> Well, finding a composite video point is trivial, therefore.
Inside the modulator can, I fear.
I had another look inside last night. The two metal cans appear to be
video circuitry (on motherboard) and modulator (separate). They are
linked by a 4-way ribbon cable of which one conductor is ground. I
suspect the remaining three of being video, line sync and frame sync.
(They could, I suppose, be composite mono, U and V but I doubt it)
> >Someday I must get a decent TV standard monitor - probably the Barco I
> >sold to my brother for use as a telly - but I ought to have a composite
>
> Err... You do not use a Barco monitor as a TV. It's far too nice for that. I
> happen to have one, you see.
Au contraire, the Barco is one of the few pieces of kit I _would_
consider using as a telly (the other being my Bush TV24 of course).
> Not of course. There were Barco's with built-in PAL, SECAM or NTSC decoders
OK, you win.
> >> What chips _other than the 8048_ are in this device? Is the video side
> >> custom or does it use one of the many Philips video chipsets? (Philips
> >> Prestel terminals tend to be stuffed with their Teletext IC's, for
> >> example...)
Pretty boring, I'm afraid - 8245 and 6110 plus about 20 TTL chips. I
can't read the numbers of the chips inside the video can unless I
desolder said can from PCB.
Philip.
> I met someone who had worked on the Olivetti M20 many years ago and
> could possibly still get a hold of some of these.
>
> The M20 is a Z8001 based machine with bitmapped graphics and can run
> PCOS (its own OS) or CP/M 8000
>
> Is anyone else interested?
Which side of the Atlantic is it on?
Philip.
bluesky6(a)ix.netcom.com (Benedict Chong) wrote :
> There is or was a prentice hall book on logic design that described
> the design of a PDP-8 workalike. I bought the book and told myself
> that one day, I'll build a PDP-8 with EPLDs. Like Allison, I ended up
> with 16 bits and then other things got in the way...
> The book is called top-down logic design or something like that.
The Art of Digital Design, an introduction to top-down design
by Franklin P. Prosser and David E. Winkel
Prentice-Hall 1987 ISBN 0-13-046673-5 025
I have a copy and can highly recommend it. It has a two complete design
descriptions of a PDP-8 CPU, one a state machine implementation the
other a microprogrammed one.
Talking of 16 bit extensions to the PDP-8, that is what the HP-2116A
appears to be, anyone konw that processor?
Regards,
Hans B Pufal
<From: Phil Sutherland <philsuth(a)mycroft.DIALix.oz.au>
<I recently tracked down the articles on the EDUC-8 as the first step
<towards building one. My plan to put it in the corner of my office as an
<"executive toy". However, by the time I get round to it I suspect I'll
<be using it as an educational toy for my (currently 1 year old) son!
On the build it yourself tack I've considered building my own TTL pdp-8 but
every time I put the paper down I end up with 16 bits. The basic 16bit
design was PDP-8 with four more address bits.
Allison
Just a test of the *Broadcast* facility. Trying to put up
a Calendar and Scheduling program on the web site 8-)
--------------------------------------------------
Performed by Auto-Remind : another fine product of
The Software Forge and danjo(a)xnet.com
--------------------------------------------------
>> Presumably if it has a UHF output it also has an internal modulator. Can't you
>> just tap off composite video from the input to that?
>
>It does indeed, and on a separate board, too!
Well, finding a composite video point is trivial, therefore.
>
>Someday I must get a decent TV standard monitor - probably the Barco I
>sold to my brother for use as a telly - but I ought to have a composite
Err... You do not use a Barco monitor as a TV. It's far too nice for that. I
happen to have one, you see.
>one as well (Barco is RGB, of course). At present the monitor I have
Not of course. There were Barco's with built-in PAL, SECAM or NTSC decoders
acording to the user manual for mine. (Barco User manual = 1/2 page explaining
the controls and about 40 pages telling you how to set it up, schematics,
waveforms, test points, etc).
>requires Video + Composite Sync - or it can free-run and generate sync
>for a TV camera.
>
>> What chips _other than the 8048_ are in this device? Is the video side
>> custom or does it use one of the many Philips video chipsets? (Philips Prestel
>> terminals tend to be stuffed with their Teletext IC's, for example...)
>
>I can't remember offhand, except that there are quite a lot of them.
>I'll have another look tonight.
Please e-mail me a list when you get a chance and I'll see what I can find out
about them.
>
>There seem to be two large rectangular metal cans - one with its own PCB
>(probably the UHF modulator) and one on the motherbaord (VHF for US?)
Possible VHF for europe. There are 625 line transmissions on Bands 1 and 3
according to some info I have.
>
>Philip.
-tony
They're extremely rare. Rarer than almost anything except an Apple I.
Just before I was lucky enough to be gifted mine from a saintly
old-timer, I saw one sell for $650. That's the only one I've ever seen
for sale, and the seller said he'd received over 60 inquiries. He also
said he could have gotten more if he wanted to drag the bidding on for
another couple of weeks.
I am aware of a gentleman who may be willing to part with a 5110 + dual
8" external drives + printer, but he wants a "very generous offer" for
it and the shipping alone would be a killer since the total weight is
about 200 lbs (he's in PA).
BTW, do you have a web page for your collection?
Kai
> ----------
> From: Anthony Eros
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 1997 7:32 AM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: IBM 5100
>
> High up on the list of wants for my collection is an IBM 5100. I
> passed on
> one several years ago at a Goodwill (arrrgh!), but I'd sure like to
> track one
> down now.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> -- Tony Eros
> proprietor -- FooBear's Cluttered Cellar Classic Computer
> Collection
>
Anything that will do downloads with Zmodem, Ymodem or Xmodem
I just need a start. I think the most popular is called BOBTERM
----------
> From: Faiaz, Michael C. HSD <FAIAZMC(a)hsd.utc.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: RE: Atari 850 Interface
> Date: Wednesday, August 13, 1997 3:27 PM
>
> I may have one. Can you be more specific, as to which term program you
> need?
> Mike
>
> ----------
> From: Bill Girnius
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Atari 850 Interface
> Date: Wednesday, August 13, 1997 12:16PM
>
>
> Welp! I finally got one. Case got a little damaged in shipping,but it
> looks
> like it will still work. Is there anyone out there that still uses the
> 8bit Atari's that can send me a copy of a Term program on an Atari 8bit
> format disk so I can start downloading stuff to my 8bit atari's?
I may have one. Can you be more specific, as to which term program you
need?
Mike
----------
From: Bill Girnius
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Atari 850 Interface
Date: Wednesday, August 13, 1997 12:16PM
Welp! I finally got one. Case got a little damaged in shipping,but it
looks
like it will still work. Is there anyone out there that still uses the
8bit Atari's that can send me a copy of a Term program on an Atari 8bit
format disk so I can start downloading stuff to my 8bit atari's?
> Presumably if it has a UHF output it also has an internal modulator. Can't you
> just tap off composite video from the input to that?
It does indeed, and on a separate board, too!
Someday I must get a decent TV standard monitor - probably the Barco I
sold to my brother for use as a telly - but I ought to have a composite
one as well (Barco is RGB, of course). At present the monitor I have
requires Video + Composite Sync - or it can free-run and generate sync
for a TV camera.
> What chips _other than the 8048_ are in this device? Is the video side
> custom or does it use one of the many Philips video chipsets? (Philips Prestel
> terminals tend to be stuffed with their Teletext IC's, for example...)
I can't remember offhand, except that there are quite a lot of them.
I'll have another look tonight.
There seem to be two large rectangular metal cans - one with its own PCB
(probably the UHF modulator) and one on the motherbaord (VHF for US?)
Philip.
[G7000]
>
>Yes thanks, I have four or five. I don't expect to use the thing until
>I can find out how to get composite video or RGB out, since I don't
>possess a television.
Presumably if it has a UHF output it also has an internal modulator. Can't you
just tap off composite video from the input to that?
What chips _other than the 8048_ are in this device? Is the video side custom
or does it use one of the many Philips video chipsets? (Philips Prestel
terminals tend to be stuffed with their Teletext IC's, for example...)
>
>Philip.
-tony
I met someone who had worked on the Olivetti M20 many years ago and
could possibly still get a hold of some of these.
The M20 is a Z8001 based machine with bitmapped graphics and can run
PCOS (its own OS) or CP/M 8000
Is anyone else interested?
Ben
At 10:17 AM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>buy a ton of Apple IIe/IIc's and Commodore 64's - like a warehouse full.
[...]
>hit age 50 (in approximately 2015) they're going to have to buy one, and
At which point you would be deeper in debt than the US Gov. from all the
storage costs... 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
At 09:14 AM 8/12/97 -0800, you wrote:
>Unfortunately, the high demand for common "trendy" machines (i.e. IMSAI's,
>Altairs, whatever) often displaces the preservation of machines which
>are much rarer, which are far more important historically, and which
>present far greater difficulties to preserve, maintain, and use.
Keep in mind that Value <> importance/significance/etc. Value represents a
combination of many variables, including visibility, size, trendiness, etc.
There are plenty of relatively valueless items running around the world that
are incredibly significant, while a whole lot of insignificant things
command high prices on the open market.
If I wanted to invest in classic computers, it would be IMSAI's, Osbornes,
and Apple I's. But I want to collect them, so I've got an Epson, an NEC, a
m100, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
On Wed, 13 Aug 1997 12:27:11 -0400, allisonp(a)world.std.com
mentioned:
> Despite have seen a few and being even an EX-digit I've never played
> with the PDP-9. Is any there that can describe the archecture and
> instruction set? Mostly curiosity here.
I think I've got a processor handbook for the -9 at home; it's
either that or the -15 (which was an up-rated successor to the -9).
I'll dig it out and post a few bits when I get home. (If I'm sober
enough. <insert grin as appropriate>) I seem to remember my first
impression was "bizarre machine"...
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:carl.friend@stoneweb.com | |
| http://www.ultranet.com/~engelbrt/carl/museum/ | ICBM: N42:21 W71:46 |
|________________________________________________|_____________________|
Despite have seen a few and being even an EX-digit I've never played with
the PDP-9. Is any there that can describe the archecture and instruction
set? Mostly curiosity here.
Allison
> > collectible. (What is the G7000 anyway? Yes, I did buy it! It has an
> > 8048 as the CPU, of all things!)
>
> It is a video game system that is compatible with the Magnavox Odessey^2
>
> Do you have any cartridges for it. If not then I have a few duplicates.
Yes thanks, I have four or five. I don't expect to use the thing until
I can find out how to get composite video or RGB out, since I don't
possess a television.
[For those of you not in the UK, here one requires a licence to operate
"Television Receiving Apparatus", which I think includes any TV with a
UHF tuner, but not a monitor. The licence fee is (without looking up
either the current fee or the exchange rate) about $120 a year, and I am
not prepared to pay this. So I don't have a TV - and seldom miss it.]
