Hi Guys,
I noticed all of you had nostalgic interest in the Synertek VIM-1. I have one, in its old yellowed box, postmarked July, 1978. While I had grandiose intentions when I originally got it, I never put it to use. If any of you have an interest in it, let me know.
Rick Wheeler
This is off the topic of Classic Computers but in 10 years it will be on
topic. I just want to get some answers NOW so that maybe this computer
will be around in 10 years.
I run XP and Netscape 7.2
I would like to make a backup on CD-RW once a month. In the old days
when storage space was precious there were programs that allowed you to
backup ONLY the files on the computer that had been updated or added
since the last backup. I would like to do the same but haven't found
the method.
OR in the alternative, I would like to do a FULL backup to a second HD
that WOULD BE BOOTABLE by just swapping the HD when the main drive
craters, which seems to be the main failure I have, about once every two
years.
Secondly I would like to know how the save on a floppy or CD all my
Netscape email archives and address book and Web Bookmarks and then how
to merge them BACK into a new install of Netscape without erasing what
is already there. The last time my HD cratered I had saved the address
book but nothing else but I could never get it back on to the new install.
>These two, and another one that I am aware of locally
>appear to function, but are suffering from the well known
>"bad floppy syndrome", although one of the units does
>boot from the B: drive (yes, the hyperion will boot from
>either drive).
>
>Anyone know the details of the floppy drive issues?
>(This is a well known problem with Hyperions - I just
> never paid attention to it)
>Anyone ever fixed a faulty Hyperion drive?
The last couple of hours have yielded very satisfying
results ... both machines and all four disk drives are
now humming along perfectly....
The problem turned out to be very simple - the drives
have a head load solinoid, and it was sticking - kept
the heads from contacting the media. A bit of cleaning
and very light lubrication and all appears to be well.
More of a problem getting the drives out than actually
fixing them - I read somewhere that one of the big
makers had looked at the Hyperion and decided to build
their own due to "concerns regarding servicability".
I would have to agree with that!
I wonder if this is the issue which earned the drives
the reputation as being highly unreliable.... ???
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
> If anyone has the manual (not sure of its exact title) describing the
>modifications necessary to connect an ETA-3400 to an ET-3400, please email
>me on or off-list.
>
Greetings,
I received several requests for these:
Microprocessor Trainer ET-3400
part number 595-2021-06, copyright date 1977
113 Pages + 3 set Foldout + "price list 10/20/80".
Memory and Input/Output Accessory for the ET-3400
part number 595-2271-01, copyright date 1979
95 pages.
Memory Input/Output Accessory ETA-3400 (Assembly)
part number 595-2170-03, copyright date 1979
57 Pages. + 1 set Foldout.
Modification Kit for the Heathkit ET/ETW-3400 and 3400A
Microprocessor Trainers Model ETA-3400/EWA-3400.
part number 597-1954-02, copyright ????
21 Pages.
I have scanned, and put them here:
www.jcosper.com/heathkit.html
Later, James.
Picked up a couple of Hyperions yesterday - if anyone
doesn't know what these are, they are the first portable
IBM-PC compatible (well - the Hyperion was "mostly"
compatible :-) - Made here in Ottawa Canada, they didn't
last long due to chronic floppy drive problems and
incompatibility issues (and the fact that Compaq came
out with a reliable/compatible portable shortly afterward).
These two, and another one that I am aware of locally
appear to function, but are suffering from the well known
"bad floppy syndrome", although one of the units does
boot from the B: drive (yes, the hyperion will boot from
either drive).
Anyone know the details of the floppy drive issues?
(This is a well known problem with Hyperions - I just
never paid attention to it)
Anyone ever fixed a faulty Hyperion drive?
Regards,
Dave
Btw: If anyone needs scans: I got a big load of Hyperion
documenation with the machines, including the service
manual and Technical Reference manual.
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
This just posted in comp.os.cpm:
(oh WHY couldn't he have been in Canada!)
-------------------------------------------
From: "Alf Jacob Munthe" <alfjacob(a)dcpost.no>
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: IMSAI 8080
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 14:18:56 +0200
Organization: PowerTech Information Systems AS
Hi!
