Last night, around midnight, there was a documentary about the evolution
of computer games on ZDF. Often incorrect, very much trying to prove how
everything we use now is the apex of computer evolution, but also quite
interesting.
Among the most interesting pieces displayed was an East-german arcade
game, called "Polyplay". Apparently, there is only one machine left, but
the MAME project seems to be developing emulation support. The games
really didn't seem like much fun, though.
I've been following this list for a little while, and compared to some folks I guess I'm not much of a collector. Honestly, I've never had to give any thought as to whether the joists in my house would support a computer!
But a few weeks back I started cleaning my basement, and I came across some lovingly wrapped circuit boards and stacks of papers and newsletters dating back to my high school days. My old 1802-based Netronics ELF II and the ACE (Association of Computer Experimenters) 1802 system that followed it survived the years; they still run fine. It occurred to me that in the twenty-some years since I built those systems, I've seldom had more fun with a computer.
Meanwhile I'd been looking for an excuse to learn a little about programming for the Palm OS, and a funny idea struck me. The result was TinyELF, an ELF emulator for Palm handhelds.
Naturally, I thought if I released such a thing through PalmGear.com people would have questions, and a website would be a natural way to deal with them. So I threw together a website, http://www.cosmacelf.com
My little idea taught me a bit about the Palm OS, but at this point I've put enough "spare" time and energy into this project to really appreciate my wife's patient good humor. That basement *still* isn't clean! Oh well, judging by the posts on this list, I know I don't have to give a lengthy explanation as to why I did this --- you guys get it.
I'm posting to this list for two reasons. First, while I have some knowledge and literature on the original Popular Electronics ELF, the Netronics ELF II and the RCA VP-111, I know substantially less about RCA's VP 3301, the Quest Electronics (Super?) ELF, the DREAM 6800, the ETI-660 and the Comx 35... all 1802-based machines as I understand. If anyone could give me some accurate summary information of these machines and what made them unique, I'd be quite grateful. If you browse through the History section of cosmacelf.com you'll see that I'm looking for a more complete description of these 1802 micros. I'd also appreciate email if you notice that I've blown any details in my history or left out any links of merit.
Second, I thought that perhaps someone on this list might be interested in playing with the TinyELF emulator itself. It's not nearly as lovely as Bill Richman's ray-traced gem for the desktop, but for the Palm platform I'm fairly happy with it. You can download the emulator for free at http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=13929
Thanks, and enjoy!
Dave Ruske
dave(a)ruske.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Chad Fernandez <fernande(a)internet1.net>
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 10:04 am
Subject: Re: OT somewhat. China, our aircraft, delays.
>>
> Dude your are really mad, and need to cool off. It's not that big a
> deal. Look at how many people are actually taking part in the
> thread.
> If people objected that much to it, I don't think they would be
> activelyparticipating.
>
For some of us, it actually costs money to d/load this crud, for
instance, where I am (rural remote in Oz for example) there are no
local ISP's, my nearest is an STD call away & they charge $3.79 an hour
for access, so I need to be in & out as quickly as possible. Ax
aresult, I'm very picky about what I subscribe too. I did *not*
subscribe to Classic Computers for this sort of patriotic nationalistic
US rubbish that has developed in this particular thread.
----------------
Powered by telstra.com
> From: healyzh(a)aracnet.com
> Chris Kennedy wrote:
> > Yesterday's post brought four CDs filled with TIFFs of PDP-11
> > (and related) prints. They're available at:
> >
> > http://www.mainecoon.com/classiccmp
>
> Wow!!! Does anyone know of software to read these on UNIX or easily convert
> them to PDF files?
>
The software I use to make my tiff files available as PDF will convert
them.
ftp://ftp.pdp8.net/software/c42pdf/
See readme file in the directory for how to convert. Redhat 6.1 binary
is provided in tar in src directory. If you are using the binary you
shouldn't need the pdflib files.
I haven't found any Unix tiff readers that handle multipage files well.
