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

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<These I/O ports are all 8 bit, right? < <Now, an S100 frontpanel would have 16 toggle switches (at least - to <load a memory address). So why can't you either You could they didn't and they board was chockfull of crap and a little more would have made a mess of it. In 1974 the altair was an "ok" design at best. It was one set of engineers vision and at that point their best shot. They did it that way. Allison

28 years, 5 months

1
0
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front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Was the latter really considered a problem in those days? Or was it <just that as a result it wasn't real useful to have the front panel do <that? (Or was it just the additional cost of having the front panel <do that?) Fancy way is, cost benefit ratio. It cost a lot! Another was, it's easier to not do that. Actually it was rare I needed the ability. Allison

28 years, 5 months

1
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front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<But what does an instruction do? It just generates bus cycles, right? <The bus doesn't care whether those cycles come from the CPU or something <else (unless there's bus mastering and arbitration, which I doubt). In theory your correct. <The difference between generating a memory cycle and and I/O cycle on an <Intel CPU is simply a matter of clocking a different value onto the <"control bus" (which might be a multiplexed bus, I don't know the 8080 <that well). Reducing that to practice and at a low cost on S100 bus with an 8080 is a different matter. To understand that you need to know both as S100 was not a bidirectional data bus(seperate data in and data out paths) and all the bus control signals were RAW 8080 status/controls making it a royal pain to do DMA on the bus. To make a point to do a memory write on the bus you have to output SWO/, PWR/, MWRITE, SMEMR, SOUT, SINP, PDBIN and all of them must be in the correct state (some are active high!). S100 was a poorly designed bus in that respect. I may add that Altair 8800(a) and Imsai were not bus masters, they were more CPU control. The best way to descrive this is if the CPU was Not there the front panel was an ornament. Allison

28 years, 5 months

1
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Photo of Smithsonian microcomputer exhibit

by higginbo＠netpath.net

At 06:34 PM 2/24/98 PST, you wrote: >A friend of mine was recently in D.C. and took this >photo of the Microcomputer exhibit in the Smithsonian >Museum. I recognize the Altair and the Sol but what >is the Apple prototype sitting on the table? Here is the >link to the photo... Looks like an Apple I to me, but then again I've never seen an actual model in person.

28 years, 5 months

1
0
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hamfest finds

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

Hi, I just got back from a hamfest. Found two brand new in the box full height Tandon floppy drives for the IBM PC. Rich, do you want one? I also bought two AT&T 3B1 computers without keyboards or monitors. Does anyone know if the keyboard and monitor from a AT&T 6300 will work on them? Or where I can find a monitor and keyboard? Also need any advice about how to get these up and running. What are all the ports for? etc Joe

28 years, 5 months

10
31
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HP2100

by MAKelller＠swbell.net

Gentlemen, If this computer is still available, we still use them to run a couple of our milling machines. MAKeller Northrop Grumman Aerospace

28 years, 5 months

1
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North Star Horizon

by jthiemann＠castleton.com

While I don't have experience with the Horizon, I think it is similar (software-wise) to the Advantage (though the Advantage is NOT S100). I have some software, some for CP/M and some for the NS-DOS. Note that the floppy disks are hard sectored, impossible to find nowadays and just as hard to read/write on anything else... (AFAIK - if someone has a program to do this please speak up!) Joachim (I usually sign "Joe" but I think that would cause confusion...) > Joe, > > I don't know if software is available but will ask. Does the NS > horizon use a S-100 bus? I was told the unit I'm (hopefully) about to > > acquire has an internal 10MB hard drive. i'm going to go eyeball the > unit within the next few days. > > Marty > > > ______________________________ Reply Separator > _________________________________ > Subject: Re: North Star Horizon > Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet > Date: 2/24/98 1:00 PM > > > Marty, > > I have some manuals for the NS Horizon; disk controller, DOS, > BASIC, > Pascal. I'm looking for the software. > > Joe > > At 12:36 PM 2/24/98 -0500, you wrote: > > Does anybody have any information on a North Star Horizon? I may be > > > acquiring one of these soon but don't know much about it except > that > > it has wooden side panels and used to support a half-dozen > terminals. > > Is it a S-100 bus? > > > > Thanks for any help- > > > > Marty Mintzell > > > > > > > ------ Message Header Follows ------ > Received: from lists3.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com > (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) > id AA-1998Feb24.130031.1767.28490; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 13:00:34 -0500 > Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) > by lists3.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with > SMTP > id JAA14977; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:52 -0800 > Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu > [140.142.32.9]) > by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with > ESMTP > id JAA53378 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb > 1998 > 09:53:44 -0800 > Received: from star1.intellistar.net (star1.intellistar.net > [206.105.64.2]) > by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with > ESMTP > id JAA05718 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 > 09:53:43 > > -0800 > Received: from lizard ([206.105.68.41]) by star1.intellistar.net > (Post.Office MTA v3.1 release PO203a ID# 0-41809U2500L250S0) > with SMTP id AAA22727 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; > Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:53:39 -0500 > Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980224125410.0877b306(a)intellistar.net> > Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:54:10 > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu > Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu > Precedence: bulk > From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> > To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" > <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: North Star Horizon > In-Reply-To: <1998Feb24.123503.1767.83436(a)smtp.itgonline.com> > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > X-Sender: rigdonj(a)intellistar.net > X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

28 years, 5 months

3
3
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North Star Horizon

by peacock＠simconv.com

Joe wrote about a Northstar Horizon: > I think it uses the S-100 bus. According to their manual, North Star >used the same disk controller in the Horizon that they sold for the S-100 >systems. I have a NS S-100 controller. They are the same electricaly and >software wise but maybe physically different. I did some software work on a Horizon many years ago. As I recall, it had two full height 5.25" bays, a good sized power supply behind the bays (on the right side) and a shorty S-100 card cage on the left, 8 card slots? But the NS motherboard also had some logic on the motherboard, at the rear. I believe there were one or two 8251 serial ports, a baud rate generator, maybe a parallel port or interrupt controller (look for an Intel 8214 or a 28-pin AMD IC)?

28 years, 5 months

1
0
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front panels

by peacock＠simconv.com

Tony wrote: >> >> >> <But surely this is a limitation of the front panel not the processor. >> <I/O bus cycles can (easily) be generated from an appropriately designed >> <front panel. >> >> Processor. The 8080 CPU does I/O To/From the accumulator which is > >I beg to differ. > >All you have to do is to put the CPU into a wait state, tri-state the >bus buffers and directly drive the address, data and control lines from >hardware on the frontpanel controller. You can access memory or I/O ports >that way. > In other words, make the front panel do a DMA access, either to memory or an I/O port? That way it doesn't affect the CPU state at all, except the CPU has to be running in order to handle the DMA grant.

28 years, 5 months

2
1
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KNOXM5 RSTS Rides Again!

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

I finally got the **** thing to boot every time without falling over sideways! This is a step! The only problem is, it's still single-user - I still can't get a DZ-11 to work. I don't think I ever will - I was told you have to kill a 12-pack to get one to work, and I'm not old enough to buy beer. :) Anyway, I found an interesting goody in the spare 44 - It's a hex-height board I recognised from the VAX 750 manual I have. It has 2 50-pin cables going off to a 16-port EIA distribution panel. It appears to be a DMA peripheral, it has CA1 and CB1 going off into logic, so I made a DMA slot for it after the UDA50 in the 2nd BA-11. So, I bring up RSTS - And here's the result: Option: HARDWR LIST Name Address Vector Comments TT0: 177560 060 RU0: 172150 310 Units: 0(RA81) KL0: 176510 300 <<< What is that? KW11L 177546 100 SR 177570 Volatile DR 177570 Hertz = 60. Other: FPU, 22-Bit Addressing, Data Space, Cache -------------------- AFTER THE INSERTION OF THE MODULE ------------------- Option: HARDWR LIST Name Address Vector Comments TT0: 177560 060 RU0: 172510 310 Units: 0(RA81) KL0: 176510 300 DM0: 170500 440 DH0 KW11L 177546 100 SR 177570 Volatile DR 177570 Herts = 60. Other: FPU, 22-Bit Addressing, Data Space, Cache ----------------------------- But when I say START: KB9:KB24 disabled - no DH0: controller Does that mean it's broken, or is the Monitor need rebuilt? Oh, and Tim: The tape drives appear to handle 1600 BPI, but the controllers don't. I'm gonna dig out my Emulex stuff and see if any of them will handle this tape. And wasn't DM0: a disk controller? Am I supposed to reset the CSRs to this? -------

28 years, 5 months

2
9
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Fire in the Valley

by mallison＠konnections.com

I just lucked onto a second copy of "Fire in the Valley" Anyone _NEED_ this? -Mike

28 years, 5 months

1
0
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old SCSI controller

by peacock＠simconv.com

-John Rollins typed: > >>OK, does anyone know what this card came from? Anyone know what uses and 86 >>pin bus? This is from vague memory, but if the card is roughly the same size as an S-100 card (5 x 10 inches) and has an 86 pin bus connector, I think it might be an old Motorola bus. I don't remember what they called it, never used Motorola development systems, but it was Motorola's answer to Intel's Multibus.

