Do you know what the popular choice was?
++++++++++
Kevin Parker
Web Services Consultant
WorkCover Corporation
p: 08 8233 2548
m: 0418 806 166
e: kparker at workcover.com
w: www.workcover.com
++++++++++
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Eric Smith
Sent: Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: XT 5160
Kevin wrote:
> Can anyone advise what OS shipped with the IBM XT 5160 - I can't seem
> to find a definitive answer on the net.
None. IBM-DOS was available for separate purchase, as were several
other operating systems.
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Although many people on this list won't be particularly interested in
the auction part of this post, scan down a bit to read some more
traditional cctalk fare.
I want to bring notice to the sale of a compucolor machine on ebay.
They are rare enough that it seemed worth mentioning. Also, it is filed
in a category that would make it easy to miss (Computers, IT & Office >
Vintage).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5192237918…
It is located in Australia. There is about a day left.
disclaimer: I'm not the seller, but have bought disks from him before.
Since we are on the subject, the purchase of the said disks motivated me
to get my Compucolor working. I've had it for a couple of years but
between moving, having other old computers to tend to, and the fact that
it was reported to have produced smoke the last time it was powered up,
I never got around to it.
The first step was to check for any damaged components or traces, but
none were apparent, so I just gave it a go. Before the variac police
come and get me, it was powered up just before I received it.
Miraculously, it simply just worked. I imagine the smoke that the
original owner experience was due to dust on the CRT burning off. I
have no other explanation.
Anyway, the disk drive wouldn't read anything. I tried to INItialize a
blank disk but that failed too. Lacking a strobe or even fluorescent
lights, I couldn't tell from the tach disk on the drive if the speed was
off or not, but it seemed like a plausible cause for all the disks to be
dead (I should mention I scoped the read logic and it was detecting
transitions). I finally just twiddled with the speed pot to find that
the speed was way off. Although incandescents have a lot of glow during
the power line's zero crossing, near the right speed I could see the
strobe pattern well enough. The real reason I couldn't see the pattern
was that the speed had been so far off.
After adjusting the speed I was able to read most of the disks, although
sometimes with retries. Fortunately, all the disks that ISC put out for
the compucolor recorded all the programs on both sides (it was a single
sided drive) so even with hard sector failures I was able to get everything.
Now the main problem is pincushioning and color convergence. I did some
simple adjustments to improve color convergence, but without doing
something much more involved, it isn't possible to get all regions to
converge at the same time. For now I'll just live with the problem.
One of the disks that I have is the disk formatter program. ISC sold
preformatted disks at $10 for two, and they didn't supply the software
so that one could format the disks at home. Apparently late in the game
they relented and sold the formatter program, which eventually made its
way to me. Now I can mint more formatted disks (I hope -- I haven't
actually tried running the program yet).
Disks couldn't be formatted using other computers because of the hokey
(although dirt cheap) disk interface. The Compucolor has a TMS 5501
multifunction interface chip which contains, in part, a serial port
controller. This serial port controller is used for the RS-232 serial
port of the machine, and it is good up to 9600 baud (but there is no
hardware flow control). Anyway, ISC took advantage of an undocumented
test mode of the chip to drive the serial port at 8x speed. The disk
looks like a high speed serial channel and the data is simply
conditioned and drives the r/w head of the disk drive. I haven't looked
into it yet, but they must be encoding each real data byte into two
transmitted bytes in order to ensure sufficient transition density and
no accumulated DC bias. The net effect is that the disk holds only a
bit over 50 KB.
EBay tonight has an entire library of IBM manuals for sale, but one at a
time. Look in Vintage Computers. All from the same era. There's a
huge set for the 1401/1410 and associated peripherals that really belong
with all the hard workers at the museum. To bad somebody can't talk
this guy into donating them.
He also had many other early floppy manuals - Shugart, PerSci, Seimens
etc. And a little something from many of the early systems - Intel,
Mostek, etc.
It's a damn shame that this lot wasn't donated or sold so it could stay
together instead of being scattered to the wind. I hope that those who
are interested get what they bid on.
Billy
At 19:04 08/05/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>Richard A. Cini wrote:
>> There's also a commercial Pocket PC-XT ($40), and a port of the MAME
>
>Do you have more information on this? I would love to carry around a pocket XT
>(that didn't cost $200 like HP 200lx's do)
He may have been referring to pocketdos, which I've just checked, and can be
found at: www.pocketdos.com - IIRC it was about $40 - but the catch is that
you have to have a WinCE based handhelp - Pocketdos is just a software package
which emulates an XT on these devices.
I bought pocketdos, and aside from their registration system being a bit
clumsy (long user key to enter) and being tied to the ID of your handheld,
I have been pretty happy with it.
