test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by robinson＠shlrc.mq.edu.au

Hi gang, > > > Can I use a PC mouse/keyboard with that? > > > > You cannot. You need to use a SGI keyboard and mouse. > I have plugged a PC kybd/mouse into a SGI Crimson and an Octane and they seemed to work OK. > > > Are the monitor frequencies suitable for a modern PC monitor? > > > > They aren't. It's sync-on-green, so you either need a good monitor and > > you definitively need an adaptor. > Needed a special cable so I used a Sun cable on the SGI monitor. Worked OK. Have not tried any other monitors. Regards Ray vk2ilv

18 years, 5 months

VCFX

by wayne.smith＠charter.net

I have posted some VCFX photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Joy.Wayne/VintageComputerFestivalX Labels to follow.

18 years, 5 months

8" disk drive project - maybe 3.5" project too???

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: 8" disk drive project - maybe 3.5" project too??? > From: Grant Stockly <grant at stockly.com> > Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:32:34 -0900 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> > > >>Write trim erase is a signal to the head assembly (driver) that turns on >>the erase segment of the head for erasing the area either side of the head. >>It's also called tunnel erase. This gives some tolerence to off track reading >>as the intertrack gaps are "clean". Tunnel erase is still part of all >>floppy drives but is activated by Write-enable and you never "hear" of it. >> >>In 1976 all this was new and magical until Sugart came out with the much >>simplified 5.25 SA400. > > From reading the information on the Internet I have pretty much >guessed that much, that it was done automatically on new drives. > >> >Any comments or ideas on the idea? Is it worth trying? I've got a >> >very weird tarbell card that formats and uses 3.5" disks as a 70k >> >mini floppy. I guess anything is possible. : ) >> >>Myself I'd persue something using a 5.25 or 3.5" drive with a current >>softsector interface to the drive and enough CPU smarts to fake looking >>like the Altair interface which was dumb as a rock and depended on the >>8080 to do most everything. > >That is what I was thinking about too. I was thinking about a >controller that hot wired into the existing drive card set. Drive 1 >would activate the fake 3.5" disk or flash memory and drive 0 would >activate the 8" drive for example. That would allow for easy >migration from 8" to a different format. If you can that works. >It would also be nice to have a media readable on a PC. A 3.5" disk >with the fake hard sector formatting wouldn't be possible... Thats impostant as most users will find the availble on media offerings a bit thin is you go with hard sector (faked or real). >What do you think about drive RPM? Should I be able to fake the 32 >hard sectors at any rate I want as long as its as fast or slower than >the 8" drive? I won't touch that. It's one of many warrens and burrows to dive into. >The 3.5" disk should be writing the bits at whatever >bit rate is requested, right? The only reason I want to do the 3.5" >disk interface with faking 32 hard sectors is because it would be a >fast way to get going. Hardly any hardware development required. Drive rpm is always a problem. Even for soft sector the data sep has to deal with that. Faked hard sector is just causing additional pain. Take it from someone that uses a NS* hard sector system where the media and the controller are far more common and pretty reliable and it's a major pain. Media is hard to get and hard sector always was a closed gate to transfering software. I felt the nonportable media was always a major pain and handicap. I still maintain a "stock NS* Horizon" as an artifact but due to media availability and portability my second Horizon that I do use a lot has a softsector controller and hard disk as primary storage. I'd suggest two things: Do complete Altair disk and drives and 1 floppy with it and make additional media the users problem like in 1976, 1980, 1985 and more so now. Or a completely new controller (non replica) that acts like the Altair part (runs unaltered altair basic and all) but is normal softsector using easier to get 5.25 or 3.5 media with portability (and PC as a disk generator) in mind. This would make the system more easily shown and used. Also the user can than have CP/M as well as it was also historically important to any Altair user of the time. Like the 8800BT I have the few that had the Altair contoller usually added a Tarbell or other later on to gain access to the larger software market. Those that started with the base Altair and were slower to go to floppy often didn't even bother with the altair disk and use NS*, Tarbel or one of a handful of others with NS*dos or CP/M as the OS platform. It would be interesting to see how many Altairs (all versions of the 8800) wer sold and then how many disk controllers. I suspect based on my experince of the time it will be something like 20:1 likely greater. The reason was at that time by 1977 the cost differential was fairly great to have Altair floppy disk over brand-x and CP/M was seen a cleary the up and comming OS. It also was a factor that long shipping delays by MITS at times and problems experinced by some tended to push some more toward the after market add ons. My experience, I built and tested the first Altair FDC sold on LI for a company. Just my opinion. Allison >Thanks! > >Grant

18 years, 5 months

Hans destroys VAX!

