Vintage Computer Festival <vcf(a)siconic.com> wrote:
> Because there are three conductors sockets on the end plug and I don't
> know what is supposed to be on each one.
Well, 20 VAC between the ends, don't know about the middle.
MS
OK, I've just looked at mine, and all of my terminals and all of my power
wallwarts for them are clearly marked 20 VAC (1.8 A, 35 W marking on the
terminals, 37 VA marking on the wallwarts). Plugging one of the wallwarts
into the wall and measuring with a voltmeter showed 24 VAC under no load. I
guess it's supposed to sink a little under load.
Since it's so clearly marked, why was this a mystery in the first place?
What is a little more of a mystery, however, is that the terminals have
compartments that seem like they are for batteries, but upon opening them
one sees no place to put in standard batteries, but instead some little
wierd connectors on short wire pigtails, obviously for some proprietary
battery packs. Does anyone have any info on those battery packs? They
were rechargeable and charged when the terminal is plugged into AC power,
weren't they? I'm guessing that from the fact that they were special
battery packs and not standard batteries one buys replacements for at a
supermarket or gas station.
MS
I use Network Solutions, because no matter how bad they suck, they still
ARE the successor to the original SRI-NIC. (But then I have only one
domain, registered in 2000 when you could still register a domain by
sending a template to HOSTMASTER(a)INTERNIC.NET, and I will never register
other domains because I still believe in the original doctrine of one
physical organisation = one domain.)
But I miss SRI-NIC soooooo bad!
To bring this on topic: does anyone have a copy of the original SRI-NIC
software, or at least have any idea about what it was like, what it did
it run on, what was it written in, etc? I'm talking about the software
that processed templates sent to HOSTMASTER@SRI-NIC, and even to
HOSTMASTER(a)INTERNIC.NET as late as 2000, and maintained the original
registry database in its original unique super-cool format with those
NIC handles (like HARHAN-DOM, IFCTFVAX-HST, MS35906), provided the
original WHOIS service, and generated HOSTS.TXT and the TLD zone files.
The best hope that I see for Internet is the colonisation of Mars. The
good thing about Mars is that the 30 min speed of light delay should prevent
any possibility of our present rotten, corrupt, spam,porn-and-Weendoze-filled
Internet extending to Mars, and on Mars we'll have a chance to start fresh
>from a clean slate. If I get there first I'm going to recreate the good
old ARPA Internet there in its full glory, with TENEX and 4BSD hosts,
open relays (we'll have to relay because interplanetary communication back
to Earth and to elsewhere will have to be all store and forward, like the
good old UUCP), SRI-NIC, HOSTS.TXT, no Yahoo, no AOL, no spam, no porn,
no Weendoze lusers on DSL with dynamic IPs! A copy of the original SRI-NIC
registry software would be very helpful.
MS
I picked up the pile of DECstuff located in White Plains, NY the other
night, and most I really don't want. I am keeping the rack, PDP-11/23,
RL02s and some packs, and maybe a VT100, but the rest I don't need. So
here it goes, cheap:
(many) RL02 disk packs (some I think have MUMPS stuff)
(2 or 3) LA50 printers (little desktop things)
(2 or 3) VT100oid keyboards (may have missing keycaps)
Make silly offers for this stuff - just give me something for my
time and gas fetching the stuff. Shipping is from 10512.
Come to think of it, someone local could probably easily talk me out of
the whole pile. I must say it is not too pretty.
Unrelated, I also have an ancient video game - one of those analog/digital
hybrids (ping/squash/practice/soccer - the ultra cheesy games from the
mid 1970s). It is a Bentley Compuvision. The paddles are included, but
one is missing the knob (the pot shaft is still there). I was told it
still works, but did not try it out. Also accepting silly offers for the
thing.).
Oh, and I also see I have a tube of Altera EP610SC-15 EPLD chips. These
are surface mount - I assume unblown, but can't be sure. 17 chips is
all. Same deal.
Please reply off list.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org
Well Dave and all, I figured out the power supply problem only to find
that the hard drive is probably shot.
The PS contact inside the case had been heat-shrinked to prevent the
battery from working. There was no battery with the computer but if
there had been, it would have been drained in a short time due to the
plasma screen. After removing the heat shrink, the laptop booted but
stuck on a drive error/configuration error, 02 to be specific.
One other interesting thing that I didn't notice is that there is a
shock detector stuck on the side of the PS cage inside the laptop. It
states something about it will show red if excessive shock detected.
