test-drb January 2012

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

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274 discussions

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VT220 Keyboard Error 4?

by jacob.ritorto＠gmail.com

ever figure out how to fix this? All twenty of my (poorly warehoused) vt220s are doing this! thx jake

12 years, 11 months

Fear of firing up (was Re: An unplugged computer is a sad thing to see)

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

On a related note, what are people's feeling's about the following.... I've recently had some discussions with someone who collects a particular brand of classic computer from the early 1980s. He has a few of these but they are never, ever switched on or tested. He doesn't want to test them as he feels doing so may damage the old electronics. Consequently they are never plugged in. This attitude is an anathema to me. I strive to maintain computers in my collecton so they can be fired up and demonstrated to people working as they were in the day. Otherwise they are inert "dead" collection of metal and plastic (still of interest as regards case design maybe). I like to know if a computer is working or not, and if not perhaps try to fix it. To me, if you won't start up an old computer for fear that something will (or has) failed then, for practical purposes, it's broken. The end result is the same. It's inert. Is this "scared to switch on" attitude common in the classic computer community, or do most reflect the same feelings I have about it. Terry (Tez)

12 years, 11 months

"Modern" e-mail clients suck! (Was: QUOTING (Was: Truce, compromise reached? - Re: teaching programming to kids - Re: Looking for 8080/Z80 BASIC

by dm561＠torfree.net

> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:58:51 -0200 > From: "Alexandre Souza - Listas" <pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> > I'd like to understand what you, old buffs, has with newer technology. > I have gmail and (personal servers) accounts, use web, windows XP and have > NO problems with all of that. > > Someone here is clearly wrong. I think what you have to keep in mind is that, as in most instances of closed minds, prejudice and ignorance, the very people who bad-mouth Windows, Yahoo etc. the most also brag the loudest that they would not stoop to using it; therefore they obviously have no relevant experience and their opinions have no more authority than a KKK member's opinion of a non-caucasian's intelligence. Fortunately their frequent personal attacks on anyone who's 'on the other side' are generally less violent... ;-) It's probably safe to say that on average Windows users are more interested in just _using_ their computers than in tuning and tinkering and as a result probably have more issues than your average Unix or Linux user, but that's more a reflection of their interests or needs, not their intelligence or even their computer's OS. But if a business' Windows system really needed rebooting every day I suspect their IT person would very shortly be looking for another job. And when people who say they support a Windows installation complain about not being able to back up or migrate to another disk/computer as I read in the previous round of this tedious ritual, that tells me more about their competence than any flaws in Windows (and there are some, to be sure). Sadly, no matter how often or how many people complain that they're tired of these rants, the folks in question either don't care or just can't help themselves. Apologies for adding to the pile... m

12 years, 11 months

Sun 1 optical mouse

by nick.allen＠comcast.net

Anyone have a sun1 optical mouse for sale/trade? It would go to either a Sun 1, 100, 100u or Sun 2 workstation?

12 years, 11 months

FS: $0 BA350 filler faceplate, $20ish BN21V Y SCSI

by jtp＠chinalake.com

- BA350 filler/faceplate, standard DEC tan, clean front - needs a home for the price of shipping - DEC Y SCSI BN21V-0B (2 F AMP - 1 M HD50), $2O or other reasonable offer -Jim/Boston jtp..chinalake.com

12 years, 11 months

MakeSLC meets at the Computer Graphics Museum every Wednesday

by legalize＠xmission.com

MakeSLC @ Computer Graphics Museum 7pm to 10pm 653 S. State Street Salt Lake City Free and open to the general public -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 version available for download <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/> Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

12 years, 11 months

What's an Intel 4040 worth?

by jonas＠otter.se

>> > for aprticualr ICs which then go to collectors who never power >> them up... >> They were a dot matrix, very fast and had a pneumatic bladder under >> the head to lean it forward to the platten. >> Zinc diecast case I think >> iirc one 4040 did machine control the other was input >> buffer/character >> set to pin pattern > > I suddently want one of these :-) I can't see it would be worth > shipping, > so I am unlikely to get one, but it sure sounds fun.... > Yes, you do want one (or two) of those :-) I used them a lot during the '80s. We had one at work as our main printer for listings etc, and we sold a bunch to a customer who used them for printing pallet labels with barcodes and large text used on their production line for submersible pumps, in a dirty industrial environment. They were built like tanks. The print head used a patented "flexhammer" system, instead of pins the dots were made by leaf springs which had their ends bent over and shaped to a little square point. The springs were held bent off the paper by solenoids, which de-energised to print the dots, whereby the spring would shoot forward against the paper to make the dot and then rebound and be held by the magnet again. They claimed the printheads had a life of a billion characters or something like that. They would print on just about anything up to thin card, provided it had tractor feed holes. They were absolutely indestructible, you could probably run over it with a lorry without even denting it. The only thing that ever broke was a small bulb in an optical encoder on the carriage motor, that had to be replaced about every other year. There were two models, the 4540 which was two-colour (black and red), and the 4544 which was four-colour with a very wide ribbon. Ours had the serial interface board with barcode option, which had its own processor to generate graphics, very large characters and barcodes. I can't remember them using 4040s though, I think ours had a Z80 on the main board and another on the interface board. I may be wrong though. You would love one, I'm sure I would if I could find one and if I had room for it... Absolutely the nicest printer I have ever seen. /Jonas

