test-drb April 2005

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

269 participants
730 discussions

Appraisals, value, the 'Market' was Re: And $500 gets you...

by eric＠brouhaha.com

Vince wrote: > I think it's like confusing Silicon Valley (or Portland, Oregon) with the > world :-). Maybe if I lived and worked where you do, I would see hundreds > of different venues doing a brisk business in this stuff. If only!!! In my experience it's easier to find interesting old stuff just about anywhere *other* than in Silicon Valley. I find more in Colorado, which I visit a few times a year, than I do in SV. But don't everybody rush to Colorado to grab all the good stuff before I get there! Eric

19 years, 8 months

Navtel 9460 Protocol Analyzer info?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I found this today. Does anyone have a manual or any information on it? It looks very similar to this 9440 on E-bay <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=97190&item=750632019 5&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW> Joe

19 years, 8 months

And $500 gets you...

by marvin＠rain.org

I maintain that Ebay does reflect the state of the market subject to a couple of limitations. 1) Ebay is a *retail* venue although bargains can be had. 2) Looking at *only* the final bid price to determine value is stupid! My general rule of thumb is to go back to the third highest bidder as that eliminates the "game players" who bid with the "Oh yea, take this" mentality. For myself, unless something is offered at substantially less that what I think it is worth, I don't bid. Not regularly checking ebay now helps with this approach :). > A while ago I was discussing EBay-like prices with people (for old > computer stuff). Their argument was that EBay prices reflect the true > state of the market and the true worth of classic computer items. > > I can see their side of it I suppose; I was just amazed that - coming > from a buying point of view - they just didn't believe that a world > existed outside of EBay. Which is fine by me if they want to keep on > paying EBay prices for things (whether they believe they're being ripped > off or not) - I'll just carry on using my brain and getting hold of > things via other routes.

19 years, 8 months

Popular Electronics magazine on eBay

by swtpc6800＠comcast.net

I have been collecting Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics for research on Southwest Technical Products for my web site. I used my library database to determine which issues I need and buy them on eBay. With shipping it cost $10 to $20 for a year of issues. In the last week I was looking for Popular Electronics issues September and October 1964 and a better cover for May 1965. An auction including these issues just when for $27 plus shipping. Another one is now going for $51 (Item 6955461806). I thinking what is going on, these prices are way out of line. It takes me a while to scan the pages I want and I still have a backlog to work through. I can wait. Then I realized that both auctions include the April 1965 issue of Popular Electronics. Hey folks, Intel is looking for the April 1965 "Electronics" not "Popular Electronics" "Intel Corp. has posted a $10,000 reward for an original copy, in mint condition, of the April 19, 1965, issue of Electronics, the technical publication in which Intel's founder, Gordon Moore, made his famous forecast.' Michael Holley http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/magazines.htm

19 years, 8 months

Oscilloscope question

by wacarder＠usit.net

I'm rapidly approaching the point where I will need to learn how to use an oscilloscope as part of my quest to learn more about debugging the old DEC hardware. What kind of advice can folks offer to me about a decent scope and some info on how to use one? I think I used one 30 years ago in school, but it's been so long that I remember little-to-nothing about it. One of my first exercises might be to attempt a head alignment on an RK05 drive using an alignment pack. I have all the documentation for the drive maintenance, etc. What kind of scope would I need and how much does one cost? Are there any good web sites that would give some basic info on "scopes for dummies" or "scopes for beginners"? Thanks in advance for your advice. This is a never-ending learning experience. Ashley

19 years, 8 months

SYM-1 vs KIM-1 (was Re: MOS Kim-1 Any idea of it's worth/value?)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 13 2005, 20:51, Ethan Dicks wrote: > On 4/13/05, Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey at amd.com> wrote: > > >What's the part number? I might be able to help (I have tubes of > > >8641s, for example). > > > > I'm looking for a DP8303 but with some software > > changes I could most likely get a DP8304 to work. > > Oooh... you are right... that is an unusual one. I don't even > recognize the number. Do you have specs? Would it be possible to get > the right functionality (current drive, etc.) with more than one chip > on a daughter card and plug it into the socket for the DP8303? > > Wish I could help. > > Wonder why they picked something that was so far out of mainstream. They weren't unusual; I've seen quite a few on early 8-bit machines. The DP8304 is an octal tri-state non-inverting bidirectional transceiver, with PNP inputs and 48mA/300pF drive capability on the B outputs, 16mA on the A outputs (all of which are TTL and MOS compatible). ___ ___ A0 | 1 20 | Vcc A1 | 2 19 | B0 A2 | 3 18 | B1 A3 | 4 17 | B2 A4 | 5 16 | B3 A5 | 6 15 | B4 A6 | 7 14 | B5 A7 | 8 13 | B6 CD | 9 12 | B7 GND |10__11_| TRAN/notREC CD is Chip Disable; low enables the tri-state outputs TRAN/notREC low makes A output and B input TRAN/notREC high makes A input and B output DP8303 is the same but inverting; DP8307 and DP8308 are similar but with separate Transmit and Receive inputs. All were still current when my 1996 Nat Semi databook was printed, but the DP8304 was the most common, in my experience. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

19 years, 8 months

DEC H734A?

