If memory serves:
EBCDIC = Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
IBM mainframes (360, 370, etc) are the only machines I've seen that used it.
bw
----------
From: Sam Ismail
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 1997 2:41 AM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: EBCDIC
DOes anyone have a computer which uses the EBCDIC character set, rather
than ASCII (did I get the acronym right? what does it stand for anyway)?
Just curious.
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
The Victor 9000 sounds like a machine sold in Australia and perhaps Europe
as the ACT Sirius and coexisted for a time with the IBM PC because of a
shortage of the latter. Chuck Peddle (spelling?) was the originator of the
Sirius.
The ACT company I think was British and later changed it's name to Apricot.
Or am I completely on the wrong track?
----------
> From: Uncle Roger <sinasohn(a)crl.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: Victor 9000
> Date: Tuesday, June 17, 1997 10:45 AM
>
> At 11:50 PM 6/15/97 -0400, you wrote:
> >So what exactly is a Victor 9000???
> >Just another PC clone?
>
> Not a clone, but similar. Max RAM was 768K, came with a Floppy Drive as
> standard (IIRC). Was the first computer to use variable speed disk
drives
> (as the early Mac's did as well.) Ran an early version of MS-DOS, I
think.
>
> Pong is not the first video game. Nolan Bushnell, who later founded
> Atari, did Pong. Several years before Pong, Nolan created a more
> sophisticated game called Computer Space, built by Nutting and
> Associates.
>
> Computer Space was the first arcade video game.
> Atari home Pong was the first home video game.
> Magnavox Odyssey1 was the first home video game system.
>
> Trust me, I own all of them.
>
> Kai
>
I just pulled out the Pong and manual. I suppose I don't have the
original pong anyway.
Super Pong, Model No. C-140 (1976). It has four different pong games
(labelled differently in the manual and on the box).
So when did the original Pong make its appearance.
Marc
Okay, enough hardware, it's time for a software trade list!
Software wanted:
- Apple DOS 3.3
- Apricot F2 DOS
- Cromemco CP/M on 8" for System 3
- Microsoft Adventure (floppy for TRS-80, Apple II or PC)
- Ithaca InterSystems CP/M, any format
- TI 99/4a Disk Manager II cartridge
- Apple /// Apple II Emulator Diskette
- /// EZ Pieces
- Anything for Spectravideo SV-3x8
Software for trade (all freely distributable to the best of my
knowledge; let me know if you know otherwise):
- Atari DOS 2.0a on 5.25"
- Atari DOS 2.5 on 5.25"
- Kaypro II CP/M, WordStar, FileStar, SpellStar on 5.25"
- Kaypro 10 CP/M (can make diskette from HD if needed)
- North Star NSDOS 2.0 on 5.25"
- Jade CP/M 2.2 on 8"
- Computer Chef on 8"
- Infocom "Suspended" and "Starcrossed" on 8" (these work on an 8080
just fine)
- Osborne CP/M on 5.25"
- Macintosh System 1.0 (yes, Apple has posted this)
- TRS-80 Model 100 floppy drive support diskette
Also, while we're talking diskettes, does anyone have a MicroSolutions
CompatiCard or a Copy II Option Board they'd be willing to sell?
thanks
Kai
Meant to mention this earlier, but over the weekend I also picked up an
Exidy (Sorcerer) dual disk drive chassis (no drives, just the power
supply circuitry) for a dollar. I was amazed to find it. I know little
to nothing about this system, although thanks to Larry Anderson I have
one that is totally hacked up with a funky power-supply that replaced the
original (sticking about 2 inches out the back with wierd cords I have no
idea how to connect) and some interesting mods inside which seem an
attempt to double its memory. Any insights on this system? It's fairly
obscure.
I was told Exidy used standard PC-type full-height 5.25 drives. Anyone
know more about this? Or perhaps know where I can get an interface card
for the beast?
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
RE: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
>Subject: Re: Printers and Finds of the Week
>I am not familiar with the "SuperPET"; where does it fit in with the
>rest of the Commodore line? It sounds like you also had a pretty good
>"haul" this weekend!
The SuperPET was developed by Waterloo University in Ontario, Canada and
was released by Commodore sometime around 1980/81. I read a press
release where the CBM 8096 (a close pre-cursor to the SuperPET) and
VIC-20 were being introduced. It was also referred to as the Commodore
SP9000 and Micro-Mainframe.
The SuperPET was (I'm pretty sure) the last of the PET/CBM series.
After that, in 1982, almost the entire Commodore line was re-vamped
with: the Ultimax, C-64, B-128 series, and P-128/P-500 models.
What the "PET Personal Computer Guide" Says about the SuperPET:
It was designed around the CBM 8032 but boasted a 64k bank-switched RAM
expansion and a 6809 co-processor which could emulate a 16 bit
computer. In order to be truly compatible with IBM the OS had been
retooled to use standard ASCII throughout, it also has a true RS-232
port.
It has a 'Highly flexible terminal mode,' 'highly advanced text editor,'
and 'run time monitor.' Among its more remarkable features is its
ability to trace and repair most errors without losing the current
program or its variables. Another virtue is its ability to send any
program or data to another computer at any time in any language. The
standard languages are IBM-compatible APL (including a complete APL
character set), Waterloo BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, and Pascal. All
languages are stored on disk (which I don't have any of *sigh*) until
used. And at the printing of the book the languages worked as
interpreters. Waterloo planned to have compiled versions available for
the SuperPET in the future. Another language is included is 6809
assembly language. SuperPET comes with an assembler, linker, and
loader.
--------------------------------
Many of the features of the SuperPET can be seen in later Commodore
units such as the B-128 and C-128 series (bank switched memory
co-processors, etc.)
Browsing the Web I have found some mentions of them, but many were no
more than that. So far it seems one or two may have more than just the
unit. I hope to get email soon from one person I wrote for info to.
DOes anyone have a computer which uses the EBCDIC character set, rather
than ASCII (did I get the acronym right? what does it stand for anyway)?
Just curious.
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
> Not a clone, but similar. Max RAM was 768K, came with a Floppy Drive as
> standard (IIRC). Was the first computer to use variable speed disk drive
> (as the early Mac's did as well.) Ran an early version of MS-DOS, I think
>
> And, IIRC, it pre-dated the IBM PC.
Ok, some herstory. There were many machines that ran CP/M-86 before in IBM
PC, one in particular was the Seattle Computer co, running Q-dos which after
a deal with MS would be come MSDOS-1.0 aka PCdos to run on the first PC.
I was running a 8086 system in 1980 that clearly blow the doors off a PC.
It was 8086 not 8088 at 5.0mhz and 16bit wide memory using standard
multibuss cards. By late 81 that machine was 8mhz, and 82 brought a copy of
PC dos to it. Early MSdos could be configured like CP/M. The PC was slow,
clunky, closed and expensive! By time the XT arrived still slow, clunky and
expensive there are several S100 and other systems that were very fast
6/8/10 mhz 8088 or 8086 systems.
At 03:49 PM 6/15/97 -0700, you wrote:
>1979? The Victor 9000 came out in 1985/86 according to previous
>discussions. Indeed it would have been the "technological cutting edge"
>in 1979, and for quite some time as it would have pre-dated the computer
>it was supposed to be semi-compatible with.
My (admittedly faulty) memory puts the Victor 9000 pre-IBM. I remember my
parents considering purchasing one, and being horrified at the specs on the
IBM PC when it came out. I couldn't understand why anyone would buy one
when they could have the Victor 9000 instead.
Maybe I should check some of the docs I've got and see what they say.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
Was the Aquarius II compatible with the old Aquarius programs?
Can anyone give me a lead on an Aquarius II?
--
Andy Brobston brobstona(a)wartburg.edu ***NEW URL BELOW***
http://www.wartburg.edu/people/docs/personalPages/BrobstonA/home.html
My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wartburg College
as a whole.
I finally got a chance to play with my Osborne 1 and must say it is a
nice little system. For its time it was a great product. The software
is very user-friendly and overall the system runs quite nicely. The disk
drives are rather fast. I was making backups of my system disks and it
reads almost 5 tracks per second (but writes at about a rate of 5 seconds
per track).
Hey, my Osborne 1 has serial number A01284. Can anyone beat that?
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
I found these while looking for the docs for my SWTP CT1024 terminal board
that I'm resurecting (it works)
These are available for sale or trade:
SWTP PR40 schematic and wiring drawing (D size sheet two sided)
SWTP MP-S serial interface (SS50, 6800) assembly, schematic
and board views.
Ohiso Scientific sams photofact service manual complete for:
Superboard-II
Model C1P
Model C1PMF
Allison
Well, not a bad weekend for Apple stuff. I visited two swap meets and a
dozen thrifts, and came up with the following stuff (the weird thing is,
all of my traditional good spots were dry, and all the dry ones had good
stuff -- and not only that, these systems weren't complete but instead
all the parts came from different locations!)
- An Apple II
- An Apple II with RAM expansion card, Grappler card, 80 column card
- An Apple /// with ProFile hard disk, second floppy and Monitor ///
- An Apple ///+ with ProFile hard disk, second floppy, serial card, and
a "///+//" Apple II emulation card (!)
- Another ProFile hard disk (that makes 3!)
- Apple /// JOYSTICK !!!!! (egads)
- Two Apple II series joysticks
- Apple II series game paddle set
Plus:
- Three Central Point Copy II Option Boards (copy Apple, Mac, TRS-80,
CP/M formats on PCs)
- Two 8-bit Plus Hard Card 20's
- Silicon Valley ADP50 (run IDE hard drives in an IBM PC)
Kai
Ok, the weekend's not even over, and here's how I did:
101 Online - A neat little terminal with a 9" screen. The keyboard
covers the screen and flips down with the push of a button. It has a
built-in 4800bps modem. It was used to connect to some online service in
California at some time or another. The whole thing is in this cute
10"x10"x10" package - $5
Laser 50 with manuals - $4 (Hi Bill!)
Commodore 64, Commodore 64C (two of 'em, one seems to be this weird clone
since the plastic looks different from the other one and it has no
markings), two 1541 drives, two Star NX-1000C dot matrix printers - All free
Data General One (Model 2) laptop. Two questions: How did the model 2
differ from the model 1? And I didn't get a power supply with this, but
was told by a couple people all it requires is a special three-prong
power cord. The receptacle is an oval with three conductors. Anyone
know about this? - $15
2 Commodore 1541 drives, 2 Commodore 1571 drives - $8
DEC Rainbow 100 with all the trimmings (extra cards, all software and
manuals) - $10
VIC-20 Modem - $1
Commodore 64 user's guide, VIC-20 User's Guide - $1
(the guy I bought this stuff from claims to have 7 PDP-11s and "several"
PDP-8s that he's been hording. Needless to say I threatened him with
great bodily harm if he didn't give me some. We agreed to meet to discuss
the "free taking" of one of each system. He also has lots of other DEC
stuff for sale and for give-away to those who would give it good homes. I
will keep us posted on any late-breaking developments. He also said he
has a Cyber hard drive unit which sounds like the size of a dishwasher as
he described it. I think the model number was 690s or something. I know
I'm way off. If anyone wants this its in California. Apparently he has
tons of mostly DEC stuff he's been collecting from local colleges and
universtities. Again, I'll keep us posted).
