At 11:22 AM 7/19/97 -0800, you wrote:
>> Spring having arrived here in the wilds of Canada, I moved some
>> stuff and got close enough to that thing I was given last fall to read the
>> labels on it. The box is a little bigger than a legal two drawer filing
>> cabinet, and weighs a couple of hundred pounds. There are three tags with
>> "M.A.I. Basic 4 Information Systems, each with a different model number...
>> #9152 upgrade, # 610, and #1321. There is also a tag saying that in event of
>> power failure the batteries are good for four hours!
>> The cabinet contains a backplane and several plug-in boards.
>> Does annyone have any idea of what this is?
>
>It sounds like you've got the main hunk of a Basic 4 system there.
>These are minicomputers that were sold with special-purpose software
>- accounting, doctor's office, etc. - for small business environments.
>
>Is it possible that there's a hard drive (likely 8" or 10.5") somewhere
>in the box? Any tape drive? How many DB-25's on the back for terminals?
>
>Tim.
>
>
There are 16 db-25's on the back, also two drives about the same
size as the computer, the only one with a manufacturers label is Century
Data Systems, Model T-80A.
It came from a municipal office. When the fellow said he had got a
new computer and asked if I wanted the old one, I thought he meant something
like an XT! Next time I will ask. There was also a Calcomp 1041 plotter,
which runs the test plot, but so far refuses to talk to my 386.
Cheers
Charlie Fox
> When I first got onto the net, the first thing I found out was that it is
> most useful for e-mail.
That's about all I use it for, except looking for people who sell oddball
parts.
I tried IRC, I tried Usenet,
Usenet I use, for classified ads.
I tried a couple
> other things, and eventually I found myself paying $19.95 a month for
> e-mail.
btw, My ISP will sell time (so many hours) which will carry over from month
to month. $30 will buy 30 hours, which lasts a *long* time with an offline
e-mail reader. Some charge, say $7/month for e-mail only. Ask.
> But all in all I find the Internet to be EXTREMELY valuable. Where else
> can I go to find 200 zealots who collect classic computers to get
> information about a particularly obscure piece of hardware and get an
> answer to my questions usually within 24 hours?
>
I can e-mail a diatribe to the President of the United States of America.
...and get put on the FBI's secret list.
> Basically, it is truly information at your fingertips (almost) instantly.
> Constantly updated, constantly growing, alive.
Sure. For me, too. But how many newbies want -- or need -- all that info,
or want to acquire the necessary skills?
I think, after visiting the Lego page, nakedgirls.com and looking at
trucks, many users cast the internet aside with the rest of their toys (and
that was my point). Businesses, however -- such as mine -- find a real use
for the communications / information.
Most of my customers are interested in solitaire, Internet and
scanners...and you know? I may be wrong, but I see a *lot* of people trying
the interned for a couple of months, then letting the subscription lapse.
We have millions of potential newbies to work through, but what's it gonna
be like in 10 years? How many dust-covered chess-playing machines do you
see around? Electronic keyboards? Cuisinarts? I think we're seeing a fad.
Killer app? There hasn't been one since multimedia stuff for IBM I mean..)
You're right -- we've been refining (and good refinements the've been, some
of them! -- I'll take Corel 7 over DOS MS Paint any day).
Next killer app? Dunno. Voice recognition?
At 08:54 PM 7/18/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I recently picked up an Atari 400 computer... and have the version of
>Sega's Frogger for it. It's on cassette tape, and I am having some
>problems loading it. I know some loading commands from a quick look at the
>manual, but am still not able to get the tape loaded. I eventually get
>errors using three different load types: CLOAD, ENTER "C:", and LOAD "C:"
>-- I think these are the three common types of loading procedures. I am
>sure this tape is machine language, and am wondering if there are some
Cord,
Take the Basic cartridge out, and hold the Start button down when
turning the machine on. This will give the beep to hit play on the cassette
player, then hit enter and it will load. This is how you load a machine
language program on the atari from cassette. Hope this helps.
Isaac Davis | Don't throw away that old computer, check out the
idavis(a)comland.com | Classic Computer Rescue List
indavis(a)juno.com | http://www.comland.com/~idavis/classic/classic.html
On Thu, 17 Jul 1997 21:35:17 GMT ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
>>Have you tried Tandy/Radio Shack National Parts? At one time they sold
service
>>manuals for all their computer stuff, and such manuals almost always
contained
>>schematics/data on the 'bought-in' parts -- things like PSUs, drives,
monitors,
>>
They still have lots of parts/info. Last week, I ordered the service manual
for the Tandy Model 1 Expansion Interface. In 3 days, I got the *original*
manual, not a copy of one that was used in a R/S repair center. In the past,
I've ordered system diskettes for my Model 100 from the National Parts
Software group (Tandy Software, I think, and a different telephone number,
too). So, it's clear that they are continuing to support these old machines.
