Hi all,
I wanted to sell a big blinkenlight panel, because I realized I will
never find the time for again another project ... Auction number
170539265245 shows a few pictures (auction is ended).
I would like to add more info before re-listing the front panel.
thanks,
- Henk.
Does anyone have a good feel for the current market value of a Bell &
Howell II+? Model is A2S1016B, serial #A2S3-000985 with disk drive,
paddles, manuals, cassette player, cassettes and floppies. Unknown
working condition. Installed boards are ROM Card, Disk II Interface, plus
a Sup "R" Mod II.
This isn't mine, but the owner contacted me asking what it might be
worth. I haven't paid any attention to Ebay prices on these, but it looks
like a generic Apple II+ might fetch $150 or more.
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/
Probably not too useful a remark, but I remember from years ago when we had
some Xerox Altos at the Stanford computer science department that the disk
drives were very prone to head crashes. We were instructed to never attempt
to remove the disk pack under penalty of flogging (or some less colorful
words). So, I hope once Nick gets the voltage problem fixed, he's not
disappointed to find out that disk doesn't work anyway. :-/
Hi, All,
I've been trying to dust off a MicroVAX 2000 for VCFmw, and so far,
all I've accomplished is literally getting the dust off.
This unit was one I tried to install the SCSI-enabled patched boot
ROMs in some time back. I _thought_ I had arranged the original ROMs
in the same pattern, but it's possible with all the swapping, I got
some mixed up. I have checked (and re-downloaded) all the ROMs I have
- one factory set (23-092E7-00 through 23-095E7-00) and one patched
set. Cross-checking with the Technical Reference manual
(EK-VTTAA-TM-001) from Bitsavers, I have verified that all ROMs have
reasonable contents in the first few bytes (there are three signature
bytes, among other things). No matter which set I have installed, I
cannot get the console to respond with the self-test info.
Does anyone have a photograph of a KA410 board where the labels on the
ROMs can be read? Alternately, does anyone have any docs with part
numbers? I'm reasonably certain that the underlying hardware is
functional and that I just need to re-install the ROMs correctly.
Yes, I could try the lucky-dip method, but one of the ROMs is rather
difficult to pull (owing to the memory interface connectors), and I'd
rather not break a pin off while sequencing through a dozen chip
swaps. I'd like to _know_ what goes where before I proceed
(especially if I am wrong and I _do_ have a hardware fault).
I don't have any video cables handy, but in case it does come down to
testing with a tube vs a console terminal, I have a four-plane video
interface in addition to the mono frame buffer all KA410s come with.
I had just thought that it would be easy enough to use a BCC08 console
cable and go from there (it's worked before).
Thanks for any tips or pointers,
-ethan
P.S. - I've been delving into the guts of the machine deeply enough
that I'm musing about what it would take to make a 16MB memory board
that didn't respond in the lower 2MB (to work with the on-board
memory). Static would be easy to interface, but the KA410 _does_
generate and pass along refresh signals, so something with 30-pin or
72-pin SIMMs shouldn't be that hard to whip up. I'm only considering
it because my largest memory board is 4MB, and the current prices for
an MS400-CA (12MB DEC board) are more than I'm personally willing to
pay - I'll do without first (which is what I'm already doing ;-)
P.P.S - this would probably all be moot if I had a SCSI-based MicroVAX
slab of some sort, but I just haven't been in the right place at the
right time. Perhaps some DEC gear will make an appearance at the
VCF...
Hi, All,
I'm going through a box of older ICs and ran across a few X2864s. I
know they are 64Kbit JEDEC EEPROMs, but what I don't know is if there
are any odd issues with them. I found a datasheet that's mostly in
Japanese - I do happen to read some Japanese, but I'm far from fluent.
I'm mostly curious about in-circuit programming. I know a lot of
newer hobby-type projects use different families of EEPROMs and that
some devices can only program certain ones. What I don't know is how
that relates to something as old as the X2864. I can probably program
these in a standalone device programmer and potentially have to build
a pin-swabber socket for a 2364 (or even 2332 for a PET), but I'd like
to know if I'm opening a can of worms before I begin.