And let's see, oh yeah, I'm not done!
ZX-81 with manuals/power supply and...
Victor 9000 and...
IMSAI 8080!
IMSAI MPU-A (Rev 4) 8080A CPU card
IMSAI SIO (Rev 3) Serial card
DCHayes Modem (I am assuming 300baud...S100!)
Disk Jockey 2D/B 8" drive card (and some 8" drive...I forget the
manufacturer)
(4) Digital Research Company Memory Boards (I think each one is 16K)
All manuals/schematics/notes plus some extra IMSAI fron panel overlays
All this from the original owner for $100. What a bargain.
Ok, this guy is cool. First of all, to you guys complaining that you
never get anything good, here's the message I posted on my local forsale
newsgroup which brought about this acquisition:
---BEGIN USENET MESSAGE---
> First edition K&R
I ahve stapled version with bell labs technical report #31 "the C
programming language" by D.M. Richie, and M.E. lesk. october 1975
it has hand scribbles re: tiny C as it was part of communication with
Jon Gibson.
Got it back around 79 while visiting Bell labs homdel on a business call.
No offers acepted as it's my working copy for C and my bible!
Allison
Thought this may be of interest to some of you. His email address should be
Mikeooo1(a)aol.com
Lou
Subj: Aim 65 single board micro
Date: 97-06-16 16:20:52 EDT
From: Mikeooo1
I have several Aim 65's in new condition,a hot item in the 80's it was the
precursor to the pc.Features a single board microprocessor complete with
display,printer,keyboard,power supply,with a 6502 cpu.Fully functional but
also a nice collector's item.
(Embedded
image moved dastar @ crl.com
to file: 06/15/97 03:49 PM
PIC18303.PCX)
Please respond to classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
To: classiccmp @ u.washington.edu
cc: (bcc: Clark Geisler/NORTEL-NSM)
Subject: Re: Victor 9000
Sam wrote:
>1979? The Victor 9000 came out in 1985/86 according to previous
>discussions. Indeed it would have been the "technological cutting edge"
>in 1979, and for quite some time as it would have pre-dated the computer
>it was supposed to be semi-compatible with.
I recall seeing Victor 9000's newly installed in a computer lab at the
University of British Columbia in 1983.
(Embedded
image moved ard12 @ eng.cam.ac.uk
to file: 06/15/97 02:14 PM
PIC24988.PCX)
Please respond to classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
To: classiccmp @ u.washington.edu
cc: (bcc: Clark Geisler/NORTEL-NSM)
Subject: Re: Terak 8510a
>Talking of obscure PDP11-related machines, has anyone else ever come
>across the Tektronix 8530 etc systems. These machines were sold as micro
>development systems and lived in 2 racks - one contained an LSI11 (or
>PDP11/23) CPU card + RAM + disk controller + I/O + drives (either a couple
>of 8" floppies or one floppy and a Micropolis 1200 hard disk), while the
>other contained the development options -- in-circuit emulators, logic
>analyser, EPROM programmer, etc. They ran either a much-hacked RT11 or a
>much-hacked Unix.
This sounds a lot like a system I saw installed new at my alma mater
(University of British Columbia) my graduation year (1983). It was a
Tektronix
development system with LSI11 CPU running UNIX. There were a number
of terminals attached, and it was used to teach computer process control
concepts to non-computer eng. types. I remember seeing various pumps and
tanks connected to it.
I never used it seriously myself, but just logged on to play with it: this
was the
first Unix system I had seen. I wasn't very impressed with it at the time:
whenever I used the 'man' program, the pages would just scroll up the
screen
(no pause), then it cleared the screen, leaving the prompt.
Clark Geisler
'just have an Amiga 1000 and a VAX 11/730'
I'm so excited...this is my first post to this great group.
In 1981 I left NCR to work for Victor (Canada) Limited to organize a tech
support team and assist a calculator saleforce become successful sellers of
microcomputers - namely the Victor 9000 or Vickie as it came to be called.
The Victor 9000 came out in 1982. It was produced by a company called Sirius
Computer Corp. Mr. Chuck Peddle designed the 9000 and ran Sirius. Peddle had
preivously worked for Commodre and designed the PET. By golly, before that
he worked on the 6502 chip (the CPU in early Apples).
Now here's more corporate geneology stuff. Victor used to be called Victor
Comptometer. It was owned by the Victor family of Chicago and was bought-out
by the Kidde Corp a conglomerate. Kidde also invested in Sirius.
The 9000 was a machine designed for people. It came with a non-glare
monochrome monitor on a tilt and swivel-base - hey we're talking 1981 here!
It had an ergonomically-considerate keyboard, small footprint, and oh yah,
it had a voice chip on the motherboard. The last step of POST (power-on,
self-test) was the 9000 telling you "Hello, I am a Victor 9000." I get a
kick out of listening to the Comdex 1990 keynote speech by Bill Gates (the
one when he announced the Information at Your Fingertips campaign), because
he declared that someday computers will have voice-digitization on the
motherboard. Did you hear that Chuck?
Unforunately the 9000 didn't last long. Sirius had grand plans to become the
next IBM, they absorbed Victor, sold lots of machines (a single order of
4000 to Ford Motors), then promptly went bankrupt. Victor Canada was closed
down in the mid-1980s.
The 9000 came in two cases. Early (first) models housed the processor in a
rectangular case. Later models used a niffty angular case. I don't know if
voice digitization made it into the angular case.
My 9000 occupies a place in my subcollection of Unique Systems - systems
that were, well let's say they were ahead of their times. Other machines
here include the Lisa, Workslate, Hyperion, Star, Apple III, DG/One, etc.
Hope this helps you, I know it sure was fun for me.
Yours in good faith.
>Hello!
>
>I have a Victor 9000, cheap to good home. The technological cutting edge in
>1979, it has a keyboard that includes a 1/2 and 1/4 key, a wonderfully
>massive dot matrix printer, and a version of Wordstar that is truly hideous.
> Plus other software. The thing seems to run on DOS 1.25. It has been in my
>garage for years, and I hate to see such a monstrosity go without victims.
> Is there someone out there who would like to have it? Please respond to
>MoeHoward1(a)aol.com or David.Stevens(a)pgw.com.
>
>
At 06:21 AM 6/16/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Aaaah! That's more like it! What I meant was the home video game
>console. Now back to the original question: does anybody know where I
>can get a photo of it or at least a description). Thank you
>
>enrico
Enrico,
Try this site. It has a picture of an atari pong machine:
http://members.aol.com/cvendel/vaporware.html
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
>
> I don't know if I have any of the Pong advertisements or not, but I most
> likely have something close. It is pretty easy to recognize as the
> cabinet was about 27" or so wide, about 30" deep, and stood somewhere
> around 6 feet high.
Pong had a monitor?!? I didn't know that.
I have Atari's Pong here which is just the console.
First video game we ever got. I plan to pull it out of retirement for
a 1970's party being planned.
Hmm, I'd like to find a pic of that 6ft beast myself.
Marc
--
>> ANIME SENSHI <<
Marc D. Williams
marcw(a)lightside.com
marc.williams(a)mb.fidonet.org
IRC Nick: Senshi Channel: #dos
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/internet.html -- DOS Internet Tools
Doeas anybody have a photograph of "PONG" the first video game ever? Or
where I can find one? I have never seen it and I don't know how it looks
like so I will not be able to recognize it if I ever bump into one.
Thanks
enrico
--
================================================================
Enrico Tedeschi, 54, Easthill Drive, BRIGHTON BN41 2FD, U.K.
tel/fax +(0)1273 701650 (24 hours) or 0850 104725 mobile
website <http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~e.tedeschi>
================================================================
visit Brighton: <http://www.brighton.co.uk/tourist/welcome.htm>
In a message dated 97-06-12 22:38:21 EDT, marvin(a)rain.org (Marvin) wrote:
> Back when the Atari 400 was introduced, I got hooked on Space Invaders.
> I found the Atari and other Joysticks to be a complete waste when it
> came to playing Space Invaders .....
Why didn't you use the Atari paddles?
Well I'm back from the flea...
I did sell two of the COCOs and a few other odds and ends. The bulk of the
pile remains as "it wasn't VGA or PC".
Of the more interesting things I'd like to sell for nominal fee or trade:
TRS80 docs and tapes...
moto6800D1 pristine with docs
MDS800 mostly complete
The s100 memory cards, s100 crate,
Anadex DP-8000 printer working and docs.
In the process I aquired a real fine PDP11/23+ with RX02. It's excess and
has V4 and v5 DOCs and install kits along with apparently two sets of X11
diags. Also there is a MiniMINC LSI11 kit with mincBaisc. There is an
unopened (shrink intact) box of 8" media. The 11/23 is has 512k of ram 4
serial ports and a RX02 disk system that looks operational.
This is also excess... don't ask, call it a rescue.
Anyone interested let me know as I'm trying to make room for a PDP-8/e/m/f!
Allison
Oh yes! I finally own a little bit of a PDP. The Department of AI at the
university here just disposed of some of its old hardware and I ended up
with a Terak 8510a with extra floppy (8512) and monitor, keyboard (8532).
Lovely!!!
It's a really neat and fast machine. FYI, it has a four-slot backplane
with an LSI-11 board (with FPU), 28kw of MOS RAM, a brilliant framebuffer
card (640x240 text and 320x240 graphics at the same time -- the card mixes
both modes on the same screen and allows hardware panning, smooth scrolling
and other effects), Shugart floppy interface, RS-232/current loop and some
other strange card (probably for controlling some robotic device of sorts --
useful).
It came with all of its documentation (disgustingly complete, including
business reply card with `READ THIS NOW' written at the back, brochures,
reference cards, RT-11 manuals, Shugart tech ref (so you want to take apart
your Shugart 8" drive's head assembly?), etc). Also a set of original
red-and-purple(?) PDP-11 manuals for RT-11. And to top it off, there were a
few 1978-1979 DEC PDP manuals for various architectures. They're in almost
mint condition, but the paper is really showing its age. GOOD documentation,
though.
