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

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =200084143494&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1 ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

19 years, 6 months

2
2
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cctalk Digest, Vol 43, Issue 5

by dm561＠torfree.net

From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: place your bets To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <20070303100354.K76450 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 3 Mar 2007, Chris M wrote: > For fun, how's about we create a list of units that > had 8" drives. Off the top of my head: <snippage> Cromemco CDOS Cromemco Z2 (Micah) .... There are a lot more. .......... ------------------------------ AFAIK 8" drives for the Z2 were all third-party; however, the System 3 and 300 were stock 8" drive systems, first the dual Persci's and later Tandon TM 848's. mike

19 years, 6 months

1
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B.M.S. tape format

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

This is on-topic if you think the HP9830 is a computer :-) I'v been thinking about the internal cassette tape drive of that machine, with particular refeerence to being able to read/write the tapes in some other machine. By chance I was looking at the technical manual for the Racal Thermionic (the company name, it doesn't use valves!) Digideck P72. This unit has obvious similarites to internal tape drive on the HP9830, in fact some mechanical parts will interchange between the 2 units. Anyway, it appears the data format is very similar too. There are 2 tracks on the tape. A pules on one track is a '0'. A pulse on the other track is a '1'. And a pules on both tracks together is a marker. The format of a byte on the taoe is M b b b b f b b b b M Where 'M' is a marker (and both markers are part of a given byte, by default, therefrore, there are 2 markers between the data bits of adjacent bytes on the tape), 'b' is a bit of the data byte and 'f' is a flag bit. The flag bit, being in the middle, appears in the same position in the serial-parallel conversion shift register no matter wheter the tape is moving forwards or backwards. I think HP used it to identify the bytes in the fiule header or something. It's not chear whether HP record 2 markers between each byte, or just one. But the Digideck can do either. Anyway, the Racal manual refers to this as 'B.M.S. format'. Has anyone heard of this? A google search doesn't find anyhting that looks relevant. -tony

19 years, 6 months

1
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ASR33 Partsbook and Facit 4070 manual

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

>From time to time I get asked about the Teletype ASR33 Parts List (much harder to find than the other 2 volumes of the maintenance manual) and the service documentation for the Facit 4070 paper tape punch (which was used by just about all computer manuafacturers in the early 1970s...) I was poking around on www.hpmuseum.net and _both_ are on that site. The trick is that : HP2752A == ASR33 and HP2895A == Facit 4070 with HP modifications (an extra interface PCB, etc) In the fromer case the 3 volumes of the Teletype docs are available to download separately (the HP manual just gives the modifications to make it HP-compatible, and the schematics), tin the latter case there is one manual, most of which is the Facit service docs and parts lists. -tony

19 years, 6 months

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FW: Re: old rare diskdrives?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Al Kossow wrote: > > > I have see some disk drives on your homepage and want to ask you if > > > sale the magnetic and coils from the old diskdrives? > > > > no > > Hear hear!! > > Peace... Sridhar > -- html links to eBay auctions clipped. "magnetic and coils from the old diskdrives" aren't what you'll find in commodity discs today. I assume he's asking about linear motors >from large drives, circa '85 and earlier, which have mostly gone into landfills. A linear motor from an early 80's drive is on the order of 4" x 8" with a pretty massive casting.

19 years, 6 months

20
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place your bets

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: place your bets > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:08:57 -0800 (PST) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Are there ANY 30 year old computer companies that didn't? >(not counting "consumer electronics" companies :) > Apple! While there were add on 8" drives Apple started with 5.25. I'm sure there are others. Allison

19 years, 6 months

1
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Geek Art Show

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

A local Art museum here in the Houston area is putting on a Geek Art showing in August and connected me for ideas and possible help. Is there anyone on the list living in this area that may have some computer generated art or any art that would be willing to loan out for the show? Contact me off list if you like to help out. Any suggests from the list on what you would like to see in a geek art show let me know also. Thanks for your time, John Keys

19 years, 6 months

1
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OT: How do I flash an ATI Rage 128 GL for a PC?

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

Apologies for being off-topic. Please reply to me directly, and not the list. I've got an ATI Rage 128 GL 16MB PCI video card from a B&W Mac G3. I put it in my Dell Precision 530 workstation, CentOS 4.4 Linux recognizes it, but no video comes out. Not even when I tell the BIOS to use that instead of the AGP card. Looks like I need to change the firmware from the Mac version to PC. Searching on Google so far hasn't turned up anything. Anybody know where to look? Or does anyone have a comparable video card for trade/gift? -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes "...Talking to you is like clapping with one hand." Anthrax, "Caught in a mosh"

19 years, 6 months

1
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HP 21MX/F and OS choices (was Lookee what I just got!)

by steerex＠mindspring.com

With that work done, it may be practical to boot your HP over a serial port at a reasonable speed, but loading a large ABS file this way can take a very long time (as things are). I generally don't recommend the serial boot method due to its poor performance. Then again, I think its nothing to throw together a PIC and some I2C eeprom and build little paper tape reader and punch emulators, and I can burn copies of any loader rom you wish. I found that serial booting the system to be the easiest way to get started. I don't recall which one but, one of the loader ROMS will work with the "high speed serial" card and read data off a serial link. There's no handshaking or error correction but, with a short RS232 link, passing data is not a problem. The ABS data format does provide checksum error detection so data errors will be detected. On many occasions, I have loaded HPBASIC and other programs over a serial link with absolutely no problem. The advantage to the serial link is that the only hardware required is a RS232 serial cable. Admittedly, it is not as fast as a parallel link but, who cares ;-) I had to write a PERL script to format the data before passing it to the 1000 but, that was fairly trivial. SeeYa, SteveRob

19 years, 6 months

16
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Abandoned Prime looking for new home (UK)

by james＠machineroom.info

Hi all, this is probably the shortest time I've owned a machine. Bought just a few months ago as a "project" I now have it to offer again. I simply don't have the skill to get this running. I've also got too many other projects :) It's ex Salford Uni Prime 2550. Comes with 2 disk drives, 1 tape drive, 3 boxes of manuals, 2 boxes of tapes, 4 5.25" floppy drives and a bunch of terminal lines. Pictures (including all the manual covers) are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/17208732 at N00/ Located in Southampton near M27 J7. It's yours for the taking. I'd like it to go to a genuine collector but will consider any and all interest! I can hang on to it for a few weeks but it's just taking up valuable space right now. If there's no interest in the entire system then I may part out boards, manuals, etc. As I understand it when I bought this it had sat for a year unused. Previous to that it had sat for a few years in a garage and been used occasionally and prior to that had been in the hands of the chap who rescued it from Salford. When I received it I had problems getting anything sensible on the terminal then things went downhill and I discovered the main 5V PSU had failed. I tried replacing that with an external 200A unit borrowed from my Cray EL but hadn't considered how many other signals are generated by the power supply. (MAN070 is available on bitsavers but this only covers the older Prime models - the power supply signals look the same but the VCP is very different). The ? 12 and +16 are all OK. I tried faking some of the power good signals and checked others (50Hz clock, etc). I even found one signal had broken on the backplane and have repaired that. Unfortunately without the manual for this specific model I'm stuck. In it's current condition it just sits with all front panel lights on and nothing on the console. CPU: As I say, the 5V supply has failed. I've patched several lines (the power good signals) inside the supply. I've had all the boards out, cleaned the connectors and vacumed the boards and case. I can include an 80A 5V supply if it's of any use to you (I'd hope 80A is sufficient. The 200A unit I was using is now back with the Cray!!) Disk drives: I found that the bolts holding the disk units in the casings were missing (a bag of "spares" was supplied which included the bolts and rubber mountings). I replaced the bolts before powering up, thankfully! One of the disk units powers up and spins. The other doesn't power at all. I removed all the dust too whilst the drives were out. Tape drive: Powers up and front panel buttons seem to "do stuff" but can't test any further. Tapes: These are all externally clean but a lot of the casings have cracked. You'll need some experience with 9 tracks to read these I expect. Documentation: There's a lot of very tidy manuals and also quite a few loose manuals in ring binders. There's also about 10 pocket guides. What is nice is the collection of history - there's administrator logs, service requests, etc. Floppy drives: I'm told the two original Prime badged units have failed. There's a couple of more modern replacements (and a handful of floppies) included - one of these should work! Without a working system I obviously can't test anything. Therefore, you should consider this as a source of spares or possible repair if you have the skill and/or manuals. I'm around most weekends for collection and can obviously give a hand loading. A standard SWB Transit does the job nicely. So come on, give the Prime a new home. Please :) James

19 years, 6 months

4
4
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Nine track tape BOT sensing foil

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

After a recent fight with some Cipher tape drives, trying to boot a system, I managed to badly mangle the leader of my boot tape. Now, rewriting the tape isn't a problem, but fixing the tape is. I can cut off the mangled leader, but then there won't be enough tape left before the BOT marker. The BOT on a nine track is just a hunk of sensing foil, just like I remember from trying to repair eight track tapes (BTW, tinfoil and double sided tape _doesn't_ work on eight tracks). Rat Shack no longer sells sensing foil, surprise, surprise - so, does anyone know of a currently available solution? That metal duct work tape perhaps? I don't want to use anything that might risk damage to the heads though. Any ideas? -Ian

19 years, 6 months

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I am now Annoyed [Re: Old oscilloscope help: ideas sought]

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

>From: der Mouse <mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca> > >[replying to two messages in the same thread together] > > >> I was using a 40W light bulb in series with the primary, as a > >> current limiter, which is why the primary voltage was 25V instead of > >> ~120V. The bulb was glowing (not quite full power, but close). > > Well, even with a 40W bulb in series, I would expect a transformer > > with no load on the secondaries to give almost full output if there > > were not shorted turns. > >Well, yes - since it would be drawing (to a first approximation) zero >current. That the bulb glows at all with all the secondaries open is >to me a strong indication that something is shorted. > ---snip--- Hi That is not necessarily true. The transformer is an inductor and would normally draw quite a bit of current. It would be 90 degrees out of phase with the voltage across it but It is still current. It is current that makes lamps glow as well. To tell if the transformer had shorts, you'd need to measure the relative phase angle of the voltage on the lamp and the transformer. If it was 90 degrees, there was no short, just the open in the HV. For a quick check, measure the voltage across the transformer and then across the light. If these totaled together was greater than the measured line voltage, I'd say the transformer was most likely OK. If the sum was equal to the line voltage, it is surely shorted. Some 'oscope measurements on a dual trace would be more meaningful. Just the fact that the light lit is not enough to say that the transformer is bad or good. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Find what you need at prices you?ll love. Compare products and save at MSN? Shopping. http://shopping.msn.com/default/shp/?ptnrid=37,ptnrdata=24102&tcode=T001MSN…

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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Long-term storage (Was: Re: Google on hard drive failures)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 15:35 -0600 2/23/07, der Mouse wrote: >Certainly. And forget centrues; try millennia. The Pyramids. The >Sphinx. Stonehenge. The French cave paintings. Old Greek and Roman >coins from archaeological digs. At 21:11 -0600 2/23/07, Chuck wrote: >Heck, we've "manufactured" artifacts that will last for a hundred >thousand years or more. Just google "Yucca Mountain". Pikers. Try the Voyager record. *That* puppy is going to be around (somewhere) for some serious millenia. Or the CD taped to the New Horizons Spacecraft, seen below in on-topic format :-). Data retrieval, however, will not be easy. -- ______ Mark Tapley ------ Third Planet || SWAP 210-379-4635 Cellphone ---- _|__|______ __..---..__ | | \ _`-' ``-. HGA(REX) PEPPSI | ---- _' `-_ `-. | .' `-_ `. .-| , `-_ `. LORRI : | . `-_ `. : | / SDC `-_ \ '-|. below `-_ . _______ _______ |' .-*-. `-_ ||+|+|+|+| |+|+|+|+| | / \ `|--`-------------------| | ! o-----> +X | | | | \ | / _,|--.-------------------| |. "-|-" _,- ||+|+|+|+| |+|+|+|+| |' | _,- ' ------- ------- | ' V _,- / RTG (Radioisotope | ` +Z _,- . Thermoelectric | ` _,- - Generator) | `. _,- .' | '. _,- _.-' artwork: Lillian |__________',-__ __,,,'' Nguyen | | '' --- '' | | `-----' PERSI (Alice above, Ralph below)

19 years, 6 months

5
5
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I am now Annoyed [Re: Old oscilloscope help: ideas sought]

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Comment from the UK Cathode Ray display devices such as TV, Terminals, Oscilloscopes etc. are generally refered to as "tubes" over here. 'Valve' is taken to mean the glass (or metal) enveloped switching or amplifying devices. Special devices such as photomultipliers are also normally called tubes. Rod Smallwood -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of listmailgoeshere at gmail.com Sent: 01 March 2007 12:58 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: I am now Annoyed [Re: Old oscilloscope help: ideas sought] On 3/1/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > On 28 Feb 2007 at 19:00, der Mouse wrote: > > > Actually, come to think of it, looking at your (natural enough) use > > of "valve" where I'd write "tube", I'm curious - are CRTs called > > CRTs on your side of the pond, or something else (CRV?)? > > This has come up before--it's "tube" if I recall. The same applies to > terms suchl as TWT. > > The only difference is that some pronounce it "chube" ^^^^^^ "all". No-one British that I've ever heard pronounces it "toob". People would look at you funny if you did ;) Ed.

