>From: Scott Stevens <sastevens(a)earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
>Posts"<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
><cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>Subject: Re: WARNING: RANTING COMPUTER NUT...
>Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 20:02:50 -0500
>
<SNIP>
>I've never committed the crime of having anything to do with the SGI
>boxes that sport an Intel processor and run NT, though.
>
>(Aieeee!, huh? )
>
<SNIP>
I think those are going to be collectable machines. I've been looking for a
cheap one for a while. It's a really interesting architecture. Custom memory
bus (== EXPENSIVE memory modules) Custom system bus and integrated video
controller. These things were way ahead of anything else at the time,
unfortunatly for SGI the PC hardware market catches up quickly and commodity
PC hardware had the kind of bus speeds their workstations had within a year
(RAMBUS, BOO! HISS!) As vertically marketed as they were they don't run
anything other than Windows NT. I think there's a version of Linux floating
around for them, and odds are NetBSD will at least boot on them (Horray for
serial console! :)
>(** I'm probably one of the .0001% of people who has seen a Windows NT
>desktop on a PowerPC system)
I've got Visual Studio 5 for PowerPC if you're interested...
_________________________________________________________________
Watch the online reality show Mixed Messages with a friend and enter to win
a trip to NY
http://www.msnmessenger-download.click-url.com/go/onm00200497ave/direct/01/
That's disappointing as I've got one too. Given that its MCA I thought it would be at a premium and therefore quite valuable.
The one I've got is in an IBM PS2 Model 60 but when I boot it I get some gobbledy-gook on screen which is not very promising - if anyone has any clues I'd be grateful. I thought of disabling the HD and trying to boot from a floppy to see if it was just the HD that's cactus.
Ahhhh such is life!
+++++++++++++++++++
Kevin Parker
Web Services Manager
WorkCover Corporation
p: 08 8233 2548
e: webmaster(a)workcover.com
w: www.workcover.com
+++++++++++++++++++
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctech-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of chris
Sent: Tuesday, 22 June 2004 5:45 AM
To: Classic Computer
Subject: 3com etherlink III MCA
I've got a 3com EtherLink III MCA card available if anyone wants it. It
failed to sell on ebay, so just cover postage costs (plus paypal fees if
you pay me that way) and its yours.
Anyone want it? If you want to view it, see below:
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5704862265&ssPageName=A
D
ME:B:EOAS:US:3>
the ad lists as $3.85 for shipping via Priority Mail. That is my prefered
method to ship things like this, because I get free boxes. If you want
some other method or are out of the USA and can't use that method, I'm
open to changing it.
If I don't get a taker, its heading to the trash... so hopefully someone
will want it. (I no longer have any MCA bus hardware, so it is useless to
me)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
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Hash: SHA1
Going thought my old floppies and I came a disk labelled
SETUP and TEST Diskette for System/88
Boot from this diskette
Copyright Amdek Corporation. 1997 ver 1.31
There is also some MS-DOS 3.2 diskettes with them.
Does anyone know anything about a system/88.
Google indicates that there has been a few machines named system/88, but
nothing for Amdek.
- --
Collector of vintage computers
http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600
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pOmgf1bfyIrFmNCT4ti25Xo=
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Over dinner with a friend the other night the conversation landed on
the subject of reading old magnetic tapes. I learned something which
sounds different from what I've heard in the past, so I figured I
would pass this along.
This was for audio tapes, but it makes sense that it would apply to
digital data tapes too.
The comment was that old tapes absorb moisture into the oxide, which
makes things sticky and causes the oxide to stick to the wrong spots
and flake off the tape. The solution is to set the tape in a fruit
dryer at modest heat (150 F or so) for a while.
Presumably a desiccator, vacuum or otherwise, could serve too.
Apparently this worked well for 20 year old audio tapes.
paul
It's not in any of my PC ref guides, even ones old enough to include family
one types.
It's two full length 16bit ISA cards bolted together. There's a connection
betwen them. Two EPROMs and several big square chips. No standard FRU number
that I can see anywhere. One of the cards is labeled DISPLAY CONTROLLER.
One of the cards has a 25 pin female connector. The other board has a
connector I've never seen before. It's a D shaped shell which has 3 holes side by
side no more than .25 inch in diameter. In each hole, there's a small pin. What
in the world is this?
I can provide a pic if that will help.
I was cleaning up today and ran across an old 64K battery-backed SRAM card
for a Sharp OS-781. The box mentions the OZ-7000, but I was wondering if
this is one of the cards that will work with a Commodore CD-TV (there's a
PCMCIA-ish slot in the front, and ISTR 64K was one of the sizes mentioned
in some of the documentation for what would work in there).
Specifically, my recollection is that the CD-TV takes a "Type I" card, and
this OZ-781 _is_ 1/2 as thick as a Type II (with one row of pins, not two).
Do I have a match? (I'll still have to find a CD-TV to replace the one
that was stolen in a burglary years ago - so long ago, in fact, that the
insurance company paid out 100% for the loss with no questions asked,
based on the pricetag on the corner of the box - $795). It was a fun
little box that fit well with the other components by the TV. I did replace
it with a CD-32 later, but the two just don't compare, stylistically, even
though the CD-TV is, essentially, a repackaged A500, and the CD-32 is a
crippled A1200 (but I do have an SX-1 expansion for it).
Speaking of expansions, has anyone ever seen the MPEG cartridge for the
CD-32? I don't "need" one, since I can watch VCDs on my Apex DVD player,
but I've always wanted to find one at a reasonable price to see how well
it plays VCDs.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 25-Jun-2004 23:10 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -76.8 F (-60.5 C) Windchill -107.2 F (-77.40 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 6.7 kts Grid 059 Barometer 670 mb (11005. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
I've got some VMS manuals
Vol 1 Introduction to Programming
Vol 2A Utilites and Debugger
Vol 2B Utilites (CDU, Librarian, Linker, Message)
Vol 3 System Library Routines
Vol 4A System Services
Vol 4B System Services
and just for fun
Obsolete Features.
I think this is pretty much all of the "P" section of the infamous
VMS gray wall. All are brand new, still shrink wrapped, never opened
and were current as of VMS version 5.2 (i.e. a long, long time ago!).
All you have to do is pick them up in Milpitas CA - sorry, but they're
just not worth the trouble of shipping.
Bob Armstrong
Thanks guys - the junk I'm getting is a whole heap of trash in the top left corner of the screen (no error codes) so I do really think its cactus but I'll try your suggestions.
+++++++++++++++++++
Kevin Parker
Web Services Manager
WorkCover Corporation
p: 08 8233 2548
e: webmaster(a)workcover.com
w: www.workcover.com
+++++++++++++++++++
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctech-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of jpero(a)sympatico.ca
Sent: Thursday, 24 June 2004 8:02 AM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: RE: 3com etherlink III MCA
> That's disappointing as I've got one too. Given that its MCA I thought it would be at a premium and therefore quite valuable.
>
> The one I've got is in an IBM PS2 Model 60 but when I boot it I get some gobbledy-gook on screen which is not very promising - if anyone has any clues I'd be grateful. I thought of disabling the HD a>
> Ahhhh such is life!
Parker,
Of course, if you have gotten thick paperback book of Muller's,
this has whole lot of IBM PS/2 error codes. Or google. The info
will help you to decode errors and act on that info.
PS/2 stuff (not those PS2 (that's playstation 2, they do die easily.
:-P) doesn't simply die easily. I still have couple PS/2 (70-Axx,
P75) that still works.
For example 1701 generally means hard drive problem, so on, it has
several sub errors under that 1700 specific to hard drive system.
Gee, been years since I last cracked that book for reference. :-O
SWAG: There is about 200 or so error codes total for everything
including several types of beeps. Whew.
Cheers,
Wizard
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I just stumbled across a DAT tape amongst my pile of spares labelled as
"Lorenzo version 1.1.2" made by a company called Technology Modeling
Associates.
Anyone come across this software before and can tell me what it does?
