test-drb March 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

214 participants
552 discussions

Crystal Radios (was Re: List spammer ID'd)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

Sure, albeit a less "authentic" one. I've always heard that germanium diodes are better for this (does this have something to do with their forward voltage drop of 0.3V vs. silicon's 0.7V?)...like the venerable 1N34A. -Dave McGuire On March 30, Richard Erlacher wrote: > Well, if the purpose of the crystal + (what we used was a safety-pin) is to > function as a diode, then is it still a crystal radio if a diode is used > instead? > > Dick > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Tony Duell" <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 10:58 AM > Subject: Re: Crystal Radios (was Re: List spammer ID'd) > > > > > > > > When I built mine, we (the CubScout pack) used toilet paper roll cores which > we > > > varnished and then applied our magnet wire. We even went rock hunting to > find > > > galena crystals to use. I don't remember any sort of diode ... there > could've > > > been one, though ... that was nearly 50 years ago, after all. > > > > The galena + catswhisker is a (poor-quality) diode. > > > > My suggestion to use a ready-made diode (in the UK I'd use something like > > an OA81) is that you know that diode is good. You can then wind the coil > > and wire up the rest of the set, knowing that if it doesn't work the > > problem is not due to the fact you've not found a spot of the right > > impurities in the crystal. When you've got it working, you can then swap > > the diode for the crystal and catswhisker, knowing that if it doesn't > > work the problem is with that. > > > > Otherwise there are too many variables IMHO. > > > > -tony > > > >

23 years, 8 months

D connector tirade (NeXT mono monitor cables?)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

>------------------------------ > >Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 10:55:31 -0800 (PST) >From: "Eric J. Korpela" <korpela(a)ellie.ssl.berkeley.edu> >Subject: D connector tirade (was: Re: Age-old ethernet equipment) > >The standard options I'm aware of are: >DE-9, DA-15, DB-25, DC-37, DD-50, DE-15, DA-26, DB-44, DC-62, DE-78, >and the occasional 2DE-19 and 2DB-52. Those 19 pin "D style" connectors >that Apple, Atari & NeXT were so fond of don't really count because >they were really just an attempt to force people to buy branded >products. This has been bugging me for a while. NeXT mono monitor cables have a D connector with 19 pins at either end. They are (apparently) in pretty short supply relative to mono NeXT systems. Does anyone know the real designation for those connectors, and whether it's practical to think about building substitute cables? I'm still worried that this issue may become particularly relevant Sunday evening when Curt unloads his $1k stack of NeXT systems. - Mark

23 years, 8 months

Amiga questions

by jhellige＠earthlink.net

>a few A1200 Amiga questions (do they hit the 10 year limit? I know I got my >A500 in the early 90's, and I think A3000's were around then, right??)... If I remember the dates correctly, the A500 was introduced in '87 as a companion to the A2000 and the A3000 arrived on the scene in either '90 or '91 with the A1200 in '93. >Do all 1200's come with built in IDE hard drive controllers - or did >commodore do things on the cheap and only add controllers for machines >shipped with drives (I'm assuming the controller lives on the main board >itself)? Yes, the A1200 has built-in IDE >Will the 1200 accept any size (capacity) drive? I've used drives up to 4+ gig on both SCSI and IDE equipped Amiga's without a problem. >What are the options of networking a '1200 (ideally TCP/IP stack on the >Amiga, using SLIP or something to a Unix box maybe? Are there things around >that allow this, with NFS mounting of drives for data copying?) Both Miami and Termite are good TCP/IP stacks that work with either ethernet or dialup connections. I'm not sure about the mounting of a NFS drive, but given how extensible the Amiga file system is, I'd hazard a guess that it is likely possible. >Can PC SVGA multisync monitors be used with the 1200, or won't the monitor >sync to a low enough frequency for the Amiga (seem to remember that was the >problem with the 500, not sure if the 1200 has any sort of 'fix' for this on >the Amiga side though) IF the monitor syncs down to ~15 khz it will work fine with the A1200 without any kind of scan doubler. Even the A4000 didn't fix this compatibility with SVGA multisync monitors....for some reason only the A3000 did. Jeff

