Hi,
>....I think he was joking, of course, given the
>horrendous bottlenecks in its software and its bus
>protocol.
To be fair, the only thing wrong with the CBM serial bus was the speed it
ran at....or rather the lack of it....
TTFN - Pete.
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:24:28 -0800
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
Subject: Re: "intelligent" disk drives
<snip>
>Micropolis floppy drives were very well-made. I wish that modern
>drives could be as well-built. All of mine are still operational.
<snip>
>Cheers,
>Chuck
-----------
Ummm... well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion...
I congratulate (and envy) you!
;-)
m
Hi,
> Maybe looking at the main PCB will reveal something. The typical
>Philips monitor this is likely to be based on -- the CM8883 and
>related models....
As I recall, there were either 3 or 4 models based on the same design/PCB.
They differed in whether they were stereo or mono, what video inputs they
supported (TTL and/or analogue RGB and composite) and the tube "resolution"
(dot pitch).
I still use an 8833 to this day as my TV....
TTFN - Pete.
Eventually I'll be shipping various 8-bit machines to the US, and was thinking
of using a PC with a TV card as a display (most of the machines have UK PAL RF
outputs, and I could add modulators to the ones that don't).
However:
- All TV card software I've seen has been utter crap, when it even works
at all.
- Typically there seems to be no scaling of the picture to fill the PC
screen.
- There's an obvious quality drop in the RF stages.
- I'm warned that the digital tuners in TV cards often have problems
locking on to the weaker signal produced by home micros.
So... how about hooking straight to the TTL RGB outputs of the vintage
machines and somehow sampling lines of data into the PC for display in a
window (with appropriate scaling in software as/when necessary so that the
image more or less fills the PC display)?
Surely someone's homebrewed something like this already? I presume the speeds
at which things need to work can be pretty high - but in theory it's just an
RGB framegrabber but without all the analogue-type circuitry needed to decode
a picture?
I'm planning on shipping a few TTL RGB displays to the US, but maintaining
them is going to be more difficult than maintaining the machines (and I
imagine there are all sorts of pitfalls in taking a US-designed TTL RGB
display and trying to use it with a UK-designed micro, as the frequencies
involved won't be quite the same)
thoughts welcome...
Jules
Augat pin-board show up with some regularity on eBay,
but this one is particularly interesting because it
looks to be Multibus form-factor.
As of this moment, a gold scrapper is the high bidder.
One of you multibus fans must certainly want it. It
needs to have some wiring stripped, but it looks to be
in good shape.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320181330426
MILITARY AUGAT WIRE WRAP PCB - GOLD SCRAP 1.125 LBS - (eBay item 320181330426 end time Nov-18-07 08:15:18 PST)
I have updated my web page on the first U.S. Robotics modems.
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/USR/USR_Modem.htm
A 300 baud acoustic coupler USR-310 was only $139. The USR-330 with
originate and auto answer was $324. (February 1978 prices.)
I recall that someone on this list worked there in the early days.
Michael Holley
I posted a few minutes ago on usenet in comp.os.cpm about a big fancy
S-100 memory card.
If anyone in here would like to add to the feature list or suggest a
change, now is the time to do it.
We should probably keep the discussion in one place, and its already
at comp.os.cpm, so maybe reply there?
Here is the text:
THIS is your chance to get in any requirements. The board will have
quite a few QFP and fine surface mount parts. Hardware modifications
at a later date may be hard. : )
I am designing the board around MITS S-100 specifications. I do not
have any other S-100 machines or experience with them.
If your IMSAI or whatever has additional I/O, then please tell me if
its I/O, I, O, the pin, and what it does. For example, I really have
no idea how PHANTOM works. I'm not really interested in digging up
the details on how these things work since the have no meaning to an
Altair. The I/O question is a biggie. Timing is not an issue since
that can be worked out at a later date in the CPLD. If there is an
Altair signal that is only an input and you want/need it to be I/O, I
would also need to know that now.
The board will have a landing for 128kbyte ($2.80) or 512kbyte ($5.10)
SRAM. It will also have a landing for 512k of FLASH ($4.62). The
price difference between 64kx8 and 512kx8 is $2, so it hardly makes
sense to choose 64kx8... Bank swapping can/will be worked out later
in the CPLD code.
