test-drb September 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

217 participants
408 discussions

by lbutzel＠home.com

Looking for info on the Dynalogic Hyperion, a "portable" DOS machine manufactures around 1983. At least the one I have is 1983. it was designed and initially built in Ottawa, Canada. Hyperion was acquired in about 1983 by Bytec, who was later bought by I think a Quebec company called Comterm. Anyway, mine has stopped working: The machine still boots but no image is displayed on its 7" diag screen. Hence I am looking for service info and/or persons who have worked on the machine. Any leads would be most appreciated. Leo Butzel Seattle, WA lbutzel(a)home.com

22 years, 3 months

OT/Old Recordings/Shameless Plug

by mythtech＠mac.com

>Why XP instead of 2000? My Tivo -> SVCD projects went 15-20% slower on XP >vs. 2K, so I dropped back. I *despised* that damnable kandy-koted GUI crap, >too... If you are serious about these kinds of conversions, you might want to look into the VCD burner from Terapin. Its a little pricey (about $600), but it burns directly to VCD like a VCR, and works GREAT. It also claims to bypass macrovision when duping VHS or DVD, but I admit, I have not tried to copy a macrovised item yet (I only use mine for live recording, or for saving iMovie created movies to VCD since it is MUCH faster to do realtime output via a scan converter to the VCD burner, than it is to wait for my iMac to render a VCD compatible MPEG) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 3 months

RF NTSC to PAL and SECAM to PAL conversions

by mythtech＠mac.com

>I have a problem with the RF video output of some of my old micros. The use >either american or Japanese version of NTSC on VHF/UHF, and all my equipment >is PAL compatible. > >I have the same problem, with some old French micros, that use SECAM RF >output only. > >I am looking for converters but I cannot find any. Could anybody help me? There are many NTSC to PAL converters out there. J&R sells a few I know. They can also be had for fairly cheap ($40 and up). Other formats or conversion directions are a different story. PAL to NTSC is also fairly easy to find, but prices tend to start closer to $200. And anything dealing with SECAM is going to be more costly, and more difficult to locate (usually at that point, you end up getting a universal converter, and spend $500 or more). A slightly bigger problem might be getting one that works with a VHF signal... most of the ones I have seen expect it to be line composite. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 3 months

Retitle: ISC S-100 Computer/Seattle Comp. Products S-100 Cards

by gstreet＠indy.net

Hello All, I'm going to repost this since this message's title was so obscure in the "Table of Contents" of messages that is included with each mailing. Back on June 9th of this year (Classic Tech Eletter #11), someone thoughtfully posted the paragraph at the bottom of this message (on this newsgroup). Coincidentally, I had already found the same S-100 computer and I eventually ended up winning the bid (luckily [I think] I was the only bidder). I only very recently received this machine (it was slightly damaged in shipping, and it _really_ was filthy! (There was an long delay in shipping it to me.) I've got the damage straightened out and I completely disassembled it for cleaning. I just got it back together last night and turned on the switch. I seems to power up and the led's come on (led near the on/off switch and 3 led's on the backplane/motherboard). I talked to one person who said that he thought that he'd had an ISC computer before, but that it wasn't pure S-100. The reason that I bought this machine is that I have some Seattle Computer Products S-100 cards that I really want to get running. They drop in the ISC "S-100" computer _perfectly_, but I have not powered it up with the SCP cards in place. If there's something that's not "pure S-100" about the ISC, I don't want to damage the SCP cards. I just checked the link (below) and it still works. I think the link will disappear in just a few more days (90 days since first posted), so I can provide the same pictures to anyone interested after the link disappears. The reason it's taken so long to ask this question is because it took over 2 months for me to actually receive the unit (now the darned link is ready to vanish, probably on Sept 10th). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2029719366 I cannot find _any_ information about ISC Systems Corp., Spokane, WA. It's an absolutely beautifully crafted unit and from the filthy condition that I received it in--it appears to have been left running for, perhaps, _years_! The seller claimed that he'd removed the existing cards to install in his Altair, but if that's true, someone must have already substituted different cards--in the pictures, you'll notice a bunch of twisted pair and other small gauge wires: these all appear to hook up to what would seem to be "non-standard" S-100 cards, through proprietary connectors. I cannot fathom how the original ISC cards could have been of any use to anyone except the user of another ISC system. It appears that the "non-standard" wires go to things like: keyboard, monitor, modem, a network, and "LP 1" and "LP 2" (LPT 1 & LPT 2??). There is yet another connector that I've no clue as to what it might do. _BUT_, _if_ the box itself conforms to the S-100 standard, and if I can use the SCP cards, all the other wires don't matter, because they won't be connected to anything. I've really taken a liking to this machine--I hope I can use it! Any help would be much appreciated! > >At 08:33 PM 6/9/02 -0400, you wrote: >CLASSIC TECH ELETTER, Vol. 1, Issue 11 > >It's too bad the seller gutted this ISC Systems S-100 computer. If it >sells close to the opening bid, however, the buyer will get a good deal on >an S-100 starter system. (The seller's right about the system needing a >cleaning. You could knit a sweater with all the lint stuck in the fan >vent.) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2029719366 Thank you, Robert Greenstreet gstreet(a)indy.net

