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

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> I forget the actual words, and who said it, but there is a > saying that goes > something like this. "Those who are willing to trade thier > freedom for a > little safety deserve neither freedom OR safety." Ben Franklin: The man who would trade a bit of liberty for a bit of security deserves neither liberty nor security Probably still not exactly correct, it may have been "a little" instead of "a bit". Only certain source I can think of is the musical "1776" and they probably mangled the original line to make it more stage-worthy. -doug q (who would trade all the security he has for more liberty)

26 years, 4 months

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Part datasheets try 2

by djg＠drs-esg.com

The former pay IHS Caps datasheet service is now available for free from http://www.freetradezone.com. It has a good collection of datasheets for obsolete components not available from manufacturer sites. You do have to register and enter a company name. I used the pay CD based system when my work had it but have not done much with the online version. David Gesswein

26 years, 4 months

1
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Part datasheets

by djg＠drs-esg.com

26 years, 4 months

1
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VAX 6540 (?) available in Cork, Ireland

by kenn＠bluetree.ie

I just heard about this: > It's a 6540 I think. About 4ft wide, 3ft deep and 6ft high. 3-phase > power, plus tape unit, console, etc. BIG motherfucker. You'd need > to find transport... If you're interested, I'll give you this guy's email address off-list. Later, Kenn

26 years, 4 months

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TI Professional Computer

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

Good Lord, Joe, where do you store it all??? Joe Rigdon wrote: > Here's a list of just SOME of the stuff that I've picked up in the last > two weeks: SIX Cromemco Z2-D S-100 systems with dual floppy drives and > hard drives, HP 9825B (loaded), FIVE various HP 9825 interfaces, HP 1000 > A600 computer, HP 1000 E series computer, TWO HP 9895 dual 8" floppy > drives, TWO HP 9885 single 8" floppy drives, two HP 987? printers, HP 7906 > fixed drive, TWO HP 6940 Multiprogrammers (loaded) and a HP ?? > Multiprogrammer Interface, TI Professional computer in like new condition > with original monitor and keyboard and a National Instruments HP-IB card, > and last night, a IBM AT with an 8" floppy drive controller card. That's > in addition to OVER 320 memory SIMMS, numerous cards, keyboards and other > bits and pieces. Does that sound like the kind of stuff that should be > left as scrap because I can't test it first? > > Joe

26 years, 4 months

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OT Now: Re: TI Professional Computer

by mgregory＠vantageresearch.com

-----Original Message----- From: Jim Strickland <jim(a)calico.litterbox.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 3:10 PM Subject: Re: OT Now: Re: TI Professional Computer > >*heh* I think it was the marketing department at the Cirrus Cybernetics >company who were a bunch of mindless jerks who would be first up against the >wall when the revolution comes. Although I believe a later edition of the Guide that fell through a temporal vortex described the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who _were_ the first up against the wall when the revolution came". Now where did I leave my Peril Sensitive Sunglasses? Mark "Ford Prefect" Gregory

26 years, 4 months

2
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Semi-OT: Mac IIsi and Open Transport

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

This is semi-OT, since the IIsi has two years to go before it's on topic :-) For a Commodore nut, I sure seem to be doing a steady traffic in Apples. >From the same place I got the SE/30 and the IIgs ROM 3, I also picked up a IIsi. After some cursing because it was set up with At UnEase, I rigged a boot disk, trashed AE and started poking around. It's an '030 with 5MB RAM running System 7.1. I'm finally seeing value in the tuition I pay to Loma Linda University, since I basically went to the System Folder on all their System 7 Macs and grabbed all the extensions and control panels. Surprisingly, at least to me (the systems in question were 7.5 or later), this seemed to work EXCEPT for OpenTransport. PC Exchange purrs like a kitten and I'm able to handle ProDOS and DOS like a pro. (By the way, what files does ProDOS 8 need to have on the disk for it to be bootable?) But the IIsi simply refuses to mount OT. I downloaded 1.0.8 from the Apple support site and tried that, but it simply said it could not be installed on this particular model and gave no further explanation. The readme asserts that it will run on '030s and 7.1, though, for all the versions available from asu.info.apple.com. However, they appear to be updates, not installs (except for 1.0.8, the 1.1.x versions say that 1.1 must be installed already). Simply copying the libraries and the Shared Library Manager into the Extensions folder doesn't work. It just ignores them, and when I try to start the TCP/IP or AppleTalk control panels, it whines that OT is not running. Copying fresh ones from the "uninstallable" install disk doesn't do any good either. Any suggestions? I'm really hoping to avoid having to make the monster (for this poor thing) download of 7.5+ from the Apple support site if I can avoid it. I don't mind System 7.1 at all, really. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- Dalai Lama to hotdog vendor: "Make me one with everything." ----------------

26 years, 4 months

8
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AppleTalk on the hoof

by paulrsm＠ameritech.net

---------- > From: Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser(a)oa.ptloma.edu> > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: AppleTalk on the hoof > Date: Saturday, June 10, 2000 12:01 PM > > Think the SE/30 itself could handle it? If I downloaded the software to > another Mac and took the disks over to the SE/30, would it be able to do > the ProDOS transfer? It is old enough :-) I don't have DD disks here, but > I can get some. The SE/30 can handle 800K disks with no problems (unless someone changed the drive...). You will need Disk Copy 4.2 to create the disks. > Can ProDOS speak AppleTalk? That's the main reason for my interest in > GS/OS. If ProDOS can access an AppleTalk server, then I don't really care > about GS/OS. How much memory does v6 require? I have an Apple II Workstation Card that will let my Apple IIe, using ProDOS 8, talk to ASFS. It is possible, but I have not done it yet myself. Someday I will set up an AppleShare server for my Apple IIs but I simply have not done it yet. > This is ASFS v2. Where can I get v3? (Yup, it does take over the whole > machine :-) See the following site for information on ASFS v3: http://lowendmac.com/tech/appleshare3.shtml. I do not know where to get it. I just missed it once on Usenet; by the time I contacted the owner it was already gone. It had version 2 and 3 with all the disks and manuals, too. For more help, try Usenet at comp.sys.apple2. That's where I learned most of what I know about networking Apple IIs. Paul R. Santa-Maria Ann Arbor, Michigan USA paulrsm(a)ameritech.net

26 years, 4 months

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If classic computers were cars...

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 13, 13:31, Lawrence LeMay wrote: > The Indy series had CPU upgrades available several times during its lifespan. > We replaced CPU's in our Indys at least twice, becuase SGI gave us a great > bargain on the upgrade price. I know the first time we upgraded was > shortly after we purchased the units, so I wouldnt be surprised if the > original CPU was extremely slow. Yes, I think the first upgrade was very soon after the launch. Ours all came with 4400's or 4600's. Anyway, if you still have any R5000's going spare, I can find homes for a couple.... :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 4 months

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If classic computers were cars...

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 13, 15:07, r. 'bear' stricklin wrote: > On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Pete Turnbull wrote: > > > It's a nice story, but unfortunately, only a story. I should know: I have > > three Indigos and two Indys of my own, and manage about a hundred more at > > work. An (blue) Indy is faster than an (purple) Indigo. > > Perhaps slightly more than a story. To bring the cost down on the Indy, > they were available with or without secondary cache. All R4000 Indigos > have secondary cache (1 MB of it, IIRC), and this resulted in the older > R4000 Indigo being noticeably quicker than most of the least expensive > Indys. Only the very first Indys; SGI very quickly (a few months) moved from R4000 to 4400 and then 4600, which are the same speed as, or slightly faster than, the R4K Indigo. But yes, I'd forgotten about the original R4000PC Indy, and that would account for the story. > Certainly the Indy was available in configurations which are a good deal > quicker than the fastest Indigo (150 MHz R4400), though there are > operations for which the Indigo's Elan graphics are quicker than the > Indy's top-of-the-line XZ graphics... That's certainly true, so I'm glad that one of mine is an XS24 and another is an Elan, although the R5K might make a difference even then, or so I hear on comp.sys.sgi. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 4 months

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Looking inside before you buy etc.

by rhudson＠ix.netcom.com

>Of all the drives I could find in the store, only 3 worked. but now >Mr.StoreGuy has a pile of "Tested-BAD" drives! (Well good for steppermotors >anyway) Ah, but the store owner now had one more thing in the deal, an education, don't let anybody test your stuff at a fixed price. Its the kind of mistake easy for a basically honest person to make. OTOH Apple II drives are pretty hard to break, --- I still have a broken one, can I fix it myself? the only thing I know is when I put a diskette in and try to read it it goes rattttatt and gets an error... :^( ---- how did you test them? ----- I connected them to my apple II and put in a known good diskette, swapping the diskette to the other drive to verify it was still known good... :^) ----- Could it have just been incompatibility? Thats the second risk, customer tests your stuff pronounces it bad, but later on it turns out they (generic they, not you) didn't know beans and the stuff is just fine (which of course you find out after customer B buys it for parts and retests later).

26 years, 4 months

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If classic computers were cars...

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 13, 9:35, John Allain wrote: > This was very amusing thanks. > > I once overheard some internal guys > (another company, BTW) talking about SGI desktops. > Maybe you heard this one? After the success of > the SGI blue tower "Indigo" they came out with a > desktop "Indy". It was noticeably slower, though > making it: "The Indy, an Indigo without the go" It's a nice story, but unfortunately, only a story. I should know: I have three Indigos and two Indys of my own, and manage about a hundred more at work. An (blue) Indy is faster than an (purple) Indigo. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 4 months

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Mac 800K floppy support (was Re: AppleTalk on the hoof)

by mark_k＠iname.com

On Mon, 12 Jun 2000 r. 'bear' stricklin wrote: > > "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red(a)bears.org> wrote: > > > I'm pretty sure it's just a ROM limitation, as the SE/30 uses the exact > > > same floppy drive as the later IIci and others which can't read or write > > > the older GCR-type disks. > > > > Huh? My IIci reads and writes 400K and 800K GCR disks with no problems > > whatsoever. As does my SE/30. > > Huh, indeed. I must have misremembered the list. PowerMacs certainly won't > do it, and I was pretty sure that most, if not all, of the '90s Macs > wouldn't either. I don't know where you got this misinformation from, but Power Macs do support 800K floppies (apart from recent models which don't have a floppy drive and perhaps the G3 models). Every Mac previous to the Power Macs also supports 800K floppies (apart from the very earliest ones which only had 400K drives). See the "Power Macintosh 7600 Series: Technical Specifications" at http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n19545 Other Technical Specifications documents on the TIL site for other Power Mac series computers also contain this text: * Internal Apple SuperDrive floppy disk drive -- Accepts high-density 1.4MB disks and 800K disks -- Reads, writes, and formats Macintosh, Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2, and ProDOS disks Also see http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n19545 This has a brief explanation on why access to 800K floppies is slower under newer Mac models. -- Mark

26 years, 4 months

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DG MicroNova Available

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Ran across a fellow a while back who had a DG MicroNova available. Don't know if he's still got it, but you can try: arnies(a)ix.netcom.com Thanks much. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 "Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."

