Since I was offering VAX bits that someone might want, someone suggested
that I indicate where I am located. Well, I am located in the Seattle
area.
alan
> I don't know if this has been linked to before, but I found it to have
> a few useful documents, including the System User's Guide to RT-11 V3.
>
> Gordon Bell's home page:
> http://research.microsoft.com/~gbell/
>
> His CyberMuseum:
> http://research.microsoft.com/~gbell/CyberMuseumPubs.htm
>
> The DEC part of his CyberMuseum:
> http://research.microsoft.com/Users/gbell/Digital/DECMuseum.htm
Interesting, a bunch of that stuff looks to be new, and it looks like the
new stuff might be better done (as I recall he didn't have PDF's up before).
After taking just a quick peek, I can see I'll have to have a better look at
stuff once I can find the time.
Zane
>From: "Jim Kearney" <jim(a)jkearney.com>
>
>
>> Back to the original question: I'm not sure how to do a non-gerber board
>> inexpensively. If the artwork is in a pdf file (or even a tif from a
>> scan), you would need to find a board house that could use it, but none
>> come to mind.
>
>Olimex (in Bulgaria) claims to accept them, but I don't think you would get
>any holes drilled.
>
>I just tried to convert a PDF file to Gerber by going to a BMP file and then
>converting that to an Eagle CAD script file, but it eventually failed
>because Eagle couldn't handle the number of rectangles that the simplistic
>converter generated. In principle it could work, if the converter made
>bigger rectangles than one per source pixel.
>
>LEADtools supports Gerber format as output in their libraries, so any of
>their tools might work. For example, ePrint
>(http://www.leadtools.com/Utilities/PrinterDriver/eprint_printer_driver.htm)
>is a generic Windows printer driver that has Gerber in its output format
>list.
>
>None of these work very well, though, because they're a lot of work and you
>don't have a drill file. I think in the end the only real solution is to
>get a Gerber file somehow, even if you have to re-enter the design in your
>CAD software. Toner transfer, iron-on and CNC milling all take far too much
>work for not particularly good results.
>
>
Hi
Gerber format is not all that complicated. It seems that someone
with a little cleverness could write a simple mouse program that
would digitize mouse movements and buttons.
It was a while back but I used to hand fix bad gerber files to
get PC boards made. It seems that most programs still have bugs
and will trash some of the commands. I'd display the gerber
file on the screen and look for the big trapezoid or some other
messed up thing. I'd then go in and change it back to the correct
rectangle or what ever.
It has been a number of years but like I said, it wasn't that
complicated. You need to consider that is was a direct input sequence
of moves for a gerber plotter.
Dwight
At 12:46 AM 11/21/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Since Compaq bought DEC, and then HP bought/merged with Compaq, yes, HP
>owns DEC's IP. For info on the OpenVMS hobbyist program, see:
>
>http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/index.html or
>http://www.encompassus.com to become a member of Encompass (what was
>DECUS) so you can participate in the OpenVMS hobbyist program.
So what happened regarding membership after all? I remember that
all emails from Encompass up to June/July seemed to imply
that from then on you needed to be a paying member in order to
belong to Encompass.
carlos.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org
"Steve Jones" <classiccmp(a)crash.com> wrote:
> Anybody have a one-line description of the CompuPro Net 100? Was
> this Ethernet, serial, avian carrier...?
Arcnet.
-Frank McConnell
Bit of a tricky question, but one that needs to be asked as i might
purchase one in A1 condition soon- and i don't want to be paying over the
odds for it.
INTEL INTELLEC-8 - (See attachment)
Model No. 8 - 84
Serial No. 245
S.D. 4.75 (Production Date?)
Fitted with the following cards:-
1. Intel front panel Control Console card. imm 8 - 73
2. Intel CPU. card. imm 8 - 83 (D8080AFC)
3. Intel 4k RAM Card. E48778 - 05 0042000
4. Intel 4k RAM Card. E48778 - 05 0042000
5. Intel I.O. module card 1000264 - 02
6. Intel PROM Programmer Module card E48778 - 0000090
7. Intel PROM memory module card. imm6-26
8. Mesonix 4K RAM Card
9. Mesonix I.O. Controller card (See Mesonix Casette Unit)
INTELLEC8 - INSTRUCTION MANUAL
The original instruction manual, although carefully preserved, now appears
to be missing and may well be lost. The Intellec8 will however be supplied
with a later instruction manual for the Intellec8/MOD 80, which explains
how it all works complete with a multitude of schematics etc. but
unfortunately missing the first and part of the second chapter.Chapter 1 - missing.
Chapter 2 - The imm8 - 83 CPU Card mostly intact - includes timing,
schematics & pinout diagrams.Chapter 3 - The imm8-61 Input/Output Card
Chapter 4 - The imm8-63 Output Card
Chapter 5 - The imm6-28 RAM Card
Chapter 6 - The imm6-26 PROM Card
Chapter 7 - The Intellec 8/MOD 80 Control Console
Chapter 8 - The Chassis, motherboard and power supplies
Chapter 9 - The imm6-76 Programmer Module
Chapter 10 - The Intellec 8/MOD 80 system utilisation
Appendix A - Instruction set summary
Appendix B - Electrical characteristics of logic elements used in the
Intellec 8/MOD 80
CASSETTE TAPE UNIT - MESONIX AUTOMATION LTD. (See photo)
Model No. - Fitted DCR-3 Tape Unit (Phillips?)
Serial No. - Mesonix Tape Storage Unit.
Production Date 1976?
STAND ALONE TAPE READER/TRANSMITTER - ADDMASTER 606 (See photo)
Model No.606 - (Parallel Output)
Serial No.606136
Production Date 1975.
DESKTOP PUNCH STATION - LITTON - SWEDA INTERNATIONAL, INC. (See Photo)
ROYTRON 528 PUNCH
Model No. 528
Serial No. 528 - 23 - 3382
---------------------------------------------------
WWW.COM - Where The Web Begins! http://www.www.com/
I'll just write here... lol.. Was looking at the pics of your DPS-6, and I
think you actually have 3 systems, the 2 smaller cabinets appear to each be
a Microsystem 6 type machine... FWIW
Will J
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The System 8000 is not really a development system... They are full-on
minicomputer-type UNIX machines.. It's a so-called "Super-micro"... I am
holding an ad from the DEC Professional proclaiming that the sucker can run
DIBOL... I really have to wonder if anyone ever ported DIBOL to any system
besides the System 8000, I wouldn't think there was enough of a user base to
justify doing such a thing... Anyway, it is a Z8000-based UNIX minicomputer
(yes I'm aware my definition of minicomputer may vary from some
listmembers). Someone should save it! It's freakin' cool... I wish I could
find one, stateside of course...
Will J
_________________________________________________________________
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Can anyone help this person out?
---------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: Paolo Malara <Paolo.Malara(a)e2vtechnologies.com>
To: classiccmp-admin(a)classiccmp.org
Date: Thursday, November 21, 2002, 1:51:23 AM
Subject: CDP18S60 Evaluation Kit
The CDP18S60 is an evaluation kit for the CDP1802 microprocessor, it is not
very common and is used in some old microprocessor controlled machines. Does
anyone have any data or schematics on the evaluation kit mentioned above?
---------- End forwarded message ----------
--
Jeffrey Sharp
Anybody have a one-line description of the CompuPro Net 100? Was
this Ethernet, serial, avian carrier...?
Google seems to come up shy on this one, except for an old "for
sale" posting to this list. Herb Johnson has docs, but I'm just
trying to find out exactly what it did at this point...
Thanks,
--Steve.
Does anyone have any of these Qbus boards that I can
buy? They have a TOY that has a window of 100 years.
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.
Hi Jim:
I'll second that vote -- Advanced Circuits (www.4pcb.com) is a great place.
I have done many boards there, proto and production. Quotes, and order
status, is online 24/7. But I think they only take gerber cad files.
Back to the original question: I'm not sure how to do a non-gerber board
inexpensively. If the artwork is in a pdf file (or even a tif from a
scan), you would need to find a board house that could use it, but none
come to mind.
To make it yourself, you can print the pdf to lino film and make a board
using sensitized board material from kepro, then etching, immersion-tin
dip... Sheesh, I did a lot of those years back. Even the best homemade
etched board is shitty though. And you can't cut corners on the pricey
lino film. Transparencies from an inkjet or laser may look good, but the
black is not opaque enough for uv exposure. Board material and chemicals
are not cheap either, so it gets pricey, and you still end up with a pretty
crappy board.
There is some laser printer material that you can print and then iron onto
a bare copper board (then etch), but I have never used it. Can't imagine
you could reliably use small geometry. But the cost is now just a cheap
plain board, the laser material, and some acid. Maybe an aquarium heater
to speed up etching.
For a one-off board, and if the board is simple and just needs fat traces
(this capacitor board may well be), you can also simply get a bare board,
drill component/mounting holes, and isolate the "traces" but cutting
through the copper appropriately with a dremel or xacto. You can even use
double-sided material and isolate the upper ground plane with a small
countersink at the component holes. I have also found a that a roll of
adhesive copper tape can be very handy in times like this.
gil
>From: "Jim Kearney" <jim(a)jkearney.com>
>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>Subject: Re: Cheap PCBs
>Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 18:32:55 -0500
>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>
>
>For only a few dollars more, you can get more boards with solder mask and
>silkscreen. www.4pcb.com will do boards up to 150 sq inches for $33 ea in
>quantity 3 and up, including mask and legend. www.e-teknet.com does qty 4
>up to 55 sq inches with mask and legend for only $22.99 each. I've used
>both of them and the quality has been excellent.
>
>Jim
;-----------------------------------------------------------
; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556
; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558)
;-----------------------------------------------------------
After a long with HP i lost ...
... they are not able to give me any operating system for my HP9000/382.
They told me, that they won't support that machine anymore, and they don't have any installation media ...
... they told me, that i've to look "elsewhere" :-(
... so i'm asking here, if there is anyone out, who will share a copy ...
Thanks Bernd
Bernd Kopriva Phone: ++49-7195-179452
Weilerstr. 24 E-Mail: bernd(a)kopriva.de
D-71397 Leutenbach
Germany
I'm trying to find some info on HVD SCSI. I know for Terminators I need HVD
SCSI Terminators, but what about cables. Will any old 68-pin SCSI cable do,
or do I need special cables?
Also, does anyone have any favorite vendors that sell this sort of thing?
Zane
What is this "hobbyist program" and "licensing" that is being mentioned?
Is HP controlling use of old DEC stuff or something?
thanks,
gil
>Message: 11
>Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:00:14 -0600
>From: Jeffrey Sharp <jss(a)subatomix.com>
>To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: Re: Recent VAX Adventures (Long)
>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>
>On Wednesday, November 20, 2002, Antonio Carlini wrote:
>> If these are original DEC media tapes (rather than people's data) it might
>> be possible to persuade him not to erase them, since the hobbyist program
>> allows you to use them. (OTOH it might be safer to wipe them any way from
>> <name>'s point of view).
>
>He said that some contain student data. So those have to get bulked.
>
>He also said that he had software but I couldn't have it. I told him about
>the hobbyist program, but at the time I didn't know enough about it to
>really say anything knowledgable. If I told him I was licensed for sure, he
>might change his mind.
>
>I just filled out the online Encompass Associate membership form. Anyone
>know how long it takes to get a response?
>
>--
>Jeffrey Sharp
>
;-----------------------------------------------------------
; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556
; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558)
;-----------------------------------------------------------
Jeff,
This is what I got when I tried to reply to your e-mail, using
jss(a)subatomix.com
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at saghotta.pair.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
<www.horseville.com@saghotta.pair.com>:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)
Is there a better e-mail to use???
Will J
_________________________________________________________________
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I know this is OT by about 5 years, but... if anyone knows much about NCR
Teradata systems (specifically a Worldmark 5100M), please contact me
off-list.
Pat
--
Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS
Information Technology at Purdue
Research Computing and Storage
http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu
John:
The way the telnet server within the Altair32 works is that it's
activated upon the "first" access of a CPU I/O port by a running program.
So, for example, if you are running a program that doesn't interact with any
of the console I/O ports (0/1, 20/21 octal), the telnet server will not be
activated and any telnet client will bomb out, complaining that no server is
found.
So, the sequence I use is to run HyperTerm and "disconnect" from the
telnet port (UDP port 23 by the way -- the standard telnet port). Then, I
run the emulator, attach disks and "boot" CP/M. I run ZoneAlarm, so I get a
notification that a telnet server is starting (with a TCP address of
127.0.0.1), so I allow the access then "connect" HyperTerm.
If you don't run ZoneAlarm, you just have to guess the timing when
connecting. When booting CP/M, it's no more than a few seconds. If you look
at the front panel address LEDs, you can "see" that it drops into an idle
loop (the address LEDs appear to only reference a tight range of addresses).
This is the signal that the CBIOS is waiting for a "live" connection.
If you prefer, you can use the built-in Windows Console. That
doesn't have the same connection problems as telnet. With telnet, however,
you should be able to reach your Altair across a subnet (although I've never
tried it).
The disks are full with stuff, and there certainly should be more
than 2-3 files. The CP/M 2.2 disk probably has 25 files on it.
Rich
Found the problem, the +5 volt line on the siemans 8
inch drive is shorted - causing the power supply to
shutdown.
also i inserted the cpu boards (yes two of them)
backwords(the osi backplane slot headers are not
keyed)(joy, more rebuilding).
i am really interested in info on "d & b computer
systems"
did they make more then clone boards for the osi
systems?
does anyone have the dip switch tables for the two
banks of switches on the dbi cpu boards.
the boards i am looking for info on are the dbi db1
(cpu mem and console board) and the d&b db-pfdco1
(fdc/comms board).
the fdc board has a 50 pin header for the floppy's but
also has a 40 pin header below it.
can a 5-1/4 or 3 1/2 floppy drive be interfaced to a
osi system?
also what is the pinout of the osi/siemans fdd-100-8 e
interface connector?
it seems to be almost the same as the shugart 50 pin -
but how does it work with the read data pin not used
in the interface?
Bill
__________________________________________________
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This is a recent email exchange ......
Someone from titanplasticsgroup.com wrote to me:
>> I was just going through a bunch of files/prints
>> that we are throwing away.
>> They are velum hand drawn prints for the Heath
>> Co. Want them? Know anyone who might?
I answered:
> The Heath Co. made many wonderful kits over the
> the years. Kits that became a part of many people's
> lifes. Of course, most of these people have a favorite
> category - Ham radio equipment, test equipment,
> computers, home automation, robots, the company itself,
> etc.
> I am most interested in Heathkit computer related
> information. But even if this is not the case, I can
> most certainly find and donate it a good home, where
> it would be very appreciated.
> If you want to send these files to me I can pay the
> shipping depending on the amount of material you have.
> Thank you for your effort to save this material from
> being thrown away.
They replied:
>> Wow! You guys are passionate about this stuff. I sent
>> this email to other people as well. One collector of
>> those kits drove up from Benton Harbor (only about an
>> hr away) and has already taken them. I thought he was
>> going to cry when he saw the prints. Sorry!
I replied:
> Thanks for finding it a good home.
> Many people started a life-long love of electronics with
> a Heathkit. And many people were able to pass their
> love of electronics down to their children with Heathkits.
> So when you find something that reminds you of the
> excitement of your youth or time you spent with a parent
> to built something together, it becomes a treasured possession.
It made me feel great to think that someone
would take the time to make old internal files
like this available to collectors.
Have nice day :)
=========================================
Doug Coward
@ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog
=========================================
I'm trying to gather information about the different varieties of Mice
that were used on Lisa and early Mac systems. I'm looking for
additions/clarifications to this list, specifically which mouse would
have been shipped with which system, and if mouse #2 ever existed.
Jeff
--
#1 - Original Lisa Mouse (Lisa and possibly early Lisa2?): Had a metal
ball, long rectangular button, and a "clip"-type retension mechanism on
the connector. The mouse port on the Lisa did NOT have metal around the
connector as is common on DB-9 female connectors. Instead, there was a
plastic "lip" to which the retension clip on the mouse would mate. The
bottom of the mouse was sloped and did not have a sharp angle like the
M0100 mice. The mouse had a tan colored cord.
#2 - (Early Lisa2?): Same as #1 but with standard DB-9 connector instead
of the clip-type retension mechainism. Each thumbscrew had an Apple logo
embossed at the ends.
#3 - Early M0100 (Possibly later Lisa2/Mac XL): Button was not as
slender as the Original Lisa Mouse and had a standard DB-9 male
connector instead of the clip-type retension mechanism. Each thumbscrew
had an Apple logo embossed at the ends. Both the button and cord were
tan colored.
#4 - Later M0100 (Apple II?): Same as Early M0100 but had a gray button
and cord instead of the tan button and cord. The thumbscrews did not
have the embossed Apple logos and were somewhat thinner. The internal
mechanism was also slightly different than the Early M0100 and are not
interchangable.
>From: "Will Jennings" <xds_sigma7(a)hotmail.com>
>
>Hi,
>Does anyone know what exactly a Heath/Zenith SW-3000-A is? The plaque on the
Hi Will
The SW would indicate that it was a shortwave receiver or tranceiver.
Dwight
>front says Heath/Zenith Computer-based Instruments, and there is a card in
>it with 2 coax connectors that looks like maybe its some kind of broadcast
>crud? The machine itself is a rackmount passive backplane 286, with the
>video I asked about in it. I really need to take a pic, it is one snazzy
>looking piece of hardware.
>
>Will J
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
>http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
>
>
Chris,
Well I tried 1 closed, 2-6 open, and no video... it was set to 2 and 3
closed, rest open, that produces some kinda static white noise crud on the
monitor... The card has a chips + tech chip and an Inmos chip, which I would
guess is the RAMDAC.
Will J
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Among many, many other projects I need to tend to, I am working on finishing
up on my Nova 3 restoration project. The last thing I need to do is replace
the burnt out incandescent light bulbs on the front panel. I wanted to
replace them with LEDs, but white ones cost $4.99 a piece at RadioShack.
Plus, I'm betting that the bulbs take enough power to blow out an LED.
RadioShack doesn't seem to have the exact kind of bulb that is on that
panel. So, might anyone be able to tell me what kind of bulb I need to get
to replace the bad ones, or how I might be able to use LEDs instead, which I
would prefer, as I don't want to be replacing burnt out bulbs all the time.
--
Owen Robertson
Hi,
Does anyone know what exactly a Heath/Zenith SW-3000-A is? The plaque on the
front says Heath/Zenith Computer-based Instruments, and there is a card in
it with 2 coax connectors that looks like maybe its some kind of broadcast
crud? The machine itself is a rackmount passive backplane 286, with the
video I asked about in it. I really need to take a pic, it is one snazzy
looking piece of hardware.
Will J
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>About to scream trying to find docs on a Heath/Zenith video card... It's an
>8-bit ISA board with both a 9 pin and 15 pin video interface, and the
>confounded row o' dip switches... The part number on the board is 150-307...
>Hope someone can help me! BTW I am trying to make it use the 15-pin port
>(VGA)
I have one made by Video Seven that I believe I pulled from a 386 Zenith
PC. The part numbers aren't the same as yours, so the dip settings
probably aren't the same (but in case you care 1 closed, 2-6 open).
I also don't have docs, (nor were able to find them), but with mine, it
auto selects the VGA or CGA based on which has a monitor plugged in. If
both have a monitor, it uses VGA (I wasn't able to get it to work with
both at the same time... maybe if I had docs and knew what the dips did).
The interesting thing with mine is it is one of the few cards I have with
a "Slot 8" jumper, which if I understand it right, was to let you use it
in an XT that had slot 8 reverse wired (or something to that effect).
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
Hi all,
About to scream trying to find docs on a Heath/Zenith video card... It's an
8-bit ISA board with both a 9 pin and 15 pin video interface, and the
confounded row o' dip switches... The part number on the board is 150-307...
Hope someone can help me! BTW I am trying to make it use the 15-pin port
(VGA)
Will J
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Hi,
I have just bought an Osborne Executive computer but I need an image
file of the system disk for it, I have tried to boot with an Osborne 1 disk,
but it does not work, can you help me.
Regards,
Harvey
---
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Here are some responses to a question I asked of the
people-who-who-would-know about the Convex C210 that is currently on
Ebay. It looks to me like the machine hadn't been used in quite a
while. Also, It doesn't look like the power cable assembly is
included. Also, it seems that the machine was NOT in use in Oct of this
year, regardless of what the Ebay blurb says. Email addresses and last
names have been removed to protect the innocent.
-----Forwarded Message-----
> From: Phil
> ----- Forwarded message from Roger -----
>
> Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:06:37 -0500
> From: Roger
>
> Yeah, we dumped it. Hasn't run in sometime to my knowledge. Had a very
> heavy power cable assembly that we kept. I unbolted the cables myself,
> and disconnected the cables between the units. I wonder if Mo remembered
> to format the drives before it was dumped?
>
> We have been surplusing lots of Mo junk here recently.
>
> Will be interesting to watch this auction. Can't believe the guy has a
> reserve on it.
>
> - RAL
>
> Phil wrote:
> >Did the Convex get surplussed?
> >
> >----- Forwarded message from Christopher McNabb <cmcnabb(a)vt.edu> -----
> >
> >Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 00:42:42 -0500
> >From: Christopher McNabb
> >
> >Know anything about this one:
> >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2072169868&category=1479
> >
> >It is in Blacksburg and come from the Physics dept. at a "Major
> >University"
> >
> >
> >Looks like VT property tags in the upper left hand corner of each
> >cabinet (first photo)
> >
>
> --
> Roger
> Virginia Tech Physics Department, Computing Systems
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
--
Christopher McNabb <cmcnabb(a)4mcnabb.net>
The McNabb Family
I find that sellers auctions disturbing, since at least one the boards has a
comment of "just removed from the rack" : (
Will J
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Please contact the original sender.
Reply-to: <lbritton(a)sbcglobal.net>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 13:50:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Lori Britton <lbritton(a)sbcglobal.net>
Subject: TI99
Hello,
I bet you already have a ton of TI 99's, right? :o)
I have one, mint condition, in box.
Let me know.
Best regards,
Lori
--
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 *
mike, just read your thread. I've got a wall of vr201's and the keyboards.
I've been testing them on decmate III's of which I have about a dozen. If
your looking for a monitor and keyboard at a real good price email me at
trestivo(a)tarinc.com. I don't know if this is proper protocol for this board
as it is my first visit here. If I am out of line my apologies and please
let me know. thanks, thom.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Hello everybody,
~ I have to prepare a 1 hour lesson on history of computer architecture
as a part of a university exam.
It must be a technical lesson (ie: process technology, innovations such
as pipelines & superscalar processors, risc vs cisc, and so on - I study
informatic engineering), not just a historical resume.
I started collecting informations, but I wonder if you can suggest me
some interesting sites and/or books.
Tank you!
Davide Rizzi
ps: Sorry for my bad english...
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> (0) A 6'Hx10'W superwall of VAX, VMS, and layered product manuals. There
> is an orange wall, a grey wall, a white wall, a multicolored wall,
> another white wall, and so on. I don't remember how far back it goes,
Orange will be V4 and grey will be V5. Newer than that (V6 and V7) will be
the perfect bound white books. That's assuming these are all VMS manuals - it's
possible, given the history, that you may have scored some RT11, RSTS or RSX stuff.
> (1) About 100 blank magtapes, as soon as <name> runs them through the
> bulk eraser.
If these are original DEC media tapes (rather than people's data) it might be
possible to persuade him not to erase them, since the hobbyist program allows
you to use them. (OTOH it might be safer to wipe them any way from <name>'s point
of view).
Antonio
At least $1500, ending today....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2071171983
>From: Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com>
>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>Subject: Re: Whats wrong with chip collecting?
>Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 14:04:53 -0800 (PST)
>
>I suggest the former. Prices for old computers are fairly well
>established by now. These prices are independent of, for instance, the
>CPU that may power the computer. For example, if a SOL-20 goes on the
>market, chances are it could fetch up to $1,200, regardless of whether it
>had an Intel C8080 on the original Processor Technology CPU board or if
>it had a Cromemco ZPU with a Zilog Z80 (even a first run Z80). The CPU
>has no bearing on the valuation of the machine.
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Hi Lawrence:
I expected a keyboard problem, since the owner said it had a stuck key.
Sure enough, the boot screen would flash as if you were holding down an
incorrect key.
When I opened it up, the row and column flex connectors were plainly
visible. Also, the keyboard pinout is in the tech ref (which is online, if
you don't already have it).
I peeled a corner of the flex circuit up off the aluminum plate, and could
see metallization crossovers where the shorts likely exist. I could punch
a hole at the crossover to break the short, but then I would need to jumper
the cut traces. And this does not look like a solder job -- liquid
conductive ink perhaps? There could be shorts in the middle of the key
array too. The keyswitches are plastic, with posts that protrude through
the mounting plate, and then melted into place.
All in all a nasty thing to even think about repairing. Perhaps I am on
the wrong track (no pun intended), but I pulled the two flex connectors
out, so the ribbon cable is not connected -- I can measure many shorts
right at the flex terminals. All of the melted-in-place keyswitches would
need to be removed to asses the situation properly. Bummer.
At least I have a new keyboard I can plug in. I have not opened that one
up, so I don't know if it is different.
gil
> Uh-Oh ! I picked up a beige Osborne 1 last summer. It's in my
>lengthening To-Do queue. I booted it at the time but it had a problem
>not recognising the keyboard. I simply figured it was likely a cable
>fault. Now I wonder if there may be larger problems with the
>keyboard. What was your methodology to check the k-b ? I don't
>want to open mine up now to do a visual inspection, lest I be
>captured by the "fix-it" bug and neglect more pressing tasks.
;-----------------------------------------------------------
; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556
; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558)
;-----------------------------------------------------------
Complete, pristine Convex with lots of original docs, tapes, etc. No
idea what the reserve is (and no connection to it):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2072169868&category=1479
Been up there for almost a week already and I haven't seen any talk
of it here. Hopefully someone can save it - someone else, the house
is filling up as it is... ;^)
--Steve.
Tony wrote:
> <88W> ... since
>it's steady, I think we can assume it's correct (at least for the moment).
OK. I'll probe around looking for a resistor connecting high end to +5V.
>What I would _expect_ is the following :
>
...
>
>2) A potential divider across one of the supply rails (probably the +5V
>rail), with the tap to the other input. Possibly a capacitor from the tap
>to ground to provide a bit of power-on delay. The idea is to take the CPU
>out of the reset state when the supply rails are high enough (== when the
>comparator switches over)
The orange 6192 may be that. Its job is just to make sure the
voltage-divider tap comes up slower than the voltage reference?
I'll look for another component (a black one this time) in parallel with
the 6192, to form the bottom end of the divider.
>3) A high value resistor from the output back to one of the inputs to
>provide a bit of hysteresis and prevent the darn thing oscillating. May
>not be essential, but it's good practice to put it in
All,
I didn't get around to the soldering last night. My wife informed
me that we were going to get up at 0400 so the kids could see the Leonid
meteor shower, so I decided to get to bed earlier. Glad I did, it was
spectacular.
I did do some more probing around the mainboard.
>> <88W>...I'll probe around looking for a resistor connecting high end to +5V.
I looked. It doesn't connect to anything nearby, and when I say
"doesn't connect" I mean completely open circuit to everything. Practically
every other connection shows at least *some* conductance to *something*.
Also, I noticed that the other pins from SMD's like this one have a little
trace running off to a microscopic little pit in the printed circuit board.
I assume this pit is where the conducting path dives into the innards of
the circuit board. There's no such trace and pit on the upper right
terminal of this device. I think it really is a no-connect.
On the 6192: I misled you all, I think. My apologies. Although I
remembered the color as "orange", it's in fact a subdued burnt orange, in
contrast to the bright international orange of the tantalum capacitors.
Someone who didn't graduate from the University of Texas might reasonably
refer to it as a reddish brown. :-) Meantime, there is in parallel with it,
just as Tony predicted, a tantalum capacitor (bright orange, with a pip).
One more piece of evidence: all the tantalum caps have, in addition
to the pip, a "+" printed on the circuit board near one end. There is *one*
exception to that, where the pip points toward the power supply and away
>from the "+" on the PCB. It's over near one of the connectors on the back
edge (maybe the SCSI, or 25-pin serial? I forget, but will post good
directions if anyone wants). The "+" mark is not present on 6192's position
on the PCB.
1) Anyone with access to a 4000 VLC mainboard, would you mind checking and
confirming that *all* of the tantalums are supposed to have the pip near
the "+" (and hence one of mine is probably in backward)? Or wait for better
directions, and check just the one that's backward on my board?
2) What's the consequence of having it reversed? Is that cap. probably now
dead?
Anyway, by now I'm pretty convinced 6192 is the lower resistor of a
voltage divider.
I did not find a feedback resistor for the comparator. It still could be
there, but I don't think it's very close by.
- Mark
> > The tinker gene is alive, but tinkering is indeed getting harder to do.
> > Kit building and ground up projects are very much alive in audio,
> > especially speakers. If you visit www.headwise.com you will see close to
> > a dozen different headphone amp projects.
>
>Is that url right? Looks like that one points to a web portal of
>somesort...
I may need to see a URLologist, try this one
<http://headwize2.powerpill.org/index.htm>
Hi folks:
I recently got two Osborne 1 computers. The first one (blue case) had a
dead power supply -- I fed +5/+12 DC power into the battery connector and
was able to bring it to life, but had no software to test it further. This
one has a double-density option board inside (and drives I presume), as
well as the optional modem.
I also got a second osborne (early beige case), which came with software
and manuals. This one has a keyboard that seemed to have a stuck key.
Turns out that the keyboard matrix has many shorts, not only row-to-column,
but also row-to-row and col-to-col. It is a flex-circuit soft of design,
and it appears to have a silk-screened or deposited metallization pattern
for the matrix. There is an insulating layer of some sort and then a
second metal layer. Anyway, it seems that the insulation between layers
has failed where some traces cross. It'll be a mess to fix, if even
possible. Anyone else have this problem on an early keyboard?
So I plugged the later keyboard into the early unit, and was able to boot
cp/m. I tried to copy the original cp/m disk to a new one, but copy had
read errors on a couple of tracks. I could see some visibly-crappy spots
on the disk surface too, but it did boot fine, and the utils seemed to run
ok. So I formatted a new disk, copied just the system, and then pip'd the
files over. Hmm, no errors on file reads with pip -- does that make sense,
since copy previously found bad tracks? After booting and running off the
new disk, it seems that all command files are working, with the possible
exception of movcpm (which seems to hang the machine, though I am not sure
how it works).
So I finally got the original disks copied, and learned a bit about the
machine in the process.
I fired up the later (double-density) model, but it would not boot from the
single-density disk. Should the DD drive be able to read the SD disk? The
drive was making an odd noise, so it may be drive-related. Is there a way
to boot from drive B? Can I swap the drives, and if so are there
master/slave jumpers, or terminations that need to move as well? On the
early machine, there was a diagnostic mode in rom (ctrl-D at the boot
screen, I think it was), but the newer unit does not respond to that. Were
diagnostics removed from later roms?
I swapped the working power supply from the old unit into the new machine
(yes, I know about the different jumper/harness connections). It worked fine.
Then, I put the non-working power supply into the early unit, and it
started working! I think the original power supply problem in the newer
machine may have been an intermittant in the fuse/voltage-selector gizmo,
which tells the PS whether to expect 115 or 230 -- in the early unit, this
gets hard-coded by the jumper wire on the PS board. Crazy frickin'
computers.
Then I accidentally cracked the brightness trimpot on one, as I put things
back together. Tacked a temporary pot in place while I look for a
replacement. I shouldn't try to do this stuff at 2 in the morning, I guess.
Well, that was sort of an FYI ramble, but any thoughts appreciated. Does
anyone have double-sided software for sale or trade?
thanks,
gil smith
;-----------------------------------------------------------
; vaux electronics, inc. 480-354-5556
; http://www.vauxelectronics.com (fax: 480-354-5558)
;-----------------------------------------------------------
Makes life blow when you have no money, though... Trust me!
Will J
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Sellam Ismail wrote:
> I believe the seller is being completely disingenuous when he says, "I
> don't have a monitor or the expertise to test it", considering that he is
> selling a monitor with the Sol! Being that it only contains a RAM card,
> this is seller code for "it doesn't work but I don't want to let you know
> that". Dishonest.
>
He says the keyboard lights up when it powers on, so it does also have
the main board (which is where the processor is in a SOL), but still at
these prices you're paying for collectability rather than functionality,
so a non-original memory card doesn't add much value - it is a minimal
SOL, albeit in nice condition.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he doesn't realize
that the TV is meant as a display - he probably thought the PL-259 video
connector was to attach a boat anchor or some other exotic accessory. It
seems that a lot of the tech stuff on eBay is sold by people who are
*completely* non-technical - I stumped one seller by asking him what
card an Apple 3.5 drive was attached to - he had trouble "tracing the
wires". Doh!
Ben
P.S. I read in the CCTalk archives that you had Bob Marsh as a previous
VCF speaker .. did you ever put a transcript of his talk on-line, or
maybe have a recording of it available?
There's one that I just saw get unloaded a few minutes ago at Purdue
University Salvage. Looks to be in good condition... except it's laying
outside on its side since they regard big things like it as 'junk'. Well,
if anyone's interested and nearby, drop me an email and I'll get you more
details.
Unfortunately, I don't think it'll last too long outside - they may end
up dumping more stuff on top of it, or mother nature may end up dumping
stuff on top. I would get it myself but I don't have any way to get it,
let alone somewhere to store it.
Pat
--
Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS
Information Technology at Purdue
Research Computing and Storage
http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu
As mentioned, I just picked up some new machines in Canada...
A gent had saved some National Semiconductor ICM-3216's from a university
lab and was glad to find a new home for them. These are fairly full-
featured little systems designed to showcase NS's 32000 family, with on-
board serial and parallel ports, a SCSI controller with it's own Z80 to
mind the bus transactions, a modest expansion bus, etc. Since these were
board-level products, everything else like cases and drives had to be
built or found elsewhere.
Two of the hosts I received were timesharing systems and are housed in
nicely designed cases custom built from sheet steel. A third timesharing
host has gone elsewhere, and a fourth ICM was later built in a PC/AT clone
case where students could try coding on the bare metal by booting from a
SCSI floppy drive.
One of the timesharing systems powered up and ran just fine before
loading for the trip South.
The icing on the cake was an unexpected trove of manuals that originally
came with all this stuff, including full schematics for the boards, and
two (binary) versions of SysV Unix on QIC tape. I'm still sorting through
all this stuff, which includes a folder full of notes, letters, and some
brochures for different components like disk drives and terminals, mostly
>from 1986.
Eventually I expect to get some pictures up, and depending on where VCF
East is I think I'd bring one along.
--Steve.
A while back I'd asked for tips on moving machines from Canada down
to the US. Thought I'd answer my own question now that I've done it.
The gentleman giving me the systems (details to follow) wrote me a
note stating that they were obsolete, over 15 years old, and that any
commercial value was less than $100. It also stated that the machines
were a gift rather than a sale, which was the case.
It looked like the US Customs agent wouldn't have bothered asking,
but I mentioned the machines and handed her the letter. Had it been
a trailer-load rather than a couple boxes in the back of the SUV, it
might have been different, but as it was she just waved me through.
--Steve.
Actually there's two SOL's currently on eBay.
The 2nd one is currently "only" $500 or so:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2071406461
The difference being that it has no documentation (which I suspect accounts for
the price difference), and also it only has a single card in it - a non-PT 64K
memory card (I asked the seller if it was PT or not).
In recent history SOL's have sold for anywhere from $490 to $2500!
Documentation also seems to be what has so far driven this Altair to $4K:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2072033128
Ben
Glen Slick wrote:
>At least $1500, ending today....
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2071171983
>
>
>>From: Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com>
>>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>>Subject: Re: Whats wrong with chip collecting?
>>Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 14:04:53 -0800 (PST)
>>
>
>>I suggest the former. Prices for old computers are fairly well
>>established by now. These prices are independent of, for instance, the
>>CPU that may power the computer. For example, if a SOL-20 goes on the
>>market, chances are it could fetch up to $1,200, regardless of whether it
>>had an Intel C8080 on the original Processor Technology CPU board or if
>>it had a Cromemco ZPU with a Zilog Z80 (even a first run Z80). The CPU
>>has no bearing on the valuation of the machine.
Does anyone have any of these Qbus boards that I can
buy? They have a TOY that has a window of 100 years.
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.
> I've got one, but it's occupying a place of honor in my collection.
> The rest are sitting in my RA-82, which I'm not about to take apart.
> These things are hard to come by, [...]
About twelve years ago a friend and I were poking around MITs Surplus
Property Office. Amongst all the cool "junque" was a pair of RP06
drives and some disk packs.
With apologies now to the poor sods wanting an RP06 to hook up to
their KS10 or something, I bought one of the disk packs for $5 or
something and took it back to the office. I think I was able to
deconstruct the whole thing with just hand tools. Resulted in a nice
supply of 14" platters for gifts and wall art.
In fact just yesterday I was using one of those platters to explain
to someone what went on inside the Seagate ST-4051 she was holding,
and to show the progression of storage technology...
If you really needed a 14" platter for display, look around for a
bad RL01/02 disk pack, there's one platter in each pack. Much easier
than trying to bust open an HDA...
--Steve.
Hi All
Does anyone have any of the software information
on the Z8000 Floating Point EPU? The CP/M-8000
that I've been working on uses an emulated EPU
( extended processing unit ). It also has code
to run with a real EPU. This is all fine and dandy
except I have no information on what is needed
>from a software point of view. I need a model of
what the real EPU does.
The assembler I have includes the fp instructions
but the docs don't mention how they are used.
I suppose I could look to see how the C compiler
uses them and look at the emulation code but
it would be a lot easier with a users manual.
Heck, I'm not even sure they actually made the
part.
Thanks
Dwight
>I _very recently_ had the unfortunate experience in having to deal with a
>"collector" who seems to fit your description of the second group. I
>invited the "collector" along on a rescue of a fair number of systems,
>with a prior understanding that I'd get first pick, but he showed up
>unannounced (didn't call ahead) and early (he got there before I had
I used to go to a scrap yard where a good half dozen people would be lined
up waiting for the gate to open, and people would literally run to the back
to see the pallets of new stuff and stake out the stuff they wanted.
Personality flaws were often revealed.
I'm not shy, when I take somebody to a source of goodies, I lay out ground
rules, and if they aren't accepted and followed, they don't get access
anymore if I can manage it.
OTOH this is my hobby, and I recognize for many people this is what puts
food on the table and pays the rent.
OTOOH I know a couple guys who absolutely refuse to reveal any sources of
any kind, AND who often make hardline arrangements with all their sources,
ie I accidently find a place on my own, but when I make an offer for some
stuff I find out all deals get run past the person I know. I so detest this
practice that I do try not to emulate it.
Hi to everybody.
I am in trouble with my beatiful Apple ///, the internal floppy drive is
dead.
I think that this is a mechanical problem, but I am not sure. Is there a
test to check the hardware of the drive ?
Another problem is with the Profile drive. I can get the files list via
System utilities, but at the end of the list, I get a message like:
"Warning: structure directory corrupted". Is there a way to fix this
problem? Booting from Business Basic, the "catalog .profile" command is show
in a window of 3 or 4 chr width! Why? Perhaps is the same problem with the
corrupted directory.
Any help will be apreciated :-)
Bye
Tiziano
I've opened bad ones with water pump pliers, just firmly grip the weirdo
bolts and apply mucho force, and they turn. BTW the screws/bolts/whatever
they are appear to be copper... And no, I don't have any platters, I took em
to the scrapyard a while ago.
Will J
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What does PT / non-PT mean in this context?
>From: Benedict Bridgewater <benb(a)Basit.COM>
>Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: SOL-20 / eBay prices
>Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 13:24:41 -0500 (EST)
>
>Actually there's two SOL's currently on eBay.
>
>The 2nd one is currently "only" $500 or so:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2071406461
>
>The difference being that it has no documentation (which I suspect accounts
>for
>the price difference), and also it only has a single card in it - a non-PT
>64K
>memory card (I asked the seller if it was PT or not).
>
>In recent history SOL's have sold for anywhere from $490 to $2500!
>
>Documentation also seems to be what has so far driven this Altair to $4K:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2072033128
>
>Ben
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On disassembly:
Toth wrote:
>First you'll want to remove lower portion of the plastic shell. There are
>5 screws on the bottom of the unit, and two clips on the front edge.
Figured out how to release those. Stuff a flat-head screwdriver blade in
>from the bottom side, so it slides between the plastic clip and the metal
tab it locks over. That way it's pretty easy to lever the plastic *only*
far enough to disengage.
>Once the graphics board is out, there are 3 more phillips screws at the
>back edge of the mainboard. The plastic clips pull up to release, but with
>the bottom shell off, you can use something to push them up from the
>underside.
That works. I used the point of needle-nosed pliers as a pin-driver (set in
place, hold the handles, use the other hand to hammer on the one holding
the pliers). Once the pins were driven mostly out, the whole clip could be
wriggled out with not too much trouble. I still hate those clips. What do
they do that a screw and lockwasher wouldn't do better?
Big help! Thanks! I had the motherboard out in my hands last night, so I'm
ready to go to work desoldering either the comparator or the resistors.
Anyone have any educated guesses which one to try first?
- Mark
Hi All,
A dealer who usually sells on ebay as RELCOMSER has just gotten an 11/45 in
and has offered it to me and a couple of others before putting it up on
ebay. He
says that he wants $1000 or more for it, but in todays economy, who knows.
I do not have any interest in this and would bargain with him for it
myself, but my
collection already includes an 11/45 and my wife would kill me. Here are
details:
His name et al: Patrick Lind, Reliable Computer Services Inc., 815-838-0134
His email: RELCOMSER(a)aol.com
He is in the Chicago area (Lockport, IL)
The specifics: One H960 with 11/45 including the following boards:
M787, M8114, All M81?? so 15,12,13,00,01,02,03,04,05,06,08,07,09.
M7800, M792-YD, M7800
Memory by Digital Pathways Inc. RVM 128K bds -2- boards.
Also -1- RL02 in the same cabinet.
Had -2- power supplies.
Second H960 with a BAll-K & RL02
NOTE! The front panel has 6 of the plastic switch paddles broken off due to
careless
moving. He has also plugged it in, but says that he has no way of testing
it. I know
another guy who has a number of 11/70 front panels, some of which are only
useful
for parts, so these can be replaced.
He made this offer to me, so I assume it applies to others:
"We will sell one or both of the H960 cabinets.
One has the 11/45 & RL02 with RL02K-DC pak
One has a BAll-K & RL02
There are -2- H742-A power suplies with H744, H745, H7441regulators. We
will supply -1- each of these regulators as good spares.
Because of the age of this we are selling it AS IS, No Warranty. "
He sent me some pics, which I will be happy to forward to anyone who is
interested, or you
can just send him some email.
Again. I have no vested interest in this deal and I wish that I had the
time, room, and money
to pick it up myself. The 11/45 is one of my favorite machines.
--tom
Hi
I live in the UK and am looking for TRS-80 models I to IV (including spares and accessories). If you're fed up of Zork and want some extra cash then email me with details of what you have, the condition it's in, the price you are looking for and where you live. I would prefer UK based to save on shipping costs but will consider anywhere.
Regards
John
glyncoedcompschool(a)btinternet.com
Tothwolf asks:
>Are the two fans on the side of the power supply running properly?
Both still seem to be. However, most of the tests I'm talking about are run
with the lid off, and a small floor fan set up to blow over the mainboard
(in the same direction as the small cooling fans). I think the airflow rate
>from this is much higher than the cooling fans would generate, but may not
be in the right areas.
>What type of hard drive do you have in the system?
1-Gig RZ26L.
>Your mainboard may have a bad solder joint somewhere near the comparator,
>which would explain the thermal issue. That tends to be the worst type of
>problem to pinpoint too.
It would, but unless the comparator or one of the voltage-divider resistors
is intermittent, I'm at a loss to explain the varying voltage on the
comparator input. I have physically shoved back and forth on all 3
components while it was running, no effect. Also I can't *see* any bad
solder joint, but then I can barely see the two resistors anyway.
>First you'll want to remove lower portion of the plastic shell. There are
>5 screws on the bottom of the unit,
5 holes, only two screws left in mine. I should probably get some more
screws, when I get everything put back together.
>and two clips on the front edge.
I see them. The plastic has to deform a log way before it'll release, but
I'll try it tonight.
>Next you'll need to remove the graphics board,
Yeah, that is tricky. Done it a couple times during earlier testing. The
problem first appeared when I was first using the graphics board, so I
blamed it. But I think it's working OK. At least for the moment, I'm doing
all the testing with a VT320 on the MMJ console port, so I have to
connect/disconnect less stuff when taking things apart.
>Once the graphics board is out, there are 3 more phillips screws at the
>back edge of the mainboard. The plastic clips pull up to release, but with
>the bottom shell off, you can use something to push them up from the
>underside.
Ok, that's a big help. If I can get the shell off I'll try poking them out.
>Certainly make sure they are discharged before you remove them, if you
>decide to replace them after all ;)
Ok. Short through a resistor for a minute or two? But I'm thinking right
now the comparator is the first target for replace, followed by the SMD
resistors if that doesn't do it.
- Mark
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
>I rarely bet except on certainties :-)
Yeah, me too. As you probably noted...
>>> Now *I'll* bet - Tony wants to know what the comparator *inputs* are
>>> connected to.
...
>>
>>I don;t think it's for overvoltage protection. I think this is where the
>>PowerOK signal comes from. And it's triggering at the wrong time. So
>>either the comparator is defective or there's a problem with the passive
>>components areund it, or there's a PSU fault.
>>
>>How hard is it to reverse-engineer the schematic of the components around
>>this comparator? Can't be _that_ complicated...
Yup. a sure bet. :-)
Complicated, probably not. Hard, yes. They are all surface-mount and near
microscopic. For which reason, all numbers and letters quoted below may be
wrong. Here's what I think I found:
Comparator INV Input B and Input B connect to ground (zero Ohms to chassis).
Comparator INV Input A connects to the middle pin (which points left)
of a 3-pin device marked "88W". I couldn't find that the upper right
pin connected to anything. The lower right pin connected to ground.
That input stayed very steady at about 3.4 V.
Comparator Input A connects to an orange device marked "6192" and a black
device
marked "1152". Both are 2-terminal surface-mount rectangles.
The other end of the 6192 connects to ground.
The other end of the 1152 connects to +5 (Red wire).
That input *varies substantially and irregularly*
It's at 4.2V and reasonably steady when the computer is running.
It's at 2.9V, or wavering in between when the computer is hung.
There may be *lots* of connections I missed.
"Wavering" is what I see my needle do - for all I know, the voltage may be
popping rapidly between the two values, with varying duty cycle.
Here's what I think may be happening: 6192 and 1152 are voltage-dividing
the +5V supply down to some intermediate value for the comparator. But
either the resistors are flaky (do resistors *do* that?) or the comparator
is intermittently drawing current, and throwing off the voltage-divider.
Good so far? Any way to test those theories with my analog VOM? Should I
order a new LM193 comparator chip instead of a pile of capacitors for my
first soldering attempt on this machine?
If I *do* need to pull the comparator, I'll need to take the mainboard out
of the chassis. That'll mean removing 4 extremely nasty plastic rivet
things. How do those suckers come out in such a way as to leave them
intact? I wrestled with one for a while and got nowhere.
>It can't do any harm provided the new capacitors are good, and you get
>them the right way round (they are, of course, polarised.)
I didn't make it to the electronics shop today - Kids' soccer game and
wife's Newtonsday (sic?) shopping interfered. She promised to go for me
Monday if I wanted. I explained to her what a "capacitor" is so that she
could breeze in, look knowledgeable, and say "I'd like replacements for all
the electrolytic capacitors on this board." She practiced it three or four
times so she wouldn't stumble over "electrolytic capacitors". I also
pointed at them, just for good measure.
All that notwithstanding, the capacitors may get due process after all.
- Mark
Yesterday I went by the scrapyard, and found an HP 9825B, 9825T, and 3 HP
86s... Asked what they wanted for them, and they told me "oh we wouldn't
charge you for those"... WOOHOO! But I need case parts and manuals and
keycaps, plus none of them have interface cards in them.. But the 9825T,
which is all I have powered up so far, WORKS!
Will J
_________________________________________________________________
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All,
Just catching up on the digest. I think next time I beg for advice I'll
take digest mode *off* first. The delay is frustrating. Tony was way ahead
of me last night, but I didn't get the benefit of his advice until this
morning.
Tony D. said:
>I will bet that
>Red = +5V
>Black = Gnd
>Orange = +12V
>Blue = -12V...
You'd win, as far as I can tell with my meter, with the minor variations
I've noted.
>> Blue is one wire, and goes to appx. 12 V. when the system is on.
>
>I would think the last one is actually -12V ?
Correct, typo on my part.
>More intersting would be to
>use a 'scope to look for noise (particularly spikes at the PSU switching
>frequency). Such spikes can make a supply rail look to be too high on
>some meters.
Yeah. Sigh. What's a likely frequency for the PSU switching? Is my
(primitive analog) VOM likely to yield any useful info if I set it to the
"AC Voltage" ranges?
>> M9124
>> LM393N
>> QST
>
>Aha. A dual voltage comparator. This could be used to check if power is
>OK, and to generate the reset signal as appropriate.
I don't know the causality yet (failure causes comparator to switch, or
comparator switching causes failure), but the comparator (at least output
A) does switch when the failure appears. Output A is Pin 1 as you recalled
and Output B Pin 7, thanks to Toth for the link to the data sheet.
Now *I'll* bet - Tony wants to know what the comparator *inputs* are
connected to. Tonight's work is cut out for me. But in any case, I'm still
guessing the power supply is a likely culprit. It looks like the comparator
is properly protecting the mainboard from an overvoltage on +5V or +3.3V. I
don't know what's going on with +3.3 being referred to something other than
ground. In either case, a lower +5V supply (= appropriate repair to the
PSU) would solve the problem.
Is replacing all of the PSU output electrolytic capacitors just on
suspicion a good move? That's what I plan for the weekend. (Lucky for me
capacitors are not entitled to due process.. :-) )
- Mark
Of possible interest to the List...
------------ Tear along dotted line ----------------------
From: jones(a)pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: ASCII control codes
Date: 31 Aug 1995 19:37:58 GMT
From article <4239uk$ko1(a)metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU>,
by adrianw@cassius (Adrian Whichello):
> Some are obviously still used for their original purpose (CR, LF, the
> tabbing codes etc.) but what did ENQ, EM, SUB, FS, etc. do? Thanks,
- - - here's a reply I posted a year ago in June - - -
Subject: Re: original uses of ASCII control codes
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
References: <1994Jun02.064649.131411(a)ua1ix.ua.edu>
To understand the original intent of the ASCII control codes, you have
to think of teletypes, using paper tape, configured in a multidrop
system with relay logic used to turn on or off individual teletypes in
the bunch, and you have to remember that the designers were pretty
smart and they anticipated future developments, but they also managed
to include provisions for things that never happened. Here are the
ASCII control characters, and a few others, with comments on how they
were supposed to be used and how this relates to current popular uses:
NAME HEX/CTL USE
NULL 00 ^@ always ignored -- leader and trailer on paper tape
systems was typically made of sequences of NULLs.
SOH 01 ^A start of heading -- imagine a heading containing, for
example, the address of the recipient. You could have
relay logic that scans for SOH, then enables the print
mechanism if the following character matches this
station's address. In early documentation, this was
called start of message.
STX 02 ^B start of text -- if the heading matched, start printing
with the following character. In early documentation,
this was called end of address.
ETX 03 ^C end of text -- now is a good time to stop printing.
Your message might continue after this with a checksum
or other administrative stuff. In early documentation,
this was called end of message. The common use of
control C as a kill character stems from this -- it
indicates the end of your text addressed to some
application.
EOT 04 ^D end of transmission -- relay logic could decode this
and, if there is a tape in the tape reader, it could
begin transmitting its own message.
ENQ 05 ^E enquire -- on receiving this, local relay logic would
generate a response. In early documentation, this was
called WRU or who are you. Teletypes had programmable
response sequences that were encoded on a music box
mechanism, and it was up to the customer to break
plastic fingers off the drum to code how it responded
to an ENQ.
ACK 06 ^F acknowledge -- one possible response to ENQ. In early
documentation, this was called RU or are you.
BEL 07 ^G bell -- ring the bell in the terminal. Teletypes had
real bells where most modern terminals have beepers of
some kind. A sequence of BEL characters sent to a
teletype sounded very much like a telephone ringing.
BS 08 ^H backspace.
HT 09 ^I horizontal tab.
LF 0A ^J linefeed.
VT 0B ^K vertical tab.
FF 0C ^L formfeed -- page eject.
CR 0D ^M carrage return -- on many mechanical devices, CR was
slow. The sequence CR LF was always sent in that order
so that the linefeed could be handled while the carriage
was returning; a well adjusted Teletype could just finish
the CR in this time (0.2 seconds), and a common sign that
it was time to call the service man was that the first
letter printed after a CR LF was printed "on the fly" on
the way back to the margin.
SO 0E ^N shift out -- if you've got a two-color ribbon, shift to
the alternate color, usually red. There are obvious
extensions of this to alternate character sets.
SI 0F ^O shift in -- undo whatever SO does. For mysterious reasons
that have no apparent connection to old or modern ASCII
standards, DEC liked to use control O as a break character
to suppress teletype output.
DLE 10 ^P data link escape -- an escape character is generally a
prefix for something else. DLE was expected to be used
as a prefix on characters in the user data stream that
might otherwise be interpreted as data link control
characters, for example, flow control characters. In
some early documentation, this was called DC0 or device
control zero.
DC1 11 ^Q device control 1 -- turn on the paper tape reader.
In early documentation, this was called XON.
DC2 12 ^R device control 2 -- turn on the paper tape punch.
DC3 13 ^S device control 3 -- turn off the paper tape reader.
In early documentation, this was called XOFF, The use
of XON/XOFF (DC1/DC3) for flow control stems from their
use to control the flow of data from the paper tape
reader attached to a Teletype.
DC4 14 ^T device control 4 -- turn off the paper tape punch.
NAK 15 ^U negative acknowledge -- another possible response to ENQ.
One flow control mechanism is to use ENQ to ask if the
receiver has buffer space, and require the receiver to
respond with either ACK (yes) or NAK (no). ENQ could
also be used to enquire about whether a retransmission
is required after sending a checksum. The popular use of
control U to delete the current input line is only vaguely
grounded in this definition.
SYN 16 ^V synchronous idle -- if you're using a synchronous
transmission protocol, and you have no data to send, you
send SYN characters to keep the clocks synchronized.
The receiver should ignore these, and the transmitter may
have to insert them into the data stream once in a while.
ETB 17 ^W end of transmission block -- used when a transmission must
be broken into many blocks for some reason, for example,
to place a checksum after each block. Early documentation
called this logical end of media.
CAN 18 ^X cancel -- take that back, what I just sent you is a
mistake, ignore it.
EM 19 ^Y end of medium -- there's nothing left on this reel of
(paper) tape.
SUB 1A ^Z substitute -- the next character is from an alternate
character set. SUB X might be equivalent to SO X SI,
or it might be an alternate mechanism for extending the
character set. The common use of control Z as an end
of file character has no obvious relation to the standard.
ESC 1B ^[ escape -- the next character is to be interpreted as
something other than text, for example, it might be an
extended control character of some kind.