23 years, 8 months

Age-old ethernet equipment

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Mar 29, 15:40, Iggy Drougge wrote: > Pete Turnbull skrev: > >On Mar 29, 6:39, Iggy Drougge wrote: > >Well, they would really all be the same network -- they'd be all one > >collision domain (any packet or collision appearing on one port would be > >seen on all the others. That's what a repeater does). > > True, but at least they will look like that and there won't be a dozen > unused ports. Yes, I see what you mean. You won't get any more bandwidth on any part of the net, nor on the whole net, but you will have the advantage that it's easier to isolate a fault if one occurs. And of course, extra blinkenlights, which is always A Good Thing :-) > >> What management would be involved with a repeater? > > >Partitioning segments [...] Monitoring traffic levels [or] types > >[...] Keeping a list of MAC addresses [...] setting [IP address] > > or telling [the repeater] to use bootp/dhcp) or upgrade > >the firmware, or set passwords. > > That monitoring seems interesting. If you think so, find out about SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and possibly RMON. If you have Windows, look for the SNMP service which is buried in one of the subdirectories on your CD; it includes "snmputil" which you can use to retrieve or set information (but beware if you install it on an Internet-accessible machine as it makes a lot of things available to remote enquirers and has a lot of security problems). If you have Linux, look on the net for UCD SNMP (which has some command line utilities) and SNMPY or SCOTTY. There's also gxsnmp but it's only in an early stage of development. For a bit of fun, take a look at Netcool (expensive!) or MRTG (free!). There's lots more, but that'll give you some idea. http://rak.isternet.sk/linux-netman/snmp.html is a reasonable place to start. > >> IOW it's just a glorified OFF switch. =) > > >Partitioning, is, yes. Segmenting isn't, it's just a way of making one > >big(ish) hub do the job of a few smaller ones. > > I was rather hoping it had that ability. Segementing? Not many repeaters do, especially old ones, as it needs a fair amount of extra electronics. Basically it's done by a crossbar switch, which is inside one large ASIC in modern repeaters that provide it. The most common form of segmenting in hubs is in dual-speed (10/100baseT) hubs; what they really do is segment the ports into a 10baseT segment and a 100baseT segement, with a little store-and-forward switch in between. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

23 years, 8 months

D connector tirade (was: Re: Age-old ethernet equipment)

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

> It's video, and the official designation is PITA-23. :-P ha ha - ditto on the DA26 my Xterm uses - trying to find a connector for that was impossible. Ended up soldering a PC VGA connector to the board via a short bit of cable and using that instead :-) What about the Sun monitor connectors with the embedded 3 connectors for RGB - do they still fall under the same D-type categorisation? cheers Jules

23 years, 8 months

Mac haul and print server questions

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

The March winds have been unsurpassed at depositing Macintosh parts at my feet. Last week, at my new job, a new co-worker gave me a pair of AAUI 10BaseT transceivers; the show at Dayton disgorged a Quadra 660AV; and the university surplus turned out to be a gold mine. For $5 each, I picked up a 15" Mac monitor, two LC IIIs, two IIsis, an external 170Mb disk, and an Apple external 80Mb disk. I got for free from the cable bin, some LocalTalk cables, three LocalTalk dongles, one PhoneNet dongle (w/terminator) and three data- center-grade AUI cables, including a DEC-branded one (perfect for my VAX8200) Most of these accessories I've been looking for with some intensity of late. In amongst the bits were Ethernet cards all around. I picked up the IIsis, not for themselves, but because ISTR that the IIsi PDS slot is compatible with the PDS slot on the SE/30. If so, then I can finally stick that SE/30 on my network without using up my one and only SCSI<->Ethernet dongle. A surprise in the lot was inside one of the LC IIIs - an Apple IIe card. It stood out because of the DB44? connector on the back, rather than the expected RJ-45. I have heard of the Apple IIe compatibility card, but where can I find a cable for this connector, which I presume is for attaching an external drive to? I haven't gotten home yet, so I have no idea if there is software on the Mac's drive to control it, but I hope there is. Finally, now that I have an abundance of Ethernet-capable Macs, I want to turn to a long-standing project - turning a Mac into an Ethernet<->LocalTalk print server. I don't care if I have to sacrifice one of my larger Macs and run a variety of UNIX, but what I want is to be able to print from other machines, UNIX, Windoze, Amiga, etc., over whatever protocol I can manage to universally support, and print to this HP Deskwriter 660 that is sitting here, lonely. Additionally, I could drive an HP LaserJet 4/ML over the LocalTalk port from the same print server. Are there any packages for the Mac that will let me share the printer with non-Apple-based machines? Is there something like CAP (Columbua AppleTalk Protocol?) for Windoze? (I've used it with Linux) I am not a Mac newbie, but my experience with Mac printers is limited to "plug it in, load a driver and go". I've never had to mess with them much, because they are, in my experience, fairly well behaved. I will go RTFM once I know where the FM is (and any software to go with it). -ethan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text

