test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, >> Philips CDD-462 External CD-ROM drive - boxed with manuals, >>software, 2 interface cards but no cable. > > Eeek. I never throught I'd see anyone else with one of those... I did wonder whether it was the same unit you mentioned recently when I dug it out. >....The service manial (yes I have it!), doesn't list some components >in the parts list, I think you're supposed to deduce what audio player >is much the same and get the bits for that! Is that normal for Philips? The only Philips service manual I currently have is the one for my old Philips BSB receivers, and that one is pretty darn complete. > Anyway, the cable is, I am pretty sure, straioght-through (DA15-P to >DA15-S).... That's what I figured, only reason I never made one up is that I never got around to playing with the unit. One of those things I was going to get around to "one day".... ;-) TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 4 months

Diodes [was: The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]]

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Diodes [was: The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]] > From: Tom Watson <tsw-cc at johana.com> > Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:02:01 -0800 (PST) > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > >In a previous message, Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> said: > > >> Shotkey diodes are common. Aka 1n5711. Widely used in Rf and microwave. >> They are low capacitance fast switching with low threshold. >> >> Allison > >A couple of things here. There are TWO different things: >1) Yes, there are Schottky diodes as you have mentioned. They have very low >forward voltage drop and are the basis for a faster TTL series (74Sxxx/74LSxxx, >and probably others). Another attribute is that they switch fast. These are >very available. >2) The other type of diode is a Shockley (like the "co-inventor of >transistor"). These are 4 layer devices and behave similar to a neon bulb only >at a lower voltage, and without the glow. They have a high "trigger" voltage, >and a lower "sustaining" voltage that keeps the current flowing (look at how a >neon bulb "NE-2" works). I don't remember much more than that, but my high >school science teacher wanted to make up a storage array using them. This was >in the 60's, and we didn't have DRAM them, so it looked "interesting". I >suppose you could simulate them with a connected PNP/NPN transistor pair (as >mentioned here), or use a higher voltage to trigger and use an SCR (another 4 >layer device) and not connect the trigger lead. These went out of style long >ago I understand. In looking things up, I ran across this: >http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_7/3.html >which explains things in great detail. Mixed them up. You can simulate that using two transistors. I've done that mant times as it's easier to have a few 2n3904/06s handy rahter than some part thats not unobtainium. The transistor equivilent is more flexible. Allison > >-- >Sorry, >No signature at the moment. > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ >Looking for last minute shopping deals? >Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

18 years, 4 months

Diodes [was: The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]]

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

In a previous message, Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> said: > Shotkey diodes are common. Aka 1n5711. Widely used in Rf and microwave. > They are low capacitance fast switching with low threshold. > > Allison A couple of things here. There are TWO different things: 1) Yes, there are Schottky diodes as you have mentioned. They have very low forward voltage drop and are the basis for a faster TTL series (74Sxxx/74LSxxx, and probably others). Another attribute is that they switch fast. These are very available. 2) The other type of diode is a Shockley (like the "co-inventor of transistor"). These are 4 layer devices and behave similar to a neon bulb only at a lower voltage, and without the glow. They have a high "trigger" voltage, and a lower "sustaining" voltage that keeps the current flowing (look at how a neon bulb "NE-2" works). I don't remember much more than that, but my high school science teacher wanted to make up a storage array using them. This was in the 60's, and we didn't have DRAM them, so it looked "interesting". I suppose you could simulate them with a connected PNP/NPN transistor pair (as mentioned here), or use a higher voltage to trigger and use an SCR (another 4 layer device) and not connect the trigger lead. These went out of style long ago I understand. In looking things up, I ran across this: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_7/3.html which explains things in great detail. -- Sorry, No signature at the moment. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

18 years, 4 months

VCM offline?

by evan＠snarc.net

Rumor sez the VCM is getting a software upgrade... -----Original Message----- From: "Michael B. Brutman" <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com> Subj: VCM offline? Date: Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:08 pm Size: 212 bytes To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sorry about that last message .. bad clicking on my part. I'm having trouble getting to Sellam's marketplace site (http://vintagecomputermarketplace.com/) - was there an announcement that I missed? Mike