19 years, 6 months

1
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what BS

by aek＠bitsavers.org

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160090821802 "After living and breathing my life working on DG equipment, I have put together an extensive set of manuals for the mininova, nova, Supernova, eclipse minicomputers life." How nice. It just happens to match the pdfs from a well known source. He's done this with other parts of the archive, but this particular add makes it sound like he actually did some WORK. At least the guy that's been selling bitsavers stuff in Israel puts the source in his ads.

19 years, 6 months

12
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what BS

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> The only thing you might do to curtail this kind of "thievery" is to > "watermark" key pages of manuals on bitsavers. I don't care if people sell the files, what annoyed me was the implication in the ad that he did the work. I also see he points to bitsavers when he 'includes' a manual with a board http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160073926988 A few weeks ago, I bought an Applied Microsystems 8085 ICE 'with manual' It was a CD of my scan off bitsavers.

19 years, 6 months

3
2
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Misc. stuff available for collection in Dublin, Ireland

by pcoghlan+cctech＠vms.eurokom.ie

Hello, Are there any other cctech members in Ireland? We are having a clearout at work and there is some old gear is going to be thrown out. If anyone wants it, they are welcome to come and get it. There are: One or maybe two VAXstation 3100s. Basic models - no model 76 or other high end ones. No disks. Should be working. Two VR299 colour monitors. (32kg each) One has no red on the display and a faulty on/off switch. The other is fairly ok. Two table top TLZ04 DAT tape drives. They both probably chew tapes :-( Some TLZ09 storageworks (green/brown) TLZ09 DAT tape drives. Condition unknown. Some storageworks (green/brown) canisters that once housed disks. Worked when they had disks in them. Some Decserver 200 terminal servers (8 port, LAT only) Some working, some power supply faults, some logic board faults. Two Dec DEMSB X.25 routers (with a few cables) Worked some years ago. Stored indoors since then. Two Satelcom Megapac X.25 switches (also with cables and manual) Seem to work. Not really sure what to look for though. A Livingston Portmaster 2e serial & ISDN "communications server" Faulty I think. Can test if anyones interested. A VT420 terminal. Dead as far as I recall. Can test if necessary. Maybe some other related bits and bobs. If anybody can take any of this, please contact me off-list. All are available for collection in South Dublin. I don't want to crate and ship anywhere as they are generally heavy, awkward and probably not of sufficient interest or rarity (although the X.25 stuff may be rare in some parts of the world, but I doubt if anyone's interested). Regards, Peter.

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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Tek 7904 scope

by tpeters＠mixcom.com

At 01:05 PM 2/17/2007 -0800, you wrote: >On 2/14/07, Tom Peters <tpeters at mixcom.com> wrote: >> >>Hey all, >> >>I just missed out on a Tek 7904 scope (four trace) with four plug-ins for >>$299. Was that a deal? The plugins were 7A26 7A18 7CTIN and 7B53A. >> >>Looks like a 500mhz scope, but with plugins good for 200mhz and a curve >>tracer. >> >>Are plugins for that scope readily avaiable and reasonably priced? >> >>-Tom (my real name) Peters. >hey, since the listing should be over by now (since you said you won >it)...perhaps you wouldn't mind sending us a link to the listing so we can >all drool over exactly what you got? :P :D :) Sure, absolutely. The item number originally posted for $299 has been lost. The relist at my price is below. Try not to drool on the knobs- they get slippery and hard to adjust ~(:-) that's me with a feather in my cap. Item number: 330089349032 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN… 'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds. --... ...-- -.. . -. ----. --.- --.- -... tpeters at nospam.mixcom.com (remove "nospam") N9QQB (amateur radio) "HEY YOU" (loud shouting) WEB ADDRESS http//www.mixweb.com/tpeters 43? 7' 17.2" N by 88? 6' 28.9" W, Elevation 815', Grid Square EN53wc WAN/LAN/Telcom Analyst, Tech Writer, MCP, CCNA, Registered Linux User 385531

19 years, 6 months

6
13
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OT - cool space photo available

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

If anyone is interested, I have a photo someone sent me of this: "...a time lapse photo of the ROPA (40.020) launch where you can see the aurora in the background and all four stages." Still haven't set up the ol' website, so I can't simply post it there. If anyone would like me to forward it to them, ping me. Really groovy stuph. The wonderful human being who sent it to me was actually involved in the launch, in some capacity. I might not be forwarding it out until the next time I'm online. Prolly Monday or Tuesday. ____________________________________________________________________________________ It's here! Your new message! Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

19 years, 6 months

4
4
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Analogue/vector character generator - anyone remember the URL?

by listmailgoeshere＠gmail.com

Hi cctalkers, A while back there was a URL posted somewhere on this list about a (1950s?) character generator which worked solely by mixing harmonics, with X-Y output to connect to a display tube. It could only generate the digits 0-9, but was a seriously impressive piece of kit nonetheless. I recently wanted to show this to a friend, and couldn't find it with any amount of Googling. If someone can remember this site, or has it bookmarked, I'd be endlessly grateful for the URL. Thanks, Ed.

19 years, 6 months

4
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Analogue/vector character generator - anyone remember the URL?

by lee＠geekdot.com

http://www.nixiebunny.com/crtgen/crtgen.html Lee.

19 years, 6 months

2
1
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microvax monitor card needed

by ying6926＠ureach.com

The monitor of my microvax died. It is worse to play with machine without monitor than without mouse on modern computer. The model is matrox 1985 QG-640 254-06-02. I could not read it clearly. It could be QC-640 instead of QG-640. Just wonder if anyone has this for sale or giveway. thanks Henry

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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s-100 cards, free for the price of shipping

by frustum＠pacbell.net

Spring comes early in Texas; too many days in a row of 80 degree weather triggers my spring cleaning subroutine. I have just poorly photographed and barely cataloged 28 S-100 cards, all but one, made by IMS -- Industrial Micro Systems. None are tested. My main criterion for picking will be whatever is easy for me, but I can't say that unfairness, prior exchanges, and unfounded opinion will also influence which board goes to where. That is, if I'm so lucky that anybody wants these. The boards are well made, although some have had parts removed (most are complete). None have been tested by me. I've had them for, uh, I guess two years, and the previous owner was given them some years before. You can see the index and pictures here: http://home.pacbell.net/frustum/s100/ Each card is in a 6"x10" antistatic bag, inside a padded mailer. They will be further padded with bubble wrap and boxed, and sent via USPS priority mail. You pay the shipping. I'll give people a few days to respond, then I'll get to work boxing and mailing. Please let me know which board(s) you are interested it, and if you have some specific need or use for one, let me know that too as it may influence the judge. Responding to the list instead of frustum at pacbell.net is an automatic 3/10th scoring deduction. If you are wonder why there are no cards 11, 22, or 33, it is because I used my children's number blocks to act as an index record when photographing, and there is only one of each number. :-) Below is the index: Box #1 ======================================================================== 1 - IMS A645 Rev B Z80 CPU; 2K boot ROM labelled "TST"; empty spot for RTC 2 - IMS C00451 Z80 CPU, (c) 79 3 - IMS A930 Rev C Floppy Disk Controller (NEC 765-based); also NEC 8257 (DMA) 50 pin connector (8"), (c) 84 4 - IMS A443 I/O Board, NS 8255 PIO, "IPL REV 1.4" EPROM, 2*GI AY-3-1015 UART, NEC 8253 PIT, one ear missing from connector, two empty sockets; not sure if they should be stuffed or not 5 - IMS A1021 Rev C, (c) 1983, 64K DRAM, with parity and parity error indicator All 9 DRAMs have been removed, but otherwise intact 6 - IMS C00451 Z80 CPU, Rev C., (c) 79 7 - IMS C00442 I/O Board, NS 8255 PIO, "IPL REV 1.4" EPROM, 2*GI AY-3-1015 UART, NEC 8253 PIT 8 - IMS C00480 4-Line Comm. Controller (NS 8250 * 4) 9 - IMS A930 Rev C Floppy Disk Controller (NEC 765-based); also NEC 8257 (DMA) 34 pin connector (5.25"), (c) 84 12 - IMS A930 Rev B Floppy Disk Controller (NEC 765-based); also NEC 8257 (DMA) 34 pin connector (5.25"), (c) 82 13 - IMS C00442 I/O Board, NS 8255 PIO, "IPL REV 1.1" EPROM, 2*GI AY-3-1015 UART, NEC 8253 PIT 14 - IMS A971 Rev A (c) 83, Z80A CPU board, but it has been stripped of some chips, including the Z80 and boot ROM, a few jellybeans, likely a couple serial controllers, and a RTC 15 - IMS A971 Rev B (c) 83, Z80A CPU board, but it has been stripped of some chips, including the Z80 and boot ROM, a few jellybeans, likely a couple serial controllers, and a RTC Box #2 ======================================================================== 21 - IMS A1030 Rev A, (c) 83, Isolated I/O board; 16 inputs, 16 outputs 23 - IMS A1270 Rev B, (c) 84, Z80B Master/Slave Board; missing Z80, two banks of DRAM, RTC, serial chip, but jellybeans are there 24 - IMS C00464, (c) 79, 64KB DRAM, parity checked, 4x9x16Kb all DRAMs missing 25 - IMS C00401, (c) 79, floppy controller, NEC 765, NEC 8257 (DMA) 50-pin connector (8") plus a 16-pin connector (??) 26 - IMS C00480, (c) 79, 4-Line Comm. Controller, 4*8250 27 - IMS A821 Rev A WD Controller; 8255 PIO, EPROM labeled '5" WINCH' This very likely requires an adapter card, which I have many of 28 - IMS A821 Rev A WD Controller; 8255 PIO, EPROM labeled '5" WINCH' This very likely requires an adapter card, which I have many of 29 - IMS A821 Rev A WD Controller; 8255 PIO, EPROM labeled '5" WINCH' This very likely requires an adapter card, which I have many of 31 - IMS A1021 Rev C, (c) 1983, 64K DRAM, with parity and parity error indicator All 9 DRAMs have been removed, but otherwise intact 32 - IMS C00451 Z80 CPU Board Rev B, (c) 79 34 - IMS A1100 Rev D, (c) 84, Winchester Controller ST412/506 type interface NEC 8085 CPU, EPROM, 2KB SRAM, three Adaptec disk interface chips 35 - IMS A1100 Rev C, (c) 84, Winchester Controller ST412/506 type interface NEC 8085 CPU, EPROM, 2KB SRAM, three Adaptec disk interface chips 36 - IMS A1100 Rev C, (c) 84, Winchester Controller ST412/506 type interface NEC 8085 CPU, EPROM, 2KB SRAM, three Adaptec disk interface chips 37 - IMS A1010 A/D Converter, Rev A, (c) 83, 8 Channels; NS ADC0809 38 - unknown mfr modem Finally, sorry for the poor quality photos. I'm not a photographer and I didn't check them until after I had already taken all the pictures and slipped each card into an anti-static bag.

