test-drb December 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
1096 discussions

by spedraja＠ono.com

>Hello all, Hi ! >Thanks to a VERY generous man, located about an hour's drive from me, I have >a boatload of CompuPro S-100 stuff, 8" floppy drives, manuals, software, Very generous, I must say :-) >I am more than willing to copy floppies or manuals, no charge but postage (and you >supply the 8" media, as I am VERY short of blanks). The only caveat is that >it may take me a long time to do it, mainly becuase I'm not very organized >:-) I'm interested in the specific Digital Research Products documentation (and software, but less over this). It's possible I begin to manipulate the MP/M adn CP/NET sources to put it to work under Yaze. I must say you that I'd love to see all this manuals scanned and put together in some place dedicated to the CP/M stuff. If you can do it in a future then you're the better deposit. If you can't do it and can send it to me or another one who could scan it, it can be good too. Thanks and Greetings Sergio

24 years

History of Computing exam question

by mtapley＠swri.edu

Hans asked: >List the 20 to 30 systems you would display and briefly explain the >reason for choosing each. Fun question. Don't have time to really organize, but here's parts of my list: Napier's Bones digital solution for one class of computing problem Slide Rule (almost any) Analog computation, and portable computing power. Application of a fairly disjoint set of technologies to a very focussed solution that met a serious need in engineering Abacus (almost any) As with the slide rule, but now a discrete digital technology. Babbage's Engine ...or plans, if it couldn't be found or made a replica of. Large-scale compute power, digital technology with the greatest flexibility so far Bowditch's "American Practical Navigator" and a sextant Illustration of the market drive for computing power, and the tabular approach to meeting heavy-duty geometrical calculation problems. (Could just as well be the old Admiralty tables, I'm just biased in favor of Bowditch 'cause I'm American.) Zuse-1 (fill in the blank) Enigma machine, and Bomb (a matched pair) *serious* market drive -> compute power response for a single application Eniac (fill in the blank) IBM 360 (fill in the blank) PDP-11/xx Pick a good one, first minicomputer/lab computer. Brought compute power into a lot of lower-cost applications. Dec Rainbow typifies both MS-DOS and CP-M machines. somewhat breakthrough OS flexibility, (MS-DOS, CP/M, CCP/M, Venix, all of which were preexisting). Mac 128k GUI OS for the masses, origin of "friendly" computers (first computer to *smile* at me). VAX - any Illustration of successful extension of an existing architecture to more bits (twice as many) Alpha - any As VAX, but to 64 bits/RISC Cray 1 Vector supercomputer, electromechanical design breakthrough Newton PDA origin. Perq microprogramming, early workstation, heck Tony likes it so it must be good... F-14 flight computer integrated circuit microprocessor first application (?) NeXT Cube (original) OO system, sizeable leap in developer environment quality Sun Sparc-5 Desktop workstation, power/price/size breakthrough Sony Vaio or Mac Titanium Laptops get to practical size and retain serious power. DVD player (any) or CD player market driver for serious compute power cheap Sony PSX as above, including graphics Jet engine FADEC unit (any) compute power seriously ruggedized and making a pilot's life easier (livable). I'm sure I've left out a lot, apologies to all concerned. - Mark

24 years

More E-Bay Insanity?

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

Yes, but this one's being sold as "unopened." The seller thinks it has value to (or that he can make a bundle from) a _collector_ rather than a _user_. If anyone buys it, I doubt that they will ever open the package. It is madness, but (as has been said many times before) the value of something is what someone is willing to pay for it. -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Smith [mailto:csmith@amdocs.com] Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 4:12 PM To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' Subject: RE: More E-Bay Insanity? <snip> ... ok, I understand this perfectly (believe me!) but this is a head cleaning kit, and anyone who's still got a 5.25" disk likely could take it apart and clean the head without the kit. Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

