test-drb May 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

273 participants
642 discussions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 15, 13:45, Hans Franke wrote: > When where the first 74xx ICs released / designed ? > Especialy when where complex chips like 744x, 748x or > 74181 first mentioned/available ? > > This may be a stuipd question, but I couldn't find any > information ... so all I have is my personal guess (~1970) > and the oldesd TTL book Philip Belben could find (1972). According to Webopaedia and at least one history website, Texas released the first SSI TTL chips in 1965 and LSTTL in 1970. It certainly must have been before 1970 becasue DEC were using 7440's, 7481's ($9 each according to the spares list), and 74Hxx in quantity for the PDP-11/20 by 1970. The PDP-8/I used TTL in 1968. And the Smithsonian site quotes "NMAH catalog number 1987.0487.128, 314, 315 1964 - TI-G00206,294, 343 documentation News release: TI Announces new Series Of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Combining High Speed And Low Power Advantages -- Solid Circuit Series 54" Nat Semi's website history pages quote 1970 as the year they made money >from TTL 74xx series. But the earliest I can find in my Texas data books for MSI is 1972 for the 72181, same as Philip. The data sheets for the SSI are obviously older than that. Curiously, although there's lots of information on TI's own company information pages in the "Innovations" section, they don't mention TTL. The only relevant items are a press release on June 23, 1964 about granting of patents including "Features of integrated 'AND gates' and related devices" and mentioning that "Current Texas Instruments SOLID CIRCUIT? semiconductor networks contain up to 69 component equivalents formed within a single bar of ultra pure silicon material". That's not 54/74 series TTL, though, it's 51-series. The other is a reference to "1972: first ABACUS-II wire bonder, enabling high-volume IC production." There's some information on that at http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/abacus.shtml which I found very interesting as I used a manual wire bonder on a visit to Ferranti around 1972. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 2 months

LA210 problem with the control lines

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Hi all. Yesterday I connected my LA210 Letterprinter to the printerport of a VT102. Both are set at 9600 Bd, 8 databits, no parity and 1 stopbit. However when I send some 5 characters from the VT102 to the printer, it prints many mirrored question marks and other 'strange' characters. Okay, I thought, the baudrate setting, etc. is not correct. But it is. These are the checks I have done so far. 1) The used cable is an original DEC BC22D-25. This cable is mentioned in the LA210 Letterprinter User Guide. 2) From the VT102 User Guide, I build the EIA loopback connector. It is a 25 pin D connector and has pin #2 wired to #3 and #15, pin #4 wired to #5 and #8, pin #20 wired to #6 and #22, and pin #19 is wired to #12 and #17. The VT102 passes the Printer Loopback Self-Test, ESC [ 2 ; 16 y 3) The LA210 passes the Internal Self-Test. Among others, it prints that the speed is 9600 Bd, so I know those DIP switches are set ok. It also print lines with all characters in it. 4) The LA210 I/O Loopback Tests only mentions to plug in a loopback connector. I assume I can use the same one as the one used on the VT102. The Loopback Test gives an error. The output text is: Control lines failed. (20 mA ?, jumpers ?) Data path OK Printing loopback <many lines with all characters in it> I do not understand the message "Control lines failed". I am using EIA, so it can not be a current loop problem. When I connect the BC22D to the VT102 and the LA210, the "Data Set Ready" LED on the LA210 goes on. Am I using the correct loopback connector on the LA210? Has anybody seen this problem before? I have no field maintenance print set of the LA210 .... kind regards, Henk Gooijen, PDP-11 collector http://home.12move.nl/~sh416008

23 years, 2 months

Fwd: Alpha Computers Order

by jcook793＠yahoo.com

OK, so which one of you guys got it? :) -John --- cara <cara(a)ibuynw.com> wrote: > Reply-to: <cara(a)ibuynw.com> > From: "cara" <cara(a)ibuynw.com> > Subject: Alpha Computers Order #1269 > Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 15:09:31 -0700 > > Hello John, I am sorry to inform you that the item that you ordered, > Apple > Lisa with floppy disk, is out of stock. Please remember us for all > your > computer needs. Thank you for shopping at Alpha Computers. > > Cara Bergeson > ibuyNW.com, a division of Alpha Computers, Inc. > Phone: 503-684-1111 ext. 251 > Fax: 503-639-4386 > Email: cara(a)ibuyNW.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

