In a somewhat related question, does anyone here have an original LISA
with the twiggy floppy drives? The MESS team is looking for a dump of
the LISA firmware ROMs of that version (the 'LISA 1').
Jonathan Gevaryahu
jzg22 at drexel.edu
Hi,
> Well, all you actually need to be accessible is the inteface
>cabling to the drive. So leving the drive accessible (and even
>using longer cables to link it hup) might be enough.
It's pushing 10 years since I got rid of my Sirii, but IIRC the hard drive
and controller board are mounted in such a way that the cabling between them
is inaccessible when they are mounted in the machine.
The only way to work on the hard drive is to remove it from the metal
assembly carrying the drives and prop it up somewhere close bye; in fact
there should be no problem with removing the entire "drive carrier" and
reconnecting the hard drive alone (I'm sure I did this with mine when I was
tinkering with it).
Unfortunately I also gave away all of the documentation I had when I got rid
of the machines and I'm pretty sure that most if not all of it came from the
long defunct FidoNet "Apricot Technical Support BBS" (and/or other Fido
BBSs). Where you'd find it now though?
It's just possible that I *may* have backups somewhere, but they're likely
either on tape or somewhere on one of my many MFM/RLL drives so are pretty
inaccessible. One day I must look through all that stuff.
TTFN - Pete.
On 5 Jul, 2007, at 18:02, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
> From: Pete Turnbull <pete at dunnington.plus.com>
>
>>> After a few panicky minutes, we realised it was the aircon.
>>> Normally it works hard to cool the room, but it's designed to
>>> maintain a
>>> certain temperature. With all the servers switched off, it was
>>> trying
>>> for the first time in years to heat the place up, and of course the
>>> heating coils were full of dust.
>>
>> Almost
>> back to topic, air conditioning systems are supposed to filter out
>> dust,
>> so if there was dust in the heating coils, does this means it was not
>> working properly?
>
> I think the small ones, which are a few kW apiece, do, but the two big
> ones (about 60kW) in the machine room don't really filter the air
> much.
> They're really just meant to keep the temperature and humidity in
> reasonable bounds.
Wouldn't have been up to spec back in the old days of reel to reel
tape and exchangeable disk drives but I suppose that's all you need
now. If it were legal, the equipment wouldn't mind people smoking
there, or eating, though of course liquids don't mix too well with
electronics. Especially gassy drinks which explode when you open them.
Roger
>
>Subject: Re: Boat-load Free in Chicago
> From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
> Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:10:46 -0700 (PDT)
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On Wed, 4 Jul 2007, Chris M wrote:
>> the idea was that if someone reasonably close was
>> willing to grab the stuff, and perchance didn't want
>> some of the items (as said they was obligated to take
>> it all), those that had interest in particular pieces
>> might score. Nobody said it was written in stone (that
>> they would get any of it), just that it wouldn't hurt
>> to express their interest...
>
>OK
>that makes sense
>
>
>> Are there any chicky-poos on this list. I had to go
>> back and change *he* to "they" for fear of offending
>> the weaker sex. Wouldn't want to do that.
>
>Well, Allison is a woman, but I'd be scared to call her a "chicky-poo",
>since she definitely does NOT seem weaker.
Thanks Fred, never fear. Though some may want to "check their six". ;)
Two things.
There are a few women maybe two or three on this list. However a few
I know of are not on the list.
The reason maybe references like "chicky-poos", "skirts"! Whoda thunk
in 2007 someone would write that! One would hope that was said with
a smile on that face to a friendly crowd. ;)
Likely those women that are not on the list don't even know of it!
There is also the the kids standard that the list thing may be a
bit 90s with PHP and Blogs replacing that old thing. ;)
>
>> Seriously
>> there seems to be so few gals in this hobby
>> (understandably). I did catch one skirt bidding on an
>> Amiga (how fitting) 1000 on one of the auction sites a
>> while back.
>
>A lot of it is because a significant part of the motivation for this hobby
>is memories of bygone days, and there were very few women involved with
>computers in those days.
Roger that. Many women were not technical level and were there to punch
the cards or other "more womanly" tasks. It's one of the computing dark
chapters. There were women in the forefront as well. It's part
of the not so nice general history of women in the workforce.
As to "Amiga (how fitting) 1000", I'm perplexed why a woman bidding on
that would be fitting? I always though Amigas were cool and out ahead
but I have no desire for one, guess it's our history of things we worked
with that flavors what we collect or like to play with. I do have a
collection of very sharp knives, humm, is that fitting?
On a more serious note there are many women in archeology and old
computers reflect society and it's tools. So noe sould spculate that
the study of old computers, their users, companies and all the related
bits are a form of sociology or archeology. So there is as good a
possibility that personal "memories of bygone days" are not a factor
but reconstructing or at least understanding some fraction of
computings history or the technology is a sufficient reason for
those people involved.
>In my company, people chose their own job titles. When my VP (self
>inflicted title) hired a woman to work in our Comdex booths, she gave
>herself the job title of "bait"
;) Obviously has a finely tuned sense of humor. Also a great message to
others.
Allison
>
>
>--
>Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
I picked up a Silicon Graphics Crimson at the weekend.
It?s in working order and the skins are in rather good nick as well.
Unfortunately, at some point in the past it has had sticky tape wrapped
around it, presumably to prevent the front access door from opening whilst
it was transported. This has (predictably) left sticky bands around the
computer.
I was wondering what the most appropriate solvent might be to remove this
crud, given that the skins themselves are some form of plastic.
Thanks in advance!
-Austin.
Hi all,
I've got an Onyx2 and the Sirius Digital Video breakout box, but no
cables to connect the two. Any tips/pointers on where I could get
some (or order connectors and cabling suitable for building some)
would be much appreciated!
-- Richard
--
"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/>
I have a spare pair of Accuride slide rails, complete, with all the
fixings. I don't know what their load capacity is but they're nice
ball-bearing slides that came off a large Fujitsu drive which has long
since moved elsewhere, so it must be quite high.
Because of the weight, I'd rather not post them (but PayPerDrop might be
an option in the UK) but they're free to the first respondent.
I also have a pair of what look like the cabinet parts of the rails for
a DEC PDP-11/34 or similar. Only the parts that fir the 19" rack,
though, not the parts that fit on the BA-11 box. These are going to the
scrap metal collection at the weekend if no-one stops me.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I've found two more cables that might be useful to someone. First is a
2-metre AUI Ethernet drop cable, with right-angle 15-pin slide-latch
connectors, second is about 6 metres and has straight slide-latch
cxonnectors. Both are the beige "office" type.
Free for collection in York (UK) or for cost of postage.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Tidying out the workshop, I found a couple of SGI 13W3 video cables.
One is a grey one for an Indy (4 mode sense pins in each plug) which
looks almost unused, and the other is a longer beige one for an Indigo
(3 mode sense pins in each plug).
Also a black VGA cable probably for a KVM switch, about 2m long, one end
male, one end female; brand new (but the poly bag looks a bit scruffy now).
Anyone want these?
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