19 years, 6 months

2
2
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Pinout of RJ12 to minidin (PS/2) keyboard adapter for IBM 315x terminals

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

I know that a couple people who watch this list were wanting this info... I took the one RJ12 to minidin-6 adapter which I got with an IBM 3153 terminal, and pinned it out. The pinout of the connectors is from what I could tell, the "standard" pinout for each connector. RJ12 (tab down) MiniDIN-6 (socket) 1 .. 6 /--__--\ +------+\ / 6 || 5 \ |||||||| | | 4 3 | | | | \ 2 1 / +------+ | \------/ \______\| Ok, now the cable pinout: DIN RJ12 Use 1 2 Data 2 4 N/C 3 4 GND 4 6 +5VDC 5 1 Clock 6 N/C N/C Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Obscure handheld wanted!

by evan＠snarc.net

Hi all, I'm looking for a Panasonic FH-2000, Panasonic HC-2000, or Nixdorf PC-05. If anybody here has one, then please contact me off-list if you're willing to sell or trade it. Thanks! - Evan

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Humpty Dumpty

by legalize＠xmission.com

Any ideas on how I would go about putting this humpty dumpty back together again? Its a Visual 500 terminal, and its significant because a) in two years of monitoring ebay I haven't seen any other Visual Technology terminals offered b) it has graphics capability (Tektronix 4010 emulation) <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-1.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-2.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-3.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-4.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-5.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-6.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-7.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-8.jpg> <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/damaged/visual-9.jpg> This thing was so poorly packed that even the spacing posts in the keyboard were sheared off. The circuit boards don't appear damaged and amazingly the tube doesn't appear damaged, but obviously the case is pretty heavily smashed. The ebay seller accused me of trying to rip them off by claiming damage and then made a big stink about me giving them negative feedback. I think there was *one* inflated pillow style spacer on the top of the unit when I opened it. They also tried to claim that UPS packed it, which seems like utter bullshit. I've been thinking that I might be able to glue enough of the pieces of the case back together to get something stable enough to have the electronics working again. (I've never attempted to power it on and man, was I pissed when I opened up this box!) I suppose it would be prohibitively expensive to try and recast a new plastic enclosure for it... -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 6 months

26
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New DEC museum entry :D

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, It always pleases me to bring some new DEC stuff into Binary Dinosaurs, but it's even better when it's in good condition and still working nicely :) Tonight I drove a grand total of 62 miles to *edit* bollocks, while I was typing this the machine I was going to crow about nuked the power to my house :) Aaaaaanyhoo, it's a Professional 380 with RD52 and RX50 coupled to a nice VR241 for display purposes, running P/OS 2.2. Or at least it was until the power gave out. To be fair it hadn't been powered up for a few years so I really should've taken it into work and started it up on the 'doesn't matter if it blows' mains but hey ho. No magic smoke so I wonder what's up with it..... It came with an LA210, LVP16 plotter, several boxes of Pro manuals and loads of P/OS disks and software distros. In a word: nice. Unless it's going to keep nuking my mains :) -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

19 years, 6 months

20
84
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The Lightning Empiricist: Analog Computers in the real world

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

I just re-discovered (after decades since I last saw it) a remarkable newsletter/journal/marketing tool titled "The Lightning Empiricist". If you Google for it you will find stuff from 55 years ago (some of it through/via the Computer History Museum). Good stuff. Highly recommended. Tim.

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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plotters again

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

Inspired by all that talk of plotters last week, I lugged the box containing the HP9872A upstairs and opened it for the first time in 6 years. A few repairs later, an evening in a comfy chair with the manuals (it's nice to have manuals for a change), and some doodling on the 9815 calculator which drives it, and the plotter is zip'in and zoom'in about. Yup, it's pretty neat, esp. with the built-in character generation with scaling. The weak point in this scenario however, is the torture of programming the 9815 and problems with the tape cartridges and drive of the 9815. Those cartridges and drive may have been OK in the day, but today with the gooey wheel issue and failing elastic bands in the cartridges they're nothing one wants to rely on. Given that the plotter uses HP-GL as the control language, I began to think along the same lines as Chuck wrote about a day ago: building a simple parallel interface to the plotter HP-IB port that does just the data transfer (minus all the HP-IB device selection, etc. functions) to connect it up to a more flexible/modern source/controller machine. That's just a thought at the moment so there's no immediate need, but I'm wondering if there are any HP-GL plot files (or collection thereof) out there which would then be available to simply throw down the line at the plotter to draw cute stuff and exercise the plotter. I'm not really thinking of programs or graphics software packages that generate HP-GL, as that would require particular hardware/systems to execute on. Rather: just straight ASCII-text HP-GL files that were previously generated or hand-coded, sort of in the same spirit as 'ASCII-art' was produced.

19 years, 6 months

5
18
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cctalk Digest, Vol 42, Issue 73

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:42:15 +0000 (GMT) From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) Subject: Re: New DEC museum entry :D (not the breaker sub-thread) >Does the word 'wonmdering' have any meaning to oyu? Who is this oyu? I can't speak for him/her/it, but not to me. Or is this Zen or some deep philosophical question for us to ponder? m

19 years, 6 months

3
2
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Watch out for Alexandra Carter (resolved)

by vp＠drexel.edu

I feel bad for starting this thread, because the machine arrived today. The postage stamp indicated that it had been posted on February 16 (more than ten days ago -- so I was making all this fuss when the machine was already on its way). Having said that, Ms Carter is really mad. If she had simply given me the date she posted the package instead of filing the non-payment report I wouldn't have blown my top. Anyway, thanks to everybody for their support and helpful suggestions. **vp

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------------Original Message: Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:28:26 -0800 From: Hollandia at ccountry.net Subject: Re: New "D" drive -- WD Caviar To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Message-ID: <200702260628.l1Q6SOoZ011678 at mailproxy1.ccountry.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Mr. DePermentier, I apologize for not mentioning this originally. The only jumper settings possible on the "C" drive are Device 0, Device 1 and Cable Select. Sorry for the omission. Kurt >Hi why don't you set the C: drive to Master and the D: drive to Slave. > >Al DePermentier > > --------------Reply: Nitpicking: Primary and/or Secondary Device (Drive) 0 and 1 are in fact the correct unambiguous names for the drives (although you will also see them referred to as Disk 1 and 2, e.g. in Fdisk, so maybe first & second would be even better). Two drives with single partitions will _usually_ be labelled as C: and D:, but if there are partitions or an unusual configuration C: and D: could refer to either drive, the same drive, or even neither one (unlikely in your case). To sum up: If you have a secondary IDE port that's not in use, use it for the second drive, jumpered as master, and leave the "C:" drive as is. If there are two drive connectors on the cable, use the one at the end. If you only have one port available or the BIOS only supports two drives, (and you have a 2-drive cable) it depends on whether you really have a CS cable (unlikely, but you can tell by looking for one of the wires (pin 28) being cut, or the corresponding insert missing from one of the connectors). If yes, set the new drive to CS, plug it into the unused connector, and it _should_ work. If not, i.e. you have a standard cable where all pins are connected, set the "C:" drive to Device 0 and the new drive to slave; in this case it doesn't matter which connectors you plug into which drive. mike

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Messages: Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 10:53:33 -0500 From: Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> Subject: Re: New "D" drive -- WD Caviar On Monday 26 February 2007 01:29, M H Stein wrote: > 1) Actually, according to WD it's a 10-pin drive, but CS is still pins > 1&2. However, I doubt that an old 486 would recognize CS, even with an > 80-conductor cable; the existing one probably works because it's > treated as a master with a 40-conductor cable. The host has nothing to do with cable select working. It only really depends on the drive and the cable. That's why it's called "cable select" and not "host select". One drive gets set to master, and the other to slave, based on their cable position. Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org --------------Reply: You're right, of course; as long as the MB grounds pin 28 CS should work with a CS cable (mind you, this is a Packard-Bell, so anything's possible ;-). But since this is a 486 and the drive is not the original, it's quite likely that it has a normal non-CS cable; for a single drive jumpering CS or Master would work equally well, but a slave drive would require moving the main drive jumper and configuring as dual Master/Slave. I've certainly never seen a 486 with a CS cable as standard equipment (or even a stock 40-pin CS cable for that matter, although they're easy to make). Then again, this _is_ a P-B... Still best to use two IDE ports with both drives master (or CS) if possible. mike

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

8-bit WD IDE adapter + CF?

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

The penny finally dropped. A few days ago someone mentioned that a CF-IDE adapter worked with an 8-bit controller. I think. Something about compact flash and 8-bit anyway. Does that mean I can replace the dead IDE drive on a WDAT-140 or -150controller with compact flash? Doc

19 years, 6 months

4
3
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Chris M. on arty computers and Mindset

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

The quintessentail 'arty' machine I still say is the Coleco ADAM! Not so much for its external appearance but my its internal structure was worth crowing about. And it was a bargain in 1984's 8-bit computer crash. Oh. So sad! And 'artsy-fartsy'. Haven't seen that term since I came across a hang-out/bar/folk-arts place in Tokyo in 1997. Happy computing! Murray :)

19 years, 6 months

8
8
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Floppy Diskette Interface Signals & Timing

by river＠zip.com.au

Hi, I've been trying to find (on the net) information regarding the signal timing for the 3.5inch floppy diskette drive. I want to play around with one and connect it to one of my home-brewed systems (6502 or 8085), but I need to know the timing of the signals, plus what the different logic levels means on some signals, etc. I can get plenty of information regarding the 34-pin connector and signal names, but nothing on timing and logic levels. I'd be most happy if someone could illuminate me to where I could get this information. river

19 years, 6 months

3
2
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Off-topic but still funny.

by fireflyst＠earthlink.net

We were talking in the ccmp IRC channel and I thought I'd share this hi-larious photo: http://tinyurl.com/2884e4 Enjoy.

19 years, 6 months

8
10
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Google on hard drive failures

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> is there currently or will there ever be a good long time > permanent solution for good promising backups? no you have to assume that you will migrate digital files to media capable of being read reliably until the next generation of mass storage arrives. all of the other protections (redundancy, error correction, etc.) need to be in place as well to protect against migration of data that has already been corrupted. the good news is that transfer rates and bit density increase with time, so old data is easier to migrate the bad news is the amount of data to migrate is increasing exponentially

19 years, 6 months

13
19
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New DEC museum entry :D (not the breaker sub-thread)

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> Tony Duell wrote: >> Does the word 'wonmdering' have any meaning to oyu? > None to me. > Nor for me. Does the word milliard mean anything to you?

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

'woz' IIGS approx value?

