- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:47:10 -0500 From: "Andrew Lynch" <lynchaj at yahoo.com> Subject: secondary FDC on PC with MS-DOS? Hi, I am building a test station using an old 486 ISA only computer to test floppy disk drives and old ST-506/ST-412 style hard disk drives. The computer seems to work OK and has a Western Digital ST-506 MFM hard disk controller with a FDC on the card (IO address $1F0). To help with testing floppy drives, I thought I would add a secondary FDC however that is turning out to be much more difficult than I planned. It seems there are drivers required to make floppy drives attached to the secondary controller appear as drive letters under MS-DOS. I searched around a bit and found SDRIVE.SYS which refuses to acknowledge any of the other FDCs I place in the computer at the secondary address (IO address $170). There are some references to a DC2.SYS program but I cannot find it anywhere online. http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/floppies.html Does anyone know how to add multiple FDCs to a PC so I can have multiple floppy disk drives? Of course, the Compaticard IV would be nice but those are very expensive and almost unobtainable these days. I have a Compaticard I which "sort of" works but the drive gives errors every other time I access it. Thanks in advance for any help -- especially if someone could send me or tell me where I could find the DC2.SYS files. Andrew Lynch ------------------ You could also look for a 4-drive FDC with its own BIOS; I'll dig through the pile & see if I've got one to spare. Meanwhile, try asking on the Vintage Computer forums; there were some mentioned there recently. mike

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

secondary FDC on PC with MS-DOS

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

>From Andrew Lynch: > I searched around a bit and found SDRIVE.SYS which refuses to > acknowledge any of the other FDCs I place in the computer at the > secondary address (IO address $170). I/O port 0170H refers to the secondary *hard drive* address (the primary being 01f0H). The secondary FDC address is 037xH (the primary is 03FxH). Let me look around--I've got several old MS-DOS secondary port drivers kicking around here. A word of warning, however. For a secondary controller using the same DMA and IRQ (2 and 6) as the primary, the primary needs to have implemented the "enable" bit at I/O port 03F2H so it can float its own DMA and IRQ lines when the secondary controller is active. Not all controllers will do this, even though it's documented as part of the standard PC architecture. If you want to check out the operation of your secondary controller, hook a drive to it and find copy of FORMATQM or COPYQM (or 22DISK...) and set up a DISKETTE.CFG file for it to use. In the meantime, I'll look for a good driver. Cheers, Chuck -----REPLY----- Hi Chuck! Thanks to you and Mike S too for replying. I accidentally said $170 for the address but I really meant $3F0 and $370. I had been staring at these IO cards for a while and got confused. Sorry! The primary FDC am using ($3F0) is on a Western Digital ST-506/ST-412/FDC controller combo board. I have been using a variety of Multi IO boards trying to get the secondary FDC to work ($370). My plan is to share the DMA and IRQ lines which *should* work since I won't be using the drives at the same time. If you can find a driver which will let me access the drive from MS-DOS, that'd certainly be helpful. It is possible that the primary FDC is interfering with the enable bit but I will try the 22disk approach and see if that helps. I am kind of surprised this aspect of the project has been as much trouble as it has been. I would have thought the secondary FDC from DOS would have been well explored but there is practically nothing on the internet on the subject. This is easy in CP/M and seems like it would be in Linux too. I learn something everyday! Thanks for your help! Much appreciated! Andrew Lynch PS, I tried the 22disk approach and it worked like a charm. I think SDRIVE.SYS might be the problem. I was able to write a custom DISKETTE.CFG and format the disk in a CP/M format, copy files to it, and get a directory >from the drive attached to the secondary FDC. At least we know the hardware is basically good

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Does anyone have a high-res pic/scan of a Hayes Chronograph display?

by ethan.dicks＠usap.gov

Hi, all, I was digging through my Hayes Chronograph docs again, and was wondering if anyone out there has ever taken a high-res (1 megapixel or better) photo or stuck the display of their chronograph on a flatbed scanner. I've found several low-res pictures, but nothing hi-res enough to show the alarm and low-bat icons above the shorter digits. Thanks for any pointers, -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 19-Feb-2008 at 04:20 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -38.6 F (-39.2 C) Windchill -69.6 F (-56.5 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 13.9 kts Grid 40 Barometer 675.8 mb (10787 ft) Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html

18 years, 6 months

3
6
0 0

RFC: Floppy reader/writer project

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi guys, The USB floppy reader project is back on track as of about an hour ago. I've found a distributor who has a couple of Altera FPGAs in stock, and although it'll take a few days for them to arrive from Belgium, they were quite happy to sell me just five of them. For anyone that wants to look up the datasheet, they're Altera Cyclone II devices, p/n EP2C8T144C8N. Cost was ?11.58 +VAT. This nifty device also has a pair of onboard PLLs - which means I can put a relatively low-speed oscillator on the board, then boost the clock up to whatever the acquisition clock needs to be, and generate the 32MHz clock for the data separator / sync detector with the second PLL. Very cool. A quick does-this-work-or-not test build of the code I was using on the Xilinx chip clocked in at 5% utilisation of the Cyclone -- that means the final version will more than likely use a smaller chip (likely an EP2C5; the entry-level Cyclone 2). I'm still using the "time the length of the time between RD_DATA pulses" method for acquiring the data, but I'm increasing the acquisition clock so that the reader can measure the timing down to an accuracy of 50ns minimum (25ns with the 40MHz clock option). The counter is now 15-bit with an INDEX (index pulse was high at data bit leading edge) bit for every counter word. This gives a maximum counter period of 1.6384ms at 50ns, or 0.8192ms at 25ns... or a minimum bit rate of 610 or 1220 bits per second respectively. Maximum data rate is likely to be around 5-10Mbps. From what I've been told, the Trace disc duplicators had an accuracy of 50ns, which is where the base clock for the floppy reader came from (the SPS have based most of their data analysis on Trace duplicators, so the clock rates need to be close-or-identical). I've also scrapped the SRAM storage in favour of SDRAM. For the ?5 unit cost of the 256K*16 Cypress SRAM, I've managed to get a 4M*16 PC133 SDRAM chip. This gives a maximum track length of 4*1024*1024 (4194304) magnetic transitions; probably far more than any floppy disc ever made. Like I said before - the aim isn't to get an image with the intent of only decoding it (although the hardware can be rigged to do that). The aim is to be able to get as much information off a disc to be able to state that: - The data is accurate - The data is original (timing will differ between two drives -- if e.g. a high score table has been modified on a factory-written disc, the modification will be at a very slightly different data rate). Also, if you've only got one chance at reading a potentially-defective disc, you want to get as much information from that disc as you possibly can in the time you have. This is what I consider to be the spec at this moment in time: CPU: Microchip PIC18F4550 USB MCU at 40MHz (10MIPS peak) with Altera FPGA coprocessor / DAQ controller RAM: Micron Technology 4M*16 SDRAM Interfacing: USB Full Speed (12Mbps), RS232 as a jumper selectable option (115200 baud). Power: 5V DC from USB port, external supply required for drives Features: - Open-collector outputs, high-voltage (30V) tolerant - Over-voltage protected TTL level inputs with pull up resistors - Standard 34-pin drive interface, with 6 User I/O pins - Acquisition start/stop methods: - Both leading and trailing edge event triggers available (trigger-at and trigger-after) - Event Counters for all events -- wait for event to occur N times before triggering - Instant On (starts as soon as START bit is set, not valid for STOP) - Stops when memory full (always enabled) - MFM Sync word detector -- detects a 16-bit MFM word (e.g. Sync A1) - Index pulse -- typically start on leading edge, stop on trailing - Hard-sector track mark detector -- detects the double-pulse track marker and triggers from the index line - Fully reprogrammable -- boot-block protected Flash on PIC, 8Mbit Atmel DataFlash to configure FPGA. - Two user-selectable FPGA microcode blocks -- store standard FPGA code in one half of the DataFlash, and customised code in the other. - Fully open-sourced design -- hardware, software and HDL code -- basically under the "Wisp628 licence": - The design is open, so you can tweak, modify and play with it as you see fit - What you aren't allowed to do is sell kits, or pre-built units for profit. So if someone asks you to build one for them from scratch (i.e. not >from a kit), you can do so, as long as you only charge for the components you used to build it. - Software is GPL2 without the "or any later version" clause, plain and simple. So the inevitable questions from me: - Am I too late with this? Is it worth continuing and finishing the project? - If I said one of these boxes would cost ?75 (around the same as a Catweasel), would you buy one? - Are there any features you guys think I should add? - Does the licence sound too restrictive? I've put around ?300 into the project thus far, not counting time. I know I've got basically no chance of recouping all of it, but it would be nice to make at least some of that money back. Like the subject line says - this is a Request For Comments - I know I'm not going to please everyone, but I'd like to get as close as I can :) I've set up a mailing list at <http://mail.philpem.me.uk/mailman/listinfo/floppy-reader_philpem.me.uk> to carry announcements and discussions about the project -- saves cluttering up classiccmp with it (unless people would rather discuss it here?) Thanks, -- Phil. | (\_/) This is Bunny. Copy and paste Bunny classiccmp at philpem.me.uk | (='.'=) into your signature to help him gain http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | (")_(") world domination.

18 years, 6 months

5
13
0 0

Bubble memory devices

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------Original Message: Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:13:18 -0500 From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> Subject: Re: Bubble memory devices To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> <snip> I've always been a fan of bubble memory, although I have no functional bubble subsystems here. I've seen S-100 and Q-bus bubble memory boards (the latter I missed on eBay by a few dollars maybe a year ago), and there's at least one piece of test equipment made by Fluke (I don't recall which one) that uses bubble memory cartridges. I also have some brand new Sharp CE-100B cartridges, but no machine to use them in. -Dave --------------Reply: I've got the machine; want to get rid of one or two? mike

18 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

Apple // europlus

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 19 Feb, 2008, at 18:00, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > From: Tim Riker <Tim at Rikers.org> > > I'm not sure what a europlus version of the machine is though. The euro means 110/240 volt switchable power supply. I don't think there was any other change, though it was common to have a colour card (in slot 7?) which took the NTSC signal, decoded it and re-coded into PAL. I guess there was a corresponding SECAM card for France. As you probably know, the plus mean floating point Basic.

