test-drb July 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

259 participants
518 discussions

PET RAM retrofit (was Anybody going to VCF-East have cheap working Oscilloscope/Logic...)

by adamg＠pobox.com

Someone has already done some work on retrofitting PETs to use modern RAM chips: http://people.freenet.de/x1541/hardware/adaptors.html http://people.freenet.de/x1541/hardware/petram.html -- Adam

20 years, 5 months

Very important: Restoration of an Onyx Systems C8002

by cheri-post＠web.de

Hi all ! Two years ago, a friend of mine gave me a micro which was the first one to use Unix commercially back in 1981. He told me that there was problem with the power supply. With the harddisk connected, a short circuit is produced. When it's disconncected, the Onyx doesn't work correctly, the system isn't stable. He gave me 15 QIC-Tapes with it, unfortunately no documents. Ok, so far about his information... On the internet, there's little information about the Onyx but nothing what could help. Last week, I decided to resurrect this machine, and to be honest: It's not in a good condition. :-( Things I did until now: - Replaced the fuse which was blown (somebody used the system by bypassing the dead fuse with a cable...) - Replaced the broken reset switch - Replaced the reel of the tape drive (the rubber one near the read and write head which transports the tape What's in this micro ? - CPU: Zilog 8002 @ 4 MHz - memory: 256-512kb - HDD: IMI 7720 - Tape drive: DEI (Data Electronic INC) Qic-Tape drive (you can find the document at Al's collection) - 8 terminals can be connected Moreover,serveral tapes are corroded. One of the two memory boards is not connected to the mainboard. There is a notice dated from '84 wich sais that the board is defective. With the HDD disconnected, the machine turns on, the voltages at the power supply do not leave the 5% tolerance-This leaves me to the conclusion that the supply is in good working condition. I connected a VT420 as a console terminal (there's a port for that purpose) which emulates a VT100 but nothing appears on the screen (I tried out several baud rates...). There are lots of test points on the board, serveral of these are used to messure the voltage level. And at the I/O-Board where the terminals are connected appears another problem: the 5V test Point gives out 4,15 V... There's some work to do to bring the C8002 back to life. It seems to me that this machine is very rare and that it's therefore worth to invest some work to resurrect it. But what I mostly need is your help. Is anybody familiar with the Onyx computers ? Of course, one important thing are the documents, as there are many LEDs on the boards and I just don't know their meaning. Scanning these (if they exist) is not nessecary, email communicatio n would be enough for me. Same for the IMI hard drive... I could make some photos is anybody is interested. Best Regards Pierre ____________________________________________________ Aufnehmen, abschicken, nah sein - So einfach ist WEB.DE Video-Mail: http://freemail.web.de/?mc=021200

20 years, 5 months

WD 1002-05 controller

by jamesthomson＠mac.com

Hi Tony, I am after a Western Digital WD1002-05 controller card which I need, to get a hard drive working with an old system which I have. Do you still have this card? Would you like to sell it to me? Many thanks. Regards, James Thomson

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Vintage Computer Festival <vcf(a)siconic.com> wrote: > It would be neat to know how the Egyptians built the pyramids, but we have > cranes and stuff for that today, so even if we knew their methods, is it > really practical to teach them in engineering school? No modern cranes or other machinery can come even close to building the 3 Orion pyramids on the Giza plateau or the Baalbek stone platform in the mountains of Lebanon. The only technology that can build such structures is antigravity, which is how they were actually built. Yes, get this, technology was more advanced many thousands of years ago than it is today. Devolution is all around us. The devolution of the past 20 y or so that Tony and others lament is merely a continuation of the devolution that has been going on for the past 4000 years, ever since the year 2024 BCE when our cosmic ancestors and teachers, the Anunnaki, were overthrown and forced off this planet by the dark extraterrestrial reptilian race I call Yahwists, who are the force behind Judeo-Xtianity (the "God" entity is actually them, those galactic criminals). This tragedy occurred because of a security hole in the ancient computer systems of Anunnaki (to bring this on topic). The Yahwists managed to introduce a virus into Anunnaki's central command mainframe at their NOC on Mt. Moriah (which became Jerusalem centuries later) and generated commands to launch their nuclear missiles against their major cities (including Sodom and Gomorrah), their spaceport in the Sinai peninsula, and their key technological base on Mt. Katherine. The destruction was complete when the Jewish horde (with Yahweh's UFO flying overhead) overran Jericho. Legendary records of this lost Golden Age remained in the Library of Alexandria, but the Christians took care of that. Oh, and the Giza pyramid complex is NOT ~4500 years old as commonly believed. It is actually about 12500 y old, if not more. The 3 pyramids are arranged exactly as the belt stars of Orion: Zeta Orionis, Epsilon Orionis and Delta Orionis. The Great Pyramid is not the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu, it's the pyramid of Zeta Orionis. The catch, however, that the astronomical alignments in the Giza complex (yes, complex, it was completely designed as a single unit before any one piece was built) do not match the stars as they appear in the sky today, but they match the stars as they appeared 12500 y ago. (The change is due to the precession of Earth's axis: the North Pole points at Polaris today, but 12500 y ago it pointed at Vega, as it will again in another 12500 y or so. The complete precessional cycle is 25920 y.) The extensive rain erosion on the Sphinx suggests a similar date. MS

