> The TI would definitely be worth saving and restoring.
There is a fair amount of documentation on them on bitsavers.
What is lacking is software. Any TI OS distributions would be
a great thing to get archived.
They are 16 bit accumulator-style minis (as opposed to the
registers-in-memory arch of the 990)
--al (who has a 980A and disk ctlr, but no software)
The TI would definitely be worth saving and restoring. If no one else
wants it I would take it for sure. This is my first contact with this
group. For the people who know me, the IBM 1130 has been picked up in
Austria and should arrive by ship around Nov 10. Bob Message: 21 Date:
Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:11:09 -0600 From: Tim Riker <Tim at Rikers.org>
Subject: Re: Texas Instruments 980A minicomputer?? To: General
Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <4343525D.5020103 at Rikers.org> Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=us-ascii steven stengel wrote:
>> Hmmm,
>>
>> Someone has a Texas Instrument 980A Computer, with two
>> Diablo Series 30 Hard Drives, circa 1972, to offer. Do
>> I want it??
>
>
Wow. 2 in one day? Sure.
I can find you someone that'll want it.
I saw one in salvage a while back, but it was gutted so I didn't grab it.
Just a quick note concerning the ongoing re-implementation of Q-Link:
We publicly unveiled the project at the Fall SWRAP EXPO in Chicago. The
demo went well, with many trying the service for the first time in 11
years or more.
Prior to the EXPO, as noted in some places, we moved the server to a
commercial hosting facility. Mark Ponter and associates of Legend Tech
gave us space and bandwidth on their OC-3 connected co-located servers.
Following EXPO, I took a breather, and then started the next push,
preparinng the rest of the system for the November 5, 2005 20th
Anniversary.
Work has now shifted from functionality to beefing up the
infrastructure. Code cleanup, refactoring, etc.
Last week, I added support for multiple screen names on an account (up
to 5), and also added a questionaire to obtain City and State (and
Country) information from users, to populate the "IDENTIFY" menu item in
Q-Link PEOPLE CONNECTION. I also added a feature to allow changing uer
names on the fly without logging out of the service (something Q-Link
had originally, but was removed throughout much of the original
service's lifetime.)
This week, I am cleaning up the PEOPLE CONNECTION (chat) codebase,
trying to squash a last remaining bug or two. I am also working on a
new feature to be hopefully unveiled this weekend.
Most of the base service is functional, with the exception of uploads
(just need time to implement), Having the system pick partners for
PEOPLE CONNECTION games,(not exactly sure how this worked, what the
dialogs said, etc. Anyone who has information, email me please), and the
Box Office (never worked in the real Q-Link either, but still...
Mainly, the menu items and message bases need to be cleaned up and
fleshed out.
Along the way, word was received on some of the Q-Link mailing lists,
and a number of "classic" Q-Linkers have arrived back on the system (Sir
Fitz, DonnaS4, KsLass, SkyLine, and the owner of Bonnie's Bar, BonnieB3,
to name a few). The stories they tell of the original service are
worthy of a book (Qmoms, QDads, QMarriages, Qfamilies, Qbrothers,
Qsisters, the QBashes, etc.).
On a further note, as part of the 20th Anniversary festivities, the
system/service will be demonstrated by the reverse engineer guru
himself, Keith Henrickson, at the Vintage Computer Festival on November
5th and 6th in Mountain View, CA. (http://www.vintage.org/2005/main/)
I hope you can either attend the festival or log on during that time.
We're lining up prizes and other fun activites for the anniversary.
A couple weekly items have started already. Dark Vulcan has started
weekly TRIVIA games in the PEOPLE CONNECTION TRIVIA room on Tuesday
nights @8Central, and DonnaS4 has a ORPHANS room on Thursday nights for
the returning Q-Linkers.
We even have a 2 minute video "trailer" that Fixxer made. He is working
on fleshing it out and making another. Very impressive. We'll post
when they are ready.
More help is always appreciated. If you have memories, would like to
help in development, or just want to staff a room, please contact us.
More information is at: www.quantum-link.org
--
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
brain at jbrain.comhttp://www.jbrain.com
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
> From your description, it already sounds like I need to
> start shopping for a bench grinder.
A grinder is way too fast for polishing plastic (unless you mind divots
and burns). Though it would be hand-held, you might want to try a buffer
first (much slower).
>> Looking for the CP/M boot disk and related software for
>> the original Furguson BigBoard ... Guy I got mine from
>> last year has been looking, but so far has come up dry on
>> the disks for it (thinks they must have been tossed).
>>
>> Can anyone provide me with images? (which I will of course
>> make available in the archive as well).
>Cool! (somebody send it to him, I need the above too).
>
>I have full schematics and docs with mine, in case you didn't get that
>perhaps I should digitize and upload it.
>
>Mine *might* need a BIOS chip. It came from Honeywell in St. Paul,
>where they had targeted it at some embedded controller operation where
>they had it running a custom BIOS with their code. I got a BIOS image
>from someone but thus far STILL haven't powered it up with the
>replacement BIOS.
I do have the schematics and docs. Mine has a BIOS chip, although I believe
it was slightly modified for a different terminal (still trying to get the
details) It was a working CP/M system when it was taken out of service -
The guy is looking for the original BIOS ROM which he thinks he still has
(but it might be with the disks). I also have a full set of Micro Cornucopia,
and some of the articals provide useful information - let me know if you
are looking for any details in particular.
I know the BB is very similar to the Xerox 820 ... I have a working 820-II
with system disks ... does anyone know if these might be compatible? I also
know where there is an 820 (original version) close by, but I don't know if
he has disks for it...
If anyone has the original BB disks, I would very much like to obtain an
image of them.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
Looking for the CP/M boot disk and related software for
the original Furguson BigBoard ... Guy I got mine from
last year has been looking, but so far has come up dry on
the disks for it (thinks they must have been tossed).
Can anyone provide me with images? (which I will of course
make available in the archive as well).
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
Sridhar wrote:
>>Dan Williams wrote:
>>>Sridhar wrote:
>>>I live in Morse's hometown. 8-)
>> Oxford ?
>Later in life.
Are we entirely sure we're both talking about
the same Morse :-) I think Dan might be alluding
to Colin Dexter's creation rather than the
failed painter.
Antonio
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>
>Subject: Re: Tony's kit, was: Re: USB Stuff
> From: Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 19:45:19 -0400
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>Cameron Kaiser wrote:
>>>>Actually it doesn't. I am looking at a monochrome green screen at the
>>>>moment. OK, I do have colour monitors around here....
>>>
>>>I know I've asked this before but I don't recall the answer. What
>>>exactly *do* you use to connect to the Internet?
>>
>>
>> Smoke signals. Checksum's a pain, though.
>
>Hmmm... Encrypted IP over smoke signals. Do I feel an RFC coming on?
>
>Peace... Sridhar
IP over Morse (CW) nearest to smoke but, still electronic!
I think I'll run for cover.. NOW.
Allison
