Whilst thrifting for Atari joysticks today, I came across a barely
interesting looking desk calculator and a hunch compelled me to take a
chance on it. It is the Unicom 141P made by Unicom Systems, Inc. The
label indicates, "Made in Japan".
"Hmmm...Unicom...Unicom...Japan..." It sounded familiar. Of course I was
thinking "Busicom", which is the name of the Japanese company that
ordered the development of what became the 4004 for a new calculator they
were designing. But I couldn't quite remember the name. At $5, I figured
it was worth taking a chance. It was, as I mentioned, a barely
interesting desktop calculator, so worst case it would serve as a good
example of a 1970s desktop calculator (I was pretty certain it was circa
1970s).
So I just opened it up and <surprise> it's got an Intel 4004 inside!
Unfortunately, I'm not able to test it out because it requires a funky
squarish three prong power cord. I'll have to look around and see if I
can find one.
There's only one (out of two) relevant Google results, that being this
guy's website:
http://www.devidts.com/be-calc/index.html
With this calculator listed on his "Alphabetic catalog of Electronic
Calculators" list.
http://www.devidts.com/be-calc/catalog_U.asc.htm
Might anyone (Rick Bensene?) have any info about this calculator? Rick's
site lists the Busicom 141 in his wanted section:
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wanted.html#WANTED-BUSICOM
Is this in fact a re-badged Busicom? Or just coincidence? Rick's
description indicates that the Busicom 141 is based on discrete
diode/transistor logic with a Nixie tube display, whereas this one has a
printing mechanism only.
In searching for info, I came across another interesting website here:
http://www.dotpoint.com/xnumber/cmhistory.htm
...with this interesting article:
http://www.dotpoint.com/xnumber/e_walther.htm
Oddly enough (perhaps), this represents the only 4004-based computing
device in my archive.
I'm relatively stoked ;)
(And I haven't been thus about a new find in a long time...)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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I've got a VAX 3100/30 in probably-working-but-no-warrenty free for pickup
in Atlanta, GA, USA. I'll throw in an external SCSI cable (which has an odd
connection) and a VT220 (without, unfortunately, a MMJ cable).
Need to make some room for higher priority rubbish.
Ken
Chris wrote on 6/14:
>
>> This is a
>> perfectly useful machine - has 192 mb RAM - I figure I'll install OS 10.3.4
>> on it and use it to write and to cruise the web.
>
> OS X will perform like poop with only 192 MB of ram. Doable, but you will
> be MUCH MUCH happier going beyond 256 MB.
>
> The catch with the Rev A boards is, they don't "officially" support 256
> MB SO-DIMS. 128's are the largest they are supposed to handle. However,
> as long as you get 8x64 chips (as opposed to the newer 8x32), they seem
> to work fine. Also, watch out when you buy RAM, anything that goes in the
> lower RAM slot must be Low Profile SO-DIMMs. Larger ones won't fit. And
> also, some of the ram slots have metal retaining clips, those have been
> known to touch the pins on the ram chips keeping them from being seen. If
> you have one with metal clips, just tape off the edge of the ram chip to
> keep the clips from shorting them.
I'm sure you're right; I have another iMac (a 333 mhz one) with 256 running
10.3.4 and it's acceptably fast - not hot stuff but more than good enough
for what I need - running iTunes at work as well as running whatever other
odd apps I feel like that our corporate MIS won't allow to be installed on
company hardware. I'll see how this one feels before I shell out for a RAM
module. Whoever owned this machine before put the 128 mb module in the lower
slot with the upper one still containing 64 mb. It's a Rev B board in this
one - it's got a Rage Pro chip - not the board that belongs in this case
(tangerine) but it will do. I have a complete set of Bondi plastics from
another (dead) Rev B and even have the IR module. Theoretically I could
recreate the machine this board belongs in, but what the heck - I like this
color...and don't need the IR.
>
>> PS: The old Micromation floppy controller (CP/M 1.4 days) used NEITHER
>> chip family, did their own formatin LS TTL, and practically no one can
>> read them.
>
>I have a Micromation Doubler in my CASU Super C (S100 bus CP/M machine).
>>From what I rmemeber the single-density (FM) format is standard, and can
>read/write IBM3740 disks. The double density format, though, is probably
>unique to this card.
>
>> You can probably do all this in a PC sound card these days!
>
>Not many sound cards will handle 500kHz signals, surely?
>
>-tony
>
Hi Tony
I doubt they'd take it directly. Most have anti-aliasing
filters that roll of before this. I think what the other fellow
was refering to was to use the DSP on a sound card but not
through the audio A/D part. Many sound cards used industry
standard DSP chips the were reprogrammable with flash or
on board RAM. The DSP chip I'm looking at on a modem card
is a AD2116. It runs at about 16 mips and has very efficient
indexed addressing with increment. This is more than fast
enough to bit bang a floppy signal. To sample a digital
signal asynchronously really takes a sample rate of at least
4X ( Shannon's says 2X but that is in theory with analog
and brick wall filters ). Most serial chips use 16X.
Since you need to detect edges, you need to be running at
a sample rate of near 4 to 8 megherts to stay up with a
signal from a floppy at 500khz data rate.
