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101090 discussions

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

This week has been pretty good and I picked up over 40 items, what follows is just a short list of the items I think are worth mentioning. PC1512DD Amstrad system complete with monitor, kb, and manuals not tested yet; IBM PS/2 8580-121 tower not tested yet; digital PC278-A DecMate II with two system diskettes not tested yet; Compaq Portable II not tested yet; Apple Mono Monitor IIe Platinum new in box with all papers and cords; Prim LTS300 Terminal Server; The Designer Pencil cartridge; HP 9121 not test yet; Apple High resolution Mono works great; IBM terminal 8535150 I think is the number; AED Colorware 767 TT; digital monitor VR290-DA; PixelView II monitor by Mirror; Toshiba T1000XE with everything manual, extra new batteries, etc; Portac unit; Sharp CE-150 printer and cassette unit; Sharp CE-159 program module; Many other items that will go into the museum someday. Keep Computing !! John

28 years, 4 months

what do I do with a Multibus?

by rexstout＠uswest.net

Just picked up an interesting unit at a hamfest, there was a box with a large power supply, a long tube with BNC connectors at each end(some sort of attenuator I suppose), and a large jumble of cards inside a backplane. Well, when I just got home now I dug through it, and found a few interesting things inside. The first card is from Intel, with an 8086 CPU and some other stuff. Attached to the CPU board are two daughterboards, one with a connector and an 8272 chip, and another with an 8203 and a bunch of EPROMs, as well as a lithium battery. There are a 50pin and 26pin edge connector on the top of the CPU board. The second board is a Netronix "Multibus PC Network Adapter" card, with an F-type connector. I don't know much about this type of network system except I don't have anything to hook into it. Third card is another one from Intel, labeled "iSBC 576", with another 8086, two connectors on the top, and an SBC576 daughtercard. Fourth card is a PROSE 2000, with a 26-pin edge connector and another connector, and a bunch of EPROMs marked "Speech Plus (c)1983", and yet another 8086 chip. Looks like the company name is Speech Plus Inc. I guess this is a speech synth. The last two cards appear to be memory expansion, made by Memtech, and have a large (50 pin) connector on the top, and "ISBC254S" silkscreened into the board. So, does anyone know what to do with this thing? How do I set it up? What kind of OS does it run? I'm thinking it may have been a repeater controller(I did find this at a hamfest...), which would make sense, with the speech synth being the automatic ID'er. Where do I find info on all this multibus stuff? Thanks -------------------------------------------------------------- | http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html - Computers | | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/ - Star Trek | | orham(a)qth.net list admin KD7BCY | --------------------------------------------------------------

28 years, 4 months

ISA-PCI Conversion possible? (About MS's PC 98 Specs)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 98-04-04 03:45:54 EST, you write: << OK.. I've been thinking about this for a while. ISA's going to die, at least according to MS's PC '98 specs. Knowing how most designers comply to MS's hardware design, it looks like ISA's future is dim. Now, on top of all the old ISA cards I've collected, I just got an AWE 64, and my scanner and PCMCIA cards are ISA-based. So, is it possible to make a device that will make an ISA card fit into a PCI socket? Is anyone making them? >> this question seems to be similar to another problem; people want to use isa cards in a mca machine, and it's just not possible. best just to keep a legacy machine around since it seems there will always be isa cards around. gee, gotta love that pc97 criteria. silent posting and no memory count? harrrrumph, really good for problem determination! 8-\ david

28 years, 4 months

PS/2 M30 available...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<People are moving to Texas and don't wanna have to haul it. <IBM PS/3 model 30, VGA monitor, a whole box of software, <printer of some sort. Any takers? <They want about $50, but will take any reasonable offer. They are kidding. It's an 8mhz 8086, ISA8 two floppies and it may have a color monitor of the older coarse dot pitch. Not worth 50$, 10 or 15 maybe. It would cost too much ship it or I'd be interested in it for the monitor. (I'd keep the box as it's small and a robust design turbo XT) Allison

