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

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Mon, 9 May 2005 Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com> wrote: > On Mon, 9 May 2005, Christian Corti wrote: > > > Porting a Z-Code interpreter to a new machine is a nice exercise. In my > > case I ported the Infocom interpreter from the InfoTaskforce (written in > > C) to the IBM 5110 (yes, the 5110, not the 5150) in machine language (yes, > > you can program that beast in machine language, it has a very nice > > instruction set IMHO). The binary's size is only 9.5kB and will run any V3 > > games. It includes save/restore, a paging mechanism for fetching needed > > non-resident code parts from disk (and throwing out LRU ones), line > > wrapping / 'more'-style pausing for the 64x16 display etc. > > The interpreter requires at least one 5114 disk drive and 16kB of RWS. If > > more RWS is available, less page swapping is needed during the game. > > Totally cool! Was this just for fun or did Infocom suspect a 5100 series > market and hire you to do it? :) > > > Anyone interested in playing Zork on an IBM 5110 ? > > For certain. I just need to find a 5110 first :/ For that matter, I've written ZEMU, which is a Z-machine implementation for the PDP-11. Runs on RSX and RT-11. Should probably work on RSTS/E as well, but might need some tweaking. Plays anything from version 1 to 8, I believe. I've tested it some on Zork Zero (which is my only V6 game), and it works as far as expected, considering that it don't appear to work without special hacks that I haven't done. V3 to V5 has done major testing and works like a charm however. ZEMU is written entirely in MACRO-11, and is only understands DEC terminals. But it does do some pretty good work and tricks with the terminals. Very nice if I may say so myself. :-) Oh, and the source is available. The RT-11 work was done by Megan Gentry. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 3 months

1
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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Gavin Thomas Nicol" <gtn at rbii.com> > > >On May 4, 2005, at 6:12 PM, Philip Pemberton wrote: > >> I swear by Maxtors, but I always buy drives from the middle of the >> model >> range. > >About 3 years ago we bought about 40 Maxtor 20GB drives... about 100% >failure rate within 2 years, 60% within a year. I've not touched one >since. > > Hi Why doesn't anyone mention Micropolus. On, I think it was 2G drives, we had 100% failure in 2 weeks. Dwight

21 years, 3 months

6
5
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Infocom on PDP-11

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Infocom on PDP-11 > From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com> > Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 07:00:44 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Mon, 9 May 2005, Christian Corti wrote: > >> Porting a Z-Code interpreter to a new machine is a nice exercise. In my >> case I ported the Infocom interpreter from the InfoTaskforce (written in >> C) to the IBM 5110 (yes, the 5110, not the 5150) in machine language (yes, >> you can program that beast in machine language, it has a very nice >> instruction set IMHO). The binary's size is only 9.5kB and will run any V3 >> games. It includes save/restore, a paging mechanism for fetching needed >> non-resident code parts from disk (and throwing out LRU ones), line >> wrapping / 'more'-style pausing for the 64x16 display etc. >> The interpreter requires at least one 5114 disk drive and 16kB of RWS. If >> more RWS is available, less page swapping is needed during the game. Well if you can do that then PDP-8 is doable. The constraints there is much of the "core" interpreter must fit in the 4KW Field and have the guts needed to do the EMA management for Field linkage. Definately a assembly languge project. One note it would coolest with TU55/56 dectape rolling for swapping but for speed the RK-08 or other databreak disk would be interesting. Allison Allison

21 years, 3 months

1
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Infocom on PDP-11

by charlesmorris＠direcway.com

On Sun, 08 May 2005 12:00:47 -0500 (CDT), you wrote: >I once saw "Planetfall" on the wall of the local DEC >store for RT-11. Never seen any other Infocom games for the PDP-11 >anywhere else. > >-ethan Waaay back in 1981 I worked for a small defense contractor with an 11/03, later upgraded to 11/73. If I remember the name correctly, there was an Infocom game installed, called "Infidel" which started out in a desert somewhere in the Middle East. You had to dig into the sand to find the entrance to the tomb... -Charles

21 years, 3 months

5
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IBM Manuals - et al, On EBay

by drb＠msu.edu

To make this quicker for others, here's a URL: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbilld2626 De

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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Infocom on PDP-11

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Infocom on PDP-11 > From: Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 09:58:58 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Allison> IBM360 like a PDP-8???? Explain please. > >Small directly addressable range (128 words for the 8, 4k for the >360) is what I was thinking about. Not unusual for machine that address a larger memory with shorter words or worse use a extended memory hack. However the PDP-8 is a bit different. You have a direct addressing of 128 words in the current field and Page zero field. Makes it easier to have variables that can be accesses from anywhere in the 4k frame and since the EMA allows for I&D you can still access the zero'th field from code anywhere in the 32kW space. Also the 8 autoindex memory locations are in zero field. Programming the -8 is a good exercise in what is really needed, and how to exploit it. >I believe the main reason is to make the code smaller. P-code >compilers have been used on the PDP-11 (the Algol compiler was ported >there, and Fortran-4 was P-code). Basic-Plus is P-code of course, and >so is Forth. Then there is UCSD Pascal. Actually it also allows one other thing. Machines like the PDP-8 only address 4k, they got to 32kW with EMA and using the IL interpreter to do the memory management so programs can exceed 4k hides a lot of stuff the compiler would have to deal with. The PDP-11 is a good stack machine so doing any programming style on that ends up compact and fairly fast. I used to run UCSD Psystem on an 11/23, not bad. >Sure. But my point is that, even when you have NO help from the >processor instruction set, you can do a block oriented language. The I figured that was a given if the basic addressing range was large enough to reasonably fit the code. >Cyber is about the most unhelpful architecture you can find: no stack, >no autoincrement registers, function call works by writing the return >address into the first word of the function, etc. And sure enough, Never looked at the Cyber, sounds like the other earlier PDP-n systems. The PDP-8 has the same subroutine call as Cyber, the return address is the first byte of the routine. The problem for the -8 programmer is that subroutine must be in the same 4k bank otherwise you have to invoke a small potload of code to set up a bank change then do the call (JMS I,target). >Wirth bitched a lot about that, but the compiler works, anyway. In >fact, it worked well enough that the first VMS Pascal compiler was a >quick hackjob on the Cyber compiler -- you can still see the Cyber >code patterns when you look at the VAX machine code that VAX Pascal >V1.0 generates -- which is quite hilarious. Never saw V1 of the VMS Pascal. Sound like the typical things that happen when you try to reuse code across widely different archetectures. I have to admit I'm a bit soft for anything PDP-8 or "8" like and as a result I have an 8f, DecmateIII, 6100 and 6120 based hardware. I suspect it was from my first contact with one 36 years ago. I've worked with just about every 8bitter save for the 2650. But the minis are definately different from any micro. Allison

21 years, 3 months

1
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XT 5160

by KParker＠workcover.com

Do you know what the popular choice was? ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Eric Smith Sent: Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:27 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: XT 5160 Kevin wrote: > Can anyone advise what OS shipped with the IBM XT 5160 - I can't seem > to find a definitive answer on the net. None. IBM-DOS was available for separate purchase, as were several other operating systems. ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 3 months

26
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compucolor

by frustum＠pacbell.net

Although many people on this list won't be particularly interested in the auction part of this post, scan down a bit to read some more traditional cctalk fare. I want to bring notice to the sale of a compucolor machine on ebay. They are rare enough that it seemed worth mentioning. Also, it is filed in a category that would make it easy to miss (Computers, IT & Office > Vintage). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5192237918… It is located in Australia. There is about a day left. disclaimer: I'm not the seller, but have bought disks from him before. Since we are on the subject, the purchase of the said disks motivated me to get my Compucolor working. I've had it for a couple of years but between moving, having other old computers to tend to, and the fact that it was reported to have produced smoke the last time it was powered up, I never got around to it. The first step was to check for any damaged components or traces, but none were apparent, so I just gave it a go. Before the variac police come and get me, it was powered up just before I received it. Miraculously, it simply just worked. I imagine the smoke that the original owner experience was due to dust on the CRT burning off. I have no other explanation. Anyway, the disk drive wouldn't read anything. I tried to INItialize a blank disk but that failed too. Lacking a strobe or even fluorescent lights, I couldn't tell from the tach disk on the drive if the speed was off or not, but it seemed like a plausible cause for all the disks to be dead (I should mention I scoped the read logic and it was detecting transitions). I finally just twiddled with the speed pot to find that the speed was way off. Although incandescents have a lot of glow during the power line's zero crossing, near the right speed I could see the strobe pattern well enough. The real reason I couldn't see the pattern was that the speed had been so far off. After adjusting the speed I was able to read most of the disks, although sometimes with retries. Fortunately, all the disks that ISC put out for the compucolor recorded all the programs on both sides (it was a single sided drive) so even with hard sector failures I was able to get everything. Now the main problem is pincushioning and color convergence. I did some simple adjustments to improve color convergence, but without doing something much more involved, it isn't possible to get all regions to converge at the same time. For now I'll just live with the problem. One of the disks that I have is the disk formatter program. ISC sold preformatted disks at $10 for two, and they didn't supply the software so that one could format the disks at home. Apparently late in the game they relented and sold the formatter program, which eventually made its way to me. Now I can mint more formatted disks (I hope -- I haven't actually tried running the program yet). Disks couldn't be formatted using other computers because of the hokey (although dirt cheap) disk interface. The Compucolor has a TMS 5501 multifunction interface chip which contains, in part, a serial port controller. This serial port controller is used for the RS-232 serial port of the machine, and it is good up to 9600 baud (but there is no hardware flow control). Anyway, ISC took advantage of an undocumented test mode of the chip to drive the serial port at 8x speed. The disk looks like a high speed serial channel and the data is simply conditioned and drives the r/w head of the disk drive. I haven't looked into it yet, but they must be encoding each real data byte into two transmitted bytes in order to ensure sufficient transition density and no accumulated DC bias. The net effect is that the disk holds only a bit over 50 KB.

