>From: "Tom Jennings" <tomj(a)wps.com>
>
>THe worst part -- the motor had a trimpot in series with it, and that
>was the sole motor speed control -- and! -- tapes written at one speed
>adjustment could not be read at another speed!
>
>Of course I turned the pot, my fault. But just tapping it was enough. It
>was total crap.
>
Hi
Most of these motors used an internal centrifugal speed
governor. These were designed to work within some span
of input voltage. I would guess that the pot was to drop
the voltage to be within this range. If one was to adjust
the pot, there should be a range of adjustment that the
speed ( with load ) was relatively constant. One would
adjust the pot to be safely within this span.
Dwight
Yes, notice the number of bids. Somebody thinks he's got something
higly desireable, but doesn't.
I've found e-Bay, or ePay, or eGreed to be quite inflationary to sane
pricing thanks to too many people with too much time and money on their
hands. That coupled with 'sniping', makes eBay to me a last resort, if
I can't find something elsewhere.
The feeding frenzy at the end, or sniping, is now done by software that
submit your bid with seconds to spare, eliminating counter bids. People
are using computers to beat the eBay computers.
My friend suggested that the incremental bidding be changed to whatever
the MAXIMUM bid is placed. If the item is at $10 and you place a bid
for $100, the bid would then become $100, not $11.00. That would
eliminate a lot of counter bidding, and shills that bid up just to feel
out your maximum bid. Personally I think keeping the bidding secret
until the auction is over, would keep honest people honest. No one
scheme would be fair to everyone though.
I'll stick to swap meets, and other face-to-face deals, as I'll have
less competition. Everything is worthless until someone wants it and
puts some dinero down to prove it. I don't need some rich kid playing
games behind me when I'm dealing with someone one-on-one.
On the other side of the coin, it is hilariously laughable to see what
some people pay for very common items. Caveat Emptor.
Gary Hildebrand
St. Joseph, MO
I've come up with a way to read Heath hard-sectored disks with a 1797-style
controller (with some modifications). I've now archived all of my old disks
with only one unrecoverable error in an unused sector (not bad for media that
is approaching 30 years in age). I do seem to have run through *drives* at
an alarming rate, though I hope that the cleaning disks I have on order will
restore some of them. Is anyone interested in:
-Technical details (the method should work for many non-standard FM formats)?
-Having me read any H8 disks?
-Any distribution images that I might have?
Dan Lanciani
ddl(a)danlan.*com
http:/wps.com/temp/Terminet-300.jpg
Not for the squeamish. Four photos, arranged like so:
1 2
3 4
Keep in mind this was 1984, the damn thing weighed about 80 lbs, and was
maximally flaking out with a few pickets broken off the print fence.
Excuses, excuses...
Tim Pozar was the photographer.
OK, this one is bound to get a few responses:
List the best keyboards you have ever used. You might like the feel, number of
function keys, layout (let's not forget Dvorak or more esoteric designs) or
pure keyboard<->computer love (you might really get off on Vaxen).
My list is something like:
1. IBM Model M (original buckle-spring technology, still standing the test of
time)
2. Unicomp PC 5250 (two rows of function keys at the top upto F24 and a set of
10 on the left, can be bought new and 'broken in')
3. DEC LK421 (not-often-seen cut-size Unix programmers DEC keyboard)
4. Wyse WY-40 (very nice positive feel with sturdy base)
5. Early Chiconi PC keyboards (hopelessly rattly and cheap but engaging
'click' and quick to type on none-the-less)
6. My college used to have a computer room full of terminals, possibly Adds,
which had a very nice short travel and positive click keyboard).
7. ZX81 (simply because it was my first computer).
8. Cherry high end keyboards.
9. DEC keyboards with a 'Do' and 'Help' key.
10. SUN keyboards with 'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste' keys.
I'm a great fan of dedicated keys, and function keys on the left. Whoever
decided to put the out of reach at the top of the keyboard needs their head
examining!
