test-drb September 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

256 participants
661 discussions

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I recently found a TR model 100 with an odd looking device plugged into it. Abouty half of the access door on the bach is cut away in it and there is a 20 pin ribbon cable header inside the cut out. Stamped in the header is "H&T 20". I don't know if that's the name of just the head4er or the entire assemble. I removed the cover plate and inside is a small PC card with the header and three SSI ICs (74HC245, 74HC02 amd a 74HC244). The whole thing fits inside the original opening (so you don't have to remove the back case to install or remove it) and it plugs into the 28 pin LSI IC socket. Does anyone know what this is? Hint: It will ber looking fore a home at this weekend's computer junkfest in Orlando. Joe

23 years, 2 months

Apple II 800K Diskettes?

by sulement＠sisp.net

-----Original Message----- From: Mike Kenzie <KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Monday, September 24, 2001 6:31 PM Subject: Re: Apple II 800K Diskettes? >----- Original Message ----- >From: "David Betz" <dbetz(a)xlisper.mv.com> >To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> >Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 8:25 PM >Subject: Apple II 800K Diskettes? > > >> I just acquired an Apple IIgs (thanks Rich!) and am anxious to try >it out. I >> have downloaded the system software from the Apple site but an >unsure how to >> go about making 800K disks for use on the IIgs as none of my local >computer >> stores stock 800K floppies. Is it possible to cover over the hole >that tells >> the drive that it is a HD disk and format it as an 800K disk? Will >the 800K >> drive on the IIgs be able to read it? Or do I have to find a source >for real >> 800K media? > >I have a lead on another IIgs. It should be available as soon as the >owner finished copying the files from it. >I also have a spare IIsi. > > > >Collector of Vintage Computers (www.ncf.ca/~ba600) New 800k disks are available from the US in Harbor City California. My friend Ed Walters at Athana.com has them for sale. Tell him Jeff sent you. He thought so much of getting the format right that he bought a Classic II from me to test them on to be sure they'd work properly. Jeff

23 years, 2 months

DEC Licensing Fun

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > >Someone emailed me doubting license generators exist outside of > DEC, > >so here's one you can verify: > > Neat - it works :-) > > So is this PAKGEN or did you build > one yourself? My own. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

23 years, 2 months

Qbus HDLC controller -- a "what is it" board

by engdahl＠cle.ab.com

Here's something else from my junk box that somebody might know what to do with: Four half-width Qbus boards, built by Applied Computer Consultants, Santa Barbara, CA. It looks like a DEC compatible DMA board and a three-board Z80-based standalone HDLC controller that sucks power off the Qbus. 1: this one attaches to the Qbus, and is called MDMA. Contains four AM2901 bit slices, a row of microcode ROMs, some logic, and a ribbon cable connector on the front edge. I'd venture a guess that this might be a clone of some DMA board Digital made. 2: this, and the remaining boards, get only power from the backplane. This board has two Zilog DMA's and a bunch of 74LS buffers, latches, and logic, all in sockets. Name: XQCP-I, serial number 235. It has a ribbon cable to the next board. My guess is this is a DMA board that lets the standalone uC talk to the PDP-11's DMA board. 3: a memory board. Contains 8 ROM sockets, 4 of them populated. ROM labels are marked IF-11Q/HDLC. Also 16 TMS4116-20L DRAMs. Name: XQCP-M, serial number 230. There is yet another ribbon cable connecting it to the next board. 4: CPU board. Zilog Z80-A, two more DMAs, an SIO/2, a CTC, and a little logic, all in sockets. Name: XQCP-P, serial number 240. There are two narrow ribbon cables on the front edge. There is no documentation, and I'll never have time to fool with it. If you want it, send me an email, and we'll draw straws in a couple days to see who gets it. -- Jonathan Engdahl???????????????? Rockwell Automation Principal Research Engineer????? 24800 Tungsten Road Advanced Technology????????????? Euclid, OH 44117, USA Euclid Labs????????????????????? engdahl(a)cle.ab.com 216-266-6409

23 years, 2 months

Source for technical manuals?