Philip.
Welp! I finally got one. Case got a little damaged in shipping,but it looks
like it will still work. Is there anyone out there that still uses the
8bit Atari's that can send me a copy of a Term program on an Atari 8bit
format disk so I can start downloading stuff to my 8bit atari's?
> > The 'speculators' who are out to try to make a quick buck on these
> > machines while having no regard for their preservation or history will
> > only make life much more difficult (and expensive) for those who would
> > preserve both the machine and its history.
>
> I think that there will always be people around who don't have the "purest"
> motives for doing anything, and collecting computers is no exception.
> Antique dealers could be considered collectors only in it for the money, BUT
> without that force being present, a lot more collectibles would be in that
> great landfill in the sky.
Dig the mixed metaphor!
Seriously though, there are two processes at work here. One is that
those who grew up with such machines have got the nostalgia bug. This
starts prices rising, which in turn attracts speculators. The latter
fuel the second process - articles get published about how fast the
market is growing, etc.
One hopes that in a few years time, they will become unfashionable once
again, and we will see a return to the situation when these machines
first became unfashionable - they crop up at car boot sales, etc., for
not much money.
> Another thing to think about is the opportunity that the speculators
> provide. I don't recall the number of museums spread around the world, but
> it is at least a dozen or two :). Right now, I am in the learning stages of
> finding out what it takes to run a museum and donations seem to be a
> biggie. If a non-profit status museum is available, I can't imagine any
> speculator trashing something instead of taking a tax rightoff.
Do keep us posted! There are plenty of us on this list who dream of
converting our private collections into musea when we retire - or
before! - who would welcome any info on the subject.
> And yes, this type of stuff WILL make it harder for people to collect
> computers. HOWEVER, we are still at the stage where the perceived value of
> most older computers is not very high thus making it relatively easy for
> anyone who has the desire to get a fairly complete selection of computers
> relatively inexpensively. And since we seem to be some of the few concerned
> with the preservation of old computers and their history, that leaves us in
> a rather responsible position and I think the future will look back kindly
> at our efforts!
And however much we dislike the price spirals that occur, we must
remember that unless people know that collectors want these machines,
they'll put them in the dustbin.
That is one reason why, unlike Sam, I do not often haggle. If people
know that the Philips G7000 videopac computer that they priced at four
pounds at the car boot sale will get snapped up for that amount of
money, and tell people at work etc., others will think twice about
throwing out the PDP8 or whatever. If, however, they price it at L4 and
can't even get that for it, they will think that computers are not
collectible. (What is the G7000 anyway? Yes, I did buy it! It has an
8048 as the CPU, of all things!)
> > Are *you* prepared to pay $500US for an Osborne or a TI99-4a ???
No, but I'd rather pay $500 for an Osborne than see the last remaining
one disinegrate between the teeth of a rubbish crusher like that PDP9.
On Tue, 12 Aug 1997 07:33:33 -0700 (PDT), Mr. Willing graced us
with these words:
> On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, William Donzelli wrote:
>
> > I also talked to a guy that deals with old computers. Two weeks
> > ago, he _finally_ scrapped out a bunch of old machines - really
> > old. Amongst the deaths were various PDP-8s, two PDP-9s, a
> > Burroughs mainframe, and an IBM 7090 of some sort.
>
> I think; I may scream!
I had the same sort of reaction when I heard the news through
different channels. Needless to say I was less than pleased. However,
Mr. Donzelli believes there to be hope in this; he states that the
guy in question was willing to let him know about future systems
like that.
> *How* do we reach these people *before* things like this happen?!?
That's the proverbial $64,000 (65,536?) dollar question. I guess
we'll have to get to know the various scrap dealers (and especially
"recyclers") in our areas.
> (preferably without starting a mad rush from yuppie collector
> wannabes!)
This is another hot-button issue with me, having seen what the
price of Altairs and the like is now. (No, the price is not
justifiable - other than the machines are very "trendy" right now
and speculators think they can make a killing on them.) However,
given the size of things like PDP-9s and mainframes, I doubt that
systems in that class are likely to fall victim to "speculative
collection". Some of the smaller machines in the PDP-8 class might,
but the PDP-8/I I just acquired filled half of the rear of my
minivan (the other half had an Interdata Model 4 in it) - a bit
too large for the average yuppie. You've got to be pretty sick to
collect things the size of refrigerators (yes, I know, I fit the bill).
Cheers.
--
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:carl.friend@stoneweb.com | |
| http://www.ultranet.com/~engelbrt/carl/museum/ | ICBM: N42:21 W71:46 |
|________________________________________________|_____________________|
High up on the list of wants for my collection is an IBM 5100. I passed on
one several years ago at a Goodwill (arrrgh!), but I'd sure like to track one
down now.
Any ideas?
-- Tony Eros
proprietor -- FooBear's Cluttered Cellar Classic Computer Collection
I seem to have received an email which has bounced thru a few people. I'll try
to give attributions where possible.
Dave Jenner:
> Is this the same SCO that is receiving the PDP-11 Unix petition?
> Heaven help us!
Unknown:
> I saw a thing on SCO's webpage about submitting a success story to win a
> prize. I decided it was time for some shameless plugging!
> Look what I got in return... He almost gets the point...
Daniel Seagraves:
> >
> >I have a PDP-11. I bet it would make for some
> >pretty decent advertising if you'd give me the
> >source to compile Unix on it... :)
Jim Sullivan:
> Well, since much of the early UNIX development was done on PDP11s, a version
> of UNIX could possilbe be found for it, but it's probably very old and
> out of date. Of note, my first job in the industry was with a company
> called Human Computing Resources (later HCR, later merged with SCO).
> HCR was one of the pioneers in the UNIX industry and was the provider of
> UNIX ports and layered implementations of UNIX across many platforms,
> including PDP11s. PDP11/Unity was one of our products. Of course, we
> don't sell it anymore and haven't sold it for over a decade.
The Answer
----------
The answer for Daniel Seagraves is to fill in the petition asking SCO to
sell the source code for these old UNIXes. SCO does hold the legal rights
to these old systems. We're hoping that they will be encouraged by the
petition, and help people like Daniel out.
The petition is at:
http://minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au/PUPS/ and choose the top hyperlink.
The petition has been formally presented to SCO, and we're waiting on
an answer back from them. The signs seem good, though!
Cheers,
Warren
At 06:53 AM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>>Bruce, and everyone else. I just heard from Bill. He got in a car wreck
>>going over to Bruce's place to pick some stuff up. Not knocking ya Bruce
>>but from now on we can call a wreck - getting Bruced 8-) He is OK but in
Or perhaps being "Whit"led (it was Bill Whitson?) could mean willing to go
to any length (including getting your car hit and breaking bones) in order
to rescue classic computer stuff? 8^)
Hope he gets well soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
> I have some. I also live in the UK (Cambridge) so shipping won't be
> much. I actually have a Superbrain Jr. I can't remember what density
> disks it has but I will check tonight. What model is yours.
Excellent. Thank you very much. I too shall check such things tonight
- if I can (I have no documentation at all)
> Did the company Intertec make any other machines?
According to Kai Kaltenbach's recent post, it seems they made something
called a Compustar. The name doesn't ring any bells for me, however.
If you're in Cambridge, you ought to belong to the Cambridge University
Computer Preservation Society. I think Richard Davies (rjd27(a)cam.ac.uk)
will be able to tell you more.
I shall be at CUCPS next term, on 4th November, hopefully demonstrating
the Tektronix 4052, if you're interested.
Philip.
Hello, all:
I got a message from my friend with the Altair scans (list previously posted
here). On Monday, he mailed me a Zip disk filled with scans. It really makes
me wonder if this guy has a job! Actually, he must work for a publishing house
or something, somewhere where he has access to high-volume scanners.
Anyway, when I get this, I'll put together a disk/tape and Fedex it to Bill
Whitson {Bill: I need your physical address and telephone#} and have him post
it to the ftp site.
More to come...
------------------------
Rich Cini/WUGNET
<rcini(a)msn.com>
- ClubWin Charter Member (6)
- MCPS Windows 95/Networking
I received this today, can anyone here help him out? If so, send him
an email.
Thanks.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Bill Creager" <creagerb(a)ix.netcom.com>
To: <dlw(a)neosoft.com>
Subject: HELP
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 15:44:50 -0400
Found your wanted ad for Cromemco's. I have a need for a programmer with
a Crememco and the know how to program a EPROM chip for a Hand Held data
terminal (MSI 85)..... any help or leads would be greatly appreciated.
Bill Creager
CREAGERB(a)ix.netcom.com
----------------------------------------------------
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)neosoft.com
http://www.neosoft.com/~dlw
> The problem I see with this view, is that it does not fully take into
> consideration the class/capabilities/intent of "people" who are
> throwing
> these outlandish amounts of money around!
>
Do we have any evidence of outlandish prices actually being paid?
There are lots of newspaper articles referencing ridiculous amounts for
an Apple I like $10-$15K, but no facts to back them up. The only
documented sale in existence is the one at the 1996 Computer Bowl
charity auction for $22K, but that hardly counts.
Does anyone have any facts about Altairs or IMSAIs going for thousands?
> The 'speculators' who are out to try to make a quick buck on these
> machines while having no regard for their preservation or history will
> only make life much more difficult (and expensive) for those who would
> preserve both the machine and its history.
>
While there seem to be quite a lot of "Altair / IMSAI Wanted" ads on
USENET, I've never actually communicated with anyone who was in this for
the speculation. Does anyone know someone who is?
My advice to anyone who actually wanted to speculate in old computers
would be to buy a ton of Apple IIe/IIc's and Commodore 64's - like a
warehouse full. They're common as dirt right now and go for garage sale
prices. When all of those people whose first computer was one of those
hit age 50 (in approximately 2015) they're going to have to buy one, and
you'd be in fat city :)
> Once the percieved value of a given item is (publically) driven up,
> either
> by speculators with too much money to spend or too many badly out of
> touch
> New York/L.A. Times articles, it can take a very long time for the
> prices
> to return to reality (if they ever do).
>
That's the truth brother.
> And once an item is in the hands of one of these money oriented types,
> it
> may well languish in a vault(sic) until someone will pay the 'proper'
> prices, or when the novelty has worn off the item may still end up in
> the
> trash rather than being released for a more reasonable price. (don't
> laugh, I regularly deal with a *lot* of these types!)
>
Really?!? Egads.
> There has got to be a balance somewhere, I'm just not sure how to get
> there.
>
> Are *you* prepared to pay $500US for an Osborne or a TI99-4a ???
