From: William Donzelli <aw288 at osfn.org>
>>> <muble> == 6611
>
>
>
> Correct! Thanks.....
I'll never forget in the early 1990s, doing my first really big network design (for an at-the-time top 4 cellular phone company, now part of a much bigger cellular phone company). They wanted to move to a routed, IP network from a bridged (!!) SNA+Netbios network. This included a phased move from Token Ring to Ethernet on the LAN side. I should note that this was also one of the larger AS/400 shops around.
I created the RFPs, the evaluation criteria, etc., and based on initial research picked a short list of candidate router companies. Cisco, Wellfleet, GDC, 2-3 others I now forget, and IBM with the 6611. I contacted each of the corporate sales reps to explain what I was going to send them and what I expected back. Everyone expressed gratitude that they were allowed to participate, what could they do to help, did I like to play golf, yadda yadda. Except the IBM rep. Paraphrased:
ME: Hi...I'm doing the architecture for the new network. I'm going to send you a bunch of requirements, and I'm going to need the following things in return.
IBM Sales Drone: <long pause>...Why?
ME: Ummm....because we will be selecting a vendor for the routing elements based on this evaluation.
ISD: <long pause>...No your not. You're going to buy the new 6611. You're an IBM customer. <- direct quote
ME: <long pause>...Really?
ISD: Yes, you are. I don't understand why we are even having this conversation. <- also a quote
ME: Thanks.
I sent the doco over, they didn't respond, then raised hell at the C-level that they hadn't been given the chance to participate when we picked another vendor. My mangement told them to pound sand, and my CIO got mad enoungh to say things that made an IBM VP blush.
Good times....good times...
Ken
I obtained a Data I/O 2900 programmer at Dayton in rather grotty but
serviceable shape. But it is missing it's little old floppy (the
disk, not the drive). The Data I/O website is silent on this.
Anyone know where to find one?
Also, to add to Ethan's Dayton report: I saw several Ultra 1s
[one going for $5 at the end of Saturday] but no DEC, No SGI
and certainly no Xerox Altos.
Re: "Along the same line of sharing from AL, can you share with us what
Equipment you use to scan books, manuals, and papers in order to archive
them on bitsavers?"
For anyone looking for a good scanner on a budget ......
The HP 5470C and 5490C are available on E-Bay cheap (sometimes under $10)
and these are very high quality high-end scanners that originally sold for
$300 to $500 not all that long ago (2002). They were PC Magazine's
"Editor's Choice" and they are very hard to beat, even today, for either
speed or quality.
The 5490 is the model with the automatic document feeder (ADF), the 5470 is
without out. But, in fact, the scanners themselves are identical, the
document feeder is available separately and is also often sold on E-Bay, it
is HP model number C9866A.
These are excellent desktop scanners. They have both USB and parallel
interfaces, 2400 dpi true hardware resolution, color and black and white
(they have multiple sensors for different modes), they are supported by 98,
ME, NT, 2000 and XP and they are the quality that you would expect from the
products that were -- not all that long ago -- HP's "top of the line". The
ADF will do a lot more pages than the ratings, about 60 sheets (the specs, I
think, say 25 sheets). About the only drawback is that the scan width is
limited to just over 8.5".
There are two caveats, both related to the ADF: Be sure that you get the
input paper tray, and be sure that you get the [proper] power unit. The
paper tray can no longer be ordered separately and the ADF won't work
without it. The power unit is still available but is very expensive
(possibly more than you will pay for the entire scanner and ADF). The 5470
comes with a 12 volt power supply, both the 5490 and the C9866A add-on come
with the dual output 12/24 volt supply required when the ADF is installed.
The document feeder does not do duplexing, but Adobe Acrobat has the
intelligence to scan all of the odd pages, then flip the stack and scan all
of the even pages, and properly interleave the resulting document. Also,
you can scan such a document in sections, you don't have to do it all at one
pass. Acrobat is actually amazingly competent at doing this, and has become
one of my most-used programs.
Don't even think about getting a scanner -- any scanner -- without an ADF
(document feeder). I have scanned over 20,000 pages in the past 3 years,
and even for relatively short items, you really need an ADF. Also, when
using an ADF, the document length is not limited by the scanner glass, you
can scan (in theory) infinitely long pages. [When an ADF is used, the
scanner light and imaging sensor are locked in place and do not move, rather
it is the paper that moves.]
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) said:
> The earliest desktop comuter I know of with a bit-banged serial port is
> the HP9830.
<<<deletia>>>
> I have never seen a bit-banged RS232 (or current loop) port on a
> minicomputer. Anyone know of one?
Well (since you asked) the original serial interface for the HP 2116
computer (around 1966 or so) was a serial bit-banging interface. You
needed to assemble the byte from the ASR-33 (or 35, take your pick)
teletype a bit at a time. They later had the bit assembly/disassembly
register (this WAS pre UART chips) that did al the work. Unfortunately
the "parallel" serial interface was only half duplex, as it used the
same register for both assembly and disassembly. The "serial" (bit-
banging) serial interface IIRC did not have this restriction.
Ah, history...
--
Tom Watson
tsw at johana.com
____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
I was wandering around thrift shops today and stumbled across a used
computer store I hadn't seen before on B street, west of Foothill in
Hayward. I anticipated that it would be PC/Mac only, like most used
computer stores, but was pleasantly surprised. Of course, I didn't
write down its name or address.
Of interest to this list, here are the things I didn't buy....
A Commodore PET plus (late model 2001, no built in tape drive, with a
non-chicklet keyboard).
A TS-1000.
An AT&T 6300 (or 6300 plus, couldn't see the label.)
A Tandy 1000HX (i.e. the one that has the keyboard built into the case).
Several Apple II series models.
All appeared to be in good condition and the prices were reasonable
(i.e. ~$25 for the PET)
Eric
eBay 5231882901 - microvaxes, currently at ?1.00 ! The comment that
worries me: "also have some other digital / dec stuff in a pile looking
for a home or empty skip !" - anybody in Aberdeen fancy helping this guy?
>
>Subject: Re: Bit banger /analog modem
> From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 23:08:03 -0400
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On 8/17/05, infomagic <infomagic at localisp.com> wrote:
>> Tony wrote:
>> have never seen a bit-banged RS232 (or current loop) port on a
>> minicomputer. Anyone know of one?
>>
>> On the RCA 1802, there was an output line named "Q", and there were two instructions that directly set and reset the line. I believe the CPU had a built-in D-flip-flop for keeping it stable.
>>
>> It's my understanding that this line was often used to drive serial output. You might be able to locate software for any of the ELF computers that would show this use. I'll see what I can dig up...
>
>Except that the 1802 is most decidedly a microprocessor, not a minicomputer.
>
>I am unaware of any mini that did bit-banged serial. There were some
>DEC console ports that impacted performance (11/750, 82x0/83x0), but
>they were a hardware implementation AFAIK. Perhaps HP or DG might
>have an example?
>
>-ethan
VAX had a bit of effort doing this as realtime IO was not their forte.
PDP-11s however could easily do it.
There is a sample of code in the PDP-8 programmers handbook for doing
bit banging on an -8. While many machines used hardware to do this
it was enough hardware (easily done with out a uart) to warrent another
board and represents cost. The trade was using a little of the CPU cycles
to dothe IO in software. For system near the bottom dollar wise this
can save a few bucks. The real question is is it worth 1-10% of the
cpu cycles for IO, and how much IO is needed?
Allison
