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

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

I was hoping there might be some sort of preassembled optical sensor array available with the right spacing for paper tape holes, but maybe that is hoping for too much. If you build one with discrete sensors, is it easy to find ones that are narrow enough to stack side to side with the correct spacing? >Hi > Ahh, such concepts as make one come to mind. You could >scrap a number of mice for the optical sensors ( two for >each axis, 4 total per mouse ) or you could buy photo >transistors from Jameco. In a pinch, the clear lensed >LED's make reasonable detectors. > Use a little imagination. >Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

23 years, 5 months

3
2
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More Acquisitions

by jss＠subatomix.com

As promised in a previous message, last Friday I went to the office of the guy with all the VMS manuals. It took me two trips, but when it was over, 11 boxes of varying sizes full of VMS and VAX docs sat in my garage. Unfortunately, some of the older orange and grey binders were empty, and it appears that I now only have full docs for VMS from version 6 to 7.2. Also in there was one manual for MicroVMS 4.something. I didn't get everything, so I will go back next Tuesday to finish up. Today the university surplus shop had put out for sale the MicroVAX II system that I had seen last week. It consists of a BA23 with RX50 and RD5x, a Fujitsu(?) Eagle hard drive, and a Kennedy 9600 tape unit (looks like a DEC TS05). Great, right? Well, un^H^Hfortunately, I had a job interview today, scheduled such that I would be unable to attend the sale. I found a trustworthy-looking person and bribed them to proxy-purchase the item for me during the sale. It worked. So tomorrow morning I will pick up the SA900 disk cabinet for the VAX 6K I got last week, and now a MicroVAX II system. And there's no school for a couple of days. Another great week. The job interview took 3 hours and 20 minutes. I did well. -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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Tek 310A sillyscope

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 26, 15:45, John Allain wrote: > FWIW here's some of the fuse types I've found: > > AGC 3AG 3AD GLH MTH MSL, none of which I know 3AG means "Automobile Glass size 3". I suspect those designations have more to do with heating, rupturing, voltage, overload capacity, and most especially materials, shape, and dimensions, than with "slow" or "fast". > for the 1.6A MDL I have > 2A "plain", 2.5A "plain", MSL 2A, MDL 2A > as candidates. I guess a slightly higher value is OK when > replacing a slo with a non slo? Maybe, but how much is "slightly"? The slow-blow was probably intended to cope with short-duration inrush current, but reliably blow if the current was too high for more than perhaps a few seconds. A "fast" fuse will typically blow at 250% - 350% of the nominal value within 1-2 seconds, but a "very fast" fuse might blow within 0.2 seconds. I've seen some "very fast" fuses described as blowing at 1000% current within 0.001 seconds. That's only 10 times nominal current rating, so it wouldn't allow for much of an inrush current! As far as I know (and I am not an expert, just someone who is sad enough to read lots of catalogues), the difference between slow/medium/fast/very fast is primarily tolerance to short-duration overloads like that, ie like inrush current. > Also I imagine all of those letter codes are different blow rates? Nope, see above. Fuses aren't expensive. I'd try to find the right one. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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IMSAI Series Two

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Steven Edwards" <chessnotation(a)mac.com> > >Greetings to the list: > >It looks like the IMSAI Series Two (the "S2") is nearing its first >production run. (See http://imsai.net/ and >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imsaiusergroup/) > >I've ordered one of these as a replacement of sorts for the IMSAI 8080 >I assembled back in 1976 but managed to, uh, "lose" in the early 1980s. > It's been a long time since I've had a chance to fool around with a >machine equipped with a real front panel. > >I had thought I'd seen about every S-100 machine ever made, but I >recently came across a net reference to the Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1. >It looks almost identical to the IMSAI 8080 except that the DPS-1 front >panel is styled more in the way of Digital's later PDP models. I note >that the DPS-1 PSU is somewhat different from the IMSAI 8080, but other >than that. the internals seem to be very similar. > >So, are there any other IMSAI 8080 fans on the list? > Hi I have one that I fixed the front panel, a number of bad RAMs, and added an extra RAM card to bring it to 64K. I then read the ROM's in the disK controller ( state machine, not uP ) and figured out how to format, read and write disk. I then wrote my own BIOS and combined it with the CP/M I got from the net. Ya, there are a few IMSAI fans here. I'll have to admit, I'm not overly excited about the IMSAI series two but I do wish them the best of luck. Dwight

23 years, 5 months

1
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8 bit vs other Computers.

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi One thing to reflect on. In my hand, right now, is a small board with three major parts and a total of six IC's. I have at home, an IMSAI with 64K of RAM. This board has 128K RAM, 128K FLASH and a processor that runs at a clock speed that is 20 times as fast. The board was made in '96. In retrospect, I don't think software has made even one tenth that improvement ( most is not as useful ). Just more thoughts Dwight

23 years, 5 months

8
15
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What is it

by loedman1＠juno.com

Can anyone provide me information on this board, Approximately 4in X 3 1/4 in, plugs into a adapter that replaces the processor, marked "Surprise" 1986 Maynard Electronics, INC. Arrived in an aged IBM PC. It has a NEC V20 chip. Also, anybody interested in, Quadram Quadboard, complete but rather battered. Memory Module, 16 meg IBM part # 11S9111010784AF05P8A 02K2288 DIMM 16M Free for personal use, not for resale Rich Stephenson loedman1(a)juno.com

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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IMSAI Series Two

by chessnotation＠mac.com

Greetings to the list: It looks like the IMSAI Series Two (the "S2") is nearing its first production run. (See http://imsai.net/ and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imsaiusergroup/) I've ordered one of these as a replacement of sorts for the IMSAI 8080 I assembled back in 1976 but managed to, uh, "lose" in the early 1980s. It's been a long time since I've had a chance to fool around with a machine equipped with a real front panel. I had thought I'd seen about every S-100 machine ever made, but I recently came across a net reference to the Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1. It looks almost identical to the IMSAI 8080 except that the DPS-1 front panel is styled more in the way of Digital's later PDP models. I note that the DPS-1 PSU is somewhat different from the IMSAI 8080, but other than that. the internals seem to be very similar. So, are there any other IMSAI 8080 fans on the list?

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Flexowriter

by cgmm＠thersgb.net

Does anybody in the UK (apart from me) possess a Mk. 1 Friden Flexowriter? Can I be of any help (info/spares) to such a person? Godfrey.

23 years, 5 months

4
3
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Data Translation Qbus modules.

by vaxzilla＠jarai.org

I've picked up some miscellaneous Qbus modules which seem to be related to data acquisition. They're made by Data Translation: DT2768, DT2769, and DT5712. From what I can find online, the DT2769 appears to be a realtime clock interface compatible with DEC's KWV11-C; I assume this is fairly useless without the RTC. I can't find anything on the DT2768, and the DT5712 is an AD/DA converter of some sort. Does anyone have details or manuals on these boards? For a long time now I've wanted to use an AD/DA Qbus module as a primitive sort of soundcard in one my Qbus VAXen. I'm not sure if the DT5712 would be suitable for the task; hopefully it is. This would also give me a /great/ excuse for learning how to write device drivers under NetBSD/vax. Thanks for any info or tips. -brian.

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Optical paper tape readers

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Glen There isn't much application for things with this spacing. Remember, you will most likely be connecting this to a uP. You really don't need to space then in a straight line. You can stager them and reassemble the entire byte width afterwards. Another though would be to use one of the linear arrays, used in scanners. Most of these are about as wide as a paper tape. You could use a collimated source and drag the tape directly over the array. You'd need to do a little image processing but it shouldn't be too difficult. There are some mechanical options that might work as well. Like I said, use some imagination. Dwight >From: "Glen Slick" <glenslick(a)hotmail.com> > >I was hoping there might be some sort of preassembled optical sensor array >available with the right spacing for paper tape holes, but maybe that is >hoping for too much. If you build one with discrete sensors, is it easy to >find ones that are narrow enough to stack side to side with the correct >spacing? > > >>Hi >> Ahh, such concepts as make one come to mind. You could >>scrap a number of mice for the optical sensors ( two for >>each axis, 4 total per mouse ) or you could buy photo >>transistors from Jameco. In a pinch, the clear lensed >>LED's make reasonable detectors. >> Use a little imagination. >>Dwight > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail > >

23 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Electric Pencil WP ... for the IBM PC!

by r.stek＠snet.net

The manual I have is in the form of a large format (8 1/2 x 11) paperback, 237 pages with the authors of the software listed as Dale Buscaino and Scott Daniel (apparently aka Progressive Software Design) with the authorship of the manual given as them plus Michael Shrayer and Harvard Pennington ("TRS-80 Disk and Other Mysteries" and president of IJG). It was published in 1983 by IJG Inc. (the Thoughtware Company tm) of Upland, CA. A Google search revealed a review from 1984 by Betsy Staples, an editor at Creative Computing. It was a rewrite rather than a translation of the original code and had some expanded features and additional support programs. Bob Stek Saver of Lost Sols

23 years, 5 months

6
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HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Well I wouldn't bid on it because I don't need 2... If someone does get it, I have the manual. And, FWIW, it is not a 2784B, it is a 2748B... I dunno what a 2784 is, but it ain't a paper tape reader... Will J _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

