test-drb August 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

283 participants
661 discussions

by jhfinexgs2＠compsys.to

>JOHN MCCANCE wrote: > good morning jerome, > yes, this remains the correct snail mail address. > and no, i am not tired of waiting. there are always many other > amusements to tend to ;-} Jerome Fine replies: Hi John, I tried to send the following e-mail. but it bounced. I hope this will arrive! After I tried to send this e-mail to you and send a reply to an old e-mail, I am sending it to both you and classiccmp. The classiccmp version leaves the address details omitted, so if that is the only one that reaches you, please fill them in! ============================================ At this point, after many delays - most of which are my fault - I am about to mail the CDs. They are actually ready to be taken to the Post Office to be mailed. I want to check on your address first, so please respond! John W. McCance aaaaaa aaaaaa aaaaaa Thank you for being so patient!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

21 years, 1 month

Ohio Scientific Challenger 4P/MF

by JMeyer101＠aol.com

Hello Graeme, Thank you! This should help alot. Apparently this computer uses a floppy drive. Do you happen to know where I can pick one up? Thanks again, Jeff Meyer

21 years, 1 month

Seeking Strawberry Tree or LabTech (Laboratory Technologies) software

by vcf＠siconic.com

Has anyone got any old Strawberry Tree Inc. or LabTech (Laboratory Technologies, now National Instruments) data acquisition software? I've been getting periodic requests for specific software packages from these companies and am hoping I can find some. This is a bounty so this could be worth money. Thanks! -- 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 ]

21 years, 1 month

Zilog Z8038 Z-FIO document available

by vax3900＠yahoo.com

I copied the Z8038 part from the book "The Z8000 microprocessor, A design handbook" by Bradly, K. Fawcett. I remember that somebody on the list tried to make a collection of zilog chip documents. I'd like to mail the 20 pages to him. Please send me email if it is you. Thanks. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

21 years, 1 month

Xerox Alto Restoration + Emulation

by cbajpai＠comcast.net

This I find very cool...esp since I scored an Xerox Alto Users handbook (thanks Bob!) at VCF/East. Has anyone every heard of these guys.they seem to up in Canada and are painstakingly restoring an Xerox Alto I since April 2003. AINOTL begins restoration of Xerox Alto 1 April 2003 AINOTL Systems, Inc. (AINOTL) is pleased to announce the restoration of a Xerox Alto 1 computer (1972). Only 200 were hand-made at the Xerox PARC research facility - we have the only one known to exist. The Alto featured the world's first What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editor, a commercial mouse for input, a graphical user interface (GUI), and bit-mapped display, and offered menus and icons, linked to a local area networks (first Ethernet device), implemented electronic mail, and stored files simultaneously. The webpage goes into great details of how they are restoring the hardware along with a lot of pictures. http://www.ainotl.com/alto.html All this Alto fascination has got me wondering if anyone is working on Alto emulation.If not I'd be interesting in starting this dauting task, but don't think I know where to start. Do binaries of the ROM/OS/Applications exist? I'm sure Al Kossow must have Alto hardware docs. Are there any roadblocks in trying to build an Alto Emulator (I've always wondered why an Alto Emulator doesn't exists yet.but I ask the same of my 2nd favorite machine - the Apple Lisa). Anyone else interested in undertaking this task? -Chandra

21 years, 1 month

Pro350 VAX console?

by waltje＠pdp11.nl

Hi all. Last week I grabbed a what seems to be "pristine" DEC Pro350 which was in use as a VAX console.. the VAX interconnect cable is still attached to it. Now, before I strip it to become a regular Pro.. would it be useful to save the disk's current content? I seem to remember a discussion on that stuff being hard to find... Thanks, Fred

21 years, 1 month

Electronics Barn closing

by evan947＠yahoo.com

John, Here in Jersey there's a place called Green Brook Electronics, on Rt. 22 in Green Brook -- (732) 968-3500.

