test-drb December 2010

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

154 participants
208 discussions

by dj.taylor4＠verizon.net

I thought the Paragon was a large rack mounted monster, like the IPSC/860. What I saw in the picture didn't look like anything I would call a 'SuperComputer'. Doug At 03:48 PM 12/28/2010, you wrote: >I had asked the seller about that terminal and he said he would take $200 + >shipping... I have no idea if that is a good price or not. Any ideas? Dunno >what I'd even do with it. > > >-Josh

13 years, 12 months

RetroChallenge Winter Warmup 2011 starts January 1st

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

The RetroChallenge Winter Warmup 2011 starts on January 1st! If you've not done it before, don't worry, just email me from the link on http://retrochallenge.net/ with a blog URL and what you want to be called and then do as much or little as you can. You'd be surprised what you can fit in over the course of a month. Looking forward to reading about your own corner of 'retro'. *About RetroChallenge* In a nutshell, the RetroChallenge is a loosely disorganised gathering of RetroComputing enthusiasts who collectively do stuff with old computers for a month. The event is very much open to interpretation... individuals set there own challenges, which can range from programming to multimedia work; hardware restoration to exploring legacy networking... or just plain dicking around. It really doesn't matter what you do, just so long as you do it. While the RectroChallenge has its competitive side, it's not really a contest... it's more like global thermonuclear war -- everyone can play, but nobody really wins. Come on... give it a go!

13 years, 12 months

Uncommon: Intel Paragon on iOffer

by helforama＠gmail.com

I had asked the seller about that terminal and he said he would take $200 + shipping... I have no idea if that is a good price or not. Any ideas? Dunno what I'd even do with it. -Josh

13 years, 12 months

Uncommon: Intel Paragon on iOffer

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Chuck writes: > I pointed it out because (a) the Intel i860 was yet another stumble > by Intel to get away from the 8008 architecture (the 432 being only a > slightly earlier one--and one in a diametrically opposite direction) > and the application (cluster) was novel. Personally I always thought the i860 was far from a stumble, because in fact it was the highest MFlops/dollar and MFlops/watt for a considerable length of time and used in a number of high-horsepower applications in the real world. Farms/clusters weren't awful novel, scientists had been assembling their own for a decade before. Intel seeing that it could commercialize a massively parallel computer, yes in some people's eyes that would make it legit (when somehow it wasn't legit whenever anyone did it in the decades before...?) Maybe by some measures i860 was a stumble because it didn't replace x86 but by those measures, everything is a failure. Hardly seems like a good definition of success. Aka "Where Are We Going? Planet Ten! When Are we Going? Real Soon!" Tim.

13 years, 12 months

Wave Mate Jupiter II

by aek＠bitsavers.org

http://bitsavers.org/pdf/waveMate more than you ever wanted to know about the Wave Mate Jupiter II

14 years

Epson CP/M floppy drives. Was: C64/C128 CP/M Cartridge, Interest?

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

>> The HX-20 commands are file based and were issued mainly from Basic. The >> Basic >> extension is also on the boot disk. >> The PX-4/8 commands are sector based and issued from CP/M. > Although IIRC the disk BASIC for the HS20 had DSKI$ and DSKO$ commands > (or something similar) to read/write absolute sectors. The TF-15 and PF-10 implemented a subset of the TF-20 commands. For an overview of the epsp commands: http://www.xs4all.nl/~fjkraan/comp/hx20/epsp.html (the PX-4/8 commands are at the end) > There's also a free program for linux machines to emulate such a drive. > Amazingly it works on my acient linux box, and from what I can remember, > it works with the HX20 and PX4/8 machines. There are several programs. The Px8vfs program for DOS (and OS/2) is written by Will Rose and I got it via Don Maslin a long time ago: http://www.xs4all.nl/~fjkraan/comp/px8/px8vfs/index.html. The other is Vfloppy, originally written by Justin Mitchell and maintained by me: http://www.xs4all.nl/~fjkraan/comp/px4/vfloppy/. The images of the latest version are also usable with the PX-4/8 and QX-10 emulators. > IIRC, at the hardware level it's RS232 voltages, 38400 baud. Probably 8 > bits, no parity, 1 stop. Correct. The fun thing is, the vfloppy program even works with USB-RS232 converters :-) >> The TF-15 and PF-10 are both ROM based. The TF-15 used the same housing >> as the TF-20. As this resembled the QX-10 computer, the origin of the >> TF-15/20 product was probably to provide two extra floppies for this >> computer. > Of coruse the floppy drives in the TF20 (and maybe the TF15, I've never > seen one) are the same voice-coil drives as in a QX10. > > There's a 34 pin header on the nback of the TF20, which would appear to > be for adding a couple of exter external drives. AFAIN, the software > doesn't support it, though. > > More interestingly, there's a parallel interface inside the TF20 (8255 + > header), I can't remember if it's populated, or if the PCB is simply laid > out for it. I have no idea what this was supposed to be used with. > > The serial inbterface in the TF20 is a daughterboard. Whether other > interfaces were planned to fit in place of it I don't know. > > I also have another Epson prodcut in a very similar case. it's called > something liek a 'BM5'. The external interface is a DB25 socket, but it's > not RS232, it's some custom patallel interface. Inside is a PSU, Interesting, like the TF-20. I never figured out how this product has come into being. Too much useless connectors and daugthter boards to be designed as a single consistent design. > controller board and 5.25" floppy drive. But it's not a standard drive at > all. The interface between the cotnroller and drive is a 34 way and a20 > way ribbon cable, the controller board has a _hard disk_ controller IC on > it (one of the NEC ones). I believe the drive interface to be close to > ST412, and the drive to take special floppies (possibly with servo > tracks) and to have a rahter high capacity. I bought this thing 15 or so > years ago (back when Greenweld sold interesting stuff) and have never > been able to fidn out anythign about it. Oh well... It was probably a > peripherals for the QX10 or something, but I have never seen an interface > card for it. Could it be a GPIB interface? There is such a card for the QX-10 (http://www.xs4all.nl/~fjkraan/comp/hx20/epson_codes.txt) and I know HP used this interface for hard disks in the HP9000 / 300 machines. > -tony > Fred Jan

