Surviving customs
My experience when shipping through customs you must make sure that you
don't say it's "worthless", they think you are lying. I have tried saying
"used medical equipment" but they translated that to "medical waste". I
ended up with "sterile out of date medical equipment that is composed of
stainless steel and plastic". Actually supplying the least amount of
information is probably smartest. Try to avoid mention of the
"radioactive" or in our case "non-radioactive" word. I suspect that any
mention of any form of the "drug" word would also be a stupid. Mentioning
that it will be used for educational purposes may have helped.
They asked for an itemized list with values of each item. I had included
several thousand catheters, needles and injectors and estimated the value of
each item as $1 and ended up with the question then "Why aren't you insuring
this shipment?"
My frustration level was high but the third time for the shipment it made it
through.
Mike
mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu
Here is my latest major acquisition as of the Sunday before last:
http://www.siconic.com/computers/Imlac
This is an Imlac PDS-1D, a later model of the Imlac PDS-1 circa 1972.
It's a 16-bit graphical workstation (pre-Alto!) I'm not sure how much
memory this has but it contains two coreplanes, so I'm figuring either 8K
or 16K. Unfortunately, it's been stored outside for about 7 years and has
suffered some minor corrosion on the PCB solder traces and some light
rusting on the ICs. I spent a few days cleaning it up and it looks like
it's going to make it.
This was a relatively easy retrieval. I started out from the San
Francisco bay area about 6am Saturday morning, making it to Long Beach
(southern California, LA area) by about 2:30pm, and got back home by 1am
Sunday (taking my time along the way). The actual distance was about 800
miles. I was able to fit the main unit in my trunk and the display in my
back seat. It normally would have come in a desk configuration, but since
it was stored outside, the formica and pressboard table top was warped and
unsalvageable, so I left it behind. I did get the legs, so I'll be able
to easily reconstruct the tabletop.
The cabinet of the computer was rusted around the outside. Not horribly
but it will need to be refinished. The inside of the card cage was spared
>from any dirt and debris since it was closed pretty tightly. Some
corrosion on the logic modules from moisture was still evident. On the
other side of the rack, there were leaves stuffed up inside the core
memory board section. I imagine some varmint made his nest there for a
while.
I managed to clean up the core memory boards and the power supply section
so far. The core itself was fine, having been protected by a PCB board
cover. The leads on the ICs are a bit rusted, but I imagine they will
still be OK with some clean up. The solder traces showed some corrosion
(oxidation?) from moisture but seem to be OK after having traced out a few
with a meter.
The CRT is obviously going to need replacing. It looks like I may be able
to just remove the front glass panel and then chip off the intermediate
glass (plastic?) layer that is all cracked to reveal a clean tube on the
inside, but I don't know if this is just an optical illusion (and I don't
know if this would be safe :) The tube has a Fairchild sticker on it.
Apparently Fairchild made CRTs in the late 60s, early 70s. I wonder if I
can just find a replacement?
The nice thing about this one is that it came with the programmer's
console. And if you'll look at the picture showing the front card cage
with the logic modules, the long board in the lower right is a "Long
Vector Option", hand-wired by the guy I got it from. It's basically a
co-processor board for drawing the vectors on the display. It allowed the
system to handle more vectors than the basic configuration. Apparently,
if you had too much happening on the display the system would bog down
considerably or crash.
For comparison to the PDS-1, look here:
http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/imlac/
(This happens to be Doug Salot's excellent web page on the PDS-1, which I
now have in my collection...thanks, Doug! :)
The display for the PDS-1D is very different from the PDS-1. It's much
larger and has a detached keyboard. The computer itself is also very
different. The card rack uses different connectors, and the memory is on
the other side of the rack instead of plugged into the card cage along
with the rest of the logic modules, as with the PDS-1.
>From talking to the previous owner, I'd hoped I would be able to just
bring it home and fire it up after some TLC with a Variac, but that ain't
gonna happen. He never told me he'd stored it outside. Duh. But I think
with a bit of work it can be made to function in time for VCF 5.0, in
which I hope to include it in an exhibit of early networked video games.
One cool aspect of this machine is that it has a diode ROM board that
instructs the machine to boot off the serial port. The previous owner
wrote some code for his Cromemco that would upload operating software
into the Imlac. He also wrote an assembler on the Cromemco so that he
could assemble programs and then upload them to the Imlac. Pretty
cool.
This will be my main restoration project for the time being.
My first questions are:
1) What effect does moisture have on solder traces after such long
exposure to the elements? Do I need to be worried about cold solder
joints and things like that? The last time this thing was fired up was
6-7 years ago, according to the previous owner.
