test-drb January 2008

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

221 participants
430 discussions

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

The fellow who sent me the attached message has a fully functional VT50 and VT52 terminal available. Please contact him directly if interested. Thanks. *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** On 31-Dec-07 at 12:33 Robert D. Houk <rdh10 at comcast.net> wrote: > From an old URL I had stashed away some years ago: > > > If you, your company, or your employer is getting ready to dispose > > of old hardware, and before you decide to send ANY such equipment to > > the landfill, please drop me an E-mail and let me know what you have > > and where you are! This holds especially true for military surplus > > radio and electronic equipment or test gear. > >Is this still "active"? > >Are you interested in (to start with) a DEC VT50 and VT52 (both fully >functional the last time I used them) CRT terminals ("glass TTY")? >Free to anyone who wants to come by and pick them up . . . (Nashua, >NH) > >Just wondering (more to the point, cleaning up lots of old email, >URLs, and other notes I've left myself over the ages). > >-RDH *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m "If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"

16 years, 11 months

Is there a Catweasel like device for hard disks?

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, Just out of curiosity, is there a technique or device which can do raw reads of tracks on ST506/ST412 style hard disk drives similar to how a Catweasel can with a floppy disk drive? Thanks! Andrew Lynch

16 years, 11 months

wanted "PC Brand" system and "Best Data" 2400 Modem

by mikelee＠tdh.com

This is pretty boring and only borderline "classic", but for sentimental reasons, I'm looking for a beige box-ish "PC Brand" computer. Anyone happen to know of, or anything about them or the company? Figured by some chance, somewhere here knows something and may even have one stashed away still. They were sold mail order early 1990. The ones I know of were a desktop style, 386 or 486. The system itself was not a standard common AT, but a "PC Brand" laid out chassis and motherboard as far as I can tell. Also, looking for an Internal ISA "Best Data" 2400 modem. A generic POS, but still I'd like to just get my hands on one.

16 years, 11 months

Mail formatting

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

Something is definitely amiss. . . Take a peek at Henk's last posting, dated Sat Dec 29 05:08:15 CST 2007 The first line is quoted text in response to one of my postings. It looks like the carriage returns were stripped out somehow. Still other postings (where Ethan reported problems) looked fine when I read them.?? There might be TWO different symptoms being displayed. Of course, I noticed that in at least one of my postings, there are some extraneous characters that came across, that weren't in the body of my text. This might be due to the way A-oh-well (AOL) formats their e-mails. Tim ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com

16 years, 11 months

Vector and ST506 (was: ST506 and-or ST412 hard drives.htm

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:07:38 -0500 > From: "Andrew Lynch" <lynchaj at yahoo.com> > The different signal is called a "constant index" signal. Apparently, it > is similar to an /INDEX signal from a floppy drive interface but the > signal tells the HD controller everytime sector 0 passes around. The HD > controller requires it for setting up the PLL. > > Here is an excerpt on the subject from the VG engineer: Well, the ST506 knows nothing from sectors--it's about as "bare" and interface as they come. I wonder if by "constant index" it's meant that there's always an INDEX/ signal present; not just when the drive is selected. At least that would make sense from this: > All hard drives working with a Vector FD/HD must have constant > index. There is a phase locked loop that is controlled by U20 which > is CMOS 4040 chip and unless you have constant index the PLL never... Maybe? What happens if the drive is jumpereed so as to be permanently selected? Cheers, Chuck

16 years, 11 months

Vector Graphic computers

by lynch610＠sbcglobal.net

Hi If anyone has any Vector Graphic computers they would like to restore I would like to offer some help if they would like it. Vector Graphic computers can be challenging to restore because of the unusual hardware requirements (100tpi floppy disk drives, 16 sector floppy disks, etc) and a relative scarcity of applicable software and/or boot disks available on the internet. The friendly people on the Vector Graphic mailing list have made a lot of progress lately on various VG projects like the VG simulator, disk imaging project, a disk image library, ROM image library, more comprehensive documentation, etc. Even some hardware related issues like make and burn ROM images, how to boot your VG using 96tpi floppy disk drives, how to make or buy your own 16 sector floppy disks, etc. Check out http://vector-archive.org for some of the new resources available. Thanks! Andrew Lynch