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Had a mail from someone wanting to know how much her 'Woz' GS is worth and does anyone want it? It apparently 'has everything' so I've asked her to define what that means, as 'everything' for the GS is quite a pile :) $50 - $150? -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

19 years, 6 months

4
3
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Fwd: [comp.sys.dec] Selling my VAX, Alpha, PDP-11 and other s

by legalize＠xmission.com

This message has been forwarded from Usenet. To reply to the original author, use the email address from the forwarded message. Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:55:52 +0900 Groups: comp.sys.dec,alt.sys.pdp11 From: Tim Sneddon <tesneddon at bigpond.com> Subject: Selling my VAX, Alpha, PDP-11 and other spares (was Re: Selling my PDP-11/83 and various spares...) Re: <45d4fdf3$0$16270$88260bb3 at free.teranews.com> Id: <45e20788$0$16343$88260bb3 at free.teranews.com> ======== All, Most of my PDP-11 stuff has been sold. However, I do have a collection of Q-BUS VAX spares, some Alpha bits, SCSI stuff. some more PDP-11 stuff I didn't even no I had, a few manuals and some other bits and pieces. I won't be listing any of this stuff past this coming weekend as I will no longer have any storage and all this stuff will be going in the bin. I will be listing quite a lot of the items mentioned above over the next two days. http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQsassZtesneddonQQhtZ-1 Regards, Tim. PS. Once again, apologies for cross posting. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Messages: Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:02:01 -0800 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: New "D" drive -- WD Caviar To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <45E1C109.17821.6AF8FBA at cclist.sydex.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII On 25 Feb 2007 at 16:05, Hollandia at ccountry.net wrote: > The new drive has jumper settings for SLAVE, NASTER and SINGLE, but so far > as I can tell, none for "cable select." The drive is a 6-pin jumper block drive. For CS, jumper pins 1&2 of J8; leave other jumpers off. > 1) How do I set this new drive for "cable select"? > 2) Will wrong BIOS settings caues the drive's existence to not be recognized? Not usually--the drive should at least be able to identify itself to the BIOS. Cheers, Chuck -----------------Reply: 1) Actually, according to WD it's a 10-pin drive, but CS is still pins 1&2. However, I doubt that an old 486 would recognize CS, even with an 80-conductor cable; the existing one probably works because it's treated as a master with a 40-conductor cable. My suggestions: If there is a second (unused) IDE port, set the second drive as single master (no jumpers or 4&6) and plug it into the second port. If not, change the existing drive to dual master (pins 5&6) and set the second drive to dual slave (3&4). 2) Unlikely, but possibly, especially since AFAIK that BIOS does not have an auto-detect option; in any case, if the BIOS is set incorrectly you will almost certainly have trouble when you start using that drive. mike

19 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

HP battery eliminator connectors - found

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I've brought this up on the list a couple times, and the concensus among fellow HP'ers was always "these connectors aren't around anymore". Some are happy to just push a resistor into the 21MX battery connector, but I have one of the HP connectors built specifically as a battery eliminator plug and I wanted more. The resistors can fall out if just pushed in or not make good contact. After working with someone at AMP (Tyco), the following information is available: These are the old AMP "MR" (miniature rectangle) connectors. Here's the parts for a HP 21MX battery eliminator plug, with AMP part numbers & mouser prices: Pin housing (cap) 1-640511-0 $0.82 Strain relief (shell) 350522-1 $1.24 Live split pin contact (tin, 26-18 awg) 640545-1 $0.17 (need 2) or Live split pin contact (tin, 26-24 awg) 640579-1 (need 2) or Live split pin contact (gold, 26-18 awg) 640545-2 $0.40 (need 2) or Live split pin contact (gold, 26-24 awg) 640579-2 (need 2) These are all current production parts and still available new. The only mismatch - the HP plugs were black and these are red :) If I build up a bunch of battery eliminator plugs, I wonder if I can get $20 each on ebay ;) Hope this helps folks! Jay West

19 years, 6 months

7
16
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New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by Alwrcker82＠wmconnect.com

Kurt, in most cases Device 0 is C drive and Device 1 is drive D, it can't hurt to try. Al DePermentier

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

New DEC museum entry :D (not the breaker sub-thread)

by vp＠drexel.edu

Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> wrote: > Regardless if the OP has repeatedly said as you say [...] > > He might also be permitted to make his own decisions [...] Oh, give it a rest **vp

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by Hollandia＠ccountry.net

Mr. DePermentier, I apologize for not mentioning this originally. The only jumper settings possible on the "C" drive are Device 0, Device 1 and Cable Select. Sorry for the omission. Kurt >Hi why don't you set the C: drive to Master and the D: drive to Slave. > >Al DePermentier > >

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

Bare Bones Kit?

by grant＠stockly.com

I have had a few people comment on the price of the Altair Kit. Currently it takes a LOT of time to prepare a kit because of the amount of small parts involved. (resistors, capacitors, IC sockets). I am considering a kit that contains only custom parts and parts that get a big benefit from quantity orders. For example, I would ONLY include the case, power supplies, PCBs, ICs, switches, wire, and fasteners. I would provide a BOM with parts, quantity, and DigiKey part numbers (for the exact parts I would have bought) Making this change reduces the number of parts in the kit from 820 to 124. :) The overall price would go down because of the parts not included, and even more for handling. I want to price it so I don't loose money, but also make it available to more people. What is the price threshold you would have on buying one of these things? Grant

19 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Watch out for Alexandra Carter (eBay seller)

by vp＠drexel.edu

Anybody done business with eBay seller Alexandra Carter (alexandracarter)? She used a very neat trick on me. I bought an HP 5036A Microprocessor Lab 8-Bit Computer from her (eBay 160080545681) and paid for it with a money order which was received on Feb. 3, 2006 (USPS tracking number 0103 8555 7499 5332 2386). She then claimed to have sent the HP 5036A via USPS but has not produced a tracking number despite the fact that I specifically had asked for one. Anyway, when I pressured her about the item, she filled a non-payment dispute against me, to prevent me from posting negative feedback on her. This is despite the fact that on Feb 9, she sent me an eBay message (sitting in my eBay messages folder) confirming receipt of payment. I have been told that she has pulled this stunt before on another buyer and only delivered the goods when he threatened filing a USPS mail fraud complaint. So watch out for Alexandra Carter despite her 98.6% feedback rating. **vp

19 years, 6 months

9
10
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FW: Re: old rare diskdrives? (Rejected E-Mail to "MC=?iso-8859-15?Q?SELE"_at_Ni

by ebubekr＠web.de

hi guys, I am searching after a old (very old) harddisk drive and want to ask do you have any? or any ideas where can I get that? thanx abu ak regards *Von:* "Mark Csele" <MCSELE at NIAGARAC.ON.CA> *Gesendet:* 16.02.07 21:07:23 *An:* <EBUBEKR at WEB.DE> *Betreff:* FW: Re: old rare diskdrives? (Rejected E-Mail to "MC=?iso-8859-15?Q?SELE"_at_Ni Sorry, I don't have parts for sale. The only sourec I know-of is ebay or you could try the old computer group (cctech at classiccmp.org ) to see if anyone has parts available. msc Professor Mark Csele Niagara College, Canada 300 Woodlawn Rd., L-23 Welland, ON, L3C 7L3 (905) 735-2211 x.7629 E-Mail: mcsele at niagarac.on.ca URL: http://technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele Author of "Fundamentals of Light Sources and Lasers", Wiley, 2004 >>> <ebubekr at web.de> 2/13/2007 4:32 PM >>> *Von:* "Mark Csele" <MCSELE at NIAGARAC.ON.CA> *Gesendet:* 23.01.07 20:16:26 *An:* <EBUBEKR at WEB.DE> *Betreff:* Re: old rare diskdrives? (Rejected E-Mail to "MCSELE" at Niagara College ...) Your e-mail was REJECTED by the Anise anti-spam filter, or by one of two virus scanners, and was never received by the recipient. Please re-send your message with a meaningful subject line such as one of the following: Photonics, Lasers, Program Inquiry, Computer technology, history of ..., Rankine, fundamentals of lights, etc. You may also use a generic breakthru code by simply including the words 'Niagara college' in your subject line. Inclusion of such a subject will ensure the message gets through. Sorry for the inconvenience but 95% of all e-mail received at this address is spam. If you did _not_ send the attached e-mail, simply ignore this message as the original was deleted. As the system runs, the database of addresses and search patterns grows and rejections like this will become rare. If all else fails, please leave a fax at (905) 736-6005 with your email address and it will be added manually to the database. >>> ebubekr 01/23/07 14:11 >>> hi, I have see some disk drives on your homepage and want to ask you if sale the magnetic and coils from the odl diskdrives? or do you have a idea where can I get any? thanx abu ak regards Erweitern Sie FreeMail zu einem noch leistungsst?rkeren E-Mail-Postfach! Mehr Infos unter *http://freemail.web.de/home/landingpad/?mc=021131* [http://freemail.web.de/home/landingpad/?mc=021131] Viren-Scan f?r Ihren PC! Jetzt f?r jeden. Sofort, online und kostenlos. Gleich testen! *http://www.pc-sicherheit.web.de/freescan/?mc=022222* [http://www.pc-sicherheit.web.de/freescan/?mc=022222] Viren-Scan f?r Ihren PC! Jetzt f?r jeden. Sofort, online und kostenlos. Gleich testen! *http://www.pc-sicherheit.web.de/freescan/?mc=022222* [http://www.pc-sicherheit.web.de/freescan/?mc=022222]

19 years, 6 months

8
11
0 0

New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by Alwrcker82＠wmconnect.com

Hi why don't you set the C: drive to Master and the D: drive to Slave. Al DePermentier

19 years, 6 months

1
0
0 0

New "D" drive -- WD Caviar

by Hollandia＠ccountry.net

I have a Packard-Bell 486 machine on which I am installing a second hard drive. The machine has the Phoenix BIOS v1.01, and uses DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1. The "C" drive is an IBM hard drive with a capacity of 1215 MB. The Ontrack v7.09 Disk Manager software is installed on it to allow the use of a hard drive greater than ~528 MB. At present the jumpers on that drive are set to "cable select". The hard drive I am trying to fit to this machine as "D" is a Western Digital Caviar 14300. The Wester Digital Part Number is AC14300-00RTT1. The new drive has jumper settings for SLAVE, NASTER and SINGLE, but so far as I can tell, none for "cable select." At present, the BIOS does not recognize the existence of the new drive. My questions: 1) How do I set this new drive for "cable select"? 2) Will wrong BIOS settings caues the drive's existence to not be recognized? Thanks, Kurt

19 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Solder & Flux Questions

by gstreet＠indy.net

How many "solder masters" are on this discussion group? I've seen some mention of newer types of solder (lead free?). I've also seen mention and used one type of water soluble flux (BTW, I really liked it). I've been using Kester "44" .031 solder for years (for small work). However, I've got a project that I'd like to have every advantage possible (as far as having good, clean soldered connections). Does anyone have any suggestions? I wonder if the lead-free stuff has a higher melting temperature? BTW, I'm using a WTCPT soldering station. Any tips would be appreciated. Thank you, Robert Greenstreet

19 years, 6 months

2
1
0 0

Google on hard drive failures

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

>> Hmm- it would be nice if they identified the manufacturer that has >> notably higher failure rates, but I think I can make a guess (WD?) > > Google's paper addresses this. One, because they're buying so many > drives, they think if everyone knows which is "best" then that will > increase demand and drive up the price for those drives. Two, they > don't want to help their competition. Three, they didn't want to get > sued by the losers. > > - John An explanation of why they find printing the data inconvenient or frightening does not negate the fact that it would be nice to have.

19 years, 6 months

3
2
0 0

Kennedy to PC interface...

by onymouse＠garlic.com

All this talk of Kennedy's reminds me... any chance of connecting old--recent old to old old--Kennedy 9tracks to a PC? Or has anyone taken any surplus 9tracks and run them on PC's? Or, how about a 9track with GPIB/HPIB interface--any with Amigo or SS80 command set? (I really would like to see what I've forgotten on my tapes...) mata jd "I shot an arrow into the air, and it stuck." -- Graffito in Los Angeles

19 years, 6 months

11
21
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Google on hard drive failures

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Hmm- it would be nice if they identified the manufacturer that has notably higher failure rates, but I think I can make a guess (WD?) On the other hand, (perhaps it's just an age thing) I have had several drives of the IDE and SCSI types fail, and it seems that the SCSI drives are more likely to do it in the "operatic heroine" manner and either take a long time to do it or come back to life a few times allowing one to recover a bit of the data changed since last backup. IDEs tend to die rapidly and finally. Note that this is just my experience. What are current reliability rankings re: cheapo (SATA/IDE) drives (similar to what one would use to store classiccmp-related documents and software on)?

19 years, 6 months

5
7
0 0

Where there's smoke there's... a hard disk!?!

