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101090 discussions

Avail: 50-pin cables/rack-panel/connectors for unknown system

by ss＠allegro.com

Hi, (hoping this version makes it past the classiccmp filter :) Free to any home: (pick up in Cupertino, or pay shipping) two 5 meter (?) cables, with female 50 pin AMP connectors on both ends (three rows of holes: 17, 16, 17). The cables have tags reading: 422-0018-018 REV C RMH one 19" panel (about 1.5" high) with two male 60 pin connectors (matching the ones on the cables). These two connectors are wired to two long ribbon cables (3 meters?) that both end in 50 pin card connectors of some kind. The male connectors on the panel are labelled J1A and J1B. These were bundled into a surplus purchase, and have absolutely no connection with the computer I got! thanks, Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com

27 years, 7 months

attention MITS fiends . . .(NOW PACKING AND SHIPPING)

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

>Packing and shipping though is a straight forward problem, which I would >love to see a discussion of. > >Heavy old junk. >The only thing I see practical here is the personal transport option, stick >it in the trunk, back of the pickup, etc. I am curious about the creation >of some sort of hardware hitch hiker pool, so people going from one place >to another anyway, might consider hauling some junk for others besides >there own junk. With regards to shipping, here's my "magic" solution (like there is one) ;) Find an associate (friend, spouse, customer, etc.) who works somewhere that does a lot of shipping. These companies get HUGE discounts off shipping costs from folks like roadway, ups, etc. Then see if you can have them do the shipping in to their warehouse, and you pick it up from there. You of course offer to pay their shipping cost outright (still a huge savings for you off normal pricing) or you can setup a barter arrangement with the company (like helping with their PC network). Case in point - I'm having a pallet with a HP21MX rack, including 15231 power supply (heavy), cpu (somewhat heavy), and 7900A disk drive (VERY heavy) sent to St. Louis from California. Normal roadway shipping cost is around $695.00. However, a customer of mine does a lot of shipping and their cost from roadway is $195.00. I'm doing side consulting work for them to pay off their cost, but in a barter arrangement you could easily offer them a bit more work/time in trade than their cost for their trouble. That all being said, I've driven hundreds of miles to pick up something for my collection. But in a pinch, the above method can be better at times. I myself would be MOST interested in forming some type of hardware pickup arrangements with folks in other areas. I'll pickup stuff in my area for you - you do the same for me in your area. Then once every so often several of us could meet halfway to exchange the stuff for others and/or ourselves. Perhaps each person gets partial gas reimbursement if it's only equipment for others... who knows - I'm just throwing out ideas for all to throw stones at. FYI - I'm in St. Louis, MO - a nice central location, so I'd be happy to hold onto those 5 altairs and 8 imsai8080's for ya <grin - just kidding - I don't even collect micro's> Finally - I'm going to be in Irvine, CA (flying into LAX though) march 3,4,5, and a bit on saturday the 6th. Two questions - 1) Can anyone direct me to any favorite surplus/salvage stores in the area I can scavenge in my spare time while I'm out there? and 2) If anyone on this list is in the Irvine area, I'd be happy to buy ya a cup of coffee and exchange stories about when computers were real computers :) See ya! Jay West

27 years, 7 months

21mx system I bought...

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Ok folks - since everyone and their brother is asking.... Yes, I *DID* get a 21mx system from Berman today. However, that is not the 21mx system I was referring to in my post. I got two 21mx systems today, both from california (one from berman), but >from different places there. BTW - does anyone have HP 21mx M series cpus(2105a, 2108a, 2112a)? I'd be willing to trade 21mx E series cpu's for them. The E series I have are faster than the M's, and completely compatible (except for timing dependent program loops due to the faster speed). The software I want to run will run better on the M's - so... Let me know! Jay West