Software-wise, there are both of the common OSs for the Terak: RT-11 and
UCSD P-System/Pascal (haven't worked with this in ten years, but my fingers
still remember how to press 'F','L',':' really fast). Lots of languages,
including Logo, BASIC and Prolog (it *was* a DAI machine, you see).
The 12" monitor is rock steady and displays a clear image in P3 phosphor
(sort-of paper white) and the keyboard is refreshingly 70s with nice clunky
keys that, however, are really comfortable for touch typing once you get
used to them.
Oh yes, I also got a boxed TI-99/4A with all its manuals and a memory
expansion box, but that is probably too common for you folks in the States
and certainly too mundane in comparison to the Terak.
I'm a happy man. :-)
PS: Oh, the department has quite a nice collection of old stuff, including a
PERQ that just seemed to attract a lot of drool. They're keeping it,
though -- it's going to a real museum (not computer related, though).
All in all, I think I must have looked too much like a kiddie in a sweet
shop.
--------------------------- ,o88,o888o,,o888o. -------------------------------
Alexios Chouchoulas '88 ,88' ,88' alexios(a)vennea.demon.co.uk
The Unpronounceable One ,o88oooo88ooooo88oo, axc(a)dcs.ed.ac.uk
Hello!
I have a Victor 9000, cheap to good home. The technological cutting edge in
1979, it has a keyboard that includes a 1/2 and 1/4 key, a wonderfully
massive dot matrix printer, and a version of Wordstar that is truly hideous.
Plus other software. The thing seems to run on DOS 1.25. It has been in my
garage for years, and I hate to see such a monstrosity go without victims.
Is there someone out there who would like to have it? Please respond to
MoeHoward1(a)aol.com or David.Stevens(a)pgw.com.
Hello folks! I've received the following message from someone who needs to
find a good home for his Atari 800XL system (free):
If interested, please reply to him.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Greetings!
I have a fully functional working 800-XL with expanded memory, a
Smith-Corona printer, a good disk drive, a good monitor, a 300-baud
modem (whoopee!), enough books and manuals to stock a small library
(currently mine), all issues but the first 12 or or of ANTIC, ANALOG,
and COMPUTE magazines, and a whole lot of disks, some directly from
magazines, some from user groups, most from listings I've typed in.
Since I've upgraded to the PC, the Atari system has become expendable,
and needs to go -- I need the room.
Realizing that, by your email, you are not a hop, skip, OR jump away
>from me, here's hoping you can put me in touch with someone who'll be
able to give my 'baby' a good home.
Thanks,
Doug Rasmussen
1233 - 167th Ave. S.E.
Bellevue, WA 98008
Phone: (425) 747-3846
Fax: (425) 644-8912
email: pptdoug(a)aa.net
----------------------------------------
--------------------------- ,o88,o888o,,o888o. -------------------------------
Alexios Chouchoulas '88 ,88' ,88' alexios(a)vennea.demon.co.uk
The Unpronounceable One ,o88oooo88ooooo88oo, axc(a)dcs.ed.ac.uk
In looking through my garage last night, I found an old (about '84
vintage) NCR I-Tower computer system. 68020 based, this particular beastie
ran a variant of Unix customized for NCR.
I would far rather have the space for DEC stuff. With that in mind, anyone
who cares to visit Kent, WA (east hill) can haul this beast away for the
asking. Worst case, the main tower has an integral UPS; you could probably
adapt such to other systems.
Drop me an E-mail if interested, or give me a call at (253) 639-9555.
Thanks in advance.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
I have a question about the value of an IMSAI 8080.
Say someone had a nice, working IMSAI 8080 in decent condition. How
much, realistically, could one expect to sell this for?
Say someone had an IMSAI 8080, in pieces, the working condition being
unknown. How much, realistically, could one expect to sell this for?
Now I have a question about a Victor-9000.
Victor 9000, working...how much?
Victor 9000, bad floppy controller...how much?
Thanks!
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Well... this may not beat Sam's weekend haul, (and if he finds a
'Straight' 8 from this mysterious person I'm *really* gonna be jealous) but
I think it's significant.
A note to begin: I'm announcing this here initially as a sort of place
holder before I proceed as will be noted below. A bit of a CYA action you
might say...
--- we begin ---
I was doing some *long* overdue cleaning in the Computer Garage this
weekend, and finally located some items that I knew were there but had not
mentioned since I could not locate them. Even now, I have not located
*all* of them, but enough to make their presence known.
Somewhere between probably 5-8 years ago, I purchased some equipment,
documentation, and supplies from a sale being held by some Digital
Research, Inc. staff. Little did I know just what I was coming into.
In addition to some S-100 hardware that been used for development, I
purchased a series of disks and original DRI binders. To be specific to
what I have (re-)located so far, the binders contain complete source
listings for MP/M versions 1.1 and 2.0, and CP/M Plus version 3.0 and all
supporting utilities and programs.
If I recall correctly from when I originally received the materials, I
should also have the sources for CP/M version 2.2 and the associated disks.
(don't hold me to this until I locate the other boxes tho. B^} )
To be fair, I will be contacting Caldera on Monday and will not be
accepting requests for access to these documents until such time as I have
verified their standing with Caldera.
--- why this message? ---
Basically, so that the existance of this material is known in the unlikely
event that I should recieve an unfavourable reaction from Caldera.
I try to avoid entanglements with those in the legal profession, but past
experience has shown that a 'document trail' never hurts...
More news as it becomes available...
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
Heh... I should probably have done this just after I subscribed. Oh well...
Yes, it's me. Some of you may already have at least gotten an E-mail from
me, or spoken to me on the phone. I have a whole garage full of DEC stuff,
including several MicroVAX II's, MicroPDP-11/23 and 11/73, appropriate
monster hard drives, a couple of Cipher front-loading tape units, various
parts and racks, etc.
DEC stuff is my current Big Thing, though I regret that I don't have the
space nor the power facilities to handle the full-size machines (like the
11/70 or the VAX-11 series). Still, MicroVAXen and the PDP's make for
interesting diversions.
I've been working with electronics since I was old enough to start tearing
things apart (not that I got them back together that often!), have been a
ham radio op since 1977, and working with computers on and off since 1978.
I currently work at Boeing Defense & Space group, operations, computing
support (been there since November).
I am happily married, and my mate knew darn well what she was getting into
when she married a techie. I'm not a Washington native, though I do live in
Kent at the moment (I think of myself as an 'unrepentant Californian'). For
those that are curious beyond this post, I invite you to have a look at
http://www.wizards.net/technoid.
Among other things, I have a listing of both Washington and California
electronics-oriented swap meets and surplus stores on the link 'The
Wonderful World of Scrounging.' I gladly invite corrections and updates to
said list!
Let's see, what else...? I try to make at least two trips a year to the
Bay Area for scrounging purposes (Sam? Want to get together sometime and
introduce me to some of the other local collectors?<g>), and to meet up
with a friend of mine in San Jose who shares my interests. We've often done
selling or buying trips to the Bay Area swap meets together, having known
each other since about 1980.
That's about all I can think of at the moment. Caveat emptor!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
Hi guys, my collection is still on the small side (25 or so) and lately
I've just been trying to cover "all the bases." I'm mainly interested in
80's micros (since that's what I grew up with) and have a few holes to
fill. OK, enough filler, here's what I need:
- I *still* don't have an Atari!
- I'd like a MSX machine as well (never even seen one in anything other
than magazine articles)
- and maybe a Timex just for the hell of it.
If anyone has any duplicates that they'd like to sell/trade etc. than
PLEASE let me know! I live in the (relatively) Philadelphia area.
BTW, someone on this mailing list mentioned that they needed the TI Speech
box. If by this you mean the Speech Synthesizer that plugged into the
side than I have 2 (and only 1 TI) so....
However, if you mean the Terminal Emulator II cartridge than, sorry, I
only have 1 of those! :(
Les
more(a)crazy.rutgers.edu
With the current thread on Osborne's machines (he was a great writer
about computer concepts, a fair engineer, and a _lousy_ businessman --
level of incompetence at work ala the Peter Principle), I realise that
besides Kaypro, there is another line of pre-laptops I'm interested in.
If anybody gets a line on an available Otrona CP/M system, I am very
interested. I thought it was the prettiest luggable around, even though I
continue very loyal to my TRS-80 4P. What ever happened to Otrona,
anyway? Did they get absorbed by Olivetti and forced to make pathetic PC
semi-compatibles for AT&T? (The Olivetti/AT&T PC 6300 had a video
connector that carried 70vdc to the monitor from a connector that looked
like a PC parallel port [female DB-25] until a customer mistook which
connector was which, I thought that _nothing_ could kill a TRS-80 Daisy
Wheel Printer II -- the aroma of semiconductors reverting to rocks in both
printer and CPU demonstrated that something indeed could).
--
Ward Griffiths
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within
the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." --Claire Wolfe
Here's a message I recieved last year after the aquisition of my Osborne
Executive that I thought some of you might find interesting:
*** Forwarded message, originally written by Arthur N. Borg on 14-Aug-96 ***
Dear Jeff,
At the time that the Osbourne was being designed, I worked for the company
that made the display. I remember clearly asking one of the Osbourne engineers
what
he thought about the IBM PC that had recently been introduced. He said, that
computer has a color display, It is just a toy or video game. Ours is a
business
computer.
The Osbourne executive ran CP/M 3.0 as the operating system. If you have an
operating system disk and a format and modem disk. You should have access to
everything that you need. Walnut Creek has a CD-ROM with more CP/M material
than
you could imagine.
I (think) that I have a set of manuals but I also (think) that they are in
storage in the United States. One caveat. In the manual there is a drawing
showing
how to connect the parallel port to a Centronics printer. The drawing is
totally
incorrect. I spent a week re-wiring the dongle so that the printer would work.
The
Osbourne Executive has two unusual features. First, the printer port is alsso
a
bi-directional IEE-488 interface and so the machine could control and monitor
lab
equipment and so on. Also, the type face is loaded into ram at start up and
so, you
can devise your own type face or use Greek or whatever.
We also made some of the displays for the Osbourne 1 and having a 63
character display was very limiting. Fitting 80 characters on a 7 inch display
was
not easy. You will note if you have a full screen of characters, as you turn
the
machine around, the earth's magnetic field tends to make the outer characters
slip
out of view. Osbourne was roundly condemned for announcing this machine too
early
and killing sales for the Osbourne 1 and thus killing the company. I think
that
this is a harsh judgement. This was the time that FCC radiation rules were
just
getting started and everyone was having a hard time meeting them. In plain
fact, I
think that they didn't realize how big a task they had to pass this test. I
saw
some figures after the company died. There was no week that they were in
business
that the company had a positive cash flow. You could see from the curves that
somewhere out in the future, they would have a positive cash flow. I think
that the
investors just felt that there was too much going for IBM and pulled the plug
on
Osbourne.
