8-position jumper block, and a 6264 SRAM chip. The card is silk-screened "607-0291-B (c) 1986 Apple II SCSI Card", and carries the FCC ID "BC66DSA2B2087". Questions: 1) Is this the High-Speed SCSI card I hear about every so often? 2) Will this card work in a IIgs? 3) Are there any limitations to what SCSI devices I can attach? Ideally, I'd like to add an external hard drive and CD-ROM (Or maybe a Zip drive). Could I do this from this card? 4) Does anyone have docs they could copy and send to me? I'd gladly pay postage. 5) Are there updates to the EPROMs available somewhere? Not that I suspect problems, but if Apple released updates, I'd like to make sure I have the latest code... 6) Does anyone have drivers (if needed) that they could copy and send to me? Again, I'll pay postage. Thanks! Rich B. P.S. I get the digest, so if you could CC: me privately in your replies, I'd appreciate it. I'm a bit anxious to know what I've got here... "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

23 years, 6 months

How to disassemble an HSC90?

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

Are the sdies getting stuck on wheel brackets that stick out too far? A DEC rack I have for a tape drive had that problem. The brackets by the two back wheels stick out about 1/8". Enough to stop the side panel from lifting neatly up... --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818 ! -----Original Message----- ! From: Gunther Schadow [mailto:gunther@aurora.regenstrief.org] ! Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 11:11 PM ! To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org ! Subject: How to disassemble an HSC90? ! ! ! Hi, ! ! has anyone of you ever disassembled an HSC cabinet? I am looking ! pretty stupid right now. It's not the first piece of DEC iron ! equipment that I have moved in pieces, I did two VAX6000 and one ! TU81+. But this one is different. While being half-height like the ! TU81, it's quite a bit deeper. The side-walls appear to be just ! locked at the bottom and then hooked such that one can lift it ! up and off, like the TU81's side walls. However, they do not move ! no matter how hard I try. I don't find any screws holding them, ! though. And with the sidewalls on, I cannot remove the top-cover ! either. ! ! So, I was hoping I could at least take it into two pieces by ! moving the whole core out in one piece. Apparently that central ! unit is just screwed on the front, like a rack-mount device. ! Indeed I can move it out quite far. But then it stops at a ! protruding piece of the backplane circuit board! There seems ! to be no way to move that core all the way out other than by ! removing the backplane circuite board. And I'm not going to do ! that. ! ! Other DEC equipment was quite straight forward to disassemble, ! but this one beats the auto-assembies in difficulty level. ! I appreciate every advice. My suspicion is that the sidewalls ! are indeed removable, but mine are just stuck. Someone seen ! it? ! ! regards ! -Gunther ! ! -- ! Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. ! gschadow(a)regenstrief.org ! Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for ! Health Care ! Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School ! of Medicine ! tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

23 years, 6 months

unknown SRAM chips

by mhstein＠usa.net

This IS your lucky day! Since nobody at all replied to my post offering several boxes of data books, I tossed 'em all out; HOWEVER, it turns out that I'd overlooked one box under a chair and guess what, it contained a 1986 Toshiba MOS memory book. The TMM2068 is a TTL compatible 4x4 NMOS SRAM: 1-A7 20-Vcc 2-A6 19-A8 3-A5 18-A9 4-A4 17-A10 5-A3 16-A11 6-A2 15-I/O1 7-A1 14-I/O2 8-A0 13-I/O3 9-/CS 12-I/O4 10-GND 11-/WE I think someone else already gave you the info on the HM6147 -------------Original Message-------------- Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 13:32:54 -0500 From: Jim Donoghue <jdonogh1(a)prodigy.net> Subject: unknown SRAM chips Anybody have pinouts for these ICs - I think they are some kind of SRAM. Thanks. TMM2068AP-45 HM6147HP-35

23 years, 6 months

OT: Playstation 2 opinion?

