Apologies if this is not classic enough :-)
Very quick story - I'm a rather eclectic collector and have a range of very
nice early Compaq server gear (couple of servers, a KVM and a hub etc) which
go back a way and thought it would all look good sitting in a rack. Recently
got lucky and picked up a Compaq rack for free. More recently got even
luckier and a friend said her work was throwing out some stuff including a
keyboard in a tray. I said I'd have it (like any collector, without knowing
exactly what it was - better I have it than its find its way into a bin) -
turned out to be a Compaq keyboard (158649-001) in a 1U rack mount keyboard
tray - bonus.
But when they removed it from the rack instead of removing it gracefully
they just cut the cable. Grrrrr - how often does that happen when people are
"removing" stuff! The keyboard has a single cable coming out of it with a Y
piece that's splits into to 2 PS2 plugs. They cut off the Y piece and the
plugs so I'm left with a single cable and no ends.
Have been scouring the net for quite a while looking for any specific info
on this keyboard to see if I can repair it but no joy. Be most grateful if
anyone can point me somewhere I may not have covered.
Thank you!!!
++++++++++
Kevin Parker
++++++++++
Can anyone identify any of these unidentified computers at
http://starringthecomputer.com/help.php? Sometime a year or two ago we
identified a bunch. Let's try it again.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
it's just bugging me. They may not have used them for close to 10 years, but I always used to see these relatively large, I think, 17" IBM monitors at the customer service desk at Walmarts (here in NJ anyway). I don't believe I've seen them anywhere else. Anyone have a clue as to the specifics?
> From: Vincent Slyngstad <vrs at msn.com>
> Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:00:35 -0700
> Subject: Re: Need Older PDP-8/I Schematics
>>
>> We are debugging an interrupt problem with the PDP-8/I at the RICM.
>> Today we found that the INT RQST signal is not routed through the M117
>> module in slot F11 as shown on page 7 in the
>> PDP8-I_CPU_blueprints_1969.pdf.
>>
>> Does anyone have a set of prints where page 7 is older than revision L?
>
>
> Yes. I have a schematic in which INT_RQST goes to F21D1, F_SET goes to F21E1, and the result from F21F1 goes to the flip-flop at E33J1.
>
> The ECO added KEY_LAEXDEP_L to the NAND, which required the M117 instead
> of the M113.
>
> The PDF is called "dec-8i-hr2a-d-pr (PDP8i Schematics -- OLD).pdf" on my box, but I'm not sure where I got it.
>
> Ah. I found it here:
> http://pdp-8.org/scans/highgate/pdp8i-docs/dec-8i-hr2a-d-pr.pdf
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> Vince
Perfect. Thanks!
--
Michael Thompson
Fellow vintage computing hobbyists --
Don Caprio and I have been working for a few months on a project that's an
S-100 card size front panel. Styled after common front panels from the day,
it's scaled to fit a standard S-100 card format (5.3" x 10") and includes
the usual switches and blinkenlights. Eventually we will open-up the project
page (http://fpmini.pbworks.com/w/page/39529866/FP%20Mini) once we clean it
up a bit.
We just received the latest prototype boards and are going to be building
and testing them shortly. We're planning on selling boards and possibly a
"switch package" that are miniaturized versions of IMSAI-style paddle
switches from NKK.
Our goal is to get enough orders to get the board cost down to the $20-25
range. We're also trying to work a deal on switch sets. Although the base of
the required switches are pretty common, the bat handle colors aren't (blue
and red) and require large minimum order quantities. This is something we're
trying to work through with the vendor. In volume, we expect that a full
switch set will be in the [$100] range or possibly lower. More info to come
on this.
So that we can get an idea as to how many boards we may need to make during
the initial production run, we'd like to gauge people's interest. There is
no commitment at this point ? only an expression of general interest so we
can gauge demand and board order quantities.
If anyone is interested, please contact me off-list and I'll keep your
emails handy. You can also check out the project page (shown above) to get
updates.
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.classiccmp.org/cinihttp://www.classiccmp.org/altair32
We are debugging an interrupt problem with the PDP-8/I at the RICM.
Today we found that the INT RQST signal is not routed through the M117
module in slot F11 as shown on page 7 in the
PDP8-I_CPU_blueprints_1969.pdf.
Does anyone have a set of prints where page 7 is older than revision L?
--
Michael Thompson
Liam Proven wrote:
> Hey, John, welcome! Have you just joined or been here lurking all along?
Just joined.
> In CP/M, isn't the BIOS just a file on disk anyway?
It is, but adding functionality to it without the loadable driver
facility would be nowhere near as straightforward. You'd need to work
out how to allocate memory to your additional feature, how to hook it
into the various BIOS data structures, and then how to get the .EMS
self-unpacker to relocate it to the right place. And since it would be
infringement of copyright to distribute the patched file, you'd have to
distribute a program that did that patching.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
> Suppose I wanted to use 1.44M 3.5" floppies. The hardware (with a
> bit of tweaking) is capable of it. No way to get to the boot
> software, however. Suppose I wanted to boot from a home-built CF
> card...
In theory you could replace the boot ROM (desolder the 8041, read its
contents, and burn an 8741 with the new boot image. Or even an 8742, if
you wanted more than 256 bytes of boot program). In the 9512 it would be
even easier, because the corresponding microcontroller used an external ROM.
It was also possible for peripherals plugged into the expansion port to
provide their own boot ROMs; Cirtech's external hard drives did so, for
example, and they advertised a similar device that booted from flash.
--
John Elliott
Spammer!
Does anyone trim the list?
On 08/23/2012 04:39 AM, dennis.yurichev at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Your email was taken from classiccmp/cctalk mailing list.
> (So it's kind of SPAM).
> I'm writing you because I'm looking for job and you'll see now why I do it in that way.
> I'm good on reverse engineering of ancient software like those for MS-DOS, ancient Unices and/or for exotic platforms.
> I'm
[snip]
> >> I'd love to find one of those add-on boards that would allow IDE or
> >> CF to be used - the HD in my 10 isn't going to last forever. :(
> >
> > GIDE works in the Kaypros I think.
> >
> Is anyone selling them?
>
[snip]
Hi
The GIDE is a neat circuit but finding one is difficult. They are long out
of production and are hard to replicate since it uses GALs. At least the
equations for the GALs are known. It also uses obscure obsolete RTC chip
that is hard to find.
How about instead of just replicating the GIDE convert the XT-IDE V2
circuitry to use a Z80 socket rather than an 8 bit ISA slot.
The XT-IDE V2 provides a 16 bit IDE interface, an optional boot ROM, and an
optional UART for remote booting capability. All of those would be useful
things on Kaypro or any other Z80 computer. It would use the same "shim
socket" approach as the GIDE and would be easy for anyone to use and/or
replicate.
Thanks and have a nice day!
Andrew Lynch
