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

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 09:45 PM 1/12/98 -0800, you wrote: >> No handles??? 'Tain't a Portable then! Whups, forgot the 8^) >Hmmm, maybe having handles isn't the best criteria for determining if a >machine is portable. Hmmm... Panasonic Sr. Partner: Handle Apple Mac Portable: Handle HP LS/12: Handle Altima 2: Handle Good Composer: Handel Amstrad PPC640: Handle Bondwell B310+: Handle Osborne 01: Handle (Sorry, couldn't resist.) >It seems that portable machines are those which the manufacturer built >to be easily picked up (in some cases without grunting too loudly) and moved >to another location to be used. This holds for suitable values of "easily". Yep. >Yes, Roger. I know you were kidding. Aw, shucks. I thought I had ya fooled. 8^) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Amstrads in the US

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 07:55 PM 1/12/98 -0600, you wrote: >>1) I took pictures of a bunch of systems: >> Amstrad PPC640 >I didn't know these were available in the US. I just hauled one back >(PPC512) from France last week and I thought that I had a very original >portable (even though it got pretty heavy waiting for customs;) >Were there any other of the Amstrad marketted in the US like the CPC series? Well, Amstrad wasn't really big over here, but they did sell a few machines. Other Amstrad's I've got (second hand) are the PDA600 "PenPad" and the PC-20 (sort of a CoCo-ish/Atari ST-ish one-piece PC). btw, there was another PPC640 that sold on eBay this weekend, but it was complete, with power supplies, software, and a really neat case. I didn't get it, though. 8^( --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Pricing in shops

by higginbo＠netpath.net

At 08:32 PM 1/13/98 -0600, you wrote: >Y'know, I once saw an honest-to-god IBM stand-alone plasma monitor in a >surplus shop. 17" I think (or thereabouts). Pretty neat, but priced a >little high. That's one thing I hate about thrift shops: A monitor is a monitor to them. I've seen monos, cgas, egas, and vgas sitting right next to each other, all with the same price on them. (Needless to say I grabbed the VGAs!) -John Higginbotham- -limbo.netpath.net-

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 10:56 AM 1/12/98 -0500, Allison(tm) wrote: >I gotta get that sex change. It happens it's MS Allison and I don't have Oh no! It's the new MicroSoft Allison! No more intelligent posts about non-MS computers/software Arrrgghh! 8^) (Sorry, couldn't resist!) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

What Transciever for a VAXstation II/RC

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

I've been doing some research and I've learned that it is possible to do a network boot of at least some VAXen using a properly configured Linux server with a NFS mountable version of NetBSD. I'm currently in the process of FTPing the necessary software and hope to get my VAXstation 2000 up tonite using this method. I would also like to be able to boot my VAXstation II/RC this way, but I need a Ethernet Transciever for it. According to my Hardware manual for this system (I love actually having documentation on something), I need a H4000 Transceiver. What I'm wondering is if I can just go dig up a generic 10Base-2 transceiver and have it work? Eventually I want to get at least the II/RC up and running VMS, but this sounds like a good temporary measure to run the hardware though some paces, so to speak while I'm getting a Hard Drive and VMS on media that I can use. Besides I want to get a copy of NetBSD transfered onto TK50's. 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, 3 months

1
0
0 0

ISIS-II - what to do with it?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I got a line on an Intel ISIS-II development system with lots of <accessories. What do I do with it if I get it? Richard, I'd suggest computing and developing. It will run two OSs ISIS and CP/M and it's pretty neat as they are fairly old to say the least. If it has the programmers commonly used and the Paper tape it's a reall winner! Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The 4051 BASIC is AWFUL. Example: the syntax of the IF statement is IF <condition THEN line number. Similarly the 4052 and 4054. The really 20 IF A=5 THEN 100 That is standard Dartmouth BASIC! at least it has been since 1969 when I started programming with it. Allison

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

ISIS-II - what to do with it?

by rcini＠email.msn.com

I got a line on an Intel ISIS-II development system with lots of accessories. What do I do with it if I get it? Rich Cini/WUGNET Charter ClubWin! Member MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking

28 years, 3 months

3
3
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

> Personal Computer: IBM called the 5100 a personal computer and also a >portable computer. I think they called it a personal computer since it did Announced 9/9/75 according to Haddock. He also mentions a "Geniac" ca. 1956: "Sold primarily as a toy, this type of machine was arguably the first electronic digital personal computer." And in '71, "The Busicom desktop electronic calculator, based on the new Intel 4004, was introduced. This was the first computing device to employ a microprocessor." 1973 saw the Scelbi 8H, and 1974 saw the Mark 8. Also in '74, Xerox came up with the Alto which could make a bid for the first personal computer. 1975 was the year of the Altair 8800 (ann. january) and the Processor Technology SOL (April). Later MOS Tech came out with the KIM-1. > Portable Computer: IBM also called the 5100 a "portable computer". I >guess they considered it a portable computer because everything was in one >unit. It was certainly NOT portable in the sense that one person could >pick it up and move it around. It's huge and it's heavy and there aren't >even any handles on it. Not to mention the fact that it has an unprotected No handles??? 'Tain't a Portable then! --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

5
5
0 0

ISIS-II - what to do with it?

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

> Actually, I've always wanted to get my hands on one of those heathkit > gibbyframmers (with the Moto6800 CPU, six digit 7-segment LED display and > hex keyboard, etc. etc.) as I used one in college and had a barrel o' > monkeys interfacing things to it 'cause it was so easy. I have the short-lived low-end version of that unit in the cardboard box. I saw it in the Heathkit catalog, scraped some money together and bought it. I didn't see it in the next catalog. Mine is serial #8. This version of the unit only has half the memory of the one with the protoboard on the front: 256 bytes instead of 512 bytes. It also doesn't have the protoboard: just a keypad and six-digit hex display. There is a spot for an expansion connector on the inside, but I never did anything with it (I tried, though; I ordered a pair of 1Kx4 SRAMs from Radio Shack. 6 months later, _one_ of my two SRAMs arrived. The guy at Radio Shack didn't understand why I didn't want to buy just the one. The other SRAM never did arrive). I've not fired it up recently, but it worked last time I did. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Recording data to a strand of wire?

by zmerch＠northernway.net

At 04:00 PM 1/13/98 -0800, you wrote: >Long before anyone glued rust to a strip of plastic and called it recording >tape, audio was recorded on spools of wire. > >Whatever you can record audio on, you can record data on. Wire recorders >are actually incredibly durable, and until recently, the airplane 'black >box' cockpit voice & data recorders were wire recorders. There are a ton of >them still in service. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that's what the >guy had at the flea market. Well, to slightly shift the paradigm from classic computers to classic TV, I saw a voice wire recorder on Hogan's Heroes -- it was made up to look like a sewing basket. At first, I thought -- uh, yea, right! -- but then I thought about it and it's no different than a record album, but in a different form factor. On the show, they spliced the wire to reformat a message on the wire... do you know what type of wire was used on these types of voice/data recorders, and how would you splice them? (oh, and could you re-record over a previously used piece of wire?) Just curious, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger Merchberger | Why does Hershey's put nutritional Programmer, NorthernWay | information on their candy bar wrappers zmerch(a)northernway.net | when there's no nutritional value within?

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Recording data to a strand of wire?

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

> Long before anyone glued rust to a strip of plastic and called it recording > tape, audio was recorded on spools of wire. In one episode of "The Secret Life of Machines", Tim played with magnetic recording. He recorded a little bit of info on a bandsaw, he stuck some rust to scotch tape and recorded on it, and visited a BBC warehouse where they had some truly amazing video recorders (large reels of steel band instead of tape). It's a shame the Discovery channel doesn't show those anymore. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Recording data to a strand of wire?

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

Long before anyone glued rust to a strip of plastic and called it recording tape, audio was recorded on spools of wire. Whatever you can record audio on, you can record data on. Wire recorders are actually incredibly durable, and until recently, the airplane 'black box' cockpit voice & data recorders were wire recorders. There are a ton of them still in service. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that's what the guy had at the flea market. Kai > -----Original Message----- > From: Sam Ismail [SMTP:dastar@wco.com] > Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 3:51 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Recording data to a strand of wire? > > > I was talking to this guy I met at a flea market and he said he has a > storage device that writes data to a spool of wire. Can someone elaborate > on this? > > > 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, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

Peter Prymmer wrote: > incorporate integrated circuitry into what would become S/370 computers. > Interestingly the architecture (or its modern desecndant) was not put on a > single microprocessor until just a few years ago (1995 saw the 3490 CMOS > mainframe on a chip). I would not for a moment call these devices mere Are you sure? I remember when I was at IBM the PC/370 was available - this would have been 1985-86 or possibly summer 1987. I believe this was based on the 68000 circuitry with different microcode. Tony, what date is your little 370-alike? And how many chips? Philip.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

RK05s now don't work.

by rcini＠email.msn.com

Well, let no one tell you that size doesn't matter. <g> Last night I was thinking about how I went about replacing the foam in my RK05 drives. The only thing that I changed was the foam. I disconnect no wires. So, I thought that maybe platter speed may be effected by air volume. The foam on the cartridge air inlet was about 3/32" thicker than the old foam. This difference was enough to reduce the air volume into the disk pack (there is a little bump on the air inlet that pushes a door open on the pack). The extra foam I guess did not allow the door to open enough. This lack of air produces enough drag on the motor spindle to stall the motor. Mystery solved. Rich Cini/WUGNET <nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use) ClubWin! Charter Member (6) MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking ============================================

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

The IBM PS/2 model 70 again! -E61

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 08:20 PM 1/12/98 +0000, you wrote: >Well, this specs is for that desktop model 70-E61 and $40 seems bit I agree then. I'm not too up on the IBM numbering scheme. >Hee hee...this is desktop which is called model 70 and the portable >lunchbox is P70 which uses 386 either 16 or 20mhz (ahem...sleepy I've got a P70 then. (Not sure if it's 16 or 20mhz.) >performance and no cache.) The P75 is also lunchbox in same way >BUT, it's real, honest 486DX 33 machine with scsi interface and >plasma display to boot. That is one I would like to have. Hmmm... Me too. Y'know, I once saw an honest-to-god IBM stand-alone plasma monitor in a surplus shop. 17" I think (or thereabouts). Pretty neat, but priced a little high. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

-----Original Message----- From: jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca <jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 9:30 PM Subject: Re: Firsts Oops it seems like I inserted the signature in the middle of a word or something like that. Try the link in this one >Hi Francois, > >Have a care, are your webpage set up correctly? I got 404. > >Jason D. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

HP9100 A/B

by jstern＠ibm.net

I am looking for an HP9100 A/B: Good Money, even for a non operating machine. Contact: jstern(a)supremum.com

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

-----Original Message----- From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram(a)cnct.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 8:33 PM Subject: Re: Firsts >Paul E Coad wrote: >The TRS-80 Model 100 and it's amigos the Nec 8201 and Olivetti ??? had >no handles, unless you bought an overpriced briefcase add-on. I know >there's no handle on the Everex I take back and forth to work, that's >what my rucksack is for. In fact, I think _most_ modern notebook >portables are without handles of their own. T----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradonhat's probably why they are called laptops and not portables.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

FWIW Dept: Old computer stuff for sale on AW

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I found these items for sale on Aucion Web. The same guy ownes all three. "http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4212123" Original Osborne 01 computer". Wants a $44 minimum bid. Oh well, interesting pictures there anyway. "http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4185354" a KayPro 2 computer. Only $9.99 minimum on this one. "http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4188852" a Commodore 128. bidding is now at $15.00 "http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4186764" a Commodore disk drive "http://iguana.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4218100" a KayPro (Sanyo) monitor.