26 years, 4 months

1
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New find: HP 1000 E series

by cem14＠cornell.edu

"Jay West" wrote: > > > In the back cage there are three jumper cards > > Jumper cards continue the interrupt priority chain in the backplane. If your > OS is interrupt driven, you need the jumpers for open slots. If your OS > isn't interrupt driven, you don't need these. hmmm.... then it is possible that some cards are missing because there are intermediate empty slots; here's the back cage configuration: Slot # card description ----------------------- 25 -empty- 24 BACI 12966A 23 Jumper 22 Jumper 21 BACI 12966A 20 BACI 12966A 17 BACI 12966A (note: no slots are labeled 19 or 18) 16 Jumper 15 Jumper 14 -empty- 13 -empty- 12 DISK INTFC 12821A (HPIB; why a second one?) 11 DISK INTFC 12821A (HPIB) 10 TIMEBASE GEN I was able to open the front panel (thanks, Eric) and found the following there: Slot # card description ----------------------- DCPC D.C.P.C. | Ribbon connector from front fingerpad to bckpln 111 MEMORY PROTECT 22-7931 112 MEM 22-2127 113 -empty- 114 -empty- . . . . 120 -empty- 121 256KW HSM 12749M | these three cards have their left front fingerpads 122 256KW HSM 12749M | joined by ribbon cable. Right front fingerpads 123 MEM CNTLR 2102E | not connected. And yes, the big board underneath everything is the mainboard with not a piggyback but a "piggytummy" smaller board attached to it. > Most typically in this system, the OS was genned for each card in a certain > slot. If the card positions have been changed the OS generally won't boot. > If you moved the cards, you have to regen the OS. Most likely the system > console was the baci board that was lowest in the backplane, as this one > would have the highest priority. If it was running RTE, ISTR there is way to > boot the system that tells it that the configuration has changed and where > the console and disk are. If this matches your situation, drop me an email > and I'll look it up for you. I did not move the cards around, but again, maybe some cards are missing. I don't know what OS the system was running. I guess that the first thing that I have to do now that I tested the power supply and verified that the machine (seems to) turn on, is to build a serial console cable for this. I have several cables that will fit the BACI boards, but the connectors at the other end have been cut off. Does anybody have the pin out for the finger pads in the front of the BACI boards? -- Carlos Murillo-Sanchez email: cem14(a)cornell.edu 428 Phillips Hall, Electrical Engineering Department Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

26 years, 4 months

1
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TI Professional Computer

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I picked up one of these today but some of the files on the hard drive are messed up. Can someone send me the Command.Com file for MS-DOS 2.11A? Also how do you get one of these to boot from the floppy drive and not the hard drive? Joe

26 years, 4 months

5
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OT Ranting (blather blather blather) Re: In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> wrote: > > > I look foward to your answers, and if I'm wrong or am overlooking > > > something, I'd very much like to know about it. > > > > Dude, one word: TANG! > > I dittoed a Davis rant the other day, today I gotta nix one. > > Sellam, let me second your motion with- Teflon! I wasn't going to chime in, but now that we are benignly listing 1960s technology brought to the fore by the space race, WD-40. The contractor who was producing it for NASA discovered its potential when employees were taking the product for use at home. -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com

26 years, 4 months

11
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*Way* OT: Sale of Goods Act

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

Hey Tony: > ARD : 'If any part is missing or damaged then I intend to return it here > and now for a cash refund under the terms of the Sale of Goods Act. This is really off-topic for the list so feel free to reply directly to my e-mail address -- I'd like to know your (and the group's) opinion: What is this "Sale of Goods Act?" (I knew the UK paradise had to come with a catch) Here in Florida a merchant doesn't have to give a refund, period. Please advise. Glen 0/0

26 years, 4 months

5
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On Haggle: H19 Terminal W/Graphics option

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

I just placed a low-hours H19 terminal, equipped with a Northwest Digital Systems "Graphics Plus" option (Tek 4010 emulation), up on Haggle (I refuse to deal with E-pay!) for those who may be interested in such. It's at: http://www.haggle.com/cgi/getitem.cgi?id=202337688 Thanks for looking. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 "Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."

26 years, 4 months

1
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Finds

by jbmcb＠hotmail.com

Went to Chicago to visit relatives over the weekend but couldn't find any decent used computer stores. Maybe they are in the suburbs? Highlight of the trip was I stayed in a hotel, room 1337. ph33r hax0rs! Went to the local salvation army and picked up an Atari 850 peripherial expansion box, a Disney Sound Sources paralell port sound box (Funny) a few assorted cables, and most importantly, a book on various expansion bussees circa 1983. Covers S-100, Tandy, Multibus, TI/99, Apple II./III. Interesting stuff, and cool pictures of wacky niche machines (The Heathkit LSI-11 Computer, The KIM-1) Happy Hunting!

26 years, 4 months

1
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OT: If classic computers were cars...

by netsurfer_x1＠hotmail.com

If anybody ever asked me what cars could be compared to classic computers, this is what I'd pick out: System: TI-99/4A Car equivalent: DMC Delorean Reason: It looks like a Delorean, & is about as flawed. System: Original Apple Macintosh Car equivalent: Any Saturn Reason: Way back when, Apple wanted to make you think that you were the wise consumer. Saturn does the same. System: Altair 8800 Car equivalent: Ford Model "T" Reason: If you can't figure this one out, hang up your mouse on the way out. System: Commodore 64 Car equivalent: 1957 Chevy Reason: Name anybody who didn't have one of these when they were out! (both the car or the system, that is) System: Apple /// Car equivalent: Yugo Reason: None required. System: Apple Macintosh SE/30 Car equivalent: 1967 Ford Mustang GT Reason: The computer could haul, & so could the car! System: IBM PC Jr. Car equivalent: Edsel Reason: See "Apple ///" System: Apple Macintosh II Car equivalent: Mack Truck Reason: Large computer, large truck, 'nuff said. System: Commodore Amiga Car equivalent: Any Lexus Reason: The Amiga had featues found on computers costing much more, likewise with its comparison. System: Apple LISA Car equivalent: Rolls Royce Reason: Self-explanitory. Got anything to add? I'd like to see what you guys can come up with? ____________________________________________________________ David Vohs, Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian. Home page: http://www.geocities.com/netsurfer_x1/ Computer Collection: "Triumph": Commodore 64C, 1802, 1541, FSD-1, GeoRAM 512, MPS-801. "Leela": Macintosh 128 (Plus upgrade), Nova SCSI HDD, Imagewriter II. "Delorean": TI-99/4A, TI Speech Synthesizer. "Monolith": Apple Macintosh Portable. "Spectrum": Tandy Color Computer 3. "Boombox": Sharp PC-7000. ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 4 months

7
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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >> > I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 > >> > in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote > >> > location predated the deployment of electricity. > >> > > >> > -dq > > ;) In these days of the PC retrorevionist history of computers who knew? > > It's the comma splice, that did it! Because of how you constructed the > sentence, the date, "1928" was juxtaposed between toshiba and > deployment of electricity. I hope my grammer was suitably twisted. > > Seriously it really wasn't clear enough that there were two distinct > though realted ideas there. If I read my sentence (quoted above) out of the context of the thread wherein the date 1700s had previously been stated, I'd see how that interpretation could occur. But in-context, I still don't see it. At any rate, it was an honest mistake, and multiple people made it, so I guess we should move on. Following rules of parallel construction isn't easy in hypertext! -dq

26 years, 4 months

1
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Zenith 150 in Los Angeles

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

To anyone in the group considering this machine... I have the service manuals w/schematics for it (as well as a working example), so don't let fear of it being an oddball machine deter you from rescuing it. -dq > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Ford [mailto:mikeford@socal.rr.com] > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 5:12 AM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Zenith 150 in Los Angeles > > > Passing this on, email them not me. ;) > > > X-eGroups-Return: > sentto-1672647-156-960668504-mikeford=socal.rr.com(a)returns.onelist.com > To: acs.list(a)jmug.org, abandonedcomputers(a)egroups.com > From: "Dorothy J. Rowe" <djrowe(a)itsa.ucsf.edu> > MIME-Version: 1.0 > Mailing-List: list abandonedcomputers(a)egroups.com; contact > abandonedcomputers-owner(a)egroups.com > Delivered-To: mailing list abandonedcomputers(a)egroups.com > Precedence: bulk > List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:abandonedcomputers-unsubscribe@egroups.com> > Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 13:23:05 -0700 > Reply-To: abandonedcomputers(a)egroups.com > Subject: [abandonedcomputers] what can I do with this old computer...? > > > I saw your posting on the helpline at an obsolete > computer site... I > >have an old Heath / Zenith 150 system that I built and would > now like to > >move out of my attic to make space. Its an original IBM PC > clone that > >runs with a NEC V20 chip at all of 8 MHZ. I also have all > the original > >documentation, software, modem, printer, etc... What > can I do with > >it ? I live in the L. A. area. thanx Alan > > Can anyone help here? > >

26 years, 4 months

1
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OT: Archiving data/video/movies/photos/oral history

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

If you want to archive old 16mm or 8mm movies then VHS is not the way to go. My wife's uncle has made movies of family functions for the last 50 years. I have watched them, lots of 16mm film loading and rewinding involved. He transferred them to VHS about 5 years ago. We did keep the originals. We have had lengthy discussions of how to preserve them for the next 50 years. The 5 year old VHS copies are convenient to view but we can now start to see the loss of crispness due to data bleed-through. There is also a loss of color fidelity. We have discussed CD-ROM and other digital media. Our goal is to keep them for another 100 years and then let the next generation worry about them. It's amazing to see the progression of the development of our lake community in the movies, members of our family have lived here for 72 years. Boats have changed a lot. We keep coming back to analog photographic film, partly because of cost, mainly because of stability. I am investigating how to save/archive photographs from our community that span from 1928, no lake and no water, until now. Saving the photos is easy, recording who is in them is the hard part. CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING. I helped the community computerized our records about 8 years ago. Up until then we used bound paper ledgers. For historical reasons the ledgers are invaluable because each page reflects then entire history of a lot/home from the original plat until today. We have evolved from DBASE, to Peachtree databases, to Access databases. A computer database is no help to try to figure out why the sewer line was run through my yard and not on the sewer easement in 1960. Written notes in the ledger help me to understand that the rock was in the way and that hand digging was easier through my yard. Now if you want to know why one house is constructed over the water and not on shore that is another story. CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING. Mike Slow day in computer land.