18 years, 4 months

The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 23 Dec 2007 at 12:00, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Shotkey diodes are common. Aka 1n5711. Widely used in Rf and microwave. > They are low capacitance fast switching with low threshold. Not Schottky diodes, but *Shockley* diodes, a close relative of a diac. Genuine ones, circa late 1950's are very hard to find: http://semiconductormuseum.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGallery_Shockley4E30. htm Schematic symbol looks like the number "4" with leads coming out of the top and bottom. Here's an application using some in an audio power amplifier: http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=3979 Sometimes also called a "transistor diode" and once intended to replace the 3-terminal transistor. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 4 months

OT sockets for Nixies

by tpeters＠mixcom.com

This is off-topic in terms of the industry involved, but not too far off in the time period this stuff dates from. I've got some very nice, rather large Burroughs nixies- 7971 types. They're 4.8" high, "British flag" display which looks to be 2.5" high inside the glass. They have 15 segments each-- 14 in the alphanumeric display part of the tube and one sort-of cursor, an underline character with the ends bent downwards. I hear one can dismember D-shell connectors to get some sockets to solder to a pc board to connect to these. But my problem is driving them. Anyone know a good way to drive these, four or six of them in an array? I need 170 volts, 21ma all cathodes, between 4.0 and 6.0ma any individual cathode. I was thinking of a pic at each tube, sort-of a character generator that would take an ascii code and drive the right segments. Some sort of escape code would let you send 16 bits to be interpreted literally, i.e. turn on the literal segments corresponding to the bits set, for more fanciful displays. -T ----- 994. I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. -- Thomas Edison --... ...-- -.. . -. ----. --.- --.- -... tpeters at nospam.mixcom.com (remove "nospam") N9QQB (amateur radio) "HEY YOU" (loud shouting) WEB: http://www.mixweb.com/tpeters 43? 7' 17.2" N by 88? 6' 28.9" W, Elevation 815', Grid Square EN53wc WAN/LAN/Telcom Analyst, Tech Writer, MCP, CCNA, Registered Linux User 385531

18 years, 4 months

VCM offline?

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

Sorry about that last message .. bad clicking on my part. I'm having trouble getting to Sellam's marketplace site (http://vintagecomputermarketplace.com/) - was there an announcement that I missed? Mike

18 years, 4 months

VCM offline?

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

Is anybody else having problems getting to

18 years, 4 months

Zilog system 8000

by frustum＠pacbell.net

A friend and former coworker, Terence Tanaka, emailed me yesterday saying: "I used to work at Zilog and have some tapes, printout and eproms for the System 8000. I don't want to keep it but hate throwing it away. If it can find a good home, I'm willing to ship it." If you are interested, please contact me, not the list, and I'll forward your email address to Terence. In case more than one person wants it, please include a description of how this might use this. Preference goes to someone willing to publicly archive the information, secondarily to someone who has a system that could use these items, tertiarily :-) to a pack rat who will keep it intact and in good condition until they finally come to realize that they didn't need it and will pass it on to the next guy. Eventually it will get in the hands of someone with the time to archive it. PS, the System 8000, as you might expect, was based on the Z8000. PPS: reply to me, not the list!

18 years, 4 months

AMD9016E speed grades ?

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

Does anyone know what a speedgrade an amd9016e DRAM chip is ? Google gives one million resellers and no datasheets. Suggestions as to why replacing said am9016epc with a mcm4116bp20 does not work, are also welcome. Jos

18 years, 4 months

Probably OT - eBay object - what the devil is it?

by mike＠brickfieldspark.org

Looks like a test head although all the ones I ever worked on had a large hole in the centre for probes. It does have printed on it "Testhead side" bit of a give away. Mike > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:33:34 -0800 (PST) > From: Mr Ian Primus <ian_primus at yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: Probably OT - eBay object - what the devil is it? > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >> >> What on Earth is this? >> >> 110206772756 > Wow. That is unusual. Never seen anything like that > before. It's pretty though. Would probably make a nice > clock... > > -Ian >

