The first computer I had close-up experience with was
a Burroughs E6000. This was a low-end business system
that my grandfather's business used for doing payroll.
After the system was retired it was stuck in a garage.
About 20 years ago I claimed the unit but given that I
don't have the space all I took was the schematics and
build list (the unit is still in the garage waiting for
me to do whatever with it).
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
I have a Pro380 with a bad mainboard. I've got someone
>from this list checking to see if he has a spare, but I'd
like to see if anyone else has a spare for sale, just in
case.
Thanks.
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
In a message dated 04/07/2001 10:19:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Demon02554(a)aol.com writes:
> just wondering....am i the only kid on this list?
>
> Robert Cobbins
Define "kid."
Glen
0/0
Hello all, does anyone know what parameters I need to give to
SYS$STARTUP:GKSTARTUP.COM to tell it that I'm doing graphics on a VT
terminal rather than on a frame buffer?
--Chuck
On Apr 8, 18:02, Iggy Drougge wrote:
> On Sun, 8 Apr 2001, Mark Green wrote:
>
> > THe keyboards are non-standard, so its a good thing you found them.
>
> What does a "standard" keyboard look like?
Ha! Good question. What Mark probably means is a PS/2 keyboard, which
later SGIs use. Suns, however, also use proprietary keyboards and mice
(unique serial protocol), at least until recently -- the new SunBlades are
USB-only. Yuk.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On Apr 8, 13:11, Joe wrote:
> At 03:12 PM 4/7/01 -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
> > What about the NEWER "good" stuff?
>
> Like what? Even SGI is going to WinBlows/Intel platforms.
Is it? I've seen precisely one SGI Wintel box (which got sent back), and
the CEO who introduced that idea has gone. Most of what SGI seems to be
doing now is firmly back in the MIPS/IRIX camp, I'm glad to say. With a
generous dose of Linux. How far it'll go is anybody's guess, of course.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On April 8, Joe wrote:
> >> > For those of us who care about the quality of what we put on our
> >> >desktops (and in our computer rooms), this is pretty frightening.
> >>
> >> Yeap, you'd better grab the older "good" stuff while you can.
> >
> > What about the NEWER "good" stuff?
>
>
> Like what? Even SGI is going to WinBlows/Intel platforms.
Yeah, they've been saying that for years. I don't know of anyone
who's bought one.
I'm partial to Alphas, myself, aside from SGIs...
-Dave McGuire
>Nope, we intend to keep everything from you young whipper-snappers. Your
>first history lesson is to understand that computers used to sit behind
>big panes of glass, accessible only to the priesthood that maintained
>them. You communed with them only through a small hole where you passed
>your punched cards and got your results back (usually just error
>messages).
>So too it is with computer history. You can only have access to the
>knowledge we pass to you through the little hole in the window. Do not
>try to subvert our authority or we will find it fit to smite thee.
>And let's just get one thing straight, you were either born to compute or
>you ended up being some post-degree market-molded wannabee nerd who
>couldn't get a job in your chosen profession and just jumped on the
>bandwagon during the great Internet bubble economy of the late 1990s and
>"became" a programmer.
>So it is not true that "gurus were neophytes once". Gurus are born,
>not made.
>Ah, nothing like a good rabble rousing to start a Sunday morning.
>Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
Festival
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
well....there werent always punchcards....my grandfather once let me see a
"supercomputer" that was programmed entirely by pushing switches....
anyways...im 16....i've been into computers since i was about a year
old....have been a "programmer" since i was 5 and discovered BASIC...now im
more into figuring out hardware design and all that fun stuff....
but the gurus should be nicer to us cause there are more of us than there are
of them....and if need be i'll go find the info i need on my own...its
amazing what you can do when you dont have a girlfriend or much life outside
of school....heh
Robert Cobbins
On Apr 7, 23:31, Tony Duell wrote:
> Incidentally, is the ESDI spec
> available anywere (or at least a signal description)?
I'v not looked for whole spec recently, but the pinout is available at
http://www.u-net.com/mike/techref/iopin.txt (about 1/3 of the way down the
page) and also in "the hardware handbook" website at
http://www.hardwarebook.net/
However, you need to take a little care with some of the pinouts listed
there, as they're not all "official", some are just what people have found
to work in particular circumstances (eg, some of the "null modem" cables").
Didn't Aaron Finney have ESDI amongst his pinout list collection? And what
happened to that, anyway? His web page at
http://www.prinsol.com/classiccmp/ seems to have disappeared.
> > However, some PC controllers only support two drives (another legacy of
the
> > IBM PC BIOS) and of course they use drives 1 and 2. Therefore, some PC
> > manufacturers suggest using a cable with a twist, to swap pins 26 and
28
> > (DS1 and DS2), leaving the select jumpers the same on both drives.
I've
> > never seen a cable with a twist on a "real" ESDI system.
>
> I wondered about that, too (it was an obvious way for a twist to be able
> to swap drives 1 and 2). I assume from this that the drive select lines
> are not used as data lines for anything else, then (unlike SCSI, say,
> where the same 8 lines are used both to select a particular unit and to
> transfer commands and data).
No, it's a pretty low-level interface, like ST506/412. I read somewhere
that it was designed as an enhanced/faster ST412 interface, possibly by
Maxtor and Miniscribe, and I think Maxtor used to have some information on
their website. All I can find now, though, is a line in their glossary.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
> I thought we were all kids here :-). Just that our toys are a little more
complicated than average....
too true my friend....too true...but i suppose i should have asked
minors....heh
Robert Cobbins
Does anyone know if replacements are avaliable for the filter capacitors on
the mains section of the PDP 8/E power supply ?