18 years, 6 months

4
3
0 0

Help identifying Mystery CDC Terminal

by cclist＠sydex.com

> From: Josh Dersch I actually used one of those at CDC ca. 1974-75. You got the good version--there was a version with a reduced linecount on it (8?). At Sunnyvale ops, we had a roomful of them connected to the STAR-100 Cyber frontend in Arden Hills. At the time, department policy wouldn't allow a terminal to reside on one's desk, so we had a "terminal room". I think we ran them at 300 bps from a 9600 bps link. I wrote the Star OGNATE text editor to operate with one of these--and to see how creative I could get with all of those great STAR string and vector instructions. Much to my horror, I found the editor still in use at ETA in 1985. (OGNATE, BTW, stands for "Oh G-d, not another text editor"). IIRC, the terminal was very "dumb". At the time, I was also project manager for the STAR remote MCU. The thing that I best recall was that the engineer at the Arden Hills end took forever to design his own UART from SSI. It ran at some oddball speed, like 1800 bps. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

4
4
0 0

secondary FDC on PC with MS-DOS?

by cclist＠sydex.com

>From Andrew Lynch: > I searched around a bit and found SDRIVE.SYS which refuses to > acknowledge any of the other FDCs I place in the computer at the > secondary address (IO address $170). I/O port 0170H refers to the secondary *hard drive* address (the primary being 01f0H). The secondary FDC address is 037xH (the primary is 03FxH). Let me look around--I've got several old MS-DOS secondary port drivers kicking around here. A word of warning, however. For a secondary controller using the same DMA and IRQ (2 and 6) as the primary, the primary needs to have implemented the "enable" bit at I/O port 03F2H so it can float its own DMA and IRQ lines when the secondary controller is active. Not all controllers will do this, even though it's documented as part of the standard PC architecture. If you want to check out the operation of your secondary controller, hook a drive to it and find copy of FORMATQM or COPYQM (or 22DISK...) and set up a DISKETTE.CFG file for it to use. In the meantime, I'll look for a good driver. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

TU10 tape drive restoration

by wacarder＠earthlink.net

>I am working on restoring a DEC TU10 tape drive for my PDP-8/E and want to >see if anybody has experience repairing them before I do too much to it. ...snip... >David Gesswein >http://www.pdp8online.com/ -- Run an old computer with blinkenlights I'm interested in following this restoration project. I have two TU10 tape drives. One is somewhat dismantled, but complete, and was used with a PDP-11/45. The other one is in the rack connected to an 11/40. Do you plan to keep some type of online log on your web site? Thanks, Ashley http://www.woffordwitch.com

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Seeking Mouse Systems driver MOUSESYS.COM

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

Does anyone have the Mouse Systems driver MOUSESYS.COM? This is for their early PC optical mice. If you've got it, can you please contact me directly? Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Help identifying Mystery CDC Terminal...

by derschjo＠msu.edu

Hey all -- Picked up an old dumb terminal (and I feel secure in calling this one "old") today at Re-PC in Tukwila, WA (I'm starting to really dig this place...). It's a CDC, labeled on the back as a "Display Terminal" (go figure), Equip. Id #CC5A5-A, Series Code 2, Part #15551800. I haven't been able to find any information on this beast at all on the 'net. I've put up some pictures here: http://yahozna.dyndns.org/computers/cdcterminal/ (Haven't had a chance to clean it up yet, so it's kinda smudgy...) My favorite thing about this terminal is the huge, backlit buttons on the front for Power, etc... very cool :). I've powered it up after giving it a check-out, and it appears to work fine. I haven't hooked it up to a serial line yet, but that's coming... maybe Linux has a termcap entry for this thing? :) Opening it up reveals repair tags with dates in 1974. There are four PCBs mounted inside, connected by a ton of ribbon connectors (there's no backplane to speak of). Looks like it's all TTL, though I haven't taken the boards out to investigate. Not sure I want to disturb them :). Anyone know anything about this thing? What's it capable of? What was it originally connected to? Thanks! Josh

18 years, 6 months

6
12
0 0

Bubble memory devices

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, Whilst waiting for a video to download (I'm still on dial-up) I decided to have a flick through an issue of 80 Microcomputing. It's issue 10 (October 1980) and inlcudes an article about the row about whether the US government and/or patent office should honour copyrights for computer software. Anyway, on page 46 I stumbled across an interesting article (called "A Slow Road To Bubble Memories") about bubble memory. The main bubble memory manufacturers of the time were Intel Corp., Texas Instruments and Rockwell Int. The article also mentions that Rockwell had a bubble system, a 256K bit board, available for $1,800. Meanwhile Intel had a bubble system in kit form - 7110-1 Magnetic Memory board came with all control and support circuitry - and sold for $2,000. What happened to bubble memory? Did it die out due to the costs, or did people prefer to use cassettes, disks etc. instead? Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk

18 years, 6 months

9
8
0 0

secondary FDC on PC with MS-DOS?

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, I am building a test station using an old 486 ISA only computer to test floppy disk drives and old ST-506/ST-412 style hard disk drives. The computer seems to work OK and has a Western Digital ST-506 MFM hard disk controller with a FDC on the card (IO address $1F0). To help with testing floppy drives, I thought I would add a secondary FDC however that is turning out to be much more difficult than I planned. It seems there are drivers required to make floppy drives attached to the secondary controller appear as drive letters under MS-DOS. I searched around a bit and found SDRIVE.SYS which refuses to acknowledge any of the other FDCs I place in the computer at the secondary address (IO address $170). There are some references to a DC2.SYS program but I cannot find it anywhere online. http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/floppies.html Does anyone know how to add multiple FDCs to a PC so I can have multiple floppy disk drives? Of course, the Compaticard IV would be nice but those are very expensive and almost unobtainable these days. I have a Compaticard I which "sort of" works but the drive gives errors every other time I access it. Thanks in advance for any help -- especially if someone could send me or tell me where I could find the DC2.SYS files. Andrew Lynch

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Bubble memory devices

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Bubble memory devices > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:52:51 +0000 (GMT) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >> Anyway, on page 46 I stumbled across an interesting article (called "A >> Slow Road To Bubble Memories") about bubble memory. The main bubble >> memory manufacturers of the time were Intel Corp., Texas Instruments >> and Rockwell Int. The article also mentions that Rockwell had a bubble >> system, a 256K bit board, available for $1,800. Meanwhile Intel had a >> bubble system in kit form - 7110-1 Magnetic Memory board came with all >> control and support circuitry - and sold for $2,000. >> >> What happened to bubble memory? Did it die out due to the costs, or >> did people prefer to use cassettes, disks etc. instead? > >I think it pretty much died out due to cost and limited capacity. IIRC, >that Intel chipset was 1Mbit, or 128K bytes. And it was hardly cheap. >Bubble memory did get used in some portables, for example, since with no >moving parts it's pretty rugged. So the claimed. It was small, 128kb and largest was 512kb. It wasn't energy frugal the 128k board was something like 12W! It had a fussy startup and shutdown. and a 3.5" floppy at that time was new, expensive but bigger(360k) and lower power. Never really made prime time. I have two of them in a system that work well but speed is lower than 5.25 40track SD floppy and power is the same. Allison

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue 37 FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags

by trebor72＠execpc.com

cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Today's Topics: > > 1. FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags (Jason T) > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:53:28 -0600 > From: "Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com> > Subject: FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > Time to unload the last of my duplicates. Hello All; My collection of Byte Magazines begins with May 77 and runs thru Oct 84 with maybe a couple of Issues missing. 90 Magazines in all\Anyone Interested. Let me Know Bob in Wisconsin USE trebor72 at execpc.com

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Bubble memory devices

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: Bubble memory devices > From: "Gavin Melville" <gavin.melville at acclipse.co.nz> > Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:11:19 +1300 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Hi, > >Bubble was very, very expensive, and about that time SRAM was becoming >available. I don't have any complete 7110's left -- Intel took them >all back, but I do have the internals. Inside the various coils was a >garnet "chip" and under a good microscope you can see the Chevrons that >steered the magnetic bubbles. Really? I have two complete BKK72s operational. >The problem for the company I worked for at the time was temperature -- >at about 0 deg C all the bubbles wandered off. I still clearly remember >the Intel FAE telling me, with great conviction "you still have every >bubble -- none have been lost". My explanantion that that was of little >use -- I don't know which byte or address they belong to was lost on >him. Never tried them over temp. >Steering the little bubbles around was fun -- you could rotate the >majority loop, rotate the all minority loops, and replicate from one >loop to the other. Random access it wasn't... It never tried to be. Howver it was trying to fit in the floppy slot and at 128k for the smaller it was a tad small. >Because of supposed military uses Intel were REAL serious about security >-- they had to know where they all were, who the customers were etc. ??? Really. Never been so much as contacted. Allison >> -----Original Message----- >> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org >> [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Burton >> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 1:42 PM >> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >> Subject: Bubble memory devices >> >> >> Hi, >> >> Whilst waiting for a video to download (I'm still on dial-up) >> I decided to have a flick through an issue of 80 >> Microcomputing. It's issue 10 (October 1980) and inlcudes an >> article about the row about whether the US government and/or >> patent office should honour copyrights for computer software. >> >> Anyway, on page 46 I stumbled across an interesting article >> (called "A Slow Road To Bubble Memories") about bubble >> memory. The main bubble memory manufacturers of the time were >> Intel Corp., Texas Instruments and Rockwell Int. The article >> also mentions that Rockwell had a bubble system, a 256K bit >> board, available for $1,800. Meanwhile Intel had a bubble >> system in kit form - 7110-1 Magnetic Memory board came with >> all control and support circuitry - and sold for $2,000. >> >> What happened to bubble memory? Did it die out due to the >> costs, or did people prefer to use cassettes, disks etc. instead? >> >> >> Regards, >> Andrew B >> aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk >> >> >>