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

Recently, an accquaintaince was cleaning up his house and came upon some old hardware, and asked - do I want some old hard disks? Sure! He gave me a pair of old Avid external 9 gig hard drives. Basically just 9 gig 5 1/4" FH Micropolis 50 pin SCSI drives in little-ish external boxes. Perfect for some of these old boxen I run around here. Anyway, I decided to hook them up tonight. I cabled them up to an old PC, powered everything on, and the SCSI card saw both disks. I left the machine run while I went in the next room to burn a Debian netinst CD. Five minutes later... what's that smell? I went in the next room, now slightly hazy and full of that acrid 'burnt electronics' smell. I hit the switch on the power strip and started smelling things looking for the source. Old 14" DigiView monitor? - no... Old Compaq desktop PC? - no... Avid external 9 gig SCSI hard drive? - <cough>.. yes <gasp>. I took the drive apart, expecting to find a burnt up tantalum cap in the power supply or something - nothing. Then I took the drive out (not easy, the standoffs seem to like to stay with the screws rather than the drive..), and flipped it over. There was a burnt mark on the board the size of a nickel, and the board had started to delaminate. In the center, a charred husk of a something that resembled a surface mount capacitor of some sort, a small rectangular component about the size of a standard jumper laying flat. Hmm, I haven't got anything to lose at this point, so I picked the burnt thing off the board, it had already unsoldered one side of itself, so I wiggled the other side off, and removed the surrounding debris. Morbid curiosity made me hook the drive back up. Hmm, it spins... it comes ready... I hooked it back up to the computer, and turned the computer on, and lo and behold, the SCSI controller sees the drive! I am currently running the Adaptec SCSI controller's media test function on the drive now, as I ponder why the Linux installer insists on crashing on this particular box, but I really wonder a couple things - what caused that capacitor to burn, why does the disk still work, and how long will it continue to work? I imagine that the capacitor wasn't particularly important, seeming as though the drive still runs, but what baffles me is that even with sizeable damage to the board, (it's bubbled up and delaminated in that spot) the drive works. The capacitor was near three voltage regulator type transistors on the board, so it could have been a bypass type capacitor, and not crucial to the circuit, but that doesn't explain why it caught fire. Computers never cease to amaze me. -Ian

19 years, 6 months

5
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eBay idiocy

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I find it necessary to clear up some misconceptions and outright lies that have been posted here about me, and to respond to some of the attacks on my personal character. This will naturally be unnecessarily wordy, so if you don't have the stomach for it then just move on now. First of all, I'm sorry that so many people seem to have taken my message as a personal assault. In re-reading the message, it seems the primary reason some people got upset is because I expressed my speech freely, and I also expressed some rather unflattering truths. My tone was angry, yes, but my anger was directed at eBay primarily (because I hate them), and secondarily at the same old useless bitching about eBay that seems to never end here. I think it's pretty clear that I was looking for constructive feedback and/or criticism. Well, unfortunately I got mostly criticism, and little constructive feedback (I do appreciate the replies >from Jules and Curt). Since I did not single out any individual, I can only imagine that those that took personal offense may well have a guilty conscience(?) Since many people seemed to have missed the point, it is this: many people just like to bitch and gripe for the sake of bitching and griping, and because it's easier than actually going out and changing what you don't like. This is what Patrick and I did in building the Vintage Computer Marketplace. We did this primarily to create a nice alternative to eBay for the trading of vintage computers. It was designed and built specifically with the computer collector in mind. It was our hope that the site would be embraced and utilized by the community, eventually becoming a thriving trading site, and ideally becoming commercially viable to make the effort worthwhile. I am fully prepared to admit that the promotion of the site can be greatly improved, but there's only so many times I can mention it on the list (which I used to do regularly when I was actively subscribed) and there aren't many other ways to promote it. I did hear one good suggestion actually (from Curt in private e-mail), which is to promote it on mainstream sites like craigslist, etc. I like ideas like that. Now, on to the personal assaults (you know I can't let them pass without a rebuke). Tony Duell: > I was taught it was extremely bad Netiquette to ask for help (or > physical items) on a list (or newsgroup) that you did not also > contribute to, and in particular on a list that you didn't subscribe to. > > Somenbody helps you, you repay the community by helping somebody else. > Seems reasonable to me. Tony, before I unsubscribed, I had been continuously subscribed to the list (with the exception of a brief stint after the first VCF when I decided I needed a break) since the list began in 1997. I was one of the charter members. In the time I was subscribed, I contributed hundreds of thousands of words, most of which I (and I'm sure many others) would consider "useful". I helped countless people with questions, both on and off list (and continue to do so). If you can't recall the thousands of messages that I contributed here in your presence then please have your head checked. In short, I think I've earned the right to continue to both contribute and draw from a mailing list that I helped to build, regardless of your petty concepts of "netiquette". I don't feel it should be necessary to toot my own horn, but I can count the number of people to whom I've provided free hardware, software, manuals, etc., often covering shipping costs as well, in the dozens. I'm not going to bother going into the promotion I've given and attention I've attracted for the hobby (for better or worse), without which we might've still just been a small throng of nerds playing with obsolete computers. I've been out on the front pushing this hobby forward for ten years now, something one can't do from the comfort of their parents' basement. You might also recall the many times I privately responded to your regular public laments about not being able to find a job by trying to encourage you to move out to the US (this was during the dot.com boom) where your considerable talents would've been in high demand (you always found some excuse to stay within your comfortable little bubble). > For that reason, I ignore any messages from Sellam now. Well, as long as we're being petty, I tuned out your incessant (and often off-topic) jabbering long before I unsubscribed. Richard: > Wow. Bitterness. No, bitterness would've been me taking down the VCM right after I posted my rant. I'm not bitter at all. Quite the contrary, I'm proud that I actually put in the effort and succeeded in creating venues and tools to let collectors express their appreciation of vintage computers and facilitate their interest in the hobby. I would like to see more people take advantage of those tools, and not just keep re-hashing the same old tired gripes about eBay. Look, eBay is always going to act in the interest of their sellers and that's it. Like I said, they don't give a shit about the buyers as long as they are buying, because their money goes to the sellers, and a cut of that goes to eBay. That's their business model. It's a great business model. I wish I could have 1% of 1% of eBay's business. Whatever, my point, again, is that the complainers are never going to get the satisfaction out of eBay that they desire, because the complainers are mostly buyers, and buyers on eBay are just so many cattle grazing at the trough. I wasn't content with just venting. I had a vision and I implemented it. Patrick and I built and deployed a free alternative to eBay that caters specifically to this community; buyer and seller; hobbyists. But the last step in that project is one that has to be taken by the community: we can't also be expected to fill the Marketplace with stuff too. If enough people turned their bitching into action and resolved to use the VCM on at least, let's say, a quarter of their transactions rather than eBay then the site might eventually grow to the point where critical mass would be reached. The last step has to be taken by the community. If the community is so truly fed up with eBay, why aren't they using the VCM? Oh, because they're still using eBay. I fully understand that eBay has the most eyeballs and therefore the most stuff, and also gets you the most money for your stuff. So if it's more important for you to get top dollar for your stuff then great, eBay is a natural choice. But it's also possible to do very well on the VCM, with a trading partner that you know appreciates this stuff as much as you do and will treat it with the proper care and reverence when packing and shipping it. That $1,200 IMSAI 8080 was a good deal for the buyer (relative to what one might expect to pay on eBay) and it was still a pretty good deal for the seller (plus he didn't have to pay listing fees or commissions; that was good for around 40 bucks). But again, as critical mass is finally reached, with lots of eyeballs at the VCM (thanks to the efforts of the community), the prices at the VCM would start to rise as competition increases. Sellers would be getting good money, buyers would be getting good selection. It's an obvious win-win for the community, something that the community could have taken credit for helping to create. But the community ignored it and just continued to suffer eBay. Lamentably. Finally, the reason eBay nets you top dollar is because of the tricks eBay pulls, like the very one that started this whole brouhaha rolling. eBay's system works in favor of the seller, and in doing so it encourages artificial price inflation. To deny this is folly: it is in eBay's interest to push prices up because that means more commissions for them. I guarantee you that if eBay didn't become the premier place for buying and selling vintage computers (or vintage anything) we wouldn't be talking about $2,000 Altairs and IMSAI's (I still insist those values are inflated, though not as much as they used to be). That's an argument I don't want to get into yet again. I refer you to the CC archives where many (IMHO well-laid) arguments of mine can be found. So if eBay is supplanted as the premier trading place for vintage computers by a venue that has a much more equitable trading mechanism between buyer and seller (i.e. the VCM) prices might naturally deflate. Is this undesirable? Or perhaps this is desirable? Mike Stein: > A rather naive perspective, I think. Aside from whatever personal > interest he may have in classic computers, he's also in it for the money > and apparently wants to generate enough traffic for VCM to generate > revenue and potentially sell it for some ridiculous (IPO) amount. and Teo Zenios: > Sellam seems to post on the list when he is looking for something to > resell and make some money, I seem to recall he got pissed when I > referred to him as a dealer. If Sellam expects the people here to do all > his advertising and build up users for him so HE can someday cash out he > is dumber then I thought. This is patently ridiculous. First, I'll address your ignorance. I have a 4,500 square foot warehouse filled with around 2,000 computers going back to the 1950s, thousands of peripherals of all kinds, thousands of software packages, thousands of books, tens of thousands of magazines, plus all manner of computer related ephemera and things. This warehouse currently costs me $3,646.20 a month to lease. As you might imagine, I also have other costs, such as insurance, utilities, wages, etc. In short, it costs me a lot of money to store all this stuff. Now, if I was in this for the money, why the hell would I be stupid enough to incur thousands of dollars of expenses every month to store all this stuff for the past 10+ years of my life? Why did I pour all my money into acquiring old computers rather than landscaping my backyard, which to this day I'm embarrased to admit is still a field of weeds? If I was someone only in it for the money, my warehouse would be a rented storage shed and I would've been doing a brisk trade out of it. And if I were so inclined, I'd be driving a Lamborghini by now. But I don't. And do you want to know why? I will tell you. It is the same reason I started the Vintage Computer Festival 10 years ago and have been doing it year after year ever since, in fact growing it to multiple events around the world, with a wash (in terms of cash) to show for it (and that's only if you count expenses and don't take my time into account). It is the same reason I used to charter a bus at my expense at the VCF so that people could take a tour of the nascent Computer Museum History Center (now the Computer History Museum) while they were in town for the VCF and raise its exposure. It's the same reason I actively contributed to this list for nearly nine years, never deleting a single message without first reading it. I do this because I have a passion for vintage computing and a love of computer history. It is what I have done since I was a teenager. It is my life's work. This is why I do it. So hopefully you'll understand why I think your comments are incredibly insulting and demeaning, bordering on libelous, and why I now have nothing but contempt for both of you for ascribing such a shallow motivation to my life's work, especially Teo, who is reading nothing new here. You've questioned my integrity before and I explained to you quite adequately that I am not someone who merely buys low and sells high. If you do this again then you and I will tangle, but in a serious fashion. As for how I am able to afford to keep all this material preserved while earning a living, it's no secret. I've explained it before, and every e-mail message I send out has a link to my business' website which explains my work. Regarding those periodic requests I post to the list? Those are what I call bounties. They are opportunities for hobbyists to make a little money in their hobby, sometimes a lot of money. Among other things, I do consulting for law firms in the field of patent litigation. I perform research to uncover prior art, and then I go out and try to acquire that prior art for my client (the law firm). Am I doing well by it? You bet. And as the many people who've successfully responded to one of my bounties can attest, it can be quite lucrative for them as well. If I was just using the list for my sole personal gain then yeah, I can see how that would be annoying. However, and here I will unashamedly toot my own horn, I'm actually spreading the wealth. Now tell me, what's wrong with that? Now, as for selling computers for profit, I do this very, very rarely. Most of what I provide to my law clients are items on temporary loan from my (or someone else's) collection. In the rare event when I do sell, I only consider profit motives when selling to businesses because I won't feel guilty about adding a considerable mark up. With individuals (i.e. fellow collectors) my primary motivation is doing a fair trade. In many cases I just give stuff away to other collectors for the prospect of a future favor returned (it's a concept I learned from a good friend called "enlightened self-interest"). By the way, the most exotic thing I ever sold from my own collection, an IMSAI 8080 for $3,500 on eBay, was to fund VCF 3.0. The next most exotic thing was an Apple //e. But enough of the self-adulation. I'll be honest and admit that I am exploiting my hobby, which I've managed to make into my work, for money, and as much as I can. It's the only way I can afford to maintain and grow this wonderful archive that I've built. So I do it shamelessly. Al Kossow: > I sent email to Jay asking that Sellam be banned from posting. Wow, Al. If that's how you treat your friends, I'd hate to know what you do to your enemies. Thanks, I'll remember this. Other people posted nasty comments about me, but I'm not responding to you because I consider you irrelevant. I should add that this does not apply to Jay, with whom I am having an off-list conversation. I would like to sincerely thank those that came to my defense. I count all of them as friends. Finally, to respond to Jay's follow-up to my initial posting, nowhere did I insult either Jay or the list, but rather I paraphrased what Patrick Rigney related to me when he decided to leave the list and the computer collecting community altogether. Go back and read my original posting. This thread is representative of the aspects of this community on which Patrick's disgust was rightly founded. Lastly, I am not going to apologize for any particular language that I choose to use. I've addressed this at length before and don't find a need to re-visit the argument, suffice it to say that I believe people who find any kind of words "dirty" because of their sexual connotations suffer from arrested development and need to mature. I'm stating my opinion. If you can't handle it that's your problem. -- 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 ]

19 years, 6 months

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LOL -- classiccmp in AARP magazine

by evan＠snarc.net

My father just showed me a recent issue of the AARP magazine. On page 19 there's a small blurb about computer collecting. It's WAY off-base. Says that computers of the 80s and 90s are collectible (great, so now every old-time with a late-90s PC will come forward), and -- better yet -- it claims that an Apple IIe recently sold for $6,100. LOL, we're all rich!