Message text written by INTERNET:classiccmp@u.washington.edu
> The bulk of the information regarding the B-128 was 'loaned' to the
Chicago B-128 Users Group by Commodore (wow, that's a change, eh?) a few
years back, I have no idea what had ever happened to the group or where
the B-128 info now resides.<
Yes, that was quite a deal. The Chicago group seems to have showed up on
Commodore's doorstep just as Commodore was getting ready to trash all the B
series stuff, and the user group ended up with it all. I wasn't aware it
was a "loan", but I guess at this point, nobody is going to show up on
their doorstep and ask for it back. If only the rest of the Commodore user
group community had showed such drive; we might not KNOW where the rights
to the 8-bit stuff ended up, but also we might collectively have owned
them!
I don't know what happened to the group either. In 1990, before I got a
B-128, I wrote and got info, and directed to them everyone I ran across
that had a B-series question. Then I wrote in early 1993 to check in on
the progress of the group for a newsletter article, and got nothing-- no
returned letter, no response. I wrote a second letter a few months later
(in case the Chicago post office had lost the first) and still got nothing.
I tried again after I got my B-128, and again, nothing. I think basically
the "group" was one guy in Chicago and a number of out of town members,
domestically and internationally. I suspect as interest in the B series
waned, the guy got tired of it and just quit. Still, upon receiving
inquiries he might at least have sent out
thanks-for-your-letter-but-the-group-doesn't-exist-any-more responses.
Postage couldn't have been THAT much. Course, he may have gotten hit by a
beer truck, for all I know. (Address was 4102 N. Odell, Norridge, IL.
60635; I probably have the head guy's name somewhere.)
Gil Parrish
107765.1161(a)compuserve.com
At 12:48 PM 7/18/97 -0500, Cord Coslor wrote:
>Does anyone know if Atari is still around? I remember years ago (really
>not TOO long ago) I wrote to them and they sent me a pretty huge list of
>old Atari 2600, etc., games still available, as well as old Atari 400/800
>software they still had around. Does anyone know if there are still Atari
>disutibutors that do this?
>
>Thanks,
>
>CORD
>
There are a number of businesses still selling atari stuff. As far as the
company is concerned, only the coin-op still remains under the Atari name.
Check out www.myatari.com or email Rick Detlefsen
(74766.1561(a)CompuServe.COM). They both have a pretty good selection, and I
know Rick is pretty cheap. I work about 5 mins from his place, and it makes
a wonderful lunch to go over there and browse through all of his stuff, and
pick up goodies. The atari vendor and developer faq is at
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/vendev/ If you can't get to it, I
might be able to round up a copy and email it. Hope this helps.
Isaac Davis | Don't throw out that old computer,
idavis(a)comland.com | check out the Classic Computer Rescue List -
indavis(a)juno.com | http://www.comland.com/~idavis/classic/classic.html
Message text written by INTERNET:classiccmp@u.washington.edu
>I have the low-profile version of the machine, with no monitor or drives.
I
plan on getting the 8050 drives today at noon, if they're still there.
There was also an IEEE-488 printer to go with it.<
That's what it sounded like; this seems to be the most common machine in
the P/B line, at least in the U.S. It's the same as what I have.
>[[ BTW, I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll keep this one or not...
It seems rather unique, which I like, but I'm not sure if I'd actually use
it, which is something I like to do as well... ]]<
"Using it" is somewhat problematic. While there is a fair chunk of
software out there for the PET/CBM line, a lot of that won't run on the B
series, at least without modification. As a "for instance", the typical
way to find out how much memory you have on a Commodore machine is the
check FRE(0). The "0" is a dummy variable on most C= units-- checking
FRE(0) will give you the same answer as FRE(1) or FRE(10), etc.-- but "0"
is the one typically used. However, on the B series, the variable makes a
difference; since it is bank-switched, the different variables let you
check different banks. As I recall, a PRINT FRE(0) command on a B-128
yields-- 0. So any software that checks for free memory-- and a lot of
PET/CBM software did, since there were 8K machines, 16 K machines and 32K
machines-- asks a B-128 that question, gets "0" in response, and crashes.
I note the TPUG newsletter seems to indicate the group has some B-128
software, so you could try that route if you wanted. Or, trade the unit
off, since it sounds like other folks might be interested.
>Anyway, again -- I love this list! :-)<
I'm finding it interesting too, at least when it covers the home 8-bits
(which I know something about) and not mini-mainframes (which mean nothing
to me personally).
>-- and thanks one and all for the
help you've given me for the help on this little beastie!<
Hopefully, that's what we're here for!
>I'll let y'all know if the 8050 was still there.<
If you want to trade it off, you might not want the drives. Those 8050 and
4040 units are VERY heavy, and a true Commodore enthusiast may already have
a compatible drive with his PET/CBM equipment. And there ARE other CBM
drives that will work; you might run across them elsewhere. (Actually, one
of the nicest drives to own is a third party dual drive called an MSD-SD2.
It is a smaller and quite rugged drive, which uses the 4040/1541 format.
It has both an IEEE port and a Commodore serial port, so it will work with
virtually any C= unit ever made (not counting Amiga and PC-clones).
Further, another party came up with a "mass duplicator rom" for it, that
allows quick copying from one drive to the other. In fact, it will copy a
standard Commodore disk in 15 seconds, or 22 seconds for copy with verify--
and it doesn't even have to be hooked to a computer to do so!)
Gil Parrish
107765.1161(a)compuserve.com