18 years, 4 months

5.25 drive with sector output

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: 5.25 drive with sector output > From: dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> > Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:43:43 -0800 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >Hi > Were there any 5.25 drive made with sector pulse output? >I'm working on a controller for my Polymorphic. I have not >software to run the board so I'm decoding the Z80 code >that runs in its firmware. Yes, every one made. Sector pulse is the same ass index on 5.25" drives. aqn example controller that uses that is the NorthStart MDS. > I see that one of the signals from the drive is the sector >signal. I know that the SA801 could be configured for >32/16/8 sectors and produce a sector output signal. Still requires hard sector media. > In any case, the code seems to be looking for the sector >signal at one point. > The next question is, do the older drives have a filter on >them such that they would not output the index along with >the sector pulse? No.. But some of the old 8" had the index on the inner radius and the hard sector holes at the outer radius making for two seperate signals. Allison > The drive I'm planning on using is an old Qume drive with >a IBM lable on the front. It is a QUMETRAK 142. It is >good to work on because it is all descrete parts and >TTL ( some analog IC's as well ). Still, if they have a >filter on the index, I should be able to modify it. > I only see one pot in that area of the board and I suspect >that it is for the pulse witdh of the index. > If there is no filter, I should be able to make an external >sector separator. >Dwight > >_________________________________________________________________ >i?m is proud to present Cause Effect, a series about real people making a difference. >http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/MTV/?source=text_Cause_Effect

18 years, 4 months

Yet another VT-100 emulator

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:26:24 -0200 "Alexandre Souza" said: > > I think this project is excellent and a kick-ass way to use spare old > > hardware lying around (which is more likely to have a working 25-pin > > serial port than any modern machine). I love this project. > Although there are cheap CF cards today, it would be a hit if it could > be ROMable and put in place of BIOS chip :o) If you can still find them, ancient XT motherboards ought to be just right for this type of service. Just get an old video board (will it work with a CGA board?) and a serial I/O card and plug in the "extra" bios chips for the emulator. Of course, several options could be added: 1) Support for a character based printer (both serial and parallel) 2) Some sort of scrolling (got to use that 640k of memory somehow!) 3) Color support (if you got a CGA card, use it!). 4) Provisions for 40 column mode (so you can use the RS-170 output to a TV set) 5) Add a network card for a telnet client (probably a bother since there are so many network cards) The best part is that when you turn the machine on, you get instant terminal. None of this silly operating system stuff. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

18 years, 4 months

5.25 drive with sector output

by cclist＠sydex.com

> From: dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> > Were there any 5.25 drive made with sector pulse output? > I'm working on a controller for my Polymorphic. I have not > software to run the board so I'm decoding the Z80 code > that runs in its firmware. I can ever recall having seen one, although that's not saying that there never have been any. It would be easy enough to make a "index/sector" detector by using a one-shot whose period is set to more than half, but less than the time between sectors. Since the index is placed about midway between two sector pulses, you'd generate an INDEX if you received a pulse and the one-shot hadn't yet reset. Sector outputs would simply be the output of the one-shot, perhaps run though another one-shot or ANDed with the original to provide a pulse of determinsitic length. --------------------- Which brings me to a related topic that might interest some... I'm now beta-testing my "hard-sector synthesizer". It's all coded into a 8-pin PIC 12F629. It operates as follows: 1) For those not necessarily caring about hard sector diskettes, it can function as a READY/ generator--after 3 successive index pulses, the PIC generates a DRIVE READY/. Missing a pulse after that within a 262msec window causes READY/ to be deasserted and the cycle to repeat. Works for both 300 and 360 RPM drives. 2) For those interested in hard-sector generation, the PIC will synthesize index signals for 300 RPM 10 and 16 sector diskettes (selectable by grounding a pin on the PIC) and 32 sector 360 RPM diskettes. The choice between 300 and 360 RPM is made automatically by the PIC based on the drive spindle speed. 3) If a hard-sectored diskette is inserted in the drive, the PIC simply passes the index pulses along. 3) Index pulses are normalized to 1 msec width. Many 3.5" drives and several later 5.25" drives output very long index pulses that need to be pruned back. 4) Calculation of the position of sector pulses is based on the time of the previous disk revolution to about 0.15 percent (I can improve on that if needed). Since the computation is performed for every disk revolution, drift should not be a significant problem. The whole thing is self-contained; no external crystals, buffers, etc. are required; only a +5 supply and a pullup (470-2.2K would probably be fine) on the INDEX/ line coming from the drive. You could probably stick the PIC in an 8-pin socket and "dead bug" it into your system if you wanted to be crude. The PIC can sink 25ma per output. Here's the catch: I'll send out object (and source, if requested), but I'm not going to send out PICs or program them for requestors. I expect that there will be a couple of software updates and I don't want to deal with the hassle of updating everyone's PIC. PIC programmers can be constructed or purchased very inexpensively and there are several free programmer packages out there. PICs themselves are dirt-cheap. I'm not going to post the code to a web site until I'm happy with it-- otherwise, I fear that intermediate versions (i.e. buggy) will start ciculating and I'll never hear the end of things. Drop me a private email if you're interested. Best regards, Chuck

18 years, 4 months

5.25 drive with sector output

by aek＠bitsavers.org

A quick scan of the Qume 242 maint manual from bitsavers shows there is no separate sector signal. The Shugart 455/465 manual talks about a combined index/sector signal. Looking at the northstar controller, they just refer to the incoming signal as 'hole' and decode it in the controller.

