Aaron Christopher Finney <af-list(a)wfi-inc.com> wrote:
> To anyone who wants to pay the outrageous shipping (or pick up in
> Southern California), a Sun 3/50. 12meg RAM, type 3 keyboard, mouse (I
> think). It's the flat-style case, although I also have a non-working
> 3/50 in a dimple case for anyone who wants that as well. I was using it
> as an X terminal for a while, but it's been sitting under a pile of HP
> stuff for 6 months...
Y'know, sometimes that can be the solution to a problem. When I got a
Micro GX 3000 (HP) a few years ago, I found it was kind of noisy due
to the hard disk in its base. As I lived in a second-floor apartment
this was a problem. So I got a Sun 3/60 as a cold spare for one I was
running at the time, and put it under the 3000. Just the ticket -- it
damped the vibes from the 3000, and I was able to hack late into the
night without complaint.
-Frank McConnell
You're right of course, but many people buy junked workstations just to get
the high-resolution monitor, and then find that a video card completely
suitable for the job costs more than a suitable monitor would have cost. I
once tried this and found that the 15" (a BIG one by 1988 standards) APOLLO
monitor I had was VERY well focused and VERY linear, but would work only at
1024x768 as a second monitor. Back then Windows wasn't available in a form
that was of any use, but my CAE software had drivers which would exploit the
higher resolution and allowed me to present 1:1 images of my drawings as
sharp and clear images as opposed to the rather disappointing ones I got
with the normal 640x400 images I was then used to.
While these "retired" workstations are tempting, their sheer mass makes them
forbidding, unless one considers the possibility of using the monitor as a
high-res display for whatever purpose one desires. I found that a 1/8-watt
resistor and a switch mounted on the backpanel bracket was not too much
effort or expense to warrant such an application.
Of course, back then, I had to pay over $1k for a NEC 4D, the equivalent of
which costs about $200 these days.
Nevertheless, this is a decent way to get some immediate benefit from the
act of recycling an old workstation while you work on the problems
associated with getting the workstation to work as a workstation once more.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: John Amirault <amirault(a)epix.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: Apollo 400
>Dick,
>I have an easier way to do it. Use the correct monitor. I got lost
>reading your message.
>Thanks for all the info even though I don't understand it.
>John Amirault
>
>Richard Erlacher wrote:
>>
>> If you're thinking about the monitor as being useable with a PC, it
depends
>> on which type it is. The lower-resolution type (I once had one) will
work
>> at 1024x768 if you connect a resistor of about 500 ohms between the
>> composite blanking signal on the "application connector" to the GREEN
output
>> from the card. This will impose the composite blanking beneath the GREEN
>> video, and bias the GREEN up by about enough to make the composite
blanking
>> look like a composite sync, since it's of the right frequency. The GREEN
>> input is usually AC coupled at the monitor, and terminated to ground
through
>> 75 ohms. This is worth a try, but may not work on all card-monitor
>> combinations.
>>
>> It will of course not work at all until you load the 1kx768 driver, which
>> will only happen when the hi-res GUI is loaded.
>>
>> Dick
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Merle K. Peirce <at258(a)osfn.org>
>> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
>> <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
>> Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 5:27 PM
>> Subject: Re: Apollo 400
>>
>> >
>> >Ours stands about waist high and has to weigh over 100#. since it has
>> >wheels, it is, of course, portabel...;) The monitor on ours appears to
>> >be secured to the top. Ours was the main server on a token ring.
>> >
>> >On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, John Amirault wrote:
>> >
>> >> Merle,
>> >> I would not call my HP Apollo 400 a portable by any means. It stands
>> >> about 2' tall and weighs in @ about 70 pounds, which is the top end of
>> >> what my doctors say I can lift and I find that trying to do this is
very
>> >> pain full, thank goodness for friends and hand trucks. Mine has no
>> >> wheels. Mine also has a cable with three BNC connectors on each end to
>> >> hook up the monitor. I have been told of a possible source for a
monitor
>> >> and I say thanks Sellam and I will check into it.
>> >>
>> >> JOhn Amirault
>> >>
>> >> "Merle K. Peirce" wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Perhaps I'm thinking of the 300 series? Is the 400 the very large
>> >> > portable with its own wheels?
>> >> >
>> >> > On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, Merle K. Peirce wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > > I think the 400 series have integral monitors, John.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >
>> >> > > On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, John Amirault wrote:
>> >> > >
>> >> > > > Mike,
>> >> > > > Is this the HP Apollo 400? If yes,are there any monitors?
>> >> > > > JOhn Amirault
>> >> > > >
>> >> > > > Mike Ford wrote:
>> >> > > > >
>> >> > > > > I had a pleasant afternoon poking around one of my favorite
>> scrappers, and
>> >> > > > > noticed on an incoming cart about two dozen Apollo 400
computers
>> (says
>> >> > > > > model 425 on the back). Hard drives are pulled, but otherwise
>> they are
>> >> > > > > supposed to be complete. Any interest? (he is in Santa Ana CA)
>> >> > > >
>> >> > >
>> >> > > M. K. Peirce
>> >> > > Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>> >> > > 215 Shady Lea Road,
>> >> > > North Kingstown, RI 02852
>> >> > >
>> >> > > "Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>> >> > >
>> >> > > - Ovid
>> >> > >
>> >> > >
>> >> >
>> >> > M. K. Peirce
>> >> > Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>> >> > 215 Shady Lea Road,
>> >> > North Kingstown, RI 02852
>> >> >
>> >> > "Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>> >> >
>> >> > - Ovid
>> >>
>> >
>> >M. K. Peirce
>> >Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>> >215 Shady Lea Road,
>> >North Kingstown, RI 02852
>> >
>> >"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>> >
>> > - Ovid
>> >
(Seems like this is the month to dump extra junk on fellow list
members!)
No unreasonable offer refused...
To anyone who wants to pay the outrageous shipping (or pick up in
Southern California), a Sun 3/50. 12meg RAM, type 3 keyboard, mouse (I
think). It's the flat-style case, although I also have a non-working
3/50 in a dimple case for anyone who wants that as well. I was using it
as an X terminal for a while, but it's been sitting under a pile of HP
stuff for 6 months...
Aaron
Please send any responses to A_Finney(a)wfi-inc.com
Cromemco, a company that cares!
Here's a reply I received from them this morning in reply to the message I
sent yesterday questioning their history:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 12:35:55 +0100
To: 'Sellam Ismail' <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com>
Subject: RE: Cromemco (was Re: S-100 bus specs)
E-Mail
From: Werner Salmen
Cromemco GmbH
Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Strasse 4
D-61350 Bad Homburg
Germany
Tel.: Int + 49 6172 967860
Fax: Int + 49 6172 304519
To: Sellam Ismail
Attn.:
Email: dastar(a)ncal.verio.com
@
cc:
Ref.: Your E-Mail of March 18
Date: March 19, 1999
Subj.: Cromemco
Dear Sellam,
thank you for visiting Cromemco's homepage and also for your input, which
was very much appreciated. You know, marketing occassionally tends to
express things in their own wording. We shall release a next version of our
homepage in April. I think, obvious errors should then be corrected.
However, it is always nice to talk to people who used ( some still do !)
the Cromemco computers from the 80's. Many of them still like the stuff,
although from nowadays point of view they look pretty antique. Believe it
or not, we just worked on fixing the Y2K problem in Cromix, and it was a
lot of fun.
The company Cromemco itself did change, as you may have learned form our
webpage. The new businesses are now mainly in Europe, and we do a lot in
parallel and massively parallel computing, still comitted to Cromemco's
mission: "Tomorrow's computers today".
I wish you a nice weekend and remain with
Best regards,
Cromemco
Werner Salmen
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail [SMTP:dastar@ncal.verio.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 1999 11:36 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Cc: webmaster(a)cromemco.com
Subject: Re: Cromemco (was Re: S-100 bus specs)
On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, James Willing wrote:
>
> > > ...Cromemco actively manufactured S-100 systems
> > > until they went out of business in around 1986 or so.
> >
> > as much as I absolutely hate to contradict... <BIG B^} >
> >
> > You may want to take a look at www.cromemco.com before you cast the
> > previous thot in stone...
>
> You're kidding!
>
> Wow, you're not. But this is a far different company than us old tech
> nerds know and love. Most of the business base seems to be European
> these days. But hey, this is significant. A micro/mini-computer company
> that's been around longer than Apple and is still alive and kicking.
> That's more than you can say for any other computer comapnies that sprang
> up around the same time, save for the obvious.
Their history seems a bit revisionist, and in some cases downright
fradulent. This is from the History section of their web site:
1975
First supplier of complete micro computer systems (based on Z-80)
Call me stupid but the Z80 wasn't even invented yet:
July 1976
The Apple I computer board is sold in kit form, and delivered to stores by
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Price: US$666.66. [46] [218] [593.350]
Paul Terrell orders 50 Apple computers from Steve Jobs, for his Byte Shop.
[266.213]
*****Zilog releases the 2.5-MHz Z80, an 8-bit microprocessor whose
instruction set is a superset of the Intel 8080. [32] [202.168]
(early 1975 [9]) (1975 [556.11]) (1975 December [346.257])
Micom Data Systems ships its first product, the Micom 2000 word processing
computer. [615.99]
Source: Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/comp1971.htm
And then there's:
1976
Development of the industrial standard S-100 Bus IEEE 696
First of all, I hope they don't intend to mean they invented the S-100 bus.
That goes to Ed Roberts. And as far as I know, the IEEE696 standard
wasn't ratified until 1982.
December 1982
Pepsi-Cola president John Sculley first visits Apple Computer.
[745.62]
Tabor demonstrates a 3.25-inch floppy disk drive, the Model TC500 Drivette.
Unformatted capacity is up to 500KB on a single side. [444.72]
Amdek releases the Amdisk-3 Micro-Floppy-disk Cartridge system. It houses
two 3-inch floppy drives designed by Hitachi/Matsushita/Maxell. Price is
US$800, without a controller card. [444.70]
Satellite Software International ships WordPerfect 2.0 for DOS, for US$500.
[330.108] (v2.2 in October [502.49])
*****The IEEE Standards Board passes the IEEE 696/S-100 bus standard.
[443.278]
Digital Research announces CP/M+. [443.431]
Atari issues a US$55 rebate on the Atari 400, dropping its retail price to
under US$200. [713.268]
Texas Instruments extends its US$100 rebate on the TI 99/4A to April 1983.