VERY LONG: Latest S-100 Haul

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, Thanks to a VERY generous man, located about an hour's drive from me, I have a boatload of CompuPro S-100 stuff, 8" floppy drives, manuals, software, etc. The list is long, and I debated posting it here, or linking to a web page. In the end, I decided to post it here because I wanted it to be in the archives in case anyone was looking for any of this stuff. I am more than willing to copy floppies or manuals, no charge but postage (and you supply the 8" media, as I am VERY short of blanks). The only caveat is that it may take me a long time to do it, mainly becuase I'm not very organized :-) Before the list, there were also two Osborne 1 computers, one with a dead internal monitor (but works from external monitor), and one fully functional, with the double-density upgrade. Also, manuals and full sets of original disks for each. Without further ado, here's the list: CompuPro chassis, 21-slot motherboard - 1 Full CompuPro RAM22 board - 1 Full CompuPro RAM22 board - 1 Full CompuPro RAM21 board - 1 Full CompuPro RAM16 board - 1 Full CompuPro RAM17 board - 1 Macrotech Dual Processor board -- 80286 and Z80H - 1 CompuPro System Support 1 - 1 CompuPro DISK3 Hard Drive controller - 1 CompuPro Interfacer 4 - 1 CompuPro DISK1A Floppy Drive Controller CompuPro System 8/16 Chassis, 20-slot motherboard - 1 Full CompuPro RAM22 board - 1 CompuPro MDRIVE/H 512K/2 MEG disk emulator board - 1 CompuPro CPU68K board - 1 CompuPro System Support 1 board - 1 CompuPro Interfacer 4 board - 1 CompuPro DISK1 Floppy Controller Board Three dual 8" drive units (one CompuPro, two no-name) -- The CompuPro unit has two QumeTrak drives (242, I think -- full height 8"), one of the no-names has two Shugart 801 drives (single-sided only, I think), and the other no-name also has two QumeTrak drives. Unfortunately, the power supply in the no-name QumeTrak drive box literally had an LM723CN explode, breaking the chip in half, melting the socket, and fusing two pins to the socket. Cheap enough for a new chip, but time to put in a new socket, and figure out if something else has gone bad... One dual 5.25" floppy and 5.25" 40MB hard drive unit Additional S-100 cards: - Mullen Computer Products bus tracer board - CompuPro Interfacer 4 w/cable - Solid State Music PB1 2708/2716 EPROM Programmer - CompuPro DISK1 Floppy Controller - Jade Double D Floppy Disk Controller - Quantronics MM8 8K memory board, 64 2102 chips - Performics 256KB RAM card - CompuPro CPU-Z - Jade JG-Z80 Rev. C CPU board (Z80A) - Qty. 2 CompuPro CPU 8085/88 - Ackerman Digital Systems PROMBlaster II - Franklin Electric I/O Interface - Vector Electronics Interfacer II - Jade Parallel Serial I/O Board - Data Technology Corporation DTC 10-1 - Tarbell Cassette Interface, Rev. D Model 1001 - CompuPro System Support I - CompuPro RAM17 - ExpandoRAM Rev. E Original Software, 8" Floppies - CompuPro CP/M 8-16, version 1.1R - CompuPro CDOS 8-16, 4.1D-2, also labelled by CCT, version 2.0b - CompuPro DR Net, version 1.1A - CompuPro AMCALL/TIP Master, version 2.68/2.40 - CompuPro CP/M-80, version 2.2N - CompuPro CP/M-80, version 2.2LD - CompuPro CP/M-80, MDRIVE System Master, version 2.2LM - CompuPro CP/M-86, version 1.1PA - Jade CP/M version 2.2, for Double D controller card - CP/M-68K, version 1.0, labelled by Westico Software