19 years, 6 months

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Watch out for Alexandra Carter (eBay seller)

by marvin＠rain.org

She has been selling on ebay for quite a few years, and has some ... strong opinions about a lot of things. She usually attends VCF and the Livermore swapmeet. If I see her next week at Livermore, I'll ask her about it. My impression is still that she has some strong opinions, but is not dishonest in her dealings. It wouldn't surprise me though to see her overreacting. > From: Vassilis PREVELAKIS <vp at drexel.edu> > > Anybody done business with eBay seller Alexandra Carter (alexandracarter)? > > She used a very neat trick on me. > > I bought an HP 5036A Microprocessor Lab 8-Bit Computer from her > (eBay 160080545681) and paid for it with a money order which was > received on Feb. 3, 2006 (USPS tracking number 0103 8555 7499 5332 > 2386). > > She then claimed to have sent the HP 5036A via USPS but has not > produced a tracking number despite the fact that I specifically had > asked for one. > > Anyway, when I pressured her about the item, she filled a non-payment > dispute against me, to prevent me from posting negative feedback > on her. > > This is despite the fact that on Feb 9, she sent me an eBay message > (sitting in my eBay messages folder) confirming receipt of payment. > > I have been told that she has pulled this stunt before on another > buyer and only delivered the goods when he threatened filing a > USPS mail fraud complaint. > > So watch out for Alexandra Carter despite her 98.6% feedback rating. > > **vp >

19 years, 6 months

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I found some old files...

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

ok, just to keep you folks updated I just downloaded StopZilla (anti-adware, anti-spyware and anti-phishing (whats that?) software) - I downloaded AVG Free, the latest version, last night which is a anti-virus program. Ok, onto retro stuff... Today I was testing out the disk drive on my laptop. For this I was going through a bunch of PC disks I bought ages ago - I was gonna erase them and use them on my Amiga. Amongst them were some retro games (some that were unplayable due to my CPU being too fast - 700MHz vs. the original 8MHz-ish!), various utilities, loads of pictures (in .PCX format) and one cool picture of New York (.bmp image). Worth noting were a several text files for retro computers which I shall stick online later. Also worth having was the Gates Does Windows screensaver (very funny) and a tool to save the desktop image (just like I was able to do on the Amiga) - it works on Windows 2K despite being written around 1992!!! Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk Mail sent using my laptop...

19 years, 6 months

1
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List stats?

by hexstar＠gmail.com

On 2/24/07, John Robertson <jrr at flippers.com> wrote: > > At 11:34 AM -0500 2/22/07, Roger Merchberger wrote: > >Rumor has it that Zane H. Healy may have mentioned these words: > > > >>Mine are in whatever format Eudora uses with "Old Style" TOC files. > > > >TOC files are just "Table of Contents" files - extra personal > >settings, like labels, etc. The actual mail is stored in the .mbx > >files - gosh, rather looks like it might mean "mbox" maybe? > > > >... > > > >=-=-= > > > >And... Rumor has it that John Robertson may have mentioned these words: > >>The biggest problem I have with the list is the sheer volume of > >>messages. My mail reader is Eudora and I do wish it could treat > >>this list the same way that Agent or Unison treats newsgroup > >>messages - threads sorted by dates. Or is there a way that I am > >>missing buried in Eudora? > > > >Overall, so do I, as it seems even Thunderchicken still can't do > >that - it'll thread, but it won't reshuffle old threads with new > >messages to the top/bottom of the stack; at least as far as I've > >seen. > > > >Eudora does have a handy little keyboard trick with the [alt] key: > >If you hold [alt] ... > > > >Speaking of mail - qmail 1.0 just turned 10 years old! It's not > >"kewl" so it's still offtopic (most everyone's running 1.03 anyway > >-- gosh - 3 minor updates in a decade! Why can't Microsoft do > >that??? ;-) but just one of those little interesting (to me) > >datapoints... > > > >HTH, > >Roger "Merch" Merchberger > > Looking around for threaded mail readers I stumbled across > "Sweetmail" and it is starting to look like it might fit the bill for > doing this mail list. It has threading like my newsreader (Unison), > that works properly - for the most part - but I still haven't figured > out the bells and whistles. Need to find the command to display the > mesage pane for example... > > Still this little freeware OS X (and earlier) Eudora 1.0 emulator > (Author a big fan of the original Eudora) looks like it might be just > what I need to handle large volume mail lists such as this one! > > http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/~sweet/mail/ > > And the review that led to my considering this program out was: > > http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/sm21.shtml > > John :-#)# > -- > John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 > Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, VideoGames) > www.flippers.com > "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out" > gmail is free, reliable, feature filled and does threading very nicely in its web interface :-)

19 years, 6 months

1
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8-inch floppy drives

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I didn't expect this much interest in the drives so fast. I can only deal with the first request until next weekend. I've saved the emails from the others who want a unit, so you're safe there. I'll post again when I can wrangle out some more. -- 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?

19 years, 6 months

1
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Google on hard drive failures

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 02:04 PM 2/23/2007, William Donzelli wrote: >>Good answer :) Certainly not permanent. Could we (as a species) theoretically >>make something that will last for a fairly significant (from a human POV) >>length of time, such as a few hundred years? > >Art. So clearly the proper way to preserve our antique data is to use steganography to embed it inside of pictures that people will want to keep for generations, collected and redistributed in a redundant fashion all around the world. Why, the Internet is halfway there already. I'll stop now. - John

19 years, 6 months

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List stats?

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Jay, Any ideas how many messages have been posted to this list since its creation back in (mumble, mumble - 1987?) ? I'm just curious. Sent to the list rather than privately as I figured others might be interested to know too...

19 years, 6 months

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OT: Re: Long-term storage (Was:...)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 5:08 -0600 2/24/07, Chuck wrote: >I wonder how much damage micrometeorites will do after a few >millenia? A reasonable question. At least the NH CD, and I thought the Voyager one as well but could be wrong about that, are *under* the MLI (insulation, about 15 sheets of metallized mylar alternating with a very loose-weave mesh). Most dust-grain-sized stuff will vaporize on the outer layer, then get stopped by the inner layers. There is the possibility of something pea-sized, but there's not just a lot of particles/cubic km out in the Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud. -- - Mark, 210-379-4635 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Large Asteroids headed toward planets inhabited by beings that don't have technology adequate to stop them: Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.

19 years, 6 months

1
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Restoring an XT - transfer problem

by dm561＠torfree.net

Laplink, Interlink and various clones all had this "remote install" feature. another mike --------------Original Message: From: "Mike van Bokhoven" <mike at ambientdesign.com> Subject: Re: Restoring an XT - transfer problem To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <00c201c757d4$df79e760$0132a8c0 at fluke> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > Hoping someone may be able to help - I've rebuilt an old Commodore PC 5 (XT > compatible) back to working condition. Now the problem is getting anything > on to the machine. None of my current machines are capable of supporting a > 5.25" drive (of any flavour) so I can't easily transfer using that method. > However, I have installed DOs 4.01 to the C= & it includes GW Basic & I have > linked up that machine & tyhe XP box via a null modem cable. So, all I need > is a simple terminal program on the XT & I'm pretty much in business. > Problem is, all the GW Basic sources I've found for term progs are simply > for text-based terms only, there are none around with simple transfer > abilities (ie XModem or Kermit). Now this is going to sound very vague, but perhaps it'll jog someone else's memory. Once upon a time, it was possible to buy a serial file transfer package that supported transfer to/from MS-DOS machines with no removable media, e.g. machines with dead floppy drives, so long as they were able to load MS-DOS or similar in some way. The process went something like this: 1. Make sure the two machines have compatible RS232 settings. 2. Connect the two machines with a null-modem cable. 3. On the driveless machine ('client'), type a short command that effectively mapped the serial port to the console. 4. On the 'server' machine, run the transfer software, selecting the option that sends the software to the client machine. The server would then upload and start the client software - instant networking. The downside - I don't remember which package it was that did this. LapLink? XTLink? Google wasn't helpful in this case. Mike.

19 years, 6 months

1
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Is this true?? (TI & watches)

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

No idea whether this is true or not, as it was in part of a spam email, but because of the TI link, I thought it might be of some interest here (and perhaps someone can confirm whether it's true or not?): In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in Switzerland discovered that a small crystal would vibrate at a constant rate. He found this was so accurate that it could be used to calibrate time so he took it to company management and said it would make an entirely new kind of watch that had no springs and no gears. They could not imagine who would want such a thing. Swiss watches dominated world commerce. They did not even bother to patent it. The inventor took his new idea to a commercial trade show, set up his booth and tried to interest manufacturers to produce his new kind of watch. Of the thousand people only 2 were willing to try it ? Texas Instruments and Seiko Corp. of Japan. Ten years later the Swiss manufacture of watches had shrunk to 10% of it former production. It took a complete change of thinking to produce this new model because most people are rooted in the old way and are reluctant to change. The new model, the new paradigm is refused. Regards, Andrew D. Burton aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk

19 years, 6 months

9
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Real Time Clock - was: Is this true?? (TI & watches)

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Roger Holmes wrote: I wonder which was the first computer with a real time clock, what year and how it was implemented. I imagine it was invented primarily for charging for computer time. I think the first machine I programmed, the IBM 7094 had one because if your job ran over its limit time (30 seconds IIRC), the job was aborted. Unless that was the operator looking at his wrist watch! Roger Holmes --------------------- The earliest I worked on was the CDC 1604, shipping in 1959. It used a 1ms increment and a 48 bit count. Like you mention, it was used for job control. But most of the early customers were military and used it for data logging from various experiments. That's a nice way of saying they made bombs and exploded them. Billy

19 years, 6 months

6
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Restoring an XT - transfer problem

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Message: From: "Lance Lyon" <lance.w.lyon at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Restoring an XT - transfer problem To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <006301c757c0$ce77e610$0100000a at pentium> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Hiya Chuck, From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 1:10 PM Subject: Re: Restoring an XT - transfer problem > Why not simply hook up a 3.5" drive (DSHD is fine)? Get a DS2D > diskette by covering over the density aperture in a DSHD diskette and > format it up to 720K on your modern PeeCee using "format a: /n:9 > /t:80". Write whatever you want to it and let the Commo read it. > The PC5 will not recognise a 3.5" disk, even using driver.sys to set the parameters it always gives a "device not ready" error. > Alternatively, hook up a 360K 5.25" to your modern PeeCee and call it > a 1.44MB drive--format the blanks in your PC5 and your modern PC will > write them just fine. No go, 3 different machines, 5 different drives - all the same error - "Sector not found". cheers, Lance // http://www.commodore128.org Commodore 128 forums & more! // ---------------Reply: Grab a free copy of the old DOS LapLink 3 or 4 off the 'Web; that oughta do the trick. mike

19 years, 6 months

1
0
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KDJ11-SD Boot ROMs

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

Does anyone have a checksum for the PDP-11/53 ROMs? I'm converting an M7554-SD. The ROMs from M7554-04, I think, are the ones I need. According to Jonathan Engdahl's page, they are 261E5.hex and 262E5.hex. I have a set of images already, and have one system running with them, but my EPROM-burner-guy is having trouble with 262E5.hex. I want to make sure I have a good image before I tell him to try harder. :) Thanks! Doc

19 years, 6 months

3
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Restoring an XT - transfer problem

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Restoring an XT - transfer problem > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:34:52 -0800 (PST) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >> Or any other suggestion ? > >didn't 4.0x include something called "interlink"? > Not sure of 4.0 but 5.0 and 6.X included it. Allison

