Now that my 11-23+ ("George" :) seems to be happy, it's time to
start playing with the other new acquisition, an 11/24. Maybe that
one will be "Elvis".
It's got quite a lot of cards inside, but I haven't inventoried
them yet (this afternoon's task). Obviously I need to find out
exactly what it's populated with, and look for a user's guide and
technical manual on bitsavers.
Keeping in mind that I know nothing about this machine yet, what
should I do as a "quick start"? I have powered it up and the fans
and power-ok lights come on, so that's a good beginning.
There are no disk drives and all the ribbon cables were cut by a
previous rescuer :( Does it have a console ODT mode so I'll at
least know it's alive or dead? Where would the console port be?
thanks
Charles
Recall that this was a big ECL monochrome display (1600x1200?) with an ISA
controller card that uses that Intel graphics coprocessor whose number I
can't remember. I have one system (including the unix and drivers that
went with it) essentially unused in the original box. Given the original
box, shipping might be possible, but it could be expensive. As usual, price
is $0.
Dan Lanciani
ddl at danlan.*com
This is definitely a first. More specifically, it's the first time I've ever seen any PROM programmer unit that has paper tape I/O.
Pop over to Greed-bay, and check item #7579262264.
Amazing... I wonder if the thing does 1702's?
Keep the peace(es).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"
I have shipped Tek 4115s. Is it a two piece upright 4115 or the two
piece 4115B? In both cases they are aluminum and not plastic, and
probably have to go freight.
The Upright I would wrap in large bubblewrap to protect the
connectors, wrap the front and back of the monitor and wrap and box
the keyboard and cables.
Retract the keyboard table. I would remove the front plate covering
the card cage and put pink anti stat large bubble over the cards and
then put the front plate back on to hold the cards in place.
I would tape or strap a band around the bottom where the card cage is.
to hold it together.
Put it on a normal pallet with cardboard underneath so the wheels
won't roll. Or lay it on its back. Put the monitor flat on the pallet
behind the stand if upright or beside if you lay the stand down.. If
upright rest it on a couple of pieces of wood you can take all the
pressure off the wheels which are actually quite fragile.
Then protect it with double layer cardboard cut to fit the CPU/stand
and and also the monitor (bubble in-between). Then make a double
layer cardboard box around it, put corner protectors on the top and
strap it tightly to the pallet with at least two or three bands.
Do not leave the monitor on the stand. Even if it is shrink wrapped on
it will move as it has lots of mass and becomes top heavy. They must
be separated.
If it is the two piece (my favorite) you need a different pallet as
the pieces go side by side.
I don't think I would put the tube face down as the mounts are
aluminum and much stronger. I would also not box and ship by UPS, not
sure you can because of size and weight.
Again protect the cards with internal pink anti stat bubble and put
the case back together. More bubble to protect the face of the tube
and the connectors on both and cover with heavy cardboard. Wrap, with
large bubble, the keyboard separately and box with the interconnect
cables underneath.
The front of the CPU box will pop out to display the 8 inch drives.
Protect the front with bubble and cardboard and run a strap around the
box to hold it together so it won't pop open.
Place the CPU box on the pallet. Put cardboard under the wheels so it
won't roll when you don't want it to. Place the Monitor on the pallet
with the keyboard and cable box in-between. Wrap all in more double
weight cardboard, put on corner protectors and strap to the pallet
with two parallel straps.
You can also use a short gaylord, a pallet size cardboard box usually
used to hold bulk products. Protect each of the three pieces in it as
mentioned above. Lock them in the gaylord with hard foam cut to fit so
they won't move. Strap the box to the pallet.
If you put an upright 4115 in a Gaylord you can lay the Card cage
stand flat on its back. You should have already protected the
connectors with bubble and heavy cardboard before you lay it down.
You want to strap it tightly with the force pulling the units down. It
should survive fine.
In my storage container I have extra cards to ugrade one to a 4128 I think.
Who is asking the big bucks? Reply privately, please, if you want to
tell me. Or if you have specific questions.
--
Paxton Hoag
Astoria, OR
USA
> with desk side cabinet, cpu, one memory board, SCSI, and QIC
> tape drive (the nicer 24/11 one I think). Located in
> Gloucester, MA, USA. Shipping is almost certainly prohibitive.