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

Haha! I can't wait to show Hans. He was so embarassingly drunk that night it's not even funny. This happened after I left, and it got much worse. I'm hope no one got on video what I did. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

18 years, 5 months

Tarbell is making me insane

by grant＠stockly.com

I'm about to go insane. Here is what I have: -Fake Altair (rock solid in everything but tarbell) -Tarbel 1011D -Tarbell 1011A, which SEEMS to be better than the 1011D. -4xMITS 16MCS 16k memory cards -5xSEALS 8k SRAM -2SIO -MITS Rev0 CPU Anyway...it doesn't work at all if I have a 16k memory card and an 8k memory card. The 1011A works best (gets the furtherest in all tests). If I'm lucky it asks me how many disks I have! It also doesn't work with 3 seals 8k cards. When I put in a CompuPro active terminator on the end of the bus, the computer goes crazy and doesn't do anything. Installing an "Industrial Micro Systems" terminator from 1980 it changes operational characteristics, but still doesn't quite do it. I had been trying to make the stupid thing work for months, on and off... Well, I decided to stop trying to limit the number of cards on the bus. I put in 5 8k seals cards and the stupid thing boots and runs commands. Before while loading BDOS it would most of the time report corrupted or missing sectors. Or just print trash. Now I can run DISKDMP and programs like that. After working flawlessly for a few minutes its back to crazy. I can single step through the tarbel boot program and see it going crazy... : ( I'd like the thing to be rock solid with minimal memory cards. Can anyone think of WHY the tarbel card is so much trouble? I burn EPROMs all day long with this Altair. It takes 3 minutes to burn a 1702 and I've never had one fail! I can also leave it playing music for all night long with no problems!!! I need help!!! : ( Grant

18 years, 5 months

Video of Cray 1 and other artifacts...

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, >> That's a couple of hours of your life which you'll never get >>back.... > Then I probably should not say that I actually like the movie, have >watched it more then once and that I also own it... :) Sorry, there should've been a smiley on the end of that (I got distracted by a knock at the door). ;-) TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 5 months

modern serial terminal

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I'm thinking of a device about the size of a couple CD jewel cases that has two serial ports, a ps/2 or usb port, VGA port, power jack, and perhaps a JTAG header concealed within. This device is a regular RS232 serial terminal. Plug in a monitor, keyboard, and something talking rs232 and you're ready to go. Inside there would be a microprocessor, some ram, some flash, and an FPGA to take care of glue logic and talking to the VGA port. The FPGA would be loaded with the digital schematics of a particular terminal and its firmware, for instance, a Wyse 85 or 99GT (my favorites). That would get you most of the usual emulations. How hard would it be to create something like this? How much would it cost? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