by technos＠nerdland.org

I dunno. I'm doing just fine as far as games go on a K6-450 and VooDoo 2 SLI. Jim On Monday, October 29, 2001 12:49 PM, Zane H. Healy [SMTP:healyzh@aracnet.com] wrote: > >My recommendation is to forget the console, and put together a gaming PC. > >Better intelligence to the games, and immensely greater selection and > >usefullness. > > With the PS2 he'll be able to play new games for how many years without > upgrading the hardware? OTOH, how often do you need to upgrade a gaming PC > to play the latest stuff? I decided consoles were the way to go a few > years ago. > > Zane > -- > | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | > | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | > | | Classic Computer Collector | > +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ > | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | > | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | > | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

23 years, 6 months

Price guide for vintage computers

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! Instead of a price guide, how bout a spotting/indentification ! guide with info ! on identifying computers and components and options without ! any pricing info? ! ! -Bob This would be most helpful. Similar to these hardware references on NetBSD's site... http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/ http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/vax/models.html --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

VAX6460: VMS 5.4 how to move on?

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, O.K. I am delighted! I did boot VMS 5.4 from that RA90 labeled as unit 0. I changed the system password and am now copying ULTRIX filed off the TK50 tape onto disk in order to write them on 9-track trying to boot from there. Of course I will have all sorts of grief because of the weird VMS blocked file formats. For instance, what I read from the tape should look like this on UNIX: -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 17408 May 12 03:44 file0 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 2091208 May 12 03:45 file1 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 6594560 May 12 03:47 file2 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 727040 May 12 03:47 file3 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 8826880 May 12 03:48 file4 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 3143680 May 12 03:48 file5 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 2007040 May 12 03:48 file6 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 522240 May 12 03:48 file7 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 665600 May 12 03:48 file8 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 286720 May 12 03:48 file9 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 2949120 May 12 03:45 file10 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 2160640 May 12 03:45 file11 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 1249280 May 12 03:45 file12 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 1024000 May 12 03:45 file13 -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 1495040 May 12 03:45 file14 ... -rw-r--r-- 1 operator 276480 May 12 03:47 file38 and what I have copied from TK50 so far looks like this: $ dir /size Directory SYS$SYSROOT:[GUNTHER] FILE.000;1 0 FILE.001;1 0 FILE.002;1 12880 FILE.003;1 1420 FILE.004;1 17240 FILE.005;1 6140 FILE.006;1 3920 FILE.007;1 1020 Total of 8 files, 42620 blocks. O.K. seems like we have file sizes reported in 512 byte blocks. But file 1 didn't come up right. May be that was because of this read error that keeps the tape from booting? Anyway, before I go to bed I will have copied the first set of filed to disk and back to a tape. Either a TK70 or a 9-track and will try to boot. It looks like I'm making progress, finally. However, I ask myself what to do with that VMS 5.4 system disk. Should I keep it and get another drive downstairs for my Ultrix attempts? Should I rather keep this running 5.4 VMS or should I make a fresh install of a VMS 6.1 of which I have tapes? I am a curious person, so I could first dig in the disks for interesting stuff, but then, I rather want to get away from VMS and onto Ultrix and finally NetBSD. So how much are old filesystems worth keeping? I don't have enough tape to back it all up, and even if I had, how would I do this? How can I find UCX on this VMS 5.4 filesystem? It appears as absent. Is there something like find(1) on VMS? Did UCX not exist for VMS 5.4? Could I install it from a VMS 6.1 bin tape? Do I have any chance of using my ethernet for anything like file transfer or NFS without having UCX? thanks much for helping me accross the VMS river :-) regards -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

23 years, 6 months

Is Joe Around Here(info MDS225)

by techno＠dsuper.net

Hi there ... After reading Joes Intel MDS page I was intrigued. I have a MDS 225 Series III , but I have no OS or software. I need help in getting it going. It starts up O.K. into the diag ROM but thats it. Is there a way for me to get ISIS III for it? Also, what exactly CPM (GENERIC) will work on it? Yours truly.. Doug Taylor (Techno) Sysop of the "Dead On Arrival BBS" Telnet://doabbs.dynip.com http://www-mtl.look.ca/~techno techno(a)dsuper.net

