test-drb December 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
530 discussions

by mapleleafman＠gmail.com

Hi crew. Question about a Gridacase 1520. Is anyone familiar with these laptops? This is a 286, really good shape. It won't boot, dead as a doornail. The guy at the thrift shop told me it was working when it was brought in the day before, now I see that two (or one) chips are missing from under the flap in the top left right above the keyboard. I figure they were lifted between dropoff and my buying it. Any ideas if these chips, which I think are application roms, would prevent the thing from booting? If so, is there such a thing as a replacement available from someone here or elsewhere? The thing must have been the first Toughbook or something, and I'd love to see it working. Thanks for any info anyone can share. (does anyone still need a gmail invite? I have lots. ) Brian Mahoney

20 years, 6 months

Who Made/Makes the World Smallest Harddrive

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

IS it IBM? I need one for a museum display we are putting together. Thanks

20 years, 6 months

Waterloo MicroWAT ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>is this the small 50 pin cage thing made by Northern Digital?? or the >Superpet? >Mine has a 6502 and 6809 I think - the switch powered >one cpu or the other... >h Hi Heinz, Yes - this is the little box made by Northern Digital - it was apparently developed at U or Waterloo. There is only a 6809 inside, and no selection switch. (My SuperPET does have dual CPUs and a switch to select). Do you have one with dual CPU's? - Any additional information? Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

20 years, 6 months

Speaking of eBay

by classiccmp＠vintage-computer.com

This one may be insane - or maybe it's me. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5150431291 An "original" Akalabeth (pre Ultima) game for the Apple ][ from 1980 - $1,225. A hefty price for a 5.25" floppy and 6 sheets of paper. . . -- Erik Klein www.vintage-computer.com www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum The Vintage Computer Forum

20 years, 6 months

Trying to get running an LSI 11/23

by vcf＠siconic.com

I've been tinkering with this mutt LSI 11/23 system I've got and am trying to get it running. It's a custom-built system that has a mix of DEC and third-party boards. It's configured as follows--my apologies if I'm not conforming to standard DEC notation here [notes in brackets]: Cage 1 Slot 1: DEC M8186 | CAMINTONN 504 [1] Slot 2: Dataram Diceon [2] Slot 3: Data Systems Design A4432-4 | Grant Continuity [3] Slot 4: Emulex TU0110401 [4] Cage 2 Slot 1: Emulex Tu1110406 [5] Slot 2: Grant Continuity | Digital Pathways TCU-50DYR [6] Slot 3: MDB DLV-11J | DEC M9400 [7] Slot 4: Empty [8] Notes: 1. I believe the Camintonn card is memory 2. This has "RK:" written on the handle...an RK05 disk controller? 3. The Data Systems Design card has "DY:" written on the handle. 4. Tape controller; is connected by 25-conductor ribbon cable to adjoining Emulex card. 5. See note 4. 6. A real-time clock 7. The M9400 has "HB BOOT" written on the board. Is this the boot ROM card? 8. Does there need to be a bus terminator here? The DLV-11J is a 4-port serial card. Thanks to those who provided the documentation to get it wired. I think I have it correct. I've jumpered pin 3 to the RxD line and Pin 8 to the TxD line on my RS232 port. I've also jumpered pin 4 to ground as directed. The system powers up. There are +5V and +12V LEDs on the front of the panel that come on, and I've checked these lines at the power supply and they are good. One oddity: the terminal marked -12V is a perfect -0.00 on my volt meter. WTF? Anyway, how can I tell if anything is happening inside this thing? I can hit the BOOT switch and the RUN light goes on. There's a RUN switch with a momentary HALT position and an ENABLE position. I can hit the HALT switch and the RUN light goes off. I put the switch back in the ENABLE position and then hit the BOOT switch and the RUN light goes back on. I see nothing on my terminal (a PC running Procomm Plus in DOS so I have real serial ports instead of the bullshit that Win98 tries to pawn off as serial ports). I eventually want to boot RT-11 off floppies on this system. I guess I'll need a disk controller at some point. I'm completely lame. This is the first DEC system I've seriously tried to get running so I'm starting from -1 here. Any ideas? -- 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 ]

20 years, 6 months

Anyone have a Seagate ST01 or 2 ?

by aek＠spies.com

>from Fred van Kempen Al, Can you ask the list, or anyone, if anyone has an old Seagate ST01 and/or ST02 controller available? I cant post to the list from my biz address.. -- I think these were PC scsi cards.