>
Geez, I found homes for a couple of nice Osbornes at your Tigard swap
meet for $15-$20 apiece. What was I thinking! :)
Kai
> From: Kevin McQuiggin
> Most of the hype and hoarding has been with bakelite radios from the
> late
> 40s and 50s
>
Occam's Razor says it's more likely that the baby boomers who owned or
wanted to own such radios in the 40s and 50s are now of the age where
they have a lot of nostalgia and a good deal of money to spend. That
doesn't mean that speculators are driving up prices.
Kai
One machine I hear very little about nowadays - the Superbrain.
It was one of the CPM machines that competed with the later PETs and
things, and there used to be one that sat in the librarian's office
where I work. One day I saw it being trundled towards the stores, and
sure enough it appeared in the skip soon afterward.
A little discussion with our procurement (= disposals) people, and the
machine went home with me. It now sits on my shelves, waiting for
someone to give it a boot disk.
Anyone know where to get system disks for this machine? I have one
friend who keeps promising to ask his neighbour (etc....) to get me one,
but said neighbour never seems to be available. Can anyone else get me
a disk? - I will pay all reasonable costs involved, of course.
Philip.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Bloedem Volke unverstaendlich treiben wir des Lebens Spiel.
Grade das, was unabwendlich fruchtet unserm Spott als Ziel.
Magst es Kinder-Rache nennen an des Daseins tiefem Ernst;
Wirst das Leben besser kennen, wenn du uns verstehen lernst.
Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
Hi Philip,
Don Maslin has the list of Intertec stuff below in his collection of
CP/M boot disks. He is kind enough to distribute these in the U.S. for
his cost of $3/first disk and $1/each additional. Contact him at
donm(a)cts.com and see what it would run for international shipping.
Kai
INTERTEC SUPERBRAIN & COMPUSTAR
Name Format Description
QD-BIOS4 DSDD System disk w/ experimental BIOS
QD-UTILS DSDD System-specific utilities
QD-ZCPR3 DSDD ZCPR BIOS and source
QDHDBIOS DSDD Hard disk BIOSes
SBRAIN32 SSDD SUPERBRAIN v 3.2 system disk
VPU-COMM SSDD COMPUSTAR communications files
VPU30ENH SSDD COMPUSTAR enhanced system disk
VPU30NON SSDD COMPUSTAR non-enhanced system disk
VPU30NRM SSDD COMPUSTAR non-enhanced system disk
WATSTAR DSDD COMPUSTAR(?) network BIOS & files
COMPUSTR TXT System description
SBRNINFO TXT Boot-up information
CMPSTR30 ZIP COMPUSTAR system files
CSR-COMM SSDD Backup to VPU-COMM
CSR30ENH SSDD Backup to VPU30ENH
CSR30NON SSDD Backup to VPU30NON
CSR30NRM SSDD Backup to VPU30NRM
NEW.COM Short program to allow 'smarter' C'Star to run
non enhanced operating system
NORMAL.COM Restores screen to normal video
> ----------
> From: Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 1997 9:20 AM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Superbrain
>
> One machine I hear very little about nowadays - the Superbrain.
>
> It was one of the CPM machines that competed with the later PETs and
> things, and there used to be one that sat in the librarian's office
> where I work. One day I saw it being trundled towards the stores, and
>
> sure enough it appeared in the skip soon afterward.
>
> A little discussion with our procurement (= disposals) people, and the
>
> machine went home with me. It now sits on my shelves, waiting for
> someone to give it a boot disk.
>
> Anyone know where to get system disks for this machine? I have one
> friend who keeps promising to ask his neighbour (etc....) to get me
> one,
> but said neighbour never seems to be available. Can anyone else get
> me
> a disk? - I will pay all reasonable costs involved, of course.
>
> Philip.
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Bloedem Volke unverstaendlich treiben wir des Lebens Spiel.
> Grade das, was unabwendlich fruchtet unserm Spott als Ziel.
> Magst es Kinder-Rache nennen an des Daseins tiefem Ernst;
> Wirst das Leben besser kennen, wenn du uns verstehen lernst.
>
> Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by
> Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
>
>
I saw a thing on SCO's webpage about submitting a success story to win a
prize. I decided it was time for some shameless plugging!
Look what I got in return... He almost gets the point...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:23:52 -0400
From: Jim Sullivan <jim(a)sco.COM>
To: dseagrav(a)tek-star.net
Subject: Re: Success Story
Well this came in through a strange interface....
At 05:20 PM 8/11/97 MDT, you wrote:
>Name: Daniel Seagraves
>Telephone: 692-5893
>
>Customer's Environment: I have a PDP-11. I bet it would make for some
>pretty decent advertising if you'd give me the
>source to compile Unix on it... :)
Well, since much of the early UNIX development was done on PDP11s, a version
of UNIX could possilbe be found for it, but it's probably very old and
out of date. Of note, my first job in the industry was with a company
called Human Computing Resources (later HCR, later merged with SCO).
HCR was one of the pioneers in the UNIX industry and was the provider of
UNIX ports and layered implementations of UNIX across many platforms,
including PDP11s. PDP11/Unity was one of our products. Of course, we
don't sell it anymore and haven't sold it for over a decade.
I seriously doubt that the current UNIX source code could easily port
to the PDP11 environment.
>The Economics: To be determined.
Probably not worth it...
>System Configuration: 2 systems:
>PDP-11/44 Unknown RAM, RA81 475MB 12" harddisk
> 32 terminal ports, FPP, misc. goodies.
>PDP-11/23+ 1 meg RAM, KDF11-B CPU, No harddisk, 2
> RX02 8" Floppy drives.
Well, loading UNIX, as it exists today, into 1M, may be impossible.
Good Luck, but I don't think I can help you.
----
Jim Sullivan "Don't plant your bad days. They grow into bad
SMB Segment Marketing weeks and then bad months and before you know it
SCO - jim(a)sco.com you've got a bad year" - Tom Waits
416 216 4611
Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> writes:
> No, it was not like a Koala pad or touch pad but more like a digitizing
> pad. The end of the arm looks like it has a magnifying lens on it. The arm
> assembly looks a lot like a miniature version of a drafting machine.
The arm has joints at its base and middle, right? And the base of the
arm is at the top center of the pad?
I'd expect this thing to look like two game paddles to an Apple ][,
where the obligatory 150K linear pots are mounted at the joints so to
report their angles. That and software could get you a tolerable
digitizing tablet depending on how tolerant you are and the quality of
the pots.
My vague recollection is one of seeing it advertised in Creative
Computing in the early 1980s, maybe by one of CC's related companies,
but I may very well have my wires crossed.
-Frank McConnell
At 00:02 12-08-97 PDT, you wrote:
>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 20:38:05 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Brett <danjo(a)xnet.com>
>To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
>Subject: Hey Bruce - don't get rid of it yet!
>Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.95.970811203257.24325F-100000@typhoon>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
>Bruce, and everyone else. I just heard from Bill. He got in a car wreck
>going over to Bruce's place to pick some stuff up. Not knocking ya Bruce
>but from now on we can call a wreck - getting Bruced 8-) He is OK but in
>a cast and car-less (for a while) and can't get to read the list. Maybe
>we should have a little *Net Get Well* party for him?
Yikes! No offense taken, but I'd prefer to have something a little more
pleasant associated with the term -- perhaps being loaded down with
hardware? ;-)
Anyway.... thanks, Brett! I'm sorry to hear about the wreck, and I will
hold the stuff for him until I know one way or the other. Glad to hear it
wasn't more serious than a cast.
Any details on where or who hit him? There are a couple of hotspots on the
route to my place that are unavoidable unless you really know the area well
and, for the sake of my own hide, I'm curious as to where he got nailed.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
does anyone have technical documentation (prints
would be nice, but just a high quality description of what's
where in the address space of the z80 would make
following out things easier) for a Morrow micro-decision md-1.
Kai Kaltenbach <kaikal(a)MICROSOFT.com> writes:
> Does anyone know what a Corvus Concept is?
A little. I have one, haven't actually fired it up as yet but
have looked through the manuals a bit.
It's a 68000-based system, integrated monochrome graphics, can deal
with the monitor in either portrait or landscape rotation. (I'm not
sure how it knows which way you've positioned the monitor, I think you
have to tell it.) Has built-in Corvus Omninet, which means it can
hook up to an Omninet network with other stuff and I believe can be a
file server or a diskless system or a diskful stand-alone system.
I think Corvus had word processing and spreadsheet software for it, as
well as a Pascal compiler. The innards of the operating system (what
I saw in the programming manuals) reminded me a lot of UCSD
Pascal/p-System, but it didn't seem to have a p-machine in there
anywhere, it just ran 68000 code and I guess that is what the Pascal
compiler produces. I gathered it would be pretty easy to port stuff
developed for UCSD Pascal, and I guess that's not too surprising as
there was a bit of that deployed with Corvus networking on Apple ][s.
There was a review in Byte sometime in 1984 or maybe 1983. I don't
remember and all my Bytes are in storage, with the Concept and the
manuals and other documentation I have for it.
The monitor is the monitor. The base is where the CPU lives. If it
has disks they are in separate boxes; I think I have one that is a
hard disk and another that is an 8" floppy drive. There's an external
keyboard too.
If you have other questions, holler and I'll go find the manuals,
I really ought to inventory them anyway.
-Frank McConnell
i came across some good luck today and bought an applecolor rgb monitor;
looks like it belongs with the gs model. however, when i connect it to a rgb
source, all i manage to get is a wavy blue bar and no text. i fiddled with
all controls and could stop the rapid scrolling, but that's about it. i still
get a diagonal blue bar that moves. does anyone know of an internal control
or setting i can check out? i'd hate to think i have TWO apple rgb monitors
that are bad!
david
Bruce, and everyone else. I just heard from Bill. He got in a car wreck
going over to Bruce's place to pick some stuff up. Not knocking ya Bruce
but from now on we can call a wreck - getting Bruced 8-) He is OK but in
a cast and car-less (for a while) and can't get to read the list. Maybe
we should have a little *Net Get Well* party for him?
If you need to talk to him - he is at the Other Address. Let's not flood
him under but I think short Get Well's will be appreciated.
BC
On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Marvin wrote:
> I just read the book "Accidental Empires" by Robert X. Cringely that was the
> basis for the PBS movie, "Triumph of the Nerds."
Sam Ismail wrote:
> I'll add that I thought the book to be extremely entertaining and a great
> read. I'll comment on the fact that not much mention was made of CP/M in
> that history seldom celebrates the losers.
I just recently saw "Triumph of the Nerds" (playing a lot lately on a PBS
station near you, no doubt) and was fascinated by the view of history
presented in it. Basically, if it did not involve Apple, Microsoft, or
IBM, it wasn't history; they only started talking about CP/M when it got
to the "and IBM needed an operating system" part of the story.
One curious bit. The statement that Apple had 50% of the PC market share
when IBM came out with its PC stuck in my mind. Going through my pile of
old BYTE magazines, I found a BYTE from that era (well, 1984 actually; which
is actually a match for era because they were building up the Macintosh
story) which gives 50% of the market share to Tandy...