23 years, 8 months

Sparcstation prom passwords

by broth＠heathers.stdio.com

I found a really easy way to get past the prom passwords in the NVRAM in SUN sparcstations. I have tried it on a Sparc LX,IPX, and IPC and I really think it should work on any model. If there is a well known fix, disregard. After much searching the web on this, all I ever found was "replace NVRAM chip" I will post the procedure here if anyone is interested. Brian.

23 years, 8 months

SUN networking problems

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Mar 29, 7:50, Arno Kletzander wrote: > Just typing in snoop at the prompt ends up with > snoop: Command not found. > In which subdirectory might this program be (if it's on the system at all), > or how can we search for it? If it isn't, where can one possibly get it? /usr/sbin/snoop on my Solaris systems -- but it might be elsewhere on an older system, and it's not installed by default. Alternative is tcpdump, which uses a library called libpcap. The home page for both is http://ee.lbl.gov/ or http://www.tcpdump.org/ , and they can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/ You'll need a decent C compiler -- which probably means gcc, as Sun stopped providing a compiler with the OS a long time ago. > The printer manual has surfaced, but it only contains the information that > the Ethernet card was an add-on and had its own Installation and Configuration > Guide with it - which must be buried even deeper than the manual itself if > we were given it at all On most of the Ethernet-enabled printers I've come across (mostly HPs, Lexmarks, and Xeroxes) you can do the setup from the front panel -- sometimes tedious, but usually not too hard to understand. > I guess the remaining problem is really the IP address of the printer, as > the data transfer between the computers and the printer must be all right by > now: Whenever a ping or something else occurs on the network, the orange DATA > LED on the printer's back side blinks a few times (what should indicate it is > receiving the data). A reasonable assumption. Have you tried printing out status pages? Sometimes that will show you things like IP address, protocols enabled, that sort of thing. Usually you can do it by holding down one of the buttons when you turn the power on. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

23 years, 8 months

Sparcstation prom passwords

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Mar 29, 18:48, Mike Kenzie wrote: > My Sparc 1+ currently fails when booting linux. I get this > message: > > IDPROM: unknown format type! > program terminating > > Is there a way to by pass the PROM? > > The current PROM is a 525-1107-04 Can other sparc PROMS be > used as a replacement? The IDPROM isn't a PROM, it's an NVRAM chip. I don't recognise that part number, the usual IDPROM for a Sparcstation 1+ is 525-1109-xxx. The NVRAM is an unusually tall 24-pin device with a barcode on the top (usually), and I think the number you quoted is the boot EPROM, which is quite a different thing. You could replace the IDPROM with one from another 1+, or read the Sun NVRAM FAQ about reprogramming one, but you can't just use one from a different type of motherboard as the type code would be wrong. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

23 years, 8 months

HP 9845 games web page

by RebelTerry＠home.net

Okay, I whipped up a quick site for my HP 9845 stuff. It has scanned in screen shots from some of the games I wrote with a friend. If you're curious, check it out. http://www.sixstring.com/terry/hp9845/ I'm still hoping to find a working HP that can play these! Terry

23 years, 8 months

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test-drb March 2001