------------Original Message(s):
From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: 8-bitters and multi-whatever
On 9/12/07, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net> wrote:
> On Wednesday 12 September 2007 14:31, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> > On 9/12/07, M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
> > > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
> > >
> > > >Since I couldn't afford an IEEE-488 disk drive... I fabricated my own
> > > >nybble-with-handshake cable between the user ports of the PET and the
> > > >C-64...
> > >
> > > You mean you didn't just make a simple cassette "null modem" cable?
>
> > Just a passive cable? Do you have any special notes, or was it just
> > SAVE "FOO", 1 and LOAD "FOO", 1?
>
> I was wondering if you'd want the ",1" in there or not myself.
In this case, the '1' is to designate cassette drive 1 (PETs have two,
C-64s have one). It's probably optional, but I included it out of
habit.
-ethan
=============
Reply:
And of course there's the venerable Shift Run/Stop sequence; I wonder at what
point that changed from loading the first tape program to the first one on disk..
m
>
>Subject: RE: 8-bitters and multi-whatever
> From: "Rod Smallwood" <RodSmallwood at mail.ediconsulting.co.uk>
> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:06:42 +0100
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
>
>I worked at DEC in '82 at the UK HQ (Decpark)
>I'm sure we had more than 50 nodes in the UK alone.
>The SET HOST list went on forever.
>
>Rod Smallwood
I used to have the netmap for DECnet/DEC for around '82 and it was by
all accounts there at DEC the largest network on the planet but the total
node count wasn't that high. The second largest was a DEC custormer
Dupont at around 50 nodes. A large portion were phase III nodes. Huge
contrast to 1988ish when people started subnetting DECnet as the
phase IV address scheme had run out of space.
Allison
On 13/09/2007 00:10, Pete Turnbull <pete at dunnington.plus.com> wrote:
>On 12/09/2007 20:03, Roy J. Tellason wrote:
> > On Wednesday 12 September 2007 14:31, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> >> On 9/12/07, M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
>
> >>> You mean you didn't just make a simple cassette "null modem" cable?
>
> >> Until you mentioned it now, I never would have thought of it.
>
> > I never heard of that either, until I read it in that post...
>
>ISTR there was some Commodore diagnostic software that you could
>transfer that way, and we certainly used the same technique to transfer
>diagnostics from a BBC Micro with a disk drive to cassette-based
>machines we were testing or repairing. That would be around 1982-85.
>We put resistors in the cables to get the levels right.
>
I went one step further than that.
I bought a couple of telephone line isolating transformers with a view
to building some modems from magazine projects so that I could exchange
programs with a friend who, like myself, had a BBC micro. I took a long
time to get around to building the modems but in the meantime, I
experimented with hooking the cassette port on the BBC to a phone line
via a transformer and put in place a similar setup at my friends house.
We used phones to make the initial connection and then switched in the
transformers and issued LOAD and SAVE commands to transfer data.
It was difficult to get everything synchronised correctly. Block
numbers were displayed at the receiving end when data was being received
but the sending end had no idea if things were working or not and the
voice channel was not available while attempting transfers. As far as I
recall though, we did manage to successfully transfer files at 300 baud
but we didn't persue the idea further because of the slowness of the
transfers and difficulty of setting everything up, not to mention the
possibility of an error when transferring a large file requiring us to
restart from the beginning.
Regards,
Peter.
Just picked up an RL02 for a song. It's a bit beat up looking, but it
seems pretty clean inside, so far.
It's kind of a moot point at the moment, since I have no disk packs,
cabling, or interface boards (so I can't use the darned thing until I
complete a scavenger hunt...) but I'm wondering what I should check out
on this machine before I power it on & (eventually) start using it...
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Josh
I worked at DEC in '82 at the UK HQ (Decpark)
I'm sure we had more than 50 nodes in the UK alone.
The SET HOST list went on forever.
Rod Smallwood
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Roy J. Tellason
Sent: 12 September 2007 20:46
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: 8-bitters and multi-whatever
On Wednesday 12 September 2007 15:08, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
> Roy J. Tellason wrote:
> >>> I know of ARCnet, went to a short seminar on that once at a trade
> >>> show, and in fact even have a couple of ISA cards around here
> >>> someplace, though I don't forsee me ever using them.
> >>
> >> ARCnet and most of the 'nets were in the price range of a hard disk
> >> then. Also the whole idea of networking was new. For example in
> >> 1982 the two largest networks I knew of were DEC (internal) and
> >> Dupont(internal) and they were around 50 nodes!
> >
> > I remember those days, thinking of 50 nodes as being pretty good-sized.
> > :-)
>
> IBM's internal network was significantly larger than that by '82. 8-)
Of that I have no doubt! :-)
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin
Hi,
I have been working more on the Catweasel NorthStar project. After much
searching, I have found the source of the apparent sector errors while
reading good disks and have prepared a new version correcting the bugs. It
can now read both of my test disks and make images without errors.
Here is a sample of an image I have made of a disk from 1985 which came with
my restored NorthStar Horizon:
http://www.geocities.com/lynchaj/CWNS-vintage.zip
The CWNS project really could use some testers now. It can only make disk
images of NorthStar hard sector single sided double density disks (SSDD).
You'll need a working Catweasel to use it. Of course, some highly skilled
developers would be greatly appreciated as well.
Next up on the agenda:
Make program read and process individual sectors rather than whole tracks
Support more NorthStar hard sector disk formats (ie, DSDD, SSSD, etc)
The program is still not ready for public release so any volunteers will
have to request the program from me. Please contact me off list.
Thanks!
Andrew Lynch
I'd like to sell a Toshiba T-1100 Plus laptop I've had for a long
time but don't need. According to this interesting article
http://www.itworld.com/Comp/1355/050420toshibalaptop/ it's
considerably over 10 years old, and probably over 20, so hopefully
this is the right forum to post this ;)
Anyway it has an 8088 processor, 640K RAM ("...should be enough
for anyone" according to Bill Gates), two 3.5" floppy drives, an
80x25 monochrome LCD display, built-in modem (probably 1200 baud
but maybe faster), AC adapter and the carrying bag.
It comes with a Toshiba MS-DOS 3.20 disk and boots up to the A>
prompt and will list the directory of that disk. That's as far as
I tested it. The internal D-cell NiCd batteries I replaced several
years ago with brand-new ones from Mouser and then let it sit,
gathering dust... they did take a charge and will run the machine
on batteries.
I'd like to find it a good home. I figure the fairest way,
assuming more than one person is interested ;) is to make "silent
auction" bids. Please let me know.
thanks
Charles
Charles said:
> Does anyone have the schematic for an 874-D power controller?
> Or better yet, a good used circuit breaker?
Well I don't have a breaker, but at least you can check the
print set for the details. I also recently needed to examine
the schematic, and found it at:
http://www.vt100.net/manx/details/1,3467
> At least one of the three (ganged) breakers is internally flaky
> and will turn off if the handle is pushed upward all the way to
> "ON" (they work if the handle row is carefully lifted just far
> enough but obviously that is not reliable).
You're right, not very reliable.
> It looks like the (original-type) Heinemann breakers are available
> from Newark, and similar ones from Mouser that will probably fit,
> but they are *very* expensive new...
Well, I haven't checked the prices, but you may find reasonable
success by getting another 874D unit. I just saw one trade hands
on eBay for around $20.
- Jared
This is one impressive series of mod's to turn the C64 into part of a
music studio.
http://www.bigmech.com/misc/c64mods/
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