12 years, 11 months

Cromemco FDC

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message > Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:44:13 -0800 (PST) > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> ... > I meant that a 1.2M drive is a poor choice to use for the Cromemco 5.25" > formats, as a substitute for his TM100, because, as you said, it is > really a small 8" drive instead. > > It sounded like he was trying to use 1.2M drives for the 400K 5.25" > formats. That CAN be made to work, but introduces a few unnecessary > hassles. Yes, you're right; it can substitute nicely for an 8" drive but not a 5.25" DD drive. >> If by 80track/double density you actually mean 'quad' density, that's not >> really supported although if the drive also rotated at 300RPM instead of >> 360 then I suppose you could use 1/2 of it as a 360K DD disk. > > I have seen 800K "quad" disks from Cromemcos. (I detest the term "quad > density", since it is double density with more tracks, resulting in quad > CAPACITY, but not quad density on the tracks.) Agreed; a confusing term which is why I put it in quotes, but unfortunately the one folks usually use. You've obviously seen a much wider variety of disks than I have and I don't doubt that Cromemco used 'quad' disks somewhere, but I don't think the RDOS on the FDC supports that format. >> If you want to go to the trouble of making a 34<>50 pin adapter then >> you're >> good to go; on the other hand, the nice thing about the FDCs is that they >> have both 34 pin and 50 pin headers, so as long as you connect the /ready >> signal to pin 34 of the 34-pin header you can put all 4 drives on the >> same >> 34-pin cable in any mix of 5.25DD, 5.25HD and 3.5HD . > > I had heard (incorrectly?) that the 34 pin connector was only configurable > for the 5.25" data transfer rates (125K, 250K) V the 50 pin connector > being configured for the 8" rates (250K, 500K) > > Is that completely wrong? The signals that are relevant on the 34 pin connector are in parallel with the equivalent signals on the 50 pin connector, so the controller doesn't know or care which connector is being used. The extra 8" signals are not relevant to the HD drives except for the /RY signal which is not used by 5.25" DD drives like the TM100 but is expected from an 8" drive and thus has to be jumpered from (50)-22 to (34)-34. m

12 years, 11 months

Epson HX20 terminal emulaotr (and other software) wanted.

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

> I am looking for a terminal emoulator program that runs on the Epson HX20. > The copy of SIDHA-Dialog that was on a website is corrupt. I contacted the > website owner, he agrees, in fact it's not a tar fiel atall, but an html > error page!. Does anyone know of a terminal emulator for the HX20? In http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/hx20/doc/EpsonTechSuppManS1_2.pdf are simple BASIC examples for file transfer. I remember making a very simple (half-duplex) terminal program of similar routines. Not as good as the real stuff, but better than nothing... Fred Jan

12 years, 11 months

Cromemco FDC

by dm561＠torfree.net

> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:03:09 -0800 > From: Josh Dersch <derschjo at mail.msu.edu> > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: > Message-ID: <4F0D504D.9060302 at mail.msu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > On 1/10/2012 3:00 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: >> Are you attempting to format single or double sided? WHICH is your >> TM-100? >> Are you attempting to format 40 track or 80? > > It's a TM-100-2A (originally from an IBM PC). Formatting single sided > at the moment, 40 tracks. I didn't see an answer to my question whether you're correctly specifying the drive/disk type for RDOS? d;;;xy where d=drive (A) ;;; = 5.25" x=sides (S or D) y=density (S or D) Also, what speed is your Z80? As mentioned, if you're using the 40 track DD format you have to use a 40 track DD drive; an 80 track DD drive might work, but an HD drive spins at the wrong speed, among other issues. As a matter of fact at the time Dave and I both worked on a version of what became his RT program, but I gave up while he obviously persevered; I don't think there were any gotchas in his final version but now I'm going to have to try it out again just to get reacquainted. m

12 years, 11 months

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test-drb January 2012