There must have been some stonking keyboards attached to more vintage
hardware. I'd love to know about them (if that doesn't sound a bit weird!).
Mark.
--
Mark Wickens
Rhodium Consulting Ltd
The past couple of weeks weren't a complete lose. On my trip out of town
to find a generator I finally manage to pick up something that I've had my
eye on for quite a while. A 1944 made IBM (wait for it!) Carbine!
Yeap, a gun! A US model M1 .30 caliber carbine. This was made at IBM's #4
plant in Poughkeepsie, New York. According to the SN it was made between
January and March of 1944 and this one appears to be 99% original. The only
thing that appears to be non-original is the butt plate. All the other
parts are the right style and markings for the period/manufacturer. This
one even has orignal IBM manufacturered barrel and reciever (many were made
under sub-contract by Auto Ordanance and are of inferior quality). The
stock and handguard are interesting, they're marked BR-B (made for IBM by
Milton Bradley!!!).
Also picked up a mint LOW sn (~7000) Inland M1 ( made 1942!!) and a mint
Rockola M1. (Rockola manufactured juke boxs prior and subsequent to WW II).
I working on picking up a couple more including one made by National
Postal Meter and one made by UN-Quality and, with some luck, an ULTRA RARE
Irwin-Pederson. Wish me luck!
Joe
Hi, gang,
Cleaning up today, thanks to lousy weather, and I've come across a couple of items I don't need. First is a DEC VT220 Programmer Pocket Guide. This one'll be a freebie to whoever wants it IF you're in the United States (I can send it for less than a dollar via postal). If you're outside the US, I'd ask for the cost of postage to be covered.
Next up is a terminal emulation package made by Microplot. More specifically, it's called PC-PLOT-IV PLUS, and it is designed to, on a DOS PC, emulate the Tektronix 4010, 4014, and 4105 graphics terminals. It will also emulate a VT100. The 5.25" floppy disk says it's version 4.20J.
For that one, I'll let you tell me what it's worth by E-mailing an offer if you're interested.
Thanks much, there may be more to come as I uncover other hidey-holes.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"
The Museum of Computing is holding a launch party for its latest
exhibition, 'Computers on the Move' the history of mobile computing.
If anybody would like to join us you would be very welcome.
Monday 13th September, 18:00-20:30
The Museum of Computing
The University of Bath in Swindon
Oakfield Campus
Marlowe Ave
Swindon
SN3 3JR
Simon Webb
Curator, Museum of Computing
www.museum-of-computing.org.uk
Tel: 07939 582544
Hi:
I'm trying to track down a particular program from the Windows 95
beta program. I must have purged a bunch a while back by mistake.
Here's what I'm looking for...I can't remember if it's on the Win95
or DirectX beta disks, but it's some sort of space station demo that enables
you to access the various demo programs on the disk. Specifically, I'm
looking for the WAV and/or MIDI files from it.
If any remembers this and can put their hands on it, please let me
know off-list. Thanks.
Rich
Rich Cini
Collector of classic computers
Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
/************************************************************/
>From: cswiger <cswiger(a)widomaker.com>
>
>On Mon, 30 Aug 2004, Ed Chapel wrote:
>> Currently on eBay is an auction for a Poly 8810.
>> The seller shows pictures of the screen with random text garbage.
>> Anyone know if this is normal for these systems, if perhaps a boot disk is
>>
>Let me amend the last response - I'm ONLY speaking about the video
>card, I know nothing about the Poly systems, if a ROM is supposed to
>clear the display memory before hitting the disk or what ;) But
>what is shown is good power, video memory and signal.
>
>--Chuck
>
>
Hi
It is possible that someone has grabbed a video card out
of a Poly88 and stuck it in the Poly8810. This would require
changing the address select from D000H to 1800H of the video.
I believe ( as I reacll ) that the video is cleared right
at the first before the disk seek happens.
Dwight
