Hello everybody!
Jaywest wrote:
> I mentioned this on the list a long time ago - found it at a salvage
place.
> I wasn't in any rush to get pictures, but last time I was there they said
> the place was going to be declared off-limits for humans. So I got a few
> pictures of this olive drab "computer". Anyone have any clue what this
thing
> is? Just curious!? If anyone wants it I could put them in touch with the
> salvage place owner.
>
> Pictures are at www.ezwind.net/jwest/whatsit
Haven't even looked at the pictures yet (I'm doing mail offline when all I
got is a modem line), but:
*Somebody Please Save This!* (I can't, as it's across the pond and shipping
would be a killer if it can't be included into a bigger load that goes to
Europe anyway!)
Such control equipment and the like are one of the places where robotics and
the modern "embedded system" concept started off!
I own a Siemens Sinumerik unit (actually, a rebadged Fujitsu Fanuc mate TG)
>from the early 1970s. It's nonfunctional now because the monitor box (which
contains the character and vector generator board for the graphics too -
abso-f***ing-lutely proprietary) is missing. I had that here once, but it
was trashed before I came to realize I wanted to save the whole thing. I
also have a lead on a Sinumerik 810 which is supposed to become available
sometime soon.
I got some demo, lessons and simulation practice on (C)NC programming two
years ago as a part of the practical introduction in industry for EE
students. Great fun to watch a huge powerful tooling machine execute
commands that one enters on a computer, serial terminal or via paper tape!
Yours sincerely,
Arno Kletzander
Stud. Hilfskraft Informatik Sammlung Erlangen --- www.iser.uni-erlangen.de
I have a parallel port version of the Databook ThinCardDRIVE, model TMD-500.
This is an external PCMCIA drive for reading SRAM cards. IIRC, it does not
read flash cards. The manual is copyright 1991 and specifically mentions
using SRAM cards in the HP 95LX and Poqet.
It was a white-box unit that I got on eBay about 4 years ago. At the time,
they were listed fairly often. I heard that they had been surplussed by NASA
in Alabama.
Databook was aquired by another company, which does not offer support for
these units. I did email them and got instructions for using the unit with
Windows, but it does not always work correctly in Windows 95.
I also have an internal PCMCIA reader, but I have to dig it out to get its
specs.
Jim, email me off-list at r(underscore)a(underscore)feldman(at)hotmail.com.
I don't need both units.
Bob
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:04:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
Subject: Re: Another disk imaging project
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <20050815174715.O62263 at shell.lmi.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> >>>There are ISA adapters for PCMCIA. There are adapters to plug CF into
> >>>PCMCIA dlots.
> > There are, or at least WERE, 8 bit ISA PCMCIA adapters.
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005, Jim Leonard wrote:
>Recall any? I'm really looking for something like this.
I YOUSTA have an 8 bit ISA card with a PCMCIA slot on the back.
There was also an ISA card with a cable to a PCMCIA slot in a holder
that mounted in place of a 3.5" drive.
ISTR the name as being something like "DataBook Thin Card Drive".
The machine that it's in is not very conveniently accessible, but
I might be able to get at it in a few weeks. If so, I'll dig it
out, and confirm what it is.
<snip>
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
>Message: 30
>Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:38:27 -0500
>From: Jim Brain <brain at jbrain.com>
>Subject: Re: QuantumLink pics
>To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>Message-ID: <43055433.1070106 at jbrain.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>>
>>Great work Jim! I always wanted to know what Qlink looked like. I used Compuserve at the time and it's interface was pretty basic.
>>
>> Now what would be really fun would be to patch Qlink to work with the MMC-64 or Retro Replay with an RR-net card and go through the internet! Has anybody ever tried it?
>>
>>
>
>Not yet. Putting a whole TCP/IP stack in the machine might be a bit
>much, but I'll not say it's impossible. Note though that we did go
>through the Internet (albeit via a slave PC COM port).
>
>Jim
>
>--
>Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
>brain at jbrain.comhttp://www.jbrain.com
>Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
Jim,
Thanks for the hint about the PC serial, I went on to Jeff Ledger's site http://www.petscii.com/ and learned lots more about your work. Looking forward to getting it going with my rig.
Gary Fisher
Vice President, Auction
Tristone Capital Inc.
Suite 1800, 335 - 8th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 1C9
B: 403.303.8657
F: 403.294.9543
E:gfisher at tristonecapital.com
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer.
Hi folks,
there is a DG Nova 2 on eBay here in Germany. It is said to be
non-functional but I'm still interested.
Does anybody know about that system:
- When has it been manufactured (Seller writes 1978 but I doubt)?
- How is the state of available hardware docs?
- Which kind of memory and logic families are used?
- LSI or TTL?
- Is that a cool computer?
Anyx other information welcome, too...
Thanks,
Philipp :-)
> There are some ass-kicking (for the time) video cards for the very
early
> RS/6000s that took up three slots (!).
They were based on the early SGI 4D chip sets.
It would run the SGI flight simulator (I had a set in the RS/6000 I used
for early PPC Mac development)
eBay Item number 5230383368
From the auction description:
WHEN INSTALLED IN DISK DRIVE PLAYS A SPIKE JONES HIT
WTF????
Any of you HP gurus care to 'splain this to me?
Glen
0/0
Askley's plea for empty dectape reels made me think I should ask here...
I'm looking to find a 1/2" tape cleaner. Anyone on the east coast have
one they don't need?
I'd also be curious to hear from Ashley (or others) how reading old
DECtapes goes - do you ever have "sticktion" problems? or see stick-shed
syndrom?
(ah, I remember watching os/8 load off a dectape unit connected to an 8/i
running tss/8... It had 4 8/l's slaved off it and 'served' the dectape drive
up to which ever asked for it)
-brad
>Message: 14
>Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 02:01:09 -0500
>From: Jim Brain <brain at jbrain.com>
>Subject: QuantumLink pics
>To: Classic Computer Talk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>Message-ID: <43043235.1000404 at jbrain.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>My apologies, but there are some pictures, if interested:
>http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/qlink/
>Jim
>--
>Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
>brain at jbrain.comhttp://www.jbrain.com
>Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
Great work Jim! I always wanted to know what Qlink looked like. I used Compuserve at the time and it's interface was pretty basic.
Now what would be really fun would be to patch Qlink to work with the MMC-64 or Retro Replay with an RR-net card and go through the internet! Has anybody ever tried it?
Gary Fisher
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer.
Thanks SO much for all those who offered to help gate posts from cctalk to
cctech.
I'm in the process of writing something up that gives instructions on how
exactly to do what is needed. Then I'll send off the instructions to those
who are in the right timezones across the globe :)
Jay West
If I had a vacume column drive which floated the tape over the heads
without contact I suspect this would not be a problem :-)
--
Look at what John B. is doing at readtapes.com
Normal heads apply several pounds of pressure from the tape to the
head surface. By using magnetorestrictive heads, you can cut that
to a few ounces.
If you thing about how a normal head works, it closes the loop of
an electromagnet with the oxide on the tape, so it REQUIRES physical
contact to work.