23 years, 2 months

Storage medium for longevity of data

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I seem to remember this thread awhile back. If you search the National Bureau of Standards site there is a reference to etching data onto iridium blanks. The Mormon Church is also interesting in retaining records for > 1000 years. Also look up references to optical tape. Other references include: http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/cap99/jvarney/preserve.htm Preservation of Digital Data http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/meetings/npo95rh.html The digital storage media examined are magnetic tapes and optical disks (including magneto-optical disks). For each medium the claims of manufacturers about their longevity, results of accelerated aging tests, and observations from field sites are presented. Recent research, including that presented by Jeff Rothenberg and by the National Media Laboratory, St. Paul, Minnesota, is noted. The paper concludes that there are at present too many unknowns to commit digital data to currently-available artifacts for anything other than short-term storage. The preferred option is to direct preservation efforts towards solutions which preserve the information content - the digital 'object' - rather than the digital 'artifact'. http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/DL/hedstrom.html Digital preservation: a time bomb for Digital Libraries Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

23 years, 2 months

Kaypro manuals available

by tim＠arti.vub.ac.be

Thank god for this site About two years ago i got a kaypro II in excellent condition, with a lot of original disks What I am interested in is an sbasic manual, -> ave some left? If anyone has some experience with connecting a HD to it, please let me know tim(a)arti.vub.ac.be

23 years, 2 months

Heathkit Fall 1978 catalog now on-line; H-8, H-11, H-9 and ET-3400.

by mikeford＠socal.rr.com

>I have been looking all over for the model number of a fancy digital fm >tuner that heathkit made about 1978. It was unusual because it had a keypad Heathkit AJ1510, it was in the first half of the 70's, and it wasn't very good. One sold on eBay last month.

23 years, 2 months

Storage medium for longevity of data?

by jss＠ou.edu

This topic came up on slashdot a week or two back, and I have been thinking about it ever since. And it's even on-topic, when asked a certain way. How resilient are today's storage media? In particular, is our classic computing data (tape/disk images, scanned documents, etc.) archived adequately enough that it's going to survive the next few centuries? One slashdot poster postulated that some EMR event (possibly the next magnetic pole reversal, or some sort of solar phenomenon) could wipe out nearly all of our magnetically stored data. Another user pointed out that even CD-ROMs expire eventually. One thing that came to my mind was our venerable friend the paper tape (an example of why it pays to remember the history of computing). I think it makes a darn good solution for archiving data and locking it away in a vault for a few millenia, provided some research was put into developing a tape paper (or other material) that would last longer and store data more densely than our traditional paper tape mechanisms. Any thoughts? -- Jeffrey S. Sharp jss(a)ou.edu

23 years, 2 months

PDP 11/34 on EBay.... NOT!!!!

by vaxman＠qwest.net

Fair warning... The 11/34 that just showed up on EBay with a buy it now price of $899 and a reserve > 12.50 isn't an 11/34... I doesn't have a CPU... I does however have a paper tape control board, an operator panel, and a bunch of bus grant cards :) clint

23 years, 2 months

Toshiba T3100/20

by sialenec＠yahoo.com

Hi there, I am having trouble getting my old Toshiba T3100 up and running. THe problem is that once it boots up it says "Incorrect Dos Version" and then "Bad or missing Command Interpreter" How can I get this thing running again? Mitch.

23 years, 2 months

Where to buy Gorilla Banana printers?

by heatond30＠hotmail.com

Hi Doug, We have a Gorilla Banana Printer! It seems to be in good shape with the dust cover, manual, and old ribbon. We also have a ton of systems and componets ,and software (the good stuff)from that era, Commador 64, 128, 5.25 drives, Atari systems, and lots of other equipment. Printers like the big blue, Commador vic and others. We have the IBM PC jr system complete with monitor, printer, side parallel car, and extensive manuals. We have a lot of stuff from the 70's and 80's MAC performa 450 complete with software manuals modem, monitor, printer-Image Writer II, also a Apple IIgs with lots of attachments 5.25 & 3.5 drives, printer all complete! Windows 3.1 tower system complete has CD-rom, 5.25 1.2 mg, 3.5 1.44mg drives 2 hard drives 2.19.mg and 83.mg. Has Sound blaster card, modem, serial and parallel cards installed. Has the Calmira Final addition GUI (windows 95 desktop) installed. Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor, lots of software installed like Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and more! We have 5 - HP smartdesk Writers Color and black inkjet printers TOO! 386 boards, ISA cards lots more. We would like to sell it all if possible! Contact us at samcgee65(a)hotmail.com Thank you, Mark McGee

23 years, 2 months

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test-drb May 2001