test-drb November 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

252 participants
556 discussions

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

Ever notice that on modern keyboards, the letters on the keys are not in the middle of the key? They are off to the left. This is something that has always kind of annoyed me. I like the way the older keyboards were made, like on the VT100 terminal. Not only did they have real switches and a great feel, but the letters were right there in the middle of the key, where they should be. Not only that, but the labels on these old keyboards actually went all the way through the key - it was made of two different colors of plastic. This way, the letters wouldn't wear off. It's obvious why they changed the key switches - to make the keyboard cheaper. That and some people are weird and don't like the wonderful sounds that the older keyboards made. (I hate quiet keyboards...) But why were the letters moved? Was this cheaper or easier? Or did Apple suddenly do it and then everyone else followed suit? <grin> Does anyone know what computer started using this style of keycap labeling? Just curious. Ian Primus ian_primus(a)yahoo.com

23 years, 1 month

Old Tech - Sort of

by cmcnabb＠4mcnabb.net

Well, my Pentium II motherboard bit the dust the other day (Thank You American Electric Power!), so I went to the local computer parts store in search of a new one. Being somewhat of a vacuum tube fan, I settled on the AOpen AX4B-533TUBE board. Yes, this one has a vacuum tube. It uses a dual triode (Sovtek 6922) as the audio amplifier. The board also sports a 1.5Ghz Pentium 4 and DDR SDRAM, along with the usual bells and whistles such as LAN, Serial, Parallel, etc. The audio out of the board sounds great, as long as you make sure you have the right impedance speakers/headphones plugged in. My normal 8 ohm headphones were badly overdriven, but plugging the computer into my guitar amp (sounds weird, don't it?) delivered that nice, wide vacuum tube tonality that normal sound cards just can't deliver. I really gotta hand it to the guys at AOpen for delivering a wonderful mix of new and old tech. I do, however, really need to install a window in my case so I can bask in the warm glow of the vacuum tube. -- Christopher L McNabb Operating Systems Analyst Email: cmcnabb(a)4mcnabb.net Virginia Tech ICBM: 37.1356N 80.4272N GMRS: WPSR255 ARS: N2UX Grid Sq: EM97SD

23 years, 1 month

Poquet PC

by lgwalker＠mts.net

Nice. Virtually identical to the Sharp PC 3100, but the Sharp had proprietory 10pin RS232, 20pin Parallel, and fdd sockets. It ran an 80C88 at 10mhz as opposed to the Poquets' 16mhz. Only type 1 PCcard slots as opposed to the Poquets' type I/II. Uses 4 x1.5v cells. Based on the specs I think the Poquet wins out. But a later machine. These guys have the PC 3000. About the same price. http://www.notebooksplus.com/pc3000.htm This guy has done some amazing things with the 2MB PC3100. http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Strand/3387/pc3story.html Lawrence > Back in the mid-90's I kept a Poqet PC in my bag or desk to use as an > ad hoc console terminal for data center gear. Wasn't as convenient as > the then current HP palmtops, but a heck of a lot cheaper and an > easier keyboard if the HPs were a tad small for you. MS-DOS in ROM > supported Kermit nicely for ANSI terminal emulation. > > California Digital (not the newbies that bought VA Linux' hardware > operation) still has them, though perhaps a bit (ahem) overpriced: > > http://www.cadigital.com/poqetpc.htm > > --S. > lgwalker(a)mts.net bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com lgwalker(a)mts.net bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com

23 years, 1 month

computer timeline

by daveb＠computerhistory.org

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002, Marvin Johnston wrote: > Thanks, turning on Javascript did it! But it is still not what I am > looking for. I've seen lists in the past that have only the computer and > the (sometimes approximate) date they were introduced. So far, I've > still been unable to find such a list. Here's the link you may be remembering: http://members.fortunecity.com/pcmuseum/complist.html I like this one because it gives references to where much of the information came from. Thanks, DaveB Volunteer, Computer History Museum

23 years, 1 month

Optical paper tape readers

by mhscc＠canada.com

I've got a few PPT readers (SCM & Burroughs, parallel I/F) if anybody wants to play around with one; also some punches and parts. Contact me off-list if interested. mike --------------------------------------------- Introducing NetZero Long Distance 1st month Free! Sign up today at: www.netzerolongdistance.com

23 years, 1 month

Poqet PC

by classiccmp＠crash.com

I've muddied the waters a bit... The link I included was for the later Fujitsu Poqet PC Plus. Fujitsi bought out the original company before or while the second generation product was being offered. CA Digital is giving specs for the Plus model, which is what I believe they're selling. Gee, I wonder if this is covered on one of the timelines people have been discussing... The original Poqet PC has _no_ backlight, uses 2 std AA cells, and MS-DOS 3.3 in ROM. Not sure how much memory is in there, ISTR at least 512K and maybe more. There's a small ramdisk on D: for AUTOEXEC/CONFIG.SYS, and the DOS ROM is C:. The two PCMCIA slots at A:/B: are nice, especially with the 2MB SRAM cards - however I appear to have forgotten to refresh the lithium backup batteries in mine :^} Fred's right, the original Poqet brings pretty much the whole XT bus out to a connector on the back. I like the idea of hooking this up to a backplane... B^P Somewhere I have the docs from when I bought the thing, but it may be years before they surface again. --S.

23 years, 1 month

New Find Today

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

While at the Goodwill I picked up a black case and inside was a Bridge Challenger III with power supply and manual. It's missing thirteen dealer cards. These cards are read my a built in scanner. This unit was built by Fidelity Electronics LTD.

23 years, 1 month

OS disks for HP150A

by Kim＠entrix.co.uk

Hello, I wonder if anyone can help me. I have an early 1980s Hewlett Packard HP150A which I am trying to find a home for in a museum. The system is working but I can't find the MSDOS (or application) disks for it which were on 3.5" floppy. Does anyone know a source of such things? I think I may have a museum interested but I would rather donate it as a fully working system. Thanks in anticipation Kim Harris * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This email is intended for the addressed recipient only. If it has reached you in error, please return to postmaster(a)entrix.co.uk. Messages are sent by individuals and do not necessarily state the policy or opinion of Entrix Computing Ltd. Email is scanned for viruses and content by MailMarshal and Norman Virus Control.

23 years, 1 month

Modern replica/implementation of a dumb terminal?

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

No, it is a Hornet chip, but it has an 80C186 in it. Running MSD.exe will show this information. See http://www.daniel-hertrich.de/200lx/block.pdf for a block diagram of the chip, with the 80C186 clearly indicated. There are also a lot of references to the '186 in programming information for the LX's. -----Original Message----- From: Philip Pemberton [mailto:philpem@dsl.pipex.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 4:02 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Modern replica/implementation of a dumb terminal? <snip> I though the 200LX used an 8086, more specifically an Intel HORNET embedded CPU? <snip>

23 years, 1 month

HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

The winning (only) bidder was vcf! so I guess that means it went to a good home and now I won't regret bidding on it. > >>From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink(a)verizon.net> > >>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org > >>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> > >>Subject: HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay > >>Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 10:53:02 -0500 > >> > >>Sorry if this screws up someone's snipe plans... but it was > >>offered a couple of weeks ago and closed with no bids. It > >>currently (10:50 am EST) has no bids with 11 hours to go. I > >>can't imagine that nobody one the list would want this: > >> > >>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1789314629 _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

23 years, 1 month

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test-drb November 2002