18 years, 4 months

OT sockets for Nixies

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: tpeters at mixcom.com > > Please send schematic, thanks. Who makes the MC34063? Something I could get > at DigiKey or Mouser? > I did some reading last year and I read something about driving Nixies with > DC, is that what's usually done, rather than AC? > Yes, they use DC, not AC. You could use just rectifying 120 AC. That will give you just about 170Volts DC after filtering. I suspect that the voltage could be the same tolerance as the AC lines. I'd recommend using an isolation transformer. Some come with taps to raise or lower the voltage about 10% as well. It just has to be enough to fire. I doubt it needs to be to exact. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_dec

18 years, 4 months

The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]

by cclist＠sydex.com

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> > > On Dec 21, 2007, at 2:07 AM, dwight elvey wrote: > > As a cheaper alternative to a tunnel diode, do a search for > > a Lambda Diode. I used one of these circuits once to make an > > oscillator that ran at over 100MHz. > > Oh my, there IS an almost-equivalent-to-a-tunnel-diode circuit! That > looks really, really neat...I will have to play with that! I don't know if Lambda diodes would meet the 1965 test. Gunn diodes (another possibility) might, however--invented in 1963. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 4 months

The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer] > From: "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at verizon.net> > Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:00:25 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Thursday 20 December 2007 19:05, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> > From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> >> > >> > I'd love to find a huge stash of a few thousand new-old-stock tunnel >> > diodes. :-( >> >> You'll kindly observe that I had the good taste not to also mention >> Shockley diodes, which, to the best of my knowledge, are really >> unobtainium. > >Are those what were also referred to at one point as 4-layer diodes? If so, >it's possible to simulate them with a complementary pair of transistors and >not all that many other parts. Shotkey diodes are common. Aka 1n5711. Widely used in Rf and microwave. They are low capacitance fast switching with low threshold. Allison >> American Microsemiconductor still offers a selection of tunnel (Esaki) >> diodes, for as cheap as $9 the each. >> >> http://store.americanmicrosemiconductor.com/diodes-tunnel-diodes.html > >Hmm. :-) > >> I suspect a clue to the high prices is the "JAN" labeling on some of >> the parts (i.e. military and aerospace application). > >Could be. > >> I have a copy of the GE tunnel diode handbook around here somewhere >> (as well as about a dozen or so NOS diodes in my hellbox) that shows >> all manner of logic circuits constructed with the little beasts. > >I'll have one here: > >http://www.classiccmp.org/rtellason/books/GE_TDM.pdf > >as soon as the upload completes (which will take a little while even with my >DSL connection). It's a 100-page PDF file. > >There _will_ be a "tech books" page supporting the stuff there at some point, >when I can get it done. I'm still in the process of plowing through several >thousand files of "stuff" that I've accumulated over the past few years, >editing some stuff, tossing out some duplicates, and trying to organize >what I'm keeping to be accessible through my local HTML tree. Once I get >that mostly done I'll pull a tech books page together out of it. > >> I've never even breadboarded any of them, but the power requirements >> look very modest. > >I picked up a couple of them once on Canal Street in NYC, but that was a long >time ago. > >-- >Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and >ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can >be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" >- >Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James >M Dakin

18 years, 4 months

Slightly OT: TQFP mounting

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Two approaches that I've seen for conventional soldering iron mounting involve what I'll call "flood and suck" that involves covering all of the leads on one side of the QFP on the PCB with solder and then using a solder "sucker" (such as a Soldapullt) to remove the excess. The other approach uses solder wick (solder removal braid), laying the braid over the QFP leads and PCB and heating and applying solder *through* the braid to the leads. -- I've used "flood and wick" successfully applying liquid flux before the "flood". I suspect soldering through braid accomplishes the same thing.