20 years, 6 months

Sweet.. New toy..

by dholland＠woh.rr.com

/me just got a early Xmas present. I got what should be a relatively complete Vax 4000-300, console, cables, and w/ some form of MO jukebox. Might even have a line on a small pile of tapes for the thing.. I don't know very little about the spec's on the box, as I literally just got ahold of it.. Looks like its got a fair bit of SCSI, and Ethernet in it. I'd guess its only got 32Mb of memory as I only saw one obvious MS670 memory board. (It took that many chips to make 32MB!?) The only concern I've got is, while its been stored in doors most of its life, its been outdoors since Monday, and its gotten _COLD_. I think it'll need a day or two just to warm up. I see what appears to be at least some documentation up on bitsavers, at least the phrase KA670 seems to match up what's on the little tag at the bottom of the unit. Does anyone have any other suggested hardware documentation site's they think would be worthwhile to point me at? Thanks, /me goes back to poking at the innards. :-) David

20 years, 6 months

Intel iPDS in general

by dmabry＠mich.com

All this talk about the Intel iPDS has peaked my interest, at least for now. So I have been doing a little investigation on what exactly I have and here are some of the details. The iPDS is an 8085-based portable development system. PDS was said to stand for Personal Development System or Portable Development System. Intel's manual called it Personal Development System, so that must be it. The main processor board (and it was one monolithic system board with cables to the keyboard, crt, and floppy drive. Besides the main cpu with 64KB of ram, there was a second 8085 that implemented the keyboard and crt terminal. So the main cpu only talked through an I/O port to get "console in" and "console out". The main board also had an 8272 (I think that was the chip) to control the floppy drive. It had one internal 96-tpi double-sided floppy drive that held about 650K bytes. It used MFM encoding, I guess required by the 8272. There were three connectors on the back panel for I/O. One was a serial port. It was a 25-pin D female. It could be jumpered to appear as a DCE or a DTE. From the factory it was strapped to be a DCE. That was probably to be consistent with the MDS-800 and port 1 of the Series II. The 800 required, and the Series II accomodated an external crt terminal as the "console". Since the iPDS had an integral console (built-in crt and keyboard) I strapped my serial port to be a DTE so that I could connect it directly to a modem. In those days, of course, the BBS was dominate for communications to the world, and a modem was highly desirable for that. There was also a 25-pin D female connector to drive a Centronix-compatible printer. It used the same pinout as the 800 and the Series II. Finally there was a 37-pin D female that could connect up an external floppy drive. Remember, the standard iPDS from Intel had only one floppy drive built in. One very cool option was a second cpu board. It has its own 8085 and 64K of ram. It cabled to the main processor board and would use the integral keyboard, crt, and floppy with the use of a software semaphore to prevent both processors from accessing a device at the same time. Another option was a daughter board that accomodated up to four iSBX boards. When that was installed you could install one or two iSBX-251 bubble memory cards. Those cards were 128K bytes in size and the operating systems from Intel would support them as logical disk drives. You could even boot from the internal bubble device. Very advanced for its time, I'd say. Intel, of course, wanted users to take advantage of their ISIS-PDS operating system. It would boot from the bubble or from the floppy drive. And with ISIS, the file and device locking routines would allow both cpu's, if you had the optional second processor installed, to boot, access files, etc, and you could switch between the processors with a function key. It was truly a multi-processor system, actually two very logically distinct computers in one. Often I would be editing one file while compiling, linking, locating, etc, another file, using both cpu's that way. Remember, of course, the only operating systems for small computers like that were single-user, single-tasking. Intel also sold a version of CP/M-80 V2.2 for the iPDS. But due to licensing issues, and possibly technical issues, CP/M would only boot >from one of the two processors. It was simply software in the BIOS to disable the "B" processor. However, a clever workaround was to have ISIS loaded in a bubble device, boot one processor from that device, and let the other boot from CP/M on the floppy drive. There were times that I would document a project that I was working on using Wordstar on a CP/M-booted processor while developing code on the ISIS-booted processor. I have a good collection of software for the iPDS, so if anyone who has a working machine, I would be willing to send out copies of what I have. I have made Teledisk images of boot floppies that can be recreated on an IBM-AT compatible on the HD drive. I also have decent comm software that will transfer files through the serial port to and >from a PC. Oh well, I guess you can see how bored I am to spend Christmas Eve typing this up, but I wanted to get it written down while it was all fresh in my mind. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!!! Dave Mabry

