test-drb November 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

207 participants
458 discussions

by aek＠spies.com

How, exactly, do you plan on executing BASIC programs on an Apple I? You do realize that there was no built in BASIC, and the cassette interface was an option? The only firmware in the base machine was a 256 byte monitor program.

20 years, 4 months

Masscomp computers?

by aek＠spies.com

it's an Excelan board, but doesn't give a model number -- It is a 201. Docs for the card and the basic firmware are on bitsavers. I'm trying to locate the manuals for the other (VME,Qbus,and Unibus) versions if anyone has them. The optional downloaded TCP stack had an interesting feature that the IP address was hardwired to the Ethernet adr. Between that, and it having worse performance than the code running on the main processor, most people ran the cards in logical link mode.

20 years, 4 months

Looking for BCC computer

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi I'm looking for a 486 BCC laptop computer that I can use for spare parts. Mine has a video chip that seems to be failing. I forget the model number but it is one of the color ones. I use it for all kinds of transfers of data to my vintage machines so I'd like to keep it in working order( to keep things on subject ). Dwight

20 years, 4 months

Dragon32 Power-Supply

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "John Honniball" <coredump(a)gifford.co.uk> > >Dwight K. Elvey wrote: >> Although, not particularly good practice, as long as the >> power dissipation is kept down, this is a design within specifications >> of the part. They have built in current limit and are suppose >> to be able to handle continuous loads in current limit. >> This means that they can be paralleled. > >Hmmm... OK, but they still won't be sharing the current equally. >The one that has the lower current-limit point will be at >its full capacity, while the other one will have a smaller >share of the load. At least, that's how I understand it. It is true that they won't share. One will run until it reaches its max and then the other will pick up the rest. Remember, the biggest issue is the power ( how hot it gets ). That is related to voltage drop and current, not just current by it self. > >> I once talked with some application engineers at National >> about this type of operation. > >I'm sure I've seen a note somewhere to the effect "do not >connect in parallel", but of course I've no idea where I >read that! Some regulators do not have a current shut down. They you shouldn't parallel. Others are intended to run with the current limit. These can often be paralleled. The ones that only do thermal shut down shouldn't be paralleled. If you know the current load, one can add a parallel resistor. The current load has to be relatively constant. If the regulators are close, adding some series resistance can make them share. In some cases, even some additional circuit board traces may be enough. I've seen memory banks where there were regulators on either side of the array and both sides shared relatively well. This is just from the natural drop of the traces. Dwight > >-- >John Honniball >coredump(a)gifford.co.uk >

20 years, 4 months

Daling with Mouse damage? (Not the computer kind)

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Just took in a Superbrain-QD which was "stored" uncovered in a garage for the past 10 (or more) years ... It's got serious mouse damage - underneath and all around the monitor was stuffed with insulation, wood chips and bits - obviously a large nest. More seriously, both the main PCB and the power supply PCB are *COVERED* in mouse droppings, and *SOAKED* in mouse urine (mostly dried up now, but the damage has been done). Lots of corrosion and such, but it looks repairable.... But both boards are covered in a layer of dried urine, sprinkled with generous gobs of urine soaked manure (about the consistancy of fairly dry tar), which is "glued" to the board. This is the worst case of mouse damage I have seen ... I would very much appreciate any tips that can be offered on how best to clean the boards without damaging them... ??? 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

20 years, 4 months

Anti-Apple Commercial edit...

by aek＠spies.com

In Windows Media Viewer format, of course.

20 years, 4 months

Difference between sun4, sun4c and sun4m subarchitectures

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Hello ClassicCmpers, Does anyone know what are the real technical differences between sun4, sun4c and sun4m subarchitectures of SPARC from the viewpoint of an OS kernel writer? I know that SunOS treats them as different kernel architectures while Net/OpenBSD has a unified SPARC kernel, as does Linux if I'm not mistaken. I'm trying to evaluate the pros and cons of the two approaches. Reason: a friend of mine is porting 4.3BSD-Quasijarus to SPARC and I'm trying to help him with the key architectural decisions. We have the SunOS 4.1.4 source. MS