2) What is the chance that the power supply caps and transformers are
bad, again, being that it was exposed to the elements for so long? How
can I test the caps? I have schematics, so I imagine I could test the
transformers knowing the voltages.
3) How can I easily remove the rust from the leads of the ICs?
Thanks!
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
From: James B. DiGriz <jbdigriz(a)dragonsweb.org>
>
>Wish now I had spent a lot more on actual hardware, though. I envy
>your collection.
I had an advantage, working for NEC micromputers from 79-84, as a
product engineer I was able read up on and sometimes required to
use/experiment with many CPUs so I could compare them.
Allison
I have an SMS 1000 (A PDP 11/73) that I no longer want. It is populated
with a M8192-YB (11/73 cpu) card and a MSV11-R memory card made by
General Robotics Corp. There is an internal harddisk and both a 5 1/4" and
8" floppy drives. It runs RT-11 and has a set of RT-11 manuals
including: 1A, 2, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B, PDP11 FORTRAN 77 & RT-11 Mini
Ref. Manual.
It really has to go so I will split up if someone wants only parts from
it. The manuals will end up in the paper recycling bins at work if nobody
wants them.
--
Kevan
Collector of old computers: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/
On April 13, Jerome Fine wrote:
> Does anyone on the list run RT-11 still other than Megan Gentry?
> Do you tinker with the operating system code at all? Does anyone
> care about the RT-11 Operating System?
I care about it; I like it quite a bit. I have a Micro 11/73
running v5.4, and a Kevex X-ray analyzer (an accessory to the electron
microscope) that has a pdp11/73 in it that runs RT-11.
-Dave McGuire
From: Jeff Hellige <jhellige(a)earthlink.net>
>
> As far as I know, the 8bit IDE drives maxed out at 40meg,
Mostly due to the 8bit market for them shrinking.
My solution is a acculogic 8bit to standard ISA adaptor, works great
with a Conner 420mb IDE.
Allison
From: Eric Chomko <chomko(a)greenbelt.com>
>
>Whoa! The class I took in microcomputers (two actually) was once a week
at 7:00pm. I was a regular full-time day student at that time. However,
the class was
>populated with many over 30 types and in one class the Prof. was about
60 and the other class the Prof was 28!
That would be about right. About the time I'd bought the 9900 I'd be
taking a course on
data structures in pascal.
Allison
Hello,
I worked in Endicott for IBM on the design of what was known internally as
the Series-X machine. This later became the S/9370 and AS/400. If you
notice in the first announcements that the machines look alike? Both use
common building block parts developed for Series-X which was canceled. Both
used the same RISC processor. The 9379 has an emulation assist card to help
with the S/370 instructions. At any rate I was looking for some information
on the processor and IBM had none in their archives. Anyone know where
there is information online? I have some marketing materials from when it
was released.
Mark
On April 13, LFessen106(a)aol.com wrote:
> So far I've found endless fascination in chips and power transistors.
> But, the most unbelievably fascinating thing that I've seen in that
> scope was something I thought would be boring...a blown tungsten lamp
> filament! I just did some quick scans of some of the
> electromicrographs I've done lately. They can be seen at
> http://www.neurotica.com/sem/images if you're interested. The blown
> tungsten lamp filament pics are filament-1.jpg and filament-2.jpg.
> >>
>
> Dave,
> Just out of curiosity, have you found any of that microart burned on I.C.'s yet?
Lots of it. Most of it is fairly well-documented though, so I
haven't bothered photographing any of it.
I've enjoyed hunting around chips to find manufacturers' logos,
though. That's always fun. Tooling around with the X and Y stage
controls, until a big "W" Westinghouse logo pops up...cool!
I'm really hoping to find a dead J11 chipset to decapitate. I have
several J11-based boards here but I can't stand the idea of
sacrificing one in that manner. If anyone here has a spare J11
chipset or a known-dead board containing one, I'd love to talk deal
for it.
-Dave McGuire
UM, U of M, UMD, it's all alphabet soup to me. I didn't attend the
school, so I don't know what the official abbreviation is. :)
-Dave McGuire
On April 13, Chad Fernandez wrote:
> U of M is Michigan :-) I thought Maryland was just UM?
>
> Chad Fernandez
> Michigan, USA
>
> Dave McGuire wrote:
> >
> > U of M as in Maryland? I'm in Laurel. :-)
In a message dated Fri, 13 Apr 2001 3:45:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> writes:
<<
U of M as in Maryland? I'm in Laurel. :-)
So far I've found endless fascination in chips and power transistors.