8 bit vs other Computers.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 25, 8:30, vassilip(a)dsl.cis.upenn.edu wrote: > > In the 80s I had a BBC microcomputer, probably the best 8-bit microcomputer > there is. I won't argue with that -- I still use mine, too :-) > It had an 80x32 (I think) screen which you could configure to display > as a ruled page (like a notepad) - very useful for looking across > rows of numbers. Mode 0 is 80x32 mono, with no gaps between lines. You're probably thinking of Mode 3, 80x25, with gaps between the lines; also mono but you can set the foreground and background to be different from the gaps. > Something that is missing from todays machines. I just found out > that my laptop decided to ignore its power settings, did not go into > power save when I closed the lid, and kept operating in by backpack > while I was running all over town. The machine overheated and the disk > got trashed. Excellent. You're lucky it was only the disk! Take a look at http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28245.html -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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[Fwd: [ghate@essar.co.id: NetBSD WWW feedback from ghate@essar.co.id]]

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

> > ghate(a)essar.co.id (A.M.Ghate) sent the following > > comment about The NetBSD Project's WWW server: FYI, .id would indicate Indonesia as the point of origin... I don't know about the rest of the list, but I don't want another MV II badly enough to go to Indonesia for it! Will J _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Glen Slick" <glenslick(a)hotmail.com> >I noticed that one a couple of days ago and was somewhat interested. But it >is listed at 40lb so shipping would probably cost more than the opening bid, >plus it looks like it needs some weird type of V35ish connector which might >be difficult and/or expensive to source if you don't happen to have one >already. > > >Has anyone built their own optical paper tape reader? Where would you get >the 8/9-bit sensor part? Hi Ahh, such concepts as make one come to mind. You could scrap a number of mice for the optical sensors ( two for each axis, 4 total per mouse ) or you could buy photo transistors from Jameco. In a pinch, the clear lensed LED's make reasonable detectors. Use a little imagination. Dwight > > > >>From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink(a)verizon.net> >>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> >>Subject: HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay >>Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 10:53:02 -0500 >> >>Sorry if this screws up someone's snipe plans... but it was >>offered a couple of weeks ago and closed with no bids. It >>currently (10:50 am EST) has no bids with 11 hours to go. I >>can't imagine that nobody one the list would want this: >> >>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1789314629 > > >_________________________________________________________________ >The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > >

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

I noticed that one a couple of days ago and was somewhat interested. But it is listed at 40lb so shipping would probably cost more than the opening bid, plus it looks like it needs some weird type of V35ish connector which might be difficult and/or expensive to source if you don't happen to have one already. Has anyone built their own optical paper tape reader? Where would you get the 8/9-bit sensor part? >From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink(a)verizon.net> >Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> >Subject: HP 2784B Paper Tape Reader on ebay >Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 10:53:02 -0500 > >Sorry if this screws up someone's snipe plans... but it was >offered a couple of weeks ago and closed with no bids. It >currently (10:50 am EST) has no bids with 11 hours to go. I >can't imagine that nobody one the list would want this: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1789314629 _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

old test equipment found

by carlos_murillo＠epm.net.co

I've recently come across three pieces of vintage test equipment; a Precision brand signal tracer, a Heathkit audio analyzer and a Radiometer Copenhaguen model HO-32 beat frequency oscillator. Here are some pics; the ones marked "small" are 60KB on average and the others are roughly 600KB and highly detailed: http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer-small.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer_bottom-small.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer_bottom.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer_top-small.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/heathkit_audioanalyzer_top.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/precision_tracer_model_st-22.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/precision_tracer_model_st-22_small.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/radiometer_copenhagen_ho32_BFO-small.jpg http://nazas.autonoma.edu.co/radiometer_copenhagen_ho32_BFO.jpg The Heathkit audio analyzer passed visual inspection (pretty clean and caps looked ok) and I powered it up. It seems to work. The Precision signal tracer is not working; somebody took off the rectifier tube/valve and soldered a couple of diodes; I suspect that at least one filament is open (pins 3 and 4, right? It's been a long time since I last worked with tubes). I certainly want to restore it; I like the "magic eye" indicator tube. The Radiometer Copenhagen gear I haven't powered up because several large electrolitic caps show signs of deterioration. The construction of this last device is outstanding in terms of the quality of the components. The Heathkit is pretty good too; not so the Precision signal tracer. Now the question: can you please take a look and see if 1) you have docs for any of these, 2) might guess what the operating procedures are and what the controls and connectors are for? Some I can guess, others I don't know. regards, carlos. -------------------------------------------------------------- Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Tek 310A sillyscope

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)rddavis.org> > >Quothe John Allain, from writings of Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 10:06:30PM -0500: >> This is marked "1.6A MDL" and I have no clue what MDL is. > >Might a 1A and a 0.5A fuse in parallel work? No Dwight > >> If it's marginal are you reccomending 2A? I perhaps could go even >> higher and use a circuitbreaker as backup. No Variac here, now I know >> why I want to buy one next time I see it. > >Yes, it's a useful thing to have! > >-- >Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: >All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & >rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such >http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty. >

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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Honeywell/Bull D120 cartridge drive infor wanted.

by bernd＠kopriva.de

Hi Jos, what's the relation between a Bull D120 (which i don't know) and a Lillith ... Bernd On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 01:52:20 +0100, Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel wrote: > > >If anyone on the list has a user-, or even better, a maintenance manual for a >Bull D120 cartridge drive I would like to hear from them. ( a 10Mb cartridge >drive ca. 1980 ) > >Spare parts, empty cartridges or a complete replacement part would be more >than welcome. >They will form the basis for a new attempt to bring my ETH Lilith back to >live..... > > > Jos Dreesen

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by vcf＠siconic.com

Charles has a Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available somewhere in Australia (sorry, I don't know what city...I realize Australia is vast ;) This is a development system based on the Zilog 8000 CPU. I have no idea what it looks like (estimated to weigh around 20Kg) but here is a picture >from a brochure: http://siconic.com/computers/Zilog_System_8000_Brochure.jpg Contact Charles for details. Reply-to: <tjf(a)dodo.com.au> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 01:33:00 +1100 From: Charles L <tjf(a)dodo.com.au> Subject: Donation Hello, I have a Zilog System 8000 Model 31 that I don't really know what to do with. Would you be interested in it? Regards, Charles -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 5 months

14
42
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Dying VaxStation 4000 VLC - help?

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, That does it. I'm turning off digest mode. Apologies if I miss an important message, but this is just too annoying! ... well, that was easy. Hopefully I'll hear back from myself in just a few minutes... Toth asked: >...Have you checked the solder joints and connections between >components with an ohm meter? That might help turn up any problems. More or less. I tend to probe both on the component and on the pit next to it for SMD's or on the pad for devices with pins. But I have not been rigorous about it. Tony said: >You will _not_ see the oscillations of a 393 comparator on a VOM. We are >talking about hundreds of kHz / a few MHz... Oh, right. But I'm assuming the duty cycle of the oscillations can vary, and I might be able to see that on the (analog) VOM. >RIght. On the other hand, if it _is _ a capacitor, then it might have >gone leaky, in whiuch case it will have an effect on the DC levels. Oh my. Well, I don't know of any way to test the capacitor in circuit. Once the comparator is out, I could measure resistance on the lower leg of the divider. If it changes while I'm watching it, that'd be a clue, but with power off the system I don't see what'd make it change. Or if I knew what the resistance was supposed to be, and it was in the leaky state when I measured it, that'd be a clue, but at least the first condition isn't met and maybe not the second. >Are there any component refeneces (Rnnn, Cmmm, etc) on the PCB? None that I've seen, other than the "+" markings on one end of the tantalum caps. >It could be a resistor, sure. And perhaps, then, there's a capacitor >elsewhere to hunt for... This comment, waiting for me in my digest as I found the component in question, was what convinced me to off digest mode. Tony and Toth agreed: >Get some silver-loaded solder. Ok. I'm sticking with my plan, to wit replace the comparator and see what happens. I'll measure resistance on both legs of the divider while it's off. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'll head back to the electronics store and try to get replacements for the tantalum cap (and one more for the backward one, while I'm there) and for the resistors in the voltage divider - and some silver-loaded solder. How will I know what values to shop for for the capacitor (maybe not so critical?) and the resistor? Is there a catalog of 1992 or so surface-mount devices? Toth futilely wished: >Erm, I just hope the iron is of fair quality, and is in the range of >20-25W. Anything larger is likely to damage the board, especially those >awful soldering irons Radio Shack sells (or used to?). It's an awful Radio Shack pencil-type iron. It's about 20 years old. I think it's about 20 W, don't remember for sure. I only have one tip for it. Maybe I should think about a better iron while I'm at the electronics shop, if it comes to that. - Mark

23 years, 5 months

4
11
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Score! Sol-20, Netronics Elf, MCS-85 SBC

by r.stek＠snet.net

Welcome to the club, Sol owner! I hope you have checked out Jim Battle's SOLace website - lots of good documentation if you need it. And if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I have lots of docs too. Bob Stek Saver of Lost Sols

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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Dilog DQ142 Available

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

The original bidder never came through, so I've placed a Dilog DQ142 tape controller and manual up on E-pay. The link is here if you're interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2075389363 Thanks for putting up with the occasional ad. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com ARS KC7GR (Formerly WD6EOS) since 12-77 -- kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com "I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to what I have now..." (Taki Kogoma, aka Gym Z. Quirk)