Best regards,
Art Borg
***End of forwarded message
Jeff jeffh(a)unix.aardvarkol.com
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga enthusiast and collector of early, classic microcomputers
> On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, Marvin wrote:
>
> > Along the lines of saving stuff, does anyone collect the old printers?
A topic I've given a lot of thought. The original MX-80 and the Paper Tiger
immediately spring to mind as classic printers worthy of incorporating into a
museum but I can't think of much else I'd have to own (aside from maybe an
original laserjet). Given the space limitations that most of us have
collecting printers in the manner that we collect computers is impractical.
But if you are inclined to collect them they are certainly plentiful and
cheap.
Lou
> I bought a TI-99/4A for $2, in its original box. As far as I can tell,
> it's a complete system, but there's no software. All of you have one
> of these machines, right? :)
If I remember it didn't come with software other than the embedded basic.
Allison
Tomorrow I will be at the MIT flea market. I have to thin my excesses.
Of interest will be:
memory and some other parts in tubes with old (pre81) date codes. Stuff
like TMS4060, upd411, upd410, 2012...
Motorola 6800D1 board, with docs and extras.
Some s100 boards SEALS, IMS and PT 8k 2102 memory and others. Some Altair
memory S4k and 88-4MCD, altair front pannel logic and 8080 cpu. Many with
docs available. DUAL inc, 68k s100 cpu. compupro s100 motherboard.
S100 box, industrial strength.
Some extra CPM docs and misc books.
Intel MDS800 nearly complete, no disks. I have a non intel multibus disk
controller for it.
Silver reed LQP, complete with docs, daisy wheels, ribbons. Working.
Anadex printer working, with docs. Both serial and parallel.
2 cocos condition unknown.
MISC qbus PDP11 modules including some core planes(operational!). A couple
of BDV11va. Wire wrap modules. H962 diode rom boot board with docs.
Assortment of power supplies. Very complete TRS80 DOCS, CPU, EI, tapes
extras. Including some z80 and trs-80 books.
Floppy drives, St506 drives, external single floppy boxes (al la TRS80).
Fans for use in s100 or other boxes.
Allison
I decided to go to garage sales this morning.
I passed up an IBM 5150 with some sort of monitor for $15 or offer. It
had a single 5.25" drive. I suspect it had been picked over for parts,
since there was another PC there for sale, and the seller said that he
"wanted to upgrade the other PC's memory with chips from this one." I
didn't really want the machine, and I didn't figure it would be worth
shipping.
I bought a TI-99/4A for $2, in its original box. As far as I can tell,
it's a complete system, but there's no software. All of you have one
of these machines, right? :)
--
Andy Brobston brobstona(a)wartburg.edu ***NEW URL BELOW***
http://www.wartburg.edu/people/docs/personalPages/BrobstonA/home.html
My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wartburg College
as a whole.
>I had a good weekend. This is what I got:
[snip]
>All for $50. It was at our local Science center, so I decided to be
>generous with my offers. They keep all procedes. Any offers for
>trades/for sale welcome. Any pointers to info on the softcard?
Ain't kidding you had a good weekend!
--
Andy Brobston brobstona(a)wartburg.edu ***NEW URL BELOW***
http://www.wartburg.edu/people/docs/personalPages/BrobstonA/home.html
My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wartburg College
as a whole.
At 10:29 AM 6/13/97 -0700, you wrote:
>On Fri, 13 Jun 1997, Ward Griffiths and/or Lisa Rogers wrote:
>
>> Wish I had my old MX-80 with the bootleg Graftrax ROM.
>
>I'm just curious, but what's special about the MX-80?
Well... to my mind the thing that made the MX-80 somewhat revolutionary for
its time was the user replacable print head that initially retailed for
about $35.00. Compared against other printers of the time which required a
trip to the shop and an average of $200.00 in repairs for a filed head, I
think it deserves its place of recognition.
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
I frequent two thrift stores in the same town on a regular basis and the
prices, while higher than what you folks on the west cost are used to, were
reasonable. However three weeks ago they started getting in a lot of PC
equipment and the prices on it were ridiculous i.e $70 for a Packard Bell XT
clone with a monochrome monitor and $50 for an IBM 5150 PC with monitor.
While I was amused I wasn't really concerned since I have little interest in
this type of gear.
Now however the madness has infected the old 8 bit equipment. Some examples.
Apple IIc with monitor, 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" external drives $75. Not too bad
you say. Well then how about a C-64 with a 1571 disk drive and power supplies
for $80? The killer was a Coco 1 with manuals for $99 dollars.
Three weeks ago the C-64 and the Coco would have been $12 each and the 1571
about $15. I assume that they have someone new pricing this equipment but I
can't for the life of me figure out the rationale behind these prices.
Needless to say they're not moving much equipment.
Sorry for the rant but I just had to let it out. I did complain to the
cashier who said (sincerely I believe) that she would inform the manager .
Lou
I had a good weekend. This is what I got:
2 UNOPENED boxes of QuickFile II for Apple II
1 Pinpoint Software for Apple II
1 Set of manuals for IBM PC AT
2 Sets of manuals for WordPerfect (In box like PC AT manuals)
1 TI 59 Calculator with printer
1 Apple IIE computer
1 Microsoft Softcard
1 Super Serial II card
4 Disk II drives
2 Diks II interfaces
1 Numeric pad for IIe
1 Apple II Parallel card (By apple)
1 Amiga Monitor, the nice RGB/Composite monitor, Mono
1 Kodac Diconix 150+ printer for Mac
All for $50. It was at our local Science center, so I decided to be
generous with my offers. They keep all procedes. Any offers for
trades/for sale welcome. Any pointers to info on the softcard?
Josh M. Nutzman
+----------------------------------------------+
|"Life is like a river, you go with the flow...|
| but in the end you usually end up dammed." |
| -The Red Green Show |
+----------------------------------------------+
> I frequent two thrift stores in the same town on a regular basis and the
> prices, while higher than what you folks on the west cost are used to, were
> reasonable. However three weeks ago they started getting in a lot of PC
> equipment and the prices on it were ridiculous i.e $70 for a Packard Bell XT
> clone with a monochrome monitor and $50 for an IBM 5150 PC with monitor.
> While I was amused I wasn't really concerned since I have little interest in
> this type of gear.
Could be worse. The University of Utah Property Redistribution Center
seems to have a very odd idea of pricing. One day I went in and saw a
teletype marked $300. Walked out with an HP 9100B calculator for $10.
Somebody there seems to know _some_ things are collectable but has no
idea exactly _what_.
Last time I visited, though, it was all boring PC stuff...
Roger Ivie
ivie(a)cc.usu.edu
> repairs. I like mine because it has serial inputs - something that's
> getting increasingly hard to find on 99% of the printers in production.
the venerable LA120! It was the last of the printers that could punch 8part
carbon forms. The more common la100RO or LA210 serial and quite solid. I'm
still running a LA100RO I bought new in 84 wide platten and rugged with fair
near letter quality.
other serial printers from DEC:
LA34, LA36, LA38, LA12 corrospondent, LA50, LA75, LN01 with serial option
(that was a 12ppm xerox laser). To mention a few.
Allison
>
> Well... to my mind the thing that made the MX-80 somewhat revolutionary fo
> its time was the user replacable print head that initially retailed for
> about $35.00. Compared against other printers of the time which required
while significant there were other things of note.
It was low cost but not cheap.
It was widely sold.
Many other vendors copied it, it was a defacto standard in itself.
I represented a step up over many printers at twice the cost.
Later version were based on it.
Allison
> (If you aren't aware - it is a dual processor 8080 (CP/M) and 8086 (CP/M
> 86 or MS-DOS) computer with 2 5.25" floppies). I used to have one that
> belonged to work... it is kinda cool.
No that's z80 and 8088 cpus running cpm80/86. Amoung other things it would
take up to 896k of ram, color adaptor and a hard disk.
Allison
Earl's down here (a liquidation place) has a DEC Rainbow for sale. I
don't exactly remember what they want for it, but i remember thinking it
was ridiculous (probably the better half of 100 bills, maybe more).
However, if anybody wants this particular curio, I will be glad to trot
down there and grab it for you.
(If you aren't aware - it is a dual processor 8080 (CP/M) and 8086 (CP/M
86 or MS-DOS) computer with 2 5.25" floppies). I used to have one that
belonged to work... it is kinda cool.
-mark
Im still looking for a plain Apple][, and an Apple//e platinum, the one
with the numeric keypad on the side, please check if they have any of
either of these, as I need them for my collection.
----------
> From: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Classic Computers to Save?
> Date: Friday, June 13, 1997 1:33 PM
>
> I just got back from checking out several places here in Sanata Barbara
> where machines are being sold.
>
> First, there are a number of SpectraGraphics DS1080 machines along with
> some good size terminals, keyboards, etc. I am not familiar with the
> units but the guy indicated this was a workstation assembly. If anyone
> is interested, let me know and I'll get back to him. I *think* there
> were about four of the DS1080 machines, at least a couple large monitors
> (19" or so RGB I think), some keyboards, perhaps some type of digitizing
> pad (not sure about this), and I didn't see any docs or software with
> it. He indicated he would be quite happy with $100 for the lot. My
> guess is that the lot weighs probably about 300 pounds or so. He
> indicated this was used as a CAD system.
>
> Second, there is an NCR PC-8 Xenix machine with some software, monitor,
> and several keyboards. I might end up trying to get it since I don't
> have one in the collection but if someone else is interested, let me
> know. My guess is that the lot weighs in at about 100 pounds or so.
> While I forgot to ask the price on this, he would most likely be more
> than happy with $30 - $50 for the lot.
>
> Thirdly, he had three or four Apple IIC's along with a bit of
> documentation, one of the Imagewriters, and perhaps some a little bit of
> other stuff I missed. Total weight is probably about 50 - 75 pounds,
> and he would take $20 each or probably $40 - $50 for the lot. Each of
> the first three Apples had either one or two external floppy disk drives
> with them.
>
> Finally, I went over to a local rummage sale and there was a bunch of
> Commodore stuff primarily C64s, documentation, some Apple docs, and some
> printers. This will be over this afternoon about 3PM PST so I will show
> up about 2:30 to see what I can haul away :). I will most likely just
> pick it up what is left just to save it from the dumpster but most of
> what I saw, I already have. Total weight was probably about 100 pounds
> including documentation. I did pick up the some of the docs and there
> are duplicate Apple II and IIe manuals.
