Hi Gang,
I've just posted several more Paper Tape images to my site. the new
additions include:
Cromemco Z80 Monitor
Quite a bit of Cromemco Dazzler software
TDL ZAP(ple) monitor, 8k-Basic, M-80 Macro assebler, text processing etc.
I've also added a new "Paper Tape Viewer" to my Paper Tape Tools
package, which lets you see what the paper tape contained in the
images looked like - this is nice with the TDL tapes which have readable
headers punched at the beginning of the images. Here's the description
I included in the package:
To further assist in verifying tape images, I have included a "Paper Tape
Viewer" (PTV) utility, which allows you to see a visual representation of
the paper tape image which you can compare to the physical tape. PTR can
also show two images visually, allowing you to line them up for comparison,
and placing indicators at points where they differ.
Now I'm thinking about adding a "Paper Tape Emulator" to the package,
which would "read" the images into your real system over a parallel or
serial interface... ie: make a PC emulate a physical tape reader.
I know how my OAE and H9 readers interface, however I don't know the
details of other readers - I'm thinking I should make it somewhat programable
and flexible enough that the user can configure the handshaking to just
about anything reasonable, but I'd like to know more about the interfaces
to actual readers - if anyone can send such details, please do.
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
OK, back in the UK and I just installed UAE onto the laptop...
Could some kind soul throw an A500 Kickstart ROM image this way to save me
digging one of my A500 machines out [1] and transferring the image myself?
I'll have to unearth one of the machines and mess around with transfer
software / cables at some point, I know, but I'd quite like to try the
emulator out first and see how good it is with some of the disk image files
downloaded from the 'net...
[1] Subject to copyright restrictions. I own a couple of A500s, so I can
legally transfer them to a PC myself for the purposes of emulation. However,
is it legal to ask someone else to send me a ROM image from *their* legal
hardware? After all, that's not *my* ROM, even though the end result is
indistinguishable...
cheers
Jules
--
there's a carp in the tub
there's a carp in the tub
so nobody's taking a bath
One of the programs available sometime in the late 1980's was a program called
Sourcer that included a program called BIOS Pre-procesor for the PC, a ROM BIOS
Listing generator (V Communications.) Neat program and while I am not a
programmer, it was fun to disassemble the ROM BIOS routines and take a look. The
BIOS listing had enough comments to make it useful.
> From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com>
>
> Has anyone considered decompilation (producing sources from binaries)
> as a way of archiving system or application software that is defunct?
>
> I know lots of people have disassembled ROM listings and created
> commented ASM listings from the ROM, but what about larger systems
> where hand-disassembly is impractical?
> I found no valuable computer-related books among the many TONS of books donated to my local
> library system (I was their computer book evaluation specialist - most books went straight to
the
> paper recycling dumpster).
I need to qualify my comment above from my previous post. A "rare" computer book to me means one
>from the very early mainframe or minicomputer eras. I did see all kinds of donated early
microcomputer books and software, but nothing from my favorite mainframe/minicomputer topic area.
I served with the library before joining this list and saw many items that would probably have
been of interest to members of this list. So, like I said, go to your library system's used book
sales! AND, while there, tell them about the market for really old microcomputer and other
computer books. They might not have the benefit of a volunteer computer geek on their staff to
let them know what to keep and what to toss.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Music Unlimited
Access over 1 million songs.
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> Have y'all had much luck acquiring vintage computer books/info via
> library book sales?
Out of appreciation for their valuable and FREE inter-library loan service to me in my many
requests for rare books on many esoteric topics (including a Konrad Zuse book about his Z3 relay
computer of which there were only 8 copies nationwide), I volunteered a year of my service to the
used book sales effort within my big city library system. Since most cities of any size now have
computerized systems which quickly identify books that haven't been checked out for long periods,
the odds of finding a older computer book from _within_ a library system are becoming increasingly
lower.
However, books donated to the library system by individuals can be a different case. I found no
valuable computer-related books among the many TONS of books donated to my local library system (I
was their computer book evaluation specialist - most books went straight to the paper recycling
dumpster). However, I have no idea of how many old and valuable computer books may have been
tossed into a dumpster _before_ they got to me due to branch library efforts to thin the donated
book numbers before shipping them to our central facility.
Many rare books of other types are received and other topic specialists often recognized those.
However, I caught a rare one that nearly got away for the standard $2 large-format hardbound book
price! While were were stocking the warehouse for one of our very large book sales, I was given a
box of books donated by someone who was obviously into the Olympics since youth and was told to
simply place them with all of the other large format books. Within that group of books was a MINT
condition two-volume, large format German photo album set published in 1936 entitled "DIE
OLYMPISCHEN SPIELE 1936." It was about the 1936 (Nazi) Summer Olympics and was sent from a German
uncle to his nephew Hans in the US (per inscription). This book had already been through numerous
bookworm hands before I finally caught its value.
Moral of the story: go to your library book sales!!! You help your library system financially and
may be helping yourself to a rare book or two in the process.
____________________________________________________________________________________
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Whether vintage computer parts, electronics, or whatever .... just thought
it would be a fun discussion thread.
Rumor has it that the Chanukah fairy* is bringing a cold air intake kit for
my Miata. Extra 25 horsepower. Fun!! :)
- Evan
* Hey, we don't have Santa, okay?
> Have y'all had much luck acquiring vintage computer books/info via
> library book sales?
(I'm a librarian in a public library)
There are generally three things you can do to maximize your chances of
getting some interesting classic computer books from libraries:
1) Let the librarian who is responsible for sorting donations know that
you are interested in older computer/technical books. In many cases
(s)he will pull them for you and let you buy them before the big sale,
especially if the library has an ongoing sale shelf that runs
year-round. Many libraries automatically recycle out-of-date computer
books, since they don't sell that well. If that is the case, they may
be willing to give them to you for free.
2) Get to the big sale early - before it technically opens, if you can.
Book dealers swarm these sales, and are often the first in line when the
door opens. Many of them carry cellphone/barcode scanner combination
devices that give them up-to-the-minute eBay prices on books, so they
will often grab handfuls of anything that is old (regardless of type or
genre), stack them on the floor, and then sit down to see what they are
worth.
3) Go to sales in libraries that are in sections of the city where a lot
of technical folks live. Wealthy suburbs (where older tech folks might
retire), areas near high-tech companies, and areas surrounding
universities are good spots. A couple of libraries in my area are
located near Sabre, Nokia, and a few other companies that tend to hire a
lot of techies. As a result, these libraries tend to get higher numbers
of donations of older tech stuff than you would find in other libraries.
Remember that weeded books generally only account for a fraction of a
library book sale - most of the books come from donations.
- Jesse
I need a true 5-pin VME64x backplane or chassis for my VME-based UltraSPARC system. Does anyone have any? I do have a VME chassis, but it is the standard 3-pin VME which will not help me...
Thanks,
Ram
Jeff Walther wrote:
> Leaving out a lot of stuff over the last year that probably no-one
> wants to read about, I finally built some 16MB SIMMs for the Mac
IIfx. [...]
That is great news. Will you be making your schematics and PCB designs public?
I have two RAM-starved IIfx's here that could be put to good use with a little memory added.
,xtG
tsooJ