[713.268]
Apple Computer becomes the first personal computer company to reach US$1
billion in annual sales. [46]
Source: Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/comp1981.htm
Then there's this:
1979
First multi-user operating system CROMIX (UNIX derivative)
First multi-user operating system...what? On a micro? Maybe.
Sheesh. These guys are as bad if not worse than Tandy and their
self-aggrandizing history.
(Is it obvious I have too much time on my hands these days? Oh well,
someone's got to keep the record straight.)
cc: webmaster(a)cromemco.com
Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See
http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
If someone else got into your computer, it is because you let them in.
Today's attitudes toward personal responsibility suggest that if someone
steals your property, it is your fault for having it or at least for having
let someone else see it. If someone trespasses on your property, it is your
fault for not providing them an easier way to get where they want to go. If
someone trespasses on your property to rob you or to vandalize your
property, it is your fault for having the things they wish to steal or
vandalize . . . get the picture?
What I find mysterious is how someone could gain access to the computer in
question in the first place. The most effective security measure is to
disconnect the computer from the outside world when the owner is not using
the connection to the outside world. A dialup server utility is just an
invitation to vandals.
If you must use a dialup server utility, then use it with a computer, the
content of which is saved in a secure location not accessible to the outside
world, e.g a complete backup made when the system was not accessible from
outside. If you have security, e.g. passwording, user authentication,
encryption, etc, do not share this security information with anyone under
any circumstances, including life and death, no matter whose.
If you value your data, you must never, Never, NEVER, put a floppy diskette
in your computer which has been within 2 miles of a college campus since it
was last formatted. In fact, you should never, Never, NEVER, put a floppy
diskette which has been within 2 miles of a college campus (or high school,
for that matter) inside a 50-meter radius of your computer even if it never
goes into any computer at your site.
You see? A few simple precautions will enable you to avoid damage from the
outside if you rigorously adhere to them.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: Security question (sort of)
>
>
>Jason Willgruber wrote:
>>
>> I want a few people's opinions before I take any actions:
>>
>> My computer was recently hacked into, and a bunch of the software, and
some
>> of the hardware was messed up (I know who did it - no one on this list -
>> someone from my school).
>>
>> What would be the best thing to do here (other than physically damage the
>> person/and/or their computer)? Is there any security programs for
Windoze
>> '95 that can be downloaded?
>
>What was the attitude of the person who did it? If it was malicious, the
>other suggestions given have a lot of merit. If not, then talk to the
person
>to let them know you didn't appreciate their "cleverness" and drop it.
On Friday, March 19, 1999 10:04 AM, John Foust [SMTP:jfoust@threedee.com] wrote:
> At 07:43 AM 3/19/99 EST, Jgzabol(a)aol.com wrote:
> >>I suggest you call this new
> >> site yaBe.com ....
I'd suggest "NAUGHTY_BAY.COM"... That way you can sell porno banners and generate some revenue.
Steve Robertson - <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>
Earlier today, I was reading an article in a magazine that I get (Science
News) that said Supercomputers were made faster by connecting them in
parallel (and I think someone here was talking about doing it with a bunch
of C64's). That got me thinking. - I have a bunch of old computers, some
network cards, and a big table in my basement.
Here's the computers that I was thinking of using:
HP Vectra RS/25C (386/25), GW2K (486-66), generic P-133, generic Cyrix
P200+, and either a PS/2 P70 (386-20) or a Toshiba 200CDS (P100) as the
"workstation".
My question is: How do I do this? Do I connect them using parallel ports,
or by using network cards and a hub? If I would the parallel ports, I could
also add an IBM 5170, and two Tandy 1000's into the mix, but I'd need a few
parallel cards. Is there any software that I would use, or would I have to
write my own program (BASIC?)?
ThAnX,
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
> test. I can't see my posts. why?
Possibly the list engine has your mail status as "noack" - not sending your
posts to you. Send the list engine (listproc(a)u.washington.edu) a message with
"set classiccmp mail ack" in it.
Just a thought.
Philip.
Chuck Wrote...
>I would like to put together a simple PDP-11 system. I've got a M7270 card
>(LSI 11 processor) and an M8044-DB card (32KW MOS memory). I've also got a
>couple of PDP-11/03 and PDP-11/23 rack chassis that are both QBUS. I've
>also got a pair of RX02 drives. Does the M7270 go into an 11/03 chassis?
>
>What other cards would I need to build a usable '11 ? No doubt a floppy
>controller card of some sort (although I also recently got the DSD440 to go
>with the funky RX02 emulator card) Some sort of serial port for a terminal
>(M number?) What is the minimum RT-11 system?
>
>I also picked up the programmers panel for a PDP-11/10. I'd love to put
>together a PDP-11/10 if I new what to look for.
Hey Chuck - A while back I picked up a box with a pretty fair amount of
LSI-11 stuff. AIR, it had some front panel cards, some processor cards, some
memory cards, etc. etc. I really have no interest in the LSI-11 stuff, so
you're welcome to have it.
If I get a chance this weekend I'll come up with a list of what all's there
LSI11 related...
Jay West
What computer was in the movie 'Infinity' w/ Mathew Broderick? It was a
big machine, with a typewriter interface and paper punch. What was it
used for?
-----Original Message-----
From: Jerome Fine <jhfine(a)idirect.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, 19 March 1999 17:29
Subject: Re: Disks! 5.25" disks! I'm in *heaven*!
>>Cameron Kaiser wrote:
>
>> See
>>
>> http://store.imation.com/
>>
>> and Diskette Products. DD 5.25" disks! Rapturous! They even have them
>> for RX-50! *And* 8" disks! But be prepared to pay through the nose, of
>> course ...
If anyone in OZ wants/needs some 5.25" DSDD floppies, I have about 20 or so
boxes of genuine Verbatim disks, still in the original shrinkwrap, complete
with hard plastic flip top case.
Email me off the list if you are interested, I'm in South Australia, about
140 road miles nnw of Adelaide.
Cheers
Geoff Roberts
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au
>By 1979 the LSI11 was available. And it's certainly possibly to justify
>that machine as a micro. Now, the LSI11 didn't (AFAIK) run RSX, but I
>think it could have run one of the standalone multi-user BASICs (which
>included its own OS).
The LSI-11/03 was available at least as early as 1975 (that's the
date on the earliest 'lsi11 pdp-11/03 processor handbook' that I
have).
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
In a message dated 3/18/99 10:39:42 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
roblwill(a)usaor.net writes:
> My computer was recently hacked into, and a bunch of the software, and some
> of the hardware was messed up (I know who did it - no one on this list -
> someone from my school).
>
> What would be the best thing to do here (other than physically damage the
> person/and/or their computer)? Is there any security programs for Windoze
> '95 that can be downloaded?
uh, how about a power-on passwoid?
I know some IBM machines have an unattended startup mode that locks the
keyboard and mouse within the os until the passwoid is typed in. What about
hardware locks? seems to be a simple and obvious answer to your problem.
supr 'revenge is a delicious dish best served cold' dave
Where??
>A Heathkit -10 oscilloscope, it's one of the old-style ones. It works, I
>guess, but I'm not familiar enough w/electronics to make sure of how well.
>It's big and heavy, so the shipping will cost a lot, but otherwise free.
>
>Also, an IBM PC keyboard. Cost of shipping.
>
>--Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
>
>
Another strange find today, a PS-2 with a pull out hard drive. It's a Model
50 and has a steel box about 2.5" x 4" located bewteen the floppy drive and
OFF/ON switch. There's a keylock below it and a chrome handle on the box.
The box is about 7.5 deep and has a 50 pin SCSI type connector on the rear
that mates with socket in the machine. On top of th ebox it's marked
"Standard 5.0 software loaded 29 Jan 93". There is also a sticker on the
front of the computer that says "IVT PS 50RD". Has anyone ever seen one of
these before?
Joe
A Heathkit -10 oscilloscope, it's one of the old-style ones. It works, I
guess, but I'm not familiar enough w/electronics to make sure of how well.
It's big and heavy, so the shipping will cost a lot, but otherwise free.
Also, an IBM PC keyboard. Cost of shipping.
--Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
On Mar 18, 21:37, Tony Duell wrote:
> It has a redefinable character set (the bitmaps are in RAM).
Only for the characters 128...255. The lower set is always in ROM.
> It has a
> real serial port, which is also used for the cassette system
Mk.1 versions have a hardware bug which gives the RS232 transmit line
incorrect polarity. All standard versions have a bug in the monitor
routines, which cause the baud rate and serial/cassette switch to be rset
every time the keyboard is scanned. (I have a fix for that).
> (most of the
> cassette I/O is done in hardware which couples to the UART chip).
That was one of the nice things -- quite a good cassette system, with motor
control.
> It has
> a parallel port (centronics printer or user I/O IIRC). The keyboard isn't
> too bad.
Except it's polled by a very inefficient routine, which makes it a bit
slow. But it's good quality otherwise; it uses the same keyswitches as some
DEC terminals, and has a full ASCII keyboard, with a numeric pad, and a few
extra keys, so it's easy to generate all 256 character codes.
It also had pretty comprehensive Technical and Software manuals. I still
use mine.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On Mar 18, 16:12, William Donzelli wrote:
> Subject: Re: old versions of Irix
> > I have a box of QIC tapes that claim to contain old versions of Irix,
> > mostly circa version 4.0.x, with a few random Sun and IBM tapes from
> > around the same era (late 1980s) thrown in. Does anyone want them?
>
> YES!!!!
>
> Irix can be a bear to get, as there seem to be lots of
> self-proclaimed "SGI-cops" out there that uphold the rather unfriendly
> license agreement.
In response to those who try to prevent an SGI owner obtaining media for an
OS his machine probably originally had, I'd point out that:
all SGI machines that ran IRIX were shipped with the OS;
the OS is/was licenced for the CPU, not the original owner;
the license doesn't preclude the system owner making a copy for use on the
same CPU.
There was a discussion about this a few months ago on comp.sys.sgi.admin,
in which the concensus from the SGI staff was that there was nothing wrong
in obtaining a copy of the OS for a system, providing one wasn't upgrading
to a version later than the one the system had been licensed for. You
should be able to find the discussion on DejaNews.
