On 15 Oct 2008 at 12:16, Brent Hilpert wrote:
> I sure do remember that: as an undergrad, my first task for an OS
> research project was to convert the system troff-style fixed-pitch text formatter
> to support proportional font spacing. Output was to a daisy-wheel printer (don't
> recall the actual printer manuf/model) using that same sort of micro-spacing feature.
>
> This would have been late-'79/early-'80, so the same time frame as your task.
The first impact printer that I owned was a Diablo 1340 (? the one
with the very noisy separate PSU). Raw 12- bit interface. I hooked
it to a 3-port S-100 parallel I/O board and then went about figuring
out how to make it act like a regular printer under CP/M, including
bidirectional logic seeking. I even wrote up proportional spacing
tables and still have the code somewhere.
Sometime in the late 70's, I picked up a copy of "Proportional
Spacing with WordStar". It seems that WordStar 3.0+ did have hooks
for PS, but they were a bit buggy. The document I purchased (still
have it if anyone's interested) gives patches and workarounds for the
bugs. I used it for quite awhile.
FWIW, I have a Diablo 1620 (RO, serial interface) for adoption if
anyone wants to see to packing and shipping. It works.
Cheers,
Chuck
I am Looking for Gifford's Concurrent Dos-86 for CompuPro 8-16.
I have a set of 8" Floppies but the Files are not complete.
I need a CCP/M.sys that boots to Concurrent Dos-86 V 5.0
Hopefully someone out there can help me
Bob in Wisconsin
Brad Parker said:
> This is something I've never seen before; I'm trying to revive an old
> dead Compaq for a friend of a friend.
>
> I went to plug in a stock VGA cable (15 pin) and it would not go. The
> connector on the Dell motherboard (this is a very very old 386) has one
> pin blocked.
>
> Someone here must know what that means; what do I do? grab the needle
> nose and hack my cable?
The VGA connector specification shows that Pin 9 is not connected and sometimes used as a key, that is, blocked, see:
http://pinouts.ru/Video/VGA15_pinout.shtml
I doubt it would hurt any future use of the cable to pull/break the pin on your monitor cable, but if you want to keep that side of things stock, you could use a 1/32" bit and drill out the position on the motherboard's connector, to allow the pin to pass through the plastic.
- Jared
> A local auction site ( Switzerland ) lists a Data General
> DG/20 Micreclipse system. I believe it is rare enough to
> mention here .
>
> I would take it but there is just so much you can tackle.
>
http://www.ricardo.ch/accdb/viewitem.asp?AuctionNr=550137758
That is beautiful. And small. And and probably an odd
voltage for the USA. I can provide 220V, but if it requires
50hz I'm out of luck.
Greetings from an old DEC Tech, Australia.
I have a number of DEC LA 75 printers for repair.
I am looking for circuit diagrams/ service manual for the
LA 75 printer family. Can you help ..just a circuit diagram for the electronics board would be of assistance.
Regards,
Malcolm Holroyd malcolm_h at optusnet.com.au
31 Renwick Street, Marrickville. NSW
Australia. 2204
Ph: 61 2 9558 7808
Hey folks. Does anyone here have any information about the Heath
ET100 "Educational Computer"? Specifically, I'm looking for keyboard
protocol information, as I have one that's lacking a keyboard, but
I'd like to find any other available documentation as well.
Thanks,
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
Hey all --
I suppose this is extremely unlikely, but does anyone have a spare
keyboard for a Beehive B-100 terminal? Picked this up awhile back and
it needs some repair (cap kit, etc...) but I assume that I'm probably
never going to find a matching keyboard for this thing :). I'm not
nearly ready to take this one on as a project, but I'm making a list of
things that I'm keeping vs. things that need to get into other hands,
and while I'd love to hold onto this, if I can't get a keyboard I'm
never going to get any use out of it...
Anyone have any leads?
Thanks,
Josh
eBay item 360098064240
I'm not usually one to spam the list, but thought someone local
might be interested. Looks like a nice opening price, with no
reserve. I have no relationship with the seller.