18 years, 4 months

Probably OT - eBay object - what the devil is it?

by jplist2007＠kiwigeek.com

What on Earth is this? 110206772756 I'm guessing its OT because of the SMD devices in the centre ring, but it is weird enough I'm willing to risk Jay's wrath to find out what it is. Thanks all; - JP

18 years, 4 months

small misc. parts available...

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

MSD let their main line sewer backup, 10 feet downhill on the street from my house. So... all my upstreet neighbors sewage wound up in my basement. The servepro people are here removing everything from my basement (any of you that have seen my basement know what THAT is like)... and starting their cleaning process. Not much of the collection has been affected... the notable items that were sitting in 5 inches of raw waste were a HP 2100S cpu, Microdata Reflex disc drive, HP D series box, RL01 drive, a couple 7900A drives... I think that's the major items affected. Not sure how they plan to disinfect the wire wrap backplane on the 2100, may be a loss :\ Anyways... the reason I'm posting this... Since the cleaners are bringing in a dumpster to remove unsalvageable stuff, they kindly agreed to take away stuff that has been taking space here that I was going to get rid of... like DEC corp cabs, some lowboy some full height, one stuffed with RA81's (all dead), etc. I am going to have these carted off. I will post to the list specific items as they go out the back door (to sit for a day before the dumpster truck comes). I will not save whole racks, but if there is any specific rack hardware or bits that someone wants me to strip off, I will do so. Right now - Out went a mid-height dec corp cab that used to house an 11/44. It used to have an RA81? drive in it, so it's one of those extra deep corp cabs. Does anyone need those hex sided metal posts that stick like 7 inches out from the rack, or that large bracket at the bottom where you hook up those round (power sequencing?) cables (4 pin, screw on). More as it becomes available... Jay

18 years, 4 months

a place for OT

by rtellason＠verizon.net

I just want to mention again that there's a place where some of you guys could take what's OT here and chat it up if you like, a yahoo group I started for things that don't quite fit anywhere else: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roys-tech-chat/ Feel free to stop on by if you like. -- Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" - Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin

18 years, 4 months

Obscure PC operating systems and apps [was Re: got this old peecee...]

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 06/12/2007, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net> wrote: > On Thursday 06 December 2007 12:53, Chuck Guzis wrote: > > On 6 Dec 2007 at 1:52, Roy J. Tellason wrote: > > > I'd originally planned to put OS/2 in this box. Now I'm lots less > > > enthused about that OS than I was at one time, so I dunno what I'm gonna > > > do with it. Thoughts on this? Depends what you want to do, or be able to do, with it, obviously! Do you want a GUI OS? Do you want Internet access? Do you want productivity apps? It's a bit low-spec for a modern Linux distro. You could try some low-end distros, like DamnSmallLinux, Puppy, or VectorLinux. I've also heard good comments of SaxenOS & Crux on low-end PCs, but I've not tried them myself yet. It would run NetBSD pretty nicely, but then, the same is probably true of some toasters. One that might suit it quite well would be Minix 3. Never played with that yet myself. It might run BeOS, especially with a 5x86 chip in there. BeOS Max is a good, freely-available BeOS distro. Mainly intended for Pentium-class systems, though. FreeDOS or DR-DOS plus OpenGEM would run very well; indeed, it's quite high-spec for that. For a more modern, but commercial, DOS GUI, there's Geos, AKA GeoWorks, now known as Breadbox Ensemble. Again, it costs, but you can assemble a fairly complete little system from various free demos and things that have been put out there. http://www.breadbox.com/ (I think others have suggested something akin to Concurrent DOS. IMS' Real32 was the last supported descendant of that, I think, but it's primarily a multiuser thing so not of great interest on a standalone box - it just looks like MS-DOS.) Or just plain old DOS, together with DesqView, or, if you want something cool and exotic, DesqView/X. That might be both fun and quite productive couple with some of the last-generation, high-end DOS apps, like MS Word 5.5 (available free >from MS and so downloadable, as they gave it away rather than issue Y2K patches for Word for DOS.) I'd like to try WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS, which had a full GUI, but I've been looking for a copy for years with no joy. It was unusably slow at the time, but on a more recent PC like a fast 486, it should fly along. There was also a full-GUI graphical spreadsheet version of one of the major spreadsheets, but I don't remember details now. I think it might have been Borland Quattro or QuattroPro 5 or so for DOS. If you can get a supported TCP/IP stack running on DOS, there *are* some DOS web browsers, such as Arachne and Lineo's WebSpyder. I'm not sure about email programs, though. Bung in a SCSI card and a couple of old SCSI disks, make it into a NetWare server? There was a freely-available 2-user version of Netware 4.1, and that can be patched up to date with free service packs, making it fully W2K compliant and so on. If you want to try a modern, networking-enabled OS/2, there's Serenity's eComStation. Expensive, though. There's a free demo live CD, but it's not installable. If you fancy something unusual, which IME doesn't work well in VMs on modern PCs, you could try the DEC-like TSX-32, which is sort of aesthetically appropriate - it's a sort of PDP-like OS for the PC. http://www.sandh.com/tsx32.htm Also on a DEC theme, there's FreeVMS, but I don't think they have any downloads yet. http://www.freevms.org/ Somewhere lost in a cupboard I have an ancient 386 notebook PC, whose 80MB hard disk has DOS (DR-DOS 7 with QEMM) coupled to a choice of about 4 GUIs, a range of productivity apps, and also dual-boots with Pygmy Linux giving me TCP/IP through a parallel port Ethernet adaptor and thus very basic Web access with Links. All this in 80MB and it's about one-third full. I think it has WordPerfect 5.1, Word 5.5, a spreadsheet of some kind, plus a selection of DesqView, OpenGEM, ViewMAX and GeoWorks Ensemble. It was a real nostalgia-fest putting it together. It has the Microsoft free DOS network stack, too, with TCP/IP, but it can't actually talk to any modern Windows machine. Just don't ask me to get it to print... -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AOL/AIM/iChat: liamproven at aol.com ? MSN/Messenger: lproven at hotmail.com Yahoo: liamproven at yahoo.co.uk ? Skype: liamproven ? ICQ: 73187508