Roger "cut my teeth on a TRS-80 Model I" Ivie
ivie(a)cc.usu.edu
OK, it's been a month or two since my last trade list post, so here
goes:
Computers For Trade:
- Apple II+
- Apple IIgs (cpu only, appears to have 192K)
- Apple IIgs (cpu only, appears to have 320K)
- Apple Macintosh 128 w/correct keyboard & mouse, boot disk
- Atari 800, fully populated 48K
- Atari 520STfm
- Atari 1040STf
- Atari 1040STf (missing some keys)
- Commodore 64 in original box
- Commodore 128D (rare 128 with built-in 1571 drive & PS, separate kbd)
- North Star Horizon, wood case model
- Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I CPU & monitor (supply your own PS)
- Timex-Sinclair ZX1000 with 16K RAM Expansion
Peripherals For Trade:
- Bell & Howell "Black Apple" Disk II drive (labeled drive 1)
- Commodore Amiga 5 1/4" drive (Rare!)
- ICL Multi I/O SCSI HD interface for Atari 8-bit with 130XE connector
- SoftStrip Reader (extremely rare)
- Supra SCSI HD interface for Atari ST
Game Systems/Games For Trade:
- GCE/Milton Bradley Vectrex
- Magnavox Odyssey2 in original box
- Tengen Tetris cart for NES
WANTED:
- Anything MITS, IMSAI, etc. and various other S-100 and/or 8080/Z-80
stuff; drive systems, cards...
- Battery for Apple Macintosh Portable
- Battery for IBM PC Convertible
- Apple Lisa Mouse
- Apple-II-On-A-Card for PC (Quadram, Trackstar)
- Exidy Sorcerer
- 1975 BYTEs, Popular Electronics, 1974-75 Radio Electronics
- Brochures, ads, Micro Shopper/Byte Shopper, etc.
- Posters
- Robert Tinney prints
- Microsoft Adventure
Hi, folks,
I have need of a utility that will allow me to read/write RX50 diskettes,
initialized with MicroVMS 4.6, on a PC. Formatting ability is not
necessary, as I can initialize with the VAXStation.
So far, I've tried both PUTR and RX50.EXE (the archive). Neither has worked.
Thanks in advance.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
> From: Bob Wood <altair8800(a)hotmail.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Altair prices!
> Date: Monday, August 10, 1998 8:19 AM
>
> No, I'm not talking about Ebay prices.
>
> Instead I thought you might be interested
> in seeing an original Altair Price list
> from July,1976. Here's the link to a jpeg of it...
> http://home.att.net/~rwood54741/25.jpg
>
> We have heard that the 680 was a failure
> because the 16k memory card for it cost more than
> the computer. Take a look at this list and you
> will see it in black and white. The 680 computer kit
> cost $466 ($625 assembled). The 16K memory card cost
> a staggering $685 as a kit and $865 assembled. That
> is a whopping $43 per 1k of memory.
>
Yipes! And I thought paying $43 for a 4 meg SIMM a few years ago was
expensive!
> Bob Wood
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> I had a Phillips XT that had 760k RAM. No idea how they did it but
> it reported the memory available at start-up and definitely didn't
> use Quarterdeck.
>
> ciao larry
>
My Tandy 1000 HX has a memory board giving me 736K RAM (and EMS).
I don't know how they do it but it's pretty neat.
That added new life to this old machine though.
Marc
--
>> ANIME SENSHI <<
Marc D. Williams
marcw(a)lightside.com Lightside, Inc.
marc.williams(a)mb.fidonet.org The MailBox BBS
marc.williams(a)652.sasbbs.com Paradigm Shift BBS
IRC Nick: Senshi Channel: #dos #IrcHelp
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/internet.html -- DOS Internet Tools
i have this big apple monitor that i need some help with. it's big, beige,
and heavy with a motorized tilt screen and a db15 connector. i'm having a
video problem with the monitor. i don't get any kind of raster screen and i
do not have the special card to run it on my //e. i've tried it on the video
port of my laser 128 and on my dodgy apple ///, all to no avail. can anyone
figure out a possible solution? if i cannot get it to work, i'd like to get
rid of it, but it's so heavy it wouldnt be worth shipping unless you live in
north carolina.
david
Don't quote me on this - I'm not a Lisa expert. I've heard the internal
HD's on Lisa's referred to as a Widget drive, so I believe you're correct
on that one. It's sort of like the internal HD on the WANG WLTC was
referred to (at least in the manual) as a Winchester Disk.
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
----------
> From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: Lisa battery leakage??
> Date: Sunday, August 09, 1998 8:33 PM
>
> >On Sun, 9 Aug 1998, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> >
> >> Lisa -- 2 5.25" flippy drives
> >[...]
> >> NOTE: not too sure flippy and widget are the correct terms.
> >
> >Don't know about widget, but shouldn't flippy be twiggy?
>
> Um, yeah, that's it :^)
>
> Zane
>
>
> >-- Doug
>
> | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
> | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
> | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
> +----------------------------------+----------------------------+
> | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
> | and Zane's Computer Museum. |
> | http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
What auction?
--
-Jason
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#-1730318
----------
> From: Joshu2415(a)aol.com
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: old laptop
> Date: Sunday, August 09, 1998 9:00 PM
>
> The auction is called off.
Whilst in a self-induced trance, Lawrence Walker happened to blather:
>> On 08-Aug-97, Lawrence Walker wrote:
>>
>> >> be listed instead or separately? (For that matter, the XE Game System,
>> >> which is on the list, only becomes a "computer" when the
^^^^^^^^^^
[[ part I missed before I re-read the msg. ]]
>> >> separately-marketed keyboard is added to it; otherwise, it is strictly a
>> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> >> cartridge game machine too.)
>>
>> > Not so . I have one in the original packaging . As well as a
>> >keyboard, it also included a joystck and a "light-gun". It also had a
>> >manual for Atari Basic AND 2 game cartridges.WOW, what a deal. : ^ )
>>
>> Larry,
>>
>> I believe that initially, the XEGS keyboard was optional though. The
>> wording in the keyboard's manaul, at least the one I have, seems to support
>> this. The argument of whether the XEGS is a game console or a computer
is one
>> that has been going on in the newsgroups for quite some time off and on.
> The one I have had basic built into it's 32k ROM and was
>functionally an XE . If the XL and XE qualify then so does
>the XEGS IMHO.
After reading the message three times (as I'd misread it twice), I agree
with Larry. Let's remember what the true defination of a computer is: "A
machine that can perform arithmatic and logical calculations without the
aid of a human." My Casio watch -- by defination -- is a computer. (of
course, it's not classic _yet_, tho. ;-)
The inclusion of a keyboard does not matter to the defination of a
computer, else there are many folks with IMSAIs and Altairs with front
panel switchboards, which IMHO is not a "keyboard" per se, yet they are
computers. The XEGS (or 2600, 5200, 7800 as well) are computers as well.
Remember, you _could_ do Basic programming on a 2600!
Just MHO,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should *not*
zmerch(a)northernway.net | be your first career choice.
Whilst in a self-induced trance, Glenn Roberts happened to blather:
>FYI, according to
>
> http://www.555-1212.com/aclookup.html
>
>The geographical location for area code 248 is Michigan (major cities:
>Novi, Waterford, Troy).
Gwarsh, is my face red! They must have just instituted it, and that area is
getting bigger than I thought! (BTW, my dad was raised in Royal Oak, and my
grandparents lived in Troy for many years...) They only put the (810) area
code in there around 4-5 years ago, IIRC!
Well, if a whole buncha folks smarter than me say it's so, then it's so!
BTW, the "better half" of Michigan is known as the Upper Peninsula (We're
not even connected to the Lower Peninsula except via the Mackinac Bridge),
otherwise known as "God's Country." If you like history, you'd love the
area! Mail me private and I'll tell you all about it!
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should *not*
zmerch(a)northernway.net | be your first career choice.
Whilst in a self-induced trance, Sam Ismail happened to blather:
[snip]
>This guy is Rob Campbell. He is in Detroit, Michigan. His number is
>(248) 583-9000. Call him, talk to him. Sounds like a reasonable guy.
Uh, Sam?
Are you sure this guy's in Detroit? The Area Code for phone numbers in
Detroit are either (810) or (313).
I've never heard of (248), especially in Michigan.
(BTW, I live in the "Better" half of Michigan, in the (906) area code!)
HTH,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should *not*
zmerch(a)northernway.net | be your first career choice.
Hi, folks,
Well, Bill Whitson has said he was going to collect these, but I've not
heard anything back from him since we missed each other last Sunday.
With that in mind, and pending any objection from him, I am offering the
following freebies to anyone who wants to pick them up from Kent, WA
(southeast of Seattle).
9-track tape drive, GCR-capable, Pertec interface. Made by StorageTek. NOT
OPERATIONAL -- needs work.
NCR 'I-Tower' computer system, with some manuals and peripherals. Processor
is a Motorola 68020 (I think). Condition unknown; fired up OK, but I had no
console attached. Case has built-in UPS (batteries may need replacement).
Various other odds and ends, including at least one 'tech special' UPS (not
on strike) and anything else I feel like unloading on whatever vict... uhh,
'collector' shows up.
;-)
Get back to me via E-mail if interested. Weekends work best. Thanks!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
Message text written by INTERNET:classiccmp@u.washington.edu
>OK, here is the complete listing from the CCC of the machines made by
Atari. <
"Machines" really isn't the operative word; for instance, the list does not
include the Atari Pong, 5200 and 7800 game consoles. I assume what you are
trying to put together is a list of Atari "computers". That in turn takes
some philosophical interpretation as to what constitutes a "computer". The
2600 game console is on the list; I assume it's there because Atari made a
BASIC cartridge and a so-called "keyboard" controller for the unit, so it
was technically possible to do some quasi-BASIC programming on it, not
unlike a real computer. Of course, it only had something like 50 bytes of
RAM available (not 50K bytes; just 50 bytes). The number of keys on the
cheesy "keyboard" controllers were so few that each key had to do triple
duty depending on what "color mode" it was in at the time. (If that didn't
turn people off on BASIC programming, I don't know what would.) t had no
way to attach a printer, and it could not save to or load from tape (or any
other storage medium), so any programs developed could not be preserved.
So, is that a "computer" or not?
Then, Atari produced at least some "real" add-on keyboard units for the
2600. I believe they were originally called "The Graduate", but made it to
market in 1982 as "My First Computer". They had 8K, expandable to 32K, and
apparently saved/loaded from standard cassette units. So does the 2600
become a "real" computer at that point, and/or should "My First Computer"
be listed instead or separately? (For that matter, the XE Game System,
which is on the list, only becomes a "computer" when the
separately-marketed keyboard is added to it; otherwise, it is strictly a
cartridge game machine too.)