22 years, 3 months

OT: dumpster dive and water/mold cleanup

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 9/4/02 8:52:31 PM Pacific Daylight Time, tothwolf(a)concentric.net writes: > , I found a site called The Turntable Factory > [http://www.theturntablefactory.com/]. If you need advice or a source for > parts, it might be worthwhile to email them. Great Lead... Thanks The site has one of the best tutorials on refinishing clear hard plastic covers. The link is here: http://www.theturntablefactory.com/cover.html Very good info. Paxton

22 years, 3 months

OT/Old Recordings/Shameless Plug

by mythtech＠mac.com

>Pretty much any copy protection system for video can be defeated by putting >a >time base corrector in the analogue signal path between the source and >whatever you are recording it on. Yup, that is why I currently dub macrovised VHS by passing them thru my computer. My PowerMac has a NTSC/PAL input, and will output NTSC or PAL. I feed the video into the mac, then run the video player software in full screen, and record the video output. It actually makes VERY nice duplicates, and defeats macrovision in the process (since I'm not really recording the original video, but rather a screen image of my computer, that just happens to have the video playing in full screen mode). But I think Apple got wise to that, because reports are you can't do the same thing with the DVD player and video mirroring (although with an external scan converter I would think you can, but not with the built in S-Video output on their newer Powerbooks). Of course, now that I just discussed this, I am in violation of the DMCA, so the Thought Police should be knocking on my door any moment now. Lucky for you, you live in a country that seems to be a bit more rational and citizen friendly (didn't Australia just pass a law that pretty much says Macrovision is illegal or something to that effect?) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 3 months

OT: dumpster dive and water/mold cleanup

by mythtech＠mac.com

>I think some of the 78s I got went to a Victrola at one time. I know there >was a Victrola over there that went to a family member, but I don't think >any records went with it. I guess that dates those 78s even older than I >thought they were. I had also noticed a couple had minor chips in their >edges, and thinking about it now, they very well might be ceramic. I >noticed an almost glass or sand-like appearance to the chipped spots. If you don't have a use for those, and want to part with them REAL cheap, I might be interested in taking some of them off your hands. Not that I am a collector of these things, but a variety of records to play on my Victrola would be nice (I only have about 20 right now, and most of those I am afraid to actually play... not to mention I only have a few new needles left, so until I can figure out a safe replacement, or a safe way to sharpen old needles, I don't really use the thing at all except to show it off to people once in a while... my 1950's Rockola juke box gets the bulk of the entertainment use, but that uses off the shelf record needles, and standard 45's, so its much safer to play away with) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 3 months