I haven't updated mine in a while (haven't found any problems), but I assume
the current version is very similar.
It simulates an 80186 and the hardware of an XT - so it knows the extra
stack instructions, no form of protected mode at all (which means no DOS
extender). On my viewsonic V37 which is a 400Mhz x-scale, IIRC it does the
equivlent of a 25Mhz processor, which is a tad on the slow side, but fast
enough for most DOS stuff. IIRC it's looks like a text mode CGA screen, and
I don't recall if there is any graphic capability or not.
It comes with DataLight ROMdos, which so far has worked for all of my
stuff, and you can define your own boot disk if you want to boot something
else. It has utilities to map "disk drives" to directories on the native
OS, and can also talk to the serial port (which I use as a portable download
station).
It's a but clumsy typing on the little keyboard, but they do provide a virtual
mouse driver for the screen - if anyone is interested, I wrote a little DOS
based file manager which lets you manipulate files, run apps etc. by tapping
lists and menus on the screen.
To put a bit of OT info in here, I carry all of my simulators on mine - if I
get the urge to show someone what it's like to boot up the Altair or H8, I can
do so "most anywhere" ...
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
I'm going to be picking up some manuals from a guy in Northern NJ. He
told me he also has a bunch of IBM Mainframe manuals. I'm not sure what
all that means. I'm not interested in them, but I told him I might be
able to come up with some people that are. To the best of my knowledge
the stuff will be free, but it is pickup only.
So if anyone is interested in IBM Mainframe manuals, and can pickup stuff
>from North Eastern NJ (Franklin Lakes area), and would like me to pass on
their email address to the guy, then let me know what address you want me
to give him.
If no one that can pickup speaks up, I'll take a note of what he has (if
it isn't much, I may just grab it), and I can ship to others for cost of
shipping (plus a buck or two for the gas to pick it up).
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
I have a Tally 420PR paper tape punch mechanism with no
electronics, and would like to build a driver board for it. I have
a DEC PC8E (M840) interface card for my 8/A project which would be
the logical starting point. I was able to find a schematic of the
punch online but no other manual or information.
The solenoids run on -48VDC but I have no data as to pulse widths
and duration, or even the speed of the mechanism (30cps?) There
are solenoids for each of eight (data) punch pins, a sprocket-hole
punch, tape feeder (which also operates a contact to actuate the
forward ratchet mechanism), and reverse ratchet (for rubout I
assume).
Any ideas? I am not sure how much of the timing is generated by
the M840 card and how much by the M710 inside the PC04 assembly.
Also, the connector is a Continental 25034-16P. Does anyone have a
mating female connector?
thanks
Charles
>Last night after some googling I came up with a //e emulator and a
>"Pocket Atari 2600". There's also a pocket C64, including a "commercial"
>one from Commodore. There are some others, like a pocket Sinclair.
>There's also a commercial Pocket PC-XT ($40), and a port of the MAME
>emulator.
>
>I would really like to find a "pocket CP/M" machine.
I purchased a package called "pocketdos" (a search should find them), which
works quite nicely ... I can run all of my DOS based emulators on it, so in
my shirt pocket I have an Altair, H8, Horizon, Vector, and a bunch of others.
It's pretty neat actually.
Note that it does NOT emulate an 80386 - just an 80186 ... so programs which
need a "dos extender" will NOT run.
It will let you define your own boot disk, so it should be possible to boot
CP/M-86 on it, although I have not looked into doing so yet.
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
>Subject: Re: Infocom on PDP-11
> From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca>
> Date: Sun, 08 May 2005 16:17:54 -0600
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>>on an 8 but never C.
>>
>>
>>
>The lack of local variables makes C very dificult.
Recursion on an 8 is harder to do. The DECmate II/III use the 6120
and implement the PDP-8a hardware stack for data or addresses but,
it's still a bit more work.
Than again programming in native assembly is fun on that machine.
Allison
I've been offered a TeleType Model 15 or 19 with Western Union markings.
Does anyone know if this can be used as a printing terminal with a
computer? I'm guessing it'd be current-loop and not RS232.
I have an unknown hex-height board which was included in a
miscellaneous lot of PDP-8A boards I recently purchased. But there
is no manufacturer's info except what looks like "K-3VO" in the
lower left corner, where there is a strange looking clamp-on
connector. Nothing is engraved on the metal "handles". There is a
Mostek 3880 (Z80 CPU) at the upper right, too. Date codes on all
the chips are '82 - '83.
Here is a link to a picture of it:
http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/6gj14927.jpg
and a closeup:
http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/aqw15714.jpg
Anyone know what this board is?
thanks
Charles