Express Service - SuperSoft C compiler (no version, copyright 1981) - CompuPro Assembler and tools 86 version 1.0 - CompuPro CP/M-68K version 1.1 - Digital Research C compiler for CP/M-86, version 1.11 - Term 3 by Echelon - Z-COM by Echelon - Discat by Echelon - PKey and I/O Recorder by Echelon - B/Printer by Echelon 20-30 Blank 8" media, some 1-sided, some 2-sided Manuals (* = original, no * = photocopy) - Code Works Small C for CP/M version n, April 1, 1981 * - BDS C version 1.4 - Jade Double D Software Manual - IMSAI 8080 Self-Contained System Operating System -- User manual and source code listings - Processor Technology Software Package #1 source listing - Qty. 3 CompuPro Interfacer 4 * (w/ schematic) - Digital Research CP/M 2 docs * - BDS C Version 1.5 * - ADS Promblaster II / Promwriter 4.0 * (w/ schematic) - CompuPro CP/M 68K Technical Manual and Installation Procedures * - Qty. 3 CompuPro RAM22 Technical Manual (w/ schematic) * - CompuPro System Enclosure and Motherboards Technical Manual * (w/ stickers and schematics) - Qty. 2 CompuPro DISK1 Technical Manual w/ schematics * - Qty. 2 CompuPro System Support 1 User Manual * (w/ schematics) - ViaSyn MDrive/H Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CCT Brochures, Price Lists - 4 issues of C-Pro newsletter, volume 2, issues 1-4, 1985 * - Tarbell BASIC I/O System - cassette version, version 12.12 listing - Tarbell Cassette BASIC, version 12.14 listing - CompuPro System 816A Standard Switch Settings and Cable Connections - CompuPro CP/M-80 2.2 Technical Manual and Installation Procedures - Digital Research CP/M-86 Release Notes, version 1.1 * - CompuPro System Support 1 Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro CPU-Z User Manual * (w/ schematics) - Qty. 2 ViaSyn/CompuPro CPU 8085/88 Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - Qty. 2 CompuPro RAM17 Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro DISK1A Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro System 8/16 Enclosure and Motherboards Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro Concurrent DOS 8-16 Installation and Customization Guide * (marked "Advance Copy") - CCT Concurrent DOS 8-16 CMX XIOS User Guide * - Macrotech MI-286 Dual Processor (80286/Z80H) Reference Manual * (w/ schematics) - Vector Electronic Interfacer II Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro FORTH Technical Manual * - Performics SRAM 128/258 User's Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro CPU-68K Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro RAM16 Technical Manual * (w/schematics) - CompuPro RAM21 Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - Franklin Electric I/O Serial Parallel Assembly and Test Instructions * - Data Technology Corp. DTC-10-1 Preliminary Specification (w/ schematics) - CompuPro CP/M 80 2.2 Hard Disk Installation Guide * - CompuPro MDrive Installation Manual * - CompuPro CP/M 8-16 Technical Manual and Installation Procedures * - CompuPro CP/M-86 Technical Manual and Installation Procedures * - QumeTrak 842 8" Floppy Maintenance Manual - Jade Double D Floppy Controller Manual * (w/ schematics) - Qume DataTrack 8 Maintenance Manual - Shugart 800/801 OEM Manual - PSS Model MM8 8K RAM System Manual - Solid State Music PB1 EPROM Programmer Board * (w/ schematcs) - SD Systems ExpandoRAM Operations Manual * (w/ schematics) - Tarbell Cassette Interface (w/ schematics) - Mullen Computer Products TB4 * (w/ schematics) S-100 test/probe board - Jade Serial Parallel Interrupt Controller * (w/ schematics) - Jade "The Big Z" (Z80 CPU board) * (w/ schematcs + monitor) - CompuPro TMXBIOS listings * - CompuPro DISK3 (ST506) Technical Manual * (w/ schematics) - CompuPro AMCALL and MCALL-II (comm prog.) Operations Manual * - CompuPro AMCALL and AMCALLN (supplement to above) * - Qty. 2 CompuPro CP/M 2.2 Technical Manual and Installation Procedures * - Qty. 2 CompuPro CP/M-86 Technical Manual and Installation Procedures * - Soroc IQ120 terminal Specifications and Operating Procedures * - Digital Research/CompuPro CP/M 2.2 User Reference Manual * (1 from 1982, 1 from 1978) - Qty. 2 Digital Research CP/M-86 System Guide * - Qty. 2 Digital Research CP/M-86 User's Guide * - Qty. 2 Digital Research CP/M-86 Programmer's Guide * - CompuPro Concurrent DOS 8-16 User's Guide * - Digital Research Concurrent CP/M User's Guide * - Digital Research Concurrent CP/M System Guide * - Digital Research Concurrent CP/M Programmer's Reference Guide * - Digital Research Concurrent CP/M-86 Programmer's Utilities Guide * - Lattice C Compiler v2.15A For 8086/8088 * - Digital Research DR Assembler Plus Tools for CP/M-86 * - Digital Research C Language for CP/M-86 * - Digital Research CBASIC Compiler for CP/M-68K * - Digital Research CP/M-68K User/System/Programmer Guides * - Digital Research C Compiler guide for CP/M-68K * - Supersoft Version 1.2 C Compiler for CP/M-80 * - DBase II User Manual - DBase II Reference - Microshell 1.2 User Manual - CP/M 2.2 Patches and Application notes from Digital Research - PC-Pro User's Guide - Wordstar 3.0 Customization Notes - Wordstar 3.0 General Information Manual - Wordstar 3.0 Installation Manual - Wordstar 3.0 Reference - Supersort 1.6 Operator's Handbook and Programmer's Guide - Datastar 1.1 User's Guide - CBASIC Version 2 Language Manual - The Zapple Monitor Version 1.1 - Word-Master 1.07 User Manual - SpellGuard User Manual - MAC -- Cal Poly Macro Assembler Manual * - Tarbell BASIC Manual - Calcstar 1.0 User's Manual - BSTAM Version 4.6 User Manual - CB-80 Languare Release Notes, and Reference Manual - Cal Poly/Link-80/RMAC/Library User's Guide - SID User's Guide - Microsoft MBASIC Compiler User's Manual - Microsoft BASIC-80 Reference Manual - Microsoft Utility Software User Manual (MACRO-80/LINK-80/CREF-80/LIB-80) - Island Cybernetics Information Retreival System v2.07 User's Manual - CP/M 3.0 System/Programmer/User Guides - CP/NET User's Guide - MP/M-II System/User/Programmer Guide Non-Original Disks (all 8", mixed 1S/2S, mixed densities) - Concurrent DOS 3.1D - Concurrent DOS 4.1D - CompuPro CP/M 8-16 Implementation Files - CompuPro CP/M 2.2N - Godbout CP/M 8-16 1.1PD - CompuPro CP/M 8-16 1.1R - MP/M-II 2.1 - MP/M-II 8-16 - MP/M Gen - BDS C 1.46 - Datastar - Wordstar - Spellguard - Wizard C 2.1D - Aztec C 3.2 - Lattice C 2.15 - DRI Assembler/Tools for CP/M-86 - 68K Cross-assembler - CB80 1.3 - CBASIC 2.38 - Fortran 80 - Turbo Pascal for CP/M-86 - SuperSort - DBase II - Selector III - Datastar 1.4 - IRS Infomaster - BSTAM (telecomm program) - BDS C 1.45 - Word-Master - Random House Thesaurus - Wordstar-86 - Small C 1.1 - Calcstar 1.2 - Microsoft BASIC v.4.5, 4.51, 5.1, 5.2 - CP/NET Version 1.0 Whew! That's all folks.... Rich B.

