test-drb August 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

232 participants
452 discussions

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Lucky! I just have a 1000E CPU that doesn't work, a paper tape reader (sans interface), and the external MAC controller box (no cables or drives). Will J _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

22 years, 1 month

chip pinout help

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Eric Smith" <eric(a)brouhaha.com> > >> Hmm, but then how is translation done on the inputs to the ROM? It is >> a TTL device feeding the address, so the 0-5v swing (0.5v to 4+v) >> swing would appear to be an input swing of +15 to +20. > >No translation required. PMOS thresholds are within a few volts of the >positive rail. > > > > Hi The only issue with PMOS is on the outputs. They may not pull down as hard as a TTL input pulls up. This is generally fixed with a pull down resistor and/or a diode to limit the negative travel. Some TTL can tolerate some negative on the input, most CMOS can't ( I think the 4049 can though ). Dwight

22 years, 1 month

HP1000F ?

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

Is there a good source of info about HP1000 systems on the net somewhere? Are they interesting systems? Is there someone on the list that knows what this box is and can provide a quick summary of interesting details about it? I don't have any more info about this particular system other than the picture below. http://home1.gte.net/~gslick/hp1000/hp1000f.jpg _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

22 years, 1 month

Reseating chips

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Bob Lafleur" <bob_lafleur(a)technologist.com> >> >How many of you remember the problem of chips coming unseated in older >computers (like the PET) and having to push all the chips down as the >equipment ages? > >I've now got this problem with my Kurzweil MIDIBOARD (a 6502-based MIDI >keyboard controller). A few months ago I had to open it and reseat all >the chips. Now I have to do it again. > >Does anyone know any tricks to keep this problem from occuring? I fear >I'm going to have to do this a lot now, especially with the vibrations >of playing the keys. > >Thanks for any tips. > > - Bob > > Hi Bob Two things. First, straighten the pins so they don't bow outwards. This is the most important step. For some reason that I've never figured out, the tension on the pins causes then to want to be out of the sockets, even though, you'd think it would tend to hold them in. The second thing will help for good contact and that is to use a silicon grease, like Dow Corning #4, on the pin leads. I've been told the Permatex dielectric grease is the same thing and I've used a product call Silglyde. Although, it is called a grease, it has poor lubrication properties but it will cause parts the come out with spring tension to come out easier, I've not seen problems with the leads straightened and the part weight being the only factor. Dwight

22 years, 1 month

PowerUser external SCSI HD

by mythtech＠mac.com

>> after I got burned on the >> Jasmine/Rodime fiasco >Don't think I ever heard about that - might be before my time. Care to >elaborate? Once upon a time, back in the early Mac days... there was a drive manufacturer called Jasmine. They made about the best damn drives money could buy. Every time there was a review of drives, Jasmine came out on top. And their prices were good as well. Well, Jasmine, like most external drive makers, didn't actually made the drives inside their boxes, they bought from other makers, stuck them in pretty cases, wrote formatting/partitioning software, and sold them under their name. Jasmine bought internals from a number of companies, Quantum, Segate, Rodime, and others. Well, one day, Rodime shipped Jasmine an entire lot of defective drives (and not a small lot, like thousands and thousands of them). Jasmine, sold these off, after packing them up, and doing their basic burn in. But the defects wouldn't show up until the drives had been run for some time... then Kapow... drive would die. Of course, this would happen about 60 days into good use, right before the 90 day warrenty expired. Suddenly Jasmine found themselves with many an angry customer, wanting a warrenty repair on their drive. More than they could afford to handle. So they tried to push the problem off on Rodime (after all, it was their drive that died), but Rodime denied responsibility, saying Jasmine bought the drives, and it was their problem to test them, and make sure they were good. So Jasmine naturally folded under the massive costs of warrenty repair, leaving everyone (myself included) with a dead drive, and no way to get it fixed. Two good things came of this... 1: Rodime folded not long after because of similar problems (from what I understand at least, I know they closed, and I know they had a massive run of drives they sold to the public go out while under warrenty). So they pretty much got their just dues. 2: A few of the Jasmine techs got together and formed a company, that was one of the first in a soon to grow industry of Data Recovery services of hard drives. They formed the company "Drive Savers" which advertises to this day in the back of most Mac magazines. So after that, I decided that it wasn't worth spending extra money on the best reviewed drive, because even the best reviewed could die and cost you big bucks. I paid $400 on an 80 MB external drive, and was able to use it for about 45 days before it died the first time. I was able to get it going again, and in the end, I got about 8 or 9 months of use of it, before I got sick of it crashing and taking all my data with it. I then replaced the inner drive with a 100 MB Quantum that I paid another $400 for, and used that for a few years, until I replaced it with a 1 gig Quantum (for another $400). Today the lower half of my Jasmine drive case, with its power supply and SCSI connectors, powers my SCSI CD burner that sits loose on top after the power brick for its case died. (and the final 1 g Quantum drive is dead too, stopped spinning up, from the sounds of it, I think it suffered from "sticktion" after having run non stop for a few years, and then being shut off and stored for a few more, the 100 MB Quantum I still have somewhere, and the 80 MB Rodime/Jasmine that was the original, made a very nice wind chime). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 1 month