16 years, 12 months

Wanted: ultra-rare Commodore 64 stuff

by dgahling＠hotmail.com

Yeah, I've tried the commodore forums, for sale, craigslist, etc. no luck I thought I'd try my luck here, no harm I think. I'm looking for something very rare on the commodore 64 (c64 or 64c) line of computers, it was called "drive mirror" for the 1541 disk drives it was basically an LCD display built into the drive that showed the track and sector values. it also had a half-track indicator and a "density" indicator as well. I read a magazine article (or online) once that showed how to do the track and sector displays, but never had any info about the more interesting parts - the half-track and the density display. if anyone has one or knows how they worked, or how to make one, please let me know. I'm also looking for a software copy of "Trackmimic" it was part of a hardware copier for the systems. I can make the cables myself (learned how a long time ago), but lost the software somehow. I'm also looking for a software program called "Di-Sector" specifically version 4 of that program. there are a LOT of fakes out there that claim to be version 4, but they're all spyware or trojans. which is sad. I've seen the "real" thing back in the day, so I know it's out there, or was. Any of this, for sale, trade, or just to give to a good home, or to put my out of my misery would help! greatly appreciated Dan. _________________________________________________________________ Discover new ways to stay in touch with Windows Live! Visit the City @ Live today! http://getyourliveid.ca/?icid=LIVEIDENCA006

16 years, 12 months

IBM 3380 and 3880 manuals

by smith-rj＠comcast.net

Just Wondering.. Did you ever find the 3380 maintenance manuals. I wrote the installation section of the manuals, and I don't have a personal copy. Any help? Ray Smith

16 years, 12 months

Vector and ST506 (was ST506 and-or ST412 hard drives

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:07:38 -0500 > From: "Andrew Lynch" <lynchaj at yahoo.com <http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk> > > The different signal is called a "constant index" signal. Apparently, it > is similar to an /INDEX signal from a floppy drive interface but the > signal tells the HD controller everytime sector 0 passes around. The HD > controller requires it for setting up the PLL. > > Here is an excerpt on the subject from the VG engineer: Well, the ST506 knows nothing from sectors--it's about as "bare" and interface as they come. I wonder if by "constant index" it's meant that there's always an INDEX/ signal present; not just when the drive is selected. At least that would make sense from this: > All hard drives working with a Vector FD/HD must have constant > index. There is a phase locked loop that is controlled by U20 which > is CMOS 4040 chip and unless you have constant index the PLL never... Maybe? What happens if the drive is jumpereed so as to be permanently selected? Cheers, Chuck -----REPLY----- Hi Chuck, Yes you are correct. I spoke with the VG engineer to get more details on "constant index" and you described it exactly. Apparently there is a cut and jumper modification which can be made to the ST506 circuit board to bring the /INDEX signal to the interface constantly even when the drive is not selected. Once I get a ST506 drive I will find and make the modification. Assuming I can get the ST506 to work, I will try making modifications to ST225's or other more common hard drives. I'd like to get the standard case working to establish if my VEDMCS is working properly before adding in other variables of different drives etc. Thanks! Andrew Lynch

16 years, 12 months

Vector and ST506 (was ST506 and-or ST412 hard drives

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 09:24:54 -0500 > From: "Andrew Lynch" <lynchaj at yahoo.com> > Yes you are correct. I spoke with the VG engineer to get more details on > "constant index" and you described it exactly. > > Apparently there is a cut and jumper modification which can be made to the > ST506 circuit board to bring the /INDEX signal to the interface constantly > even when the drive is not selected. I grabbed my ST506 off the shelf--it looks to be a very simple change. The control outputs are driven by 7438s and the cut and jumper on IC 6D looks to be easy to do. If you were loathe to modify the PCB on the 506, the index signal is also available on TP4 FWIW, there's a schematic of the ST506 on Bitsavers also. Cheers, Chuck

16 years, 12 months

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test-drb January 2008