test-drb December 2007

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

215 participants
420 discussions

by g-wright＠att.net

-------------- Original message from "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>: -------------- > One other thing--there's a squib in the "New Products" section of > January 1984 Microsystems about their System 1000 "multiuser > expansion". > > But I wonder if an early 1984 box would be an 80286 unit. > > Cheers, > Chuck > > Well I have a 1000 here and not sure which CPU it has but it is a CPM/ MPM mutliuser system. It has no slots. The serial IO board is on top of the Mother board making it hard to find the CPU. I also have a Micro V, Microstar system that uses a 8085 CPU not sure if there related. They certenly have a close name. Just 2 8" floppies. - Jerry Jerry Wright g-wright at att.net

16 years, 7 months

Graphics for S-100 machines (MicroAngelo S-100 Graphics BoardbySCION)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Graphics for S-100 machines (MicroAngelo S-100 Graphics BoardbySCION) > From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> > Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:33:08 -0700 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >In article <475499E1.9030304 at pacbell.net>, > Jim Battle <frustum at pacbell.net> writes: > >> There were other graphics cards on S-100 too. I've seen (recently) an >> S-100 card that had one of the TI bitmap & sprite generator ICs on it. > >Maybe it would be a fun "extend my S-100 machine" project to add a >simple graphics frame buffer? You could put a frame buffer on the >card, expose a window of the frame buffer via memory mapped I/O on teh >bus and a simple VGA output controller in an FPGA. I don't know what >you'd do with it after that, since it would be so non-standard that >there isn't any "off the shelf" software you could use with it, but it >might be a nice retro-fit! A good fit is the NEC7220, used in the Rainbow. It was one of the first graphics controllers to bridge the CRTC and the graphics world as known now. If you can find one that is a good candidate for S100 for a 3 or 4plane color system. Allison >-- >"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download > <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> > > Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