FS 1C ^\ file separator -- useful if you have multiple logical
files in one transmission.
GS 1D ^] group separator -- useful if files are made of groups
of records.
RS 1E ^^ record separator -- COBOL anyone?
US 1F ^_ unit separator -- are records made of units?
ALT 7D } Some early teletypes had an ALT MODE key that generated
this code instead of ESC. This was interpreted as an
escape code, which was no problem when nobody had lower
case printers, but with the advent of full 96 character
ASCII, there were obvious compatability problems.
PRE 7E ~ A few terminals had a PREFIX key that generated this code
instead of ALT MODE, with all the same problems.
DEL 7F delete -- remember, paper tape uses a hole to record each
one and no hole to record each zero. DEL is all holes,
so it can be punched over any other character to rub it
out (on old teletypes, it was the RUB or RUB OUT key).
If you mispunch a character, just back up the tape and
overpunch it with a DEL. Software is expected to ignore
DEL the same way it ignores NULL.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
GreenKeys(a)mailman.qth.net
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Sort of off topic, but sort of not.
My department is planning to have a roast of the former director and
because he was a big user of our former VAX systems, some people think
that mounting a disk platter would be a nice touch.
Anyone have have an extra RA81/RA82 disk platter for free/cheap?
Brian Wheeler
bdwheele(a)indiana.edu
A gentlement named Ed Crawson in Texas has a TI 99/4a available for sale.
It is boxed and includes a TI data recorder, which is relatively
uncommon. He is missing the manuals but is currently searching for them.
According to the seller it is in like new condition, having been used
only slightly. He also has the TI data recorder, which is fairly
uncommon.
He wants to sell it. I told him $35 + shipping for the whole lot would be
about fair, but you can negotiate with him.
His name is Ed and he can be reached at 210/655.6400.
--
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 *
This has come up before but I can't remember it being resolved.
I often see suggestions for rejuvenating failed or dying laptop batteries using
a hi-amp source to flash them and break down the built-up crystals.
Most mention breaking the pack apart before doing this individually on each
cell. Is this because each cell might have different resistances ? Most of my
LT batteries no longer work anyway so it would be no big loss if it totalled
them. Sending a dozen or so batteries into a rebuild place is a costeffective
non-option and replacing the individual cells would still be costly.
Lawrence
lgwalker(a)mts.net
bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com
Dear Sirs,
my father started in the late 60's with BULL machines (tabulatrices
imprimantes etc.) Later we had a GAMMA 10 and also the GE415 (wich is
still built up in moment). In case you are interested in any spare
parts, machines, sheets, documents etc please contact me.
But i also like to ask you for your assistance. We bought a BULL PR54
some time ago and want to fix it to a PC. Unfortunately there is no
description about the interface (level 6/66). Can you give us any
information ?
best regards,
Felix Hammann
Fabrikstrasse 6
67454 Hassloch
phone +49 6324 3001
fax +49 6324 58543
sorry i had a wrong email adress to answer back in my mail
>I need a boot disk for a kaypro 2. A freind gave me
>boot disk for the II, but that didn't work.
>Also I need a commodore pet for a display at a school,
>dead or alive any model.
Can the Kaypro 2 disks be copied without a Kaypro 2?
I have some Kaypro 2 software, but it is already promised to someone else
(just waiting for them to pick it up whenever they are next in the area).
If they can safely be dupilcated with a PC, I can run off a copy while
waiting (but unless this is a 100% safe thing, I don't want to do it, I
don't want to risk screwing up the disks)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>From: "Lawrence Walker" <lgwalker(a)mts.net>
>
> Thanks all. There's also a PD program called "deepdran.exe" (deepdrain)
>which I can use to exercise the batteries after, if it's successfull.
>Worth a try.
There's a similar program for the early PowerPC Powerbooks. I had a
really bad experience with it in my 3400. I took a couple of dead, drained,
and on-the-shelf for years NiMH batteries. Charged one in the powerbook for
a while (15 minutes or so) then tried this program on it. Battery ran down,
Powerbook made out-of-power noises, turned off. Plugged in and reset, the
battery charged up, no problem. (I'm using that battery now).
The *other* battery, I figured I now knew what I was doing. I
slapped it in, unplugged the powerbook immediately, and let it run down on
the drain-dead program. About 10 seconds later, it made a weird buzzing,
and went dead. Next time it powered up was after the power supply board got
replaced. :-(.
Exercise some caution. I don't know what happened - maybe the PS
board got fried because the battery voltage went too low too fast? Maybe it
was OK until I plugged it back in, at which point it fried trying to charge
a too-dead battery too fast? Maybe there's a problem with a PS designed for
Li-Ion batteries charging a NiMH battery (though it's supposed to be OK). I
don't know, but I'm going to charge the other battery repeatedly in the
external charger before I put it into the PB again.
- Mark
Well, having got the Simulated PDP11 running - my next untutored
question is:
sim> att rl ....filname???
sim> boot rl ....filename???
How does one get an OS loaded on the 'machine?'
Cheers
John
> How does one get an OS loaded on the 'machine?'
> attach mt0 c:/dist/ultrix.tap
> attach rl0 c:/dsk/rl02-0.dsk /RL02
> attach rl1 c:/dsk/rl02-1.dsk /RL02
loads the devices (a magtape unit, and two RL02 disks),
and
> boot mt0
or
> boot rl0
should do the trick by booting the desired device.
--fred
I'm trying to clean out some of the clutter before the holidays and I've put a ton of stuff on e-bay including some core memory, a programmer's panel (both end in an hour. these are from computers that were junked before I found them), DG manuals, HP 9845 manuals, Tektronix programmable calibration generator manual, a 3-axis accelerometer, Solaris manuals, conductivity meter, and two NICE stepper motor drivers including one that's made by NEAT for driving optical stages.
<http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=rigdonj>
Joe
John,
> > > How does one get an OS loaded on the 'machine?'
> >
> > > attach mt0 c:/dist/ultrix.tap
> > > attach rl0 c:/dsk/rl02-0.dsk /RL02
> > > attach rl1 c:/dsk/rl02-1.dsk /RL02
>
> The directory 'dsk', nor any files with the extent of '.dsk' do not
> exist anywhere I can find them... are they supposed to come
> with the SIMH
> stuff? Did I not download the whole package? Is there a separate
> 'software' section I didn't see?
>
>
> Curious minds....
That was an example. You _do_ have to get the software images yourself,
and install them somewhere. I myself keep "installation media" in the
C:\DIST directory, and "disks" in C:\DSK. Everyone has their own system
for that, I assume. Images of installation media are available from the
archives, see http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ and the PUPS archive for
some.
--f
Okey-dokey. I have now got all the nice SIMH packages stashed neatly
away on the Trusty Laptop.
Obviously, they must be compiled.
In terms of software, I am an appliance operator. I have had very
minimal experience with C programming, mostly in the 'hello world' levels
of complexity, and that years ago.
Therefore, what would recommendations be for a simple, cheap/free,
plain old C package that I could use to compile these simulators? I
understand the basic idea behind the process, but it's been many years
since I compiled anything, save for the tiny Fortran demo program in the
RSX11M docs... I am not going to use it for 'real' programming, just to
make a PDP-faux-11 on my Wintel Lap-Puter.
T I A
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Galt" <gmphillips(a)earthlink.net>
To: <cctech(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 11:08 PM
Subject: Re: Promoting Classic Computers [was Re: Chip with holes in it]
> I'm a chip collector and I would like to take a moment to defend my hobby.
>
> 1. Most chip collectors are very particular about protecting their chips.
> We just don't
> throw them in the bottom of a drawer like some "computer
enthusiasts".
> I could not
> count the times that I've bought chips on EBAY auctions that were
> displayed
> loose in a coffee can from someone who had found them in grandpa's
> shop.
> Do you really think these chips are better off going in the trash
than
> into some
> chip collectors collection?
>
> 2. Once a chip ends up in a chip collectors collection it's not gone from
> the face
> of the earth. It's carefully preserved for future generations.
>
> 3. The argument that a chip is better off inside a vintage computer is
like
> saying
> a coin is better off in circulation serving its "intended" purpose
than
> in some
> collectors collection.
>
> 4. Many of the chips that chip collectors pay alot of money for are
"rare"
> varieties
> of "common" chips. For example, an Intel C8080 vs. C8080A. Vintage
> computer enthusiasts don't "need" an Intel C8080. In fact, you would
> probably
> be better off with the more common and "improved" C8080A.
>
> 5. I think that alot of vintage computer enthusiasts think that chip
> collectors are
> out there busting up Altair 8800's with sledge hammers to get the
chips
> out of
> them. That's simply not true. Chip collectors hang out on in the
same
> areas of EBAY that you do. We know full well what rare machines are
> worth.
> I'll assure you, chip collectors are not breaking up old machines for
> chips.
>
> In fact, it's just the opposite. I know a number of vintage machines
> that have
> been "saved" by chip collectors because they recognized what they
were.
>
> 6. There are FAR more chips than there are vintage computers. Without
chip
> collectors there would not be much of a market for all these chips.
> Sure
> you would be able to buy an C8008 for 1$ then but... You would also
> have
> people throwing the old chips in the trash because they were not
worth
> listing on EBAY.
>
> If you really want a supply of vintage chips for your vintage
machines
> in
> 20-30 years then you should be glad that a C8008 brings $100 on EBAY
> because of chip collectors. The reason you should be glad is because
> as the
> word gets out that the early chips are worth money, less of them will
> end up
> in the trash.
>
> 7. Chips collectors will often sell chips for LESS than you would pay for
> them
> from a parts distributor. Also, many distributors will not sell
small
> quantities.
> I have sold spare chips out of my collection to vintage computer
> enthusiasts.
> Most collectors have "spares" that they acquire for trading. If you
> need a
> particular chip, changes are good that you can get one from a
collector
> if
> you offer the collector some other chip that you have several of.
>
> 8. There's only a handful of "serious" collectors who are willing to pay
> $500-$1000 for rare versions of early chips. Most chip
> collectors collect 186's, 286's, 386's, 486's, etc. In otherwords,
> chips that
> vintage computer enthusiasts don't really care about anyway.
>
> The only thing vintage computer enthusiasts notice is that old chips
> routinely
> bring hundreds of dollars of EBAY. What you don't notice is that
it's
> the same
> group of a dozen collectors that are buying them. If the handful of
> serious chip
> collectors were to each obtain an example of every chip every made,
it
> would
> not have much effect at all on the ability of vintage computer
> enthusiasts to
> obtain replacement parts for your machines. If you want to blame
> someone
> for the high price of vintage chips, blame the people who melted down
> millions
> of them for their gold content in the 80's, don't blame the handful
of
> serious
> chip collectors.
>
> 9. I agree that a functioning vintage machine is "more interesting" than
a
> chip
> in a display case. Most vintage chip collectors drool over the
vintage
> machines
> that you guys have and not because of the chips in them either.
That
> said,
> we also recognize that the chips themselves have historic value and
> should
> be preserved. Many chip collectors would like to one day obtain a
> working vintage machine but I know more than a few who have abandoned
> this idea once they figured out that many vintage computer
enthusiasts
> have such a negative view of chip collectors.
>
> That said, it's alot easier to get into chip collecting than vintage
> computer
> collecting. Chip collecting has the potential to bring alot of new
> faces
> into the world of vintage computers but unfortunately I don't see
that
> happening any time soon.
>
> What many of you old timers don't realize it that the "youngsters"
that
> came
> along after the 8088 naturally see computers as a collection of
> components.
> Computer enthusiasts today don't buy prebuilt machines, they build
them
> from components and then constantly upgrade them. The very concept
of
> of collecting an entire machine is foreign to them because their
> machines
> are constantly changing.
>
> That said, many of these types already have chip collections, their
> collections are old
> CPU's they saved when they upgraded their machines over the years.
You
> bring
> up chip collecting and they say that's pretty cool, I already have a
> small collection.
>
> The same younger computer enthusiasts are the very people you need to
> keep your
> hobby going but the sad thing is, many of the same people will try
and
> entire
> your world from the world of chip collecting and be totally turned
off
> by your
> attitudes toward chip collectors.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brian Chase" <vaxzilla(a)jarai.org>
> To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 4:13 PM
> Subject: Promoting Classic Computers [was Re: Chip with holes in it]
>
>
> > On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, Will Jennings wrote:
> >
> > > I find that sellers auctions disturbing, since at least one the boards
> > > has a comment of "just removed from the rack" : (
> >
> > I find the whole practice of "chip collecting" a bit disturbing. Mainly
> > because it means functioning, useful, components are becoming scarcer
> > for those people who could actually put them to use. And then
> > secondarily, it creates a market for the willful destruction of what
> > might be otherwise working systems or subsystems.
> >
> > There's difficulty in attempting to educate people that working systems
> > are more interesting, and valuable, than disassembled bits of them. It
> > /is/ solely a matter of viewpoint, and not everyone has the skills or
> > resources to collect like most people here do, but getting even a few of
> > them to see things our way is progress.
> >
> > Evangelizing on the behalf of classic computing is something we all
> > should be doing. I tend to do a lot of that when it comes to my VAXen.
> > And where permitted, I always have a classic computer or two on the
> > network at my workplace. The NeXT that's beside my new iMac at work
> > always raises eyebrows and generates a lot of questions.
> >
> > Other things that help are contributing to the various computer museums
> > (money, unique equipment, your time, etc.) Providing information to
> > people on this list is useful. The documentation scanning projects are
> > wonderful resources. The publicity generated by things like the VCF is
> > good; Sellam getting visibity in Wired and on Tech TV raises awareness
> > in a broader audience than could be otherwise achieved. And I think
> > books like _Collectible Microcomputers_ and Christian Wurster's
> > _Computers: An Illustrated History_ are useful to have lying around as
> > coffee table material.
> >
> > -brian.
> >
> >
>
I have a MAC Performa 550 that was working fine before I put it away. I
just took it out and hooked it up. When I turned it on there was a quick
indication of power and then nothing. Is there any kind of fuse in these
machines or is it probably dead.
Help
Sellam:
>On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, John Lawson wrote:
>> Thanks again... certainly an wonderful example of what this List is
>> for...
>All the more inspiring, considering Richard learned how to program C
>through this project.
>(Is that right, Rich?)
Yes, this is true. If you look in the ZIP file for "building.txt" I
give a little background on how I got involved. To sap some bandwidth,
here's the Readers Digest version:
By day, I'm a banker. By night, a closet programmer. I came across
the binaries for the original emulators about three years ago. Since I have
no expectations of owning a real Altair, I thought that it would be great to
use an emulator. Well, the original implementation didn't work. About two
years ago, I found the source for it on the Web. I contacted Claus Giloi and
he basically said that he didn't have time to improve it or actually verify
that it worked. For him, the project started in 1991...the last build was
done in late-1996.
Claus built the emulator from the magazine article and the data
books -- nothing else. He had no software or a physical Altair to work with.
The original emulator supported nothing...no disks, no console, no way to
get programs into or out of it. The CPU code was about 80% functional, but
it's the old "80/20" rule...the last 20% was the hardest to fix. Basically
blinkenlights and nothing else.
My total programming experience for years was limited to BASIC,
VisualBASIC and 6502 assembler (on the Commodores). For pleasure, I had
already read all of the Andrew Schulman "Undocumented..." and "...Internals"
books, so I was familiar with what was going on in a Windows program (from
the inside), and there were plenty of C code examples to read, but like any
language (programming or other), it's one thing to read it and another to
write it.
So, since Claus gave me the go-ahead to take over the project, I
jumped right in, and the first mods were done on June 8, 2000. So, not only
did I have to learn the syntactical nuiances of C, but I had to learn the
intricacies of Windows programming and emulator writing, in addition to
noodling around code written by a professional developer working for
Microsoft.
I'm still lousy at C, and I wish I could take an "Adult Education"
class on it.
Anyway, that's the story.
Rich Cini
Collector of classic computers
Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
/************************************************************/
Is anyone here familar with Litton Systems Guidance and Control Systems Division in Northridge California? I have a CP-2088 Navigation Computer that was built there and I'm trying to figure out what it goes into.
Joe
>I have a MAC Performa 550 that was working fine before I put it away. I
>just took it out and hooked it up. When I turned it on there was a quick
>indication of power and then nothing. Is there any kind of fuse in these
>machines or is it probably dead.
Check the PRAM battery. Many of the Mac models with soft power won't boot
without a good PRAM battery. It need not read the full 3.6 volts, but
anything less than 1 volt is no good.
The battery, oddly enough is available as a regular stock item at Radio
Shack (yet similar PC CMOS batteries are not... go figure).
Also, the 550 models are soft power, but also have a hard power switch on
the back. Make sure the switch is on, and then hit the power key on the
keyboard to actually power it up. Just flipping the hard power switch on
the back won't let the mac boot (but will usually result in a quick
electrical pop noise as it charges up, if the mac has been idle long
enough).
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
I need a boot disk for a kaypro 2. A freind gave me
boot disk for the II, but that didn't work.
Also I need a commodore pet for a display at a school,
dead or alive any model.
Please email me
winnderfish_falls(a)yahoo.com
Thanks,
David G.
__________________________________________________
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http://webhosting.yahoo.com
Ok, so I did it... When trying to remove the SIMMS in my Mac IIci I
broke some of the little tiny plastic tabs, so now the new SIMMs won't
lock in.
Is there some "fix" to get the SIMMs to stay in, short of soldering new
sockets into the board (which I am not about to do)?
Also, I broke them on Bank A. I assume you can't use RAM in Bank B
without having Bank A full...
Should I just trash the motherboard? Or can I salvage it somehow?
Are these SIMM tabs particularly vulnerable, especially on this old
equipment? I broke them on 2 machines, and on the 2nd one I did, I was
trying to be very careful.
- Bob
(not a happy MACer today)
Hello Ross,
The 65C51 seems to have gone obsolete and I'm looking for stock of the
Rockwell 65C51, or equivalent. I saw your name mentioned in a reference on
the 'net about supply of 65xx series IC's and wondered if you've got any
contacts who might have 65C51's available. I've made other enquiries
through the trade, but they are all a bit hit-and-miss and I thought you
might know what the present situation is with these devices.
Regards,
Peter Rudland, TDSi, Poole, Dorset, UK
>>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
>>
>>>
>>> Any Teletype ASR33 experts out there ? I have a couple
>>> of problems with a teletype that recently came my way.
>>
>>I believe the ASR33 manauls are available on a web site somewhere. If
>>you don't have them as printed books, then you want to get these files
>>and print them. They make life a lot easier. OK, I did a complete
>>strip-down, clean, oil, reassemble and adjust job on an ASR33 without the
>>manuals (and with never having seen the manuals), but then I tend to do
>>crazy things like that...
>>
>>>
>>> i) When I type a character from the keyboard in local
>>> mode, something else gets printed. What gets printed
>>> is not consistently the same character. I've watched
>>> the selector mechanism while I hit rubout (all marking
>>> codebars) and I can see that the codebars are not
>>> being consistently selected betwee key presses:
>>> sometimes I get 5 of them, sometimes 6 and
>>> occasionally all 8. The high order bits seem to be
>>> worst affected by this inconsistency. However if I
>>> hold down the repeat key and select a character, the
>>> right codebars are being selected. I punched a number
>>> of characters onto tape to verify this and they seem
>>> to be punching OK. This suggests to me that this isn't
>>
>>If the character _always_ punches correctly, then the right codebars are
>>being selected. So I assume this is not the case.
>Hi
>I think you need to make this point clearer. When a character
>is punched, the same character is miss printed on the platen?
>This is how I read his original post.
Even using the REPT key to workaround the codebar issue, I wasn't able to
connect the carriage problem conclusively to either a rotational or a
vertical problem. I think at this point I'm going to take the carriage off
again and try a more thorough dismantle/clean/oil. Once I resolve the
codebar issue it will be easier to diagnose the carriage problem with a
clean mechanism.
>This tells me it is something sticking in the linkage that goes
>between the code bars and the print head( or he has it installed
>wrong but that doesn't explain why it starts working with repeats ).
>I would remove the print assembly and put it in some solvent
>while moving the levers. Then clean it off/dry it and re-oil
>it. You most likely have some dry oil that is sluggish. Getting
>oil into the right place will take a bit.
>In the service( military ), we used to clean things in a bath
>of water and heavy detergent. This was done in an ultrasonic
>cleaner. We'd then rinse and bake it at about 150F for a few
>hours. Then Re-oil/grease, place on test bench and fine adjust.
>I suspect that a good dish washing liquid would work.
I remember using an arklone bath at a place I worked years ago for cleaning
circuit boards. Probably taken a few years off my live expectancy breathing
that stuff in.
>
>Basically, there are 3 possible problem areas :
>
>1) The keyboard contacts are not closing correctly, so the parallel data
>output of the keyboard is incorrect.
>
>2) The distributor disk (rear right of the typing unit) is not correctly
>serialising the data from the keyboard. Unlikely, but possible.
>
>3) The selector unit (rear left of the typing unit) is malfunctioning,
>and is not correclty responding the receiving magnet.
>
I can see the armature 'stutter' when I punch the rubout key - by stutter, I
mean that its movement looks slightly different between keypresses. So I'm
inclined to think that the magnet is just responding to what it is receiving
which is incorrect. I cleaned the distributor and reseated the brushes,
readjusted the brush holder to the alignment mark per the adjustment
procedure in the manual. So I'm back to option 1) - the keyboard - as the
source of the problem. One thing I noticed last night was that the keyboard
cover is broken. There are four round tabs, one at each corner, that fit
into corresponding holes on the end plates. These are broken, so the cover
can rock from side to side, pivoting on those center projections. I wonder
if that could cause some sort of alignment problem within the keyboard ?
Thanks for the suggestions - I will get to it again tonight and see what
else I can find out. I hate the idea of opening that keyboard up...
>I would check (3) first. It may need to be removed, dismantled, cleaned,
>and re-lubricated. It's not uncommon for parts to stick on old, gummy,
>lubricant.
>
>> an electrical problem since whatever code the keyboard
>> is sending is eventually being sensed correctly.
>>
>> ii) In addition to i) above, even if I do get all the
>> codebars moving as required, the wrong characters are
>> being printed. I removed the carriage, cleaned and
>> oiled it and replaced it but this hasn't helped.
