test-drb June 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

275 participants
520 discussions

by caryo＠yahoo.com

Hi Erik, My name is Cary Orange and I'm searching for the BASIC listing of an old computer game called DUKEDOM. I used to play this game many years ago when I owned a TRS-80 Model I computer. I'd like to find the game and port it to the PalmOS platform in an effort to revive the game. Based on input I've received from one of the game's contributors I think it might be printed in the February, 1980 issue of Creative Computing magazine (1980, Volume 6, Number 2). If not to inconvenient would you mind verifying this BASIC listing in your archived issue of the magazine? I'd really be interested in getting a hard/soft copy of the program listing to this game. Many Thanks! Sincerely, Cary Orange caryo(a)yahoo.com

21 years, 5 months

ABLE COMPUTER # 10370-1

by fm.arnold＠gmx.net

Hi, An Able-computer controller is offered on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2737483185&category=1247 If I remember well, this could be a combined disc/tape-controller... does anyone have more details? Is the rather high price justified by some special features? Thanks, Frank

21 years, 5 months

Realistic MPA-35 owners manual

by n8uhn＠yahoo.com

Radio shack dot com or whatever they a calling themself this week - has old and new owners manuals on thier web site. i was surprised to find the manual for thier 8 track recorder and the r2r they sold long ago. Bill Message: 16 Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 07:48:52 -0700 From: Krome Mail <kromemail(a)shaw.ca> Subject: Realistic MPA-35 owners manual To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Reply-To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org Hi Chris, If you still have an owner's manual for the Realistic MPA-35 I would sure appreciate a copy. Thank you. T. Moore --__--__--

21 years, 5 months

New Finds: AIM-65 and Acorn documents

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, Another one for the sake of the archives more than anything - a few more non-Torch docs that turned up amongst my haul of Torch stuff, some of which are likely quite (very?) rare... Acorn Stuff --------------- Acorn Econet system user guide Acorn Atom user manual Acorn Basic manual (4K integer Basic; manual is dated 28/7/1980) Acorn Technical Manual - dated 1979, for a 6502-based SBC. Display is quoted in the manual as being 9 digits with the leftmost one unused, which may identify the machine. Possibly a System 1-4 ?? Acorn 6809 users manual - dated 1980, this looks to be for a SBC a little more 'modern' than the one above. There are fragments of schematics in the manual, plus an overview of the board layout, construction guide, monitor ROM listing etc. but no complete schematic. A binder which looks to have been Acorn internal. Has the following A4 sections: Acorn DOS manual Acorn 6502 ADE Econet v1 technical manual Econet v1 user manual Econet v2 user manual Econet harddrive mods (schematics and notes) Econet specification document (marked as provisional) Atom Disc Pack construction notes, schematics etc. (anyone got a dump of the ROM to go with this?) Atom "Disatom Super ROM" specifications doc - whatever one of those is! Atom Toolkit and Monitor ROM manual, by a P. T. Blenkinsop (written beneath it says "with apologies to M Bates and Steve Wozniak" :) Acorn System 5 Handbook Acorn documentation - more official-looking stuff: BBC OS v1 spec, BBC disc interface details, Document called "A redefinable telesoftware format" - was that what went on to become prestel in the UK? Internal document announcing a BASIC interpreter being ready for the systems 3/4/5/6/8. I wonder what the systems 6 and 8 were? Far as I know only 1-5 existed in the wild, followed by the Atom and the BBC - with the Proton evolving into what became the BBC. Maybe 6 was the Atom - but the document goes on to specifically mention the BBC as a seperate case, so that wasn't a System 8... and where did 7 go? Curious! :) BBC micro speech system user guide. Internal doc detailing Acorn DOS entry points for the system 3, 4 and Atom. "Operating Instructions for the Progressive Establishment Testing System for the BBC Microcomputer". Blimey. Documentation for a hardware unit that hooked up to the BBC machines in order to perform hardware tests on them for engineers by the looks of it. Wonder if any of the hardware still exists? :-) "Operating Instructions for the Final Inspection and Test System for the BBC Microcomputer". Blimey again. Did these ever even see the light of day? Seems to have been another hardware unit for use by field engineers but I've never heard of it before. BBC 1MHz bus spec document. AIM 65 Stuff ------------ AIM 65 Schematic Forth user's manual PL/65 user's manaul Monitor program listing Basic language reference manual Instant pascal user's manaul ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/