24 years

Scrapping hardware to get it off the books (RE: Is it a Lisa or Mac XL?!)

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>Should I even bother going back and asking to see the stuff >in the yard? Or, has this firm agreed not to resell anything >(I'm kinda assuming that what's true for this guy is industry >standard). I don't know the laws, but why shouldn't a scapper be allowed to sell the stuff in working condition? They are in the scrap business, and I would think once it is theirs, they should be allowed to sell it however they want (pulverize and sell as land fill, or repair and sell as working). Is there some law against selling the stuff in working condition? -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years

More E-Bay Insanity?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On December 3, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > Have 5.25 inch floppy drive cleaning kits > > become unobtainium, or only for the clueless: > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1305651479 > > > > This is up there with the $500 Kaypro... > > Value is in the eye of the beholder, man. Why is it automatically > "insane" when someone else views omething as being more valuable than > we do? Dave- My subject line included a question mark; I wasn't making a declaration, I was posing a query... Radio Shack sold these cleaning kits for years for, what, $5.95? Now, and I don't know, perhaps RS doesn't sell them anymore. I don't have a Jameco catalog handy to check, though I could look at a Global catalog... at any rate, I'm wondering whether this might have been a typo that the seller didn't catch... -dq

24 years

DEC Infoserver 150

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

Hardware wise the Infoserver 150 is a MicroVAX 3100 Model 10. Software wise I never got any real chance to hack mine and ATM it's in my storage room along with a VXT1200 X-terminal, which was the reason the 150 existed in the first place - one of the popular DEC bundles of the day was an infoserver and 5 VXTs. The software uses the Local Area Disk protocol (LAD/LAST) for disk services which requires a client to be running on a VAX somewhere (SYS$MANAGER:ESS$STARTUP.COM). VXTs could boot using IP/BOOTP/TFTP. There must be more than just ROM changes to the hardware though. I used to think that the whole reason the 150 came about in the first place was that Digital had a small mountain of 3100/10s lying around so they did their usual trick of using old hardware for new tricks (viz: RL02s as console media for bigger VAXen (6xxx?), PRO380s as consoles for 8xxx's etc). The 150 was superceded by the Infoserver 1000, which was smaller than the RRD42s that it controlled. > > Hi folks. I got a few questions. First, is there anything > that makes > > this box different from a plain-vanilla VAXserver 3100? > Second, does > > anyone have the software for this bad boy? Third, will the > software run > > on a regular VAXserver 3100? Fourth, what does the > software consist of? > > I can provide the software, but the InfoServer 150 is different from a > VAXserver 3100. I've tried to swap the ROMs, but that didn't > work. The > InfoServer 100 is the same as a VAXserver 3100 (but I can't remember > which model) with different ROMs. If you want to try, I can provide > Infoserver 100 ROM images. > -- > Eric Dittman > dittman(a)dittman.net > Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/ >

24 years

Off-Topic: Re: Anyone have a MicroVax II in a BA123 available?

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

<RANT> Why is it that anytime anyone asks: "Does anyone in my small geographical area have a 'foo' they want to get rid of?" there is invariably a slew of "I have one, but don't want to get rid of it" or "I have one I want to get rid of, but not in your area, and not willing to ship" messages? If you're not in the area, or you don't want to get rid of it, why reply? I mean it's gotta be annoying to the original poster to hear of others in the area, with the "foo" he needs, but who don't want to get rid of it. It's not bad that they have the "foo", but it seems like the reply is rubbing his face in it.... </RANT> Rich B.

24 years

More E-Bay Insanity?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Have 5.25 inch floppy drive cleaning kits become unobtainium, or only for the clueless: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1305651479 This is up there with the $500 Kaypro... -dq

