Hi,
> Case? What case? Are you sure you're not thinking of a
>Softy-II?
>
> The original Softy is a bare PCB, remarkably similar in
>form-factor to the MK14...
Hmm, quite possibly. The one I recall seeing pictures of in Practical
Electronics was the same size as a ZX-80, and in fact appeared to be in a
remarkably similar case (the upper part of the case was rather different).
It also used a standard UHF TV set as its display.
Oddly, Google doesn't turn up anything at all regarding the Softy or
Softy-II (well, other than a link to a PCW archive site which mentions
reviews of the two units from 1980 and 1982, but doesn't actually have the
reviews available....).
Even the "DataMan" site only goes back as far as the S3! :-(
TTFN - Pete.
(I'm sending this to five lists, the five lists that I think most
likely to have an interest in such a thing - ie, the ones most likely
to be using machines built during the era when SCSI laptop disks were
popular enough to be used. Since followup discussion on some lists is
likely to go in directions not appropriate for other lists, I've set a
Reply-To: address which is a bitbucket; please fix it if/when you
reply, to send to just the list appropriate for your reply.)
I have a SPARCstation Voyager, which unfortunately has a fairly small
disk (773 MB). But this machine uses SCSI disks and has space for only
a laptop-form-factor drive (well, unless you want to go external, which
is rather suboptimal). I understand there are other machines in the
same boat, such as some Mac laptops (I don't know whether they're
PowerPC or 68k - or perhaps some of each - which is why I'm sending to
both the macppc and mac68k NetBSD lists.)
I did some searching and found there was a company that made an adapter
that fit next to a modern (thin) laptop drive, so the result was a
somewhat thickish "disk" that still fit within the old laptop form
factor - but which spoke SCSI to the host even though the disk was IDE.
Most of them were fairly expensive, but there was one that looked
reasonable. The vendor that was said to carry it, though, no longer
does (I phoned them and asked), so I wrote to the manufacturer.
They offer to sell them to me at US$65 apiece, quantity 10. I'm
willing to pay that rate, but I have no need for more than maybe two.
So I'm wondering if people would be interested in buying these off me
(at my cost, which probably means about USD 70 including shipping, at
least within US48+CA).
The device in question is the Century CHB25INT, as described in
http://online.century.co.jp/BittradeTest/e_shop/chb25int.html.
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
The CBM aficionados on this list no doubt all know the name Jim
Butterfield and that he passed away in June; here's another little
tidbit to add to his bio.
Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Butterfield
m
----- Original Message -----
From: <sbolton at gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 10:49 AM
Subject: Jim Butterfield Memorial Tribute in Globe and Mail
There is a tribute to Jim Butterfield in today's (August 28, 2007)
Globe and Mail. Although this link won't remain active long, you can
see it online here as well:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/liveslived
For those that can't get the tribute, I have reposted the text here.
For those that keep asking, the official memorial HAS NOT BEEN
ANNOUNCED yet but it will happen and I will let you know when it does.
================
August 28, 2007 (Globe and Mail)
FRANK JAMES (JIM) BUTTERFIELD
Husband, father, pioneer of personal computing. Born Feb. 14,1936, in
Ponoka, Alta. Died June 29 of lymphoma in Toronto, aged 71.
by DIANE MCKELVEY
Jim Butterfield was the third of four children born to James and Nancy
Butterfield; they were originally from England, but moved to Alberta
to try farming there.
Jim attended the University of Alberta and the University of British
Columbia, but he soon realized he was more
interested in the Radio Society than in the curriculum. He never
finished his degree.
In 1957, Jim accepted a job in Whitehorse training technicians who
maintained the new microwave system built along the Alaska Highway.
>From the first, he demonstrated a gift for teaching.
Jim was transferred to Toronto in 1962. Soon he had moved out of the
world of microwaves and transistors and, in 1963, began work on the
very large computers that were just coming into use. Jim had also
begun a second career as a writer and educator on computers. He was
intrigued with the microcomputers
that started to arrive in 1976 and was soon publishing programs for
games and utilities for a number of models. He became a regular
contributor to computer magazines and published several successful
books
He left his day job in 1981: rumour has it he was fired after telling
his boss that personal computers would one day wipe out the private
wire teleprinter business. Before leaving, however, he made one
important connection - his wife, Vicki.
Jim's first interest was in Vicki's typewriter: It was top of the line
and could type the symbols used for electrical
terms such as the ohm. When Vicki asked what the heck that thing was
anyhow, Jim came back with a hand-drawn picture of an ohm sitting on
top of a stove, which he said was "an ohm on the range." How could she
resist?
Jim's life took a significant turn in 1988, when his daughter Susannah
was born. Embracing fatherhood at age 52, he immensely enjoyed sharing
his love of books, restaurants and travel with his young daughter.
Never stodgy, Jim enjoyed many a beer with friends at the Toronto
Naval Club. He had a sense of humour - one neighbour remembers a
telephone conversation in which both Jim and she remarked on how the
meow of a Siamese cat had a similar sound to a bagpipe. During the
course of the conversation, this eventually led to each holding their
Siamese cat under their arms like a proper bagpipe and gently
squeezing to produce the requisite wailed duet.
Jim was a dreamer and an entertainer, and nothing made him happier
than to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with an audience - whether
it was a group of machine language programmers or a curious child.