26 years, 4 months

21
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Netwon Message Pad battery question

by ss＠allegro.com

Hi, I just picked up a Newton Message Pad (with no manuals, no A/C adapter, nada), and it has no batteries. I can see that it takes 4 AAA batteries for the main power, but there's a missing button battery of some kind. Can anyone please tell me what kind of backup battery I should use (the circular battery)? thanks! Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html www.allegro.com/sieler

26 years, 4 months

5
5
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Semi-OT: Mac IIsi and Open Transport

by paulrsm＠ameritech.net

---------- > From: Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser(a)oa.ptloma.edu> > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Semi-OT: Mac IIsi and Open Transport > Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 12:20 AM > > (By the way, what files does ProDOS 8 need to have on the disk for it to be bootable?) The boot sector, PRODOS, and a system program, usually BASIC.SYSTEM. Be careful transferring files from the Mac to ProDOS. Often the Mac will create a forked file which ProDOS 8 cannot handle. I use a program to make them ProDOS 8 compatible before the transfer. Paul R. Santa-Maria Ann Arbor, Michigan USA paulrsm(a)ameritech.net

26 years, 4 months

1
0
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TI Professional Computer

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

Hey Tony: > At some surplus shops, the owner was quite happy for me to pull cases > from machines, like PCs, before buying one to see what cards were in it. > But not to dismantle it any further. The owner provided the tools as well. The UK must be a paradise compared to the states. If I let customers use my tools I would never get any work done, due to a lack of tools! More than once someone's taken CD-ROM software, leaving the empty jewel case behind. Once someone even stole a mouse from a system we had on display . . . reached around the back and unplugged it . . . please do me a favor and advise me as to emigration requirements . . . ;>) Glen 0/0

26 years, 4 months

1
0
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wiring for MMJ cable to connect VT320 to VAX VLC

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

I need to connect a VT320 to a VAXstation 4000-VLC; anybody know the correct wiring scheme (straight-thru, twisted, null-modem?) for the MMJ cable to do so? I dont have a MMJ cable handy so I'm gonna multilate a normal phone cable and some normal RJ11 heads.... bill -- +--------------------+-------------------+ | Bill Bradford | Austin, Texas | +--------------------+-------------------+ | mrbill(a)sunhelp.org | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | +--------------------+-------------------+

26 years, 4 months

1
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Using DECmate III from terminal

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>>To do thiswould require modding the slushware so that a normal console >>requests are mapped to another port. > >Which is exactly what my suggestion to modify the address intialization >table in the ROM does. Yeah, you need to have an EPROM burner, but that >goes back to what the definition of "possible" is. Well read on. I did say that the existant trapping ports 03/04 (603x and 604x) that corospond to nominal PDP-8 console are also incomplete and cannot fall into the interrupt skip chain as a nominal TTY (m-series) module would. Sure revised slushware can fix some ills but, not all. Add to that the printer and COM ports are using devices that are also off the PDP-8 track. It really ends up that despite slushware the hardware is enough odd that standard PDP-8 code (aka OS/8 and programming handbook examples) do not work or have to be modifed from the source code side like OS/278 was. Impossible, no. Reasonable, I don't think so. I've played with the 6100 and 6120 enough to know it's just enough different from PDP-8 that it does make a difference with IO and most peripherals. Still, it's usability and perfomance as a hybrid is nothing to ignore. For those interested in programming the PDP-8 like 6120 it's a great platform to see how a simple machine is anything but. For my $.02 finding a tube (vr201 or any monochrome monitor) and a DEC keyboard are not that bug a challenge as they were widely used on rainbow, pro and terminals. Making the cable used is also not that hard. If there was any hack at all that is worth adding it's the real reset button I have on mine. Saves power cycling. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>For anyone who misread my message and got instead that >I thought electricity had been deployed after 1928 >needs to go back to school and learn English all over >again. >> > I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 >> > in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote >> > location predated the deployment of electricity. >> > >> > -dq ;) In these days of the PC retrorevionist history of computers who knew? It's the comma splice, that did it! Because of how you constructed the sentence, the date, "1928" was juxtaposed between toshiba and deployment of electricity. I hope my grammer was suitably twisted. Seriously it really wasn't clear enough that there were two distinct though realted ideas there. Allison

26 years, 4 months

1
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Texas Universites Surplus

by mrdos＠swbell.net

I just called a local (Fort Worth, Texas) University, asking about surplus property, and they said that all Texas Universities are required to turn their old computers over to the Texas Criminal Justice (or something like that) Department. Has anyone else heard of anything like this, or know why they have to do this? Does anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area know of any Universities that sell surplus property to the public? Thanks, Owen

26 years, 4 months

4
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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> However, I will strongly disagree with anyone who believes we would be in > the same place technologically as we are today if there had _not_ been a > space program (regardless of the motivations for pursuing space). By and > large "mainstream" entities (ie business, banking, etc) do not "develop" > technology, they "adopt" it. This is true of computers, fax machines (which > were in vented in the 1700's BTW), and telecommunications. Without some > other force driving the creation of technology, mainstream folks don't > change their ways. I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote location predated the deployment of electricity. -dq

26 years, 4 months

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OT: Altair emulator code & C pointers

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hi: I'm not particularly good at C, so I'm trying to learn more as I add tape image support to Claus Guiloi's Altair Emulator. Anyway, I have a "C pointers" question regarding copying the tape bits to the emulator memory. Here's some pseudo code... //delcared in i8080.c MEMSIZE is virtual memory size in bytes uchar Mem [MEMSIZE]; BOOL ReadTape (PSTR pstrFileName) PSTR pstrBuffer ; //buffer for fread command // make sure the file exists //allocate memory to fit tape image length and load file //determine file type (BIN or HEX) //if BIN, make sure that the image fits into the emulator memory size if (iLength > MEMSIZE){ OkMessage (hWnd, "Program too big to fit in memory!", szTitleName) ; return FALSE; } // for binary, so get load address from user and copy to memory array addr=MsgBox("Enter load address"); //obviously wrong. but it's only pseudo code // make sure that (load address + file size) <=65535 // copy binary image to the emulator memory for (i = 0; i <= iLength; i++) Mem[i+addr] = (uchar) *pstrBuffer+i; return 0; This is the important code. The Altair's memory is represented by an array of type uchar and pstrBuffer is the file buffer used int he fread command. My question is whether I'm doing the assignment right? Thanks again for the help. Rich

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Ok, at least three people have questioned my remark, so I'd like to restate it. I was going to let it pass, but here goes. An article in an old issue of Radio Electronics, which was a construction article using surplus equipment, made the remark that fax'es weren't a new invention (new meaning 50's-60's) but that Toshiba had built and sold them in Japan since 1928. I posted this remark as a reply to someone who said that the facsimile machine had been invented in the 1700s. I found this difficult to believe as I would have thought that an electrical infrastructure would have been a necessary requirement. I was corrected on this. For anyone who misread my message and got instead that I thought electricity had been deployed after 1928 needs to go back to school and learn English all over again. Of course, if we were talking about Arkansas, I do believe the fax machine is older than Arkansas having electricty. Any Black Oak fans out there? :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: allisonp(a)world.std.com [mailto:allisonp@world.std.com] > Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 1:33 PM > To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' > Subject: RE: In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > > > > I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 > > in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote > > location predated the deployment of electricity. > > > > -dq > > You can't possibly be serious. Electricity was deployed in > the late 1890s > and by 1928 fairly widely. > > Allison > >

26 years, 4 months

1
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AppleTalk on the hoof

by paulrsm＠ameritech.net

---------- > From: Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser(a)oa.ptloma.edu> > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: AppleTalk on the hoof > Date: Friday, June 09, 2000 11:13 PM > > Yeah, I heard a rumour that Apple offered GS/OS there, but I don't have > any way of transferring the software (unless an Apple II meister out there > would like to explain how ...) Can today's Macs format ProDOS volumes still? > If not, does anyone have GS/OS on disk, or willing to make copies? I would > gladly reimburse any inconvenience or we could come to an equitable > understanding ... :-) The software on Apple's FTP site is all in Mac format (.HQX or MacBin). Modern Macs have a hard time creating GCR 800K disks (if they can at all). Apple has gone to the cheaper MFM-only drives which handle the 1.44MB disks well. GS/OS v6 (the latest) needs more memory than just the 1MB Apple memory card. If your IIgs only has about 1MB then do not bother with GS/OS. The previous owner may have been using them as IIe's (ProDOS 8) as I do with my IIgs. I can copy the disks for you, but you will have to send me a box of DS/DD disks as I do not wish to lose any of my little hoard. > By the way, about upgrading the SE/30. I want to upgrade the thing to > System 7.x but NOT if it will mean I can no longer run AppleShare File > Server. Can I download a System 7 friendly ASFS anywhere? This poor > thing doesn't even have MultiFinder. I do know that Apple has System 7 > for download, and I should hope a 68K version of ASFS ... ? I *think* that ASFS v2 can only run on System 6 while ASFS v3 can run on System 7. Both may take over the entire machine so using the Mac normally may be impossible. Make a backup before experimenting! My answer to the Apple II/Macintosh/MS-DOS data transfer problem is a Macintosh LC II with an Apple IIe card running System 7.1 and the extension that lets me read and write Apple II and MS-DOS disks. The extension cannot handle Win9x long file names but I do no need that. Paul R. Santa-Maria Ann Arbor, Michigan USA paulrsm(a)ameritech.net

26 years, 4 months

8
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TI Professional Computer

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

> On Fri, 9 Jun 2000, Joe Rigdon wrote: > > I picked up one of these today but some of the files on the hard drive > > are messed up. Can someone send me the Command.Com file for MS-DOS 2.11A? > > Also how do you get one of these to boot from the floppy drive and not the > > hard drive? R.D. Davis replied: > Firstly, you did test the power supply before powering the system up, > didn't you? A familiar refrain ;>) > Also, before moving the system, did you check to see if > the hard disk was the type that needed to have it's heads parked, and > if so, park them, before moving the system? Not doing that can result > in filesystem damage. Granted, this is correct on both counts: the ps needs tested before it's applied to the system, and the heads probably need to be parked before the system is moved. If I understand Mr. Davis correctly, he's suggesting that the ps be tested and possibly repaired or replaced, then the system should be booted and the heads parked, all before taking the system home. Try doing this in a surplus store. Hmm, and what happens if the ps is okay but the system won't come up? Still can't move it until you park those heads . . . Personally, I just throw caution to the winds, handle the item as carefully as possible (it's probably been kicked around for years) and take it home so I can try to figure out what it is that I'm now the Proud Owner of ;>) Glen 0/0

26 years, 4 months

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Mac SE computers (was Re: AppleTalk)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

I have a mac plus in my collection that has something called a Hyperdrive installed in it. It's a controller card and MFM hard drive that fits behind the crt and everything actually just fits. Mine amazingly still works. Unless it was a special configuration, there was no such thing as a dual floppy SE with a hard drive. In a message dated Mon, 12 Jun 2000 12:10:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Jason McBrien" <jbmcb(a)hotmail.com> writes: << They used to make internal hard drives for the Mac Plus that attached to the upper frame, to the side of the CRT. Someone probably kludged one into a SE case, not wanting to forego the all important second FD. I remember launching MacPaint on my Fatmac and having to swap out system disks ten or twelve times before I could doodle. Thank god for that external 400k drive, who would need more space? ----- Original Message ----- From: "R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)smart.net> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2000 12:40 PM Subject: Mac SE computers (was Re: AppleTalk) > > Speaking of MAC SEs, how common was it to find an SE with two floppy > drives and an internal hard drive? All of the information that I've > seen on the 'net shows that it's typical to have either two internal > floppies, or one internal floppy and one internal hard drive, but the > SE I bought a couple of weeks ago has both. > > -- > R. D. Davis > rdd(a)perqlogic.com > http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd > 410-744-4900 > > >>

26 years, 4 months

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adapting a Mac/sony monitor to a pc

by ghldbrd＠ccp.com

Hello, A friend of mine picked up a nice sony 17" (Mac) monitor, and it has the old style DB15 connector. He wants to use it as a VGA monitor on his PC and I don't know offhand what the pinouts are, on either end. I can make a quick adapter to see if it works okay or not for him. Kind regards -- Gary Hildebrand ghldbrd(a)ccp.com

26 years, 4 months

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Finds in Pittsburgh, PA

by pat＠transarc.ibm.com

For anyone local (or who can get here relatively easily) and would be interested in this .... I stopped by the Goodwill Computer Store over the weekend, and saw that they have a bunch (maybe two dozen) SPARCstation IPC's and IPX's, for which they are asking $25.00/each. The people in the store didn't know anything about their configurations (as they said, "We're pretty clueless about those boxes"....), so I don't know if they come with any memory or disk, and I didn't bother trying to open any of them up. Some appear to have graphics accelerators, though (based on looking at occupied Sbus slots on the back of the machine). There are also a couple of SPARCstation 1+ and SPARCstation 2 machines, in about the same price range, plus a about half a dozen HP/Apollo Series 700 machines for which they are asking $37.50. None of these machines appear to include any keyboards or mice. There are a few Sun monitors on the shelf, but they are being sold separately. To the best of my knowledge, the store does not ship, so you'd have to physically visit there to make a purchase. I don't know who you'd talk to there if you wanted to work out a "special deal" of some kind (e.g., purchasing several machines at once, for a lower price), since the day-to-day store staff do not have the authority to renegotiate prices. --Pat.