20 years, 5 months

Classics near Winchester, Hampshire, UK ?

by kenziem＠sympatico.ca

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I've just heard that there will be an empty suitecase traveling my way from Worthycote, Milnthorpe Lane, Winchester, Hampshire, UK. This is my chance to get a British micro for my collection. Are there any surplus classic machines in the area? Unfortunately the suiteaces will be filled for the return trip - -- Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAzfX8LPrIaE/xBZARAlCZAJ0UrDRE4YCUvrmjGm/5CRlWazsw+QCeJeN/ 2IikOKRt4yE/7YFKwOXbals= =n1n1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

20 years, 5 months

The world is going to pieces...

by aek＠spies.com

> AARGH... Just looked on e-bay. There are a large number of pdp-8 items > listed by a single vendor. Looks like 1 or more /m systems has been > disassembled. Feel like I am watching humpty-dumpty, will the pieces ever > get back together again...... nope.. nothing heavy for the guy to ship either. 153.51 H212 102.50 H212 102.50 G111 50.00 G111 102.50 G233 86.00 G233 97.00 front panel 30.09 plex 74.77 8/M Omnibus 201.50 16 x top cons 50.00 M837 201.50 M7104 50.00 M8330 50.00 M8320 52.00 M8337 201.50 M7105 201.50 M7106 52.00 M840 52.00 M8335 52.00 M8336 50.00 M8300 50.00 M8310 52.00 M8655 ====== 2114.87

20 years, 5 months

DN5500 bits available

by aek＠spies.com

Wasn't expecting to get this lot.. http://www.auctionbdi.com/auctionbdi_ftp/san_jose/20040711/_0239.jpg If anyone needs 5500 bits, lmk. Preferably Bay Area, of course.

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "der Mouse" <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca> > >> I've only ever possessed one [microwave oven], it currently still >> seems to cook as well (or badly) as it ever did so I've had no cause >> to examine it in any detail. > >Same here. > >> If it breaks, it will get looked at (although I suspect, without ever >> having checked, that a new megnetron will cost a significant fraction >> of the price of a microwave oven). Still, there's always the chance >> that the controller or its keypad will give up the ghost. > >That's what happened with my oven. It was bought at a garage sale some >years back, and worked fine for some time (years). Then after a >lightning storm, it started beeping intermittently at odd times when it >shouldn't. After a few days, it occurred to me that if it could beep >when it wasn't suppsoed to, it could turn on the microwaves when it >isn't supposed to. I opened it up and found that the keypad and >control board all culminated in two relays, one to control the fan and >the other the microwave-generator. I checked, and a new board would >cost almost as much as we paid for the oven. So I yanked the whole >thing, wired the fan and magnetron together (I almost always used it on >high anyway, and lower power settings worked by imposing a <100% duty >cycle on the magnetron), and controlled it with an ordinary wall light >switch, on the principle that it's too simple for much to go wrong. ---snip--- Hi Interesting. I know how, just about every part of, a microwave oven works and I wouldn't have done this. I'd have thrown the thing away and bought another at a garage sale. You also have to realize that I'm the kind of fellow that once did a field repair on broken points spring of a car with some cardboard, tape and several springs from some ballpoint pens. It got me home. Also, I doubt that a normal wall light switch is rated for that large of an inductive load. Dwight

20 years, 5 months

Dec Manuals

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

BTW - I have no interest in most of those manuals. If there are any specific to the 8E, and I don't already have them, then I'd want just those. The rest will go to people on the list, after Al scans the ones he wishes to scan. I've kept track of the responses ... they appear to be spoken for several times over. More to follow.... Jay

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))

by Lee.Davison＠merlincommunications.com

> A transistor can avalanche and not recover without removing the > power. A tube can recover with the power on, as long as the metal > don't ionize. Not true, a flashover in a valve is just as destructive as a similar condition in a transistor and cannot be snubbed without removing the supplies. We have big crowbar switches here. Lee. ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________

20 years, 5 months

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test-drb July 2004