>
> The first three items may or may not be sold this weekend to someone
> from Los Angeles. However, being here does give me an advantage :), so
> if anyone is interested in anything here, let me know!
In a message dated 97-06-13 16:35:47 EDT, Ray Stricklin wrote:
> I'm just curious, but what's special about the MX-80?
The MX-80 was the first low cost RELIABLE dot matrix printer and made
printing an affordable reality for we poor early micro users. The Paper Tiger
was (to the best of my memory) the first low cost ($995, again to the best of
my memory) micro dot matrix printer. Unfortunately it was NOT very reliable.
BTW after my post on collecting printers I suddenly realized I have about 12
lying around so I guess I am sort of collecting them - but it's against my
will. :-)
Lou
Opens tomorrow. Should be fun!:
"Boston, MA (May 23) - On June 14, 1997, The Computer Museum re-creates the
dawn of the PC age through a lifesize reconstruction of a 1970s' hacker's
garage and vintage personal computing artifacts. ... The Museum draws on
artifacts from its rich collection, including an Apple I and Altair 8800,
to recall the garages of 1970s' hobbyists who assembled "homebrew"
computers ... Rich in period detail, the "garage" is cluttered with an
oscilloscope, a ham radio, an old TV tube, 1970s' issues of Byte magazine,
a drum set, a guitar and photos of Mick Jagger and the Beatles. The relics
- including two early personal computers and two video games - recall a
pivotal time when computers began to serve as consumer items ..."
for the full article see:
http://www.tcm.org/info/press/wpr-hgarage.html
- glenn
+=========================================================+
| Glenn F. Roberts, Falls Church, VA
| Comments are my own and not the opinion of my employer
| groberts(a)mitre.org
Well, darn it, I tried, but I just can't get the silly thing to work!
Ok... first volunteer who feels like visiting Kent, WA (yes, Bill, that's
a big hint, especially since I CC'd you on this... <g>) can have this
beast. It's an STC/StorageTek 9-track tape drive, model 2921. When working,
it can do 1600 and 6250 (GCR), sits in a standard 19" rack, has a Pertec
interface, and weighs about 100 lbs. or so.
Notice I say 'when working.' I tried to get it to going, but it seems to
have a sick CPU card. I kind of hate to get rid of it, but I need the space
more than I do the drive and a new CPU card was quoted as being around $800
(yikes! My skylight blinds are going to cost that much!)
Come to think of it, if anyone's got a working dual-density drive that
they feel like getting rid of, I would love to know about it. ;-)
Thanks in advance. E-mail or call me at (253) 639-9555 for details.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
At 01:56 PM 6/13/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Say someone had a nice, working IMSAI 8080 in decent condition. How
>much, realistically, could one expect to sell this for?
Haddock lists it at 150-225... (Values are for complete systems, with
everything that came with it, but not boxes, and not nec. working.)
>Victor 9000, working...how much?
I paid $100 + tax for mine. Took me a while to find it, too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
While Isaac Davis wrote:
Wait a minute, it was an Olivetti, but I can't remember the
>> model. The coolest part was turning the lights off when it was printing and
>> watching the sparks fly across the paper as it printed. That's a printer I
>> would like to have again.
At 21:28 12/06/97 -0600, Jeff wrote:
>Y' know, I seems to me that some of these 'sparky' dot matrix
>printers used aluminized "thermal" paper.
No Jeff, this Olivetti "sparkling" system was different and was not using
thermal-conductive (=aluminium) paper (at least the one I know); was a real
DRY INK JET.
The "bullet-shaped" cartridge was containing the DRY INK (a sort of TONER)
and a high-voltage electric field was made between the rubber(but conductive)
roll, and the head. In this way the particles of positive electrically
charged toner is "aimed" to go against the negative charged roll, but in
between there is the paper (common paper), so the electricity pass, but ink
stay.
>I used to have a stack of
>old machine runs on such paper, and I remember certain cheesy
>cash-registers using the same kind of paper tape (about 1981 or so .
also this DRY system was widely used by Olivetti on desktop financial
calculator (I have one working) and cash-registers
I think that the system was good for those applications (fast,quite
silent,working on common paper instead thermal and..yes,cool in the dark)
but the problem was the powder spread all around the printing bay of the
machine, so when bubble jet came out...
Sorry for my instinctive and not-checked english.
Ciao
Riccardo
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Riccardo Romagnoli,collector of:CLASSIC COMPUTERS,TELETYPE UNITS,PHONE AND
PHONECARDS I-47100 Forli'/Emilia-Romagna/Food Valley/ITALY
Pager:DTMF PHONES=+39/16888(hear msg.and BEEP then 5130274*YOUR TEL. NUMBER*
where*=asterisk key | for help visit http://www.tim.it/tldrin_eg/tlde03.html
TELEX:551132 CHEMIF I
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
> Aha! YUV is something I recognize now. I believe this is what broadcast
> professionals call component video. (Let's see if I'll be right one out of
> two.)
>
> > The signals are transmitted this way in broadcast TV to ensure
> > compatibility between colour and BW tellies. They are also the signals
> > that would normally be sent to a TV (UHF or VHF) modulator from the
> > computer, hence their presence on the video connector.
>
> Hmmm... any modulator I've ever worked on had a composite input. Is this
> maybe more common in European systems?
Hmm. I'm getting out of my depth at this point. I've not dealt in
detail with many colour modulators but I recall the Sinclair Spectrum
had YUV as opposed to RGB on its expansion port.
The computer obviously uses RGB internally (although I don't see why one
couldn't design a machine to do YUV instead!) and it has to be converted
to YUV at some stage in the modulation process. My guess (no evidence
to back this up) is that the more expensive modulators - the ones one is
likely to be able to buy for one's own projects - accept composite, but
many mass-producing manufacturers got away with a cheaper modulator by
putting the conversion in the (custom) chip in the video circuitry.
Philip.
Found this in comp.os.cpm. It is on the wrong side of the country
for me.
--pec
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saved From The Dumpster Collection: http://www.crl.com/~pcoad/machines.html
Reply-To: Stephen Griswold <stephen.griswold(a)CIRCUITCELLAR.COM>
Sender: CPM-L Mailing List <CPM-L(a)VM.ITS.RPI.EDU>
From: Stephen Griswold <stephen.griswold(a)CIRCUITCELLAR.COM>
Organization: Micromint/Circuit Cellar, Inc.
Subject: fwd: Kaypro 2 For sale
Lines: 28
Xref: nnrp1.crl.com comp.os.cpm:15835
* Originally By: Calvin Krusen (Local BBS)
* Originally To: All
* Originally Re: Kaypro 2 For sale
* Original Area: General Interest
While cleaning the basement of the company I work for, I found a
Kaypro 2 "portable" PC. Its blue with an integrated 5" green
monitor and two 5-1/4" disk drives. On power up, it tries to boot
>from one of the drives and displays a message on the display to
insert system disk.
I'm not looking for any money for it, just a good home.
It weighs about 27 lbs, so you would have to pick up the shipping
>from Warrington, PA (just outside Philadelphia).
I'll give one week for responses then it goes in the trash.
Email me direct at ckrusen(a)erols.com or call me at my place of work\
215/343-6600 x122.
Calvin Krusen
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Director of Engineering
MEECO Inc.
Warrington, PA 18976
215/343-6600 x122
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-End forward-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
-- end of forwarded message --
At 07:47 PM 6/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I noticed their web page and it looks like a pretty good collection!
>One thing I didn't see there was information about how it got started,
>who was involved, what kind of a group it is, etc. Can you help out and
>fill in the blanks? Thanks!
Okay, let me put in a disclaimer that a) I have a horrible memory and b) I'm
not super involved in the day-to-day stuff (I've spent the last 2 years
dealing with the passing of my mother and taking care of my father among
other disasters -- the best thing in the last two years has been having to
have my entire sewer system replaced because of tree roots completely
clogging it.) (Oh, and a general disclaimer that I really don't know as
much as people seem to think I do.)
Anyway, what happened is Kip Crosby realized that much of our history was
disappearing as companies tossed their old, non-pc systems in favor of
Gateway 2000's et al. I think this came about because he replaced Brenda
(his older, multi-user micro (IMS? something like that)) with PC's. Being a
realist, however, he decided to concentrate on California computers only (A
daunting task in and of itself). I think he hoped to see other orgs
covering other areas in the future.
I knew Kip from eons ago (early 80's) when we were on a couple of Fido
BBS's. He rang me and a couple others up and we got together, tossed around
the ideas. He got going on it, and I signed on as Secretary. I must admit,
though, that I kinda left most of it in his capable hands. (I trust him to
do it right.)
The focus (from what I see) right now is research and the Analytical Engine
(the magazine). Also, collecting/cataloging classic computers. Right now,
the collection (which I'm pretty sure is not fully represented on the web
pages) exists in a bunch of containers in San Jose. There are plans for a
museum at some point, as well as exhibits.
The coup d'grace (is that the right word?) for CHAC was saving the SDS 930
>from Colorado. This is a Mainframe built in (IIRC) 1963 here in California.
It was then sent to Colorado for NASA? to use, and ended up doing something
with Weather. It was in use up to a few years ago, and was going to be
scrapped, but Kip worked his tail off to save it and bring it out here where
it will become the centerpiece of the assn's displays.
Hmmm... Perhaps I should pass this on to Kip himself before I pass on too
much misinformation... 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Kai Kaltenbach said:
> | And if we caught anybody throwing anything out we'd jump out
>of the back
> | of the van and beat them senseless (and then pick their stuff
>out of the
> | trash)
> | LeS
>
>No need for violence... we'll just go to their house and throw out their
>Pentium :)
>Kai
No... you've got that wrong... we'll go to their house and *steal* their
Pentium, so that we can sell it on the black market for money to buy more
classic computers with!!!! ;^>
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.
In my previous message I wrote (re: meanings of video signals),
> The other two signals are the quadrature components of chrominance.
> They are derived from Y by subtracting red and blue, and are normally
> called U and V (in some order).
>
> The colour telly receives U and V phase modulated onto a subcarrier (I
> think). The hue control on American tellies sets the baseline against
> which phase is measured here. (In Europe, the PAL system reverses the
> phase each line, so any hue errors should cancel out)
Before someone like Tony jumps down my throat, U and V are _amplitude_
modulated onto the subcarrier, in quadrature with one another. Thus the
phase of the subcarrier gives the hue, and its amplitude the saturation.