18 years, 5 months

Stats on the first known HP Computer at the South Pole

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

> > Jay, other HP fans, > > I finally got a chance to re-examine the article on the wall down here. > > Someone hung up excerpts from "The Antarctic Journal", December 1976, > page 286 (and parts of some presumably nearby pages). The article describes > the "first" computer system at the Pole, which might possibly be true. > During > the 1974/1975 Austral Summer, UC Davis sent down a pair of HP 2100S machines > to Pole. They were both equipped with 32K of memory, and sported paper tape, > at least one line printer, and a pair of 45 ips, 800 bpi magtapes. Other > I/O equipment mentioned in the article include an HP 12930A "universal > interface", at least one HP 2570A "coupler controller", and at least one > HP 12770A serial interface. > > If I run across the original journal, I can see about making scans. Right > now, there is a hodgepodge of xeroxed page fragments taped to the wall. > > Before anyone starts drooling, this gear was all long-gone 20 years after > it was installed. Even the microVAX that was here 10 years ago was packed > up and removed years ago. Closest thing I've seen to a "classic" computer > I've seen in use here lately was a Dell 386SX/16 as the head-end for the PBX > we tore out in 2004, and the Compaq 386N we used for RTTY (last fired up in > 2004 as well). > > It's all modern, boring stuff here now. :-( > > (except for the classic goodies I pack in my luggage ;-) > > -ethan > Wow... Something I know about! I was there for the installation for those computers. They were 2100A's (not 2100s). Both of the boxes had two 9 track drives with the 500cps paper tape readers, and the Facit 75 cps punches. I dont' remember much about the line printer, but there must have been one, probably one of those mini Dataproducts goodies (80 columns). They were configured to use RTE-C, the core image version of RTE used at the time. Thankfully they had 32k of memory, since the RTE stuff took up quite a bit of room, and the machines didn't have disk drives. I ended up writing a memory resident version of the papertape system (I forget what it was called) that would allow assignments of input and output devices to tape files and the like. I heard that it was useful since they had to develop the programs used in RTE-C that way. The application for the machines was for weather observation at the station. The UC Davis people had some nifty humidity sensors (heated, etc.) they were trying out. The other thing we installed was a transmitting weather station (to a satellite that orbited about once every 2 hours). Of course we didn't know when it passed by so the logic (no microprocessors then) spit out the data about once every couple of minutes. The Satellite was in polar orbit so it came by every time. It waqs run from a couple of power sources, an RTG (big huge thing) and a propane thermoelectric generator. I have fond memories of attempting to start the propane thing and not getting the gas to vaporize. I had to use TWO propane torches (one to heat the other) to get it working. Yes, this is classic stuff. It dates to 1975, long before I saw a 6800. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 5 months

Hans destroys VAX!

by evan＠snarc.net

This was brought to my attention at the VCF X. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP-F7XxrDA For those who don't know him, Han is in the blue shirt and black pants ... his standard uniform.

18 years, 5 months

Stats on the first known HP Computer at the South Pole

by ethan.dicks＠usap.gov

Jay, other HP fans, I finally got a chance to re-examine the article on the wall down here. Someone hung up excerpts from "The Antarctic Journal", December 1976, page 286 (and parts of some presumably nearby pages). The article describes the "first" computer system at the Pole, which might possibly be true. During the 1974/1975 Austral Summer, UC Davis sent down a pair of HP 2100S machines to Pole. They were both equipped with 32K of memory, and sported paper tape, at least one line printer, and a pair of 45 ips, 800 bpi magtapes. Other I/O equipment mentioned in the article include an HP 12930A "universal interface", at least one HP 2570A "coupler controller", and at least one HP 12770A serial interface. If I run across the original journal, I can see about making scans. Right now, there is a hodgepodge of xeroxed page fragments taped to the wall. Before anyone starts drooling, this gear was all long-gone 20 years after it was installed. Even the microVAX that was here 10 years ago was packed up and removed years ago. Closest thing I've seen to a "classic" computer I've seen in use here lately was a Dell 386SX/16 as the head-end for the PBX we tore out in 2004, and the Compaq 386N we used for RTTY (last fired up in 2004 as well). It's all modern, boring stuff here now. :-( (except for the classic goodies I pack in my luggage ;-) -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 6-Nov-2007 at 09:30 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -24.5 F (-31.4 C) Windchill -53.8 F (-47.6 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 16.8 kts Grid 10 Barometer 684.4 mb (10463 ft) Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html

18 years, 5 months

Quadram Quadboard

by geoffr＠zipcon.net

Does anyone have docs for this beastie? it's an apple-II on a card that goes into an XT... or does anyone have any interest in it? it's been sitting on my shelf for ~ 12 years now...

18 years, 5 months

8" disk drive project - maybe 3.5" project too???