21 years, 5 months

New Finds: Torch software / docs

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 25, 18:21, Jules Richardson wrote: > CP/N hard disk utilities (single floppy, hand-written label) > Torch hard disk utilities (single floppy, again just hand-written label) Hmm... Could I get a copy of those? I think I have the correct MCP ROM somewhere here. > Floppy with a Torch label on saying "spell binder" - no idea! Spellbinder was a CP/M word processor similar to Wordstar. The only other time I've seen it in the flesh was on an Exidy Sorcerer. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 5 months

BA11-F boxer muffin fan source ?

by uban＠ubanproductions.com

Hello, I am restoring an 11/70 with a BA11-F chassis which uses 17 4.7"x4.7"x1.5" 115v muffin fans (as they all do) and need to find a good source for replacements. Does anyone have any suggestions? --tnx --tom

21 years, 5 months

New finds: enough Torch stuff to sink a battleship

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi all, Picked up a huge pile of old Torch hardware, software and manuals from someone today. The guy worked for the company who took things over when Torch went under way back when, and grabbed whatever he could when that company eventually disappeared too. Anyway, I've got a nice pile of spares, schematics and the like, and probably the most complete set of Torch documentation anywhere... I'll stick the documentation and software in a seperate mail and just list the hardware here. Everything needs a damn good cleaning and checking over before I attempt to see what still works! Pictures can follow in a few days, but I'm reorganising all my data at the moment and don't want to confuse myself by adding anything halfway through :-) Oh, I don't know the damn naming convention for D-type connectors, so everything's a 'D' type to me. Apologies in advance... Triple X 'prototype' -------------------- Supposedly this was a prototype of a Triple X machine used in-house by Torch, presumably for development purposes. I'm not 100% convinced yet but I haven't yet been inside it! It's built into two seperate grey metal cases (hard & floppy disk / CPU) - certainly not production-quality either, but the official badging suggests it perhaps wasn't a homebrew project either, so who knows. - Top metal case houses hard disk and floppy in metal case; rear just has power and 50-pin SCSI connector. - Bottom slice is the CPU box; there's a standard-looking Triple X keyboard attached (cable runs through a hole in the case). The front has power LED only and stuck-on label reading: "XXX iss.2 in disguise" :-) The rear has the following with 'proper' lettering: 50 pin SCSI running to disk unit Low-volts out (via bodged connector) for disk unit "Video" (small hole in case only) "Torchnet" (small hole in case only) "Disc interface" (blanked off) RS423 (25-w D female) Parallel (25-w D female) RGB (round DIN, 8 pin) Cassette (round DIN, 7 pin) Reset button (I assume) Mains AC input Power switch "Torch Hard Disc" ----------------- This thing weighs one hell of a lot! 2-tone brown metal case, with inbuilt floppy, hard drive, and monitor. Data sticker gives the model as a C520 and the serial as 84472645 Power supply is in a seperate unit (see below) but still feeds mains into the machine via seperate plug by the looks of it, presumably for the display circuitry. Back-left corner: Keyboard socket (15-w D female) Reset (??) Contrast ? Back-right corner: Mains in (probably!) - from power supply unit 19-w huge round connector to mate with power supply Rear: UHF socket RGB (6-way DIN) Cassette (7-way DIN) Analogue (15-way D female) RS423 (25-way D female) Printer (25-way D male) The keyboard has a regular spacebar plus a small key to the right labelled 'exact space' - curious. "Torch HD Power Pack" --------------------- For use with above machine. Guess they ran out of space in the main case :) Has the following: Mains AC input Mains AC out (I assume??) via short trailing lead 19-way round connector to mate with above machine on a short trailing lead Power switch (likely!) Reset button (?? If so, what's the pushbutton on the main system unit for?) Torch-725 --------- This may be a Quad X machine; if so then there aren't many of them left I expect! It is according to the previous owner, but it doesn't say so on any of the badging. Case is grey steel, about the size/shape of an IBM XT case. Data sticker gives the model as a "725/U" and the serial as "84022913" At the front we have: 2 x slimline 5.25" floppy drives Hard disk led visible through window cut in the case Power led Whilst at the rear: Reset button Keyboard socket, 15-w D female Phone-jack type connector (Mouse? Or alternate keyboard socket - I have keyboards with both type of connector? Or modem?) "RS423 #1" - 25-w D female Parallel - 25-w D male Blanked ports: "RS423 #2", "RS423 #3", "Extension bus", SCSI, X25 Analogue port, 15-w D female Torchnet port, 5-w DIN RGB 6-w DIN Mains in Mains out Switch (power I assume!!) Large grille for cooling fan Monitors -------- One of these should work with the 725 above, another with the Triple X 'prototype' I guess. Single Torch Triple X 13" monitor, model CM13. 8-pin DIN input. Two Torch Triple X 10" monitors, model CM10. 