24 years

More E-Bay Insanity?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 3, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > Have 5.25 inch floppy drive cleaning kits > become unobtainium, or only for the clueless: > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1305651479 > > This is up there with the $500 Kaypro... Value is in the eye of the beholder, man. Why is it automatically "insane" when someone else views omething as being more valuable than we do? The resale value of the stuff we hack on is going up, and we have to learn to deal with it. It has been for some time. People are buying it at these prices, and it's not just one or two people. Let them spend their money...if they're happy with their purchase, what's wrong with it? Further, one mustn't lose sight of the fact that different things are more readily available in different geographic areas than in others. Just because there are fifty AppleIIs at the corner yard sale in your neighborhood doesn't mean there are fifty of them at EVERY corner yard sale. As a case in point...I'm no newcomer to this field; I've been doing pdp8/pdp11/vax stuff for a solid fifteen years. My first real system was a pdp11/34 which I sold about ten years ago, and have regretted it every since. I've wanted another one for several years, and had been looking for one in earnest in the Washington DC area for a solid three years...never managed to get one, and believe me, I know where to look. I finally bought one locally for about $400, indirectly from a surplus dealer who was sharking on the "antique computer craze" trying to make a ton of money on it. I'm sure he got it for free, and he laughed all the way to the bank. However, I'm VERY happy to have it, and I love the machine. If I hadn't paid that $400, I wouldn't have one. They're simply unobtainium in the DC area. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

TK50-GA external SCSI tape unit + Microvax 3100 Desktop

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com wrote: > >> (Oh, what's the 50 pin HD-DB type connector? line-printer?) > >Good question :-) After my earlier miscounting I'd better check carefully :-0 but if this is labelled B1 (and there is another one labelled B2 on *some* MicroVAX 3100 Model 20s) and it is three rows of pins ... then it is a synchronous communications connector. The same connector was used on several other synch comms options (DEMSA, DECnis, DSV11, DSB32, DMB32 and DSF32). The interface presented (X.21, V.35, RS422, RS423) was determined by the stub cable you plugged in. Antonio

24 years

3com 1625-0

by spedraja＠ono.com

Hello: >> My guess would be that the mini-scsi connectors aren't scsi but in fact >> some type of cascading connection. So that multiple hubs can act as a >> single hub. > >Correct, they link the hub to a managed hub. You need a hub with the >management module installed, though. > >I'm not sure if it'll do anything without the managed hub, but I guess I >could look in my docs to find out for sure. I'll agree it, sincerely. My doubts are, mainly: * Can I connect the hub directly to 220 volts AC ? It appears possible if I've read correctly the AC connector info. * How must I connect the RG58 cables ? Must I put a Ethetnet 'T' with a terminator in the computer BNC connector or not ? * Finally, the link connectors and you suggestion about the link to one managed hub. Thanks and Greetings Sergio

24 years

Houston Classic Computers was {Off-Topic: Re: Anyone have a MicroVax II in a BA123 available?}

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 3, Matthew Sell wrote: > I don't know of a formal (or informal....) classic computer user group in > Houston, but I would love to participate in one. > > I know that there are several of us in Houston. I met with David and Mitch > recently; very nice people. David has a real neat collection of older > "personal" computers and some other Unix-class boxen as well. > > Obviously there are more of us, an informal gathering would be neat. I'm interested in a similar thing in the Tampa Bay area, if there's anyone around... -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

FLUKE?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 3, Allison wrote: > It's not RAM per se. > > It's basically a disk like structure, the difference is rather than rotate > the media they move the magnetic domains around. I have a few > 128kbyte (1Mbit) bubbles I use still. Yup, it's sequentially accessed. At least one company still sells & supports it, though I don't know if they're actually producing it at this point.. It's a really neat technology. It moves the magnetic domains around "tracks" in (if memory serves) a crystalline garnet substrate. These domains can be set to "0" or "1" and are read by moving them past a detector. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

On Sun Mice and Mouse pads

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 3, Fred deBros wrote: > Ok, just for the record: > > Printing the mouse.ps file on plain white paper doesn't work with any > type sun mouse > So I printed it on transparent paper, turned it over (so you don't > scrape off the print!) and put it on one of those dark shiny antistatic > bags , and on an aluminum foil: It works. But only with my type 4 mice. > > RIP all you optical mice, and thanks for the suggestions. Hm, we must've used different paper. Or perhaps laser printers with different toner. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

