test-drb June 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

275 participants
520 discussions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 10, 22:23, Eric Chomko wrote: > I have been monitoring this new problem for a few days. Actually, > it first surfaced weeks ago, but I had zero time to look into it. > > Anyway, I have a three drive Smoke Signal Broadcasting disk system, > in which one drive, 2 (last one on 0,1,2 chain), has this nasty whine > when > powered on. The other two drives work and sound fine. > > The faulty one's driver motor never stops when powered on whereas the > other two do. Sounds like the motor control board is faulty. > The others must have the last one due to the terminator > which functioned correctly in the chain. I have managed to pull the bad > drive and managed to get the two working ones to work with terminator > resister moved to drive 1. The terminator should be on whatever drive is last in the chain (the end of the ribbon cable). > I put 2's (bad drive) large electronics board > onto 1's drive mechanism and it works fine. That leaves 2's drive > mechanism > as being bad; either the small circuit board or the drive motor. > Also, when 2 is selected the red LED does light up, but no diskette can > be read. Motors sometimes burn out, but other faults are relatively uncommon. These motors normally have three or four wires; two are the power, and the other(s) are the tachometer signal back to the control board; this tells the control board how fast the motor is going. The tacho may be broken, but a faulty control board is more likely. If one of the other drives uses the same motor you could try swapping, which at least would tel you whether its the control board or the motor itself. The whine is probably because the motor is running far too fast, and that is why you can't read a disk. Don't let it run like this too long or you'll damage the motor. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 1 month

Having trouble hooking up a bondwell b310sx to an external monitor

by mocleiri＠uoguelph.ca

Hello, My father has used his bondwell b310sx for the last 10 years or so. It's 16 shades of grey lcd screen is beginning to go so I suggested he get an external monitor to use as the screen instead. However, while there is a vga output at the back where I have attached the monitor noting appears on the screen of the monitor. The b310sx seems to recognize that a monitor is attached by blanking the lcd but nothing appears on the external monitor. Does anyone have experiance with doing this? Thanks for your time, Mike

21 years, 1 month

Unknown Apple 2 cards

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, I came across a whole boxful of Apple II cards at the weekend that I'd forgotten I actually owned. Unfortunately nearly all of my Apple hardware is too far buried to really dig out at the moment and play around with any of this stuff, but there's still a few cards that I'd be interested in finding more about if possible and getting necessary software for. Card images [640x480 resolution and around 60KB or thereabouts] are at: http://www.moosenet.demon.co.uk/temp/apple2 PAL Colour Card: No idea as to manufacturer; mainly analogue circuitry on board plus the modulator and a bit of TTL. Am I likely to need software for this to work with a UK TV? IC Test Card: Made by a Japanese company called Fairy, given the 20-pin ZIF socket that (I assume) goes with this, I imagine it's a tester for TTL logic chips. Most of the card's logic is buried beneath black gloop with black cardboard over the top, so who knows what's under there - the 40-pin chip with the 'test OK' sticker on it has had the markings ground off too. Anyone heard of one of these or have software for one? Vitalograph card: I gather Vitalograph these days make medical equipment. Whether this card is from the same company or not I don't know - and ideas what the 3-pin (XLR?) connector would have hooked up to? Some TTL on board, some OP-amp chips. 40-pin chip is a 6522. All chips are date-coded 1980 or 1981. Z80 Card: Actually a "Z80 Card II" made by Creative. Presumably software exists for one of these somewhere still. No on-board memory, and 4 unknown DIP-switches in the lower-right corner. CPU is Z80-A, card seems to have been made in late 1982. ROM Card: No idea what this is; presumably the 6 ROMs (2716 chips) contain utilities that could have been accessed under software control? No idea what the switch at the rear edge of the card does either. 80-column card: Marked as 'Chinex' and made by Creative, presumably necessary software for this still exists somewhere? Any ideas what the 'middle' connector (with no cable attached) is for? ZIF-socketed card ("unknown_04.jpg" on the website): The ZIF socket is a 28-pin unit. I'd say it was a programmer, but wouldn't it need an external 24V (??) supply if that were true? The 40-pin chip is marked as "S6821P", whatever one of those is. The first 3 of the switches are labelled as '16', the next 3 as '32' and the last 4 (overlapping by 1 with the previous 3) as '64'. Card with 8 LEDs and 4 empty 16-pin DIL sockets ("unknown_02.jpg" on the website): Any ideas? Possibly a joystick controller or something and the joysticks plugged in via the DIL sockets? The two 40-pin chips are 6522's. There's a back of 8 DIP-switches on board, plus a switch in the top-right which just seems to enable or disable the LEDs as far as I can see. Card with remote pushbutton switch ("unknown_03.jpg" on the website): All TTL logic on board, ROM is a 2716 chip. Underside is labelled "Wild card". Anyone seen one of these or know what it is? cheers for any help or pointers on the above, Jules

21 years, 1 month

...or we shoot this dog. (VAX)

by allain＠panix.com

Re: Sunday, June 01, 2003 The 6610 has been outplaced and moved, and, to a person who is decidedly a non-scrapper. To all those that responded, Thanks. John A.