OK, so that won't help in getting a copy of 6.5. Judging from our
experiences, you don't want it just yet, anyway ;-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Picked up a IBM MagCard/A unit at a local thrift for 1.95 plus tax. It's a
type 6620 and is in two parts the typewriter and mag unit itself hooked
together by a long very thick cable. Have not tried to power it up yet.
Today I got C16 in the box for free at an auction from a guy who won it a
box of tv's he purchased. Other items I got do not meet the 10 year rule,
when they do I will post them here.
I've finally got the GRiDPad's I mentioned a while ago -- e-mail me if
you're interested. (Basically, working GRiDPad 1910 with case, pen, PS,
untested battery for $15 + shipping.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
Derek Peschel wrote:
> There were some transition problems. The coins said "new" on them for a
> while, as in "ONE NEW PENNY". People used old coins and units, whether they
> were equivalent (1 shilling = 1/20 pound = 5 (new) pence, so old shilling
> coins were useful for a while) or not (some low-value old coins were the
> same size as higher-value new ones). [from recent alt.folklore.computers
> posts]
Basically correct. The old sixpence was used as 2.5 new pence for a few years.
Shillings and florins (2 s. - see below) were used as 5p and 10p coins right up
until the early 1990s. The 5p and 10p coins introduced in 1968 (yes, three
years _before_ decimalisation) were the same weight as the shilling and florin
of the time, so this made sense. In the early '90s - I'd have to look up the
exact years - smaller 5p and 10p coins were introduced, and the shillings and
florins finally withdrawn. Unfortunately the new 10p is only slightly larger
than a shilling, which caused some confusion.
FWIW the 1p coin is the same size, weight and until recently composition as the
farthing, and the 2p coin the same as the (old) halfpenny. The new halfpenny
(which endured until the early 1980s) was very small.
> But those things aren't relevant to the average tourist or British citizen
> of today. It does take a microscopic amount of effort to get used to the
> differing terminology and a larger amount of effort to get used to the
> actual sizes of the coins.
>
> On the other hand, the coins are grouped in sets. Each set (of 2-3 coins)
> has a metal (i.e., copper, silverish, goldish, bi-metallic) and a shape
> (i.e., smooth edges, rough edges, seven-sided, letters on the edge). Within
> a set the coins start small and get big. The numerical value is printed on
> each coin. So everyone (including blind people) has it easy.
>
> Don't blame me if some of those qualities (bi-metallic, seven-sided) don't
> exist. I haven't been to England in a while. Besides, I get pound coins
> and franc coins mixed up.
Metals (slightly simplified). All the coins until recently were alloys of
copper and nickel. The colour was varied by changing the copper content, from
about 98% for "copper" coins to ?90% for "silver".
The copper coins - 1/2p, 1p, 2p have smooth edges. Originally made out of an
alloy mostly copper, recent ones are steel, copper plated.
The old silver coins (shilling, florin) had rough edges. The new 5p and 10p
have edges slightly less rough.
The 20p and 50p coins have seven sides and slightly more copper than the 5p and
10p (still silvery but the difference is just visible); the sides are smooth and
curved so that the coin has a constant diameter. In 1997 the original 50p went
the way of the shilling and florin, and a smaller (but otherwise identical) coin
replaced it.
The L1 and L2 coins are yellow in colour, twice as thick as the others and have
rough edges with a motto incised into it. Since 1997, when they were first
minted for general circulation, L2 coins have been bimetallic but they are the
same size as the comemorative L2 coins from before.
Comemorative L5 coins exist, which are confusingly the same size and silver
colour as the comemorative 25p coins of the 1970s (imitating the crown = 5
shilling piece).
> IIRC the sets don't match the "natural" breakdown of the coins' values
> (1p/2p/5p, 10p/20p/50p, L1/L2/L5) but the system is still very elegant. It
> should be a lesson to the US Mint on how to avoid making mistakes. The L1
> coin also makes a really nice "plnk" sound on a counter and has a motto on
> the edge.
True, since there are only 2 coins to each of what you call sets. But yes, it
is a lot easier than I found the US coinage, where nickels are bigger than dimes
but apparently the same metal. Having 1,2 and 5 in each decade helps, too...
> And before anyone argues, I know there's no L5 coin (maybe for special
> occasions) but it would fit into the scheme perfectly.
I said a few years ago that the L5 note is worth no more now than the 10
shilling note was when that was withdrawn (1969?). But no regular L5 coin is
forthcoming.
> Now if only British postage stamps were equally exciting.
There used to be a system of sorts. But it seems to have been well messed up...
Stamps are not my field, I'm afraid, so I sha'n't comment.
> ObCC: PL/I had similar facilities to cope with pounds-sterling arithmetic.
> Also, the Felt & Tarrant Company (producers of the Comptometer calculator)
> made various models with odd "bases" (sterling, hours/minutes/seconds,
> feet/inches/8ths, etc.) Too bad they never made all-octal or all-hex
> machines.
Fun!
Also ObCC (almost): as I mentioned the 20p and 50p are curves of constant
diameter. Our first multi-sided coin was a 3d piece, which took over slowly
>from tiny silver ones in the 1930s and '40s. This had 12 sides, and was
therefore not of a constant width. This meant some negotiations with slot
machine (both vending and gambling) manufacturers. Some coins were minted a
year early for test purposes. Then the King was forced to abdicate (over a sex
scandal - plus ca change...) and a new king took the throne in the year before
that printed on the coins alongside the old king's name! The coins were
withdrawn and melted down, of course. A few 3d pieces bearing the name of
Edward VIII still exist, however. The last one to be auctioned fetched L60 000.
so I don't think that space in my collection will be filled at all soon.
*****
Joe Rigdon wrote:
> No wonder Leo wanted to computerize their payroll and accounting! The
> math must have been a royal pain!
I think it was. I was only 3 when decimalisation happened, so I never had to
learn pre-decimal currency at school. I think in mediaeval times, when your
total income was a couple of pounds a year, and you did all the calculation in
your head, it wasn't too bad. But in the 20th century, with formal methods of
decimal calculation on paper widely known, at routine calculations in hundreds
of pounds, it was an anachronism.
*****
M K Peirce wrote:
> Any thoughts on how they handled guineas and florins?
The guinea was still used as a unit for some transactions (=21 s.) but it had
ceased to exist as a coin 100 years and more earlier. My guess is that for the
sort of transactions that Lyons were interested in, the guinea was not used.
The florin was introduced in the mid 19th century as Britain's first decimal
coin - one tenth of a pound. But by the mid 20th century, florin coins all
actually bore the legend "two shillings" (you Americans wouldn't be at all
confused if your dimes said "ten cents", would you?), and "florin" was no more
than the name of the coin.
Philip.
This came in on the NetBSD port-VAX mailing list. Anyone in the MA area
want a VAX 8650?
-=-=- <break> -=-=-
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 23:02:45 -0500
From: Matthew Hudson <mhudson(a)home.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.06 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.0.35 i586)
To: port-vax(a)netbsd.org
Subject: free 8650 Vax in MA
Sender: port-vax-owner(a)netbsd.org
Delivered-To: port-vax(a)netbsd.org
Subject:
GIVEAWAY: Vax 8650 in Medford, MA
Date:
Tue, 16 Mar 1999 14:23:50 -0500
From:
Jason Scott <jason(a)snuh.com>
Organization:
The Information Access Center
Newsgroups:
misc.forsale.computers.workstation
My company is decommissioning a VAX 8650 with Expansion Unit and while
the current plan is to throw the thing into the dump, if there are
souls out there who want one of these things for Nostalgia, Spare Parts,
or to drop out of a plane, give me a holler at (781)-393-3283 and we'll
talk. Or, mail to jason(a)snuh.com works just as well.
If you think you can stop by with a Toyota and put this thing in the
trunk, you don't want it. Vax 8650's are the size of large meat lockers
and you'll need at least a truck to pick it up. The power needs are
beyond imagining. The only real use for these things are spare parts
or some sick project I can't think of, but I can't bear to not take
at least a try at finding them a home.
The VAXen are located in Medford, MA, just about 5 miles north of
Boston, off Route 93. We're throwing the things out Thursday Night
(March 18) so act fast. First call and show, first serve. Thanks!
- Jason Scott
Thought someone might be interested in this.
-Matt
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio:(WD6EOS) E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
SysOp: The Dragon's Cave (Fido 1:343/272, 253-639-9905)
"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..."
I just picked up an Intel MCS-86 Microcomputer System Prototype Kit today.
It has a bunch of ICs in it and an Intel Product Description booklet. Does
anyone know if there are any instructions for this or is the PD book all
that came with them?
Joe
Having gotten an older Powerbook, I have been looking at Ethernet options
and have decided that I'd like to find a used Kinetics EtherSC (SCSI
Ethernet adapter).
Why such and old one, especially when I can pick up an Asante on eBay?
Various reasons... mainly the fact that it appears to be one of the
few which would be supported by the NetBSD 'se' driver.
So, if you have one that you'd like to get rid of, let me know what it's
worth to you. I'm open to cash or trades (depending on what you're looking
for); I can even trade a DaynaPORT SCSI/Link-T (another SCSI Ethernet
box, but somewhat newer).
Thanks in advance...
<<<John>>>
I have a box of QIC tapes that claim to contain old versions of Irix,
mostly circa version 4.0.x, with a few random Sun and IBM tapes from
around the same era (late 1980s) thrown in. Does anyone want them?
eric
I alttended the Syscon/Buscon convention at LAX in 1986 and found that IEEE
696 board manufacturers were fairly well represented. Nevertheless, most of
them conceded that (1) their new boards wouldn't work with their old ones,
thereby quashing any hope one might have held of "upgrading" to reduce cost,
and (2) their new boards generally varied in one respect or another from the
standard, hence defeating features which had to be sacrificed in order to
make others work, but ultimately defeating interoperability between vendors.
I didn't attend the '696 standards committee meetings, but did attend SCSI
and Optical Disk standards committee meetings, so I have a pretty good idea
of the games which are typically played at these affairs.