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Apple // europlus

by pdp11_70＠retrobbs.org

Hey guys, Someone gave me an Apple // europlus. I don't have any system disks for it at all. If I send someone a 5 1/4 inch disk or disks, would this kind soul send me a DOS 3.3 system master disk? Now if I could get that together, and find a super serial card, I could transfer software of disk images to it. Take Care, Mark

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

TU10 tape drive restoration

by djg＠pdp8.net

I am working on restoring a DEC TU10 tape drive for my PDP-8/E and want to see if anybody has experience repairing them before I do too much to it. It was made in 1973 and probably last powered up in 1988. I have the maintenance manuals and prints for it. Though for some reason they don't have the 20 year idle maintenance procedure. Does anybody have a TU10 with a good capstan who can accurately measure the diameter or the coating thickness? Also does anybody have a 9 track 800 BPI alignment/skew tape? A bunch of the maintenance procedures use it. So far I have cleaned it and taken stock of its condition. The vacuum switches are bad but it looks like they are still made by World Magnetics so I should be able to get new. The markings on them don't exactly match the new parts so hopefully the manual 10" H2O is correct. If anybody knows more it would be appreciated. The capstan is past dead and seriously into decomposing. The price for a NOS one is scary. It is about 1.8" in diameter and directly moves the tape. Since this is a critical component to the tape path I suspect my skills with the do it yourself repairs will leave it too lopsided. Has anybody tried www.terrysrubberrollers.com. I saw a couple references on the list but didn't see any reports of results. It looks like he uses some black rubber which I don't know if it will have similar friction to the original. >From whats left it looks like the original capstan was translucent amber. The blower sound noisy when turned by hand. Plan to see if I can open and inspect. One of the reels doesn't turn easily. The manual has a section on cleaning the brakes so plan to do that. Plan to do the standard power supply checkout. A lot of the old equipment like this tape drive has parts with permanently lubricated ball bearings. So far I have decides that if the device sounds fine to leave them alone since it won't get that much use and taking it apart enough to get the bearings out has some risk. They also are sometimes pretty well sealed making cleaning and relubricated difficult. I have wondered how good 20-30 year old grease can be. What do other people do? Has anybody found a good way to relubricate these type of bearings to prolong the life? Or wait until they fail and hope the bearing assembly matches something you can buy? Thanks, David Gesswein http://www.pdp8online.com/ -- Run an old computer with blinkenlights

18 years, 6 months

4
3
0 0

SC/MP CPU (INS8060)

by doug＠stillhq.com

Hi, I am on the scrounge for a SC/MP CPU for a project I am working on. A search of ePay has failed to turn up any options. Does anybody here know of a supplier? Doug -- Doug Jackson, I-RAP, MAIPM, MIEEE Principal Information Security Consultant EWA-AUSTRALIA PO Box 6308 O'Connor ACT 2602 Level 1, 214 Northbourne Ave, Braddon ACT 2612 Tel: +61 (0)2 6230 6833 Fax: +61 (0)2 6230 5833 Mob: +61 (0)414 986 878 http://www.ewa-australia.com ============================================ IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of Electronic Warfare Associates - Australia. If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact doug.jackson at ewa-australia.com or Ph +61 2 62306833 and delete the email. This message is not to be copied or distributed to other parties without the express permission of the author. Any personal information in this email must be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). ============================================

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Anyone in Toronto Canada area with a Vax Magtape (reel) drive?

by dgahling＠hotmail.com

I should have posted this years ago. But does anyone on the list have or know someone (company or individual) that has a Magtape (reel) drive that can read an old Vax Magtape? I have about a half dozen tapes I'd like to get the data off, and it seems like a lost art. I'm not about to try and restore my uncles Wabash PDP hard disk though (external disk pack) I'd be willing to pay a small fee for time/trouble, though I'm not made of money. I'd rather trade equipment if there's something you need (sparc?) :) Dan. _________________________________________________________________

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

VCF/Midwest 4 - Purdue - April 26-27

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

I just wanted to get the notice out there.. A date has been chosen for the 4th VCF/Midwest, and it's going to be on Saturday and Sunday, April 26th and 27th, and will be held again at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Sellam is working on getting the website set up, and hopefully it will be up soon. If anyone here is interested in doing a talk for this year's VCF/MW, please let me know. I'm working on a few leads for speakers right now. I also hope to have a piece of Big Iron from my own collection up and running at the show this year. Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

On Feb 17, 2008, at 10:00 AM, Vince wrote: > But won't Tony refuse to *use* the TARDIS until it is documented > well enough for him to *repair* it :-)? That would be a good idea, don't you think, considering the chances of finding a factory authorized service center and spare parts in 1900?

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue 23

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 13 Feb, 2008, at 02:53, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Have a HP N3390 laptop, 8 years old. An antique... > Are you kidding? My machine is 46 years old and that is a SECOND generation computer.

18 years, 6 months

32
121
0 0

RFC: Floppy reader/writer project

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Seems pacbell don't like my mail server (funny, just about everyone else does). Anyway, the questions Jim asked are probably ones that other folks want to know the answers to, so I'll post them here instead... Jim Battle wrote: >> It would be nice to have a 50 pin interface as well, for 8" disks. Well the idea is that you have the 40-pin connector, and make up an adapter cable for whatever drive you want to handle, then tell the software that (say) output 1 needs to be high when track_number > 46, or whatever you need. >> One problem is that a handful of the signals are non-standard. Ideally these signals would have a wirewrap header where one could wire them to +5, gnd, or perhaps to I/O pins on the FPGA under software control. Again, 50-pin cable to adapter board, which plugs into the FDR and converts the signals to suit the drive. >> Is this intended as a read-only interface, or read/write? *points at subject line* Read/write. >> For writing hard sectored disks, one has to initiate a given sector write >from the relevant sector hole -- you can't write the whole track starting from sector 0. This would imply some means of counting the sector holes, or at least a way in the data stream of saying: wait until sector 0, data, data, ..., data, wait until next sector marker, data, data, ..., data, etc, stop. Would you believe I've thought of that? :) The writing side of things is controlled by a small microsequencer (think 'special purpose CPU'). The instructions it can handle are: - Timer Load N - wait N clock periods, then write a flux transition - STOP - stop processing further instructions and halt the machine - Set Write Gate State - enable/disable the write amplifier - Wait for hard-sector index mark - Wait for N index pulses So typically you'd do this: WAIT_TRACKMARK ; sector 0 - wait for track start marker WRITE_GATE_ON TIMER_LOAD 123 TIMER_LOAD 42 ... WRITE_GATE_OFF WAIT_INDEX ; sector 1 WRITE_GATE_ON .. more write commands .. WRITE_GATE_OFF STOP Thanks, -- Phil. | (\_/) This is Bunny. Copy and paste Bunny classiccmp at philpem.me.uk | (='.'=) into your signature to help him gain http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | (")_(") world domination.

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

RiscPC 610 PSU - 110 VAC?

by bear＠typewritten.org

Howdy, folks. I just acquired an Acorn Risc PC 610 from a chap in the UK. The PSU in it is labelled as a 220V-only affair. I understand there was an autoranging PSU revision, but this does not appear to be one of them. Does anybody have information on modifying this unit to work with 110V mains? Or a lead on a replacement PSU that has a switchable or autoranging input voltage? ok bear

18 years, 6 months

3
3
0 0

FS: Bytes and Interface Age mags

by silent700＠gmail.com

Time to unload the last of my duplicates. Here's a handy list: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwMUKqpaWv1cq2nnM-h0wRA $2/issue for anything 1984 and before. Anything I can get for the later ones :) Bulk purchases encouraged! All costs + shipping by Media Mail rate (or faster if you prefer) from 60074. Of course local pickup is fine, too. Help me clear out some space and save these from the recycler! -- jht

18 years, 6 months

1
1
0 0

Preserving contents of QIC-150 from (probably) RSX11.

by trasz＠FreeBSD.org

I've got a QIC-150 tape (3M DC6150) with some backup on it, probably >from RSX11. Table of contents (paper one) reads: RSXCTDQ0 RSXCTDQ1 RSXSMDM0 CTDQKIT2 ALISAKIT2 ALISASM I have no idea what it is, I have no experience with RSX11 and I need that tape (physical medium) for other purpose. What's the best way to preserve the contents, preferably using FreeBSD? Is repeated 'dd if=/dev/nsa0 of=output_file1', 'dd if=/dev/nsa0 of=output_file2' until end-of-media enough? Drive is Wangtek 5150ES. -- If you cut off my head, what would I say? Me and my head, or me and my body?

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Last call: Wyse WY-55 manual, Introduction to the Sirius 1 Computer - FTGH (UK)

by listmailgoeshere＠gmail.com

Hi list, The above need to find a new home within about a week or they get recycled. Free, but you pay shipping. Will ship to anywhere in the world. Please reply directly to me as list traffic is still a bit funny for me atm. Thanks, Ed.

18 years, 6 months

3
6
0 0

The "who lives where" map...