Well, half of it is red, other half is grey so who knows if it's been
dropped? Anyway, I will continue to see if I can resurrect the drive.
There was no floppy drive with it so I'm stymied there. Lots of config
apps are out there for it but I can't use them.
FYI, that's all.
BM
So I double checked the AC voltage output on this TI wall wart for the
Silent 700 model 703 and it definitely has no voltage (and correction on
my meter settings: it has 200VAC and 600VAC).
I also checked and there is infinite resistance between any combination
of pins (I checked on all settings from 2 ohms to 20 Mohms). For the hell
of it I checked for DC voltage and there also is none.
Foo.
Next step is to crack it open. Anyone know a good way to open up these
permanently sealed transformers?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
>From: "William Donzelli" <aw288(a)osfn.org>
>
>> Reminds me. The CDC Cyber 960 from http://www.cray-cyber.org/ runs at
>> 400 Hz. The higher frequency allows smaller transformers.
>
>I think the intent was to reduce the ripple, rather than reduce the
>weight. CDC wasn't afraid of a few more pounds.
>
>> The 400 Hz three phase current is generated by a motor-generator. The
>> rotating mass of this machine is enough to keep the Cyber running for
>> some seconds. (Power consumption of the Cyber at minimal configuration
>> is around 20 kW.) Enough to start a big diesel generator in case of a
>> power outage.
>
>I doubt you could start a big diesel that fast, reliably.
>
>The inertia would, however, protect against little dips and burps in the
>power, when the utilities are fooling around with the grid.
>
Hi William
I was right next to a flywheel started no-break diesel.
It was running at full load in about one second from
a complete stand still. My heart was pounding quite hard
>from the adrenaline rush I got. Another way to start
a diesel fast is with compressed air.
In anycase, "Yes", they can start that fast.
Dwight
Hi,
I'm a newbie to this forum, though I don't regard my self as a newbie
in regards to old computers.
I collect the 70's vintage processors and systems and have been playing with
them for many years.
However, I have hit a bit of a hurdle with a pair of old Intel MDS Systems. Last
week I bought a SeriesIV and a Series225 for a few dollars. The Series4 has
failed its CPIO PhaseII test with the RAM March error @ location 0000:8001.
I have another Series4 that I've had for a while and it works. I swapped over
the processor boards and the error followed the board. I don't have a cct diagram
so I traced the pins of the RAM chips (32 x 2118chips) and have traced it down to
possibly one of 8 chips. However, before I start replacing chips etc, I am hoping that
someone here may be able to tell me which chip it is that has failed - assuming you
have access to more info on the Series4 than I do.
The Series225 was left out under a verandah for 12years with just a plastic tarp covering
it and it was covered in mud and dirt. I spent most of the weekend cleaning it up and
checking it out. It powers up okay, but I need more info on this box 'cos I have no
doco for it whatsoever. I need to know the Monitor commands. I got a few of them out
'cos some are the same as the old Intel SBC monitors, but there are a few extra
commands that I'm not sure about. Also, does anyone have a ROM listing for the Series
225 Monitor? I'd like to know its IO addresses for keyboard, CRT, serial port. I can try
and hand dissasemble it, but I thought I'd try you guys before I embark on this task.
Oh, one other thing... at what stage does the Series225 boot from the floppy? So far
I can't get this thing to recognise it's got a floppy. I was assuming it would boot upon
power-up/reset, but it doesn't. So, maybe there's a command I need to use or it's just
stuffed and I'll have to fix it.
seeyuzz
river
you can find the boot monitor listing for the mds225 (and various other things) at
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/MDS2/
The 225 boots up off floppy when you have a single density floppy in the drive and you press reset on the front panel (any floppy in the drive will at least cause it to access the drive whether it can read it or not).
Obviously, if the floppy drive was never even selected then you have more problems on the IOC card in back. Keep in mind that the processor board out front does not access the individual items like to the keyboard, display, and IO ports (that is all done by the IOC card) through ports. The main processor sends commands to the back card to access the various pieces of hardware. You can get more info on that by looking at the schematic set at bitsavers also.