David Gesswein
http://www.pdp8.net/ -- Run an old computer with blinkenlights
Somewhere I've got a ram card that's labelled Headstart Explorer. It's got
a plastic cover over it so it looks kind of like a memory cartridge. Do you
see a slot where it would plug in? Let me know if you need it.
Arlen Michaels
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bill claussen [SMTP:elecdata@kcinter.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 12:22 AM
> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: New find: Headstart Explorer
>
> Evening! We used to be a service center for Vendex. I'll look around the
> shop
> tomorrow and see what info and programs I have for it and let the list
> know.
>
> Bill Claussen
> elecdata1
>
> Chad Fernandez wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I used to know some people that owned one. They loved it, and used it
> > up into the mid 90s. The mom really liked the gui, and sort of prided
> > herself in owning such an old pre-win95 computer that had a gui. I
> > guess I can agree with her on that part, but I thought the GUI was kind
> > of dorky :-)
> >
> > As far as surplus stores not keeping stuff together goes.... I can't
> > agree with you more. I am always finding stuff scattered at Goodwill.
> > If someone doesn't buy something in the first few days, people rip it
> > apart and scatter it!
> >
> > Chad Fernandez
> > Michigan, USA
> >
> > Mark Gregory wrote:
> > >
> > > I came across a neat little PC/XT clone on the weekend, a Headstart
> > > Explorer (made by Vendex according to some Web info I found). It's an
> 8088,
> > > with an unusual level of integration: mono/CGA video card, modem (300
> > > bps?), serial port, parallel port and external disk drive port all on
> the
> > > motherboard. There's an internal 720K 3.5" drive, and a bay for an MFM
> > > drive. Comes in an unusual pseudo-portable case, where the hinged
> keyboard
> > > folds up and stores upside down on top of the case. There's a single
> ISA
> > > slot under a cover on top. Apparently, there was a monitor available
> that
> > > came with a custom stand that fit neatly over the desktop case.
> > >
> > > It has several features I've not seen before: the folding keyboard, a
> > > mono/colour switch on the video output, and the PS/2 style mouse and
> heavy
> > > integration on a clone of this vintage. Also, as far as I could tell,
> there
> > > was no trace of the manufacturers name anywhere. I had to take the
> system
> > > to pieces to find the Headstart Explorer name on the PCB, and the name
> > > Vendex wasn't on it anywhere.
> > >
> > > Does anybody have the custom version of DOS that came with this thing,
> that
> > > supposedly included a very annoying shell program, or any additional
> info
> > > about this beast? I didn't get any manuals or docs with it (why oh why
> do
> > > thrift stores never keep system components together?)
> > > and the HD was missing.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Mark Gregory
>
Great work, Curt. If there are any odd parts left over I still need a
couple of internal hard drive brackets, 3 mice (non-ADB), and 2 mono monitor
cables for the slabs I'm restoring.
Regards,
Arlen Michaels
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Curt Vendel [SMTP:curt@atari-history.com]
> Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 2:16 PM
> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
> Subject: The NeXT's have been saved!!!
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Just got back from Philly about 10 mins ago, the SUV is loaded to the
> gills with Next Turbo slabs, some laser printers, monitors, keyboard,
> mice, etc.... I have to sort through everything, and get everything
> matched up and organized.
<>
Let's see... As far as complete systems
About 10 or 12 games systems. Including Commodores, TI 99s, and Ataris.
About 12 or 15 portables. Including several each Compaqs, Kaypros,
Osbournes, and Panasonics.
Several generic S100 crates
Numerous STD bus systems with spares
Misc Keithley and OPTO 22 controllers
IBM /36 with 2 terminals and printer
HP 3000/42 mini
HP 3000/37 mini
HP 9000/832 mini (2 of these)
HP 9000/842S mini (space heater)
7 short racks of HPIB drives for above minis
2 HP 9 track tape drives
2 HP large HPIB drives with removable media (forgot nomenclature)
2 HP 85s and 3 other HP desktops (forgot nomenclature)
2 HP cabinets with HPIB tape/disk combos (forgot nomenclature)
72" rack with 8 PCs (486s and 586s).
10 or 12 HP, Televideo, and Link terminals.