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 10:43 AM 2/12/2008, you wrote: >http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellation_map&mapid=137440346730 > >How's that? Easy enough! Strange that Frappr's address-to-location isn't as accurate as Google Maps, though. It placed me in the wrong place twice and it's still not right. - John

18 years, 6 months

5
5
0 0

another one missed

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

A fellow I knew years ago just phoned me for some help rejuvenating some old analog instrumentation chart recorders - he collects such stuff apparently. He works as an operator at one of the oil depots in the region (downsized from a refinery a couple of years ago) and is preparing displays for their 50th anniversary. After the instrumentation stuff was discussed, and knowing where he worked, I started telling him the story of the scrapped Foxboro processor at the old refinery closer to me (I told that story on the list a couple of years ago), kind of angling to find out what might be the state of the old computer control system where he worked. He said "Do you know 'Digital' computers? When the refinery was decomm'ed we threw out an 11/70, it was spread across like 4 racks. Boy, I woulda called ya if I knew you were into stuff like that, it was sad to see it scrapped." ho hum. (.. and just checked the 11/40 on ebay to see it hit over $1000.)

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Reading Polymorphic hard sectored double density disk

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

Hi I made good progress today. I got the programmer working again. I'm now doing 2716s on the PB-10 again. I blew some more test code and also figured what the problem was with the controller. Previously, I'd gotten the frequencies change in the crystal and PLL circuits. I got to the point that it appeared to be reading the disk into the USART chip but not getting data into the dual ported RAM. It was still erroring on the header. I wrote code to ignore the header and tried that. It still seemed to be missing the header data. This is when the programmer decided to cause problems. While waiting to get parts I realized what the problem was with the controller. I was running everything from the memory window in the Poly88s monitor. Every time it updates a single byte, it rereads a large block of memory to put into the display. I was pointing to the RAM that was double ported and this stole cycles from the controllers time. This caused missed bytes from the USART. I wrote some simple code in another area of memory and used that to initiate the read command. It was then reading the header and data without missing any of the header or data. I expect I'll soon make greater progress. I need to delay some before reading the double ported RAM or the controller will miss the first few bytes. I need to write my serial transfer and finish the code for reading the sectors. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! http://biggestloser.msn.com/

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

MSX Joystick

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

Urgh, apologies for any font issues. Had to copy and paste my reply as Yahoo failed to deliver it to the classiccmp servers twice! Not sure if bounced or not, but here's the error message: Remote host said: 550 5.7.1 time travel between hops [BODY] Classiccmp.org rejected it once, giving this error message:<cctalk at classiccmp.org>: Remote host said: 553 5.3.0 Spam blocked see: http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml?76.13.13.74 [MAIL_FROM] This last (and 4th) attempt at replying, is being done from Outlook Express onmy laptop as opposed to Yahoo's webmail. My reply: Would it work with a Famicom (Japanese SNES) mouse? Since it was compatible with MSX games it might work, but probably doesn't fall into the "easily obtainable" category :( Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk Syd Bolton <sbolton at bfree.on.ca> wrote: I see the pinouts online but haven't checked to > see if it's compatible with a standard Atari type joystick. >Sure it is! > Interesting how MSX devices are unknown here...They are so popular in >Brazil! That's just how it goes! OK second part of my question then: what about the mouse? What other more easily obtainable mouse would work on the MSX machine? Commodore made mice with 9-pin connectors for the C64 but I doubt it would work or the Amiga one .... and of course, the "serial" mouse from a PC I would expect won't work as well. Or....I guess more easily does anyone out there have an MSX compatible mouse they'd like to sell me for the museum? Thanks

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Test

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

This is a test email to see if it makes it through to the list. The last 3 attempts at replying to a message were bounced (twice by Yahoo and once by Classiccmp servers). If this makes it through please ignore. Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Digitalker, SP0256, and SC-01 speech chips

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:37:46 -0800 > From: Brent Hilpert > Reading the Osborne book some time ago I got the impression the SMS300 > might be considered the first (micro-)DSP. Extracts: > > "The SMS300 is described by its manufacturer as a "microcontroller" > rather than a "microprocessor". This distinction draws attention to the > very unique capabilities of the SMS300 which make it the most > remarkable device described in this book." > > "The SMS300 is designed to serve as a signal processor, operating > at very high speed. The SMS300 can handle applications of this type at > more than 10 times the speed of any other device described in this > book." > > "If yours is a high speed signal processing application, then give > the SMS300 serious consideration; otherwise, the SMS300 is probably not > for you." It's true that the SMS300/8X300 was pretty fast for the time (instruction time was 250 nsec., consisting of 4 cycles of 62.5 nsec), the instruction set was very limited, as was the data addressing (256 bytes each for right and left I/O register banks). As to the limits of the implementation, consider the benchmark implementation in the Osborne book. If I had to guess, I'd say that where the 8x300 saw most of its application was in hard disk controllers. About the only other alternative in the day was to employ bit-slice logic or discrete TTL. I suppose I'd characterize the 8x300 as being halfway between bit- slice such as 2901 and a full-blown microprocessor like an 8080. Since this was a Harvard-architecture design, one way to extend the instruction set was to add additional bits onto the normally 16-bit wide instruction store and use them to implement additional functions. The limit of addressability of the instruction store was 8192 words. In fact, the 8x305 couldn't support its own development system. The SDK was initially offered as a board that could be plugged into the GI GIMINI CP1600 development system. Later, Signetics bundled the 8X305 as a signle-board SDK using an Intel 8035 to handle user interface functions. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Computer in 1900

by cclist＠sydex.com

> From: "Gavin Melville" > I had looked at relays, and while there certainly were relays in 1900, I > doubt they were very good in terms of bounce, actuation time etc. The > building where I work has an Otis made lift dating from 1980, done > completely with relays. It's fairly unreliable, and a lot of the relays > have to be fiddled with springs, copper disks, iron slugs etc. (Some of > them were designed that way, and some just needed it to make them work). As a counter-example, consider the Panama Canal, opened in 1914. All- electric run from a central control pulpit. With control circuitry designed by Edward Schildhauer, the equipment is still in service today, though it's due to be replaced. Relays and primitive servo motors were part of the whole affair. (BTW, some 1,500 electric motors are involved in the operation. I recall seeing a photo of some of the control circuitry--brass and varnished wood. It was a thing of beauty.) Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

RFC: Floppy reader/writer project (recovering UniPlus Unix for the Lisa)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Any chance someone else on this list has a copy of UniPlus Unix? printf(" UniSoft Corporation\n"); printf(" LISA UniPlus+ Serialization Program\n\n"); start: printf("Do you want to make a boot diskette (serialize)?\n"); printf("('y' or 'n') ");

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

EPROM programmer

by brain＠jbrain.com

It appears I've staved off buying one of these too long and now I need one. Way back in the day, I used an ART EPP1, and I liked the serial connection (as I could use it from any machine,not just a PC). But, there are lots of options today. My primary interest is in replicating CBM KERNAL roms, though I would not mind uC programming capabilities. What do other people use for eprom programming? I see a slew of Willem programmers, but I don't understand why there are so many variants. A bummer is that they all use the Paallel Port, as far as I can tell. Jim

18 years, 6 months

11
20
0 0

FS: LD-V1000

by renagade13＠roadrunner.com

The message I found is old but I was wonderig if you still had any LD-V1000 laser disk players available. If so please send me an email with price. Thanks.

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

EPROM programmer

by jack.rubin＠ameritech.net

> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:02:24 -0600 > From: Jim Brain <brain at jbrain.com> > Subject: EPROM programmer > To: Classic Computer Talk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <47B4BA70.9080703 at jbrain.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > What do other people use for eprom programming? I see a slew > of Willem > programmers, but I don't understand why there are so many > variants. A > bummer is that they all use the Paallel Port, as far as I can tell. > > Jim > I ended up getting the True-USB Willem programmer(GQ-3X) Pack PRO from MCUMall and am quite happy with it. Service and support has been pretty good. Not Data I/O by any means but seems to be a pretty good value. USB interface is very convenient. http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/comersus_dynamicIndex.asp Jack No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.5/1278 - Release Date: 2/14/2008 10:28 AM

18 years, 6 months

3
3
0 0

DEC BA440/H7874 Power Bus Connector

by bob＠jfcl.com

Does anybody know if it's possible to interconnect the modular plug style power control bus used on the BA440/H7874 with the older three wire power control bus used on the "traditional" DEC 874/861 power controllers? If it is, does anyone have the pinout for the connecting cable? Thanks, Bob Armstrong

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Digitalker, SP0256, and SC-01 speech chips

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:54:01 -0500 > From: Dave McGuire > > As one who has had the extreme displeasure of programming both the > > 8X300 and an 8X305, > > Are they really that bad? How so? Brain-dead in the extreme, although the model might be interesting for the "1900 Computer" thread. You had 8 registers, a shifter and an ALU. R0 was the implied source for binary operations, but not implied as an accumulator. The instruction set was 8 instructions: 1. Move between the register file and the I/O bus 2. Add using R0 betweeen the register file and the I/O bus 3. AND as in (2) 4. XOR as in (2) 5. XMIT - a "Load Immediate" (8 bits to register file, but only 4 bits to I/O bus. 6. XEC - Execute instruction at the location formed by adding the 8- bit immediate field and the contents of a register. 7. NZT - replace the low order 8 bits (or 4 bits if I/O bus is being tested) of the program counter with a literal value if the specified register is nonzero. 8. JMP - unconditionally jump to the 13 bit immediate address. That's it. Thee were some strange conventions with the I/O registers, being designated as "right" and "left" bank which restricted their use in operations. There was one status flag-- overflow--addressable as regiser 8. No interrupts, unless you were fortunate enough to have an 8x310 ICC, which gave you a 4-level stack and 3 interrupts. The 8x310 also gave you some new instructions, implemented by decoding "do nothing" move instructions. You got a PUSH (current PC+2), a RETURN, SET and CLEAR interrupt mask and a clear pending interrupt status. You could use the 310 to implement a CALL by using a PUSH followed by a JMP. But 8x310s were rarely seen. By any measure, the PIC1640 was miles ahead in terms of ease of programming. AFAIK, the relay-based Mark I was the first Harvard architecture machine. Was the 8x300 the first microprocess (maybe too strong a word) to employ Harvard architure? I don't know, but it was an early design. It's interesting to me that, although the PIC claims to have Harvard architure, the model has been violated somewhat in the more advanced PICs. So, for example, members of the PIC18xx series allow for fetching of data values from program memory (TBL instruction) and modifying and re-flashing program memory under program control. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Is there a program to analyze a mag tape

by g-wright＠att.net

I a have a lot of mag tape/cartridge tape that I would like to analyze. I there a program that would write the whole tape then read it back, logging the retries and the errors. - Jerry Jerry Wright JLC inc g-wright at at.net

