test-drb July 2008

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

182 participants
225 discussions

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Jochen writes: > Well. Actually acetic acid is the acid in vinegar. Most likely this > stuff is just pure acetic acid without any "flavor". > > Remember: If you are going to dilute concentrated acid > _allways_ pour the acid into water. Never do it the other way around. Another tip from the school of hard knocks: never sniff glacial acetic acid to see what it smells like :-). Rather pure acetic acid of varying concentrations is sold in photography supply stores as stop bath or a hardener add-in for fixer. Certainly pure enough for PC cleanup followed by a wash. You want a concentration way way less than "glacial" (99.5% acetic acid) but much more concentrated than the typical percent or two used in stop bath working solutions. Get it with the indicator in it (most common form for photography) and you'll know that you're done washing/rinsing when it stops turning purple. Tim.

15 years, 10 months

OT: Microdrive reliability

by tonym＠compusource.net

I use the IBM one's, and I love 'em. Tony -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com Sent 7/2/2008 11:13:00 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: OT: Microdrive reliability Does anyone have any extensive experience with CF Microdrive disks-- in particular, the ST1 models? On everyone's least-favorite auction site, I'm seeing tons of refurbs for sale, which makes me wonder if the things hold up at all... Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 10 months

OT: Microdrive reliability

by cclist＠sydex.com

Does anyone have any extensive experience with CF Microdrive disks-- in particular, the ST1 models? On everyone's least-favorite auction site, I'm seeing tons of refurbs for sale, which makes me wonder if the things hold up at all... Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 10 months

NeXT Computer Prototype (Seattle)

by michaelgreen42＠comcast.net

I've got a full NeXT slab setup with monitor/keyboard/mouse. It's a basic slab the neat thing is it was a prototype. I compared it once to my other slab and the lettering/logo was a bit different and this one has prototype printed on it. I should even have the original power cord here somewhere and a short stack of original software and developer stuff (magazines, etc). Taking offers, I'd prefer to deal local and I'm not above trades but I mostly need the cash.

15 years, 10 months

Microdrive reliability

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 2 Jul 2008 at 22:52, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 23:19:42 -0400 > From: "Evan Koblentz" > I don't know what you mean by "ST1". But I had an IBM 340MB CF > Microdrive when they were brand new. It still works. The Seagate line are all labeled "ST1 Drive". On closer inspection, it looks as if a bunch of Chinese merchants are trying to use refurb units to sell their USB-to-CF adapters. Best to stick with a US vendor, methinks. I'm working on a project that would normally take a standard (i.e. flash) CF card, but I'm debugging code and I'd like to use something that was a little more tolerant of repeated writing. Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 10 months

*48*? pin Cinch connector? (HP 5060-8339?)

by ethan.dicks＠usap.gov

Hi, All, I was going through a box of old stuff and ran across something I've ever seen before - a 48-pin 0.156" Cinch connector w/cable hood. From my Commodore days, I've seen lots of 6 and 12 and 44-pin connectors, but not 48. One telling thing is in fine print on the documentation is the legend "HP Part No 5060-8339". It suggests to me that it might be useful for something in the HP1000 or HP2000 era, if I remember anything about the innards. So, Jay, or other HP fans... does this sound like a familiar connector? -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 2-Jul-2008 at 15:49 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -75.6 F (-59.8 C) Windchill -109.7 F (-78.7 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 8.7 kts Grid 39 Barometer 680.5 mb (10609 ft) Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html

15 years, 10 months

Colorado Memory Systems Jumperless Tape Controller

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 06:57:09 -0700 > From: "Glen Slick" > The Colorado Memory Systems Jumperless Tape Controller 026-328 PCB has > a copyright date of 1990, which predates the ISAPNP specification by 4 > years so it must use a proprietary configuration method. Went back through my notes--it's not the FC-10 or FC-20 from Colorado that's ISA PNP--it's the Exabyte "Floppy Tape Accelerator", PCB 317235-000 that's the PNP one. Circa 1996, using an 82078. Unlike the Colorado, there's no external drive connector. There are also empty pads for what I suspect might be a data compression processor chip. While both the Exabyte and Colorado 2Mb accelerator cards are nominally 16-bit ISA, the Exabyte uses only the 16-bit additional IRQ lines, while the Colorado uses both the 16-bit data and DMA lines in addition to the extra IRQs. Both cards use 48MHz XCOs. The brief user documentation for both state that they can be used in 8-bit slots; but the Colorado specifies that data rates up to 1Mb/sec are supported in 8-bit mode. For what it's worth... Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 10 months

Vintage Computer Festival/Midwest 4 - Just one week away

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

Just a reminder that next weekend is my 4th annual Vintage Computer Festival/Midwest, held at Purdue University's Stewart Center. The event has speakers from 11am until 1pm each day, and the exhibits are open from 1pm until 5pm. The ticket price is $5 per day, or free if you're 17 or under, or have a valid Purdue student ID. The event is a celebration of the history of computing, and the machine and people that got us to where we are today. There will be lots of neat technology, and this year we have a door prize of an IBM PCjr from 1983! The PCjr was IBM's first attempt at an inexpensive home computer. I've got several exhibitors signed up, but still have room for more; if you want to show up to show off your collection, or have a few things to sell off at the consignment sale, sign up to be an exhibitor at http://vintage.org/2008/midwest/, or send me an email at this address. Exhibitors get one free t-shirt and free admission, which is included in the $10 per table fee. Pat -- Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

15 years, 10 months

IBM floppy drives

by rtellason＠verizon.net

I tore apart a couple of assemblies that came out of an IBM "SSA" setup, these had a small switch panel, LCD, keyswitch (useless since I don't have keys), and a floppy drive which, when I pulled it out, resembled a PS/2 style drive, though it did have a separate 4-pin power connector and no faceplate. The short ribbon cable in there went to a single connector (pin type) that had the power wiring coming out of it as well. Can anybody use these? I also have a regular PS/2 floppy drive as well, and no particular need for it. I'd corresponded with somebody about that a while back, pulled it out of the box it was in, and it never went anywhere. This one has the single card-edge connector in the back of it, and again no faceplate. Either of these items of interest, feel free to contact me off-list. -- 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

15 years, 10 months

Colorado Memory Systems Jumperless Tape Controller

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 06:57:09 -0700 > From: "Glen Slick" > The Colorado Memory Systems Jumperless Tape Controller 026-328 PCB has > a copyright date of 1990, which predates the ISAPNP specification by 4 > years so it must use a proprietary configuration method. Argh--bad memory bit--wrong floppytape controller! Yup--CMS used their own configuration protocol. Linux has a routine that's used by the ftape driver called fc-10.c that probes for the FC-10 and FC-20 controllers. I'm not sure if you have an FC-10, but it might be worth a try. The FC-20 that I have in front of me is PCB 026-121. I've got an FC-10 somewhere, but it'll take some time to dig it out if you're interested. FWIW, the FC-20 uses an Intel 82078 FDC to get 2Mbps. Now that I think about it, the FC-10 indeed wasn't PNP; you had to use a configuration program to set the I/O, IRQ and DMA options. Programs wanting to use the card simply probed a known range of I/O addresses to determine what the setup was. > If it supports FM that would make it useful. Maybe--it depends on the date code of the 82077AA. Earlier ones support FM fully; later ones don't. If the 82077AA is in a PLCC socket, you can replace it with the National equivalent (8477?) to get full FM support. But IMOHO, getting an FC-10/20 to work as a generic floppy controller seems like too much work to me. Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 10 months

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test-drb July 2008