21 years, 3 months

8
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IBM Manuals - et al, On EBay

by bpettit＠ix.netcom.com

EBay tonight has an entire library of IBM manuals for sale, but one at a time. Look in Vintage Computers. All from the same era. There's a huge set for the 1401/1410 and associated peripherals that really belong with all the hard workers at the museum. To bad somebody can't talk this guy into donating them. He also had many other early floppy manuals - Shugart, PerSci, Seimens etc. And a little something from many of the early systems - Intel, Mostek, etc. It's a damn shame that this lot wasn't donated or sold so it could stay together instead of being scattered to the wind. I hope that those who are interested get what they bid on. Billy

21 years, 3 months

1
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ScottFree interpreter for Pocket PC

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 19:04 08/05/2005 -0500, you wrote: >Richard A. Cini wrote: >> There's also a commercial Pocket PC-XT ($40), and a port of the MAME > >Do you have more information on this? I would love to carry around a pocket XT >(that didn't cost $200 like HP 200lx's do) He may have been referring to pocketdos, which I've just checked, and can be found at: www.pocketdos.com - IIRC it was about $40 - but the catch is that you have to have a WinCE based handhelp - Pocketdos is just a software package which emulates an XT on these devices. I bought pocketdos, and aside from their registration system being a bit clumsy (long user key to enter) and being tied to the ID of your handheld, I have been pretty happy with it. I haven't updated mine in a while (haven't found any problems), but I assume the current version is very similar. It simulates an 80186 and the hardware of an XT - so it knows the extra stack instructions, no form of protected mode at all (which means no DOS extender). On my viewsonic V37 which is a 400Mhz x-scale, IIRC it does the equivlent of a 25Mhz processor, which is a tad on the slow side, but fast enough for most DOS stuff. IIRC it's looks like a text mode CGA screen, and I don't recall if there is any graphic capability or not. It comes with DataLight ROMdos, which so far has worked for all of my stuff, and you can define your own boot disk if you want to boot something else. It has utilities to map "disk drives" to directories on the native OS, and can also talk to the serial port (which I use as a portable download station). It's a but clumsy typing on the little keyboard, but they do provide a virtual mouse driver for the screen - if anyone is interested, I wrote a little DOS based file manager which lets you manipulate files, run apps etc. by tapping lists and menus on the screen. To put a bit of OT info in here, I carry all of my simulators on mine - if I get the urge to show someone what it's like to boot up the Altair or H8, I can do so "most anywhere" ... Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 3 months

1
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IBM Mainframe stuff in Northern NJ

by cb＠mythtech.net

I'm going to be picking up some manuals from a guy in Northern NJ. He told me he also has a bunch of IBM Mainframe manuals. I'm not sure what all that means. I'm not interested in them, but I told him I might be able to come up with some people that are. To the best of my knowledge the stuff will be free, but it is pickup only. So if anyone is interested in IBM Mainframe manuals, and can pickup stuff >from North Eastern NJ (Franklin Lakes area), and would like me to pass on their email address to the guy, then let me know what address you want me to give him. If no one that can pickup speaks up, I'll take a note of what he has (if it isn't much, I may just grab it), and I can ship to others for cost of shipping (plus a buck or two for the gas to pick it up). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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Paper tape punch interfacing?

by charlesmorris＠direcway.com

I have a Tally 420PR paper tape punch mechanism with no electronics, and would like to build a driver board for it. I have a DEC PC8E (M840) interface card for my 8/A project which would be the logical starting point. I was able to find a schematic of the punch online but no other manual or information. The solenoids run on -48VDC but I have no data as to pulse widths and duration, or even the speed of the mechanism (30cps?) There are solenoids for each of eight (data) punch pins, a sprocket-hole punch, tape feeder (which also operates a contact to actuate the forward ratchet mechanism), and reverse ratchet (for rubout I assume). Any ideas? I am not sure how much of the timing is generated by the M840 card and how much by the M710 inside the PC04 assembly. Also, the connector is a Continental 25034-16P. Does anyone have a mating female connector? thanks Charles

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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ScottFree interpreter for Pocket PC

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>Last night after some googling I came up with a //e emulator and a >"Pocket Atari 2600". There's also a pocket C64, including a "commercial" >one from Commodore. There are some others, like a pocket Sinclair. >There's also a commercial Pocket PC-XT ($40), and a port of the MAME >emulator. > >I would really like to find a "pocket CP/M" machine. I purchased a package called "pocketdos" (a search should find them), which works quite nicely ... I can run all of my DOS based emulators on it, so in my shirt pocket I have an Altair, H8, Horizon, Vector, and a bunch of others. It's pretty neat actually. Note that it does NOT emulate an 80386 - just an 80186 ... so programs which need a "dos extender" will NOT run. It will let you define your own boot disk, so it should be possible to boot CP/M-86 on it, although I have not looked into doing so yet. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 3 months

1
0
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Infocom on PDP-11

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: Re: Infocom on PDP-11 > From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Sun, 08 May 2005 16:17:54 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >>on an 8 but never C. >> >> >> >The lack of local variables makes C very dificult. Recursion on an 8 is harder to do. The DECmate II/III use the 6120 and implement the PDP-8a hardware stack for data or addresses but, it's still a bit more work. Than again programming in native assembly is fun on that machine. Allison

21 years, 3 months

1
0
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Western Union Teletype Model 15 or 19

by James＠jdfogg.com

I've been offered a TeleType Model 15 or 19 with Western Union markings. Does anyone know if this can be used as a printing terminal with a computer? I'm guessing it'd be current-loop and not RS232.

21 years, 3 months

4
4
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Mystery board

by charlesmorris＠direcway.com

I have an unknown hex-height board which was included in a miscellaneous lot of PDP-8A boards I recently purchased. But there is no manufacturer's info except what looks like "K-3VO" in the lower left corner, where there is a strange looking clamp-on connector. Nothing is engraved on the metal "handles". There is a Mostek 3880 (Z80 CPU) at the upper right, too. Date codes on all the chips are '82 - '83. Here is a link to a picture of it: http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/6gj14927.jpg and a closeup: http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/aqw15714.jpg Anyone know what this board is? thanks Charles

21 years, 3 months

5
4
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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question... > From: Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 18:38:52 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >>>>>> "Allison" == Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> writes: > > Allison> Ive found anything .0 is suspect and the latest and greatest > Allison> HD of the max size is susceptable. > >We've found that this is not necessarily true. > >Also, I don't think you can ever buy anything else. Drive generations >follow one another very quickly, and manufacturers only sell the >latest generation, whatever that is any particular quarter. A smaller >than max size drive is either the max size of the previous generation, >or simply a drive with fewer platters and heads than the max currently >available. Well I"ve had too many bad experiences. I was sole IT for a small company for 5 years and down time was not a condition that was acceptable. So when the latest and greatest came out I was 6 months to a years behind it. Getting drives one or even three generatiosn back as NOS was not a problem. That was easy is that by 6 months to a year you were hearing what was problematic or unusually good. Also by then I could get a better price and our needs never grew as fast as they new tech could produce so space was always in excess. Notable really bad drives. St251 40mb runs hot, dies early. Wren 3.5" half height. Had 6 given to me working all died within a year save one. Various Prodrives, up and down QA. various Segate IDE, up and down QA. If it was good after a year it would likely last well past the time it was too small. WD during the time of the 300-500mb drives, good drive design, bad QC. Those that failed were early life those that didn't corak early still work. Segate 3.2gb IDE first version, really bad 80% failure in 90 days. Whole lot returned for -A version. Maxtor 9gb scsi, failure rate 50% per year, sample 16 drives in use and warrenty replacements for not less than 4 every 6 months. After two years ALL 16 replaced with seagate 37GB no failures at 1.5 years. Noteably good drives: St225 I have a bunch and they are workhorse. Quantum D540 31mb I have 14 of them all with 5+ YEARS runtime all still running. Maxtor 2190 (mfm 153mb aka RD54). Fujitsu 500mb IDE Toshiba 500mb 2.5" IDE, unbreakable. Various Segate 3.2GB 32011A was good, non A was bad. WD 4.3GB IDE a time tested winner. cheap too. Seagate 2600020A 60GB IDE, put 20 in service and All still running at 2years in business desktop use. DEC RZ55 680mb 5" full height scsi. Ihave 14 of them in use that were pulls and still work fine after years of use. Seagate 1gb SCSI Segate Baracudas 1gb -> 4.3 noisy but reliable. Plenty of others as well. Allison

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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Public excuses from 1000bit.net webmaster (Tix)

by tiziano.garuti＠tin.it

Ok, these are the fixes done till now: - added a notice on the homepage asking to help me to fix the credits - removed the commodore 232 pictures, Cameron can you help me ? - removed the copyright notice, now there is a "NO copyright" notice. Freely usable is intended the images and the scanned material that I done myself, and the concept is to mirror all the interesting material because the sites will not be there for ever as you know. I am not always the owner of the original manuals that I scan and I don't want to be the owner of the scanned manual, I want to share these infos with other people who has my same interests. Mirroring mirroring and only mirroring, I don't sell nothing and I don't earn nothing. Tix www.1000bit.net

21 years, 3 months

1
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Modern floppy disk question...