By the way, welcome to the Intel club.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
-----Original Message-----
From: river <river(a)zip.com.au>
The Series225 was left out under a verandah for 12years with just a plastic tarp covering
it and it was covered in mud and dirt. I spent most of the weekend cleaning it up and
checking it out. It powers up okay, but I need more info on this box 'cos I have no
doco for it whatsoever. I need to know the Monitor commands. I got a few of them out
'cos some are the same as the old Intel SBC monitors, but there are a few extra
commands that I'm not sure about. Also, does anyone have a ROM listing for the Series
225 Monitor? I'd like to know its IO addresses for keyboard, CRT, serial port. I can try
and hand dissasemble it, but I thought I'd try you guys before I embark on this task.
Oh, one other thing... at what stage does the Series225 boot from the floppy? So far
I can't get this thing to recognise it's got a floppy. I was assuming it would boot upon
power-up/reset, but it doesn't. So, maybe there's a command I need to use or it's just
stuffed and I'll have to fix it.
seeyuzz
river
For those who haven't seen a KM11 in action, I've updated the page to
contain a couple of shots of two of my KM11 clones plugged into an 11/40
while I was running some memory diagnostics. The display was quite
impressive but I couldn't capture it. :-( You'll just have to get a
couple and try it yourself! :-)
The link is:
http://www.shiresoft.com/pdp-11/boards/index.html
--
TTFN - Guy
Well I don't know about that!!. One just went on Ebay for ?2,075.00 for a pretty minimal machine!!
See http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=51458233…
regards
Bob Adamson
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jay West [mailto:jwest@classiccmp.org]
> Sent: 03 December 2004 20:16
> To: Heinz Wolter; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: value of PDP8e
>
> Yup, I was going to say roughly $1500, if you're looking for ebay
> standards.
>
> Jay
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Heinz Wolter" <h.wolter(a)sympatico.ca>
> To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 1:39 PM
> Subject: value of PDP8e
>
>
> >I acquired a PDP8e (sn M40000521)as part of a trade, which has not yet
> been
> > completed.
> > Anyone know what value such a unit might have? It's got a blue bezel
> > instead of the usual orange, but it on a 19 slide enclosure. Does this
> > make
> > it
> > an 'industrial' ? I'm not looking to sell it (maybe after the deal is
> > settled) but
> > I'd like to know how to valuate it. I did see some pristine, working
> units
> > on epay - the top one going for 2300$USD in a silly bid war. But a
> > realistic
> > price may be more like 1500$USD, I'm told. The machine is in 'new' shape
> > and working, has the tty interface card and cabling. core ( dunno how
> > much).
> > Thanks to all who reply,
> > Heinz
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
I was interested to see someone still interested in the Old TI 990/10 & /12 system. I worked for TI from 1980 to 1986 and worked with the 990/10, 990/12 & Business System 1300 & Business System 1500. I started my company in Austin, Texas, building performance products for the TI Systems. We built memory expansion boards, 8 Port CRU Devices compatible with the CI-402,
8 Port & 16 Port Ti-Line devices compatible with the CI-403. We also built "Turbo" upgrades for the 990/10A as well as the fastest
memory controller to ever be used with the TI 990/12 and 990/12A. The Memory Controller could be configured as 512K., 1 Meg.,
1.5 Meg. and 2 Meg. It was totally Static Ram, ( no hesitating every 14 to 15.5 microseconds for a refresh cycle.) The static
ram on our board ran at 35ns and the fastest boards ran at 25ns. ALL CACHE MEMORY. The controllers sold to dealers for
$15,000.00 ea. At the request of John Deere, TI supported our 8 Port Terminal Controller under Maintenance Contract. We also
used to do fixed price repair on all TI Computer Boards. We also performed Memory Upgrades to the TI 512K. LR Cache controller boards. We could upgrade them to 1 Meg. and 2 Meg. of Dram. The 990/10A was sold as 512K, 1 Meg. and 1.5 Meg. but
we could upgrade them to any of those sizes as well as to 2 Meg. We designed over 20 products to work with the TI Systems.
I really enjoyed working with them. Nothing since has interested me as much.
Sincerely,
Marty
>From: "Teo Zenios" <teoz(a)neo.rr.com>
<snip>
>Who would be using DC besides electro-platers?
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) uses 600v DC to power its trains.
Bob
Greetings!
I am an IT Director for a central Illinois school district and we recently
uncovered a Mathiputer while going through old boxes of electronics
equipment from the 70s and 80s. Do you have any info about the Mathiputer
or even if the company is still in business? We want to tinker with it and
give it to a teacher as a gift... and a joke.
Thanks much,
Chris Kruzic
>From: Ghena2(a)aol.com
>Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:08:54 EST
>Subject: Re: Mathiputer info
>To: jfoust(a)threedee.com
>
>NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!
