Found on Usenet: Anyone interested? If so, please contact the original
author directly.
Thanks.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
From: sgw(a)bronze.lcs.mit.edu (stephen g. wadlow)
Newsgroups: vmsnet.pdp-11
Subject: anybody want some history?
Message-ID: <199805200346.XAA23575(a)bronze.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 23:46:19 -0400 (EDT)
Organization: Info-Pdp11<==>Vmsnet.Pdp-11 Gateway
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Lines: 6
Path:
blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!uunet!in3.uu.net!news.mathworks.com!mvb.saic.com!info-pdp11
I know of a DecSystem 2065 in the Cambridge, MA. area that's looking
for a sympathetic home in the very near future, lest it meet an
unhappy fate. Any takers?
steve
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, SysOp,
The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fido 1:343/272)
kyrrin {at} j<p>s d[o]t n=e=t
"...No matter how hard we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe
an object, event, or living creature, in our own human terms. It cannot possibly
define any of them!..."
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, 16 May 1998 11:10
Subject: Re: North Star Horizon
>> Agreed with the previous gentlemen. My latest blind rescue was that 68020
>> Cadnetix system, where the company went under 10 years ago and every
>> technical document on it seems to have ended up in a Colorado landfill. I
>> finally tracked down one of the original engineers (from on-line resumes,
>> of all things) to get some info on it. Granted, it's still dead (and from
>> what I've learned, probably will stay that way forever) but I'll be
damned
>
>Don't say that ! Somehow it can be got to work again. It'll take time,
>but it would certainly be interesting.
>
>> if I didn't learn quite a lot from it. As for wanting a specific machine,
>> I have spent my entire life lusting after machines that I have never even
>> seen in person, let alone had detailed hardware experience with! What is
>
>Yes, but presumably you had reasons for wanting these machines, other
>than 'I want an Altair, they're cool'
>
>> it that really makes us want these machines, anyway? Not to say that
these
>> machines are useless, but nobody collects classic computers because of
>> their amazing processor speed or mammoth memories. It's a much more
>
>Well, I particularly like machines with features that are not found on
>more modern stuff - toggle-switch panels, demountable hard disks, vector
>graphic displays, writeable microcode, etc.
>
>> rounded aesthetic, having to do with colours, shapes, sounds, etc. I
could
>
>I've said it before - I really couldn't care what a machine looks like. The
>circuit diagrams are the interesting thing for me.
>
>> easily *see* a computer that *looks* interesting and ask for one by name,
>> without even knowing where the power switch is. That's the whole fun of
>> it.
>
>True... Especially at radio rallies where you see something odd and pay a
>few pounds/dollars to take it home. No idea what it actually is - it's
>just interesting...
>
>>
>>
>> Aaron
>>
>>
>
>-tony
email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au
desieh(a)bigfoot.com
museum_curator(a)hotmail.com
Apple Lisa Web Page:
http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm
I have own a NorthStar Horizon very nice little computer abit heavy, mines
in the wooden box and has a pair of 5 1/4" floppy drives in the front and
yes it runs off an terminal.....
mine even has full docs and the origianl receipt of purchates from around
1976.....
many of the cards inside it arom from an Altair if my memory is correct...
A VDM -1? i think thats whats its called...anyway in the manual for this
video card it has the source code for the programmng code for a Altair and
IMSAl mechines....
only around 30,000 of these fine mechines where ever built so i would say
that they are very rare these days....
>
>>> >> I have a Rainbow 200, but I'm missing the keyboard and mouse, and it
>>> >>doesn't
>>> >> seem to take a serial console.
>>>
>>> hmm, don't know about the 200, I've got a 100B machine and the keyboards
>>
>> I've never heard of a Rainbow 200 either. I've got a couple of 100's here.
there used to be a good 'bow ftp site - do you remember what it was?
something along the lines of "ftp.ee.ualberta.com" or somthing; tried
every variation I could think of but didn't come up with anything... :)
seem to remember they had quite a bit of info on memory expansion
boards, connecting nonstandard floppies and other such stuff...
(one for regular posting to the list maybe? a list of good ftp sites /
web sites for various machines... or de we have a regular FAQ anyway?)
cheers
Jules
>
>
>>>....I think winders didn't run on
>>>the 80186(8) used in one of the tandys and a few oddballs. mostly because
>>>the 186 has some on board peripherals (DMA and interrupts) that were not
>>>PCclone compatable.
>>On the contrary: There was a special version of Windows for the Tandy 2000
>>(80186) and Bill Gates referred to it as "the first computer built
>>specifically to run Windows."
