test-drb March 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

292 participants
932 discussions

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On March 30, Tony Duell wrote: > > All that person needs to do is get a soldering iron, solder, some bits > > Do uorself a favour and buy a good temperature-controlled soldering > station. It will make life a lot easier and do less damage. I am used to > a Weller TCP iron (this is a very common one, at least in the UK). A few > years back I attempted to use a friend's cheap non-controller iron, and I > found I simply couldn't work on multi-layer PCBs with it. I went back to > the lab where I was emplyed at the time to borrow a Weller TCP to do the > repair... I strongly second this! A cheap crap soldering iron (like the $7 specials that I used to by at Radio Shack when I was a kid) will produce crap results for pretty much ANY person regardless of skill or experience. I used a Weller TCP like Tony's for many years; it was wonderful in every way. About 6-8 months ago I picked up a Metcal iron (an SP-PW1-10), which is even a huge step above said venerable Weller TCP...I recommend them very highly. Try one and you'll understand what I mean. :-) It really doesn't pay to use cheap soldering irons. You'll save a few bucks, but it'll cost you parts, boards, fingers, and the fun of soldering! -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

"New" PDP-8

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On March 30, brian wheeler wrote: > > For 500 connections or more, I'd a brung in my electric wirewrap > > GUN. > > A few years ago I took a hardware class at IU and we built a PDP-8 using > PLAs, a bit of static ram, a few 74LS chips, and a ton of wire > wrapping. There were about 600 wires in all, but luckily it was split > across the whole semester, so it wasn't too dramatic. It was pretty In 1985-1987 I worked at Princeton University (I think I may have mentioned this at one point) on the Navier-Stokes Supercomputer project at the Moody Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. I was responsible for the Switching Board, a big board full of TTL that functioned as a big crossbar switch between processors and memory planes. The boards in the NSC machine were Unibus form-factor; we used the OEM version of the PDP11/24 chassis which came with no labels and no backplane wiring. The Switching Board was wall-to-wall 74LS series chips...mostly 74LS244s...packed as closely as possible. If memory serves they were 14,000 wires per board or so. Doing that without a gun would have been...well, impossible. It was tedious, but I enjoyed it anyway. What was especially enjoyable was seeing the first test program running through vectors, outperforming a uniprocessor Cray XMP on $2K worth of hardware in a desktop chassis. :) -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

WTB: NEEDED: Tandy/Bondwell parts!

by rmenti＠execpc.com

Does any one know disk info since I get a mismatch on boot. Is a 286 with DOS and want to get stuff off the drive if I can pick the correct config stuff. Randy Milwaukee, WI

22 years, 8 months

"New" PDP-8

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On March 30, jeff.kaneko(a)juno.com wrote: > Well yes, as a matter of fact, there are still many applications > where WW is really the best way to go. As a good example, bed-of- > nails test fixtures are typically wirewrapped. At the last > company where I was employed, I watched a re-work girl wire up > such a fixture (maybe 300 points or so) *BY HAND*, using a > manual wirewrap tool. A "re-work girl" Oh MAN where can I find one of those!! -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

PowerMac 7100/66av

by mythtech＠mac.com

>Oops I forgot to mention that the ethernet transceiver is also likely >broken. > >You can't get those for $5 too can you? :) No, you might have to actually go as high as $10 for one of those. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 8 months

Call for Papers for Microscopy Book Series

by micro＠formatex.org

Dear colleague In the very next future, FORMATEX, a technological organization located in Badajoz (Spain), will edit a series of books on the science and technology of Microscopy, as well as on educational applications. This letter is to invite you to take part of this edition, since we are searching for contributors >from all microscopy technique and applications. Information on the Call for Paper for this edition is available at http://www.formatex.org/micro2002/callforpaper.htm The book will be edited in a citeable form (ISBN) and a copy of the book plus 25 reprints will be sent by mail to the corresponding author. If you are interested in contributing to this edition or have any question, please contact us at micro(a)formatex.org, or directly to the editor: A.Mendez Vilas Physics Department University of Extremadura Avda. de Elvas s/n 06071 Badajoz SPAIN E-mail: amvilas(a)unex.es Regards J.A. Mesa Gonzalez FORMATEX