HP ".fst" format

by bill_mcdermith＠yahoo.com

I scrounged a copy of the RTE OS for the hp21xx computers, but it is in some strage archive format with the extension ".fst" -- this is apparently much like tar, but my sun version of tar doesn't uunpack it well (to say the least :-)... Does anyone know of either a version of the archive program for this format that I could build on a UNIX box, or the format of the file so that I could unpack it? Thanks much, Bill McDermith

24 years

Groups in Houston (and elsewhere)

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

Have any of you Houston folks looked around for similar groups in your area? A quick Google search of my (Orlando) area found an Apple II group and an IBM PC group, both of which hold monthly meetings. There are probably similar groups in your area where you might meet vintage computer people (other than those on this list). Glen 0/0

24 years

DEC PC04/PR8E Question

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

OK, the last part of my shipment just showed up, the Papertape reader. I'd thought the PC04 was a reader/punch. Am I correct in my revised assumption, that it came in three models; reader/punch, reader, and punch? Now for the first question, should there be anything on the right side (looking from the front) if it's only a reader? For some reason I've a bad feeling that I don't have a complete reader... On a positive note, the PDP-8/E looks to be in *far* better shape than I'd been lead to believe, so hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running with minimal effort (I could be so lucky). Though it's large enough I'm very tempted to transplant pieces into my PDP-8/M and put the /E in storage. Also I got a terrific looking pile of documenation and Volume 3 of the hardware manuals is twice the size of the copy I already had. Most of the manuals are ones I didn't have, and I've finally got a printset :^) 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/ |

24 years

IMPORTANT NOTE (list admin)

by west＠tseinc.com

The classiccmp mailing list, as well as all the classiccmp related websites that I'm hosting at no charge, must be moved IMMEDIATELY to another set of servers at another location. Due to possible legal contractual reasons, I can't publicly go into more detail. If you need further information about this just contact me off list and I'll see if I can be more specific. PLEASE keep the following points in mind: 1) PLEASE do not continue (reply to) this thread on the list, I'd rather not have a bunch of messages in the archives about this topic. If you want to say anything about this, only reply to me at west(a)tseinc.com 2) I have resigned from the company that I worked for, and am no longer an owner there. The only valid email address for me is west(a)tseinc.com and to anyone who had my cellphone number, I now have a different number. Contact me via email if you need it. 3) Anyone who had my USmail mailing address for shipping stuff to with a zip code of 63117, please dont send anything there as there's no way to be sure I will ever get the package. Contact me off list for new mailing info. 4) I will continue to have the classiccmp website as well as all the free classiccmp related websites hosted at no charge. My offer of free hosting for any such websites or mailing lists still stands. Nothing will change, only the servers the sites are located on. The new location where the sites will be hosted is every bit as robust and well managed as the old location. 5) I took extreme pride in our uptime and reliability. You can assume the same will continue with the new hosting location (wink wink). However, as much as it truely pains me to do so, the sites and list must be moved in a very unplanned, hurried, unceremonious fashion. It is certain that there will be some downtime for the mailing list, as well as some of the free sites, WHILE they are being moved - lasting possibly 48 hours. I sincerely apologize for this, but the situation forces me to do this in an abrupt manner without planning for DNS propagation and the like. My sincere apologies. 6) As I said, the offer of free hosting still stands now and in the future. If anyone has any classiccmp related sites or mailing lists they want hosted, just drop me an email. Regards, Jay West

24 years

Microchannel ethernet NIC

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/3/2001 3:49:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, csmith(a)amdocs.com writes: << Probably RJ45. It is for a friend's machine, though, so I'll have to check. I have gotten an offer of an RJ45 board via email, though, if that's the case. RE: looking for MCA NIC... why not look on ebay? always some listed there and cheap too.