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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AIX for a Bull Estrella

by Buckel_B＠medizin.uni-wuerzburg.de

Hi Alex, I read your posting to classiccmp.org regarding an alternative for a Bull Estrella running AIX - do you have installation media for this (unfortunatedly) rare combination? I own such a beast and all my attempts to install AIX (in the original IBM flavor) have failed so far... TIA! Bernhard -- Bernhard Buckel Institut fuer Klinische Biochemie und Pathobiochemie Josef-Schneider Str. 2 97080 Wuerzburg / Germany Tel: +49 931 201 36312 Fax: +49 931 201 36793

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

8 bit vs other Computers.

by vassilip＠dsl.cis.upenn.edu

In the 80s I had a BBC microcomputer, probably the best 8-bit microcomputer there is. It had a ROM-based OS and an number of ROM-based applications (you got BASIC with the default configuration, but you could add word processors, spreadsheets, Forth, BCPL, Pascal and other languages). I used it extensively for almost 10 years (I developed the prototype for my MSc in CS and I also wrote my MSc thesis on it). Even after I switched over to a PC, I did not pack my BBC away, as for many many years (until I decided to leave my computer always on) it was the only machine in my house I could use to scrible a few thoughts or a shopping list without waiting forever for my PC to boot). The ROM based system allowed instant switch on, like e.g. a Palm Pilot. It had an 80x32 (I think) screen which you could configure to display as a ruled page (like a notepad) - very useful for looking across rows of numbers. I had an Epson FX80 - it was a 9pin dot martix, but I had written a program to print high quality output using the quad density graphics mode. It was *slow* but almost typewritter quality. But the good thing about that machine was that it was *convenient* it didn't stand in your way, it was a tool to help you do your work. Something that is missing from todays machines. I just found out that my laptop decided to ignore its power settings, did not go into power save when I closed the lid, and kept operating in by backpack while I was running all over town. The machine overheated and the disk got trashed. Excellent. **vp

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

hard drive making weird noises

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/23/2002 3:49:53 PM Eastern Standard Time, foo(a)siconic.com writes: << > Try googling for "IBM Deathstar" (that is NOT a typo). The Deskstars are > notorious for poor reliability. Oh shit. > IIRC, that's what they do when they start to fail. Get your data backed up > ASAP. That thing'll be dead in two weeks tops. It's been doing that for months now. I've had it for a little less than a year. > Got a CD or DVD recorder and a stack of blank, good quality (Verbatim > DatalifePlus SuperAZO) media? Gawd damn Fry's specials. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival Normally IBM drives are pretty good. The issue was about some particular model that was rated for xxxx hours of constant usage or something like that. Check slashdot archives for discussion on it. If it's a SMART drive, you have the program that can query the drive, it might be able to tell you if anything bad is happening. I've still got IBM SCSI drives from 8-10 years ago still going strong with that soft tick-tick-tick recalibrate noise happening every once in a while. The 400 meg ones are so quiet you can't tell when they doing R/W operations. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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early pc with lcd screen

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

Maybe a T5100 (16 MHz 386, plasma display, 1987) or a T5200 (20 MHz 386, 1988) ? http://www.toshiba-europe.com/computers/products/notebooks/t5100/index.shtm http://www.toshiba-europe.com/computers/products/notebooks/t5200/index.shtm >From: vance(a)neurotica.com >Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >Subject: Re: early pc with lcd screen >Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 00:14:17 -0500 (EST) > > >Speaking of old portables, anyone remember the large Toshiba >almost-laptop with the full 101-key keyboard? I can't remember the name, >but I'd love to get one, as I drooled over one for a while. > >Peace... Sridhar _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

23 years, 5 months

2
2
0 0

Need drivers for Outright 9-track tape drive

by vcf＠siconic.com

I have an Outright 9-track tape drive with an ISA adapter and manual but, alas, no software. The adapter is branded "Computer Logics NineTrack PCTD III". It has a DC-62 (is that correct?) connector. It's a 16-bit ISA card. Does anyone by any chance have the drivers for this? -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 5 months

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[Fwd: [ghate@essar.co.id: NetBSD WWW feedback from ghate@essar.co.id]]

by dwoyciesjes＠comcast.net

F.Y.I. - Saw this over at the NetBSD/Vax-port list... Jan Schaumann wrote: > > Hi, > > We just received this message at www@ -- thought it might be of interest > to somebody over here. If not, my apologies. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: NetBSD WWW feedback from ghate(a)essar.co.id > Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 19:40:32 -0800 (PST) > From: ghate(a)essar.co.id (A.M.Ghate) > To: www(a)netbsd.org > > ghate(a)essar.co.id (A.M.Ghate) sent the following > comment about The NetBSD Project's WWW server: > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > We have surplus two nos. of following mentioned computers.We want to > sale them off.pls contact us if you are interested in buying it. > The details are as follows. > Micro VAX II computers, DEC make- 2 nos. > Model-630QB-A2 consisting of Micro vaxII CPU with floating point > processor.1Mbyte memory.BA123 enclosure,console terminal port and > BCC08-10 console terminal cable. > > The technical details of the system are as follows. > > The MicroVAX II was based on a single, quad-sized 32-bit processor board > and contained the MicroVAX chip (which included memory management). The > machine featured a floating-point coprocessor chip, 1MB of on-board > memory, Q22-bus interface, Q22-map for DMA transfers, interval timer, > boot and diagnostic facility, console serial line unit and time-of-year > clock. > > MicroVAX II 630QY, 630QZ Owner's Manual (pdf) > at The DFWCUG Historical CPU Preservation Society > > Relative Performance x VAX-11/780 (1 MIP) 0.9 > Technology NMOS > Number of Processors 1 > Maximum Memory Support 16 MB > Memory Type Parity > Mass-storage Capacity > Max. Local 4 Port Disk Controllers 2 > Max. Local Disk Capacity 2.8 GB > VAXcluster I/O Servers (HSCs) N/A > I/O Bus Capacity > Max I/O Throughput 3.3 MB/s > Bus Type 1 Q-bus > Communications > LAN Support Optional > Ethernet Adapters Optional > Expansion > CI VAXcluster System Support N/A > Ethernet VAXcluster System Support Optional > CPU Upgrade Kit N/A > System Software VMS > ULTRIX-32 > VAXELN > Processor Features > Floating Point Accelerator Standard > Floating Point Data Types F, D, G, H > Cache Size N/A > Cache Cycle Time N/A > ------------------------------------------------------------ -- ---Dave Woyciesjes ---ICQ# 905818

23 years, 5 months

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Dying VaxStation 4000 VLC - help?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

I have a VLC sitting at home and I have various test kit in the office. If you outline exactly what you would like measured (and observed on a scope) I can probably get around to looking tonight and testing tomorrow. (I've not followed this thread too much so all I know is that you have a flakey VLC and the finger of suspicion is currently pointed firmly at the PSU and associated mainboard circuitry). Antonio

23 years, 5 months

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scored OS/2 2.1!

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/25/2002 7:04:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, rschaefe(a)gcfn.org writes: << The thrift store finally marked it down to something reasonable (%50 off of $1.99-- took 'em six or eight weeks to get here from $45.00. Bah!), so I picked up an OS/2 3.5" upgrade. I was pretty excited to get it, I've always wanted to try OS/2, but it won't install. Looks like the media's crapped out, it looks cloudy in places, like something's growing on it. : ( I don't suppose anyone knows if IBM has a replacement program? I'd really like to run it on my P70. Assuming I can find a set of SIMMS for it- - the previous owner must've thought they were made of gold the way he ripped up the sockets getting 'em out. :( >> yes, there's a replacement program..within 90 days of purchase, and it was dated too. If you can find an OS/2 2.1 CD that would be a better bet as you can make the disks. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 5 months

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Got a few goodies today at thrifts and the warehouse

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

While going through the warehouse today a came across a 59 page document titled OSI Challenger SYSTEM PROSPECTUS. It sold for $1 and looks like it was printed before May of 1977. It has allot of technical information in it. At a local thrift picked up a Commodore Minuteman MM3S calculator with square root key for 99 cents. Good shape (looks) but not tested yet. At another place got a Monteverdi TV Sports 825 model E825A with one controller for it. They had two controllers there for $2.99 each but one was broken into pieces, so I left it. Also there was no power supply or instructions with it. Also at the warehouse I picked up a TI2500 in the box that I had there and a Laser 50 PC that was billed as a educational computer and had 6 modes you could work in. It's missing the battery cover on the back.

23 years, 5 months

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MicroVAX II

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>I've since pulled all the boards, installed a M7625-AA (KA655) and M7621 >(MS650) 8MB memory card by themselves, and got a chevron prompt. I also got a memory error and a >message stating normal startup is not possible. 'show memory' showed 0MB of ram installed. I tried >another 8MB board with the same results. I also tried 3 different 16MB boards, but the LED display >showed 'F', and of course, I didn't get a chevron prompt. You know that the over-the-top connector used on the KA630 and the KA65x are different? I don't know exactly what failure you see if you use the KA630 OTP with the KA65x - but you may just have found out! It seems odd that a PSU could cause this problem and I'd be surprised if *all* your memory boards are faulty (I've never found a dead one even after they'd spent quite a while floating round the lab). Antonio

23 years, 5 months

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scored OS/2 2.1!

