test-drb June 2010

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

167 participants
232 discussions

A Hackintosh ... in 1986

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 16:12:47 -0700 (PDT) > From: Chris M <chrism3667 at yahoo.com> > Somewhat offtopic, but if anyone in the northeastern part of the US has > any totally cool PowerMac clones (Radius, Moto, etc.), I might be > interested. As long as they're totally cool. You need an Outbound Laptop Model 125 from 1989. It was totally cool. It weighed about 9 lbs, which was still lighter than the Macintosh Portable, had a detachable IR keyboard with pointing device. The pointing device was an isobar which rolls for up and down movement and slides side to side for left right. In addition to the normal four SIMM sockets for 4 MB of system RAM, there were four SIMM sockets for persistent RAM Disk (called a Silicon Disk by Outbound) which could be up to 16 MB with four 4MB SIMMs (one of these days I'll try 16 MB SIMMs in there). The CPU was a 15 MHz 68000 and it used either SE or Plus ROMs. The screen was 640 X 400 LCD. It used a standard camcorder battery. One could have either an internal floppy drive or an internal 2.5" IDE drive of 20, 40, 60 or 80 MB capacity. However, this creates the biggest conundrum for the collector. If you get one with the internal hard drive, you have no floppy drive unless you get the external floppy drive with it. Many of these machines have been separated from their peripherals over the years. And the floppy was not "standard". It was a standard Citizen brand floppy mechanism, but it had a controller card on the back end with a security protected GAL included. Sigh. As well as a 37C65, a WD92C32, a small Atmel EEPROM (28C64) and a Xicor X9103 (digital pot.). It was possible to dock the Laptop to the (now ROMless) SE or Plus (if one had a docking card installed in the ROM sockets) and then use the I/O ports, screen and memory of the ROM-less host computer. So one could have dual screen operation. The Outbound could also be put in Target Disk mode when using the SCSI adapter so that the internal IDE drive would appear as a SCSI disk to a connected host machine. Or the SCSI adapter could just be used to connect to SCSI peripherals. Standard Macintosh Serial ports were included with support for LocalTalk, so if you lack an external floppy drive, file transfer via LocalTalk/AppleTalk is still possible. There were other cool features and much thoughtfulness in the design, such as a cable to connect the keyboard if one was operating in an environment where the IR wouldn't work (bright sunlight?). And a Bus Mouse port on the keyboard so one could use a mouse instead of the Isopoint device. I wish I could track down Doug Schwartz who owned/started Outbound. I'd really like the code for the GALs in the floppy adapter and the SCSI adapter (assuming he still has them). And if he has the source for the laptop EEPROMs (there was a little code in additional EEPROMs in the laptop to handle various details) that would be nice. They were based in Boulder, CO. Anyway, as far as cool Mac clones, in my opinion, the Laptop Model 125 was the coolest. Outbound later made some nicer Notebook computers with lower weights and more traditional form factors, but the Laptop Model 125 takes the cake for cool features at a very early date. The clones of the mid-to-late 90s were (mostly) just Apple chip sets (and often entire Apple logic boards) wedded with different power supplies and computer cases. When you dig into the actual feature sets, they didn't offer anything you couldn't already get from Apple, except that one clone that had the standard set of PC ports... The Laptop 125, it had innovative stuff that didn't come from Apple. Jeff Walther

14 years, 1 month

old Sun SCSI chips

by trag＠io.com

> > Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:41:00 -0400 > From: "Curtis H. Wilbar Jr." <rescue at hawkmountain.net> > Subject: old Sun SCSI chips > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <4C09B93C.1090201 at hawkmountain.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > > I'm trying to nail down the differences between FAS101 and 53C96 SCSI > chips > used in Sun systems/boards. > > I believe the 53C96 is 5MB/sec SCSI and the FAS101 if 10MB/sec. > > (I found specs for Macs with the 53c96 that say 5MB/sec which is where > I got that # from). A Sun infodoc article lumps up the FAS101 and MACIO, > doesn't indicate the speed of the FAS101, but indicates the MACIO is > 10MB/sec. Yes, the 53C96 supported *unenhanced* SCSI 2 operations, meaning 5 MB/s maximum theoretical transfer speed. If you wanted *Fast* SCSI-2 (10 MB/s) you needed the 53CF96. I do not know anything about the FAS101. Jeff Walther

