test-drb October 2006

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

217 participants
352 discussions

by auringer＠tds.net

There is a slightly mislabeled auction for an HP 9000 800/I70. The seller sent me a picture of the back that shows HP part # A2362A. It seems to be complete and well configured. Since it is fairly close to me I was thinking about bidding on it, but I really don't have time to do anything with it, so I decided to pass. If you live near Iowa, take a look. Auction: 110040472514 Jon

17 years, 7 months

Resetting connectors (Was: Personal Iris IRIX issues..)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 19:30 -0500 9/17/06, Jochen Kunz wrote: >Sometimes it helps this old hardware to be "kreidlered". I.e. >disassemble the whole machine, reaseat all PCBs and connectors and try >again. (Sometimes connectors get a litle bit of corrosion etc. that is >cleand out by un- and repluging the connector.) Thirded (1). I have a Mac Plus with Brainstorm accelerator (16 MHz 68000, plus SCSI chip upgrade). It has been giving me fits with intermittent operation for years. Tuning the 5V setting on the analog board *right up* against (but not over) the crowbar seemed to help, but it'd still reset periodically. Best diagnostic I have is (unfortunately) still a Radio Shack Archerkit analog VOM, which does not show momentary Voltage transients. Finally, this month, I was doing battle with it again, got the 5V setting tweaked up and the machine running face down, but then it failed when I set it back up on its feet. At long last, during the post-failure examination, I took loose and re-seated the power cable >from the analog to digital board at the *analog board* end. I'd done this dozens of times at the *digital board* end - that's a lot less likely to take out the end of the CRT when my hand slips - but not at the analog board end. Machine has been running without problems since then. Wife is re-addicted to Dark Castle (and I have to put in a good word for Delta Tao on that score, they just sold me, at a discount, the original software! (2) ), kids getting addicted to Concertware + MIDI. Next project may be to find a MIDI interface for the thing and start learning more about digital music. (1) I'm curious about the etymology - where does the expression "kreidlered" come from? (2) Not affiliated, but if I had to choose one company in the field to hold up as wonderful, Delta Tao would be it. -- Mark Tapley, Dwarf Engineer (I haven't cleared my neighborhood) 210-379-4635

17 years, 7 months

LX network woes

by THX1138＠dakotacom.net

Hi, In the past, I've run my LX on a 10Base5 network using a transceiver on the MII connector. Today, I opted to move it to a 10BaseT hub -- using the "internal" TP connector (adjacent to the ISDN ports). Long story short: it doesn't work. :> Observations: - hub light does not illuminate when cable to LX is plugged in - hub light illuminates when plugged into *second* I/F on the LX (a narrow SCSI + ethernet SBUS card) - able to ping other hosts if I bring this second I/F up i.e. cable and hub port are good - attempts to ping other hosts when using the "first" I/F (prior to configuring the second I/F) result in the "other" host's ARP cache catching the MAC of the LX (i.e. the Tx pair from the LX appears to be intact) -- thogh no replies received Is this some configuration quirk that I have overlooked? (note that the hub light should? illuminate even with NO software running) Perhaps related to the autoselect characteristics of the built-in I/F?? Or, is something broken in the LX (connector pins seem intact)? If the latter, are there any bits I can salvage from the Classic that is sitting in my recycle pile? (or, should I simply add the LX to that same pile? :< ) [note the option of using the second I/F is not viable as that SBUS card will be removed, soon] Thanks! --don

17 years, 7 months

Part needed: Clock chip MM58274 or variant

by jwhitton＠bellsouth.net

This is an obsolete National part..., once ubiquitous, now difficult to obtain..., unless you want 100 of them. I only need two. Anyone happen to have a couple about? Hit me off-list if so. I've tried the usual catalog sources, no luck. TIA John

17 years, 7 months

Making large numeric displays

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

I got to wondering how to make a large numeric display (a few inches high) for a potential project. I've only seen 7-segment displays up to about an inch in height, plus I quite fancy something with more rounded numerals anyway (all of this came about from thinking about Nixies :) Building something from individual LEDs looks to be cost-prohibitive, not to mention power-hungry; I think I figured on over about 125 LEDs per digit. I came up with something based on 23 segments which I think will look nice. Basically a 14-segment grid like the following: _ _ | | |_ _| | | |_ _| ... then with each square part containing a circle split into four segments. Finally a central segment runs top to bottom to give a '1' digit centered horizontally. (I'm not going to try and draw arcs in ASCII ;) I need to do some tests to see how well light from an LED will travel through perspex (plexiglass, or whatever the preferred term is) if I mount the LED at one end of a strip, box off three sides with metal foil, and (maybe) polish the exposed side. In theory I can easily shape that to give the arcs that I need, too. Of course all of this is just a precursor to see if anyone else has built big displays like this as part of a project, and what they found worked well (or otherwise) It may be that I can get away with having the curved sections live 'inside' the boxes (i.e. it won't be noticeable from a distance anyway), so that there are no points of overlap; time will tell there. Heck of a lot easier driving 23 LEDs per display rather than five times that amount, anyway! If it's technically possible, the issue will be how long it actually takes to make each digit and get it right, though. Ideas are welcome... cheers Jules -- A. Because it destroys the natural flow of conversation. Q. What's wrong with top posting ?