Thanks for any warnings of pitfalls ahead.
-ethan
On , 15 Sep 2010 20:30:26 +0100 (BST), ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony
Duell) wrote:
>Subject: Re: Mass spectrometers etc
>To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>Message-ID: <m1Ovxgb-000J4BC at p850ug1>
>Content-Type: text/plain
>
>> You need to find a diffussion pump. These will get you down to
>
The French guy used a rotary vane pump and a molecular pump, which you
could probably make yourself at home (he did). The rotary vane pump
shouldn't give you any problems, and for the molecular pump you only
need an old motor capable of 24000 rpm without breaking up, and some
careful machining :-)
A spot of high vacuum grease, a few seals etc and you are all set. The
finished set up isn't particularly large either. No oil in the
molecular pump either...
/Jonas
>Indeed I do (My father spoet most of his working days on high vacuum
>systems., I think I'd head ofa 'diff pump' before I even went to school...
>
>OIl, from choice. Mercury vapour, even inside a vacuum system (and some
>will, alas, end up in the backing rotary pump) is not something I
>particualrly keen on....
>
>There is the minor problem of 'where the heck do I set up a vacuum
>system, along with all the other things I am working on' :-)
>
>-tony
>
Hello all,
I bought one of the HP 9825's that Marvin recently posted here about (via VCM
auction). It's a 9825T and seems to work perfectly, along with an HPIB
interface I bought off Ebay. Of course the case needs cleaning and there is a
penny-sized chip from the corner of the bezel, so I've got the whole thing
disassembled, and am now in the process of rebuilding the chipped bezel corner
with JB-weld. Next step is to repaint the case, then replace the at-risk PSU
caps, refurbish the tape drive, clean the keyboard, etc. The unit is
beautifully engineered, by the way.
Some questions for the group:
1) Does anyone have a suggestion for the best paint to match the original
color? If I can find a close match, I'll just tape over the legends on the
bezel, and paint around them. If I can't get a good match, I still may do the
same thing, or I'll just paint the whole thing, and then print out some decals
on a color printer to match the original legends. Or, if anyone here has a
better suggestion, I'd love to hear. Any suggestion for type of paint? I found
a can of Rustoleum brand almond-color satin finish enamel spray-paint. Is that
a good choice, other than wrong color? I also just bought an HP 87 on Ebay as
well, so I'm hoping that whatever I learn here, I can apply to refurbishing the
87 as well.
2) While the unit is completely disassembled, are there any hacks, mods,
upgrades, etc. that I may want to know about before I put everything back
together?
3) I would like to use this in my home lab, so I was hoping to find a way to
store programs without using the tape drive or a disc drive. Is anyone there
moving data between the 9825 and a PC? Can some of the utilities on hp9845.net
be used to interface with the 9825 as well?
This would be icing on the cake, since it would be shame to let such a nice
machine go unused. However, I do have the Prologix GPIB interface with
PyVISA/Scipy/Numpy,
Thanks for any input,
Dave
I've got a chinese converter(from ebay, recommended by a few here) that
will take 15khz RGB video with composite sync and spit out VGA at ~32khz
so a regular monitor can be used to display the signal.
http://cgi.ebay.com/RGBS-CGA-EGA-YUV-VGA-converter-1-output-arcade-game-/25…
The seller claims (and spec sheet does indeed look this way) that the
RGBHV input must be 30khz+, but the RGBS input supports down to 14.5khz.
I'm attempting to use this with my amiga, which sends out separate H and
V SYNC signals but at 15.7khz.
I found this schematic
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/vga2rgbs.html
The simple VGA to RGB+CSYNC adapter TTL (which appears the same as the
"Separate Sync to Composite Sync Adapter")
I intend to build this, and see if this does the trick for me.
This sound like a reasonable plan?
Anyone happen to have a few 74HCT86's lying around? I can order them
online but because they are under $0.50 a piece, and I'll likely have to
pay a minimum order size fee plus S&H. Seems a waste for a dollar's
worth of items.
Thanks
Keith in Pittsburgh, PA, USA