But, the most unbelievably fascinating thing that I've seen in that
scope was something I thought would be boring...a blown tungsten lamp
filament! I just did some quick scans of some of the
electromicrographs I've done lately. They can be seen at
http://www.neurotica.com/sem/images if you're interested. The blown
tungsten lamp filament pics are filament-1.jpg and filament-2.jpg.
>>
Dave,
Just out of curiosity, have you found any of that microart burned on I.C.'s yet?
-Linc.
'ello,
I'm subbed from home now and for some reason (probably lack of caffeine)
made a bit of an arse of rebuilding the email server at work so it won't
accept dialup connections. If anyone's replied to my missives since Thursday
afternoon (UK time) would they please either repost or mail direct to me?
cheers!
PS coming soon - boxed Camputers Lynx :o)
adrian/witchy (Adrian Graham)
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the Online Computer Museum
0:OK, 0:1
Just to let everyone know, I've been watching the conversation on the
list the past few days regarding the TI 990 series of minicomputer
systems, and as a result of what appears to be widespread demand, I've
begun scanning a number of documents (datasheets, mostly, but also two
bound volumes) regarding the TI 990 systems.
These are primarily datasheets that my father recieved around twenty
years ago when he was purchasing and using these systems as Chrysler
Corporation. I think they've been sitting in the basement ever since.
They're in pretty good condition, and they make interesting reading.
I've got a small page set up as a jumping-off point for accessing
datasheets about various models of equipment available at the following
URL:
http://www.diablonet.net/museum/ds990.html
Please excuse my asthetics; some people say it's slightly hard to read.
To jump right into the documentation directories, you can just go here:
http://www.diablonet.net/museum/ti990
I hope someone out there finds these useful, or at least marginallly
interesting!
--Sean Caron (root(a)diablonet.net) | http://www.diablonet.net
The microscope has a maximum magnification of about 150,000X.
-Dave McGuire
On April 13, Robert wrote:
> What is the magnification?
>
> Dave McGuire wrote:
>
> > On April 13, Peter Joules wrote:
> > > > http://www.neurotica.com/sem/images if you're interested. The blown
> > > > tungsten lamp filament pics are filament-1.jpg and filament-2.jpg.
> > >
> > > That's amazing. I take it that the crystals had grown on the filament
> > > during the life of the bulb had they? Does anyone know the mechanisn for
> > > this?
> >
> > It is my understanding that those crystals grew during the
> > "flameout" of the filament.
> >
> > I spent a solid six hours one night going over that filament. I
> > wish Polaroid 550PN film wasn't so damn expensive. I need to build a
> > digital imager for my microscope.
> >
> > -Dave McGuire
Sorry about that.
Pressed the <SEND> button just as the
net was going down :(
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On April 13, Peter Joules wrote:
> > http://www.neurotica.com/sem/images if you're interested. The blown
> > tungsten lamp filament pics are filament-1.jpg and filament-2.jpg.
>
> That's amazing. I take it that the crystals had grown on the filament
> during the life of the bulb had they? Does anyone know the mechanisn for
> this?
It is my understanding that those crystals grew during the
"flameout" of the filament.
I spent a solid six hours one night going over that filament. I
wish Polaroid 550PN film wasn't so damn expensive. I need to build a
digital imager for my microscope.
-Dave McGuire
On Fri, 13 Apr 2001 11:51:56 -0400 (EDT) Dave McGuire
<mcguire(a)neurotica.com> writes:
> On April 13, Jerome Fine wrote:
> > Does anyone on the list run RT-11 still other than Megan Gentry?
> > Do you tinker with the operating system code at all? Does anyone
> > care about the RT-11 Operating System?
>
> I care about it; I like it quite a bit. I have a Micro 11/73
> running v5.4, and a Kevex X-ray analyzer (an accessory to the
> electron
> microscope) that has a pdp11/73 in it that runs RT-11.
>
>
> -Dave McGuire
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On Apr 13, 9:16, Tom Uban wrote:
> I see you are looking for a TU56. Do you have a TC11 to control one?
Not yet :-) Is that an offer?
I've got the tapes for it :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On April 13, John Foust wrote:
> Isn't it a bit finicky when it comes to vacuum pumps,
> cryogenics, etc.? After hanging out on the microscopy list,
> I get the impression that even though people seem to be
> giving away old electron microscopes as often as people
> give away old mainframes, they'd be a bit hard to
> maintain for home use.
Not at all. Cryo setups are almost never really needed, unless
you're running a cold trap on your vacuum system or an Xray detector.
And there's nothing finicky about vacuum pumps...get a decent one,
turn it on, and it just works.