I've got 3 supplies, and all of them trip the ground fault protection switch
when switched on....
Jos Dreesen
On April 7, Joe wrote:
> > For those of us who care about the quality of what we put on our
> >desktops (and in our computer rooms), this is pretty frightening.
>
> Yeap, you'd better grab the older "good" stuff while you can.
What about the NEWER "good" stuff?
It seems that Bill Gates has the world convinced that PeeCees are
the only computers that are currently produced, and that everything
else is discontinued. It's gotten to the point where, on current (or
relatively recent) hardware, the questions I hear from people speak of
them in the past tense..."what os DID they run?" or "what WAS their
list price?"...even for machines whihch are being sold brand-new
today, but just aren't crappy "more MEGAHURTS!" Intel toys.
-Dave McGuire
This is likely elementary but many times I run across the encased laptop
and other function(eg cordless drills) batteries. Of course each has it's own proprietory
charger which have long since disappeared and are costly to replace as well as being
device and company specific . Many of them have a 3rd terminal. What was it's
purpose.
Can you recharge these batteries simply by rigging up an interface using appropriate
voltages and polarity ? How would you deal with the 3rd terminal ?
larry
Reply to:
lgwalker(a)look.ca
Just got home with a nice load. Saved it all from the dumpster.
VAX 11/750
RA81 - TU80
VAXstation 4000 VLC
(2) VAXstation 2000
(2) old Compaq luggables
(2) storage works box's
(2) Control Data Cyber 910's
various DEC/Apple keyboards monitors etc..
box's DEC cables
more
All for $120
Any good sites for the CDC box's. I guess they are repackaged SGI?
Brian.
On Apr 7, 23:13, Demon02554(a)aol.com wrote:
> definition of "kid" = under age 18
Wrong definition, I suspect :-) Especially if you ask my wife! Probably
even more so if you ask some of my work colleagues about my collection.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On Apr 8, 5:12, Mark Green wrote:
[ re SGI/CDC Cyber 910 keyboards]
> The cables for the keyboard are PC keyboard cables, except they
> need males connectors on both ends.
It would be more accurate to say they're LIKE PS/2 keyboard cables, except
they need a male (6-pin miniDIN) connector both ends, AND they need all 6
pins wired up. PS/2 only uses 4 wires (pins 2 and 6 are unused), and so PC
6-pin miniDIN cables are not fully wired. Mac cables probably are.
> They won't boot without
> a keyboard, stop part way through the initial hardware check in
> the boot prom.
I was going to say that Indigos boot fine without a keyboard, using the
first serial port as console -- but in fact you have to change the PROM
settings (setenv console d, or setenv nogfxkbd 1) to do that, for which you
(initially) need a keyboard and monitor :-(
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
I won't relate my EDS horror stories (same song, second verse...),
but Ross Perot left in 1984-85, long before the presidential run.
Hi Chris Kennedy, you wrote on 4/7/01 10:59:05 AM:
>Jeff Hellige wrote:
>
>On Sat, 7 Apr 2001, Jeff Hellige wrote:
>
>> Just wait until ES/NMCI starts taking over the federal
>> government computers and networks. Then anything that isn't supplied
>> by them and isn't running Win2000 will be considered 'legacy' and
>> basically unsupported.
>
>What is ES/NMCI?
>
> EDS (my mistype) is Ross Perot's company and they now have a
>signed contract with the Dept. of Navy to take over the LANs
>
>[Accurate representation of how delightful it is to work with EDS,
> snipped]
Hi Joe, you wrote on 4/7/01 9:20:28 AM:
>Curt,
>
> First, are we talking about the same machine? I'm talking about the HP
>9000 520. Aka 9020. It's a large desktop machine with a built in keyboard
>and monitor. It looks like a grossly oversized Commodore 64. I think the K
>520 is an entirely different machine.
>
Curious. The 520 we had was more like a large deskside system. No video,
though
probably one was offered. Definately no built in monitor. We used the
standard HP terminals as consoles. I never saw it referenced as a 9020.
we also had a 540, but I don't know what the differences were.
But they were really cool UNIX boxes. You could hear your data on the 404Mb
drive being read and written. And they were built like tanks.
Kelly
I am looking for an online reference to help me calculate how
much live load (AKA VAXen) I can put on my living room floor.
The floor: 2x10's 2 foot on center, approximately 14 foot
span (guess, too lazy to measure just yet). 3/4" OSB on top,
carpet, 1/2" OSB (to keep the VAX from squishing into the
carpet)...
The VAX: 1100 lbs of true blue & white BIG IRON! minus
whatever I remove for hand transport.
Me: 300 lbs of Coca-Cola and Hostess fruit pies :)
Clint
PS I also want to replace a smallish steel IBeam with
a micro-lam, so steel numbers would help too...
Hi Folks
( This info was also posted on the ODDCALCS list)
------ An Update on the TI59/58 Information ---------
I've completed a preliminary version of the annotation files
for the TI59/58 Hardware Diagrams
I've also dedicated part of my homesite for this topic.
http://xgistor.ath.cx
TI59 hardware page:
Go Vintage Computers >> TI59 Programmable Calculator Hardware
TI59 hardware files:
Go Files >> Various Downloadable files >> TI59
Regards
Sipke de Wal
