On the topic of the viability of a Digi-Comp I re-issue...
In the past three months, two kits have been put up for auction on eBay.
One fetched over $421.50. Most recently, an usassembled kit went for
$148.50 after 22 bids by 10 distinct bidders.
I personally have always wished for a "version 2," with tighter tolerances,
smoother action, and perhaps even 4 "flip-flops" instead of the standard 3.
Brass or aluminum instead of plastic would add an especially nice touch.
After all, who's wife is going to let her husband display a plastic computer
in the living room? On the other hand, a nice polished brass model in a
glass case...
FYI, there is a YahooGroups group named "friendsofdigicomp" with 178
members.
Oh, right.... So why am I posting to the Classic Computing mailing list?
Because a ClassicCmp member wrote me to say:
"One person I know has taken molds from his example
and is planng on re-issuing it as a kit."
Whoever you are, I thought you'd be interested in the present
supply-and-demand
situation.
A limited run of 100 at $50 a piece would probably sell-out without too much
effort.
My impression is that the vast majority of the friendsofdigicomp group
members
-don't- have one anymore. (Mine got thrown away when we moved in 1971...)
Regards,
--Tim McNerney
Newton, MA
Postscripts...
Recently someone submitted a schematic of the Digi-Comp I electronic
equivalent
to friendsofdigicomp. I believe you need to join the group to view this:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/friendsofdigicomp/files/DC1-PLA.pdf
BTW, I have DXF format CAD models of all the plastic parts, but only in 2D.
There are scans of the plastic parts and manuals at the YahooGroups site.
Hi,
I have a Decwriter II that I want to pass along to whoever is
willing to pick it up (my home is in North Andover, MA).
This Decwriter II hasn't been used for years. This is a
relatively heavy impact printer with a keyboard, on a metal
stand, that takes wide continuous folded paper. It worked when
I last used it, but has been sitting in the basement for a long
time - no guarantees. There is a (headset) modem that goes with
it.
If there are no takers, I may have to junk it. However, if it is
of use for anyone, I'd rather give it away.
I'm not a member of this list, so please respond directly to me
ASAP if there is any interest.
Thanks,
Carl
holmberg at tiac dot net
Recent scans of my collection of 17"x22" PDP-8/I schematics are now
available; many are different (newer) revision than others available
on the web.
http://www.parse.com/~pdp8/pdp8i/drawings.html
There's a tarball so you can download the whole thing (11 Megs).
Spozedly, these are 400 DPI scans, so they should be pretty reasonable
quality.
Cheers,
-RK
--
Robert Krten, PARSE Software Devices +1 613 599 8316.
Realtime Systems Architecture, Consulting and Training at www.parse.com
Looking for Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-1 through PDP-15 minicomputers!
>From: Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
> I have several systems that use Shugart 800-1 SS 8" disk drives. I've
>got several defective drives plus I've been wanting some spares. Last week
>I picked up 10 Shugart model 801 SS drives. Today I tried to use them on
>the same systems but I can't make them work. I've set all the jumpers and
>straps exactly the same as in the 800-1 drives but the 801s aren't working.
>The system knows the drive is there and detects the disk being in place and
>rotating and that the drive door closed but the drive never gets the head
>load signal. I'm using the same system, cables, power supply, etc with both
>drives so the only difference is the drives themselves. I've tried a couple
>of 801s and gotten exactly the same results with all of them so I don't
>think that it due to a drive failure. Anybody have any experience with
>these or have a good idea of what's wrong?
>
> Joe
>
Hi Joe
You do know that some of the drives have data separators.
I forget which numbers have this and which don't. I don't recall
if the 800-1's had them or not. If you are using these for
M2FM, is seems that I remember that the bandwidth was slightly
increase on these drives. As I recall, there was a capacitor
change in the pre-amps.
Those are the only things I can think of.
Dwight
I finally have a scanning system setup here for archiving documents.