What happened with S-100 was that unlike the SCSI standards committee, which
was ultimately beaten into submission by one major vendor of controllers and
interface IC's, was that a standard was patterned around hardware already in
the field. They could do this because of their position which was quite
unyielding due to their already installed base. This same sort of thing
caused '696 meeting attendees to conclude that, while there was a standard,
there was no need to adhere to it because the goal of inter-vender
interoperability was not likely to be attained, and the market window for 8
and 16 bit computers was closing due to the advent of the IBM PC and PC/AT.
The Macintosh was not yet a force they felt had to be reckoned with, though
it certainly developed into one. Their market was seriously eroded by the
single-board boxes offered by many manufacturers late in the market cycle,
because, like it or not, large-volume hardware is sold by the pound, and
S-100 stuff always weighed a lot.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 2:40 PM
Subject: Re: Cromemco (was Re: S-100 bus specs)
>On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, James Willing wrote:
>
>> > ...Cromemco actively manufactured S-100 systems
>> > until they went out of business in around 1986 or so.
>>
>> as much as I absolutely hate to contradict... <BIG B^} >
>>
>> You may want to take a look at www.cromemco.com before you cast the
>> previous thot in stone...
>
>You're kidding!
>
>Wow, you're not. But this is a far different company than us old tech
>nerds know and love. Most of the business base seems to be European
>these days. But hey, this is significant. A micro/mini-computer company
>that's been around longer than Apple and is still alive and kicking.
>That's more than you can say for any other computer comapnies that sprang
>up around the same time, save for the obvious.
>
>I stand corrected (yet again :)
>
>Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
>
> Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 02/15/99]
>
Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> wrote:
> Godbout, Cromemco, etc. Cromemco actively manufactured S-100 systems
> until they went out of business in around 1986 or so.
Uh, Cromemco had an office with prominent sign at the corner of
Bernardo and Central Expressway in Mountain View, CA 'til about 1992.
I've wondered why I didn't see much of their detritus turn up on the
surplus circuit, maybe it all went overseas to the new HQ.
-Frank McConnell
II have the Motorola book here and it is 4 pages with all the data and
curves you could possibly want. I could do a quick scan and email it. What
format is good for you.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: Dwight Elvey <elvey(a)hal.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 3:44 PM
Subject: Transistor help
>Hi All
> I have been looking for the specs of a transistor
>that burned out on my Cromemco board. It seems to
>be obsolete. I tried the NTE suggested replacement
>but that didn't seem to have enough gain to work
>correctly. None of the books I have show it.
> It is a MPS6560.
>
>I'm looking for max current, Vcbo and hfe.
>Thanks
>Dwight
>
Please see imbedded comments below.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence LeMay <lemay(a)cs.umn.edu>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 11:43 AM
Subject: sellers market
>> Ward D. Griffiths III wrote:
>>
>> ePay seems to be a seller's market. There's nothing inherently wrong
with
>> that, but nevertheless I think it sucks. Of course, my opinion is very
>> biased, since I'm generally on the buying end of the deal.
>>
>
>So someone needs to create another web site that is the opposite
>of what eBay provides. A site where you can advertise that you're
>looking for an Exidy Sorcerer computer, and woould be willing to
>pay about $15 plus $10 shipping. I suggest you call this new
>site yaBe.com ....
>
I don't know about that name, but that might be an excellent idea.
Selling your stuff comes down to finding someone who wants it more than you
do, doesn't it? Likewise, doesn't buying someone's property come down to
finding someone who wants what you're willing to pay more than he wants the
property in question.
The REAL trick, though, is ensuring that neither party disrupts the
transaction before it is consumated. Ebay doesn't do that, nor does
Haggle.com. They both put on a show, but neither service provides much to
protect either party nor do they protect the integrity of the transaction
>from which the money ostensibly is generated to support the service. These
transactions are based on trusting someone whom you've never met, and whom
nor not likely to meet, and therefore the transactions are VERY fragile.
Ebay claims a 70% completion rate, and I expect that's inflated. I think a
service which protects the buyer and the seller, by ensuring the funds and
the merchandise as represented are there and by ensuring the parties
complete the transaction to which they're supposedly committed, would be
VERY valuable and would take a BIG bite out of Ebay's share. That's not an
easy task, however.
>
>-Lawrence (yes I want an Exidy, who doesn't?) LeMay
I don't believe it's a seller's market. The seller has to pay Ebay
regardless of whether a transaction is satisfactorily completed. They
freely admit that their success rate is only about 70%. I'd be willing to
bet that when a transaction falls through, it's the buyer who caused the
transaction to fail, not the seller. Further, since we live in a capitalist
society, it's the market that determines the value, not the utility. What I
dislike about the Ebays of the world is that they take their cut from the
seller in advance, and not from the transaction itself.
In a real estate transaction, where you similarly have a bidding system for
the right to purchase a house, and where you similarly involve one or more
agents on behalf of the buyer or seller, the buyer has to put down "earnest
money" indicating that he's really serious. On the web auctions, they don't
generally do that. What they do, is collect a fee from the would-be seller.
The real-estate guys take their money from the seller, since that's the one
place where there's bound to be some money at the end of the day. In the
antique computer parts market, there's no attempt to ascertain whether the
purported buyer even has the funds he's bidding. They do have an escrow
service which holds the buyer's money in case the seller fails to ship what
was promised. Does any of this sound like an arrangement favoring the
seller?
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: Leo Computers
>Ward D. Griffiths III wrote:
>> Since E-slay buyers show no evidence
>> of giving a damn about value rather than cost.
>
>John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> replied:
>> You'd think the average libertoonian would be ready to "defend the
>> undefendable".
>
>Hey, just because us "libertoonians" defend people's right to do whatever
>dumbass things they want to do in the privacy of their own home, doesn't
>mean that we like or approve of their actions. :-)
>
>ePay seems to be a seller's market. There's nothing inherently wrong with
>that, but nevertheless I think it sucks. Of course, my opinion is very
>biased, since I'm generally on the buying end of the deal.
>
Hi,
You may remember that I posted a message about this a while ago.
Well, it turns out the the boot ROM can be made to appear on any A1000. The
A-Max Mac emulator has a special bootblock which does this, in order to allow
the Kickstart memory to be used under Mac emulation. (When the boot ROM is
visible, the Kickstart area is writeable.)
I have written a tiny program to save out the boot ROM data, in conjunction
with this special bootblock. The program dumps the A1000's boot ROM (in fact
the region $F00000-$FBFFFF) to disk.
The actual boot ROM appears to be 64K long, and appears at (at least) $F80000-
$F8FFFF and $FA0000-$FAFFFF. There is seemingly garbage at $F90000-$F9FFFF
and $FB0000-$FBFFFF.
My program saves the 768K from $F00000-$FBFFFF, in order to investigate what is
there; the boot ROM may also appear somewhere in the $F00000-$F7FFFF region.
If you want to dump your A1000's boot ROM, get this file:
http://home.freeuk.net/markk/A1000_Boot_ROM_Dumper.DMS
(It is 3821 bytes long.)
Unpack it to a floppy disk and boot your A1000 with it, after loading
Kickstart. Leave the disk write-enabled; a 768K file will be saved to it.
I would be interested to see whether there are different versions of the A1000
boot ROM. If you dump yours, it would be nice if you could compress it and
upload to your web space (or if that isn't possible, mail it to me).
I am working on disassembling the boot ROM, and if anyone is interested I can
send them the current work-in-progress.
-- Mark
Hi!
While sorting through a box of old stuff in my basement, I ran across this
little box called a "SPEECH THING"
It appears to have been manufactured by Covox, Inc., around 1991. It is a
small tan box, about 1.5"x2"x1/2". It's got a male DB-25 connector on one
end, and a female DB-25 on the other end. It's got a 3-foot length of wire
(the type that's on Walkman headsets) coming out of the side.
Only problem is whatever was on the other end of that wire was chopped off.
Stripping the wires, the inner wire (they're coaxial) is red on one, and
white on the other. The white wire is connected to "1" and "2" on the PCB.
The red wire isn't connected to anything, although there is a "3" and "4"
that it looks like it could be soldered to (but never was - there's no
solder on the PCB contacts).
Does anyone have any idea what this thing is, what it does, or what goes on
the end of the wire (I have a feeling it's some sort of plug)?
ThAnX,
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
<SNIP><SNIP><HACK>
> > IIRC the sets don't match the "natural" breakdown of the coins' values
> > (1p/2p/5p, 10p/20p/50p, L1/L2/L5) but the system is still very elegant. It
> > should be a lesson to the US Mint on how to avoid making mistakes. The L1
> > coin also makes a really nice "plnk" sound on a counter and has a motto on
> > the edge.
>
</SNIP>
Think I'll change my vacation plans from Great Britain to Mexico. At least I can count their money... and speak the language. ;-)
Steve Robertson - <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>
I have the speech thing! It's been a long time since I fired up that baby.
I used
for speech synthesis and voice recognization eons ago. This was before the
Sound
Blaster for PCs. Let me look around and see if I still have the software...
Ram
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Willgruber <roblwill(a)usaor.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: Speech Thing
>O.K. At least I know what it is. Anyone have any idea where to get
>software for it??
>
>ThAnX,
>--
> -Jason Willgruber
> (roblwill(a)usaor.net)
> ICQ#: 1730318
><http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Ruschmeyer <jruschme(a)exit109.com>
>To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
><classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
>Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 8:13 PM
>Subject: Re: Speech Thing
>
>
>>
>>IIRC, the Speech Thing was what it sounds like, a speech synthasizer for
>>the IBM PC. Basically, it plugged into the parallel port. The other end
>>of the wire was probably a speaker (amplified, most likely).
>>
>>I seem to recall Covox being very big into speech recognizition and
>>synthesis many years back.
>>
>><<<John>>>
>>
>
>
-----Original Message-----
>> > Will someone please sell me one?
>>
>> Or me? (I bid on it too!) :)
>> Stan
>>
> From: Lance Lyon
> Can I add a third bid ?
Damn... Maybe I'll get lucky someday and be able to step in between one of
Stan or Lance's attempted purchases and cost them *more* money.
> I got a VAX CPU board and it is a KA620, what kind of VAX was that? I
> haven't found it in the module list yet ...
A KA620 is basically a KA630 without the full memory management logic.
Useful for real-time embedded VAX applications, especially under VAXELN, but
not supported by VMS.
If you're really interested in this board, you can buy the _KA620-A
CPU Module User Guide_ from DECDirect - part number EK-KA620-UG. You
can still buy the VAXELN development tools from Compaq/Digital, which
is the "supported" KA620 development suite, too. If you do, look
forward to receiving about 600 lbs of printed manuals!