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Anyone know why modern floppy disks are such total junk? They seem to often develop problems after only one or two writes - whereas back in the day they were always pretty reliable. I can't imagine the people who made these things threw out all the decent equipment and replaced it with something made out of snot and string. Presumably it's a quality control issue? About 25% of Sony branded floppies seem to die on the first format, which is nice... Maybe it's a cunning ploy by the manufacturers to make otherwise-awful blank CDs look better :-) (I'm trying to remain cheerful here whilst attempting to find a floppy that actually works 100%...)

21 years, 3 months

23
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Public excuses from 1000bit.net webmaster

by tiziano.garuti＠tin.it

Hi to everybody, I am the webmaster of 1000bit.net site, I am here to answer about the pictures problem you are talking about. First of all, I would like to tell you something about me. I am involved in this hobby since the beginning, every computer I bought is still with me. I am one of the organizer of vintage computer events in Italy, last year we setup the first Vintage Computer Festival in Italy, thanks to Sellam. My site is online since 1998, under different urls, and this is really a long time in internet era. In all this time many things are changed and my policy about the use of the pictures is changed too. On my site there are a lot of my own pictures, a lot of users pictures, a lot of pictures taken from online auctions and some pictures sent by users. As you can see on my site there isn't any "copyright notice" or "picture policy", so all the material present on the site is absolutley freely usable and downloadable from anyone, beacuse is intended right in this way. In the last years I have choosed to keep track and so to give credits to any pictures that i found on the net, but the older ones actually doesn't have any kind of credits or references. In all these years no one asked me to remove pictures or something else. Finally, please don't get angry if you want that I remove "your" picture, just drop me an email or better I can give you the credits to you or your site without any kind of problems. My english is worse than "little rough" (thanks Dwight :-))), but I hope my intent is clear. Tix www.1000bit.net

21 years, 3 months

10
9
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Grinnell GMR270 Image Processing System

by hardware＠ees1s0.engr.ccny.cuny.edu

Dear Community, Free to a good home (knowledgeable collector): Grinnell GMR270 Image Processing System with documentation Location: Upper Manhattan Condition: Previous owner said it worked when it was last turned on. -kurt

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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Honeywell DPS6 rescue in Nevada

by jpl15＠panix.com

Due to the inability of more one individual to follow up on 'firm' commitments, I must now dispose of a Honeywell DPS-6 mainframe and matching 9Trk tape drive. This is "free, come and get it" - and there are loading facilities on-site to do this. It will easily fit in the bed of most full-sized pickup trucks. We just need it to go away, fast. This gear is located in the Carson City area of northern Nevada - about a 5 hour (beautiful!) drive from the Silicon Valley. It wieghs all up about 600 pounds. For the right amount of bribe-money, I'd even consider delivering it myself. OTHERWISE, this equipment will be broken up for scrap and the cabinets taken to the junk yard - it is in storage at a friend's and he needs the space the computer is currently taking. If there is no interest by this time next week, we're going to get out the torches and the chainsaws - there are no other options. Speak up, Folks! Don't make me have to kill a rare machine!!! Cheers John

21 years, 3 months

1
0
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digital items

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Today while checking out the bus I found a digital VaxServer 4000-200 and a R215F cabinet with drives on the floor under a pile of stuff. Not sure of the working condition yet, anyone have some info on the VaxServer? Thanks

21 years, 3 months

2
1
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cctalk Digest, Vol 21, Issue 14

by unibus＠gmail.com

> From: "Witchy" <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> > > Anyone have pointers to the manuals on the net. > > I've got some GIGI manuals on my webserver somewhere if you get stuck. I would be interested as I bought one many years ago from Monash University and never had any manuals. Its been sitting in storage for years in my shed as I never had any info or a display. Regards, Garry Page

21 years, 3 months

1
0
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Mystery board

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Mystery board > From: joe heck <trash3 at splab.cas.neu.edu> > Date: Sun, 08 May 2005 07:37:36 -0400 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Well, I cannot tell exactly what it is, but there are lots of clues: > >Not Qbus, it's a hex board. Well, I have actually seen some custom >backplanes that are six wide and use qbus cards, but that is pretty rare. > >Very few external connectors that I can see. Probably not disk/tape. > >At least three types of memory, although I cannot read the numbers. It >looks like a bank of 8 dynamic memory chips, then three static ram and >finally an EPROM. I'll bet on the top edge is the Z80, but the I/O chip >next to it (if that is what it is) would give some more clues. > >It would be good to see if the crystal is divided for various baud >rates, and if the connector on top has 8 bits or is serial. the missing >chip on the upper left might be serial i/o. best guess, some sort of >intelligent slave serial communications I/O processor. > >But it's just a guess. > >Joe Heck > >Charles wrote: > >> I have an unknown hex-height board which was included in a >> miscellaneous lot of PDP-8A boards I recently purchased. But there >> is no manufacturer's info except what looks like "K-3VO" in the >> lower left corner, where there is a strange looking clamp-on >> connector. Nothing is engraved on the metal "handles". There is a >> Mostek 3880 (Z80 CPU) at the upper right, too. Date codes on all >> the chips are '82 - '83. >> >> Here is a link to a picture of it: >> http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/6gj14927.jpg >> >> and a closeup: >> http://img2.imageweb.info/img2/aqw15714.jpg >> >> Anyone know what this board is? >> >> thanks >> Charles >> Another SWAG is a cp/m board for a UNIBUS VAX class system. Actually got to use one once. Allison

21 years, 3 months

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Public excuses from 1000bit.net webmaster

by tix＠1000bit.net

Hi to everybody, I am the webmaster of 1000bit.net site, I am here to answer about the pictures problem you are talking about. First of all, I would like to tell you something about me. I am involved in this hobby since the beginning, every computer I bought is still with me. I am one of the organizer of vintage computer events in Italy, last year we setup the first Vintage Computer Festival in Italy, thanks to Sellam. My site is online since 1998, under different urls, and this is really a long time in internet era. In all this time many things are changed and my policy about the use of the pictures is changed too. On my site there are a lot my own pictures, a lot of users' pictures, a lot of pictures taken from online auctions and some pictures sent by users. As you can see on my site there isn't any "copyright notice" or "picture policy", so all the material present on the site is absolutley freely usable and downloadable from anyone, beacuse is intended right in this way. In the last years I have choosed to keep track and so to give credits to any pictures that i found on the net, but the older ones actually doesn't have any kind of credits or references. In all these years no one asked me to remove pictures or something else. Finally, please don't get angry if you want that I remove "your" picture, just drop me an email or better I can give you the credits to you or your site without any kind of problems. My english is worse than "little rough" (thanks Dwight :-))), but I hope my intent is clear. Tix www.1000bit.net

21 years, 3 months

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My *weirdest* find *ever*!!!

by zmerch＠30below.com

How's this for *strange*??? About 8 years ago, the wife and I bought a dual-recliner sofa at an auction for $75. It served it's purpose well, through 3 kids and a fat husband. ;-) However, it was time to go. Between taxes and selling my JCB backhoe, we figured we could afford a new couch, so off we went to the furniture store (2 hours away, one way).[1] $30 delivery for the new couch - considering the hassle of hitching a trailer, burning a good $25 in gas *anyway* I figured this was a good deal. *Another* $30 to pick up the old one, and I said "Noper -- I have a sawz-all and a fireplace. We'll take care of it."[2] Whilst disassembling the old couch to become firefood, under the fabric in the bottom of the couch, I found an APL "quick reference" card! It's the size of a playing card, and made of the same material of some really high end card decks made 25-30 years ago[3]. It's called an "APL Vadis Enum" or something -- it's Latin, of which I don't speak, and the card's at home, /me's at work right now. If anyone's interested, I can post an update when I get another look at the card, and prolly post pictures as well. It lists most monadic and dyadic functions, some quad functions, etc... Kinda neat, especially since I learned APL back in college. Anyway, that's the strangest place I ever found anything classiccmp related; especially considering the fact that it's been under my... uhhh... nose all along. ;^> Laterz, Roger "Merch" Merchberger [1] I shop locally when possible, but none of the local stores had anything close to what we were looking for. [2] The salesman was pretty decent overall, but after I told him I had a sawz-all, he said "Do you know that recliner sofas have metal in them?" My reply: "Uhhh... yea. That's why God invented carbide sawblades." Sheesh. [3] My parents had a set of these -- their "good set" of cards. They said for 2 decks of cards, they cost nearly $10USD 30 years ago... -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers zmerch at 30below.com What do you do when Life gives you lemons, and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????

21 years, 3 months

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Yet another reason...

by news＠computercollector.com

...Why that "ten year rule" no longer applies: Java. http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/05/HNjavaat10_1.html I can already hear the moans of "hear we go again" but I figured this example is amusing enough... I recall that last time we sort of agreed that date alone is hardly what makes something "vintage". I still concur. ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 readers and no spam / Publishes every Monday / Write for us! - Mainframes to videogames, hardware and software, we cover it all - W: http://news.computercollector.com E: news at computercollector.com

21 years, 3 months

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Eric Smith, are you there?