22 years, 8 months

PowerMac 7100/66av

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 3/30/02 11:33:50 AM Pacific Standard Time, torquil(a)rockbridge.net writes: > Oops I forgot to mention that the ethernet transceiver is also likely > broken. > > You can't get those for $5 too can you? :) > > I saw one in the Lincoln City, Oregon, Goodwill for $7 two days ago. Paxton Astoria, OR

22 years, 8 months

"New" PDP-8

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On March 30, Loboyko Steve wrote: > Well, no, it isn't. Because the cost of getting a PCB > made is less than the cost of a good electronics > technician, I think it started to die in the late > 80's. And, of course, its practically impossible to WW > BGA chips, etc. Not commonly used, or not the "latest greatest thing"? I know of several small outfits that do lots of wire-wrapping. And I mean *lots*. -Dave -- Dave McGuire "...it's leaving me this unpleasant, St. Petersburg, FL damp feeling on my shorts..." -Sridhar

22 years, 8 months

ZX-81 Question

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: John Chris Wren <jcwren(a)jcwren.com> > Assuming I wanted to get a ZX-81, what would I want? Take a stable ZX81 or TS1000 and pull off the composite video to feed a monitor. Add a decent keyboard and bump the RAM to 64KB. You'll want a printer and a good cassette recorder, too. If you don't plan to add any hardware which requires a ROM, then you might want to add NVRAM to the unoccupied 8-16K address space. A Hunter board is perfect for this, if you can find one. If you require hardware which could benefit from having code in ROM, then the 8-16K space can be used by an add-on ROM. > And are there any > really good 'net resources for the ZX-81? Yes! The ZX-TEAM home page is a good place to start: http://home.t-online.de/home/p.liebert/zx-team.htm Kai Fischer's ZX96 page shows an example of how far you can take this machine: http://home.freiepresse.de/befis/zx96_e.htm Zebra Systems in NYC still sells unbuilt kits, but they are expensive: http://www.zebrasystems.com/zebrasystems/zx81/index.html For software, visit the University of Trondheim archive: ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/sinclair/zx81/ You can download the software and transfer it from a DOS-based PC to the ZX81 using ZXTAPE and a modified PC-type parallel printer cable. One program which is indispensable if FASTLOAD, which allows 4800 baud cassette I/O, as opposed to the native 300 baud. This means you can LOAD a 16 KB program from cassette in < 40 seconds instead of 5 minutes. The possibilities really are endless. My main ZX81 has an 80 MB hard drive hung off it, which I will never come close to outgrowing. Let me know if you have more questions . . . Glen 0/0

22 years, 8 months

"New" PDP-8

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

Steve, Many years ago I did the TU58 emulator that Bob designed. An excellent and useful tool. FYI: I also ahve a 6100 (intersil board with mods) and a 6120 based design. The old PDP-8 instruction set is most interesting and loads of fun to write code with. Allison -----Original Message----- From: Loboyko Steve <sloboyko(a)yahoo.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Saturday, March 30, 2002 1:02 AM Subject: "New" PDP-8 >I just completed the very nasty job of downloading the >operating system and a few BASIC programs to my "new" >PDP8, which is built from Robert Armstrong's design. >It only draws about 5 watts, so it isn't a problem to >keep on all the time, unlike others that people on >this list might own! > >I made a comment to Mr.Armstrong that I removed the >IBM logo from the drive because I didn't think it >would work correctly with a DEC design. Strangely, >this actually came true to a degree; I had a slow PPI >chip that didn't get data from the drive quickly >enough. I tried to save a dollar buying an 82C55 >instead of an 82C55-5. > >Pics, if interested, are at: > > >sloboyko.home.mindspring.com/pdp8e.htm > >I wrote up this web page as a brief synopsis of >material I found on the Internet; some may be true and >some may not be true. I would appreciate comments, >etc., from the experts. > >I would also appeciate any pointers to interesting >software, especially large BASIC programs, disk based >FOCAL (if this exists?), and so on. > >The logos on the case look OK, but if anyone a broken >piece of case with a Digital or PDP8 logo on it, I'd >really like to have it. > > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Greetings - send holiday greetings for Easter, Passover >http://greetings.yahoo.com/

22 years, 8 months

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test-drb March 2002