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<Did MP/M run on Z-80s? BTW, is there a reasonable chance the CP/M on
Yes and 8080s as well. The later version for 8088 were called CCPM
(concurrent cpm). IN both cases they were multiuser/multiprocess OS
that were really better than most. The z80 version was pretty decent
on a 6 or 8mhz banked machine that had DMA for disk IO. The DMA was
important as some hardware sued the cpu spinning in tight loops to
do PIO to floppies and HDs, very inefficient used of cpu cycles.
A common use for MPM was to use it for disk services to multiple slaves
running cpm2(or 3) or CPnet. A crate constructed that way could easily
have a z80 per user plus the MPM server and provide excellent response in
a compact box. TELTEK, KONAN, macrotech and others offered cpus boards
for both services. The difference in the boards were generaly amount of
ram and presence of disk interfaces.
<one micro w/5.25" disks be compatible with another with 5.25" disks,
<i.e. my apple with a C-128? Also, if a computer can run CP/M 3+ can it
Apple is weird with their formats, nearly hardsector. C-128 has a few
compatable and incompatable formats. The rest were all over the map.
Allison
Do you have any diagrams of the mechanical fire control computers?
>
>The line is always grey...
>
>> Didn't that have something to do with RADAR? Or was it cryptography?
>
>No, not radar.
>
>Radar, incidently, was just about the first use of digital electonics.
>Although there was no computation at the digital level*, vacuum tube
>flip-flops and counters were used in the timing circuits, as well in
IFF
>codes (The NRL even tried out a pre-1940 IFF box that used a real
binary
>word for the codes, with the hope that encryption would follow. It
turned
>out to just be a lab rat, however, and most of the war years saw the
>horrible British MkIII system in use.).
>
>*The mechanical fire control computers, on the other hand, are truely
>awesome devices. They would accept a bunch of real time input data
(some
>from the radars, some from the ships' gyros, some from the gun pointers
>(sailors), and even internal data like how many times the gun was
>fired (wear on the barrels)) - and output a bunch of data to set up the
>shot. It worked well - incredibly well - 20 mile hits on the first shot
>were not uncommon. It took YEARS before an electronic computer could
rival
>them.
>
>Tons of metal, but built like a Swiss watch.
>
>William Donzelli
>william(a)ans.net
>
>
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> It would be nifty to have a web page with a list of Computer
> Rescue Squad volunteers paired with their geographical coordinates,
> with even perhaps a link to any one of the map-servers out there.
Count me in :)
48 8' N 11 33' E
Gruss
H.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
<Anyway, concerning the uVAX SCSI/DMA code, seeing as
<1, the SCSI code works most of the time, and
<2, retrying when it fails clears the problem (most of the time),
<why not patch the DMA code to retry an operation instead of failing
<and returning SIGSEGV? Of course, this will get you when something actua
<fails, but could it be tried?
Err, how about fixing the scsi code so it works correctly and only
flagging fatal errors or warnings where warrented. This would remove a
lot of "soft" errors and likely clean up other problems as well.
Allison
In a message dated 98-06-17 13:28:14 EDT, you write:
<< It would be nifty to have a web page with a list of Computer
Rescue Squad volunteers paired with their geographical coordinates,
with even perhaps a link to any one of the map-servers out there. >>
wasnt there something similar posted last year? the name isaac comes to mind.
anyone remember?
david
My mom got fed up by the amount of junk I have in my room, so I will
start to get rid of it (something I'd been planning to do).
I have an external keyboard that plugs into the keyboard socket on the
Apple ][ motherboard. It works fine, weighs three pounds. It has
macro modules for basic, CP/M, wordstar, visicalc that plug into a
little socket and modify a row of keys at the top (templates included)
A little yellow, though. Anyone want?
The other item is the 10-pound DG-One laptop with a smashed screen,
no AC adaptor, dead battery pack, and BUTTONS on the floppy drives!
I am zip code 02135. If anyone wants either just tell me. I also have
a TI 99/4a w/o cartridges, seems to work fine. I think I'll just trash
that...
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yes, i did the same with apple ][ floppies. i never used the special tool to
punch the index hole as a sharp x-acto knife worked well. i do have one box of
flippies at home and i never had a problem with using the "wrong" side.