18 years, 4 months

Yet another VT-100 emulator

by cclist＠sydex.com

> From: "Dave Dunfield" <dave06a at dunfield.com> > As far as I know there are no **STANDARD** PC text video modes that give > 132 columns. What was *standard* for the time of these cards? Herc graphics certainly weren't "standard" when they came out. I've not checked, but I have a couple of Everex MicroEnhancer EGA boards with a boatload of additional modes--and one of those might well be a 132- character one. (If anyone is really curious, I can check). > Yes, at 720 dots, you can do a 5 point wide font for 132 columns on a > Herc., but I don't have Hercules (or any MDA) cards in any of the system > that I actually use on a regular basis (POLL: How many here are using Herc > cards in systems they would want to use as a VT100) - I'm also not sure I > could achieve all of the attributes (Can you blink graphics on a Herc? - I > suppose you could do it in software, but the only MDA machines I have here > are XT class which would make for "interesting effects" :-) I think I also > mentioned that I wasn't quite ready to do a bitmapped version of the > terminal yet. I agree that it would be nice to do eventually, as I could > support double-width/height characters as well... Ever worked with a Hercules Graphics Plus? It can blink, as well as support 12-bit character width and software fonts--all in text mode. There was a also mode setting to use 8-dot wide, rather than 9-dot wide characters. Double-width was certainly possible in test mode. Perhaps a scheme to use the extended character set to display 132 characters could be worked out, but I hated the 132 character display on most terminals, even the 14-inch ones as being too grainy and hard to read for my weak eyes. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 4 months

The 2N2/256-BSCP [was: Homebrew Drum Computer]

by cclist＠sydex.com

> From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> > I'd love to find a huge stash of a few thousand new-old-stock tunnel > diodes. :-( You'll kindly observe that I had the good taste not to also mention Shockley diodes, which, to the best of my knowledge, are really unobtainium. American Microsemiconductor still offers a selection of tunnel (Esaki) diodes, for as cheap as $9 the each. http://store.americanmicrosemiconductor.com/diodes-tunnel-diodes.html I suspect a clue to the high prices is the "JAN" labeling on some of the parts (i.e. military and aerospace application). I have a copy of the GE tunnel diode handbook around here somewhere (as well as about a dozen or so NOS diodes in my hellbox) that shows all manner of logic circuits constructed with the little beasts. I've never even breadboarded any of them, but the power requirements look very modest. OTOH, I've never seen a book detailing logic circuits with Shockley diodes, though I imagine it's certainly possible. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 4 months

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