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> wrote: > > However, I will strongly disagree with anyone who believes we would be in > > the same place technologically as we are today if there had _not_ been a > > space program...large "mainstream" entities... do not "develop" > > technology, they "adopt" it. This is true of... fax machines > > (which were in vented in the 1700's BTW) > > I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 > in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote > location predated the deployment of electricity. Think of Volta and his electric piles. Electricity generated by moving wires past magnets was a later development, but there was battery power in the 18th C. ISTR the device required an engraved copper plate for sending and synchronized pendula, one on each end of the transmission. I think the receiving paper was treated in some way to change color when exposed to an electric current. It wasn't very efficient, but to be able to transmit an image over a distance at all was quite a feat for its day. The practical application had to wait until the development of a national communications infrastructure. One of my favorite quotes from the telecommunications industry was a fellow who was chided for his enthusiasm about the new telephones. After all, we had the telegraph - who really needs to speak person-to-person all that badly. His (paraphrased) response: "The telephone is a wonderful device. I think at some point, every city will have one." -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com

26 years, 4 months

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Fax machines [WAS: Re: In defense of NASA ...]

by mgregory＠vantageresearch.com

-----Original Message----- From: Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Monday, June 12, 2000 9:09 AM Subject: RE: In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights >> This is true of computers, fax machines (which >> were invented in the 1700's BTW), and telecommunications. Without some >> other force driving the creation of technology, mainstream folks don't >> change their ways. > >I was aware that Toshiba was building facsimile machines in 1928 >in Japan, but I didn't know the ability to send an image to a remote >location predated the deployment of electricity. > >-dq > Unless there is "prior art" that I'm unaware of, Doug is off by a century. See http://www.thg.org.uk/articles.htm#FACSIMILE for a brief history of the development of fax technology. Cheers, Mark.

26 years, 4 months

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Last chance for tapes

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Would it be possible to get just a few of these? LIke maybe 2 or 3? -dq > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Lane [mailto:kyrrin@bluefeathertech.com] > Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2000 1:23 AM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: FW: Last chance for tapes > > > For those of us that have QIC tape drives, this fellow > has a bunch > of DC6525 tapes, most of them still in their shrink wrap. > > Please contact him directly if interested. > > -=-=- <snip> -=-=- > > In article <3942FDF3.2D13(a)worldnet.att.net>, you say... > > > Subject: Last chance for tapes > > From: Jack LaBrecque <JITB(a)worldnet.att.net> > > Reply-To: JITB(a)postoffice.worldnet.att.net > > Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr, comp.sys.att, comp.periphs.scsi > > > > SONY QD6525N (Same as DC6525 from 3M) & 3M DDS-90 4mm. I > have 50-100 of > > each. Most are brand new and still in wrappers. Make me > an offer or > > they go to the dump. > > > > -- > > Semper Fi > > > > Jack L > > JITB's Home Page: > > http://home.att.net/~jitb/ > > JITB's USMC Page: > > http://home.att.net/~jitb/usmc/usmc.htm > > PFC Edward A. Peterson: > > http://home.att.net/~jitb/ed/pete.htm > > > > > > -- > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > Bruce Lane, Owner/Head Honcho, > Blue Feather Technologies (http://www.bluefeathertech.com) > kyrrin [a-t] bluefeathertech {d=o=t} com > "I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be > superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk) >

26 years, 4 months

3
2
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Fwd: Line Printer Art

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I received this piece of fan mail from someone who had visited my Ancient Alphabetic Art page at http://www.threedee.com/jcm/aaa/ . It sounds like he's making an interesting video. I'm sure he'd appreciate any insights from list members. I haven't checked my archives to see if I have this American Gothic image. If I don't, I might beg someone to help him recover the files from his tape... - John >Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 16:47:48 -0500 >From: Douglas Harms <dharms(a)DEPAUW.EDU> >Subject: Line Printer Art >To: jfoust(a)threedee.com > >John: > >Hi! I'm on the faculty at DePauw University in Greencastle Indiana. One >of the projects two of my students and I are currently working on is a >video of an old PDP-11/10 I have. In the video several people go back in >time to the 1970's to see the PDP-11 in action. (I know, it's pretty >corny, but what can I say?) I'd like to create a 1970's era computer >center environment for this portion of the video. One of the things I >remember from my college days (in the 70's) is line printer art; I came >upon your page at the Jefferson Computer Museum during my search and was >quite impressed with the number of images you have in your collection. > >I'd like to print some images on our line printer and was wondering if any >of your files are available for download. > >Any help or suggestions you could give me would be appreicated. > >Thanks! > >--Doug > >p.s. I actually have a mag tape I made 22 years ago on a PDP-11/45 running >RSTS that contains 10 overstrike pictures. Unfortunately, I don't seem to >be able to read this tape anymore :-( Most of these pictures are probably >duplicates of yours (playboy-type pictures, if I recall correctly), but one >is a large image of American Gothic, which I didn't see in your list. If I >am ever successful at reading these files I'd be happy to send them to you >if you'd like. >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Douglas Harms, Associate Professor of Computer Science >Department of Computer Science >DePauw University >Greencastle, IN 46135 --------------------------------------- > | Hofstadter's Law: >email: dharms(a)depauw.edu | Everything takes longer than >voice: 765.658.4727 | expected, even when Hofstadter's >fax: 765.658.4732 | Law is taken into account. >----------------------------------------------------------------------

26 years, 4 months

2
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source for cheap TK50s?

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

26 years, 4 months

1
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Using DECmate III from terminal

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>Is it possible to use a DECmate III from a terminal if one has no monitor >or keyboard for it? Running wps278, no! that software talks to the console at the default console device addresses. >Since it's in the PDP-8 family, can it run OS/8? Yes, specifically OS278 version. Again the tube and keyboard are required. Why? the default console is devices 03/04 and those ahve been assigned via hardware to the CRT/keyboard with slushware support. Slushware is the code loaded into the alternate memory (Control pannel ram) to do "special tasks". To run it to say the printer or comm port you have to use OS278 and write a new console driver and bind the two. To do that you'd need a PDP-8 or a PDP-8 emulator. >BTW, Does anyone have any stories of favorite PDP-8 or Decmate hacks, >and, has anyone here used a DECmate for any music or sound synthesis >applications? In theory a DECmate could do music... the problem is interfacing it as there is no "bus" to grab that is easily available. the problem is one of the fully integrated system and trying to add/interface to it beyond the available design. It could be done but it would not be easy. It would be good to go to the PDP-8 FAQ and read the treatise on why a DECMATE is not a PDP-8, (almost does count!). Allison

26 years, 4 months

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Big pile of HP stuff--Roanoke, VA

by ip500＠roanoke.infi.net

Forgot to include the URL for some pix of this junk. http://mh106.infi.net/~ip500/HPcomputers/

26 years, 4 months

2
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Good News/Bad news

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Well just got back from my two weeks in Houston and had a few great finds and a little bad luck. The good news is I found a number of good finds, here's a short list as some of the items are not 10 years old yet. 1. Royal TA model F1 computer, ext. floppy drive, and user's manual all for $6 2. Amiga 1040 3. Percom ext. floppy drive unit 4. 15 - Mac keyboards, no cables but they were free for the taking. 5. Team concepts printer 6. NEC MultiSpin 6X cdrom reader 7. Socrates mousesystem with tablet and mouse 8. Epson Equity LT-286e laptop not working but was also free. 9. Scan-It by digital media labs for the Mac, $8 bucks at flea market 10. Sega 3D adapter 11. Many manuals and books 12. HP 98720A 13. Amiga 1000 14. Suncom animation station computergraphics sensor pad 15. Atrai printer adapter for the 800 The list is much longer but the other items do not meet the 10 year rule. The bad news is I found a System/36 model 5362 (complete) for $50 at a thrift in Houston and I paid the folks for it and asked if I could pick it up the next day as I would need a truck to carry it. They said ok and when I came back to pick it up someone had trashed the machine by taking out 5 cards and breaking them up on the floor next to the unit. I asked the store manager to adjusted the price I had paid for it but they said I had purchased it "AS IS" and said it was not trashed when I purchased it the day before. They did agree to lower the price on a Mac 145B powerbook that I found sitting on the shelf there as a way to settle my problem. I have never had anything like this happen before. John Keys

26 years, 4 months

4
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Big pile of HP stuff--Roanoke, VA

by ip500＠roanoke.infi.net

I'm hoping that someone knows something about some of this stuff and/or can use some of it. Not free but really reasonable IF you can come to Roanoke, VA and load it up. HP 3000 Series III mainframe [a couple of racks worth, but some vandal hauled ALL the cards to a recycler prior to my finding it] HP 3000 system 30 cute little R2D2 sized mainframe [no cards] HP Tape Drives 7970 several variations HP disk drives, big and heavy 7920's & 25's HP keyboards & terminals 2640,2645, maybe some 2649's non HP stuff: CDC PA5N1 harddrives--also heavy! Bunch of NCR minis running VRX or VRX/E, also got a couple of controlers and a PS or two from the same series pile of TRS-80 series III Not cheap but lots of them: HP 1000 E&F series minis HP 21MX series minis HP "A" series minis This is a serious size pile--probably 2-3 tons of stuff in really good condition. My storage runneth over. Craig

26 years, 4 months

1
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Good News/Bad news

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 11, John R. Keys Jr. wrote: > The bad news is I found a System/36 model 5362 (complete) for $50 at a > thrift in Houston and I paid the folks for it and asked if I could pick > it up the next day as I would need a truck to carry it. They said ok > and when I came back to pick it up someone had trashed the machine by > taking out 5 cards and breaking them up on the floor next to the unit. > I asked the store manager to adjusted the price I had paid for it but > they said I had purchased it "AS IS" and said it was not trashed when I > purchased it the day before. They did agree to lower the price on a Mac > 145B powerbook that I found sitting on the shelf there as a way to > settle my problem. I have never had anything like this happen before. Wow, that *sucks*. Sounds like somebody needs some broken fingers. Sorry to hear that, man. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

2
1
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AppleTalk on the hoof

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

Well, thanks to a clever guy on c.s.a2, I got the IIgs to network boot. It involved going into the Control Panel, setting slot 2 to AppleTalk, and setting the startup slot to AppleTalk. It magically found Steve, the Mac, and was able to connect and boot ProDOS 8. BASIC.SYSTEM came up without a hitch, and I was able to use the Mac as a fileshare without problem. Neat! Thanks for all the help, folks! It had some trouble booting GS/OS from the Mac, however. It showed the "Welcome to the IIgs" box, and got about half-way through (at the bottom, an AppleTalk share icon eventually showed up), but then abruptly bombed out and dropped back to the AppleShare client. GS/OS then wouldn't come up at all until I rebooted the machine. Corrupt copy or not enough memory? Someone on c.s.a2 said it should at least boot with 1MB, even if it couldn't run much. Later today I'm going to build those GS/OS disks and see if starting it up from the floppy drive makes any difference. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- Good-bye. I am leaving because I am bored. -- George Saunders' dying words -