I hope you are not any more confused than before :-)
Philip.
| And if we caught anybody throwing anything out we'd jump out
of the back
| of the van and beat them senseless (and then pick their stuff
out of the
| trash)
| LeS
No need for violence... we'll just go to their house and throw out their
Pentium :)
Kai
You can find the info on
http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/
:)
Kai
> ----------
> From: Marvin[SMTP:marvin@rain.org]
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 1997 10:10 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: IBM Transporter
>
> In looking at Bill's collection on the Web, I noticed a reference to
> the
> IBM Transporter. I found a card that had those words on it and am
> curious what this thing is, what it does, is software required, etc.
> Thanks.
>
Bill:
You have a great listserver here, and I'm glad I've subscribed. I'm going
to assume (and yes, I know the consequences <g>) that advertising a
special-interest listserve is o.k. provided it's within the realm of this
list.
Well, they are. I have started two listservers, one of which used to be
*very* popular in it's heyday (which, unforch, has passed it seems) and the
other solely because there wasn't one.
The first is a replacement for Andrew Diller's Model 100/102/200 listserve,
and one can subscribe by going to the web page at:
http://home.northernway.net/~zmerch/signupform.html
or sending an e-mail to m100-request(a)list.northernway.net with "subscribe"
(no quotes) in the _Subject:_ of the message. To send messages to the list,
e-mail m100(a)list.northernway.net.
The second is my own creation, because there was no Tandy Model 600
listserver. It can be accessed thru it's web page at:
http://home.northernway.net/~zmerch/signupm600.html
or sending an e-mail to m600-request(a)list.northernway.net with "subscribe"
(no quotes) in the _Subject:_ of the message. To send messages to the list,
e-mail m600(a)list.northernway.net.
I don't have to mention to anyone just how wonderful these lists can be for
information... If you're interested in these machines, come on in and join
the fun!
Thanks for the bandwidth,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.
I haven't received any new issues of the Classic Computer mailings since
June 7th. Is there anything wrong? This has happened before, maybe it's
my mail provider. Should I sign off and re-register as a new member of
the list?
> At 09:24 AM 6/11/97 -0700, Sam wrote:
> >On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, James Willing wrote:
> >
> >> Mayhaps, as a parallel to the 'Classic Computer Index", we need to
> develop
> >> a 'Classic Computer Collectors Index' so that we know where others are
> >> when things like this pop up so that we could have some local options.
<snip>
> >> Or am I just dreaming out loud?
> >
> >Not at all. This is a terrific idea! I nominate Bill Whitson to
> >formulate this list :)
I think that we should take this a little more seriously. I propose that we
form regional SWAT teams. In the event of a classic computer crisis the
nearest SWAT team would be dispatched. Ideally each team would be comprised
of individuals who each had a separate area of expertise, i.e. Apple II,
Coco, TI, etc. Rescued computers could then be placed in foster homes until
caring, loving permanent homes could be found. :-)
Lou
Here's one for the printer books. I had a printer for my atari 800 that we
order out of the DAK catalog. It used a little cartridge shaped like a
bullet with a contact on the end. The printer would fire a spark and
actually burn the dots onto the paper to make the characters. It was
relatively slow, but considering it had to make about 9 passes to form a row
of characters it did pretty well. I can still remember the burning smell
everytime you would print something out. It was really a neat little
printer, and I can't for the life of me figure out why we got rid of it. I
still have the driver disk for it, but the actual name of the thing escapes
me right now. Wait a minute, it was an Olivetti, but I can't remember the
model. The coolest part was turning the lights off when it was printing and
watching the sparks fly across the paper as it printed. That's a printer I
would like to have again.
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
At 03:16 PM 6/12/97 -0800, you wrote:
>I remember showing an undergraduate how it was possible to plug
>a modem into a terminal and dial up to a shell account. He was
>so amazed that the world had been easily fooled into thinking that you
>need a computer to access the Internet :-)
The San Francisco Public Library has terminals (DEC VT220's?) in every
library. My girlfriend was impressed when I used Lynx to telnet to my
account to check mail one day... 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
At 04:20 PM 6/12/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Here's one for the printer books. I had a printer for my atari 800 that we
>order out of the DAK catalog. It used a little cartridge shaped like a
>bullet with a contact on the end. The printer would fire a spark and
>actually burn the dots onto the paper to make the characters. It was
Actually, it was an InkJet... I think I still have some of the ink
cartridges around somewhere. (I was paranoid that I might not be able to
find more when I ran out, so I bought a whole bunch.) The sparks were to
convince the ink to jump onto the page, I think.
>me right now. Wait a minute, it was an Olivetti, but I can't remember the
It was indeed an Olivetti, but I too have forgotten the model.
>would like to have again.
Me too. I remember demoing mine for ABACUS, the Atari Bay Area Computer
Users Society. That thing is what made it possible for me to pass English
in college! (I loathe the physical act of writing, so I never did any work,
until I could type it up on my 600xl (and later, 800) and print it out.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
> > if anyone can shed some light on these, let us know):
> >
> > 1. "12v vid"
> > 2. R-Y (colorburst clock)
>
> Red - (minus) Yellow
>
> > >3. Audio out
> > >4. Y
>
> Yellow
>
> > >5. B-Y (ext video input?)
>
> Blue - yellow
>
> > >U. Ground
>
> Just a different way to send an 'RGB' signal. I'm not sure what the merit is
> of sending it this way... any video techs out there? I'll cc this to one who
> might know.
Um... No. Sorry. Close though.
Y is not yellow, i'm afraid. These signals derive from the way
luminance and chrominance are handled in a telly.
Y is intensity (luminance). It is made up of red, green and blue in the
rough proportions that generate intensity in a human eye. This is the
only part of the signal that a black and white telly (or greyscale
monitor) would decode.
The other two signals are the quadrature components of chrominance.
They are derived from Y by subtracting red and blue, and are normally
called U and V (in some order).
The colour telly receives U and V phase modulated onto a subcarrier (I
think). The hue control on American tellies sets the baseline against
which phase is measured here. (In Europe, the PAL system reverses the
phase each line, so any hue errors should cancel out)
The signals are transmitted this way in broadcast TV to ensure
compatibility between colour and BW tellies. They are also the signals
that would normally be sent to a TV (UHF or VHF) modulator from the
computer, hence their presence on the video connector.
Hope this helps! I could be more specific if I had some of my reference
books from home...
Philip.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Bloedem Volke unverstaendlich treiben wir des Lebens Spiel.
Grade das, was unabwendlich fruchtet unserm Spott als Ziel.
Magst es Kinder-Rache nennen an des Daseins tiefem Ernst;
Wirst das Leben besser kennen, wenn du uns verstehen lernst.
Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
>From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca>
>Subject: C64 CP/M carts (was: Re: Yet another weekend haul story)
>On Mon, 2 Jun 1997, George Lin wrote:
>> At 11:24 PM 6/1/97 -0700, you wrote:
>> ><...>
>> >> accessories including a CP/M cartridge for C64
>> >
>> >A CP/M _carthridge_? Awesome.
>>
>> I just tried it yesterday. Pretty cool. The Z80 is in the cartridge. The
>> package comes with a CP/M 2.2 diskette for 1541 and a condensed CP/M manual
>> by Commodore (copyright 1983). There is a K-Mart price tag on the original
>> box that reads $54. Not bad.
NOTE: the Commodore CP/M Cart is only usable on the oldest of the 64s
(usually models with the 5-pin DIN plug for video. It would seem that
when Commodore debugged some video problems they tweaked the system
speed slightly which made the CP/M cartridge unusable.
>This reminds me... I also have a Z80 cartridge for the C64. But it's not
>the one from Commodore. It's from a company called DATA 20 Corporation.
>I haven't been able to get it to work. It has what looks like a connector
>for a power supply on the back, but I didn't get the PS with it. It also
>came without any disks, though it did have a cassette in the box with it,
>which says "Use side A for Commodore 64/Use side B for VIC 20".
>It's a Z-80 Video Pak, that combines the Z80 processor AND an 80-column
>display adapter into one (big fat) cartridge.
Are you sure the plug isn't for some sort of video cable contraption?
(the Data-20 carts usually sported an 80 column composite video output.)
>To quote from the box:
> The Z-80 Video Pak brings the convenience of an 80 column screen and
> the power of a CP/M compatible operating system to the Commodore 64.
> Designed to be used with a monitor, the Z-80 Video Pak lets the
> Commodore 64 owner switch to a 40 or 80 column screen in black and
> white, or back to the standard color screen. All switching is done
> through software and no cables need to be moved.
> The Z-80 Video Pak has its own Z-80 microprocessor and operating
> system which allows the 64 to run CP/M software formatted for the
> Commodore 1541 disk drive. A Terminal mode which brings communication
> with central data bases is included at no extra cost. The Z-80 Video
> Pak also supports the advanced screen handling features of all Video
> Pak models such as erase to the end of line, erase to end of screen,
> and dump screen to printer.
>If anyone out there knows this thing's power requirements (AAAGH! Another
>wall-wart!) and where to get CP/M disks in 1541 format, please tell. :)
If there is power needed for it, I haven't seen anything mentioning
requirements... yet.
Larry Anderson
--
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Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/
Call our BBS (Silicon Realms BBS 300-2400 baud) at: (209) 754-1363
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>>True, that's bizarre... they appear to be especially common in the
>>northwest. But just try to find a PEB!
<snip>
>The closer you get to Texas, the more abundant TI-99 stuff gets.
So true! I worked for TI in Dallas at the time of the big selloff. I remember buying several consoles for $25, a PEB for $20, several monitors for $50, and catridges for $.50 each. All brand new in boxes. What a madhouse it was.
Bob
slightly off but information needed.
Cipher model st150s-II 6150? cartridge tape drive scsi interface.
I need data on this jumpers commands anything.
Allison
At 01:32 AM 6/12/97 -0400, you wrote:
>- I'd like a MSX machine as well (never even seen one in anything other
>than magazine articles)
I *sorta* have an MSX machine. It was donated to ABACUS, the Atari Bay Area
Computer Users Society, but isn't of much interest to the club. So it sits
in my garage (or attic?). One of these days, I'll get around to making a
suitable cash donation to the club and move it in with my collection.
In the meantime, if anyone wants any info or anything, let me know and I'll
dig it up...