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: 8" disk drive project - maybe 3.5" project too??? > From: Grant Stockly <grant at stockly.com> > Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:50:45 -0900 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >I'm going to add some to my own topic. The questions below still >stand, but I've got more info! : ) > >>I want to use a QUME 842 or SA800 in an altair disk subsystem. >> >>Both seem to have the same interface. >> >>The FD400-5x0-5x1 manual seems to show the drives being quite similar. >> >>The first thing I see is that there are extra signals. >> >>"Trim Erase", "Write Enable", and "Write Data" where the Shugart >>interface only has "Write Data" and "Write Gate". I assume that >>gate and enable are the same thing. The FD Pertec drives also have >>"IN", "OUT", and "STEP" instead of "STEP" and "DIRECTION", but that >>is not a big deal. That can be generated in software. >> >>What I don't see is any input to perform the function of head >>current. How does the shugart interface handle this? >> >>Can I ignore the trim erase feature? How do I generate a write busy >>signal? I'm willing to make some circuits to fake these signals if required. > >More info: > >The pinout of an Altair disk drive...of the wires connected. Omitted >pins are either not connected, power, or ground. All lettered >connections are ground. > >6 - Output - Door Open (IDOP >7 - Head Current Switch (IHCS) >8 - External Trim Erase (Option) (IEEN) >9 - Input - Write Enable (IWEN) >10 - Input - Write Data Input (IWDA) >11 - Input - Step In (ISTI) >15 - Input - Step Out (ISTO) >16 - Input - Head Load (IHLD) >17 - Output - Index (IINXP) >18 - Input - Drive Motor On (IDEN) >19 - Track 0 (ITRK0) >20 - Output - Read Data Output (IRDA) > >One thing that interests me slightly more is the possibility of a >regular 3.5" disk connected to the Altair. I don't care about the >encoding or format being compatible with a standard controller. > >It is very similar, but is also a soft sector disk/drive. How close >is close? Can I just use a microcontroller with a timer to time from >one index to the next and divide it up into 32 sectors? Will this be >close enough for the Altair? Anyone know what kinds of errors I >would get? A microcontroller running at 16MHz would be able to count >between pulses with 16MHz/1 accuracy. With the SA800 I would have a >sector hole sensor giving me the correct timing. > >There still is the issue of the write trim erase feature, whatever that is... Write trim erase is a signal to the head assembly (driver) that turns on the erase segment of the head for erasing the area either side of the head. It's also called tunnel erase. This gives some tolerence to off track reading as the intertrack gaps are "clean". Tunnel erase is still part of all floppy drives but is activated by Write-enable and you never "hear" of it. In 1976 all this was new and magical until Sugart came out with the much simplified 5.25 SA400. >Any comments or ideas on the idea? Is it worth trying? I've got a >very weird tarbell card that formats and uses 3.5" disks as a 70k >mini floppy. I guess anything is possible. : ) Sounds like a wither the DD or SD tarbel card that could interface to most any drive using soft sector. Myself I'd persue something using a 5.25 or 3.5" drive with a current softsector interface to the drive and enough CPU smarts to fake looking like the Altair interface which was dumb as a rock and depended on the 8080 to do most everything. Allison > >2 - Density Select (/REDWC) >8 - Index (/INDEX) >10 - Motor Enable Drive 0 (/MOTEA) >12 - Drive Select 1 (/DRVSA) >14 - Drive Select 0 (/DRVSB) >16 - Motor Enable Drive 1 (/MOTEB) >18 - Direction Select (/DIR) >20 - Head Step (/STEP) >22 - Write Data (/WDATE) >24 - Floppy Write Enable (/WGATE) >26 - Track 00 (/TRK0) >28 - Write Protect (/WPT) >30 - Read Data (/RDATA) >32 - Head Select (/SIDE1) >34 - Disk Change/Ready (/DISKCHG) > >I'm not going to sleep a wink tonight. I hate having ideas at 10PM... : ( > >Grant

18 years, 5 months

8" disk drive project

by grant＠stockly.com

I want to use a QUME 842 or SA800 in an altair disk subsystem. Both seem to have the same interface. The FD400-5x0-5x1 manual seems to show the drives being quite similar. The first thing I see is that there are extra signals. "Trim Erase", "Write Enable", and "Write Data" where the Shugart interface only has "Write Data" and "Write Gate". I assume that gate and enable are the same thing. The FD Pertec drives also have "IN", "OUT", and "STEP" instead of "STEP" and "DIRECTION", but that is not a big deal. That can be generated in software. What I don't see is any input to perform the function of head current. How does the shugart interface handle this? Can I ignore the trim erase feature? How do I generate a write busy signal? I'm willing to make some circuits to fake these signals if required. Thanks, Grant