This board MAY have a landing for a bunch of other optional functions,
but for those of you who don't care about those options, you don't
need to install them. For example, two 6850 type serial ports, 4x SD
cards to emulate Altair disk drive systems, mp3 decoder and
ethernet ; ).
Another point to discuss is if its worth having an 8MByte 8 pin soic
(very small, like pinkey finger nail sized) FLASH chip tied directly
to the CPLD. This would allow the 8080/Z80 to access the serial flash
without AVR interference. The 4 SD cards for Altair disk emulation
are not available directly to the 8080. Is it also worth having a 5th
SD card also directly connected to the CPLD? How many of the 8MByte
data flash chips should there be? The poor things are $2.70 a piece
and we could have 4-8 and hardly notice.
All of the chips will be tied together with a Xylinx MAX II CPLD, and
buffered to the S-100 bus with 8T97 or equivalent ICs.
As you can see I am very flexible. My goal is to create a
"SuperAltair" card with a lot of universal appeal. Sort of "add the
chips you want and nothing more" card. Should I throw in the
functionality of the GIDE while I'm at it? Let me know what you want
and I'll see if I can fit it in.
The entire card will be open source, except for the ROM monitor which
is IP to a fellow enthusiast. I will sell the PCBs for around $35.
The CPLD is $10, SRAM/FLASH as priced above, add a few $ for heat
sinks and voltage regulators and you could be started for under $60.
I will be soldering the crazy surface mount parts for those who are
not brave enough. ; )
Grant
>Message: 8
>Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:48:14 -0800 (PST)
>From: Sellam Ismail <sellam at vintagetech.com>
>Subject: Timex-Sinclair 1000 with chiclet keyboard
>To: Classic Computers Mailing List <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>
>I found the oddest thing over at my friend James' ACCRC (Alameda County
>Computer Resource Center) operation.
>
>Walking through his office I spotted a Timex-Sinclair 1000. But this was
>no ordinary TS1000. Instead of a membrane keyboard (i.e. the flat,
>plastic piece of shit) it had a chiclet keyboard (i.e. the rubberized,
>raised key type). I have never seen this before.
>
>It seems to be an aftermarket add-on. It has an adhesive on the bottom
>perimeter that sticks over the original membrane keyboard. On the bottom
>of each key are circular pads that press against the membrane key when the
>chiclet key is depressed. It's pretty damn cool.
>
>Has anyone else ever seen one of these before?
>
>--
>
>Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
Suntronics had a kit for a keyboard and chassis cover that fit over the
original unit:
http://vintagecomputer.net/sinclair/suntronics_sinclair1000_kit.jpg
In addition to Suntronics Co. here is a list of other manufacturers that I
know of who made add on keyboards, but some of these you also had to buy an
upgraded motherboard kit:
Kayde
Dk'Tronics
Haven Hardware
Memotech
Microcomputers Plus, Inc
The Full Spectrum
Synergistic Design
Fuller
Gladstone
E-Z Key
Research Applications Prod.
-Bill Degnan
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:32:47 -0800
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
Subject: Re: Commodore PET first shipemnt in mid October 1977.
<snip>
>I've still got a National Semiconductor LCD watch, but the guts are
>rotted out from perspiration leaking into the case. On the other
>hand, the Seiko self-winder I purchased the year before still works
>just fine.
<snip>
You do mean L*C*D, right? Too bad, I've still got some National L*E*D
watch modules somewhere.
>I sometimes wonder if we'll have any operating 30-year old cell
>phones?
>Cheers,
>Chuck
Last time I looked, people were still buying & selling analog phones, so
I suspect that in some parts of the world analog may be around for a
while yet; wanna buy a dozen or so, cheap? Have I got a deal for you...
I've got an old Motorola mobile phone that sits in the trunk, nice Contempra (?)
handset with a number display; does that count?
m
Princeton Graphics did a true brown in their cga and ega monitors... at least the ones I owned.
>We've been here before. The IBM color display as well as the EGA
>version contains a PROM to correct the "dark yellow" color to brown.
>It was duplicated on few, if any third-party units.