8pin DIN input Unknown 14" RGB monitor, 15-w D type female input. Likely nothing to do with the Torch systems but I guess it'll probably work given a suitable cable. Keyboards --------- One of these for torch-725 presumably, which doesn't have an 'obvious' keyboard like the C520, and doesn't have one attached like the 'prototype'. Four Triple X keyboards; with 6-pin phone-type flat plugs on trailing leads and 6-pin phone-type flat sockets on back of the keyboard (for mice?) Two Cherry-made XT-style keyboards with 15-pin D-type male connectors on trailing leads. Mice ---- I believe the previous owner said the C520 was too old to use a mouse, but the other two systems should support them I think. Anyway, I have six Triple X mice using 6-pin phone-type flat plugs. The cover for one came off and fell down a convenient drain though - whoops... (there are only ever drain covers around when you have something useful to drop down them) Misc ---- Torch Z80 disc pack - grey metal case for two half-height 5.25" drives; it's been stripped of drives but I think the psu is intact. I believe this needs an interface card (which may well be amongst the cards listed below) Triple X PSU (or so I was told; not having a 'genuine' Triple X I don't know!) Box of genuine spare Quad X PAL chips and eproms Box of spare Triple X PAL chips and eproms Box of spare BBC/Torch eproms (presumably for 68k boards etc.) Floppy drives ------------- The owner was having a clear-out so I took a few off his hands - a couple I noticed were Torch-labelled. Four full-height IBM XT style units Five half-height units hand-labelled as 1.2MB Seven half-height units hand-labelled as 360KB Eighteen (!) unknown capacity drives. Five of the unknowns are still bagged and unused. Hard drives ----------- Unknown models / capacities as of yet... not had time to delve into them. Four 5.25" MFM drives, one labelled as Quad X and may still have an OS intact. Three 3.5" MFM drives. Tape drives ----------- Possibly for Quad X? Anyway, there are a couple of 5.25" HH units; not given them more than a brief glance yet so not sure of manufacturer / capacity / interface. Spare boards ------------ Couple of boxes of spare boards came with everything... all connectors are dual-row IDC type sockets unless I say otherwise :) Two Torch Computers 68000 boards. 68k and Z80B CPUs on board, 4 pin single-row connector (power I expect) and 40 pin data connector. I believe these plug into the BBC machines so that they can run Torch's version of CP/M? One is a later model than the other and badged as an Atlas board. Three Torch Z80 Communicator boards. Z80A CPU on board, 40 pin data connector. Another BBC plugin? The owner had hundreds of them apparently and most of them went to landfill a while ago. Unknown Torch Z80 card. 40-pin connector at one end, 26-pin connector at the other. Z80A CPU and SIO chips on board, plus 6522A and an 8255 chip. ROM is Torch labelled as CCCP V1.02 Three Torch internal (internal to what, though?) modems - 40-pin connectors, plus 4-pin single-row for power. Several 40-pin chips: Z80 PIO, MC6803, EF68A21P. ROM is Torch, labelled as "ADM5 2.1". Also a TM2016 chip on board (memory I believe) and a 28-pin IC branded as "world-chip". Two oddball "modems". I don't even know if that's what they are :-) 2x 4-pin single-row connectors, 14 pin single-row connector, then a long trailing lead terminated in a 5 way rounded jack plug. I've not seen those jack plugs on anything before, but it's possible old UK phone exchange equipment might have used them - anyone? There's very little in the way of logic on the boards - it's all analogue. Boards are 6" x 7". Trailing lead goes into a large white plastic 'box' in one corner of the board. On top of this, apparently as an afterthought, is a glued-on smaller black box out of which come two leads that connect back to pins on the 14 pin connector. Hardware hacking at its best... Right, the following appear to all be protocol convertor / interface boards for various storage devices. All are on boards around 6" x 8" in size, and all have a single 4 pin power connector (I may have manuals for all of these; I haven't got that far yet!): Seven issue 3 Torch manta boards, for converting between SCSI and floppy interfaces. Single issue 5 Torch manta board Four OMT boards (model 5200) with a 50 pin connector, 2x 34-pin connectors and 2x 20 pin connectors. SCSI (or SASI?) to MFM disk? Single OMT board with a 50 pin connector, 34-pin connector, and 4x 20 pin connectors. maybe SCSI (or SASI?) to MFM disk again? Four Xebec boards with a 50 pin connector, 3x 20 pin connectors and single 34-way edge connector. Single Xebec board with a 50 pin connector, 2x 20 pin connectors and single 34-way edge connector. Two Archive boards with a 50-pin connector at one end and a 50-way edge connector at the other.5 LEDs by the power connector. Tape interface of some sort, presumably? Single Emulex board, 2x 50-pin connectors at opposite ends of the board. Hmm. Tape again? Single Adaptec board, 2x 50-pin connectors at opposite ends of the board. Single Western Digital board (labelled WD1002-05), 2x 34-pin connectors, 3x 20-pin connectors, and a singe 40-pin connector. Only thing I can think of with 40 pins is IDE and it's too early for that I'm sure (last chip date is 1983) I *think* that's all of it, for now. The guy I got these from had several rooms piled up with stuff; he said he used to have a few 'proper' Triple X systems and is surprised he threw them out, so they may still be lurking somewhere. Same goes with other genuine Torch spares, drives, software, cables etc. There was a Quad X-on-a-card which I had my eye on but the guy still uses some of the other cards in the rack for various things, so I couldn't get hold of that. List of manuals and software to follow... cheers Jules ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/