>
> Dan Lanciani
> ddl at danlan.*com
I'd like to give this a good home. I'm local and can pick up.
I posted an inquiry about this back in 2005 but I
thought I would try this again with the list.
Charles River Data Systems - Universe 68/05 - I
acquired one of these last year with no information or
software. Does anyone have any details on this machine
? I understand these were quite common at one time
back in the 80's. It has an 8" floppy drive on the
front and a SASI interface on the back, amongst other
things.
Any and all information appreciated, especially a list
of status codes for the diagnostic panel or any
bootable 8" media.
Thanks,
Dave
david_comley at yahoo.com
__________________________________________
Yahoo! DSL ? Something to write home about.
Just $16.99/mo. or less.
dsl.yahoo.com
>Today I was looking for something (A Cipher 525 tape drive) that I bought
>NOS years ago and left in its original box. I thought I'd found it, opened
>the box and discovered a Sinclair ZX80 with the "A Course in BASIC
>Programming" book. The problem is that I don't remember getting this
>thing--I'm sure I didn't buy it. Maybe Dave McGlone tossed it in when we
>were swapping junk years ago. (P.S. I did find the Cipher and discovered
>that I bought two of them).
>
>I don't know if it works, since I don't know the polarity of the 9vdc
>adapter. Either way, is this just common trash or is this actually worth
>something?. My wife suggested that I throw it out; she figures that if I
>didn't even know that I had it after all these years, that I certainly
>don't need it now.
The ZX80 is the immediate predecessor of the ZX81/Timex-1000, which are
VERY common. The ZX80 isn't quite so common, but I think there should
be lots around - although I've not stumbled on another one lately.
I'm pretty sure the adapter is the same as the ZX81/T1000 - and if you
take a look inside it's just a series linear regulator (7805) and it
should be pretty easy to figure out the polarity - if you want, I can
dig mine out and measure it.
Don't toss it - Mines in sad shape (previous owner drilled holes to
mount switches, broke the corner off the cabinet and lost the original
integer ROM after upgrading to the FP rom) - I've been keeping a
lookout for a better specimen, however as noted above I haven't run
across one yet. I'd be happy to give it a better home than the dustbin.
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
A couple of things I forgot to put in my other message.
Firslty, another instrument that you _need_ is a bench PSU. Adjustable
voltage (at least up to 12V, preferably twice that), and at least 5A,
with current limiting. You will find this invaluable for powering up
logic boards outside the main machine, temporarily substuting for battery
packs, testing motors, solenoids, etc. running motors when doing
mechancial alignments, and so on.
One somewhat unconventional use I put mine to recently was to 'lock' a
stepper motor. By connecting one winding of the motor to the PSU and
turning up the voltage until a moderate current flowed, I could lock the
motor spindle and thus the pulley on said spindle. Running the steel
cable that went onto that pulley and which operated the pen carriage in a
ploter was a lot easier with the motor locked.
Secondly, 'good' does not mean 'lots of features'. Many such features are
little more than gimmicks to be mentioned in the advertising. For
example, many digital multimeters have a transistor Hfe range. Since I
have no idea what collector current is used, this is somewhat useless. If
I need to test a transistor, I will use my real transistor tester (a Tek
575, OK...). You can do a quick go/no-go test on a transistor using the
diode test range to make sure the junctions are still intact and not
shorted, of course.
[OK, there is one use for the Hfe range. Once you've used the diode test
range to (a) determine the polarity) anf (b) find the base lead, connect
it to the meter (Hfe range) with the base going to the right socket and
the other 2 leads going to the emitter and collector sockets. Try it with
the latter both ways round. The connection that appears to give the
higher Hfe is likely to be the correct one. No, it's not a substitue for
looking the thing up in a data book, but if you have a house-coded part
it can be useful...]
-tony
I was not intending to give an exhaustive definition of "reverse engineering", simply to illustrate that there is a significant difference between it and copying/"piracy"
At work I have an SE30, LC, IIci, and a 603 variety mac just... lying around.
Are these things as common as dirt, or should I snag them?
I ask because I'm reminded of the "x86 dead zone" -- a zone where a machine
isn't old enough to be compatible with older software, but isn't new enough to
be useful (a Pentium 133 falls into this category -- can't run old stuff, can't
run new stuff, so toss it in the garbage).
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Want to help an ambitious games project? http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