14 years

Epson CP/M floppy drives. Was: C64/C128 CP/M Cartridge Interest?

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

> So the Floppy for the PX8 is specialized for a CP/M host it's not running > CP/M itself as there is not enough ram alone to qualify. To clarify the Epson floppy drive issue, there were three products: TF-20 - Z80 based, 64k RAM, 2k ROM, boot from disk TF-15 - Z80 based, 2k RAM, 8k ROM, runs from ROM PF-10 - 6303 based, 2k RAM, 8k ROM, runs from ROM The TF-20 supported the commands used by the HX-20 and the PX-4/8 The TF-15 and PF-10 only supported the PX-4/8 commands. The TF-20 used the boot tracks of the disk to load some OS and a program which made it a serial 'file server' for the host. The OS could very well be a slimmed down version of CP/M. The HX-20 commands are file based and were issued mainly from Basic. The Basic extension is also on the boot disk. The PX-4/8 commands are sector based and issued from CP/M. All devices used the same protocol, epspd and baud rate. The same protocol was used internally in the HX-20/PX-8 between the various processors. The HX-20/PX-8 external video device also used it. The TF-15 and PF-10 are both ROM based. The TF-15 used the same housing as the TF-20. As this resembled the QX-10 computer, the origin of the TF-15/20 product was probably to provide two extra floppies for this computer. For those interested http://www.xs4all.nl/~fjkraan/comp/tf20/ contains some info on epsp and the TF-20 boot disk. Fred Jan

14 years

Computer History Entertainment

by david＠classiccomputing.com

On Dec 27, 2010, at 1:00 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Sounds interesting - on which classic computers do these "shows" run? > > > Regards > > Rod Smallwood Hi Rod, They are podcasts, so you have to do like when you were a kid. You know, you sit in front of the TV watching "Scooby Doo" with your stuffed Scooby, or like that. So, you tinker around with your old computers, etc. while listening. ; ) Well, unless you're driving. Best, David Greelish, Computer Historian Classic Computing The Home of Computer History Nostalgia http://www.classiccomputing.com Classic Computing Blog Classic Computing Show video podcast "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast Retro Computing Roundtable podcast Historical Computer Society Classic Computing Expo 1.0 - planning for sometime late 2011!

14 years

Computer History Entertainment

by david＠classiccomputing.com

On Dec 27, 2010, at 1:00 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > I just got around to listening today. That was marvelous, thanks very much. > Merry Christmas to all, > Charlie C. Thanks Charlie! Best, David Greelish, Computer Historian Classic Computing The Home of Computer History Nostalgia http://www.classiccomputing.com Classic Computing Blog Classic Computing Show video podcast "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast Retro Computing Roundtable podcast Historical Computer Society Classic Computing Expo 1.0 - planning for sometime late 2011!

14 years

Computer History Entertainment

by david＠classiccomputing.com

Hi everyone, If you have never checked out any of the shows that I produce, please consider checking one or more out over the holidays. I just posted the new Retro Computing Roundtable podcast today. Find it here - http://bit.ly/iazQ2S with links to the others at the top of the page. There is also - "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast & the Classic Computing Show video podcast. I'm like the Leo Laporte of computer history podcasts! Well, OK, so I'm not as professional, and I don't have the years of radio and television experience, nor the equipment, or the money . . . OK, OK, I stink compared to Leo, I'm nothing like him! ; ) They're good shows. Have a great holiday season. Best, David Greelish, Computer Historian Classic Computing The Home of Computer History Nostalgia http://www.classiccomputing.com Classic Computing Blog Classic Computing Show video podcast "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast Retro Computing Roundtable podcast Historical Computer Society Classic Computing Expo 1.0 - planning for sometime late 2011!

14 years

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test-drb December 2010