23 years, 6 months

Classic Gaming OT and OT / Re: OT: Playstation 2 opinion?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>So how many people collect gaming environments? I can't say I "collect" them, but more I have a collection of them (and more units gravitate to me from time to time). I have things like an Odessey (the original one with the littel card edge cartridges, and the screen overlays), Atari 2600 (one market one, one prerelease prototype), Intellivision, Stunt Cycle, Odessey 500(? the newer one), NES, Playstation (1001 model with mod chip, and a 9000 without), and an assortment of stand-alone non TV interface things (like a Donkey Kong, Tron, Crazy Climber, and a heap of space war or driving things). I HAD a colecovision (prerelease prototype unit) and an ADAM add-on (also prerelease), but a friend "borrowed" it many years ago, and it never came back (along with half my atari 2600 carts, the prick!). I was supposed to get a Turbo-Graphix 16 and a Turbo Express, but both fell thru (the 16, the owner forgot and threw it out, and the Express, I turned down because it was a Japanese prototype so I couldn't play it, hind sight I have kicked myself ever since, it HAD been one of 3 in the US at the time, and one of 10 in existance! ARGHH!!) I have not yet begun to aquire Arcade Machines, as I just don't have the room, but I did go half on a Tron with my sister (she stores it at her house). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

[OT] New toy...

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

..... ! >NAOA - Not An Official Acronym ! >TTBOMK - to the best of my knowledge ! ! In no time somebody is bound to post the URL to some master list. ! ! You mean like this? :-) http://www.acronymfinder.com/ --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

[OT] New toy...

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! > ISTR - it stands to reason (I'm guessing here) I thought this was " I Seem To Recall(Remember)" --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

VLB SCSI? (really 64-bit PCI & 100Mb ISA)

by ken＠seefried.com

Wrapping up a few things here... > <Re: 100Mb ISA cards> 3Com 3C515. Of course, you don't get full bandwidth out of it, but if you really, really have to get an ISA-only box on a 100Mb network, it does work quite well. And there's a Linux driver :-). FWIW...the HP ISA 100Mb card is probably a 100baseVG card, which requires a special hub. > A typical example is the 64-bit PCI. I've seen several desirable > cards offered for the 64-bit PCI, yet I've not seen even ONE advertised > motherboard that actually supports 64-bit PCI. Hmm...there are a bunch, actually. As far as motherboards (as in, not systems) that you can run out to web sites and buy: - Intel boards based on ServerWorks and i860 have them, and they showed up occasionally on earlier Xeon boards - Sun ATX form factor UltraSPARC boards have them - Later Alpha ATX form factor boards have them - At least one version of the Motorola MTX PowerPC ATX motherboard has them (well...okay...this one is pretty obscure) - Finally...my odd/rare Galileo MIPS-based system has them...:-) > From what I've read, 32-bit PCI boards work in a > 64-bit slot, yet nobody seems to be offering that feature in their > advertisement. I'd guess that's because it's cheaper/easier to > diverge slightly from the published standard in making these products, > hence they don't make claims about compatibility. Umm...not sure what you are trying to say. As far as I know 32-bit & 64-bit interoperability *is* part of the the PCI standard, and works vice versa. In fact, I'm pretty sure per the standard, there is interoperability between 33MHz and 66MHz cards. You really only get locked out with 5v v. 3.3v issues. In other works, a card that claims PCI 2.1 compliance will interoperate. Ken

23 years, 6 months

email/browser for DOS or C64/128?

by rhblakeman＠kih.net

I know I've seen many things on this in th epast but wasn't paying attention. I have some free time now and want to do some tinkering. Are there browsers and email agents for the Commodore 64/128 series and DOS (2.11 through 6.22). I prefer a free or shareware one to be able to test it to see if it's a POS or not. I want to use the DOS version on a few platforms from an 8086/8088 to a 386. I have a 286 portable NEC that I'd like to try it out on first. Thanks in advance.

23 years, 6 months

[OT] New toy...