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Port Plus and goodies for shipping, Southern CA

by engine＠chac.org

Ex-HP employee John Brown in Escondido, CA, would like the following to go to a collector: HP 45711F Portable Plus (this is the off-white-and-maroon laptop) 128K RAM card 9114B single 3.5 stiffy drive Thinkjet printer 82169B HP-IB interface ?? video monitor interface Full, _really_ full, software and docs. All tested and working as of a year ago. John is moving at the beginning of next week and would like to hear from someone who will pay freight on this by Friday, January 16th, or Saturday, January 17th. Please contact him, not me, at JBKE6QIQ(a)sprynet.com. Understandably, he doesn't want to scrap this. TIA, __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

William Donzelli wrote: > is implemented using over a thousand gate arrays. The amazing thing is > that IBM was able to get all of those _hot_ chips working in such a > small space (about a cubic foot, maybe two). > > Yes, I lust for a S/360 or 370, and would even settle for a 3033 or 3081. Me too! But I think a 4381, say or even a 9370, would be easier to work on. Why? The 308X and 3090 (and I think also the 303X, although I know less about them) were _water cooled_. Maybe I am biassed as an electrical engineer, but I think that anything with water in it is bound to make a mess sooner or later... Philip.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Interesting goodies on punched paper tape!

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

Can anyone identify these? I have a serial tape reader, so I plan to read these into my PC and see if E11 or the Supnik emulator will take them. But I don't know what's on these. So, I'll just retype the labels Here goes... PUNCHED PAPER TAPES: CASE #1 DEC-11-NFPMA-A-PR2 8/72 M FPMP-11 DOUBLE PRECISION PACKAGE REPLACES: DEC-11-YQPC-PB DEC-11-NFPMA-A-PR1 8/72 M FPMP-11 SINGLE PRECISION PACKAGE REPLACES: DEC-11-YQPC-PB DEC-11-ULKSA-A-PR1 12/72 M LINK-11S OBJ V002A TAPE 1 OF 2 REPLACES: DEC-11-ZLQA-PR1 DEC-11-ULKSA-A-PR2 12/72 M LINK-11S OBJ V002A TAPE 2 OF 2 REPLACES: DEC-11-ZLQA-PR2 DEC-11-ULKSA-A-PL 12/72 M LINK-11S LDA V002A SA=22714 RA=22714 REPLACES: DEC-11-ZLQA-PL DEC-11-Y1PA-PB 11/10/69 M DUMPTT-V001A SA=LOAD ADDRESS RA=LOAD ADDRESS DEC-11-Y2PA-PB 11/10/69 M DUMPAD-V001A SA=LOAD ADDRESS RA=LOAD ADDRESS DEC-11-Y2PA-PO 11/10/69 M DUMPAD-V001A SA=XX7500 RA=XX7500 "USE SPECIAL LEADER" DEC-11-Y1FA-PO 11/10/69 M DUMPTT-V001A SA=XX7440 RA=XX7440 "USE SPECIAL LEADER" DEC-11-XIOXA-A-PA2 12/72 M IOX V006A TAPE 2 OF 2 REPLACES: DEC-11-Y1PB-PA2 DEC-11-XIOXA-A-PA1 12/72 M IOX V006A TAPE 1 OF 2 REPLACES: DEC-11-YIPB-PA1 DEC-11-XIOXA-A-PB 12/72 M IOX V006A REPLACES: DEC-11-YIPB-PB DEC-11-UODXA-A-PA 12/72 M ODT-11X PAL REPLACES: DEC-11-O2PB-PA CASE #2 DEC-11-UODPA-A-PB ODT-11 LDA V005A SA=13026 RA=13030 RE-ENTER=13032 REPLACES: DEC-11-O1PA-PB DEC-11-UODPA-A-PA 12/72 M ODT-11 PAL V005A REPLACES: DEC-11-O1PA-PA DEC-11-UODXA-A-PB 17/72 M ODT-11X LDA SA=12054 RA=12056 REPLACES: DEC-11-O2PB-PB DEC-11-CGPA-PB2 6/2/70 M PDP-11 CHECKOUT PACKAGE TEST A SA=NONE RA=NONE TAPE 2 OF 2 DEC-11-CGPA-PB1 6/2/70 M PDP-11 CHECKOUT PACKAGE TEST B SA=NONE RA=NONE TAPE 1 OF 2 DEC-11-CGPA-PA1 6/2/70 M PDP-11 CHECKOUT PACKAGE TADDUP. ASC. (2) TAPE 1 OF 2 DEC-11-CGPA-PA2 6/2/70 M PDP-11 CHECKOUT PACKAGE TADDUP. ASC. (2) TAPE 2 OF 2 DEC-11-UEDPA-A-PB 12/72 M ED-11 V005A REPLACES: DEC-11-E1PA-PB (I have to hurry here, the bell is coming. I'll just list the tape name) PAL 11S OBJ v003A (IT'S on 6 tapes) 6,5,3,2,1 ARE HERE PAL 11S LDA V003A PAL-11A LDA V007A CASE #3 MAINDEC COMMUNICATIONS TEST PROGRAM T14 TRAP TEST (1140 ONLY) T17-4K SYSTEM EXERCISER FPMP-11 SOURCE (6 TAPES. i HAVE 6,5,4,3,2, AND 1) And that's them! I have more elsewhere, I'll dig them out too. But for now, what's these? And can I get the emulator to take them? What about reading them into a real PDP (Like the 11/34?) The tapes are all real DEC tapes, they have DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION - PROGRAMMED DATA PROCESSOR written on them. They seem to all be in good condition. -------

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Lisa System Date

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Kip Crosby wrote: <>Huh? You mean 1995 was the last year a Lisa's sysclock could register? <>How, i. e. from when and with what ticks, was the clock set up? < <Yeah, pretty amazing isn't it. Now that's what I call planned obsolecenc <My Lisa 2/5 works great once I figured out in what order to turn everythi <on. One slight problem the date will be wrong, the whole time I own it. The most common cause its that the date(year) is only stored as a single digit and it's added to the date of creation of the system. This is very common! For some systems this is a two digit number but at 2000 it rolls around to 1900. FYI the common PDP-8 OS OS/8 happens to also have this problem every 7 years for using only three bits for the year portion of the date. Allison

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Joe wrote: > >> Phillip said: >> > >> >Um. What date was the Casio AL1000? For that matter, what date was the >> >AL2000? OK, the AL1000 had nixie tubes in the display, so was not all >> >solid state, but it comes close, I'm sure. (Other people have commented >> >on the HP 9100 and the earlier Busicoms) >> >> Ahhh, a Casio expert! When was the Casio AS-8D made? I just picked one >> up. I had never seen one before and I thought it looked interesting. Alas, I am not a Casio expert. I merely happen to have an AL1000, an FX-502P and an FX-601P, FWIW. What is the AS-8D? Can you describe it to us? >> I was just reading an old (ca 1977) Byte magazine this morning and it >> had a article about the Tek 4051. I think they said it had just been >> discontinued. E-mail me if you're interested. >> >> Joe > > More likely superceded by the 4052, which used a bit-slice processor > rather than the MC6800 that the 4051 used. There were some other minor > improvements also, as I recall. I cannot remember the exact date the 4051 was discontinued, although I have it somewhere at home, but it was a couple of years after the introduction of the 4052. 1982? 1977 does sound more like the announcement of the 4052 and 4054, I must admit. Yes please, Joe, I am indeed interested in the Byte article. > The 4051 might also qualify for the race of an early personal computer if > its $10,000 cost doesn't put it out. It was programmed in the nicest BASIC > that I have ever run across! Marvellous vector graphics. But SLOOOOOW! > The real queen, though, was the 4053 with its 19" (17"?) screen! I think I'd disagree with you here, Don. The 4051 was announced with a price tag of (I think) $6999 for the base spec. (Might have been $7999). It went down in price very rapidly - the top spec machine was only $5250 or something when it was eventually discontinued. But I meant "personal" not in the sense of "personally owned" but in the sense of "intended to go on/at someone's desk for their personal use" - and I was commenting on the "all in one box" definition someone had proposed earlier. The 4051 BASIC is AWFUL. Example: the syntax of the IF statement is IF condition THEN line number. Similarly the 4052 and 4054. The really nice version came with the 4052A and 4054A in (?) 1982. This was achieved AFAICT by freeing up ROM space from GPIB handling routines - the upgrade was new ROMS plus a new I/O board that had a proper GPIB controller chip on it. I've never heard of the 4053. Are you sure you don't mean the 4054? This did have a 19 inch screen. Yes, I too would love a 4054A. But I have to be content with my 4052, which is also a nice machine. But as you say, the graphics are SLOW. (Faster on the 4054 which had constant rate vector drawing rather than constant time. But that's another story). I shall look up some of the above details when I get home - I did a talk on the 4050 series recently and the notes are still on my Microscribe - and post corrections if I made any glaring errors... Philip.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> <The 4051 BASIC is AWFUL. Example: the syntax of the IF statement is IF > <condition THEN line number. Similarly the 4052 and 4054. The really > > > 20 IF A=5 THEN 100 > > That is standard Dartmouth BASIC! at least it has been since 1969 when I > started programming with it. I see. I can never remember which features were original, which later. Most modern basics allow IF condition THEN line number, but also allow IF condition THEN statement, which is usually more useful, and forbidden on the Tek (which is what I was getting at). The original BASIC, IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong!) had a lot of useful array-handling commands, most of which remain on the IBM System/23 (Datamaster), and a few of which remain on the Tek, but which all disappeared in the home computer BASICs (mostly Microsoft, of course). But I digress. The reason I found 4051/4052 BASIC awful was because that IF statement, coupled with an absence of multistatement lines, takes away half the fun things I used to do on the PET (wherewith I grew up). On the 4052A and 4054A, BASIC really was nice. I think this is the dialect that Transera Corp. ported to PCs and some of their embedded processors. They call it TBasic, and I think this stands for Tektronix Basic. Certainly it has a lot of the graphics commands in common with the 4051/4052. But perhaps I was a bit harsh - Tek BASIC does have very powerful graphics and quite powerful GPIB handling. I still use it, after all :-) Philip.

