Here is an interesting article from the ozobob list on 50 yeas of
computing in the US Army!
http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA431730
About the earliest thing we have militantly computer related in the
museum are some parts of the NORAD SAGE system
(Apologies if this gets posted twice, e-mail changes appear to have lost
the first one...)
Hi all --
Just wanted to let you guys know that a new version of the Xerox Alto
emulator I've been working on at the LCM+L has been released. V1.1 of
ContrAlto can be downloaded from:
http://www.livingcomputers.org/Join/Online-Systems.aspx. At this point,
the vast majority of software appears to be working properly, if you do run
into any issues please let me know!
ContrAlto is open source, so if you want to hack on it the source is
available on our GitHub site at
https://github.com/livingcomputermuseum/ContrAlto.
Thanks!
- Josh
I have pmaz SCSI controller, a couple lofis, and a bunch of 8MB pmax+
modules that are being threatened with the local electronics recycler.
send me the address of your good home or place of business in the
continental US states, and I'll spare them that fate.
--
Aaron J. Grier | "Not your ordinary poofy goof." | agrier at poofygoof.com
I scanned my copy of the Hitachi 303 manual a few weeks ago. For anyone
interested in downloading it, I uploaded it here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8Ow1Wo1rBQUSVdXQU84SWtVRFU
Didn't see it on Bitsavers yet, so I thought I would share.
Thanks,
Kyle
I have not had good luck with the RuGRiD list. I am aware of it.
There are only a small handful of people there with Compass gear; It is
mostly centered around the later PC-compatible GRiD stuff.
There is one fellow with quite a lot of Compass media who has reached out
to me a couple times, but I don't get the drift he sees any urgency in
imaging the media, nor intends to share it. I have offered a hand, money,
etc.
If he does come through, I'll be very pleased, but at this point I am
trying to look elsewhere.
Steve, if you're willing to cross-post my list below and see if you have
better luck, please do.
I have never received a single response of value on that list.
- Ian
On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Steve Hatle <shatle at nfldinet.com
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','shatle at nfldinet.com');>> wrote:
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Need to archive: GRiD Compass Computer Operating System
> Software
> From: Ian Finder <ian.finder at gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, October 25, 2016 7:08 pm
> To: "cctalk at classiccmp.org" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
> Folks, there appears to be a large GRiD-sized hole where archived copies
> of
> the Compass Computer Operating System software should be.
>
> ...
> --
> Ian Finder
> (206) 395-MIPS
> ian.finder at gmail.com
>
> >>
>
> There's a fairly active GRiD list at
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rugrid-laptop/
>
> You may wish to cross-post there, or I can if you don't wish to join up.
>
> Steve
>
--
Ian Finder
(206) 395-MIPS
ian.finder at gmail.com
I picked up an Informer 213 from eBay this week, but it has the IBM rom
set! Noooooo!
Anyone out there with the VT100 version willing to dump the roms for me?
Thanks,
- Ian
--
Ian Finder
(206) 395-MIPS
ian.finder at gmail.com
> From: allison
> What vendor
I don't recall, would have to look it up; I turned Guy onto them, and he
bought out everything they in stock.
> They have been scarce save though resellers that have NOS parts from
> old stocks and they are not cheap and unpredictable quantities.
Yeah, that vendor said they could get more (apparently from others who still
had stocks), but they'd be slightly more expensive. Apparently these people
all interact, and deal stuff around.
So that figure I was given of 30K in stock is probably not from that one
vendor, but across all of them. But since nobody is using these chips in a
product (that I know of), I suspect the number is likely to go down only
slowly.
> Then I could buy them they are about .86 dollar US, but that was in the
> early 80s.
The ones Guy and I recently bought were about $1 each (I don't recall the
exact amount, would have to check). So not cheap, but not ridiculous.
Noel
> From: Paul Koning
> The trouble with chip resellers is that it's hard to know which ones are
> legit, and which ones are in the fake chip business.
I suspect that the network of major resellers would tend to keep out the
riff-raff. (They don't need the aggro of dealing with the consequences.)
> a 7400 instead of something more valuable.
Which is why it's good that the DS8641's are going for little more than a
buck; at that price point, there's only minimal benefit from faking them.
Anyway, for any I get, random samples go straight into my tester board!
"Trust, but verify!" :-)
Noel
Hello,
surely the old transceivers are the most compatible solution, however you
still need to convert the voltages back and forth...
Plus the solution is not the cheaper, and a little uncomfortable too, as
you need to find these old chips, hoping not to buy fake chinese duplicates
(it happened to me more time unfortunately).
So I was searching a solution with modern components, but not using
components too much specific and difficult to be found.
As we need 3.3v logic, but able to work in 5v bus, I'm thinking about 5v
tolerant standard logic as TI LVC or LVT.
The problem is that there aren't open drain bus transceivers, but the
problem could be solved simply using input-only and output-only components,
connecting two in parallel but opposite direction on bidirectional pins.
So identifying one or maybe two codes would be enough for all the
components needed for the board.
The idea of using bare transistors seems to me too much simple.
Not that it couldn't work, but it would be almost impossible to satisfy all
the specifications of the bus in this way... unless you use a more complex
circuit with precise current sources and resistors to grant correct voltage
biases, impedances and slew rates, which in the end is a logic integrated
circuit.
Andrea