Just found a free PDP 11/23 which I'll be picking up tomorrow, and a VT220.
I know nothing at all about this machine - are there precautions I should take before shifting it? Drive parking or some such?
Are there any hard to find extras that I should ask about before collecting it? Thanks for any help the list members may provide. As you can tell, this is quite urgent - about 18 hours before I pickup.
The guy also has 6 free Sparcstation SLCs - I didn't bags those - maybe I should?!
A
Hi Doug,
I have an H-8 (with another on the way) with absolutely complete docs
(including the sales slip).
I don't think I have much in the way of paper tape though.
Contact me.
Jon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>I have available the following original Poly 88 docs for trade:
> Volume I: Assembly, Test, and Theory of Hardware (1976, 52pp)
> Addendum to Volume I: Serial Option (1976, 14pp)
> Cassette Interface Minicard (1977, 44pp)
> Memory Addressing, Vectored Interrupt, and Serial I/O (32pp)
> Volume II: Operation and Software (1976, 100+pp)
>
>I need Heathkit H8 docs, but I'd also consider other pre-1977 micro docs
>in trade. I'm also looking for H8 software on papertape (copies are
>fine).
>
>-- Doug
>
>
>
>Now, though, it appears that most [Lego] sets contain special parts for
whatever
>model that set is supposed to build, parts that aren't much use for
>anything else. Seems not to encourage imagination anything like as much.
I know what you mean... but my son (6) does manage to find many new uses for
the "special parts", combining insectoid legos and aquatic legos and
everything else to form really interesting creations.
Somehow it seems to parallel the trend in programming... the components that
you build out of just get more elaborate, but that doesn't necessarilly mean
that programming today is less creative, it's just that you're building at a
different level...
- Joe (your friendly neighborhood Microserf)
On Tue, 12 Jan 1999 ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
> I wouldn't call FOR..NEXT low level. I'd call it a high level
> construction based on the low-level GOTO.
What I meant was, in the early BASICs, you would have to type out the FOR
loop with a variable, an increment, a conditional statement, and a goto.
In the later BASICs, you don't have to type it out, and it's also a lot
easier to understand that the NEXT X must be going back to that FOR X= 1
TO 10 I saw a while ago, as opposed to scrolling incessantly trying to
find where each GOTO leads.
I don't know exactly at what point the FOR...NEXT gets translated into its
components, but the point is, since it doesn't have to be typed out, it's
somewhat lower-level.
----------------------------------------------------
Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor
At 09:33 PM 1/13/99 -0500, you wrote:
>> Obcc: Yes, you can build computers and calculators from Lego. Any reason
>> why you couldn't replicate a Digi-Comp with Lego?
>
>A Digi-Comp built with Lego blocks would be huge and fragile, plus
>those vertical metal rods would have to be fabricated. When I had my
The Mindstorms kit includes some long-ish axle pieces which might work.
There are probably other ways of doing it as well. You're just not being
creative enough. (Check out the web sites I posted previously -- one
includes a lego computer that looks kinda like a digi-comp (in a
uninitiated, unobservant kinda way.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
At 12:00 AM 1/14/99 +0000, you wrote:
>> But to say that a kid should not be introduced to computers until they can
>> read enough to use unix or can handle a soldering iron is to do a major
>> disservice to the kid.
>
>Why?
>
>I'm disputing the word 'major', BTW. It's possible that some 18-month old
>kids will enjoy looking at coloured patches on a computer screen. But I
>don't think that _not_ showing them that will cause any form of permanent
>damage.
I made an assumption (at least I think I wrote that) that a reasonable
computer was available. To say, I've got this computer which could help
the kid learn to learn better, develop logical skills, and even learn to
read and understand math, but I'm not going to let the kid use it because
it's a windoze machine and I want the kid to be a Unix guru" is a major
disservice. Same as saying "I've got a TV and Sesame Street and National
Geographic comes on sometimes, but I'm not gonna let the kid watch those
because someday they might want to watch teenage morphin' ninja turle soup
with Howard Stern." Another grave disservice. And another analogy: You
could say "Sure, I've got a major library next door, but I'm not gonna let
the kid go there because it might read the gatekeeper's monologue from
Macbeth where he talks about hookers and drunkenness."