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

TEXAS INSTRIMENTS TI99/4A

by chrish＠knet.kootenay.net

Hello this is my first post to the list hopefully it's ok:-) I have a ti99/4a if anyone wants it, for the cost of shipping. I live in British Columbia Canada. If anyone is interested please let me know Chris Halarewich (chrish(a)knet.kootenay.net)

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

What I did this weekend

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

The CPC's were the first Amstrads that I know of, they were commercialized in Europe. They are basically just a Keyboar type computer that plugs into a monitor they also had an integrated tape player for the earlier models and a 3 1/2" drive for the later models (before the PC compatibles). I don't remember the exact number but I think that the CPC6128 was the last of the series. > I don't what a CPC series is but the PC-1386s were sold here. I bought >one new. I have also seen a lot of Amstrad notebook type machines, non-DOS >I believe. > > Joe > >>----------------------------------------------------------------------- >>Francois Auradon. >>Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon >> >> >

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<What I meant by personal computer was computers mass produced for the hom <market. But the rest is still good. What was the first computer to enter <home (coming from the industry)? That would be: First to the home market Altair 8800 first to be a complete system Sphere-1 first successful market venture Apple-II june-77 first marketed through a common outlet TRS-80 aug-77 Allison

28 years, 3 months

6
11
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

Here's a questionthat is probably going to generate some passionate debates: What are the firsts? first video game first TV video game first personal computer (I think I know that one) first portable computer first laptop first GUI first OS etc... It would be interesting to compile a list of first with their date of appearance. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon

28 years, 3 months

7
10
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 09:31 AM 1/11/98 -0800, you wrote: >> first personal computer (I think I know that one) >own research you will tend to agree. Some will argue that the Apple ][ I think you mean the Apple 1. >> first portable computer > >Again, same problem. Define "portable". Allison carted, what was it, a >PDP-8 across a bridge some years ago. She got funny looks, but she >"ported" her computer elsewhere. However, I believe this one goes to the >IBM 5100. However, did I hear grumblings of something portable pre-dating >even the 5100? Like something from HP in the early 70s? I think if you consider the 5100 a portable, then so should you consider the PDP-8. The 5100, while more *convenient* to move, perhaps, than, say, an Altair, is hardly all that portable. It's listed as 50lbs (a stretch even for me) and has no handle. You tell me how that's a portable? (It's much like a TRS-80 Model III, only flatter. I think the III is lighter though.) I vote for the STM Baby. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 01:39 PM 1/11/98 -0500, you wrote: >When did the Sphere-1s start shipping? My boards have 1975 dates on them. >The Sphere-1s were also integrated systems, with a standard setup having >the 6800 CPU board, a video board, 16K RAM, and a serial interface board. Haddock says 1975, no month. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

>>> first personal computer (I think I know that one) >> >>output" then that would be the Sol-20 from 1976. This was first proposed > > I think the credit on this one has to go to the IBM 5100 again. It was >released in 1975. Sol-20 -- introduced April, 1975 --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 06:51 AM 1/11/98 -0600, you wrote: >What are the firsts? Here are my guesses... >first portable computer Probably the STM Systems BABY! 1, ca. 08/1976 >first laptop MCM Computers System 700, Model 782 APL, ca. 12/1977 >first GUI Xerox whatevertheycalledit? --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Portland Sale, got a PDP, etc.

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 11:13 PM 1/10/98 -0500, you wrote: >a 'Zorba CPM' (some sort of Kaypro clone, apparently). All was in good, if > >When I go back tomorrow, I'm going to try to pick up the HP IPC, Kaypro >2000, and DG One I saw. (: AAaaarrrggghhh! I *really* want an HP IPC! And a Kaypro 2000! And a Zorba! I think if I didn't already have a DG One, I'd have to come up there and steal them from y'all.... 8^) Btw: Modular Micros Zorba 7 7" CRT 2 410K floppies 22lbs In prod. by '84 $1595 Modular Micros Zorba 2000 9" CRT 2 820K Floppies (10M HD avail) 25 lbs. in prod. by '84 ~$2000 --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Free IBM system 36

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 10:41 PM 1/9/98 -0800, you wrote: >Look at how fast a CP/M system can be up and running Wordstar, compared to >a Win95 system running Word97. About 3 seconds on my Starlet. 8^) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

[Fwd: Fwd: Very Important, read, react, forward]

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

>those "encryption standards" last summer.... wiped out any chance of brain >activity in DC, outside of businesses.... Was there any brain activity before that? 8^) Well, one thing that is often forgotten is that the internet (or arpanet or something) was developed so that the US DOD could have a computer network that wouldn't die if one node when down. Which, of course, can be used against the feds, should they try and censor things. There's no reason I couldn't set up a server in a closet which, at a special, pre-arranged time, would call a server in, say, Portland to pick up the mail that was collected by calling a server in vancouver, etc. (Anyone ever heard of Fido?) Unfortunately, we (in the US) would lose a lot of what has made the 'net indispensable for a lot of people. Singapore censors stuff coming in via the mail (dunno about the 'net); we might very well end up the same way, if they really screw things up (cut off from the freedom-loving world.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Upcoming PBS special on bit rot

by pvhp＠forte.com

Hi, I saw an advert in the latest issue of Scientific American for an upcoming special about archiving digital data to appear on PBS. It is supposed to show on the 13th (tomorrow) and alas I don't have the magazine with me here and I cannot recall what the show title is - or even whether it is part of a regular series. At any rate I thought folks on this list would be interested so go out and check your local listings. Peter Prymmer

28 years, 3 months

4
3
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Don't know about that one, but the PDP-8/i was available in a (rarely see The PDP-8i was pretty big and heavy. The 8e smaller and lighter but the tiny one was the 8m as it didn't have as many slots nor the heavier power supply needed to power it, it was shorter in depth. The 8m was in the 50 pound range as I remember. Allison

28 years, 3 months

3
2
0 0

help with TRS-80 Model II?

by rws＠ais.net

Hi everybody. First off, let me ask- does anyone else have a Model II? I've been working on mine recently and I can't get it to work. When I got it the CRT was loose and rattling around the case and the power and reset switches were broken apart. I got these things sorted out and powered it up to get a screen filled with hash. It seems to roll around the screen and no characters are visible, just hash. I put a test clip on the Z80 and found very little activity. The only pin toggling is the clock. All of the address, data, and most of the control bus lines and either low or (apparently) tri-stated. I checked the BUSRQ* line to see if maybe something was asking for the bus and it was high. The BUSAK* output is low, however. Shorting NMI* to ground has no effect whatsoever. After it's been on for a while, turned off and right back on again, the screen remains blank. I changed out the Z80 for a known good one with no effect. I happened to note, however, that the computer generates lots of TVI, and the pattern changes during reset. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be most welcome. Also, if anyone has any schematics for this thing, that would help too. (Alternatively, if you know that a certain part is the same as the Model I, III, or 4, let me know as I have the schematics and working examples of these.) Richard Schauer rws(a)ais.net

28 years, 3 months

5
7
0 0

Upcoming PBS special on bit rot

by jchin＠aesprodata.com.au

If any of you in the US gets to see this program, would you care to publish a short summary of any interesting bits? It's highly unlikely that this will be shown in Australia in the near future. cheers, John > I saw an advert in the latest issue of Scientific American for > an upcoming special about archiving digital data to appear on > PBS. It is supposed to show on the 13th (tomorrow) and alas > I don't have the magazine with me here and I cannot recall what > the show title is - or even whether it is part of a regular series. > At any rate I thought folks on this list would be interested so > go out and check your local listings. > Peter Prymmer

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

What I did this weekend

by adam＠merlin.net.au

>The CPC's were the first Amstrads that I know of, they were commercialized >in Europe. >They are basically just a Keyboar type computer that plugs into a monitor >they also had an integrated tape player for the earlier models and a 3 1/2" >drive for the later models (before the PC compatibles). I don't remember the >exact number but I think that the CPC6128 was the last of the series. A bit more info in case anyone is interested. :) The CPC's were developed by Alan Sugar, who controlled Amstrad at the time, in England. They were pretty much unique, because although there had been rumours, the poress conference where they were announced not only had production CPCs but also a range of completed commercial software - very different >from Sir Clive Sinclair's announcements. Anyway, yes - the keyboard is seperate and contains the computer, but the power supply is in the monitor. There was an external power supply available in combination with a TV output box, but from my experience these are quite rare. So if you do get one make sure you get the monitor with it. The monitors are quite good, and are either colour or monochrome. There were three models - the CPC464, CPC664 and CPC6128. The 464 had 64k, a tape drive built in next to the keyboard, and colourful keys. The 664 also had 64k, but it also had the 3" (note - not 3.5") disc drive, and the keys weren't quite so colourful (I think the cursor keys were blue). The 6128 has 128k, the 3" drive, and boring keys - it was the buisiness version. I have a couple of 6128's, but none of the earlier models (yet). They were mostly used as games machines, and were quite good, although there was a very well regarded wordprocessor on them - TasWord, I think it was called. They sold well in Australia and England, as well, or so I gathered, in Germany under a different name. Keep in mind though that if you get a 664 or 6128 the drive probably won't work - the fan belts wore out, and as a result the drive keeps slipping. I'm told that a rubber band (OO, possibly) is a good replacement. Oh, and they're black. :)

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

>>> Then there is the "first solid state electronic calc" which I think goes to >>> the Busicom from Japan that employed the first production run of the intel >>> 4000 chip set: the 4001 (2048 bit ROM), 4002 (320 bit RAM), 4003 (10 bit >>> shift register), and the 4004 (4 bit CPU). That chip set was shipped to >>> Busicom in March 1971 according to Michael S. Malone's "The Microprocessor: >>> A Biography" ISBN 0-387-94342-0 Um. What date was the Casio AL1000? For that matter, what date was the AL2000? OK, the AL1000 had nixie tubes in the display, so was not all solid state, but it comes close, I'm sure. (Other people have commented on the HP 9100 and the earlier Busicoms) We've also had some strange definitions of Personal Computer flying around here. One I don't like, but am going to comment on anyway, is the "system, terminal and video circuitry all in one box" definition. I don't think it quite makes it, but personal loyalty compels me to put in a word for the Tektronix 4051. This was announced in November 1975 (I think - have to look this up). I've never seen one but I get the impression the prototype was a Tek graphics terminal with a 6800 development system stuck in the bottom of the case... Anyway, Tek 4051 was intended as single user, one-to-a-desk graphics micro, so I claim it is a "personal computer". And if you're interested in portability, a carrying case was an option you could buy. When did 6800 start shipping anyway? Philip.

28 years, 3 months

4
3
0 0

The IBM PS/2 model 70 again! -E61

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 03:25 PM 1/7/98 +0000, you wrote: >Which is preferable: Hock the offer to half of that $40 as agreed >on to "whip" for being liar? I can't see him bec he's away for his >doc appt til Friday. $40 imo is a pretty good price for a PS/2 70 lunchbox (if that's what it is). Even with 2/60. I've got 8/60 in mine, and it works okay. Doublespaced, iirc, with Win3.1 loaded. Memory is available, though not always cheap. I don't know much about the motherboard specifics though. >One Mac IIcx - what good about this one? The IIcx is a 68030 (I think!) but doesn't include the onboard video of the similar but slightly later IIci. It was introduced in 1989 at $4669 and discontinued in 1991 at $4699 (according to "The Mac Bathroom Reader".) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Trainers

by ZGE＠aol.com

Does anyone have information on a 4-bit microcomputer called the KX-33B . Back in 1979 , with the purchase of a Pet computer you could have received the kx-33b for free from Ancrona . Also I am looking for information on a programmable digital computer that NRI schools offered during the 70's . The front panel of the unit appeared to have sixteen rows of on\off switches for machine code entry . I am guessing that the kit utilized possibly a couple of 7489's for ram . Also any info on units that had similar 16x4 or 16x8 machine entry would be appreciated . thanks, Frank

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Is there some special trick required to boot Fuzzball?

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

I have my 11/23 (The DEQNA isn't in it yet, it has RT-11 v5.04 on it, I kermitted over the distribution, followed the directions in in readme.txt, and did @sysgen. Then I had to go to class. (The 23 is at school) I came back an hour later to the . prompt (No error messages) So, I followed the rest of the directions, put everything on the DU0: (10MB EDSI drive on a QD21) and modifed BOS11 for my config (Commented the QNA driver, added RX02 lines as per the example in some other config), renmaed it to BOS1 and built that. No errors. Put that on the DU0: Now, I do RUN BOS1 and it sits there. Doesn't halt, just sits. It's been sitting 20 minutes, what did I do wrong? Oh, and I fudged, the drive is 120MB. I'm using MM to send mail, so I can't go change it. RT-11 seems to work just fine, btw. I boot from rt11XM normally, but to load fuzzball I did BOOT RT11SJ, then ran it. Not enough memory to do it under XM. Anything else I'm supposed to do? -------

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>the latest. I know as the cover of my issue has the last of MITS number <>and a $1300 total and a mailing date in december 1974. <> < What do you mean "the last of MITS numbers and a $1300 total" ? No not quite, it was the first of the line if anything and early on to boot as I had it in my hands by January 15! Last was supposed to be list. < That's my point. The IBM was already being produced at that point and <being delivered shortly thereafter. Altair was still using the prototyp <machine and just starting to sell bags of parts as "kits". Keep in mind the cover of PE was composed and at the printer in in september-october 1974 time frame if not earlier to meet the publication schedule if it was to arrive in my home by mid December 1974!. I should point out that the 8080 by then had been in production about a year at that point. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Paperclip (Was: Re: Free IBM system 36)

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> Speaking of paperclip... I may have found the ROMs for both Paperclip and > Visicalc on the PET computers. Does anyone know what EPROM would fit the > ROM sockets in a PET? I've tried crossing the numbers on the ROMs and > can't learn anything. Does anyone have a schematic of a PET mainboard? 2732 on practically all PETs. Early ones (ROM=6540) had no spare sockets Early ones (ROM=2316) also had no spare sockets, but could take 2716 chips in place of the system ROMs Late ones (Model = 8296) had some sockets that could take 28-pin 2764s, but I think all the spare sockets were 24 pin for 2332 and 2732. HTH Philip.

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Free System/36

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> actually, what i meant by the power-user comment was a person who is > not afraid to use a black-and-white command prompt if it can help > him/her do something. So, would a System/36 be good for me? If you don't mind learning OCL (the minicomputer version of JCL) and typing all the // commands at the command line of a text only terminal (probably green rather than black and white :-) ) then yes, give it a go. But first find out what size it is. There were desktops (5364), desk side (5362) and huge monsters (5360) plus some others (odd numbers) (after my time). The 5360 had a version of my favourite diskette drive, but I have spouted at length on this list about this in previous posts... Philip.

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<was in full production and delivery while the Altair was still deliverin <incomplete bags of parts and even those were months behind. In fact, mos <Altair "kits" were delivered in installments spread over almost a year. Y <got parts for one section at a time. I DO have that ad handy. I shoul <scan it and post it. As some one that built ans has one... MITS offered the kit of the month as a way to get Altair into the hands of people that couldn't cought up $1000 at the front. I was doing engineering at the time and making a good buck with out marriage so it was doable and I had mine in about 4 weeks after the order (took UPS 10 days to deliver it then!). I may add it arrived on a tuesday and I used my evenings to set up for assembly and that weekend I started soldering and didn't stop till sunday night when first powerup occured. I had a working machine. Three weeks later I would get docs listing some 10-20 mods to make it more reliable! FYI the SN was in the 200 range. Now the much better IMSAI machine was nearly a year later in arrival but was actually better developed and a far more reliable design from the first. It was a marker machine as it also used S100 bus making it the Polymorphic -88 and the SOL-20 amoung the first to use the same bus and the swtp-6800 started the ss50 bus. Back then an open and standardized bus was a advantage to the person that owned the system and they werent locked to one vendors board and the price competition was fierce. By 1978 memory board were denser (8k static vs 4k dynamic) and half the price of the boards from MITS (88-mcd was ~400 for 4k). Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< He's got to be thinking of the HP 9800 series. I'm not sure when the I gotta get that sex change. It happens it's MS Allison and I don't have the problem of the wife objecting. Anyhow 9800 series it was most likely as when I'd seen it it was not new and I was doing 8008 design when that part was $180 each! Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

SMS 1000 aka PDP-11/73

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

OK, I've powered on both of the systems with the PDP-11/73 processor boards in it. I now know that they are apparently "SMS 1000" machines, but I've been able to find nothing on it on the net, except for a web page that has a picture of one in a 'tower' case http://staff.motiv.co.uk/~kevan/collection/manufacturer-sms/1000.html Mine is in a rack mount case though. It has 5 buttons and a small alphanumeric LED display that gives some system info when the system is powering up. I'm quite honestly not sure how to proceed. I've connected a laptop running TELIX for VT100 emulation. This gave me some trouble initially, but it started working once I added a "Null Modem" adapter I had (trust me you don't want to see the console cable I put together with three adapters). The display and buttons are layed out like this. +-----------------------------+ | DISPLAY | +-----------------------------+ +------+------+------+------+ | MENU | < | > | * | +--+---+---+--+---+--+---+--+ | RE | RUN | WRT | | START | HALT | PROT | +-------+------+------+ On the one with the 5.25" floppy I get the following when it comes up. SMS 1000 BOOTSTRAP 256KW MEMORY 11/73 CPU BOOTABLE DEVICES: DEVICE DEVICE UNIT NAME TYPE NUMBERS DU DSA 0-15 MU TK50 0 MS TS 0 ENTER DEVICE NAME AND UNIT NUMBER: AUTO - BOOT BOOTING FROM DEVICE 0 ***THIS VOLUME DOES NOT CONTAIN A HARDWARE BOOTABLE SYSTEM *** 000034 @ On the one with the 8" I get HELLO MIKE BOOTSTRAP 256KW MEMORY 11/73 CPU BOOTABLE DEVICES: DEVICE DEVICE UNIT NAME TYPE NUMBERS DU DSA 0-15 MU TK50 0 MS TS 0 ENTER DEVICE NAME AND UNIT NUMBER: AUTO - BOOT BOOTING FROM DEVICE 1 BOOT-U-CI/O error 000724 @ I played around and they both appear to default to the correct device numbers for Hard Drives. It gives me a *** DEVICE NOT IN SYSTEM *** if I try to access MU0 or MS0. Well, MU0 is no surprise, I know it doesn't have a TK50 in it, but I've no idea what the TS is, or how I would, or if I could boot from floppy. The 'C' in BOOT-U-CI/O error is actually a wierd c like character with a little squiggely under it. I'm assuming the first simply doesn't have an OS, and that the second has some sort of hardware problem, most likely a dead Hard Drive. I've tried to ensure that all the connections on both are good. I've learned that typing in 173000G at the @ prompt will get me back to the "ENTER DEVICE NAME AND UNIT NUMBER:" and that I can then specify a device instead of letting it go with it's own choice. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do at this point? I'm guessing not much until I can scrounge an OS from somewhere. Is it possible to attach the RL02's from the /44 and see if I can boot off of those? What kind of a card does it take to interface with a RL02? 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, 3 months