I do have an IMSAI 8080 in very good condition, together with quite a few
S-100 cards and of course original handbook and manuals for most of the
cards. It is way too heavy to send, and costly, especially to US. But if
anybody that reads this can pick it up here in southern Norway, I am willing
to sell everything at a very good price. I am cleaning up my estate due to
illness and age.
Regards,
Alf Jacob Munthe, LA6XF
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
On 26/09/2004 Geoff Reed wrote:
>>Well, you brought this discussion to the list. I was just amazed
>>that nobody else commented on it.
>
>because many of us knew Don, and preserving his work is pretty much exactly
>what he would have wanted.
I just don't think you should bother a family with issues of this
sort so short after someone's passing. Don's wife obviously didn't
know anything about his efforts and might not appreciate someone
advising her what to do with his collection at this moment.
>and posting it to the list and getting yourself flamed here is any better?
I don't see why I deserve to be flamed by anybody.
Greetings, Jos
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On 26/09/2004, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> > What do others think of this ?
>
>Why do you find this to be a topic needing to be discussed publicly on the
>list? I suggest you would have been better served if you wrote to me
>directly about this. Instead, you've simply pointed out what an ass you
>are.
Well, you brought this discussion to the list. I was just amazed
that nobody else commented on it.
Besides, I doubt that I have the stomach to send you mail privately,
judging from the archives you are not a very gentle person.
Greetings, Jos
_________________________________________________________________
Get the latest polyphonic ringtones at MSN Mobile Fun!
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http://www.epemag.com/zuse/part4a.htm
Funny, one of the fore-mentioned URLS on the Z3 state that it wasn't
stored-program, but there's also this tantalizing tidbit from the page:
"Due to the fact that he wanted to calculate thousands of instructions
in a meaningful order, he only used the memory to store values or
numbers."
I wish I could remember where I read that Zuse thought stored-program
and self-modification of programs was, in effect, Wrong, not simply 'not
a good technical idea'.
The above quote is strange, it implies to me that if programs and data
are in the same store, the resulting program would 'get out of order'.
We know that of course this IS possible (bugs, self-mod ruins a program,
etc) but somehow we've learned to carry on in spite of this horrible
limitation.
Even von Neumann originally thought self-mod a problem -- if you read
the original (not later edits) of the EDVAC paper you'll see he
specifies a bit of memory-content to differentiate data vs. program, to
prevent programs from changing themselves. It was soon dropped though,
I'd have to look up the dates, but by the time anything got built the
data/prog bit was gone.
JvN got a lot of cred for the 'stored program' concept but I can tell
you from reading original materials (1938 - 1945) that it was a very
well understood concept at the time (hell it's bloody obvious when you
sit down to write up a design; memory is a huge stumble, and re-using
your sole store cuts size in half at slight increase in complexity, no
matter how insightful you were about what you were doing), he was the
first to record it, maybe, but he didn't think it up. Note that he never
claimed to have, either.
In fact I'd go so far as to say that JvN didn't really get computing *at
all*. He was a terrifyingly brilliant man, but he also was savvy enough
to not persue areas in which he was not top-of-the-pile; he curtailed
his involvement in computing pretty early.
The data/prog mem bit thing is in here somewhere
http://wps.com/projects/EDVAC/index.html
but I don't feel like reading it all again.
In fact, I'll go so far as to say that few people, even those BUILDING
machines, really had any idea what they really were. Turing knew, and
said so -- the ACE REPORT even states that electronic computers don't
"do" arithmetic, they "simulate" it, that's good enough, it's all about
manipulating symbols, not counting and arithmetic, yet look at the
instruction sets of machines ACTUALLY BUILT; they SUCKED at symbol
processing. Hell my LGP-21 barely has an AND instruction, no OR, no
right-shift (except hardware divide). Look at all the EDVAC-thread
machines that *got built*; look at Turing's ACE design vs. what got
built in Pilot ACE (they took out all the logical instructions he
designed in!) Hardware complexity is not the reason; the low-level
logical stuff is the easiest to implement -- it's basically free,
without carry an adder does OR, float augend in it does NOT, set
carry+float augend it does INCREMENT, 2's-COMPLEMENT, etc etc.
In fact, I asked a few of our grad students, programmers all (!) 'what a
computer is' and/or 'what makes it unique' and even today, few either
have the knowledge or perspective to know it's 'the machine that
modifies itself'. Sheesh.