The copyright date's 1993-1995, so it's almost on topic :-)
Googling doesn't turn up much.
I'm just curious - I don't have a DEC Alpha system to run it anyway,
plus it says that it needs authorisation codes to install anyway, which
I don't have. I have no idea where I came by the tape from!
cheers
Jules
Hi Don,
>It would seem that there are a couple of possibilities for your
>problems: - a damaged lower head or read electronics that do not
>permit the drive to find a directory or - less likely - incorrect
>strapping for drive select and the variables on the drive board.
I doubt it strapping, as these are the original drives that were
installed by Morrow.
I thought it was odd that both of these drives (and only these two)
failed with exactly the same symptom - My guess is that something
in the read electronics is prone to an age related fault - I was
hoping that someone might respond with something like "Oh yeah -
thats a known problem with those drives - check capactor x".
>The rather brief Service Guide that I have for the Morrow MD
>series provides no detail at all on the drives. However, they do
>caution to replace the A and B drives in the position that they
>were removed from such as to not cross up their identity to the
>computer. No other manual that I have provides any information on
>the TEC FB-503 beyond the fact that it is a half-high 5.25" DS
>drive with a 360k capacity.
It is an odd configuration with a separate cable and terminator
for each drive ...
Any chance you could be talked into copying or scanning that service
manual?
Do you have other info on these systems (Technical or otherwise)?
Were you involved these machines? Looking to collect as much info
as possible.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
Paul Koning <pkoning(a)equallogic.com> wrote:
> Then there are special cases: the Cray and Alpha integer units, which
> don't offer divide at all. Instead, you're supposed to multiply by
> the reciprocal of the divisor.
Ahmm, but the reciprocal of an integer is not an integer, so you are
stepping out of integer-land into floating point territory. Do you
really want to use floating point to implement integer division
(dividing an integer by an integer to get quotient and remainder)?
And how do you guarantee that the final integer result will be exact?
(I guess you convert the dividend to a float, get the reciprocal of
the divisor, which will be a float, do float multiplication, and integerise
the result, right? Are there enough bits of precision in a float to
guarantee an exact result for integer division done this way? I
doubt that, since AFAIK Alpha has usual 32-bit and 64-bit floats,
which have other things besides mantissa in those bits, but has
64-bit integers.) And how do you get the remainder? Floating division
(whether direct or via multiplication by the reciprocal) doesn't produce
a remainder at all.
MS
You can reset the keybd. by pushing down on the lever on the front right
corner of the keybd. and it should latch in the down position. Then if the H lever
still won't line up you can trip the distributor clutch and the rotate the
motor which will then turn the distributor clutch, which will rotate the arm for
the H lever to line up on the same plane. If you have any questions call
Dataterm Inc.-they are very knowledgeable with 33 TTY's and have many parts for
Teletypes too.- 781-938-1010
I received the following from John Geremin from the Museum late last
month:
Hello David,
At this stage there is no suggestion of folding up.
We are just trying to rationalise our storage requirements prior
to setting up some displays at Kariong.
The current hassles are related to delays in getting an
agreement
on what the people at Kariong want. Max Burnet will have the
latest
info on Kariong.
We are planning to hold an AGM meeting next month, where all
members
will be invited to have their say on any future plans. There are
membership forms on the web site if you don't have one already.
John G.
David
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
> [mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of David V. Corbin
> Sent: Thursday, 24 June 2004 10:41 PM
> To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> Subject: RE: Australia Computer Museum in trouble
>
>
> Looking through the site, it appears that this may be too
> late. According to the site they needed do vacate the
> warehouse at the end of last year. I have seen no updates.
> Hopefully any and all resources are safe.
>
The comment was that old tapes absorb moisture into the oxide, which
makes things sticky and causes the oxide to stick to the wrong spots
and flake off the tape. The solution is to set the tape in a fruit
dryer at modest heat (150 F or so) for a while.
Presumably a desiccator, vacuum or otherwise, could serve too.
--
This has been discussed here in the past.
Some tape formulations (for me, late 70's BASF, Memorex is the worst)
absorb mosture and the polymers in the binder decompose into lighter
molecules which migrate to the surface.
A temporary solution is to bake the tapes. 150 F sounds somewhat high
though.
There are dangers to doing this, though, depending on the condition
of the tape. You can dry out and glue adjacent layers of tape together
if you aren't careful.
There are also things you can do with custom tape transports to minimize
sticking when attempting to recover poorly preserved tape.
If anyone has spare copies of Data General S/130 and S/200 documentation,
I'd appreciate a chance at 'em!
--
A complete set of docs for the machine went to Bruce Ray, since he wanted
to scan them and I have been letting him deal with archiving DG stuff.
I asked him to give the paper to you when he was done. If he is ignoring
you, please remind him that there are some things I'm picking up for him
and rest assured he will never see them if he doesn't get this documentation
to you.
> Again, I'm thinking in terms of vacuum tubes, and I can't see how losing
> the knowledge of how they worked is going to affect the future, or even
> the present for that matter.
I'm guessing that there is at least one piece of equipment in your house
that relies on a vacuum tube to opperate that is not some sort of display
device.
> We're so beyond them technologically that they are irrelevant today.
So you don't want television, or radio, or communications satellites, or
radar, or ...
Lee.
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A non-compressed format would be best. Considering the general quality
of cassette tapes you may have some degradation and add to that any
lossy format is asking for disaster.
I would suggest that you read them into the computer first as data NOT
audio. As I recall they are written to the tape as square waves in Intel
Hex Checksum format which can help identify lost bits (Not great but
better than some.) Square waves in an audio can generate distortion.
(One of the early copy protection schemes?)
I can remember lots of loads aborting due to checksum errors and the
standard response was to back up the tape and restart. If you have
problems let me know; I think I have the old source code for the monitor
(BIOS) in a closet somewhere.
Be careful though if you copy the BASIC. The MSA BASIC that was released
for the SOL carries a copyright notice of the MICROSOFT CORPORATION and
Big Bad Bill might come and get you. Seriously, this is some of the
software B.G. wrote about in his open letter to hobbyists.
Good Luck,
Wayne
> Question for those who know Sols, Solos, Cutter, etc.
> I have many old original PT cassette tapes - basic, Gamepak 1 & 2,
> ALS-8,etc.
> Will an MP3 of those tapes work? [for the sake of argument, assume a
> 128k bitrate]?
--
Wayne Talbot <awt(a)io.com>
At 11:01 24/06/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi
> Check the termination. Make sure that only one
>of the drives has a terminator and that it is
>the correct type for that kind of drive. It
>is prefered that the terminator is on the last drive
>in the string but I've never seen problems when
>the drives are side by side.
>Dwight
The Morrows use a very odd termination scheme - both
drives have terminatore, and both drive have separate
drive cables, going to two different (and spaced fairly
far apart) connectors on the mainboard.
I've tried all combinations (both in, one or the other in,
both out) - always fails on the TEC drives, always works
with the Panasonic.
I would really like to keep the TEC's in it, as they are
original equipment, and the serial #'s match the assembly
manifest sticker inside the unit.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
Dear Pierre.
We are interested to have your Unisys System80, specially base unit and HDD.
Can you tell me the model type and the HDD models that you have ?
Thanks
Pierluigi Spina
Makers - System Division
Italy
mailto:p.spina@makers.it
At 12:10 AM 6/20/04 -0700, you wrote:
>
>the other fun companion to this set is the yearbook that came out at the
>end ..... it is like they turned the time life photo journalists loose and
>lots of building plans lots of text.... really fun!
Ed,
Can you tel lme more about the year book including it's exact title. I'd
like to try and track one down. Getting the Rad Lab books has been easier
than expected. I've got over half of them already on their way here
including several with original dust jackets and all of them are from the
original McGraw Hill series. I'd still like to see a list of the extras
that you have and what you want for them.
Joe
Hello Wayne --
I am contacting you to see if you still have these (2) cartridges available?