Dwight
Hi all,
I have some boards out of a DEC 11/34 sytstem to give away. All you need to do is pay shipping. UPS ground charges. If no one is interested, then they will go to the scrap man on Wednesday.
To be fair to everyone, I will send to the person closest to the number I have picked between 1 and 100. Here is the list of boards:
1 ea M9302
1 ea M9202
1 ea M7258
1 ea M7762
2 ea M7856
1 ea M7819
and 3 EMULEX boards
1 ea TU1110406, SU1210401 & TU1110401.
These boards came out of a Telcom's billing system, but were not treated very gently when removed.
Hope everyone is having a good day. Please email me back privately with your number guess by noon tuesday 6-15-04 CST.
Thanks.
Phil
I just moved my lab (ugh) and all it's contents (kilopounds), and
inevitably paused to look at junk along the way, and found my RCA COSMAC
DEVELOPMENT KIT manual. It's got a hex listing (remember those) for a
tiny BASIC for the 1802.
If it's not already commonly available I'll (postal) mail a copy so's
you can have all the true vintage experience of typing in hex dumps then
finding the errors.
I quite distinctly recall the abominable process of typing in ANIMALS or
somesuch nonsense from the SWTP docs way back when. Ugh. Wouldn't wish
it on anyone, and no, it did not build character.
This system is free for pickup in southern NJ (Medford/Mt Laurel area).
I'll
be in Boston next week, so if someone up there wants it, let me know and I
can drag it along in the van.
This is the collection...
DECstation 5000/240 processor. Includes three 32 MB memory modules (room
for 12 more).
SZ-12 expansion box with one RZ55 SCSI drive (300 MB?) and one RZ56 (600
MB?).
SZ-12 expansion box with two RZ56 (600 MB?) drives.
SCSI cables to go from processor to drive enclosure, and from one drive
encloser to another. You'll need to supply your own terminator.
PMAD-A board. I can't remember what this does.
Four MS02 8 MB memory boards for 5000/2xx series workstations.
Possibly other miscellaneous DEC cables related to this system.
If you have any questions, just ask.
Bob
On June 9 Michael Sokolov wrote:
> 1. Are all LaserWriters 100% pure PostScript printers, speaking nothing
> but PS? I know the very original one was, but I'm not sure about whatever
> happened later and whatever they make now.
>
> 2. Were there any LaserWriters made with duplex printing capability? If
> so, what's the earliest duplex LaserWriter?
>
> 3. The original LaserWriter had a serial port. But given the assault on
> serial ports coming from all directions, I don't expect the current ones
> to have one, or do they? When was the last LaserWriter made with a serial
> port? Was there ever a LaserWriter new enough to support duplex printing
> but old enough to have a serial port?
>
> 4. Are LaserWriter serial ports standard EIA-232 DB25 or something Apple
> proprietary? If the latter, what kind of adapter would I need to make?
>
1. - The LaserWriter NTX supports Diablo 630 and also a limited version of a
LaserJet emulator allowing use of Courier, Times, Helvetica in roman, bold,
italic and bold italic; communication needs to be via the printer's RS 232
interface (DB-25) at 9600 baud to use the emulator. My 1988 Apple
LaserWriter Reference text suggests checking the 1986 LaserJet reference for
more info on this, though there's a fair bit on the subject in Apple's own
book.
4. - The original LaserWriter had a 9-pin RS422. Later ones came with a
mini-DIN 8 RS422 plus a DB25 RS 232c. These machines speak AppleTalk over
their mini-DIN 8 ports when that function is selected by DIP switch
positioning - in which case the DB25 serial port is disabled.
In a later post someone suggested avoiding the CX-engined original LW in
favor of the LWII with the SX engine, mostly b/o problems with obtaining
toner - probably a wise suggestion. Plus the SX is indestructible - mine's
been in service since 1989. Total cost of repairs over 15 years of light to
moderate use: $26 for a new ozone filter.
I'll be glad to scan any material from the LW reference anyone may
want/need.
Seth Lewin
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Over the weekend with a lot of help my VAXstation II/GPX was brought to
life. We had to swap memory and processor cards with a spare I had in the
garage. It now comes up with the Ultrix login screen
This morning I fired up my the VAX in the BA23 case and it too came to life
running VMS 5.4. with a nice login prompt.
The question is how do I get past the login prompts to reset the passwords.
- --
Collector of vintage computers
http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600
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Hmm, my pondering about reading raw data from floppies got me thinking.
I have some data on low level floppy format, which gives the following
information:
Each track has an index gap, followed by a gap 1, followed by a number
of sectors, followed by a termination gap.
Each sector is made up of an ID field, seperator gap, data field, and
then a trailing gap on all except the last sector on a track.
This is given as the same for both MFM and FM recording.
The information I have gives the makeup of each of the gap types in
terms of bit patterns, counts, what clock transitions are missing for
MFM formats etc.
Question is, is this a standard? I mean, for any disk using MFM or FM
recording are these bit patterns going to be the same? Or is it
dependant on the controller chip being used?
cheers
Jules
