>On 7/25/15 8:24 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 7/24/15 1:14 PM, pdaguytom . wrote:
>>> Back on TAS for just shy of a grand with free shipping.
>>>
>>>
>> and someone bought it
>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/281757114979
>>
>>
>I've probably seen a dozen of them for sale in the 25+ years of watching
>this stuff, and what I've never seen is any software for either this or the
>68000 models.
Was there any software of note for Chromatics?
My first employer had already spent a fortune on one of the Z80 ones when I started in 1979 or so. It had some flavour of BASIC in ROM. I'm not sure the floppies were working by the time I arrived. It was owned by the electronics hardware design people. The software tools people (where I was) did all the serious work on PDP11 (RSX/IAS and RT11) and eventually VMS.
I left there in the mid 1980s. As far as I could tell the Chromatics had never really been used for anything more complex than a limited functionality large screen teletype emulator. Instead, low end LSI11 (including VT103) had been used for any serious work around the lab or around the factory, until PCs started to take over. I liked VT103s, but not so much the TU58s (we were one of the many sites that wrote something RSP-compatible that allowed use of centralised "remote disks" via serial lines, instead of the actual TU58s).
There's a bit more software (and documentation) for the PDP11 stuff, thank you :)
One thing the software people did buy in the mid 1980s which was great to watch was an Envision dot matrix tabletop colour printer/plotter, and an accompanying colour terminal (far superior to the VT24x of the same era). The printer used four separate ribbons and multiple passes over each line of text (if necessary) and spoke HPGL iirc as well as private text-mode escape sequences. The terminal was VT compatible and Tektronix 401x compatible at rather higher resolution. Nice stuff, but at maybe ?3000 each they probably didn't sell many.
By that stage the Chromatics had vanished into a dark dusty corner.
regards
John Wallace
regards
John Wallace
Can someone identify this S100 SRAM card? I can tell that it's a 16K SRAM
board made up of MM2114 chips. Virtual beer to the first person who
guesses where I found it.
--
David Griffith
dave at 661.org
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?
I'm interested in, if you can ship overseas
-------- Messaggio originale --------
Da: Mike Stein <mhs.stein at gmail.com>
Data:24/07/2015 18:21 (GMT+01:00)
A: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Oggetto: IBM RT memory boards
I've got 4 4Mx32 memory boards here from an old RT
(AFAIR) in case anybody has a use for them.
Each board has 8 512Kx40 (32 bits + 8 ECC) modules
(20 pcs. 4x256).
Edge connector is DS 42+49
m
NO... HAS NOT STARTED YET!
ED#
.
In a message dated 7/24/2015 8:32:50 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
jason at textfiles.com writes:
Already removed.
On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 10:14 PM, <dave at 661.org> wrote:
>
> An Altair 8800 that once belonged to Larry Niven is up for auction.
>
> Larry Niven has long been a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy
> Society (www.lasfs.org). This group has existed since 1934 and was the
> starting point for many science fiction and fantasy authors. Larry Niven
is
> one of them. This computer was purchased by him, but mainly used by his
> wife. In time, she got a newer computer and this one was made the club
> computer. It served in that capacity for many years until it too was
> replaced and was taken in by another club member who didn't want to see
it
> parted out or thrown away. Fast-forward to 2008. I was contacted by that
> other club member to liquidate his collection. We went to Larry Niven's
> house whereupon he autographed this computer on the lid and the rear.
>
> I don't know if the drive unit was used by the Nivens with this computer,
> but it matches and is from the same collection.
>
> I also don't know where the client went. I haven't heard from him in
> years.
>
> You can see pictures in high resolution at
>
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32548582 at N02/sets/72157653950476154/with/19938469936/
>
> The auction is here (will be live July 25 at 3pm pacific)
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/231632418798
>
>
> --
> David Griffith
> dave at 661.org
>
> 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?
>
I have an RT and may be interested.
Mike Stein <mhs.stein at gmail.com> wrote:
>I've got 4 4Mx32 memory boards here from an old RT
>(AFAIR) in case anybody has a use for them.
>
>Each board has 8 512Kx40 (32 bits + 8 ECC) modules
>(20 pcs. 4x256).
>
>Edge connector is DS 42+49
>
>m
>
right on!
In a message dated 7/24/2015 12:32:14 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
cisin at xenosoft.com writes:
Yes, as usual, all such claims are meaningless without term definitions.
What Murray was referring to was arguably the first PERSONAL computer
store, and run as a retail storefront.
IBM did do some retail sales, although they might not have called it
"retail", out of their building.
Even "first" and "store" could use some restrictive definition:
Do sales out of a living room count?
garage?
corner of another kind of store?
(there already seems to be an exclusion of mail-order)
If a grocery store clears space in an aisle does that count?
Did Ed Roberts have a front counter, and handle walk-in?
Assembled working systems? or do kits count?
Signing lease?
Acquiring retail inventory?
Opening of doors to the public?
First retail sale?
First Order? or
First Delivery?
> From: Josh Dersch
> the seller and I failed to reach an agreement
You were very nice to try and work with the person; if they couldn't take that
on board, and in return come to some agreement that you could be happy with,
they're being some combinations of greedy and unreasonable.
I have to agree with other people: an open auction was held, and the value of
the item was determined by that to be.... $5. End of story.
Noel
>
>
> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:27:04 -0600
> From: Eric Smith <spacewar at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved
>
> There's no artifact safety issue for the PDP-1 power supplies. They
> use a ferroresonant transformer, rectifiers, and filter capacitors.
> If any of those fail, the machine won't work properly, but it won't be
> damaged.
>
The AC capacitor attached to the ferroresonant transformer can have a
spectacular failure mode where it hisses, sparks, and sprays (probably PCB
laden) oil on everything. As you said, all that will happen is the output
voltage goes low and it probably blows a fuse.
--
Michael Thompson