>
>You must not tinker with and give away as joke! Please!!
>
>TERRIBLE IDEA!! JOKE IS NOT WORTH IT!
>
>AND TINKERING WITH...... I SHUDDER!
>
>Mathiputers are no longer manufactured, and if memory serves me correctly, the company which did make them has metamorphised, merged, whatever.... In other words, disappeared.
>
>I am a Special Educator in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I have personally been searching for a working Mathiputer for the past ten years or so.... Perhaps two years of that time online.
>
>I have a computer programming expert on stand-by, from half way across the country, who has volunteered.... for free!.... to write a program which will run on Windows, which will operate in fashion similar to Mathiputer.... IF I CAN PROVIDE HIM WITH A WORKING MODEL TO GO BY. My special ed kids NEED this!
>
>Is my opinion, as a special educator of almost 30 years, that none of the new-fangled computer programs can hold a candle to the Mathiputer for teaching kids their number facts.... Especially, those kids who have learning disabilities.
>
>So, of course, I will like you to sell your most valuable Mathiputer to ME.... At a price I can afford, no less!
>
>If not, I think your Mathiputer belongs in a computer museum. One of the museums I looked at does have one, but it is not a working model.
>
>And sorry I cannot help you further with Mathiputer info.
>
>Most sincerely,
>
>Ghena Dalby
>Salt Lake City, Utah
>
>
>From: "Tom Jennings" <tomj(a)wps.com>
>
>On Tue, 14 Dec 2004, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
>
>> >that just Wasn't Done then. Some did, I know one person who
>> >made millions off nothin' but domregs.)
>>
>> His name might be Marcelo.
>
>Jeez that name is familiar... Bay Area? but the person I was
>thinking about is/was Stray'n. He at one time (as a small fry
>reseller) "pacificbell.com"! With written permission! Really, I
>Was There, and his nameserver. Imagine the cluelessness... they
>paid some hard cash to get that name back a few years later (if
>they had waited a few years more, they coulda had it for free :-)
>
Hi Tom
It was either loan.com or loans.com that he sold. It is
probably more interesting to here his story as to how he
got the .com name in the first place. You know, failed
business plans and then forced on him by the wife of his
business partner that felt he was responsible for the
business failure.
Dwight
>From: "Tom Jennings" <tomj(a)wps.com>
---snip---
>
>
>(I might even have copies of the old COM NET ORG etc files
>you used to download from rs.internic.net. I shudder at all
>the domains we could have reg'ed and sold for hard cash...
>that just Wasn't Done then. Some did, I know one person who
>made millions off nothin' but domregs.)
His name might be Marcelo.
Dwight
>From: "Teo Zenios" <teoz(a)neo.rr.com>
>
>Who would be using DC besides electro-platers?
>
Hi
I'm not sure if they had the same reason but today,
DC is actually used for long range, high voltage lines
in a number of places. DC doesn't require the insulation
to hold off quite as much voltage. It doesn't suffer
>from inductive losses.
It isn't much good for home use. In fact, lamps don't
do as well on DC as AC because of the electrical effects
of the wire evaporating ( not sure which end goes first ).
Dwight
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
> Does anyone know anything about Zitel? Pr what bus this card uses or
>anything about the card? <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/a4/zitel.jpg>. I
>seem to remember that Zitel was a copy cat of Intel.
>
> Joe
It looks like 2 banks of 16 bit RAM with parity. As a RAM
board, it shouldn't be too hard to trace out the address
selects.
What size RAMs are they?
Dwight
>From: "Norm and Beth Anheier" <anheier(a)owt.com>
>
>Anyone have an Intel C4040 processor that they would be interested in
>trade or selling???
>
>Thanks Norm
>
>
Hi
I don't think I ever saw a ceramic 4040?
Dwight
On Dec 13 2004, 6:21, Steve Thatcher wrote:
> the one floppy deal is not really a bios issue, it is a hardware
> issue. As long as there are two drive select lines coming from the
> hardware, then the mb can supprt two drives even if there is not bios
> support. My ASUS P4 mb only supports one drive and I suspect that
> there is only one drive select. Bios code is meant to support the
> hardware that is present. At least that is the way is has been for 23
> years...
That's like mine. The motherboard only has one drive select line, so
the BIOS normally shows only one entry for a floppy. However, if I
disable the on-board FDC and add a normal FDC card, I can use two
floppies and the BIOS detects and shows settings for both.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