Need help finding old IBM PC game

by vcf＠siconic.com

I am trying to help someone find a game that apparently shipped with the IBM PC. Below is the description. -- First of all thank you very much for offering to help. This game is a crossing between mastermind and trivial pursuit.The graphics were extremely simple, similar to the mastermind board. The purpose of the game was to guess or identify a famous person or event?with the fewest hints or clues given. The lesser hints needed the more points scored, and I think there were up to 5 (I'm not so sure about the actual number) clues given, if unable to recognize the identity, well, your score wasn?t very high and you were given the right answer and passed on to the next clue. e.g. 1. shot from behind during the performance of Our American Cousin and then hints no.2, 3, 4 & 5?would be even more obvious, gradually disclosing more information in the?following clues.? So this game is different, because in similar games you know the character or the event and you just have to choose a correct answer among four or five options, so there is not much of a challenge, you end up guessing, not identifying which makes it much more interesting. It was a preloaded software game included in the brand new IBM pcs here in Mexico during the mid 90's. It was called "Pistas" , Spanish word for?"clues" or "hints". ??I tried contacting IBM, both here in Mexico and USA, but unless I give them exact model (and almost serial number) of the machine I saw it in, they cannot help me. Unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to the pc itself since I came across this game a lot in demo pcs all over town. I never imagined they would suddenly stop using it , and when I called them, it simply got me nowhere. -- Any idea what game this person is talking about? And if so, anyone know where to get a copy? Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

22 years, 1 month

Video toaster and add-on cards

by dan＠ekoan.com

Hello, I just picked up an Amiga Video Toaster (just the CPU unit). Inside on the left are the video toaster cards, but the two right-most slots have full length cards made by Digital Processing Systems Inc. The cards are daisy chained to a connector on the motherboard. Each card has four BNC connectors, a 5-pin DIN, an RJ-11 jack and a three-position switch on the rear slot panel. The back side of each card is covered with a full-length aluminum shield. The only identifying numbers I've found, besides the FCC ID, is "743-770", then "PT2 REV-3, Made in Canada". There is also a Supra memory card with 6 MB (three of four rows populated) and an A2091 hard card. I haven't tried to boot this yet since I need to locate an Amiga keyboard, but I'd be interested to know if anyone has any documentation on the Digital Processing Systems cards. Thanks! Cheers, Dan

22 years, 1 month

Thanks Jeff was Re: Great finds at Auction Today and at Thrift

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Cocktails are fun. One can often convince the significant other that these are really just tables and should be part of the household furniture. Dwight >From: John <jrkeys(a)concentric.net> > >Thanks Jeff I found tons of information and manuals (they cost $20 each) for >the unit once I used the correct name (cocktail) for my google search. My >cost $15.51 plus tax looks even better now that I found they sol for $1945 >back in 1980. >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Jeff Hellige" <jhellige(a)earthlink.net> >To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> >Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 8:29 PM >Subject: Re: Great finds at Auction Today and at Thrift > > >> >Best find of the day was at a thrift (I only had time to stop at 2 of >them) >> >it was a Atari 2-player table console titled Missile Command. It has a >coin >> >slot for 50 cent to play the game. You sit at this unit and put your >hands >> >into the controller pocket that has a big yellow trackball and three fire >> >buttons for each player. They did not have the key to get into the unit >and >> >I have not plugged it in yet to test. It's in great shape and is model >> >number 23601. I checked on google and could not find any information on >the >> >unit. Anyone know where I can get spec's on this unit and what it cost >new? >> >> Truly cool...a Missile Command cocktail unit. Mostly it's >> stuff like PacMan that you see in that format. Here are a couple of >> pictures of one: >> >> http://www.nanonano.co.uk/arcade/miscom.htm >> http://www.classicarcadeonline.com/missilecommandcocktail.html >> >> Jeff >> -- >> Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File >> http://www.cchaven.com >> http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757 >> >> > >

22 years, 1 month

Any sources for used raised flooring?

by jmen1＠earthlink.net

FOR IMMEDIATE SALE: 4500 pieces of ACCESS COMPUTER FLOORING Severn/Concept 2000 with understructure and aluminum floor jacks. Make Offer. e-Breaker & Transformer, inc. 22700 S. Western Ave. Torranc, CA 90501 Tel: 310-533-6811 FAX: 310-533-6195

22 years, 1 month

Reseating chips

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

How many of you remember the problem of chips coming unseated in older computers (like the PET) and having to push all the chips down as the equipment ages? I've now got this problem with my Kurzweil MIDIBOARD (a 6502-based MIDI keyboard controller). A few months ago I had to open it and reseat all the chips. Now I have to do it again. Does anyone know any tricks to keep this problem from occuring? I fear I'm going to have to do this a lot now, especially with the vibrations of playing the keys. Thanks for any tips. - Bob

22 years, 1 month

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test-drb August 2002