19 years, 6 months

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cctalk Digest, Vol 42, Issue 67

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Message: From: "Joachim Thiemann" <joachim.thiemann at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Wanted: CBM-to-IEEE cable On 23/02/07, M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote: > --------------------- > Not mine, and not cheap, but if you're desperate enough: > > www.jppbm.com > > mike Is that guy still around? I tried sending an email - I want to buy one of the 1581 kits - but didn't get a reply... Supposedly, he was at World of Commodore in december. Joe. -----------------Reply: Yes; as a matter of fact I was just talking with him at a meeting a week ago (and he does still have 1581 kits). mike

19 years, 6 months

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KDJ11-SD Boot ROMs

by brad＠heeltoe.com

"Glen Slick" wrote: >On 2/23/07, Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> wrote: >> Does anyone have a checksum for the PDP-11/53 ROMs? I'm converting >> an M7554-SD. The ROMs from M7554-04, I think, are the ones I need. >> According to Jonathan Engdahl's page, they are 261E5.hex and 262E5.hex. >> > >You can try the straight .BIN files instead of .HEX files. > >http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/DECROMs/23-261E5.bin >http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/DECROMs/23-262E5.bin I used those images and they worked fine. My work directory looks like this: -rw-rw-r-- 1 brad brad 16384 Jul 14 2005 23-261E5.bin -rw-rw-r-- 1 brad brad 32768 Jul 21 2005 23-261E5-doubled.bin -rw-rw-r-- 1 brad brad 16384 Jul 14 2005 23-262E5.bin -rw-rw-r-- 1 brad brad 32768 Jul 21 2005 23-262E5-doubled.bin I'm not sure what the "doubled" files are however. Maybe I used a 27256 instead of a 27128. I think that's the case. linux cksum says: 3162496093 16384 23-261E5.bin 1853346231 16384 23-262E5.bin 3422894537 32768 23-261E5-doubled.bin 961258351 32768 23-262E5-doubled.bin -brad

19 years, 6 months

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FW: Re: old rare diskdrives?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I have see some disk drives on your homepage and want to ask you if > sale the magnetic and coils from the old diskdrives? no --al (who is trying to find a working CDC 9766 right now)

19 years, 6 months

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Wanted: CBM-to-IEEE cable

by drb＠msu.edu

Hi, I'm in need of a PET-style IEEE cable to connect an 8032 to its peripherals. Anyone have one they're willing to part with? This is the kind with the card edge connector on one end, and the more traditional centronics-style IEEE connector on the other. Thanks, De

19 years, 6 months

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8-inch dual floppy drives need homes

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I have around ten 8-inch dual floppy drive units which need a new home. An advert is on http://www.vintagecomputermarketplace.com/ under the name "frotz661", the same name I use on Ebay. Pictures will be added over the weekend. -- 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?

19 years, 6 months

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by legalize＠xmission.com

This is a good price on these dvds: <http://digitaleyes.resultspage.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=modern+marvels+co…> -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 6 months

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CDC disks (was Re: FW: Re: old rare diskdrives?)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> If this jogs someone's mind, please speak up. If not, I may have a drive in > unknown state (_I_ have never powered it up) available sometime this year. ok. just got several Prime disc packs that I need to try reading. > I used to repair CDC 9762s and 9766s about 20 years ago, but don't > really miss them all that much. never liked working on washing machine drives much either. too many scary high speed rotating/moving parts

19 years, 6 months

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Google on hard drive failures

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Hextar wrote: > Indeed...and I was criticized for posting a OT > thread on this list before and here comes a OT > thread that is openly discussed...what gives??? Why was > I flamed while this guy is not? I just don't get it...:( If you post a thread that is immediately perceived by everybody as another chapter of Mac.vs PC flame-bait, and you get flamed, are you surprised? I'm not innocent myself, but most who post flame-bait have enough experience to know that they're posting flame-bait. Speaking as "this guy", I feel that data preservation (cross-platform) for long periods of time is an interest shared by many/most on this list, as is storage (especially storage media and hardware) longevity. I mean, keeping 40-year-old or older peripherals up and going is a fine goal. But when it's done to move the data to more modern media, especially when it's of interest to classiccmp members, that's even better. In fact I strongly believe that storage and peripherals are far more interesting than CPU's. I am strongly influenced by the fact that my day job is working with a $10billion peripheral. There are a few co-believers with me but we're not all that vocal or large in numbers. It is true that most of the industry papers are very little concerned with history back more than 5 years, and I found it useful to read what others on this list wrote on the subject. Tim.

19 years, 6 months

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CDC disks (was Re: FW: Re: old rare diskdrives?)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 2/23/07, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote: > --al (who is trying to find a working CDC 9766 right now) Hmm... I think I have a 9766 stored with my PDP-11/70s. I picked it up for a list member (whose name I've lost track of) to swap for some PDP-8/i memory, but the pickup never took place. If this jogs someone's mind, please speak up. If not, I may have a drive in unknown state (_I_ have never powered it up) available sometime this year. I used to repair CDC 9762s and 9766s about 20 years ago, but don't really miss them all that much. ;-) -ethan

19 years, 6 months

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DEC VR01-A Display Unit (AKA Tek RM503 oscilloscope)

by chd_1＠nktelco.net

I just got ahold of a Tek RM503 oscilloscope. According to some documents I have found DEC sold this as the VR01-A. This one is probably not from DEC. First, does anyone know if there were any modifications made to use it as a point plot scope? It looks like there was just a cable that connected to the Z-axis/crt grid input on the back. Second, this scope has differential amplifiers for both horizontal and vertical inputs. I can't get the amplifiers to balance and so for any setting more sensitive than .1v/cm I can't get the trace on the screen. This shouldn't be a problem for how I want to use the scope, but I would like to have it fully functional and calibrated. Digging around inside, I see that the bias voltages for the cathode followers are not the same and this throws the whole differential amp out of balance. It can be compensated for at low gains by using the POSITION knob. If there are any valve or Tek scope experts out there, they can contact me offline so I can ask some naive questions about tubes. -chuck

19 years, 6 months

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Ethical dilemma, anyone want a copy of Spring MSDOS 5

by innfoclassics＠gmail.com

This is, I hope, on topic as the subject is over 10 years old. I stopped by one of my favorite surplus thrift stores that sells old software and exclaimed in delight at seeing several new copies of the Spring edition of MSDOS 5. Now this edition is a counterfeit produced by a corporate executive of Everex I believe. The first person to go to jail for software piracy. I remember seeing this boxed set up and down the west coast in 1992 or so. It is MSDOS 5 on 5 1/2 inch disks with a manual and NO holofoil. it was easy to identify. However once I mentioned "counterfeit" I was "persona non grata." The manager grabbed the copies off the shelf and started to investigate using Google. He didn't get anywhere and so called Microsoft. They didn't have anyone there that remembered MSDOS 5, much less anything about counterfeit copys. He got referred to a website with no info and sat there looking at them. I suggested that no one is ever going to use MSDOS 5 again and just pretend He never heard me say anything. I apologised for upsetting his day and wasting at least an hour of this time. Given the lack of interest by Microsoft he put them back on the shelf. So I wondered if anyone on this list collects SW like this and would like a copy. There are several sealed editions (I think he opened one) that they are asking $5 for (too much in my opinion but it will go down if they do not sell - and who is going to buy MSDOS 5). Anyway that is the ethical dilemma... should they be sold as collectibles for any reason? I know I wouldn't dare to put it on Ebay I did buy a copy of IBM DOS 6.3, new unopened for $2. I think there is a collectible copy of the Microsoft MSDOS 6.0 upgrade, sealed. If anyone is looking for IBM or Apple SW of the vintage 1990 -1999 (I know OT) I can check. I got an original unopened box of Asymetrix Toolbox V3 for $1, also a Scelbi 6800 Software Gourmet Guide and Cook Book for $1. They also had a boxful of HP factory boxed HPUX 10 CDS that looks like it might be a complete set (maybe some doubles). They wanted $15 and I again upset them by offering $5. "This is a thrift sore and I set the prices" the manager said. I didn't buy it as I just got the free HPUX 11 set and haven't even had a chance to look at it. I do have an old 735 workstation that I was wondering if HPUX 10 would be better for. Should I get these? Another thing they have I am thinking about it a Apple Newton eMate 300 with case. They are asking $45. Is this reasonable? If it doesn't sell they have sales and I have learned to wait for them. Paxton Hoag Astoria, OR USA

19 years, 6 months

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Wanted: CBM-to-IEEE cable

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:15:57 -0500 From: Dennis Boone <drb at msu.edu> Subject: Wanted: CBM-to-IEEE cable Hi, I'm in need of a PET-style IEEE cable to connect an 8032 to its peripherals. Anyone have one they're willing to part with? This is the kind with the card edge connector on one end, and the more traditional centronics-style IEEE connector on the other. Thanks, De --------------------- Not mine, and not cheap, but if you're desperate enough: www.jppbm.com mike

19 years, 6 months

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Google on hard drive failures

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Google has a very vast herd of machines with a large number of hard drives. Very fruitful that they analyze failures and publish the results to the web! While the drives they are studying are definitely not classic (all dating from 2001 or later), those of us who host large quantities of classic material may find the results of interest: http://labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf Side note: at one point I found it unbelievable that Google was using consumer-grade hardware to host their stuff. Since then, I've developed a lot of respect for this approach! Tim.

19 years, 6 months

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Google on hard drive failures

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 01:42 AM 2/23/2007, Hex Star wrote: >Indeed...and I was criticized for posting a OT thread on this list before >and here comes a OT thread that is openly discussed...what gives??? Why was >I flamed while this guy is not? I just don't get it...:( Tim's a well-respected guru so he gets more slack than a newcomer behind an alias. :-) To play devil's advocate, it is more relevant than many OT posts. Longevity of disk drives is a significant concern to computer collectors, no? The study is about contemporary drives that may have very different parameters than old drives, though. But it's always interesting to see rules of thumb and "common wisdom" pushed aside by data and analysis. - John

19 years, 6 months

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New DEC museum entry :D

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Just for illustration; our electricity supply here in England comes up >from the Fawley power station near Southamption at 132kV on pylons. It goes to a substation at Thatcham about two miles distant. Its stepped down to 11kV and distributed over a radius of up to five miles on wooden poles with a metal T bar on top. In some areas its three phase and others not. Now comes the aforementioned transformer. Its normally mounted on one of the 11kV poles. It steps down to 235v and feeds a fair number of houses. Our supplies are fused at 60A or 100A at each house. Rod Smallwood -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Tony Duell Sent: 22 February 2007 21:15 To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: New DEC museum entry :D > > Tony Duell wrote: > > (there are no 'pole pigs' over here) > > Is that always true? Sometimes on rural roads with just one or two > houses (and also individually on farms) I've seen pole-mounted > transformers and wondered what their function is - I'd assumed they > were step-down transformers from overhead line voltage (several KV I'd > guess) to 240VAC. Or do they do some completely different job? I think you're absoluately right. But they normally supply more than just one house, don't they? OK, I was a little too definite in my original statement. I should have said 'Pole pigs are rarely used in the UK, in towns/cities (at least), many houses are supplied from the same transformer'. -tony

19 years, 6 months

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OT: GFCIs (was New DEC museum entry :D)

by dm561＠torfree.net

From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: New DEC museum entry :D <snip> >And a question for the US experts. On a 120v circuit, will a $6.00 >GFI detect a leak between neutral and ground? Or is the detection >circuitry only on the high side of the line? As mentioned by several others, GF(C)Is detect an imbalance between hot and neutral and do not in fact care about ground at all. Since the neutral is normally bonded to ground at the main panel, it would require considerable current in the neutral to generate a detectable voltage difference between neutral and ground at the receptacle; in the unlikely event that the neutral is not at ground potential a GFCI would still trip on a fault. In fact, if you have to replace one of the unobtainium 2-prong ungrounded receptacles in an old house wired with knob & tube (or the '50s era 2-wire NM non-metallic sheathed), replacing it with a GFCI receptacle will give protection similar to a grounded outlet (although of course running a ground wire back to the panel is preferable, since an internal short or leakage will not be detected until there is an external path to ground, and noise suppression filters will be ineffective). The "bedroom GFCI"s that Ethan mentioned are actually Arc-fault interrrupters, required by most jurisdictions for the last 4 or 5 years in bedroom circuits because neither a circuit breaker nor a GFCI will trip on an arcing short or connection (the cause of many if not most residential electrical fires) if the current is less than the breaker rating. mike