28 years, 4 months

VAXstation 3100 M30

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

> Basically I've got a really stupid question, does the external SCSI bus > HAVE to be terminated? If so any idea's on how to go about doing that > without finding a DEC terminator? Yes, it needs termination, unless there's nothing connected *and the cable between the controller and the last socket* is extrememly short -- which it often isn't. This rule applies to SASI, SCSI (aka SCSI-1), SCSI-2, and SCSI-3. Otherwise, you'll get signal reflections, which, at best, will limit the speed the bus can run at. There should be a terminator at each end of the bus. There are two kinds of terminators: active and passive. In passive types, each signal has a 220 ohm resistor to +5V and a 330 ohm resistor to ground. They hold the voltage on an idle line at about 3 volts, and (assuming the power supply impedance is negligible) form an effective impedance of 132 ohms. The ideal impedance depends on the cable, but it's generally about 110 ohms. It's this terminating impedance that prevents reflections. Active terminators do the same job, but each signal line is connected via a 110 ohm resistor to a 2.85V supply. These are a somewhat better impedance match and often have a better high-speed response, so they're recommended for faster SCSI busses. Being exceedingly stingy, I built an active terminator using a pile of miniature resistors, a voltage regulator, a couple of capacitors, and a plug. Oh, and an LED for show. I don't believe any electronic device should be LED-less, and if it flashes, so much the better :-) I would recommend buying a terminator, though; building mine was quite fiddly and time-consuming. > I'd like to be able to run it without the terminater, since I don't have > one, but would like to know if it's possible before I go digging up the > rest of the stuff I need to see if it works. If your bus ends at a 68-pin socket (which is a DEC special, not part of the SCSI spec, unless it's Wide SCSI), it might be relatively hard to find a terminator plug. But most devices have provision for terminating resistors on the the device itself. All the RZ drives and CD ROM drives I've seen do. Usually these are in the form of three single-inline resistor packs, each with 8 pins, and containing six pairs of 220/330 ohm resistors. Toshiba CD-ROM drives use two 11-pin networks, though. They cost about 40 pence each from electronics suppliers in the UK; I expect they cost about the same in the States. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

28 years, 4 months

PS/2 M30 available...

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

People are moving to Texas and don't wanna have to haul it. IBM PS/3 model 30, VGA monitor, a whole box of software, printer of some sort. Any takers? They want about $50, but will take any reasonable offer. If it doesn't get sold, it gets dumpstered. (I have no room for it...) -------

28 years, 4 months

Epson HX-20

by TOwad＠aol.com

Hello, I bought an Epson HX-20 at a Hamfest a weekend or two ago. It's a very neat system. Somebody cut a piece of foam to fit in their suitcase, and then cut holes in it to fit the computer, modem, power supply, and cassettes. It looks like something you'd see on the old "Get Smart" TV show. :-) Unfortunately, it won't power on. The battery charges to 4.5v, but no farther. Is that what's needed? The printer will not turn on, either. I'm thinking its the battery, but want to get a second opinion before buying a new one. Anybody? Thanks, Tom P.S. Any offers? In addition to the above mentioned, I have a several of manuals, a bunch of printer ribbons and paper, and about 7 cassettes.

28 years, 4 months

Old Data

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

This struck a chord with me... >protection of data/software contained on the machine or disks. If you buy a >camcorder at a consignment or pawn shop and the last owners left a tape of >their after-hours playtime in the camcorder, is it my responsibility to erase, >safeguard or return it? I think not. I feel the same should apply to personal ABSOLUTELY it is your responsibility. We lost the first 3 months tape of our son's birth, homecoming and grandparents meeting, due to the theft of a camcorder with the tape still inside. The camcorder was stored at work, in a locked and alarmed office. It still got stolen. Probably it ended up in a pawn shop somewhere. I didn't care about the recorder, but the tape was priceless. You just never know about data, and in the above situation I think it is your primary responsibility to make SURE you don't have something you shouldn't. We were heartbroken at our data loss. Just because it's in a pawn shop, or consignment, or in the dumpster - doesn't invalidate copyright, or give you a right to do what you will with it. If you found a personal videotape or data and make no effort to determine if it is important to the original owner, then I think you are abrogating your responsibilities as a good citizen. Cheers A

28 years, 4 months

MacCharlie info

by pb14＠leicester.ac.uk

Last year I acquired a 1985 Dayna MacCharlie w/o docs or software. The MacCharlie is a DOS box that hooks up to a compact Mac and aside from that I know virtually nothing about it. Can anyone advise on:- Locating software/docs ? Which Mac models does it work with (128, 512, Plus?) ? Anything? Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 4 months

TI Silent 700

by PB14＠leicester.ac.uk

Somebody asked about pinouts for the 700 series. I have the manual for the International Model 745 sitting on my desk (I have the actual machine at home) so if anyone has any specific questions I'll try to help. Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 4 months

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