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101090 discussions

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Hi there, I have acquired an MSI 6800 (SS50) computer and am trying to figure out how to get it going. ?I am reaching out everywhere hoping to find someone with knowledge of these as I have searched around extensively and cannot find a manual. With a null modem cable connected to a PC I can get a response from the computer by typing things or resetting it, but the output is garbled. ?I know the baud rate but at present have no way to determine the other settings like bit, parity, etc. Any help/advice would be appreciated! Brad Sent from my Samsung device

9 years, 8 months

MINC is going to Pete Turnbull

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

Well, the Subject: line gives the result of by decision. I have decided (after much thought, it was not easy!) to give the surplus MINC to Pete. I wish I had more spare MINCs so I could give each of you one. Perhaps the only consolation is that there may well be other machines up for grabs as I continue to sort out. Pete, we need to agree a time for collection. Thanks to everyone who responded. -tony

9 years, 8 months

Best LCDs for retrocomputing - Was: Re: New *square* 1:1 26.5" LCD monitor 1920x1920

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I dunno if it's relevant or not, but my go-to LCD for retro stuff is the Dell 2007FP- There was a panel lottery, some are TN, some IPS. Both are solid. They are 4:3, 1600x1200 native. They have DVI, VGA, Composite and S-Video inputs, and very stellar scalers. They sync to SoG, and have no trouble with oddball resolutions like 1152x8-whatever. My SGI stuff can drive it at native resolution. As an added bonus, you can disable scaling if you want black bars and native resolution. These are readily available for ~$35, and I have at least 6. - Ian On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 12:07 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > On 05/16/2016 11:49 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote: > > > I have been keeping my eye out for older panels. I have some 12" > > 4:3 and a few 17" 4:3 and I think one 19" 4:3. Never run across > > anything larger. I don't think there were too many 4:3 LCD > > televisions sold larger than 19"... some, perhaps, but not many. The > > world switched to 16:9 about the time prices started falling on > 19" > > panels. > > > > I have a couple of arcade cabinets I'd love to switch to LCD. No > > luck yet except with a 16:9 that would fill the cabinet space but > > give me a black bars and a smaller playfield size than the CRT. > > > I use a NEC 21.3" 4:3 monitor--they can be had for cheap. > > NEC sells a few refurb very inexpensive 4:3 19" monitors that accept SOG: > > http://www.necdisplay.com/category/desktop-monitors?Refurbished=1 > > --Chuck > -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 8 months

Passing of R. Tomlinson

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Sorry about being late: Raymond Tomlinson, email inventor, sadly passed on to the 'cyberworld' in March of this year. In this Age of the Internet, we're communicating with his invention and sharing our hobby throughoutthe world. Imagine 100 yrs. ago how we would have done this! Happy computing. Murray :) .

9 years, 8 months

Classics long overdue a Boot.

by austinpass＠gmail.com

Swift's thread on the "ones that got away" got me thinking about another source of guilt/regret common to the classic computer collector: Systems we've neglected or failed to boot recently. I've had a re-jig of my storage, and whilst it was great to uncover gems that I'd forgotten I even had, it also brought some regrets for the systems I've neglected - lots of them not booted in 10 years or more. Because they were easily accessible I pulled out my Colour Classic and G4 Cube (is the latter on-topic through the "10 year rule" or are we sticking to pre-millenials?): https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c70f4flucjo3f6/IMG_7576.jpg?dl=0 Quick check-over and they both booted just fine! The systems I'm feeling really guilty over neglecting are: SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on) Micro PDP 11/83 (same) Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI Podule needs finishing) And I have a vast box of Sinclair Specturm games on tape that would probably take the rest of the year to load if I fired up my +2 and played them sequentially! -Austin.

9 years, 9 months

RSTS/E

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi I'd like to load RSTS/e on my 11/83. I have TK50's available so I guess the question is how do I get or create an install TK50 tape with RSTS/e on it Rod

9 years, 9 months

Beam-penetration color CRT, Tektronix DAS 912x (was Re: Nice LAB11 brochure.)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

I got out my Tektronix DAS 9129 logic analyzer mainframe, which uses a red/green/yellow beam penetration CRT. It uses raster scan, whereas my other device with a beam penetration CRT, the HP 1338A (also red/green/yellow) is a vector (X-Y) display. I'm pleased to find that the 9129 passes self-test and the display works. Unfortunately I do not have any logic analyzer acquisition or pattern generator modules for it, so other than admiring the pretty display, it's only useful as a boat anchor.