16 years, 7 months

Mechanical calculators

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote: > From: "Arno Kletzander" <Arno_1983 at gmx.de> > > >My contribution however was not targeted at the IBM equipment thread, > >btw. > ------ > MHS: > > I realized that, which is why I left the original subject line. (...) > the second part of my reply dealt with the type you're talking about. Sorry for the misunderstand, thanks for clearing up. > >Yes, exactly that is the class of machines I meant. There were similar > >ones which printed on a platten carriage mounted behind the adding > >machine body (...) > ------ > MHS: > > And those were the "posting" or "accounting" machines I was talking > about; in the Burroughs line that I worked with, the electro-mechanical > ones equivalent to the IBM punch card equipment we've been discussing > were the "Sensimatic" F series, programmed by a removable program panel > with two sets of "pins," (...) > I had three of these at one time, but scrapped them all long ago. > > The later electronic versions were the "E" series; a good brochure with > pictures of a type of computer largely ignored in the various histories > (although there's a brief mention in The Encyclopedia of Microcomputers), > with core memory and magnetic stripe & PPT/EPC I/O (...) > > Incidentally, Sensimatic referred to the way the program pins > were "sensed;" the pins were different lengths which determined the > operation to be performed (add/subtract/print/etc.) and different pin > locations determined the register number or the accumulator (sound > familiar?). A set of sensing pins would rise up to measure the length of > the program pins, and the keyboard also had "function keys" (called > OCKs - Operator Control Keys) for different options (normal entry, error > correction, etc.) > > A program would consist of steps like "Load A (from keyboard) (INP 01), > "LD R1, 2 and 3 from A," "SUB A from R5&6," "Punch A (OUT 2)," "IF OCK3 > then SKIP (JMP) to Step12," etc., all done mechanically with gears, > levers and springs of course. Programming was done with a nibbling tool, > a tray of numbered different length pins and a screwdriver. > > Wouldn't you love to have 20 registers today, and the ability to > load/store more than one simultaneously? Mind you, that was also the > entire memory until electronic versions came along... Uhh, what have I done to deserve this treatment? You make me long for those big ugly heavy boat-anchors even more than before. Must...go...chastise myself (before my parents do when I bring home the next one :-)) All joking aside, my collection in the field of accounting machinery is pretty fragmentary yet: All I have is a Triumph Duplex wide carriage accounting typewriter (Wahl actuator principle, supposedly pre-WWII) with motorised carriage return and just two registers (one on the carriage for vertical sums, one on the machine body for horizontal sums, and an empty shell that activates the horizontal register but doesn't accumulate in itself - there sure must have been more), and a Triumph-Adler "TA 20 compact" electronic facturing typewriter which pretty much looks like a Selectric with a numeric keypad, a few extra lamps and all dressed in white. The older one was a dumpster find and is unrestored as of yet - there's a load of rust, dirt und grease gunk inside and I'm not so sure if I'm going to get it reassembled if I take it to pieces far enough to clean it out. The electronic machine was a present from my grandfather who was a office machinery serviceman, it was my practice machine for the touch-typing course I took in grammar school and it's working to this day. There is a keyswitch to select either typewriter or facturing machine mode, the customer-specific facturing program (for which I was lucky enough to also get some documentation; obviously the machine was used in a carpetry store) is hard coded in an EPROM and even contains the postal adresses of some regular customers. Writing a new program involved some precoding on forms. Then, a cassette-based "programming accessory" was attached to the machine, the program entered and saved to tape. The programmer (and the customer?) could test it for correctness; if it was accepted, the tape was sent to the factory, the program burned to EPROMs and these sent back to the serviceman for installation. Unfortunately, I do not have that accessory, and working out the interface for building a replacement is somewhere quite low on my priority list. Oh, I forgot that "GROSS U.K." restaurant cash register with key-locks for eight waiters and dual printer for receipt and journal. This one is also working, but the case has a few dents in it. But something I'd really consider a find is one of those desk-sized facturing machines, say a Rheinmetall FME series - this has a motorized mechanical four-species calculator in the desk drawer which is electrically linked to the typewriter on top: magnets for input, contacts for readout. My grandfather detested those, as they used 120V DC to pick the magnets and there were lots of unencapsulated contacts within the mechanism... Greetings, -- Arno Kletzander Der GMX SmartSurfer hilft bis zu 70% Ihrer Onlinekosten zu sparen! Ideal f?r Modem und ISDN: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/smartsurfer

16 years, 7 months

Micro Five system

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

I ran across a "Micro Five" motherboard this morning. The gent who owns it (just the system board, not a whole system) tells me that it was an 80286-based system built to run Netware. It has 2MB of RAM onboard, and several slots for 8MB memory cards, and Ed says that the disk subsystem lived in an external unit. The thing is huge - roughly 20" by 28". I found only one google hit on it, and that was a post asking for info. I'm not even sure why I'm interested - he's not going to give it up - but I am curious about it. I'm especially curious about the memory. If his recollection of the memory options is right, this thing supports 34MB or so. How is that possible on a 286? Doc

16 years, 7 months

Early Intel 55S073 IC, RAM Chip?

by marvin＠west.net

I found a site that has a lot of chip logos: http://www.elnec.com/support/ic-logos/?method=logo Looks like the 55S073 is an Intersil chip, and not Intel. But I still haven't been able to find out any information on this chip.

16 years, 7 months

Early Intel 55S073 IC, RAM Chip?

by marvin＠west.net

/rant on Will, I am *VERY* critical of Ebay and generally view them as operationally inept or challenged, and I would much rather see VCM succeed as an alternative. I don't like dealing with organizations I view as unethical. /rant off I didn't have time to put up a picture of the chip, so I just uploaded one to: http://www.west.net/~marvin/55s073-1.jpg In looking at it again, this doesn't look like an Intel logo, so I am curious who did make this chip. I thought it might be intersil, but so far, I haven't seen any Intersil logos that look like this one. > > I am starting to list some chips and "stuff" on Ebay (hanging my head), but the > > mortgage company would really like me to continue paying them, and Ebay > > unfortunately is the best venue for some of this stuff :(. > > There is no shame in this. > > -- > Will

