test-drb August 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

280 participants
469 discussions

New To List with NEC Multispeed HD Questions

by robert_little_2000＠yahoo.com

Howdy All, I just joined the list and am the owner of a small (though my wife would dispute that) collection of computers. I collect both PC's and Macintoshes, and thoroughly enjoy all. One thing I seem to be getting a lot of lately are laptops. At last count, I have 9 of them, ranging from my beloved (and frequently used) Tandy Model 102 to my Toshiba Satellite 133. One of my latest acquisitions, though, I would like to get running urgently. My computers actually have to work, and do so all of the time! I acquired an NEC Multispeed HD. The main battery in it is gone (like to rebuild one, obviously), but the machine does run (incidently, the option for removing the LCD screen? That's great!). The problem is, I get a 1701 error on HD startup, and the ROM based programs can't be found. I think I may need to run a setup program, but it can't be accessed either. Does anyone out there know what might be the problem? Or, more to the point, does anyone have the files needed to get this gem running? Thanks, Robert PS -I also acquired, in the same batch, a Toshiba T1200XE with a dead backlight. Any idea where I might be able to find parts? RL

20 years, 10 months

Removing Grease Pencil Marks On Books

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Aug 11, 21:29, Vintage Computer Festival wrote: > On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Peter Turnbull wrote: > > > Since it's essentially coloured wax, I wonder if the technique used to > > remove wax (candle wax, usually) from clothing might work? It's > > basically a case of ironing a sheet of brown (wrapping) paper over the > > wax. Paper-on-paper probably won't work as well as paper-on-cloth, so > > I'd try it on something unimportant first! > > Hmm, good suggestion. Might wax paper also work? I don't think so, as it's already got a lot of wax on/in it. The effect is to melt the wax with the iron and use the paper to wick it out. Writing paper might be a reasonable substitute, or the kind of tissue paper used for wrapping. If you want to try a solvent approach, eiher turpentine substitute or "white spirit" (oil paint thinner, somewhat like light, white kerosene) might work. Apply with a small artist's brush, and dab off with kitchen roll. Another possible method might be to use a scalpel with a pointed blade (10A or 11) to gently scape away the wax. This is the same as the method used to retouch photographic negatives and B/W prints, something I used to do in a former career -- and was pretty good at. It takes a lot of patience, though; you must only scrape a tiny amount at a time (this method works for Indian ink as well). It doesn't work very well for endorsing ink, as that gets right into the fabric of the paper. Yet another trick for cleaning up marks and grubbiness on books (pencil marks, fingerprints, dirt) is to use a soft putty rubber (from an art supplier) or Blu-Tak. Push a blob of Blu-Tak onto the mark, pull it off; repeat until bored. I've often used that technique, once to clean a set of very valuable exhibition photographs that had acquired dusty fingerprints. Please note, these are only suggestions -- I've not tried any of these on wax pencil! -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

20 years, 10 months

Removing Grease Pencil Marks On Books

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi I'm not sure if this will work for grease pencils but you might give this a try. Get a can of brake-clean from the auto parts store. Place the page on a paper towel such that the marked side is against the towel. Spray some brake-clean, starting in a circular motion from outside of the mark to the center. Remove from the towel before it dries. Repeat with clean towel as needed. I'd advise checking on some material that is similar first. As I recall, I used this method on something like a sharpie mark once. Use out side. Brake-clean will give you a real bad hangover. It is mostly solvents and dry cleaning fluid. Dwight >From: "Kevin Handy" <kth(a)srv.net> > >Vintage Computer Festival wrote: > >>On Sun, 10 Aug 2003, M Jones wrote: >> >> >> >>>I have been looking for a solution to the problem of removing grease >>>pencil marks on books. I noticed that some time back, someone posted >>>this question. I do not know if an answer was ever given. I have the >>>same question. I have several books that have been priced with a black >>>grease pencil (on the front cover as well as inside the opening pages). >>>Does anyone know how this can be removed without causing damage to the >>>book? >>> >>> >> >>I hate these stupid thrift stores that do that. Retards. >> >>Anyway, I never figured out a good way, short of using lots of eraser >>heads. It usually leaves a big blotch, but sometimes I can effectively >>erase the grease pencil. >> >>I know of no other way currently. >> >> >> >To remove regular pencil marks, you want as a minimum a soft eraser, >like the Staedtler 52825 or the Pentel ZER2BP-K6. These are >about 4 inches long and usually bought with a holder. They don't >tear up the paper like those used on most pencils, and last a considerable >bit longer. > >It depends on how hard it was written, and on the paper, >but going over it lightly usually greatly reduces the darkness, >or may entirely remove it. > >Using chemicals would probably cause as noticable a mark >as the pencil marks make (especially if the pages are yellowed).

20 years, 10 months

DECSystem & VAXen Catalogs up for bid on E-pay...

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

For those still collecting DEC systems documentation, this may be of interest. I've just put up for bid a group of nine 'Systems and Options' catalogs, covering VAXen and DECSystems, on E-pay at this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2747346505 Thanks for putting up with my occasional ads. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com ARS KC7GR (Formerly WD6EOS) since 12-77 -- kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com "Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (Red Green, aka Steve Smith)

20 years, 10 months

Looking for PDP-11/44XA rack advice

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I think I mentioned this on the list before, but I can't find the emails about it - I think the responses I was trying to dig up were sent directly to me. So, I'll try again. I have a PDP-11/44XA, that's the one that is in a "lowboy" rack with a slot in the front door to slide your dectapes into the dual dectape drive. The side panels of this rack measure 39.5" high by 30.0" deep. I would like very much to make a dual bay rack out of this - where the two bays are directly attached. I have recently obtained another rack that is exactly the same height & depth, but it has no side panels. So, I was thinking about taking one of the side panels off the existing 11/44XA rack, putting this new rack next to it, and putting the side panel on the outside of the new rack - voila - dual bay rack. However, here's the problem - I see no way to easily bolt the two non-sidepanel sides of the two racks together. How was this normally done? Was there some special piece that slid inbetween the two racks to tie them together? Without this will I run into problems with mounted peripherals in each side clearing eachother? Dare I ask that someone has the mating hardware spare to mate the two racks? Thanks a million! Jay West

20 years, 10 months

Removing Grease Pencil Marks On Books

by harp＠exis.net

Dear All, I have been looking for a solution to the problem of removing grease pencil marks on books. I noticed that some time back, someone posted this question. I do not know if an answer was ever given. I have the same question. I have several books that have been priced with a black grease pencil (on the front cover as well as inside the opening pages). Does anyone know how this can be removed without causing damage to the book? Many thanks, M Jones

20 years, 10 months

silent 700 paper

by jwstephens_2000＠yahoo.com

use fax machine paper for silent 700's

20 years, 10 months

SIG/M, PCBlue libraries?

by dave＠mitton.com

I have a large box full of 8" and 5.25" diskettes of SIG/M (~80 disks) and PCBlue (~80+ disks) software. It's not the full set, but it's a large chunk. I've seen people say that this stuff has been archived online somewhere already, but I have trouble finding current working URLs. In any case, is there someone interested getting something useful from this box? (other than media) Dave.

20 years, 10 months

Stuff for auction

by dave＠mitton.com

I'm working my way through cleaning out my basement, and getting rid of my micros used and collected over time. Not all of which is worth auctioning. Latter I will be digging into my old Integrand S-100 system (former CBBS-Boston) and left-over parts. I also have a ton of DEC processor handbooks. I have an LA36 that I will give to anyone willing to come and take it! Currently on eBay: Exidy Sorcerer w/S-100 Exp. Box and 8" FD http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2747173744 Processor Tech SOL ROM Personality Cards (3) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2747173802 Kilobaud Magazines 1977 - 10 issues http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3543974769 Kilobaud Magazines 1978 - 11 issues http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3543974785 Kilobaud Magazines 1979 - 4 issues http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3543974797 Dave.

20 years, 10 months

MicroVAX 3100 questions

by chrisc＠addpower.com

Thanks to all for your timely replies. :) Okay, if I've got to use 5.5 or 6.0 until I can find memory, that's what I'll have to do. :) Can anyone provide me with a media set that I can install with? I'm pretty sure my CDROM here will do 512-byte sectors... Thanks! Chris "Fred N. van Kempen" <waltje(a)pdp11.nl> Sent by: cctech-admin(a)classiccmp.org 08/10/2003 01:34 PM Please respond to cctech To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org, Christopher Cureau <chrisc(a)addpower.com> cc: Subject: Re: MicroVAX 3100 questions Chris, Late reply... was kinda busy. > I've become the new owner of a nice MicroVAX 3100, and I'm trying to learn > more about it. I had a few hardware-related questions, and I'm hoping that > someone here can give me some insight. Yay! The 3100, albeit a bit slowish, are nice boxes... they're a real VAX, they use SCSI for I/O (read: cheapo drives and stuff) and, as long as they're taken care of, virtually indestructible. I have about 30 of them :) > This is what I know about the system so far -- it's got three RZ26 drives > in it, although one appears to have died, since SHOW DEV only reports two > installed. If I were to replace the failed one, do I need to get my hands > on another Digital drive, or will any SCSI drive work with VMS? Also, I've > heard that some vaxes (or was it VMS, or both?) have limits on the size of > the drive it will work with...what would work best in this system? The 3100 will not be able to boot off drives larger than 4GB, because of how their ROMs address the sectors. Once booted, the OS takes over, and they have no real limits. So.. make sure the OS boot area "lives" below that size, and you're fine. Very old ROMs have a 1GB limit, but rather than going with those, just swap the ROMs :) Also, DEC drives are good, but any good SCSI drive will do. Many people, me included, use Seagate HAWK drives (2GB, 3.5", 1" low-power), which now come dirt-cheap. > My VAX came with VMS 5.5-2 installed, but I'd like to go ahead and get the > hobbyist license and move to 7.2. Will my little VAX handle it? It's got > 16 megs of memory and about 2 gigs of hard disk space (unless I can coax > that other RZ26 into working...) 16MB is pushing the limits for 7.x. I believe it *does* run, but it will be slow as hell, and probably slower than that :) Try to stick to 5.5 or 6.x, or find more memory. The machines has a 32MB limit, by the way. > Also, I don't have a CDROM, or a place to put it in the case. Again, if > I get an external SCSI case, does it or the CDROM I put in it need to be > specific to the VAX? External cases work find (it IS just regular SCSI...) but there's a catch. For reasons unknown to me, DEC decided to fit these machines with their own weird "external SCSI" connector. Meaning, you need a very special cable (BC36 I believe) converting from their connector to the regular Centronics-like connector. If you have or can get that, no problems. Otherwise, either mount the CDROM drive inside the chassis, or fix your own "external" cable using a soldering iron and some patience. The VAX is like most systems of its class: it requires a CDROM drive able to handle 512-byte sectors. That obviously includes the DEC drives, but also those from Sun, SGI, IBM and a truckload of modern drives (Toshiba, Plextor) and, for some reason, many CD-R and CD-RW drives. > Thanks in advance for your help! I'm really looking forward to putting > this machine back into service... Yeah! Cheers, Fred (just done with fixing up the old DEC laptop ;-)

20 years, 10 months

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test-drb August 2003