> From: Rick Bensene
> Some of the machines in the series had a very powerful (for the time)
> floating point unit (known as the IPU) that operated in tandem with the
> main CPU
I wonder if the machines in the auction had this?
Noel
Came across this in the local craigslist today:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sop/5820161303.html
I don't know if this is of interest to the Big Iron IBM guys, but if
there's any interest from folks not in the Seattle Area, I'm happy to
help faciliate.
--Jason
It's not a matter of bothering.. it's a matter of not knowing what I'm looking at yet. ?I was checking what I thought were all the clutches in the back.. they all seemed good.
I guess changing caps would be a smart idea right off given they look original. ?I'll check the diodes too. ?I am just nosing around.. given it wasnt shorting out when it left.. I'm concerned something might have shifted in transit.
Sent from my Samsung device
-------- Original message --------
From: dwight <dkelvey at hotmail.com>
Date: 2016-10-14 7:36 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: ASR 33 buzzing
I see you didn't bother to check the clutches. You'd have found that the
clutch that reset the keyboard could be released.
The buzzing may also be related to your fuse blowing the supply
that feeds the receiving coil may have a shorted diode or capacitor.
That would both explain the fuse and the buzz.
Dwight
________________________________
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of Brad H <vintagecomputer at bettercomputing.net>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2016 6:30:57 PM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: ASR 33 buzzing
Got a little further.? The keyboard was definitely jammed.? I pulled the carriage over to the right and noted there's a bar on the left side that a piece of metal attached to the carriage belt hits, I assume triggering something.? Doesn't work.. the bar is stuck.? At any rate, I put the metal piece over it and the carriage returned on its own (spring action).? I then wound the motor some more and got a bell sound.? After that, the keys started to work properly -- I can see the little arms (code bars?) changing as each key is pressed.
Thought maybe if the keyboard was jammed that might short the motor.. but still blows out fuses.
AFAIK the unit was working before it was shipped, sort of.? The seller mentioned powering it up and doing a carriage return successfully before shipping.? I'm inclined to think something happened during shipping.
It's too bad it's out in Australia, I qualify for the top priority of the
list, 'under 21 years of age'
Especially this is too bad: "Anything not sold, swapped or given away by
early December will likely go to recycling."
Joe
I have a collection of DEC items available for sale, swap or giveaway.
They are mostly VAX or MicroVAX items, as well as a few PDP-11 items.
These are in Melbourne, Australia. I appreciate this may not be of much
interest to the rest of the world.
If interested, please take a look here -> http://avitech.com.au/?p=1285
Thanks.
I thought the question about the prevalence of .156" connectors in early
systems was interesting and I assume someone here has the detail on the
rationale.
Jim
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: CBM edge connectors pitch?
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2016 19:31:47 +0200
From: silverdr at wfmh.org.pl
Reply-To: cbm-hackers at musoftware.de
To: cbm-hackers at musoftware.de
Do we know what is the norm used in the CBM edge connectors? Like the IEEE, USER PORT or CASSETTE?
I found out mentions that it uses a 0.156" pitch. Where the heck does that come from? Nothing "round" in either metric or imperial..
--
SD!
Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list
Hi, although somewhat off topic, unless I'm reprogramming antique computers :)
...
I was wondering if anyone might know where I could find an A/B switchbox for a 10-pin JTAG cable?
(An old-fashioned mechanical switch would work for my purposes, but I don't want to have to try to build one :)
thanks,
Stan
> From: Jason Howe
> I really really want to aquire a PDP-11 ... Given the price of these
> things in the world right now...
If you're willing to live with a QBUS machine, and not a UNIBUS one, it
doesn't necessarily take a mountain of money - if you're patient and wait for
deals.
I've bought 11/23 CPU boards for as little as $40 recently, and memory and
serial interface cards for console are on the same order of money. And I got
a BA11-S box, complete with power supply and backplane, for a little over
$100, IIRC.
The real hangup is mass storage; the older drives, at least, are all real
money now. I don't know about the later ones (from the uVAX era), those seem
to be cheaper, but I don't know anything about them. If Dave B and I can
get the QSIC project to the production stage, that would probably alleviate
that side.
Noel
Hey folks,
Recent activity on the list, especially the "Ka... ching!" thread, has
had me reevaluating a lot of what I get out of this hobby. I think there
are two things going on that make it less fun for me now: The money,
and the age of the stuff. I'll try to explain.
I've never been a real "collector", I suppose. I don't feel a burning
need to fill every hole in a product line, or to put things on display.
I've also never been in this for the money, far from it. No, the only
reason I've ever collected classic computers is because I've loved
playing with them. That's really all there is to it. I enjoy the sights,
sounds, and smells of firing up vintage computers and seeing them work.
On the money front, as I said I've never been in this for the money.
There was a time when most of this stuff could just be had for free, and
that was fun! Going on rescue trips was a blast. I'll never regret
driving down to LA from the Bay Area to rescue a PDP-11/34, or the time
that a bunch of us got togethr and picked up an 11/45 and an Imlac PDS-1
>from Bill Gosper's house. What a time that was -- I didn't even keep any
of it, I was just there for the rescue and the camaraderie.
But nowadays, there's so much less of that. 99% of what trades hands
seems to go back and forth on eBay for real big bucks. And that's
probably just the sign of a maturing hobby, but it's not really what I
enjoy.
And secondly, lately there's been a lot less of "firing up vintage
computers and seeing them work", and a whole lot more "carefully
replacing capacitors and praying that the vintage computer will still
fire up". We've reached the point where the hardware I love is dying.
It's been dying for years, I suppose, but now it's in hospice care. And,
frankly, that part of it is so much less fun for me than actually using
the systems. Am I just lazy? Maybe. And don't get me wrong, I've learned
SO MUCH about electronics from taking care of these systems, so I don't
consider it a loss at all. It's just not what I want to spend my time
on.
I've been ruminating on all of this pretty hard for the last couple of
months, and I've concluded that my enjoyment just isn't there any more.
Now that I'm surrounded by a bunch of stuff that I'm not getting
much out of, I feel like I'm being weighed down by the hobby. I think
it's time for me to move on and concentrate on other things.
I'm not sure yet what that means for my current collection. It's already
much smaller than it once was, as I've found homes for a lot of things
over the years. I've moved a lot, and every time I've moved I've found
homes for things I didn't want to take with me. It's probably time to do
that again, only without the moving part.
I think probably I'll have one last big "sale" of stuff, which I'll post
about here. At this point most of what I have is vintage home computers,
terminals, and QBUS PDP-11 stuff, so not everyone will be interested in
it -- but maybe some people will.
-Seth
--
Seth Morabito
web at loomcom.com