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

The thrift store finally marked it down to something reasonable (%50 off of $1.99-- took 'em six or eight weeks to get here from $45.00. Bah!), so I picked up an OS/2 3.5" upgrade. I was pretty excited to get it, I've always wanted to try OS/2, but it won't install. Looks like the media's crapped out, it looks cloudy in places, like something's growing on it. : ( I don't suppose anyone knows if IBM has a replacement program? I'd really like to run it on my P70. Assuming I can find a set of SIMMS for it- - the previous owner must've thought they were made of gold the way he ripped up the sockets getting 'em out. :( Bob

23 years, 5 months

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Got a few goodies today at thrifts and the warehouse

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/25/2002 4:54:38 PM Eastern Standard Time, jrkeys(a)concentric.net writes: << Also at the warehouse I picked up a TI2500 in the box that I had there and a Laser 50 PC that was billed as a educational computer and had 6 modes you could work in. It's missing the battery cover on the back. >> I got one of those with carrying case and everything. Looks like a tandy 100 type computer. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 5 months

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Looking for a DEC VT420 maintenance print set.

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> Ops, I meant to say that I am looking for a vt420 print set, not vt440 (if > that even exists). > > --tnx > --tom As far as I know, there isn't such a beast as a VT440 (to bad, it would probably have been a very nice terminal). As for finding any kind of a print set, good luck, the VT420's are new enough that DEC didn't seem to release much in the way of doc's. Zane

23 years, 5 months

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Tektronix DC100 tapes?

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

Did any Tektronix equipment use tapes that are compatible with HP DC100 tapes? I found a couple of unused tapes that have a Tektronix label but no part number that I can see. They look pretty much the same as an HP DC100 tape. I suppose I could just try them in an HP 2645A I picked up after I clean up the tape units, but it would be nice to know whether or not they really should work first. Also, anyone use HP 9144 tape drives, or have one they are not using? I found a couple of unused tapes for those units. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

23 years, 5 months

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Zilog System 8000 guts in Oregon

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Going through my storage locker I ran across the card cage with cards and some connecting cables from a Z8000 system. I am interested in selling this. So I am offering it to the list first before it goes to ePay. If anyone is interested please contact me for information or offers at innfosale(a)aol.com About 10 cards in the cardcage with backplane. I can't get to it to identify them at the moment. Zilog 1982 copyright on the backplane. The original looked a lot like the 8000 system 31 in Australia about 8 years ago. This was salvaged from my scrapper partner at the time and has been in storage since. It is now in Astoria, Oregon 97103, USA. I can quote shipping prices. Paxton

23 years, 5 months

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8 bit vs other Computers.

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

I did a lot of productive work on an Osborne I, with a 52-character wide display, but it was a bit of a PITA. Personally, I like a display that can show 60 characters, as that corresponds to a typewritten line with the margins I use. On an 80-column display, I get too much wasted space on the right. 64-columns is a good width, and is what I use on my HP 200LX palmtop (which can display 80x25, 64x18 and 40x16). OTOH, the 104-character wide mode on the Osborne (with an external monitor, of course) was useful for SuperCalc spreadsheets. -----Original Message----- From: Stan Barr [mailto:stanb@dial.pipex.com] Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 3:25 AM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: 8 bit vs other Computers. Hi, ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) said; > > > > Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote: > > > > > > For a real word processing you need 80x24 upper/lower case display, > > I also disagree with the display size issue. I did a lot of word > processing on my TRS-80 model 1 (with lowercase mod)> It has a 64*16 > display. Me too. And my Tatung Einstein with 80 column display card and running ZCPR3 qualified on all counts. -- Cheers, Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com The future was never like this!

23 years, 5 months

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Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Sellam Ismail" <foo(a)siconic.com> > >On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, ben franchuk wrote: > >> I did not say General purpose computing can't be done, just that it is a >> very small amount of memory for most user programs. It is really hard >> work to have a useful programs written on the small 8 bit machines, and >> fit in 32k or 48k of memory incuding the OS. > >I find it rather odd that such a comment would be made in the face of tens >of thousands of applications software and games that were developed on >dozens of 8-bit computer platforms having anywhere from 4K to 64K of main >RAM where the operating system and application shared that memory space. > >? > ---snip--- Hi The only thing I miss on a 8 bit machine is the lack of space for large data sets. I've never ran out of code space in my 15 year ( when I was doing embedded stuff ). Then I could never understand what happened to all the space that most of today's compilers use. I've always used a combination of assembly and Forth for embedded stuff. I had to work with a few applications written by others that were in C and found it very difficult to stay within RAM limits for even simple applications. When I first saw languages like SmalTalk, looking at the description, I thought that finally someone was doing something right. They talked about the efficiency of reuse and such ( concepts that are natural to Forth ). Then I tried it and found that it was more bloated than the C programs I was dealing with. The other thing that bothers me is that today we have computers that can run several thousands of times faster than an 8080 IMSAI. Still, it takes 5 to 10 minutes to boot that machine. My IMSAI boots faster than I can reach >from the reset button to the keyboard. I'm told that is is because the machine has to figure out what the I/O looks like on each boot ( of course, MS rejected OpenBoot for PCI boards that could have improved the boot time ). I find that applications written for these new and more powerful computers that have been doubling in capabilities every year are becoming garbaged up at a rate that is faster than the computer get better. I doubt there is anyone that works for MS that even knows if 50% of the software that they release is even being usefully run under any condition ( maybe even 80% ). I believe that there complexity will eventually bring them to the point that even hiring the entire graduating class of computer science students will not fix. Just my ramblings Dwight

23 years, 5 months

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The PDQ8

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>Another guy has already done this - http://surfin.spies.com/~dgc/pdp8x/ There's already a link to this one on one of the pages, plus a link to http://www.jaywalk.co.uk/pdp8/ (which I had not seen before). Antonio

23 years, 5 months

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The PDQ8

by pat＠purdueriots.com

No, that's not a typo. I know not everyone reads Slashdot, so I thought I'd share it since no one else has posted it yet: There's a guy working on creating a FPGA verions of a PDP-8. Does anyone know anything about this? Is Andrew Grillet on this list? There's more information at his web site: http://www.grillet.co.uk/pdq8/index.html Pat -- Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS Information Technology at Purdue Research Computing and Storage http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 5 months

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Weekend Finds

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Got lucky this weekend at the market and picked up the following: 1. Sun ext. cd-rom drive model X559A-ST had empty caddy in it. 2. Panasonic Portable Data Terminal model KX-D4911 not tested yet. 3. Some Game gear cartridges. 4. hp 82143A printer in the box all the paperwork and manual plus 3 rolls of paper for it. 5. Printer adapter called a G-Wiz by Supra Corp. 6. A box full of books was given to me for the collection. 7. COMPUTERS: The Inside Story a 1000 piece puzzle set. 8. OT: A Viewsonic 14" flat panel for $17.50 at auction (works great). 9. OT: A Dell Latitude XPi laptop and ethernet docking station both for $10 at local thrift. Laptop works but battery is dead. 10. Another T1000 in a carrying case with adapter but dead battery. That was part of the haul for the weekend.

23 years, 5 months

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8 bit vs other Computers.

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

IIRC, not many 8 bit CP/M computers were marketed as "game machines." Certainly not all the Osbornes, Kaypros, Morrows, Televideos, etc., etc. -----Original Message----- From: ben franchuk [mailto:bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca] Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 5:40 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: 8 bit vs other Computers. <snip> But 99% of all 8 bit machines in the 1980's were marketed as game machines. <snip>

23 years, 5 months

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On Behalf Of Lawrence Walker

by loedman1＠juno.com

Careful now, a quick visit to the Canadian Government website shows the following, (1) 7.6% unemployment (2) 3.2% inflation (3) Average family income of 38,000 after taxes (4) Exchange rate of 1.56690 to one, in our favor (5) Average retirement pension that is less than 10% of what mine will be, and of course that wonderful socialized health care. Doesn't seem that you are in any position to criticize George W or our Government until yours gets its act together. Rich loedman1(a)juno.com Subject: OT Bush and Canada > As a Canadian, I must explain to our US neighbors that the press misunderstood the Canadian official at the Prague meetings who was reported as saying "What a moron" in reference to George Dubya. > In some circles up here there is a slang phrase of approval meaning "more on top of it", hipper. I'm sure that's what he meant. And of course Dick Cheyny is also a veritable moron, (in Can. slang terms , of course). > Lawrence lgwalker(a)mts.net bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com

23 years, 5 months

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Keyboard key labels

by mikeford＠socal.rr.com

> > Actually, I've been planning on building my own. I am currently I spent 15 minutes digging in a few boxes of surplus keyboards until I had 3 I liked, paid the man a buck each, and toddled on home. Typing this on a very nice feeling Micron keyboard from the W95 era. Not quite as nice as my Apple Extended II keyboard, but feels good, works fine.