20 years, 6 months

Intel iPDS in general

by melamy＠earthlink.net

that was the seeyuzz river... At 09:48 PM 12/31/2004, Dave Mabry wrote: >Who was it who wanted to know more about the multimodule addon board for >the iPDS? I have a photo that I can send to him. Let me know. > >Dave

20 years, 6 months

Waterloo MicroWAT ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 15:33 30/12/2004 -0800, you wrote: >> Anyone here know anything about the "MicroWAT" computer, which was >> developed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada around 1980. >> >> I just acquired one - this is a small 6809 based computer, which I am >> told is very similar/somewhat compatible with the Waterloo 6809 coprocessor >> in the Commodore SuperPET. > >Actually, according to my information, it *is* a SuperPET. See > > http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/pet.html Thanks - I too found this reference, however it is in error - the MicroWAT I have is actually a stand-alone computer in a small box with a power supply, small card cage, three serial ports and an IEEE connector (I have one here in front of me). I also did uncover a Waterloo document entitled: "Waterloo Microcomputer Systems for the 1980's" by D.D. Cowan and J.W. Graham at the University of Waterloo in which they describe the MicroWAT and the SuperPET as separate systems: "It was noted that on campus there were more than 1000 'dumb' ASCII terminals, mostly with CRTs and keyboards, and a study was initiated to consider the problems in their conversion to personal workstations meeting our specifications. The study led to the design of the microWAT a prototype of which became operational in December 1980 ..." "The microWAT is a computer system of one or more circuit boards mounted on a rather simple bus. A typical system consists of 4 cards, namely the CPU card, 48K RAM card, 64k bank-switched ROM card and the IEEE-488 bus interface card. The system can be mounted inside most of our ASCII terminals ... If desired or necessary, the microWAT can be mounted in its own chassis with it's own power supply." "At the same time as the development of the microWAT, we investigated the possibility of expanding existing microcomputers by providing them with a large memory so that they could incorporate our planned software. We modified a PET microcomputer by adding 64k of bank-switched RAM, a 6809 microprocessor and an RS232 interface. This design eventually let to the Commodore SuperPET which is a personal workstation similar to the microWAT". >From there it goes on to describe the waterloo software and languages, with no real distinction between the microWAT the the SuperPET - so the above is really all I know for certain about the microWAT, however it does appear to be distinct from, but related to the SuperPET. Once the holidays are over, I will contact the curator of the York museum in Toronto, as I am certain that he has mentioned to me in past conversation a stand-alone 6809 based system that was developed at Waterloo - perhaps he will be able to fill in some details, however if anyone else has information to offer, please do step forward. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

20 years, 6 months

2005

by geoffreythomas＠onetel.com

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda - Happy new year To all on the list. I'm a republican - but not in the way you're thinking ! ( :^) Geoff. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.7 - Release Date: 30/12/04

20 years, 6 months

Votrax PSS Auction almost over!

by aek＠spies.com

> I hope to see the whole thing scanned (and I want to see the scans too). And this information is worth how much to you?