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by cclist＠sydex.com

I think that many people are overlooking the matter of available techniques and materials in 1900 when supposing a computer operating in the Kops range was possible. No printed-circuitry; indeed, the mode of much electronic construction was busbar-type wiring on a varnished piece of wood. I don't know when enameled "magnet wire" came into production, but the standard for magnet wire for a long time was silk covering. Hookup wire may have been cotton or cambric, with gutta-percha for insulation. Resistors of any precision would likely have been wirewound. Does one need audions for amplification? Consider early telegraph repeaters or even chart recorders (running on a wind-up spring and recording microvolts). Even audio amplification could be achieved using compressed air. At the time, pneumatics were at a pretty high stage of development. Consider the workings of a player piano or pipe organ. But I think the technology that would have been selected in 1900 would have been mechanical or electro-mechanical. Consider, for example, the work of Leonardo Torres Quevedo. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Circuit Cellar CCSEP EPROM programmer

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:24:44 -0500 From: "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at verizon.net> Subject: Re: EPROM programmer On Friday 15 February 2008 04:15, M H Stein wrote: >> The manual has pretty clear instructions for changing the baud rate, up to >> 19.2 (pp. 8&9); you'll need 2x27128 unless you have a second programmer. >Eh? I don't have the manual with mine, but 2x27128 shouldn't be a problem, >I guess. ----- With the version 1 S/W you have to burn a copy of the system ROM first in order to patch it and then burn the final version. Version 2 of the S/W has an option (12) to copy the system ROM to RAM (if you have enough installed) so you only need to burn one 27128. === >> See MCM68764 & MCM68766 (24 pin 8Kx8) >I wasn't aware of these. Though I suppose I'd still need an adapter, for the >programmer? I'll look for some data on them. ---- Not necessarily; the V2 S/W has provisions for user-defined EPROM parameters, but I don't know offhand whether the hardware can accommodate 68754/6s (or 2532s for that matter). mike

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

cctech Digest, Vol 54, Issue 22 (was PIC history)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> IIRC the lead designers were Don Butler and Ken Naife (sp?) and the > manager was Steve Maine (all English to split hairs, although they had > migrated to Long Island from GI in Glenrothes, Scotland) Thank you for the correction. These were all memories that I hadn't thought about since the late 70's. Looking at the data book scans, the 1640 existed well before I spent any time there. I did remember the Glenrothes connection but not much more of the details. The point was that the designers weren't very likely to have any connection with a west coast company (SMS). This all was my first exposure to IC fab and design. Pretty interesting stuff for a kid like me who grew up in rural Wisconsin..

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Digitalker, SP0256, and SC-01 speech chips

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:01:04 -0500 > From: Dave McGuire > Doubtful, as it's just the same architecture, and far from the > same implementation. The 8X30x chips are bipolar, if memory serves. But > either way, I'm not sure what the point would be, aside from possibly > building new boards using an existing 8X30x MSCP implementation. As one who has had the extreme displeasure of programming both the 8X300 and an 8X305, I'd have to say that the two have about as much in common with a PIC as a pocket knife to an CNC EDM system. The instruction sets aren't even close, nor is the data path architecture. In some respects, the bipolar chip has a bit more flexibility (e.g. variable-length operations and an "execute" instruction) even with its limitation of an instruction set of size 8. On the other hand, the PIC1640, developed for the CP1600 in 1976 is clearly recognizable as a cousin to the modern PIC, right down to the W register. The odd thing was that the PIC1640 used a 12-bit instruction word, while the CP1600 used 10 bits of the instruction word, even though it was a 16-bit CPU. The CP1600 wasn't particularly deficient in I/O operations--it simply didn't have any. Couple that with a 1MHz clock and multi-word instructions and you had a very slow system, even compared to a 2MHz 8080. On the other hand, the instruction set was very pleasant and fairly orthogonal--it might remind one of a PDP-11 instruction set. Do you have a cite that states that the PIC1640 is a direct descendent of the SMS 300? Microchip certainly doesn't admit it--and I'd be hard pressed to find the similarity beyond both being Harvard architecture binary CPUs. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:38:24 +0100 (CET) > From: Christian Corti > And what's special about that? Historically a "computer" is a person who > does computations (what else?), this job description may well originate > from the 19th century. And a "compiler" generally is/was an insult for > someone, mostly for scientists/students and the like, because that meant > that they "compiled" their work mostly/completely from foreign texts. Indeed. I recall that the preface to the ANSI FORTRAN specifications >from at least F77 state that no attempt is being made to specify what is meant by a "computer" and that it could well be a human being. I'm not sure, but I think the CODASYL documents say the same thing. I also recall a dialogue with one of the WWII codebreakers where the "Computer Room" was where the folks using pencil and paper and comptometers worked. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

cctech Digest, Vol 54, Issue 22

by Bob.Adamson＠sli-institute.ac.uk

Al Kossov said: > That seems highly unlikely. The PIC was being worked on at GI on > Long Island when I was doing a project for GI in the late 70's on > a CP-1600 system. The designers were Scottish. I tried to convince them > to make the architecture more like the 1600's (ie. PDP-11 like) because > I thought the 11 was a better architecture than what they were coming up > with. IIRC the lead designers were Don Butler and Ken Naife (sp?) and the manager was Steve Maine (all English to split hairs, although they had migrated to Long Island from GI in Glenrothes, Scotland) who had earlier worked on the Mattel games chips. This design team was earlier the top end of the Hughes Microelectronics design group based in Weybridge (where I also worked) but split off to join the embryonic GI in Glenrothes. The GI Glenrothes facility was actually started up by a breakaway group of the bulk of the senior management of Elliots Microelectronics also in Glenrothes when GEC took the decision to move the facility south and amalgamate it with some other scraps of GEC's empire. Oddly I also worked for both Elliott's and later GEC's microelectronics companies - a small incestuous world in those days. The PIC at that time was an nmos design and the first of the cmos family was still being worked on when I left GI in 1982. regards Bob Adamson

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Computer in 1900

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Where was all the technology in 1900? Railways - Signaling systems, Switches(Points) control. Warships - Gun control and ranging. Navigation. Telephone systems Wireless There must have been something computer like in that lot somewhere. -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of woodelf Sent: 15 February 2008 14:54 To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Computer in 1900 Brent Hilpert wrote: > To be realisitic about what might have been accomplished in 1900 the > whole issue of building a large system of hundreds/thousands of > components needs to be looked at more seriously. Will raised the issue > for tubes, but it applies to all the other components as well, > regarding reliability, uniformity and stability of characteristics. > The idea of building such large systems was considered daunting or > simply implausible even in the 1940's, after decades of development of components - even regarding something as seemingly simple as resistors. I think at one time you could get resistors with a 50% range of tolarance when they first came out, say around the 1900's. > Or, for example, solid-state diodes: the discovery may have been made > in 1874, but in the early 1900s the only thing actually available > (TMK) was the cat's whisker (a tad finicky) - forget about building > anything utilising more than a couple of them. And you piss off the cat making your diode. > Then there's achieving a stable power supply. Well you would have your own power plant -- coal, gas ( as in gas lamps) or hydro-electric. > ..so, depends on where you want to draw the line between concept and practice. > > The principles/theory of digital systems implementation may be > straighforward, the practical reality when dealing with > unreliable/variable components isn't so (including tubes); in > particular if you don't have some heavily-non-linear device to base > your basic gate design around. In 1900 there was very little in the > electrical domain that was reliable or consistent for the purposes being discussed. >

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

My DEC Collection and wish list

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Its a while since my last update so here's my current collection. RAINBOW Rainbow Fully working on CP/M and DOS but the VR201 has the mould spot problem. Doin' a bit of work here. The tube has a glass faceplate held on by a thick (1/8") layer of silicone clear adhesive. That's where the spots are. Anybody know of a solvent for this stuff? PDP8 DECMate III - Boots but I have no software for it. PDP-11 11/94 x 2 but CPU boards missing and too expensive to buy. I have a vague idea about DEC emulator running on a PC board with a PCI to QBUS bridge. (ie Fake it!!) PRO350 Runs POS ok PRO380 This weekends project. VAX VAX Station 3100 - Runs DEC windows but I need to reset the system password 4000 M200 Running VMS 7.3 but Ethernet I/F not working 4000 M300 Was Running VMS 7.3 but will not fully boot (A VMS reload I think!) 4000 M500 Top Door ,CPU board, Drives and Console section front panel missing. VT's VT240 VT320 VT330 VT420 A ton of DEC Documentation. Rod Smallwood The DecCollector.