18 years, 5 months

8" disk drive project

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: 8" disk drive project > From: Grant Stockly <grant at stockly.com> > Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:04:47 -0900 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >I want to use a QUME 842 or SA800 in an altair disk subsystem. > >Both seem to have the same interface. > >The FD400-5x0-5x1 manual seems to show the drives being quite similar. > >The first thing I see is that there are extra signals. > >"Trim Erase", "Write Enable", and "Write Data" where the Shugart >interface only has "Write Data" and "Write Gate". I assume that gate >and enable are the same thing. The FD Pertec drives also have "IN", >"OUT", and "STEP" instead of "STEP" and "DIRECTION", but that is not >a big deal. That can be generated in software. Trimerase is usually jumpered to Write-enable. >What I don't see is any input to perform the function of head >current. How does the shugart interface handle this? Not all drives required or used it. >Can I ignore the trim erase feature? No. >How do I generate a write busy >signal? I'm willing to make some circuits to fake these signals if required. Write busy is easy set a oneshot on write enable and use the output as a response. If you think about it why sould you need write busy if your busy writing? However some used that as a Door lock signal to prevent opening a door during write. The 8" interface world is generally complicated by difference names, pinouts and signals for the same or very similar signals. That and just as many signals and options that go unsued or just not required. Allison >Thanks, >Grant

18 years, 5 months

modern serial terminal

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: modern serial terminal > From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> > Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:17:38 -0800 (PST) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >> > You're going to have to 'splain that one to me, Lucy. There were >> > plenty of bitmapped graphics machines for the home market. >> >> Name is not lucy. The LISA and MAC I consider BITMAPPED. >> C64's and others had sprite graphics. Amiga and Atari(sp) >> were maketed as games machines. The APPLE II split screen >> I liked for text on the bottom (FAST) , graphics on the top >> slow. Only the development of fast 2D graphics cards even >> make modern software usable. > >You have an odd taxonomy here. The Amigas and Atari (STs and otherwise) >computers were not marketed strictly as game machines (or else you should >include the C64 in that category). And they are most definitely bitmapped. > >The C64 has sprite graphics, but it definitely has a bitmapped graphics >mode. It's somewhat more inconvenient to work in because of its cell- >oriented arrangement, but it's bitmapped. > >So, I'm not sure where you're drawing the line here, but all of the machines >you mention have bitmapped graphics and were home computers, except perhaps >the Lisa, but only due to cost. Comentary: The problem as initially launched was small inexpensive terminal "box" of insignificant size that used PC display and keyboard. Paraphrased more or less. One, most applications that use "terminals" are non graphic or if they do it's low res and minimal. If that were not true my Vt125 and VT340 would see more action as they are both graphic and support color. With that most terminals are text, 80x24 or 80x25 and some can do 132x20. The "terminal" is expected to comply with ANSI escapes, VT52 or ADM1/3 typically to be most useful. This is often important to editors and many other applications that do screen handling. With that anything with more than an 8051, character cell display is likely over kill and under utilization. The simplest home brewed terminal I'd seen was a computime SBC880 (z80,1k ram, 2k rom, 1 serial IO and a parallel IO) and a PT VDM1 (yes it's 64x16lines) though a 80x24 card could be used. The whole mess was wrapped in a minibox with PS measureing 12x7x4 inches making it smaller than the monitor and serial keyboard used. It did a fair (limited to 64x16) VT52 emulation with soft scroll and no flashing and could support 19.2kbaud serial rates. The guy that bilt it spent $200 for the boards, 2 S100 connectors and power supply, aluminum box and even a 9" B&W monitor back in 1982. I'd think with current parts [one of the 8051 clones or eZ80 and a CPLD] a 80x25 terminal could be put on a 4x5" card with minimal effort. The output should drive a standard PC tube/LCD with one selectable color and use a PC keyboard power would come from a wall wart. Personally a VT320 with a mono LCD rather than a CRT would be ideal and much more compact at 2 peices total (display and keyboard). Allison >-- >------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- > Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com >-- BOND THEME NOW PLAYING: "All-Time High" from "Octopussy" -------------------