20 years, 6 months

Votrax PSS Auction almost over!

by jgevaryahu＠hotmail.com

The auction for the nearly complete Votrax PSS is almost over! Come on, I'm hoping someone on the list manages to get it in the end, because it has the complete manual, including the advanced procedures section and the section about updating the internal list of substitution words! (the seller sent me that info) Here's the auction link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=162&item=5151487740&… I hope to see the whole thing scanned (and I want to see the scans too). Jonathan Gevaryahu lord_nightmare_(a)t_users.sf.net jgevaryahu_(a)t_hotmail.com

20 years, 6 months

Looking for RM05/CDC-9766 Owners

by cvendel＠att.net

I am looking to exchange notes and information with anyone else who owns RM05's and/or CDC-9766 300MB SMD drives. You can contact me off-list: curt(a)atarimuseum.com Thanks, Curt

20 years, 6 months

New bounties for the new year ($$$)

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm seeking the following software for a client: Title Publisher Context MBA Context Management Systems Open Access Software Products International Intuit Noumenon Corp. Aura Softrend, Inc. Jack2 Business Solutions The Incredible Jack Business Solutions Jack Report Business Solutions Has ya gots any? E-mail me directly and let's talk! Looking to buy and will pay generously. Only one more day but I'll beat everyone to it: Happy New Year! -- 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 ]

20 years, 6 months

Intel MDS Series II poll

by Innfogra＠aol.com

I have an MDS 800, not running, and several iPDS intel development systems. I also have an Intel 330, a 380 and several 310s for Multibus I systems. A recent addition is an 80/10 rack mount system (4 slot Multibus I with a SBC 80/10). I have had all of the development systems go through my hands in the early 90s when we were buying truckloads from intel. I have tinkered with most. About 1993 we sold all of our Multibus cards to Inbus. Did anyone on the list get the intel IPSC that sold on ebay last month. Paxton Astoria, OR

20 years, 6 months

Waterloo MicroWAT ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> From there it goes on to describe the waterloo software and languages, with >> no real distinction between the microWAT the the SuperPET - so the above isx >> really all I know for certain about the microWAT, however it does appear to >> be distinct from, but related to the SuperPET. > >Based on that document, yes, it does sound like they are indeed separate >units. Is there a 6502 in yours, or is it 6809 only? > >I'll update my page. It has only a 6809 in it, which doesn't suprise me, since I don't believe the 6502 is actually used by the Waterloo software once the SuperPET is switched to 6809 mode. I am planning an update to my site within the next couple of weeks, and I will include photos of the microWAT (inside and out), as well as the document that I have, and whatever other information I can turn up between now and then. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

20 years, 6 months

Intel MDS Series II poll

by dmabry＠mich.com

Ok, I've been on a kick lately to get my Intel MDS Series II systems working as much as I can. So my interest in them is peaking. I'd like to know who has Series II's on this list, if you don't mind admitting it. I know that Tony, Joe, Steve, Dwight, and a few others do. And Joe can probably supply anyone who wants one with a system. ;) Just kidding Joe. You are hanging onto yours as an investment, right? I know I am!!! These last couple of days I copied images of the ROM code that makes up an upgrade for the Series II called iMDX-511. It was all new firmware for the IOC board (4 2716's) and a new firmware in the keyboard (8741A) to implement the upgrade. It turned the RPT (repeat) key into a "function" (FCTN) key. And along with the latest version of ISIS (4.3) you had the capability to hit FCTN-D for "DIR " or FCTN-T for " TO " and many other "soft" keys for ISIS command line shortcuts. It also added cursor addressability to the integral CRT and some attributes, like reverse video, blinking, underline, etc. All stuff that we take for granted today, but in those days it was a big thing!!! Anyway, if anyone is interested I can make the binaries available and help those of you who have these beasts get it implemented. Any takers? Dave Mabry