9 years, 9 months

Pascal/8002 or other compilers for Tek 8002 dev. system?

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Does anyone have information about (or a copy of) the Pascal Development Co. Pascal/8002 Universal Program Development Package, that ran on the Tektronix 8002 development system? The only thing I've found is a blurb in Computerworld 1979-08-13 p. 56. Alternatively, I'm very interested in any other compiler that ran on the 8002 and produced p-code or bytecode, or any such compiler running on ANY machine which Tektronix may have used for product development. They might well have done cross-development from a mini or mainframe, but I'm guessing that they probably used their own 8002 system. Context: the Tektronix DAS 9100 logic analyzer is Z80 based, and contains many ROMs, mostly 8KB MK36000 series masked ROMs and MCM68764 EPROMs, but only one ROM appears to contain much actual Z80 code. That 8K ROM is labeled "INTERP" and contains a bytecode interpreter. Apparently all the other ROMs are full of bytecode. The bytecode does not match the UCSD p-code nor the ETHZ P4 p-code. I've started disassembling it, but haven't yet learned too much.

9 years, 9 months

MSI 6800

by bradhodge75＠gmail.com

Hi there, I recently acquired a Midwest Scientific Instruments 6800 computer. Been meaning to set it up but was working on restoring a couple of SWTPC terminals first. It has a SI-1 serial board in it and what looks like a second serial board absent manufacturer markings. The SI-1 has configurable baud rate, but I do not know what the other settings should be (ie. 7 or 8 bit, how many stop bits, etc.). I'm working with a PC terminal for now, and the MSI does react to keys being pressed, but it just produces jibberish. I have the baud rate at 1200 and have tried 7 bits, 1 stop bit, Even parity, odd parity, 2 stop bits, 8 bits, etc.. but no avail. Wondering if there's a manual extant out there or anyone with really good memory on how to get these things communicating. Thanks!! Brad

9 years, 9 months

classics I threw away or sold ... foolishly

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

I've stack-ranked all the classic items that I, to my everlasting shame, let go of at some point and now I feel like it was a mistake: 1. Amiga 2500. I ditched it thinking I'd pick up a 3000 then never did. Ugh. It was free. They were using at some radio station where I helped them fix their PCs but then decided I wanted their Amiga (stashed in a closet) to subsidize my fee. 2. SGI Indigo R4400 with pristine KB + mouse, Maxxed RAM, and Elan. Ugh. /me bangs head against wall 3. Mac IIci with 060' accelerator. I put the accelerator in and paid $$$ for it. Darn it. That was a cool system. 4. Sun Voyager. These go for a fortune now on Ebay. I *gave* mine away. Not this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Voyager This one: http://tinyurl.com/lhzjfks 5. NeXTStation Color Turbo. I got tired of the proprietary-everything and the space it was taking to keep it working and pristine. Still. I wish I hadn't sold it. 6. Mac Quadra 660AV. This was a pizzabox M68k classic mac with a video frame capture (a crappy one but still...) capability. I notice you can't really even buy classic macs on ebay anymore. There used to be scads of them. Damn... does that mean I'm old now? 7. SGI Origin 200 dual R12k 270Mhz. It's the top model Origin 200 and it had good skins etc... If I had it today it'd be running in my garage with the rest of the zoo. I had to ditch some gear to move way back when, and this box was a casualty. 8. Sharp Wizard OZ-8000 organizer. This thing rocked. I'd probably be tempted to *use* it. I got a lot of mileage out of it "back in the day". It ran on a Z80 and took AAA batteries (yes!). Plus I had (and maybe I still do) a DB9 serial interface for it. You could use it as a vt220 terminal, IIRC. 9. Atari Lynx. I had all the cool games. Like a fool I sold mine for some quick money in college to help fund a silly trip with some chick who is long gone long ago. Ugh. I'd rather have the Lynx back... 10. TRS-80 model 100. I didn't really like it that much, but nowadays it'd look cool in my collection and I have more nostalgic love for the trasheighty. Plus it takes AA batteries (I love that!). -Swift

9 years, 9 months

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