Does anyone have a good idea of how to deal with booklets? That is, items
that are printed on 8.5x11 paper, then folded over and stapled. RIght
now, I have been opening the booklet to the center, removing the
paperclip, then cutting the booklet in half down the spine, and scanning
the first half as double sided then the 2nd half as double sided in order
to keep the pages in order. (obviously I'm concerned with multipage
booklets)
This is fine, for things that are headed to the trash after scanning, but
for things I might want to hang on to, I don't really want to cut the
booklet in half.
Is there any recommendations on how best to keep the pages in order? What
do others do? Or does everyone either leave them in printed bound order
for later reprinting (which means in the wrong order for reading in a
PDF, booklet printed order for a 12 page booklet would be 1/12, 2/11,
3/10 and so on) or do things the hard manual way by scanning to image,
and cutting the image up into the right parts before going to PDF (right
now I am doing things the lazy way and scanning directly into Acrobat so
I'm never touching the raw image).
Suggestions?
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>From: Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
>At 09:26 AM 7/22/03 -0700, you wrote:
>>>From: Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>>>
>>> I have several systems that use Shugart 800-1 SS 8" disk drives. I've
>>>got several defective drives plus I've been wanting some spares. Last week
>>>I picked up 10 Shugart model 801 SS drives. Today I tried to use them on
>>>the same systems but I can't make them work. I've set all the jumpers and
>>>straps exactly the same as in the 800-1 drives but the 801s aren't working.
>>>The system knows the drive is there and detects the disk being in place and
>>>rotating and that the drive door closed but the drive never gets the head
>>>load signal. I'm using the same system, cables, power supply, etc with both
>>>drives so the only difference is the drives themselves. I've tried a couple
>>>of 801s and gotten exactly the same results with all of them so I don't
>>>think that it due to a drive failure. Anybody have any experience with
>>>these or have a good idea of what's wrong?
>>>
>>> Joe
>>>
>>
>>
>>Hi Joe
>> You do know that some of the drives have data separators.
>>I forget which numbers have this and which don't. I don't recall
>>if the 800-1's had them or not. If you are using these for
>>M2FM, is seems that I remember that the bandwidth was slightly
>>increase on these drives. As I recall, there was a capacitor
>>change in the pre-amps.
>> Those are the only things I can think of.
>>Dwight
>>
>
> You may be right but the head isn't even loading so I'm not even getting
>that far. I have a Shugart 800/801 manual but it's vague about the
>differences between the two. But IIRC the 801 is designed to handle hard
>sectored disk and the 800 doesn't. I'm wondering if the index pulse
>detection circuit is different and may be causing a not ready condition or
>something similar. (Yes I know I can check it with a logic probe but I
>didn't have one where the machines are located so I havne't done that yet.)
>
> Joe
>
Hi Joe
I missed that about the head not loading. Is the drive getting
a head load signal or is the controller waiting for some status
line from the drive? That would be the first place to look. There
may be slight differences in the gating of these signals at the drive.
I wouldn't think that the index pulse would cause troubles but
you never know. On either drive, you should see index pulses.
I'd have to dig out my manual to be able to help any more than that.
Dwight
>From: "Jay West" <jwest(a)classiccmp.org>
>
>I agree with Sellam (get the record books out) *grin*
>
>I keep seeing them listed on ebay as "K-RAD K00L RAAAARE Black Bell & Howell
>Apple"... sheesh... while I do not have one, I have seen lots and lots of them
>both in the wild and in collectors hands. They don't seem particularly rare to
>me.
>
>Jay West
>
Hi
Rare and valuable are two different things. I have some
rare computers that many would just grunt at if they saw
them for sale at some swap meet. Things like Apple-1's
have significant history as well as being rare. This enhances
value ( way beyond any reasonable level ).
Still, if you are one of those that is making a complete
set of a particular type of machine, tracking down the unusual
ones can be an issue. Just don't tell the seller he has something
you really, REALLY, need.
Some Beany Babies are quite rare. I wouldn't give you 10 cents
for any of them. Some computers are quite rare. You'd have to
pay me to take some of them away.
Some rare machines are interesting because they are unusual.
Others have no special attributes like some of the Cromemco
S-100 work horses. There must be hundreds of variations
of these, making each rare. They are still fine machines and worth
saving but they have no special monetary value even though rare.
Dwight