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Eric? I apparently cannot make contact with your other email address, so I'll try here. I haven't received payment yet (2 months!) for that printer I sent you. Please respond. Steve. --- Eric Smith wrote: > > I meant to email you yesterday. Apparently it > arrived a long time > ago, but the staff at Mail Boxes Etc. didn't put a > slip in my box, > so it went unnoticed until I specifically asked them > to try to find > it. So the postal service is not at fault this > time. > > I'll put a check in the mail to you tonight. > > Best regards, > Eric > > __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Mobile Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail

21 years, 3 months

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SMD (was Re: All things ESDI)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: SMD (was Re: All things ESDI) > From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com> > Date: Sat, 07 May 2005 17:13:31 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Sat, 7 May 2005 shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com wrote: > >> I'm not sure where (it's *not* the Aug 1976 glossy) but I think >> I've seen a picture of a IMSAI next to a CDC 9762, with the >> implication that they were connected. Don't know if that was an >> IMSAI ad or not. >> >> Tim. >> >> (After 30 years I still think it was probably vaporware... Of course >> there were non-SMD hard drives (SA4000 style) that were succesfully >> interfaced to S-100 stuff.) I've seen a vanilla S100 box with a CDC hawk on it back around '79. Seems the interface was partially external and the S100 interface made the bus interface. The system was not a commercial product but, the hawk disk and the controller was. A similar idea was used for RK05 drives to DEC boxen. Allison

21 years, 3 months

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XT 5160

by eric＠brouhaha.com

Kevin wrote: > Can anyone advise what OS shipped with the IBM XT 5160 - I can't seem to > find a definitive answer on the net. None. IBM-DOS was available for separate purchase, as were several other operating systems.

21 years, 3 months

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ScottFree interpreter for Pocket PC

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: I just got a Dell Pocket PC last week and I want to start seeking out some "classic" stuff for it. For starters, I've done some Googling for the adventure game interpreter ScottFree for thr PocketPC but I've come up empty. Does anyone have a pointer to one? Also, I'd appreciate any links to other classic stuff for the PocketPC. Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 3 months

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apologies

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

My apologies folks, quite a few people have emailed me and I've been extremely difficult to get ahold of lately. I've had a mishmash of severe work issues lately. Geeze, I'm supposed to be semi-retired. Got a flood of emergencies all at once and I'm going to be out of pocket for a week or so yet. Sampling of the crap for those who care to commisurate... We host a lot of websites for music groups... John Fogharty, Steve Winwood, Keller Williams, DoubleDose, String Cheese Incident... and... the DresdenDolls. The dresden dolls announced recently that they were going on tour with Nine Inch Nails. Wonder of wonder, suddenly their website was sucking up to 45mbps sustained. Maybe it had to do with all those live performance videos & mp3 files. Anyways... I've spent a lot of time dealing with that (as well as the politics of getting them to pay for the bandwidth). bw_mod has become my friend. Then, for the past two days I noticed some network oddities (you know, when an admin can't quite put their finger on it but knows something is amiss)... well, about 6pm tonight I found the culprit. One of the servers that is colocated with us by another band (not managed by us) got hacked. I found all kinds of wonderful udp flood scripts, paypal scripts, irc bots, etc. When will admins learn that their laziness affects others. Anyways, they've charged me with cleaning up their mess. Add that to the part time work I'm supposed to be doing, and, well... loosely translated, forgive me if I take a while to get back to people for a short bit. Jay

21 years, 3 months

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Public excuses from 1000bit.net webmaster

by tix＠1000bit.net

Hi to everybody, I am the webmaster of 1000bit.net site, I am here to answer about the pictures problem you are talking about. First of all, I would like to tell you something about me. I am involved in this hobby since the beginning, every computer I bought is still with me. I am one of the organizer of vintage computer events in Italy, last year we setup the first Vintage Computer Festival in Italy, thanks to Sellam. My site is online since 1998, under different urls, and this is really a long time in internet era. In all this time many things are changed and my policy about the use of the pictures is changed too. On my site there are a lot my own pictures, a lot of users' pictures, a lot of pictures taken from online auctions and some pictures sent by users. As you can see on my site there isn't any "copyright notice" or "picture policy", so all the material present on the site is absolutley freely usable and downloadable from anyone, beacuse is intended right in this way. In the last years I have choosed to keep track and so to give credits to any pictures that i found on the net, but the older ones actually doesn't have any kind of credits or references. In all these years no one asked me to remove pictures or something else. Finally, please don't get angry if you want that I remove "your" picture, just drop me an email or better I can give you the credits to you or your site without any kind of problems. My english is worse than "little rough" (thanks Dwight :-))), but I hope my intent is clear. Tix www.1000bit.net

21 years, 3 months

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tapestreamer free in Arnhem,NL

by hofmanwb＠worldonline.nl

Hi, I am about to throw away an Archive corp. tapestreamer model 2150L with SC402 controller. (150 Mb) If somebody wants it, mail me. Wim

21 years, 3 months

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VK100

by unibus＠gmail.com

> Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 17:49:42 -0400 > From: Dennis Boone <drb at msu.edu> > Subject: VK100 (gigi) > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <200505042149.j44LngE2007511 at yagi.h-net.msu.edu> > > Curiosity question: > > I've been idly watching for a GIGI to appear on the market for a > while now. Are these things scarce like hens teeth? Anyone have pointers to the manuals on the net. Regards, Garry

21 years, 3 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Brad Parker" <brad at heeltoe.com> > > >Paul Koning wrote: >> >>I very much doubt it. The story you quoted doesn't seem to have any >>connection with physics as I know it. > >I'm not disagreeing, but I am confused. > >If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens? > >-brad > Hi You sink? Dwight

21 years, 3 months

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Free uVax III, 9-track tape drives, Q-bus SCSI controller, etc.

by shoppa_classiccmp＠trailing-edge.com

Seeing how the demand for Q-bus SCSI controllers is, I would've thought I'd have gotten rid of this by now. But again: Free, for pickup only in the Washington DC area: A DEC H960 (6-foot) rack with a BA213 chassis, KA650 CPU + memory, Ethernet, TK70, Emulex Pertec Formatted tape controller (QT13), and a Q-bus SCSI controller. Also in the rack: Fujitsu M2444 1600/6250 BPI 9-track drive. There's a complete (but disassembled) M2444 in addition for spare parts. A BA23 for Q-bus expansion. The Q-bus extender paddles and cables. A Trimm Industries SCSI enclosure (styled just like the BA23) and associated SCSI cabling. Outside the rack are some miscellaneous Q-bus cards that I've dug up since the last giveaway. I want this system to go to a hobbyist so I'm not selling off the "valuable" cards and sending the rest to the metal recycler. So I'm insisting that it be picked up from my basement just outside Washington DC. Don't worry, you get lots of help de-racking the components and carrying up the steps. But you do need a vehicle that'll hold the rack and components, an empty Minivan or a pickup will do quite nicely. (All but the smallest pickups will hold a 6-foot rack if you unscrew the casters...) Also, you're welcome to take away as many VAX/VMS and Alpha/VMS condists as you want. And I'll probably find some other stuff that I'll want you to take (but you can say no). If you're interested, mail me at my regular off-list E-mail address, "shoppa at trailing-edge.com", or call at 301-767-5917. I'm available for getting it out of the basement most weeknights and most weekends. Tim.

21 years, 3 months

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IBM Winchesters

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

O.K- I'm confused. (a) Are the bad IBM drives the ones that say "Frame Electronics" "Manufactured in San Jose, CA, USA" (got several in RS/6ks, etc.- seem to work O.K (they're on topic and still chugging along) but I want to be forewarned Just In Case. (b) are, as discussion indicates, the "Incredibly Dubious Engineering" interface drives from IBM/Hitachi O.K.? I'm looking for decent IDEs as it seems time is running out for some of my drives.

21 years, 3 months

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Seven Segment Displays

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Seven Segment Displays > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 23:30:20 +0100 (BST) > >The name 'minitron' seems to be floating in my brain for some reason... > >They could well be incandescent. I've seen such devices in a 16 pin DIL >package, in a smaller package with 9 socket contacts on the back arranged >like a miniature DE9 connector (those are used in the ICL Temiprinters >for the column display, for example), and in a wire-ended valve-shaped >envelope. I have a bunch of them too. Four are in a counter I made back in 73, the rest are spares for it. Actually they are fairly nice and at about 10MA brighter than leds of the time (I must ahve a dozen MAN-x series LED 7 segments as well). FYI: those things are considered rare as hens teeth as most systems that use them have burnt them out. One series of ARC (used in cessna aircraft) radios had them as they were bright enough for day use and I hear they cost about 100$+ per digit to replace. Allison

21 years, 3 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> Wow! That is a mother of a resistor! :-) > Must be one of those aluminum clad ones? The traditional type are coated glass tubes about 50mm in diameter. The newer type are some sort of sintered material and around 20mm in diameter. When the new type fail they just burn amd crumble, the older glass type would bubble and run like a small child's nose does. 8^)= Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - want a free and easy way to contact your friends online? http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 3 months

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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by mamcfadden＠cmh.edu

>Hi > Why doesn't anyone mention Micropolus. On, I think it was >2G drives, we had 100% failure in 2 weeks. >Dwight One of our local companies APS went out of business after the Micropolis debacle. I heard they had hundreds of Micropolis drives they had replaced under warrantee and when Micropolis went under they were stuck with bad drives and no repair, replacement, or money. Mike

21 years, 3 months

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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Why doesn't anyone mention Micropolus. Because their drives were crap, and they are dead, dead, dead (good riddance) "Never buy a drive from a vendor starting with 'M'" Seagate and Quantum have honorary M's in their names, too. I just made the mistake of buying three 300 gig Seagates. One was DOA, the others are very picky about operating temperature ( I have to run them in open air with the logic board facing up). They also will only run on firewire bridge boards in with a G4 powermac (they hang the system on any of the internal PATA busses). Hitachi 400's worked perfectly (I have 4 running in this machine right now). No doubt one of them will crap out now that I've posted this. The only recent IBM/Hitachi drives I know of that were dogs were 120's made in Hungary (the ones from Thailand are fine).