23 years, 5 months

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Newbie enquiries

by David.Kane＠aph.gov.au

I did a little more looking on the web and I must say either my memory is failing me, or I have looked at so many pictures of pdp-11s that I have just confused myself. I said I remembered the programers console was a little more flash looking that the 11/04 programmers consoles I had seen to date; and well I must say the picture of the 11/60 panel I found in a PDF titled "PDP11_Handbook1979", realy reminds me of the one I used on the small PDP-11 I am trying to identify. Did this panel sytle get used on any other PDP-11 models? Its just that I remember it being an 11/0(something), but I find the 11/60 console's octal pad framing in white and the location of the 7 segment display very familliar. David

23 years, 5 months

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MicroVAX II

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>I had time to troubleshoot further, and somehow managed to get it to at least make it to '6', but >couldn't get it to progress past '9' the next time (when I had a console cable connected). I'm 9 is "Identifying console terminal". It's supposed to give up after six seconds and skip to step 7. If it identifies ther terminal, it will go to step 8 instead and query the language. 6 is the RAM test. You said uVAX II but what cards are in there? If it finds a video card I think the sequence might change a bit. >Also, what is the story on the FCO on the power harnesses for the backplane? The two harnesses in >my BA123 are made of a gray ribbon cable pressed into orange connectors. I *thought* it was the early BA23 power harness that had the issue, not the BA123. A bit of googling through newsgroups (comp.sys.dec or comp.os.vms) should nail that down somewhat. Antonio

23 years, 5 months

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Adopt an old NASA software program

by mranalog＠attbi.com

On Fri, 26 Oct 2001 Michael Nadeau wrote: > Open Channel Software is making old NASA applications available for > download. There is a fee involved for what's called the NASA Classics > collection, and the goal is to encourage commercial development of the > applications. The list is at http://www.openchannelsoftware.com/NASA_1.html. > I have no connection with OCS or NASA, but just happened to come across a > press release about the offer. I had not seen Michael's previous posting on this subject, I just stumbled across this web page this morning. It appears they want volunteers to help develop this software. http://www.openchannelfoundation.org/cosmic/ -----------< quote >---------------- Open Channel Publishes the NASA COSMIC Collection Open Channel Software has entered into an agreement with the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) to publish the COSMIC software collection. This collection represents software created by NASA in a wide range of disciplines including engineering, chemistry, aerodynamics, and other areas. Adopt an application! Many of the COSMIC programs are available for "adoption". When you adopt an orphaned application at Open Channel, you agree to moderate user contributions to the application. You also take over the maintenance of the site for the application through our Content Management system. Your name will appear on the application home page. ------< end quote >---------------- The Moderator Responsibilities http://www.openchannelfoundation.org/contrib/mod_resp.php include: -----------< quote >---------------- * Helps Open Channel decide on means of distribution (free open source, licensed open source, etc.) * Makes current version of software and documentation available for download from site, and/or * Helps Open Channel define and price products offered for order on the site ------< end quote >---------------- So by adopting one of these programs you may be able to influence how this software is distributed. --Doug ========================================= Doug Coward @ home in Poulsbo, WA Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog =========================================

23 years, 5 months

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Attempting to find EISA .CFG for an SMC Elite32

by jplist＠kiwigeek.com

Greetings; I'm trying to track down an EISA .CFG file for an SMC Elite32 8033W dual-port Ethernet card. Google is surprisingly sparse. The card ID is: SMC0110 (And, therefore, the CFG is !SMC0110.CFG) Many thanks, JP

23 years, 5 months

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Honeywell/Bull D120 cartridge drive infor wanted.

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

If anyone on the list has a user-, or even better, a maintenance manual for a Bull D120 cartridge drive I would like to hear from them. ( a 10Mb cartridge drive ca. 1980 ) Spare parts, empty cartridges or a complete replacement part would be more than welcome. They will form the basis for a new attempt to bring my ETH Lilith back to live..... Jos Dreesen

23 years, 5 months

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S-100 docs for sale . . .

by MTPro＠aol.com

Hello, I hope no one minds if I post this list of a few important documents that I think will interest the group, I don't think eBay is the best venue for them, and I'd rather someone from the group get first shot. Please just respond back to me directly. Below, just $5 each plus shipping: - Netronics 64K S100 Memory Board "JAWS" - approximately 20 pages stapled with assembly instructions and lots of schematics - no date, maybe 1978ish? - Solid State Music 2P + 2S I/O Board - approximately 20 pages stapled with assembly instructions, function check, setup and schematics - 1977. - Dutronics 8KLST/4KLST Memory Board - approximately 7 pages stapled with assembly instructions and schematic - no date, maybe 1976ish? - Dynabyte 32K Memory Board - approximately 12 pages stapled with nice heavy paper covers, professional inside. Includes general and operating instructions, memory test program and excellent schematics - 1978. - Canada Systems CL2400 Real Time Clock - Two manuals; one approximately 12 pages (Assembly Manual - assembly instructions and checkout) stapled with nice heavy paper cover, and one approximately 6 pages (Appendix - parts list, schematics) stapled with nice heavy paper cover - 1977. - Artec Electronics 32K-100 Memory Board - approximately 16 pages stapled with assembly instructions, parts list, theory of operation and lots of schematics - 1977. Below, just $10 each plus shipping: - Zapple 8K BASIC User's Manual by Technical Design Labs - approximately 25 pages with plastic ring, notebook style binding and heavy paper covers - 1976. - GraphicAdd Board manual for the VDM and SOL, KEA Micro Design - approximately 30 pages with nice heavy paper covers, includes assembly instructions, theory of operations, software package listings (Life animation!) and schematic, some underlining and writing with some tape on covers - 1977. - Cromemco 8K Bytesaver Instruction Manual - approximately 14 pages with very nice heavy paper covers, stapled at spine. Includes assembly instructions, parts list, Bytemover software, PROM data and excellent schematic - 1976. Below, just $15 plus shipping: - Cromemco DazzleWriter Software - approximately 15 pages stapled with memory requirements, paper tape loading instructions and assembly and octal listings - no date, maybe 1976ish? Thank you, David Greelish

23 years, 5 months

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MicroVAX II

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 24, 10:14, Dave Woodman wrote: > Let's try to keep this in accordance with real physical laws:- the > current flowing in the wires will be inversely proportional to the > resistance since the potential difference across them is the same. So far, so good... > The physical principle > that causes the problem is that the power dissipated is proportional to the *square* of the current. In case of any doubters - > > > Ohms Law: > I = V/R > > => V=IR > > Power dissipated: > P = IV > > => P = I(IR) > > So, for example, if one cable/connector pair had twice the resistance of > another, the second would dissipate four times as much power as the > first. Er, no. The current will NOT be the same in each case. If you're going to use mathematical equations to argue, use the right ones :-) Power dissipated (assuming steady-state DC): P = IV and I = V/R => P = V^2/R So if one cable/connector pair has twice the resistance of the other, the second will dissipate twice, not four times, the power (since V is the same for both). But even that analysis is over-simplified. The PSU provides a fixed voltage (assuming it's running within expected limits). Part of that voltage is dropped over the intended load, and part over the cables/connectors. If the resistance of the cables or connectors goes up (which is what happened) then the proportion dropped by the cable/connector combination also rises (and the resistance also goes up slightly as the temperature rises). This makes the situation slighly worse than my maths above suggests, but not as bad as Dave suggested. > If, as other posters have indicated, the bulk of the resistance is in > the connector then the heating effect will be quite localised, and the > home cooking lessons are on. That's still true, of course, but the difference isn't as extreme as you implied. In the cable looms that failed, it was the cables' insulation that melted, but mostly near the connectors, and typically on all the 5V cables, not just the longer ones. I remember some discussions in DECUSERVE NOTES about it. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 5 months

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Gorilla Banana printer

by dlormand＠aztec.asu.edu

Does anybody want one? This is a 300baud serial interface unit. I've tried it and it works. Slow and noisy, square pixels and all. In the off-chance that somebody wants this, it's yours for the shipping >from Tucson, 85711.

23 years, 5 months

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OT Bush and Canada

by lgwalker＠mts.net

As a Canadian, I must explain to our US neighbors that the press misunderstood the Canadian official at the Prague meetings who was reported as saying "What a moron" in reference to George Dubya. In some circles up here there is a slang phrase of approval meaning "more on top of it", hipper. I'm sure that's what he meant. And of course Dick Cheyny is also a veritable moron, (in Can. slang terms , of course). Lawrence lgwalker(a)mts.net bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com

23 years, 5 months

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MicroVAX II

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>No. The wires are connected in parallel. They have different lengths and thus different resistance >- the longer the higher. "Current allways uses the way of lowest resistance." So the shortest wire >has to carry a higher current than the other wires. The wire can carry this higher current, but the >connector can't. So the _connector_ heats up and "the magic blue smoke escapes"... >Solution was to use equal length wires (=equal current distribution among wires/connectors) and >better connectors that can carry higher current. I'll try to stop that late night thinking - it never works :-) Antonio

23 years, 5 months

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Gorilla Banana printer

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/23/2002 5:13:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, dlormand(a)aztec.asu.edu writes: << Does anybody want one? This is a 300baud serial interface unit. I've tried it and it works. Slow and noisy, square pixels and all. In the off-chance that somebody wants this, it's yours for the shipping from Tucson, 85711. >> Don't want it, but I remember that being hyped up in the old DAK catalogs. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 5 months

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MicroVAX II

by rmurphy＠itm-inst.com

At 04:20 PM 11/23/02 -0800, Antonio Carlini wrote: > >only the power harness. And assuming one couldn't find a replacement >power harness for the bad > >one, what would it take to modify/repair the bad one to make it safe to >use? Is it just the matter >of replacing some of the existing wire with >something of a heavier gauge? > >I believe the problem is that the wires are of differing lengths >and hence resistance. Plus they were (or may have been) specced >a tad to near the limit. The end result was that the longest wire >(greatest resistance) heated up the most and eventually went phut, >leaving the other five (or so) to go pop shortly thereafter. My experience - having seen several badly melted connectors - was that the clips on the ends of the orange cable sets don't make adequate contact with the pins on the backplane and power supply. They heat up to the point where the connector shell begins to melt, which begins to oxidize the pins, making more heat due to the additional resistance. This is not due to different lengths - all the wires in the orange cable harness are the same lengths. You can recognize the updated wire harness because it consists of two white blocks on either end of the assembly; the wires are different colors. >So heavier gauge and same length would seem to be required. Nope, it's not the wire that's the problem - it's the connector's bearing area. >OTOH if the problem was that bad (none of mine in the lab ever exhibited >any pyrotechnic tendencies) would it not have corrected itself by now >:-) That depends on how much load you put on the cables. Lightly loaded systems won't ever have a problem. -Rick

23 years, 5 months

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Electric Pencil WP ... for the IBM PC!

by r.stek＠snet.net

Fred - the PC version was published in '83. I tracked down one of the authors - Dale Buscaine - and he still has the manual, but has misplaced the disk! I found one reference that Harv Pennington passed away in the early '90's. Also found one employee of IJG who lost his personal TRS-80's when the company folded and its doors were locked. There is a Michael Shrayer who lives outside of LA, but I haven'r been able to find an email address for him. Isn't there anyone out there with a copy?! Bob Stek Saver of Lost Sols

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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MicroVAX II

by geoffr＠zipcon.net

At 06:23 PM 11/23/02 -0600, you wrote: >Anyone know what the official DEC conclusion was? Sounds like the same problem the the Dec-Rainbow had with it's power supply, and they had a replacement cable that had thicker wire and better IDC contacts, but I always went and bought solder type connectors of the right spacing and appropriate color wire and made my own. the powersupply and mainboard in the rainbow had the same spacing as video game harnesses of the same period....