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

> And what's special about that? Historically a "computer" is a person who > does computations (what else?), this job description may well originate > from the 19th century. Yes, it does. I believe it was in use in Babbage's time. France did a really big project to compute sets of tables, and they had a big workforce of computers to draw on. It seems that a lot of hairdressers were idle because the powdered wigs had fallen out of favor. BLS

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:58:20 -0600 > From: Jules Richardson > Interesting - I need to properly digest that (and see if I can get at the > diagrams anywhere; maybe that's a pay service). Interesting that it was > from the Long Now lot, too. It's all online at http://www.uspto.gov Don't fall for those services offering to sell you copy. It's all there on the gummint site. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

EPROM programmer

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:57:08 -0500 From: "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at verizon.net> Subject: Re: EPROM programmer On Friday 15 February 2008 01:46, Ethan Dicks wrote: > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 01:11:23AM -0500, Roy J. Tellason wrote: > > I have the 8052-BASIC based one that Steve Ciarcia had in an article in > > Byte, and that uses a serial connection. Only at 1200 baud, though, > > for some reason. > > 4K doesn't take _that_ long to push over 1200 bps... No, it doesn't. It's just a minor annoyance, which is probably why I only gripe about it every now and then nad hvaen't really gotten around to doing anything about it... :-) ----------------- The manual has pretty clear instructions for changing the baud rate, up to 19.2 (pp. 8&9); you'll need 2x27128 unless you have a second programmer. ======== > > Replacing a CBM Kernal ROM is going to need an adapter, as the eprom has > > more pins. Are you into making those or do you know of a source for > > them? > > Depending on which model of CBM you have, there's a no-adapter solution: > for PETs that take 2332 ROMs (i.e., *not* the old Static PETs), the 2532 > is a drop-in EPROM. Not the 2732... the 2532. I have a few of them, some > from the old days (with PET firmware on them) and a few blanks that I've > picked up over the years when I was already ordering from some place like > B.G. Micro. > > I had a $C000 BASIC ROM die in my first PET (the one I got new, when I was > a kid)... there's now a 2532 in its place. Hmm. I wasn't thinking PET as much as C64, when I wrote that. The ROMs in that one were all 24-pin parts, a 4K character rom and the BASIC and Kernal being 8K, which would need a 2764. -------------- See MCM68764 & MCM68766 (24 pin 8Kx8) mike

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Vector Graphics / Vector 4 on e-bay.

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

For those interested in S-100 stuff, I stumbled across this on e-bay - 270210911327 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270210911327 As info. . . . ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Yamaha MSX CX5M Mouse

by jzg22＠drexel.edu

Afaik the MSX ports, while also DE9, are NOT compatible with the standard atari/commodore/sega joystick ports. A few pins were moved around. Blame Microsoft. (from http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickMsx_pinout.shtml) Pin MSX Atari/Commodore/etc 1 /FORWARD /FORWARD or mouse XA* 2 /BACK /BACK or mouse XB* 3 /LEFT /LEFT or mouse YB* 4 /RIGHT /RIGHT or mouse YA* 5 +5V POT Y 6 /BTN1 or OUT1 /BTN1 or Light Pen 7 /BTN2 or OUT2 +5V 8 OUT3 GND 9 GND /BTN2 or POT X * the encoding of these 4 bits for mice-trackball varied between manufacturer and sometimes even between products (see CX-44 vs CX-80 trackballs by atari) -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(@t)hotmail(d0t)com jzg22(@t)drexel(d0t)edu

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Vintage Computer Marketplace. . .

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

Actually, I was only aware of http://www.vintagecomputermarketplace.com . . . Never heard of the shortened version. . . . ;-) ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

doppleganger.org, c4expo2007

by fu3.org＠gmail.com

Just in case this hasn't been through the circulation, or this isn't someone already on the list: http://www.doppleganger.org/c4expo2007.html (Nice pictures. Too modern, perhaps.) -- < http://whorehou.se/ >

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Vintage Computer Marketplace. . .

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

The domain registration expired on February 5th, and hasn't been (posted as) renewed as of yet. At least that's what the nice little page says when you try to go there. ;-) Just thought I'd mention it, since I hadn't heard any updates in a while. At least now we know. . . T ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com

18 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

Vintage Computer Marketplace. . .

by marvin＠west.net

I told Sellam that bringing it up sooner rather than later would be good, especially with the new uproar at ebay about both outrageous fee increases for most sellers, and the new feedback perversion as dictated by ebay. A number of sellers (and buyer/sellers) are looking for other venues (again) and this would be a *VERY* appropriate time to be up, running, and advertising!!! > From: Lyle Bickley <lbickley at bickleywest.com> > On Wednesday 13 February 2008 22:45, tiggerlasv at aim.com wrote: > > It looks like the domain name registration for VCM hasn't been > > renewed. > > There's no problem with the domain registration. As Sellam mentioned > a while back on this list, he's in the process of completely redoing > the Vintage Computer Marketplace site. > > > Is it coming back? > > In about a month...

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

PIC history

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Do you have a cite that states that the PIC1640 is a direct > descendent of the SMS 300? That seems highly unlikely. The PIC was being worked on at GI on Long Island when I was doing a project for GI in the late 70's on a CP-1600 system. The designers were Scottish. I tried to convince them to make the architecture more like the 1600's (ie. PDP-11 like) because I thought the 11 was a better architecture than what they were coming up with.

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Vintage Computer Marketplace. . .

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

It looks like the domain name registration for VCM hasn't been renewed. Is it coming back? ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

IBM 6094 Lighted Programmable Function Keypad - bulk buy on eBay

by us21090＠yahoo.com

I'd be interested in a couple and could probably swing the purchase of the lot. Now of course, it all depends on: How high the auction price goes. How much the interested cctalkers are willing to pay for their X number of units. There's a some discussion needed, so we ought to take this off list, right? Scott Austin us21090 at yahoo.com ----- Original Message ---- From: "listmailgoeshere at gmail.com" <listmailgoeshere at gmail.com> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 1:00:35 PM Subject: IBM 6094 Lighted Programmable Function Keypad - bulk buy on eBay Hi cctalkers, The 6094 LPFK has been discussed on this list before (see thread "IBM 6094-020 Lighted Program Function Keys"). I notice that there's a bulk lot of 19 of them on ePay (see 180215874744) - now, I don't want 19, but I'd like one. I'm sure there are others on this list who would as well. Who else is game? This seller will only ship to the US, so someone within the US (I'm not) would need to receive them and reship - I'll happily pay a few $ on top of the onward postage for the trouble. Any volunteers? Ed. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

HP1000/A600 Help and docs and sw needed!

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi folks, I have a HP1000/A600 machine sitting here at my place. And no clue where to start using it. I have the following stuff: - A600CPU, containing: * 2 serial interfaces (12005/...10) * 1 sandwich "32 channel MUX/12 bit ADC" * parallel port * HPIB interface * some other serial MUXes - 7908 HPIB Tape cartridge/Disk combination - 9133 HPIB 3,5" Floppy (with disk inside as well??) - 3292A serial Terminal (newer) - 2648A serial Terminal (older) - 12966-60008 serial cable for the terminal (is that right?) - 7978 HPIB 9-Track 1/2" tape drive - 7958B HPIB disk drive - HP6000 670H HPIB disk drive - A LOT of software manuals but no hardware manual. I have already found the only document at hp.com that told me something about select codes, switch settings etc. But nothing about cable pinouts etc. I tried my 2648 terminal with the cable, without success. Perhaps my terminal is broken or - what I think - the cable pinout is incompatible to the "new" A600. What should I do with all that stuff? I will have to decide what to do with my HP stuff, because I need to reassign my collection's priorities with respect to the LAB 8/e that will drop in next week. If I don't have any fun with the stuff, it will go to eBay/scrapyard (the latter is where I got most of it). Who knows how to make a serial cable? Who has software for me? Who knows how to get software from my PC/Sparc (short: modern world) into the HP gear? Who has docs? Bitsavers seems to have nothing about the A series. I powered up the CPU. Depending on the switch settings, the diagnostic LEDs say "bootloader running" or "VCP running". So the system should be in a somewhat usable state. Further when I remove the first serial card (which is in nearly factory settings, including VCP break enabled), the diagnostic LEDs tell me about some error. So I hope that the system already talks to the right port. I also powered up the 7906 tape/disk cobination. It makes some funny sounds and after a while, it shows me a "P" on its little LED display in the back. Some HP manual told me that this is a good sign, "P" for "passed". Also I have been told that there is an installed RTE on the disk. But I have no GPIB cable yet. And the GPIB connector looks rather different than on my HP1000/E (for which I have a cable). Thank you for every kind of information, I am excitedly looking forward for replies. Best wishes from Alfeld/Germany, Philipp :-) P.S.: I also have two HP1000/E machines and a lot of cards sitting around here. Perhaps I could hook the disks up to them? I never did anything useful with them - except hooking up a terminal and entering 4-word test programs via front panel (which worked). Any other ideas what to do with these machines?

18 years, 6 months

3
6
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:56:25 -0500 My vote, considering old technology would be for mechanical (and possibly pneumatic). Mechanical read-write memories have existed for a long time (think about the adjustable combination action on a pipe organ). Read-only memories are possibly even older (Jacquard looms, player pianos, music boxes). Mechanisms for performing addition and subtraction are also very old. By 1850, fine precision machining had progressed pretty far along. But Will's right--in 1906, electronics was very primitive, particularly in terms of controlling device characteristics. Remember that spark-gap transmitters overlapped the discovery of thermionic electronic devices by quite a few years, mostly due to--I suspect--power-handling capabilities and general reliability. Incidentally, I ran across a 2001 US patent for a mechanical bit- serial adder (6249485). Very clever. But could one have a computer that could execute conditional branches and modify its own program? Yes, I think so--consider program storage arranged as pins set in concentric circles on the surface of a rotating disc. One could certainly devise a method of skipping instructions until a certain pin had been encountered. Similarly, if a register could be implemented to hold a single instruction word, instructions could be implemented to store into it and execute it. For what little it's worth. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Digitalker, SP0256, and SC-01 speech chips (was Re: Digitalker Information)