2
1
0 0

What I did this weekend

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

-----Original Message----- From: Uncle Roger <sinasohn(a)ricochet.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, January 12, 1998 2:40 AM Subject: What I did this weekend >A busy weekend, actually. > >1) I took pictures of a bunch of systems: > Amstrad PPC640 I didn't know these were available in the US. I just hauled one back (PPC512) from France last week and I thought that I had a very original portable (even though it got pretty heavy waiting for customs;) Were there any other of the Amstrad marketted in the US like the CPC series? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

DEC Pro 350

by jfoust＠threedee.com

"Zane H. Healy" <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com> wrote: >>I've got one in the basement... six-seven years ago, I even had it >>fired up over DECnet, talking to Macs and Amigas over Ethernet. >>Haven't gotten around to documenting it for my web page, though. > >Ah, what does it take to get it talking to Mac's and Amiga's? I'm assuming >if this can be done for the DEC Pro 350, I can do something simular with >the 11/73 or a VAX. Well, it takes DECnet networking software. For a while, my company made and sold a version of DECnet for the Amiga, a licensed port of the Mac DECnet called TSSnet from Thursby Software <http://www.thursby.com/>. I don't even have a copy any more, and I've long forgotten how to use it. You might be able to find a used copy. Don't even bother to ask Thursby for an Amiga version. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

At 04:43 PM 1/11/98 -0600, you wrote: >On Sun, 11 Jan 1998, Zane H. Healy wrote: > >> >> first portable computer >> > >> >Again, same problem. Define "portable". Allison carted, what was it, a >> >> Well, if you believe the Smithsonian's "Museum of American History" and I >> believe DEC's advertising this goes to one of the PDP's, I don't remember >> which one. I don't think it was a -8 or -11, and it's been over four years >> since I was last to the museum so my memory isn't the best. They showed >> the computer being in the back of a convertible IIRC, and actually had the >> computer there at the musuem. Big sucker. > >Wasn't there a DEC ad showing a PDP-8 fitting in the trunk (boot, or is >that a hood or bonnet?) of a VW bug? Would that qualify it as portable? Don't know about that one, but the PDP-8/i was available in a (rarely seen) 'pedistal' configuration that would have been fairly easy to move around, and the PDP-8/e/f/m came in a 'desktop' configuration that even had handles on the side. (the 'major' qualification for something to be considered 'portable'). At about 90 pounds for the complete (core, no disks) configuration, it could be moved with minimal pain by two people... -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Close, the Altair 8800 was introduced as the cover project in the Januar <1975 issue of Popular Electroncs. Back in those days the January 1975 issues was recieved by mid december at the latest. I know as the cover of my issue has the last of MITS numbers and a $1300 total and a mailing date in december 1974. Also the machine on the cover bore only a resemblance to the production machine as it was a proto. ALlison

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

SDK-85 manual wanted (fwd)

by pcoad＠wco.com

Can anyone help this guy? Please respond directly to him. Thanks, --pec -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Antique Computer Collection: http://www.wco.com/~pcoad/machines.html ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 10:12:00 +0100 From: Haering Martin <MARTIN.HAERING(a)hl.siemens.de> To: Paul E Coad <pcoad(a)wco.com> Subject: AW: Re: MCS-85 manual wanted Hello Paul, thank you very much for your quick respose. You're right, I'm german and I can see the problem with shipping. But I think we would find a solution there. But let me first tell you that my problem has changed now. I looked for the MCS-85 manual on my loft and - under a thick layer dust - i found it there. But instantly my next problem arised: I'm looking now for the SDK-85 manual. Even though the System Development Kit is described in the MCS-85 book, I need more detailed information to operate my old SDK board. Can you help me with this matter, too. I can see on several web pages, that some of your universities still use the MCS-85 and ask for the SDK manual for the lessons, but I can't get the manual itself over the net or any source to buy it. Now my question is: Do you have the SDK-85 manual for sale yourself or can you tell me a source or seller to get it? Thank you for your support in advance Martin ----------

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

What I did this weekend

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

A busy weekend, actually. 1) I took pictures of a bunch of systems: Atari Portfolio Radio Shack Model 100 Epson HX-20 NEC PC-8401a GRiD GRiDCase 3 NEC PC-8201A Apple Mac Portable Hewlett-Packard LS/12 Data General DG One Altima 2 IBM PC Radio Amstrad PPC640 Osborne 01 Compaq Portable 386 GRiD GRiDPad 1910 Hewlett-Packard 75D Amstrad PenPad PDA600 Panasonic Sr. Partner 2) Got them developed 3) bought a Land Rover (actually, 2) 4) wrote a system to automatically generate web pages for each of my computers based on simple data files. It uses 4 data files: Text, Resources, misc. Data, and Image list. There are a handful of template files used to build the actual web page. So all I have to do is come up with some text about the computer and lists of related links, images and specs to generate the web page. So, expect me to be asking about some of my systems in the near future. And, if anyone is interested in using this program, let me know. It's written in QBasic for DOS (Is that 10 years old?) but could probably be ported to just about anything. (In fact, I'll bet Perl or Cobol would be even better for some things.) You can see a sample of the layout it generates at <http://www.sinasohn.com/clascomp/m100.htm>. Note, the pics aren't there. I'd love to get any feedback anyone cares to offer. Thanks! --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

C-64c, How common?

by higginbo＠netpath.net

Talk about coincidence, after this thread popped up, and me never having laid eyes on a C-64c, I found one in a local thrift shop. Bought the whole thing, included a 1541 floppy, all cables, a whole box of software, and a Magnovox RGB color monitor, which I now have hooked up to my Atari Jag. I never noticed before how much sharper those RGB monitors are compared to TVs. Well, I plan on playing with the C-64c for a while, but when I tire of it, I'll be selling it, sans monitor. Anyone be interested? At 09:02 PM 1/8/98 -0600, you wrote: >I see them from time to time here in the TwinCities. I do not buy them >anymore, I have 6. They have shape like the C128 and the same color and >run all the old cartridges. -John Higginbotham- -limbo.netpath.net-

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 04:38 PM 1/11/98 -0600, you wrote: >On Sun, 11 Jan 1998, Joe wrote: > >> >> first personal computer (I think I know that one) >> >> I think the credit on this one has to go to the IBM 5100 again. It was >> released in 1975. > >Is it not true, then, that Ed Roberts coined the term 'personal computer' >to describe the Altair? (That's the legend I've been led to believe.) I don't know if he did or not but the Altair wasn't announced til January 1976 or 77 (I don't remember which but I have the magazine that it was announced in.) The IBM 5100 was already in production in 1975. Joe > >> Joe> > >ttfn >srw > >

28 years, 3 months

3
3
0 0

Firsts

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Allison wrote: > < The 5100 was IBM's first "Personal Computer" (their words). It had > <BASIC or APL or both! > > The HP system predated it but, I may have the number wrong. It was > programmed in industrial BASIC. Allison, I'm really having trouble figuring out what you're thinking of. Even as far forward as 1975, the only HP systems I can think of that ran BASIC were minis. The 2100 and 2114 would have been the smallest of these, and both are boxes that really want to be in 19" racks but can be made to sit on tabletops and can be carried (I am certain that the 2100 has handles and think the 2114 does too). If carrying one doesn't convince you that it wants to be in a 19" rack or at least left sit I don't know what will. The closest thing I can think of is the HP 85, which is a fairly small and lightweight complete system, with keyboard, display, printer, and cartridge tape in the box. It was also "portable" in that you could get matching luggage for it. Next closest might be some of the 98xx calculator/workstations, but I think those were either programmed like calculators or in HPL, not BASIC. But all of this is late 1970s-1980 stuff. Maybe I'm just having a brain lapse? -Frank McConnell

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

DM11 Maintenance Jumper

by william＠ans.net

OK, I just found a very simple DEC part called M974 DM11 Maintenance Jumper. What is it? William Donzelli william(a)ans.net

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

How does Microcode work??

by rcini＠email.msn.com

Tony, Allison, Roger: Thanks for the quick tutorial on microcode. I knew that it was an involved topic worthy of many hundreds of pages of text, but you did a great job of giving me a thumbnail of the topic. Tony, thanks for the book refs. I'll try to track some of them down. Rich Cini/WUGNET <nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use) ClubWin! Charter Member (6) MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking ============================================

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< I believe the Japanese Busicom calculator is even older and dates from <about 1966. busicom had some calcs before the one based on the 4004 but the 4004 design was 1971. By the there were other multichip designs but none as low a chip count as the 4004 nor were the as general in application. Up to that point calculator chip implementations were totally custom singular designs. Actually there were some chips before the intel part like the 3101 and 6700 bit slices. It took a lot of parts and design effort to make a computer as general as the 4004 though those parts were far faster. The 4004 and later parts were along the lines of reducing custom silicon solutions or hard wired designs to programatic solutions. As microprocessors became faster and self contained they were able to solve more problems that were either silicon intensive, real estate intensive or flat out too fast for digital solutions at the time. At the other end of the spectrum they created markets and applications that would not have been anticipated. After all who'ed ever though you'd need a custom programmed micro for a microwave or washing machine? Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Hayes modem installation

by manney＠nwohio.com

> I was wondering if anyone knew how to install a Hayes 9600 modem into > an XT (Ogivar Tech.). This is slightly off-topic, so e-mail me privately and I'll tell you. manney(a)nwohio.com

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Whatchamicallthem?

by manney＠nwohio.com

I deal a _lot_ with new users, so my answers are a bit different. I use precise, non-standard (but descriptive) terminology. My goal is to employ labels such that non-users can understand instantly what I mean. > For computers like the C-64, the TI-99/4a, Atari 800, etc. I call the CPU > a "console". I call 'em a "keyboard", as that is what they look like. > The all-in-one dealies like the TRS-80 Model II/III and their ilk would > be "computers" Me too. More precisely, "old-style computer" > > Piece-part systems like the IBM, I'd call "systems" because you have a > system consisting of a CPU and peripherals, such as the keyboard, monitor, > disk drives, perhaps a mouse... I call the -- Monitor => Screen Case => System box I always stress that the 3 1/2" is called a "floppy ", because a surprising number of people think that they are "hard drives". I also see them commonly called "tapes" (and installing a program is commonly called "programming") > > Also, things like a PDP or DG Nova would be "systems", but I think people > prefer to refer to them as "mini's". I just call them computers -- newbies generally don't know the difference. (Besides, if you gave up your old stuff and all got PC's with Win95, you would have _real_ computers and get _real_ work done....snicker snicker.) (Quick! Now, I gotta change my e-mail address, lest I be buried under tons of irate e-mail...) manney(a)nwohio.com

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

XT Parts

by manney＠nwohio.com

> What I need: > a HDD, as after testing the one that came with mine on 2 machines, it Who are you? I have lotsa XT stuff. manney(a)nwohio.com

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Tektronix 6130 Engineering Workstation

by fmc＠reanimators.org

"Zane H. Healy" <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com> wrote: > There is also a terminal with it, a "Ann Arbor XL Series" that connects via > a Serial line. Does anyone have any idea what kind of terminal this is? > It's very wierd, it's the only ASCII terminal that I've seen which is a > portrait-mode terminal! Is this some kind of VT-100 compatible or > something? The only thing I've ever seen that even comes close is some of > the old Macintosh monitors. It's probably a flavor of the Ann Arbor Ambassador terminal. I remember them as being in somewhat widespread use by Unix folks in the early-to-mid 1980s, their major feature being the number of lines of source you could fit on the screen. They pretty much fell out of favor across the mid-1980s with the proliferation of bit-mapped displays. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

>You missed calculators and there are rough catagories: > >First eletronic calc > >first pocket calc > >HP35 $700, the lowcost market breaker being the Bomar Brain. > >First programable calc Good point here thank you. By the way the list was not exhaustive pleas feel free to add anything and everything you want. > > ><first personal computer (I think I know that one) > >If you mean PC (as in the IBM PC) then the answer is IBM. However if you >man pc as in personally owned computer, then you go back by maybe 10-20 What I meant by personal computer was computers mass produced for the home market. But the rest is still good. What was the first computer to enter the home (coming from the industry)? ><first portable computer > >Define portable as I'd seen totables in the late 70s. One very nice one >was an expanded EVK68 board in a classy wood case with a small crt and >keyboard. My interpretation of portable is a computer that is meant to be moved from place to place fairly easilly: that means integrated monitor, disk drive (or tape player), a carrying handle (or two). > >One that comes to mind was the HP(5100?) complete packaged system with >tape for storage and basic and GPIB for external interface. > ><first laptop > >Not sure but it wasnt a dos based for sure. Tandy trs100 or the similar >NEC, Epson, and others. > ><first GUI > >Xerox PARC smalltalk > ><first OS > >This is real old likely in the late 40s early 50s and was likely a >machine monitor system to load/save programs. Even the PDP-1 had an OS >to timeshare multiple users. You may have to be more specific as to tthe >type or style of OS as there are several and the appearance of each >corosponds to emerging concepts in computing. > >Allison >

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

>> > first video game >> >> "Computer Space" which was Atari's first video game. I think someone may >> correct me and tell me it wasn't "Atari" yet, but it was created by Nolan >> Bushnell. > >Spacewar for the PDP-1 is the granddaddy. Still runs, once a year >(hopefully, if the West Coast computer museum keeps up the tradition). Wouldn't that be the first computer game? I am not familliar with the PDP-1 but it sounds like a computer name. >

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> own research you will tend to agree. Some will argue that the Apple ] <> was the first (by this definition). But the Sol-20 beat it by a few <> months. < <When did the Sphere-1s start shipping? My boards have 1975 dates on them Early 75 and they do predate the polymorphic systems-88 and PT-sol that was latest of the three. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Whatchamicallthem?

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

Hi all, Is there an official name for all various computer packages? What I trying to find is how to call a computer that is just a keyboard that you plug on the TV (a la C64)versus a computer that has everything attached (TRS 80 mod 4) versus a PC style where components are separate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon

28 years, 3 months

3
2
0 0

Need PDP processor card identified

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

Some how I don't think that the two PDP-11's that were supposed to be /23's are, but at least they do appear to be PDP-11's. So my question is what is a M9192? The list I have shows it as being a "DUAL HEIGHT CPU BRD", which is "real" informative! According to the list I've got the 23's CPU's have different numbers. They both have 256KW of 18-bit memory. This brings up an interesting question, how many bytes are there in in a Word when you're talking PDP-11's? Since it's 18 my guess would be 2 with parity bits. While I'm asking I've got some other cards that I can't identify, I think that they're for PDP's and not VAX's. Does anyone recognize any of these, or have a good place on the net for me to look? SCD-RQD11/EC -- this one had 6 connectors for ribbon cables M8059-KP -- I believe it's 64k, is it for PDP? M3104 DHV11 -- It's got two ribbon connectors, by guess is it's for adding other terminals. I seem to have a pair. Distributed Logic Corp. DQ342 -- no idea, two ribbon connectors Plessey P/N 70590-100A -- looks to be a RAM board 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, 3 months

2
3
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

< I don't think a Cincinati Millicron would hardly be considered a <"Personal Computer" no matter what the number of owners. That specific machine was about the same size as a PDP-8e and about 60 pounds. For that era that was very compact and light. But personal it was as at that time it resided in my bedroom while I was trying to write some simple code via asr33/ptape. < The 5100 was IBM's first "Personal Computer" (their words). It had <BASIC or APL or both! The HP system predated it but, I may have the number wrong. It was programmed in industrial BASIC. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

DEC Pro 350

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I've got one in the basement... six-seven years ago, I even had it fired up over DECnet, talking to Macs and Amigas over Ethernet. Haven't gotten around to documenting it for my web page, though. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Whatchamicallthem?

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

But then where would the mac (toaster style) fit? Computer or system? I am not sure the term computer to differenciate the box styles is adequate since they are all basically "Computers" I guess what I'm trying to find is a term to differenciate the packaging of computers. Also consoles is used for video games that plugs on the TV and would cause confusion. System is a pretty broad designation that can describe a lost of things. Am I getting picky or what? Maybe we need to invent some terms a la jargon in order to differentiate the various types of packaging. >For computers like the C-64, the TI-99/4a, Atari 800, etc. I call the CPU >a "console". Basically, anything with an integrated CPU, keyboard and >video output I call a console. I don't tend to think of things like the >Apple ][ as "consoles" because they didn't use a TV as their monitor by >default, which the above systems generally did (there goes my Apple ][ >bias again). But really, the Apple ][ fits my description of "console". > >The all-in-one dealies like the TRS-80 Model II/III and their ilk would >be "computers" because they have all the basic adjuncts to define an >entire computer in the most generic sense of the word (CPU, keyboard, >display, storage). > >Piece-part systems like the IBM, I'd call "systems" because you have a >system consisting of a CPU and peripherals, such as the keyboard, monitor, >disk drives, perhaps a mouse... > >Also, things like a PDP or DG Nova would be "systems", but I think people >prefer to refer to them as "mini's". > >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, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by francois.auradon＠worldnet.att.net

I meant by the original posting to try to gather a list of firsts. Any definitions of first are acceptable and if they can be extended to familly of hardware, software, packaging gimmicks etc. is OK. What I found interesting in the question is more in the order of finding out how long an idea has been out there and how many categories can be found. I see a lot of questions about defining such and such term I guess it is more fun to find out what YOU understand by the words OS, Personal computer, etc. -----Original Message----- From: Francois Auradon <francois.auradon(a)worldnet.att.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 6:18 AM Subject: Firsts Here's a questionthat is probably going to generate some passionate debates: What are the firsts? first video game first TV video game first personal computer (I think I know that one) first portable computer first laptop first GUI first OS etc... It would be interesting to compile a list of first with their date of appearance. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois Auradon. Visit the SANCTUARY at http://home.att.net/~francois.auradon

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Portland Sale, got a PDP, etc.

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 11:13 PM 1/10/98 -0500, you wrote: > >When I go back tomorrow, I'm going to try to pick up the HP IPC, Kaypro >2000, and DG One I saw. (: > > What were they wanting for the HP IPC? If you don't want it, I'll take it off your hands. BE SURE to look around for any external HP disk drives! Get an HP-IB cable or two if they have them but don't let them overcharge you for them. A lot of people act like they're made of gold. Joe

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by pvhp＠forte.com

classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Subj: Re: Firsts Allison J Parent wrote: >You missed calculators and there are rough catagories: > >First eletronic calc > >first pocket calc > >HP35 $700, the lowcost market breaker being the Bomar Brain. > >First programable calc Then there is the "first solid state electronic calc" which I think goes to the Busicom from Japan that employed the first production run of the intel 4000 chip set: the 4001 (2048 bit ROM), 4002 (320 bit RAM), 4003 (10 bit shift register), and the 4004 (4 bit CPU). That chip set was shipped to Busicom in March 1971 according to Michael S. Malone's "The Microprocessor: A Biography" ISBN 0-387-94342-0 (which is not a great book: much content was apparently largely dictated by the PR departments of a few Silicon Valley companies and thrown together much as a newspaper article would be. It nontheless contains some interesting photos and bibliographic references and I think was the result of a rushed editorial deadline (why would a publisher rush a history book?)). ><first OS > >This is real old likely in the late 40s early 50s and was likely a >machine monitor system to load/save programs. Even the PDP-1 had an OS >to timeshare multiple users. You may have to be more specific as to tthe >type or style of OS as there are several and the appearance of each >corosponds to emerging concepts in computing. There are references to the operation of the IBM/Harvard Mark I (programming loops were constructed by literally looping the input tape back on itself e.g.) It could be argued that such an early machine was not a stored program computer hence could not even support an OS. If however one does not limit oneself to only software notions of OS then the "Start" button could be considered to be an OS - implemented in hardware. I personally don't know much about the early Sperry Rand or Manchester->Ferranti computers (first commercial computers) since so much of the widely available literary records are dominated by IBM's history, but certainly by the time of the IBM 705 (mid 50's) there were OSes. Few of the early ones were time-sharing and many were not even "full-duplex". Peter Prymmer

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

You missed calculators and there are rough catagories: First eletronic calc first pocket calc HP35 $700, the lowcost market breaker being the Bomar Brain. First programable calc <first personal computer (I think I know that one) If you mean PC (as in the IBM PC) then the answer is IBM. However if you man pc as in personally owned computer, then you go back by maybe 10-20 years to things like old surplus missle computers, homebrewed systems and PDP-8s and the like. Prior to the IBM abortion pc meant personally owned and was not based on what it was but who owned it. Personally owned computers was a new thing starting in the late 60s to early 70s. Around 72-73 it was possible to buy a used PDP-8 or CM2000 for a few thousand dollars. I know in December of 72 I almost bought a Cincinati Millicron CM2000 for the offered price of $2000(big bucks then) with 8k of core, serial line card and 6port muxed serial card. <first portable computer Define portable as I'd seen totables in the late 70s. One very nice one was an expanded EVK68 board in a classy wood case with a small crt and keyboard. One that comes to mind was the HP(5100?) complete packaged system with tape for storage and basic and GPIB for external interface. <first laptop Not sure but it wasnt a dos based for sure. Tandy trs100 or the similar NEC, Epson, and others. <first GUI Xerox PARC smalltalk <first OS This is real old likely in the late 40s early 50s and was likely a machine monitor system to load/save programs. Even the PDP-1 had an OS to timeshare multiple users. You may have to be more specific as to tthe type or style of OS as there are several and the appearance of each corosponds to emerging concepts in computing. Allison

28 years, 3 months

3
2
0 0

Anyone ever heard of an Amigo?

by adam＠merlin.net.au

>I picked up an Amigo computer today from a thrift store. Now, this is >something cool as I have never seen one before and it is an interesting >design for its time. > >The CPU and CRT are in one unit. In fact, at first I thought this was >simply a dumb terminal because normally when you had a computer with >integrated CPU/CRT it was a lot bulkier than this one is. The motherboard >on this is tucked right under the tube. It has a Z-80 CPU and a 6502 (I'm >assuming the 6502 is for the video display). The keyboard is an IBM XT >keyboard (same key layout) but it has a 1/4" phono plug that connects to >the front of the CRT/CPU (just like the Apple Lisa keyboard). I also got >a dual half-height disk drive unit for it and two boxes of 5.25" floppies >with programs such as WordStar, Supercalc, etc. I got a couple CP/M >master disks with it as well. I have something called an Amigo, made (although the name is hard to read) by Surwave. Mind you, it could well be a Surwave made by Amigo. :) It also has the z80 and the 6502 on the mother board, but it is not an all-in-one unit. Indeed, it looks a bit like the Aplle ][. I have done what research that I could, and so far have learnt that it was a Korean Apple ][ clone, that could run cp/m or Apple software. They were made in the very early eighties, and were imported into Australia via a person who still resides in Adelaide. I have tracked down some information about him, but have yet to find the person himself. They were quite popular here, but few survived - mine didn't, as it won't show anything on the screen. I am considering getting it repaired, but I don't know enough to do it myself. Anyway, I imagine that your computer is another model by the same people - try an Apple boot disk and see what happens. :) If you want I can continue to try and track down the importer. I know he stopped importing computers and went into the computer embroidery business, which does give me something to work with, anyway. I had given up as I had covered almost everyone I could find who had anything to do with old Apples, but there are still a couple of loose leads. I'm sure he would know about any other systems made by the company. Adam.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

RK05s now don't work! Help!

by rcini＠email.msn.com

This weekend, I decided to replace the rotting foam in my RK05 drives. BTW, self-adhesive weather striping seems to fit well. Home Depot carries one in white (3/8" square) that works for the disk pack air intake. There is also a black one, 7/16" x 3/4" that works for the foam between the blower motor and the card cage. Anyway, I digress. When I finished replacing the foam, I made sure that I vacuumed up any foam particles. I powered-up my 11/34a, and now neither drive gives me an "On Cylinder" light. AFAIR, inserting a disk pack and pressing "load" would produce a distinctive hum, indicating that the spindle motor is starting. Now, I get no hum. Looking inside, I don't see the spindle running. Also, for the first time, one drive popped its circuit breaker. It's almost like both spindles are stuck. They're not, though; I checked (While looking into the spindle motor and spinning the disk spindle I can see the motor fan move.) I did not disconnect any wires during this process. Any clues? BTW, what's the little red switch on the power supply board for? Thanks for the help, again. Rich Cini/WUGNET <nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use) ClubWin! Charter Member (6) MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking ============================================

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Need PDP processor card identified

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<a M9192? The list I have shows it as being a "DUAL HEIGHT CPU BRD", whic <is "real" informative! According to the list I've got the 23's CPU's hav <different numbers. M8186 PDP-11/23 (KDF11A) M8189 PDP-11/23 (KDF11B) < <They both have 256KW of 18-bit memory. This brings up an interesting <question, how many bytes are there in in a Word when you're talking <PDP-11's? Since it's 18 my guess would be 2 with parity bits. Correct the extra are parity and it's always 2 8bit bytes to a 16bit word. <SCD-RQD11/EC -- this one had 6 connectors for ribbon cables I believe this is a distribution board for the RQDX1/2/3 floppy/hard disk controllers. <M8059-KP -- I believe it's 64k, is it for PDP? 256kb(128kw) parity memory. <M3104 DHV11 -- It's got two ribbon connectors, by guess is it's for addi <other terminals. I seem to have a pair. These are terminal line controllers with silos and modem controls. Handy! <Distributed Logic Corp. DQ342 -- no idea, two ribbon connectors Unknown to me. <Plessey P/N 70590-100A -- looks to be a RAM board There were a lot of third part ram suppliers. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Portland Sale, got a PDP, etc.

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> > BTW, what is a DEC Professional 350? I passed on both that and a Rai <> > or two (they had a huge stack of Rainbows, but no monitors or keyboar <> > sight). I really want to go back, and would tomorrow I think, but th <> > weather is turning bad, and I'm supposed to be elsewhere :^( The PRO350 is a member of the PDP-11 family. The processor is the F-11, that's the same one as the 11/23 and they could carry up to 1meg of ram. The bus physically is unique to the pro but it is similar to q-bus in signals and timing. As to options: RX50 floppy RD50/51/52 hard disks(rd51 10meg was common) various memory options APUs for 8088 or z80s eithernet interface Color graphics Operating system was POS and was a modified version of RSX and is a multitasking os. RT-11 was also available. Many programming languages were available. Venix is available on the net for this box. Speed, the PRO350 was slightly faster than the 11/23 though the disk interfaces were slower. It did make a good workstation. Versions, There was a PRO380 which used the J-11 (11/73 11/83) processor which was faster and also the design carried more memory. Same box. I have one and they are neat small machines. You need a monitor and keyboard to make it complete. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

XT Parts

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

Hello. From what I've heard, XT's practally line the streets in some places. But, not here. :-( But, I've got most of an XT here. If anyone has some spare parts, that they're willing to donate/sell, than that would be great. What I need: a HDD, as after testing the one that came with mine on 2 machines, it doesn't work. It sounds bad, too. Preferably, one that's a 10MB, like the origional IBM. I don't have any SW, so it would be handy if you could just take one out. But, if not, I can try other things. A Controller, one that can handle Big Blue's origional 360K A second one, that can handle the above hard drive. (May not be needed) A video card. I need to figure out what's wrong with my XT monitor, as it doesn't seem to be working. But, I could just use my CGA. And, yes, I'm sure that I need all these. I've tried every part, and none of them work. I tested my monitor on a friends CGA graphics card (but set to mono), and the picture was CLEAR. I'm willing to pay for these, as they'd make my first working classic. And, I know that beggers can't be choosers.

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> >First programable calc <> <> Then there is the "first solid state electronic calc" which I think goe <> the Busicom from Japan that employed the first production run of the in <> 4000 chip set: the 4001 (2048 bit ROM), 4002 (320 bit RAM), 4003 (10 bi No, this was not the first by a long means. I vaguely remember a desktop HP job that was years earlier. There were designs that were RTL and utililogic and even earlier designs that were about the size of a desk drawer that were both totally electronic and to some extent programable. Allison

28 years, 3 months

3
2
0 0

wanted for tandy 1400

by mhyde＠kconline.com

i need an adapter and hard disk for a tandy 1400 laptop

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Portland Sale, got a PDP, etc.

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 01:53 PM 1/11/98 -0500, you wrote: >> Get an HP-IB cable or two if they have them but don't let them overcharge >> you for them. A lot of people act like they're made of gold. > >That is because they are, at least to the test engineering world. These >people spend large amounts for just about everything ($500 power supplies, >$3000 signal generators, etc.), so a $20 cable is nothing to them. The >dealers know they can get a large amount for HPIB cables, so they do. > >William Donzelli >william(a)ans.net $20 HA! Some of the dealers want $50+ plus for used ones around here. OTOH I have been given bunches of them and there are tons of them available. I just meant to warn him not to let them stick it to him for a cable or let the price of the cable stand in the way of buying the HP IPC. Joe > >

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Firsts

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 01:44 PM 1/11/98 -0500, you wrote: >> >First programable calc >> >> Then there is the "first solid state electronic calc" which I think goes to >> the Busicom from Japan that employed the first production run of the intel >> 4000 chip set: the 4001 (2048 bit ROM), 4002 (320 bit RAM), 4003 (10 bit >> shift register), and the 4004 (4 bit CPU). That chip set was shipped to >> Busicom in March 1971 according to Michael S. Malone's "The Microprocessor: >> A Biography" ISBN 0-387-94342-0 > >Wang's first (or quite near their first) product was an all electronic >calculator, introduced in the late 1960s. They are big, but could be >lugged around. The best part about them is the core memory! No >microprocessors here (in fact, it may be discrete transistors - I better >open the thing up a check). > >William Donzelli >william(a)ans.net > HP's first calculator, the 9100a, was introduced in 1967 or 68. It had no ICs, used core memories, and used logic gates made of diodes and resistors. It did have transistors but they were mainly used as amplifiers for the core memory. I guess it still qualifies as "solid state".) It was fully proggramable and used RPN. I have a 9100B with a 1969 date code. I believe the Japanese Busicom calculator is even older and dates from about 1966. Joe > >

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Console Cables

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

OK, pardon my myriad of questions tonite, but I'm learning something totally foriegn here. I've done some hunting, and it appears that I was right, the pair of small PDP-11's aren't 23's their 73's. I wan't to see if I can get them to boot, however, I'm wondering how I should connect the terminal. Do I use a straight serial cable 9600 8-N-1, null modem cable, or what. I'm already getting the impression that I'm going to end up building a cable for the VAXstation 2000. Based on what I've been able to find out on that. Hopefully the snow tonite isn't to bad, I don't think I've got any spare connectors laying around right now. Probably a good thing, I'd be tempted to build the cable right now :^) Is this the correct penout for the VS2000 console cable? 2<->3, 3<->2, 7<->7 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, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Portland Sale, got a PDP, etc.