If so, I'm interested in acquiring them.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Paul @ MBC
Paul H. Brown
Monterey Bay Communications
1010 Fair Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831)429-6144
(831)429-1918 fax
www.montbay.com
paul(a)montbay.com
>From: "Gerold Pauler" <gerold.pauler(a)gmx.net>
>
>Dwight K. Elvey schrieb:
>> Hi
>> You need to reset the keyboard first by twisting it to
>> match up to the same angle. Once that is done, you jam
>> a screwdriver blade into the slot of the H to push against
>> the spring and get it reinstalled.
>> Hope this makes sense.
>> Dwight
>>
>
>Sometimes (depending on the position of the distributor)
>you can get a better fit by pressing a key on the keybord.
>Thus giving the universal lever more space to move.
>
>- Gerold
>
>
Hi
He should try both and also rotate the motor to
try to match with the keyboard.
Dwight
Hi tony,
>> I thought that perhaps they were 80 track drives or some such,
>
>Are there any letters after the FD-503 part of the number? In general
>Teac suffixes tell you the number of heads and cylinders.
Is TEC (Tokyo Electric Company) TEAC?
No extra letters - I'm pretty sure they are standard 40 track drives,
but I have not been able to dig up any hard info so far.
>> Does anyone know anything about these drives? Are they 80 track
>> or otherwise "odd"? Are they known to have a high failure rate
>> (especially with age)? Any info would be appreciated.
>
>Does the disk rotate? Does the head seek to cylinder 0 at power on? Have
>you tried looking at the ReadData line on the interface connector with a
>'scope or logic analyser?
Drives spin and seek - everything looks normal except that they reseek
a couple of times and then report an error - haven't scoped the read data
yet (this weekend).
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
The MIT Swapfest, also known as "Flea@MIT" is a great event. I lived in Boston
for four years, until last month when I moved, but I went to the swapfest many
times and always found interesting things. There is a small-ish outdoors area
and a huge indoors area. There are even people selling snacks (usually
doughnuts and barbeque food, coffee and Coke) by one of the entrances. LOL,
just don't do what I did the first time, and think the small outdoors part was
the whole thing!
Hi
You need to reset the keyboard first by twisting it to
match up to the same angle. Once that is done, you jam
a screwdriver blade into the slot of the H to push against
the spring and get it reinstalled.
Hope this makes sense.
Dwight
>From: "David V. Corbin" <dvcorbin(a)optonline.net>
>
> Aargh.....
>
>In the continuing quest to get my ASR-33 operational, it was discovered that
>the typing unit had shifted at some point and the h-plate connecting the
>typing unit back to the keyboard had popped out [I actually "found" it
>laying in the bottom of the case under the typing unit.
>
>Although the lever from the typing unit is spring loaded, I can not get the
>h-plate in. The connection levers are at different angles, preventing the
>h-plate from properly being inserted. Although I can move the levers a bit
>manually, I can not get them to rotate such that they are in the same plane.
>
>If anyone has any ideas, please contact me ASAP.
>
>I am pulling my hair out.
>
>David
>
>Ps: To all attending the RI Picnic or VC Feast. Beware the tall, thin, bald
>guy with a mustache. [unless of course he gets is ASR-33 running before
>then]....
>
>
Hi
Check the termination. Make sure that only one
of the drives has a terminator and that it is
the correct type for that kind of drive. It
is prefered that the terminator is on the last drive
in the string but I've never seen problems when
the drives are side by side.
Dwight
>From: "Dave Dunfield" <dave04a(a)dunfield.com>
>
>Picked up 6 Morrow MD computers this past weekend.
>
>All appear to work, however I have one with floppy drive
>trouble ...
>
>The drives in question are TEC FB-503 1/2 height 5.25"
>drives. Only one of the machines has these drives.
>
>What is odd is that both drives in the one machine will
>not read diskettes (report disk error - won't even boot).
>
>Only one machine has these drives - when it failed to boot,
>I first tried cleaning it - no improvement - then tried
>swapping for 'B' drive - still no improvement - now thinking
>that diskette controller is faulty.
>
>Then I swapped in a Panasonic drive from my parts shelf, and
>voila - boot & access disk no problem.
>
>Seems really odd that two identical drives would fail so
>completely in the same way when all of the other 10 drives
>appear to be OK.
>
>I thought that perhaps they were 80 track drives or some such,
>however Issue #1 of the "Morrow Owners Review" has an artical
>about the floppy drives used in the MD's, and it lists the
>TEC/NSA 5503, which looks like these drives - Can't say for
>sure if they are the same ones, as the model number stated does
>differ slightly from what is on the drive plate, but if they are
>the same, the artical makes no mention of anything special about
>them...
>
>Does anyone know anything about these drives? Are they 80 track
>or otherwise "odd"? Are they known to have a high failure rate
>(especially with age)? Any info would be appreciated.
>
>Regards,
>
>--
>dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
>dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
>com Vintage computing equipment collector.
> http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
>
>
Hi!
Would anyone happen to have documentation on this
drive that they could share with me? In particular, I am looking
for a description of each of the DIP switch settings on the rear
of the unit (Google was not helpful -- perhaps I have the only
one of these ever *built*? :< ) Drive works, I would just like
to see what *else* it can do (e.g., the laundry, balance my checkbook,
mow the lawn...)
Thanks!
--don
Seen on comp.os.vms - contact Andy directly.
Lee Courtney
"Andy Bustamante" <a_c_bustamante(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:<HHsCc.76837$II6.4559(a)newssvr29.news.prodigy.com>...
> We've got marching orders and will be disposing of assorted equipment
> including 2 x Alpha 1000s,
> 320mb and 384mb. I don't expect these to bring in much on the used market
> and am trying to get approval to pass these on to a hobbyist in the San
> Diego area. You'll need to arrange pick up, once I have disposal
> authorized, I won't ship these. I expect this to be a quick timetable
once
> I have the okay. Any interest?
>
> --
>
>
> Andy Bustamante
> Remove the ASCII 95s for e-mail
>
>
>
I'm a big proponent of teaching my students assembly, though not machine
language, but the following was simply silly...
From: Fred Cisin <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
>Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project,
>if you do not have an understanding of machine language,
>then you can not write a good "driver", or anything else
>that directly addresses hardware.
True. But what percentage of programmers write drivers (clue: it's small).
>Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project,
>if you do not have an understanding of machine language,
>then you can not write a good operating system, or any
>other system software.
True. But what percentage of programmers write operating systems (clue:
it's small).
>Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project,
>if you do not have an understanding of machine language,
>then you can not write a good game, or anything else that
>needs to be efficient.
Completely not true.
Modern games (as in most anything past the 8-bit era) are written
predominately if not exclusively in higher level languages (C, C++ or C#)
and rely much more on content (story, textures, skins, etc.) than anything
that has to be written in machine language for success. And the engines
driving these games haven't been written in machine (or assembly) in a long,
long time. Modern games use DirectX or OpenGL and are written in high level
languages.
Even Carmack doesn't program in machine language in modern history, and he's
the demi-god of game optimization.
You can download the source to many older games if you don't agree.
I don't even need to go into things like Cg and how far they absract writing
good games from machine language.
>Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project,
>if you do not have an understanding of machine language,
>then you can not do a good job of optimizing ANYTHING.
Total rubbish.
There are lot's of kinds of "optimizing", not all of which mean "doing it
the way that Fred thinks it should be done" or "doing it in the absolute
fewest instructions". If you are going to use words like "ANYTHING" (esp.
with the caps), you need to include optimizing for a vast array of criteria.
Is machine language the only way to optimize for user interface? Probably
not, except for extremely narrow definitions of optimized.
Is machine language the way to optimize for dynamic logic (like different
tax laws from one year to the next)? Probably not.
Is machine language the way to optimize for realistic, modern deadline or
budget? Almost certainly not.
>Regardless of whether you actually USE it in the project,
>if you do not have an understanding of machine language,
>then you can not do a GOOD job of programming anything.
Total rubbish.