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------Original Message: Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 07:53:22 +0000 From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at usap.gov> Subject: Re: Digitalker, SP0256, and SC-01 speech chips (was Re: Digitalker Information) On Tue, Feb 05, 2008 at 01:33:42AM -0500, Roy J. Tellason wrote: > On Sunday 03 February 2008 16:54, Scanning wrote: > > Pete, > > > > The SP0256 had the best sounding speech I think ( it uses twice as many > > speech sounds ( 128 allophones ? ) as the SC-01 only had 64 phonemes )). 59 Allophones plus 6 pauses, according to the datasheet. <snip> -ethan ---------Reply: I built a speech synthesizer for my PETs many years ago using the SP2056; nothing to it. I also used a Votrax PSS to announce users logging in to a Cromemco "BBS" and today still have a PC with an SP0256 announcing Caller ID info on incoming calls; not really that much difference in the sound. Keep in mind that the SP0256 is only an allophone generator; although there were expansion ROMs available, for text-to-speech you needed something like the CTS256-AL2, which was a PIC (yes, GI made PICs in the '70s!) programmed as an ASCII > allophone processor (unless you were only speaking pre-programmed sequences which you could hard-code in your program). mike

18 years, 6 months

5
6
0 0

Oldest operational computer

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:58:35 -0500 From: "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Oldest operational computer >I am sitting here, reading this thread, and am astounded by what >people think tubes could do back in 1906. It would have been >*impossible* to make any sort of computing device using the technology >of the time. You would have better luck porting OS/2 to a 709. --- Are you sure it hasn't been done? After all, apparently OS/2 was ported to some other unlikely platforms...;-) m

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Oldest operational computer was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 54,

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

From: bpope at wordstock.com (Bryan Pope) > > So if one or more of its lights are burnt out, is it no longer operational? > <ducks, runs and hides under the nearest flameproof and > thermonuclearproof boulder> Well, now that you mention it... It's probably been several years since I bored everyone with this story. Way back when I was in college a large electronics company donated an old hybrid computer. I was the only person on campus who had much interest in it, so I started working to get it up and running. I started with the analog computer, and things seemed to go pretty well. But there was one problem. It would never switch from initial condition mode to operate mode. So I'm sitting there pouring over the schematics trying to figure out what could be wrong, when it hit me, and I sat there saying, "no, they didn't." I had realized that one of the indicator lamps had burned out, but I figured that'd be something I'd worry about once it was up and running. But they used the voltage drop across the bulb as a pull-up. So the computer literally did not operate because of a burned out light bulb. When I replaced the bulb, it worked just fine. BLS

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

MSX Joystick

by sbolton＠bfree.on.ca

I see the pinouts online but haven't checked to > see if it's compatible with a standard Atari type joystick. >Sure it is! > Interesting how MSX devices are unknown here...They are so popular in >Brazil! That's just how it goes! OK second part of my question then: what about the mouse? What other more easily obtainable mouse would work on the MSX machine? Commodore made mice with 9-pin connectors for the C64 but I doubt it would work or the Amiga one .... and of course, the "serial" mouse from a PC I would expect won't work as well. Or....I guess more easily does anyone out there have an MSX compatible mouse they'd like to sell me for the museum? Thanks No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.4/1277 - Release Date: 2/13/2008 8:00 PM

18 years, 6 months

3
3
0 0

Heath ET-3400 Trainer Simulator SW

by James＠jdfogg.com

> Dave, > > He's probably a starving student like we were at one time and doesn't have > a > lot of disposable cash. And beer is expensive. > > I sent him the "free" simulator. An ET-3400A un-built kit just sold for > $355 > on Ebay ! The " A" has 1024 bytes of RAM vs 256. > > I think your price is off by about a factor of 10 based on what I've seen. > If you find one that cheap ( $10 - $20 ) I'll buy it ! > > Best regards, Steven > I believe the premium for this particular deal was its un-built state. The ET-3400 is common and inexpensive. I think I'll go buy one myself, since I have a fondness for them since my freshman college course used one. I find any un-built Heathkit has significantly more value.

18 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

Oldest operational computer was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue 23

by evan＠snarc.net

Assuming Charles meant a "real" computer -- not a human or slide rule -- then I bet the answer is some kind of analog computer. -----Original Message----- From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subj: Re: Oldest operational computer was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue 23 Date: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:31 pm Size: 173 bytes To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> On Wed, 13 Feb 2008, Charles H Dickman wrote: > So what is the oldest computer still operational? Meaningless question, until you DEFINE: "Oldest" "computer" "operational"

18 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

PC-magazine and Byte still need to go

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I've contacted someone (you know who you are) with contact information to pick up this collection of PC-magazine and Byte in Pasadena. I just got an email from the owner's widow that this someone has not yet phoned her. They need to be gone by the 16th or else they get recycled. I'm sorry to have to do it this way, but I need someone on this list who lives in the Los Angeles area who wants the mags to contact me ASAP so we can get these magazines picked up. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

18 years, 6 months

2
3
0 0

Heath ET-3400 Trainer Simulator SW

by ddb77＠iinet.net.au

Steven I have recently started to study microprocessor fundamentals and have been trying to find this simulator. Would it be possible for you to send me a copy of it if you still have it. Kind Regards Daniel Baldacchino

18 years, 6 months

6
10
0 0

Oldest operational computer was Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 54, Issue

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

> Not completely on topic, but my boss wishes to build a computer using > modern knowledge, but only materials, IO etc that existed as at 1st Jan > 1900. The basic premise is that had a need existed, and they knew how > to make one, could have it been done. Well, if 1900 isn't on topic, I don't know what is :-) >... > This is to be a real computer, stored program, RAM, ALU etc. Ian has > already built 2 of those by hand, one with TTL and one with 4000A CMOS, > so has some idea of how to do it (personally I'd just get a micro), but > he has the determination and the resources complete this. I'll keep > the list posted if there is any interest. I'll bet there are several of us that are interested. But beyond that, I think you win the award for the coolest job. Now, if I could only figure out how to get FedEx to want to do something like that... BLS

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Varisystems, Compugraphic

by gavon.balharry＠idi-middleware.com

Hi Bill, I am Gavon Balharry. I was at a customer site in Switzerland, where we took delivery of a Varisystems 16K system in 1974. In May 1976 we bought two 32K Varicomposers. I dumped out the program and decoded it (P16 assembler language) - managed to fix various problems it had and extended the system with some new functionality. Bob Shevlin, who had created it, and was the only one really able to program it hired me in September 1996. I worked for 13 months full time for him at Shefra Graphics out of Slough in the UK. I travelled all over Europe, and even to NZ, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Hawaii - customizing systems wherever I went. I returned to work with Bobst Graphics in USA starting 4th July 1979. There I wrote the Arabic/English or French version. I was one of three who remained with Bobst Graphics when they closed the American plant at the end of February 1981. I stayed on with Bobst Graphics at Mex, near Lausanne in Switzerland. Before long we were taken over by Autologic from California. I lasted till May 1984, having written front-end systems for typesetting most of the languages of India - using the 1200 system, programming in Z80. I guess I know about as much as anyone could (after Bob Shevlin) about the system, its programs, and all. I even have quite a library of program listings. Just that it has been a while ago. Please contact me, and I can fill you in with whatever details you may need. Best regards, Gavon Balharry Managing director Information Design Ltd Liab Co (registered in Switzerland)

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Yamaha CX5 stash on eBay

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

you won't have any competition from me at least :( http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-MSX-CX5M-FD-05-Drives-Discs-in-Original-Box_W0QQ… ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

18 years, 6 months

5
9
0 0

Yamaha MSX CX5M Mouse

by sbolton＠bfree.on.ca

All this talk about the floppy drives for the Yamaha made me wonder--has anyone out there plugged anything other than an official MU-01 mouse or joystick into this device? I see the pinouts online but haven't checked to see if it's compatible with a standard Atari type joystick. Anybody had any luck or even attempt this? We have one of these at the Personal Computer Museum (www.pcmuseum.ca) but we do not have the drives or a mouse. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.4/1275 - Release Date: 2/12/2008 3:20 PM

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

tape drives

by rtellason＠verizon.net

I've been contacted by a guy who has some stuff to get rid of, he'd rather see it put to good use than end up in a landfill. Of the gear he's mentioned, a couple of things might be of interest to the folks here. I've put two pics online: http://mysite.verizon.net/rtellason/HP%20tape%20transport_2.JPG http://mysite.verizon.net/rtellason/six%20ft%20rack%205.jpg (I hope I got these right, if they don't work please let me know!) The equipment is located in northern Wisconsin. There's more to come, and I'll be hearing about it in email sometime soon, but I'm not hurrying him as he said something about it being -22F there the morning he sent me the first set of pics. Yikes! :-) -- Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" - Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin

18 years, 6 months

4
7
0 0

MSX stuff, the Yeno, etc.

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

Are MSX computes standard w/regards to their floppy interface? Are they interchangeable I guess is what I'm asking. There are more Yenos in Australia, from the same guy who sold me mine. Just do a search, you'll find them. He gives you a BASIC cartridge, and 2 *blanks* (ram carts, I don't know what else they could be, (4) 4116-15s, (2)74LS157s or -257 (man my memory), and a 74LS32). I haven't had the opportunity to fire one up, so I don't know what kind of rom is onboard, but there's got to be something. Maybe these ram carts are meant to be used with a disk subsystem. Otherwise it doesn't make much sense. I'm looking around for info... Nope, said to be inoperable w/o a cartridge. So what good do ram carts do ya? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

WTB External 8inch floppy

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Does anyone have an external (boxed) 8 inch floppy drive for sale. I'd prefer DSDD but wont get too choosy. This can be US or Europe. Pretty much anything considered. Please contact off list. Thanks Ian. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Victor 9000 (Sirius 1) Computer Collection - $40 - in Fayetteville, NC

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Saw this in Craigslist: http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/sys/541401232.html ------------- Date: 2008-01-16, 5:13PM EST (two weeks ago...) 2 Victor 9000 machines, one in pieces but complete, one has hard drive and touch screen (super rare), other is dual floppy. This is the same computer that was marketed in europe as the Sirius 1. I have a ton of books and software for them. MUST GO SOON! --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

MFM drive rescue

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

If it's one of the Tantalum-type "blasting caps" then there isn't much of an issue, provided that the board isn't damaged. It's probably a bypass cap, so the drive might even run without it, and there is quite a range of things that will work just fine. Pull one that's close (and meets the voltage ratings) off of one of your scrap boards (don't worry, Tony - nothing too nice in mine, mostly PC stuff).