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
The 99/4A DIN video pinout is (format in monospace for best
readability):
3 1
5 4
2
where (and no, I didn't write these descriptions, they're pretty
bizarre. I typed them verbatim; if anyone can shed some light on these,
let us know):
1. "12v vid"
2. R-Y (colorburst clock)
3. Audio out
4. Y
5. B-Y (ext video input?)
U. Ground
Kai
> ----------
> From: Cord Coslor[SMTP:coslor@pscosf.peru.edu]
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 1997 1:21 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: TI-99/4A Comments
>
> I have a question for you folks. I have a basic TI 99/4a.... that's
> it. No
> cables, no peripherals, no nothing with it. I am wanting to get this
> machine up to operation and am looking for anything that you folks
> might
> have available. I have a large assortment of running machines in my
> collection... TRS-80s, CoCo, Commodores, etc., etc., and would like to
> add
> this classic machine to my 'operational' collection. Can anyone help
> me
> out?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> CORD
>
> //*===================================================================
> ==++
> || Cord G. Coslor P.O. Box 308 - 1300 3rd St. Apt "M1" -- Peru,
> NE ||
> || (402) 872- 3272 coslor(a)bobcat.peru.edu
> 68421-0308 ||
> || Classic computer software and hardware collector
> ||
> || Autograph collector
> ||
> ++====================================================================
> =*//
>
>
fyi, posted on comp.os.cpm ...
- glenn
A friend in a bit of a time bind will probably be sending a PDP 11/34
to the landfill very soon. If you want it, and probably a half dozen
other assorted racks of minicomputers plus hundreds of reels of 1/2"
tape, but NO S-100 stuff (you can probably guess who got THAT!) e-mail
immediately.......
stuff is located in Tucson, very close to I-10
sorry, no one available to pack it, but Amtrak does stop here.......
and they shi[p stuff pretty cheap......
bill_h(a)azstarnet.com
> | WoW! The more I hear about this thing the more I want one.
>It's amazing
> | that this system was so unknown in the states. It's like
>discovering a
> | whole new species.
>
>Yep, I was obviously thrilled when I ran into my Spectravideo 328 in its
>original box, for $5 at a local thrift...
>
>Sorry Sam, didn't mean to gloat there.
>
>Did I mention it was accompanied by the cassette drive in its original
>box too?
>
>Kai
Me too...well not in original boxes but I do have one with monitor
(TV+modulator?) disk drives, cassette deck,software,CPM 3 (?) etc that I
got for eqiv US$12. The only thing is that it intermittantly resets itsself
and I have not had a chance to look at ti since I got the thing,
I also got
a set of boards from a cromenco s100 system for nothing :-)
2 TRS80 model 3s (which I can hopefully get 1 working) $0
1 TRS80 model 4P (Repaired phase locked loop circuit in video) $0
1 Sinclair Z88 with MacLink ROM installed $4
1 Sinclair ZX 81 not going $0
2 Sinclair QL's with 1 mono monitor $0
1 Apple ][e with drives and UHF TV/Monitor $9
1 Kaypro 4 a couple of years back for $30
1 Kaypro 10 (fitted new HD ) for $0
1 ALTOS 8088 Unix based system supposedly in working condition (yet to try) $20
1 IBM PC $0
1 IBM XT $0
1 VT100 terminal $0
and soon to arrive is
2 TRS80 model 1
1 TRS80 model 3
1 TRS80 model 4D
1 Dicksmith Systems 80
1 Amstrad 464
1 Amstrad PCW8256
and I'm on the scent of
Apple Lisa
Amstrad PC Clone
Amstrad monitor (suits the 464/664/6128)
Commodore 64
Commodore PET
Atari 800
Sinclair spectrum
Sinclair ZX80 (kit set..maybe unbuilt !)
PDP 11 (model unknown)
Microvax (dead PSU)
However I would like to acquire
Jupiter Ace (forth based machine)
Commodore SX64
Any Bondwell CPM machines
Cheers and good hunting
+----------- Keith Whitehead -----------+
| Physics and Chemistry Depts |
| Massey University |
| Palmerston North |
| New Zealand |
| |
| Ph +64 6 350-5074 Fax +64 6 354-0207 |
+------------------------------------------+
True, that's bizarre... they appear to be especially common in the
northwest. But just try to find a PEB!
Kai
> ----------
> From: Bill Whitson[SMTP:bill@booster.bothell.washington.edu]
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Monday, June 09, 1997 3:52 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: TI99 (was Re: 8088s seattle comp.)
>
>
> Not along the same topic but I'm curious - just how
> popular was the TI99. From what I've seen scrounging
> over the years it looks like it might have been the
> most popular (or at least most numerous) micro ever made.
> Now, I know that's not true. It's just strange - I
> could go out this weekend and easily come home with 30-
> 40 of these machines, wait a month or two and probably do
> it again. There's one local junk store here that had
> 11 of them lying around when last I checked. They're
> like roaches ;).
>
> Bill
>
> HOWEVER, like other posters to this list, I have a wife that "simply
> doesn't understand the value of old computers" and am currently
Ha! I am the wife! I control the... Well I don't have that problem
other than a KI10 would be out of the question unless "just passing
through". ;-)
Allison
At 03:20 PM 6/11/97 -0700, you wrote:
>A printer is a printer, but since nobody really looks upon these as
>collectible, they are the most likely to be overlooked or sent to the
>scrap heap. A big problem is that they often weigh a lot and are a
>burden to store. Nonetheless, I have recently started to collect the old
The Computer History Association of California has printers in its
collection, and (I think) is as interested in saving printers as anything
else.
P.S., I'll put in a plug for the CHAC here... Good org, great mag, everyone
should join/subscribe. For more info, see <http://www.chac.org/>. (I am,
btw, on the board of directors, but mostly I'm just handy for getting the
container doors closed. 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
I had my Atari 800 up and running again today, testing out my 1050 drive
and such, and decided to toy with the Atari 1030 modem I have sitting here for
it. I had forgotten how interesting an item it is. For those of you that
aren't familiar with it, it's an external 300baud modem that plugs into the
same general I/O ports as the Atari disk drives and such. You turn on the
modem first, then the Atari 8bit, and the 8bit actually boots into a program
called 'Modemlink', which is stored in ROM on the modem. No disks, cartridges
or anything...just the computer and the modem! Modemlink is pretty basic, but
it does autodial. Might be time to fire it up and try it again on one of the
local C-64 BBS's running on the Color64 software still since they support 40
column mode.
That certainly beats the heck out of the compatibility issues I had to deal
with concerning terminal programs and BBS's on the PC with early 1200 and 2400
baud modems. Not to mention there's no setup.
Jeff jeffh(a)unix.aardvarkol.com
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent from an Amiga 3000..the computer for the creative mind!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Collector of classic home computers:
Amiga 1000, Apple II+, Atari 800, 800XL, Mega-ST/2 and XE System,
Coleco ADAM, Commodore 128D, 16, Plus/4 and VIC-20, IBM 5155,
Kaypro 2X, Mattel Aquarius, Osborne Executive, Radofin Aquarius,
Sinclair ZX-81, TI-99/4A, Timex-Sinclair 1000, TRS-80 Color
Computer-3, Model 4, and Model 4P, plus Odyssey2, Atari Superpong
and 2600VCS game consoles.
In a message dated 97-06-11 02:45:42 EDT, you write:
> Do any of you collectors
> have a use for them or need them to complete a given machine?
I certainly could use three or four. A lot of the older machines including
the Kaypro 2's and IBM PC's and XT's came equipped with Tandon drives which
were poorly made. As a result I have two or three machines sitting around
that need 5 1/4" full height drive transplants. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.
Regards,
Lou
At 08:48 AM 6/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Can't help with compatibility although the pinout for the Atari Joystick
>is:
>
>Pin 1 - Forward
>Pin 2 - Back
>Pin 3 - Left
>Pin 4 - Right
>Pin 5 - No Connection
>Pin 6 - Trigger
>Pin 7 - No Connection
>Pin 8 - Ground
>Pin 9 - No Connection
Because the Atari (same as commodore and others) joysticks are digital
(on/off for each direction; done with simple switches) instead of analog
(varying amount of each direction; done with potentiometers) like most PC
joysticks, it is rather easy to build alternative input devices, whether
it's something to stand on, or a bunch of buttons, or whatever.
I think the other pins (5, 7, 9) were used for the paddles (which were
analog devices.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
btw, there's also an interesting sounding doohickey up for bid:
'84 Portable Personal Computer Sord IS-11C (item #xjw18405)
Ends sunday the 15th, and there are 7 available. Anyone know anything about
it?
You can get to it at <http://www2.ebay.com/aw/itemfast.cgi?item=xjw18405>.
Min bid is $25, though.
AuctionWeb is a good place to find interesting things sometimes, especially
early PC and just-before-pc stuff. (And I hate to tell people because that
means more bidders which means higher bids...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
That's a Cipher ST150. It's a old, generic (apart from being early
SCSI) 150MB 1/4" SCSI tape drive. It's still supported by most backup
software.
Kai
> ----------
> From: allisonp@world.std.com[SMTP:allisonp@world.std.com]
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 1997 6:06 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: looking for info on tape drive
>
> slightly off but information needed.
>
> Cipher model st150s-II 6150? cartridge tape drive scsi interface.
>
> I need data on this jumpers commands anything.
>
> Allison
>
At 14:38 11/06/97 -0500, Issac Davis wrote:
>I can see that we are going to inundate this list with our home locations.
>I will go ahead and volunteer to keep the list, and put it up on my web
>site. If you want to be added to this list, email me idavis(a)comland.com
>with your name, city/area, and a way to contact you - email or phone. After
>the list is compiled, I will put it on the web, and will be able to email it
>to anyone involved.
>Feel free to give me any contact information you want. I will only include
what you tell me to.
>Isaac Davis
>idavis(a)comland.com
>indavis(a)juno.com
Hi, Isaac,
really a very good idea.
So here I am:
NAME:Riccardo Romagnoli
CITY/AREA:Forli'(FO)/Emilia Romagna/Italy
WAY TO CONTACT ME:chemif@mbox.queen.it
Fax:+39-(0)543-402190
Telex:551132 CHEMIF I (yes, the old 50 BAUD stuff!)
RANGE:Emilia-Romagna region (Ev. North side of the "boot")
MAIN AREA OF INTEREST:Mini's from 70's (esp. Texas DS990/x
family);Micro;Olivetti;all kind teletypes machines from any age;Printers.
I will be glad to exchange any information and documents I have (or search
if needed) about classics coming from Italy.
CIAO!
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Riccardo Romagnoli,collector of:CLASSIC COMPUTERS,TELETYPE UNITS,PHONE AND
PHONECARDS I-47100 Forli'/Emilia-Romagna/Food Valley/ITALY
Pager:DTMF PHONES=+39/16888(hear msg.and BEEP then 5130274*YOUR TEL. NUMBER*
where*=asterisk key | for help visit http://www.tim.it/tldrin_eg/tlde03.html
TELEX:551132 CHEMIF I
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
| WoW! The more I hear about this thing the more I want one.
It's amazing
| that this system was so unknown in the states. It's like
discovering a
| whole new species.