21 years, 1 month

Rare 1906 calculator ?

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2535682872&category=1247

21 years, 1 month

please help

by tim_goober＠hotmail.com

I have a Slt 286 that powers up fine and was working fine. it has lotus, and word on it and when i turned it on today it says insert setup disk into a: and there is no way for me to get around it. i can't get to c:, please help tim_goober(a)hotmail.com

21 years, 1 month

Wyse 386 available in NJ

by cb＠mythtech.net

I have a Wyse 386 PC available if anyone wants it. Its a WY3116SX-01. It has 3.5 and 5.25 drives in it, and had an IDE hard drive, but I pulled that a while ago (I will be happy to supply a replacement, I think it was a 40 MB drive). I'm not sure how much RAM it has in it (probably 2, 4, or 8 MB, but I doubt any more than 8 MB). Also has a VGA video card it in. I might have the config software as well, but I'll have to dig. I do have the RJ-12 to Din-5 keyboard adaptor to enable you to connect a standard AT keyboard to it. If anyone wants it, just come pick it up, or cover shipping costs (from Ridgewood NJ 07450). It gets stripped and tossed if I don't hear from someone before the end of the week. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 1 month

goin to CA soon, to be a CC tychoon

by cb＠mythtech.net

>It >helps bunches if you actually speak (or, at least, understand) >English, unlike several people from apparently Korea who demanded >their gramma was given a drivers license. Sadly, she didnt speak >a word of English, couldnt read it either (so much for the YIELD >sign..) and got into frantic-rage mode when made clear that she >could not get a license, as she could not even be asked her >name. Here in NJ, the DMV drivers manuals are printed in English as well as Spanish, and I think Arabic (possibly others as well). The exam is also given in English or Spanish written, and with special reasons, English or Spanish oral for people with reading problems (I wonder if that's a valid excuse for ignoring speed limit signs? Sorry officer, I can't read, if you would read the sign to me I'll be happy to obey it). Of course, currently, almost all street signs of any kind are only printed in English, so I guess once you pass the oral Spanish exam, you are on your own for knowing what a sign says. (There are some parts of some cities that post signs in Spanish, but they are not the norm). And of course, when you NEED a drivers manual, the only ones the DMV ever seems to have in stock are the Spanish ones. Oh, and nothing beats the speedyness of the Trenton No-Fee DMV (a special office for No-Fee registrations and plates). They had my reg and plates ready before I could finish writing out the check. Yes, this is NJ DMV... the only place you have to PAY for No-Fee registrations!!! -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 1 month

More bounties ($$$)

by vcf＠siconic.com

I just posted some new bounties of stuff I am seeking for a client. If you've got these and are willing to part with them (at least for a temporary amount of time) let me know. Laboratory and Industrial Data Acquisition and Control (Strawberry Tree Computers) Lotus Measure: Data Direct to Lotus Spreadsheet Lotus Comprehensive Developer Tools for 123 and Symphony These and other bounties can be reviewed here: http://www.vintagetech.com/index.html?section=bounty -- 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 *

21 years, 1 month

cctalk digest, Vol 1 #633 - 16 msgs

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

> May I suggest that you check Zebra's web site? Mr. > Newfeld has these kits priced at *$99.95* > > A few years back he was listing them at $29.95. I > bought a couple, and so > did some friends. He immediately raised the price > to $39.95, then $49.95, and > finally the ridiculous price of $99.95. He's been > sitting on these damn kits > since the early eighties, and the only explanation > for the price increase is > plain and simple greed. > > Glen Goodwin > Orlando, FL USA > 0/0 Could be... Being he is the last source of them. Don't buy one, if you don't want one... They were $50.00 last time I checked. Which was 2 years ago when I did a Trenton Computer Festival with him, and helped him sell them from his booth. Thanks for the update. I didn't know he raised the price. They ship from a warehouse in State College, PA. And I'd guess he has to pay someone to fulfill the orders... He used to ship them from his offices in NYC, but no more. He does consulting now. So, his costs have gone up (as far as storage, and paying someone to pack and ship them...). People who bought the kits at $29.95 got a deal. I paid $100.00 for mine, and it was a good deal. (at the time) Knowing how much money Stewart lost in the Timex Market when Timex quit, and in the Coco Market for products we developed and then couldn't release (for both platforms)... I wouldn't call it greed. He could easily dumpster the remaining kits and make MUCH more money doing other things. I guess you don't know Stewarts history as I do, so you call it "greed". Remember ORCH-80? It was a rip-off of Stewarts MUCH BETTER Music Box. He got stuck with THOUSANDS of Dollars of product that became unsellable, since the Orch-80 was so much cheaper (a less sophisticated design, and the sound wasn't at nice...), that it sold BELOW the Music Boxes cost, AND with one SuperZap to the Music Box Software, could use all the MB songs. Not to mention all the S-100 Product he got stuck with, AND the companion pieces, the Rhythym Box, which now wouldn't sell because he wasn't selling Music Boxes..... I could tell you stories. Stewart isn't quite greedy... But, definitely interested in making a living, as we all are. No? Al

21 years, 1 month

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test-drb June 2003