In a message dated 98-06-17 12:33:56 EDT, philip belben put forth:
<< Likewise the Commodore 8-bitters. In the early 1980s, I was one of the
first in my school (I was 14 or so at the time) to own a floppy disk
(yes, a disk, not a drive). I had heard of "flippy disks" with two
index holes, which you could turn over, thus using both surfaces in a
single sided drive. But I didn't realise you needed to give it a second
index hole.
So I just cut a second write-permit notch and turned it over. It
worked! Commodore 4040 didn't use the index hole!
Philip. >>
Leonardo DaVinci is quoted as saying, "Computers are useless. They can
only give answers". This was obviously way before 1850.
>> after all the one who coined the phrase "computer."
>
>Really? I've certainly seen "computer" in use in written
communications
>from the 1850's. Of course, it wasn't until the late 1940's that
"computer"
>meant a machine and not a person, in common usage!
>
>Tim. (shoppa(a)triumf.ca)
>
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>>> There have been several extension to the Alphatronic PC.
>>> floppy boxes and even a HD box. THe base for CP/M was
>>> the dual floppy box.
> I'm amazed - someone who's heard of these things! :)
>>>> They were made by Triumph-Adler, from what I remember. Any information
>>>> on these boxes would be most helpful!! (I have the original manuals, but
>>>> they don't exactly go into a lot of detail)
>>> Just Tell me whats missing - I think I maybe have some of the
>>> stuff. Including Flopyy and Hard Disk drives.
> Well all I have are the basic Alphatronic PC units (three of these I
> think, although I seem to remember that the keyboard status on two of
> them is far from perfect - these things used to be really abused when
> used as terminals), one original shipping carton, two manuals, and
> that's it.
>
> Oh, did these things come with monitors at all? Most of the ones we had
> at university had 12" mono screens hooked up to them, but I don't know
> if they were original or not (I have a couple of these - similar shape
> to DEC VT320 terminals).
>
> The manuals I have (IIRC) both mention that the systems can be expanded
> to run CP/M, but no mention of how or what was needed; there's no
> pin-outs of the expansion port, cartridge slots or anything.
>>> Owning a Alphatronic PC and 2 Alphatronics
> hmm, so what's the difference between the two? Mine are all badged
> "Alphatronic PC", but I checked with the university staff before I left
> and they never had any floppy / hard drive systems with them...
> (This is where I really hate not having my collection around at home,
> it's been so long since I've powered one of these things up I can't even
> remember what CPU they had. I vaguely recall that they had a lot of
> fairly non-standard chips inside though; the CPU may have been a
> rebadged part of some description)
The Alphatronic PC was the last version of a somewhat
successfull line of Alphatronics - The PC is a keyboard
computer like the ATARI XL (but with a real keyboard)
and based on the Z80. The 'old' Alphatronics where clumpsy
cases with fixed keyboard like the CBM, but without a
build in CRT - but they had TWO 5,25" 2/3rd high FD
drives - both on the right side, one above the other -
the case was quite big. As a CPU the 8085 was used.
The whole system is build on several EuroCard size
boards (all in a rack on the left side - thats why the
FDs had to be on the other side.
They has several variations (I don't want to call it
modells) over the time, but basicly all the same.
In Europe, especialy in Germany (their orgin) they
sold like Commodores and Apples in average quanities.
The PC has been directed to open the home market and
to compete against all the home computers of the early
'80s.
I have some of the early documentation for the old
ones, and maybe some newer stuff (manuals for disk etc.)
Servus
Hans
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
>>Another microsoft product which I've not seen mentioned here yet was, of
>>course, the Microsoft mouse for PCs (and later those Microsoft keyboards)
> Those bus mice? I worked on a friend's machine that had one: A Xerox XT
> class running Windows 1.0. 640x400x2 mode I believe. Oh yeah, they were
> called Inport Bus mice, ran off their own 8-bit card. Not a bad mouse for
> it's time.
The BUS Mouse was ... err IS ... a very useful device - I
used to put them in my PCs (even Pentium) until the build
PS/2 mouse became standard. Serial mice need serial ports,
and a PC still has only a few :(
Servus
Hans
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