28 years, 5 months

3
2
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North Star Horizon

by Marty＠itgonline.com

Joe, I don't know if software is available but will ask. Does the NS horizon use a S-100 bus? I was told the unit I'm (hopefully) about to acquire has an internal 10MB hard drive. i'm going to go eyeball the unit within the next few days. Marty ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: North Star Horizon Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 2/24/98 1:00 PM Marty, I have some manuals for the NS Horizon; disk controller, DOS, BASIC, Pascal. I'm looking for the software. Joe At 12:36 PM 2/24/98 -0500, you wrote: > Does anybody have any information on a North Star Horizon? I may be > acquiring one of these soon but don't know much about it except that > it has wooden side panels and used to support a half-dozen terminals. > Is it a S-100 bus? > > Thanks for any help- > > Marty Mintzell > > ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists3.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998Feb24.130031.1767.28490; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 13:00:34 -0500 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists3.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with SMTP id JAA14977; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:52 -0800 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id JAA53378 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:44 -0800 Received: from star1.intellistar.net (star1.intellistar.net [206.105.64.2]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with ESMTP id JAA05718 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:43 -0800 Received: from lizard ([206.105.68.41]) by star1.intellistar.net (Post.Office MTA v3.1 release PO203a ID# 0-41809U2500L250S0) with SMTP id AAA22727 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:53:39 -0500 Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980224125410.0877b306(a)intellistar.net> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:54:10 Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: North Star Horizon In-Reply-To: <1998Feb24.123503.1767.83436(a)smtp.itgonline.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Sender: rigdonj(a)intellistar.net X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

28 years, 5 months

2
1
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North Star Horizon

by Marty＠itgonline.com

Joe, Thanks for the information. I'm located in northern Virginia just outside Washington, D.C. Marty ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Re[2]: North Star Horizon Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 2/24/98 5:07 PM Marty, I think it uses the S-100 bus. According to their manual, North Star used the same disk controller in the Horizon that they sold for the S-100 systems. I have a NS S-100 controller. They are the same electricaly and software wise but maybe physically different. Sounds like a neat system, I've never heard of one having a hard drive. Keep me posted. BTW where are you? I'm in Orlando, Florida. Joe At 01:10 PM 2/24/98 -0500, you wrote: > Joe, > > I don't know if software is available but will ask. Does the NS > horizon use a S-100 bus? I was told the unit I'm (hopefully) about to > acquire has an internal 10MB hard drive. i'm going to go eyeball the > unit within the next few days. > > Marty > > >______________________________ Reply Separator >_________________________________ >Subject: Re: North Star Horizon >Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet >Date: 2/24/98 1:00 PM > > > Marty, > > I have some manuals for the NS Horizon; disk controller, DOS, BASIC, > Pascal. I'm looking for the software. > > Joe > > At 12:36 PM 2/24/98 -0500, you wrote: > > Does anybody have any information on a North Star Horizon? I may be > > acquiring one of these soon but don't know much about it except that > > it has wooden side panels and used to support a half-dozen terminals. > > Is it a S-100 bus? > > > > Thanks for any help- > > > > Marty Mintzell > > > > > > > ------ Message Header Follows ------ > Received: from lists3.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com > (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) > id AA-1998Feb24.130031.1767.28490; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 13:00:34 -0500 > Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) > by lists3.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with SMTP > id JAA14977; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:52 -0800 > Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) > by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP > id JAA53378 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 > 09:53:44 -0800 > Received: from star1.intellistar.net (star1.intellistar.net [206.105.64.2]) > by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with ESMTP > id JAA05718 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:53:43 > > -0800 > Received: from lizard ([206.105.68.41]) by star1.intellistar.net > (Post.Office MTA v3.1 release PO203a ID# 0-41809U2500L250S0) > with SMTP id AAA22727 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; > Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:53:39 -0500 > Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980224125410.0877b306(a)intellistar.net> > Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 12:54:10 > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu > Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu > Precedence: bulk > From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> > To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" > <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: North Star Horizon > In-Reply-To: <1998Feb24.123503.1767.83436(a)smtp.itgonline.com> > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > X-Sender: rigdonj(a)intellistar.net > X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN > > ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists3.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998Feb24.170757.1767.28555; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 17:07:58 -0500 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists3.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with SMTP id OAA07336; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 14:01:10 -0800 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id OAA35550 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 14:01:03 -0800 Received: from star1.intellistar.net (star1.intellistar.net [206.105.64.2]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with ESMTP id OAA11194 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 14:01:02 -0800 Received: from lizard ([206.105.66.22]) by star1.intellistar.net (Post.Office MTA v3.1 release PO203a ID# 0-41809U2500L250S0) with SMTP id AAA26712 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Tue, 24 Feb 1998 17:00:54 -0500 Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980224170000.376726fc(a)intellistar.net> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 17:00:00 Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: Re[2]: North Star Horizon In-Reply-To: <1998Feb24.130843.1767.83458(a)smtp.itgonline.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Sender: rigdonj(a)intellistar.net X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

28 years, 5 months

1
0
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front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<But surely this is a limitation of the front panel not the processor. <I/O bus cycles can (easily) be generated from an appropriately designed <front panel. Processor. The 8080 CPU does I/O To/From the accumulator which is inaccessable from the front pannel being an internal register. An altair did things by forcing a jump(C3h, xx, zz) the address switches were used as zzxx forcing the PC to take the set value. Data at a given MEMORY address was displayed as a result of the current address and stopping before the next instructing fetch. Writing to MEMORY was simply gating the data switches and forcing a write pulse (no cpu execution). Its design was to allow insetion of code into memory and examination of memory as those were direct. IO however while it would be nice to interogate or write to devices could leave the cpu "out of sync" since all IO is done from the accumulator. To do that you really need a soft front panel and once you do that, displaying or altering the Acc, BC, DE, HL and SP registers and associated flags are possible. Did my fair share of 8080/8085/z80 designs in the '70s. Allison

28 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

Slow But OK

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Again things have slowed down but a few goodies were found: A Rockwell AIM65 4k computer inside what looks like a large calculator case that is black and grey in color, has a onboard thermal printer using calculator size paper, not tested yet, free; also got 6 R6500 mb's some are marked as being bad all free; a Mac IIcx missing HD and memory simms for free; a working Mac SE/30 without KB and mouse for $15; a Victor 386sx/20 laptop broken screen with power adapter for free. Other manuals gotten at thrift stores and some software that's been the week. Keep Computing - John

28 years, 5 months

3
4
0 0

BBC Model B - video help

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

Tony Duell quoted me as having written: >> On the subject of BBC video problems, it occurs to me that the BBC micro >> does scrolling by moving the pointer to the start of the screen (under >> some conditions?). If you can get it to do this, and see how the >> display behaves, you may be able to determine easily if it's an >> addressing problem. > > Is this going to tell you very much? > > The BBC _does_ use hardware scrolling (it changes the start-of-memory > register in the 6845), but as the screen is a contiguous array of bytes, > all that a scroll does is effectively increment that pointer by the > number of bytes/line of characters (= 640 bytes in mode 0, etc) and then > clear the new bytes displayed on the bottom line. > > So the new line 0 will be the old line 1, etc, but there are no other > changes. A given byte on the screen is displayed in the same relative > position to other given bytes on the screen. In mode 0, &3281 is still the > second dot row of a character in the far left column. Of course if the > text goes all over the place on a hardware scroll then you can be > virtually certain that the 6845 is playing up. What I meant was that addressing problem _external_ to 6845 generally means that the fault will occur at the same _memory_ address. So that type of scrolling means the fault will scroll up the screen, appearing at the same place in the _text_ every time. Won't it? If the screen line length were an integer power of two, a fault in the bottom few address lines would appear at the same place on every line. Fortunately the BBC micro is 80 characters per line, so you will see things recurring on a slant. This slanted line of fault should move up the screen as it scrolls. Something to try, anyway. I am a firm believer in non-invasive tests! Philip.

28 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Weekend Additions

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com> wrote: > First stop: Computer Recycling Center [list elided] Hmph. I stopped by weekend before last (14 Feb) and it looked like they'd been cleaned out. Even the bookshelves were mostly empty. Probably for the best though, given how far behind I am with other stuff that needs doing. > Corvus Systems Hard Drive unit - I believe this goes with the rest of the > Corvus Concepts computer. It has several connectors on the back labeled > "Processor", "Drive"...it also has one labeled "VCR" and a video IN and > OUT jack. McFrank, this is so you can backup to a VCR right? Yep, that's what it's for (although the hard drive could have been used with about a half-dozen different kinds of systems, not just the Concept). I'm not sure whether the jacks imply the presence of whatever you actually need to do the backup or whether there is additional hardware or software required (this is one of those things that I know I need to figure out some day when I get all those manuals in front of me at once). -Frank McConnell

28 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> The Intellec MCS8i and the PDP11 (obviously, since all I/O is memory <> mapped) do allow you to access I/O devices directly from the panel. < <...and the front panel on the Altair 8800b. The 8008 does not have memory mapped IO, there are distinct IO instructions. It's not to say MM/io is not done. The PDP-11 memory and devices are the same things and there are no specialized IO instructions. The altair...(8800 and 8800a) from the front pannel there is no way to interrogate an port mapped IO device or write to it. You must do it with a little code. Allison

28 years, 5 months

4
5
0 0

PDP diagnostic card (was Found a decent use for a PC...)

by rcini＠email.msn.com

On Mon, 23 Feb 1998 20:14:09 +0000 (GMT), Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: >>I have a text file somewhere explaining how to make a functional copy of >>this unit using more modern parts (LEDs and ULN2803 driver chips, I >>think) if anybody wants it. If you can put your hands on that text file, I'd be interested in it. Thanks! ------------------------------------------------- Rich Cini/WUGNET <nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use) - ClubWin Charter Member (6) - MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking

28 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

a brain... my kingdom for a brain?

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

Tony's comment, below... about the only equipment needed to repair... was helpful. So, as I have an Altair, a BBC, a KIM, a Sorcerer and various other beasties awaiting ressurection, and having little (well, OK... no) electronics experience, starting at square 1... a) What should I be looking for in a logic probe. Any recommended models (say, <$100) b) Ditto for multimeter. c) Where can I find a brain? :) Actually, the Altair will be my first task. I'm thinking of #1 taking out all the boards. Good idea? I have it firing up and basically behaving, but some LEDs don't light when they should, but are definitely able to light when they want to. A >Hmm... I've yet to find a classic computer fault that could not be >tracked down using 3 things - a logic probe, a multimeter (DMM/VOM) and >a _brain_. On the grounds that my brain isn't that good, I sometimes have >to use other test equipment, but when I finally do track down the >problem, I generally realise that the symptoms were obvious from the >start if only I'd realised what they meant.

28 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

front panels

by fmc＠reanimators.org

allisonp(a)world.std.com (Allison J Parent) wrote: > [....] IO however while it would be nice to > interogate or write to devices could leave the cpu "out of sync" since > all IO is done from the accumulator. You say that like there's something wrong with it. Well, there could be, I suppose, if your hardware is such that reading its registers changes them, and the operator doesn't realize this. Was the latter really considered a problem in those days? Or was it just that as a result it wasn't real useful to have the front panel do that? (Or was it just the additional cost of having the front panel do that?) -Frank McConnell

28 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

old SCSI controller

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The only things I know about this board is that it's a SCSI controller, a <it's BIG. It's about 10"x12", has an 86-pin edge connectr on the bottom, <two 50-pin edge connectors on the top, and uses eight 2651 SCSI chips. It <labeled "DATASTREAM ASSY 100716 REV A". Does anyone have any idea what <this is for? <TIA Sounds more like an 8 port serial board! The 2651 is a USART type device. The 50 pin connectors might be board to pannel connector cabling. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Things are getting bad

by dcoward＠pressstart.com

Anthony Clifton - Wirehead said: >I see this problem alot at hamfests. You can't blame them. They want >to bring what will sell and they're most likely to not have to carry >back home. They perceive no value to ancient computers so they assume >nobody else will either. I have 2' x 3' white board taped to the little rolling cart I take with me. On the board, I write down all the stuff I'm looking for that day. ========================================= Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com Senior Software Engineer Press Start Inc. Sunnyvale,CA Curator Museum of Personal Computing Machinery http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum =========================================

28 years, 5 months

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North Star Horizon

by Marty＠itgonline.com

Does anybody have any information on a North Star Horizon? I may be acquiring one of these soon but don't know much about it except that it has wooden side panels and used to support a half-dozen terminals. Is it a S-100 bus? Thanks for any help- Marty Mintzell

28 years, 5 months

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North Star Horizon

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< Does anybody have any information on a North Star Horizon? I may be < acquiring one of these soon but don't know much about it except that < it has wooden side panels and used to support a half-dozen terminals. < Is it a S-100 bus? Yes, I have one I built (and still use!) 20 years ago! Exteremely sold piece of s100 hardware. The top is wood too! Z80/S-100. Support for more than one user means it was running a timeshare version of NS* Basic. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Hello, new subscriber...

by jthiemann＠castleton.com

Hello, I just joined the list. While I don't have any specific questions _at_this_point_ :-) I have quite considerable experience with electronics and am willing to help out where I can (time permitting)... Of course I am always interested in software for my collection. A quick list: ZX81 with "real" keyboard, and of course 16k pack TRS-80 model 1 Vic 20 C64 SuperPET with 4040 drive Rainbow with 10Meg drive Northstar Advantage Bits'n'pieces of 2 PDP-11's (-23 and -73(?))- enough to have one working in debugger mode - no drives or anything MicroVax II with periphials, had it running Ultrix and NetBSD HP 75D and a few old HP calculators 128k Mac and Mac Plus The next two are my everyday use computers. Dubious if they count as "classics"... Amiga 3000 (AmigaOS 2.04, and NetBSD until the HD with the root partition went south...) SparcStation 1+ running NetBSD (NOTE: those are my home computers. Needless to say here at work I use the usual unspeakable... though occasionally I do reboot my computer into FreeBSD - but then I can't receive mail from the $%#& exchange server) I am hoping to aquire a (brand unknown) S100 Z80 box in the next few days... Joachim.

28 years, 5 months

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Found a decent use for a PC...

by jfoust＠threedee.com

jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca wrote: >Early high end Dell series (I think!) had this dot matix that glows >yellow and rare motherboards that had POST display built in. Back in those days, they were known as PCs Ltd. I had a 286 like that. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 5 months

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TRS-80 Questions

by lwalker＠mail.interlog.com

Here's a couple more for the TRS knowledgeable. >from a TRS novice. 1. Among the various TRS stuff I picked up recently was a TRS-80 monitor. It has a similiar connector coming out the front as the Model II. Was this the for the std. M.1 and M.3 ? 2. Included with a TRS CoCo 1 I picked up last summer was an adapter plugged into the cass.port. a label "TotalCommunications" on one side and "Telelearning" on the other. Into this was plugged another M/M adapter labelled " RS232 Gender Changer" Was this for hooking up a fdd and/or modem ? ciao larry lwalkerN0spaM(a)interlog.com

28 years, 5 months

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DataNumerics DL8 more info...

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

> Could you tell me just a bit about the DL8? What does it look like, does it > work, any software... manuals? I have no Doco or software for the DL8a, from memory there may be something in ROM, but I know that some of the ROM sockets are empty. It is contained in a single 19" rack mount case, mainly made from aluminium. On the back panel there is the fan, the power connector and a single female 25 pin D connector (I think it's a current loop port). The front panel is white with black lettering. All switches are toggle swicthes, some have red hoods, some have blue. I think there are seperate banks of switches for address and data as well as the usual halt, run, examine, etc. All the LEDs are red. I have powered it up and watched it count in binary, but as I don't know 8080 and have never programmed a front panel system I haven't done anything else Does this ring a bell for anyone? A

28 years, 5 months

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Slow But OK

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Pardon my ignorance, but what's an R6500? That wouldn't be an IBM <RISC machine, would it? No, non-ibm as it comes. It was the series of chips starting with the 6502 that wree used in the apple series, AIM, KIM, PET and Commodore machines. The number of hands the licensed 65xx chip design passed through is somewhat record as well! Allison

28 years, 5 months

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a brain... my kingdom for a brain?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<a) What should I be looking for in a logic probe. Any recommended model <(say, <$100) Unless the logic is fast (altairs arent!) any will do. <b) Ditto for multimeter. My favorites are a fluke m12 (digital) and a triplite-160(analog). <c) Where can I find a brain? :) think about it for a while ;) <I have it firing up and basically behaving, but some LEDs don't light whe <they should, but are definitely able to light when they want to. Nominal altair misbehavour. Several problems very likely some age and some design related. Switches are not making(corrosion internally), operating them may clean them up or replacement may be needed. Check with low current/voltage continuity tester(fluke m12 is good here). The pannel uses oneshot timers by the carload (74ls123 and friends) and they can be flakey. The mother board connections can be nasty from using solderplated edge connector board with gold edge (electromigration). The board edges can be cleaned with eraser but most systems with that disease end up with shake well before using (pull boards/reinsert to wipe contacts). I highly suggest this for any kit constructed altair pannel: 1. get drawings/schematics 2. clean well a. remove and disassemble to just the board with no hardware. b. Wash (yes really!) in dishwasher (best done when wife is not around) using some of the normal dish washer soap. NOTE: this will remove grime and any flux residues that may over time have become conductive or corrosive! We have no way of assuring a kit was constructed with quality solder/fluxes. c. dry well using WARM oven at 120-140F. (alternate is to soak in pan of 90% or greater isopropanal and air dry. NOTE: ISOPROPANAL IS FLAMMABLE) 3. Inspect and resolder any questionalble joints, use care. 4. Reassemble partially, to allow testing. NOTE: ONE MOD IF NOT DONE IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED... The 8800 front panel design has 120vAC power on it and that was/is very bad practice. As implemented it is a safety hazard and also a risk to the hardware. It is best to keep good distances between mains power and logic! Rewire so that the front pannel power switch is not connected to anything and mount a replacement in a protected spot on the rear pannel. I feel strongly about that, even as a museam peice it should be done. The existing switch can be left in place for appearances. Allison <A < <>Hmm... I've yet to find a classic computer fault that could not be <>tracked down using 3 things - a logic probe, a multimeter (DMM/VOM) and <>a _brain_. On the grounds that my brain isn't that good, I sometimes hav <>to use other test equipment, but when I finally do track down the <>problem, I generally realise that the symptoms were obvious from the <>start if only I'd realised what they meant. < <

28 years, 5 months

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front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I may be in the running to buy an 8800b turnkey model which (sigh) doesn' <have the nice front panel that you describe for the 8800b. Can you tell <me how the turnkey works? Does it have a ROM'd bootstrap loader? Will <be able to program it if I don't have drives? The fronpanel less version of the MITS was the 8800b (turnkey) and it was generally configured to boot their disks. There may have been boot options for cassette or papertape boot as well. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Altair price check

by jfoust＠threedee.com

A few weeks ago, I turned down an offer to get an IMSAI and Altair system, reasonably intact, both for $500. What do I know. :-) Looks like a market ripe for wheeling and dealing. These online auctions are an interesting phenomenon. At first I thought they'd be a great place to pick up contemporary and antique computer stuff at good prices, perhaps with a few "sleeper" bargains. But the info flow is too good; it's my impression that prices are consistently driven *higher* than I'd regard as "street" price. Good news for people running auction services that take a percentage. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 5 months

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IMSAI 8080 <> TRS-80

by bill_r＠inetnebr.com

Did anyone besides me notice that, judging by their ad in the latest issue of Computer Gaming World magazine, the software division of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM INTERACTIVE INC.), producer of the original "Wargames" motion picture, doesn't know the difference between an IMSAI 8080 and a TRS-80? Their ad goes something like "In 1983, a teenage computer hacker almost destroyed the world with one of these: [picture of TRS-80 Model 1, with caption reading 'TRS-80, 4K RAM, no hard drive']". It goes on to talk about how much damage he could do with today's computers (go figure), and introduces their new "Wargames" computer game. Maybe the marketing department should jog down to the film vault and watch the movie, because _it_ used an IMSAI 8080 with a piece of paper stuck over the name for the young "hacker's" computer. Sheesh. -Bill Richman bill_r(a)inetnebr.com http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r (Home of the COSMAC Elf Simulator!)

28 years, 5 months

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e-mail address change

by manney＠nwohio.com

My e-mail address is now -- manney(a)lrbcg.com Let's hope the listproc gets it right, too! P Manney

28 years, 5 months

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Computers that have appreciated (RE: Altair price check)

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 2/23/98 3:04:18 PM Central Standard Time, adept(a)Mcs.Net writes: > > I assume you mean machines that are worth more than their original purchase > > price. That would be a pretty short list... notably: > > > > - RCA COSMAC VIP (ditto) > > Hmm, whats one of these worth? I have 4 of them, but I have never seen any for sale. Kelly

28 years, 5 months

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HP 935

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Adam Jenkins <adam(a)merlin.net.au> writes: > Anyone know what a HP 935 is? I assume it to be a Hewlett Packard laptop > of some sort, with an LCD display, but I don't know if it is MS-DOS, > CPM/M, a full laptop or one of the Tandy Model 100 computers, or what. :( I dunno, that makes me think HP 3000 series 935, which is a mini. Either that or they left out the "8" in 9835 and it is a desktop computer, possibly with a one-line LED display (9835B) or with a CRT display (9835A). Well, those are my guesses. I'm interested in hearing how far off I am. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 5 months

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old SCSI controller

by rexstout＠ptld.uswest.net

The only things I know about this board is that it's a SCSI controller, and it's BIG. It's about 10"x12", has an 86-pin edge connectr on the bottom, two 50-pin edge connectors on the top, and uses eight 2651 SCSI chips. It's labeled "DATASTREAM ASSY 100716 REV A". Does anyone have any idea what this is for? TIA -JR http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html - Computers http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/ - Star Trek

28 years, 5 months

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Recent Finds...

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

This weekend's recent finds netted me two books: The first is called Computers and Man, by Richard C. Dorf, published by Boyd and Fraser Publishing Co. in 1974. It looks like it could have been a college text at one time. The real notable part is it is loaded with alot of pictures of earlier machines and computers from the late 60s and early 70s (such as a picture of an IBM 2321 strip file, which I think was mentioned here a few months back.). also a good description of core memory (which I have been searching for to go with my core memory board I won at VCF.) The other, which may be a duplicate (for me) was PET/CBM BASIC Programming and Applications by Gene Streitmatter and Larry Joel Goldstein published by Brady Books which had an unlabeled 5 1/4" disk shoved in it, the disk contained a few examples from the book written by the last owner (for the PET)... You never know what you may find though. Not as bad a Programming books of the time go, even some nice type-in games in the back. Larry Anderson -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/ Call our Commodore 64 BBS (Silicon Realms 300-2400 baud) at: (209) 754-1363 -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

28 years, 5 months

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Weekend Additions

by dastar＠wco.com

Well, I thought I'd trumpet my trophies from today's hunting since I haven't done a trip like this one in a while and it was fun. Nothing really amazingly special today, but there were some nice finds. First stop: Computer Recycling Center Commodore Colt (PC-10C) - the Commodore IBM PC compatible, kinda neat. Has a WD hard drive inside (don't know what size) Radio Shack CoCo1 with the old-style (original) keyboard. I believe this is a 4K model. Came with the RS Modem I and a manual set plus some carts and a bunch of tapes with instructions Radio Shack Line Printer VII Zenith Data Systems Portable - this is the OEM'd Morrow Pivot Portable Everex external tape backup - this is cool...it uses cassette tapes for (apparently) 40MB backup. Coincidentally I found another one of these at stop #4 with a cassette. The cassette looks like your standard tape cassette but it has a notch on the tope of the casing in the middle. Can this drive use standard cassettes? It apparently plugs into the external floppy connector of an IBM PC Mac SE with 4MB RAM and 20MB HD Bunch of books, cables, Apple II software, other miscellany Total: $50 Second Stop: Surplus Store Atari 600XL with Atari 1027 printer (2) Lobo 5.25" drives for the Apple II (of course Marvin knows these were manufactured in Santa Barbara, CA!) Apple //e numeric keypad, joystick (2) Apple //c power supplies Miscellany Total: $30 (haggled down from $45) Third Stop: Thrift Store #1 Mattel Aquarius with Mini-expander and two game controllers in excellent condition (my first computer!) Atari 800XL Total: ~$15 Fourth Stop: Thrift Store #2 Burroughs C-7400 Electronic Adding Machine - I don't know if this should be called an adding machine or a computer. It seems to have some sort of computing ability. The keypad has this overlay with commands such as "GOTO", "IF" and "GOSUB" printed on it. I haven't fired it up yet but it has a one line LED (LCD?) display. Looks very neat. I don't normally collect adding machines except when one really jumps out at me. Any info? Data General External 5.25" Floppy Drive - I believe this drive was specific to the DG1 laptop. The funny thing is I just recently saw a photo of it on a web page and was thinking "Hey, I want one of those" A whole OS/2 library of books (like 10 volumes on OS/2 including developer manuals for Presentation Manager, etc). Total: ~$15.00 Fifth Stop: Surplus Store Northstar Advantage in excellent condition Panasonic Portable Data Terminal - similar to the TI Silent 700 but a little more polished Televideo PC-605 - this is a more IBM compatible model of the Televideo PC. This one apparently has a color CGA monitor instead of the more standard monochrome display. It also is supposed to have a PC compatible BIOS and can thus run some PC apps. It also has a HD (probably 20MB) Corvus Systems Hard Drive unit - I believe this goes with the rest of the Corvus Concepts computer. It has several connectors on the back labeled "Processor", "Drive"...it also has one labeled "VCR" and a video IN and OUT jack. McFrank, this is so you can backup to a VCR right? Misc. MicroPro software packages (CalcStar) Misc. books: Rexx, 8080/8085 Assembly Programming Total: $80 Grand Total: ~$190 Total spots visited: 5 Total Elapsed Time: 7hrs Deal Scale: 4 (1=Bad Deal...10=Great Deal!) [I've had better days] Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0 See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!

28 years, 5 months

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front panels

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>> panel. Does anyone remember other front panel S-100 cards besides MIT <>> IMSAI, Ithaca, and Wameco? Wasn't there a Byte-8 sold by Olson <Electronics <>> for a while that also had a front panel? < <>Yes, the Byte-8 had a front panel with, I believe, a hex keypad and a tw <>digit 7-segment LED display. Godbout. Equinox_100. <Was that just a display driven from a boot ROM or was it a real front pan <with displays directly driven from the bus, examine/deposit, single step <etc.? Usually a hex keypad meant a simulated front panel (CPU actually <running a debug program in the boot ROM). A true front panel needed 16 L <or 4 hex digits for address, 8 LEDs or 2 hex digits for data, and at leas <status LEDs for bus signals (SINP, SOUT, MEMR, INTA, etc.). Most were "simulated FP" though most offered better than real front pannel abilities. A few were hybrid, IE: the leds really did indicate what was on the bus and the cpu only ran the rom code needed to perform the needed actions and stopped. <All the panels <I have seen also had an extra 8 LED latched output port and sense switch <input port. Altair compatability hack. The sense switches were also port 0FFh so the software could read them. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Classic computing email list

by RWood54741＠worldnet.att.net

Please tell me how to subscribe. Thanks, Bob Wood

28 years, 5 months

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HP 7958B

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

Today I picked up a HP 7958B unit which contains a "Bauart Gepruft model 97533-60051" Hard Drive. It is my understanding that this Hard Drive is an MFM Hard Drive, and I got this thing expecting to be able to find enough info on the net that I could hopefully fake my way through formating it for one of my MicroVAX's. No such luck, I've been able to dig up a big fat nothing on the net. Does anyone have any info on these things? I gather they were used with HP9000/300 systems. Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |

28 years, 5 months

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IBM Techref

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

Tony, you mentioned that a lot of info was mentioned in the IBM techref, on the AT in your case. What is the kind of size of this set, for the AT let's say, and does anyone have extra copies? What about XT? (I have the quickref to it already) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

2
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Prices & Rants(was: Future Computing Trends. Still is, I guess)

by manney＠nwohio.com

<Snip> > The oldest part is toshiba 1.44 I have no idea > how old but I think it was about 5 years old. Hard to find a good > floppy drive that will last that long now. But tell me if there is > one out there that good and costs $40 and I will take it! What's happening to prices? Just returned from a show...Mitsumi FDD's, $16, sound cards $12, speakers $10...cases $18!!! > Only problem with disposeable PC if the makers gives us the >machines > too non-standard and hard to expand n' upgrade ...a la Packard Bell...but now it seems EVERYONE is making purpose-designed motherboards and cases. The best thing about keeping older PC's going (just to keep this on track) is interchangability of parts: P/S, for example. What's gonna happen to us electronically challenged types when the HP Pavilion P/S smokes -- am I going to go, hat in hand, to HP for another -- at their prices?

28 years, 5 months

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Found a decent use for a PC...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<They'd be extremely handy as a diagnostic tool, especially when there's To a point but it also required somethings to work and added things that could break the system. <problem with a video card or memory, and instead of having to count a <bunch of stupid beeps to determine what the error code is, you can just <read it off the front panel. That's what POST-cards do. <Those front panels had value that was overlooked when the modern machine <were ushered in. The altair had some 30 switches and as many leds all costing a bit never mind a board full of logic. It's was an expensive solution to not using Eproms even small ones. Systems like the POLY-88, SOL, SWTP 6800 got along just fine without them. Most minicomputers were dispensing with them by 1970s in favor of rom boots. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Prices & Rants(was: Future Computing Trends. Still is, I gu

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I apologize for any weird layout, but this IS Lynx...(as always for me) >> Missed my point; I prefer to buy quality one if I can find one and >> that floppy example is what I'm driving at. If I had money... >> Mitsumi and Epson floppy drives are junk. I had too many of those >> fail before year is up and use was not that heavy. Panasonic and few >> Teac is just o. k. but not on my esteemed list. Also those cheapo I had a drive problem once. It was intermittent, and I never could understand what was wrong. Eventually, I swapped the cable and the drive, and it works now. The only FDD I've bought was a 3.5" TEAC for $70 at the world's worst store- CompUSA. It actually has a metal frame! >The one advantage of Teac drives is that you can get the service/repair >manual. I have it for several versions of the FD55 (5.25" drive) and the >FD235 (3.5" drive). It means you can be _sure_ your drive is correctly >aligned. I wouldn't bother if I had to. >What floppy drives would you recomend? Punched card, IBM ,circa 1928. >> more noisy. PSU have cheap parts inside and fan will fail inside. I >> do have bunch of PSU's with failed fans and all of them are sleeve >> bearing type, very doubtful of finding one with ball bearing fans > Once again, I wouldn't bother with such minor details when I run Windows 95. My Fan howls when I boot, then stops after a few minutes. I read an article once on how to replace a PSU fan with a silent external one. >The worst PC-clone part I own is a keyboard. One day when using it, the >manual for my 'scope slipped off the top of a PDP8e that's alongside my PC >and landed on the keyboard. The result was that many keys on the keyboard >failed to work. I spent the next _3 hours_ removing bits of broken SRBP >circuit board and soldering wires all over the place. Amazingly there was >a schematic printed on the box that the keyboard came in (which I'd cut >out and filed), but (I guess) not too suprisingly it was incorrect!. I keep bumping into kb's that have plastic film instead of PCBs. The problem is that sometimes, the film will bend down, and not detect the key, so I have to bash it. (Which I do enough anyway, given my OS) > >And don't get me started on monitors. Is it too much to ask for a monitor Well, now that we have LCDs, it should get better, though LCD can be crap too. Don't have to worry about focus, transformers, etc. But I'm sure that they'll figure out something to screw up. >worse than the 17 year old Barco I happen to have... Out of ten new Performas, about half have darker monitors. We don't know why. It seems that the monitor is the second least reliable part of the computer, after the rest of it :) In old machines, everything was hackable anyway, so that any bugs in hardware or software could be easily fixed by the likes of us. In modern machines, its too complicated to fix anyway, and one would never have the time to fix all of the bugs, and for me, hardware is a minor problem (since it never breaks for me anyway, even when I try) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

