I've been fascinated by micro-computer monitors
for years. Possibly because my original Atari ST
had such a convoluted 13pin
interface.
As a result I've tended to grab any monitor
that didn't have a vanilla
or plain 9pin or 15pin connector. Ditto when it comes to video cards.
So the NEC series of multi-sync and other monitors with additional
switches have been high on my collectables.
The Amiga newsgroup is always full of queries regarding which
Nec works with it (3C ?}. Similiarly each of the older platform
newsgroups have the same questions.
While I know Tony Duell and others have posted the video
requirements of different systems, it has always been a
bit of a grey area for me. For example what do the dip-switch
settings on most of the configurable cards indicate ?
Some of my monitors include a Radius full-page display,
and I have a kit which supposedly allows a Mac+ to use it.
A DEC VR201 with the retactible support pole and transporting
handle which works on my DEC Rainbow.
Tatung configurable, Tandy CM5, Several Hi-resolution configurable
monitors Compaq and TVM ,Commodore 1402, Apple Color RGB
(for A2 GS),Supermac rebadged Sony GDF1950, and Magnavoxes
and NECs.
However, I have yet to see a good FAQ regarding these monitors.
There seems to be more info on the fixed freq. and sync on green
and I have book from MS Press on IBM CGA thru VGA monitors but
little on their configuration and platform-specific features.
Possibly each mfg. issued a booklet with their monitors and the
market wasn't big enough for a book. An area to explore.
My system includes a JDH Videomate external box which is a
TV to VGA converter and my main TV when not displaying
computer-specific info. Again , a defunct company, so no info.
ciao larry
ciao larry
lgwalker(a)look.ca
walkers(a)altavista.net
bigwalk(a)xoommail.com
I purchased an interesting system at the Timonium Hamfest last weekend. It's a
SparcStation IPX, refitted to a military case. I've put some pictures up at
<http://www.applefritter.com/temp/saic/>. It consists of the computer itself
and an expansion chassis that latches onto the bottom of the case.
Right now, I don't have the machine running. The power supply I got with it is
a LAMBDA, 24VDC, 10.5 A. I don't have a military connector, so I've been
sticking the wires onto the pins. I managed to get the system to power on.
It gives a splash screen reading "Tech-Source Inc." followed by a line I didn't
think to write down before it started having problems.
At the next spring it tells me a bit about itself:
SparcStation IPX, Keyboard Present
ROM Rev. 2.9, 64 MB memory installed, Serial #2219226
Ethernet address 8:0:20:1a:c:28, Host ID: 5721dcda
And informs be that it can't boot off the hard drive (the seller told me its
been wiped clean).
Just a few minutes ago the power supply apparently gave out. I had the machine
powered on and was copying down the above information when it seemingly powered
off and the screen started flickering on and off. I'm not at all familiar with
Sparcs, and I really don't know much about power supplies either. Does this
strike the anybody as a faulty power supply connection, or something else?
The expansion chassis needs its own power, so unless the power supply I have is
powerful enough to power both (opinions?) I'm going to need a second. I need to
get the expansion chassis up and running as it has the CD-ROM drive (along with
a second hard drive and a tape drive) in it which I need to install the
operating system.
Does anybody have any suggestions regarding getting this system running? Know
where I can find some decent power supplies that will work? Ideally with the
three-prong military connectors?
Thanks for the info.
Tom Owad
> hey do you have any ideas about using relays or some thing connected
>to a parallel or aerial port to control the power to an outlet, you know
>like a dimmer switch controlling motors ETC if you have any thought
>or ideas I'd be glad to hear them.
X10, why reinvent the wheel?
or
Rotten computer sent that before I could add
http://www.sophisticated.com/ currently mac oriented, but moving to USB and
all platforms.
More generic stuff, looks pricey though.
http://www.dataprobe.comhttp://ecatalog.squared.com/catalog/html/sections/04/17204010.htm
No intent to defraud? Could have fooled me!