I can't build an engine from scratch, therefore I can't excel at driving a
car?
I can't build a spin cast reel, therefore I can't fish.
The folks who program Quicken have to know machine language to do a GOOD job
at writing tax software? Rubbish.
The folks at Adobe have to know machine language to do a GOOD job of
rendering Acrobat pages? Rubbish.
The Gnome, KDE, QT, etc., folks haven't done a GOOD job, for all values of
GOOD, because they use high level languages. Rubbish.
You can do anything in machine language. Can you do nothing well without
it? Rubbish...Obviously you can.
I just today acquired an apparently stock Amiga 2000. Unfortunately, I
have no boot disk for it & it has no hard drive. I cannot get it to show
the "Insert Disk" animation (does it even have this?). The screen
flashes between gray & white.
My apologies for the stupid questions, but Amigas are new animals to me!
Hi, gang,
I figured this article would be of interest. Apparently, the Australian Computer Museum is on the verge of losing their space due to lack of funds.
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/23/1254203.shtml?tid=126&tid=137
Keep the peace(es).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"
Hi,
I'm on this list for a while now, mostly passive as
reader...
This week I tried to get some of my older PET/CBM Cassettes
onto my PC. This Tapes are originally written with a Rom-
upgraded Pet 2001 (the model with cricklet-keys) around
1980. Everythings working so far, I have a digital image
now in case the tapes fail. But I really would like to
convert the (now wave)files to an emulator readable format.
I tried tapeload, tape64 and wavprg and had nearly no
success. Is someone out there with some more experience on
this? The Pet's datasette is a little buggy at the moment,
so I'd like a standard Audio Deck. Maybe It is an issue
that I only have a stereo deck? At
http://www.funet.fi/pub/cbm/crossplatform/transfer/datassett
e/index.html are plenty of infos, but I have no Idea where
to start...
Regards,
Wolfgang Eichberger
PS.: I'd really like to obtain a disk-drive for my Pets, in
case theres someone who has one for sale or so...
Hi,
I'm on this list for a while now, mostly passive as
reader...
This week I tried to get some of my older PET/CBM Cassettes
onto my PC. This Tapes are originally written with a Rom-
upgraded Pet 2001 (the model with cricklet-keys) around
1980. Everythings working so far, I have a digital image
now in case the tapes fail. But I really would like to
convert the (now wave)files to an emulator readable format.
I tried tapeload, tape64 and wavprg and had nearly no
success. Is someone out there with some more experience on
this? The Pet's datasette is a little buggy at the moment,
so I'd like a standard Audio Deck. Maybe It is an issue
that I only have a stereo deck? At
http://www.funet.fi/pub/cbm/crossplatform/transfer/datassett
e/index.html are plenty of infos, but I have no Idea where
to start...
Regards,
Wolfgang Eichberger
PS.: I'd really like to obtain a disk-drive for my Pets, in
case theres someone who has one for sale or so...
>> Then you'll know why the HV supply is almost invariably voltage
>> doubled AC and not rectified and smothed DC.
From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
> I know it is (the magnetron itself is one of the diodes in the doubler,
> along with one capacitor and a semiconductor diode), but I don't actually
> know _why_. Presumably it's to simplify the insulation of the transformer
> or something.
Water molecules [1] have three resonant frequencies around 2.45GHz and
to couple the H field microwave energy into the water you need to be
operating at one of these frequencies. A magnetron when used as an
oscillator has a frequency that is voltage and output load dependant,
so having a varying supply will sweep the frequency across the whole
operating range. When you get near a resonant frequency the output load
changes and this bcomes the dominating effect until the voltage changes
enough to pull the frequency to the next resonant point. This way you
can be sure to couple most of the energy into the water.
From: Dwight K. Elvey
> Also, once the magnetron gets to the threshold voltage, it likes to
> run at a constant volage. ... If you try to feed it with a fixed voltage,
> it will destroy the tube.
Magnetrons, even those in microwave ovens, can be run from a constant
(fixed) voltage without any danger of destroying the tube. This works
whether using it as an oscillator or an amplifier.
Lee.
[1] other OH bonds will absorb energy in this band such as those in
carbohydrates, but not nearly as well.
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> Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:58:45 +0100
> From: "Geoffrey Thomas" <geoffreythomas(a)onetel.net.uk>
> Subject: Re: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods &
> headcount... ; -))
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID: <000101c457bc$253c6640$bb72fea9@geoff>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> > Don't forget that there is more then one generation at work in an industry
> > at one time. Lots of people on this email list probably work with younger
> > techs who don't know half of what they do. Once the senior people retire
> (or
> > get fired because they cost too much on a spreadsheet) its up to the
> younger
> > ones to pull the slack (if they were smart enough to hire any before the
> old
> > ones got the boot), and quite a few are not up to the task. It takes time
> to
> > notice your workforce is deficient, and by then its too late to do
> anything
> > about it.
>
> This is what has happened to the rail industry in Britain, it frightens me
> to think of the skills that have been lost -particularly in track
> maintenance -not very high tech. you may think , but the number of
> crashes/accidents we've had since privatisation started on an accountant's
> spreadsheet. The fact that the industry now swallows more money for an
> inferior service is common knowledge , we all know where the money goes
> (went - it's called asset stripping ) but vested interest and political
> lethargy prevent any radical solution.As with our health service there is
> now an inverted bloated bureaucratic pyramid stuffed full of accountants and
> clerks.
>
> Geoff.
I worked many years in the rail running trades in Canada. As in many countries
the workforce has been slashed, while the top end has ballooned. The caboose
which was once the last human warning source has been replaced by a sensor.
Sensors can't see anomalies such as a "hot-box" on passing trains or problems
with the boxcar string itself. As we all know electronics are plagued with many
anomalies. And even the best software designers can not possibly duplicate
the warning signs learned by many years of experience of being there. Does the
public think that a computer can duplicate the knowledge of a flight controller ?
We have many years to go to replace the often flawed knowledge of humans
but bean counters should be easily replaced and the "decision-makers" were
outmoded years ago if sufficient will were available. Watch out for "Hal"
tho, he might be a clone of some psychotic Enron "executive"
Lawrence
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=1&u=/ap/2004…
I have to laugh when I see stories like this one. On one hand, I'm laughing
for joy, since any such mainstream press (of gaming or computers) is great for
the growth of our hobby. On the other hand, I'm laughing at the sillyness,
because every few months some new reporter hears about our hobby, writes the
SAME story about Atari joysticks, and thinks he or she is the one who scooped
it. (As a reporter myself and a collector, you can see why I find this funny.)
The same thing happened with VoIP. I was technology editor of Internet
Telephony magazine from early 1998 to mid-2000. But in the past few years,
every mainstream reporter heard that, hey, you can make free phone calls using
your PC and the Internet... (which of course is about 1/25 of the real
business-class intentions of the VoIP industry.)
Anyway, I'm just pointing out that there's another article about our cousins in
the classic gaming world... thought ya'll might care. :)
PLEASE don't use this as another reason for a million replies about how bad
"the press" is. (Honestly, it hurts my feelings.)
Picked up 6 Morrow MD computers this past weekend.
All appear to work, however I have one with floppy drive
trouble ...
The drives in question are TEC FB-503 1/2 height 5.25"
drives. Only one of the machines has these drives.
What is odd is that both drives in the one machine will
not read diskettes (report disk error - won't even boot).
Only one machine has these drives - when it failed to boot,
I first tried cleaning it - no improvement - then tried
swapping for 'B' drive - still no improvement - now thinking
that diskette controller is faulty.
Then I swapped in a Panasonic drive from my parts shelf, and
voila - boot & access disk no problem.
Seems really odd that two identical drives would fail so
completely in the same way when all of the other 10 drives
appear to be OK.
I thought that perhaps they were 80 track drives or some such,
however Issue #1 of the "Morrow Owners Review" has an artical
about the floppy drives used in the MD's, and it lists the
TEC/NSA 5503, which looks like these drives - Can't say for
sure if they are the same ones, as the model number stated does
differ slightly from what is on the drive plate, but if they are
the same, the artical makes no mention of anything special about
them...
Does anyone know anything about these drives? Are they 80 track
or otherwise "odd"? Are they known to have a high failure rate
(especially with age)? Any info would be appreciated.
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
>
>> > I don't like to test memory.
>> > My tests are all open book - they don't need to write anything on their
>> > shirtsleeves.
>> > open notes - they don't need to write anything in the margins of the
>> > book.
>>
>> Couldn't agree more. In "real life" you normally have access to
>
>I'll go along with this too.
Hi
One of the most important parts of school learning is to
learn how and where to look for information.
Another is to learn how to simplify concepts so that they
can be applied more universally.
Dwight
---snip---
At 21:03 13/04/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>I've been contacted by someone with "5 or 6" Morrow MD-3s, a couple of
>MD-2s, and maybe an MD-11 (she's not sure). Most are working, and they come
>with lots of software. She wants some money for them, but I'm not sure how
>much. Drop me a note if you want me to put you in touch with her. The
>systems are in Toronto.
>
>--Mike
Just a follow-up in case anyone is interested...
I finally made it to Toronto this past weekend and picked up the Morrows.
In total, there were 7 machines, of which one was given to York university.
I received 6 Micro Decision machines of which two are MD-2's, and 4 are MD-3's,
All appear to work!
I also received 5 terminals, 3 Morrow OEM versions of the "Liberty 100", one
Morrow MDT-60 (can't find any other manufactorer name), and a Morrow OEM
ADM-20 by Leir Siegler. I haven't tested all of them yet, but the ADM-209
does work.
The "mistery" machine was not an MD-11, it was another MD-2 with the odd looking
2/3 height SA-200 drives, and paired with the ADM-20 terminal - this is in fact
the exact configuration shown in all of the Morrow advertising materials for the
MD's that I have been able to locate.
There is a fair bit of software, including a CP/M edition of Wordstar for which
the diskette packet has never been opened!
I also have a full compliment of Morrow manuals.
Still have lots to go over - Pics and other material will appear on my site within
the next few weeks. I'd be interested in corresponding with anyone having experience
with Morrows, especially the MD series.
Please see my next posting for a inquiry involving a "floppy drive oddity".
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
>From: "Dan Veeneman" <dan(a)ekoan.com>
>
>Fred,
>
>Do you really give out tests like this:
>
>At 06:06 PM 6/23/04, you wrote:
>>int N = 10;
>>while (N--) printf("&d\n",N);
>>What are the first and last numbers displayed?
>>is appropriate for open-book.
>
>I'm presuming there's a typo inside the quotes...
>otherwise you have a nice trick question!
>
Hi
Evaluation order can be important in many context.
That is why I like a more concise language than C.
Dwight
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
>
>> > I know how, just about every part of, a microwave oven works and
>>
>> Then you'll know why the HV supply is almost invariably voltage
>> doubled AC and not rectified and smothed DC.
>
>I know it is (the magnetron itself is one of the diodes in the doubler,
>along with one capacitor and a semiconductor diode), but I don't actually
>know _why_. Presumably it's to simplify the insulation of the transformer
>or something.
>
>-tony
>
Oops
I missed this question. Tony is right. Also, once the
magnetron gets to the threshold voltage, it likes to
run at a constant volage. The capacitor source is
better at supplying this as part of the sine wave.
If you try to feed it with a fixed voltage, it will
destroy the tube. The capacitor works like a current
limiting resistor without the power loss.
Dwight
Q: Current C compilers are written in C.
What was the FIRST C compiler written in?
--
PDP-11 assembly language. You can look at the sources in the early
Unix archives, or....
--
From: Dennis Ritchie <dmr(a)bell-labs.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.std.c,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: A primeval C compiler
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 06:43:22 +0100
Organization: Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
Lines: 12
Message-ID: <379FE9FA.7D08(a)bell-labs.com>
Reply-To: dmr(a)bell-labs.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: cebu.cs.bell-labs.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; U)
Xref: news.apple.com comp.lang.c:83397 comp.std.c:9285 alt.folklore.computers:33793
I finally prepared another fossil for museum exhibition: from DECtapes
written
in 1972-73, there are exhumed C compilers (including source) to show
what
the very early stages of the language were like. This was a highly
transitional stage; for example, the earlier one anticipates a "long"
type, but doesn't have struct; the 6-months-later compiler implements
struct, but reuses long's slot in the type table.
http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/~dmr/primevalC.html
Dennis
>> wired the fan and magnetron together ... and controlled it with
>> an ordinary wall light switch
> I wouldn't have done this.
I would have used an egg timer switch (one that turns off after a
pre set time) but otherwise it sounds a reasonable fix.
> I know how, just about every part of, a microwave oven works and
Then you'll know why the HV supply is almost invariably voltage
doubled AC and not rectified and smothed DC.
> Also, I doubt that a normal wall light switch is rated for that
> large of an inductive load.
A microwave oven is a resistive load and most light switches (in the
uk at least) are rated adequately to switch a microwave (1.2KW for a
600W rated oven).
Lee.
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Whilst doing an unrelated search, I came across this gem:
Twenty-One + Years of Dr. Dobb's Journal Indexed
http://www.cstone.net/~bachs/ddj/
It's maintained by a person who used to get paid by DDJ to index their
magazine, but after CMP bought it out he says he continues the service
gratis. He has a donation link to help keep the site up. I did my part
;)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
I've been contacted by someone in France that has an Intel MDS-225 that
he wants to sell. Is anyone in that area intersted? I'm getting the detail
now. I would be intersted but I'm much too far away to consider it.
Joe
Question for those who know Sols, Solos, Cutter, etc.
I have many old original PT cassette tapes - basic, Gamepak 1 & 2, ALS-8,
etc.
Will an MP3 of those tapes work? [for the sake of argument, assume a 128k
bitrate]?
Anyone tried this?
Thanks,
Barry Watzman
Watzman(a)neo.rr.com
>That's disappointing as I've got one too. Given that its MCA I thought it
would be at >a premium and therefore quite valuable.
>The one I've got is in an IBM PS2 Model 60 but when I boot it I get some
gobbledy->gook on screen which is not very promising - if anyone has any clues
I'd be >grateful. I thought of disabling the HD and trying to boot from a floppy
to see if it >was just the HD that's cactus.
MCA stuff is pretty common still if you know where to look. Plenty of cheap
stuff on ebay all the time. I've got loads of goodies meself. What's harder to
find is the interesting stuff like the MCA servers and upgrade parts/boards.
As for the mod60 problems, I'm sure it can be fixed. They seldom go bad. You
might be getting a password skeleton key prompt, or a numerical POST code.
If all else fails, remove the battery for a while, take out all adaptors
except for the hard drive one, build a reference disk and then try to boot from
it. After you build a ref disk, don't let Win9x read it as it messes it up and
the PS/2 wont boot from it.
Hi all,
I just heard of a Prime 5320 (1990 vintage) up for grabs in Ascot, UK.
It's possible the museum are going to take it (if only to save it from
the crusher), but it really depends on what the transport arrangements
are, as it's too far away from any of the staff to do a pick-up. If the
owners can deliver then it's not a problem!
Apparently there's an unknown PSU fault with it, and attempts by the
company who own it to get it professionally fixed have failed - hence
the reason it's going out the door.
Comes with hard disks, tapes and floppies I've been told (no idea about
documentation)
Unfortunately I don't have a timescale on how long it can stay where it
is before it gets dumped - I've lost track of how many times people
contact us about stuff and if they don't hear back within a couple of
hours they haul it off to be crushed... :-(
I'm still waiting to hear about the delivery issue. As these machines
aren't that common though on this side of the pond, it would seem nice
to line up someone who can save it assuming that the museum can't.
cheers
Jules
Does anyone on the list know what kind of wood the case
of the Northstar Horizon uses? General consensus is that
it is stained to look like walnut. It seems a little
nicer than plain old pine plywood... a friend of mine
guesses birch. Does anyone know for sure?