24 years

More E-Bay Insanity?

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > Hmm...come to think of it, I have a genuine Radio Shack 5.25" head > cleaning kit...I think I'll put it up on eBay and see how I do! 8-) Shoot, man, I've got a case of the things (I'd never use one myself, of course). Wait, that means I'm rich! RICH! RICHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Glen 0/0

24 years

FLUKE?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 3, 21:50, Tony Duell wrote: > 'Bubble Sort' has nothing to do with bubble memory. Bubble sort is a > well-known, very poor, sorting algorithm -- so poor that one book I have > contains the quote (from memory) 'If you know what a bubble sort is, wipe > it from your mind. If you don't, make a point of never finding out' :-) I don't know which book that was, but actually a bubble sort is one of the most efficient for things that are already nearly in order, or for small lists. Which is one reason it's used as part of some other algorithms. Definitely not for large random sets, however. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years

FLUKE?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 3, 15:09, Christopher Smith wrote: > "Let A[1:n] be an array of n numbers. > > ... > > Make repeated sweeps over the array A[1:n] from left to right. Upon > detecting any adjacent pair of numbers A[i] and A[i+1] not in proper order, > exchange them A[i] <-> A[i + 1]. When a pass is completed with no exchanges > having been made, the process terminates. Hmm, well, that's (almost) the worst example I've ever seen :-) You're supposed to stop one position shorter each time, because by the end of the sweep, the largest (or smallest, depending on which way you do the comparison-and-swap) number has fallen to the bottom (end) of the array. It makes a big difference to the time it takes. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years

TK50-GA external SCSI tape unit + Microvax 3100 Desktop

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 3, 20:21, Matt London wrote: > > No, that does not soud correct. > > The external SCSI-Connector (if you have one) on a MV3100 is a rather > > small, 68-PIN-HD-like connector, comparable to modern SCSI-III > > connectors. > Just my 2p's worth, but, my MV3100/m10e has a 50 pin centronics SCSI > connector - it's hooked into the scsi bus, I can see that by looking at it > - the cable connecting it has my 2nd internal HDD attached :&) As does mine, model no. DV31AT1A. > I also have the serial port option, which is a 37pin centronics. I think you mean 36-pin :-) > (Oh, what's the 50 pin HD-DB type connector? line-printer?) Good question :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years

History of Computing exam question

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Ben Franchuk [mailto:bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca] > Christopher Smith wrote: > > I took the question a different way. As I interpreted it, > the computers > > were supposed to be "significant" in terms of design. The > IBM PC wasn't. > > It was pretty much all re-hash of something else. > Well when I first saw a PC ( clone that is ) , I thought > "WOW A real keyboard, good display ( Upper / Lower Case ) > and dual floppies all in one box". 512K ram max sounded > like a lot of memory too. Compared to the 8 bit toy market > at the time Z80's,C64's,Coco's that was a lot of power. > It was the small 16 bit addressing that killed the 8 bitters. May have been unusual at the time. I doubt it was the first machine to have any of that. A VAX-11/750 with a vt-100, for instance, would have had all that less the dual-floppies and with a much higher maximum RAM limit ;) Seriously, though, some older CP/M boxes also had real keyboards, decent displays and dual floppies. (Some of which was optional, mind you... as were _any_ floppies on the PC, AFAIK, in that you bought them separately :) Also you could say that it was the first available 16-bit home computer (depending on your definition of 16-bit), but you'd be wrong... (Quick search says that several people believe this was the TI-99, actually, which also had a real keyboard, and could have had the dual floppies) Ultimately, the 32-bit systems were pretty close on its heels -- I have a timeline that places the PC in '82, and the Apple Lisa in '83. I don't know if this is correct... I have no idea how the peesee actually lasted as long as it has. There were several 32-bit systems on the market by 1984 or so (though, my personal favorite was done in '87 with the Acorn Archimedes). Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

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test-drb December 2001