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Syquest/Iomega removable cartridge drive interfaces

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:59:28 -0500 > From: "Roy J. Tellason" > Unreliable? Hmm. Very. I had a couple and tossed the drives, but kept the drive boxes- with-PSU. As someone has mentioned, the drive had an odd form factor, but the boxes could hold a 3.5" drive if you didn't mind a few gaps. OTOH, the Bernoulli boxes were very reliable. I fired up a dual 90MB unit here the other day--worked just fine. Heavy bugger, though. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

error with tapecopy writing, buffer to small ???

by g-wright＠att.net

I have been playing with Eric Smith "TapeCopy" and some cartridge tapes.After reading them, when I try to write them, I get an error message that the tape image is too long for the for the 32768 byte buffer . I'm running it on a linux machine ver is RedHat 7.2. Not to sure why ??? tapes where DC600 (60 Meg). - jerry Jerry Wright JLC inc g-wright at att.net

18 years, 6 months

4
3
0 0

The "who lives where" map...

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

> Location is close enough for this purpose. > My question is, who is blstuart (Brian Stuart) and why is his pin blue ? > > I want a Big Blue pin to mark the home of IBMcollectables.com :-) That's me. It went blue when I went into the profile editing and marked my gender as male. It's not an indication that I'm a collector of classic IBM gear. Of course, I would be if I had the space and some good pieces came my way... BLS

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

The "who lives where" map...

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

From: "John Floren" <slawmaster at gmail.com> > > On Feb 12, 2008 9:01 AM, Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote: > > John Floren wrote: > > > > Seems to be broken in Firefox - the 'move this pin' doesn't work, and putting > > my zip code in gives me an "Are you in...?" question but with no yes/no > > buttons to click on :-) > > Don't know what version you're using, but my Firefox (2.0.0.10) is > working just fine. I even tested "Move this pin" and had no problems. Don't know if this is anyone else's problem, but the first time I tried, I tried to drag the pin, and that didn't work. But if I clicked where I wanted it, then it jumped there. BLS

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Plans for Simon Relay Computer (was: Re: Does Anyone Have A)

by Johan.Iversen＠uk.fujitsu.com

Hi Bill, I don know if you can help me, I have been scanning the web for info about simon the relay computer and you came up in a forum, link shown below http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2002-April/064845.html <http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2002-April/064845.html> and I was wondering did you find the CD and if so would it be possible to have a copy ? regards johan

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Antique HP N3390 memory size?

by onymouse＠garlic.com

Have a HP N3390 laptop, 8 years old. An antique... I was told by HP that the maximum physical RAM it could use is 128Mb. I have 256Mb now. Need more. Anyone happen to know the real max physical RAM capacity? Want 1Gb+++ if possible. Thanks. == jd

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Syquest/Iomega removable cartridge drive interfaces of early 80's

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

C Sullivan writes: > Tim Shoppa wrote: >> I seem to recall a S-100 product I once owned called "XOR/IOMega". >> Don't >> know if it's the same thing. > Interesting Google hit along those lines: http://www.nelsonit.net/~jon/info-cpm/1986/04/10/171835.html > Quote: >>I hope someone can help me. Does anyone have an S-100 bus CP/M computer >>manufactured by XOR with IOMega 10 meg cartridge drives. In my head I cannot always keep clear the distinction between the early 80's IOMega and the early 80's Syquest removable cartridge drives. Am I correct in remembering that the Syquests of that time used the 34/20 pin MFM-hard-drive "ST506" interface? Were all the early 80's IOmega's SCSI or did they use something before that? Syquests were always 5.25" or smaller form factors, is that right? Any 8" things I'm remembering are probably Bernoulli Box carts? Tim.

18 years, 6 months

6
6
0 0

80C32 emulation?

by gordonjcp＠gjcp.net

Offtopic-ish, but does anyone know of a good 80C32 emulator for Linux? There seem to be a lot of closed-source ones for Windows, but since there's no apparent way to add specific emulated devices to them I can't see how useful they'd be for what I'm doing. Gordon

18 years, 6 months

6
10
0 0

MFM drive rescue

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

I have a Newbury NDR 1105 drive I'm keen to rescue. On its last use the drive spun up normally but after a few minutes there was an impresive flash and smoke. On inspection the only thing that seems to have burned out is a surface mount capacitor - although quite a large one (10u). The contents of the disk are quite valuable in that they hold a late copy of the 'colour card' edition of 42nix, a Whitechapel Workstation OS. I'd like to archive that if possible. Any tips for rescue? I've managed to remove the burnt out capacitor and can replace it. There appears to be no other damage on the board apart from some scorching to the PCB. Thanks Ian. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

18 years, 6 months

4
3
0 0

my old machines in France (Intertechnique Multi 4

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:38:09 -0800 > From: jim s > Both the Multi 8 and the Multi 6 Alain found were licensed designs of > Microdata systems. The Multi 4 that he has excellent photos of is a 1600, > which is documented on bitsavers.org under Microdata and 1600. > > I believe, but do not have proof yet of that the Multi 8 was an 800. I am > researching that thru some of the original Microdata people who were there > when the deals were done. Going back to Alain's web page, I see that now--thanks for pointing it out. Do you know if the Multi 4 is a "strict" implementation of the 1600? That is, does is contain any unique "enhancements" over the 1600? I recall an associate who had worked with the Microdata Reality systems in the insurance industry who was very fond of them. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

S100 SCSI board?

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

David writes: > I found an S100 board in a file folder labeled "IOMEGA SCSI HOST". The > board itself says "I OMEGA HOST ADAPTER" and a part number "AMSEC > 670-1185". Does anyone here know if this really might be an S100 SCSI > board and if the IOMEGA we all know had anything to do with it? The Iomega Bernoulli Box was very early 80's. And Iomega had been around doing some S-100 and other mini-compatible stuff for a couple of years before the Bernoulli Box. Some of their early products were like SyQuest's early 80's cartridge drive offerings... but as far as I know not exactly compatible. I seem to recall a S-100 product I once owned called "XOR/IOMega". Don't know if it's the same thing. Remember when a Mega of anything was a lot? Talking about other companies that are still around... every time I drive by EMC's local office complex I think about the PDP-11 and Nova EMC memory boards I have. It's amazing, 30 years later and the logo is just the same, although the company itself seems to have completely forgotten anything before the mid-90's. Tim.

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

DEC 1994 MDS (was Re: Dec Documents)

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Jason T wrote: >> http://www.carnagevisors.net/dec94mds/ so hopefully if anyone needs these >> you can browse. >Well, that's huge. Thanks! Who did the original translations to .txt format? The DEC 1994 MDS CD-ROM contained postscript and text documents. It was perhaps the most complete classiccmp-wise of all the DEC MDS issues. I converted the postscript to PDF many years ago (pretty much just ghostscript's ps2pdf) and made the index you see today. The text documents are pretty much as they were straight on the CD-ROM. Tim.

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Dec Documents

by cvisors＠gmail.com

Hi, Many years ago I put up my mirror of a load of dec documents on http://www.openvms-rocks.com/~cvisors/ but this has been slow or down of late, but i have now put them back on my own site http://www.carnagevisors.net/dec94mds/ so hopefully if anyone needs these you can browse. If you want a copy of all of them (a 300+meg tar.gz file) just yell and I will torrent the file. As always Ivy Jane Gardiner -- kisses on the dancefloor in my past i need some comfort just like you beating like a bass drum time goes by i want the last dance just like you Covenant - Bullet

18 years, 6 months

2
2
0 0

my old machines in France

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:33:13 +0100 > From: "nierveze" Very nice find, Alain! Do you have any information about the instruction set for this machine? Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

added some more cool pics online in the gallery with SEL computers from the 60's and 70's

by ragooman＠comcast.net

I added some more cool pics from the 60's and 70's with SEL computers in the gallery Polaris Missile Data Acquisition system, 1963 Vandenberg AFB Space and Missile Center, 1978, (declassified photos only) Flight Simulator, 1967, SEL 816A Computer Graphics system http://www2.applegate.org/~ragooman/computers_mini_gallery.html Feel free to take a look =Dan

18 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

S100 SCSI board?

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I found an S100 board in a file folder labeled "IOMEGA SCSI HOST". The board itself says "I OMEGA HOST ADAPTER" and a part number "AMSEC 670-1185". Does anyone here know if this really might be an S100 SCSI board and if the IOMEGA we all know had anything to do with it? It is for sale, in case anyone's interested. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

can anyone recommend a good DOS based jpeg viewer

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

preferably one where you can opt for a window into a large image, one that's bigger then the screen. I've tried a few and they're all goofy. If I have to write my own someone is going to pay... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

18 years, 6 months

7
9
0 0

How compatible were "MS-DOS Compatible" machines?

by cclist＠sydex.com

> Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 23:13:55 +0800 > From: "Mike Shields" > One of those cheezy sales videos: (yo! ms raps) > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmEvPZUdAVI Thanks for the video--I acually managed to watch the whole thing without falling asleep. I note from the comments on the video that some think that this was a commercial, but it's just one of the many cheezy sales promos of the time. At least it was halfway entertaining and not dull, dull, dull like so many others. Cheers, Chuck (BTW, I use the term "cheezy" with a "z", as using an "s" would imply a relationship to an edible and quite delicious food product.)

18 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

IMSAI toggle-in program

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Can someone point me towards a listing for some programs that I can toggle into an IMSAI 8080? I have a couple to sell and would like to be able to state that I've run something on them. I've heard repeated references to a "catch the dot" program, but google isn't being very helpful. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 6 months

2
2
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb