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

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

Apologies to all for my last posting - I hit the wrong button. In answer to Tony's question - lots of 'interesting' machines, in that it has a copy of the US Government's 1953 supercomputer survey - verbatim. That is, about 3 lines of information for each. Don't you wish, sometimes, that you could recall an email! A -- > > Did it include any 'interesting' machines, or was it the standard > > Apple1/Altair 'history' ? > > > > ['Interesting' == a machine not known about - in detail - by > most members > > of this list] > > > > -tony > > > >

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Old Radios - computers

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Hey, I like old radios too. I got my start with tube short-wave radios about the time the transistor was invented. I took a Hallicrafter S-40B to 4-H summer camp and strung a long wire antenna. I still travel with a short-wave, a Sony ICF2002 and a wire antenna. However this is a classic computer forum so I will ask computer questions. Is there a web site or inventory of early Russian computers like the Russian Calculator site run by our fellow friend AD? Was there a system similar to SAGE? (I loved Jim Willings pictures.) What is the history of the early Russian computer development like? I also liked the report back to the list of contact with the posters. If anyone ends up doing business with them I would love to see that also. Paxton

27 years, 3 months

4
7
0 0

Mac Portable Modem Init String

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

On Mon, 28 Dec 1998 roblwill(a)usaor.net wrote: > Hi! > > I was wondering if anyone knows the init string for the Mac Portable > Internal 2400 baud modem. > > ThAnX, What terminal program have you tried using? According to the manual, you must select "internal modem" in the "portable" control panel. ---------------------------------------------------- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Price, or something. The 8086 was the same thing as an 8088, but with a <full 16-bit bus, which was important for almost everything in those days <(IE before you had an on-chip cache for frequently used operations, an on <chip FPU for 3D/math, and all kinds of stuff like that.) The 808x series has what was fairly new then a prefetch cache though of very limited size. Caches on chip grew in use when the fab technology could cram enough on a die to permit a larger one. Allison

27 years, 3 months

3
5
0 0

HELP!!!! TRS-80 Mod III M/B NEEDED!!!!

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Most likely you either shorted the mains side of the PSU to something on >the secondary side, or you messed up the regulation circuitry, probably >the former. The damage sounds like what you'd expect with 110V on a board >of TTL... > >Ouch!. It's even possible that you've blown chips in the printer.... > The one paper clip fell across the little clip that supplies 110v to the main PSU. That's what blew the breaker. I tested the printer on my Tandy 1000, and it still works. >There are 2 power supplies in the Model 3 - one on the side of the drive >tower, one on the front of the logic cage. Which one got zapped ? The one >on the drive tower supplies the drives and the FDC board, the one on the >logic cage supplies the CPU board, RS232 board and video board. > Neither. The main M/B got zapped. I can power it up w/o MB in it, the video lights up, and the drives go for about 1 second on power on. > >You might also be looking for a second PSU and drives :-(. This is a >machine to rebuild slowly - get working PSUs (and test them on dummy >load), then add just the CPU board and video and check that it goes into >ROM basic correctly. Then add the floppy controller and drives. Finally >add the RS232 board. > >I've fixed model3's and 4's, but never one that this has happened to. > Everything's fine but the CPU board and RS-232 card. > >A couple of other suggestions. A model 4 CPU board (non-gate array only?) >will drop in there, and will run all model 3 software. So that's >something to look for. The other possibility is to find a cassette-only >model 3 or model 4 and move your (working) FDC, tower, drives and second >PSU into in. > I was thinking about that, but won't I need a new keyboard, too? I really don't want to do that, because I just rebuilt every switch (they're not the rubber cup type) a few months ago. > >The upgrade is (IIRC) just adding columns of 4116 chips. Worth bring it >up to 48K anyway when you have the case apart. > Well, the RAM banks on the fried board were all full, so I guess it had 48k. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

x86.org

by roblwill＠usaor.net

So in other words, Intel _could_ possibly sue Apple for the iMac..... -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: cswiger <cswiger(a)wilma.widomaker.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, December 28, 1998 11:31 AM Subject: x86.org >>www.x86.org (Not an Intel friendly site), they have a copyright >>on the letter 'I', and also 'bunny people'?? > >I should say, the letter 'I' is a registered trademark. > > Chuck > cswiger(a)widomaker.com > > > >

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

AC/DC radio precautions, was Old Radios

by Marty＠itgonline.com

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Old Radios Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 12/23/98 6:44 PM > > Come now comrade Griffiths, an old radio never hurt anyone. >>>What, not even if you touch the chassis of an AA5 with wet hands? I stand corrected. This is a good time to mention to our list members that if they find an old tube radio, especially an AC/DC set (you can tell this by the absence of a power transformer and a tube complement which will equal 120 volts for total filament voltage, some even have line cord resistors), THESE SETS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LETHAL, often having the 120 hot wire soldered to the chassis. If you touch the chassis on one of these sets wired with the hot to chassis, then ground yourself, you'll electrocute yourself. Always use one hand only so you don't provide a path for the current (likewise be certain you have insulated shoes, not providing a current path anywhere on your body). If you need to work on one of these sets, use an isolation transformer or wire a light bulb between the set and house current (the light bulb filiment should open before you fry, thus breaking the circuit). Marty > > Marty -tony ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists2.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998Dec23.184419.1767.87098; Wed, 23 Dec 1998 18:44:19 -0500 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with SMTP id PAA28362; Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:42:13 -0800 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id PAA2 1242 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:41:14 -0800 Received: from post.mail.demon.net (post-11.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.40]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id PAA20 031 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:41:13 -0800 Received: from [158.152.97.199] (helo=p850ug1) by post.mail.demon.net with smtp (Exim 2.10 #2) id 0zsxtv-0000Vb-00 for classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu; Wed, 23 Dec 1998 23:41:12 +0000 Received: by p850ug1 id <m0zsxYB-000IyJC@p850ug1> (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Wed, 23 Dec 98 23:18 GMT Message-Id: <m0zsxYB-000IyJC@p850ug1> Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 23:18:40 +0000 (GMT) Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: Old Radios In-Reply-To: <1998Dec23.173845.1767.173734(a)smtp.itgonline.com> from "Marty" at Dec 23, 98 05:40:53 pm Content-Type: text X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

27 years, 3 months

3
3
0 0

AC/DC radio precautions, was Old Radios

by Marty＠itgonline.com

Chris is quite right. Sorry, the light bulb rig was a bad idea (I have never used it but it was mentioned to me once upon a time) and I agree the isolation transformer is definitely the ONLY way to go. Regarding trusting a spec sheet or schematic, I wouldn't. Many sets I've come across have been modified, often in unconventional ways. Marty ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: AC/DC radio precautions, was Old Radios Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 12/28/98 3:31 PM At 12:15 12/28/98 -0500, you wrote: > > > >______________________________ Reply Separator >_________________________________ >Subject: Re: Old Radios >Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet >Date: 12/23/98 6:44 PM > > > > > > Come now comrade Griffiths, an old radio never hurt anyone. > > >>>What, not even if you touch the chassis of an AA5 with wet hands? > I stand corrected. This is a good time to mention to our list members > that if they find an old tube radio, especially an AC/DC set (you can > tell this by the absence of a power transformer and a tube complement > which will equal 120 volts for total filament voltage, some even have > line cord resistors), THESE SETS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LETHAL, > often having the 120 hot wire soldered to the chassis. If you touch > the chassis on one of these sets wired with the hot to chassis, then > ground yourself, you'll electrocute yourself. Always use one hand only > so you don't provide a path for the current (likewise be certain you > have insulated shoes, not providing a current path anywhere on your > body). If you need to work on one of these sets, use an isolation These points are valid . . . > transformer or wire a light bulb between the set and house current > (the light bulb filiment should open before you fry, thus breaking the > circuit). Hold on there! An isolation transformer is the *only* way to go to provide isolation from the line for a transformerless radio or TV. The light bulb will NOT open (like a fuse, as the above statement infers) but will simply pass current up to at least the wattage rating of the filament. (100W bulb = approx 0.9 Amperes @ 115V.) A few microamperes could be enough to kill a person under many conditions at this voltage. The concern for inexperienced folks handling a bare chassis of a transformerless set is nonetheless well placed and the part about the chassis being hot (115VAC in North Amer. or 230VAC in most of the other parts of Earth) is particularly important to be aware of. A chassis could be hot even if the line cord is correctly plugged into the wall receptacle. This is because a commonly used signal bypass capacitor from the hot side to chassis often is quite leaky (simply, it has relatively low DC resistance) or even shorted from age. I've been hit too many times while handling these sets over the past 33 or 34 years. As with any of us troubleshooting computer power supplies while the power is on, *always* stuff one hand into your pocket while probing around in the circuit. Enough of this off topic radio stuff --although I had to post this to correct a seriously incorrect piece of advice given above. On topic part could be to note that using an isolation transformer while poking around in a computer's switching power supply could make accidentally touching a few parts in the line-side of the PSU somewhat safer. Just being careful and focusing on where one's hands are at absolutely all times is the safer way to go while having to work on live high voltage circuits. Regards, Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/ ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists2.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998Dec28.153136.1767.87777; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 15:31:36 -0500 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with SMTP id MAA07961; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 12:29:16 -0800 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id MAA1 1848 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 12:29:11 -0800 Received: from quartz.netsync.net (quartz.netsync.net [206.231.8.2]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id MAA06 030 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 12:29:10 -0800 Received: from default (jmtnppp90.netsync.net [206.231.9.100]) by quartz.netsync.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with SMTP id PAA01416 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 15:28:56 -0500 Message-Id: <4.1.19981228145809.00ac9970(a)206.231.8.2> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 15:28:14 -0500 Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: AC/DC radio precautions, was Old Radios In-Reply-To: <1998Dec28.121437.1767.174499(a)smtp.itgonline.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Sender: cfandt(a)206.231.8.2 X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

AC/DC radio precautions, was Old Radios

by ddameron＠earthlink.net

Hi Marty, At 12:15 PM 12/28/98 -0500, you wrote: > THESE SETS ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LETHAL, > often having the 120 hot wire soldered to the chassis. If you touch > the chassis on one of these sets wired with the hot to chassis, then > ground yourself, you'll electrocute yourself. Always use one hand only > so you don't provide a path for the current (likewise be certain you > have insulated shoes, not providing a current path anywhere on your > body). If you need to work on one of these sets, use an isolation > transformer or wire a light bulb between the set and house current > (the light bulb filiment should open before you fry, thus breaking the > circuit). > > Marty An isolation transformer is a good idea, but a light bulb is series will only limit the current to its rating. Even with a short circuit, it will only light at full brillance, not act as a breaker. It may protect components in the radio, but it is no shock protection. A 40 watt bulb (a smaller size) still has about 0.3A at 120 volts, way more than enough to electrocute yourself if the current flows in the wrong path :(. -Dave

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

x86.org

by cswiger＠wilma.widomaker.com

>www.x86.org (Not an Intel friendly site), they have a copyright >on the letter 'I', and also 'bunny people'?? I should say, the letter 'I' is a registered trademark. Chuck cswiger(a)widomaker.com

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by cswiger＠wilma.widomaker.com

>> YKYBHTLW >What the heck? Enjoying puzzles, I'd guessed "You know you better HTL when "... Search engine says "You Know You've Been Hacking Too long When".. Re: a thread from long, long ago last week - according to www.x86.org (Not an Intel friendly site), they have a copyright on the letter 'I', and also 'bunny people'?? Chuck cswiger(a)widomaker.com

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

- N - SpectrumZX emulator

by kozmik＠wave.home.com

http://www.spectrum.lovely.net/ Emulators don't impress me that much today as much as they did before, because of the massive amounts of cpu power we have availible to us now. BUT. This one is cool. Its done in java, and will even run in your browser window. The site even has a list of games that you can just click on, download into a window, and it runs the game in the java emulator. Slick! Even on the slow setting most of the games run 2-3 times as fast as the original machine, so unfortunately its too fast...but on a p233mmx, thats damn impressive fast java code....especially running in a netscape browser! -- ============================================================--------- Dominique Cormann Email:kozmik@wave.home.com dcormann(a)uoguelph.ca Homepage:http://members.home.net/kozmik

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by kurtkilgor＠bigfoot.com

> YKYBHTLW What the heck?

27 years, 3 months

3
2
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by roblwill＠usaor.net

If Intel's 8088 was stripped of half it's bus width, why was it used so much more than the 8086? One of the few computers that I've seen with an 8086 is the WANG WLTC (in the SCSI drive string). With being only 4 MHz (I think), it way out-performs my 8088 8MHz Zenith (I just wish it wasn't so dang big). I remember someone on here saying that an 8086 and 8088 were interchangeable. Is this true, and would there be an advantage? -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: Tim Hotze <tim(a)thereviewguide.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, December 27, 1998 12:49 PM Subject: Re: OT, but info needed: RAM uprade > >That's why it's Windows 95. It takes forever to boot. Anyway, cache's the >only thing that makes the K6-2 slower than a PII at the same clock speed. >If I remove my cache entirely on my 200MHz MMX system, then it performs >considerably slower than my 486 with 136K (IE 8K on chip, 128K on the >motherboard) cache. Also the bus speed matters a lot, especially on a >pre-486 (or 486SX with 487) system if you're doing heavy math, etc. I >don't know why Intel's 'low cost' processors are always so bone headed: >486SX, which removed the one true thing that made it a 486, 8088, removing >the crucial 16-bit bus of the 8086, 386SX, which worked pretty well, but >still halfed the external bandwidth (did Intel ever make a cheap version of >a 286?), and now we've got Celeron: Until the Celron A, no cache at all... > >Tim >------------------------------------------------------* >*Ever onward, always forward. * >*Tim D. Hotze Panel Member, The Ultimate Web Host List* >*http://www.webhostlist.com worldsfate(a)geocities.com * >------------------------------------------------------* >

27 years, 3 months

4
6
0 0

AMD 29000 series

by tim＠thereviewguide.com

Hi. I read about the AMD 29000 series microprocessors, and they seemed to be pretty interesting. Does anyone have any examples of micros that used such a processor? (And: Does anyone have one that they'd want to get rid of with compensation?) Tim ------------------------------------------------------* *Ever onward, always forward. * *Tim D. Hotze Panel Member, The Ultimate Web Host List* *http://www.webhostlist.com worldsfate(a)geocities.com * ------------------------------------------------------*

27 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Old Microsoft MSX standard?

by PasserM＠umkc.edu

Farat Mazullin has written several emulators, one of them being fMSX, which emulates the MSX platform. It is available for download at his site, along with a great deal of information on the platform: http://www.komkon.org/fms/MSX/ Hope this helps! --Mike -----Original Message----- From: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu [mailto:CLASSICCMP-owner@u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Richard A. Cini, Jr. Sent: Monday, December 28, 1998 8:02 AM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: Old Microsoft MSX standard? Hello, all: While reading some late-1984 Byte mags, I came across a description of the Microsoft MSX computer standard. Implemented mostly by Japanese computer manufacturers, an MSX computer is CP/M based with 32k of RAM, a cassette port, RF modulator, and cartridge slots for expansion. I picture a Z80-based VIC-20 or C64, although not in that physical form. Anyone have any info on this? [ Rich Cini/WUGNET [ ClubWin!/CW7 [ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking [ Collector of "classic" computers [ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ [ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/pdp11/ <================ reply separator =================>

27 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

UK collection

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

Here's web site with a LOT of varied collectables in the UK, owned by Tony Brown. Can't figure why he wouldn't be a sub on this list...... http://freespace.virgin.net/tony.brown1/computer/

27 years, 4 months

1
0
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Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

O.K. I already LLF'ed it, but that was with the wrong jumper settings, so it probably didn't do much good. I'll just have to find another 360k disk somewhere to copy DEBUG off of my 5170. ThAnX, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: Don Maslin <donm(a)cts.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, December 27, 1998 10:29 PM Subject: Re: Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed >Probably no great point in that. FDISK cannot usually see an ST-506/412 >interface HD that has not been low level formatted on the controller in >use at the time. Set the switch for the appropriate cable, and power up >the computer. Bring up DEBUG and at the '-' prompt, enter DC800:0<CR>. >If you see ASCII text that indicates that you are looking at a WD >controller, then enter G=C800:5 and follow the prompts to low level >format the disk. If this is successful - if the disk is good - then >FDISK should see it on the next bootup and you can go on from there. > >If it is not successful, you probably have a bad HD. Also, if your >DC800:0 search does not yield ASCII, try other addresses in 200H >increments. That is, such as CA00:0, CC00:0, etc. > > - don > >

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>8088 actually runs for the same clock about 20% slower than the 8086 <>but using significantly fewer glue chips. < <Hmm... but it still had the half width bus, right? You confuse bus width in bit with data rate. the 8088 uses the bus harder to keep that performance. the 8086 has a log of dead time on the bus when nothing is happening relevent to the cpu (this is good for DMA). <Yeah, but it's still a 'downgrade'. But the 386SX was a fairly good <success, and I take back anything bad I said about it. But once again, th <386SX didn't give the 386 all it's glory. Sure it did. it gave you 32bit performance and program execution at far less power and cost. <Yeah. I'm not argueing with that. Actually, the 128K's at full clock <speed, not half, like in a PII, so eventually, you loose an amazingly smal <amount of performance. When you add in the fact that you can overclock th the advantage of larger onchip cache is that it's faster as you don't need external glue logic and the attendant propagation delays (part of the reason why the PII needs two clock for cache). the difference between a 128k cache and 512k is small anyway unless you have a really intense application with really large databases. <Celeron a lot more than a PII (a 333 can go to 450MHz, according to some <reports, but I don't have that kind of a cooling system. Tropics, and all. What the point of pushing? In the end it's still wanting for the next keystroke, mouse click or byte from a slow modem. Allison

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

AMD 29000 series

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>DEC used it as a graphics drawing engine for a high speed laser printer <>(40ppm!). < <Whew! Probably cost the life salry of my extended family. That'd be fast <enough to do something like print out hard copies of logs for a server... It was about $55k and it was considered a medium speed, medium duty printer. For the task you mention a Xerox9700 with a big vax on the side at 100+ppm was the ticket. Oh, theses were 1987 products. ;) Allison

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Yet another source lost to the dark side...

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

Well, yet another unwelcome discovery on eBay. For some time its been known that there was a person in the Albuquerque area (think he was a former MITS employee) that had some quantity of parts and some MITS equipment. Well, the parts business must not have gone well because it appears that he is dropping most of his stock on eBay as a series of auctions. Mostly bare boards at the moment. Business must be good... He did not even reply to an offer I made on a board almost a month ago... Grab what you see as soon as you see it... Or it will show up in an auction tomorrow! -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

O.K. I just tried that. It doesn't work. However, when I close all the switches (on), and set it as drive 1 (straight cable), FDISK says it can't find disk 1. It does the same with a twisted cable (says the drive is disk 2) Should I try setting it as disk 2 and see what happens? ThAnX! -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: Don Maslin <donm(a)cts.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, December 27, 1998 9:45 PM Subject: Re: Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed > >Yes. The original setting device on the 506 was a DIP with frangible >foil jumpers that bridged opposite pins. In that case, you severed the >ones that you wanted to open. Sounds as though you have a DIP switch so >atart with all OFF and turn on those that correspond to 'D' and 'H' and >the appropriate 'DSn'. Your mention of a WD-GEN controller says PC, so >if using a cable with a twist it should be DS2. Make sure that it is a >HD cable - the twist is fewer leads and in a different location on the >ribbon cable. Also, don't overlook the 20 conductor cable also. >

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by roblwill＠usaor.net

It probably depends on the system config. I have hardly any problems with IE, and have about every problem thinkable with Netscrape, but my dad's computer, which is slower, has a smaller HD, and less RAM, is just the opposite. Maybe it just doesn't like me :( -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> -----Original Message----- From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, December 27, 1998 6:48 PM Subject: Re: OT, but info needed: RAM uprade > >I have 3.0+ down loaded off the net for free, is that too costly? it >runs on a 486DX2/66 with 20mb under win3.1 and it's solid. On the other >hand I've had IE on a P166 with 32mb be real nasty. If an application like >netscrap (or IE) hangs or crashes is an indication something is broke. >Video drivers, and "helper apps" tend to be first on my hit list for >problems. > >It's OT but since so much of the classic data distribution is PC/internet >based I'm comfortable talking about it here. > >Allison > >

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Thanks! Now, this may seem like a dumb question, but, when I select a drive, or a factor default, I turn the switch on, right? -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> > > ST-506 > Option Shunt Block > > ____ ____ > | |__| | > 1 | R | 16 > 2 | D | 15 > 3 | NC | 14 > 4 | H | 13 > 5 | DS4 | 12 > 6 | DS3 | 11 > 7 | DS2 | 10 > 8 | DS1 | 9 > |__________| > > Legend: > R Radial Operation > *D Defeat Recalibration > *H Half Step Option > DSn Drive Select > > * Factory selection > >Opening the Half Step option should improve access time. > >The proper interleave setting is a function of the controller rather than >the HD, so 3 should be OK. > - don > >

27 years, 4 months

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Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Anyone have the DIP settings for a Seagate ST-506 (full-height 5.25", 5 MB) HD? I can't seem to find it on Seagate's website (or am I just looking in the wrong place?) I'm trying to set it up as HD [0] on an IBM PC using a Western Digital XT-GEN controller. The HD appears to be recognized by the controller BIOS to do a LLF, but isn't recognized by MS-DOS FDISK (5.0 - I don't have anything smaller on 5.25" disks). It just says "error reading Hard Disk". I can only think of two things :wrong jumper settings, or wrong interleave setting. When I LLF'ed it, I left it at <3>, which is what was the ?default? was set at. Or is the WD-XT-GEN too new of a controller for the ST-506 (controller is dated 1987). One last thing: Does anyone have a 360k image (or TeleDisk Image) of IBM PC-DOS 3.0 or earlier (If you need a copy of TeleDisk, email me, and I can email you a copy). ThAnX, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> PS>> Anyone know what's wrong with the Obsolete Computer Helpline? It's been down for the past week or so. Looks like a main server blew or something.

27 years, 4 months

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Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Yeppers. I'm looking right at it (took the logic board off to remove a couple of styrofoam peanuts that were lodged between the drive and the board), and it says: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL ASSY 20040 EC and it has the little funky Seagate "S" next to it. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> > >Does the drive have a Seagate logic board? >The only ST-506 I have ever found was in a Profile drive with an Apple Logo >and had a Profile logic board. > >Hans > >

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies - Wang drives

by roblwill＠usaor.net

> >Get yourself a memory manager like QEMM. Or if you load DOS 6.0 you >should be able to use MemMaker to open up hi memory. Basically you need >to load HIMEM.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS to open up hi-memory for DOS and >stuff. > Well, the WANG has it's own special version of DOS 3.2 (or 3.3 - can't remember). I can't just load any version of dos on it, and expect it to boot. It had a special "WOS" (WANG OS) file or something that makes it work right. If I try to boot off of even another version of DOS 3.2, it won't work (even if the disk is formatted on the WANG). What's the lowest version of DOS that HIMEM.SYS works under (never tried it below 5.0)? One last (I think) about this thing: I've heard that it has an in-ROM word processing program, and a non-DOS operating system. How do I get to these, since when I got the computer, it was already loaded with the DOS-emulator. ThAnX, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by roblwill＠usaor.net

> >>The 386sx is a lower pin count 386 that uses a 16 bit bus insted of the >>32bit again for lower cost and lower power. Bus bandwith was not half >>as it is faster than that. > >Yeah, but it's still a 'downgrade'. But the 386SX was a fairly good >success, and I take back anything bad I said about it. But once again, the >386SX didn't give the 386 all it's glory. > What's better? The 386sx or 386dx. From looking at the suffixes, it appears that it would be the sx, but then, wouldn't that make a double-downgrade, and screw everyone? I'm just saying this, because I have (had - it's now parts) Gateway 386DX/25, and Compaq 386SX/20 (SLT386s/20). The Compaq could run more things quicker than the Gateway. Or is my case just a freak of nature or because of that majic stuff called Cache? -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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PC cassette interface and ROM BASIC (was Re: OT, but info needed: RAM uprade)

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Are you sure it's useless? > >If you use IBM's disk BASIC or BASICA, you're actually using ROM BASIC. >Try running BASICA on a clone sometime. It won't work. That's why >MS-DOS for other platforms usually included GWBASIC. > Hmm... I use IBM DOS and BASICA/BASIC (not GWBASIC) on a Tandy 1000TX, and it works. No ROM BASIC in that thing. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<What's better? The 386sx or 386dx. From looking at the suffixes, it DX. the DX had the needed logic for supporting an external cache the SX did not. <(had - it's now parts) Gateway 386DX/25, and Compaq 386SX/20 (SLT386s/20). <The Compaq could run more things quicker than the Gateway. Or is my case <just a freak of nature or because of that majic stuff called Cache? That was likely not cached. there are other parameters like memory wait states and external bus speeds that can affect the total throughput of any cpu. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Yeah... I figured that you had to have a pretty advanced design (with an <accompaning fab, although I don't really know about this stuff, it seemed <like 1 micron was the magic number for on chip caches). I've always liked <large caches on everything: 512K on a hard drive, a meg on a motherboard, The key was getting a fab process that could support the extra logic and the added gates to form the cache memory and cache control. Also caching requires a lot more smarts that are added to the basic cpu. It represents a great increase in complexity, total number of logic on die and potentially power consumption. Those are all parameters to be balanced. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>I believe that at one time if you bought an 8087 FPU from IBM as a PC <>upgrade you got an 8088 with it. Apparently some early 8088s (which ended <>up in IBM PCs) had problems working with the 8087 (I can't remember the <>details), so they gave you a 'good' 8088 to install with the 8087 just in <>case you had a defective one in your machine <> <>-tony < < <I recall it had something to do with timing problems. I remember installin <them as a pair also. < <Dan it was a board level timing error. The chips were tested as sets to match the muffed timing . later boards would not have this problem. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Actually, Netscape still goes wacky with 32 MB RAM, and a 4.3gig HD on a <P200. I think that some of the free browsers (IE, Opera, Mosaic, even <NETTAMER) outperform the overpriced netscrape. I have 3.0+ down loaded off the net for free, is that too costly? it runs on a 486DX2/66 with 20mb under win3.1 and it's solid. On the other hand I've had IE on a P166 with 32mb be real nasty. If an application like netscrap (or IE) hangs or crashes is an indication something is broke. Video drivers, and "helper apps" tend to be first on my hit list for problems. It's OT but since so much of the classic data distribution is PC/internet based I'm comfortable talking about it here. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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VT420 Terminal to LA75 Printer

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

-----Original Message----- From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)aracnet.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, 28 December 1998 11:21 Subject: VT420 Terminal to LA75 Printer >I've no idea if these count as classic hardware, but the PDP-11/73 they're >attached to does. Close enough! >It's the simple Classic Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for >something, once you find one, you'll be swamped. I know that feeling. >Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420, >and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what >are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks >as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal. You might try 4800, 8, N, 1. It seems pretty common. There should be dip switches on the LA75 somewhere to let you change the baud rate. IIRC, if you hold down the LF key when you power up the printer, it should print a test page, which I think includes the serial port status. (It's either LF or FF, not sure which) I don't have a DEC printer on my Microvax II, it's an old CITOH 2500, I just told VMS it was an LA210 and it works perfectly. A Brother M1724L also works very well that way too. (Both are 24pin Wide Carriage) The situation may be somewhat different on a PDP with a different O/S of course, I don't know enough about those machines to comment intelligently. Hope this helps. Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

27 years, 4 months

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Seagate ST-506 DIP switch settings needed

by jolminkh＠nsw.bigpond.net.au

Jason Willgruber wrote: >Anyone have the DIP settings for a Seagate ST-506 (full-height 5.25", 5 MB) >HD? I can't seem to find it on Seagate's website (or am I just looking in >the wrong place?) I'm trying to set it up as HD [0] on an IBM PC using a >Western Digital XT-GEN controller. The HD appears to be recognized by the Does the drive have a Seagate logic board? The only ST-506 I have ever found was in a Profile drive with an Apple Logo and had a Profile logic board. Hans

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>I believe that at one time if you bought an 8087 FPU from IBM as a PC >upgrade you got an 8088 with it. Apparently some early 8088s (which ended >up in IBM PCs) had problems working with the 8087 (I can't remember the >details), so they gave you a 'good' 8088 to install with the 8087 just in >case you had a defective one in your machine > >-tony I recall it had something to do with timing problems. I remember installing them as a pair also. Dan

27 years, 4 months

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VT420 Terminal to LA75 Printer

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>Anyway, my long quest for a DEC printer is doubly at a end. I'm waiting >for UPS to deliever one, and I was just given one. It's the simple Classic >Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for something, once you find >one, you'll be swamped. Murphy's Law. >Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420, >and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what >are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks >as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal. > First find out what the printer configuration is by holding the setup button while powering it on. It will then print the full setup and leave you in setup mode. You can then change parameters by stepping through them with the front panel buttons. Note: the writing that is below the buttons is for setup mode. First get to the parameter you want to change "feature" mode using previous or next then hit "value" to toggle what you want with previous and/or next. Then hit feature to get back to feature mode. Once you have everything set as you want hit setup and it will save and exit to normal. There are 2 protocols DEC and other. Other is IBM proprinter. This is very useful for people that only have inkjets - hook one up to a serial port and use it for routine printing. I have several friends that have bought them from me for just that use. $4.50 for a ribbon at Office Depot is a lot cheaper than inkjet cartridges. Once you have the printer setup as you want it F3 for setup on the VT420. Go to the printer menu and set your baud rate etc. Normal print mode is hit F2 for screen print. Auto print mode is it prints everything that comes to the terminal. Controller mode: The host can send to the printer without displaying on the screen. I have a VT420 book here if you want me to look up any special control codes. Dan

27 years, 4 months

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VT420 Terminal to LA75 Printer

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

I've no idea if these count as classic hardware, but the PDP-11/73 they're attached to does. Anyway, my long quest for a DEC printer is doubly at a end. I'm waiting for UPS to deliever one, and I was just given one. It's the simple Classic Computer collecting rule, if you're searching for something, once you find one, you'll be swamped. Anyway, I've got the printer connected to the printer port on the VT420, and am now trying to figure out how to set it up. Does anyone know what are the proper settings for having a LA75 connected to the VT420? It looks as it the only setting that can be changed are on the terminal. Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |

27 years, 4 months

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FW: WTB: I Want a PDP-11

by kyrrin＠my-dejanews.com

Any takers? Sounds like an opportunity to make another collector happy and, possibly, make a few bucks in the process. Reply to the originator directly if interested. -=-=- <break> -=-=- On Sun, 27 Dec 1998 19:32:40 GMT, in alt.sys.pdp11 you wrote: >>Message-ID: <36868B61.BEC1BCBA(a)barnstormer-software.com> >>From: Todd Osborne <todd.osborne(a)barnstormer-software.com> >>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I) >>X-Accept-Language: en >>MIME-Version: 1.0 >>Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11 >>Subject: WTB: I Want a PDP-11 >>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >>Lines: 13 >>Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 19:32:40 GMT >>NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.214.185.65 >>NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 14:32:40 EDT >>Path: blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!news1.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!4.1.16.34!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.atl!news1.mco.POSTED!not-for-mail >> >>I am a collector of older computers, mostly home PC's from the late >>70's. I would love to add a PDP-11 to my collection, as the only non-PC. >>I have searched the web trying to find a place to buy/save one, but have >>come up empty. I cannot afford to spend a lot, but would happy pay >>something for one, including crating/shipping charges. It will >>definately find a good, safe home. >> >>If you know of a PDP that needs a good home and would like to help me to >>rescue it, please let me know. Email responses to >>todd.osborne(a)barnstormer-software.com are also greatly appreciated. >>Thanks, -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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..."

27 years, 4 months

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XT items on Ebay

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

In case anyone cares, I posted a nice Boca memory card for PC/XT/AT machines on ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=51888990 and an XT replacement motherboard running a V20 processor at 8 mhz at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=51893411 These seem like nice upgrades for the working XT class machines out there, or the classics that you want to bring up from the stock 256 or 512k RAM. If you don't care, sorry. If you do, glad to help.

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<If Intel's 8088 was stripped of half it's bus width, why was it used so muc <more than the 8086? One of the few computers that I've seen with an 8086 i it was half the bits on the bus but the actual data rates were very close to each other. The 8088 would go out and do two hits for every one 8086 on the bus but both executed the same instruction in the same number of internal cycles. So for half the bus width you needed less support parts and lower cost for only 20% performance hit. The PC was slow not becuase of the 8088 though... it was the 4.77MHz clock when 8MHz parts were available. that choice was also related to the cost (slow parts are cheaper than fast parts). The 8086 and 8088 are the same CPU save for different bus width. They are not socket interchangeable. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by ddameron＠earthlink.net

At 04:15 PM 12/27/98 -0500, Allison wrote: ><Yes. I've been using a 386DX with 128k cache with Win3.1 and Netscape 3.0. ><Doesn't seem significantly slower than my friend's P90 with W95. Sometimes ><Netscape crashes with some .JPG files (GP fault in the VGA driver) and I ><have to start over. > >Either buggy VGA driver or not enough ram. I found NS would do that with >8mb and with 12mb it wouldn't! Yes it did it with 8M, and sometimes now with 16Mb. The last was with some of the very interesting Moffett field computer museum images. By the way, I found the 1975 Volume of the UK journal "Radio and Electronic Engineering". Several interesting 25 year review articles under the title "25th anniversary of the stored program computer" Yes, maybe many will dispute the 25 years. Some of the articles so far I don't exactly agree, such as valves started to decline (number in service) by 1950. The era of the transistor was from 1950 to 1964, etc. > ><Haven't tried much newer, it doesn't seem right to require a 300MHz ><processor and 64MB ram to mostly read email, much less type mail messages! ><I did adjust several things, like remove smartdrv's "buffering" for the HD, > >You do want it to cache on read from the HD, it helps. The exception is >with some IDE and SCSI drives there is hardware caching and smartdrv >just adds software to slow things down. Yes still cache just not (double) buffering. With the IDE hardware, may be called triple buffering. The HD never seemed to stop! -Dave

27 years, 4 months

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AMD 29000 series

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Hi. I read about the AMD 29000 series microprocessors, and they seemed to <be pretty interesting. Does anyone have any examples of micros that used <such a processor? (And: Does anyone have one that they'd want to get rid <of with compensation?) generally used in custom microprogrammed systems where speed is everything. DEC used it as a graphics drawing engine for a high speed laser printer (40ppm!). Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<don't know why Intel's 'low cost' processors are always so bone headed: <486SX, which removed the one true thing that made it a 486, 8088, removing <the crucial 16-bit bus of the 8086, 386SX, which worked pretty well, but <still halfed the external bandwidth (did Intel ever make a cheap version o <a 286?), and now we've got Celeron: Until the Celron A, no cache at all... This show a fundemental lack of knowledge about Intel CPUs and their busses. 8088 actually runs for the same clock about 20% slower than the 8086 but using significantly fewer glue chips. The 386sx is a lower pin count 386 that uses a 16 bit bus insted of the 32bit again for lower cost and lower power. Bus bandwith was not half as it is faster than that. Celeron, PII with big internal cache. I just powered up a celeron 333mhz with 128k internal cache and it's remarkably fast(and cheap). 286 never saw a 288 version. ISA and EISA bus machines are slow as the BUS speeds are limited to ~8mhz. This is where many older machines hit the speed wall. PCI and other extended busses are faster (to the limits of the cpu level bus). Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Yes. I've been using a 386DX with 128k cache with Win3.1 and Netscape 3.0. <Doesn't seem significantly slower than my friend's P90 with W95. Sometimes <Netscape crashes with some .JPG files (GP fault in the VGA driver) and I <have to start over. Either buggy VGA driver or not enough ram. I found NS would do that with 8mb and with 12mb it wouldn't! <Haven't tried much newer, it doesn't seem right to require a 300MHz <processor and 64MB ram to mostly read email, much less type mail messages! <I did adjust several things, like remove smartdrv's "buffering" for the HD, You do want it to cache on read from the HD, it helps. The exception is with some IDE and SCSI drives there is hardware caching and smartdrv just adds software to slow things down. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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Change of email address

by handyman＠sprintmail.com

How do I change my email address on this forum. My currenet email address is handyman(a)sprintmail.com My new email address will be musicman38(a)mindspring.com Phil...

27 years, 4 months

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Reverse video on laptop

by Watzman＠ibm.net

It's fairly easy to reverse the video on a CGA computer (laptop or otherwise). All that you have to do is write a different attribute byte to every character of the display once. This will reverse the display and, generally (in terms of DOS character programs) it will remain reversed unless another program writes directly to video memory. I wrote a program to do this, and I probably still have it. If you will E-Mail me directly, I will send it to you if I can find it. You can run it in autoexec.bat, or manually, either one. Barry Watzman

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies - Wang drives

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>> The Wang laptop (transportable) was a huge black machine that connected >> several peripherals via it's 50 pin Centronics interface connector terminated >> at the end of the chain. I have never seen a 3 1/2" floppy for it so I am not >> surprised that it had only a 720 available. I don't think they made a 1.44. I >> had a MO drive for them once and I know there was a CD also. You could chain >> more than one hard drive too. Wang had pretty good firmware, so I am not too >> surprised that they are plug and play. I have no idea how well Wang complied >> with the SCSI standards. >> Paxton >> > >If they did it like everything else that they made, they did it 'their way'! > > - don > They didn't do the printer their way'. It's a Brother EP-41-45 thermal typewriter printer just stuck into the case. Does anyone know what speed the modems in those things were? Mine's loaded with the 1MB RAM option, and modem, but have no idea if it's actually useful or not. One other question: How do I access the RAM above 640k? Do I need a special driver, or does it somehow have 1MB base RAM (Is that even possible??) -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>?

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies - Wang drives

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 5:02:56 PM Pacific Standard Time, roblwill(a)usaor.net writes: > I'd say that it's fairly intelligent. In the manual, it says that a 360k > 5.25", 720k 3.5", and 1.2MB 5.25" drive were available. It claims that any > one or all the drives could be connected. It says nothing about a 1.44MB > 3.5", though (were 1.44MB drives around in 1986?). It supposedly can > The Wang laptop (transportable) was a huge black machine that connected several peripherals via it's 50 pin Centronics interface connector terminated at the end of the chain. I have never seen a 3 1/2" floppy for it so I am not surprised that it had only a 720 available. I don't think they made a 1.44. I had a MO drive for them once and I know there was a CD also. You could chain more than one hard drive too. Wang had pretty good firmware, so I am not too surprised that they are plug and play. I have no idea how well Wang complied with the SCSI standards. Paxton

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppy controllers

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

> I wonder if these things would work with my GS and let me read PC disks with it? > This sounds like a fun thing. :) What was that price again? I can't speak for the GS, having never used one, but one of the things I did with Digital's SCSI floppy controller while debugging the firmware was to hook it to an Amiga and have the Amiga use it as a hard disk.... Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

27 years, 4 months

1
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ZWX-0248-62 main unit CHEEEP

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

Time to clear the closets! I have one great condition ZDS ZWX-0248-62 (aka Z-248) unit as follows: *Case - has two external bays, 4 internal. Filler plate on one external *Power supply - standard Z-248 power supply in great condition *Motherboard - standard 286 Z-248 motherboard *Both drive bay inserts (the steel drive holders that slip in/out) *Hercules/parallel video board - use with a monochrome monitor for outstanding graphics, even in Win 3.xx *ZDS I/O board with 1 serial, 1 parallel *MFM and FDD controller (no cables) Should take both sizes of 3.5" and 5.25" floppies. *Memory expansion board - gives the system a total 640k base memory, 1024k addition ext. memory (allows Windows to run nice and fast!) The unit does NOT have a hard drive, floppy drive or the FD or HD cables. This saves weight in shipping since most of us have closets full of 360k, 1.2, etc drives and tons of MFM hard drives. How much? $10 plus actual USPS shipping. This mostly covers my time in packing it up and hauling it to the post office. (I've seen the memory upgrades go for $20 easy by themselves) It seems to weigh in the area of around 15 lbs. My zip is 40144 in case anyone wants to estimate shipping. Payment by money or cashier's checks only, prepaid. This is, if anything, a cheap source of upgrade and parts for someone with an in-use Z248. Add a floppy, HD and cables and you have a working unit for next to nothing as well. Should someone really need a floppy drive, all I can offer is a good original black faced 360k that came in the unit new, free with the unit, but it will add shipping weight. I can also toss in a Seagate MFM hard drive but since I have no cables the drive will not be guaranteed to work. I need this out of my way soon or it goes to the scrap heap. Let me know by January 2nd if you're interested, by direct email to RHBLAKE(a)BIGFOOT.COM Serious US/APO/FPO addresses only.

27 years, 4 months

1
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SCSI floppy controllers

by jim＠calico.litterbox.com

I wonder if these things would work with my GS and let me read PC disks with it? This sounds like a fun thing. :) What was that price again? -- Jim Strickland jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there? -----------------------------------------------------------------------

27 years, 4 months

1
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SCSI floppies

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 10:41:57 PM US Eastern Standard Time, kurtkilg(a)geocities.com writes: > Dunno. Whatever 386 PS/2 w/SCSI and MCA. Seemed like a 2.88 at the time. i believe that would be the 8556/8557 models. they had built in scsi and those 2.88 drives. the 95xx series did as well. david

27 years, 4 months

4
4
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SCSI floppies

by Innfogra＠aol.com

I have a bunch of new SCSI to floppy only controllers. They are of NCR manufacture. I got them from the Biin project, about 1991 so they would run at least 1.2s, maybe 1.44s. $5 each plus shipping. If there is any interest I will get more info. Replies should go off list. Contact me at whoagiii(a)aol.com. Happy Holidays. Paxton Hoag

27 years, 4 months

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1
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FS (quick): Tandy 1000 items, monitor, TL2, keyboard

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

FOR SALE - Tandy 1000 Series items, all in like new condition: *Tandy 1000 model TL/2 main unit. 250-1602 Specifications can be seen in the pages at http://support.tandy.com/support_computer/1220.htm Unit has 40 mb IDE hard disk with controller, 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives. Can use either a composite or CGA monitor, TV (using modulator or VCR as a modulator) or you can optionally add a VGA card and monitor (see item at above site for specifics on this). Has 768K RAM, 80286 processor, 4 open slots. Unit DOES NOT include monitor or keyboard. The keyboard can either be the enhanced 101 that Tandy made for it or a generic 101 (switchable XT/AT type preferably) one. Has DOS 3.3 and Deskmate in ROM. $20 plus actual USPS shipping (about 25 lbs) *Tandy CM-11 Hi Resolution CGA monitor 25-1024/A/C Specifications can be seen in the pages at http://support.tandy.com/support_accessories/6011.htm Monitor in beautiful condition, very clean crisp video that can be used on a Randy or standard machine with CGA output. Has been run tested for 12 hours to insure that there are no heat problems. A very nice addtion to your Tandy system. $20 plus actual USPS shipping (about 24 lbs) *Tandy 1000 90 key scultured keyboard (8 pin DIN) This is the standard white keyboard used on the earlier 1000 series. This keyboard is near new, was a sealed spare with vitrually no use. Looks as if it were just made and operates as if it were just made as well. $10 plus actual USPS shipping (about 5-6 lbs) Contact me SOON by direct email at RHBLAKE(a)BIGFOOT.COM Items are located in central Kentucky and ship from zip 40144. Serious inquiries only. US shipping addresses only, including APO/FPO. Payment to be made by money order or cashier's check in advance. Items will go on auction if no responses by January 2nd, 1999

27 years, 4 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 1:07:38 AM Pacific Standard Time, Innfogra(a)aol.com writes: > > > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at $1000. > > > > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. > Paxton you obviously did not check it out, but you are correct. the bidding had closed with no bids. Merry Christmas!

27 years, 4 months

5
5
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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Yes, but the controllers might be different, or at least have different >link options on them. > Possibly. I thought you meant the main controller/bus. > >That's odd. A single SCSI bus is limited to 8 devices, but the host >adapter counts as one of them. So it can't be all one bus... > My slip-up. I re-checked the manual. It doesn't say how many devices can be connected at once, except the three drives and the HD. I just remembered the 0-9 ID setting wheel. I'll check on the controller tomorrow. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 2:10:15 PM Pacific Standard Time, rhblake(a)bigfoot.com writes: > Either that or the person that listed it is a lurker in here and saw the > comments > and decided to get real. > my original comment was made about 30 seconds after the first msg pointing to it. the auction was already closed. I don't believe our list is that slow. it would be interesting to know why it was removed. also, i can't seem to find it again. i deleted the original message with the url, but i would think I could search on ebay and find it, but it ain't showing up. kelly

27 years, 4 months

3
2
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SCSI floppies

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

> I know it was mentioned here before that the rz23 drives don't autostart. > Does anyone know if older macintosh's (say, an se30) can give the device > start sequence? or if there's any simple way to force the drive to start > anyway? It's possible to make the drive autostart; it's some sort of settable option in the drive's firmware. The only program I've seen to manipulate it, however, is rzdisk on the MIPS-based DECstations. Using rzdisk under Ultrix, you can configure the drive to spin up on power on. I believe there's also a version of RZDISK available for Alpha VMS, but I've not encountered it there. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

27 years, 4 months

3
3
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SCSI floppies

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

On Fri, 25 Dec 1998 rhblake(a)bigfoot.com wrote: > Huh? The 55SX has an ESDI controller for the HD and uses stock MFM 1.44 > floppies. It can use the floppies from other units as well Even the 56/5gSLC > that has a SCSI interface and 2.88 mb floppy doesn't have a SCSI floppy. Where > did you get this from? Dunno. Whatever 386 PS/2 w/SCSI and MCA. Seemed like a 2.88 at the time. ---------------------------------------------------- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies

by allisonp＠world.std.com

DEC 3100 seris system had RX24(720k) and RX23(1.44) compatable floppies. They had a SCSI interface as well. I believe the drives were stock drives with a SCSI->Floppy bridge. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

> >Is the hard disk on the same SCSI bus as the floppy? > Yes. When I set the floppy ID to [0], I get errors coming out the patooey. >Right. I still wonder what chips are on that interface board... > I'll have to take it apart again. That won't be until tomorrow, though. >Now, whether you can use a different type of floppy depends on how clever >that ROM firmware is. If it's dumb (as I expect) then it'll only work >with the SCSI->floppy card you have, and with the 360K drive. If it's a >bit more intellegent it might work with a 720K drive. > I'd say that it's fairly intelligent. In the manual, it says that a 360k 5.25", 720k 3.5", and 1.2MB 5.25" drive were available. It claims that any one or all the drives could be connected. It says nothing about a 1.44MB 3.5", though (were 1.44MB drives around in 1986?). It supposedly can support 9 devices, including the internal HD. What devices, other than the three floppies, I'm not sure. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

On Fri, 25 Dec 1998 healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote: > Yes. I'm thinking that the NeXT slabs used 2.88Mb SCSI floppies, but... > Can't think of any other instances at the moment, but I have heard of such > a beast before. The PS/2 55SX (a 386 SCSI MCA machine) also had 2.88Mb SCSI floppies. ---------------------------------------------------- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 4 months

4
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Any Biin Computers out there??

by Innfogra＠aol.com

The Biin Computer was a joint project of Intel and Siemens to manufacture a fault tolerant computer for Online Transaction Processing about 1989. It used multiple custom processors i860 or i960 based, I'm not sure which. Memory was 32 or 64 Meg from the factory. It's operating system resided on a 5 1/4 FH 300 Meg Siemens HD. Data resided on one or more IPI interfaced 9" 800 Meg HDs. VME Bus, SCSI peripherals. Unix based I think. The story was to build 100 prototypes, put them out for testing and see where it went. Biin wanted to compete with IBM and Tandem. After several years, problems with split management and, not the least, too small of hard drives they had spent $5 million. When they were going to have to spend at least 3 times that to ramp up production they pulled the plug, called in the machines and liquidated the company. I suspect they couldn't generate sales. Biin scrapped the machines. We bought and sold the IPI drives, memory 1300 DC600 tapes and much of the new part inventory. Under a certified destruction contract we scrapped the remaining chassis. These were very interesting, about 20 "W X 30"H X 36"D. NEW! They had been shipped Air freight from Germany. Fully assembled, ready to have drives and cards installed. Very well made, It took a skilled person 4 hours to disassemble one to component parts. I hated doing it, they were extremely nice machines, great German workmanship. I was wondering if any of the machines might have escaped from Biin's grip? Maybe in Germany? Culled from the 1300 tapes is a complete factory set of Biin Software. If there were a machine around it might be useful to keep. Much later I was able to obtain the pinboard tester for the main CPU card. It came with a prototype card, test manual and SW for the tester. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has seen, used or has one of these computers? The Biin is definitely rare and about 10 yrs old. If any exist it would be collectable.

27 years, 4 months

2
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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>I'm quite sure that things like SPARCbooks are normally considered to be >both laptops and workstations.... > SPARCbooks had a network connector, didn't they? The WANG only has a RS-232C and a modem (300baud? I never even got it working yet.) > >Quite possible. What chips are on the interface board? Does it appear to >have enough smarts to be a scsi->floppy controller (SCSI chip, FDC chip, >CPU, RAM/EPROM probably), or is it fairly simple? Is it known that the >host interface is SCSI, or is it just a 50 pin cable (which could be a >lot of things). > It's definitely SCSI, because when I once forgot to connect the HD (internal), it came up with a message "SCSI controller failure at address [0]", or something like that. It's got a SCSI terminator on the non-used plug on the floppy, too. > >A 720K drive should go straight in, unless the software is totally broken >(the hardware interface is the same, apart from the drive having 80 tracks). > Software? No software driving anything on this machine, except for the WANG video to CGA converter and PC-emulator. Everything else is hardware. If it was software-controlled, there would be absolutely no way to initialize the system, since according to the manual, The computer came with a clean, unformatted HD. You would boot from the floppy, initialize the HD, partition it, format it, then install the system software, and configure it to what you needed. From what it sounded like, it was the type of computer for more experienced computer users. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 7:44:25 AM Pacific Standard Time, KFergason(a)aol.com writes: > > > > > > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at > $1000. > > > > > > > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. > > Paxton > > you obviously did not check it out, but you are correct. the bidding had > closed > with no bids. > > Merry Christmas! > Interesting. When I looked at it, shortly after it was mentioned on the list, it had 5 days left before closing. I wonder why the lister pulled the ad? I believe you still have to pay your listing fees. Did anyone contact the seller? Paxton

27 years, 4 months

2
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SoCal TRW Swapmeet

by jpl15＠netcom.com

A quick lo-bandwidth reminder to all and sundry who might be in the Los Angeles area this weekend: The monthly TRW Ham Radio and Electronics swapmeet will be held tomorrow, Saturday, 26 Dec, from 7:30 until 11:30 am in El Segundo... see previous post for directions or e-mail me privately. Have a __________________________ ______________________! (congratulatory adjective) (winter solstice fest) John

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Many of the dual adapter Adaptec had floppy controllers, MFM of course. The only >machine I've ever seen with SCSI floppies was a workstation, and although I'm >sure it wasn't a NeXT, I don't recall what brand it was. > Only problem is that the WANG isn't a workstation it's not even a desktop. It's a *laptop*. It's and 8086 with 1 MB RAM, and a 10 MB HD. There's no place to install a new SCSI controller card. I dismantled the external floppy (there is no internal floppy), which is nearly the size of the computer, and it appears to have a standard 360k floppy, connected to another board, which is connected to the dual SCSI socket on the back of the unit (centronics? look like a big printer connector- on the printer end). The drive ID dial is also connected to the board. Where would I be able to find some drives (1.2 MB, 720k, 1.44MB, HD's) that would be fairly cheap (with cables)? I'm not sure if the controller that's in the drive box now is capable of running a higher density drive, but I'd like to keep it original (when the drive is being accessed, the light flashes like HD light). If anyone would like a picture to see what it looks like, just send me a personal email, and I'll send you a picture (about 40k). Happy Holidaze, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 4 months

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OT - Clinton

by Watzman＠ibm.net

I don't want to turn this into a debate on Clinton, and for that reason I will ***NOT*** argue the matter on this message board, in any way, at all (I've done that on other forums, but this is not the place for it). But I do want to make it clear that those who support his ouster speak for themselves only, and that many others disagree with their positions and their logic/arguments. Opinions here are greatly divided, ranging from those who believe he should be forcibly removed from office and possibly even imprisoned to those who think he's one of the better presidents of the 20th century (I'm in the latter group). History will judge with more and probably better perspective than any of us can currently apply. It will also judge those who work towards and favor his removal. That's all. Barry Watzman

27 years, 4 months

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Unsoldering

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 24, 16:58, Allison J Parent wrote: > Subject: Re: Unsoldering > > <I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to = > <work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad = > > I use that trick to get parts off board where I don't care about the board. > Sometimes I apply a propane torch. I get good parts but the boards a mess. I suspect Hans may be using a thermostatically controlled hot air gun; Steinel make a very nice one which is intended for this sort of work, but it costs about 3 times the price of a normal paint stripper. They're easy to find in DIY stores in Austria, so I imagine they're fairly common in Germany too. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

27 years, 4 months

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SCSI floppies

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 25, 14:16, Sergey Svishchev wrote: > Subject: Re: SCSI floppies > On Thu, Dec 24, 1998 at 07:44:19PM -0800, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > > >Hi! I've got a question: has anyone ever heard of a SCSI floppy drive? I > > >was talking to someone about one, and he said he'd never even heard of one, > > >and when I thought about it, I hadn't either. > > > > Yes. I'm thinking that the NeXT slabs used 2.88Mb SCSI floppies, but... > > DEC RX23 and RX26 (1.44MB and 2.88MB respectively) are SCSI floppy drives. SGI used SCSI floppies too. The SGI ones are TEAC FD235 units with a motor eject, and a small daughterboard fitted to the bottom. SGI also used INSITE 3.5" flopticals which can be used as SCSI floppies. And Eltec (in Germany?) made SCSI add-on boards so that standard floppies could be put on a SCSI bus. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

27 years, 4 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 10:42:01 PM Pacific Standard Time, marvin(a)rain.org writes: > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at $1000. > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. Paxton

27 years, 4 months

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Unsoldering

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 2:00:27 PM Pacific Standard Time, allisonp(a)world.std.com writes: > If I want to lift parts and keep the board I have a tin container filled > with about a 1/2 inch of solder (used for wave soldering). heated over a > gas stove (coleman) I can float a board and pick off components with > tweezers. takes a little care to keep the heat reasonable. > A cast Iron frying pan works well to float a pool of solder in. There are even square frying pans. I have had some success with the new generation of propane micro torches when I need to straighten leads before pulling. Once, I got from Intel a couple of solder pots that pumped molten solder up against a circuit board and then drained off to the sides. It was designed to work on large circuit cards by flowing solder against a 4" section at a time. I also had a couple of bench machines that use hot air for component removal, usually surface mount stuff It pays to use a good commercial heat gun for component removal. They have better temperature regulation. Hot Air Guns made for component removal are expensive but you can get tips for almost all of the chip packages. With a little bit of creative metal bending you can make your own tips for a std commercial heat gun. Paxton

27 years, 4 months

1
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Commodore Pet 2001

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

> From: Phil Clayton <handyman(a)sprintmail.com> > Subject: Commodore Pet 2001 > > I have been searching the internet for 6 months now for a > Commodore Pet .. > Well I finally got an original Commodore Pet 2001 8MB RAM > Purchased this fine computer from an individual for $230.00 > knowing that it did not work. That's pretty good, some have been searching alot longer for one of the originals. > It is cosmetically in Very Fine Condition, however the previous > owner said it was dead and only got a cursor on the screen.. > After I received it, I started looking closely on the main board > and there it was a video IC chip that had 2 pins not in the socket. > I reinserted it, and did get a prompt but just for a few moments. > So decieded to reinserted all the IC's. I powered it up again.. > And there is was 8 MB RAM and the beautiful Commodore > Basic prompt.. This is VERY common (better add this to my PET FAQ!) the chips tend to loosen themselves out of thier sockets. and a push-down is a common troubleshooting procedure. In later computers like the Atari ST and Amiga it was drop the computer from a hight of a few inches (they didn't want you to open the case). :/ Now when it powers up if it reads: *** COMMODORE BASIC *** you have the original classic (read 'bug-ridden') ROMs. if it reads: ### COMMODORE BASIC ### you have the 'upgrade' (mostly bug fixed) ROMs. > Typed in a small BASIC program and it worked just fine. > The Chicklet keyboard has several keys that are hard to get to > work, I must press some of them several times to work.. This is due to deterioration of the cunductive surface on the key-bottoms, mashing them sometimes scrapes enough crud to get them to work. > Anyone have any ideas on how to clean them. Unplug the keyboard cable from the computer (careful on this those old pet keyboard wires are more brittle then most) remove the keyboard assembly from the housing and then carefully remove all the dinky screws from the botton of the keyboard. When you pull apart the bottom PCB from the keyboard assembly you may have some of the rubber key-cups still stuck to the PCB, just put them back in thier proper place in the assembly half. With a clean pink-pearl erase erase all the 'fingers' on the PCB (not too hard), wipe off the eraser crumbs then wipe the keyboard with a paper towel moistened with isopropyl alcohol (you can use rubbing alcohol, but make sure the water/glycerne content is low, otherwise 100% isopropyl is found in the paint section. Make sure the pcb is dry and free of dust or lint. Cleaning the little conductive 'feet' in the cups is another matter, I usually to a quick (light) wipe with a clean eraser (you will note it picks up some of the carbon, make sure you 'erase' on some paper to re-clean the eraser as you go.) Some use scotch tape to lift off any particles (sometimes works, less descructive). The worst thing I saw was someone who gold-leafed all the feet (which probably worked for a champ until sometime before I got the machine.) Reassemble the keyboard (carefully tighten those dinky screws, they strip easily) and test. If every other (or every third or fourth) key is not printing, most likely one of the keyboard wires probably broke during the cleaning, check the wires. > Have not tested the built in cassette yet.. The earlier units used butchered SANYO cassette players (you can tell if the unit has white control buttons and a lift-lid. Later units were a clean commodore design in all-black with eject button. > I am very excited to add this great machine to my collection. > In 1978 I Lusted for the first time for a computer, and it was > this machine. But in 1978 no way could I afford to buy one.. > Phil... For more information check out my PET FAQ: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/petfaq.html And my Commodore PET tribute Page: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/pet.html nopt to mention the PET related links on my main commodore page (see signature line)

27 years, 4 months

2
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vaugue musings...

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

-----Original Message----- From: Jim Strickland <jim(a)calico.litterbox.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, 24 December 1998 19:25 Subject: Re: vaugue musings... >*snip* >> (I still can't get all this Clinton stuff - You (Americanos) >> must live on the happiest place of this world, if you have >> the time to go for this zipper thing ...) >> >> Gruss >> H. >*snip* > >Beautifully said. :) Most Aussies feel the same way. Not many here care if he got a head job from some dame at work. Or more than a head job. It's a personal matter. This whole thing is a media driven circus. I think it's backfired on those that thought they had the most to gain from it, his popularity is very high despite (or in spite - who knows) of the circus. The majority of US voteres seem to think he's a good president. Nothing else really matters. Aussies and Brits generally assume that pollys are getting a bit on the side here and there. But no-one really cares anymore. His biggest mistake was responding to this type of question. Refusing to even comment on personal matters would be the sensible approach. Just my 2c worth. Merry Christmas All It's after 7:30pm Xmas Eve, and it's 36C. Seeya Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

27 years, 4 months

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Fwd: Re: Old Radios

by cfandt＠netsync.net

Hey gang! Hope your holidays have been good to you so far whether Chanukah or Christmas or Ramadan or Kwanzaa or no particular reason. Well, here's a bit of a lead. Recall several days ago we got the original msg posted here giving a list of Russian radios for sale? Being one of the resident old radio nuts on the ClassicCmp list I sent a private email sort of taking them to task for sending an off topic post to our list. Only Wm. Donzelli and myself on this list would even be interested in old radios as we are both members of the AWA. Maybe one or two others here are also members or simply like old radios --Tony D. is one, otherwise I don't know. BTW, the jpg attached to the original msg showing a Redstar radio seems to be the same radio as I had seen at our Annual AWA Conference last September. IIRC, a fellow from Great Britain bought it at our equipment auction. Paid a big buck for it too. It had a metal case painted in that interesting red woodgrain pattern. My Swedish friend commented it was a direct copy of a French radio design and that the paint often falls off these things and they rust badly. Anyway, I got a reply back saying they can get old Russian computers (from 195.90.136.126 (dialup26.kaluga.com) by mx.kaluga.ru). In the back of my mind I *knew* I might get a reply from them saying they could get old computers. So, by golly, here it is below. I figure it is one or more Russian folks who are trying to make some sort of money. Times are real hard over there as you already know. But I'm not too sure about doing any business with them. I would likely work with an AWA member from Sweden, France or Germany that I personally know to get Russian radio gear. Hans F. may have some trusted Eastern connections to get Russian Computer gear. So, these guys are just spammers in my book as far as I can presently see. Oh well . . . Regards, Chris -- -- >From: "The Old Radios Trade" <oldradios(a)radiolink.net> >To: "Christian Fandt" <cfandt(a)netsync.net> >Subject: Re: Old Radios >Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 11:43:16 +0300 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 > >Dear Friends > >What russian old computers are you interested ? >We can to acquire it here for you! > >Thanks for your interest. > >The Old Radios Trade. > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> >To: The Old Radios Trade <oldradios(a)radiolink.net> >Date: Thursday, December 24, 1998 6:44 AM >Subject: Re: Old Radios > > >>At 00:08 12/24/98 +0300, you wrote: >>>Dear Colleagues >>> >>>We have for sale multitude of rare russian antiquarian radios. >>>There are Zvezda 54 (RED STAR) , Belarus 53, SVD9 and many others solid >>radios. >>> >>>We have are the following portable radios: >>>model, year. >> >>Why did you send this to our list? We are interested only in old computers >>on the ClassicCmp list, not radios. Please don't do it again. >>-- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/

27 years, 4 months

3
2
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Trantor Mini-SCSI

by Watzman＠ibm.net

Trantor was bought by Adaptec. The mini-SCSI boxes are well supported, they will usually be auto-detected by Win95/98 and the correct drivers automatically installed. I used to have a T338 (one of the several devices in this series of products), and I probably still have a copy of the driver disks somewhere. E-Mail me if you need them, and I'll look, but they are probably also on the Adaptec web site. Barry Watzman Watzman(a)ibm.net

27 years, 4 months

1
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OT: Sam explains why Billy Boy is in trouble!

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 10:06 AM 12/24/98 -0800, you wrote: > >This is grossly off-topic but I just want to explain to our foreign >friends why Clinton should not be running our country. YA!!!! Well said Sam!!!!

27 years, 4 months

1
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Disk partitions under RT-11 using a WQESD controller

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

I'm working on getting TCP/IP working under RT-11 right now, and I decided to bring the second partition on the disk online. I'm using a WQESD ESDI controller and have the disk I'm using for RT-11 partitioned into several disks. I pulled out the manual for the disk controller and figured out how to do set du3: unit=2 part=1 so it would recognize the correct partition. Unfortunatly when I try to then use the disk I have the following results. .init du3: DU3:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y ?DUP-F-Output error DU3: . .init/bad du3: DU3:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y ?DUP-F-Bad block in system area DU3: .copy sysgen.ans du3: Files copied: ?PIP-F-Output error DU3:SYSGEN.ANS . Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |

27 years, 4 months

1
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Sam explains why Billy Boy is in trouble!

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>At 10:06 AM 12/24/98 -0800, you wrote: >> >>This is grossly off-topic but I just want to explain to our foreign >>friends why Clinton should not be running our country. > > YA!!!! Well said Sam!!!! > I agree but want to add a couple items. He is supposed to be the "Commander in Chief" of the Armed Forces and there have been many servicemen and women discharged, stripped of their rank, retirement pensions, and I think some have even spent time in prison for similar and less serious things than Clinton has done. One of the things that the "government" looks for when they do security checks before you can work in a "classified" area is a full background check looking for anything that someone could blackmail you with. One of the biggies is just what Clinton did. If you put it down on the paperwork they will just verify it but if you don't or are off by a month or 2 boy are you in for the questions. This could be something recent or 15 years ago. Dan

27 years, 4 months

1
0
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Unsoldering

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to = <work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad = I use that trick to get parts off board where I don't care about the board. Sometimes I apply a propane torch. I get good parts but the boards a mess. If I want to lift parts and keep the board I have a tin container filled with about a 1/2 inch of solder (used for wave soldering). heated over a gas stove (coleman) I can float a board and pick off components with tweezers. takes a little care to keep the heat reasonable. Allison

27 years, 4 months

1
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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The biggest thing you mention is CACHE. Try it on a 386 without cache. <I'm amazed how much cache improves the performance of a 486 or Pentium. <I ran a Cyrix 586/133 without internal and external cache and it ran <Unix slower than a 386SX/25. Cache, is a big plus on any system where main memory is slower than the cpu memory cycle. Even teh fasest machine without cache is going slow terribly as it has to wait for ram and even fast parts are sub 40mhz under most cases. The old -11s benefitted as the Ram(semi) or Core was very slow, typically 0.400 to 1.8uS so that was always a limit. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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Other TEK weight availiable in Portland, Oregon

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Yes, I maintain the InnfoGraphics warehouse. Jim Willing has been a good customer and a valued source of advise. He has bought many systems over the years, several SOL-20s, SWTP S-50, IMSAI, NS Advantage, his Vax750 and more. I only wish he had told me of this list years ago. I am closing out the warehouse very soon, hopefully January. I am getting ready for a large auction to empty the space. So, if you are interested in anything please contact me now. I have posted a couple of lists to the mailer. I have a couple more that I will post over the holidays. I have not had the warehouse open for sales for nearly a year. I have done all of my sales through the Internet. I have sold lots of my collectable computers through this list. Many thanks to the list provider and maintainer. Much of my lab equipment I have sold through the LabX Auction. Highly recommended http://www.labx.com/ I am open for private showings for a very short while. I can be reached at whoagiii(a)aol.com, my regular mail address. Please contact me there. I am oft out of town for meetings of a nonprofit I am involved with. One of the latest discoveries is a Lilith Mouse in rough condition. The original Lilith you can add to my top 10 sins. Thanks for your interest. Paxton Hoag

27 years, 4 months

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vaugue musings...

by dburrows＠netpath.net

> you think -3C is bad... Come and try our -15C to -20C here in the great > Minnesota... Minus 15 C right now ? thats lower than in Sibira ! Thats around ZERO Farnheit (isn't it ?) Brrrrr. And he is in Minneapolis. I used to live near Duluth and remember a week here and there of -30 F. That is before the wind chill factor. I recall -85 and -90 wind chills. Now I am in North Carolina in the middle of an ice / freezing rain storm. Just got power back after a tree dropped on the line about 9:30 this morning. Dan

27 years, 4 months

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Other TEK weight availiable in Portland, Oregon

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/10/98 5:49:29 PM Pacific Standard Time, zmerch(a)30below.com writes: > > I like Tex stuff (that's what my o'scope is nicknamed...) as I worked with > some early color printers from Tektronix when I worked for Electronic Data > Systems (General Motors) back in '89 / '90. > Speaking of weight are you interested in a 4692 or 4693. I had two 4691s but they got parted out, sorry. I posted on another thread of the dimensions and weight on the Tek 8000s. Much lighter are a set of emulator plugs for the 7D01 Logic analyzer. I have a 8080 and a 6800 plug in, a couple others and documentation that I am interested in selling. I also have a few Tek calibration instruments left. I also have a couple of 4315s, 4404 & 4405 systems. I also have a rare 4113, 4125s, 4115s, some upgrades to 4128 & 4129. For Tek Terminals I have 4105s, a 4107, 4109s, 4111s, 4207. 4208s and a 4211. I also have mice, pads and pucks. And I am looking for a manual on a 4096 plotter but have not found one yet. If interested please e-mail me directly at whoagiii(a)aol.com. Paxton

27 years, 4 months

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vaugue musings...

by fauradon＠pclink.com

you think -3C is bad... Come and try our -15C to -20C here in the great Minnesota... -----Original Message----- From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, December 24, 1998 8:49 AM Subject: Re: vaugue musings... > >> Merry Christmas All >> It's after 7:30pm Xmas Eve, and it's 36C. >> Seeya > >If it wasn't for Christmas, I'll hate you for teasing us >with this ridicoulus temperatures while we have -3C :) > >Anyway, Fr?hliche Weihnacht to all of you. > >Servus >Hans >(Going for my mother to part in Christmas dinner, off until Monday) > >-- >Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut >HRK >

27 years, 4 months

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Unsoldering

by Watzman＠ibm.net

Boy, Hans, you are a better man than I am ! I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad things happen (foils lift, board chars, etc.). It sounds good in principle, and obviously its a matter of controlling the heat, but I have never been able to get this to work satisfactorily.

27 years, 4 months

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Unassembling kits

by Watzman＠ibm.net

I feel like I've been "unassembling" items back into the original kits. I have recently acquired a variety of old S-100 stuff, very dirty and mostly not working. I spent a lot of time cleaning up an IMSAI, it was really dirty. I disassembled it completely, even removed the motherboard. Cleaned everything completely with flux remover and solvents, and reassembled. Did some troubleshooting and some parts replacement, and have obtained some additional boards from various other people. It now boots CP/M, but only in a very limited way (e.g. it?s a crude BIOS, single drive and console I/O only, minimal, but it works). I took two Cromemco Z-80 CPU cards, neither working, and removed all of the IC sockets from the boards, then rebuilt the boards with all new sockets and all-new IC?s (I seriously considered soldering the IC?s, but in the end I decided to use new sockets). The old sockets had a bunch of green corrosion crud inside the contacts (they were TI sockets, which can be removed by prying off the plastic, leaving individual pins soldered to the board, which can then be removed one at a time). Removing the IC sockets was VERY difficult and VERY time consuming, and I did some minor damage to the board traces and pads. I had access to a vacuum desoldering unit at work, but I figured I would remove the sockets and pins first, and then just use the vacuum tool to clear the holes. BIG MISTAKE. The vacuum device works wonders for removing IC?s and IC sockets, but it does NOT do a good job at clearing empty holes. If I?d used it properly, the work would have gone better, with less damage to the boards, and would have taken half the time (e.g. about ten hours instead of about twenty). I know this because when I scrapped a Shugart SA-860 drive for parts, I removed the non-standard IC?s from it?s PC board before pitching it, and that went so much better than the work on the CPU cards. The SA-860 was one of four, and now the other three all work. However, all of that said, both Z-80 CPU boards are now working perfectly as far as I can tell. The system is booting and running at both 2MHz and 4 MHz, and even the front panel works at 4MHz. I?ve built up an external dual-drive box with two 3.5" 1.44 Mb drives, and an adapter board that makes it connect to a 50-pin cable and look like two 8" drives. The next step will be to get this unit working, which will be quite a bit of work because of many, many software issues. Once I do, I want to transfer everything to 3.5" disks from 8" disks (I have about 500 8" disks full of sofware). This box has a connector on the back for 8" drives, so I can support 4 drives, two 3.5" and two 8". I?m desperately looking for a Seattle Computer CPU support card, please let me know if you know of anyone who has one. Barry Watzman

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> I agree. I've got a friend who tried their 386 with Windows 95... he <> said it took him an hour and a half to open Word for Windows 95... <> then he gave up... and it even had 15MB RAM! I don't. I ran w95 on a 386dx/40 with cache 16mb ram and a 1.2gig partitioned as a pair of disks just last week and a backup for a croaked pentium board. It was slow but not hours. It was also running office97 as that was on the drive too. A 486DX2/50 was much better. I did however do some major tuning tricks on the cmos and things like windows swap drive. Some of those old boards if you take the cmos defaults you get a very pokey system often 1/3 the performance or worse. Allison

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 5:40:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, tim(a)thereviewguide.com writes: > > >my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but > > actually > > >not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. > > I agree. I've got a friend who tried their 386 with Windows 95... he > said it took him an hour and a half to open Word for Windows 95... > then he gave up... and it even had 15MB RAM! > my girlfriend uses Excel mostly, but also Word. takes about 5-8 minutes to come up. printing a 20 page document, now thats a hour long task. kelly

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

A _little_? How many minutes does it take to boot? I have tried booting a 486sx/20 with 4 MB RAM from a premade Win95 setup, and it took a looong time! I started and finished a major meal and it still wasn't done. >my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but actually >not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. > >Kelly

27 years, 4 months

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Back on the List

by fauradon＠pclink.com

Welcome back tim Have you been looking around for computers in Guyana? Anything interesting? Francois -----Original Message----- From: tim(a)thereviewguide.com <tim(a)thereviewguide.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, December 22, 1998 3:33 PM Subject: Back on the List Hi. For those who remember, and for those who care, I'm back. After coming back from my vacation to my new home in Guyana... (yes, I swore off Kool Aid) and found that it had numerous problems. After sorting most of them out, getting back on-track, and then spending lots of time thinking about but not doing, I got back on the list. Ciao, Tim D. Hotze

27 years, 4 months

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On-Topic Internet Request...

by zmerch＠30below.com

This is a request for information as an Internet professional, but it *is* on topic... I've met a family who would like to get on the Internet to mainly do email - but all they have is an Apple 2 GS. Other than a shell account (these folks seem to be "stick in disk, run command written on disk, scratch head...) is there, say, a pop3 email client and IP stack software available for that beast? (Sorry - not much of an Apple byter - I'm a Radio Smacker myself...) Thanks for any and all help, and Happy Holidaze! Roger "Merch" Merchberger ===== Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- zmerch(a)30below.com SysAdmin - Iceberg Computers ===== Merch's Wild Wisdom of the Moment: ===== for (1..15) { print "Merry Christmas\n"; } (from perl.1 man page, version 4.)

27 years, 4 months

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vaugue musings...

by dogas＠leading.net

Thanks for all the responses. Hans, thanks for the description of your technique. I'm now in seeker mode for the superhairdryer at yonder fleamarket. No, I'm not planning on an eBay kit sale... But unlike Allison three times over, I haven't had a chance to build one (I dont even have an altair yet, but I do have a few imsais)... and the zenness of seeing one apart is alluring. Let me be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas.... for next year. Heh Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 4 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/23/98 4:27:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, tim(a)thereviewguide.com writes: > > I've no idea how Win95 _works_ with 4MB RAM, since it doesn't _work_ > > with 16MB -- though with 16MB it boots within a few minutes. I took > <snip> > > I agree here, too. Windows 95 really won't like a 486/20. Sure, in my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but actually not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. Kelly

27 years, 4 months

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vaugue musings...

by dogas＠leading.net

Not having an assembly manual for any of the early 8bit kits (altair, imsai, etc...) I was wondering about the experiences/success of anyone DISassembling one *back* to kit form. Anybody? MIke: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 4 months

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OT question for electronics wizards

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>Okay. Let's try again. When it says it wants 7 amps at 115, does it ALWAYS >want 7 amps at 115volts? or only when the computer it's driving really wants >all 300 watts it can put out? > It would have to be an awfully inefficient switched to draw 7 amps at full load.(300w). I would guess that there is a second NEMA connector to plug a monitor into. The load of that AND the PC at full loading(spinning up HD's etc.) might add up to 7 amps @ 115v Dan

27 years, 4 months

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what is this? motorola alphamate

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

picked this up the other day. its a small unit comprising a relatively full size keyboard and a 3x40 line lcd display. machine also has connections for rs232, telephone, and din plugs for modem and printer. machine can also run on batteries or ac power. is this a TDD? might be worth something if it is. david

27 years, 4 months

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blue-planet downtime explanation

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

TWIMC: Here's an explanation as to what happened to the blue-planet hard drive page. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 12/07/98] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 19:40:52 -0800 From: Shawn Butler <b-planet(a)ix.netcom.com> To: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> Subject: Re: Trouble accessing your site Thank you for your inquiry: The site was down for over two days and is now back up!!!! The DNS IP address changed, and until all the DNS servers out there cached the new IP, they were accessing the wrong server. All the information on The Tech Page is free, and will never require special passwords for access. Sorry for the down time! Blue Planet b-planet(a)ix.netcom.com Sam Ismail wrote: > I seem to be having trouble trying to connect to your hard drive page. > When I enter in the URL > > http://www.blue-planet.com/tech/no_frames.html > > I get a login window. I hit cancel and then get some noise about how I'm > not authorized to access the page. Other people I know are experiecing > the same problem, but still others are not and can get into the site fine. > Can you shed some light on this? Thanks. > > Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Always being hassled by the man. > > Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 > See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! > [Last web site update: 12/07/98]

27 years, 4 months

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OT: Online auctins an institution?

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 06:33 PM 12/21/98 +1, you wrote: >to build a Z3 or Mark I). Also later on things like GUI >have been developed in a non capitalist environment. Not I know it sure *seems* like it, but really, Xerox was never out to lose money on computers... And I won't bother mentioning Apple or Microsloth... (Oh, okay I will -- I'll stipulate that Woz may have been in it for fun, but Jobs was/is definitely in it for the money.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/

27 years, 4 months

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