27 years, 7 months

question about viruses

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The first article I ever read on computer viruses was in the Los Angeles <Times in 1986. In fact, I clipped and saved this article (and many <others) and still have it in a file folder laying on a shelf in my bedroom <closet. They are far older. <The author then accurately predicted the explosion of computer virus <attacks. In 1986 I was just playing around with computer timebombs on the <Apple ][ (one of my dumb friends actually used my program on an <unsuspecting fellow computer class student and got reamed out pretty good <by the teacher) but viruses were pretty scarce. A few years later and <they started to become a major nuisance. The first one I know of ram on TOPS-10 V3.x and was a monitor virus (using modern terms). It was a hack to open the security door. That done we created cancer that was a program that did nothing except copy itself. that was back around '71. There were telco virus as well in teh 70s with the advent of ESS. back in late '69 on a PDP-8I we ran a Trogen Hourse to get passwords and spoof people (written in pal-III!). Allison

27 years, 7 months

NEC APCIII - Any insights?

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Hi! My school has an old NEC APCIII. All I know about it is that it's an AMD 8086-2, and had a hard drive and floppy drive. What I want to know is if there is a way to make it boot from the floppy. I turn it on, it beeps, sits for about 2 minutes, says : DOS 2.11 command interpreter, then locks. it only beeps when a key is pressed. Any ideas on how to get into setup? -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 7 months

Amiga 1000 boot ROM & Kickstart 27.5(!)

by mark_k＠iname.com

Hi, Are there any people who have Amiga 1000s on this list? If so, please contact me, even if you can't help directly with the things mentioned below. Boot ROM -------- Inside the A1000 there is a boot ROM whose purpose is to load Kickstart from disk. In normal use -- after Kickstart is loaded -- this ROM is not visible. I want to try and get the data from the boot ROM dumped to disk; it will be interesting to disassemble this and see how it works. To do this requires using a little trick (involving the RESET instruction), which only works when Fast RAM is present. I can write a program to hopefully allow the boot ROM data to be dumped. This would need to be run on an A1000 which has Fast RAM. Please let me know if you're interested in helping with this. Kickstart 27.5 and early Amiga demos ------------------------------------ Many years ago, I received a catalogue disk from an American company called Chiron Conceptions Public Domain, who used to advertise in Amiga World magazine. Listed there were some very early Amiga demos, used for the Amiga launch in 1985. They require a pre-1.0 Kickstart, version 27.5, to work. I would really like to get hold of any of these demos and Kickstart 27.5. Below is the listing from the PD catalogue. VERSION 27.5 DEMO DISKS ======================= CC-001 --VERSION 27.5 KICKSTART Prerelease version of Amiga Kickstart. Needed for some disks. (NOTE: Will not work on the Amiga 500 or 2000). CC-002 --AMIGA SHOW STOPPER PAK Includes two of the demos shown at the Amiga debut at Lincoln Center: Eagle Demo Watch the eagle as it swoops over the digitized mountain range. Listen to it's screams as it glides across your screen! An endless loop demo. Ballet Stills A series of superb digitized graphic stills of a ballerina. (NOTE:Requires Version 27.5 Kickstart (CC-001) and thus will not run on the Amiga 500 or 2000). CC-003 --ISLAND GRAPHICS DEMO SET A two disk set of graphics pictures and animations demonstrating the Amiga. Very nicely done. (Requires external disk drive & Version 27.5 Kickstart-(CC-001) and thus will not run on the Amiga 500 or 2000). CC-004 --ELECTRONIC ARTS GRAPHICS DEMO A two disk set demonstrating Amiga's music, graphic, and voice abilities. Includes digitized voice, scenes from EA's Amiga software, music, and digitized photos.(NOTE: Requires 2 drives, 512K, and Version 27.5 KickStart (CC-001) and thus will not run on the Amiga 500 or 2000). Regards, -- Mark

27 years, 7 months

Xerox 820 family almost complete

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Two questions: < <Is there still a source for 5.25 inch CP/M for the Xerox 820? That machine had a lot of mods and people working on it so I'd say likely. If you can fid the sources it's not that bad to edit and reassemble. <Was there ever a 5.25 inch floppy/ hard drive combo offered? Unknown on that but I'd bet yes. Allison

