_Teletype_Tales_
Warning, this is rather long and in three parts. If you are not
interested in TTYs, just skip this and the next two emails.
Part 1 - Ancient History
My very first interaction with a computer, in 1976, was via an
ASR33 teletype. I continued to frequently use ASR33s for the
next several years. A good friend of mine actually owned one.
Consequently, I have a definite nostalgia for them and wanted to
add one to my collection for a long time.
I finally acquired one in December of 2001. Actually, I got two
model 33 teletypes, an ASR and a KSR. They came from a HAM radio
operator. The ASR is on a floor stand and the KSR is a tabletop
unit. The ASR had been well used. It was dirty, inside and out,
full of dog hair, bug bits and even some broken light bulb glass.
There was "goop" all over that I took to be coagulated lubricant
but it turned out to be degraded foam rubber (but that part of the
story comes later). The cover was yellowed with some cracks here
and there. The KSR wasn't much better even though it had been
stored in a box. As a matter of fact, it was worse because it had
been moved around in the box but the shipping screws were not in
place. This allowed the typing unit which is "free floating" to
shift around and smash the plastic cover to bits.
When I got them home, I immediately put the KSR away for "another day"
under the assumption that it was badly damaged. I tried to carefully
clean as much of the crud out of the ASR as I could without actually
taking anything apart other than taking the cover off.
I should point out here that, while I'm not bothered by the complexity
of electronic circuits, I find mechanical complexity (lots of levers,
gears, cogs and the like) a bit intimidating.
After the cleaning, I hand turned the motor a few revolutions. It
turned freely, so I went ahead and plugged it in and switched it on
to local. The motor hummed nicely, there was no grinding or other
bad noises. The hammer pad had been replaced with a plastic faucet
washer, held in place with shrink tube. It seemed secure, so I slid
some paper in and pressed a few keys. It was clearly trying to do
something but it was definitely not right. The hammer was striking
the type cylinder but the carriage was not moving. Moving the paper
around, you could see that sometimes the struck character corresponded
to the pressed key, sometimes not. I asked for help on both cctalk
and greenkeys (I really wanted to try to get someone to come "on site"
and work on it with me) but didn't get anything very useful. Sadly,
I put the ASR away for "another day".
End of part 1.
I want to install DECnet on my MicroVAX II running MicroVMS 4.6. I know that
I can do this by copying the relevant files from a full-fat version of the
VMS 4.6 install tape (which I have). The thing is that I would like to do it
"properly" if at all possible by using the actual optional DECnet product
for MicroVMS. Does anyone have this?
Thanks
Rob
Manx is an online catalog of computer documentation.
The new manx is up for beta testing here: <http://manx.classiccmp.org>
Paul Williams created manx as a series of perl scripts and a database
of online computer manuals. Paul has graciously provided us with a
copy of the data from the database from which I reverse engineered a
compatible implementation in PHP. Later, Paul provided me with the
perl scripts which I used as a referene for finishing off the PHP
implementation.
The new manx is an open source project hosted at <http://manx.codeplex.com>.
Please use the issue tracker on codeplex to report any problems you
find with this new manx. You can also browse the existing issues in
the tracker to see the planned enhancements. The main planned
enhancement to come is supporting users and roles to allow community
contributions to the database so that new additions don't have to go
through a single person.
Thanks to Paul Williams for providing the database dumps and scripts
and Jay West for hosting the finished application.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
An event in London on Thursday 10th February that may be of interest, that
has ex-BBC speakers that were involved with the creation of the BBC Micro
and the BBC Domesday project:
http://oshug.org/event/7
Regards,
Andrew
There are two older systems currently listed on Ebay, both with low
bids (for now). The first is apparently a Northstar Advantage (item
#320639197081, currently at $15), and the second is a Monroe OC8820
(item #170589045980, currently at $59). The Northstar has 2 bids, the
Monroe none.
The Monroe was listed earlier at a price of $99. It got zero bids and
the seller relisted it. I tried to find some info about the Monroe
(even though my significant other would have a cow if another computer
showed up at the house) and all I could find were references to people
having fits trying to create the properly-formatted floppies for it.
Anyone know anything about the Monroe? I thought I'd point these two
machines out on the list in case anyone was interested in them.
Mark Davidson
mdavidson1963 at gmail.com
> Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2011 19:18:46 +0000 (GMT)
> From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
> Subject: Re: Single sided HDDs [was Re: HP drives]
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Message-ID: <m1Pc0mv-000J48C at p850ug1>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> > FWIW, there was a period about the turn of this century when most of
>
> Far too modern for me to have seen, let alone worked on... :-)
>
> > Maxtor's production was a single disk drive with only one side used. In
> > addition to saving the head assembly there were enuf other cost savings
> > make it worthwhile. One example is that it is relatively easy to
> > load/unload a bottom head on the ID, thereby making the higher capacity
> > OD real estate available.
>
> Did this drive lift the head off the platter on power-down (e.g, by using
> some kind of ramp)? The most modern drive I pulled apart, admittedly
> about 5 years older, landed the heads on the platter (as the older
> winchesters I've repaired did). If it lands the head(s) on the platter, I
> can't see any mechanical benefit to having only one head, even if it does
> use the inner cylinder as the landing area.
>
> -tony
I never saw the drives but I was told they had a head lifting ramp mechanism
on the baseplate at the ID. Makes for a very simple mechanism compared to
other head lifters.
Tom
Has anyone come across, or more importantly does anyone have any
technicla data on, an HP interface called PCIB (Personal Computer
Instrument Bus, I think).
It was used to link some simple-ish measuring insturments to a personal
computer host (either an ISA sloted thing or an HP150).
I've read the apporpriate HP journal and the manuals for the insturments
nad host PCBs. I understnad it consisted of a high-ish speed parallel bus
and a serial link on the same connector, the latter being opto-isolated
at the instrument end.
I would love to have a pinout of the interface conenctor, signal
specifications, timing diagrams, etc. Does that exist anywhere?
-tony
Available for one who wants it, a Dec H960 rack.
No sidepanels, nor a masthead.
Note, the rack is in the Netherlands.
Will go to the scrappers at the end of June.
--
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