- Jared
I've seen an assortment of LA75 printers, many "new in the box"
on e-bay over the last several months.???Several were selling for
$19.95, plus shipping per printer. . .
I'm not sure what they're going for "today",
but it might be worth looking into.? .? .
T
>Jeff Erwin said the following on 10/13/2008 1:44 PM:
>> OK, time again to dust off the old brains out there. I found a ("the")
>> ISIS-II emulator that runs under dos, which comes with a PLM80 compiler.
It
>> also comes with link, locate, objhex and other goodies. The PLM80
compiler
>> identifies itself as PLM80 V4. I worked on the development of the
ISIS-II
>> stuff at Intel in the very early 80's as well as on the National
>> Semiconductor Starplex system (anyone remember that one?) so I am able to
> >tinker around and remember how most of this works, but version 4 of the
> >PLM80 compiler is getting the better of me.
>>
>Yes, I remember the Starplex. But about all I remember was that it was
>NS's development system and competed with Intel's MDS.
The Starplex was the NS answer to the MDS, but was much more 'late 70's' in
its design. The prom programmer was built into the system, as was the
screen and floppy drives. All very modular. I learned asm80 writing the
editor and assembler for that beast.
>> I have the PLM80 Programmer's Manual, but it is for earlier versions of
the
>>two-pass version of PLM80, version 4 was a single pass version that used
the
>>inker and locator, all of which was the precursor to the PLM86 compiler
and
>> tools. I believe this version came out shortly before the 8086 was
>> introduced, everyone went on to the segmented world and never looked
back,
>> which may explain why there isn't much out there for it. I am not able
to
>> locate any information on this version 4 of PLM80 anywhere, and the use
and
>> format is definitiely different from prior versions of PLM80.
>>
>I've used PL/M-80 extensively in the past, but I don't remember V4 being
>that much different than earlier versions. All versions of PL/M-80 that
>ran under ISIS-II used the linker and locater. The only version that I
>know of that didn't was the Fortran version that ran on mainframes. It
>produced absolute object code, usually in the form of an Intel hex format.
Version 4 was radically different from the 3.X and prior versions. The
earlier versions used the $X controls, version 4 used the controls that were
then used in the PLM86 compiler. Also, the DATA statement was eliminated
and other language constructs were changed. PLM80 V3 code would not compile
without mods. I remember it being released at about the same time the 8086
and PLM86 was was released and the effort was to make PLM80 and PLM86
somewhat similar. The PLM80 3.x docs are pretty much worthless if you are
using the 4.0 compiler. 4.0 was also one executable, a big change from the
PLM81 and PLM82 2-pass method the earlier versions used.
>> Anyone out there have any information or pointers for me? I have tried
all
>> of the excellent repositories of manuals and emailed Herb, his site
>> indicates that he might have what I need. Anyone have an ISIS-II set of
>> manuals sitting around that can check for me?
>>
>I'm sure I have a version of the manual that applies to V4 of the
>compiler. It *may* be in pdf form, but certainly on paper. Are there
>some specific questions that you have? I'll check when I get home
>tonight. At work now.
I'd love to get a copy of whatever you have relative to 4.0. Emailing the
PDF is probably easiest, I am more than happy to pay any costs associated.
>> Specifically, I am in need of:
>>
>> 98-00268B plm 80 programming manual, V4
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Jeff Erwin
>>
>> By the way, I am running the ISIS-II emulator in a DOS box under windows,
>> itself an emulator. Windows is running under Parallels on my Mac Pro
which
>> is running OSx. Is it possible to get further from reality here??
>>
>I've done many "jobs" using that DOS emulator. It works great! And
>these days it is much faster than my real MDS systems. But it isn't
>nearly as elegant as the big blue box powering up, dimming the lights in
>my house, and the whir of cooling fans and glow of a real crt. Oh,
>those were the days.
>Dave
Yes indeed! The rumble of the 7Mb hard drive (14" across if I remember
right) as it spun up. My favorite, of course, is the famous "Error 7, User
PC = xxxx" which covered almost every error you could make...