27 years, 7 months

here's the list . . .

by edick＠idcomm.com

It has been about 20 years since I was involved with the AMI chip, but I do recall that the AMI version is a superset of the MOT version. It has features not present in the MOT part. I rather doubt they are interchangeable without firmware modifications. AMI also made a few parts for the MOT processor family which MOT themselves never got around to building. One example is the 6834, which is a two-ported RAM, I believe. It was intended for communication between multiple processors in a system, but MOT really didn't implement this until they put out the 68121, which was apparently intended as an intelligent peripheral controller for an MC68000 family processor. The '121 was a 6803 with a built-in 6834. The part's use was envisioned in a rather narrow way and, hence never saw much popularity, as it was difficult to use in any way outside this narrow scope. I'll see if I can find an old AMI databook . . . Dick ---------- > From: Arlen Michaels <amichael(a)nortelnetworks.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: RE: here's the list . . . > Date: Wednesday, February 24, 1999 12:02 PM > > On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, Roger Merchberger <zmerch(a)30below.com> wrote: > > > >> BIOTECH ELECTRONICS BCT800 graphics board - uses AMI 68047 chip and 12 > > > > Erm, sounds like that AMI chip is a clone of Motorola's 6847 VDG, which > > was > > used in Tandy's CoCo 1 & 2, and the MC-10. > > > > I wonder: > > > > 1) if they're pin compatible, > > 2) if they've got added functionality -- might be fun to play with in one > > of my CoCo's if there is! > > > It's quite likely that AMI's 68047 is a clone of Motorola's 6847, because > AMI used to supply pin-for-pin equivalents of a number of Motorola > 6800-family devices, including the 6821 Peripheral Interface Adapter and the > 6850 Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter. The 68047 and 6847 are > both 40-pin chips, but I don't have an AMI datasheet handy. > > Arlen > > -- > Arlen Michaels amichael(a)nortelnetworks.com

27 years, 7 months

PDP-8 Handbooks

by dpeschel＠u.washington.edu

Kevin's message propelled me to look through our library catalog for all the DEC handbooks we have. (I already sent the list to him.) That made me think of a question I've had for a while. Megan or Allison, maybe you know the answer? You two seem to have vast collections of manuals. Our library has volume 1 of a two-volume _Introduction to Programming_ set. I've always wondered what was in the other volume. (It covers details of the languages supported on the PDP-8.) But I've never seen the two-volume set anywhere else, just a one-volume book. And while I'm at it... We have the OS/8 handbook as well. I've never been clear on what the different versions of OS/8 are, so I don't know how early or late our handbook is. The OS/8 book does mention using a TD8E system, which requires either 12K of RAM or a special ROM page. Unfortunately, the Intro to Programming handbook doesn't explain how the ROM is installed. The programming handbook is specific to the 8/E, but it omits a lot of details about customizing your 8/E. I do understand that the TD8E was a total corner-cutting move -- it shifted the burden of getting the bits off the tape from the hardware to the software, right? -- and is universally regarded as a disgrace. -- Derek

27 years, 7 months

DEC Handbooks - information please.

by kstumpf＠unusual.on.ca

I am trying to compile a pictoral history of DEC handbooks. The tentative title is a Handbook of DEC Handbooks. Trying to find a definitive list of all such publications is proving to be very difficult. The Compaq-version of DEC is still very much unorganized. The Smithsonian is doing their best, as is Charles Babbage Institute, and TCM is next on the contact list, but please consider helping. I believe the list can only be compiled through grass-roots channels. If you have any DEC handbooks, please send an email directly to me with the titles and dates of publication. Please only send a message if you have the title, not just if you sort'a know it might exist. I'll publish the list on my web site. Thank you all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems * www.unusual.on.ca +1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5 Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles. Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers & Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6 .

27 years, 7 months

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