21 years, 1 month

Mistake in AP story about Steve Jobs...

by news＠computercollector.com

Hi all... I just read this AP story about Jobs having surgery for a non-fatal form of cancer. The story is here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040802/ap_on_bi_ge/stev… I called the AP's office to report the mistake that you'll all notice: in the story's next-to-last paragraph, it says "In 1984, the company released the Macintosh, which was the first computer to have a graphical user interface that mimicked a physical desktop." I ** cringed ** when I read that. As most of you know by now, I'm a tech reporter for a living, and a collector, and thus HATE when the mainstream media doesn't even make an attempt to get this shit right. So I explained to an AP editor what the mistake is. I explained to him that the distinction is NOT a tiny technical loophole, but rather a glaring error that anyone who knows anything about computer history will laugh at (after they finish crying). I could understand a weekend reporter making this mistake, but in the story's byline it says the writer is a technology reporter. You'd think he would know the difference... - Evan

21 years, 1 month

8" floppy project

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

I'm working on a PC-based external 8" floppy drive, mostly to be able to format the 30-40 pounds of perforated placemats (aka bulk-erased RX02 disks) in my garage, and to be able to archive the few PDP-8 and Xerox systems disks, games disks, diags and source disks I have, but don't have the equipment to run. I've discussed this in pieces here, but I'm ready to try to actually put it all together. The first order of business is an interface cable for a standard ISA floppy/IDE controller. I've found this pinout: http://tinyurl.com/5c5fb but no confirmation that it actually worked with a YD-180 drive, which is what I have available. Second issue is powering the drive. YE Data's schematics say +24VDC, max 1.0A, typical 0.4A, and 5VDC, max 1.0A and typical 0.4A. However, I've also found Usenet posts claiming a peak draw of 24VDC(a)2.2A and 5VDC(a)1.7A, so I'm inclined to be generous. I'm also not at all versed in electronics, so I'm not sure what to look for past those specs. Jameco has these units: http://tinyurl.com/3lpjc PWR SPLY,SWITCH(D-60B)58W, 5V@3A,24V@1.8A,UL/TUV/CE Jameco #123465 http://tinyurl.com/4whtu PWR SPLY,SWITCH,45W,5VDC@5A, 24VDC(a)1.8A,PFC,UL/CSA/CE/TUV Jameco #194870 http://tinyurl.com/6fpp9 PWR SPLY,SWITCH,65W,5VDC@6A 24VDC(a)2.6A,PFC,UL/CSA/CE/TUV Jameco #194896 http://tinyurl.com/64rml PWR SUPPLY,SW,65W,5V/7A, 12V/3.2A,2.4V/1.5A,MIN,LOADREQ Jameco #215706 Which is most suitable for an external floppy enclosure? If "none of the above", what am I missing? At the risk of heresy, right now I don't have time to be educated in the issues; just point me in the right direction and shove, please. :) BTW, I'll be more than glad to list and share the software I have. After it's archived, I'll be looking to give away the disks I can't use, or trade them for blanks. Thanks, Doc

21 years, 1 month

OT: IBM Electric typewriter servicing info needed.

by sastevens＠earthlink.net

This is offtopic for a Classic Computer list, but it's at least classic office equipment from IBM: I recently acquired and am trying to restore an IBM Electric Typewriter. This is a pre-Selectric machine, and even pre-Executive machine. My mother used an IBM Executive electric typewriter years ago to type church bulletins and misc. The machine I have is an IBM Type 11C according to the model plate on the bottom. The few references and pictures I have been able to find online make it appear this machine was new in the early to mid 1950's. I can't find any information about this type of machine anywhere. There are a few Classic Typewriter sites, but what I am looking for is servicing information, how and where to lubricate, etc. The typewriter works mostly fine, but a few keys hit much lighter than others and the carriage shift mechanism is sticky. I've already solved the issue of not being able to find ribbons by rewinding a new generic fabric ribbon onto the IBM spools. I want to restore this machine and use it for writing. There's an appeal to writing direct to paper that is missing in computer-based composition of text. I'd also love to find more resources for older pre-computer IBM equipment, and possibly a few more pieces of such equipment for my collection. IBM was once about Time Clocks and such, long before it was a computer company.

21 years, 1 month

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test-drb August 2004