When TCJ was owned by Bill Kibler they processed our
credit card transactions, we were only a few miles apart
and both Forthies. After Dave Baldwin took over TCJ my
cost went up so we discouraged credit card transactions
and only took a few overseas or medium-sized.
I had/have complete trust and faith in Bill Kibler.
He's an honorable man so I didn't follow things as well as
I might have otherwise. Before too long Dave Baldwin owed
me about two kilobucks and was months behind in reimbursement.
Repeated telephone calls elicited, "I'm fine, you'll
get your money." It never happened, the miserable piece of
shit embezzled a lot of money from us. I doubt if you'll
ever see another issue or get a penny back. Here's his
local address and telephone numbers if you want to contact
him directly:
David Baldwin
6619 Westbrook Drive
P.O. Box 3900
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
TCJ 722-4970
FAX 722-7480
DIBS 733-3877
BBS 722-5799
Feel free to abuse him and share my going public
with his criminal activities. Regrettably the local sheriff
tried to resolve things and got a small payment so the DA
now refuses to prosecute because that legally turned the theft
into a loan. Doesn't pay to be a nice guy, huh?
-- Regards, Albert
-------------------------------------------------
AM Research, Inc. The Embedded Systems Experts
http://www.amresearch.com (800) 949-8051
-------------------------------------------------
From: Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks(a)yahoo.com>
>> > There is out there a TU-58 emulator for PeeCee...
There is one that runs under UNIX.
Also the rollers for the TU58 I clean off the goo to get down to the
basic hub then use .500 od/.375 id Tygon tubing. which is a stretch
fit over the hub, add a drop of super glue and trim to width as
diameter is not critical and that material seems to hit it very close.
I've done this to maybe 8 them I still use.
Allison
Anyone know of anything of interest in the Dallas, Texas are related to
vintage/classic computer stuff? I'll be there over the week of July 4th.
But I'm STILL trying to find away
to get to Boston area at the end of the month (VCF East), vacation hours
permitting.
Anyway, any help with info about Big D and classic computers
appreciated.
Thank,
Eric
Hi --
I'd normally be posting from my '2bsd.com' account but the circuit
failed today and the telco is due out tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
> From: "Jonathan Engdahl" <engdahl(a)cle.ab.com>
> I took the MSCP disk driver (the ra driver) from the PRO-350
> version of 2.9BSD on the PUPS archive, and added it to the
Ah, I didn't know that someone had created a MSCP driver for 2.9
> I have figured out that the autoconfig will not work with this
> driver. It reports "No autoconfig routines". Evidently, probe is
> not implemented in either the 2.9 or 2.11 version of the MSCP driver.
>
I don't know about 2.9 but I do know just a little bit about 2.11
and the MSCP (and TMSCP) drivers 'probe' and "autoconfig" just fine.
In fact in 2.11 floating vectors are allocated descending from 01000
and programmed into the adaptor for secondary controllers (the
primary/first/boot controller always gets 0154).
> So, how to I get UNIX to "attach" the ra driver?
When you updated the kernel did you also update the 'autoconfig'
process? In 2.11 there is /sys/autoconfig and whenever a new
device driver is added to the kernel it is also necessary to
update the autoconfig code with a 'XXauto.c" file and an entry
in a couple tables.
As I recall on 2.9 the autoconf stuff was intermingled with the
regular driver sources which made for a bit of a mess. When 2.11
came around the chance was taken to clean things up.
Programmable vector devices (such as MSCP) are a VERY awkward thing
for 'autoconfig' to deal with. Prior to 2.11 the vectors were
more or less hardcoded in 'l.s' (or was it scb.s or locore.s - gads
my memory is slipping) and the driver. 'autoconfig' was mostly a
double check that a device was really present. 2.11 has the kernel
hooks for 'autoconfig' to request a dynamically allocated vector
which can be assigned to a device - bit of a hack but fairly
elegantly done.