Numerous generic PCs
Plus one bedroom and an entire garage FULL of incomplete systems and
assorted "stuff".
Steve
PS: I'm pretty sure Joe has more than that just on his back porch!
>Amiga 500 (several)
>Amiga 2000A
>Atari 520STM (several)
>Atari 520STFM (several)
>Atari 1040STFM (several)
>Atari 520STE (upgraded to 4 MB)
>Commodore 64 (several different models)
>Commodore 128
>Commodore 128D (several)
>Dragon 32
>Goldstar HC-200 MSX (broken)
>Spectravideo 728 MSX
>Sinclair ZX Spectrum
>DECstation 5000/200
>Personal DECsystem 5000/25 (broken)
>Atari 2600 (several, different models)
>2600 clone, 32 built-in games
>Mattel Intellivison 3
>Philips G7000
>SEGA Mastersystem
>Nintendo NES =)
>SEGA Megadrive
>Pong "PC5" consoles (several, different models)
>
>I really think that's it.
>
>If anyone's interested in any trades or would like to bestow equipment
>upon me, please mail. =)
>
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Wow, I can't believe that I left off the Mac side
of my collection in my previous message.
-SE/30
-Classic
-Classic II
-IIci w. 40MHx 68040 accelerator
-8100
I have several interesting NB boards, such as LAB-NB from
Natl. Instruments w. Labview 2.11, Rasterops card, DT2255 capture card,
and a few DSP development systems.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org
I am not sure if this got through; the pop connection
died while sending it the first time.
----------------------------------------------------------
I'll give it a try; I think that this is all that
remains after the "great sell off/giveaway of '2000", which
I had to do in preparation to moving overseas; my collection
was decimated. You'll notice that I tried to keep one
of each thing that interested me.
-Vaxstation 2000 (6MB, 53MB, no monitor, no OS yet; want more memory,
HD and a better understanding of VMS so I can
boot it off the Vaxstation 4000/60)
-Vaxstation 4000/60 (24MB, 1GB, OpenVMS 7.2, GDM16, tkz50, rrd42)
-vt340
-2 x Sparcstation IPX (64MB, 2GB, monitors, Solaris 2.7)
-Sparcstation 5 (144MB, 9.1GB, turbogx, GDM16, Solaris 2.7)
-HP9000/735 (240MB, 20GB FWSCSI, 21" A40xx?, HPUX 10.2)
-HP9000/380 (64MB, 9.1GB scsi w. netbsd, and three 330MB HPIB w. HPUX)
-Decstation 5000/133 (64MB I think, 3 x RZ58 w. netBSD)
-HP85B w. 128K module, HPIB, GPIO, several ROMs
-HP9121B
-2 x HP9114B
-HP9133
-4 x HP71B (these are more of a computer than a calculator).
Got lots of stuff for these, including several each of 128K,
96K, 64K, 32 and 4K RAM modules; Forth/Assembler, Mathpac,
Data acquisition, text editor, surveying, AC analysis, curve fitting,
32K EPROM, and other ROM modules; plus HP82161, HP82164, HP82165, HP82166C,
HP82169, several HP82400, ...)
-HP75C
-HP75D w. 128K pod
-FSI HPIL modem and bar code reader
-HPIB and HPIL versions of 2225 inkjet printer
-Several HP calcs including 41C, 41CV, 67, 48SX....
-166MHz Pentium wintel, 128MB, 24GB SCSI :-( . This machine.
-Bunch of smaller clones (486DX2 66 and below), some w. Linux,
others w. DOS for legacy stuff, such as my HP82321C viper cards,
HP82335 HPIB cards, HP-IL cards and such. Mostly used for
instrumentation. Many of them lack a case and are assembled on demand
on top of a table :-) . And about 150 lb of mainboards, i/o cards,
pwr supplies etc.
I am sure that I'm forgetting stuff...
Then there is the DSP and microcontroller side of my collection, plus
my test gear. I won't list them, but I concentrate on the 68HC11,
68HC16, MCS96, 56000 and TMS320C25.
Carlos.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org