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

I got back from the Portland sale, pretty cool. Seems like most of the people there were Hams, with some possible camara buffs. Most people looking at the computers were interested in stuff for modern systems. There were at least four other people there into the classics though. I went a bit crazy, and ended up with the following: PDP-11/44: Rack 1: 2 RL02's and what appears to be the connections for terminals Rack 2: CPU, dual floppies (8" I think), those funny little tape drives I've heard mentioned, and a Battery Backup I'm questioning the identity of these two, it's how they were labled, but they don't have a DEC nameplate. PDP-11/23: 8" disk and 20Mb HD PDP-11/23: 5.25" disk and 20Mb HD Kaypro II: I'm hoping the floppies are in good shape, I've really been wanting to get one of these. VAXstation 2000 S-100 bus cards: ~6 floppy controllers, ~1 I/O controller, a lot of RAM cards Q-Bus cards: ESDI floppy controller (YES!!!), 2 8Mb RAM cards, a whole pile that looked interesting and I honestly don't have any idea what they are. I think at least a couple are for a MircoPDP-11, and I'm wondering if one isn't a CPU for the MicroPDP-11. I'll probably have questions on what some of these are later, thankfully a couple days ago I found a pretty good Excel Spreadsheet on the net that will hopefully help me to identify them! A shrinkwraped copy of CP/M for the Rainbow 100, one of the manuals and another expansion unit for the Tek workstation I picked up a couple days ago, and maybe one or two other minor items I can't think of now. What can I say I'm pooped, I got my Dad to go, so I could use his Suburban, but I didn't think about how little he can lift nowdays. If it wasn't for Jim Willing, and the guy selling the stuff helping I don't think I'd have gotten the Rack with the 11/40 CPU in the truck. Unfortunately we couldn't figure out how to get the CPU out of the rack :^( I've gotten everything except the 11/40 out of his truck, that's going to have to wait. Unfortuntaly it's starting to snow, so it's probably going to wait until next weekend. No idea if anything works, I'm going to start playing tonite after I get done taking a break. As for the place having the sale, it was incredible, piles of old computers, tons of S-100 bus cards and computers. O-Scopes, ham junk, old camera equipment, etc., etc., etc. Of course to my thinking the prime stuff was was the PDP-11/44 and the VAX 11/730, with those around it was hard to see anything else. I'd have liked to get the VAX, but in all honesty now that I've got the /44 I think I'll stick to MicroVaxes, they're easier to move. I passed up a couple of Bell & Howell Apples (the black ones), they were trashed and didn't have the floppies, I'd have loved them for my Apple collection, but they were to far gone. I really should have picked up a VT220 or one of the other terminals that they had. They had a lot of Televideo stuff, but I didn't recognize what it was. BTW, what is a DEC Professional 350? I passed on both that and a Rainbow or two (they had a huge stack of Rainbows, but no monitors or keyboards in sight). I really want to go back, and would tomorrow I think, but the weather is turning bad, and I'm supposed to be elsewhere :^( Well, that's it for now, I want to start checking stuff out! 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, 3 months

4
6
0 0

Hayes modem installation

by shield＠freenet.edmonton.ab.ca

I was wondering if anyone knew how to install a Hayes 9600 modem into an XT (Ogivar Tech.). There are a MASSIVE 21 megs in the hard drive, and a 5.25 " drive. This is just a learning computer for a friend who will buy up if this one can work. I'm on a non-graphical internet account and the XT has a program already loaded on it to dial out, but the modem isn't being recognized. All I've done is physically put it into the slot ( it fits perfectly inside) and I haven't touched any switches or the autoexec.bat at all. I have no idea it those things are what I'd need to do anyway. Could someone help me out? Keep the information in English, not tech-ese, I'm still learning too! Thank you!

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Anyone ever heard of an Amigo?

by dastar＠wco.com

I picked up an Amigo computer today from a thrift store. Now, this is something cool as I have never seen one before and it is an interesting design for its time. The CPU and CRT are in one unit. In fact, at first I thought this was simply a dumb terminal because normally when you had a computer with integrated CPU/CRT it was a lot bulkier than this one is. The motherboard on this is tucked right under the tube. It has a Z-80 CPU and a 6502 (I'm assuming the 6502 is for the video display). The keyboard is an IBM XT keyboard (same key layout) but it has a 1/4" phono plug that connects to the front of the CRT/CPU (just like the Apple Lisa keyboard). I also got a dual half-height disk drive unit for it and two boxes of 5.25" floppies with programs such as WordStar, Supercalc, etc. I got a couple CP/M master disks with it as well. It powers up and on the screen it says: V.10 BOOT Insert system diskette in lower drive. I can hear the drive spinning as if its trying to boot from the disk but none of the system disks I have seem to work. Perhaps they are bad, or the drive heads need cleaning. What I really want to know is if anyone has ever seen or worked with one of these, and if you've got any information on it. Thanks! 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, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Rescued two old systems today.

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I went to a hamfest today and picked up two systems that "AREN'T GOING BACK HOME". One is a Rubicon II and the other is a Tandy 6000 HD. The Rubicon uses 2 floppy drives and I think runs CPM. The Tandy is running Xenix (sp?) and has a 8 inch floppy drive and 15Mb hard drive. Can anyone tell me anything about these? How rare? When they were made? If they have any value? etc. Joe

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Free IBM system 36

by manney＠nwohio.com

> a PC type can't consider until he's bloated his system to at least > 640K (or lately, 32Mb). 96MB is what I just put into mine. Corel 7 _flies_! ...but, it's hard to unlearn habits. I still find myself deleting <1K text files to "save space". I don't program much anymore, but if I did, I suspect I'd still be trying to squeeze a few bytes out here and there. With memory and HDD's so cheap, tho', and the intense pressure in the software market, it's simply not economically feasible to shave bytes. Also, a lot of the bloat is not only in features ("PIM outputs next year's schedule in HTML for easy posting to the web -- now with finite element analysis of paperclips!"), but things such as clipart, which gets stuck on the hard drive, for convenience...even MSWorks comes with clipart, for Pete's sake. Everything comes with 20 fonts (reminds me of an English restaurant: everything with chips) and a tutorial.

28 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

linux

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Pete, Have to send this on list as your address bounces. <Have you installed the "N" diskset - networking tools? If so then it <should be in /usr/sbin. I'd selected it for install but for some reson setup didn't install all the files I'd selected. I ran pkgtool and put everthing from the "n" diskset in and it's there now. <With regard to the packet driver for your DE-100 card it may be worth <visiting D-Link's web site. The PDI8023 would be better if I could use it in the dos/win3.1 box. I'll check the web site. Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

VAXstation 2000 question

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

OK, the question of the moment is how do I connect a console to a VAXstation 2000? Is it the plug with arrows pointing in opposite directions or do I need a special cable? I'm assuming for a terminal I can just use a laptop running a comm package that does VT100 emulation. 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, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Clock (off topic)

by chemif＠mbox.queen.it

At 13:29 09/01/98 -0800, Kip Crosby wrote: >Between Christmas and New Year's I was cleaning out my mother's house and >found a Texas Instruments TI-71, complete with its docs and warranty card. >This is a small, line-powered digital clock. Still works fine. > >What interests me here is that I recall hearing an unsupported contention, >years ago, that this was the _first_ commodity digital clock that used >seven-segment displays instead of flippers. Can anyone confirm or deny? Yes, more or less the "nostalgic taste" is more or less the same with all the '70 's innovations. I recall my first electronic watch: it was one of those black TI with red plastic display. Because of it's strong energy consumption, I had to replace the cells every year. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ? Riccardo Romagnoli,collector of:CLASSIC COMPUTERS,TELETYPE UNITS,PHONE ? ? AND PHONECARDS I-47100 Forli'/Emilia-Romagna/Food Valley/ITALY ? ? Pager:DTMF PHONES=+39/16888(hear msg.and BEEP then 5130274*YOUR TEL.No.* ? ? where*=asterisk key | help visit http://www.tim.it/tldrin_eg/tlde03.html ? ? e-mail=chemif(a)mbox.queen.it ? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

VAX11 programming book

by msf＠redhat.com

I saw a Boox by Tom somebody (sorry, forgot last name) on Vax-11 programming and assembly language at Barnes&Noble for $6. Its a big hard cover book. It was in the discount stack, if anyone is interested I'd get it and ship it at cost. You might want to check your local B&N and see if they can order it at that cost too. Michael Fulbright msf(a)redhat.com

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

linux

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Peter the folloing messages may be of interest to you. < ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- <<pjoules(a)lyndale-486.-> < < ----- Transcript of session follows ----- <553 lyndale-486.-. config error: mail loops back to me (MX problem?) <554 <pjoules(a)lyndale-486.->... Local configuration error The rest of the crowd may be interested in this. <Is your DOS box pure DOS or do you use Windows? <Do you use any networking software with DOS? Currently no networking with windows and it's windows 3.1. I call it dos box as unlike Win95 win3.x is layered on dos. I do however run trumpet(winsock), FreeAgent, winftp and Netscape3+ via modem to the ISP. <If you use windows 3.x then you will need to have a packet driver <installed via autoexec.bat for your network card and then just install <Trumpet Winsock and configure that. Then I need a packet driver for either purdata PDI8023plus-16 or DECPCA (DE100) card as that what I have. However if I do that how do I run trumpet for the modem and the NI? Allison

28 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb