Guys,
I came across an old post of your on cctalk concerning the ORION Unilab
II - I picked one of these up today at a swap meet for $1, it has the
8088/8086 POD, what I believe is a Z80 POD and several cables with pin
connectors on the ends. I'm looking for doc's and software for the unit and
was hoping one of you could help.
-Neil
JD Gouws cctech(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctech%40classiccmp.org>
Sun Oct 13 19:09:25 2002
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_____
FYI: I have a lot of docs on Z-80 and some of the related hardware like the
real-time-clock-thingy. I haven't searched the net to see if these are
already readily availible or not. If they aren't availible on the 'net or
incomplete I will gladly scan mine in if someone is interested.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Beaudry [mailto:r_beaudry@hotmail.com]
Sent: 10 October 2002 04:41
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Software for Orion Unilab II??
Hello all,
As part of a recent eBay win, I acquired an Orion Instruments Unilab II. I
have cables/software for the Rockwell 65/11EAB, and am looking for
cables/software for any other processor, especially the 1802, Z-80, 8080,
8088. If anyone has software available, and cabling diagrams, please let me
know! I have complete docs available, as well as the software for the
65/11EAB... I'd also be willing to write out a cable diagram for the
65/11EAB.
Thanks!
Rich B.
On Oct 26 2004, 12:55, John Foust wrote:
> At 12:12 PM 10/26/2004, Paul Koning wrote:
> >If it's calcium chloride you want, try snow melting "salt" -- that's
> >often CaCl.
> >Right. Silicagel is one of those. I don't think calcium chloride
is,
> >though -- but I'm not positive.
>
> Yes, but a mixture of NaCl and CaCl will happily suck up water
> from the air until turns into a rich, gooey, metal-eating mess.
That's the CaCl in it, and there's usually not much. Calcium chloride
is not merely hygroscopic but deliquescent. It's "use once" -- you
can't really dry it off again, effectively.
If you don't mind a liquid, concentrated sulphuric acid is a more
active dessicant than either silca gel or calcium chloride ;-)
Phosphorus pentoxide is good too, and doesn't get wet and sticky.
Pricey, though!
> A silicate solution would be less reactive, I think, and if
> it dried, it's almost a protectant. "Water glass" was once a
> common way to extend the shelf life of eggs, as it prevented
> evaporation through the shell.
For a different reason, though. There's a slow double-decomposition
reaction between the calcium carbonate in the shell and the sodium
silicate (water glass) which leaves a layer of relatively impermeable
calcium silicate on the eggshell. Sodium silicate isn't a drying
agent.
The drying action of silica gel (silicon dioxide) is due to adsorbtion,
a purely physical (and easily reversible) process. Water molecules
stick to the surface of the silica. The granules are extremely porous
on a microscopic scale so they can have quite a lot of water adhering
to them.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Oct 26 2004, 17:40, John Foust wrote:
> At 05:26 PM 10/26/2004, Pete Turnbull wrote:
[stuff]
> That's what I get for posting to a list of known pedants without
Googling
> beforehand to make myself look smarter than I am. :-)
LOL!
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I'm sitting on a pair of half-wide rackmount storage devices
silk-screened "RA 8" and "System Technology Associates" on front.
Standard buttons - Write-Protect, Fault, A, B, on the front panel and an
LED readout. 3 characters, I think. There's a Control Data Corp label
on top of the box, but the model label on the side is STA. Model RA8-1100.
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts the SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
I can't find any mention of these puppies on Google. STA is
apparently still operating as an HP VAR, but their site is less than
useless.
So, has anybody ever seen one?
Doc
>I'm with you in this. I like to have all my collection working (some of
>it I use -- this PC is well over 10 years old, heck the linux distro I'm
>running is getting towards being on-topic). I enjoy tracking down faults,
>I enjoy fixing them, and I enjoy seeing how a machine was designed and
>built back then.
>
>That said, I take some care before applying power. In fact turning it on
>is one of the last things I do.
Me too.
First I clean out all the dead flies, mice droppings, cobwebs and whatever
else may have accumulated - this usually involves some level of disassembly,
which is required anyway for the next step.
Then I do a detailed visual inspection, paying special attention to
"power" components, looking for discolored capacitors, resistors etc.