20 years, 6 months

LF: Tektronix Model 31 Info AVL: Olivetti Programma 101 parts/docs

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Guys, Just picked up an Tektronix Model 31 desktop calculator. This is a fairly old (early 70s) desktop programmable with built in tape storage and printer. Looking for information/documenation on it - all I got was the bare unit (which looks to be in good shape). Also got a stack of circuit boards from an Olivetti Programma 101 (early 60s) as well as the general reference manual and some programming sheets - unfortunately the machine itself was "taken apart" many years ago and this is all that remains - the boards are very interesting and worth keeping on their own, as they utilize discrete resistor/transistor logic modules. However, if someone on this list has a Programma 101 in need of parts, I would rather see them used to heal a whole machine instead of sitting on my shelf as curiosities. Regards, Dave PS: Also picked up a "MicroWat" - 6809 based computer built by the University of Waterloo in Canada - if anyone has info please contact me. -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

20 years, 6 months

Powermac 8100/80 RAM question

by richard.beaudry＠gmail.com

>From: Tom Peters <tpeters(a)mixcom.com> >Subject: Re: Powermac 8100/80 RAM question >To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> > >I have lots of old 72-pin SIMMs laying around. What are you looking for? Actually, I have a metric crapload of PC 72-pin SIMMs lying around, and the Mac that needs more RAM. Just wondering if I could make a match. It seems like it will, from all the replies, so maybe some of that RAM can find a home.... Thanks to all for the replies! Rich B.

20 years, 6 months

Reviving old hard drives

by sloboyko＠yahoo.com

1. Very early full height drives had a real "brake", like a brake shoe on a car, that locks when power is disengaged. Maybe this is sticking. 2. Very early drives son't have any kind of embedded servo/voice coil technology - they used a stepper only. I recall that those didn't like to operate outside of a narrow temperature range (50-100F), probably coefficient of expension problems. I remember that we were so excited when our first Shugart 5M full height came in we formatted it immediately after it had been in a UPS truck for days during the winter - and it produced numerous errors. Two hours later, we reformatted it and it was fine. So, I don't know how well the temperature trick will work. It might work for a few minutes between "too cold" and "too hot"... ===== -Steve Loboyko Website: http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl Nixie Watch (one-tube):http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/complwatch.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page – Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

20 years, 6 months

OT: merry stuff

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

merry xmas (where x = ?) thought I'd get there first :-P enjoy yourselves this weekend, people!

20 years, 6 months

Noisy profile hard drive

by cb＠mythtech.net

I've got someone asking me about a Profile hard drive in a Lisa 2/10. He says it makes a loud screaming noise when it is running. Maybe bad bearings? Anyone seen this with the Profile drives? Any idea if it is fatal? Any idea if it can be repaired? Any advise I can pass on would be great. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

20 years, 6 months

8' floppy drive.

by c3636b＠hotmail.com

Hi Rich, Do you still have Shugart 801 8" floppy driver and can you ship it to = Hong Kong. How much it cost. Please be advise. Thanks Ben

20 years, 6 months

Waterloo MicroWAT ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Anyone here know anything about the "MicroWAT" computer, which was developed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada around 1980. I just acquired one - this is a small 6809 based computer, which I am told is very similar/somewhat compatible with the Waterloo 6809 coprocessor in the Commodore SuperPET. Looking for any information on it, as well as software (it apparently uses an IEEEish drive like the PET - in fact, it is possible/likely that a CBM drive is what it was designed for) One burning question - when I opened the machine, I found five cards in the slots - an I/O card, a CPU card (with a bit of ROM), a ROM card, and two RAM cards - tucked into the gap left by the two remaining empty slots was a small sealed board wrapped up in a plastic bag. This board is only perhaps 2-1/2 inches high (1/2 height or less of the other boards), and is completely encased in a shell, perhaps 1" thick, and is filled with potting compound - the only part visible is the edge card connector. In other words, it looks like a 1" x 2-1/2" black box with an edge card connector protruding from it - it will fit the slots, although I'm not completely certain which way it goes in (it could face either way). Anyone know what this board is? Could it be related to the "Secret" little daughter board in the SuperPET (the one whose function was never documented)? [If it's like that board, then it would be required for the system to function, which would lead to the question - why was it unplugged and wrapped up?] any info or pointers for either the machine, card or both would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

20 years, 6 months

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test-drb December 2004