I'd say taht, for the adventurous hobbyist, an SEM at home is a very
doable thing. I've had mine for about a year and have learned a great
deal and had a huge amount of fun.
What microscopy list are you talking about? Sounds like something I
ought to be on.
-Dave McGuire
I'll join in ...
SWTPC 6800 with 6809 CPU
Zx81
BBC-B . A killer homecomputer, if not for the limited memory..
M68000 SBC ( with a 4MHz 68000...)
2 Mac Plus
2 Compaq Lunchboxes with plasma scrren.
PDP8/L , power supply/ transformer dead . Anybody has some numbers on the
secondary voltages so i can rewire a new one ?The various pdp8 websites do
not have this information...
ASR33, needs a clean and some debugging....
PDP8/E with TU56, 2x RK05, IOMEC papertape reader, Facit punch
PDP8/F with TU56 and DSD440
PDP8/A with TU56 and RL01
VT100, hacked about to contain an 11/23, with external ST412, runs RX11.
Anybody has some RT11 manuals available.
Tek4014 in running state
Philips P856 16 bit mini, no peripherals, no software...
A TTL based 12bit computer of my own design.
Plus some spares and various bits&pieces, and no room left...
Jos Dreesen
Check out this article on Zdnn:
Computer junk: It's piling up
9:30 AM PT As the number of used machines take up space, computer
makers are trying to set up an industrywide scheme to promote
recycling before we're buried up to our necks in desktops.
Suggestions?
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2707896,00.html
<rant>
The are so many *USEFUL* things that could be done with this computer
equipment. They don't go into that here. Like http://www.newdealinc.com
</rant>
Bryan
Classic Missiles
My sister lives just down the road from several decommissioned Minuteman
Silos, they are all over the middle of Missouri. Most are unmanned. The
control center was at Knob Noster, Missouri, right down the road from
Whiteman AFB the home of the B-2's. I've seen a few scared cows when a B-2
comes by on a low level run. They were going to blow up the Minuteman Silos
but the neighbors complained about damage to the local water table because
of waste oil, fluid leakage, lubricants and hydraulic fluid. They
eventually demolished them and filled the holes with gravel. I think they
wanted to make sure that the Russians didn't think we were going to secretly
reactivate them. You could tell where they were by the little windsocks for
the helicopter, the electric transformer on a pole and the fenced square
with a gravel road leading to them. I've heard rumors that a few cattle had
close encounters with the MP's when they walked through/over the fences
looking for green grass.
Mike
mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu
I got motivated and took a few pics of it just a few minutes ago.
They can be seen at http://www.neurotica.com/sem if you're interested.
SEMs are some of the coolest devices ever put together, in my opinion.
-Dave McGuire
On April 13, Tony Eros wrote:
> You've got an electron microscope? Cool! How small do those things get?
>
> -- Tony
>
> At 11:51 AM 4/13/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> >On April 13, Jerome Fine wrote:
> > > Does anyone on the list run RT-11 still other than Megan Gentry?
> > > Do you tinker with the operating system code at all? Does anyone
> > > care about the RT-11 Operating System?
> >
> > I care about it; I like it quite a bit. I have a Micro 11/73
> >running v5.4, and a Kevex X-ray analyzer (an accessory to the electron
> >microscope) that has a pdp11/73 in it that runs RT-11.
> >
> >
> > -Dave McGuire
In a message dated 01-04-10 21:49:17 EDT, you write:
<< Quoting THETechnoid(a)home.com:
> I'd like to see some of your lists. I bet some of you would be
> hard pressedd to list your whole collection in a message that the
> list server would accept (too large). >>
blech, I'm traveling and can't think of what I all have. check my list at:
www.nothingtodo.org/classiccmp/ccidxa2z.htm
On April 13, Glenn Roberts wrote:
> I've been working with someone who has an old 8080-based single board
> computer he's trying to get to work. We're investigating several
> possible problems but it's starting to look like there's a problem with
> the EPROM. I have the ROM code he needs and will be checking out the
> EPROMS, but we may be faced with a need to reprogram one or both of
> these. They're the old 256 byte 1702A Intel chips (ceramic). I've only
> programmed the 27xx series but have read that the 1702's are "really
> difficult" to program. Was wondering if folks in this group could
> comment on how to proceed if/when we decide we need to reprogram one of
> these. Are there more modern plug compatible alternatives? We may also
> need to replace one or both - any sources known other than eBay?
> thanks.
Wow...the 1702A required a -47V programming pulse, as I recall.
Eeeek!
-Dave McGuire