16 years, 7 months

Graphics for S-100 machines (MicroAngelo S-100 Graphics Board by SCION)

by legalize＠xmission.com

One of these just sold on ebay item # 290186096576 I was looking at it because its graphics (I have no S-100 machines), but even had I remembered to bid on it I would have been priced out :-). Are graphics boards for S-100 machines common at all? It seems not. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

16 years, 7 months

Early Intel 55S073 IC, RAM Chip?

by marvin＠west.net

I am starting to list some chips and "stuff" on Ebay (hanging my head), but the mortgage company would really like me to continue paying them, and Ebay unfortunately is the best venue for some of this stuff :(. I ran across this chip in my collection and only found one Google reference. It appears to be an early (code date 7238S) Intel 256 Byte RAM chip. Is this actually one of those *RARE* type chips?

16 years, 7 months

Graphics for S-100 machines (MicroAngelo S-100 Graphics Board bySCION)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Graphics for S-100 machines (MicroAngelo S-100 Graphics Board bySCION) > From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> > Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:14:57 -0700 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >One of these just sold on ebay item # 290186096576 > >I was looking at it because its graphics (I have no S-100 machines), >but even had I remembered to bid on it I would have been priced out >:-). > >Are graphics boards for S-100 machines common at all? It seems not. Generally no. They existed and were available but the requirement was not there (killer app that used it). That however changed near end of life for S100 as there were CPUs 8088/86, 286 and concurrent CP/M and even MS-DOS sop grpahics support and use was desireable. However MicroAngelo, Comemco dazzler and others were out there in the wild. Generally though when I've seen them they were in embedded S100 systems being used for process controls (dairy, and other production factilities). Seems that market liked graphics and used it. Allison

16 years, 7 months

Mechanical calculators (was: Re: *updating* 8088's)

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------Original Message: Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:06:02 -0800 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: Mechanical calculators (was: Re: *updating* 8088's) On 3 Dec 2007 at 1:46, M H Stein wrote: >> (Chuck: change the colour, remove the cabinet on the left and put it on tubular legs >> and you've got the picture you're looking for - remove the alpha keyboard for one >> of the older numeric-only models ;-) >How about the National Class 3000 from 1929? One can be seen on the >page numbered 140 in this very interesting document from Portugal: >http://www3.dsi.uminho.pt/memtsi/docs/guia_exposicao_ilustrado.pdf >Cheers, >Chuck ----- Well, the Burroughs F styling was a _little_ more modern and the Sensimatic program panels were a Burroughs trademark, but yes, that's the idea (even the flip-up table for the ledger tray on the left). The one in the eBay ad that Arno mentioned is a fairly late model F with the beige and blue colour scheme; the older ones were dark brown. Some nice pictures on that Portuguese site; even the 517 interpreter that got that other thread going. Incidentally, Sensimatic referred to the way the program pins were "sensed;" the pins were different lengths which determined the operation to be performed (add/subtract/print/etc.) and different pin locations determined the register number or the accumulator (sound familiar?). A set of sensing pins would rise up to measure the length of the program pins, and the keyboard also had "function keys" (called OCKs - Operator Control Keys) for different options (normal entry, error correction, etc.) A program would consist of steps like "Load A (from keyboard) (INP 01), "LD R1, 2 and 3 from A," "SUB A from R5&6," "Punch A (OUT 2)," "IF OCK3 then SKIP (JMP) to Step12," etc., all done mechanically with gears, levers and springs of course. Programming was done with a nibbling tool, a tray of numbered different length pins and a screwdriver. Wouldn't you love to have 20 registers today, and the ability to load/store more than one simultaneously? Mind you, that was also the entire memory until electronic versions came along... And of course they usually had colour printers ;-) (Red & black ribbons). BTW, AFAIK some Teletypes used the same type "box" as the typing Sensimatic that Arno is talking about. Think I still have one of those somewhere as well. m

16 years, 7 months

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test-drb December 2007