26 years, 4 months

1
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FW: Last chance for tapes

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

For those of us that have QIC tape drives, this fellow has a bunch of DC6525 tapes, most of them still in their shrink wrap. Please contact him directly if interested. -=-=- <snip> -=-=- In article <3942FDF3.2D13(a)worldnet.att.net>, you say... > Subject: Last chance for tapes > From: Jack LaBrecque <JITB(a)worldnet.att.net> > Reply-To: JITB(a)postoffice.worldnet.att.net > Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr, comp.sys.att, comp.periphs.scsi > > SONY QD6525N (Same as DC6525 from 3M) & 3M DDS-90 4mm. I have 50-100 of > each. Most are brand new and still in wrappers. Make me an offer or > they go to the dump. > > -- > Semper Fi > > Jack L > JITB's Home Page: > http://home.att.net/~jitb/ > JITB's USMC Page: > http://home.att.net/~jitb/usmc/usmc.htm > PFC Edward A. Peterson: > http://home.att.net/~jitb/ed/pete.htm > > -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner/Head Honcho, Blue Feather Technologies (http://www.bluefeathertech.com) kyrrin [a-t] bluefeathertech {d=o=t} com "I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk)

26 years, 4 months

1
0
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AppleTalk on the hoof

by owad＠applefritter.com

>::I personally used my SE/30 to generate the required GS/OS disks from >::Apple's Disk Copy images, so it does work. > >Okay, I'll give it a shot. Where can I get Disk Copy 4.2 from? Is this >on the Apple FTP site? ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English- North_American/Macintosh/Utilities/Disk_Copy/Disk_Copy_4.2.sea.hqx Tom ------------------------------Applefritter------------------------------ Apple Prototypes, Clones, & Hacks - The obscure, unusual, & exceptional. ---------------------<http://www.applefritter.com/>---------------------

26 years, 4 months

2
1
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ASCII e-mail vs iso-8859-1

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 10, R. D. Davis wrote: > > I agree 100%. Though I must point out that it has nothing at all to > > do with "older" or "newer" systems...it's primarily a "windows" or > > "non-windows" issue. > > Hmmm, so this is an operating systems vs. a pseudo operating system > issue. Thanks for the explanation. Well, pretty much, yes. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

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GRiDCase 3 price question.

by netsurfer_x1＠hotmail.com

Does anybody know what the asking price for a GRiDCase 3 is? I would love to ad this to my collection one of these days. A bit of trivia: If anybody has seen the *long* version of the movie "Aliens" , the computers that the marines use to control the motion controlled smart guns are GRiDCases, I'm not sure which model. My guess is that they are GRiDCase 3's. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 4 months

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ASCII e-mail vs iso-8859-1

by allisonp＠world.std.com

-----Original Message----- From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > I agree 100%. Though I must point out that it has nothing at all to >do with "older" or "newer" systems...it's primarily a "windows" or >"non-windows" issue. It's not that either. It's lazy or just plain lack of knowledge. outlook express and be told to use plain text (not rtf or html) and far as I know I'm doing just that from a NT4 system. It annoying to me as a NT/OE user as RTF and html will alter termprorary settings for fonts and all when I don't want that all due to someone who does not know. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Is > > the lack of security on the Internet possibly a well designed feature > > disguised as a flaw? > > No, it is because much of it is Unix oriented. And Unix > security is just not that good. This isn't quite right, but does explain why Internet security has not improved. First and foremost, like most other ARPA projects (such as Multics), the ARPAnet was meant to be a prototype for what a network could be. One of the base-level assumptions was that it would provide information sharing between a small number of trusted and trusting sites. However, from my own personal experience, I have never succeeded in creating a prototype of a system to show to management that management didn't say "a few more tweaks and we're done". Although prototypes, both Multics and ARPAnet were rushed into production because no one wanted to take the time to stop and do it over again, better the second time. regards, -doug quebbeman

26 years, 4 months

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Updated Dilog contact information

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

>Delivered-To: cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com >From: Jack Olson <jacko(a)dilog.com> >To: "'cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com'" <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> >Subject: FW: DLI MOVE >Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 09:27:09 -0700 > > > >---------- >From: Jack Olsen >Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 11:35 AM >To: Jack Olsen >Subject: DLI MOVE > > >WHAT'S HAPPENING >AT DLI/DILOG? > > >If you've tried to reach us in the last couple of months, you probably >sense that there is something going on. Well you're right. The facility >that we have been occupying in Irvine for the last eight years was sold to >a church. So we had to relocate. > >We found the perfect site only 3 miles away in the city of Tustin and >proceeded to make what was supposed to be a seamless move to our >new digs the first week in March. Well, it wasn't so seamless. The first >problem was that even though we are close to the old place, the new one >was in a different area code, so we had to change telephone and fax >numbers. > >OK, the telephone company will take care of referrals from the old to >the new number. However, a good amount of our communications with >our customers was via email. Now you have to understand our internal >network and connections. We have a Novel system for file, print, email >and Internet access. the Novel is connected to a Linux firewall Internet >gateway. The Linux accesses the Internet every 15 minutes during the >day to retrieve and send email for the company, then delivers it to our >desk with Microsoft exchange. Nice working system. > >No problem. Just disconnect the parts at the old place, and reconnect at >the new, plug into the wall and run. Right? - - Wrong. The Novel >systems disk decided that it didn't like the climate at it's new home and >proceeded to show its displeasure with a series of strange metal against >metal sounds. No problem, we have a Libra library backup system and >are fully backed up. Put on the new disk and restore the Novel system. >Well, the Libra is one of the first ever made and has been chugging >away everyday since we originally installed it. The DAT drive went on >strike and had to be replaced. Once that was done we found out how >important it is to remember where one packs the backup tape set. > >OK its now late March, the Novel server is up and running, but the >building Ethernet wiring is not correct. Emails are being received >sporadically. Bob gets the building wiring squared away and all is >looking well when we receive a registered letter from Concentric, our >Internet service provider telling us that they are discontinuing our dial- >up account on Apr. 24. > >Time to enter the 21st century - we proceed to order an enhanced DSL >service. They can't install until May 1. Call Concentric and see if they >will stretch our disconnect date until then. Officially they cannot agree >to do this. Unofficially it is done - Thank You Concentric. On May 1, >our DSL is installed - but we are given the wrong network connection >card to the Linux system. Got the correct card - DSL works - WOW - >real time mail delivery. > >So now we're here in our new facility with a fully operational LAN and >Internet. > >If you had some trouble reaching us, we apologize. We are here for you >and are now fully accessible via phone - at our new number, fax - at our >new number, or email and web page at the same number. > >Phone 714-508-1040, fax 714-508-1050, >email info(a)dilog.com, www.dilog.com. > >So remember, same great products for Qbus and Unibus, - > >Same support, - > >New digs. - > >Give us a call. > >Sincerely, > >The DLI crew >

26 years, 4 months

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Removing surface-mounted ICs

by mark_k＠iname.com

Hi, Thanks for the several helpful replies on this topic. On Wed, 7 Jun 2000 Clint Wolff wrote: > I would recommend against putting the board in an oven. This will > result in the entire IC getting too hot, and possibly breaking. > Modern plastic package absorb a small amount of water from the air. > Heating the part may result in a small steam explosion. ICs are > shipped from the factory in sealed bags with some desiccant inside. > The label on the outside says to solder them down within a fairly > short time after opening (couple days IIRC). Ah, I have read about that. IC manufacturers often specify a procedure to use when chips which may have absorbed water are to be used. This involves baking at low temperature for a while. Assuming that (for the purposes of removing absorbed water) one plastic IC package is the same as the next, at which temperature and for how long should this baking be done? The lowest setting on my oven is 70 degrees C. If that is low enough -- I guess it should be as most ICs are specified for operation to 75 C or so -- I may try putting the board in there for 12 or 24 hours, before turning the temperature up to melt the solder. -- Mark

26 years, 4 months

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ASCII e-mail vs iso-8859-1

by rdd＠smart.net

Greetings, Can certain list members who aren't sending standard ASCII text kindly fix their e-mail software so that they stop sending messagse that could possibly cause problems for some people using older systems? Doesn't it seem a little strange that people who are interested in computer preservation are sending iso-8859-1 character set messages instead of normal ASCII to a mailing list where others are likely to be using older systems to read their e-mail? Once ASCII goes away, then we've all got problems that would make our older systems very much incompatible with everything else and less useful. Is not plain old ASCII one standard that we should value and do our best to keep >from going out of use? -- R. D. Davis rdd(a)perqlogic.com http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd 410-744-4900

26 years, 4 months

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Wirin' up blinkenlights

by allisonp＠world.std.com

-----Original Message----- From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Friday, June 09, 2000 11:52 PM Subject: Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > >>For the blinkenlights, my least favorite choice is LEDs; does anyone >>have a reason for a preference of Ne2 bulbs over incandescent bulbs or >>vice versa? NE2 bulbs need 75-90v db supply to run. If your to use them use NE2H as they are brighter. >Actually in my PDP-8/x the use of white LEDs seems like it will be a win. Almost... White leds are biased toward blue white and incandesent lamps were white biased toward red. Also with incandesant the color of the lens cap was a factor. for examaple it could be red, amber, green even blue. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>And don't overlook one Charles Goodyear. If he had not accidentally >dropped a sample of latex laced with carbon black on a hot stove, we >might still be on wooden wheels with iron treads. I thought it was sulphur. Carbon black was added for light/uv resistance. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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AppleTalk on the hoof

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

Great brag today. Two ROM 03 Apple IIgses with 1MB RAM, keyboards, two sets of two each of 5.25" and 3.5" UniDisks and a nice composite monitor. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is the Mac SE/30 that came with them. It runs System 6 (cough) and AppleShare File Server. It looks like this was the file server for the IIgs systems, since the disk is full of AppleWorks, Oregon Trail and ProDOS boot images. :-) How do I get the IIgses to speak AppleTalk? I have the parts for building the network, and I know IIgs systems can do it (I've seen it), but obviously I need some additional software which unfortunately did NOT come with the package. This might be stretching it, but can they network boot? The IIgs Control Panel (CTRL-OPTION-RESET) yielded nothing too helpful. By the way, total cost was $0.00 ;-) (Well, I did have to buy an ADB mouse for the Mac, which was missing too. $40?! Highway robbery. But I shan't complain too much :-) -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- "I'd love to go out with you, but I'm rethreading my toothbrush bristles." -

26 years, 4 months

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IBM System/38 Availible

by mrdos＠swbell.net

There is an IBM System/38 with Tape Drive and 4 Disk Drives available in San Francisco California. If you are interested contact Rbatist(a)aol.com . If you get it, tell me all about it 'cause I REALLY wanted this one, but there isn't enough time to arrange for shipping.