Doing some display material for VCF east.
Thanks,
Bill Sudbrink
Hello all,
I recently acquired a Magnesys 720KB card (eBay number 5100117037 for some
pictures). This is an 8-bit ISA card, copyright 1988 so it's on-topic :-).
It is labeled "Magnesys Assy. 506-402 (c) 1988 Made in U.S.A. Drive Card".
It has 2 EPROMS, labeled "890-332 Rev. D" and "890-364 Rev. B". It also has
an LED, four jumpers, and three sets of switches (a bank of 10, a bank of 6
and a a bank of 4).
The only information I could find w/ Google was that it is a bubble-memory
card used to emulate a 720KB Disk Drive, and was used for a military
application.
If anyone has manuals, drivers, jumper/switch settings, etc. Could you
please let me know what I could do to get a copy?
Thanks!
Rich B.
> It doesn't have a 80x86 simulator yet.
MESS would be suitable for the micros, and x86. It also has
a simulation for the TI 990/10, which SIMH doesn't have.
Hi.
I have managed to find the tape images for irix 3.3.2 (.tar.gz) but
unfortuntely I can't work out how to network boot the Personal IRIS.
As far as I can tell I have included the right information in the
/etc/ethers file and the /etc/bootptab files..
but when I try and start the net boot up and running, it tells me,
couldn't load bootp()192.168.0.2:/video/irix/sa(sash.IP6)
any ideas... I have managed to get network booting working on many
other platforms but for some reason this is stumping me...
Benjamin
--
one you lock the target
two you bait the line
three you slowly spread the net
and four you catch the man
Front 242 Headhunter
> I'd guess that power transistors of that size aren't very vulnerable to
> radiation,
They are as the active region is still very small.
> (I suspect) much of a valve's rad-hardening is due to sheer size,
It is.
Lee.
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>>> (I suspect) much of a valve's rad-hardening is due to sheer size,
>> It is.
> I remember reading that the tiny field-emission vavles etched into
> a silicon chip ... are considerably more radiation hard than
> conventional transistors on the same chip.
Physical separation of the electrodes helps some as well.
Lee.
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From: William Donzelli <aw288(a)osfn.org>
>A serious gamer I know says that there are actualy fairly few graphics
>engines out there - many game companies buy the right to use existing
>ones.
This is more and more true. Content, all things being equal, is really what
pulls a gamer back in, so many shops license an engine to avoid the cost of
that development effort. Indeed, id Software (makers of Doom, Quake, Castle
Wolfenstien, etc.) makes far more licensing their engine than on their own
game. The Unreal engine is also very popular.
Oddly enough, no machine language to be seen in either.
Ken
Hi,
I picked this book up via Ebay a while back and just received it. For all
you transputer enthusiasts, this is an awesome book. It comes with a IBM-PC
transputer board PCB and has tons of schematics for designing your own
transputer link board for the Commodore 64/128, Apple II, PC, Amiga and
several other computers. The only problem is that its in German :-( but
that shouldn't stop you from getting this. I highly recommend this!!!
Cheers,
Ram
Just picked up the first load of the vax stuff/decstation stuff in Boston.
Mostly storage expansion units, a couple of decstations (mips processors?)
a couple ov vt1200 terminal boxes w/o monitors, an old pc. Haven't looked
thoroughly, but it appears there was not as much as I expected. Next load
is in a couple of weeks, then I'll know more about what I have.
Joe Heck
I'm in the market for a transistor curve tracer. I'm currently using a
Hickok add-on unit but I'd like to get a all-in-one unit such as Tektronix
577 or 576. Does anyone have anything decent for sale or have a suggestions
about what features I should look for?
Joe
Product documentation and schematics
First hint "never divulge all of the details in a patent".
Actually I know when we applied for patents and provided details of a
product we deliberately left out some key nuances and facts so that
somebody else could not totally reengineer the product from the details.
Much of the process of the internal workings and timings was not
detailed.
Our product was originally created and manufactured by some astronomical
engineers; they/we went out in the field to customer sites and made them
work. The system was based on a PDP-11/04 with all of the programming
stored in a PROM board. The entire software was one large program, no
OS. Original test units had been PDP-11/05's with core memory. Output
was on a VT52 with a built in hardcopy printer.
There were very accurate drawings and documentation however when it was
turned over to the medical manufacturing team the biggest problem was
the difference in the experience levels of the personnel and the
tweaking required to make each unit "work".
There is a big difference between 10-15 prototypes and 100 regular
customer units. It's also easy to retrofit, and keep 10-15 units
synched up, almost impossible with 100 units.
Support is also a problem, initially we had the designers and
engineering staff answer any support calls and troubleshoot problems, we
later converted to customer support to screen the calls. With 10-15
customers the initial adopters are motivated, usually analytical and
willing to work on problems to solve them. Regular customers just want
it to work.
"Institutional memory gets lost"
Mike
When I began expanding my collection last year,
I snapped up a couple of machines that were
available on the cheap and interesting at the
time. Since then, I've had pretty good luck at
fleshing out my PDP-8 collection, which is where
I started with this hobby, and I don't feel like
I have the time, space, or inclination to do
justice to these machines, and would like to
put them in the hands of collectors who would
appreciate them more.
The 2113E CPU is in excellent cosmetic condition
and appears to power up (+5V present, fans running),
but shows nothing on the display. I don't have a
listing of the boards installed, but it is pretty
well tricked out. I can take a look tonight.
The TI 990/4 was received in awful condition, and is
currently disassembled. The chassis is a bit
damaged, but is salvageable. It really makes more
sense to part this machine out if there is someone
who has a chassis and needs spares or replacements
for the internals.
I am offering the HP for $80 and the TI for $40,
plus the actual cost of packing and shipment by
a pack-and-ship store. You can also pick them
up in Cupertino, California, which would be the
easiest and preferred arrangement.
I reserve the right to sell only to someone who is,
in my judgement, a serious collector and who will
be able to provide a good home for each of the
machines. I will consider waiving the asking price,
particularly if you are able to arrange a local
pickup. I really want these machines out of my
home ASAP, but I want them to be cared for and
appreciated.
Please contact me via e-mail if interested.
Thanks,
--Bill
> I was looking at that earlier it seems to come from an address
> 200.0.214.34 . Not registered to anyone but has ssh and web active. Is
> the a members machine with a virus ?
I think this address tracks down to this report form LACNIC registry. (Latin
America & Caribbean registry)
I entered the address 200.0.214.34 in whois.lacnic.net for the report below
which did not format correctly.
I use Sam Spade for my initial tracing. I like it to find where strange mail
comes from.
Copyright LACNIC lacnic.net
The data below is provided for information purposes
and to assist persons in obtaining information about or
related to AS and IP numbers registrations
By submitting a whois query, you agree to use this data
only for lawful purposes.
2004-06-22 14:59:51 (BRT -03:00)inetnum: 200.0.214/24status:
reallocatedowner: PSINet Argentinaownerid: AR-PSAR-LACNICaddress: Av.
de Mayo 881address: Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 1084country: ARowner-c:
CH69-ARINinetrev: 200.0.214/24nserver: NS1.ISOL.NET.AR nsstat:
20040620 AAnslastaa: 20040620nserver: DNS1.SSDNET.COM.AR nsstat:
20040620 UHnslastaa: 20020830created: 20000911changed:
20000911inetnum-up: 200.0.208/21source: ARIN-LACNIC-TRANSITIONnic-hdl:
CH69-ARINperson: System Engineer Carlos Alberto Horowicze-mail:
carlosh(a)ISOL.NETaddress: PSINet Argentinaaddress: Hornos 690address: Buenos
Aires, Buenos Aires 1272country: ARphone: +54-1-313-8082source:
ARIN-LACNIC-TRANSITION
whois.lacnic.net accepts only direct match queries.