21 years, 5 months

New Finds: AIM-65 and Acorn documents

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 25, 19:30, Jules Richardson wrote: > Acorn Technical Manual - dated 1979, for a 6502-based SBC. Display is quoted in > the manual as being 9 digits with the leftmost one unused, which may identify > the machine. Possibly a System 1-4 ?? No, it wasn't a System device. That's the original Acorn SBC, I think. I've got the matching User's Manual. > Acorn 6809 users manual - dated 1980, this looks to be for a SBC a little more > 'modern' than the one above. There are fragments of schematics in the manual, > plus an overview of the board layout, construction guide, monitor ROM listing > etc. but no complete schematic. Mine has a fold-out circuit diagram inside the back cover. > Atom Disc Pack construction notes, schematics etc. (anyone got a dump of the > ROM to go with this?) Yes :-) > Document called "A redefinable telesoftware format" - was that what went on > to become prestel in the UK? The same basic CET (Council for Educational Technology) format was used for BBC Telesoftware (on Ceefax), Prestel (Micronet800, Viewfax258 etc) and a few bulletin boards (including Acorn's own Support Information Database -- SID). It went through a few revisions, but the basics didn't change. I wrote some software for that. > "Operating Instructions for the Progressive Establishment Testing System for > the BBC Microcomputer". Blimey. Documentation for a hardware unit that hooked > up to the BBC machines in order to perform hardware tests on them for engineers > by the looks of it. Wonder if any of the hardware still exists? :-) Probably. I'll pay money for one -- I still have most of the other Acorn test equipment. A PET was used to diagnose faulty systems; it could deal with pretty dead machines and/or some obscure faults -- though an experienced engineer could usually do it just about as fast without it. > "Operating Instructions for the Final Inspection and Test System for the BBC > Microcomputer". Blimey again. Did these ever even see the light of day? Seems > to have been another hardware unit for use by field engineers but I've never > heard of it before. Yes, I've got one -- and every Beeb I've ever repaired has passed the FIT. You need the software for it; I think the basic A version is printed in the manual but there's a B version as well (is that also in the manual? I've got one, but not to hand). Every Approved Service Centre was required to have one. There's a companion set of "Test Procedures For The ..." 6502 2P, Z80 2P, Prestel adaptor, Teletext adaptor, ... and other test equipment such as the Watchdog for an Electron and a PIT (sort of combined FIT/PET) for later machines, and an Econet test box. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 5 months