26 years, 4 months

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Tandy 2 drive oops

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

Roger, I think you sent me an answer about the Tandy 2 floppy drive, but in my haste I deleted it by accident. Could you resend it? I'm terribly sorry about that. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- "I'd love to go out with you, but my personalities each need therapy." -----

26 years, 4 months

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OT Ranting (blather blather blather) Re: In defense of NASA:was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>> Somehow, probably with the help of marketing people, WD-40 could "do" >> both jobs. It does contain some very light oil. Not the best lube though, then again mousemilk isn't either and I have both for those times when... WD40, like LPS-5, 3in1, LMO (light machine oil) and various lubricants on my shelf are like the assortment of hammers I have. Some are brass dead blows, plastic, wood, claw and ballpeen all for specific uses. When used for the right purpose the right to is a great help. WD40 is like screwdrivers as they get used for hammers, prybars and whatnot all to the great consternation of the machinest sorts that know and appreciate tools. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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Wirin' up blinkenlights

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 8, R. D. Davis wrote: > It's not only bizarre, it's apparently someone's idea of a sick joke, > that the most boring and poorly designed systems are the ones that > most people depend on these days which have replaced the VAXen, etc. A sick joke, indeed. > Is it not true, however, that all computers are toys, and that PDP's, > VAXen and Crays could have been considered toys when they were new? This is a good point. While I will slap anyone who walks into my computer room (containing about twenty machines, no PCs, well over a terabyte of disk storage, one Cray...some "classic" machines, some not) and calls anything a "toy"...I enjoy working with these systems so much that I can honestly call it "fun". As much fun as retrocomputing on the older PDP and VAX systems, as a matter of fact. So is it really that offensive to call them "toys"? Maybe not. One must not forget, however, that there *are* PDPs, VAXen, and Crays that are *not* so old. The PC marketeers would have everyone believe that anything that isn't a PC is old technology. That simply isn't the case. There are new (current technology) PDP11 systems (Mentec), there are new (albeit based on older technology) VAXen, and there are certainly new Crays. It's a stretch, but it seems that preserving "classic" computers is almost an exercise in preserving anything that's not a current Windoze box. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

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Fixin' der Tandy 2 floppydrivenspiegelthingengruppebochs

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

Good news und bat news. I got a nice Tandy 200 package today, unit, power supplies, manuals and even some Club 100 disks in the original hard case. Very nice and the machine, after a little of fiddling and a cold start, is running well. That's the good news. The bad news, alas, is the 3.5" RS-232 floppy that came with it. (Yes, RS-232 floppy drive; hopefully someone has seen one of these.) It will not power up on either the power supply (original power supply, btw, which works with the M200 just fine), or new batteries. All it does is flash its low battery light briefly, spin for about a second, and shut off. I took a look at the board but couldn't see anything physically shot. Anyone have experience with these drives? What are my options? Part of getting this thing was so that I would have a floppy to save on, and maybe even get my 8201A to talk to it :-) Thanks in advance. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- Arguments with furniture are rarely productive. -- Kehlog Albran -----------

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> The space program, while costing the taxpayers a sizable amount > of money, has produced huge quantities of spinoff projects and > technologies that have definitely benefitted mankind. I don't personally equate NASA with the space program. Yes, NASA runs the only real space program we have. But while R. D. Davis seems to decry them both, and many others are jumping in to defend both, let me offer an alternative view. For the most part, I have always supported manned space flight. And once upon a time working at NASA was my dream. But over the years, and particularly in the way that they acquired and then deliberately destroyed the Delta Clipper project and prototype (yes I have read the NASA reports in full and I still conclude the engineer who failed to check the landing strut because the instructions he got did not specify to do so most likely did so deliberately and on directions from higher-ups), I have come to see NASA as a bloated bureaucracy that would be best put to sleep. But I would still replace NASA with something that would carry on manned spaceflight. As for individuals, so also for society, that [a] mans reach should exceed his grasp. respectfully submitted, doug quebbeman

26 years, 4 months

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Old laptops as cheap terminals (was Re: Old Macs = cheap terminals)

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- allisonp <allisonp(a)world.std.com> wrote: > Don't you need a bidirectional port for the PE3? I have a few of them and > have never tried them on xtclass boxen for that reason. At least the older Xircom adapters can work in nybble-mode with a uni- directional port. I just didn't think they'd break it with the newer models. I want a PE3, not PE2 because of power consumption - the PE3 can be powered off of a parasitic cable (typically from the keyboard jack, but there isn't one on an XT laptop; I was just going to wire one in). There are parameters you can tell the PE3 to use when connecting the driver, but I'd have to look them up; I haven't actually used a parallel port adapter since I was at McMurdo. > What I'd like to find is a driver for that that works under win95, nt4, > linux or Minix. the ones I have are dos, win3.x and maybe OS/2 V??. AFAIK, there will never be any newer drivers because Xircom isn't forthcoming with their internals details. I tried for a long time to get info out of them so I could adapt a PE3 to the Amiga, but they formally rejected my written propsal because they didn't want to be in anything but the DOS market. Since then, they've been more flexible, so the newer PCMCIA Xircom NICs work, but I have this CE-10BT that only works under older stuff (fortunately, I do happen to have a PCMCIA NIC or two that _is_ supported under Linux; my CE3B-100BTX the only thing I have for the laptop that will go 100Mbps and isn't Cardbus). -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com

26 years, 4 months

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Wirin' up blinkenlights

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

For a lot of things, maybe...but lots of computational tasks simply aren't well suited to running on a thousand tiny buzzing Intel processors. -Dave McGuire On June 8, Richard Erlacher wrote: > Well . . . you're right, but it might read, "300 PC's replace CRAY - film at > 11." That's in place of the popular Cheers or Frasier reruns . . . > > Dick > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 7:16 PM > Subject: Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > > > > > > PC replaces Cray...film at 11. > > > > Not quite yet, I'm afraid. The PC isn't the end-all, be-all of > > computing. > > > > -Dave McGuire > > > > On June 8, Richard Erlacher wrote: > > > Careful, now . . . due to the passage of time and the change of the > > > "climate" the PDP's, Vaxen, Cray's, etc, that are sitting in basements > and > > > garages are the toys now, and the former toys, the PC's, are the "real" > > > computers. Bizzarre, isn't it? > > > > > > Dick > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: R. D. Davis <rdd(a)smart.net> > > > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > > > Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 4:45 PM > > > Subject: Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, 8 Jun 2000, Tony Duell wrote: > > > > > > simulator and a PDP-11/45 front panel with no CPU boards. I'd > like to > > > do > > > > > > sort of a faux PDP-11/45 with this setup by somehow wiring the > front > > > panel > > > > > > up to the PC running Sim. > > > > > > > > > > > > Am I completely out of my mind, or is there even the remotest > chance > > > of > > > > > > > > > > We're all out of our minds on this list ;-) > > > > > > > > Actually, I think that adding blinking lights, and switches, to any > > > > computer is a good idea, and, as my PDP-11s don't have lights and > > > > switches, I think it's time to add them... by creating a separate rack > > > > panel, of course. Has anyone here added lights and switches to one of > > > > the PDP-11s of incomplete design? > > > > > > > > > It's _possible_. It's probably less work to find a set of 11/45 CPU > > > > > boards and get them working, but it's still _possible_ to do what > you > > > ask. > > > > > > > > The idea of finding a set of PDP-11 boards is a better idea, as then > the > > > > front panel could be used with non-toy computer equipment. > > > > > > > > -- > > > > R. D. Davis > > > > rdd(a)perqlogic.com > > > > http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd > > > > 410-744-4900 > > > > > >

26 years, 4 months

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Decwriter III's in Kansas City

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I have two Decwriter III's that were taken out of service in January. They were working when turned off. They are not light weight. I will send them to anyone who wants them for $10 each plus shipping. The $10 is to find a box/pallet and haul them to the shipping office. Anybody can have them for free if they want to pick them up. The other option is I donate them to the computer surplus. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years, 4 months

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Q-bus (was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights)

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- allisonp <allisonp(a)world.std.com> wrote: > >Interesting idea, a Q-bus front panel. > > > >signals are there as well. A DMA cycle can take forever so you could build > > nope, it will bus timout on you. Boy did we find that out the hard way. The Software Results Q-Board was built back in the days of the MicroVAX-I and MicroPDP-11. The designers picked some time (by tapping off of a stage on a divide-by-N counter) to timeout while waiting for a DMA cycle. It was well outside the Q-bus spec of the day. This board worked in MicroVAX-II and -III designs with no complaint. Eventually, someone wanted to stick a Q-Board in a VAX 4000 with a TLZ04 interface. By the time this machine came out, the Q-bus was no longer implemented in the way it once was. Certain cards were no longer "in spec". The upshot of this was that the TLZ04 interface could grab the bus longer than the Q-Board would wait. The fix was to redesign the bus timeout circuit (a cut and a jump and a new PAL) because DEC sure wasn't going to change their interface to work in an older Qbus box. It took us quite a while to find this one because our board didn't change and there were no problems in 99% of the VAX 4000s out there. It was a piggy controller. -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com

26 years, 4 months

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OT: Re: In defense of NASA

by mtapley＠swri.edu

R. D. et al, (* Disclaimer: I'm full time on a NASA project, the IMAGE mission, though my direct employer is Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, who does a lot of commercial space work as well as NASA. My views are mine alone, however, and do not represent company policy nor that of NASA. *) ... so you know which side my bread's buttered on, and by the way if you are a taxpayer, I thank you very much for your support and hope you feel that you get your money's worth out of IMAGE (http://pluto.space.swri.edu/IMAGE/) (you can see data on some of the links referenced there). I've worked hard to make it so. > Has the space program had any positive influence on >spirituality and humanity's relationship with Nature? Yes. Remember the photo of the Earth, taken by the returning Apollo mission? Or Earthrise over the moon? That's a perspective that could never have been achieved without manned spaceflight. (I say manned, because no machine would have been programmed to look in the right direction at the right time, and notice the incredible aesthetic impact of that image, and capture it.) Its value is of course subjective - but there's a generation grown now that *knows*, because they've seen it, that Earth is just a big blue marble and not the entire universe. For better or worse, it's a finite planet. Is the ozone hole a big deal? Maybe, maybe not; but we would never have known about it - because we would never have noticed it - without the *global* data that could only be provided by satellite observations. What about global warming? We might have picked that up in 10 or 15 years from temperature measurements at land stations, or maybe not. In any case, it would have taken more years for global climate modelers to convince everyone else that the land data they had, plus limited sea-surface measurements from ships, really did amount to a significant change. Global sea-surface temperature measurements, collected by satellites, provided that insight to us about a quarter of a century earlier than we would otherwise have had it. Same notation for El Nino. Whether we take advantage of the data we have, and do smart things with it, is an open question, but we would not even have the options, in those cases, without spaceflight. There are similar arguments for land-use patterns, deforestation, pollution (airborne and water-borne) plumes, etc etc etc. Not that the data *could* not be collected without spacecraft - but that it would have been a lot harder and more expensive and in most cases *would* not have been done. We know our terrestrial problems better because of space activities. Communications satellites carry WWF, so maybe I shouldn't bring those up, .... oh heck yes I should. Living in North America, I can watch NHK news live broadcasts from Japan (for example). Is that a cultural benefit? You bet. I can see, and hear (and heck, maybe one day even understand) what's being thought and done about problems I don't even have (earthquakes? volcanoes? not in Texas), half a big blue marble away. Cultures I would never know existed are as close as a twist of a knob. Sure, some of that could be done with undersea lines - but not as soon and not as cheaply as with a satellite link. As for the Columbus argument ... I'm always nervous about that one. For me as a born Texan, descended of Germand and English settlers, heck yeah it was great that Isabella hocked her jewelry to pay for that expedition. As a Spaniard, I'd probably be a bit less enthusiastic; I mean looking at Spain now, it didn't do them much good in the long term. As a native American, I'd be pretty bummed about it - why didn't the silly Europeans stay over there and pave Europe? Depends on your perspective. But what I do think Spain bought for Columbus' trip, and was cheap at the price, and what I think NASA has bought for us and was *incredibly* cheap at the price, is potential. We know we *can* build solar power satellites and beam microwave energy to Earth to supply electricity for our classic computers :-) without contributing (as much) to global warming. We know we can put long-term facilities in low Earth orbit for medical reasons or biomedical research or crystallography or whatever. We know we can put people on the Moon and bring them home intact. We know we can go to Mars and colonize it, if we choose to. Those options are expensive, and some of them may not be worth it - it's a choice we have to make. But the fact that we *have* the choice is worth a lot to us as a nation, or as a species. - Mark