18 years, 5 months

for RodSmallwood - Victor V286C

by ger_german＠yahoo.com

I have found your following post by Google when I was trying to solve the same problem. -------------------------------------------------- Hi I have the system unit for a Victor V286C PC manufactured in 1991. Its in really nice condition. Keyboard and mouse are no problem. However the display is a different matter. It has a nine pin display connector which would make it a CGA ,MGA or Hercules output. Anybody any ideas as to where I might find a matching monitor? Rod Smallwood ---------------------------------------------------- I could not find any solutions on the Internet, and then start experiment. I have found ISA video card with standard vga-connector, put it to the top ISA slot... and have no effect. Then I switched a jumper near ISA slot to DISABLE position and miracle happend. :) By the way, DIP switch on the back panel of system unit was in the following position: 1-on, 2-on, 3-off, 4-on, 5-off, 6-off. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 5 months

CD player repair

by devonstopps＠gmail.com

It isn't necessarily the motor either; I've seen a couple units that require some kind of "disc present" feedback from the laser diode before they spin....lots of adjustments possible here. I'd start checking power supplies, and putting a scope on the motor drive, might tell you if you're barking up the right tree. As for motors though, I've found slow speed computer CDROM drives can have compatible motors -- if you find one that will mount properly. I got sick of trying to find compatible parts; and so, I've been working on converting a 101-disc cd audio changer for use with data cds and dvds. T.H.x. Devon

18 years, 5 months

CD player repair

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

(I hope this doesn't upset Jay. I think it's on-topic according to the semi-bogus the ten-year rule, and it's certainly on-topic in the non-mainstream sense - what I'm trying to do is well outside the norm. Except, possibly, for populations like the one on this list. :) I have a Technics SL-PD8 five-disc CD changer. It's been working fine for a long time; in recent months, it's had trouble ejecting the tray (but not, interestingly, retracting it). Then a day or two ago it stopped playing discs at all. I can't even hear the disk spinning up. So I opened it up, and I have been completely unable to make the disc drive motor spin, with or without a CD in place. I've pulled it apart far enough to have the CD transport mechanism out in the open, and it still won't spin. (In the process, I found the stretched belt that was responsible for the weak eject; I dug through my rubber band collection and replaced it, and now the tray eject works fine.) Now, I'm not Tony; I'm not about to rewind the motor or some such. But I was wondering if anyone knows how similar the mechanism is likely to be to a cheap computer CD reader - basically, I'm wondering if I can raid one of my extra CD drives (of which I have several) for parts to resurrect the Technics. I can just open things up and have a look, but if anyone has experience, it could save me some headaches. Any thoughts? /~\ The ASCII der Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

18 years, 6 months

sorry OT: anyone own a Fujitsu PenCentra 130?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

respond offlist please? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 6 months

Alternative Hardware Design for Floppy Interface

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

At 01:42 PM 10/19/2007, you wrote: >Grant Stockly wrote: >>What do you guys think? The thing has a peripheral expansion header. >>We could hook a modern floppy chip to that, connectors for >>different drives, and off we go... > >What's the cost like? Is the board made up of separate components >(CPU, ROM, RAM, USB chip, buffers for I/O, Ethernet chip etc.)? > >I'd find Ethernet more useful than USB, and in an ideal world I'd >prefer a board where the functional areas are segregated (rather >than some complex and expensive single chip, where if disaster >strikes the thing basically needs throwing out and replacing as a >complete unit) The base eZ80SBC from howard is $250. Add $100 for the disk board... -----REPLY----- Hi, By the time you add in all the costs of the CPU board with IO, case, power supply, cables, documentation, plus the specialized disk controller, AND write most if not all of the software this project is quickly going to become uneconomical for all but the most patient and financially well off. You could use a throw away old 486 or Pentium II computer with ISA and/or PCI slots to provide any interface you'd like (ethernet, SCSI, ST506, USB, whatever) for a whole lot less time and effort. A double sided 48tpi floppy drive will read practically any format given the right controller. The same can be done for whatever sort of drive you'd like to test. I have made and am using a few bench stations for testing floppy drives, ST506/ST412 hard drives, SCSI, etc for a small fraction of what the cost you are proposing. I am sure many others here are doing the same thing as well. In addition, reusing old PCs effectively removes them from the waste stream which is not only economical it is environmentally friendly as well. Get a small enough PC and they are portable assuming you choose standard interface for peripherals like VGA, PS/2 keyboards & mice, etc. On top of the above, as an added bonus much of the software is already written. You can use ImageDisk for soft sector floppy disks, SpinRite II for ST506/ST412 hard disks, etc. Respectfully, it seems like the proposals being discussed are reinventing the wheel by developing and/or repurposing a new CPU and IO board rather than reusing proven and cost effective solutions which already exist. It is just my $0.02. Best of luck with your project. Thanks! Andrew Lynch