21 years, 3 months

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DEC BA356 termpwr oddity

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, I came across weirdness this morning with an 8-bit BA356 shelf and some TLZ09-VA tape drives....hopefully someone here has seen it before. Basically, said BA356 had an RZ disk of indeterminate size (I didn't look :) and 4 TLZ09s; the shelf has a BA35X-MG 8 bit personality module and is plugged into an Alpha 3000-300LX. All well and good. However, while the TLZ's could be seen at the dead sergeant prompt (>>>) VMS 6.2 was having none of it. On swapping one of the tape drives for another spare all of a sudden the whole shelf came to life and VMS was happy. The only difference between this last drive used and all the others was that this drive had the TERMPWR jumper installed (default config I thought) and so was providing TERMPWR to the backplane. Since the SCSI adapter in the 3000-300LX should have been providing this power and the personality module in the shelf provided termination why should this jumper make so much difference to the bus? It's not a length issue since I've duplicated the setup this afternoon using a DS10 and half metre cables. Also I thought too much TERMPWR was a Bad Thing. Interestingly, swapping the shelf for a blue UltraSCSI BA356 and using an Ultra personality module made the problem vanish and the drives were happy whether there was a TERMPWR jumper installed or not. Since these drives are destined for non-ultra environments do I have to crack them all open and fit the jumpers or is there something I'm missing? Ta! -- adrian/witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?

21 years, 3 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> I've been told (during military service) that the dv/dt > of an EMP is so fast a Faraday cage will saturate and the > eddy currents are so strong it re-launches an EM wave > inside the cage. Not quite. What happens is that the surfaces parallel to the incident wave behave as capacitance and the surfaces perpendicular to the incident wave behave as indictors. The initial pulse sets this LC circuit resonating much like a struck bell and creates it's own internal EM field as the energy dissipates in the resistance. This can be effectively damped by placing low value resistors, 50 to 100 ohms, across surfaces to reduce the Q of the shield and absorb the energy. Similar damping Rs are used in high power Tx equipment to stop parasitic resonance in structural parts. It's not uncommon to see a couple of 700W 68ohm resistors bolted to the anode boiler of an HF output tube. Without them the boiler suffers greatly from burnt supports and melted bolts. Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

21 years, 3 months

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All things ESDI

by drb＠msu.edu

> ESDI was common in high-performance machines and for "large" drives > - 120MB was about the smallest I saw (when 20MB - 40MB was still > common) and ~330MB was typical. I have heard of ~600MB units but > never installed one. I think I handled a 600 in a Novell server once. > It's an Int11 device, just like an ST-506 drive. The BIOS needs > to be configured with the right number of heads, cylinders and > sectors-per-track, tho' picking type 20 or so will usually give you > enough to boot and read the true settings off the drive itself. They > will probably need to be low-level formatted if moving them from > one controller to another. DEBUG and then G=c800:5 is what I dimly > recall for this, tho' in later years I used CheckIt or even SpinRite > to do this. I'm inclined to disagree, though I'm hardly the expert. Specifically, I recall having trouble setting up several ESDI drives in servers. The fix was to tell the machine BIOS the disk didn't exist, then let the ESDI controller BIOS work out geometry. I think on some ESDI controllers, the C800:5 trick did work, though. That was a common disk interface, MFM, ESDI etc. De

21 years, 3 months

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Vintage Computer Web Site - may not be???

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Curt I just talked with Tix ( owner of the site ) and he seemed at dismay. He says that he gets the pictures from a number of people that send them in. He doesn't always have the ability to filter out those that have been lifted from those that are original. Also, in the past, his site didn't have a place for credits ( I've looked at his site before ). It seems that he has added this and I'd suspect that the picture in question may have been there a long time. In any case, work with him. If you feel that he needs to pull the picture, just let him know. His English is a little rough, being Italian, but he is a good sort. I think he does a good job overall and I've noticed that in many places, he does give credits to the various sources. I think that his intentions are good. Dwight >From: "Curt @ Atari Museum" <curt at atarimuseum.com> > >Thanks Sellam... > > Yup, just as expected, several photo's taken from my site, old ones >too. Its not the case with this site, but have you ever seen the >sites that take photo's from your own site, then the site that steals >them put's their own watermark on them, that always raises an eyebrow >for the contempt displayed. Well, dispite this 1000bit site >plundering others to generate content to for itself, it is a nice >looking, well setup site. > > > >Curt > > > >Vintage Computer Festival wrote: > >>On Wed, 4 May 2005, Curt @ Atari Museum wrote: >>Mime-Version: 1.0 >>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >> >> >> >>>I didn't see the original msg, whats the URL for this Vintage Computer >>>site... I find my images and content from atarimuseum.com constantly >>>commandeered by other sites and not so much as a simple text saying >>>"stolen without permission" ;-) >>> >>> >> >>Hey Curt! >> >>http://www.1000bit.net >> >> >> > > >-- >No virus found in this outgoing message. >Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. >Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.3 - Release Date: 5/3/2005 > >

21 years, 4 months

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Seven Segment Displays (but in avionics)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Seven Segment Displays (but in avionics) > From: Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 02:30:29 -0700 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > > Do you have any more specific model information regarding these aircraft Line breaks every 80 or so chars would help. ARC 400 series. However, the ones they need have to have TSO offically or they are considered bootleg. Thats why they are rare and expensive. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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search broken?

by drb＠msu.edu

Ok, it's meta-OT, but: if I search for "adrian" or "witchy" in the cctalk archives, I get no hits. Nor do I get hits for anything else I try. Unless it's personal, I'd say htdig has done on the classiccmp server what it likes to do on mine: malfunction occasionally. FWIW. De

21 years, 4 months

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AIM 65 lives

by dm561＠torfree.net

If I duplicated a message to cctech, my apologies; what I meant to send was: I just confirmed that my recollection was correct and that the AIM65's TTY I/O is effectively RS-232 compatible. I connected an AIM65 to 3 different computers and they all communicated just as is, i.e. without any level conversion. Needless to say this assumes that the distance is fairly short. Just connect ground, J1-Y and J1-U to RS-232 ground, TX data & RX data respectively and if your RS-232 port is like mine, away you go. If you have trouble with autobaud, set the baud rate manually at A417/18 before switching to TTY. (Set the terminal/computer to 7 bits). Unfortunately the KIM-1 doesn't seem to have an RS-232 compatible serial input, so you'll have to add a limiting resistor & two clamping diodes and connect to U15-12 as the AIM does. mike

21 years, 4 months

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XT 5160

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > Well I don't consider BASIC a programing langauge ... I consider it a > curse on mankind. Oooooooooh - we think alike! MS

21 years, 4 months

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Pick assembly, was Re: XT 5160

by aek＠bitsavers.org

>>> I've always wanted to see what Pick assembly looked like. http://www.bitsavers.org/microdata/771009A_REALITYasmRef_May76.pdf

21 years, 4 months

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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by bpettit＠ix.netcom.com

Joe wrote: > It's not just high density. The newest maxtors DO suck! So do the latest > Seagates. For the ones of you that didn't know it, Glen Goodwin operates a > computer repair shop and has had LOTS of experience with this. I talked to > him about this and he recommended buying an IBM drive made by Fujitsu. I > bought one and have had NO trouble with it (knock on wood!). All of the > Seagates and Maxtors that I've tried in the last few years have failed > within six months. > > Joe The Pleasanton schoold distict bought a batch of systems with Fujitsu drives in them They started failing in such large numbers that the district bought enough spares to replace every one. Each school has somebody trained to do the swap. Last time I talked to one of their techs, they had replaced more than half of them and still had several failures a week. Failure was typically after several months of use. Because of summer shut down, many failured right after the warrenty ran out (beginning of 2nd year). Fujitsu won't replace them. The district now has standing orders to never buy another Fujitsu HD. I've replaced a lot of drives around the house and in old Apple systems. But I don't recall ever replacing anything less than 5 years old regardless of brand. Maybe I'm just lucky, or live right. Billy

21 years, 4 months

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Minitrons, was Re: Seven Segment Displays

by marvin＠rain.org

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question! The site at http://www.sphere.bc.ca/ has a lot of older type displays and the Minitron Seven Segment Displays were among them *including* a datasheet! The pricing I've seen ranged from about $7.00 to $44.00 each used and tested but so far, I haven't seen any prices for NOS parts. I do like the $100.00 per digit though :). > >The name 'minitron' seems to be floating in my brain for some reason... > > > >They could well be incandescent. I've seen such devices in a 16 pin DIL > >package, in a smaller package with 9 socket contacts on the back arranged > >like a miniature DE9 connector (those are used in the ICL Temiprinters > >for the column display, for example), and in a wire-ended valve-shaped > >envelope. > > I have a bunch of them too. Four are in a counter I made back in 73, > the rest are spares for it. Actually they are fairly nice and at about > 10MA brighter than leds of the time (I must ahve a dozen MAN-x series > LED 7 segments as well). > > FYI: those things are considered rare as hens teeth as most systems > that use them have burnt them out. One series of ARC (used in cessna > aircraft) radios had them as they were bright enough for day use > and I hear they cost about 100$+ per digit to replace. > > Allison