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
O.K. At least I know what it is. Anyone have any idea where to get
software for it??
ThAnX,
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
-----Original Message-----
From: John Ruschmeyer <jruschme(a)exit109.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: Speech Thing
>
>IIRC, the Speech Thing was what it sounds like, a speech synthasizer for
>the IBM PC. Basically, it plugged into the parallel port. The other end
>of the wire was probably a speaker (amplified, most likely).
>
>I seem to recall Covox being very big into speech recognizition and
>synthesis many years back.
>
><<<John>>>
>
A chap in the San Diego area has a couple of Eagle II's in storage. One
was working when placed there about two years ago, while the second was
not. He could not remember whether they were II's or IIE's, but I will
check and post that information.
Items are available at no cost but shipping, which could mount up as they
are large and heavy.
If anyone is interested, please e-mail me and I will put you in contact
with him.
- don
> I gather the machine had some sort of support for doing arithmetic on
> pre-decimalized currency, does anyone here know what that looked like?
> It wasn't explained very well in the book.
I don't know how the currency was handled on Leo, but as a reference for our
American friends I shall say a few words on British currency prior to 1971.
The basic unit was the pound. The symbol was the same as nowadays, viz. a
scripty capital L with two horizontal bars through it (though often only one bar
is written, for speed) On e-mail I generally use an ordinary L for pound (L
stands for Livre (french = pound))
King Offa (?9th century) fixed the value of a penny at 1/240 of a pound. Later
the shilling was fixed at 12 pence. (Pence is the plural of penny, in case you
hadn't worked it out. "Pennies" is a word coined much more recently (pun
intended))
So L1 = 20 s. (s stands for solidus (lat. = a silver coin of some sort) or sou
(Fr. = a coin worth not a lot))
1 s. = 12 d. (d stands for denarius (lat. = penny) or denier (fr. = penny))
Halfpence (pronounced ha'pence) were in use until 1969 (and re-introduced with
decimalisation in 1971).
Farthings (1/4 d) were in use at least until the mid 1940s, and may have been
required for Leo.
So to computerise the currency you probably need:
A field for whole pounds
A field for shillings (up to 19 with a carry at 20)
A field for pence (up to 11 with a carry at 12)
A field for farthings or ha'pence (up to the obvious numbers thereof)
It would not likely be possible to ignore the fractions of pence, since even as
late as the 1950s 1/2 d had a reasonable purchasing power, perhaps equivalent to
one US dime today.
Also, just as they do today, vendors loved prices ending ...nineteen shillings
and elevenpence ha'penny.
Philip.
Oh I will celebrate a year early but I think I'll realise my mistake the day
after and have to do it all over again the next year. Oh well life is tough.
Francois
>Suffice it to say, I am not going to change my usage of the work
>'kilobyte' becase of some committee... Just as I am not celebrating the
>millennium a year early either.
>-tony
>
Can someone please help me out... I just got my Exidy s-100 expansion box
for the Sorcerer. Now, all I need is the Sorcerer. ;)
Will someone please sell me one?
Thanks
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
Fellow in Stamford, CT's got some DEC'ish and generic media both free
and for sale. Get in contact directly if you're interested.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
On Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:44:55 -0500, in alt.sys.pdp11 you wrote:
>>From: Kelvin Smith <74654.3313(a)CompuServe.COM>
>>Subject: Media free/FS
>>Organization: CompuServe, Inc. (1-800-689-0736)
>>Message-ID: <eQnBc0Ic#GA.332(a)nih2naaf.prod2.compuserve.com>
>>Newsgroups: vmsnet.pdp-11,alt.sys.pdp11
>>Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:44:55 -0500
>>Lines: 23
>>Path: news1.jps.net!news-west.eli.net!news-sea-20.sprintlink.net!news-west.sprint…
>>Xref: news1.jps.net vmsnet.pdp-11:37 alt.sys.pdp11:179
>>
>>The following media are available as we transition to new hardware.
>>On all items, either you pick up or pay shipping from Stamford, CT.
>>
>>1) 7 RA60P disk packs - free.
>>
>>2) 5 RL02K-DC disk packs - free.
>>
>>3) 9-track tapes, used (offers on as many or as few as you want welcomed):
>>
>> 90 3600' 3M Black Watch 703 tapes, EZ-Load II cartridges, $5 or best offer.
>> 100 2400' 3M Black Watch 700 tapes, EZ-Load II cartridges, $3 or B.O.
>> 70 2400' tapes, various manufacturers, tape seals, $3 or B.O.
>> 50 600' tapes, various manufacturers, tape seals, $1 or B.O.
>> 6 600' tapes, new 3M Black Watch, tape seals, $4 or B.O.
>>
>>4) 2 120-tape 9-track tape racks (6 high, 20 wide): $25 each or B.O.
>> Preference given to someone who also buys tapes.
>>
>>Kelvin Smith
>>Financial Computer Systems, Inc.
>>Stamford, CT
>>(203) 357-0504
>>Fax: 357-8031
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho,
Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com
Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com
"...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object,
event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."
<> Tu60 phillips digital cassette PDP-8, PDP-11 mostly
<I've never seen this referred to officially as DECtape. It was called
<DECcassette. Since this was not a block-addressable random access device,
<it is substantially less like DECtape than the TU58, and couldn't be used
<as a "system device" for OS/8 or RT11.
True, though I've seen and heard it called dectape... Not a very good device
compared to the TU55/56 or the TU58.
<My arm could be twisted to make a tape available, but it sounds like you wa
<a transport, and they are hard to come by.
Yep! It doesn't have to be electronically complete or working but
mechanically complete would be nice plus a few tapes.
<I've partially completed a caching SCSI controller for the TU56 drive.
I'd like to try working on a ECP parallel interface to one. It's mostly to
realize what I'd done in the '70s with home grown tapes based on cassette
transports trying to make something as good as DECtape!
Allison
Hey folks...
I have this SX 64 layng around that I really can't use. I don't need YET
ANOTHER DIFFERENT SYSTEM (YADS).
It has all the kit including the keyboard cord and a copy of GEOS. I can't
do much with it except boot GEOS. Seems to be okay. (I only say that
because I don't rightly know, since I have no other software). Only
physical problem is a loose, but not broken, handle attachment.
I know it's "worth" between $1 and $300 depending on how badly your
perceived need.
I'll be glad to let it go for $75 + shipping, unless someone wants a tax
writeoff and wants to spend $300.00 (please talk to your accountant first).
I'm sure it's probably Y2K compatible just incase you want to run some
critical monitoring system on it.
Email me off line if you want to play.
mallison(a)konnections.com
If you're in Northern Utah, Wendover (UT, NV) or Evanston WY I'll deliver
the bad boy for free....
-Mike
<For reference, when I get it going, my 3100's name will be Tabby. As in
<tabby.litterbox.com. It's sort of a running joke that all my servers have
<cat names. :)
My vax was off the ROYALT cluster as a end node then later routing as
VIDSYS::, I still have it and it's still VIDSYS::. the other nodes are
PIPER, BEECH, CESSNA, MOONEY, AIRPT and AIRPLN::.
Did I mention I'm a pilot? ;)
Allison
As a user of TU58, the tapes are better than most. I have at least three
operational on PDP-11s. At 256k/drive/tape they are small but the serial
interface is easy to use(with anything).
DECTAPE is a generic DECism for small tapes.
Tu55/56 the 3/4" tape on reels Most PDP-n before 1973ish
Tu60 phillips digital cassette PDP-8, PDP-11 mostly
TU58 DC100 cartridge, DEC unique format. PDP-11, VAX730, VAX750
I'd love to have a TU55/56 Dectape (the open reel style).
Allison
On Mar 16, 15:10, James Willing wrote:
> On 16 Mar 1999, Eric Smith wrote:
> > For the uninitiated, DECtapes are six-inch reels of 3/4 inch (?) tape.
>
> Ummm... almost... four inch reels of 1 inch tape...
I can play this game too :-) Nope, DECtape is 3/4" tape, and if I were
really nitpicky I'd say they were a little under 4" diameter.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Upon the date 09:53 AM 3/17/99 -0600, Larry Groebe said something like:
>> Bruce Lane wrote:
>>
>>> That has got to be the DUMBest idea I've seen come along in years!
>>>
>>
>> Let us know what you find out. I hope that "kilobyte" won't become one of
>> those words that instantly marks their users as classic-computer freaks.
>> I know jargon changes, but I don't want it to change in this case.
>>
>> -- Derek
>
>Here's one (slightly outdated) reference - but no question, it's not a joke.
>
>http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
Okay, upon closely reading the above referenced doc it doesn't seem such a
pain in the neck after all. The sense that I get from the last sentence of
the first paragraph is that both nomenclatures will be used. The familiar
kilobyte, et al can still be used by us as we talk about our old stuff. The
justification is rather clear as the article presents it. (IMO!)
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa
My 7970E just came in with a 13183 controller - offline checks work great!
Yahoo!
Plus the 7970E came with another 21MX E series (my fourth :) ). Here's the
question... all my 2113B's and 2113E's have TWO ribbon cables going to the
front panel (operator panel). My 2108A and 2109B only have one cable to the
front panel. Most of my 21MX docs are for the M series and they only talk
about one cable going from the system PCA to the front panel.
Anyone know what the reason is for the second cable (what it does), and more
importantly under what circumstances is a second cable needed? I'm hazarding
a guess that it's anytime there's memory feature addons (M.E.M., Parity,
Fault control, etc.).
Ideas?
Thanks!
Jay West
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 17 March 1999 6:57
Subject: Forwarded without comment ...
>>From Edupage:
>
>COMING TO TERMS WITH BYTES
(Much deleted)
PLEASE tell me this is an early April Fool's day joke......
Aghast......
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie, South Australia.
Email: geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
ICQ #: 1970476
Phone: 61-8-8633-8834
Mobile: 61-411-623-978
Fax: 61-8-8633-0104
So... for those of us who haven't traveled in the UK (yet), how does it work
post-1971?
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com <Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: Medieval methods... (was Re: Got a question....PDP? VAX?)
>
>
>> I gather the machine had some sort of support for doing arithmetic on
>> pre-decimalized currency, does anyone here know what that looked like?