17 years, 7 months

Anyone interested in this job lot (West Yorkshire, UK)?

by listmailgoeshere＠gmail.com

Hi Simon, On 9/20/06, Simon Fryer <fryers at gmail.com> wrote: > I'll find out of the computer museum at Bletchley Park would like any > of the items. Jules Richardson, who works at the Bletchley museum, has already posted in this thread with what they'd like :) Jules Richardson wrote: > [snip] it's perhaps worth rescuing the Tek > hard-sectored disks for the museum; that's assuming that nobody has a more > pressing need for them (and their contents!), of course - I just wouldn't want > to see them go to landfill. > Small hard disks (particularly SCSI rather than IDE) are also worth rescuing > if nobody else wants them. > Oh, I believe we're short a few Sun type 4 keyboards for all of our Sun kit > (assuming the ten that were listed don't belong with the machines that were > also listed :-) > The UPS would be darn handy for the couple of new servers that have been put > into action recently... Austin, who's stated that he wants all the Sun kit (though it seems to be in high demand ;) has let me know that he's happy for all but a couple of the keyboards to go to Bletchley. I've had no requests so far for the UPS, box of small harddisks, or the Tek 8" floppies other than Jules's one (though several people have pointed out that said floppies should be saved - don't worry, I'm not going to landfill those even if some of the hardware does go. They will go to somewhere where they'll be preserved), so I'm guessing that lot goes to Bletchley (if it can find transport there) unless anyone else wants? There are most likely enough Sun keyboards that some go to Bletchley, anyone who wants just one machine can take one, and then some can go with Austin. I want to be as fair as possible about this :) I'll do a proper count of them over the next few days and post back here. John Shadbolt wrote: > Thanks Ed for offering this grand collection. No probs. Having been on this list for years, it was my first port of call for sure :) > I am particularly interested in the HP-85s and 86Bs, If you're not thinking of keeping all of these machines, would you be able to keep in touch with Vassilis, and this list, to find good homes for the others? I did have some interest when I initially advertised them shortly after I rescued them, but being unable to get onto testing them I wasn't able to do anything further about it. I would like any ROMs that Vassilis doesn't already have archived in the www.series80.org collection to go to him first for the use of the community. Actually, it's not going to take particularly long to pull the ROM drawers and inventory what I have here - I'll get onto that within a few days and post back here. > but could take other stuff too if it helps (eg Sun). I think some of this Sun kit has found homes several times over by now ;) There's a stack of MicroVAXen you're quite welcome to take on, though! Ed.

17 years, 7 months

Need Copy of ET-1000 Manual

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Anyone know where I can get a copy of the Heathkit ET-1000 Circuit Design Trainer manual? I need to put one back together. A copy of the page showing the wiring would be great also if no one has the complete manual. Thanks John K.

17 years, 7 months

Making large numeric displays

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Making large numeric displays > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:43:36 +1300 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 10/5/06, Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >> I hit on the idea of a big wall-mount Sudoku game, either controlled purely by >> TTL logic, or by some 'period' single-board machine.... >> >> Yep - given the application, I expect each digit probably needs to be 3-4" >> tall to give a game grid height of somewhere around 3ft. > >I like the idea of the 9-layer plexiglass sandwich displays (you don't >need '0' for your application), but I _have_ seen 3"-4"-tall 7-segment >displays. We have a "mission control" type clock here (not GPS >controlled, but does have an NTP client onboard). I haven't measured >the LEDs personally, but the clock is over 3' long. > >A quick google search on '4" 7-segment display' gives this as the second hit... > >http://www.elexp.com/opt_0165.htm > >$8 each (q. 10) doesn't sound bad, but 81 of them is a fair quantity. >Perhaps you could negotiate a slighty lower q. 100 price? > >This sounds like a fun project. Good luck with it. > >-ethan A bunch of years ago I needed some larger LED displays, 2.5 inches (~76mm) and the solution was very cheap. I used stycast a black resin potting compound and lexan. A block of wood to hold the lexan peices, a rubber mold made with silastic (RTV) was most of it. Three red leds to a segment and a little work finishing the face flat and ta daa, big segments that only needed ~6V at 25ma each. Very cheap to make. Edge lit lexan is very good looking and decent brightness. With the new high output leds both color and greater brightness would be easy. The trick is the lit end is clear by polish or solvent and the display side is matt finish (polish to 400 grit). Allison

17 years, 7 months

OT: Hotline clients

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: Can anyone recommend a good, low cost Hotline client for Windows? TIA! Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator Web site: <http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/> http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ Web site: http://www.altair32.com/ /***************************************************/

17 years, 7 months

A Good Weekend At the Thrifts

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

The wife and I hit about 7 thrifts on Sunday and I came away with a few gems. A working Vectrex for $7 (no games), a mix of various game cartridges with one valued at $45 (by Video Collector mag) for $2.32 at the thrift, a CrossPad Portable Digital Notepad for $2, Atari Flashback in the box complete for $3.33, and many more items. I have not finished cataloging everything yet.

17 years, 7 months

← Newer
1
...
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb October 2006