New finds: enough Torch stuff to sink a battleship

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 25, 18:19, Jules Richardson wrote: > Picked up a huge pile of old Torch hardware, software and manuals >from someone > today. A nice haul :-) > The keyboard has a regular spacebar plus a small key to the right labelled > 'exact space' - curious. Probably to generate a "non-break space" -- character 160 (0xA0) in ISO 8859 -- used for tables and things where you don't want the text formatter to change the spacing between words. > Torch Z80 disc pack - grey metal case for two half-height 5.25" drives; it's > been stripped of drives but I think the psu is intact. I believe this needs an > interface card (which may well be amongst the cards listed below) Unusual. Production ones were brown. They have a 34-way ribbon cable which plugs in to the Beeb disk interface, and carries the standard SA400-style interface signals. No other interface required. > Two Torch Computers 68000 boards. 68k and Z80B CPUs on board, 4 pin > single-row connector (power I expect) and 40 pin data connector. I believe > these plug into the BBC machines so that they can run Torch's version of CP/M? Not CP/M, that was the board below. These would run a Unix derivative, I think. > Three Torch Z80 Communicator boards. Z80A CPU on board, 40 pin data > connector. Another BBC plugin? The owner had hundreds of them apparently and > most of them went to landfill a while ago. Sounds like the normal Torch Z80 board, to run CPN. > Unknown Torch Z80 card. 40-pin connector at one end, 26-pin connector at the > other. Z80A CPU and SIO chips on board, plus 6522A and an 8255 chip. ROM is > Torch labelled as CCCP V1.02 That's definitely to run CPN. CCCP is the Console Command <something> Processor part of CPN; usually paired with MCP on the Beeb. The 8255 and the 6522 probably make up the Tube interface. CPN, by the way, isn't CP/M. It looks and feels similar, and *some* CP/M software is compatible, but not all -- the memory map is different. > Three Torch internal (internal to what, though?) modems - 40-pin connectors, > plus 4-pin single-row for power. Several 40-pin chips: Z80 PIO, MC6803, > EF68A21P. ROM is Torch, labelled as "ADM5 2.1". Also a TM2016 chip on board > (memory I believe) and a 28-pin IC branded as "world-chip". TM2016 is a 2K x 8 (bytewide) static RAM, pin-compatible to a 2716 EPROM (except for the /WR line, of course). Your "World Chip"" will be an AMD7910 (or possibly AMD7911) FSK modem chip. It was very clever for it's day; it does a range of baud rates and Bell and CCITT tones. Over here, it was used in Miracle Technology modems and many others in the mid '80s. It goes up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. > Four Xebec boards with a 50 pin connector, 3x 20 pin connectors and single > 34-way edge connector. > Single Xebec board with a 50 pin connector, 2x 20 pin connectors and single > 34-way edge connector. SASI interfaces to ST412-compatible drives. The 50-pin connector is the SASI (predecessor to SCSI) interface; the 34-pin is the drive control bus, and the 20-pin connectors are the data lines. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 5 months

5.25" SMD drives

by cheri-post＠web.de

Right, I also have a Hitachi DK512S-17 with 170MB, this drive is just SMD, not SMD-E. There are even specs on http://www.mbiusa.com/dk512s.html or www.pc-disk.de Pierre cctech(a)classiccmp.org schrieb am 25.06.03 01:17:15: > > On 2003.06.24 21:36 Ethan Dicks wrote: > > > Are there any non-SMD-E drives in the the 5.25" size? > I have a Hitachi 514s of around 380 MB and a Seagate 1.2 GB 5.25" disk. > I think they are both SMD-E. > > If anybody has any detaild information about the Seagate ST-41097J or > ST-41201J bejond "st41097j.txt" or "st41201j.txt" please share it with > me. I have no description of the DIP switches, so I can't use the drive. > But a 1 GB 5.25" SMD disk would be so nice on one of my PDP-11s or > VAXen... > -- > > > tsch??, > Jochen > > Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/ ______________________________________________________________________________ UNICEF bittet um Spenden fur die Kinder im Irak! Hier online an UNICEF spenden: https://spenden.web.de/unicef/special/?mc=021101

21 years, 5 months

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test-drb June 2003