3
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Copying TU-58's?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The person I've been getting a bunch of DEC stuff off of has a whole pil <of TU-58 tapes that he would like to get transfered over to something he <can read. I'm wondering if there is anyway I can attach the TU58 drive <I've got for my PDP-11/44 to my MicroVAX II and copy these tapes for him VMS does support Tu58 on vax on a serial port(it is a serial device). The real question is whats the target media? RX50, RX33, RX02? If one of those three the 11/44 can do RX02 and if you have a q-buss PDP-11 with a DLV11j or any other serial port at 176500 you can hang the TU58 off that and use RT-11 to do the tansfer. Allison

28 years, 5 months

2
1
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Found a decent use for a PC...

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>They'd be extremely handy as a diagnostic tool, especially when there's a >problem with a video card or memory, and instead of having to count a >bunch of stupid beeps to determine what the error code is, you can just >read it off the front panel. > >Those front panels had value that was overlooked when the modern machines >were ushered in. I wouldn't say that! Some of the PS/2s, A popular WYSE 286 machine and so one have had LCD diagnostic panels ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

4
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front panels

by peacock＠simconv.com

Kai Kaltenbach wrote: >Other front panels... hmm. > >The Ithaca InterSystems DPS-1 had one. > I still have a DPS-1 in (mostly) good shape. Unlike the IMSAI flat toggle switches it had the triangular ones like DEC PDP-15s. Personally I preferred the IMSAI ones (memories of bloody fingers after toggling in a long binary on an Altair front panel with it's knife edged switches). The DPS-1 works but the motherboard connectors are shot...I got it from a plating/foundry company, covered with crud from the sufuric acid vats next to it. Now if anyone has a nice new pristine Morrow 20 slot motherboard to replace the "etched" one... The other nice feature of the DPS-1 was an o-scope trigger mode on the front panel, sort of a poor man's one channel logic analyzer. If I remember correctly, it also knew something about 24-bit addresses.

28 years, 5 months

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Computers that have appreciated (RE: Altair price check)

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Yowza! [SMTP:yowza@yowza.com] > Besides the Apple 1, does anybody know of a computer system that has > actually appreciated in value? :-) > I assume you mean machines that are worth more than their original purchase price. That would be a pretty short list... notably: - IMSAI 8080 (assuming a base system; a fully configured setup would have cost thousands) - MOSTech KIM-1 (it was so cheap originally it can hardly avoid appreciating since it's a significant historical piece) - Rockwell AIM-65 (ditto) - RCA COSMAC VIP (ditto) If we adjust 1970s dollars to today's rate, not even the Altairs go for more than the purchase price. That leaves only the Apple I in the appreciating column. The only other micro systems (besides the Altair 8800s & Apple I) that fetch significant money, but are nowhere near appreciating from original cost, are: - IBM 5100 - Altair 680 - Processor Technology SOL - Commodore PET (chiclet version) - Apple Lisa - Unproduced prototypes of Atari 8-bit or Commodore equipment Kai

28 years, 5 months

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Altair price check

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Regarding the three Altair machines that were recently posted to the net auction at ebay.com - they went from $1525 to $2025. Mind you, these weren't complete systems. The software, extra drives, etc. were auctioned separately. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 5 months

5
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front panels

by peacock＠simconv.com

On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, Sam Ismail Replied: >> I also had one homebrew S-100 with the Wameco front panel, which used hex >> displays for address and data but otherwise was identical to the IMSAI front >> panel. Does anyone remember other front panel S-100 cards besides MITS, >> IMSAI, Ithaca, and Wameco? Wasn't there a Byte-8 sold by Olson Electronics >> for a while that also had a front panel? >Yes, the Byte-8 had a front panel with, I believe, a hex keypad and a two >digit 7-segment LED display. Was that just a display driven from a boot ROM or was it a real front panel, with displays directly driven from the bus, examine/deposit, single step, etc.? Usually a hex keypad meant a simulated front panel (CPU actually running a debug program in the boot ROM). A true front panel needed 16 LEDs or 4 hex digits for address, 8 LEDs or 2 hex digits for data, and at least 8 status LEDs for bus signals (SINP, SOUT, MEMR, INTA, etc.). All the panels I have seen also had an extra 8 LED latched output port and sense switch input port. >From cad at Mon Feb 23 17:06:14 1998 From: cad at (Charles A. Davis) Date: Sun Feb 27 18:32:11 2005 Subject: front panels References: <61AC5C9A4B9CD11181A200805F57CD54D09C92(a)red-msg-44.dns.microsoft.com> Message-ID: <34F200E6.40C2(a)gamewood.net> And then there is the Astral 2000. Full front panel (16 address/data switches, 16 leds) and a 4 digit hex display also. Switches to 'load' address or data, run/step, int. etc. When the machine is running normaly, the hex display is used as a 'clock' This machine uses a MC6800 chip. Chuck -- ----------------------------------------------------------- He, who will not reason, is a bigot; William Drumond, he, who cannot, is a fool; Scottish writer and he, who dares not, is a slave. (1585-1649) While he that does, is a free man! Joseph P. 1955- ----------------------------------------------------------- (be sure to correct the return address when using 'reply') Chuck Davis / Sutherlin Industries FAX # (804) 799-0940 1973 Reeves Mill Road E-Mail -- cad(a)gamewood.net Sutherlin, Virginia 24594 Voice # (804) 799-5803

28 years, 5 months

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front panels

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

>Yes, the Byte-8 had a front panel with, I believe, a hex keypad and a two >digit 7-segment LED display. The Byte Systems' BYT-8 didn't have a keypad or LED display, just 24 toggle switches and the usual binary LEDs. The front panel plugs directly into the backplane. > On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, Jack Peacock wrote: > Does anyone remember other front panel S-100 cards besides MITS, > IMSAI, Ithaca, and Wameco? Wasn't there a Byte-8 sold by Olson Electronics > for a while that also had a front panel? Other front panels... hmm. The Ithaca InterSystems DPS-1 had one. Somewhere kicking around I do have another "front panel" card that could hardly have been used as a literal front panel... I believe it was made by Jameco or somesuch. It's a full-and-a-half-length S-100 Z80 single board computer card (it's so long, it couldn't have fit in any case) with several segments of alpha display, and a 24- or 30-key keyboard-style keypad. Kai

28 years, 5 months

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Panasonic Exec. Partner information wanted

by Marty＠itgonline.com

I was just given a Panasonic Exec. Partner. It looks like a laptop on stearoids. It should have been called a lugtop. It has a red plasma display, full keyboard, twin 5 1/4" floppy drives and a built-in printer. It comes with a convenient folding handle that swings out of the way (so as to not destroy its sleek lines presumeably) and boots fine. Unfortunately no paper came with it so I'd appreciate any information on when this was marketed. It's PC DOS compatible so that dates it post 1981 at least. Marty Mintzell

28 years, 5 months

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KNOXM5 RSTS Rides Again!

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<From: "Daniel A. Seagraves" <DSEAGRAV(a)toad.xkl.com> <KL0: 176510 300 <<< What is that? real time clock or line time clock <DM0: 170500 440 DH0 DM is the DH mux and is 8lines <KB9:KB24 disabled - no DH0: controller You have to have 3 controllers for that many lines I believe and it only found one. <And wasn't DM0: a disk controller? Am I supposed to reset the CSRs to th Its that DH muxed serial line thing you looking for. you may have set CSRs though Tim S may know the specifics for U-bus. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Modern Minimalism (Was: Future Computing Trends)

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Roger Ivie <IVIE(a)cc.usu.edu> wrote: >On the other hand, CP/M-68K is available from http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm/. >A lot of it is written in C; with some work, it can be modernized and >updated. What could be more retro than building the ability to port >CP/M to anything with a C compiler? Darn, I had this idea, too. I was going to port it to the Palm Pilot. I looked at the code, and discovered a few things that the owner of that page (Tim Olmstead) hadn't found. I think CP/M-68K was cross-compiled under Alcyon C on a VAX 11/780. (Alcyon also produced an OS called Regulus that was available for Smoke Signal Broadcasting's 68000 systems.) The source contains the name "Tom Saulpaugh", and a web search turned up a book "The JavaOS? Design and Architecture" he wrote. He's at Sun as the architect of JavaOS for Network Computers. Tom Mason also works at Sun, and he worked at DRI on CPM-86, Concurrent CPM-86, and CP/M-86+. Novell appears willing to release source, but Tim suspects that there's no one around willing to discover or document what's available - if anything. For example, the source to CBASIC should be around, but they haven't released it. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 5 months

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Found a decent use for a PC...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<No, it's just something about REALLY LARGE frontpanel boxes that rules. <The KA-10 is plain awesome. It's not only a real good hack, but it's <the foundation of timesharing and the ARPAnet. I'll probably never see o <in action, so I'm amassing as much information as I can - maybe it can b I have and it's more than awesome. <re-built? Who knows, they used discrete components... Half the problem is finding one that is complete enough with minimim peripherals. The peripherals also eat power. just the cpu with a hack to use modern disks for power and space savings wouldn't be out of line. As to being discrete, the answer is mostly not completely. It's a hackable machine. <Of course, this is WAY out of my league, but if I keep docs around... You never know. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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BBC Model B - video help

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

On the subject of BBC video problems, it occurs to me that the BBC micro does scrolling by moving the pointer to the start of the screen (under some conditions?). If you can get it to do this, and see how the display behaves, you may be able to determine easily if it's an addressing problem. Just a thought. Philip.

28 years, 5 months

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Prices & Rants(was: Future Computing Trends. Still is, I g

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>Oh, and as per a previous mail by someone that you had replied to with a >hotmail.com account (so this isn't at you directly, but I cannot find the >intermediate mail): Last I checked, Russians don't use dollars, they use >Rubles. I have a 1990 5 Ruble proof coin I purchased in East Berlin while I >was there in my collection. (25 years ago, most coins were cheaper than >computers -- now it's the other way around!) So I was making a statement >about the pitiful (IMHO) status of the American dollar, just to clear >things up. Not to go too much off topic, but I made the russia comment, because I was born in the USSR, and it is very apparent to me. They DO use rubles, but before they artificially deflated it (with a clone case :), the xchng rate was something like 5000 Rubles to a US Dollar. I was watching a Russian comedy program a few days ago, and they mentioned that Russia has more dollars than the US, discussing the aid US gives them :) Actually, dollars are pretty much common there now, with slightly greater value. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

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Altair price check

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

And I was losing bidder in one on the net recently, consisting of an 8800a and two 8" drives. It went for $1800 A -----Original Message----- From: John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 1998 2:34 AM Subject: Altair price check > >Regarding the three Altair machines that were recently posted >to the net auction at ebay.com - they went from $1525 to $2025. >Mind you, these weren't complete systems. The software, extra >drives, etc. were auctioned separately. > >- John >Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm> > >

28 years, 5 months

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dhgf

by rus_wallden＠bc.sympatico.ca

28 years, 5 months

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9370 is a dog! Was: Re: Re[2]: Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

William Donzelli quoted me as having written: >> All 3090 models are indeed water machines. The 3090 was IBM's large >> mainframe of the late 1980s. > > Are you sure that there were not a few air cooled models towards the end? > I have an air-TCM from, I believe, a late 3090. I paid two bucks for it. > In hindsight, I should have purchased all of them in the chassis (25 or > 16, I do not remember offhand. OK. To be strictly accurate, all 3090 models of which I am aware are water cooled machines. I was a student when I worked at IBM - a year before going to university, and two summer vacations - after which I somewhat lost touch with them. My last job with IBM was in 1988, and not at the marketing location where I had worked before, but in a factory building cash dispensers. My last real knowledge of IBM was >from 1987, then. >> involved!) to replace the strange 400Hz thingies. And a little circuit >> to provide a 400Hz heartbeat if the machine uses this at all... > > This is probably the best solution. > > It probably does monitor the 400 Hz, and machine check if it goes away. > Remember, these machine monitor EVERYTHING (like the earthquake sensor in > some of them - give them a good kick and they will report a seismic > check). Ouch! But you may get away with providing a fake "ac good" signal, rather than ac for it to monitor. > The "Mill" was chopped up into smaller rooms - our room just happens not > to have mice power, but the one next door does. Strange - I shouldn't have thought it took much to power a mouse :-) Still, this means you shouldn't have much difficulty with the upgrade. Philip.

28 years, 5 months

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Timeline of the Micro

by groberts＠mitre.org

fyi, interesting time line of the microcomputer: "Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers" http://www1.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist.htm - glenn +=========================================================+ | Glenn F. Roberts, Falls Church, VA | Comments are my own and not the opinion of my employer | groberts(a)mitre.org

28 years, 5 months

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RQDX3 problem?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Is it possible for a RQDX3 to be bad, and trash a RD53 (Yes, I know what <terrible drives they are) to the extent they can't be formated in a VS200 Yes and no. Yes I've had drives a VS2k would not touch but the drives were otherwise ok. The PDP-11 formatter would however format them. Most of the drives I have that the VS2k didn't like were formatted on my CP/M crate using a teltek card(oddball format) or the older PC mfm controllers. You could have an incorrect hookup, power problems or other things going on. Are the RD5x's powered from the same powersupply as the rest of the system (in the same box)? RQDX3s do fail though the failure modes can be vary varied as they have their own PDP-11/memory/eprom on board. If it passes self diagnostics it's a 98% safe bet, if it's self testable it's ok. That does mean there are parts that selftest cannot verify. <So my question is, am I just having very bad luck or is the controller m <problem? I think your suffering from a multitude of things and with an apparent lack of docs to reference too. Your trying to attack it was if it were a PC and it's not even close. Those drives generally don't fail that suddenly and my expereince is they are generally reliable. But when you start with a box of junk it's hard to get to a know working point. Me I have Q-bus PDP-11s that can boot faster and off a wider variety of devices so any testing is done that using good old RT-11. I also have a set of diags for that platform so testing things like disks, tapes and interfaces is doable either with diags or by using them. At some point I have know good boards and questionable seperated and can move the known good to the uvax. PDP-11 and uvax Qbus commonality can be handy. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Copying TU-58's?

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

The person I've been getting a bunch of DEC stuff off of has a whole pile of TU-58 tapes that he would like to get transfered over to something he can read. I'm wondering if there is anyway I can attach the TU58 drive I've got for my PDP-11/44 to my MicroVAX II and copy these tapes for him. Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |

28 years, 5 months

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Found a decent use for a PC...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I'd say it's not so much a matter of there being "no need for them" <(front panels), so much as the fact that machines are so fast any more <that I'm not sure how much use they'd be, especially with <multi-tasking operating systems. Before the address and data LEDs <stabilized with any useful information, it would be somewhere else. In some respects that is true even back then when instruction cycle time were in the 2-10uS bracket. You did get to see the average addresses that were freqently accessed. However, front pannels also posessed the ability to stop the cpu, and single step or single instruction advance it. A true front panel on a PC would have to be able to do that and that is no small trick considering the caches, Dram refresh and other dynamic timings. < -Bill Richman < http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r < (Home of the COSMAC Elf Simulator!) Cosmac ELF sim? Humm, I still rin one of those chips for fun. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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HP 935

by adam＠merlin.net.au

Hi! Anyone know what a HP 935 is? I assume it to be a Hewlett Packard laptop of some sort, with an LCD display, but I don't know if it is MS-DOS, CPM/M, a full laptop or one of the Tandy Model 100 computers, or what. :( A mining company just offered me a pile of them (along with my choice of their old computers), but I figure I should know something about them before I make the journey. Thanks heaps, Adam.

28 years, 5 months

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RQDX3 problem?

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

Is it possible for a RQDX3 to be bad, and trash a RD53 (Yes, I know what terrible drives they are) to the extent they can't be formated in a VS2000? I'm still trying to get my VAXstation II/RC up and running, and I was trying to load it with a questionable tape today. I booted with a standalone backup tape and started reloading. I then proceeded to get a parity error, which I told it to ignore. It sat around for a couple of hours not doing much of anything, so I halted the system and unloaded the tape. Then later on today I went to load it from a known good system tape, only this time standalone backup wouldn't see the disk. Thinking the drive needed reformated I pulled it out, and put it in my VS2000, and when I go to format it I get the following. >>> t 70 KA410-A RDRXfmt VSfmt_QUE_unitno (0-2) ? 0 VSfmt_STS_Siz .?? VSfmt_RES_ERR #2 84 FAIL >>> I had formated this same drive in this same system early last week with no problem. I just hadn't had time until today to try loading it. This is the second Hard Drive that has quite working and I've been unable to format after placing it in this system. I have yet to actually get the system to work with a Hard Drive (although the standalone backup recognized the one earlier today). So my question is, am I just having very bad luck or is the controller my problem? Thanks, Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |

28 years, 5 months

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Counterpoint boxen

by adept＠mcs.com

I have two counterpoint unix boxen. I've had these things for years but have never got around to fixing them up. They both have the IO subsystem, but they are also both missing many parts. I was wondering if anyone has experience with these things and mebbe some documentation. I _do_ have an original 60M QIC of counterpoint unix that I could dupe if anyone is interested (although I haven't checked its reliability recently) Cheers, Dan

28 years, 5 months

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pong

by chrish＠knet.kootenay.net

sorry about that rus is the game still, avail. At 06:43 PM 22/02/98 -0800, you wrote: >where are you at dan i live in castlegar bc canada i will take it if it >doesent cost to much >At 12:22 PM 22/02/98 -0800, you wrote: >>any body want my coin op pong machine >> >> > > >

28 years, 5 months

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TRS-80 Model II

by lwalker＠mail.interlog.com

Well kids and kiddies I got it functioning. The int. fdd wasn't positioning the heads close enough to the disk to read them. Fired up the various OS -- TRSdos 2.0 A , TRSdos 4.2 , CP/M 2.25 and the apps. Scripsit, Profile+, Visicalc, several terminal programs and some CP/M apps. including MBasic and the C asm. Wheeee !! What fun !! BTW, it says has 64k . Don't know about that upgrade tho. Next step is to check out these HDD s. Thanks to all who contributed. ciao larry lwalkerN0spaM(a)interlog.com

28 years, 5 months

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pong

by chrish＠knet.kootenay.net

where are you at dan i live in castlegar bc canada i will take it if it doesent cost to much At 12:22 PM 22/02/98 -0800, you wrote: >any body want my coin op pong machine > >

28 years, 5 months

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Moving my Collection?

by chrish＠knet.kootenay.net

found a homepage for the last home computer ti ever produced it wascalled the ti 99/8 it can be seen at http://w3.gwis.com/~polivka/998.html At 10:01 AM 22/02/98 -0500, you wrote: >On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Sam Ismail wrote: >> On a scarcely related note, has anyone ever seen (or does anyone have) a >> TI-99/4 (no "a")? >Andrew Gurudata has a page devoted entirely to the TI-99/4 at: > >http://www.vex.net/~guru/ti/ti994nota.htm > > >-------------------------------------- >Rich Polivka >Alternate e-mail: copguy(a)geocities.com or ti994a(a)technologist.com >TI Home Computer Page: http://w3.gwis.com/~polivka/994apg.html >My Ohio Police Pages: http://www.cop-spot.com/~OhioBlue >------------------------------------ > > >

28 years, 5 months

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NorthStar Advantage Question

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

MSX was a "standard" that allowed machines to share mostly BASIC source code, it was popular in Europe for about 3 tears then died. I don't know the involvement of MS in that atempted "standard" but since it was crappy from the start I would believe they originated it ;). I think it was followed by MSX2, it was enhanced to keep up with the increase in computing power. >So many Z-80 CP/M machines... were they compatible, to a reasonable >extent? (I heard that MS had some standard in Japan for the purpose >called MSX. More info on that?) ------------------------------------------------------------- Fran?ois Visit the Sanctuary at: http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon PS what's the deal with that hotmail stuff? >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

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Sunday Find

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Found a complete HP 97 calculator today at Goodwill with leather case, manual, power supply, and some load instructions. May trade this one ?

28 years, 5 months

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Free Osborne OCC-1 (Found this post in misc.forsale.computers.other.systems)

by bill_r＠inetnebr.com

Found this post in misc.forsale.computers.other.systems. Thought I'd copy it here in case anyone was interested and hadn't seen it. I know nothing about the person or the systems. >From: dmanley(a)cdsnet.net (Darrel Manley) >Newsgroups: misc.forsale.computers.other.systems >Subject: Free antique computers! >Date: 22 Feb 1998 17:36:01 GMT >Organization: MegaNews! >Lines: 3 >Message-ID: <6cpnm1$9ma$6(a)news-02.meganews.com> >NNTP-Posting-Host: d01a852f.dip.cdsnet.net >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII >X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.99.9 (Released Version) (16bit) >Xref: news.inetnebr.com misc.forsale.computers.other.systems:34283 > >2 Osbourne OCC-1 computers, modems installed, all documentation and software >included. You pay shipping. Otherwise - landfill! -Bill Richman bill_r(a)inetnebr.com http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r (Home of the COSMAC Elf Simulator!)

28 years, 5 months

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Prices & Rants(was: Future Computing Trends. Still is, I gu

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>Uh, really? Last I knew, Aceropen was a division of Acer, which everything >I've seen is some of the nastiest junk in the world (read: worse than >Packard Bell)... I've had an Acer. It was nice, except very hard to open. It always jammed. >Just my $0.00002, Come ON, stop making fun of Russian money! Just because it's inflated doesn't mean it's worth less ;) >Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed, >Owner, MerchWare | nuclear warhead disarmament should >zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice. > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

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pong

by rus_wallden＠bc.sympatico.ca

any body want my coin op pong machine

28 years, 5 months

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BBC Model B - video help

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

This sounds about right. If I counted the number of characters before the repeat, couldn't I then identify the stuck line? Then, perhaps... I could go to the hardware? Am I making sense? A -----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, February 22, 1998 11:57 PM Subject: Re: BBC Model B - video help >Unlikely but possible. More likely is a memory address error. A stuck >address line will cause data to repeat 2*n times in the display memory.

28 years, 5 months

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RCA CDP 1802 & SC/MP parts

by jmg＠iac.net

Hey! I just landed pieces to an 1802 kit! I've got everything but the hex keypoad and power supply (though I'm sure +12, +5, -5 would do the trick). This is not one of those single board computers like the ELF-II, it's made up of several boards which connect to the main unit via ribbon cables. Here are descriptions of the boards: Primary board with 1802 labled "Infinite" Part Number UCE100001 dated 1976 This board has a rather large crystal which appears to run at 135khz (if I'm reading the markings right). A large blue 3000 MFD capacitor, some smaller disk .01 uf capacitors, and these chips: 4) RCA 701 CD4001AE 1) RCA 631 4049AE 2) 2606B (I think this is the 256 bytes of RAM) The board also has a two sided 36 connector per side edge card, which connects to nothing. Next to the 1802 is a red ribbon cable which attaches to another board containing four LED readouts and a singfle LED light (attached to the Q bit I suppose). Each LED (but the Q light) has F9368DC 7705 - one for each LED). The second board is listed as INFINITE 1976, UCE30004. On an unattached board are two LED's, four chips and a 24 pin socket (empty - I guess for a monitor ROM). This chips are: 2) RCA 701 CD4001AE 1) M1-0110-5 (7649) 1) MC14013CP (7438) The last unattached board contains three switches and three buttons, with a metal faceplate labeled UC 1800. The buttons are labeled Reset, Start/EF1, and Enter, the switched are labeled ON/OFF, STNDBY Power, and Load Mode. This board also has four chips: 3) MC14013CP (7438) 1) RCA 636 CD4011AE Both of the unattached boards connect to the primary board via a ribbon cable terminated by a 14 pin DIP; there are two 14 pin DIP sockets on the primary board. It's unclear which board should be plugged into which socket. I also snagged pices to an SC/MP kit, along with a bunch of DOCS and old COMPUTE newsletters dating from 1978 or so (WOW!). Also got a COSMAC Microprocessor Product Guide (think I could call up RCA and order any of the things listed therein????? - HA!), and an original RCA 1800 Users manual (WOW!), in almost pristine condition. As a kid I put together an ELF-II in 1980 (I was 12), so I have some familiararity with this line of processors (could never get over the gethi instruction yuck yuck yuck). Looks like I need to put together a hex keypad and P/S to get this up and running. Anyone have any ideas? Also, this things is missing the CDP 1861 video driver which my old ELF-II used to have - what's up with this? I wonder what happened to all those old late 70's kit manufacturers... I don't see any FAQs out on the net for those old ELF's, KIMS, SYMS, and AIMS. Oh well, relpies by the curious and knowledgeable would be most appriciated. Thanks! J. Maynard Gelinas

28 years, 5 months

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I got some more stuff! :-)

by rexstout＠ptld.uswest.net

Well, at the hamfest yesterday I got a VT220 terminal, an HP-IL/HP-IB converter(maybe now I can use my HP 2225B...), a Laser 128 with two monitors(broken Zenith and working Apple Monitor III) two disk drives(Apple Disk II and a clone) a box of Apple II cards(mostly printer cards), a Hayes Micromodem II(110/300bps switchable, Apple II card and a box that sits outside the computer), two huge 9600bps leased line modems(kinda useless, but they were free!), an IBM 3180 terminal keyboard(but no terminal...), and of course I couldn't leave without getting a battery for my TH-205 radio. Everything seems to work except the VT220 keyboard and the Zenith monitor, and I have no way of testing the modems but they ligth up when plugged in, and I'm hoping that the 3180 keyboard will work with my 3191... -JR http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html - Computers http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/ - Star Trek

28 years, 5 months

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Tandy/Radio Shack Model 12

by gpine＠popmail.mcs.net

I have a non-working Radio Shack Model 12 computer, some software, and some documentation that I would gladly give to someone who could use them. I don't think that the unit would be worth the cost of shipping as the computer is probably useful only for parts for someone who has one already. I know that one disk drive (it has two 8-inch drives) is bad. It was physically ruining diskettes by scraping off the coating in a ring toward the center of the diskette. In the process of inspecting the unit to check out the drives, I managed to break off a nub of glass near the CRT socket and the vacuum seal was broken. If someone wanted to fix this unit, he would need one good 8-inch, half height drive and a new CRT. So far as I know it has one good drive, a good motherboard, power supply, keyboard, and whatever other electronic boards as might exist (I don't remember). The computer was working at the time I finished it off mechanically except for the bad disk drive. I also have the Model 12 Owner's Manual and TRSDOS-II Reference Manual, a brand new copy of TRSDOS 2.0B Version 02.0B.00 from Radio Shack special orders dept., a copy of Pickles and Trout CP/M for the Model 12, and a copy of SuperCalc 2 with P&T CP/M. I also have a plastic dust cover for the Model 12. I live in the Chicago area. If anyone is interested in picking up the unit, send me an email, and we'll make arrangements. If someone wants the unit enough to pay the cost of packing and shipping via Mailboxes Etc., I'll check into costs, but I doubt that it would be a good investment. Let me know of any interest. Gerald

28 years, 5 months

2
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Found a decent use for a PC...

by dwalterm＠ix.netcom.com

At 02:11 AM 2/22/98 -0500, you wrote: >> <No, it's just something about REALLY LARGE frontpanel boxes that rules. >> <The KA-10 is plain awesome. > >Yes, frontpanels do. It is a shame that no computer has had one since the >1970s. There just is no need for them anymore. > >What was the last machine to have a switch register and lights? The oldest >I can think of is one of the HP1000s (help me with the model number!). HP1000s with front panels: 2114 2116 2108 2112 2109 2113 2111 2117 The 2117 was the last of the family. Its also known as the 21MX F series. The 2114 was the first. A huge 4K of Core memory... 2108 and 2112 were the original MX family 2109 and 2113 were the MX-E series 2111 and 2117 were the MX-F series. There were a few more flavors as well used in combination with instruments like the 2105A. Regards, Don

28 years, 5 months

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Future Computing Trends

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>Date: Sun, 22 Feb 1998 00:41:45 -0500 >Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu >From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram(a)cnct.com> >To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> >Subject: Re: Future Computing Trends > >Max Eskin wrote: >> >> I agree wholeheartedly with all you say with one exception. I have a >> Pentium 75 overclocked to 100, 16MB ram. It runs Word 95 just fine, >> and ran it fine when it had 8MB. Visual Basic and IE4 (I don't use >> it regulary, Opera at www.operasoftware.com is much better: 1MB >> download!) >> work fine too. I can only imagine how Linux would run. But to put >> this in a classical context, I agree that old computers are still >> useful, but I so wish that they had better displays :) > >I defy _anybody_ to say that a "better" display would improve any >Big Five Software arcade games as they ran on the 128x48 monochrome >graphics of the TRS-80 1/3. And I defy anybody to find a better >batch of arcade games, unless you really want to see the blood from >kicked-in faces, a fetish I outgrew 25 or so years ago. >-- Who says I want it for arcades? I don't play games much anyway. Whatever happened to desktop publishing, CAD, photoediting? What mostly annoys me is how little I can fit on an 80X25 text mode screen compared to 1280X1024 resolution and small font. > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

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Moving my Collection?