Gil Parrish
107765.1161(a)compuserve.com
Quarterdeck QRAM only did that with NEAT or LEAP chip sets from Chips &
Technologies, by using the shadow RAM mapping, and required 1MB on the
motherboard, not 640K. I didn't think that was a significant enough
market share to mention.
It would also work with a LIM 4.0 EMS board as I mentioned earlier.
Kai
> ----------
> From: Marvin
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Friday, August 08, 1997 1:50 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: XT COMPUTERS
>
> Kai Kaltenbach wrote:
>
> > On a 286, you could use various LIM 4.0 compliant expanded
> > memory boards
> > (e.g. Intel AboveBoard Plus) or a wacky device called an
> > ALL Charge
> > Card, along with special software to map memory into the
> > location.
>
> Quarterdeck also had a program that would expand available
> memory on a 286 above 640K called QRAM. I used to have it
> many moons ago, but got rid of it when I was cleaning
> house. Somehow, it also would map memory into the A000-AFFF
> on a mono card, but would also make more memory available
> even with the EGA card. Can't remember how though.
>
Well as much as I hate to do it, this will be my last message to
this group for a while. Up until the first of the year, I'll be on the road
anywhere from 10 to 30+ days at a time, and this group generates far too
many messages for me to allow it to build up between retrievals! For those
of you that I deal with quite a bit, as well as those who might find info
that may be of interest to me and wish to send it, my email address below
will still be valid. I've gotten a lot out of this group, so keep up the
good work!
Jeff jeffh(a)unix.aardvarkol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Amiga enthusiast and collector of early, classic microcomputers
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
A guy sent me e-mail soliciting some old computer stuff to sell. Here's
what he told me he has:
Lots of DEC stuff:
PDP-11/70s
MicroVax(en)
Tape Drives, etc.
Parts, etc.
A couple Intel development computers. Didn't go too much into detail
about these other than the fact that they have dual 8" drives. Sounds neat.
This guy is Rob Campbell. He is in Detroit, Michigan. His number is
(248) 583-9000. Call him, talk to him. Sounds like a reasonable guy.
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
I dropped in the 11/23+ CPU and everything worked fine, except that my
EDSI harddisk has bought the big one...
According to ROM diags, I have EIS and FIS for CPU options and 1024Kwords
RAM. I plugged in my Infinite Loop and it ran. The one-instruction
infinite loop doesn't work, at 1000 it jumps to 1006 (JMP (PC)).
And the RX02 responds NO DISK, which is correct. Now all I need to do is
go find an operating system!
Does anyone have any programs or etc. that can be dropped in core with
ODT?
Anyone want any EPROMS?
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 16:41:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mikeooo1(a)aol.com
To: dastar(a)crl.com
Subject: Re: HHC docs
Sam,
Will do.It'll be out to you tomorrow first thing.Incidentally you might
ask that gentleman or any other interested parties for that matter if they
have a need for HHC eproms.I have a little over 5000 of them which I've been
offered a nominal salvage value for and I'll probably unload the whole batch
fairly soon.
Regards,Mike
Paul,
Sent this to the list. as it's generally useful.
<I think I've got an old rx33-but how would I plug it in?
Vs2000? there is a 60-70 pin header that takes a decunique cable the breaks
it down the floppy and mfm hard disks.
MVII can use a PC floppy cable to the first non twist cable. also It can
use PC MFM HD cables to the drive.
<And, what about non-DEC mfm drives-- can the hardware read them, but not VM
dec name COMMON NAME size
RD51 st412 10mb
RD52 quantum q540 ~35mb
RD53 micropolus 1325 ~71mb
RD54 maxtor-2190 ~159mb
RD31 ST225 ~20mb
RD32 St251 ~40mb
This is important to dec software, and booting.
Any other drive with the same number heads, cylinders, and tracks can be
used as it will map to a known(to the rom) drive. Other drives can be used
if the OS knows it and can boot from the known hard drive, floppy or net via
mop boot.
Allison
I got a whole box of interesting boards!
PDP-11 BOARDS:
M7264 - PDP11/03 processor, 4k ram, all 4 chip sockets used. Two of
these.
M8012-YA - Terminators+bootstraps. Two of these.
M8716 - DR11-W DMA INTERFACE, DR11-B IN HEX
M8728 - 64K MOS MEMORY
M8189 - 11/23+ CPU!! This goes in mine! 2 CPUs and an MMU?
PDP-8 BOARDS:
M8310 - Reg control for KK8E
M8300 - Major regs for KK8E
M8350 - Pos. IO bus interface
M8341 - EAE REGISTER CONTROL
M8340 - EAE INSTRUCTION DECODER
M8655 - KL8-J, KL8-KA, QUAD, 110 to 9600 CONT, Two of these.
DEC10 BOARDS:
M8603 - Massbus interface data board
M8521 - CACHE DATA
M8580 - MF20 DUAL TRANSLATOR, Two of these.
M8604 - DX20 MASSBUS INTERFACE CONTROL, HEX
M8571 - LP20 DATA PATH W LA180 CAPABILITY
M8605 - DX20, DATA PATH BUFFER STORAGE
M8743-AF - 1 Meg ECC RAM
M8606 - DX20, DATA PATH FORMATTER
M8607 - DX20, IBM CHANNEL BUS INTERFACE FOR DX20-C
M8558-C - KI MEMORY BUS ADAPTER. Marked "BAD FOR KL10" Doesn't LOOK
bad...
M8723 - ???
M8579 - MF20-M, 256K 11-bit MOS RAM. Fifteen of these!
M8585 - LP20 TRANSLATION RAM. Two of these.
M8586 - LP20 CONTROL.
M8516 - ECL to TTL translator
VAX BOARDS:
These make an 11/785 CPU, I think...
M7459 - TRS, TERMINATOR & SILO, 11/785
M7463 - KA785, CDM, CACHE DATA MATRIX
M7474 - KA785, CLK, CPU CLOCK
M7462 - KA785, CAM, CACHE ADDR MATRIX
M7475 - KA785, JCS, JOINT CONTROL STORE
M7467 - KA785, DEP, CPU DATA PATH "B"
M7472 - KA785, CEH, CONDITION CODES, EXCEPTIONS, HIGH BITS
M7473 - KA785, ICL, (INTERRUPT CONTROL, LOW BITS)
M7476 - KA785, USC, MICRO SEQUENCER CONTROL
M7477 - KA785, CIB, CPU CONSOLE INTERFACE
M7460 - KA785, SBL, SBI CPU LOW BITS INTERFACE
How many more do I need to finish a KA785?
And when I get them, can I drop this in a Unibus or is it a special bus?
Found this in comp.sys.3b1. It could be a pretty good deal if you
are in the NY area. It may not yet quite yet be a classic, but it
should be soon.
--pec
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saved From The Dumpster Collection: http://www.crl.com/~pcoad/machines.html
-- forwarded message --
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,comp.sys.3b1,comp.sys,nonpc
Path: nnrp1.crl.com!news.znet.com!uunet!in5.uu.net!hotmomma!hotmomma!biancx!larry
From: larry(a)biancx.com (Larry Racies)
Subject: 3b2 FS or For Grabs
Message-ID: <EELo6G.85y(a)biancx.com>
Organization: Newsreel Service
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 14:56:40 GMT
Lines: 11
Xref: nnrp1.crl.com comp.sys.att:7992 comp.sys.3b1:8535 comp.sys:574
T&T 3b2-400 in a 310 case
SVR3 installed
Plus 16 AT&T manuals
and a few floppies.
You name it. Located in NY City.
Pick it up and take it away.
Larry
<chats scheduled and publicised. A look at the S-100 would be
<interesting.
being as s100 has been my base of ops for z80(and others) for many years
it would be more interesting to me as well.
Allison
On Fri, 8 Aug 1997 01:43:36 -0500, Brett spake thusly unto us:
> Allison, Andy, Brett, Carl, Frank McConnell, Guest, Jim Willing, Kai,
> Thorhallur, Zane, dseagrave, and spc all came over to the chatroom.
> A good discussion about TI Silent 700's ensued.
I either arrived late for the S700 chat, or departed early, so I
missed it. The software seems to work well enough, although it some-
times slowed to a crawl (which could have been my comms line). Next
time, I'll try to be _awake_! (And running a different browser - I
think Lynx may be excellent for the task.)
> I don't know if this is something anybody wants to use.
On the surface of it, it looked very interesting; I'm certainly
game for another round. The only fly-in-the-ointment is getting
chats scheduled and publicised. A look at the S-100 would be
interesting.
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:carl.friend@stoneweb.com | |
| http://www.ultranet.com/~engelbrt/carl/museum/ | ICBM: N42:21 W71:46 |
|________________________________________________|_____________________|
Just found this in uk.comp.misc...
Does anybody out there collect old Prime kit. IBM, DEC, DG seem to be
popular, so what is it about Primes that make them unpopular. I have
enquired about the size of this Prime because I know they made a small
50 series machine because we used to have one when I worked for
Computervision.
------- Forwarded Message
From: Kevin Bradly <sales(a)bradassoc.co.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.comp.misc
Subject: Old equipment (Prime, Sun386 etc.) for FREE
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 09:47:01 +0100
Organization: Bradly Associates Ltd
Message-ID: <3wf0lAAF0t6zEABY(a)bradassoc.co.uk>
Hi
We have some redundant computer equipment that we are happy to give away
for free providing it is collected from our premises.
The following is available:
PRIME 2350, 4Mb memory, 258Mb disk, 60Mb tape cartridge
Mag-Tape unit, PT250 terminal
SUN 386i workstation, 8Mb memory, 327Mb disk, 19" colour monitor,
60Mb tape cartidge
DEC Rainbow PC100+, 10Mb disk, graphics board, MS-DOS, MS-Fortran.
DEC VT125 graphics terminal, greyscale, 768 x 480 resolution
PERICOM 7350 colour graphics terminal, 19" monitor, 1024 x 768
PERICOM MG200 B/W graphics terminal
SIGMA 5688 colour graphics terminal
Please help me clear some space in our office or suggest any other good
rest-homes for this old retired equipment.
Kevin Bradly
Bradly Associates Ltd
Manhattan House
140 High Street
Crowthorne
Berks. RG45 7AY
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 779381
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 773168
e-mail: sales(a)bradassoc.co.uk
URL: http://www.bradassoc.co.uk/
------- End of Forwarded Message
I recently aquired a 1040 STf, what's the deal with the f designator,
anyone know? Im still workin on finding a monitor.
----------
> From: Hans Pufal <hans1(a)filan00.grenoble.hp.com>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
> Subject: CCC : Atari machines
> Date: Thursday, August 07, 1997 12:19 AM
>
> OK, here is the complete listing from the CCC of the machines made by
> Atari. Please consult your favorite references and confirm/deny or
> complete the missing data.
>
> I would like a month/year for the first customer shipment or the first
> public working demonstration of the machines. Please provide references
> where possible, if they are on-line then so much the better.
>
> I am also planning to extend the information per machine to include data
> about processor used, word-size, memory configurations etc. so feel free
> to add that data also.
>
> I have set the reply to address to my personal Email so as not to
> clutter the mail list. You can always go to the CCC to recover the
> updated data. If there are enopugh requests I can post an updated
> preview table here before the CCC gets updated.
>
> I would also be interested in a potted history of the manufacturer, date
> started where located and significant events in its history. I know most
> of this is probably available on the NET for Atari, but not for some of
> the more obscure companies.
>
> CCC list for Atari
>
> I think I am correct in saying that all Atari machines were designed in
> the USA.
>
> 400 Dec-78
> 800 1979
> 1200XL 1982
> 600XL 1983
> 800XL 1983
> 1040 ST 1985
> 130XE 1985
> 520 STfm 1985
> 520 ST Jan-85
> 65XE Jan-85
> Mega ST 1987
> Mega STe 1987
> XE Game system 1987
> STe 1990
> TT 1990
> 1024 STe
> 1040 STf
> 1040 STfm
> 260 ST
> 2600
> 520 ST+
> 520 STe
> 520 STm
> 800XE
> ATR-8000
> Falcon 16
> Mega 1
> Mega 4
> STacy
> STbook
> TT/16
>
> Thanks for you help
>
> Hans B Pufal
Allison, Andy, Brett, Carl, Frank McConnell, Guest, Jim Willing, Kai,
Thorhallur, Zane, dseagrave, and spc all came over to the chatroom.
A good discussion about TI Silent 700's ensued. The largest number at
one time was 7 and it didn't even dent my ISP. Well, as far as I know 8-)
For most of us this is something we have heard about but not really tried.
Bill Kendrick's Free Chat seems to be pretty good but not really ready
for heavy usage. I am in comms with him to see if we can't get it beefed
up. The next release is supposed to have multiple chatrooms so we could
have a wider range of subjects.
I don't know if this is something anybody wants to use. There can be a log
of messages that could be condensed to keep everybody informed of any info
that is dispensed on the chatroom.
This is basically a test for Special Chats - in which case I think the
usage would go heavier than 7 - maybe upto 40 at one time. Maybe we could
have something like PDP-11 nights or Amiga nights or something like that.
I would like to get *authorities* involved. Maybe "Dr. S-100" would like
to host a S-100 run - something that is useful anyway.
BC
We are running the Chatroom again for another test - come join us!
We are trying to bring my ISP to it knees - don't worry - can't happen.
URL: http://www.xnet.com/~danjo/classic/chat/
The Chat software will belly up LONG before the server 8-)
We will be on until - oh Midnight CST - maybe 8-)
BC
Please help identify these pieces of hardware! I finally got around to
shooting some pictures of these to help ID them.
Item #1: An 8080 prototype board. Who made this?
http://pw1.netcom.com/~mir/S001I001.JPG
Item #2: A SCSI hard disk interface box for some home computer. It has
a 50-pin female edge connector on the left, an edge connector on the
upper right labeled 'printer' and a 50-pin male pin connector for the
hard disk. What machine is this for?
http://pw1.netcom.com/~mir/S001I002.JPG
Item #3: A front panel. The switches are labeled CLR, STP, MRD, MWR,
ADR, EXE and numbers 2 through 15. What mainframe did this come from?
http://pw1.netcom.com/~mir/S001I004.JPG
Item #4: Another front panel. No bezel on this one. Has black
IMSAI-style paddle switches and a hex keypad.
http://pw1.netcom.com/~mir/S001I005.JPG
thanks all!
Kai
<
<BA-F021I-MC
<CZZMCI0 DYDP+3 LSI-11 #1
Marvin,
For the clue impaired , the machine is LSI-11 Aka PDP-11. Those are what
are known as xxdp diagnostics for rx02. they are quit hand to hae if you
have a pdp11.
Allison
Hi, folks,
I've been loaned the full-service diagnostics tape for the MicroVAX II.
I've attempted to copy said tape using a pair of SCSI TK50 drives and a
binary (bit-by-bit) image copy utility.
It didn't work. For some bizarre reason, I cannot boot from the copy.
Question: Short of installing a second TK50 in the MicroVAX long enough to
make a mirror-image copy under VMS (which is something else I don't know
how to do yet), what can I do here? This is a limited-time deal; I do need
to have the tape back to its original owners next week.
Another question: Can I initialize the target tape with VMS in some way to
make it bootable, and then copy the diags from the source tape?
Please help! If I can solve this, I'll be able to archive the thing on
CD-ROM and make the image available to other MicroVAXen owners.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
Marvin,
<I figured they were probably for the LSI-11 but beyond that, I didn't
<have a clue. I have several PDP computers including the 8i, 05, and
<23. Are these similar to the paper tape diagnostics for the PDP 8?
They are not like the PDP-8 tapes, though some similarity may exist.
They would be usable for the 23 if it has rx02.
<Also, is the disk format such that they have to be read on a DEC
<computer or can they be read on other machines? Thanks!
The dydp are RX02 so the answer is directly, no. if it was a dxdp set the
answer is yes as that would be RX01 (standard single density 8"). They can
be transfered to rx01(or tu58, rl01/2, rk05, magtape) and made bootable.
so if you have a working PDP-11 (most any) with RX02 you can make them rx01
and then readable by other systems, executeable is another matter as they
are written in PDP-11 code.
Allison
At 08:20 AM 8/7/97 -0500, Bill Girnius wrote:
>I recently aquired a 1040 STf, what's the deal with the f designator,
>anyone know? Im still workin on finding a monitor.
>
>----------
Bill,
STF means ST+internal _F_loppy drive. There is a good web page
with a bunch of ST stats and info at:
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/aseabrook/a_models.htm
Isaac Davis | Don't throw out that old computer,
idavis(a)comland.com | check out the Classic Computer Rescue List -
indavis(a)juno.com | http://www.comland.com/~idavis/classic/classic.html
Hi again. :) I can't add much, as I only recently started looking into
Atari history, but the 800xe was released in 1985, and the portfolio, if
you choose to include it, in 1988.
Hope it helps a bit,
Adam.
i traded my brother a ncr mca box for something called a grid compass ][
1129. it's a quite large laptop with what seems to be in a metal <!> case
and a 3.5x5 inch screen. it also has an access door with 4 roms installed;
gridrom 3.1.5 write/term/format, gridrom 3.1.0 grid-os system, gridmail
103.2.2 and gridos utility rom, 3.1.0 the machine works, but only from ac
power. it also has a screen saver with bouncing balls! =D my brother says
he got it from a guy who worked in the aerospace industry who said this
machine was supposedly used to compute some kind of vectors or something or
other for the space shuttle program back in the 80's although i have no way
of quantifying that. on the back of the machine there is a proprietary serial
connector and phone jacks and something called a GPIB port; can anyone say
what that is? i'm still trying to figure out the preloaded apps, but i've
stumbled upon a passwoid option which i may have to hack through. i welcome
any info or opinions on this beast. it's esoteric enough to keep in my
collection.
david
>There is what appears to be an RC clock composed of a 4.7 nF capacitor and
>a multi-turn trimmer potentiometer in the upper left corner of the M7260
>data path board in my 11/10. It looks like this clock feeds a 74197
>counter, which has a 5-position rotary switch connected (presumably for
>selecting what the incoming clock is divided by). I'll put a scope on pin
>40 of the UART after I power the machine up to see what effect the rotary
>switch has on the UART clock. It seems likely that the rotary switch is
>used for making large changes in the baud rate and the trimmer is used for
>tweaking.
If that's the board I think it is, it's an 11/10S. The preset was adjusted at
the factory, and you could set most standard baud rates using the switch. It
can't hurt to measure the frequency, of course.
I can check the printset next weekend for you if you can't figure it out.
>
>--
>Scott Ware s-ware(a)nwu.edu
-tony
On 05-Aug-97, Allison J Parent wrote:
>odd sounding box. The BA23 is a 6"x19"x29" chassis out of the plastic dress
>case. The BA123 is about double the width but the layout is very different.
>The backplane is fixed in a main chassin and has a door over it and dress
>covers. Sounds like a either a bs23 or BA213 skunk box. Most ba23s only
>have one hard drive and either RX50 or TK50/70 tape.
This one is in a plastic case mounted on a pedestal..the cases outside
dimensions are: 6"W x 28-1/4" L x 24" H. The dimensions of the internal
chasis alone are approximately: 5"W x 24" L x 17-1/2" H. It certainly doesn't
sound wide enough to be a BA123, which threw me off at first when Tim
suggested that's what it was. It doesn't seem to match the dimensions of the
BA23 though either, especially since it has two slide-mounted hard disks in
it, though it lacks a tape drive or any other type of removable media.
>FYI the BA23 (Ihave one) slides into a plastic pedestal case from the back.
>or the metal box can have rack mount ears.
This one also alows the whole chasis to slide in and out of the pedestal
case...and it looks like it'd allow it to do it just as easily from the front
as it would the rear.
>The 6x6 card? got me. A KA630a is quad width double height (8.5x11).
Well my guaging of dimensions by eye leaves much to be desired..which is
why I took a seamstress tape to the case for the above dimensions!
>If the OS is ultrix yes, VMS no. If the case is BA23 drve ready switches
>should be off before turning on and off before turning off. I'd say don't
>power it till you have a terminal anyhow as VAXen look for a console
>terminal or they don't finish power diags or boot! It also queries the
>terminal for what It is, the altos unless a vt100 clone will nto give the
>right response (no biggie but there is some console editing that will not
>happen then).
I'll keep an eye out for a VT-100 or such then....it doesnt look likely
I'll find a keyboard for the Altos anyhow. I think I've seen VT-100's for
about $50 on the newsgroups.
Jeff
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga enthusiast and collector of early, classic microcomputers
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> wrote:
>> There are over 800 machines with unknown dates, would the list members
>> be upset if I do a weekly posting of, say 10 names in an attempt to
>> get
>> more info? If you do object send me Email and I will stop.
> This sounds like a good idea as well as one that is appropriate for this
> group! Are you looking for the date that the computers first shipped or
> perhaps rather advertised that they would ship :)?
Thanks for the encouragement!
Yes, the date of a machine is a problem, ideally, for mainframes I would
like the date of running the first significant program. I have taken to
using the date of publication of an announcemnt in for example IEEE
Computer. Any reasonable and hopefully verifiable date would be
welcomed.
I have been browsing the back issues of PCW magazine of which I have a
complete set of the first 8 years or so, and it is amusing to see the
adverts for the Sinclair MK14, they start out as rough drawings, then
more detailed ones and finally after 8 or so months we finally see a
photograph. It would be interesting to see a the sequence of these ads
juxtaposed, hmmm, yet another project ;-)
Regards,
Hans
I have updated my opus magnus : the Comprehensive Computer Catalogue
(CCC), it now records 3574 computers. Please take a look and send any
comments or updates my way. It can be found at
<http://www.digiweb.com/~hansp/ccc>
Use the FIND button to gain access to the search engine, from there you
can look for your favorite machine by name or get a list of machines by
manufacturer or date or country.
There are over 800 machines with unknown dates, would the list members
be upset if I do a weekly posting of, say 10 names in an attempt to get
more info? If you do object send me Email and I will stop.
Best regards,
Hans B Pufal
I was pleased to recieve this today after quite a few emails. I can't
think a batter way to say why I joined the Classic Computer Rescue
List/Squad.
>Brett-
>
> Well, you're off the hook: I won't be trying to lure you out here for
> computer rescues this time! (which is probably a good thing, with the
> travel schedule you're looking at. . .)
>
> Anyway, my contact in western Michigan reappeared, and over the weekend
> we did a complete hand over of *lots* of stuff. Now there's a family in
> Kent City, Michigan, with a really good start on a full set of early
> Zenith machines-- and there's one in Ann Arbor that has a lot more space
> opened up in the basement (definitely what I call a win-win situation
> :-)
>
> I do thank you, though, for the initial rescue, as well as the later
> info and encouragement. Much appreciated! All the best -- Laura
We do meet some of the Nicest People in the world.
BC
An opportunity for a rescue in the Chicago area...
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 21:26:55 -0500
From: Keith McMillen <kmac(a)mmwg.com>
To: jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
Subject: Heathkit machines
Jim,
I have an H-8 with dual floppy drives, and an H-89 (H-8 built
into an H-19 terminal) with the built in floppy, plus an additional
dual floppy drive setup.
There are also a large box of floppies including CPM and the
HDOS operating disks.
I have no idea how much of this works anymore, but it was
functioning when I put it on the shelf. We are moving and I can't
take it with. If you can find a home for it, I would be very
pleased.
The machines are currently in the western suburbs of Chicago,
IL. You may contact me at kmac(a)mmwg.com or call (630) 832-1990.
KMAC
Well, the turn out was smaller - but that was a Good Thing.
Me 8-) and Frank McConnell started up about 20:02 CST. He's on the West
Coast so it would have been about 18:02 for him 8-) were joined later by
Hans Pufal in France - about 4:08 AM for him (what a trooper!)
We tried out various stuff. It seems the Chatroom still has a few bugs.
Bill Kendrick (the guy who wrote it) had mentioned some - but not all that
we ran across. Still, it seemed to work well. Frank and Hans were running
either IE or Netscape. I tried it - my poor little Linux system with 8 MB
always did belly up with that running - so I went back to Lynx.
Seems to like to say you just joined randomly (that was noted) and then
about 95 minutes into it - the whole log got cleaned out. That MIGHT be a
feature 8-)
Oh there are a ton of features I haven't played with yet. You can put a
picture on the chat line as well (scary in some cases 8-) and all sorts of
robotic things to do - set up a Eliza talking to people 8-) and then also
throwing gifs in to replace words.
We are going to try it again on Thursday. Maybe earlier. Maybe later.
BC
Now that I have your attention...
I have need for the FIELD SERVICE diagnostics for the MicroVAX II. Not the
customer-level ones; I already have them, and yes, they are a joke.
Preferred media is TK50 or RX50.
Other things I'm chasing are distribution kits for RSTS/E, ver. 9.x or
higher, and Ultrix 4.5. For RSTS, I can take any of the following; 9-track
tape, TK50, CD-ROM or RL02 (TK50 or CD-ROM preferred). For Ultrix, TK50 or
CD-ROM (I can do RX50's in a pinch, but that'd be a LOT of floppies!).
Also, I now have the ability to make binary image copies of TK50 tapes.
This means that I can accept a tape on loan, long enough to copy it, and
then send it back.
It also means I can make copies for fellow VAXen-users. :-)
Thanks in advance.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
I've just been given an Epson HX20 laptop - it was not working when I got it,
but it didn't take long to kludge over the damaged conductor in the keyboard
flexiprint cable...
Anyway, it came with some rather nice bits :
The microcassette drive and 8 tapes
A TF20 floppy drive unit and cable
A pile of manuals - user manuals for the HX20 and TF20, BASIC reference manual,
and _Technical_ manaul for the HX20. The latter is quite a find, and includes
schematics of the machine, the tape unit and the ROM cartridge.
I am lacking the systems disk for the TF20 - does anyone have one that they
could make a copy of. I can supply a blank disk and pay postage, of course. I
suspect that as I have the machine, I am entitled to have such a disk.
I assume schematics for the TF20 don't exist anywhere...
The TF20 contains a pair of 1/3 height voice-coil drives (like those in the
QX10), and a controller board. The latter contains a Z80, 2K EPROM, 64K DRAM,
the 765 disk controller chip, and TTL glue. There's a daughterboard with the
serial chip on it to communicate with the HX20.
This reminds me of another Epson object I have - a BM5 floppy drive. This looks
like the TF20 (it's a white box, very deep from front to back, with a
vertically mounted drive on the front). However, this drive seems to link to
the internal controller using an ST506-like interface (34 pin and 20 pin
cables), and the controller chips are hard disk controllers. Somebody told me
that it stored 5 Mbytes/disk
Does anyone know anything about this object?
-tony
I've had (2) VT-100 terminals hanging around for awhile. Anyone want them?
I'll have to check & see if they fire up.
Manney
> I'll keep an eye out for a VT-100 or such then....it doesnt look
likely
> I'll find a keyboard for the Altos anyhow. I think I've seen VT-100's for
> about $50 on the newsgroups.
>
I'll sell everything for $35.00, includes USPS Priorty shipping anywhere
in the US.
If you live near Ft. Lauderdale you can pick it up for $25.00
PS. I found a paperback book with 51 game programs for the TS 1000 &
1500, it's included.
Regards, David Quackenbush
I just picked up and old AST Mac286 board set. This is a NUBUS-based
286 co-processor for the Mac. Unfortunately, it did not
come with software. Can anyone send me a copy of it and any relevant
info that I should know about.
MIME-encoded disk images are fine.
Thanks ever so much in advance... <<<John>>>
At 00:02 05-08-97 PDT, you wrote:
>Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 11:11:30 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Brett <danjo(a)xnet.com>
>To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
>Subject: Classic Computer Rescue - A Story
>Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.95.970804110442.15466B-100000@typhoon>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
>The Great Galesburg, Illinois Rescue
>
>Saturday August 2, 1997 - 07:00
>The alarm went off and I lept up from bed. Today was The Day. The Illinois
>arm of the Classic Computer Rescue Squad was to make it's first Rescue!
>First to the net to see if plans had changed. Nope - looking good! I make my
>first pot of coffee (don't you love those Bunn's?) and start by cleaning out
>the van.
<snip>
>2 - 11/44
>1 - VT-52
>3 - RA81
>1 - TE16
>1 - RSTS Manual set
<snip>
Whoa... did you happen to get any RSTS/E distribution media with that? I
don't much care if its TK50, 9-track, or whatever... if you did, I'd be
interested in at least a copy.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
At 00:02 05-08-97 PDT, you wrote:
>Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 12:00:21 +0500
>From: Jeff Hellige <jeffh(a)unix.aardvarkol.com>
>To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
>Cc: adam(a)merlin.net.au
>Subject: Re: Classic Computer Rescue - A Story
>Message-ID: <yam7155.1075.129044000(a)mail.aardvarkol.com>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain
>
>On 04-Aug-97, Brett wrote:
>
>>Saturday August 2, 1997 - 07:00
>>The alarm went off and I lept up from bed. Today was The Day. The Illinois
>>arm of the Classic Computer Rescue Squad was to make it's first Rescue!
>
> Interesting story...I also made my first rescue today! As some of you
>already know, I was set to pick up a MicroVax II...well, I did! This
thing is
>a beast though...barely got it into the house by myself. Here are the specs
>on it though I haven't popped open the case yet:
<snip>
Jeff, once you get that case open, please let me know which cards are in
it. The one attached to that 50-pin connector MIGHT be a SCSI-to-QBus adapter.
> Now, the guy said he had never seen this machine actually in use, so it's
>been sitting for a while. When it was used though, he said it took input
from
>some sensors on scales and processed that in different ways.
>
> That's the full extent of what I can tell you about this machine at this
>point, until I've gotten into the case. Any comments, info, suggestions,
ect.
>will be more than welcome!
I have several items that may be of help, including a distribution tape
for MicroVMS 4.5 (or 4.6? I can never remember). For what they're worth,
I've also got a customer-level diagnostic tape. Both are on TK50 cartridges.
If either would be of help, I can make you a copy and send it along. I
also have some hardware docs on the MicroVAXen. FYI, sounds like you got
the BA123 enclosure.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)wizards.net)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
> Anyone know anything about the Surwave Amigo? I have a non-working
> version, and am inclined to fix it, but I don't know what the system is. It
> has a Z80a cpu,and I was told by someone (who could well be wrong) that it
> runs Apple II software, but that is as much as I have found out so far.
Some newly discovered additional information. :) After taking the boards
out (one of which I assume is for the dual floppies, one for the hard
drive? one unknown and one graphics card), I found a 6502. So it seems it
is a dual processor Z80a/6502 machine.
This, at least, explains the Apple ][ compatibility, but leaves me a tad
more confused about its origins.
Adam.
The attached showed up in sci.electronics.equipment. The main reason
I'm forwarding it to the list is because the fellow advertises a complete
C-64 with what appears to be an actual Commodore EPROM programmer. He's
also got an Atari system and some other interesting goodies.
Caveat emptor! Attachment follows.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
Path:
news.eli.net!inquo!news.uoregon.edu!news.campus.rpslmc.edu!iagnet.net!howland.erols.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!portc02.blue.aol.com!audrey01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: corkymoo(a)aol.com (CorkyMoo)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.equipment
Subject: fOr sAlE or there abouts.
Date: 4 Aug 1997 15:57:10 GMT
Lines: 137
Message-ID: <19970804155700.LAA11692(a)ladder01.news.aol.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder01.news.aol.com
X-Admin: news(a)aol.com
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
References: <33D3D23E.2862(a)GSI.DE>
Xref: news.eli.net sci.electronics.equipment:12201
Some weights haven't been included. You pay shipping. Write if
interested in the stuff. Its a pain trying to weigh all this stuff.
Need something electronic? ASK. * $20 min..*
GC=Good Cond., PC=Poor Cond.-Parts Cond.,
MO=Make Offer, EC=Excellent Cond.
