On 22/03/2010 19:18, Alex Taylor wrote:
> The idea was that reformatting a 1.44MB HD disk in a DD drive will
> leave traces of the original formatting behind (as they're always
> preformatted for DOS/Windows), causing the unreliability. Using a bulk
> eraser is meant to eliminate this problem, as it will turn them into
> completely blank disks that can be formatted in a DD drive more
> reliably.
That won't really matter. When you format a disk you write bit patterns
all over it: in the headers, in the data sectors, and even in much of
the gaps between them (sync bytes and clock patterns used as markers).
Thus there's something there even when you write the first real data,
and of course it never lines up exactly, bit for bit. Therefore you
still have the problem of interference from the previous "data" even if
it's just the dummy data used to fill a "blank" sector, and the sync
bytes and markers in the preamble to it.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I don't know what the market is like in Europe, but I can still buy new media in 5.25" and 3.5" format easily here in the U.S.
Google brings up many places here.
If there are no such outlets in the UK, maybe you can get a bulk order together with some local folks to save on the shipping costs?
Al
From: Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com>
Subject: Reusing old floppy *drives*
Noting the discussion on old media, a slightly different question.
Please excuse my profound ignorance on matters electronic!
I have read, somewhere, that it is possible to connect HD floppy
drives to elderly kit that is only expecting DD drives, and use them
for just DD operation.
More specifically, I'd like to resurrect my ancient Sinclair Spectrum
with its MGT DISCiPLE disk interface. Way back in the 1980s, I used
5?" media, as they were still cheaper. However, now, I daresay I won't
find any new 5?" media and even 3?" DD media are getting tricky.
So what I was considering doing was connecting a pair of old PC floppy
drives - 3?" HD (1.4MB) floppies - and quite possibly using 1.4MB
media, but only formatting them to 720K and using them as 720K. IIRC,
the drives permit this.
The track widths are the same - both are 80t drives - it's just that
DD used 9 sectors per track and HD 18.
Is this likely to work? I realise I'll need to find drives with a unit
selection jumper on them, so I can set one as 0 and the other as 1; no
twists in the cables this far back, & I'm guessing that a twisted
cable wouldn't work with a controller that wasn't expecting it...?
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419
AOL/AIM/iChat/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven ? LiveJournal/Twitter: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? ICQ: 73187508
Hello,
I have the following Tek Instruction Manuals sitting here. I would
like to free up the space they are consuming. If someone wants to make
it worth my while to spend the time shipping them out, I will
entertain offers. Otherwise, I will dump them in the recycling.
Preference will go to the fewest number of boxes I have to deal with
and, of course, compensation offered. I will accept offers until
Sunday (28th) evening. I will ship or recycle Monday.
Shipping from 53714.
Jon
--
7904 Oscilloscope operators
7904 Oscilloscope Service
7A13 Differential Comparator
7A19 Amplifier
7A26 Dual Trace Amplifier
7B92A Dual Time Base
7B80 Time Base
7B85 Delaying Time Base
7M11 50-Ohm Delay Line
S-6 Sampling Head
S-52 Pulse Generator Head
S-53 Trigger Recognizer Head
C-5C Camera
2215 Oscilloscope Service
P6056/P6057 Probe
P6131 Passive Probe
P6460 Data Acquisition Probe
K212 Portable Instrument Cart
1240 Workbook
I also have "data sheets" for the following items:
P6063B Passive Probe
200C Scope-Mobile Cart
Hello,
Does anybody have the source code and libarays for the old MEWEL windows interface?
I have been looking for this so the source code for a Juki Pick and Place machine can be updated.
If there is a fee for this, just let me know.
Thanks,
Patrick McLeod
McLeod Instruments, Ltd.
928-535-6369
Alexey Toptygin wrote:
> What's wrong with pulse or async logic designs? I personally find them
> fascinating, but I've never gotten to play with an implementation of
> one... Are there problems with designing like this that made people switch
> to sync designs? Anyone know of any good books on non-synchronous logic
> design?
Probably the best resources are the Amulet resources from Manchester
University.
http://intranet.cs.man.ac.uk/apt/async/
In the late 90s they experimented with Asynchronous ARM processors.
The difficulty with asynchronous design is that it's far more prone to
race hazards than synchronous design. Also, they found that even the
simple handshaking protocol they used limits performance. Nevertheless,
they do have some advantages, for example their EMF emmissions tend to be
evenly spread across a broad spectrum.
Incidently, modern synchronous design is far less synchronous than it
used to be; high clock rates mean that CPUs are subdivided into
differently clocked domains to avoid clock skew.
-cheers from julz @p
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:12:10 +1100
> From: Nigel Williams <nigel.d.williams at gmail.com>
> Subject: eBay Oz : Collection of DEC Unibus modules including custom
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
All sorts of interesting items: TU-60, CM-11, M792 etc
>
> http://shop.ebay.com.au/pdp11.caps11/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1
>
> not connected with seller, however I did purchase fanfold paper-tape from
> this eBayer.
>
I'm the seller so blame me.... blatant plug follows :-)
I have to clear out my shed so I'll be dumping on eBay.com.au various bits
and pieces. Predominantly it will be DEC UNIBUS modules, papertape, CAPS-11
operating system, plus technical documentation. Stuff is coming out in
random order. E.g. some of the -K series laboratory modules have been listed
but I've only just found the panels and some of the cables.
Really only of interest to Australians are the heavy/bulky/delicate items
like the PDP-11 system with the LPS-11 / TU60, or FABRI-TEK Model 11 Add-On
Memory System, etc., that are being listed as local pickup. There will some
Heathkit (H10 papertape readers/punches and a 3400A microcomputer trainer)
plus should be some HP GPIB gear. The Tektronix gear has already gone. I do
not have any CM-11 card readers, just some of the UNIBUS interface modules.
Regards,
Garry
I recently bought an RS/6000 7046-B50. It didn't have a graphics card
installed (I can use it over a serial console, but I would prefer to be
able to use a graphical console). It is also missing the drive sleds.
Does anybody have a graphics card or drive sled that would work with it?
A local friend is looking for an old chemistry simulator program
for the Apple ][. Here's his description:
> I'm trying to find a "chemistry simulator" program that I used to play
> with on an Apple II way back in the day. I don't remember the name of
> it, but I remember being able to build a decent "lab" out of parts and
> pieces. I remember that the first lesson was an experiment to figure
> out why the fertilizer ship in Texas City exploded after an onboard
> fire.
Does anyone know what this might've been called, or better yet,
does anyone have a copy?
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
A straight-8 has come up for sale. I am representing the seller. I have
photos and details. If you're interested please e-mail me and I'll send
over some information.
Preliminary photos are here:
http://siconic.com/computers/PDP-8/
We'll take opening offers and if there's one good enough then we'll cut to
a straigt (8) sale. Otherwise, it'll move on to a VCF web auction at a
future date.
Thanks!!
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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I aquired a HP 2671A thermal printer and know that there should be an
upgrade ROM to 'upgrade' it to a HP 2671G.
Thanks to Tony excelent work on HPCC CDROM i have the schematics and was
able to fix the head positioning circuit.
One of the driver transistors (TIP 122) was bad after replacing it and
cleaning the printer it works fine.
But now I want to use it for printing graphics (diagrams) and would be very
happy whith an image of the graphics ROM.
-Rik
PS. don't shoot me if it appears a second time, I used the first time the
wrong email address.......:-(