test-drb April 2007

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

257 participants
560 discussions

Heathkit Products (was: Help to identify a Selectric based terminal)

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Re: > Barry Watzman > [former Product Line Director for Heathkit computers and Zenith Data > Systems] Oh REALLY! 8-) Perhaps I can pick your brain for a moment. :) There was a neat Heath machine, I believe it was 8086 or 8088 based, that had a solderless breadboard built into it...I believe it was even connected to the bus. What would that have been? I'd like to find one, but it's been a difficult search not knowing what it was called." There were a couple of them, actually. Those were not my products, however. The products you refer to (the early ones were based on a Motorola 6800 series, if I recall, the later ones were based on the Intel 8088) were products from the educational products division of Heathkit, rather than the computer division. I don't remember the model number of the later one (the earlier one, based on the Motorola CPU, was the ET-3400 series), and the later one, I think it was the ET-100 (which was derived from and compatible with the Z-100 series ... would run 16-bit Z-100 software) wasn't made in particularly large numbers (also, an even more rare expansion accessory was required for full Z-100 and MS-DOS compatability). But they did exist, and you may find them on E-Bay from time to time.

17 years, 2 months

TU-58s (was Re: Some progress with my PDP-11/73 system)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: TU-58s (was Re: Some progress with my PDP-11/73 system) > From: "Jerome H. Fine" <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> > Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:43:19 -0400 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >Allison wrote: > >>Sounds nice. I have a few BA-11VA (four dual width slots) >>and it's a challange to put enough boards to make a bootable >>viable sytem in that. An 11/23, 256k ram, DLV11J and a Rom >>card was full house and for storage the only choice was TU58 >>or Tu58 emulation (requires bukly balky PC). >> >Jerome Fine replies: > >For this example (I assume this is an M8186), there >were dual MFM and ESDI controllers which have boot >ROMs for the hard drive (non-DEC of course). I still >use my dual ESDI controller. I no longer have the >MFM controller, but that was all the VT103 originally >had which was essential to run and boot an operating >system such as RT-11. I have a few contollers (dual width) that are Both MFM and SCSI that sound like those. I keep putting it on my list of projects to do a simple IDE for QBUS. the design goals would be dual width, boot rom on board and uses a 2.5" drive on the card. So far I've only seen one Qbus IDE and it was lacking for software. Software driver for that hardware is for RT11 alone is a bit of a project as I'd need both the FB and SJ versions of the driver. Allison

17 years, 2 months

SCSI-1 spec

by trag＠io.com

>Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:40:44 -0700 >From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> >Here is the last working draft. > >http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/s1/s1-r17b.txt > Thank you for that. I'm not the original requester, but I imagine that many of use may have a use for that at some point. I put some specs for later SCSI standards up at <http://www.prismnet.com/~trag/Standards/> and some specs for IDE as well. I'm not certain that they were the latest working drafts for each standard, but I collected them in 2004 and most of them are from the 90s, so I believe that they were the latest available. Jeff Walther

17 years, 2 months

OT: Tektronix plug-ins

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: I?m trying to help out a friend who isn?t particularly scope-savvy. He has a Tek 7406a scope and wants to know what plug-in he needs to do waveform capture. If anyone knows or can provide come guidance, please let me know. Thanks. Rich -- Rich Cini Collector of Classic Computers Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator http://www.altair32.com http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp

17 years, 2 months

SCSI-1 spec

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I have a SCSI disk drive manual M2244S/SA/SB M2245S/SA/SB M2246S/SA/SB > which if I remember correctly has a lot of good info (not scanned yet) > nag me if needed looks like it would be a good thing to get a scan of what you have. turns out mine was a service manual for non-scsi drives.