21 years, 4 months

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All things ESDI

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 5/5/05, John A. Dundas III <dundas at caltech.edu> wrote: > Are ESDI drives compatible with ST506 controllers? > > Are MFM drives compatible with ESDI controllers? No. TTBOMK, the tecnological progression went: Generation 1: ST-506 G2: RLL (which was just ST-506 with different encoding giving about 25% greater capacity; drives *could* be exchanged but weren't rated or guaranteed at the higher capacity and might work, might not, or might work for a while then fail) G3: ESDI (higher capacities, greater transfer rates, slightly more intelligence on the drive and less in the controller) G4: IDE (all controller logic is embedden in the drive, which attaches straight onto the PC ISA AT bus, thus the name AT Attachment or ATA; first change of cabling, from one shared control cable for each pair of drives plus two data cables) (Next came the ATA Packet Interface, allowing non-HD devices to be attached, primarily optical drives - CD-ROMs etc. - but also Zip & Jaz type removable drives, tape drives and so on) G5: EIDE (unsure of the exact technical difference, but I think it's the addition of Logical Block Addressing - LBA - in place of simple Cylinder:Head:Sector (CHS) addressing) G6: UltraIDE (doubled the nunber of conductors in the cable to 80 to reduce crosstalk, allowing doubling of the transfer speed to 16Mb/sec; AKA UltraDMA and other names) G7: UltraDMA/33 (another doubling) G8: UltraDMA/66 (and another) G9: UltraDMA/100 (running out of headroom now) G10: UltraDMA/133 G9: SATA, Serial ATA. Another change of cabling, to serial cables, one per drive; no more sharing, no more master/slave assignments or jumper settings. SATA 1 ran at a nominal 150Mb/s but initial drive mechanisms couldn't deliver data off disk that fast, so it was no faster than UltraDMA/133. However, now we're heading towards... G10: SATA2. I can't recall the speeds offhand but it's more than doubled, I think. Of course, in the same timeframe, SCSI has been doing its own thing, more than keeping pace overall. Then there's Fibre Channel, and in the olden days there was Xilinx and other systems... -- Liam Proven Home: http://welcome.to/liamsweb * Blog: http://lproven.livejournal.com AOL, Yahoo UK: liamproven * ICQ: 73187508 * MSN: lproven at hotmail.com

21 years, 4 months

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HP 21mx on epay

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi It even has the battery bypass jumper plug. I don't see any cables though. I wish I had the space and some cheap way to transport this. Dwight >From: "jim stephens" <jwstephens at msm.umr.edu> > >in penciltucky (aka Marietta, Pa) too far for me > >from the auction description: >Model 21MX E series >The price is for the lot. >Includes >2 ea Model 7970E digital tape units, >1600 CPI read after write; >General Electric TermiNet 340 pin feed printer; >3 ea Model 7920 disk drives; >6 ea Model 7925 disk drives > >here's the auction in case you can't get the following to play as a >link 5193795534 > > >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5193795534&ssPageName=AD… :EF:US:1 > > > > >

21 years, 4 months

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Seven Segment Displays (but in avionics)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Seven Segment Displays (but in avionics) > From: Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 13:54:27 -0700 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Thanks, googled and found a picture that matches the layout of what I have, >labeling associated with the picture was ambiguous, but I think it's the ARC 400 DME unit. > >(http://www.barronthomas.com/21081t.htm, 3rd unit down in avionics stack, >deep-red displays showing 118 and 108) They also had a Navcom with flipflop displays. They may not have been the only user. I just happen to know about that case as I fly a Cessna and live by a unusually relaible ARC308C. >> Line breaks every 80 or so chars would help. >....hmmm, figured everything would auto-wrap by this day ... >80 column limits: now that's vintage/legacy computing. Any your expect what on a Classic list? So happens I use Popcorn for to watch this list and it's dumb as a stump and fairly virus proof. Otherwise T-bird is the regular mailer an issue. I hate Mickyspooge and even though I use the OS I try to NOT use the associated apps that are buggy, insecure and leaky. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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All things ESDI

by KParker＠workcover.com

<<< I think on some ESDI controllers, the C800:5 trick did work, though. I located the manual on Adaptec's web site and this is basically the only instruction you give the controller after loading debug. Whilst I haven't tried or seen it, it supposedly loads some option driven system to setup the drives. ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Dennis Boone Sent: Thursday, 5 May 2005 3:52 AM To: cctech at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: All things ESDI > ESDI was common in high-performance machines and for "large" drives > - 120MB was about the smallest I saw (when 20MB - 40MB was still > common) and ~330MB was typical. I have heard of ~600MB units but > never installed one. I think I handled a 600 in a Novell server once. > It's an Int11 device, just like an ST-506 drive. The BIOS needs > to be configured with the right number of heads, cylinders and > sectors-per-track, tho' picking type 20 or so will usually give you > enough to boot and read the true settings off the drive itself. They > will probably need to be low-level formatted if moving them from > one controller to another. DEBUG and then G=c800:5 is what I dimly > recall for this, tho' in later years I used CheckIt or even SpinRite > to do this. I'm inclined to disagree, though I'm hardly the expert. Specifically, I recall having trouble setting up several ESDI drives in servers. The fix was to tell the machine BIOS the disk didn't exist, then let the ESDI controller BIOS work out geometry. I think on some ESDI controllers, the C800:5 trick did work, though. That was a common disk interface, MFM, ESDI etc. De ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 5 2005, 14:48, der Mouse wrote: > >>> If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens? > >> You die rather quickly as you can't get the BAD air out of your > >> lungs. > > That's what I always thought, but it seemed like people were refuting > > that. I thought the heavier gas sank into your lungs and displaced > > the air, which made you suffocate, effectively. > > You're forgetting that while gases do stratify based on weight, this > takes time. If you were take a lungful of a mix of gases and hold it, > completely still, for a long time (hours to days), yes, it would > stratify out. Sorry, but that simply isn't so. Put two gasses together and each will diffuse evenly throughout the space they're contained in. Left undisturbed, they will not separate out in layers. Unlike liquids, all gasses are miscible with each other. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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Seven Segment Displays

by marvin＠rain.org

I have eight NOS seven segment displays in a 16 pin DIP package. These displays have a glass cover and each of the segments have a wire running between the two contacts. The only markings I see are "Japan" and "3015-5" on the back and "C-27-09" on the side. My suspicion is that they are incandescent but I haven't found any information on them yet using Google. Does anyone know what these things are called?

21 years, 4 months

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XT 5160

by KParker＠workcover.com

Can anyone advise what OS shipped with the IBM XT 5160 - I can't seem to find a definitive answer on the net. TIA!!! ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 4 months

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Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Now hard drives too. Re: Modern floppy disk question... > From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 07:34:33 -0700 (PDT) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Hard drives over the years (1981 to current) have all bee cause to curse the makers. Depending on the year I've had seagate, WD, Quantum, Maxtor, Fujitsu, Toshiba, and others on the do not touch list. It varied with model and subtle tech variations. Currently (since about the 9GB sizes came out) Maxtor is on the junk list. Before that it was Seagate and Connor. Ive found anything .0 is suspect and the latest and greatest HD of the max size is susceptable. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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All Things ESDI

by aek＠bitsavers.org

National Semi had a very good series of App notes on disk interfaces back when they were in the biz. AN-500 describes the ESDI interface. There is another one that has a general overview of all the interfaces from the mid-80s AN-413 re: Dilog manuals, DQ686 and 696 should be up on bitsavers soon

21 years, 4 months

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Fwd: karl de leeuw

by tpeters＠mixcom.com

>From: "the Ranks" <theranks at wi.rr.com> >To: <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> >Cc: "Tom Peters" <tpeters at mixcom.com> >Subject: karl de leeuw >Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 17:18:29 -0500 >X-Spambayes-Classification: ham > >Hi > >I've searched the universities web site for you and found their e-mail >phone book at ><https://solis-ugids.uu.nl/>https://solis-ugids.uu.nl/ > >However when I searched for leeuw.. the proper way the search for a "de >Leeuw" last name, nobody came up as a K. de Leeuw >If you can give me a department name and some more info... is he really in >Utrecht? I might be able to help you more. >I do speak dutch so surfing their web site is no problem. Hope this helps >somewhat > >Louisa [Philosophy] "I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you." -- Robin Williams in "Awakenings" --... ...-- -.. . -. ----. --.- --.- -... 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

21 years, 4 months

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XT 5160

by eriksklein＠pacbell.net

There was also a DOS 1.05 released between 1.00 and 1.10 that fixed a math bug in BASIC, if I recall correctly. It was available from retailers but it was never sold as a packaged item. I've got a copy of it, obtained from ComputerLand, in my DOS 1.0 box. I'm pretty sure it boots as DOS 1.0 but contains new BASIC and BASICA programs. Erik Klein www.vintage-computer.com www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum The Vintage Computer Forum Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote: > Kevin wrote: > > Can anyone advise what OS shipped with the IBM XT 5160 - I can't seem to > > find a definitive answer on the net. On Wed, 4 May 2005, Eric Smith wrote: > None. IBM-DOS was available for separate purchase, as were several > other operating systems. Eric is right, of course, but IBM (and particularly some third party IBM dealers, such as Computerland) also liked to bundle a few products together. Since low level format of hard drives was only available in the "Advanced Diagnostics", if you bought a machine and OS at the same time, IBM would gladly "install" it. PC-DOS 1.00 was released simultaneously with the 5150. (8/11/1981) PC-DOS 1.10 added support for double sided drives. PC-DOS 2.00 was released simultaneously with the availability of the XT, and added support for 9 sectors per track (v 8), subdirectories, and hard drives. PC-DOS 2.10 was released simultaneously with the PCJr and "portable PC", and slowed down disk access for the lousy Qume 142 drives PC-DOS 3.00 was released simultaneously with the AT, and added support for 1.2M floppies. PC-DOS 3.10 added the network redirector and a few other items. PC-DOS 3.20 added support for 720K 3.5" drives. PC-DOS 3.30 was released simultaneously with the PS/2s, and added support for 1.4M drives. PC-DOS 4.00 added support for hard drives > 32M PC-DOS 5.00 add some bundled software PC-DOS 6.10 added bundled Compression. PC-DOS 7.00 is too new to worry about. NOTE: 1.25, 2.11, and 3.31 were only available as MS-DOS, NOT PC-DOS. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Brad Parker" <brad at heeltoe.com> > > >"Eric Smith" wrote: >>Brad wrote: >>> If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens? >> >>Dwight wrote: >>> You sink? > >lol. > >I'm not disputing what anyone is saying, but why did the backup operator >hit the floor in about 5 paces? The room was full of refrigerant >(freon?) which had leaked from the a/c unit (a big huge box unit with a >chiller on the roof). > >I assumed it was because the refrigerant displaced all the air in his >lungs. He passed out *very* quickly - like a few paces from the door. > >-brad > Hi I would assume that where he was, there wasn't enough oxygen. Remember that it takes some time for the gas to mix and diffuse throughout the room. I'm told that even for halon, one should hold ones breath so that you have some oxygen in your lungs until things have a chance to mix. As Eric noted, the gas will quickly mix with the air to become a percentage of the rest of the air. The diffusion forces on gas tend to out weigh the effects of the weigh of the gas. Once mixed, it doesn't unmix easily. It is similar to water and salt. One can carefully pour fresh water over salt water but if it is mixed, it will not separate by weight. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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cctech Digest, Vol 21, Issue 5