by polivka＠gwis.com

On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Sam Ismail wrote: > On a scarcely related note, has anyone ever seen (or does anyone have) a > TI-99/4 (no "a")? Andrew Gurudata has a page devoted entirely to the TI-99/4 at: http://www.vex.net/~guru/ti/ti994nota.htm -------------------------------------- Rich Polivka Alternate e-mail: copguy(a)geocities.com or ti994a(a)technologist.com TI Home Computer Page: http://w3.gwis.com/~polivka/994apg.html My Ohio Police Pages: http://www.cop-spot.com/~OhioBlue ------------------------------------

28 years, 5 months

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Vector Graghics

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I went to a trift store and found an interesting looking 5 1/4" disk. It's copy righted to Vector Graphics and Digital Research and is labeled Vector 4 CP/M Version 1.0 Release 2. Does anyone know what it's for? Joe

28 years, 5 months

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OOPs AT&Ts

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

the 9533 i had was preloaded with os2 but now i'm running pcdos7 and win3.11 just fine. i trying to get a pcmcia nic to work but having problems. the nic worked in my thinkpad but i dont remember how i had my autoexec.bat and config.sys set up. i do not remember the memory inclusions and exclusions that need to be set up. david << What kind of networking problems are you having? Do you have the PCMCIA model? Some of them had a token ring card instead of PCMCIA. Obligatory 10-year-old-plus story: HSC also has a DG/One (I think they want $45 for it) and an odd-looking Morrow portable that wasn't in very good shape. I passed on both, so if anybody is looking for these things, check with these guys: http://www.halted.com/ -- Doug >>

28 years, 5 months

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Datanumerics DL8a

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

I asked about this one a little while back. Nobody knows what it is, apparently. Datanumerics DL8A. It is 8080 based, comes in a 19" rack mount case, has 4k 600ns ram, 1 current loop (I think) port, and obviously a full front panel. I ended up paying about US$150 for the DL8A, a Compucolor 2, and a PET 2032 A log? Maybe, but I'm curious about the DL8A. If there's any interest, I'll place images on my website when it arrives. A.

28 years, 5 months

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OOPs AT&Ts

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

ah, the 9533! i bought two nonworking ones for $30 and fixed them both! i gave one to my brother that is still in warranty for two more months. these machines have 3 year warranty and some are still under warranty. Im having problems getting a nic to work, but a cute little machine nonetheless. i love the keyboard too. i have never seen the matching lcd though. david In a message dated 98-02-20 01:06:49 EST, you write: << > All PS/2 starts with 85aa-yyy, Not all of them. One of my favorite odd-ball computers is the IBM PS/2e (9533). It's a very small low-power desktop model with 4 PCMCIA slots. One of mine even has an external flat panel VGA display. Because of the low power consumption, I use one as my home LAN internet gateway. BTW, does anybody have an extra floppy and cable for one of these things? It uses a notebook floppy drive and a notebook-like cable (mylar?). >>

28 years, 5 months

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PCjr serial connector pin out

by jdemaa17＠calvin.edu

We are looking to convert a PCjr computer into a serial terminal emulator, and our limiting factor is finding how to adapting its serial connector to a DB-9. Has anyone done this? We do not want to spend money on this, this is a student project. I apoligize for butting into this list as I can't find how to subscribe, so please reply by personal email. Also, if anyone knows of a good dos program to use for this project, please let me know Jeff DeMaagd jdemaa17 !at! calvin.edu http://www.calvin.edu/~jdemaa17 64-bit Alpha Linux OS user.

28 years, 5 months

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NorthStar Advantage Question

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

So many Z-80 CP/M machines... were they compatible, to a reasonable extent? (I heard that MS had some standard in Japan for the purpose called MSX. More info on that?) >To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> >Subject: Re: NorthStar Advantage Question > >Joe wrote: >> >> At 07:05 PM 2/20/98 -0500, you wrote: >> >I just bought a Northstar Advantage. >> >> Ok what's a NorthStar Advantade? > > >They started as Kentucky Fried Computers and were later forced to >change their name to North Star Computers....according to Stan >Veit. The Advantage was a 64k Z80A running at 4MHz. It had two >built-in floppy drives...ran CP/M. Late 70's I believe. > >Win > >-- >Win Heagy >wheagy(a)erols.com > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 5 months

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Modern Minimalism (Was: Future Computing Trends)

by higginbo＠netpath.net

At 02:46 PM 2/20/98 PST, you wrote: >and ran it fine when it had 8MB. Visual Basic and IE4 (I don't use >it regulary, Opera at www.operasoftware.com is much better: 1MB >download!) If you think that's cool, you need to check out what they are doing with QNX: http://www.qnx.com/iat/createdemo.html QNX is a very small micro-kernel OS that has the look of Windows 95, has builtin TCP/IP networking, a notepad, a few other little doodads, and to top it off, a fully functional HTML 3.2 compliant web browser. Also supports graphics modes up to 1024x768 in millions of colors. Okay, not amazing enough for you already? How about if I told you it all ran off a 1.44mb floppy disk? Hmmmm? :) Everyone owes to themselves to go grab this FREE (yes, FREE) OS and try it for themselves. -John Higginbotham- -limbo.netpath.net-

28 years, 5 months

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Vector Graghics

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<This is a CP/M master for a Vector Graphics Vector 4 CP/M machine. Was <the Vector 4 S-100 based btw anyone? < <Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar@sicon Yes it was. One of my s100 boxen is a Vector MX (s100 crate only none of the original boards). The MX was z80 powered byt the Vector 4 may have been 8088(cpm-86 V1). Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Vector Graghics

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> > 4 CP/M Version 1.0 Release 2. Does anyone know what it's for? <> <Hard sector agrees with my information also. But I have a note <indicating that the Vector 4 was/is a CP/M-86 machine. Any other inputs < Don, I think your right. The CP/M Version1.0 Release 2 could only be cpm-86 as CP/M-80 would ahve been more likely 1.4 or 2.2. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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Seen on the Web : Does anyone need ConvexOS manuals?

by hansp＠columbia.digiweb.com

Chance for smoeone to save some documentation, and perhaps a machine... -- Hans B. Pufal : <mailto:hansp@digiweb.com> Comprehensive Computer Catalogue : <http://www.digiweb.com/~hansp/ccc/> _-_-__-___--_-____-_--_-_-____--_---_-_---_--__--_--_--____---_--_--__--_

28 years, 5 months

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I GOT ONE

by rus_wallden＠bc.sympatico.ca

THE ARCADE PONG NEED TO FIX IT THE SDREEN IS BLURRY

28 years, 5 months

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IBM docs.

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

At the risk of reviving at least two discussions better left dead, I have dug out some more IBM documents. I have a 4361 marketing leaflet - the 4361 was the entry level 370 system between the withdrawal of the 4341/4321 and the introduction of the 9370. I have practically no technical info so it won't contribute to the debate on power requirements, but it was a self contained, air-cooled unit often described as looking like a chest freezer. I also have the following pocket reference cards/books. IBM System/34 Command and OCL Statements Reference Summary (9th edition, April 1983), 170 pages IBM System/34 COBOL Reference Summary (4th edition, January 1982), 90 pages IBM System/34 Assembler Reference Summary (3rd edition, July 1979), 26 pages IBM System/32 SCP Command Statement Reference Summary (6th edition, May 1980), 23 pages It seems I have a second copy of the Command and OCL statements and Cobol reference summaries. *** IF ONE OF YOU OUT THERE WITH A SYSTEM/34 NEEDS EITHER OF THESE I WILL SEND IT/THEM TO YOU *** I might also photocopy the Assembler reference if you ask nicely. If anyone out there has a System/32 I shall be so amazed I might even send you my only copy of the reference card. The instruction set of the System/34 looks CISC and 8-bit-ish, although it handled 16 bit and (I think) 32 bit data. Typical speed seems to have been 0.1 to 0.3 MIPS. Someone on this list some months ago described it as "a room-sized 8088" which is probably about right, performance-wise... Philip.

28 years, 5 months

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9370 is a dog! Was: Re: Re[2]: Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

[Power Consumption of 3090] > Are these all water machines? There are some air-cooled versions that are > probably reasonable. All 3090 models are indeed water machines. The 3090 was IBM's large mainframe of the late 1980s. There were other 370-derived machines around at the time. In particular there was the 4300 series, of which the 4361 and 4381 remained at that time (I think if you tried to buy a 4321 or 4341 you got a 4361. The price was the same, anyway.) I cannot remember whether these were air or water cooled, but they were much less powerful than the 3090 >> These figures are not even for a minimum system - you have to add disk >> drives and that awful 400Hz motor generator set - which can consume up >> to 7kW in itself. > > Yes, the 400 Hz would be a problem, almost as much as a cooling system (if > one went with a water machine - probably too big of a headache). I wonder. I have never seen inside the PSU of any of these machines, but it seems to me that the outputs are all going to be low voltage dc at a few hundred amps - so conventional switching power supplies could be contrived (tho' probably not purchased new if there are tens of kW involved!) to replace the strange 400Hz thingies. And a little circuit to provide a 400Hz heartbeat if the machine uses this at all... >> So, as I said, a typical system based around, say, a model 200 might >> consume 50kW, but even that needn't cripple you financially. > > No. Around me, electricity is not very cheap - 11 cents/kWh - but running Much the same here. > a 50kW computer is not a financial burden if done in moderation. What > might be a burden is getting the service entrance of the house to a point > where it could handle 50kW nicely. Yes. Although the elctricity company may do a lot of the work free of charge if they think you're going to use a lot of the stuff. (My parents achieved this. They wanted to move the meter board, so the electrician doing the wiring told the electricity company, they're going to use so much electricity thy'll need 3-phase and there won't be room in the existing location. Result: new 3-phase connection and new meter board, all free of charge.) > I suppose that is the good thing about RCS/RI - we are in a factory, and > are looking to get real 3-phase installed! Nice. I'm surprised you don't have this already if you're in a factory. Here we have 240V (now officially 230V but I've not noticed any change) single phase up to around 20kW peak demand, 415V 3 phase (now officially 400V, ditto) up to a megawatt or so, 11kV 3 phase above that. Some factories have their own supply at 33kV or even higher. Philip.

28 years, 5 months

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