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101090 discussions

New Topic - Keyboard on Xerox Memorywriter 630

by dmc_67301＠yahoo.com

I have an old Xerox Memorywriter 630 typewriter that is in good condition except that one key on the keyboard doesn't work and one key that works about half the time. I'm looking for a working keyboard for this machine or someone who knows how to fix the problem. Thanks. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 6 months

Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> > I always get really poor text quality with MacPalette II though, so if > anyone else is using it and knows what I'm doing wrong, let me know. > IIRC, MacPalette II only prints in Tall Adjusted, so many the poor > text is > just an artifact of that, or maybe one is meant to use different > fonts. Er, no. It was designed primarily for C.A.D. and simple pictures, so text quality was not a high priority. Its too long ago, but when I wrote MacPalette 1, it was based on the ImageWriter 1 driver. MacPalette 2 was in turn based on MacPalette 1. The text is just imaged into the off screen pixmap by QuickDraw so MacPalette does not have much control on what it looks like. I think there were some Apple magic font adjustment tables in there, maybe they were in a resource where you could edit them. They controlled things like how many pixels to offset the images of the characters by when making bold text and maybe things I never got into, which might be useful to you. I just had a look on my hard drive and I have a floppy disk image of MacPalette II, but on my Intel Mac, double clicking it says the application to open it is not supported on this system. I found the paragraph below on the web when I Googled "Apple font characterisation table", unfortunately at the time, Apple had not documented it, and it seems like they never got around to it. "For certain types of devices, such as a screen or the ImageWriter printer, the Font Manager uses the font characterization table from the device driver to determine any additional information that QuickDraw may need. The font characterization table contains information about the dots per vertical inch and dots per horizontal inch for that device, along with information about the different styles that the device can produce. Non-QuickDraw devices, such as the LaserWriter printer, return an error when the Font Manager requests their font characterization table." Roger Holmes, Technical Director, Microspot Ltd.

18 years, 6 months

VCF 10.0 Press Release

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COMPUTER HISTORY PIONEERS CONGREGATE ON NOVEMBER 3-4 AT VINTAGE EVENT Vintage Computer Festival Celebrates History of Computing with live antique computers and living legends from the computer industry LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) October 26, 2007 -- The Vintage Computer Festival, a yearly event that celebrates computers and their history, is being held on November 3-4 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Anticipation is building for what is expected to be the biggest and most well-attended event since the Festival's founding ten years ago. Celebrated once a year in Silicon Valley, as well as three other locations worldwide, the Vintage Computer Festival is the largest and most prestigious event of its kind, featuring a lecture series, an exhibition of working vintage and antique computers, and a marketplace for traders to buy and sell vintage computers. Collectors from around the world attend this event, which was founded in 1997. The Festival also recognizes its own history this year as it marks its tenth anniversary. This year, attendees will be treated to several historical figures in the computer industry, including Lee Felsenstein (designer of the classic Osborne 1, one of the first portable computers, and the SOL-20, one of the first personal computers), Al Hoagland (designer of the first commercial disk drive), legendary MIT proto-hackers Bill Gosper Steve Russell (author of the first videogame, Spacewar!), Wesley Clark (not the general, but the inventor of the first transistorized computer in the US) and prolific computer book author Lance Leventhal, who wrote dozens of computer self-help books throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One of the keynote sessions at the Festival this year is a panel featuring the engineers who in the early 1960s designed the LINC (Laboratory INstrumentation Computer), which was a revolutionar computer design that some consider to be the first "personal computer". The Festival also features a marketplace for collectors to buy, sell and trade vintage computers. There is also a screening of documentaries and films on both days of the event that have vintage computing or vintage technology themes. Some of the filmmakers will be present to talk about their work and give introductions to their films. There will also be an abstract artist (Christine Finn) on site throughout the event constructing a collaborative artwork based on discarded technology, culminating at a talk she will give on the piece at 3:00pm on Sunday. The Computer History Museum is an ideal location for the Festival as it allows attendees the opportunity to tour the Museum's collection while also attending the lectures and exhibits organized by the VCF. Tours of the Museum's collection will be given throughout the afternoon on each day of the Festival. Special theme tours during the weekend will include "A Brief History of the Internet" and "The History of Video Games", which are both guided by Museum docents. There will also be live demonstrations of ancient mainframe computers that have been painstakingly restored to working condition, including an IBM 1401 mainframe circa 1960 and a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-1 minicomputer circa 1961 running Spacewar!, the first ever videogame, written in 1962. The game's author, Steve Russell, will also be speaking at the Festival. The Computer History Museum is located at 1401 North Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, California, just off highway 101. The Vintage Computer Festival opens at 9:30am each day, with first sessions beginning at 10:00am and the exhibition and marketplace opening at 2:00pm each day. The film festival runs from 11:00am to 6:00pm each day. The Festival officially ends at 6:00pm on Sunday. Complete event information including admission, directions to the venue and the event schedule can be found on the VCF website: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/ # # # -- 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, 6 months

table of contents for all issues of BYTE?

by legalize＠xmission.com

Does anyone know of a web site that lists the TOC (article titles and authors) for all the issues of BYTE? I know there's lots of computer graphics goodness hiding in the run of BYTE magazine, but I don't know which issues to look for... -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

18 years, 6 months

freight shipping = ~$1/lb.?

by legalize＠xmission.com

OK, for a pile of stuff I got from dovebid, I used a new freight shipper -- adcom worldwide. This time, the bill turned out to be about $1/lb. I just wondered if that seemed reasonable, overpriced, etc., or if anyone had any stories about adcom. The packaging of the items was a little sloppy, but otherwise they seemed OK. Better than CTS, but still not up to the level of excellent service I've gotten with Craters & Freighters. (I would have used C&F, but they don't have a location near Reading, PA.) -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

18 years, 6 months

Xilinx XCR5128C

by marvin＠west.net

In searching through my pile of "stuff", I came across 38 of these unused chips still in the chip carrier. I am not at all familiar with these things (or most semicurrent chips for that matter), so are these (or could they be) useful for Classic Computer related projects?

18 years, 6 months

IBM junk

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Lots of new IBM things today, but all basically PC related. Does anyone here have a 5182 Color Printer? This was one of the goodies today, from an ex-IBM salesman that was finally clearing out the closet. He said it was a very unsuccessful product from the XT/AT era, and may have never been for sale to the public. He said they were probably internal use only. The 5182 is a dot matrix printer with a four color ribbon. Kludge on a stick. Still, it is built like the mainframe people were in charge of the project. -- Will

18 years, 6 months

Solder

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

It seems, from a past thread, that leaded solder is starting to become a concern around here. I have a chance to buy some new 1 pound rolls, as well as some bar stock. In the pile is everything from Kester 44 to Ersin SN62 to noname company wire solder. Diameters are all over the place, from very small to quite thick. Prices have not been set, but it will probably fall in the 8-10 dollar per 1 pound roll area, maybe a hair more for the better stuff. What sort of _serious_ interest is there on this list? -- Will

18 years, 6 months

Fuse for Apple /// power supply

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

Quick question - is the fuse for Apple /// power supply supposed to be a "125V 5mf 2 1/2 A" or a "125V 5mf 2 3/4 A" ? - I don't want to use the wrong one. The schematic appears to indicate 2 1/2 A, but the unit I have has a blown 2 3/4A fuse, possibly a replacement from the original owner. Don't know for sure. Why the fuse blew in the first place, that's a different question. Thanks. Bill

18 years, 6 months

Toner as PCB resist (perilously close to OT)

by db3＠centurytel.net

Looks like I am a year late, but if you are still at this address I have some options for you. Have developed a system which works quite well and cheaper than most others. Jim

18 years, 6 months

HP1000 'F' back on eBay (UK)

by javickers＠solutionengineers.com

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160171142933 This is a completely complete system, one of a pair that I helped rescue >from Shell some years ago: I never got her to do anything past the self test (and, it would seem, nor did the buyer), so she's up for sale again... looking for a good home. Machine is in Preston, and requires a Luton-type van to transport (you could maybe manage with a high-top transit, but IIRC the cabs are 6ft high, which is taller than a high-top's cargo area). Cheers! Ade. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.3 - Release Date: 19/10/2007 00:00

18 years, 6 months

TRS-80 Reference Site (was rs232 interface for Radio Shack PT210 printing terminal)

by gary.katz＠csun.edu

Bob - Ira Goldklang runs a very comprehensive TRS80 site with a number of resources for the Mod1/3/4 on it. You can find his website at: http://www.trs-80.com/ Best, -gk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary S. Katz, Ph.D. 326 Sierra Tower Assistant Professor (818) 677-2964 office Dept. of Psychology (818) 677-2827 dept California State University - Northridge (818) 677-2829 fax 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330 http://www.csun.edu/~gk45683 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Message: 3 >Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:46:12 -0700 >From: Bob Rosenbloom <bobalan at sbcglobal.net> >Subject: Re: rs232 interface for Radio Shack PT210 printing terminal >To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Message-ID: <471ECE14.80101 at sbcglobal.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > >David Griffith wrote: >> I've decided to make a couple serial boards for my Radio Shack PT210 >> terminals so I can have them talk serial. How many people here have >> PT210s who'd like a serial board? >> > >I would like one. Also, this weekend I found on Craigslist, an IBM 5100. >When I picked it up, >I was offered a Radio Shack TRS-80 model one and a model 4. The model 4 >powers up and >asks for a diskette. The model one has the expansion box and disk but I >don't know which connectors >to hook the stuff up to. Do you know where I can get a boot disk for the >model 4 and manual for the >model one? Or a web site that shows the connections? > >Thanks, > >Bob > > >------------------------------ >

18 years, 6 months

Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I bought an RL disk pack on Ebay, supposedly for an RL02 drive. It is a Memorex "Mark III T" the pack is defective (factory servo tracks are trashed) -- You bought a generic 5440 style pack. I saw that listing and the seller didn't know what he was selling. DEC packs have custom servo tracks. If it don't say 'DEC' on it it is highly unlikely to work in an RL0x

18 years, 6 months

Things to do in SF before VCF

by evan＠snarc.net

Visit Sellam's warehouse nearby in Livermore. Seriously. And visit the Digibarn (although Bruce is always very busy preparing for VCF). Visiting Stanford is also fun, plus the HP garage down the street. Visit the Intel museum. Visit any number of differently theme Fry's stores. And of course, WeirdStuff Warehouse. None of that is in San Francisco, so just venture south a couple of days early. Speaking of which: I always rented Hertz cars for my past VCF excursions, because only they had the GPS option, but now Avis has it too. Got a really good deal when making my reservation yesterday -- four days with Avis, plus GPS, in a Pontiac G6 for aroun $150. Hertz wanted $200 for a subcompact.

18 years, 6 months

Vector Graphic mailing list

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, If anyone is interested in joining the Vector Graphic mailing list, here are the instructions on how to do it. All are welcome. To subscribe, send the command "sub vector-graphic", without the quotes, in the BODY of the message, to listserv at h-net.msu.edu. To post (send a message to all subscribers), address your e-mail to vector-graphic at h-net.msu.edu. For other help, e-mail Dennis Boone <drb at msu.edu>. You can also use the web interface at: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=VECTOR-GRAPHIC Thanks! Andrew Lynch

18 years, 6 months

Heath H17

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Anyone need a power transformer assembly from a Heath H17 floppy disk system, for a spare or otherwise? Contact me off list. -- Will

18 years, 6 months

ancestry oif Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by innfoclassics＠gmail.com

ancestry > I think the IWII has the engine for another printer in it but I can't > remember whose. I keep dredging up Okidata and Canon, but I think those > are wrong. Citizen? I think the Imagewriter 1 was just a rebadged C. Itoh 8510. One of the C.Itoh models supported a 4 color ribbon. and this carried over to the IW2. The ancestry of the IBM Color printer goes back to the IDS 480 which was such a nice printer that Dataproducts bought the company in the very early 80s. I believe its design became the basis for the long running Dataproducts 8050/8070 series of dot matrix printers offering color ribbons. I think the IBM Color Printer was made by Dataproducts with different plastic and branding. Paxton Hoag Astoria, OR USA

18 years, 6 months

Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:26:06 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) >> The 5182 is a dot matrix printer with a four color ribbon. Kludge on a >> stick. > > Thet idea was not uncommn at the time. DEC made one called the 'LA324' > which could take a colour ribbon and mechanically shifted it up and down > to change colour. I also rememebr using an Epson printer in the mid 1980s > that could take a 'colour kit' which was a motor + mechanical bits to > tilt the ribbon. > > How well it worked I don't know. I've never been able to find a colour > ribbon for my LA324. The Apple Imagewriter II can use a color ribbon and the color ribbons are still fairly available. I have a few boxes sealed up in plastic bags... However, Apple never wrote a viable color driver for the Mac OS. One could print the 8 basic Quickdraw (not Color Quickdraw) colors, for example, by coloring cells in Excel and printing the spreadsheet, but anything complex was out. A company called Microspot wrote MacPalette II for the Mac which dithered the colors on the ribbon to provide 24 bit color printing. Keep in mind that the IWII is a 72 or 144 dpi dot matrix printer. The images produced by MacPalette are pretty amazing given the underlying printer. It really does get the colors nicely mixed. The image quality is poor because of the poor resolution, but it's a bit like the dancing bear. The wonder isn't that she dances so well, it's that she dances at all. I always get really poor text quality with MacPalette II though, so if anyone else is using it and knows what I'm doing wrong, let me know. IIRC, MacPalette II only prints in Tall Adjusted, so many the poor text is just an artifact of that, or maybe one is meant to use different fonts. I think the IWII has the engine for another printer in it but I can't remember whose. I keep dredging up Okidata and Canon, but I think those are wrong. Citizen? Jeff Walther

18 years, 6 months

Alternative Hardware Design for Floppy Interface

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:20:22 +1300 > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > On 10/23/07, Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >> Hmm, I thought all modern machines emulate a parallel port connected via >> an ISA bus > > Macs have never had parallel printer ports, not even the new Intel Mac > Pros. Au contraire. Okay, actually, it's a nitpick. During the cloning heyday, there was a family of clones which had a parallel port. I think it was the model from Motorola (Starmax?), but my memory is hazy. Of course, that was back in the 90s. Jeff Walther

18 years, 6 months

kernel compile times

by jvdg＠sparcpark.net

Richard wrote: > Sridhar Ayengar writes: > >> My compile on the VAXstation 2000 was at least a few days. Maybe a week. > > Are we talking *just* the kernel here, or are we talking compiling a > full distribution (all the utility programs, shell programs, X server, > X clients, etc.). > > I have a really hard time believing it takes a few days *just* to > compile the kernel. Toss in the huge pile of additional programs > accessible from the shell or the X Window System and now we're talking > believable. Well, in the (my) case of the SE/30 taking two days to compile a NetBSD 1.5 kernel, it definitely was just the kernel. Other stuff would have come later. Granted, it may have been less than 48 hours, like starting early one evening and ending late the next morning, but in my memory it was two days until it upped and died when nearly done. I also suspect it might have been (a lot) faster had the machine been equipped with the full 128 MB RAM at the time, instead of just a paltry 20 MB. Might have saved the (500 MB) drive, too. :-) In any case, it was done just for shits and giggles, and if anything it did inspire a whole new level of appreciation for the art of cross-compilation. ,xtG tsooJ

18 years, 6 months

Group buy of 1541-III PCB's?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 10/24/07, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > I know there was some interest in 1541-III PCB's recently. Vincent > Slyngstad and I have been discussing this since that time, and he has > done up schematic in Eagle CAD and has the initial board layout done > (actually three different versions using different SD Sockets). Nice. > The big difference between this and the original design is that it uses > through the hole parts wherever possible rather than surface mount > parts. I would build one or two, regardless. > I'm trying to find out if anyone here will be interested in boards. Yes. One or two bare boards, depending on price (or if they are really cheap, perhaps 3). > I have a design question or two for anyone that is interested. > Additionally, I'm looking for anyone familiar with SD Sockets, as > neither Vince nor I are, and a couple questions have come up on the > socket placement. Sorry... I have minimal experience with SD sockets. -ethan

18 years, 6 months

SGI workstation sequence

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Joost writes > Unlike Indigo2, however, a different class CPU on an O2 means a > different motherboard. Other way around - Indigo2 had different mainboards for the different processors (IP22 for R4k, IP26 for R8k, IP28 for R10k), whereas O2 had a single mainboard (IP32) for all processors. The R10k/12k processors did have different mounting hardware, though (the R10k/12k module takes up one of the drive bays). The Indy's main limitation today is memory. It does not support SIMMS over 32MB, so it can have only 256MB RAM installed. A smaller limitation is the internal FAST-10/narrow SCSI interface (O2/Octane have Ultra/Wide). Still useable, though, and has the most gonzo startup tune I've heard anywhere (I have never heard of degrees of gonzo before this, though...) Definitely get 256MB RAM, 24-bit graphics, and IRIX 6.5.22 with the unused bits (especially ESP) chkconfig'd off (or 6.2 works well, too, but fewer software packages available). I wouldn't advise Indigo for a first system, they're a bit more tempermental and require the proprietary keyboard (try a few different PS/2 kbds in your Indy or above, though, as some don't work quite right). Octane came slightly after O200/O2000/Onyx2, the first release of IRIX 6.4 doesn't support Octane. The difference was only a couple of months, though. If anyone offers you an Octane, take it. O2s have the advantage of being small and quiet, but they don't seem to be as durable or as fast. It's getting to the point where Octanes with Vpro graphics are hitting the freebie bins (I'd like to find one...), and Octane supports faster CPUs, more memory, and faster graphics. The downside is (most likely) no PCI (the add-in PCI boxes are about $300 even now), but there are few drivers for O2 PCI (O2 doesn't support GbE cards, and I think there might be an issue with FC/SAS but I'm not sure there). That said I have a PI 4D/25, Indigo R3k/R4k Indy R5k, Indigo2 R4k, Indigo2 IMPACT R10k and an Octane 2x250/SSE (mostly running different versions of IRIX, the only double I have is 6.5 with the I2/R10k running 6.5.22 and the Octane running 6.5.30- the other beasts run 3.3.2, 4.0.5F, 5.3 and 6.2 (with one unused, I'm considering 5.1.1 there). They're all useable, but do bog down a bit with things like Firefox and OpenOffice. I do work on most of them, though (although the 4D/25 with 3.3.2 is mostly a "novelty" system - I haven't been able to find much of anything that runs under NeWS/4Sight).

18 years, 6 months

Archival preservation of software

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Yep, went through that at the museum because some people were advocating > putting media on the archive shelves - but it's not an idea I'm a fan off; the > stuff's just too prone to damage and decay. Unless you recover the data, what you have is a physical artifact of a magnetic storage medium. There is absolutely no way to say what, in fact, is even on it until you read it. Bits aren't preserved if they exist on only one physical medium, which you may not be able to recover in the future.

18 years, 6 months

kernel compile times

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: kernel compile times > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:19:15 +1300 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 10/24/07, Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote: >> >> My compile on the VAXstation 2000 was at least a few days. Maybe a week. >> >> ...it was swapping like crazy during the compile, and >> swapping to the same disk where the sources were stored. That machine >> is S*L*O*W. It would have probably gone a whole lot faster if it had >> enough RAM. > >Oh, yeah. The CPU is nominally as fast as a MicroVAX II (and over 50% >faster than an 11/750), but if you were swapping, that'd be a *huge* >difference in compile times. I was doing this on an 8MB 11/750 with >nothing else going on (or on a 5MB 11/730 in a similar state), which >is, BTW, fully loaded, thus the difference. Actually since there is no Qbus the basic VS2000 CPU is generally faster. However.. It lacks the external hardware support for fast IO for mass storage and any bulk transfers. It also has a few implmentation items that actually slow it for IO. > >I haven't had the pleasure to use a fully-loaded VS2000 - mine are >around 6MB - enough to boot and run, but not a lot of empty RAM >sitting around. I have three one each 6, 8mb and 12mb. I use the 6mb as hot spare and for formatting disks as the differnce from 6 to 8mb is fairly noticeable even with V5.44. >I think a VS2000 disk vastly underperforms compared to an RA81 on a >UDA50, so the swapping makes it much, much worse. No question. MFM disks have less than half the serial data rate and the RA/UDA has a lot more smarts to make it happen (Buffers, LRU cache, silos). The 9224 HDC is fairly dumb it's basicically a 765 +similar HDC with DMA chip built in. On the VS2000 the DMA only goes to a 16k segment (hardware implementation limitation) so to get data elsewhere the CPU or another DMA chip moves data again from the buffer area to wherever. So in the end The VS2000 disk system is slower than most PCs running the WD1003 with the same RD54. A small insight as to why a MVII with the same chip is generally faster. Allison

18 years, 6 months

OT: VCF X lodging -- a recommendation

by evan＠snarc.net

Got a good price tonight for the Days Inn / Stanford U., just a couple of miles up the road from Mountain View and the CHM. $81 per night, in-room Ethernet and snacks, all included with the price. Can't beat that.

18 years, 6 months

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test-drb