Types of queries are: POCs, ownerid, CIDR blocks, IP
and AS numbers.
Paxton
Astorta, OR
Hi, this could have been a Monroe machine.
Here is a link to the 1655 (although I think the card reader was actually optical, it was punch-out chad based though)
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/a-monroe1655.html
I used one of these in High school (1969-71) and I managed to snag one on eBay a few years ago with the card reader, manual, etc. The fun thing was that the nixie displays were direct outputs from the registers that did the calculating, so they would be flickering away whenever you did some calculations until it finally displayed the result.
I am not sure if Monroe had other models at the time.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
Well I can think of one programmable calculator that I used in the
early 1970s
that did multiplication/division etc using logarithms.
ISTR that it used nixie tubes for output and that this thing cost heaps
of money (like $10K in the days when the Aussie dollar was worth more
than
the US one!).
Programming was achieved using a single punched card with pre-punched
chads
removed using some fancy tool (in my case a paper clip). The card was
read
by placing it in the card reader (duh!) which had lots of pins and
contacts, where
the holes were lead to completing a circuit so you basically had a card
programmed ROM.
I keep wanting to write that this calculator was a Wang, but I'm not
really
sure (it's been a while). I'm wondering whether the Physics Department
still
has it - I should ask.
> If that condition isn't met, you have a "gas filled tube"
> -- something you occasionally want, but not very often.
That describes a thyratron, it behaves like a thyristor, a
very useful device.
> Take a look at power transistors sometime. Some come in "hockey
> puck" packages, which describes not just the shape but also the
> size.
These big power transistors are actually lots of small transistors
in parallel.
Lee.
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> The only thing I'm not sure of is the microwave oven - does the
> microwave-generation-thingy depend on vacuum?
It depends on a cavity magnetron which is a vacuum device.
> Rather, it is the practical knowledge that experience brings,
> the "feel" for how to use them, that is at risk.
As vacuum devices are still in use and still being designed into
new equipment I doubt that this "feel" for how to use them will
be lost for a long time.
> Certainly television and radio do not depend on vacuum tubes today
> (well, certainly not on the receiving end; the technology exists to
> transmit with transistors, but I don't know whether it can handle the
> power levels appropriate to mass broadcasting).
The transmission chain almost invariably uses vacuum devices for power
levels of a few KW or more. The ease of implementation of a single
device high power stage still outweighs the benefits of multi module
solid state outputs.
> Radar - as above: the power transmitting stage may still be vacuum
> tube, but certainly _could_ be transistor;
Solid state devices just can't handle the high power levels needed for
long range radar so magnetrons or klystrons are still used.
> the rest definitely can be.
Not practically, 500KW at HF (4MHz to 26MHz) is easy with one valve and
readily available. There are AFAIK no 500KW solid state HF transmitters
available. Even the modulator is valve, it's a 750KW switch mode power
supply with a nominal 11KV DC out that can swing from 0V to 22KV.
> Comm satellites - aren't they solid state these days?
Low power ones are, but you need a big dish to hear those, broadcast
satellites use TWT output stages. Most ground stations use klystrons
for the uplink, even for low power because they out perform transistor
equivalents.
If you'd like to see somewhere that still relies on vacuum technology
then go here ..
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/woofferton.asp
.. which is where I am.
Lee.
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Greetings!
I'm looking for any model (desktop, rackmount or "keyboard")
of a Votrax VS6 (preferably 6.3) -- working or not. I'd like to
document this "bit of history" before they all disappear -- if they
haven't already :-(
Thanks!
--don
Hi,
I've got a Kennedy 9610 9-track drive that does 800, 1600, 3200 and
6250 BPI (yep, all of 'em!) at either 25 or 100ips. The drive has what
looks to my inexperienced eye to be a standard Pertec style interface
(two 50 pin cables). Can I connect this to a TS11 (M7982) or TSV05
(M7196) and expect it to work? At all the densities? Or am I going to
need a smarter controller?
Thanks,
Bob Armstrong
I'm always a bit green with jealousy when I read a post
where someone announces a great find. I can't help but
thinking "That's nice for you but stop rubbing it in."
Well, I can't help but relate that today I was sorting
through some magazines and papers trying to get my
office/workshop in order when I found a Cardiac. I
still don't know where I got it, but needless to say,
it made my day.
A little later I carried it into another room in my
outstretched hands. My daughter asked what I had
and my wife said "apparently the Holy Grail." Rarely
a truer word...
Brian L. Stuart
On Jun 16, 23:19, Tony Duell wrote:
> > [[ As an aside -- the list *itself* is "gettin' up there..." over 7
years
> > old now, if memory serves. How many of us "original dudez" are
left... say,
> > within the first 20 or 30 subscribers... A show of hands, maybe?
;-)
> > Sellam, I see your hand is raised, mine's up as well... ]]
>
> Dunno how early I am, but I'm early enough that I had to submit a
> justification-for-joining. I've been on the list ever since
I did that too, and I think I joined after Tony. According to my
SUBSCRIBE CLASSICCMP confirmation email (you all kept yours, didn't
you?) from Bill, I joined on Wed, 25 Feb 1998 17:00:15 PST.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
4 people wanted me to bring racks to VCF east. I am running into problems
with trailer max load, car pulling max load, etc. Looks like at the least I
am going to have to disassemble two or all of the racks. ICK!!
Does anyone know the empty weight of an HP 2860B rack (this is the older
style with a greenish/grey color scheme), and an HP 29431G rack (the
generation after that that is more cream colored with rounded edges)?? I
have the manuals for both racks, neither one says the weight.
Any help appreciated :\
Jay West
*sigh* ok.... another deal comes to me, and I will pass it on to the list.
Here is the info I have...
---- begin quote -----
I have two six-foot high DEC equipment racks.
They contain some obsolete custom electronics
and power supplies. The racks are in good
condition and located in Benton, Pennsylvania.
---- end quote -----
If anyone is interested, contact me off list.
Jay West
The MIT flea market is always the third Sunday of the month. It starts in
April and ends in October. The first and last are the best. It is quite
a mix of stuff. Vendors line up starting at 7:00 A.M. and the gates open
at 9:00 A.M. Buyers are $5 ($1 off with copy of ad/flyer) There is a
talk-in on ham radio. Sponsored by the Harvard Wireless Club, the MIT
electronics research society, the MIT uhf repeater association and the
MIT radio society.
If I go (I usually do) and somebody from out of town is staying somewhat
near the path I take to go to the flea, I might be able to offer a ride.
Joe Heck
I am picking up the stuff that was posted about two or three weeks ago,
as vaxen in boston. It is several small vaxes, some with unix, some
monitors, lots of manuals. won't know exactly what there is until I pick
it up.
Joe Heck
Hi,
I'm looking for the necessary hardware, including the rails and face
plates, to rack mount a pair of BA23s. I've got a bunch of BA23s in
floor stands that I'd be happy to swap for it, or I could just pay
cash :-)
Thanks,
Bob Armstrong
>From: "Jay West" <jwest(a)classiccmp.org>
>
>> Yes, but writing compilers is a specialty.
>I disagree... for comp sci majors. If you don't understand lexical and
>syntax analysis, code generation and optimization, and the necessary data
>structures (this is the most important part), for your whole career in
>computer science you are walking on sand.
>
>Jay West
>
>
Hi
I think the most important part of someone going into
software writing is learning how to deal with making
mistakes. The rest, a person will eventually learn.
Dealing with making mistakes takes a different kind
of person. They either learn to deal with it or find
a chicken farm someplace in Iowa.
Dwight
Yes, I saw the two DEC machines and almost bought them, but then I came
to my senses. I have too much stuff now, and after tuesday night, I'll have
a whole bunch more vaxen.