26 years, 4 months

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OT Ranting (blather blather blather) Re: In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > I look foward to your answers, and if I'm wrong or am overlooking > > something, I'd very much like to know about it. > > Dude, one word: TANG! I dittoed a Davis rant the other day, today I gotta nix one. Sellam, let me second your motion with- Teflon! -doug q

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> > Do any computer preservationists seriously use their > systems to heat their > > houses in the winter in place of a furnace? > I live in South Florida... Even a PC will keep my house warm. Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: R. D. Davis [mailto:rdd@smart.net] > Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 1:35 AM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > > > On Fri, 9 Jun 2000, Merle K. Peirce wrote: > > I think the space programme is invaluable. How else are we > going to find > > a place to ship Trent Lott? I for one, was glad when Congressman John Glenn went back into space. Although, I was a bit disappointed when he returned. Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

26 years, 4 months

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Old laptops as cheap terminals (was Re: Old Macs = cheap terminals)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>I bought an ancient Zenith XT laptop (dual 720K floppies) for $10 at a local >box shop explicity for a terminal. I have a DOS 3.3 boot disk in it with >Kermit, and away I go. If I could lay my hands on a cheap Xircom PE3 (no >flames, please), I'd use the laptop as an IP "terminal", too (for the Don't you need a bidirectional port for the PE3? I have a few of them and have never tried them on xtclass boxen for that reason. What I'd like to find is a driver for that that works under win95, nt4, linux or Minix. the ones I have are dos, win3.x and maybe OS/2 V??. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 9, 0:08, Zane H. Healy wrote: > On June 9, R. D. Davis wrote: > >Do any computer preservationists seriously use their systems to heat their > >houses in the winter in place of a furnace? > > Well, the room in the house with all the computers (well, except the ones > living in the garage) has the heating blocked off, Same with my office/computer room; there are two machines and an old (and therefore relatively power-hungry) hub that are on 24/7. It's a small room and has the heating off and the two adjacent rooms have the heating turned way down. There's usually a machine in the garage on 24/7 in the winter; if ever it's not on, there's a heater and/or dehumidifier there to protect the tools and 'puters. > OTOH, most of that heat comes from 1 21" monitor, and the real problem is > the design of this house. Even without the computer equipment on this room > is considerably hotter than the rest of the house. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Mine's the same: upper floor, centre room, just at the top of the stairs, seems to collect all the heat from downstairs -- and has a 20" Sony GDM1961/VRT-19HA. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 4 months

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In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 9, R. D. Davis wrote: > ObClassiccmp: > ------------- > > Do any computer preservationists seriously use their systems to heat their > houses in the winter in place of a furnace? I haven't run a heater in winter for quite some time. I have a small electric/ceramic heater in the bedroom because it's difficult to move the heat that far away from the machine room. But I only need that on the coldest of days. None of those are really my "classic" machines but I figured it'd fit. :) -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

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3B2/600 Free to Whomever wants it... (fwd)

by rdd＠smarty.smart.net

I found this on comp.sys.3b1 in case anyone can save it: ------- start of forwarded message ------- Path: news.smart.net!outfeed2.news.cais.net!info.usuhs.mil!uky.edu!atl-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.atl!news4.mco.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <393A683B.F0D3731C(a)bellsouth.net> From: Average Torvaldsian <mflang(a)bellsouth.net> Organization: Happy enough without any, thanks for asking... X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.51 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.0.37 i586) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,comp.sys.3b1 Subject: 3B2/600 Free to Whomever wants it... Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 29 Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 10:31:23 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.78.231.1 X-Trace: news4.mco 960142535 216.78.231.1 (Sun, 04 Jun 2000 14:15:35 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 14:15:35 EDT Xref: news.smart.net comp.sys.att:2874 comp.sys.3b1:1794 I have a 3B2/600 to give to whomever wants it. It belonged to the local AT&T group here in Orlando FL (as an asset tag), and is apparently the only survivor of three that fed Usenet into the Central Florida area. It works fine, boots without problem, and includes a console terminal, keyboard, user books, and a number of tapes. One of those is said to be a bootable tape with a complete backup. Sixteen megs ram, two 120 meg SCSI drives, 5.25" floppy and tape drives. It does not have an net card, though: that died and was removed before I got it, nor does it have any disks. I don't have any time to devote to the poor thing, it looks all forlorn sitting in the corner, and I'd really like to see it go to someone who has the time to get the thing running. Obviously, due to the size and weight, I can not ship it, but it is here to be picked up in east Orange County, Fla, pretty much anytime. If you are close by in a surrounding county, I would be willing to bring it to you. If interested, <mailto:mflang@bellsouth.net> or <mailto:qillerpenguin@hotmail.com> and we'll arrange pickup/drop off. Max. (ps: during the last week of June and first week of July, I will be in the Davenport (Scott County) area of Iowa, and if someone in the surrounding area is interested in it, let me know, as I'd also be willing to bring it for delivery.) -- All parts should go together without forcing... By all means, do not use a hammer. -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925. ------- end of forwarded message ------- -- -- R. D. Davis rdd(a)perqlogic.com http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd 410-744-4900

26 years, 4 months

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Australian Totalisator

by foo＠siconic.com

Here is a great website that documents a until now unknown (to me at least) tabulating system invented in Australia in around 1913 used at horse tracks. http://www.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/ It is a pretty amazing history. It extends into the digital computer age and goes into some detail about the use of PDP 11's which eventually replaced the mechanical and then electromechanical design. Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... Coming soon: VCF 4.0! VCF East: Planning in Progress See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years, 4 months

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Wirin' up blinkenlights

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>Interesting idea, a Q-bus front panel. > >The address lines are present, just wire those up to lights. Various Nope! they are address/data multiplexed... you have to latch the address and data to display it. >signals are there as well. A DMA cycle can take forever so you could build nope, it will bus timout on you. >the switch register to deposit directly into memory. Decoding an address >for the switch register in the top 4K would be pretty straightforward as Yes it would. >well. Does anyone know if there is a defined location for it? Displaying >registers would be difficult to do "on the fly" however you could probably >force the CPU to execute a MOV Rx, #DISPLY fairly easily. Software loop on an interrupt would write to static latches to do that. >Circuit Cellar Ink on building your own CPU in an FPGA (see >www.fpgacpu.org) and it included a VGA interface (which they displayed >characters on) clearly however if you were using it as God intended you >would create a virtual front panel :-) interesting. The reason for frontpannels in the first place was more diagnostic in nature and to start them up. When ram and rom got cheaper along with mass storage the whole point of the frontpannel becomes passe`. My 8f would be hard to use without it as it has no rom and it's a maintenance tool. From the other side, it would be pointless on the 11/73 as the rom monitor is much more useful than any front pannel. The ALTAIR was the machine that made having a frontpannel when rom would do clear for me. It was a lot of hardware to do what a simple rom card could do better. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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Wirin' up blinkenlights

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

PC replaces Cray...film at 11. Not quite yet, I'm afraid. The PC isn't the end-all, be-all of computing. -Dave McGuire On June 8, Richard Erlacher wrote: > Careful, now . . . due to the passage of time and the change of the > "climate" the PDP's, Vaxen, Cray's, etc, that are sitting in basements and > garages are the toys now, and the former toys, the PC's, are the "real" > computers. Bizzarre, isn't it? > > Dick > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: R. D. Davis <rdd(a)smart.net> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 4:45 PM > Subject: Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights > > > > On Thu, 8 Jun 2000, Tony Duell wrote: > > > > simulator and a PDP-11/45 front panel with no CPU boards. I'd like to > do > > > > sort of a faux PDP-11/45 with this setup by somehow wiring the front > panel > > > > up to the PC running Sim. > > > > > > > > Am I completely out of my mind, or is there even the remotest chance > of > > > > > > We're all out of our minds on this list ;-) > > > > Actually, I think that adding blinking lights, and switches, to any > > computer is a good idea, and, as my PDP-11s don't have lights and > > switches, I think it's time to add them... by creating a separate rack > > panel, of course. Has anyone here added lights and switches to one of > > the PDP-11s of incomplete design? > > > > > It's _possible_. It's probably less work to find a set of 11/45 CPU > > > boards and get them working, but it's still _possible_ to do what you > ask. > > > > The idea of finding a set of PDP-11 boards is a better idea, as then the > > front panel could be used with non-toy computer equipment. > > > > -- > > R. D. Davis > > rdd(a)perqlogic.com > > http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd > > 410-744-4900 > >

26 years, 4 months

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Old laptops as cheap terminals (was Re: Old Macs = cheap terminals)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>At least the older Xircom adapters can work in nybble-mode with a uni- >directional port. I just didn't think they'd break it with the newer >models. I want a PE3, not PE2 because of power consumption - the PE3 Ah ha, I wondered. >can be powered off of a parasitic cable (typically from the keyboard >jack, but there isn't one on an XT laptop; I was just going to wire >one in). There are parameters you can tell the PE3 to use when connecting I know, remember I said I have a few. I'll have to try one on the XT laptop. Allison

26 years, 4 months

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DEC Hinote supervisor password

by mbg＠world.std.com

I know this is on the more contemporary side of the 10 year rule, but could someone contact me off-list who knows how to reset or override the supervisor password on a DEC Hinote (not ultra, not 2000)? Thanks in advance... Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg KB1FCA | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 4 months

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Perverted Mac-OS idea (was: Perverted DOS idea)

by netsurfer_x1＠hotmail.com

>::>Where can I find a list of INTs DOS uses? I checked a couple of >bookstores >::>but most of them aren't too helpful with low-level DOS. >:: >::People have already pointed you at Ralf Brown's wonderful interrupt list >::(which BTW is available in webified form at http://ctyme.com/rbrown.htm), >::but just to point out the obvious: it doesn't matter! If your emulation >is >::accurate enough to be useful, DOS will take care of itself. You'll >probably >::want to provide your own BIOS though, and for that the IBM PC or AT Tech >Ref >::manuals are wonderful. Computer Reset used to have NOS tech ref books at >::very good prices, don't know if that's still true or even if they're >still >::in business. Anyway, obviously the BIOS is your chance to substitute >some >::native I/O w/o having to muck with DOS itself. > >Well, it would be a sullied implementation. I'm thinking of having a native >6502 IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS (and probably COMMAND.COM), so the INTs would >need >to be simulated by that: hence the list :-) > >-- >----------------------------- personal page: >http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- > Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu >-- Laughter is the closest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge >------- No way! You wouldn't want to ruin a Commodore 64 with that crap! Hell, while you guys are at it, why don't you try to port Mac-OS, or worse yet, MS Windows, to the Commodore 64. ____________________________________________________________ David Vohs, Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian. Home page: http://www.geocities.com/netsurfer_x1/ Computer Collection: "Triumph": Commodore 64C, 1802, 1541, FSD-1, GeoRAM 512, Okimate 20. "Leela": Macintosh 128 (Plus upgrade), Nova SCSI HDD, Imagewriter II. "Delorean": TI-99/4A. "Monolith": Apple Macintosh Portable. "Spectrum": Tandy Color Computer 3. "Boombox": Sharp PC-7000. ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 4 months