>> It wasn't explained very well in the book.
>
>
>I don't know how the currency was handled on Leo, but as a reference for
our
>American friends I shall say a few words on British currency prior to 1971.
>
>The basic unit was the pound. The symbol was the same as nowadays, viz. a
>scripty capital L with two horizontal bars through it (though often only
one bar
>is written, for speed) On e-mail I generally use an ordinary L for pound
(L
>stands for Livre (french = pound))
>
>King Offa (?9th century) fixed the value of a penny at 1/240 of a pound.
Later
>the shilling was fixed at 12 pence. (Pence is the plural of penny, in case
you
>hadn't worked it out. "Pennies" is a word coined much more recently (pun
>intended))
>
>So L1 = 20 s. (s stands for solidus (lat. = a silver coin of some sort) or
sou
>(Fr. = a coin worth not a lot))
>
>1 s. = 12 d. (d stands for denarius (lat. = penny) or denier (fr. =
penny))
>
>Halfpence (pronounced ha'pence) were in use until 1969 (and re-introduced
with
>decimalisation in 1971).
>Farthings (1/4 d) were in use at least until the mid 1940s, and may have
been
>required for Leo.
>
>So to computerise the currency you probably need:
>
>A field for whole pounds
>A field for shillings (up to 19 with a carry at 20)
>A field for pence (up to 11 with a carry at 12)
>A field for farthings or ha'pence (up to the obvious numbers thereof)
>
>It would not likely be possible to ignore the fractions of pence, since
even as
>late as the 1950s 1/2 d had a reasonable purchasing power, perhaps
equivalent to
>one US dime today.
>
>Also, just as they do today, vendors loved prices ending ...nineteen
shillings
>and elevenpence ha'penny.
>
>Philip.
>
>
>
I saw an IBM 5150 today in a thrift store. The odd thing about it was
that it had no disk drives! It only had two black covers over the disk
drive bays. It seems like it came from the factory this way. It is the
first revision of motherboard with the cassette jack, so its conceivable
that it was used with a cassette recorder and was always like this. Does
anyone wish to concur on this? I'm debating if I should get it, but not
for the $20 they have it tagged for.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 02/15/99]
Hi. I've had the XT for a while... it was in perfect condition. I even
got all the origional boxes and manuals that came with it. A
ProPrinter with demo pages, etc. were included. A whole heapin'
helpin' of software, as well as several disks were included. The
thing had all IBM componets, and I even have a recipt(!). I
personally was shocked that you had to buy all the individual
componets (well, not all, but they didn't have a complete system
setup.) Anyway, it also came with a RAM Expansion board, which
was installed, and a 20MB HardCard (I even have a Hard Drives of
America catalog from the same time.) As anyone with a hard card
knows, they have a metal board to support the hard drive on and
the PCB to go into the expansion slot. It's an easy upgrade, and it
really looks like it was a good idea. But anyway, because of the
size of the thing, my options are extremely limited as to what slot
it can go into. I ended up having to take the RAM expansion board
out. So can a RAM expanion board for an XT go into any slot, or is
the XT picky like an Apple II as to what can go where?
Thanks,
Tim
********************************************
*Tim D. Hotze - Co-Founder, The ReviewGuide*
*tim(a)thereviewguide.com *
*http://www.thereviewguide.com *
********************************************
James Willing wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, John Foust wrote:
> > At 01:52 PM 3/14/99 -0500, Max Eskin wrote:
> > >
> > >Hey! Who you callin' a newbie :) In the timeline of data entry so far,
> > >paper tape and toggle switches are most certainly medeival. [sic]
> >
> > Hey, there's a roll of paper tape for sale on eBay, current bid $17... :-)
>
> GORT?!? Looks like its time to start offering paper tape in the 'Computer
> Garage' store...
Rolls? After a coupla years handling rolls of that oily stuff that the ASR-33's
used to feed/eat, I was glad to get hold of the fan-folded stuff for the
rack-mounted readers. My best system used a Plessey R/P which could read 300
cps. Used a rubber roller, no sprockets, detecting holes optically. I've got a
bunch of plastic trays with fan-folded tapes stashed away somewhere in storage.
Now if only I'd saved all those holes for a lower Broadway parade!
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Robert Lund | Out here on the perimeter there are no stars +
+ lundo(a)interport.net | Out here we is stoned - Immaculate +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hi,
----------
> From: Mike Ford <mikeford(a)netwiz.net>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Apollo 400
> Date: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 6:12 PM
>
> I had a pleasant afternoon poking around one of my favorite scrappers,
and
> noticed on an incoming cart about two dozen Apollo 400 computers (says
> model 425 on the back). Hard drives are pulled, but otherwise they are
> supposed to be complete. Any interest? (he is in Santa Ana CA)
Are this the same as a HP300 Model 425 ?
thanks
emanuel
>> Well, here's a simple solution: anything suffixed with "byte", ie.
>> kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terrabyte...is automatically a base-2 value.
well I thought that was the accepted standard anyway?? :)
has all of this not come about because of hard disk manufacturers
deciding at some point along the line to quote disk sizes in decimal
megabytes rather than actual megabytes in order to make their disks seem
to have a greater capacity compared to those of their rivals??
(ie. 200Mb = 209715200 bytes = 210 "decimal" megabytes)
cheers
Jules
At 07:45 PM 3/15/99 -0800, Sellam Ismail wrote:
>>
>> Well, Micros~1 assures us that they have a stable server operating
> ^^^^^^^^
>
>Didn't anyone else realize how clever that was? :)
Well, actually it should be "MICROS~1".
- John
> Bruce Lane wrote:
>
>> That has got to be the DUMBest idea I've seen come along in years!
>>
>
> Let us know what you find out. I hope that "kilobyte" won't become one of
> those words that instantly marks their users as classic-computer freaks.
> I know jargon changes, but I don't want it to change in this case.
>
> -- Derek
Here's one (slightly outdated) reference - but no question, it's not a joke.
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
A couple of days ago I published a list of mass storage controllers I've got available. It turns out I have documents to go with the following.
MSC (later called XEBEC) 9305 GPIB-ST506 HDC for 1 drive.
MSC (later called XEBEC) 9391 S-100-ST506 HDC for 2 drives on double height S-100 board
XCOMP S-100 HDC for 8" (SA1000-Series) drives. Two board set called "STS"
INTEL iSBC 215 "Universal" Fixed Disk Controller with on-board 8089 intelligent I/O controller
the remainder are still without documents.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon <museum(a)techniche.com>
>How come you're not play with your ***2*** brand new
>Sym-1's instead ???
Who said I wasn't? ;)
<together. A group known as =93The Blue Ribbon Committee=94 included three
<hardware engineers -- Bill Strecker, Richie Lary, and Steve Rothman --
<and three software engineers -- Dave Cutler, Dick Hustvedt, and Peter
< Lipman. They simplified early designs and created a plan that would be
< possible to execute. The fifth design evolution was perfected and accepted
<in April of 1976, exactly one year after the design work began."=
<
<So I guess Dave Cutler was there from the beginning of VMS development.
Never said he wan't there... His pride and joy was RSX-11, which was the
foundation for the VMS filesystem. Wats forgotten is the VMS was originally
loaded with 16bit code mostly for the utilities but some in the core. this
was part of the roll out as the VAX-11/780 could execute PDP-11 code
directly.
The blue ribbon committe was comprized of chief and principle engineers
and while they spec'ed the whole project and planned a great deal they
didn't "write all the code". It was a far larger organization that did
that. Same was true for hardware. By the early '80s the design of the
VAX and VMS was reduced to a DEC STD... n All vaxen were based off that
as was VMS.
Allison
"Thus, the Commission will use kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi and exbi ..."
Sam: Commission members should be "beaten" with a crowbar!
Jim: If it ISN'T a joke, GOD save us all!
Geoff: It seems more like the joke which the late Frank Zappa
played upon his childred, by naming them Dwezel, Moon,
and Ahmet.
Given the propensity of "commissions" to fowl all things up, I would
not be surprised to find that this is for real, as in some kind of
suggestion, to be hashed-out by means of the common Request
For Comments (or RFC). We are all certain to agree that the real
problem with using kilo, etc. is the ignorance of the public,
especially those in the US. For instance, only the physics and
chemistry communities in the US understand the SI (the metric
system), and so, only they can intelligently translate from base
ten to base two arithmetic. This is not to suggest that all such
persons actually do such translations: only that they alone in the
US are so capable. Second is the tendency for manufacturers
to do such translations for the purposes of marketing. That is
why so many hard disk drives are touted as having 10.8GB of
available storage, instead of 10.0GB. That is, 10.8GB base ten
as opposed to 10.0GB base two. It makes the disk drive look
larger than it really is, at least to the purchasing public. You see,
this was not always the case. In the past, all such references
were base two. However, if you translate to base ten, while your
competition remained base two, then your products appeared
to provide a bigger store for the buck.
Clearly, it should be possible for the "commission" to find better,
more distictive, and easier to pronounce alternatives.
Chuck: Is it possible for you to provide more information as to
the identities of the "commission" members?
William R. Buckley
Hello All,
At 08:06 PM 3/16/99 -0800, Jason Willgruber <roblwill(a)usaor.net> wrote:
>O.K. I found that. There's still the conflict of wether it is RLL or MFM,
>though. I guess I'll try it with the RLL controller that I have...
I thought there was no such thing as a MFM or RLL *drive*. I thought that
you only had MFM or RLL *controllers*. The important thing on the hard
drive was the *interface* (in the case of the MiniScribe 3438, a
ST412/ST506 interface).
I seem to have a dim memory of RLL controllers being sold as a way to
increase (double?) your disk space.
As I remember, RLL controllers were much more fussy about cable length and
media quality than MFM controllers, which meant that they didn't work all
that well with cheap hard drives.
Of course, I could be completely wrong...
Regards,
| Scott McLauchlan |"Sometimes the need to mess with their heads |
| Client Services Division| outweighs the millstone of humiliation." |
| University of Canberra |___________Fox_Mulder_"The_X-Files:_Squeeze"_|
|scott(a)cts.canberra.edu.au| http://www.canberra.edu.au/~scott/home.html |
Well, I finally picked up that HP 85 today, it's in remarkably good
nick, the problem everyone here has mentioned about the rubber roller -
no problem, it's in perfect order (probably got something to do with
Tassie's frigid weather). Came with two cartridges plugged into the
back:
82903A 16k memory module
82936A rom drawer - on this, two "drawers" occupied - 0085-15004 MATRIX
& 0085-15-005 ADVANCED PGRM
Unfortunately, no tapes or manuals.... will see what I can find
manual-wise on the World Wide wait.