Drive-95 RE: Serial floppy drives

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Drive-95 is (was?) made by Sparcom and was originally made for the HP-95 then for the HP-200 and later for the HP-48. I won one at a HP conference a couple of years ago and Megan (the owner of Sparcom) promised me that I could send it back to the company and have it upgraded to later version. I've been meaning to do that. AFIK Drive-95 is still being made and sold. Joe At 10:05 AM 9/3/02 +1000, you wrote: >One existed for the HP-48 series of calcs. It was called (I think) >drive-95. > >The device used serial, and kermit to communicate with the calc for program >storage. > >(I *reallllly* wanted one of those...) > > > >Doug Jackson >MSS Operations Manager >Citadel Securix >(02) 6290 9011 (Ph) >(02) 6262 6152 (Fax) >(0414) 986 878 (mobile) > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com] >> Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 8:40 AM >> To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >> Subject: Re: Serial floppy drives >> >> >> On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, tim lindner wrote: >> > Did anybody ever market a floppy disk system that communicated via >> > RS-232? >> >> Yes, but, ... >> Only one really "caught on" >> Radio Shack "Portable Disk Drive" was sold for the Model 100. >> It was serial, but not quite RS-232. The first version was >> Single-Density? on a 3.5" disk. >> >> > > >CAUTION - The information in this message may be of a privileged or confidential nature intended only for the use of the addressee or someone authorised to receive the addressee's e-mail. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify postmaster(a)citadel.com.au. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual >sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Citadel Securix. > >Feel free to visit the Citadel Securix website! Click below. >http://www.citadel.com.au > > >Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\RESerial.htm" >

22 years, 3 months

Serial floppy drives

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: tlindner(a)ix.netcom.com > >> On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, Tony Duell wrote: >> > However, the original question mentioned RS232. Which is _not_ the same >> > as serial. RS232 implies certain voltage levels. >> > The CBM and Atari drives do not use an RS232 interface. >> >> AND,.. >> If I recall correctly, the Tandy Pdd1, although it was "almost >> RS-232" used TTL, NOT RS-232 voltage levels. There were some trivial >> adapters available to permit it to work with "real" RS-232 signals. > >I always thought that was called RS-422. > >The Macintosh standard serial port was a RS-422 serial port. When I went >to look up what that meant, the only difference I could find was the >voltage levels. > >RS-422: 0v to 5v >RS-232: -5v to 5v > >The documentation I found went on to say that RS-422 was backaward >compatiable with RS-232. > >-- >tim lindner tlindner(a)ix.netcom.com > Hi No, 422 is not backwards compatible with 232. RS-422 and RS-485 are both specs for driving differential lines. RS-232 can be +/- 12 volts but the receiver may have lower levels ( I forgot what the requirement was ). The document was not correct about RS-232/RS-422. It may be that one could make them work under specific conditions but these signals are not backward compatible. Dwight

22 years, 3 months

IBM Aptiva for parts

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Move-out week is over on campus, but I decided hit a couple of alleys on the way home anyway. The only thing of interest I found was a skinless, stripped Aptiva that I nearly passed up, but then I noticed that the slots were on an active riser card so I picked it up anyway. The power supply has some extra wires on it, too. I figure these are odd enough to be hard to replace if you get a bad one. If anyone wants the parts for $postage, let me know. I've got: motherboard, FRU 11H8440 no CPU, no RAM, no cache, video RAM upgrade not installed, has a jumper board installed in the VRM slot `7x6 riser', FRU 11H8453 6 ISA, 2 PCI (1 shared), has some active components on it power supply, FRU 06H2973, P/N 06H2971 has 3.3V, and an extra connector, keyed 3 pin with a latch, 22GA black, white, & red modem/sound card, 42H1970 ISA, Mwave `MC27802C JSW/JBR', `MD-2780/I1', `GVC-KD070101', has a little 2-conductor cable that attached to the motherboard (not CD audio) Bob

22 years, 3 months

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test-drb September 2002