> This is the first time I've tried doing a UNIX sysgen, so extra
> explanations might be required. The only documentation I have is
> what I downloaded along with the distribution.
Look in /sys/pdpuba and see if you can find the '*auto.c' files -
follow their lead and craft something for 'autoconfig'. The
simplest case is to just "check that something exists" at the
CSR and return 'true' - don't try to force an interrupt, etc.
Perhaps some other folks who have run 2.9 more recently (or who
have better memory than I do ;)) can jump in here.
Steven Schultz
sms(a)moe.2bsd.com (when the circuit gets fixed ;))
A recent dumpster dive yielded a HP2748A papertape reader. Does anyone have
the interface spec's for this device handy ?
Left in the dumpster were : a Facit 4070 punch, a hp(8900?) diskdrive with
power supply.
The disk, vintage early to mid seventies, really should be saved but since I
do not have a fitting computer....
(Location Zurich , Switzerland )
Jos Dreesen
Well, I haven't had a chance to call the other place yet.... But the
blinkenlights minis I have are a DG Nova 1210, 2 DG Eclipse S230's, DEC
PDP-8/i, HP 1000-E, 2 Interdata 7/32's (soon to be one, as one is being
traded), 2 TI 990/5's, and a Varian 620-L/100... Now I suppose I need to
find a Modcomp, a Microdata, a CDC, a Prime, a Basic Four, a Bytronix, a
Keronix, a Univac, a Cincinatti Milacron, a ROLM, and other manufacturers I
can't remember.. I'm trying to have as many manufacturers represented as
possible : )
Will J
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
I went on a shopping spree at the fleamarket today (well... =).
First I picked up a SyQuest 88, mainly for the nice PowerUser case. Then I
found an Atari mouse, and as horrible as they are (the only mice which are
worse are the old IBM models), it would be nice to have at least one
functioning original mouse. Then I went to Bruno, who had a whole lot of junk,
as always. Amongst others, he had ISA accelerators - one Microsoft Mach-20
(No, M$ are not a hardware company, of course...) 286 accelerator and another
386 one. I bought a Kingston MCA 386 memory expansion and some odd Novell
card, which leads us on to the questions:
The card I bought is made by Novell, and has got the serial number 89935 and
the application number 5657. Those numbers are noted with a marker pen. The
words "BOARD 738-61-001 REV B" are screened onto the board. The board itself
is a small eight-bit ISA card without any connectors (save for the ISA card-
edge, of course). The construction is quite simple, consisting of four 74LS
chips (one 7407N and three 74LS244N), a PAL, an AMD AM25LS2521PCB (another
74LS chip?) and a big gob of glue which conceals another chip. That's it,
apart from some discrete components. Bruno told me that it's some kind of
diagnostics card, but not exactly what kind of diagnostics card.
Then he had a KA410-A board, which my research tells me is either a ?VAX 2000
or a VAXstation 2000. It's just a card and nothing else, though. I don't
suppose it's really feasible to construct a working system out of it? My
friend bought it for the SCSI chip, which he intends to use in order to repair
a Supra Amiga SCSI controller.
He also had a lot of Ungermann-Bass boards. They had some kind of VME-look-a-
like DIN connector in the middle of one edge as well as some resembling D-sub
connectors, all intended to plug into a back plane of some kind. They used a
plethora of processors, both Motorola m68k, i80186 and i960.
I finally bought a Datapulse 106A pulse generator, mainly due to its low price
and the nice case (nineteen inch carry case with leather handles =).
BTW, what's a Xerox FLEX? It's a small box with two centronics ports, a
miniscule "parallel port" (so the label says) and a BNC connector.
I also found a Zenith Z-station 235Sn, which looked like some kind of pizza
box workstation, but I couldn't pry it open. What is it?
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
G? med i SUGA, Swedish Usergroup of Amiga!
WWW: http://swedish.usergroup.amiga.tm/
BBS: 08-6582572, telnet://sua.ath.cx:42512