(Diane McKelvey is Jim's niece.)
>
>Subject: Re: Building my own classic style computer update
> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:21:52 -0700
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On 23 Aug 2007 at 17:20, Mr Ian Primus wrote:
>
>
>> > Zilog Z8442BPS
>> Serial I/O controller
>>
>> > Zilog Z8430BPS
>> Counter timer circuit
>
>It's been a long time--but didn't the "vintage" chips have legends
>such as "Z80-SIO" and "Z80-CTC" as well as "Z80-CPU"? I liked that
>convention--didn't leave much to the "I wonder what the heck this
>chip does" mindset.
Varied from time to time. Early on that was the case, as ZILOG moved
into a greater variety of parts and then CMOS they needed to have part
numbers that wer more unique so the Z80-SIO became 844x (X=1,2,3,4 for
bond options) and later 84C4x for the cmos versions.
Allison
Brent Hilpert sayeth:
> I've had a few problems with mine, mostly failing semiconductors, all of
> which have been unusual and difficult to replace/substitute, although I
> was quite pleased when I found the 4004 inside.
I'll say. It's basically a 4004 microcomputer system in there, so it's no
surprise the support chips have been hard to track down.
> I presume you have the manual, which has the schematic and a listing of
> the base code firmware.
Yes.
> I suppose it's conceivable the 1702 firmware EPROMS are losing their
> contents.
I didn't consider that possibility and don't want to :) But it might be
correct. These are pretty old by now.
> I have taken dumps of the contents of the ones in mine, if of interest.
I have another I can try out. But yes, I would probably want to re-burn
the EPROMS if they have rotted out.
> (Is this a new toy or something you know was working? Also, out of
> interest, which personality module do you have plugged in?)
A new toy, but I assumed it worked. I hope the other one is good at
least.
This one has the 2716 plug-in, which is perfect because that just happens
to be what I need it for currently. When I pull the other one I'll let
you know what module it has. I believe I have also an 800 model,
something like that, but a third unit for sure.
> If you haven't used the unit before, you do have to press one of the
> LIST/DUP/VER/COPY keys initially to get anything to display on the hex
> LEDs (initially blank on power-up), although I expect you've banged on
> all the keys already.
Oh yes, they got thoroughly exercised.
> IIRC, some of the communication adapters if plugged in (serial¶llel
> D plugs) may cause the unit to appear hung.
Interesting. But nothing is plugged into those. Interestingly, the
serial interface is current loop, for interfacing to a TTY. That feature
really dates these things :)
> If all the power supplies levels are OK I suppose the next thing would
> be to 'scope for multiplex/keyboard scan activity to see if the
> processor/firmware is functioning.
Or just try the other and hope it works. I unfortunately don't have time
for troubleshooting :(
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
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Hi, just a quick enquiry.
I have aquired a DEC 3000 Model 800 AXP and have a boot problem. The
system was booting about once every ten power ups. The status LEDs
don't move in the case where the system checks do not 'kick in', they
remain on '00'. I have cleaned the entire box and used contact cleaner
on all connections, and re-seated the motherboard and IO module.
Previously when the system did 'kick in' all tests completed correctly
except the keyboard/mouse test. I am using a VT520 connected via an
original DECconnect cable. I managed to install both OpenVMS 6.1 (the
original disk received with the unit) and OpenVMS 8.3 (although this
didn't boot, but probably due to the fact that I selected DECnet but
don't have any thick/thin cables connected).
Sorry to be so long winded. So the question is, apart from reseating/
cleaning cables/connections, is there anything else I could check/test/
try? I have enough competence to measure voltages and possibly even
power ripples and the like, but I don't have a logic analyser.
Do the SROMs age at all? It is a standard x512 EEPROM. It has a
sticker over the programming window (assuming it has one). Is there a
battery backed module that could be causing intermittent problems?
Additional information:
I intermittently get the following error:
ASIC ?? 002 0020
T-ERR-ASIC COREIO
address = f0080280
data read = 0
data exp = aaaaaa
Code 'EF' is displayed on the LEDs.
Does this, and the 'not booting at all' indicate a problem with the
SROM/EEPROM? I flashed it recently to version 7.0, the latest, but I
think it was having this problem before it was flashed.
Thanks, Mark.
I've started a project to use the Catweasel for making images of NorthStar
hard sector disks. I have some working code. It is not ready for public
release.
Please contact me offline if interested in being a developer. The code is
not available publicly at this time.
Thanks
Andrew Lynch
I'm looking for a copy of the utility disk that went with the PF-10 disk
drive, used with the Epson Geneva PX-8 laptop. Alternatively is there a
ROM that has the commands to re-build a utility disk?
Thanks.
Bill
No idea whether he is truely serious or not, but those interested should contact him (see below).
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
lamanchaoslo <lamanchaoslo at hotmail.com> wrote: To: Commodore_Amiga_Retro at yahoogroups.com
From: "lamanchaoslo" <lamanchaoslo at hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:30:16 -0000
Subject: [Commodore_Amiga_Retro] CS1000 Virtual Reality system for sale!
I'm considering selling a 1000CS VR System. At the moment I have two machines that we are
about to combine into one working machine.
More on the machine here: http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/virtuality.html
Please contact me for more info on the condition of the machines, offers etc.