But can someone tell me what sort of tape the thing uses ?
And secondly, to ease my withdrawal symptoms having bought no Commodore
stuff for at least two weeks <grin> A Commodore PC5 (my first PC was
one of these), yet another 128D & three MPS 803 printers..... got my
Commie fix for the week, so I should be able to make it through until
next payday :-)
cheers,
Lance
I don't have a date on it. The only thing that I really know about it is
that it was pulled from a "TURBO-XT", manufactured by Wibles Computer
Corporation. The drive has a sticker on it that says
COMPUTRS, INC. (not a typo)
201-492-1229
2736 (this is stamped on)
REMOVAL VOIDS WARRANTY
The XT was probably from around 85-89. It is identical to an IBM XT (even
has an IBM branded floppy), other than the badge saying "IBM" on the front,
it says "WIBLES".
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
-----Original Message-----
From: cdrmool(a)interlog.com <cdrmool(a)interlog.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: MiniScribe 3438 --- HELLLP!!!!
>
>Jason, the only thing I can find off hand states that the 3438 was a) a
>32.7mg drive. 615 cyls, 4 heads, 26 sectors, b)that it is a 32mg ST-506
>RLL and that it was 612 cyls(!!!). The former was from Mueller's
>"Upgrading and Repairing PC's" and the latter was from Minasi's "PC Upgrade
>and Maintenance Guide".
>Nothing on jumper settings. Do you have a date on the drive? That might
>help me dig through my pile O' stuff.
>
>Colan
>
>
>At 05:36 PM 3/16/99 -0800, Jason Willgruber wrote:
>> Does anyone on this vast earth know the jumper settings for a
MiniScribe
>>3438 hard drive???
>>
>>I've searched EVERYWHERE, and found the following:
>>
>>- It is either MFM or RLL
>>- It is either 32 or 22 MB
>>- It is either 5.25 HH or 3.5" FH.
>>
>>Of the sites I've found, one says that it's RLL, another says it's MFM.
>>Another site says it's both. Between the sites, one said it was 22 MB,
the
>>other two said 32. One of the sites said that it was a 5.25" HH drive,
and
>>the last said that it was a FH 3.5" (is there even such a thing?).
>>
>>Other than the fact that it's 5.25" HH, I know NOTHING (useful) about this
>>drive. The jumper settings seem to have vanished, along with the physical
>>drive specs.
>>
>>Help!....
>>--
>> -Jason Willgruber
>> (roblwill(a)usaor.net)
>> ICQ#: 1730318
>><http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
>>
>>
>>
>
>>
>> Well, Micros~1 assures us that they have a stable server operating
> ^^^^^^^^
>
>Didn't anyone else realize how clever that was? :)
>
>Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
I did and it's going to be featured on a sweatshirt right below TUX and
above "just say no!" no later than thursday.
Francois
<Damn! I wish I had the space for it!! From my DEC days, I remember the
<8650 as
<a member of the first VAXcluster we had in the datacenter.. IIRC,
<the cluster was named (for you ex & current DECcies) the PATS cluster
<(the system
<manager was a football fan), and each node got named after a current or
<former
<player on the New England Patriots... Nodenames being Morgan, Grogan,
<and Fryar..
Key comments cluster... some of the notable clusters in DEC fame was the
VIDEO cluster and the Royalt (all six chars max) (REX, pauper, pawn)
and of course Millrat(millrat, millstn, millrot) and the DEC-10 cluster
MARKET (this was a FTP site too).
Allison
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net>
>I just picked up an Intel MCS-86 Microcomputer System Prototype Kit today.
>It has a bunch of ICs in it and an Intel Product Description booklet. Does
>anyone know if there are any instructions for this or is the PD book all
>that came with them?
Hi Joe,
I just got one myself... it came with four pieces of documentation:
1. SDK-86 MCS-86 System Design Kit User's Guide
2. SDK-86 MCS-86 System Design Kit Monitor Listings
3. SDK-86 MCD-86 System Design Kit Assembly Manual
4. 9 pages of schematics
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
So Mike,
You're not getting real attached to this thing are you?
I was gonna try and trade you for it !!
How come you're not play with your ***2*** brand new
Sym-1's instead ???
I'm scheduled to pick up my MMD's on Sunday.
Jon
................................................................................
>Can someone please help me out... I just got my Exidy s-100 expansion box
>for the Sorcerer. Now, all I need is the Sorcerer. ;)
>Will someone please sell me one?
>
>Thanks
>- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
>
>
>
I saved some of the HP tapes from the scrapper. Looking at them I found an
HP Part number you may want to check out. 98200A (5 cartridges)
If you were in the US I would send you a bunch for the shipping. If anyone
else needs some let me know. I know some have varios utilities and who
knows what else on them. I just grabbed a couple to get part # from and
compare to the DECTAPE II cart. and yes they look the same.
Dan
>Well, I finally picked up that HP 85 today, it's in remarkably good
>nick, the problem everyone here has mentioned about the rubber roller -
>no problem, it's in perfect order (probably got something to do with
>Tassie's frigid weather). Came with two cartridges plugged into the
>back:
>
>82903A 16k memory module
>82936A rom drawer - on this, two "drawers" occupied - 0085-15004 MATRIX
>& 0085-15-005 ADVANCED PGRM
>
>Unfortunately, no tapes or manuals.... will see what I can find
>manual-wise on the World Wide wait.
>
>But can someone tell me what sort of tape the thing uses ?
>
>
>And secondly, to ease my withdrawal symptoms having bought no Commodore
>stuff for at least two weeks <grin> A Commodore PC5 (my first PC was
>one of these), yet another 128D & three MPS 803 printers..... got my
>Commie fix for the week, so I should be able to make it through until
>next payday :-)
>
>cheers,
>
> Lance
>
>
>(I have a lot of them... and the drives... and the computers they run
>on...) B^}
Same here... (well, as of this saturday I will -- the machines, I
mean).
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Yo, cats: Hedz Up!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: (fwd) GIVEAWAY: Vax 8650 in Medford, MA by Mar. 18
From: Jason Scott <jason(a)snuh.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: GIVEAWAY: Vax 8650 in Medford, MA by Mar. 18
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 14:11:56 -0500
Organization: The Information Access Center
Lines: 18
My company is decommissioning a VAX 8650 with Expansion Unit and while
the current plan is to throw the thing into the dump, if there are
souls out there who want one of these things for Nostalgia, Spare Parts,
or to drop out of a plane, give me a holler at (781)-393-3283 and we'll
talk. Or, mail to jason(a)snuh.com works just as well.
If you think you can stop by with a Toyota and put this thing in the
trunk, you don't want it. Vax 8650's are the size of large meat lockers
and you'll need at least a truck to pick it up. The power needs are
beyond imagining. The only real use for these things are spare parts
or some sick project I can't think of, but I can't bear to not take
at least a try at finding them a home.
The VAXen are located in Medford, MA, just about 5 miles north of
Boston, off Route 93. We're throwing the things out Thursday Night
(March 18) so act fast. First call and show, first serve. Thanks!
- Jason Scott
They are actally in the same casing as the DC2000 and DC2080 and if you can
find the TPI you could probably find a compatible media. Occular inspection
showed that the DC Tapes are wider than the HP tape. This is about the only
info I can provide at this point since the HP 85 manual doesn't give any
physical caracteristics.
Francois
>>> >But can someone tell me what sort of tape the thing uses ?
Hi peoples,
This Commodore PC 5 that I picked up has a problem ---- me.... it's
been so many years since I used one, that I cannot remember the switch
settings & the connectors on the motherboard. Does anyone out ther have
the manual for the PC 5 or 10 that they can look up for me ?
cheers,
Lance
<ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
<> >So? A decent paper tape reader will do 700 cps.
<
<Hi
< I don't recall the read speed but it was something
<on the order of 15-20 mins to load. 700 cps sounds
<a little high to me. As I recall, the holes are about
<1/8th inch apart, making that ~7.3 feet per second,
<I don't remember anything with paper tape going that
<fast. Mylar tape maybe? Are you sure it wasn't 700 cpm?
The fasest I know of whas the remex optical reader I had and that did
300CPS. I used an oliver audio (optical, pull through) and it could easily
do over 1000 CPS. The limit was the drive in most cases. Oh, 300cps is
like running a terminal at 3000 baud or faster. In those days that was not
shabby as typical programs were only a few k and a monster was 12k Basic.
Allison
<>So I guess Dave Cutler was there from the beginning of VMS development.
<
<However, it's my understanding he left somewhere shortly after Version 1.0
Yep! Cutler was long gone from active product design DEC before the advent
of NT. DECwest was the research facility.
Allison
Does anyone on this vast earth know the jumper settings for a MiniScribe
3438 hard drive???
I've searched EVERYWHERE, and found the following:
- It is either MFM or RLL
- It is either 32 or 22 MB
- It is either 5.25 HH or 3.5" FH.
Of the sites I've found, one says that it's RLL, another says it's MFM.
Another site says it's both. Between the sites, one said it was 22 MB, the
other two said 32. One of the sites said that it was a 5.25" HH drive, and
the last said that it was a FH 3.5" (is there even such a thing?).
Other than the fact that it's 5.25" HH, I know NOTHING (useful) about this
drive. The jumper settings seem to have vanished, along with the physical
drive specs.
Help!....
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
Eric -
At 11:46 PM 3/15/99 -0000, you wrote:
>Because it *isn't* based on Mach.
Roger.
>Which part of that is hard to understand?
>The historical record of this is fairly well documented.
I stand corrected. I guess the early hype I heard about NT was entirely
falacious and a complete figment of my imagination.
>There are some "UNIX servers" that can be run on top of Mach, but
>Mach is not UNIX.
I don't think I ever stated ... "Mach is UNIX". I will be more careful in
the future to distinguish that UNIX might be layered on a Mach kernel, then
again, it might not.
>IIRC, the NT kernel *has* a built-in distributed lock manager. If not, it
>would be easy to add it. The NT kernel is actually small, simple, and
>almost elegant. ...