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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MicroVAX II

by Fred.van.Kempen＠microwalt.nl

> >Also, what is the story on the FCO on the power harnesses for the > backplane? The two harnesses in > >my BA123 are made of a gray ribbon cable pressed into orange > connectors. > > I *thought* it was the early BA23 power harness that > had the issue, not the BA123. A bit of googling through > newsgroups (comp.sys.dec or comp.os.vms) should nail > that down somewhat. Yes, with the BA23 there were serious risks of fire and fun like that with the _OLD_ power harness. You can recognize those by the color: the power wires are WHITE with colored plugs. The NEW ones have COLORED wires with a WHITE plug. If you have a BA23 with WHITE power wires... burn it! --fred

23 years, 5 months

3
2
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OT: hard drive making weird noises

by vcf＠siconic.com

Ok, I've googled but have not turned anything up, so I turn to the experts on the list. I have a 60GB IBM hard drive (can't get at the model number and don't want to power down to do so right now). Every once in a while I hear it make the most disconcerting noise. It sounds like a <chirp> followed by a <ka-clunk> followed by another <chirp> and then another <ka-klunk>, all in the span of no more than 2 seconds. It sounds as if its skipping a heartbeat or something. What the hell is going on and how do I defibrilate it? I had a similar problem long ago with another brand of hard drive (Maxtor maybe?) and it required some sort of firmware upgrade that fixed it. I checked into this problem a while ago but did not find anything on IBMs site or through Google. I do NOT need another hard drive crash right now :( -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 5 months

7
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Looking for a DEC VT440 repair manual or schematic set.

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>I am looking for engineering drawings and/or maintenance manual for a DEC VT440 terminal. A copy or >scan would be fine. www.vt100.net has the VT420 Pocket Service Guide online. I've never seen the schematics available anywhere. Antonio

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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OT Bush and Canada

by classiccmp＠crash.com

> ... many of us are still capable of rational thought. I love that line, coming in the middle of such a rant. Yeah yeah, poor taste to respond to my own post, but when I'm not pissed off over the roving checkpoints and assault on civil liberties, I gotta laugh at myself. --S.

23 years, 5 months

8
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Lawsuit over the use of Microsoft's "Word"?

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

Looking in the 1991 version of the Word for Windows (TM) User's Guide, "Word" is not listed on the page opposite the Table of Contents as trademarked. In the text, "Word" is capitalized, but not trademarked, as are "Windows (TM)" or "Microsoft (R)". -----Original Message----- From: Jeffrey Sharp [mailto:jss@subatomix.com] Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 6:17 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Lawsuit over the use of Microsoft's "Word"? On Thursday, November 21, 2002, Sellam Ismail wrote: > Has there ever been a lawsuit over Microsoft's trademark of the word > "Word" for its word processor that anyone knows of? I don't think they claim 'Word' as a trademark. Neither their web site, the Word XP splash screen, nor the Word XP About dialog have a 'TM' or '(R)' mark around 'Word', yet all three of these things do claim 'Microsoft' with a '(R)'. -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 5 months

2
2
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CMD Technology Unibus SCSI card

by jpl15＠panix.com

I have managed to latch on to one of the above cards... the sticker on one chip says its a Model CDU-720/TM (sn 2127 BOYA8) and two ROMS have F720Y1A8 and 2A8 respectively. Board copyright is 1989 (in copper) and the silkscreening says 1991 - most of the chips are from '91. It is single-ended only; the differential section is not populated. I have yet to do any Googling, but if anyone has anything on this... I know a nice friendly 11/44 system (sitting to my immediate left) that would dearly love to be able to read CDROMS, SCSI disks, etc.... Cheers John

23 years, 5 months

4
3
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Index register pop quiz

by vcf＠siconic.com

Wasn't there a discussion about index registers here a few weeks back? My friend Ray Borrill must have been looking over our shoulders because he put together this pop quiz: Q: 1. Who invented the Index Register and about when? 3. What was it originally called? 4. What computer first used one? A: 1. The British invented in in about 1957 or 58. 2. It was originally called the "B-Box" for "Bias Box". 3. I believe it was first used in the Ferranti Atlas computer. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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That New Mexico 11/750

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

I was looking through the archives and saw someone in New Mexico was bringing a 11/750 back up. Did he ever mention where it came from? I went to university at New Mexico Tech in Socorro and used an 11/750 there (and that is why I picked up my 11/750). Just wondering if his machine was nmtvax. alan P.S. Anyone know if the machine that was ucbvax is still around. I think it was 94 when it was converted to running the card key system for the Berkeley police department or something similar. I got the "RIP ucbvax" announcement somewhere around here.

23 years, 5 months

1
0
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Bringing an 11/750 power supply back to life

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

Someone else provided me with a PDF version of the H7104 Power System TD. I can send it to whoever wants to make it available. I was supposed to send the guy some of my extra manual for him to scan a couple years ago, but I got busy with work and forgot and haven't been able to contact the guy since. alan ---Original Message--- From: cctech(a)classiccmp.org To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 05:26:39 -0800 Subject: RE: Bringing an 11/750 power supply back to life >Before I got my VAX, it went down because the power supply went out. I have the print set and the >'Technical Description' document for the power supply and I am fairly comfortable dealing with this >stuff, but I am not an expert. The print sets are already on the web but is there any chance of scanning the PSU TD? Yours is the 3rd or 4th VAX-11/750 with potential PSU issues mentioned here in the last year or so. >If I attempt to repair the power supply myself, is there anything that I should avoid doing so I >don't kill myself? Keep away from the machine and you'll be safe :-) Seriously, think about each step you are taking, don't do anything unless you think you know what you are doing and why, keep one hand in a pocket or behind your back, and (most important I guess) make sure there is someone nearby who knows what you are up to and what to do if they find you writhing on the ground. If you post more details about the symptoms (which, if any, lights come on, what readings you have already taken etc) I expect you'll find this list full of useful advice. Antonio

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Classic != IBM AT

by farakhjamil＠hotmail.com

Hi, someone named John is interested in an AT&T Safari laptop. I happen to have one. E-mail me at farakhjamil(a)hotmail.com if you are interested. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.422 / Virus Database: 237 - Release Date: 11/20/02

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

early pc with lcd screen

by gil＠vauxelectronics.com

Hi folks: I am curious about early PCs with lcd screens. Something from the early dos days, in a flip-up or clamshell design. Anyone have any favorites? gil ;----------------------------------------------------------- ; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556 ; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558) ;-----------------------------------------------------------

23 years, 5 months

19
25
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IBM Microchannel SVGA card

by pat＠purdueriots.com

I've got an MCA SVGA-NI Display Adaptor/A sitting here that I'd like to find display drivers for some OS. Does anyone know where I can find some? I've found the ADF files, but no drivers for any version of Winderz, or OS/2 (or XFree86 on linux, but I'm doubtful I'll find anything to work there). It's FRU number is 71G4877. Pat -- Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS Information Technology at Purdue Research Computing and Storage http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Old computers

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

*snip* > Here's the reason: some time ago a museum allegedly building in >Colorado approached me about taking away some old machines I have... I >promised them, but nothing every came of it and the storage bills are >killing me now that I am retired. *snip* I just want to take the time to make it clear that I am NOT, repeat, NOT the person in Colorado with the museum building that he is speaking of... I'd be willing to be that I know the person who doesn't have their act together who is, though... Will J (including prior text to appease Sellam) _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

23 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Electric Pencil WP ... for the IBM PC!

by r.stek＠snet.net

I just picked up a manual for Michael Shrayer's Electric Pencil - the first WP I had on my Sol-20. But this manual is for the IBM PC version! I don't recall reading about this at all. Has anyone else come across this, and does anyone actually have a copy of the program? I'd love to be able to run it. (forgive me if I seem lax in responding to any replies - I get the digest version and and am "time-shifted" usually by several days) Bob Stek Saver of Lost Sols