I'm not saying that every parent has to go out and buy their kid a
computer, or that the kid will turn stupid without it, but if you've got
the resources, use 'em.
Remember, that being a parent means subjugating your own desires for the
benefit of the kid. You have to give up a lot for that kid, and that may
include a no-Winblows rule, or worse. Hell, you might even have to miss a
football game now and then.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
> Ouch! That's nasty. The reason RSTS can't recover is because it's block 1.
>
> You'll need to reinstall RSTS if you want to use it. Drop me a private
>E-mail. I may be able to help.
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the info. I'd would like to get the unit running. Will
reinstalling RSTS definately do it, or could the hard drive need
replaced, as well? I'm assuming I'll need the RSTS disks on 5.25" to
reinstall RSTS. Is that something I can get for a reasonable price?
Thanks,
Tom
--
Sysop of Caesarville Online
Client software at: <http://home.earthlink.net/~tomowad/>
Today I have saved from the Skip/Tip/Dumpster two items of IBM
manufacture, about which I know even less than the Prime 550-II I'm
trying to get working.
To wit:
An IBM 9404 processor, at least that's what I make it out to be,
since it's front panel has IPL settings, a QIC-1000, and attached to
the back are several 8-channel Twinax adapter cables. A p-Touch
type label on the side says 'XS400' The ID plate also says its
release level is V2R2MO and its PIF Level is C2261220.
With it, though perhaps systemically unrelated, is an IBM 3174-1R,
obviously a terminal controller of some sort. It has two 5 1/4
floppies and a niche for storing the diskettes, and there are three
of them, marked by printed IBM label for this machine.
Also there was a complete (non-IBM) PBX-type voicemail system, but
that I know something about and can get on the air. (Sam: its a VMX
D.I.A.L.)
I am curious to know if anyone is familiar with the IBM stuff and
even more curious to know if anyone *wants* the two.. I sure
don't. They are not terrifically heavy and thus shippable... hint
hint hint.
I could not bear to see them go off the loading dock into Oblivion.
Cheerz and Thanks to all for the Prime help so far. This weekend
I'll have time to research more on my own.
NOTE to Prime-familiar folk who may be reading this:
I will buy PR1ME engineering/maintenance docs related to the
hardware I have; or copies of same. 250/550 series.
John
I know this is probably OT, so you can email me off-list if you can help. I need
some advice from some experienced Sun folks.
I have the opportunity to pick up a 3/80 and an IPC. I need someone to help me
find docs or help me with hookup/boot procedures. I am a complete newbie to
Suns, and would like to try running Linux. I can't find any specs on the 3/80 as
far as internal architecture, so that would be a good starting point.
I know I'm jumping on a pretty steep learning curve, but I want to play with a
real OS.
Let me know, please. I appreciate the help.
Thanks.
Paul Braun
NerdWare -- The History of the PC and the Nerds who brought it to you.
nerdware(a)laidbak.com
www.laidbak.com/nerdware
At 01:29 AM 1/11/99 -0600, Doug Yowza wrote:
>
>I have the plans for Magdum, and it's about 30 pages of hand-drawn
>schematics. Does anybody know of a way to convert a raster scan of this
>kind of stuff to some sort of vectorized format (maybe EPS)?
There are methods of scanning blueprints and converting them to CAD
formats, but these programs are expensive and esoteric, and I'm not
sure how much hand-drawing they tolerate. There are common methods
of auto-tracing for illustration purposes. PhotoShop, for example,
can trace a bitmap and export the path as an Adobe Illustrator file,
a form of EPS.
However, these AI/EPS files are ASCII, meaning they'll
take up as much (or more) space than a mono TIFF. What's your objective?
Distribution of the images? I say leave them as scans. Autotracing and
cleanup of 30 pages would consume days. How would you view EPS/AI files?
Tools for viewing and printing bitmaps are far more common and easier
to use than tools that handle EPS/AI. (I know about Ghostscript.)
- John