Yep, I was obviously thrilled when I ran into my Spectravideo 328 in its
original box, for $5 at a local thrift...
Sorry Sam, didn't mean to gloat there.
Did I mention it was accompanied by the cassette drive in its original
box too?
Kai
somebody, i dont remember, put forth:
>Mayhaps, as a parallel to the 'Classic Computer Index", we need to develop
>> a 'Classic Computer Collectors Index' so that we know where others are
>> when things like this pop up so that we could have some local options.
>> Even if a person did not want the particular item, they might be able to
>> pick it up while arrangements were made to get it to someone who did want
>> it.
feel free to add me to the list. i'd be glad to go out and discover new finds
and give the opportunity for others to get it before the scrapyard does. i've
a truck and a 3 bedroom house, so storage is no problem! =D
david
Ok, I have taken the info I got from today, and put it up on the web.
Nothing fancy, and I haven't indexed it yet with any search engines. Take a
look at it and let me know what you think, or if you want to change your
information. The url is:
http://www.comland.com/~idavis/classic/classic.html
Any suggestions? Let me know and I will change it before we tell the rest
of the world about it.
Isaac Davis
idavis(a)comland.com
indavis(a)juno.com
My GOD! Has anyone seen this??? SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
---------- Forwarded message ----------
here's the major info about the mini's now sitting under the Tucson
sun, soon to be landfill......
PDP 11/34: two machines - one with 3 lights, 2 toggle switches and a
rotary switch; one with a 4x5 keypad, rotary switch, and
little digital display (led's?)
PDP 11/35: full front panel with maybe 35 switches in a row across the
bottom (sort of like an Imsai)
Industrial 11 (in pieces) front panel looks something like 11/35, but in
red and blue (even more like Imsai)
RX02 pair of 8" disk drives in a box
several assorted hard drives, rack mount, desk-top 14" (VERY heavy!),
9672-type CDC disk drive in cabinet, etc
VAX 11/780 double-wide 5-1/2 foot high cabinet - can't get to the front
so don't know if there's anybody home there.....
Large rack mounted tape unit....about all I can tell is it's DEC
Rack box (sitting on the ground) RK05f DEC Pack
DECScope - looks sort of like a desk-top micro all-in-one
keyboard/monitor
several other DEC racks; many reels of tape; manuals; misc
also many terminal/monitors
I doubt this stuff will be around for more than a day or two.....
bill_h(a)azstarnet.com
--
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Hey everyone. There has been a great response to the list of people willing
to go out of their way to pick up our beloved classics and save them from a
fate worse than death. I have added all of the people that have requested
it so far today, and did a little work on the page. I think it is ready for
the general public to know about. There wasn't a single complaint about any
part, so I think that's a thumbs up. I will be getting it listed in the
major search engines on the web, so maybe we can get some real results from
it soon. I am currently in the process of attempting to get a couple of
pdp8's, and am working on arrangements to store them for a fellow classic
computer list subscriber until he can pick them up. Exactly what this list
is all about. Comments are more than welcome, and let me know if you want to
be on the list.
http://www.comland.com/~idavis/classic/classic.html
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
Howdy:
Does anyone out there have the old Atari 800LX Atari Artist cartridge? It
is catalog # RX8053. Please let me know as I have been looking for it for
some time.
Thanks,
CORD COSLOR
Archive Software
//*=====================================================================++
|| Cord G. Coslor P.O. Box 308 - 1300 3rd St. Apt "M1" -- Peru, NE ||
|| (402) 872- 3272 coslor(a)bobcat.peru.edu 68421-0308 ||
|| Classic computer software and hardware collector ||
|| Autograph collector ||
++=====================================================================*//
> > PS I've been having a little surf trying to find this info, and in
> my
> > travels came across a site that has a 2600 emulator for download on
> > various platforms! It's at
> > <http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ahornby/v2600.html>
>
> >You should also be able to find a site whereby you can order a
> joystick
> >from. There are probably a couple places in Europe.
>
> From my investigations, new joysticks for the 2600/etc are getting a
> might hard to come by. From what I can tell, no one is making them
> anymore. I do know that Video 61 has them.
>
> -Matt Pritchard
>
>
>
Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Kai Kaltenbach said:
>Actually the Tandy 600 was a 1989 concoction. It looks like an early
>Toshiba laptop, with flip-up narrow LCD display. It has Multiplan, a
>subset of MS Word, a built-in modem, 360K 3.5" drive, 80x16 display, and
>sold for $999. I passed up one of these at a swap meet a few weeks ago.
>
>Kai
<MODE GOOFY=ON>
Nee-ner-nee-ner-neeeee-ner!!!
I finally know something that Kai doesn't!!! ;^>
</MODE>
Sorry, but *my* T600 was built in September of 1985! AAMAF, I have a 1989
sale flyer yet that shows the T600 in "where-is-as-is" status, for the same
$$$ or cheaper than the T200. (one of which I also have!)
Processor was an 80c88 and standard memory was 32K (which was close to
useless, from what I hear. Mine came with 128K, so I wouldn't know.) which
was expanded with up to 2 banks of 96K.
Yes, the floppy was 360K, as it was single-sided with double-density.
Power: 4 internal D-sized nicads giving 11 hours use with no floppy
activity. Files are stored in RAM (like the 100/200/102/NEC 8201A/Olivetti
M10/etc.) and can be copied to floppy using the copy command.
More questions? You can ask me or the list, with the details below.
There is an FTP site for the Tandy 600 at:
ftp://ftp.northernway.net/Tandy600/
and there is a listserve dedicated to the Tandy 600. To find out more about
the listserve, send a message to:
m600-request(a)list.northernway.net
with the word "info" or "help" in the subject.
To subscribe, send a message to:
m600-request(a)list.northernway.net
with the word "sub" or "subscribe" in the subject.
To post a message to the listserve, send a message to:
m600(a)list.northernway.net
and it will automatically go to several people (always looking for more,
folks!) including a man named Larry Kollar, who wrote and maintains a Tandy
600 FAQ.
URL for the FAQ: http://www.nyx.net/~lekollar/t600/t600faq.html
Hope this helps!
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.
Hi all...
I just picked up an Atari 2600 with 3 catridges but there's no power
supply or joysticks. I'm not complaining though, as it only cost 5
Pounds from from a charity shop here in London!
So, the predictable question is what are the specs
for the power supply? (i.e. voltage, current and polarity of what
appears to be a 3.5" jack).
Also can i use the joysticks from a ZX Spectrum or TI-99/4A with it?
If not, can anyone give me details of the pin-out so i can wire up my
own?
TIA...Nick.
PS I've been having a little surf trying to find this info, and in my
travels came across a site that has a 2600 emulator for download on
various platforms! It's at
<http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ahornby/v2600.html>
--
Nick Challoner nickc(a)ladyland.demon.co.uk
Aviation photographs at: http://www.ladyland.demon.co.uk
"Bother" said Pooh, as he deleted his root directory.
At 08:51 AM 6/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Oh yea, I should mention the last time this thing was fired up about
>5-7 years ago it had some sort of problem with it staying powered up
>or something. They where not able to get the data off their disks.
>Other then that I don't know anymore details. The original owners of
>this thing was Robert Mueler(sp?) Airport(ATC at its best).
>
>---
>
>So, anyone in the Austin, TX area want to grab this one either for their
>collection, or for holding while it seeks a home?
>
>-jim
>---
>jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
>The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
>Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
>
>
Jim,
I have already emailed Micah, and am waiting for a response. Here a
conincidence for you. My dad works for the FAA, at Robert Mueller as the
Radar Technician. If I get this, I will see if he knows about it. I will
let everyone know how it goes.
Isaac Davis
idavis(a)comland.com
indavis(a)juno.com
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 02:38:43 GMT
From: Micah Voiers <micah1(a)flash.net>
Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp8
Subject: FS: pdp 8
I have what I think are 2 pdp 8(a I think) I see two omni hex
processor boards, 2 rko 5 drives( one has some rust on one side), two
case things with power supply, 4 or 5 memory boards a few controllers,
1 face plate. FREE, OBO.
The pdp is in Austin, I am in Ft Worth, Texas. I would rather not
haul this thing up here. I won't ship it cause that would seem like a
major pain in the neck., unless ya pay, a lot. Also got about 10
trs-80 model 3's. I would like to keep this for historical sake but
it is heavy and takes up a lot of space.
Let me know
micah1(a)flash.net
Oh yea, I should mention the last time this thing was fired up about
5-7 years ago it had some sort of problem with it staying powered up
or something. They where not able to get the data off their disks.
Other then that I don't know anymore details. The original owners of
this thing was Robert Mueler(sp?) Airport(ATC at its best).
---
So, anyone in the Austin, TX area want to grab this one either for their
collection, or for holding while it seeks a home?
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
The joysticks, for the c64, atari2600, atari 400,800,1200 series of
computers are all identical. Any joystick that is rated for these machines
will work just fine. I'll have to double check, but im pretty positive the
power is 9vDC around 300mv, possibly up to 500mv, not sure.
----------
> From: Nick Challoner <nickc(a)ladyland.demon.co.uk>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Atari 2600 questions
> Date: Thursday, June 12, 1997 8:01 AM
>
> Hi all...
>
> I just picked up an Atari 2600 with 3 catridges but there's no power
> supply or joysticks. I'm not complaining though, as it only cost 5
> Pounds from from a charity shop here in London!
>
> So, the predictable question is what are the specs
> for the power supply? (i.e. voltage, current and polarity of what
> appears to be a 3.5" jack).
>
> Also can i use the joysticks from a ZX Spectrum or TI-99/4A with it?
> If not, can anyone give me details of the pin-out so i can wire up my
> own?
>
> TIA...Nick.
>
> PS I've been having a little surf trying to find this info, and in my
> travels came across a site that has a 2600 emulator for download on
> various platforms! It's at
> <http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ahornby/v2600.html>
>
> --
> Nick Challoner nickc(a)ladyland.demon.co.uk
> Aviation photographs at: http://www.ladyland.demon.co.uk
> "Bother" said Pooh, as he deleted his root directory.
I can see that we are going to inundate this list with our home locations.
I will go ahead and volunteer to keep the list, and put it up on my web
site. If you want to be added to this list, email me idavis(a)comland.com
with your name, city/area, and a way to contact you - email or phone. After
the list is compiled, I will put it on the web, and will be able to email it
to anyone involved. Maybe I can try and get some outside exposure with web
search engines to help people outside of this list to be able to contact us
before they take their "junk" to the landfill. Feel free to give me any
contact information you want. I will only include what you tell me to.
Isaac Davis
idavis(a)comland.com
indavis(a)juno.com