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Re: It's another triumph of crapitalism ... I really don't understand how they can manufacture these, ship them across the ocean to a distributor, the distributor ships them to a dealer, and the dealer sells them to me for $10, and someone makes a profit at each step. Making a floppy drive (even not a very good one) still requires some precision manufacturing. If all they had to do was pick them up off the ground (like a rock), put it in a box, ship it across the ocean, to the distributor, to the dealer, and finally to me, I'd have expected to have to pay more than $10 for it. ...... It's only by the virtues of "capitalism" that you can buy a working floppy drive for $10.

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

So if halon is really so benign, why did they ban it? MS

21 years, 4 months

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AIM 65 lives

by mhscc＠canada.com

------------------Original Message: Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 09:03:52 +0100 From: Philip Pemberton <philpem at dsl.pipex.com> Subject: Re: AIM 65 lives <snip> Have you got any other AIM-65 or 6502 appnotes lying around anywhere? I've been trying to track down some of the old Rockwell ANs (IIRC one covered CRT controllers, another one covered DMA) but haven't had much luck. Datasheets are easy to find, but ANs seem to be the equivalent of gold dust :-/ Thanks, -- Phil. -------------------Reply: Phil, I have about a dozen, but not the two you're looking for. One day Real Soon Now I'll scan & send them to Rich Cini for inclusion in his most excellent AIM65 Web site section; I started to scan them but wasn't happy with the fine print detail. Meanwhile, I'll send you a list of what I've got, off-list. mike

21 years, 4 months

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Need some research help -- anyone speak Dutch?

by GOOI＠oce.nl

I guess I speak Dutch :~) Actually a dialect, I live in the southern part. I found this link that allows you to enter the last name: http://www.uu.nl/uupublish/homeuu/deuniversiteit/wiewatwaar/solisugids/24594 main.html "leeuw" are a few, but none has as first name Karl ... It would help if you can tell in what department / study detail he works, perhaps I can do a better search ... - Henk, PA8PDP. -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Sent: 5-5-2005 19:08 Subject: OT: Need some research help -- anyone speak Dutch? Hi, I need to find an email address for Karl de Leeuw, a professor at the University of Utrecht. I tried to explore the university's site but most of it isn't in English. Can anyone help?

21 years, 4 months

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Hollerith D11 wanted for hire (UK)

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

We've just been contacted by a film company who are interested in hiring a Hollerith D11 - anyone in the UK happen to have one or know where there is one? We (as in the computer museum side of things) don't have one, and I gather that the Park Trust don't think that they own one either. Anyone have one in private hands or knows of a museum that owns one? cheers Jules

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source) > From: Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 11:14:48 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >woodelf wrote: >>> >>>If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens? >>> >>>-brad >>> >>You die rather quickly as you can't get the BAD air out of your lungs. > >That's what I always thought, but it seemed like people were refuting >that. I thought the heavier gas sank into your lungs and displaced the >air, which made you suffocate, effectively. Exactly. You feel like your getting foggy(near drunk feeling) as your breathing but not ridding oneself of CO2 and your getting no O2, hypoxia sets in fast under a minute. If you don't know the signs you will pass out before you even have a clue. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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free TRS80 book available in Holland

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Folks, Had a mail from one Rudy Koopman who said: "rudy koopman (koopman365 at hotmail.com) on May 1st, 2005 at 11:09AM (BST). Goodmoring I found your site because I've got a book called "How to do it on the trs-80" written by William Barden Jr. ISBN 0 936200 08 1" It's free for the cost of shipping so contact Rudy directly if you're interested. Ta :) -- Adrian/Witchy Creator/Curator of Binary Dinosaurs, quite probably the UK's biggest private home computer collection. www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the online museum www.aaghverts.co.uk - *the* site for letting you moan about adverts! www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - former gothic shenanigans :(

21 years, 4 months

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PET Haul Today

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

I finally picked up the load of Pet items given to me last week and here some of what was in the load. Commodore PET 64 model 4064, 2-PET model 4032-12, 2-CBM 2001 Series Professional Computer, CBM 2001 Series model 2001-32B, PET 2001 Series Personal Computer model PET 2001-8, and PET model 4016-12 for a total of 8 Pet's. Also 6-C2N Cassette units, PET model 4010 Voice Response unit, 4-Tandy 1500 HD laptops, Tandy 3800 Notebook, GRID model 1660 notebook, CBM 2040 Dual Disk Drive, CBM 4040 Dual Disk Drive unit, CBM 2022 Tractor Printer, and two large boxes full of parts (motherboards (PET), keyboards, cables, and other items). I had not seen the PET 64 before and it still works.

21 years, 4 months

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Model 10x Chipmunk Disk OS

by zmerch＠30below.com

Dudez & Dudettez! Otay, I got everything I need..... Almost. :-/ I have an (apparently) functional Chipmunk drive, an (apparently) functional interface board for it, and now the cable as well. I have a computer with SuperROM in it, which seems to have no clue what the heck a Chipmunk drive is... <sniff> So much for the "easy way out"... In what little I can find on the InterWeb there was a DOS boot disk for the 'munks, and IIRC it was called CDOS (bookmarks at home, /me at work right now)... *Anyone* out there have a copy of the boot disk for a Chipmunk drive? Will paypal or trade whatever necessary...[1] [[ My apologies to those who may be subbed to both lists -- It's ontopic for both, and I wanted to reach the widest audience possible. ]] BTW, Anyone know of a good US supplier for NiCd (or NiMH would work too, I suppose) battery packs, or at least soldertab AA, C and/or D cells? I have battery packs to rebuild for the following equipment: 3 chipmunk drives Tandy Model 600 Panasonic HHC Panasonic HHC Printer and offtopically, whist I'm at it I could "more easily" power 4 homebrew AVR boards I'm building... And that's just off the top of my head... I could possibly build soldertab batteries, I have some silver epoxy available, but it would be a fair amount of work to do... I'd much prefer to just buy the things. Thanks! Roger "Merch" Merchberger [1] I have a few spare Model T's available, I'll have 2 chipmunk drives available after the battery rebuilds, a couple of kids, maybe the wife, whaddya want? ;-P -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers zmerch at 30below.com Hi! I am a .signature virus. Copy me into your .signature to join in!

21 years, 4 months

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who wants an HP 9000 T500?

by vax9000＠gmail.com

very heavy in cleveland, OH, USA

21 years, 4 months

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OT: Need some research help -- anyone speak Dutch?

by news＠computercollector.com

Hi, I need to find an email address for Karl de Leeuw, a professor at the University of Utrecht. I tried to explore the university's site but most of it isn't in English. Can anyone help? ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 readers and no spam / Publishes every Monday / Write for us! - Mainframes to videogames, hardware and software, we cover it all - W: http://news.computercollector.com E: news at computercollector.com

21 years, 4 months

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AmigaEast is cancelled

by news＠computercollector.com

http://www.amiga.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4627 Seems that the guy running the show didn't bother to secure his venue funding ahead of time. It was only six grand, and contrary to the comments beneath the story, it was to be held in an airport hotel in Queens, not in "New York City" in the urban Manhattan sense. (Yes I know Queens is part of NYC, I'm from NY; just saying that the people who commented in the thread don't seem to understand the context.) ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 readers and no spam / Publishes every Monday / Write for us! - Mainframes to videogames, hardware and software, we cover it all - W: http://news.computercollector.com E: news at computercollector.com

21 years, 4 months

1
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Manuals for Tektronix 4014 terminal

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

Hi, I'm looking for the maintenance manual for the Tektronix 4014 and/or 4014-1 terminals. Bitsavers only has the user manual and I need to fix the terminal. Any pointers? Thanks. -- TTFN - Guy

21 years, 4 months

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All things ESDI

by James＠jdfogg.com

> I did some Googling on these drives last night and I found > plenty about geometry but little else. It seems ESDI fitted > somewhere between MFM/RLL and IDE all be it a very brief > appearance but certainly the rationale for introducing the > ESDI drives at the time was impressive for those times. They came along just before SCSI and SCSI displaced them in the market. They were excellent performers in their day. > The connectors on the ESDI drive appear to be the same as MFM > so I am assuming that I can use MFM cables. I always did, but cannot assure you it would be correct. > My only > concern is that I could not ascertain if these types of > drives require the heads to be parked before spinning down so > I'm reluctant to do this at this stage. They are "new" enough they should auto-park. > clear. I am also assuming that if I slot an ESDI controller > into a motherboard that the motherboard will recognise it as > a hard disk controller without doing much else. The PC type Adaptecs had a configurable BIOS overlay like the later SCSI cards and would appear as a "standard" drive. Adaptec also made some controllers that were intended for native support by OS's and hardware designed for ESDI, such as the 3Com 3+Open servers (I used to support a bunch of the 3Com servers).