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

(Resending to see if I can catch "the right" people this time.) In a haul of DEC (and other) stuff last week, I got a DEC H734A power supply, not attached to anything. Can anyone tell me what this goes to? Google doesn't have very many hits, and it's not on the the qbus/unibus field guide. Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

19 years, 8 months

SYM-1 vs KIM-1 (was Re: MOS Kim-1 Any idea of it's worth/value?)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > >On 4/13/05, Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey at amd.com> wrote: >> >What's the part number? I might be able to help (I have tubes of >> >8641s, for example). >> >> I'm looking for a DP8303 but with some software >> changes I could most likely get a DP8304 to work. > >Oooh... you are right... that is an unusual one. I don't even >recognize the number. Do you have specs? Would it be possible to get >the right functionality (current drive, etc.) with more than one chip >on a daughter card and plug it into the socket for the DP8303? > >Wish I could help. > >Wonder why they picked something that was so far out of mainstream. > >-ethan > Hi I don't need the fancy differences in the currents. One side drives a higher current than the other. The actual circuit would work fine with a little simple glue logic and a pair of '240 TTL's. It just has to drive the bus on the SYM and a little bit of circuit on the on board bus. I'm just a little lazy at getting around to actually doing it. The right chip would peak my interest. Dwight

19 years, 8 months

new classiccmp.org service

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

As many of you have probably seen, the ClassicCmp KnowledgeBase has been announced in Evan's Computer Collector Newsletter. It is my sincere hope that this feature will be of use, not only for seasoned collectors but also for "newbies" just getting in to the hobby (or most wonderfully, maybe pushing a bystander to finally get into the hobby). The knowledgebase software that I chose has some great features, but it also has some bugs. Most notably the penchant for apostrophe's in articles to randomly be escaped as \'. The bugs will be worked out eventually. Note that I have been in contact with the author of the software, and an email interface IS on the schedule of todo's. It will likely be along the lines of sending an email to a special address with a body containing "show articles", and a list of articles with categories gets emailed back. Then you could email something like "show article xxxxx" and get that article is emailed back to you. You could also submit articles and comments via email in an automated fashion. There is no timetable for the email interface, but I wanted to let people know that it won't be forgotten. Of course, the web interface is already there :) This knowledgebase is NOT going to be a replacement for the ClassicCmp lists. Rather, it is meant to augment them as a repository of the somewhat frequent "golden nuggets of wisdom" that appear on the list in a form that is more usable than the archives. In addition, it is meant to keep certain subjects from being rehashed over and over again. When someone new brings up "how do I.....", we can point them to "see knowledge base article XXXX". I want to keep the knowledge base clean (and ensure it doesnt edge into competing with the list) by being quite rigorous about the editing/moderation of submitted articles. In the moderation process I want to make sure that the "comment" feature does not become "conversational". Think of it more as a reference guide, not a novel. It is my hope than when a wonderful tidbit of information appears on the list, that the person posting that will consider writing up a short article for the knowledge base as well. Bear in mind that articles do not need to be large multi-paragraph writeups (although it's great when they are). They can be as brief as a few sentences, or as long as many paragraphs. The topic can be extremely general, or very specific in focus. Feel free to comment (add-to) or submit new articles, even if a similar one is already there. Don't feel you have to be an electronics expert to submit an article. For example, we could use an article about storage of systems to keep mold/pests out. We could use an article on tips for building shelves for manuals, cable management, etc. And yes, we could use an article about basic switching mode power supply troubleshooting. There have been past posts to the list that I would be happy to write up for the knowledge base, however I'm slightly leary of doing that because I think the person who takes the time to write up the knowledge base article should get credit for it (their name as the poster). But of course I don't want to post an article of text that someone ELSE posted to the list and "take credit" for it. I'd just as soon see the person who posted the info to the list write up the knowledgebase article. But perhaps I will post things from the list with both names, the article writer and the information provider as an alternative. The knowledgebase feature grew out of my current task of rewriting the list FAQ. As I was going through it, it occured to me that the FAQ should really be about the list specifically, and not about classic computing in general- ie.. a list FAQ, not a computer FAQ. The old faq did have some good computer faq info, so instead of including that information in the list FAQ I created the knowledgebase and put that information there. Now that that is done, I can go back and revisit the written FAQ and make it specific to just the list which I feel is more appropriate. And yes, you can expect some other new features on the ClassicCmp.org website soon, there's quite a few more interesting things in the way of new services coming up there in the not to distant future. They are currently being worked on and will be announced when complete! They will also be simultaneously announced in the Computer Collector Newsletter. The ClassicCmp Knowledge base is currently available at http://www.classiccmp.org/kb but links will be added to it from the main page at some point soon. Kind regards... Jay West

19 years, 8 months

GW-Basic

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf at siconic.com> > >On Wed, 13 Apr 2005, John Foust wrote: > >> >> The GW-BASIC name stands for Gee-Whiz BASIC. >> >So, which is it? >> >> As he said, we have to ask Bill Gates. > >I'll just stick with "Gee Whiz" since no one's ever heard of "Greg >Whitten" ;) > >> Dr. Whitten also added in a follow-up: >> >> "I also know something about Intecolor 8001 and Compucolor II machines >> because I was Director of Software for ISC from 1978-1979. I bought an >> ISC 8001 in Jan 77 and worked for them as a consultant in 77 and 78." > >Cool, I've got both. Maybe he can help me get them working when he's not >busy having lunch with Bill G. > >-- > >Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival The only think I thought, as I read his point of view, was that since he was so great at coding and projects at uSoft, why has the product been so shitty for the years he was there and finally looks like it has begin to stablize once he was gone? Dwight

19 years, 8 months

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test-drb April 2005