23 years, 5 months

3
2
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OT: WebTV keyboard

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Does anyone have information on this keyboard? It seems like the RCA >model is being dumped by Circuit City, but It doesn't appear MS is >closing down the service... Any hardware info on the keyboard would >be appreciated! I have one of these... came from a Sony branded WebTV unit I got at a garage sale. I use the keyboard with my DishNetwork satallite decoder (their Dish Player 7000 model... their original PVR model... it has a webTV unit built in along with the ability to pause and record TV... and no, I don't use the webTV features... I wanted the keyboard to make my life easier in spelling out TV shows I was searching for, so when I saw a webTV for sale for $5 I grabbed it). Since I think my decoder is made by JVC, that should tell you that at least all the webTV keyboards are cross compatible and not manufacturer or model specific. Beyond that tiny tidbit of info, I can't help much more until monday. I don't have a little screwdriver at home right now that can open it up to see if there is any better info inside. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Problem with Nat Semi ICM-3216

by classiccmp＠crash.com

I recently picked up a couple of ICM-3216s and am hoping the following might make sense to someone more familiar with them. There are two systems comprised of a CPU board, one 4MB memory board, and an ICM-SIO-M-08 board with its own 32016, 32201, and four 2681 DUARTs for 8 serial ports. The SIO board in front of me is a 980600014-001 Rev D (the 001 and D are hand written) The EPROMs in U5 and U6 show Rev B on their labels, and I can give the full P/N if it will help. When retired from service several-many years ago, these machines were timesharing hosts and used all these serial ports. Now when I try to power up either system with the SIO board in the stack, the system won't initialize. If I remove the SIO from the stack the system will initialize and I can boot Unix on one box, or talk to the monitor on the other (disk won't spin). Does this make sense to anyone familiar with these systems? I suspect someone else has seen this, given the way it's impacting both systems... I suppose I'll start checking out the third box, which lacks an SIO, and see what it does with it. Thanks for any thoughts, or even unrelated reminisences about the ICMs or the 32k in general. --Steve. Steve Jones spamfree.crash.com!smj Arlington, Mass. CRASH!! Computing (any spambots parse bang paths?) +1 781 xxx yyyy "Chaos will ensue if the variable i is altered..." - SysV Programmers Guide

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

OT: WebTV keyboard

by vaxman＠earthlink.net

As most of you don't know, I work for Cirrus Logic, developing channels and controllers for DVD drives. I am currently working on some test software to run on a DVD player (developed by a group in Fremont and Fort Wayne), and I want to hook a keyboard to it. After much pondering, it seems the IR interface might be configured to talk to an IR keyboard, and the only 'standard' keyboard seems to be the WebTV keyboard. Does anyone have information on this keyboard? It seems like the RCA model is being dumped by Circuit City, but It doesn't appear MS is closing down the service... Any hardware info on the keyboard would be appreciated! Thanks, Clint

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Bringing an 11/750 power supply back to life

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

Before I got my VAX, it went down because the power supply went out. I have the print set and the 'Technical Description' document for the power supply and I am fairly comfortable dealing with this stuff, but I am not an expert. If I attempt to repair the power supply myself, is there anything that I should avoid doing so I don't kill myself? alan

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Newbie enquiries

by David.Kane＠aph.gov.au

Hi All, I found some old computer book during our spring clean (I'm in the southern hemisphere) and I got all nostalgic for the first computer I ever programmed a PDP-11/0?. The reason for the question mark is I cannot definitely remember if it was an 03, 04, or 05. So I was hoping I might fire off a bit of my remembered details, and someone here could help me definitively identify the machine. I have done some web searching and I have not been able to sort it out yet. The system comprised a CPU and dual 8" floppy in a half height rack, on top of which sat a marked sense card reader, and in the corner was a DEC line printer. My memory of the CPU front panel is that it looks somewhat like an 11/34 picture I found in the user manual PDF with the programmers console. But I definitely remember it as an "slash zero" something model, so I believe that it was an 04. However the only picture of an 04 I have found to date has a rather basic looking programmers panel, by basic I mean as it is simple white text on black panel and buttons. I seem to remember the octal keypad had a border drawn on the pane and was a little bit smarter looking, maybe there were updated cosmetic version of the panel. The system booted straight to a local derivative of FORTRAN (MONECS FORTRAN), so we were insulated from the hardware and I therefore have no memory or interface card details. Any help in IDing the machine would be greatly appreciated. Now this leads me to the second reason for this message. I would like to collect a sample of the machine in question, but I am unsure of how to proceed. What are your tried and tested ways of locating such antique hardware? Also I saw an ebay auction for two RK05 disk packs today. Would these be usable with an 11/0? system? And if so what would be a reasonable price to pay? I have lurked on the list for a few weeks now, and think that I shall stick around and get into the classic computer collecting myself (time and wife permitting). OH BTW, I contacted Charles L. regarding his Zilog 8000 system (the Z8000 being another chip I found interesting when it came out). He is unsure if he actually wants to part with the machine at the present time. That might just be my first dead end lead in this new hobby of mine. Thanks in advance, David Kane

23 years, 5 months

4
3
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Classic computer exhibition, Grenoble France

by hansp＠aconit.org

Today I spent the day setting up our little 100 square meter exhibition tracing 50 years of computing in Grenoble, France. For anyone in the area from tomorrow til December 2 the exhibition will be open from 10:00 till 18:30 each day except Tuesday at the Grenoble Museum, Place Lavalette (Tram B , Notre Dame stop) Among the classic machine on exhibit are a Bull Gamma 3, the panel from an IBM 360/67, a (working) 1130, a (working) PDP-8/m, a Telemechanique 1600, a Micral N, a Thomson MO5, a Goupil 2. Hopefully we can get pictures on the web over the next week for those unable to attend. -- hbp

23 years, 5 months

2
2
0 0

IBM Microchannel SVGA card

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/22/2002 2:04:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, pat(a)purdueriots.com writes: << I've got an MCA SVGA-NI Display Adaptor/A sitting here that I'd like to find display drivers for some OS. Does anyone know where I can find some? I've found the ADF files, but no drivers for any version of Winderz, or OS/2 (or XFree86 on linux, but I'm doubtful I'll find anything to work there). It's FRU number is 71G4877. >> That's a plain old server display card, most likely from a 9595 type. Best you can get is VGA in OS/2. Fairly useless, get XGA-2 instead. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Hmm, I have an NMOS PACE.. does that count as odd? Will J _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

23 years, 5 months

5
5
0 0

Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Hah, I wish I had much info on it.. I pulled it from, of all things, an old automotive test system... I think the part number is INS8900.. that sounds right... Will J _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

fall cleaning

by oliv555＠arrl.net

Been doing my annual cleanout, need to find new homes for these items. Preference to local pickup (Houston), will consider shipping remaining items (u pay ship). Thanks. -nick free stuff: -IBM RS6000-C10, working -MAC Performa 450, working -DEQNA (M7504) w/cabkit, qbus ethernet -KDA50 (M7164, M7165), qbus sdi disk control -Cabletron m800 multiport xcvr docs: -MSV11-M (m7506) User Guide -DEC LA36 engineering drawings -(DEC)Documation M200 card reader tech manual -IBM 29 Card Punch Reference manual -HP 1615 Logic Analyzer service manual -DF03 modem user guide -DR11-B/DA11-B manual -DSD 4120 user guide -UDA50 user guide -UDA50 tech summary -VT330/340 prog ref (Vol 1 & Vol 2) For Sale: VS4000/model 60 & matching SZ16c storage expansion .. $30 +manual +lk401 +mouse(puck) +cables

23 years, 5 months

1
1
0 0

Recent VAX Adventures (Long)

by Fred.van.Kempen＠microwalt.nl

Eric? Did you get my prev. message? -f

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Mac Haul (& ImageWriters II's available)

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

Mac Haul (& ImageWriters II's available) I found out yesterday morning just how many Macs will fit in my car. Here's the list: Performa 6116CD - 1 Performa 400 - 1 LC475 - 15 LC II - 1 LC - 1 IIsi - 1 IIe - 1 with 2 Disk II's and a couple of separate spares. SE - 3 Monitors - 14" Color Display - 9, plus one other with the odd connector for the 6116 ImageWriter II - 5 So what's that? Two dozen machines, 10 monitors, and five printers. No wonder my car was riding low. Most of the above was delivered to a private church school last night. I have a friend whose daughter attends the school, and he maintains their machines in his spare time. In fact, I doubt the school would have many computers if it were not for his efforts. So I try to help out some. All of these came from a local Intel reseller. He has no interest in Macs and I knew that he had just gotten in several pallets of hardware that included the above machines. So my friend got the school to approve $50 for me to get as much hardware as I could. I went in and made a deal for what I could and talked the reseller into donating the rest with a promise of a letter from the school to cover the donation. In essence, all the machines you can cram in one car for $50. There was a gotcha in this of course. I had to take the ImageWriters. As we were unloading, I gave my friend the option of refusing them. He did. So I have 5 ImageWriter II's, one is missing a cover. I would like to get rid of these, so I will make these available to the list. However, I don't have time right now to either store them or mess with shipping. So if you want these, they are available for PICKUP ONLY just south of Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. The business next to me allows me to fill their unused dumpster space on Wednesday night just prior to Thursday's pick up. If you want these they will have to be out of here by next Wednesday, 11/27/02. Mike Thompson

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Bringing an 11/750 power supply back to life