14 years, 1 month

Tektronix 4014's found - and IBM 523 -heads up. - here's where

by eccm＠swbell.net

heads up on Tektronix 4014's In the "Black Hole", Los Alamos, NM, the 19" Tektronic 4014? terminals - -someone needs to save these. One has a busted CRT, other looks OK, and is a rebranded TEK unit apparently. Yes, outdoors, but nothing rusts there! Whomever gets them and gets one working, there is a small community that admires them greatly so it's not like anyone would be "stuck" with it. images here: http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/travel/blackhole/1009125.jpg http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/travel/blackhole/1009128.jpg also an IBM 523 summary card punch was inside, in the back. I suppose if you need to summarily punch a card, this is the machine for you. looked dusty but OK. Patrick

14 years, 1 month

Free: HP Integral (no power supply) in Cupertino, CA

by sieler＠me.com

Hi, If anyone would like a free HP Integral (missing a power supply), please email me. It also has a 512 KB memory board. ROM Module has HP-UX 5.0 Second expansion slot is empy. Has keyboard (and cable), internal printer, internal floppy. No mouse. Preference goes to anyone who can pick it up in Cupertino, CA. Otherwise, cost of shipping Fed-Ex is needed. Stan sieler at allegro.com

14 years, 1 month

Lightbulb police? (was RE: Anyone off to VCF-UK)

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 18:36:51 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) >> On 03/06/10 19:28, Tony Duell wrote: >> > Why isn't something similar done now. Have an adapter containint eh >> > electronics which lasts for a long time, and just replace the >> fluorescent >> > tube when it fails? >> >> Profit. >> >> The Engineer Says: "I just made a lightbulb that lasts a million hours!" >> The MBA Says: "NO! Don't tell ANYONE about it. It'll kill the sales of >> our existing two-thousand-hour-lifetime products!" >> >> The Engineer Says: "What if we split the tube from the ballast? Then if >> one fails, the customer can keep the other, working bit?" >> The MBA Says: "People don't want to buy two separate parts. Also it's >> more profitable if they have to swap the whole thing." > > Is it me, or is most of the 'green' movement one big con? It's not just you. The greenie movement is a religion, not a sensible movement attempting to solve problems in rational ways. If they were the latter, they would have been advocating nuclear power as soon as reducing CO2 became a fad. CO2 emissions have been a concern since the late 70s if not earlier, but that didn't stop the greenies from lying about nuclear power at every opportunity and essentially forcing the increased use of coal. If the USA had built 10 new nuclear electricity generating plants a year since 1980, our CO2 emissions would be 28% lower now, not to mention the accumulated reduction in emissions over the last thirty years. Arguably, the greenies caused global warming.... Jeff Walther

14 years, 1 month

Authenticity opinions

by shoppa＠trailing-edge.com

Probably the lowest effort option also makes the fewest changes to the original: A small external "boost" autotransformer to give maybe 10 or 15% extra headroom. This could be done without using a big transformer. What you do is use a say 20VAC 3A transformer secondary in series with the primary, wired to that you end up with 140VAC with 120VAC in. This can use a physically much smaller transformer than a 140VAC 3A isolation transformer. I'm guessing the AC current at the input to the power supply is circa a very few amps or so (why I suggest a 20VAC 3A unit above). Tim.

14 years, 1 month

wanted Sun 4/6x0MP system board

by rescue＠hawkmountain.net

Anyone have one.... I have one that let out the magic smoke.... I'd also love to find the memory expansion board for these. -- Curt

14 years, 1 month

A Hackintosh ... in 1986

by spectre＠floodgap.com

On review the design isn't so outlandish since it was basically based on a cast-off Macintosh motherboard, but still, it's a Hackintosh of sorts. (QuickTime movie) http://web.me.com/henryspragens/stuff/Slide_Shows/Pages/86_Hackintosh.html -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- Dates on calendar are closer than they appear. -----------------------------

14 years, 1 month

Updates to Straight 8 for Sale

by root＠parse.com

This week is the end of bidding on the straight 8 (PDP-8) at www.pdp12.org I have just (Monday night) added a whole bunch of new stuff to the bottom of the webpage, including filler panels, connector / cable assemblies, a DF-32 for parts, some magnetic media, and a ton of docs. Cheers, -RK -- Robert Krten

14 years, 1 month

JetDirect problems

by brianlanning＠gmail.com

I tried to attach a LaserJet III to a JetDirect EX Plus. The printer looks like it's ok. It can print a test page from the control panel just fine. I haven't tried to attach it to a computer parallel port yet, so I haven't ruled out the parallel port on the printer and cable yet. I installed the HP TCP/IP driver for vista. It finds the JetDirect box just fine. I can see in the router logs that the JetDirect asks for and receives an IP Address. Vista lets me create a printer using the TCP/IP "port". When I go to print a test page, nothing happens. It just says "error" in the printer window. I can see the network light flashing on the JetDirect. But nothing happens. Can anyone suggest something else to try? brian

14 years, 1 month

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test-drb June 2010