* Please pass this list to some one else.
Need some one to talk to call (716)JIXL-HAT
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TUBES electron, 955 acorn,9002,7G,6Z4,89,5Y3,6SJ7,6J5,9006,6AV5,AU6A
OA3,OA2 and more. Total=31, $1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNCTION GEN. - Lab Volt AA777, manual, EC, paid $120, $59
.1 to 1 MHz, 4 wave forms plus pulse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
STEPPER MOTORS - 6 stepper motors, 6 wire, $6, GC, 4.5 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
WIRE - 5 wire intercom cable 120 ft. $10, new, 4 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CARD READER - Magnetic card readers. $2/ea.
$39/25 or $59/50
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TESTERS TRANSISTOR 2 - Elenco(new) & Knight, $20 w/manual
I paid about $25 for one and had to assemble it, used
it ounce or twice, ouch! Edlie Electronics still sells it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TIMERS - Digital (coffee), control 15a 120v $4/ea., new
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ALARMS - Master Lock, 12v auto or home $8/ea. new
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TESTING - equipment 2, old Knight magic eye stuff, capacitance and
signal tracer, G.C., $20, worth it for the eye tubes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
POWER SUPPLIES - 9 V DC, 150 ma., $2 ea., 5 for $8, 10 for $15, new
small modular style with 2x12 mm plug, 6 oz./ea.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
DB25 CONNECTORS 40 - rt. angle board mount, 20 female, 20 male,
current price $1.60-$1.80 ea., new,
$30, 3 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PHONE CORDS 21 - modular and other, EC, $5, 4 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
RESISTORS 35 - power, 900 ohm, tubular porcelains,
30 to 50 watts? GC, $6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
KEYBOARD - WYSE, 101 with modular plug, new, boxed, $10, 4.5 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
KEYBOARD - NCR, 95 key, well built, EC, $5, 6 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CABLE - ribbon, colorful, arts & crafts to hardware, $6, 2 lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTROLS - limit, for color TV's, 2 boxes (20),
new, assortment of values, $8,
--------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY SWITCHES - tubular, ACE, best quality, new, make a secure
keyboard instead of what's on most PC's, $5
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CONNECTORS CENTRONICS - 10 Cinch, M-M, good quality, new $15
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSFORMER, unloaded 142 ma., with the following:
19 v. - .5 a.
24 v. - 2.5 a.
28 v. - 13 a.
11 v. - 20 a.
The out puts can be mixed matched for different voltages & amps. MO
--------------------------------------------------------------------
G65SC151PEI-1, GTEu, P350151 a PLCC have 65 of these. MO
--------------------------------------------------------------------
GLOVES, finger less, leather, new, cycling or golfing $2 for both.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
RECEPTACLE single, rated 15A 125V, boxed, 4 of these, new $2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERATOR NOISE, General Radio, white/pink/USASI, EC $39
--------------------------------------------------------------------
VCR MULTIPLIER, boxed, 900 MHz, watch in any room, EC $20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CLEANING CARE KIT, for Bernoulli removable drives, new $2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
WALL PLATE, TV-FM and rotor, lists $3/ea., new $2 all 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMODORE/EPROM, system, consists of all of the following;
late model commodore 64 (new style case), EPROM programmer
will program 2716 to 27256, 2 disk drives , all boxes, cables,
power supplies, manuals. Will toss in all the above manuals#.
All EC $120
--------------------------------------------------------------------
C-PROGRAMMING BOOKS, Turbo C++, 4 books. All the following one book;
Microsoft Quick C, Advanced C, C Primer Plus,
total of 7 books, GC all, $6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Differential DC Voltmeter, JF, Model 801
MegOhmmeter, Industrial Instruments Co., Model L-6B
Low Freq. Generator, HP, Model 202A
Volt-Amp-Milliammeter, Sensitive Research Instrument Corp.
Television/FM Sweep Generator, RCA, WR-69A wt. 17 lbs.
Megohm Bridge, General Radio Co., Type 544-B
Constant Voltage Conditioner, Digital, H7225-AC
MO on all the above. No offer refused. Sold as is for parts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SCIENCE BOOK MY FIRST, 10.25"X13.25", very large well illustrated,
excellent content, Mr.Wizard would have love this.
Slight water damage, pages are crinkled a bit.
No damage to print or colors and no page tear. $4
--------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPUTER GRAPHICS, Vol.23 #3,4,5. 3 books, pgs. 408,352,332.
A publication of ACM Siggraph. $8
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BATTERY PACK, Ni-Cd, 4 AA in shrink wrap, 4.8v, for turbo racing
cars or where ever 4.8v or 1/4 less are needed, these
can be easily split apart, Radio Shack No. 23-245 GC $3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ZIF SOCKET, fit 24 to 32 pin DIP's, made by 3M, good quality, new $4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MOTHERBOARD, 486 & 386 and 2 - 14.4K modems sold for parts, $5
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ATARI 5200, great older game machine, boxed, with Space Invaders,
Dig Dug, Joust, Pac-Man, Mario Bros., Centipede. EC
except for joysticks, will have to solder on switch
for fire button. wt. 16 lbs. $20
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PHONE JACK/WIRING BLOCK, new, just purchased from Sun, $1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSMITTER's, 5 watts, are set for between two CB chs. 3&4
these are removed from new equipment, board measures
about 1 6/16" X 5", $6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CAP variable air, 50-1470 pF, about 8.5"x4.5"x4.5", biggest I've
seen, stainless steel and AL, $6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
THE END...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL SUBJECT TO $500.00 PROOFREADING FEE PER ITEM SENT.
SENDING ME SUCH UNSOLICITED ITEMS CONSTITUTES UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS.
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave (Fido 1:343/272)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"...Spam is bad. Spam wastes resources. Spam is theft of service. Don't spam, period..."
>Ya Rich. Ask them if they would be interested in a first once again?
>Hey Bill, with our own server up - do you feel like trying a realtime
>chat group? Or is this asking too much - I know you are busy. Maybe
>someone else could set up a host system for this. This would be *Real
>Neat*. I guess if I suggest it - I better read up on it 8-) Anyone
>else think this would be a neat idea???
I wrote Perl code for a web chat once, which ran quite well - but as it
uses forms rather than Java it is not entirly real time. Anyway, if you
want that we can probably work something out.
Ada,
If you still have the lisa manuals and stuff I will pay the shipping and cod
cost to get them. Let me and thanks John Keys
At 02:20 PM 8/4/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Perhaps someone would be interested in the Lisa gear?
>
>Path: cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu!user
>From: epotter(a)mail.utexas.edu (EPotter)
>Newsgroups: austin.forsale
>Subject: Free TVs,etc
>Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 11:31:47 +0100
>Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
>Lines: 3
>Distribution: austin
>Message-ID: <epotter-0408971131470001(a)slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu
>Xref: cs.utexas.edu austin.forsale:104815
>
>Two 25" heathkit TVs, working, with one extra chassis for parts. Large
>and heavy, wood cabinets, not fibreboard, need grill cloth. Also several
>Lisa keyboards, Lisa manuals, misc. all free, you haul it off.
>
>
If you still these items I can drive down from Houston and ick up or if you
only have the manuals I'll apy for shipping the manuals MN. Thanks John Keys
At 02:20 PM 8/4/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Perhaps someone would be interested in the Lisa gear?
>
>Path: cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu!user
>From: epotter(a)mail.utexas.edu (EPotter)
>Newsgroups: austin.forsale
>Subject: Free TVs,etc
>Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 11:31:47 +0100
>Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
>Lines: 3
>Distribution: austin
>Message-ID: <epotter-0408971131470001(a)slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: slip-90-7.ots.utexas.edu
>Xref: cs.utexas.edu austin.forsale:104815
>
>Two 25" heathkit TVs, working, with one extra chassis for parts. Large
>and heavy, wood cabinets, not fibreboard, need grill cloth. Also several
>Lisa keyboards, Lisa manuals, misc. all free, you haul it off.
>
>
>>FYI the BA23 (Ihave one) slides into a plastic pedestal case from the back.
>>or the metal box can have rack mount ears.
>
> This one also alows the whole chasis to slide in and out of the pedestal
>case...and it looks like it'd allow it to do it just as easily from the front
>as it would the rear.
Take a look through the vent holes on top. The BA23 has a metal flange
about halfway down which prevents it from coming too far out the front. You
can get it out far enough to take off the cover plate over the drive bay,
but that's about it.
Roger Ivie
ivie(a)cc.usu.edu
Dave
<figured out how to open the access door in the back, and saw some cards in
<there, but exactly how do they come out? i didnt want to just start pullin
<in case they are locked in somehow.
Two screws lets the door loose. Cards slide straight out(pull) the quad wide
cards (cpu and mem) have levers at the end, some observation should make
their operation clear. FYI cables need to be moved/removed to get at things
in a ba23. Not order and position. This is a buss based system and buss
continuity is partly based on position and adajacentcy.
Depending on age amd options installed the mix of card could vary.
Minimally there will be one cpu (top), at least one memory(4/8meg),
A DHV11 8line serial, TQK50 tape(optional), DEQNA(NI), RQDX2/3 floppy hard
disk controller. If there is a video console there could be one or two more
cards.
Allison
Hi!
Anyone know anything about the Surwave Amigo? I have a non-working
version, and am inclined to fix it, but I don't know what the system is. It
has a Z80a cpu,and I was told by someone (who could well be wrong) that it
runs Apple II software, but that is as much as I have found out so far.
Thanks heaps,
Adam.
I also have a uVAX II, and i partially dissembled mine and hosed down the
outer plastic shell since there was lots of nasty dust in there. i finally
figured out how to open the access door in the back, and saw some cards in
there, but exactly how do they come out? i didnt want to just start pulling
in case they are locked in somehow.
david
For all of those Commodore followers...
Something interesting happened today. One of my co-workers asked me to work
with her on something relating to a company called Ensoniq, a manufacturer of
sound cards and hign-end MIDI equipment. She was reading to me over the phone
about the founders and how they came from Commodore International. Hmmmm.
She then read the names: Al Charpentier and Robert Yannes. I didn't
immediately recognize Al's name, but I knew Yannes. He created the prototypes
for the VIC-20 and C64. Reading on, she confirmed my guess. Al ran the LSI
section of the Advanced Systems Design Group within Commodore. From the info
that we have, it seems that Al did mostly chip design, including the VIC-I and
VIC-II, and Bob did mostly systems design.
Well, in about a week or two, I'll be meeting these guys. Does anyone have
any special questions that are not too off-the-wall and that I can slip into
conversation?
-------------------------------------------------
Rich Cini/WUGNET
e-mail: rcini(a)msn.com
- ClubWin Charter Member (6)
- MCPS Windows 95/Netowrking