I think it'd run via the 80186 daughterboards in a BBC Master system
too... I'm sure I tried this years ago... (ok, "years" is kinda
relative! :)
Jules
>
>
>
<> >....I think winders didn't run on
<> >the 80186(8) used in one of the tandys and a few oddballs. mostly beca
<> >the 186 has some on board peripherals (DMA and interrupts) that were n
<> >PCclone compatable.
It was sufficiently wierd enough that DOS barely ran and most apps didn't
like the climate. Even if windows ran, it was a 186... while faster than
a 8086 it wasn't faster than a 286. The 186 while a neat idea really did
well in the embedded control space where PC compatable hadn't poisoned
everthing.
Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram(a)cnct.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 19 May 1998 12:14
Subject: Re: [Rare systems]
>Desie Hay wrote:
>
>> I dont think anybody ported unix to the Lisa...well it wasnt a commerical
>> thing....
>> im not sure on this but if someone knows for sure ill like to hear from
them
>>
>> check out my Lisa web page......
>
>Well, there was a Lisa running Unix at OCC '84 (the last) in Anaheim.
>At least one. At the Apple booth. Since I'd been playing with Xenix
>(at the Radio Shack Computer Center where I did tech support) for well
>over a year by then, I was actually not too impressed -- it was far
>from ready for prime time. But it was definitely Unix. It just wasn't
>commercial. Especially since Tandy Xenix systems cost a fraction and
>actually had support (around Los Angeles, that was mostly me -- with
>some good documentation and a good line to Fort Worth).
>--
>Ward Griffiths
>They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
>Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
> Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
>
yes ive seen pictures of Garry Kildor with a Lisa at his side...
They had a version under development but i almost sure they never released
it.....
<> The two devices are addressed at 02h and 04h, the console is nominally
<> 02, by NS* software convention.
<>
<> It is possible to configure the software for any port however.
<
<It is, but _you need a console_ to do the configuring. It's like
<getting a second-hand Unix box -- you need the root password to
<do anything..
The assumption is that the former owner of the boot disks has/had a
standard configuration. Of the systems my NS* controller has been
in the console could be:
VDM-1 and serial keyboard.
MITS SIO
NS* standard configuration (port base at 0)
CCS, 4sio
Computime CPU (on board usart)
Computime 4sio
All different addesses or requiring different initializtion or use a
totally different device. In my case the system was origially altair
with MDS controller so when the NS* crate was done I had to reconfigure
the disks for NS*. At the time you either got NS* personalized or
unpersonalized requiring the user to set it up it assumed you had front
pannel or rom monitor.
Allison
< I now have some time to work on my N* system. Does anyone have info o
<the Vector Graphics ZCB processor board. 64k RAM board, and the PROM boar
<that they can copy/e-mail me?
No data on any of these.
< Also, which motherboard serial port is used for the console, left or
<right? This may sound silly, but how does the processor board know which
<the console port?
The right from the rear, left from the front.
The two devices are addressed at 02h and 04h, the console is nominally
02, by NS* software convention.
It is possible to configure the software for any port however.
Allison
I recently lost a piece of my computer collection. I had a BRAND NEW never worn Seiko wrist terminal from the ealry 80's that downloaded phonelists, etc via the game port in an Apple II. I entrusted it to a jwewler for repair and he has lost it. I still have the origional box, software, etc. Anybody have an idea of the value of this piece?
please Email me at: Glenn(a)justbirds.com
Thanks!
This is kind of off topic, but Microsoft didn't "cut off" PowerPC... IBM
did. Windows NT was discontinued for the PPC after IBM announced they were
dropping their PPC machines. By that time, nobody besides IBM was, or is,
making PREP (PowerPC Reference Platform) compatible boxes. PPC NT was
discontinued simply because there were no machines to run it.
Apple chose to make their PowerMacs proprietary instead of PREP compliant
(and that's a Motorola/industry standard that has nothing to do with
Microsoft, BTW).
Kai
-----Original Message-----
From: Hotze [mailto:photze@batelco.com.bh]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 1998 9:12 AM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: Windows 1.x platforms...
>I like to bash Microsoft as much as the next guy, but their CPU support on
>Windows CE is pretty good: x86, MIPS, Hitachi, PPC, and ARM, at least.
x86??? That would make a REALLY COOL sub-$500 PC. PPC??? So MS didn't
COMPLETELY cut it off.... I guess that if Intel (or anyone else) wanted,
they could make a 386/486 (AMD's ElanSC400 comes to mind) processor
based-WindowsCE system, requireing less effort to port to CE.
Tim D. Hotze