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

>can anyone fill in the blanks here ... <snip> >FA - I've seen (and used) "FA" and "FS" in USENET posting subjects to warn the reader that an item is about to be advertised "For Auction" or "For Sale".... Rich B. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

23 years, 6 months

ATEX?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>This wouldn't happen to have been the Bergen Record... >Used to work for one of their papers as a reporter back before I got into >PDP11's at DEC. Why yes, yes it is the Bergen Record. Right now my project has been put on hold. My friend asked the IT staff about a manual this morning, and they swore up and down that it doesn't matter, the newer version of ATEX will be going online in January. He doubts it, as it seems EVERYTHING they promise is about a year late before it actually gets in place. But until he can find a better person to talk to, there isn't much more I can do. However, I will keep my ears open, if I understand the Atex systems from their web site, the new system will no longer use the PDP-11 that the current one is based off. So one (or more? Atex implies that there may be multiples chained together) may be available soon. I don't have any pull down there to get them, but maybe I can get my friend to find someone I can talk to that does have some say in their disposal. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

Osborne 1 (was: OT :-)

by wrm＠ccii.co.za

Hi again all Tony asks: >Why suspect the FDC? This soulds like nothing more than a shorted or >leaky keyswitch. Have yoy taken the keyboard apart to check for this yet. When I unplug the keyboard and short out what I think is Enter (OK, maybe it's something else) the screen still refreshes, no lights on the floppy drives. >leaky (about 100k between the pins when the key is not pressed). This >will confuse some keyboard controller circuits. At least 3 of the switches seem to be dead shorts. And it's an assemble-once keyboard, the keys have little plastic pins that are melted to keep the whole affair together. Wouter ZS1KE for anyone interested www.retro.co.za

23 years, 6 months

[OT] New toy...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel(a)eskimo.com> >What I didn't know (until a Canadian guy at my ex-workplace explained >it to me) was that many of these abbreviations are French in origin. >("DE") That especially applies to the combined letter groups ("AR" with >no space in between = "end of message" = "arret", for example). > >This is not true of all abbreviations, of course. "FB" = "fine business" >(I know that only because I was looking for info on printing telegraphs >and stock tickers and found an old ARRL Handbook). There are plenty of others like... BT or break AR end of message SK end of work KN invitation to named station CL Closing station All of those are sent as one character. If you want to see a lot of abbreveated text read a sequence report as given for the aviation community. FCST CLDY TO BKN CLNG TO 10K.... Of course this would have been sent using ASR33 with 45 or 75 speed gears. Allison KB1GMX 6m-2m&70cm

23 years, 6 months

Almost on topic - Cassette I/O

by mhstein＠usa.net

Howdy to a fellow Canuck no doubt digging the long underwear out of the closet in preparation for winter... Might have something for ya; was just having one last look through some old Byte mags pulling out Cromemco ads before tossing 'em, and in July '76 there is a construction article for a fast cassette interface. Can scan it for ya if you're interested. Might also be able to find some others, was a popular project in those days. Can also ship you a Burroughs L series digital cassette drive (with some docs) if you're up to the challenge of interfacing it :) Also have tech info on some old computers (e.g. RS M100, AIM65) using cassette I/O. See on your web site you're also looking for PPT stuff; might even have something for ya in that department (Toronto area, though). While on the subject, anybody interested in an SwTPc AC-30 cassette interface? Just happen to have one; in fact, the reason I remembered that issue of Byte is 'cause the AC-30 is advertised on the inside front cover. mike ---------------Original Message------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 11:58:38 -0700 From: Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> Subject: Almost on topic - Cassette I/O I am building a FPGA ( Field programmable gate array ) computer in the style of the early computers that had a front panel and TTY for I/O. While I don't have have a front panel working the Hardware serial bootstrap does work on my prototype. Since I have a few LOGIC cells left in my FPGA to play with I was thinking adding a cassette interface. Does anybody know of schematics on the web that I can get ideas from. Ben Franchuk. - -- Standard Disclaimer : 97% speculation 2% bad grammar 1% facts. "Pre-historic Cpu's" http://www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk Now with schematics.

23 years, 6 months

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test-drb October 2001