21 years, 4 months

5
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Alpha PWS - forget it :) Found one buried

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

on compaq's website!! What are the chances of that :D -- adrian/witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?

21 years, 4 months

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slight OT: LED codes for Compaq Alpha PWS500au

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Folks, Google's coming up dry for me (high signal/noise ratio) and the only link I can find to the service manual for these things comes up dead. Anyone got access to a service manual for 'em? I've got 2 dead ones now... cheers! -- adrian/witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?

21 years, 4 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT: EMP and Equipment > From: Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 08:56:26 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >That's not how PolyPhaser (a major player in the professional >lightning/EMP protection business) uses the terminology. Lightning >and (nuclear) EMP have rather different waveforms (EMP has faster >risetime). So protectors designed to protect from lightning aren't >necessarily helpful for EMP. (However, EMP protectors also do fine >for lightning.) They can call it what they like. EMP is only the Pulse and does not say other than loosely imply the source. While nuke has a faster rise time (wider bandwidth) the problem is essentially the same though the magnitude may be at issue. I also know Polyphasor Just outside this room is 30ft of Rohn25 with another 10ft of mast and antennas. Thats the hobby side of RF. I've also been in the commercial side of RF for some 35 years. >Calling a lightning strike "EMP" is certainly a confusing use of the >term. Only to those that only think bombs. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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Vintage Computer Web Site - may not be???

by cmurray＠eagle.ca

It seems I may have jumped the gun here and complimented the site as a 'find' when in fact it may not be that??? Is information blinding us when sober thought produces knowledge and then 'truth' emerges. Message: 30 Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 04:51:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Web Site -www.1000bit.net To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Message-ID: <200505041151.EAA09430 at floodgap.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >>>>>>> > What I found is that the site lifted photos from my site without asking >>>>>>> > or telling me. But, at least they give links to the source pages! > >> > >>>> >>>> I don't know for certain, but I believe the photos are uploaded by the >>>> users who register and create their database. So I don't believe it's the >>>> site owners ripping your stuff without credit. Actually, I think it is, at least for some of them (the contributor is "WebMaster"). The Commodore section has a couple of photos ripped off from Secret Weapons of Commodore, and they don't even link back. One example is the Commodore 232 entry, which even includes the same backplate photo Dan Benson permitted me to use, in the same dimensions I cropped it to, with the same serial number, as well as the rear ports image. -- ---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- I'm a dyslexic amateur orthinologist. I just love word-botching. ----------- ------------------------------

21 years, 4 months

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AIM 65 lives

by mhscc＠canada.com

------------------Original Message: Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 09:03:52 +0100 From: Philip Pemberton <philpem at dsl.pipex.com> Subject: Re: AIM 65 lives <snip> Have you got any other AIM-65 or 6502 appnotes lying around anywhere? I've been trying to track down some of the old Rockwell ANs (IIRC one covered CRT controllers, another one covered DMA) but haven't had much luck. Datasheets are easy to find, but ANs seem to be the equivalent of gold dust :-/ Thanks, -- Phil. -------------------Reply: Phil, I have about a dozen, but not the two you're looking for. One day Real Soon Now I'll scan & send them to Rich Cini for inclusion in his most excellent AIM65 Web site section; I started to scan them but wasn't happy with the fine print detail. Meanwhile, I'll send you a list of what I've got, off-list. mike

21 years, 4 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT: EMP and Equipment > From: Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> > Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 16:01:40 -0500 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Allison wrote: >> I have a computer that was damaged by EMP from a direct hit to the >> house I was in at the time. It was not connected to power or terminal. > >Your house was hit by a nuclear device? (Kidding, obviously; what caused the EMP? Lightining, direct hit to a TV antenna. Antenna and #6 CU ground lead were reduced to little BBs or otherwise vaporized. The affected systems were one floor down. Not less than two portable (battery only) radios had the RF stages fried. The term EMP is ElectroMagnetic Pulse refers to any large magnetic pulse. It is not exclusive to a nuke going off though that can generate a whale of a big one. Though dumping a sufficiently large (say 100KW/S) stored charge into a coil can really mess up local equipment. Years of working around commercial towers I've seen what those big sparks from the sky can do. Its impressive. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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FREE IN NL: Tektronix TekXpress 19" color monitor

by waltje＠pdp11.nl

Unit has been claimed, thanks ! --f

21 years, 4 months

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VK100 (gigi)

by drb＠msu.edu

Curiosity question: I've been idly watching for a GIGI to appear on the market for a while now. Are these things scarce like hens teeth? De

21 years, 4 months

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CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Thanks to all thow responded - and for the excellent descriptions of how it all works. After experiementing with a load, I decided that it looked good enough to try at full power, and did so with no problems - the transformer buzzes more loudly than a standard one, however I am told that this is normal for a C.V. unit. Playing with the Variac, I confirmed that the power supply truly does provide superior line regulation - from 90v to 120v, the output of the supply is pretty constant at about 9v, and barely changes. It is also much more stable with changes in the load than a standard supply. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source) > From: Tom Jennings <tomj at wps.com> > Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 18:13:26 -0700 (PDT) > To: >Well once we stop STIRRING IT ALL UP it'll settle out into nice >pretty, orderly layers, dammit. Hey, that cyclonic storm was NOT MY idea! Allison

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source) > From: Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com> > Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 20:05:53 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >Paul Koning wrote: >> >>I very much doubt it. The story you quoted doesn't seem to have any >>connection with physics as I know it. > >I'm not disagreeing, but I am confused. > >If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens? Thud! sound of body hitting floor. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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a few HP goodies

by Tim＠rikers.org

I found the professor that used to use this old HP-2116A. He had a few things around from back then. I picked up a couple pocket manuals: * hp-2116a computer "micromanual" central processor * hp 21mx microprogramming pocket guide and 4 paper tapes: * hand labeled "block loader" with instructions * 24307-16001 rev 1419 DOS III B system generator program (large) * 24127-60001 rev a 16k sio teleprinter driver - ipl compati * hand labeled - non eau-lib 24146a (large) I've not gotten around to working on the tape reader, so just posting in case there's something someone has been searching for. Oh, and Jay isn't on irc at the moment or I'd ask him. ;-) #classiccmp on irc.freenode.net still having fun. ;-) -- Tim Riker - http://rikers.org/ - TimR at Debian.org Embedded Linux Technologist BZFlag maintainer - http://BZFlag.org/ - for fun!

21 years, 4 months

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Seven Segment Displays

by marvin＠rain.org

An amazing site; thanks for posting it! According to this site, they are called Minitrons and they even had the datasheet for them. Thanks!!! > >I have eight NOS seven segment displays in a 16 pin DIP package. These > >displays have a glass cover and each of the segments have a wire running > > > look around here as they have pictures of several older display devices. > > http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/nixies.html#catalog > >

21 years, 4 months

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FREE IN NL: Tektronix TekXpress 19" color monitor

by waltje＠pdp11.nl

Subject says it all.. anyone interested in it? It seems to work fine.. I just don't need it... Pse contact me off-list if interested. --fred

21 years, 4 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

I was hoping to tap in to the combined expertise here to settle a question. Let's say that tomorrow, and EMP weapon is employed over a major city in this country. Is there anything an average citizen can do to protect their Computers (Classic or otherwise)? Would having them unplugged help? Or must they be shielded in some way? Regards, Al __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

21 years, 4 months

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SYM1 and perSYMone

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Does anyone in this group have a perSYMone disk interface for the SYM1? Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Modern floppy disk question...

by cb＠mythtech.net

> You can >punch a hole in the other side of a DDSD 720K disk and use it as a DSHD >1.44MB >floppy 100% reliably *as long as you write to it once a week*. I never found that to be true. I found that they would only last a handful of read/writes before having errors and dying entirely (once they had errors, they never seemed to reformat again after that). These would be continuous use. I always had to treat them like a time bomb, I'd format, copy files to it, and know that I have about 5 or 6 uses over the next half over before the disk went bad. Basically, it was reliable enough to act as an emergency disk to move files from one machine directly to another, and then expect to throw out the disk when done. I found the same to be true if you put tape over the HD hole and used it as DD. But most of my testing was on Macs so maybe they were more picky about the integrity of the disk then PCs were (I've done it on PCs as well, and I don't recall there being a different result, but I also never approached it scientifically and paid enough attention to all the variables, so maybe they worked better and I just didn't notice it). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 4 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT: EMP and Equipment > From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey at amd.com> > My understanding is that it is most effectively caused >by an above atmosphere explosion? > Still, if you are on the edge of where damage is minimum, >unpowered equipment will survive better than powered up >equipment. Things like unplugging can help if the pulse >source is far enough way. >Dwight > Distance is everything as it's a inverse square law thing. If it weren't the sun would have done us in already, though it does occasionally throw a good one at us like last fall. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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OT: EMP and Equipment

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "jim stephens" <jwstephens at msm.umr.edu> > >no, >EMP as related to an atmospheric nuclear explosion is caused because >of the release of energy from the atmosphere ionized by the radiation >pulse >sent by the blast. > Hi My understanding is that it is most effectively caused by an above atmosphere explosion? Still, if you are on the edge of where damage is minimum, unpowered equipment will survive better than powered up equipment. Things like unplugging can help if the pulse source is far enough way. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Speaking of ESDI

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

Does anyone have docs for a Dilog DQ656 Qbus ESDI controller? It's got a couple of banks of DIP switches and I'd like to know what they do before I try to run it. Doc

21 years, 4 months

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