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Perverted DOS idea

by ckaiser＠oa.ptloma.edu

This is what happens to you when you study biochemistry all week. I had a perverted idea of building a DOS emulator on a C64 -- i.e., have the C64 emulate the 8086 in software, either in real time or some sort of JIT compilation method. How little memory could you run something like, say, DOS 3.3 in? All I would be supporting is a basic command set like COMMAND.COM, EDLIN, DEBUG, maybe XCOPY, etc. And are the INTs documented anywhere? Just a perverted idea, like I said. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- "Garbage in -- gospel out" -------------------------------------------------

26 years, 4 months

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Old Macs = cheap terminals

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 8, Jason McBrien wrote: > Try to snag an older version. I picked up Etherpeek 3.0 for $50 from a used > software store on-line. Works fine, or you can do linux/MacBSD and get a > sniffer for free. No pretty X interface though. I seem to remember having seen a gorgeous GUI-fied Unix packet sniffer package from Curtin University in Australia. PacketMan or something? -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

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Old Macs = cheap terminals

by rdd＠smart.net

An idea for who use classic computers: since we usually require plenty of terminals to attach to our classic computers, those compact Apple Macs, such as the 512K or SE, found in more plentiful supply than terminals at hamfests, have one very good use: use them as terminals running terminal emulation software. While other microcomptuers such as IBM type toy PCs are also useful as terminals for computers, the old Macintoshes consume less electicity. -- R. D. Davis rdd(a)perqlogic.com http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd 410-744-4900

26 years, 4 months

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Old Macs = cheap terminals

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 8, R. D. Davis wrote: > An idea for who use classic computers: since we usually require plenty > of terminals to attach to our classic computers, those compact Apple > Macs, such as the 512K or SE, found in more plentiful supply than > terminals at hamfests, have one very good use: use them as terminals > running terminal emulation software. While other microcomptuers such > as IBM type toy PCs are also useful as terminals for computers, the > old Macintoshes consume less electicity. I second this. There are several VERY high-quality terminal emulators available for Macs. That same Mac can also sit on the ethernet for lan access as well (for the later NuBus machines, that is)... -Dave McGuire

26 years, 4 months

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OT: Archiving data/video/movies/photos/oral history

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Tue, 6 Jun 2000 00:16:50 -0400 (EDT) William Donzelli <aw288(a)osfn.org> writes: > Real men use the original dynamotors. Here, here. Vibra-paks are for wussies :^). > And these days, those hams that modify Command Sets are often found > with thier mouths filled with cement. It's just as well, he wouldn't be able to make much use of his ARC-5 transmitter on the air in un-modified condition. <dons flame suit> I do recall an article from '73 magazine in the early 50's, that told you how to chop up an ARC-5 transmitter to turn it into a VFO. IIRC, you chop the chassis off at the oscillator coils. . . . :^) Jeff Kaneko KH6JJN ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

26 years, 4 months

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OT: Archiving data/video/movies/photos/oral history

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>This is the crux of the matter. The plastics used in consumer devices are >junk, and many times the implementation is done with little thought to >durability, only cost. Sometimes plastics are used in very interesting ways. I remember one Sony Walkman-style tape transport from the 1980's, where there were *zero* metal screws in it. The entire assembly was snap-together plastic. Cheap? Absolutely! But design-wise, very interesting. Tim.

26 years, 4 months

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Perverted DOS idea

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Cameron: There are several sources for this info. Look for Ralf Brown. He made an "interrupt list" which is just a list of *all* interrupts. Mike Podanofsky wrote RxDOS, a DOS clone for the book "Dissecting DOS" from Addison-Wellsley. His company is API Software in New Hampshire. Try http://www.freedos.org/files/distributions/rxdos/ for a code distribution. The documentation and comments are excellent. -----Original Message----- From: Cameron Kaiser [mailto:ckaiser@oa.ptloma.edu] Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 12:17 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Perverted DOS idea ::> How little memory could you run something like, say, DOS 3.3 in? All I ::> would be supporting is a basic command set like COMMAND.COM, EDLIN, DEBUG, ::> maybe XCOPY, etc. And are the INTs documented anywhere? :: ::I'd guess 128k and certainly in 256k. the Command.com itself is some 27k ::or 33k alone. That was the thing I was worried about. Maybe I'll write Command.com natively instead. Someone suggested emulation from disk, and that's exactly how I was thinking of doing it. Where can I find a list of INTs DOS uses? I checked a couple of bookstores but most of them aren't too helpful with low-level DOS. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)ptloma.edu -- UBAX vs lbh ybir EBG-13 ----------------------------------------------------

26 years, 4 months

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Removing soldered components

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

At my last job I had the luck to have access to a real/live solder sucker component remover. I found it on the top shelf of the electronics lab and fired it up. The rig was a small vacuum pump with a long hose attached to it, allowing the heated air to cool somewhat, with a glass tip. The glass tip was filled with some kind of mesh filter where the solder that was removed could cling. These little solder filters were replaceable. This glass tip was attached to a soldering iron. The vacuum pump was controlled by a foot switch. It took some trial and error to use the system. It takes some eye-hand coordination to operate this system. Don't try after 1-2 beers. I also need longer arms because my vision is extending. Works well for small number of components, not very production oriented. The whole system is probably still in the lab and hasn't been used since I left. "Solder sucker component remover" (TM) Mike "I'm waiting for all of my current memory to disappear and them I can live in the past."

26 years, 4 months

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The more I like my VAX, the more I hate Compaq...

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> EDT *is* a line editor, until you (or your init file) type > CHANGE that is. I count four different editors hiding inside EDT: > > 1. Original non-keypad change mode (from EDT V1), annoying modal thing > like "vi" but of course totally different (SET CHANGE NOKEYPAD gets you > this IIRC). > 2. Line mode, when you haven't typed CHANGE yet. > 3. CHANGE mode on a VT100 etc. (what we're all used to) > 4. CHANGE mode on a hardcopy terminal. Bizarre! > > Are there more? > > >but the best thing to do > >with SOS (other than not use it) is pretend it's the old Micro$oft BASIC > >line editor. At least, that's how _I_ learned to use it, having come from > >the TRS-80 Model I and found myself dropped on a VAX. > > Boy it's been a while, I remember thinking SOS was very much > like the TRS-80 Model II EDTASM. Close enough! Other way around; SOS was first (on DEC-10). I got so accustomed to it that I copied Alan Miller's 8080 version into an extension of the old Processor Technology Software #1 (also known as SCS- Self Contained System), and later implemented it in PL/1 as part of a custom command environment for the primos operating system at revisions 17 and 18 (Prime later added its own command-line editing). I have the 8080 code for what I called 'SCSNEW' (it has a ram-based file system, cassette I/O, hooks into SOLOS for P-Tech SOL owners), code to drive an IMSAI UCRI tape board, debugger, and god-knows-what else I dumped into it and forgot about. The source was set up for Intel's Mac80 cross-assembler. You'd need to make a few changes to it for other assemblers. If anyone's interested in it, let me know... -doug q

26 years, 4 months

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Need DEC MMJ stuffs

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody know where I can get a quantity (<10) of DEC MMJ-to-MMJ cables (for hooking a VT320/420 to a MicroVAX / VAXstation) and some MMJ-to-DB25F / DB25M adapters? I tried contacting Tim Shoppa, but his zShops stuff wont let me order the adapters and he hasnt responded to multiple emails.... Thanks. Bill -- +--------------------+-------------------+ | Bill Bradford | Austin, Texas | +--------------------+-------------------+ | mrbill(a)sunhelp.org | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | +--------------------+-------------------+

26 years, 4 months

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VCF Link Contest

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

I've got some automated test tools available that could make this a shoe in. Naw... I wouldn't do that. :-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com> > -----Original Message----- > From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:foo@siconic.com] > Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 3:15 PM > To: Classic Computers Mailing List > Subject: VCF Link Contest > > > > I'm running a contest on the VCF website right now. If you > add a link to > your website pointing to the VCF and you garner the most > referals between > now and VCF 4.0, you'll win $50! > > Check out http://www.vintage.org/contests/link.html for > complete details. > > Sellam International Man of > Intrigue and Danger > -------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------- > Looking for a six in a pile of nines... > > Coming soon: VCF 4.0! > VCF East: Planning in Progress > See http://www.vintage.org for details! > >

26 years, 4 months

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OT: HUMOR: New Microsoft Messages

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

> >New Microsoft error messages: > > In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft > error messages with their own Japanese haiku poetry, each only 17 > syllables, 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, five in > the third. > ------------------------ > Your file was so big. > It might be very useful. > But now it is gone. > ------------------------ > The Web site you seek > Can not be located but > Countless more exist. > ------------------------ > Chaos reigns within. > Reflect, repent, and reboot. > Order shall return. > ------------------------ > ABORTED effort: > Close all that you have worked on. > You ask far too much. > ------------------------ > Windows NT crashed. > I am the Blue Screen of Death. > No one hears your screams. > ------------------------ > Yesterday it worked. > Today it is not working. > Windows is like that. > ------------------------ > First snow, then silence. > This thousand dollar screen dies > So beautifully. > ------------------------ > With searching comes loss > And the presence of absence: > "My Novel" not found. > ------------------------ > The Tao that is seen > Is not the true Tao--until > You bring fresh toner. > ------------------------ > Stay the patient course. > Of little worth is your ire. > The network is down. > ------------------------ > A crash reduces > Your expensive computer > To a simple stone. > ------------------------ > Three things are certain: > Death, taxes, and lost data. > Guess which has occurred. > ------------------------ > You step in the stream, > But the water has moved on. > This page is not here. > ------------------------ > Out of memory. > We wish to hold the whole sky, > But we never will. > ------------------------ > Having been erased, > The document you're seeking > Must now be retyped. > ------------------------ > Serious error. > All shortcuts have disappeared. > Screen. Mind. Both are blank. > .... . ... .. . . > >Attachment Converted: "C:\ATTACH\NewMicro.htm" >

26 years, 4 months

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HUMOR: New Microsoft Messages

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >New Microsoft error messages: > > In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft > > error messages with their own Japanese haiku poetry, each only 17 > > syllables, 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, five in > > the third. > > ------------------------ > > Your file was so big. > > It might be very useful. > > But now it is gone. Well, unlike the other stuff Intel and Microsoft stole from the Multics operating system, at least they got this one right. -dq

26 years, 4 months

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Where the cool stuff is (was: Re: DEC Vaxstation II GPX needs a home)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > : At any rate, the system is a Floating Point Systems model 164 > > : vector processor. It is currently for sale on the E-Bay > auction site. > > Thing of beauty, isn't it? The only reason I didn't bid on it is > because I have enough problems moving big stuff up and down the > west coast; the thought of moving stuff east and west is just > a little too much for me to cope with just now :-( It really is nice looking. And I understand; that Prime 2455 cost me a kilobuck to transport from Phoenix to the Louisville (KY) area, and that kilobuck really needed to go into fixing the Quattro. BTW, I answered my own question about the Xyplex- I kinda figured it was some kind of terminal server. How's that coming? -doug q

26 years, 4 months

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