I also look for corrosion in sockets/connectors, and anything else that
looks at all out of the ordinary - I spend a fair bit of time at this.
I always apply initial power through a current limiter (light bulb),
which also gives me a visual indication as to how much power it is
drawing.
If possible, I disconnect the power-supply and energize it separately,
measuring voltages. If it's analog, I ramp it up through a variac,
monitoring the outputs and current draw as it comes up to operating
voltage.
If I can't disconnect the supply, I disconnect what I can, and pull
anything socketed that I would have a tough time replacing. I don't
like running equipment I am not familier with chips pulled - so I
do so only long enough to verify that all power rails come up right.
Recheck power rails with everything connected.
Once powered up, I scope the power-rails to check for excess noise,
hum etc. If the equipment does not "come up", I shut it down and
do another visual. Then it's on to normal circuit debugging.
The above routine may vary from one piece of equipment to another,
depending on it's exact characteristics...
Anything you would add?
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
But you know, that would leave out alot of cool machines
that came after 1984-- 88k-based DG AViiON's, and SGI
workstations, for example.
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 15:23:15 -0600 emanuel stiebler <emu(a)ecubics.com>
writes:
> Fred Cisin wrote:
>
> > If we are going to re-adjust the number of years to
> include/exclude,
> > then let's just scrap the entire concept of a fixed number of
> years,
> > and declare that classic computers ran until August 10, 1981 (the
> > day before the IBM PC announcement).
>
> Jut freeze it at 1984.
> Orwell, Oh well ;-)
>
>
>
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On Oct 26 2004, 21:48, Antonio Carlini wrote:
> > What I REALLY want to know is how many SCSI drives are in the drive
> > enclosures, how many drives total you have, and what the
> > capacity of the
> > individual drives are. If they are 18gb or 36gb or larger, and SCA
> > connector (single mini-D connector on the drive itself within
> > the carrier
> > that slides into the drive enclosure) I'd be potentially
interested.
>
> No idea about the Compaq stuff, but I picked up a FC disk the other
> day that was being discarded. I'd been told that "there's no such
thing
> as a FC disk - they're all SCSI really". Well this one is a Seagate
> ST31820FC and has a 40-way (not 80-way) SCA connector on the back.
>
> Any chance that this is SCSI in disguise :-) If so I'll go nab
> a few of the 32GB ones for my VAXen, otherwise I get to try
> the 9GB SCSI LVD ones instead!
No, it's Fibre Channel. All my FC disks are like that, too, as the
ones at work (almost all our main file storage is FC): 40-pin connector
like a truncated SC. FC is like serial SCSI.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I recently inherited a stack of Fibre Channel gizmos made by Compaq:
three x12 hubs, a tape controller, and a Storageworks modular
data router.
eBay prices are all over the map: some sellers trying to
unload them for $1000+, but the real auctions are going for
less than $50 for each box. Each slot in the hub needs an
optical transceiver; these seem to sell for $10 each.
Cables? Many offered, few bidders. FC hard drives? $20 each.
This stuff cost a fortune not so long ago. Why is it
rock-bottom now? Will it ever be attractive to hobbyists?
- John
>Otherwise, we'll soon be talking about Pentiums!
Its all about the Pentiums! (screamed in a good Weird Al doing Puff-Daddy
voice)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
Was it this list where people were recently talking about receiving
software via the radio?
Apparently the UK service was called Basicode - I'm just slogging my way
through a pile of documentation donated to the museum to sort out the
useful stuff and stumbled across an apology letter from the BBC. Seems
they'd moved transmission from Radio 1 VHF to Radio 1 MW and they didn't
exactly tell people in advance :-)
The letter's dated 18th October 1984. Seems that the data was
transmitted as part of a radio programme called 'chip shop'.
Now, I'm certain I remember seeing a manual about Basicode; I just left
it in the pile at the museum that I'm yet to look through as it had
'basic' in the title and so didn't look immediately interesting :-) It
was with a Dragon 32 machine (which also came with a lot of software),
but whether any special hardware was needed I don't know.
No practical use for anything these days of course, but an interesting
snippet of computing history :-)
cheers
Jules