19 years, 6 months

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ebay heads up: Wang VS 5450 in Highlands Ranch, CO

by legalize＠xmission.com

Don't see many Wang minis going around. No pictures, but the description lists it as containing a reasonable set of cards. I would contact the seller directly before bidding. Item # 160088328422 -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 6 months

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New DEC museum entry :D

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 22 Feb, 2007, at 18:03, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Message: 14 > Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:22:15 -0600 > From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > Subject: Re: New DEC museum entry :D > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <45DDA717.80406 at yahoo.co.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed > > Tony Duell wrote: >> (there are no 'pole pigs' over here) > > Is that always true? Sometimes on rural roads with just one or two > houses (and > also individually on farms) I've seen pole-mounted transformers and > wondered > what their function is - I'd assumed they were step-down > transformers from > overhead line voltage (several KV I'd guess) to 240VAC. Or do they > do some > completely different job? > I live on a farm, we have a three phase step down transformer on a pole in our field. It steps down from 11,000 volts to 240/440 volts. I guess the 11,000v is across phases as there is no neutral conductor. We used to have a two wire supply to the pole with a 240-0-240 transformer. Then the incoming cloth covered wiring from the pole caught fire. Couldn't do much - it was before it reached any of our fuse boxes or even the meters, even pulling out the 'company' fuses would not have isolated it. We put it out but ran out of powder extinguishers. The fire brigade took over half an hour to arrive (it was in January and it was snowing). They went into the house with breathing apparatus and just saved the house. Everything was covered in congealed PVC, some decorative candles had completely melted and they said another couple of minutes and we would have lost the house. They sat on the stairs for four hours, putting out each new fire in the distribution board until the electricity company turned up and pulled the 1000 Amp fuses on the pole above the barbed wire. The fire brigade were about to leave when my mother pointed out some smoke coming from the wall. The upper storey is timber framed and the woodwork behind the distribution board was alight. They ripped off the Kent peg tiles and we finished the day with a big hole in both inner and outside surfaces of the wall. Next day the electricity company turned up to read the meters, I said hold your hand out, and I dropped a few loose brass wheels which had had numbers painted on them into his hand and pointed out that was all that was left of the meters. The best guess we could get from anyone was that it was a mis-matched load over the two 'phases' (actually 180 degrees apart), and that the neutral wire could not cope. Later on we got the company apparatus moved into a redundant chimney where it could catch light without doing much damage and I paid 400 pounds to have an extra wire put on the overhead supply to the pole and the transformer upgraded to a three phase unit, so I could power my lathe, mill, shaper, surface grinder, pillar drill and my mainframe computer from the mains instead of using a generator. Roger Holmes.

19 years, 6 months

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SCADA (was Re: Help to identify a computer?)

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > > process-control equipment. I helped get me through college by > > working as an instrumentation technician summers. Really primitive > > I think the main problem is that it's difficult to recreate enough of the > 'process' at home to be able to use this equipment, so it would be a > static collection. Of course some meaursing instruments can be used for > other purposes, but then people do collect measuring instruments. That's true for stuff that is built or irreversibly programmed for a particular application, but there were modular systems as well, which could be used for quite a lot of things. The 'process' can often also be scaled for a demonstration model - University has a nice display of a PLC running a model 'production line' built from Fischertechnik: http://www.rt.eei.uni-erlangen.de/FGdes/index_en.html As I happened across process control stuff, some of it inevitably found its way into my collection, namely: -some Simatic N boards (eurocard form factor, DIN connectors) which fit into a small rack and realize simple logic functions like gates and flip-flops (several per card) up to counters and comperators. The person I got them from originally intended to implement some security functions for his model railway with them, reducing the possibility of accidental crashes, but now controls everything by computer. -Simatic C1 trainer set consisting of a piece of DIN top-hat rail mounted on a wooden base and stuffed with "blocks" (functions like the boards; sized like circuit breakers, connectors on the front) together with a 24V supply and a switches/indicators panel, complete with a bunch of wires for setting up the connections. I had that wired up as a 4-bit binary counter when they wanted a prop with lights blinking in a clever fashion for our A-level party. -Simatic S4, microprocessor based PLC (8086 I think?). It is programmed (either with a hand-held LCD device or with a luggable CP/M machine plus the appropriate software and interface)...by designing a Ladder Diagram or "Kontaktplan", a schematic of how you would implement the function you want with relays. The program is then stored in an EEPROM cartridge. I/O is also 24V DC, 230V AC modules were available. I tested it but don't know what to do with it yet; I thought about building a lights and switches panel and implementing a tic-tac-toe engine as a demonstration program. -Sinumerik mate TG, a controller for CNC lathes. This is unfortunately incomplete, since I only have the electronics cabinet, but not the proprietary display unit which also incorporates the character and (I suppose) vector generator circuitry - It was originally there, but was junked before I realized I wanted the thing. I can only hope I'll ever find one again...used replacements are EUR 3000,- upwards. Not much analog stuff here yet, unfortunately - apart frome some chart recorders by HP and Kipp & Zonen (Netherlands). The one HP is a two-channel recorder with fine hoses for ink distribution to the pens and rubber balls for priming - What do the cartridges look for those like? Can you still get them? (It came without.) The other HP is an analog x/y and x/t plotter with plugin slots for pre-amplifier and filter modules. Don't have anything pneumatic or fluidic yet, althought I consider these technologies very interesting. BTW: If somebody has analog control and/or CNC/PLC stuff floating around and wants it gone or swapped, we might try to work something out; I'm located in Germany and will be present at the VCFe 8.0, 28./29.04. in Munich. Greetings, -- Arno Kletzander Stud. Hilfskraft Informatik Sammlung Erlangen www.iser.uni-erlangen.de "Feel free" - 10 GB Mailbox, 100 FreeSMS/Monat ... Jetzt GMX TopMail testen: www.gmx.net/de/go/mailfooter/topmail-out

19 years, 6 months

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Minor ImageDisk update

by dave06a＠dunfield.com

I've just posted ImageDisk 1.14 to the web site. This is a minor update adding automatic processing of IMD.CMD if it exists in the ImageDisk home directory at startup (lets you customize IMD to your own preferences), and the ability to easily run command files from the IMD home directory. Please let me know if you encounter any problems. Dave -- dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html

19 years, 6 months

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database of PC software release dates?

by legalize＠xmission.com

Is there a database somewhere that attempts to catalog the introduction date of software for the IBM PC and compatibles? -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 6 months

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DEC Rainbow PC100 available

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Hi I would have gladly taken it 'tware it not for the fact I'm in the UK. I worked for DEC when Rainbows were current. I had one mounted in the leg of a special desk made to take them. It would have complemented my '91 Vax 4000 nicely. Its a pity air freight has not gone the way of passenger air fares. Oh well! one may turn up in the UK. Rod Smallwood -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Bob Rosenbloom Sent: 21 February 2007 20:51 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: DEC Rainbow PC100 available Not my cup of tea but someone on this list may be interested. Please contact Gary directly. Bob ______________________________________________________________________ Bob, Our stuff isn't really what I would call "vintage". It's a 1985 rainbow pc100. about the only cool thing is that is is all complete including documentation and mint condition. my wife worked for DEC at the time and purchased it as a "state of the art" system...... if you know of anyone collecting these I can e-mail the original billing statement which lists the whole system. Gary Mathews garym at quickbeam.com

19 years, 6 months

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HP 2005A computer system??

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I was emailing back & forth with a person who collects HP mini's and they mentioned.... > Eventually, I'd like to put together a dual-processor realtime system > similar to the Continental 2005A RTE configuration, I responded... > I've never even seen any reference > to it. I'm extremely curious as to just what it is. Can you enlighten > me at all about it? He said... Continental Airlines contracted HP to build a real-time system around 1970, and HP put together a dual-CPU system similar to a 2000A, with a 2116 and a 2114. HP advertised the hardware configuration itself (not just the software) as the 2005A Real Time Executive. The Contential configuration is dual-CPU, but the default 2005A configuration in the HP catalog has only a 2116 and about half the peripherals of the Continental configuration. ------------------------- I have never heard of this Continental 2005A dual processor Real Time Executive, especially as an official product. Does anyone have more information? Jay

19 years, 6 months

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Is this true?? (TI & watches)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Is this true?? (TI & watches) > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:48:19 -0800 (PST) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >> > Before there were quartz crystal oscillators in watches, Bulova developed >> > and sold watches with 360Hz tuning fork oscillators. Otherwise know as Accutron Watches. Very fine and accurate. >On Mon, 19 Feb 2007, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> ...and before that, there were electric watches that used a >> conventional balance wheel as the timing reference. Before that (mt Cessna still has one) there were clocks that used A solenoid and contact to wind a mainspring for the usual wound clock style balance wheel and escapement. >.. . . but we still consider the digital watch to be a pretty neat idea Indeed. Allison

19 years, 6 months

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Cipher F880 Manual (copy) Available

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I need a copy of thismanual - where can I go to see it? I have a copy scanned, I'll see about getting it on line under http://bitsavers.org/pdf/cipher

19 years, 6 months

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Boot Disk/Software Archives

by marvin＠rain.org

Has anyone started to rebuild the boot disk/software archives similar to what Don Maslin was doing? I see bits and pieces spread around the web but nothing all inclusive such as what Don had. It would be great to see it all in one place and mirrored in the same way as bitsavers. I did find a list of the disks that Don had online (I think at Gaby). To the best of my knowledge, that was the only online compilation of what was contained in his collection.

19 years, 6 months

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Fwd: 8" floppy technical data

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I will forward your message to the Classic Computer Collector mailing list. Perhaps someone there can help. - John >Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:35:08 -0300 (ART) >From: dario de rito <deritod at yahoo.com.ar> >Subject: 8" floppy technical data >To: jfoust at threedee.com > >hi. >I'm working with a disquette drive formatter model >6700 (DRE )disquette 8" simple side, 77 tracks 26 >sector,256kbyte. >I design an interface for recovery the data recorded >in the disquette. >I have the digital information of each sector record >in my PC,but i dont understand the data, because i >dont know the code or standard used in 1970/78 for >record data, i dont know if the data block have a >particular format >The disquette have a program in atol language. >The disquette is compatible with IBM3740. >Do you have information about it?, the standard use in >1970/78, any format? >Thanks >Dario De Rito

19 years, 6 months

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Is this true?? (TI & watches)

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 21 Feb, 2007, at 18:01, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Does anyone remember that the oldest of said wall clocks required the > owner to start the motor manually by spinning a little knurled shaft > located on the back? I don't think I'd call it a wall clock, but I have a clock like that in the computer room. It is octagonal and painted pink, so not my favourite, but I used to use it to keep an eye on the time so I could top up the diesel in the 3 Phase generator which used to run the mainframe. I also have a clockwork car clock which gets wound by the movement of the car. That's way off topic though. I wonder which was the first computer with a real time clock, what year and how it was implemented. I imagine it was invented primarily for charging for computer time. I think the first machine I programmed, the IBM 7094 had one because if your job ran over its limit time (30 seconds IIRC), the job was aborted. Unless that was the operator looking at his wrist watch! Roger Holmes

19 years, 6 months

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Google on hard drive failures

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Guy wrote: > There's an even *more* interesting paper on > this from a CMU post-doc (math warning...lots > of statistics) that seems to blow away many (if not > all) assumptions about drive failures/quality/raid/etc. I looked through FAST05 and found a few CMU papers but nothing that looked like that. If/when you find the link I'm very interested. My anecdotal experience is based entirely on a hatred of unnecessary technology especially RAID controller failures (there must be a curse: the controller barfs or loses its config more often than drives fail!) Interesting side point: in several case I've been able to find files (tape images that I made a decade or two ago) that I had misplaced (not a drive crash but simply losing them in the shuffle) by Googling for them and finding a copy of my tape image, in a directory name that I had made up twenty years ago, elsewhere on the web! I was astounded! Tim.

19 years, 6 months

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