If it was as trivial as you indicate, then there would be NT clusters as far
as the eye could see. It took Digital several versions of VMS to support
clusters.
>Certainly you *can* run applications on your file server. And on a good OS,
>it will work OK. But that doesn't prove that it is the best way to do
>things.
It is the only way to do things if that is what you can afford. It appears
that I have been much less fortunate than you in my selection of employers.
-- Dean
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dean Billing Phone: 530-752-5956
UC Davis FAX: 530-752-6363
IT-CR EMAIL: drbilling(a)ucdavis.edu
One Shields Way
Davis, CA 95616
I seem to have misplaced my copies of muMath and muLisp for
the Apple II. If anyone would like to sell their old ones
to me, please let me know. The CP/M version would also be
of interest. If all else fails, I could live with the
PC-DOS version, but I don't want Derive (the product that
replaced muMath).
Thanks!
Eric
ALERT! Large VAX in danger of hitting the dumpster! Contact information
follows. (please do not reply to the list)
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 14:11:56 -0500
From: Jason Scott <jason(a)snuh.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: GIVEAWAY: Vax 8650 in Medford, MA by Mar. 18
My company is decommissioning a VAX 8650 with Expansion Unit and while
the current plan is to throw the thing into the dump, if there are
souls out there who want one of these things for Nostalgia, Spare Parts,
or to drop out of a plane, give me a holler at (781)-393-3283 and we'll
talk. Or, mail to jason(a)snuh.com works just as well.
If you think you can stop by with a Toyota and put this thing in the
trunk, you don't want it. Vax 8650's are the size of large meat lockers
and you'll need at least a truck to pick it up. The power needs are
beyond imagining. The only real use for these things are spare parts
or some sick project I can't think of, but I can't bear to not take
at least a try at finding them a home.
The VAXen are located in Medford, MA, just about 5 miles north of
Boston, off Route 93. We're throwing the things out Thursday Night
(March 18) so act fast. First call and show, first serve. Thanks!
- Jason Scott
Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com wrote:
> I think Leo Computers may be regarded as the world's first
> commercial computer manufacturer. But I don't think they existed as
> early as the '40s. I think the original LEO project was early '50s,
> and Leo Computers (as a manufacturer) mid '50s and later. But I'm
> not sure...
> Anyone care to add to the above? Correct my mistakes? Etc.?
There's a recent book:
LEO: The Incredible Story of the World's First Business Computer
by David Caminer (ed.), John Aris, Peter Hermon, Frank Land
published by McGraw-Hill, December 1997
ISBN 0-07-009501-9
Basically, yes, they realized that automation of their data processing
was a desirable thing, and a survey of the market for such machines
in 1949 or so forced them to conclude that if they wanted it done in
any reasonable time they would have to do it themselves. So they did,
and they ended up with a computer that was pretty good at doing what
Lyons needed done.
BTW, the people who wrote and edited this book are the people who
designed and built LEO: it's really a collection of their writings
about their work. Reading it I had the impression that Caminer went
around and darn near forcibly extracted a chapter from everyone he
could.
I gather the machine had some sort of support for doing arithmetic on
pre-decimalized currency, does anyone here know what that looked like?
It wasn't explained very well in the book.
-Frank McConnell
Further from The Dream Machine, after many pages about IBM:
"The British computer industry, started by Lyons in the late 1940s [by sending
two people to the EDVAC team] never had a chance. In 1963, after selling only
[!] 100
computers, Lyons sold their computer division to the English Electric Company.
..... After several mergers the English Electric Company would be absorbed
into ICL, ... in 1990 Fujitsu bought 80 % of ICL."
John G. Zabolitzky
<There is a lot more, of course (variables, loops, conditionals, accessing
<memory, even defining words used to make new definitions (you could
<define a word like : which is then used to define a new type of object)),
<but that will do to start with.
And if you have a postscript printer (or running Ghostscript) you can do
that and print the results too.!
Allison
>> I guess it is time to auction off some punch cards now ... one at a time
>> :). Actually, I am toying around with putting one punch card on ebay just
>> to see what would happen. It is a bit unusual though in that it is imprinted
>> with "Leo Computers", and just to keep it a set, perhaps putting one sheet
>> of original Leo Computers stationary. Anyone here remember Leo Computers
>> (late 40's, early 50's)?
>
> You mean Lyons, the people who produced the LEO? I think it was the first
> commercially sold computer; it was a cleaned-up version of one of the
> British research machines (Manchester Mark I? EDSAC?).
The story as it is usually told here in the UK:
Lyons had a large chain of tea shops across the UK. They had a system that
worked well for ordering stock for the shops and dispatching it, but it was
data-processing-intensive and they knew they needed to streamline in order to
survive.
What do you do if you have a system that's DP-intensive and needs streamlining?
Obvious! You computerise it! (All Lyons' DP was being done by hand at that
time)
Right. Who sells computers for business? Well, a few DP machines (tabulators
etc.) exist, and can probably be bought, but nobody sells computers at all!
Lyons had the far-sightedness to push ahead with their plans to computerise, and
sent two (?) technicians to Cambridge to work on the EDSAC project (a rare
example of collaborative research actually working!)
The technicians duly went and worked on EDSAC, and came back to Lyons well
knowledgeable about computers. Lyons then set out to design their own computer,
which they called LEO.
They soon discovered that other companies, seeing the benefit that computerising
the business had had for Lyons, wanted business computers too. And thus Leo
Computers was born - a subsidiary of Lyons, who made and sold business
computers. I think there's about one each of their later (solid state) and
original (hollow state) machines still around...
I think Leo Computers may be regarded as the world's first commercial computer
manufacturer. But I don't think they existed as early as the '40s. I think the
original LEO project was early '50s, and Leo Computers (as a manufacturer) mid
'50s and later. But I'm not sure...
Anyone care to add to the above? Correct my mistakes? Etc.?
Philip.
PS Let us know how the Leo Computers punched card sells! Should fetch a lot!
> I got two copies of "IBM Maintenance Library - 3278 Display Station
> Models 1,2,3,and 4 Maintenance Information". Anybody want the second one
> ($5 shipped), or wish to trade for it (intersted in books on interfacing
> the Apple II)?
Tom -
I take it this is just a board swapper's guide (from what I remember of the 3278
it's not likely to be any more than that). If nobody else wants it, I might
take it for old times' sake. How much is shipping to the UK?
Philip.
Fellow in the UK's looking for a PDP-11, and it doesn't sound like
he's picky about what or where.
Reply directly if you can help. Thanks.
-=-=- <break> -=-=-
On Tue, 16 Mar 1999 12:13:04 -0000, in vmsnet.pdp-11 you wrote:
>>From: "James" <jdm1(a)ukc.ac.uk>
>>Newsgroups: vmsnet.pdp-11
>>Subject: Wanted: PDP/11 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
>>Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 12:13:04 -0000
>>Organization: University of Kent at Canterbury
>>Lines: 9
>>Message-ID: <7clhra$2vo$1(a)spruce.ukc.ac.uk>
>>NNTP-Posting-Host: stue24e.ukc.ac.uk
>>X-Trace: spruce.ukc.ac.uk 921586346 3064 129.12.226.78 (16 Mar 1999 12:12:26 GMT)
>>X-Complaints-To: news(a)ukc.ac.uk
>>NNTP-Posting-Date: 16 Mar 1999 12:12:26 GMT
>>X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.1
>>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3
>>Path: news1.jps.net!news-west.eli.net!news.sisna.com!pants.skycache.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed1.swip.net!swipnet!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!bofh.vszbr.cz!news-lond.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!baron.netcom.net.uk!netcom.net.uk!server3.netnews.ja.net!ukc!not-for-mail
>>Xref: news1.jps.net vmsnet.pdp-11:14
>>
>>Hi,
>>I am a student in the UK who loves ye olde computers, and really want to get
>>my hands on a PDP/11, I'm sure there must be loads of people out there who
>>have a PDP/11 stashed away somewhere that there never really going to use
>>again, well hows about you give it to me!!!! Please?
>>
>>James.
>>
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho,
Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com
Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com
"...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object,
event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."
>At 08:32 PM 5/15/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>Dang! I wish I liven in WI. :)
>
>I'm diving for it... I'm not far away, and my mother-in-law is a
>prof there...
Got it! He's unloading a PDP 11/23 of some kind, presently disk-less,
a VS 2000, and a disassembled but probably still functional VS 3500.
Maybe I'll pick them up tomorrow. It sounds like he was into
net-booting BSD.
- John
Hello there !
I've found a new system this week-end, the MPT-05 from ITMC. A quite
rare
and strange system.
By talking with a friend, we have put a very small list of known carts
for this system:
MT06 Morpion Electronique
MT11 Tir de chasse
MT14 Jeux de Cirque
MT16 Reversi
MT19 Musique et M?moire
Then by looking at the Voltmace Database cart list made by Teflon, I've
found that some of them are very similar to our list:
8 Shooting Gallery = MT11
12 Circus = MT14
14 Four in a Row = MT06
21 Musical Memory = MT19
and ??? =MT16 Reversi
I think the MPT-05 is a Voltmace Database clone which wouldn't be
surprising since I have a Hanimex MPT-02 which is a RCA Studio 2 clone
and
a MPT-03 which is an Arcadia 2001 clone !
Or maybe the MPT-05 is a clone of the Acetronic MPU-1000.
Could someone tell me more/give me info/or whatever related to the
Voltmace System/Acetronic MPU-1000 or even ITMC MPT-05 ?
Cheers,
--
BOISSEAU Olivier
E-mail: oboissea(a)club-internet.fr
ICQ#: 8733445
8-Bits Rendez-Vous: http://perso.club-internet.fr/oboissea/
Le Club 8-bit : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/club8bit/
Patrimoine Gironde: http://www.multimania.com/gironde/
I have the BASIC Summary posted at:
www.pclink.com/fauradon
in the tech info section
the tapes are: HP part number 98200A The only marking on the tape are: HP
200 and series 9800
Hope this helps
I'll dig up my HP stuff to see if I have anything on the ROMs
Francois
>Unfortunately, no tapes or manuals.... will see what I can find
>manual-wise on the World Wide wait.
>
>But can someone tell me what sort of tape the thing uses ?
>