Joe HEck
>From: "Kevin Handy" <kth(a)srv.net>
>
>Geoffrey Thomas wrote:
>
>>>This is more of what I'm getting at. Does it matter that some knowledge
>>>is lost as generations go on? Are we ever going to need to go back to
>>>tubes to design electronic circuits?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>There was an idea some time back that if we ever get to the moon that we
>>could be using "open-air" valves (tubes) in the vacuum there for high
>>powered devices - with the benefit that goes with the better radiation
>>resistance that goes with valve technology.It would be quite cool to watch a
>>tv picture on an open CRT methinks.But don't walk between the plates.
>>Keep those old Mullard/Thorn/EMI books - GE in the states?
>>
>>
>I think you would have problems with cross-talk between the
>open tubes, unless you limited your design to a single tube,
>or had large spaces between the tubes.
>
>The glass does more than just hold the vacuum, it is also an
>insulator.
>
>
Hi
Just some wire mesh that is charged can make a shield.
You just have to herd these pesky little electrons.
Dwight
Just a mention that when it was looking like DEC was gone from the flea
markets, This month there was a VT-180 Robin, which I snared, and a
Rainbow w/Harddrive and upright stand, which I left ffor the next lucky
customer. Also a lot of interesting Mac and Sun, some Atari game
machines. Great overall.
OT: PC/Pentium400's are at the $10 point now, which I take as a greenlight
to toss some of the more boring (yes,PC's) of the like or just less so that
I've saved.
The next MIT flea is the day after the VCFe, so I may lose out on a few
deals to some other lucky collector that month.
John A.
/edit
I've got a 3com EtherLink III MCA card available if anyone wants it. It
failed to sell on ebay, so just cover postage costs (plus paypal fees if
you pay me that way) and its yours.
Anyone want it? If you want to view it, see below:
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5704862265&ssPageName=A
D
ME:B:EOAS:US:3>
the ad lists as $3.85 for shipping via Priority Mail. That is my prefered
method to ship things like this, because I get free boxes. If you want
some other method or are out of the USA and can't use that method, I'm
open to changing it.
If I don't get a taker, its heading to the trash... so hopefully someone
will want it. (I no longer have any MCA bus hardware, so it is useless to
me)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
David -
A great site for old test equipment is
<http://www.logsa.army.mil/etms/find_etm.cfm>. If the US Military had
it as a standard piece of equipment they will have the manuals on-line.
Both TM 11-6625-2735-14-1 and TM 11-6625-2735-24P-1 are on line and
cover the Tek 475. Good luck gathering the smoke...
Claude
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 26
> Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 11:32:39 -0400
> From: "David V. Corbin" <dvcorbin(a)optonline.net>
> Subject: OT : Tektronix 475A Scope...
> To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID:
> <!~!
> UENERkVCMDkAAQACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAAAAAAAAC6RJHIx+0kSwesJ7EUMCZcKAAAA
> QAAAAZViPZir1Wkad3T578gnBuQEAAAAA(a)optonline.net>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> Does anyone have a set of schematics or docs? Mine just let all the
> magic
> smoke out. Visual inspection looks like a cap let go, but I would like
> to
> make some measurements [having to use a voltmeter] before I blindly
> replace
> the obviously fried cap.
>
> Please reply to me off list david(a)dynamicconcepts.us.
>
>From: "der Mouse" <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca>
>
>> There was an idea some time back that if we ever get to the moon that
>> we could be using "open-air" valves (tubes) in the vacuum there for
>> high powered devices
>
>Is the "open-air" vacuum on the Moon a hard enough vacuum for
>vacuum-tube technology? Does it depend on whether it's day or night
>(and therefore whether there is solar wind pouring in)? I know that
>_some_ vacuum-tube technology - notably CRTs - depends on electrons
>having a mean free path well over the tube size, and that needs a
>pretty hard vacuum.
Hi
Even with all the solar wind, the surface of the moon has
a much harder vacuum than any of the tubes we have on Earth.
The moon does have a problem for such devices. That problem
is dust. It could be blocked with filters but that is another issue.
>
>> - with the benefit that goes with the better radiation resistance
>> that goes with valve technology.
>
>Is it valves that give you rad-hardening, or size? A transistor the
>size of a valve would, I suspect, be inherently pretty rad-hardened.
>(Certainly the largest transistors I've seen are far smaller than the
>smallest valve I've seen. Probably by about an order of magnitude,
>once you strip each one down to the operating portion.)
There are still problems. A transistor can avalanche and not recover
without removing the power. A tube can recover with the power on,
as long as the metal don't ionize. So, it isn't just a size issue,
it is a materials issue.
>
>> It would be quite cool to watch a tv picture on an open CRT methinks.
It would take less energy since much is lost by the thickness of the
Phosphor.
Dwight
>
>Possibly, though it would mean either suiting up or building the screen
>into a wall. :-(
>
>/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
>\ / Ribbon Campaign
> X Against HTML mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca
>/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
>
here is some info for lacing...
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/87394-9.pdf
it shows some of the stitches, etc at least. It doesn't show a board layout though.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
-----Original Message-----
From: Gene Buckle <geneb(a)deltasoft.com>
Sent: Jun 21, 2004 10:06 AM
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Subject: RE: Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))
> Were these true harnesses or were they cable assemblies. The difference
> being that a true harness is completely assembled prior to installation
> [usually on a board] where a cabble assembly is the use of lacing (or other
> methods) to "dress" simple cables [Simple in the respect that they are
> usually point to point [2 connectors] or have few branches]?
>
Does anyone have pictures of how these kind of frames were built? I'm
going to have to build at least two of them soon for my simulator project.
I plan on lacing the wiring harnesses that run down the side consoles
since it looks so much nicer than dozens of wire-ties.
> Did you use spot stitch, running stitches, or locking stitches? I can still
> do a decent spot or running stitch, but struggle with getting a decent [even
> spacing, high tension, low torsion] stitch.
>
Is there a tutorial anywhere that illustrates these various stitches and
where/why they are to be used?
tnx!
g.
>From: "David V. Corbin" <dvcorbin(a)optonline.net>
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5103745074&
>rd=1
>
>Pobably the most complete system I have seen being made available....
>
>
Hi
It is also an early system. Most newer systems don't come with the
Digital Systems drives. This is one of the rarer DMA type setups
with the controller made from TTL. I would love to get a copy of the
Digital Systems manual. I'll be watching this one to see who
wins it. Maybe they won't mind making a copy of the manual for
me.
When I got my IMSAI, it had this drive system. I had to figure out
the floppy controller by figuring out the PROMs used in the state
machine. I wrote my own BIOS for it as well. It was a lot of work.
It wasn't until a few years later that I found someone else with
one of these controllers and actually got an original BIOS. It
was almost identical with mine ( no big surprise ).
I still use my IMSAI because it is handy to do my 8080 assembly
on ( and more fun ).
Dwight
Hello list,
I've been recently offered a Pro350 unit, depending on whether I can get past my budget and the wife. :-)
Said unit has 256kB RAM and a 10MB disk, presumably a RD51. No operating system. 4 SLU async card. VR201 monochrome monitor. F-11 CPU (LSI-11/23).
Some questions I have:
1. What OS can I run on this system? (Yes, I've heard the nightmares of the Piece of S* O/S). I was thinking in lines of RT-11...if so possible, then where can I get RT-11 for the Pro350? Is RSX-11 available for the Pro350?
2. Correct me if I'm wrong: Since it's the F-11 CPU, then it'll be limited to 18-bit addressing, therefore maximum RAM supported is 256kB, right?
3. Can I "upgrade" the RD51 with a RD54? Perhaps that depends of the bootROM and O/S support, right?
Thanks.
/wai-sun
--
___________________________________________________________
Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.comhttp://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm
You wrote in January:
" Wonderful, thanks much for the information!!! Due to financial
concerns, I am selling my IBM 5100 (sigh) on Ebay. Most of the tapes
were DC300A, and the extra ones I have are the DC600s. I am in the
process of duplicating the tapes, 1) so I can keep a set of the Patch
and Games tapes in case I can ever afford another one :), and 2) to
make sure the tapes are readable. Thanks again! "
Did you sell it? I'm looking for such a unit.
Thanks
Emmanuel