> I've seen a small MicroVAX, but was there a small portable PDP-11?
There was a small PDP-11 about the size of a MicroVax 2000. It was
called the PDT. It had an 11/03 CPU, 64KB, 8" floppy (RX01), and some
serial ports. RT-11 was the only supported OS as the floppy took a
special driver. It was a real lemon, we had a few, proved to be very
unreliable as they would constantly overheat. They were also
susceptible to static discharge on the case, so they didn't work too
well in carpeted offices.
Jack Peacock
Enrico Tedeschi <e.tedeschi(a)ndirect.co.uk> wrote:
>I can't believe that all this is happening and that there are no honest people
>in this list that are letting this happen withour saying anything.
OK Enrico, you asked for it. I'm going to say something.
The recollection I have of what happened (from reading the original
flamefest on the list) is that you and Cord were swapping computers,
with you expecting a TRS-80 with Level I BASIC. And that is what you
got, only when you got it you found that it had a numeric keypad,
unlike the original stock TRS-80. So...no, I don't understand what
you're so upset about, except that you got something that didn't look
like what you expected based on your preconceived notions of what a
"TRS-80 with Level I BASIC" should look like.
Well, as it happens I don't know whether Radio Shack ever took to
manufacturing all Model 1 TRS-80s with numeric keypads after some
date, or whether the numeric keypad was included with the Level II
BASIC upgrade (don't think so, at least not always), or whether it was
available without a Level II BASIC upgrade. So I'd have been
surprised by that keypad too, but for all I know it could have come
>from the factory like that or been upgraded by its original owner, who
wanted to do lots of numeric data entry on a Level I BASIC system.
Really I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned here, namely
when trading in old computers it's a good idea to do some research and
have some idea what the scope of possible configurations is, so that
if you are buying you will have some idea what sort of questions to
ask to find out just what the seller is selling. Or if you are
selling, so you will have some idea of what you are selling.
Don't count on the seller knowing what's important to you, or even
where what he's got fits in that scope of configurations -- he may
not. Even if he's another computer collector and/or familiar with
that manufacturer's equipment, he may not know -- the sorts of
questions I read (and even some of those I write) tell me that most of
us have a lot to learn about these old machines, and none of us know
everything about all of them.
And even with all that in mind, expect some surprises!
For example, a while back I bought a couple of HP 9825s from some guy
in Southern California. Looking at the HP Calculator Museum web pages
and some of my old HP test/measurement catalogs, I expected that one
of them (the 9825B I think) would have a "computer" keyboard with
full-travel keys. I didn't bother asking. Surprise, when it arrived
both had the older clicky desktop-calculator keyboard of the 9825A. I
pointed this out to the seller and he didn't know, though he has seen
9825s with the full-travel keys. Maybe it was an A that got
field-upgraded to a B? We don't know, and I didn't really see any
point in getting bent out of shape about it -- I got what I wanted,
learned something, and now I have a good excuse to get another one!
-Frank McConnell
Doug Yowza <yowza(a)yowza.com> wrote:
>Which one is that? I remember the Teraks being fairly small, and I think
>I've seen a small MicroVAX, but was there a small portable PDP-11?
The Terak main unit is about 18" x 12" x 8" DxWxH, the disk drive is the
same form but about 5 1/2" tall. I remember DEC's MiniMINC, a white
11/03-ish machine roughly the same size as the Terak setup.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
On Apr 13, 0:06, Allison J Parent wrote:
> <Which one is that? I remember the Teraks being fairly small, and I thin
> <I've seen a small MicroVAX, but was there a small portable PDP-11?
>
> I have an 11/23, 256k ram, dlv11j and MRV11 in a ba11va shoebox.
> The floppy (RX02) is about 4 times the volume of the CPU!
General Robotics made a single 8" RX02-compatible floppy in a box barely bigger
than the drive itself, complete with carrying handle. A company I once worked
for had one for field servoids. AFAIR it was a standard SA800 50-pin interface
to connect to their own dual-height RXV controller.
I've got an 11/03 (M7270) with MXV11-A and a Baydel dual-height F311 (like an
RXV11, but interfaces to SA800 drives) with a 4-slot dual-width (not quad)
backplane. It's missing box/PSU and floppy, though, so it's not terribly
functional ATM. I'm sure someone has built something even smaller with a
Falcon or similar.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
The Photo Gallery is now open on the Vintage Computer Festival web page.
Photos from the exhibit hall of VCF 1.0 as well as the photos of the
unveiling of the prototype Sol 20 by Lee Felsenstein and Bob Marsh are on
display. The pictures show what VCF 1.0 was like and give you an
indicator of what to expect at VCF2.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't blame me...I voted for Satan.
Coming in September...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
[Last web page update: 04/13/98]
In a message dated 98-04-12 19:13:50 EDT, you write:
<< Max Eskin wrote:
> I have had too many 3.5" disks go bad, some my own, some not, not
> to ask why. I mean, is it just a property of 3.5" disks to be
> unreliable, or is something else? Are there any "industrial quality"
> drives/disks that are reasonably reliable? >>
grrr, i hate 3.5 disks! they seem unreliable. i have software on old 5.25
disks that have lasted longer than data on 1.44 floppies. could it be the
density of the data on the disk that makes them unreliable? just a guess.
david
Greets:
I have a customer that is looking for a modem for his Apple ][gs.
Admittadly, I don't know a whole lot about this area and some posts
in the newsgroups haven't turned up much either. Anyway, I am
wondering if some of you Apple experts could give me some more
information on the types of modems available for the GS and any other
pertinent information... such as, what type of interface is needed,
software to use on the GS (terminal, etc.) and anything else you feel
like throwing in.
Also, I have several old Hayes 2400 baud external modems.... would
these be compatible with the Apple ][gs? What else would I need to
get this modem setup on that system?
Any help in getting this guy set up would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
CORD COSLOR
--
___________________________________________________
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| Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | |
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