>
>How did you clean it? I have found that soaking compete assemblies in
>solvent doesn't help much. You really have to take all the parts apart,
>clean them, and then re-assemble them. If yoy've done this, then there
>are a lot of sdjustment you'd have to set up.
>
>A character decoding problem must be in the carriage. There are 4 parts
>to the decoder mechanism :
>
>2 bits -> one of 4 levels of lift of the type cylinder
>1 bit -) rotate cylinder left or right
>2 bits -> one of 4 angles (pairs of characters) of rotation of the cylinder
>1 bit -> an extra 1 character angle rotate (it moves the selector bars
>for the previous rotation selection slightly...).
>
>Figure out which mechanism is malfunctioning by comparing the position of
>the character you get with the position of the character you should be
>getting. Then work out what's not operating properly.
>
>-tony
>
>
I have rescued the following Commodore Amiga items on
their way to the dumpster. The whole lot is available
for free to a good home if you pay for the shipping
(or pick them up in Albuquerque). If you are
interested, please contact me at
cfnelson_87111(a)yahoo.com. Note that I have never used
an Amiga and thus do not have any information beyond
what is printed on the disks and manuals. I also do
not know if the disks any good; they have no visible
signs of damage.
- disks and manuals
Amiga operating system
ARexx
AmigaDOS
Workbench 2.1
AmigaVision
ProWrite (New Horizons Software) word processor,
version 3.0
ProScript (New Horizons Software) PostScript utility,
version 1.0
Professional Calc (Gold Disk), 1.00 and 1.02 update
Deluxe Paint III (Electronic Arts)
Deluxe Paint IV (Electronic Arts)
Amiga TCP/IP, AS225 2 copies
X Window System (GfxBase), 4.x
GDA-1 (GfxBase), Graphics Display Adapter 1, 1.0
VideoScape 3D (Aegis) solid 3-D animation and
rendering, 2.0
includes bonus Pro/Motion (Aegis), 1.0b
Draw 2000 (Aegis) desktop CADD
UltraDesign! (Progressive Peripherals & Software) CADD
software, 1.0 and 1.1
AmigaTeX and METAFONT (Radical Eye Software)
lots of disks for different versions
Quarterback (Central Coast Software) hard disk backup,
503
- disks only (no manuals)
ARexx (William S.Hawes), 1.10
AC/FORTRAN (absoft)
TxEd Plus V2.01 (Microsmiths)
Amiga Workbench 1.3
UEDIT (Rick Stiles)
Professional Page (Gold Disk), 1.1
A-Max IV (ReadySoft) Mac emulator
- manuals only (no disks)
flickerFixer, Owner's Manual (MicroWay), advanced
graphics adapter for A2000
Presentation Master (Oxxi)
Superbase 4 (Precision Software)
- database and text editor
- form designer and programming language
- applications guide
- hardware manuals and software (no hardware)
Amiga 2088 Bridgeboard, for A2000/IBM-PC XT
compatibility
GVP Series II 68030 Accelerator Board for Amiga 2000
__________________________________________________
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U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos
http://launch.yahoo.com/u2
Curt,
>Discovery Computers??? x86 multiprocessors??? Please elaborate, any links
>or picks???
Discovery was produced by Ace Computer Action Enterprises,
Pasadena, CA., c. 1983. It came in at least two models, as
documented by one Bill Whitson in The List in '97.
ACE Discovery 500 83
Discovery 1600 83
I have one Discovery 500, sans disk drives (one floppy,
one MFM 20 gig [whoops, I mean meg :)]. I also have one
Discovery ????, which is likely a slave unit - having no
provision for disk drives (but does have a SemiDisk for
some healthy memory).
This is about as much as I know ('cept one of these ran
a BBS back in the olden days, if memory serves). Don't
find much documentation.
But also, I haven't checked the Computer Museum of
America, here in San Diego, except to ask if they would
like to have them. They already have one, hope they will
take one or both for parts or....
However, I'd be just as happy to see them in use by someone
who has time and energy to make them go.
Vern Wright
vernon_wright(a)hotmail.com
Posted & Mailed
_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
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All,
More info:
>Linear Technology 1.5A adjustable voltage regulator, TO-220 package.
Has about the same voltages on its pins when the system is either running
or failed:
Vin 5.4V, Vout 3.5V, Adj(gnd) 2.1V
Should that last be 0.0? I'm referring all of these measurements to Chassis
ground, obtained by wedging a lead against the power supply housing.
Measurements power-off with the Ohmmeter say that last pin is about 75 Ohms
away from Chassis. Ironically, that's more than the readings for either Vin
or Vout.
>Low Power Low Offset Voltage Dual Comparator (LM193)
This guy is intimately linked to the failure.
V+ connected to 5.4 V (Red wires)
Gnd connected to ground (Black wires = chassis ground.)
Output A obeys the following rule:
running fail
out A 5.4V 0V
One other interesting thing is that the first few times I touched "out A"
with the probe, it failed immediately. I actually *did* get to see the
needle swing a couple of times, as it tried to decide whether to run with
the probe on that lead. Eventually it decided to run even with the probe on
the output. The meter claims 20,000 ohms/Volt DC, so I did not expect to
crash the system by probing it. I tried Out B, but it didn't change while I
was watching and I didn't record what state it was in.
Thermal dependence is still flaky, but it did go rapidly and persistently
toes-up when I turned the hair-dryer + funnel combo on the LM193. I only
got to do one trial, though, before it got to the point that it wouldn't
run long enough to convince me the heat gun was doing the deed, so that
could have been coincidence. I tried a few other parts of the circuit
board, and got similar results out of a big chip near the SCSI connector.
Dunno if that's relevant.
- Mark
If you still have the broken pieces, you can probably glue them back on with
a solvent-weld plastic cement such as Tenax 7R. Then treat the mended
sockets with extra care, as they will never be as stong as they were
originally.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Lafleur [mailto:bob_lafleur@technologist.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 11:26 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Broken SIMM tabs on Mac IIci
Ok, so I did it... When trying to remove the SIMMS in my Mac IIci I broke
some of the little tiny plastic tabs, so now the new SIMMs won't lock in.
Is there some "fix" to get the SIMMs to stay in, short of soldering new
sockets into the board (which I am not about to do)?
Also, I broke them on Bank A. I assume you can't use RAM in Bank B without
having Bank A full...
Should I just trash the motherboard? Or can I salvage it somehow?
Are these SIMM tabs particularly vulnerable, especially on this old
equipment? I broke them on 2 machines, and on the 2nd one I did, I was
trying to be very careful.
- Bob
(not a happy MACer today)
Hi
I've just sent my latest CPM-8000 stuff to
the unofficial cp/m site. It is available under:
http://www.cpm.z80.de/binary.html
It has a working boot image plus the other files
to run this on an Olivetti M20. It does have code
to regenerate a new BIOS so that it can be ported
to another Z8001 machine. If anyone is contemplating
this, they should contact me or Chris to help out.
There are a few things that effect hardware that one
should know. It would also be very difficult to
complete the job without access to a M20. I am
willing to run compiles on my machine for anyone
that writes their BIOS to create a working image.
Thanks to Hans B Pufal, Gaby Chaudry and Al Kossow.
Without there information, I wouldn't have
been able to begin to get things working on the
M20. Of course, 50% of the credit goes to Chris
Groessler, as we collaborated on working the bugs
out of creating the first boot images.
Dwight
I downloaded E11 some years ago on a Pent I desktop but never got it to
work, prolly due to no smarts on my part.
This evening, thinking it might be fun to hook up my M4 Data SCSI 9trker
to the laptop, and use it to work on Stuff to be transferred to the
11/44 later, I DL'ed the latest and greatest from his Site (V3.1), and
installed it. I am running Win 2000 on an IBM A21m Thinkpad, with 256M of
RAM and a 10GB HD.
Right away, my little Pest Control program flags me that 'ntvdm.exe' has
been detected, and as many times as I exterminate it, it returns as soon
as e11.exe is run.
Is this a bug, or something in E11 that looks like one? The details say
it is a VBB virus tutorial... if it *is* a virus, or virus-related
creepy-crawly, then there are much bigger problems afoot and I'll scrub
the whole thing.
At the E11> prompt in the DOS window, I type:
E11> set cpu 44
E11> mount du0: rsx11m
ERROR opening file - RSX11M.DSK
E11> mount du1: ra80
ERROR opening file - RA80.DSK
And so on... each iteration brings up the virus warning, and the disk
emulations seem to be AWOL.
So: any ideas? Obvious Stupidities? etc?
Cheers
John
In a message dated 11/15/2002 9:20:49 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Robert_Feldman(a)jdedwards.com writes:
<< If you still have the broken pieces, you can probably glue them back on
with
a solvent-weld plastic cement such as Tenax 7R. Then treat the mended
sockets with extra care, as they will never be as stong as they were
originally. >>
why not just use hot-melt glue to keep the SIMMs in? At least you could
remove them later.
I just found this by accident:
============================================================
Junk Collection on Monument Grounds
Updated: Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 - 8:02 AM EDT.
(Washington) -- Got an old computer that's taking up space?
How about a TV that's seen better times? Friday and Saturday,
you can bring your old electronics to the grounds of the
Washington Monument to be safely discarded.
The event is a joint effort by the White House, the District,
and the EPA.
Environmental experts say some old electronics contain lead or
other materials that can potentially harm the environment if
they're not handled properly.
Computers, telephones, office equipment, and some televisions
will be accepted.
But no luck if your TV is larger than 19 inches or encased in
a wooden console. Kitchen appliances, microwaves, vacuums, and
air conditioners also can not be turned in.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
==============================================================
Now, granted the stuff that shows up will likely be 99% real
junk (386 Wintel boxes) but is anybody in the area going to
try to snag any of the 1% gold that may show up? I wish I
had known about it sooner, my weekend is booked solid.
Bill
Using VanDyke's CRT telnet client as a 'console' for Rich's Altair
Emulator, I find that I have to configure an option to make it play
nicely:
In 'Sesion Options"
"Connection"
"Telnet"
[X] Force Character at a time mode
That seems to have made it work well... and the launching sequence is
critical, as laid out in a previous message...
Cheers
John
Turned the damn firewall off.
Should the CP/M disks just have one file each? Like PIP.COM on the CPM22
disk...
This had no effect on Ersatz-11... it still is unhappy with me for some
unfathomable reason...
Cheerz
John
Hello, all:
Tonight I posted the latest release of the Altair32 Emulator for Windows.
There have been a few changes since the last release in August. Working
closely with Scott LaBombard, we've added configurable memory ranges (split
between RAM and ROM), a ROM Manager to allow the easy adding or removing of
ROM binaries, and selectable console terminal using telnet or the Windows
Console. Scott also generated new CP/M 2.2 disk images from the 2.2 source.
He also re-wrote the CBIOS to fully enable 8 emulated disk drives, including
up to 4 "large" (1.1mb) disks. Finally, in an effort to improve performance
and reduce CPU utilization on the host computer, I made the conversion to a
timeslicing model based on Jim Battle's Solace project.
Enhancements on tap for the next release include a toolbar, a tabbed
configuration dialog, and VT100 control code support within the Windows
Console code.
You can visit the project page at
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/Altair32.htm to download the
latest ZIP file.
Thanks and enjoy.
Rich Cini
Collector of classic computers
Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
/************************************************************/