17 years, 2 months

ISO Syquest SQ306 (on eBay) / Syquest 100

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> This seller is usually way over priced on his items And when they don't, they mysteriously discover the item isn't in stock any more. They priced some Kennedy 96xx tape drives low, and reneged on the deal. avoid "IT Equipment Express"

17 years, 2 months

HP "calculators" (was Re: World's first computer on ebay!)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 20:02 -0500 4/14/07, ard wrote: >It puzzles me too. The connector in question is a normal, double-sided 25 >pin (per side) 0.156" pitch edge connector. That's actually not a common >size in the UK (0.156" pitch is not normally used over here), so it's >probably somebody 'borrowed' it becuase it was the easiest way to get >that sort of connector. Is there any chance that the connector was removed because it was causing some sort of mechanical interference or stress on the board? Just guessing wildly, but maybe, if it was otherwise non-functional....? -- - Mark, 210-379-4635 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Large Asteroids headed toward planets inhabited by beings that don't have technology adequate to stop them: Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.

17 years, 2 months

Help to identify a Selectric based terminal.

by marvin＠rain.org

Are Selectric based terminals that rare? And do the Selectric style typewriters fall in that same classification? I've seen three Selectric style typewriters in the last couple of weeks, and figure they are not worth picking up. > Richard wrote: > > [snip] > > If you want to unload that beast, just let me know as its something > I've really been looking hard for over the past couple of years!

17 years, 2 months

Help to identify a Selectric based terminal.

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Bob Rosenbloom wrote: The IBM MAG card Selectric's are not too hard to find. Their not cheap, about $50 each, but I've found two in the last year. I have not tried to interface one yet but I do have the manuals and don't think it would be too hard. Also, they made a "Communications MAG Card Typewriter" that has some sort of interface on it. I just missed one a few months ago. Another thing to look out for is the military I/O Selectric's. I bought two from govliquidation a few years ago. Both have some damage from poor shipping though. These have a big round military (ITT/Cannon) type connector and I have yet to find any info on them. I was lucky to find them, they were listed as "Human Communication Device, Typewriter"! My real quest is a "Model B" I/O typewriter as was used on the IBM 1620, model 1. Probably end up with a bunch of solenoids under a standard typewriter! Bob ----------------- Billy responds: I consider $50 for a Selectric with interface connections extremely cheap. I would expect them to be much more scarce than that. The military machines sound familiar. I'm certain they are covered in some manuals I loaned Al recently to scan. The heart of the I/O Writers used the IBM model 72 and model 73. Al has my manuals for both - they are CDC reprints of IBM Service manuals. Plus I loaned him some parts manuals that have great exploded views for repairing the units. I used all of these manuals when I was trained on the Selectrics, back in 1967. Also, Al has already posted some IBM reference manuals. But I think they are in the CDC folder under terminals. One of the manuals I loaned Al also has all the interface timing and signal levels and how to control. Finally, Wayne Green published a nice little paperback on interfacing a Duramachine to a PC. It has a good basic circuit that could be used to start your own design. I have one Model B with the Sorobon mechanism to drive the typewriter from a computer. It was used on all the CDC computers plus many of the other computer companies of the era. I don't believe that IBM used Sorobon, instead did their own design on the 1620. But I've never dug into a 1620 so don't know what the encoder looks like. I have some other Model B's to use as spares, but no other encoding devices. Would love to find more on the history of that company: Sorobon. About all I know is that they were based in Florida when I ordered some parts from them in the 70's. Still have some of the spare solenoids they used. Guess I should measure and document them. Billy

17 years, 2 months

HP "calculators" (was Re: World's first computer on ebay!)

by jdbryan＠acm.org

On Sat Apr 14 2007, Tony Duell wrote: > If you want to run the old programs and get the feel of the machine > again, I am told there's a pretty good HP98x0 emulator on the web, and > I think it's open-sourve.... I've taken a quick look at this: http://sourceforge.net/projects/hp9800e/ ...and it seems quite impressive. I spent only a little time working with it, but it appears to emulate the hardware and execute code dumps of the actual 9800-series ROMs. Most of the option ROMs are included, as are a number of peripherals. Worth a look. -- Dave

17 years, 2 months

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test-drb April 2007