by tony.eros＠machm.org

I'm trying to remember a web site I used to visit that had a number of old computer and instrument service guides for sale. I bought a Heathkit EC-1 assembly manual from them. Now, I can't seem to recall the name of the place -- doesn't look like I saved the address in my browser bookmarks, either. I know it's not abebooks or alibris -- any suggestions? -- Tony

23 years, 2 months

DEC Licensing Fun

by pechter＠ureach.com

Slick... -- Bill Pechter Systems Administrator uReach Technologies 732-335-5432 (Work) 877-661-2126 (Fax) ---- On Tue, 25 Sep 2001, Eric Dittman (dittman(a)dittman.net) wrote: > Someone emailed me doubting license generators exist outside of DEC, > so here's one you can verify: > > Issuer: DITTMAN > Authorization: DITTMAN-TEST-LICENSE-1 > Product Name: THE-UNIVERSE > Producer: THE-BIG-BANG > Units: 1000000 > Version: 1.0 > Availability: A > Options: (MOD_UNITS) > Checksum: 4-BBPB-DBPM-NGKD-DPKB > -- > Eric Dittman > dittman(a)dittman.net > Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/ > > >

23 years, 2 months

microcoding a PC into a PDP-11 (was: RE: Classic Computers

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

Warning Heresy follows :) DG alert! I'm not the expert on microcoding versus writable control stores. I seem to dimely remember that there was a whole section about microcoding in the 1981 book by Tracy Kidder "Soul of a new machine". Lots of microcode was used to emulate "old" instructions from previous machines. Also to perform complex series of instructions. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

23 years, 2 months

DEC Licensing Fun

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Eric Dittman wrote: > >Someone emailed me doubting license generators exist outside of DEC, >so here's one you can verify: Neat - it works :-) So is this PAKGEN or did you build one yourself? Antonio

23 years, 2 months

SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >Also, not every programmer produced from personal computing is a bad > >programmer. I've seen quite a number of such people that should be > >forbidden from ever invoking a text editor, but we're not all that way. > >I may not have a lot of field experience (I'm not even out of college > >yet), but I'm a damn good programmer. > > As Iggy mentioned a bit ago, Demo programmers still practice > assembler. I would imagine that there are quite a few talented > programmers in that field. I do not mind that programmers vote Democratic... Seriously, what's a demo programmer? A programmer who writes only demo software? As in mock-ups? Prototypes? And I hate to pick nits, but no one can "practice assembler" anymore than they can "practice compiler". They _write_ assembly language; if it must be shortened, it should be to "assembly", not "assembler". But if I'm stumbling into a British usage vs. American usage, please forgive me, I pick nits, but prefer not to be an errant pedant. And I would not consider people writing in assembly language to be at the bottom rungs, at least not by virture of the language they're using. In fact, I am locally renknowned as one of if not the best assembly language programmer available (again, locally). Too bad the demand has dried up. Regards, -dq

23 years, 2 months

Two classic sightings

by spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu

Spotted a TRS-80 CoCo of some kind in the rehab centre at Loma Linda University. It apparently was (is?) used for EMG testing to check peripheral nerve impulses. Also, from the MCA reissue of Steely Dan's "Gaucho", in the liner notes: "That's when the business with the computer started. Roger Nichols had this toy -- we thought of it as a toy -- but one day he came to work and told us that the toy had become a man ... who, in the absence of a useable track after a zillion tries with 'real bands' could nicely simulate the most elusive elements of the basic track that we would need to bring our little song into the world, i.e., drums and maybe a simple keyboard part of some sort, and that's all. Because, once we had that -- the toy, the man, the track-- we could do all the rest with little or no problemo, thank you very much. Unfortunately, at this primitive stage of the evolution of the computer and its requisite software, even the most minute event had to be programmed in the gnarly and unforgiving 8085 assembly language, in which all relevant parameters had to be described in its baffling hexagesimal [sic -- guess they were too stoned to count properly ;-)] base system, which ultimately became the only language Roger Nichols spoke or understood, at least for a time ... And so was born the era of sampled drums and sequenced music -- 'the birth of the cruel' as we now call it. History, read it and weep." (Don Fagen [lead vocals] and Walter Becker) -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu -- Work harder! Millions on welfare depend on you! ----------------------------

23 years, 2 months

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test-drb September 2001