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>Before I got my VAX, it went down because the power supply went out. I have the print set and the >'Technical Description' document for the power supply and I am fairly comfortable dealing with this >stuff, but I am not an expert. The print sets are already on the web but is there any chance of scanning the PSU TD? Yours is the 3rd or 4th VAX-11/750 with potential PSU issues mentioned here in the last year or so. >If I attempt to repair the power supply myself, is there anything that I should avoid doing so I >don't kill myself? Keep away from the machine and you'll be safe :-) Seriously, think about each step you are taking, don't do anything unless you think you know what you are doing and why, keep one hand in a pocket or behind your back, and (most important I guess) make sure there is someone nearby who knows what you are up to and what to do if they find you writhing on the ground. If you post more details about the symptoms (which, if any, lights come on, what readings you have already taken etc) I expect you'll find this list full of useful advice. Antonio

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Lawsuit over the use of Microsoft's "Word"?

by foo＠siconic.com

Has there ever been a lawsuit over Microsoft's trademark of the word "Word" for its word processor that anyone knows of? Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 5 months

3
3
0 0

Osborne 1 single-density/double-density questions

by gil＠vauxelectronics.com

Hi Don: Yes! Using the " key for drive-B boot on the Osborne worked. And this double-density unit booted with my single-density software. That's the first the machine has booted cp/m. When I try to access drive A, it sounds like the stepper is constantly driving the head against a stop. I'll need to check the drive out. It didn't want to format a disk properly though. Does this mean that a proper double-density version of cp/m is needed? I need to get a pc together to run this 22DISK I've been hearing about. thanks, gil At 12:29 PM 11/21/02 -0800, you wrote: > > >On Thu, 21 Nov 2002, gil smith wrote: > >The difference between the SD and DD machines is a small daughter card >that fits between the floppy drive header on the motherboard and the >ribboncable to the drives. The drives themselves are the same for both >SD and DD. > >You can try to boot from your B drive by depressing right shift and the >'/" keys. Depressing Return/Enter will return to A boot. > > - don ;----------------------------------------------------------- ; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556 ; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558) ;-----------------------------------------------------------

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

OT Bush and Canada

by wmsmith＠earthlink.net

> > the press misunderstood the Canadian official... > > saying "What a moron" in reference to George Dubya. > > > In some circles up here there is a slang phrase of approval > > meaning "more on top of it", hipper. I'm sure that's what he > > meant. > > Unclear. > Is the Canadian Official saying that He himself is a moron, > so that George Bush is hip by association? Explain. > > John A. > I think he's saying that instead of "moron" the official may have said "more on", as in, "that George Bush, he's really 'more on'". -W

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

OT Bush and Canada

by classiccmp＠crash.com

> As a Canadian, I must explain to our US neighbors that the press > misunderstood the Canadian official at the Prague meetings who was > reported as saying "What a moron" in reference to George Dubya. While our current leadership ranges from stupid and grasping to downright evil and ready to shred our Constitution, many of us are still capable of rational thought. He's a president, and while the office deserves respect the man himself must still be judged on his own merits. And, just my opinion, found severely wanting... So thanks for the yucks, and don't bother writing to me directly. Admiral Poindexter should be dispatching the brown shirts to have a chat with me as soon as this message passes through his current sieve. Now, where did I put that code for the old NSA line-eater appender... Sigh, --Steve.

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Cheap PCBs

by gil＠vauxelectronics.com

For a Gerber RS-273X Format document, see: http://www.maniabarco.com/transdown/rs274xrevd_e.pdf The X format contains all cad data, whereas the RS-274D format needs a separate exellon-format drill file as well. gil ;----------------------------------------------------------- ; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556 ; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558) ;-----------------------------------------------------------

23 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Intel MCA Above Board

by cb＠mythtech.net

I have an MCA board here (probably pulled from a PS/2, but I really am not sure where it came from). Its marked as an Intel Above Board MC. And currently has 8 30 pin SIMMS on it (1 MB each it looks like). From what I can find, I think this is just a normal above board memory expansion card (max 32 MB?) However, there is also a 50 pin IDC connector on it. Is that for connecting to a daughter card? I just want to confirm that fact, and that this isn't really some kind of a SCSI controller with a nice buffer on it. I thought the Above Boards were just memory cards, but you never know. (maybe if I could find something about them on Intel's site... but their AboveBoards support section seems to have vanished) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 5 months

3
3
0 0

Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Eric Smith" <eric(a)brouhaha.com> > >> Ok, how about the 8022 or even the i2920. > >No, though the 8021 (little brother of the 8022) is odd. > > > > Hi Eric I wrote code for the development chip 8021 to test the A/D. I never got one to actually give me a true 8 bits. 6 to 7 someplace was typical. I made a little fixture to plug it into as well. The developement chip was in one of those funny packages, like the 432's. Brings back memories. Dwight

23 years, 5 months

2
1
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Zilog System 8000 Model 31 available in Australia

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Eric Smith" <eric(a)brouhaha.com> > >> I guess with Big Brother Intel the best processor designs >> like the 6809 and the PDP-11 are the odd ones. > >Intel's had their share of odd processors as well, such >as the 8035 and 8051. The 8089 as well, though it's not a >general-purpose processor. > >For that matter, the original Pentium is odd, though not all >later ones are. > Ok, how about the 8022 or even the i2920. Dwight

23 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

osi docs needed

by n8uhn＠yahoo.com

Hi all, after searching the archives for info on osi and m/a comm computers, i found this list and subbed to it. i am into mini computers and ham radio as well as most tech fields. currently i'm looking for info and pinouts/schems on the osi boards. i have some spare boards form a osi m/a-comm 220c and a oem of the same but am trying to get a "dbi db80" working. the db-80 uses all osi drives,powersupplies and boards, except for the two cpu/terminal/comms boards labeled "dbi inc db1" the comp also has a ohio memory systems 10" hard drive in it. the machine did work in the early 90's then a strange problem started" upon a floppy command the head would go to the end of the lead screw and the stepper would not stop! now after 6 years in storage i tried the spare boards on a backplane and nothing (great more work to do). i thought the drive might be bad also so i searched the archives on this list and read about the serial/parallel interface that osi used - a-ha! that why osi dosnt use the read data pin on the siemans drive. the drive did head load and step ok when i tested them last week and i got a good index sensor pulse so perhaps the controller was going. if needed i'll recap and replace all the chips on the cards (i hope the eproms (rom) are ok. might anyone have docs on the osi boards? or is thier any osi owners.collectors on the list anymore? if so i'll send the board numbers later. 73 DE N8UHN Bill __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com

23 years, 5 months

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Cheap PCBs

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw(a)mesanet.com> > >On Thu, 21 Nov 2002, Jim Kearney wrote: > >> >From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwightk.elvey(a)amd.com> >> > Gerber format is not all that complicated. It seems that someone >> >> No, it's not. It doesn't seem like there's an off-the-shelf way to go from >> raster (PDF or TIFF) to vector (Gerber), though, or at least nothing jumps >> out from Google. In principle it would be easy to load a raster and write >> it out as a set of lines in Gerber format. >> >> Actually I have a vague recollection that one of the board houses charged >> extra for "very large Gerber files caused by rasterized plots". >> >> >> > >Plus its pretty hard to extract the drill info from a 'vectorized' raster >plot... > > >Peter Wallace > Hi That is why I didn't say that one should write a program that reads scanned files, I said that one should have a tool that worked from a mouse ( with human attached ). Most tools that would look at scanned data would tend to make a lot of small rectangles instead of correctly grouping the information as a single large rectangle. We are talking about something that a human can easily do but a program has issues because it requires judgement. The fact is that Gerber files are quite simple. They are about as simple as one can get. Although I don't recall the exact syntax, it is thing like goto to x,y; with aperture wheel position 2 draw relative xx,yy; goto to u,v; with aperture wheel postion 3 flash; and so on and so on. I don't think one could describe a PC board any simpler than that. I never said that an automatic tool should be easy to write. I said that one could make a useful tool that would use a mouse to locate and draw( snap would be nice ). One would simply trace the pdf or what ever with the mouse. Dwight

23 years, 5 months

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Manuals for HP LaserJet 2 33440A

by jhfinepw4z＠compsys.to

Anyone know where I can find both the User Manual and the Service Manual for the LaserJet 2 33440A Printer? Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

23 years, 5 months

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CBM Chip Question

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hello, all: While rummaging thought my stock of Commodore chips, I came across a bunck of R6765 chips. I looked in some of my notes and I have "floppy controller" written down and elsewhere "D765". Is this a Rockwell-badged version of the NEC controller? Which Commodore drives was this chip used in? Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

23 years, 5 months

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List newbie

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

Hi, I just found this list. Very cool. I mostly have early 90s stuff in my collection. A NeXT slab, a bunch of Sun lunch box machines, stuff like that. However, I also have a VAX-11/750 that used to belong to a university in Oregon. It came with the UNIBUS expansion cabinet, a TU80 tape drive, a SA482 rack, three RA81 and two RA82s, bunches of spare boards, loads of field service and other docs and a bunch of the cartridge tapes. When I get around to trying to bring it back up, I will just keep the base cabinet and the TU80 and the RA82s (one operational and one spare). I may keep the SA482 in case I get some interesting equipment that needs a rack. I presume that I can pull the expansion cabinet off of the base cabinet and attach the TU80 in its place. If so, if anyone needs a UNIBUS expansion cabinet ... I dismantled one of the RA81 drive enclosures. If anyone needs a RA81, I have two and a half. I also have a RX02 (two 8" floppy drives) that I want to get rid of. One thing that I am looking for is a drive bay front panel for a RA82. I have one for an RA81. Another thing that I am looking for is a Burroughs B1965. I worked at Burroughs/Unisys during the end of life of the B1900s and think they are cool machines. Later, alan

23 years, 5 months

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