20 years, 4 months

Sale of "free" stuff on eBay

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

> Tonight, I looked at Volume 5 and in the CD table of contents (link >above), I see "altair32 Project Altair Emulator.zip" and two other related >listings. As you all know, this is my baby and this person never had the >courtesy to ask my permission to distribute my albeit free software. > Am I crazy here? Should I contact this guy and ask him to remove it? >Should I ask him to place a link to the project page instead? How about >modifying the listing to include a "permission granted" message? > Any thoughts on this? Hi Rich, Personally, I don't have a problem when people include my free stuff on a collection CD which is nominally priced - what they are selling is convienence, not the material on the disk (which can be freely downloaded). Perhaps I appreciate this more than most, because I have to download through a dial-up connection. On a good day I get 25kbps - it takes *HOURS* to download even a few 10s of megs, let alone a CD or DVDs worth. It is often worth it to me to pay $10-$20 for a CD containing the material I want rather than to try and keep a connection up long enough to download it. Dynacomp is not "some guy", they have been around a LONG time. I have some titles for my Altair which were purchased from them back in the late 70s. I think they are a reasonable company, and given the amount of material on the CD, and the nature of the target audience, I doubt they are making a "killing" from your material. I understand that you may feel it is somehow "wrong" that someone makes a bit of money from your material, however consider: - Given the amount of material on the CD, the percentage which can be attributed to your project is VERY small. The overhead in contacting everyone on the CD, and handling "royalties" would prohibitive in this case, and such collection CDs would bascially not be possible. - Do you really think the price of the CD would go up/down if any one individual project is added/removed (Given that it is freely available elsewhere). - As noted above, Dynacomp is a real company - this is no different than Walnut Creek or other companies which sell compilation CDs. I've seen LOTS of my stuff on these, and have never been contacted for permission - and it has never bothered me. - What about ISPs ... if you don't want anyone to charge for a CD containing your project, then why do you allow people to charge for a network connection which is used to deliver your project? - To my mind, this is really not much differece, both are a form of media. - I expect part of your reaction is due to the fact that this is Ebay, not so much the fact that someone has included your project in a collection (which must have happened many times before). >Should I contact this guy and ask him to remove it? Do you have a reason why people who purchase this collection should not have easy access to your project? >Should I ask him to place a link to the project page instead? Give that I can find Altair32 with google (or any other search engine) easily on the first try, then do you really think it necessary to clutter up the Ebay listing with links (remember, if they do it for you, they should do it for everyone else). I don't think people normally use Ebay as a "links" resource - the listing is long enough as it is... >How about modifying the listing to include a "permission granted" message? Again, would this really benefit people looking at this collection? Would it really benefit you? See above comments regarding the size of the listing. Do you think anyone who is considering this collection really cares who explicitly have their permission (given that the material is freely available anyway). Returning to the ISP analogy, perhaps since people download via their network connection, all ISPs should be required to explicitly obtain permission from every author of every project which is available on the net, and display individual "permission granted" messages and links for each one (to make sure you are aware of this important detail) before allowing you to proceed with your connection (where you might access one of those projects)??? - Would doing so benefit anyone? [Yeah, this is stretching a point, however most of the people who buyt the CD will not access every project on it either, it is just a form of bulk media] Sorry to rant - but this is a pet peeve of mine - CD/DVD collections are one of the fews ways that I can obtain large "free" files. Authors who prevent their works from being included on these are going out of their way to make it very hard for me to obtain them (to no actual benefit to themselves). Granted it would be nice if they asked, but this is probably a lot of extra overhead in the preparation of a large project, and you *DO* make the project freely available to people who live in the city / have high-speed-connections. There was a similar thread a few months back, when one of the guys who maintains a site of archived manuals got upset that another guy was including some of "his" manuals on a DVD that he was selling for $30 (and gives to anyone who contributes material which is how I got it) - Insisting that I download the material prevents me from bring able to obtain most of the larger manuals (some of which I would really like to get). - Really annoying, considering that he doesn't have permission from most of the original authors, and claims to be preserving them and "making them available" ... but apparently only to the "high-speed" elite (but again I rant :-) Lets have a show of hands ... anyone participatng in this list ever distrbure any material without obtaining explicit permission from the orignal author? Regards, Dave Dunfield -- 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

20 years, 4 months

Ferranti Mercury

by aek＠spies.com

forgot to mention I'd like to get a copy of the programming manual to add to the archive. I have one other manual on programming the Pegasus from '58 that I need to get on line.

20 years, 4 months

Ferranti Mercury

by aek＠spies.com

Ed Thielen has Livingston's "Early British Computers" on line http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/EarlyBritish.html Mercury was a valve machine from 1957 specs at http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/EarlyBritish-App.html#Ap-02

20 years, 4 months

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test-drb November 2004