18 years, 6 months

Kaypro 4/84 questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Kaypro 4/84 questions > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:27:29 -0800 (PST) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Mon, 5 Nov 2007, Roy J. Tellason wrote: >> selecting the drive should be apparent as Kaypros tend to leave the light on >> all the time. >> > Will it be supported in some manner by the software? >> Hm, kinda doubtful, though I couldn't say for sure as it's been a long time >> since I dove into those particular interface specs. > >There WERE patches available for using 720K (3.5" or 5.25") drives on >Kaypros. > >"Advent"? Advent supports both 720k and 781K formats on DSDD 96tpi 5.25 or 3.5" Advent Turborom with the Advent disk personality board. I have both in mine One floppy is the 48tpi two sided half height, the other is 3.5" in a PC 5.25" adaptor and inside I have a third 3.5" as a default boot drive. Lots of storage. Allison >MicroCornucopia? >Chuck might know. > >

18 years, 6 months

The List! (additions/changes)

by larrydev＠earthlink.net

I saw this from Bill Whitson dated 1997 on the web, Bill, I saw your list of classic computers. Now over 10 years old but - Great!! I am looking for more info on this computer >> Control Data Corp.------------------------------------------------ Model 110 6809 64K ?? MICRO 83 I would appreciate anything - more specs or a photo(s)? I do have the CDC announcement of the product in the NYTimes and it was September 14, 1981. http://query.nytimes.com <http://query.nytimes.com/> It was "priced at $4,995" with "business and educational applications cost between $625 and $4000" I am not sure when (or if) the product actually was available for shipment. Thanks, Larry G. DeVries Eden Prairie, Minn. 952-949-9604

18 years, 6 months

Troubleshooting Superbrains

by gordonjcp＠gjcp.net

Hello folks, I picked up a couple of Intertec Superbrains last week, and have finally got around to cracking the cases. One has memory problems, the other has keyboard problems. I'm fairly sure the one with memory problems is down to a faulty 4116, but I can't work out how to find out which one it is. I'm guessing it's in the lower part of memory, because although the system boots it hasn't got enough marbles to run DDT.COM - if I could get that working I could prod around in memory until I found the stuck bit. The keyboard problem on the other one is a bit odd - not all the keys work (haven't worked out the pattern but it *seems* like the outer three on the ends of each row work, the middle ones being dead), and the key repeat starts instantly. I'm a tad concerned that this is a sign of a dying keyboard controller chip - I doubt I'll ever find another, although if it was a problem I'd just program up a PIC to do its job. Any thoughts? Is there a way to trick CP/M into loading DDT into higher memory? Gordon

18 years, 6 months

OT: eBay/Paypal security

by zmerch-cctalk＠30below.com

Rumor has it that Curt @ Atari Museum may have mentioned these words: >New thing these days, thieves are stealing the krypton headlights out of >cars... Is this so when they get caught by Superman they have a chance of getting away??? Sorry, just had to. Grabbing coat, calling taxi... ;-) Laterz, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers zmerch at 30below.com What do you do when Life gives you lemons, and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????

18 years, 6 months

OT: eBay/Paypal security

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

This isn't even close to on-topic, but maybe it's of general interest. Paypal is offering a SecureID fob, the "Paypal Security Key", for authentication to your Paypal account. I haven't seen it mentioned on the Paypal descriptions, but the coworker who showed me his tells me that it works with eBay too. Worth mention, I suppose, is that it's *in addition to* your email/password login info, not instead of. Also, it's $5 USD shipped. :) Doc

18 years, 6 months

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