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101090 discussions

Tandy Logix-Kosmos (was: Re: Ferranti Logical Computor (1951) )

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 15:42 -0500 10/16/07, Brent wrote: >Also reminds me of the Kosmos (from Germany) "computer"/(switching)-logic >trainer from the late-60s/early-70s I received as a kid. I think Radio Shack >marketed it over here for a while, later in the 70s. ...and you have just reminded me of the name (see subject). I had one too. <google> ... ah. http://oldcomputermuseum.com/logix_kosmos.html Power supply, 10 bulbs across the top, 10 slides, each slide opened or closed 5 sets of contacts (functioning as a 5PDT switch), and a pushbutton. Each contact had 3 holes, as did the power supply and the lights. By placing jumper wires, you enabled "gates" to create the logic. You'd slide the slides to generate the input, then press the pushbutton to provide current. The lights would illuminate to generate the output. There were paper fold-ups to place inside the light housing so that the output could be pictographic, and to slide into a holder to label the slides. It's more or less the next step up from the "Digi-Comp" (3 bits -> 10 bits), except that it can't affect its own state. But you could implement "feedback" manually, by sliding slides when the bulb above them was illuminated. I quite clearly remember watching the Star Trek episode where Spock determines that the Enterprise's computer has been tampered with by beating it at chess, and thinking it'd take some pretty hot wiring to get the Logix-Cosmos to play chess, so I'd better get started. I never did figure out how to make the overlays work... Mine died of corrosion on the contacts, and was (regrettably) trashed, I'm pretty sure. -- - Mark, 210-379-4635 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Large Asteroids headed toward planets inhabited by beings that don't have technology adequate to stop them: Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.

18 years, 6 months

Old word processor

by tomhudson＠execpc.com

A friend and I were talking yesterday and it turns out he has an old Smith Corona PWP 100C word processor that he wants to get rid of. I think he'll unload it to anyone who'll pay to have it packed up and shipped. Not sure how functional it is, but it struck me as something someone on the list might want. Let me know if you're interested and I'll forward your note. -Tom -- Thomas Hudson http://portdistrict5.org -- 5th District Aldermanic Website http://portev.org -- Electric Vehicles, Solar Power & More http://portgardenclub.org -- Port Washington Garden Club http://portlightstation.org -- Light Station Restoration http://klanky.com -- Animation Projects

18 years, 6 months

Taken: AT 286 motherboard with mathco

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Message: Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:29:40 -0600 From: "e.stiebler" <emu at e-bbes.com> Subject: Re: Taken: AT 286 motherboard with mathco M H Stein wrote: >> Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:53:06 -0600 >> From: "e.stiebler" <emu at e-bbes.com> >> Subject: Re: Taken: AT 286 motherboard with mathco > >> I think people worked/played more with the computer more back then. >> Meaning wrote utilities, improved stuff, changed something, and were >> proud if it. > > Really??? Have you browsed the Internet lately and seen the amount of > software & mods out there, and the just wild and crazy things that people > are doing with their PCs? I wasn't talking about repainting the case. > Seems to me there are a heck of a lot *more* > people writing utilities, improving stuff etc. today, and far more complex > and sophisticated stuff at that (especially since there's so much more > room for improvement ;-). I really don't think so. Go on this modding groups, and check, how much background info they really have. They just take a motherboard, put a water cooler on it and wait until it falls apart by over clocking it. I was talking about people crawling into their computers with an soldering iron without hurting themselfes ;-) Cheers -------------Reply: I wasn't talking about painting cases or water cooling either, although if you include the esthetics of the computer even that would count for something; a really snazzy custom paint job and custom case can be just as much of an accomplishment as building a serial card for your Apple. Admittedly it's not practical or possible any longer to make any useful mods to a modern motherboard itself, but you were talking about "writing utilities, improving stuff and changing things;" sounds like that wouldn't necessarily involve a soldering iron (aside from the fact that today you'd use a heat gun), but *would* include the vast amount of open-source stuff out there and all that other software written by folks just for the fun of doing it, far more and often much better quality than a lot of the stuff of the "good old days." As a matter of fact I'd say that even most people just using Linux would probably qualify. And then there's the fact that what took many nights of soldering ICs, caps and resistors back then is now a matter of programming an FPGA or any of the modern replacements for discrete logic; because of the way the hardware has evolved into mass-market appliances that activity has also evolved into different methods and directions. Just because it's done with a pencil and keyboard instead of a soldering iron doesn't mean it doesn't have the same essential quality. But even on the hardware side there's a lot going on; folks are adding LCD displays & controllers and building MP3 players for their car, controlling their telescopes with computer-driven steppers etc. etc.; all sorts of robotics and other computer-related custom hardware that wasn't even possible back then And how about the people on this list and numerous other lists like it where people, many of whom weren't born when these things were new, are building things like custom disk interfaces, memory expanders, etc. etc. for C64s (not to mention the single-chip C64 itself), PETs, Apples, Tandys and all the other old computers, writing emulators, etc. etc.? Don't we/they count? You won't convince me that there isn't far more activity in this area today than there was then, in part just because it's so much more affordable and mainstream world-wide; how many people in Russia, China or India were playing with computers in the 70s? Even if only .00001% ever take the cover off their computer, that's still a lot of additional tinkerers. As for the dearth of technical magazines like the old Byte, Kilobaud etc., the same kind of ideas, projects and articles are still out there, only now they're to be found on the internet for free and in a much more convenient form. 'nuff said, mike

18 years, 6 months

Tandy Logix-Kosmos (was: Re: Ferranti Logical Computor (1951) )

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 10/22/07, Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote: > At 15:42 -0500 10/16/07, Brent wrote: > >Also reminds me of the Kosmos (from Germany) "computer"/(switching)-logic > >trainer from the late-60s/early-70s I received as a kid. I think Radio Shack > >marketed it over here for a while, later in the 70s. Yes. I had the Radio-Shack-badged one. > ...and you have just reminded me of the name (see subject). I > had one too. <google> ... ah. > http://oldcomputermuseum.com/logix_kosmos.html That was the first one I had - the overlays inside were, IIRC, printed tissue paper. > Power supply, 10 bulbs across the top, 10 slides, each slide > opened or closed 5 sets of contacts (functioning as a 5PDT switch), > and a pushbutton. Each contact had 3 holes, as did the power supply > and the lights. By placing jumper wires, you enabled "gates" to > create the logic. You'd slide the slides to generate the input, then > press the pushbutton to provide current. The lights would illuminate > to generate the output. There were paper fold-ups to place inside the > light housing so that the output could be pictographic, and to slide > into a holder to label the slides. Yep. And the whole thing arrived as bagged fiddly-bits - I remember taking more than an hour to assemble. > Mine died of corrosion on the contacts, and was (regrettably) > trashed, I'm pretty sure. I remember the contacts weren't great on the best of days. I think my step-mother threw mine out when she decided my room was too messy. :-( My step-brother had the later Radio-Shack model - the lights were down inside the body of the unit, with flat, plastic printed overlay strips that mounted flush to the face of the unit, and rather than small holes with brass contacts inside the switches, it had external springs like the 150-in-one project kits of the day. It was also sold pre-assembled, IIRC. I did most of the projects in mine, but the one I remember best was the goat/cabbage/fox puzzle. There were graphics on the 3 left-most and 3 right-most bulb spots for the puzzle elements, and a light to signify that you had an error condition (i.e. - the fox ate the goat or the goat ate the cabbage). You flipped the switches to migrate the elements back and forth across the "water", and you might have pressed the button to see what "got et" on that pass, if anything. My only real complaint with it as a teaching tool was that even though I did all the projects, there was no abstraction of the underlying concepts presented. I knew what logic gates were, but at that age, wasn't able to extrapolate on my own how multi-pole switches related to logic gates. I don't recall there being any schematics printed for the projects, either; something that might have helped illustrate what was going on under the hood. It was fun to play with, but I don't think I learned that much from it, unfortunately. I think the N-in-one electronic kits were better as teaching toys. -ethan

18 years, 6 months

TU81+ & KLESI-UA

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

So I have a TU81+ and a KLESI-UA that I'd like to hook up to my 11/44. My first stop was bitsavers and google, to see if there was any specific docs on these. I found docs on the TU81+, but the only thing I found on the M8739 is the printset. 1) Can't find anything detailed about all the dip switch and jumper settings on the KLESI 2) The printset seems to be for a slightly different board than mine (mine has J1 vertical, printset shows it horizontal) >From what I read in the TU81+ docs, it seems that it should pass built-in diags without the need for a host connection. Upon powerup, after a moment I get Ebb in the display. Can't seem to find what that refers to. Reset button does clear it though. Running diag 01 consistently fails after about 4 minutes with "E06". I cleaned the heads, tape cleaner, rollers, and am using a brand new tape. Same results. Test 60, 58, and 59 all end with "00" in the display, but the fault light comes on. 00 supposedly indicates a passed result, but the writeup on the test doesn't mention if the fault light is indicative of a specific result. Apparently my RT-11 docs are old... what is the device driver code for TU81+? Any pointers or advice is most appreciated! Jay West

18 years, 6 months

Wanted: Intel Data Catalogs

by djret＠sbcglobal.net

Hello John Galt: Are you still looking for Intel Catalogs and C3107's?? Dan Retzinger

18 years, 6 months

VAXen at home

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

>> >> From a UK point of view 'motor' as in motor-generator would be >> taken to > some form of internal combustion engine. > I have heard lots of references to 'motor-generators' but never an > 'engine-generator'. Well it just depends who you are used to talking to. I am in the UK, I own some WW2 kit with a brass plate saying 'Air Ministry Engine Driven Alternator Set'. Another plate says Tangye-Ricardo and another saying it was built by Tangye Ltd, Birmingham. Ricardo was a south coast engine design consulting company. It has a two cylinder 3.5 litre diesel engine which runs at 1000rpm, a huge flywheel and a big alternator with a smaller (about 15 inch long and 15 inch wide) DC generator on the back to provide the excitation current for the alternators field coils. The whole thing comes on rolled steel joists as a frame and is about 10 foot long, 4 foot wide and 5 foot high. I bought it to drive my ICT mainframe, so it is on topic. > > Devices used for AC to DC, DC to AC and voltage conversion using a > electric motor coupled to a generator would be referred to as 'rotary > convertors'. No, when I've talked to people (in the UK) about a rotary converter, they were talking about a large 3 phase motor wired up with big capacitors so that it could be started on a single phase supply and once turning, the other two windings would provide the other two phases whilst the pulses to the first winding would keep it running at the right speed. Of course for a 10kVA supply, I would have needed at least a 30kVA motor as only one phase was actually driving it. >> It may be European vs US usage, but in the US "motor" almost always >> means electric motor in this and other contexts. So what you > > That tends to be UK usage too. The thing under the bonnet (OK, > hood) of > a car is called an 'engine' over here. 'Motor' for that would be very > uncommon. I agree, though motor is also used to mean motor car as in Ford Motor Company, Dagenham or Vauxhall Motors, Luton. > > To me, a 'motor generator' is just that. An electric motor driving an > electric generator, to be used to convert voltage/frequency, etc. A > 'rotary converter' (or 'Dynamotor; if oyu go back far enough) is a > simialr thing with common field windings/frame/etc rather than 2 > separate electrical machines with the shafts coupled. > > >> call a "motor-generator" would be here just plain called a >> "generator" > > A 'generator' over here is either just the mechanical-to-electircal > energy converter or , as you said, a heat engine coupled to such a > machine. Certainly if you hired a 'generator' (as somebody > suggested we > should do for a VCF-type event), you'd expect to get something with > the > engine included. Yes, but generator also means a machine converting a turning motion into DC. Cars prior to the mid sixties had generators, after that they have alternators with a bridge rectifier. > I don't know how common these other term are across the Pond, but an > 'alternator' is an AC-output geneterator, a 'Dynamo' (short for > 'Dynamo-electric machine' is a generator, normally DC output, with a > wound field, and a 'Magneto' (short for 'Magneto-electric machine' > is a > genatore with a permanent magnet field. Which means the common bicycle > dynamo (as it's normally called over here' is in fact a magneto.... I agree with all but the last part. A magneto is a coil mounted next to a flywheel, the flywheel having a permanent magnet attached which when it moves past the coil, generates an electrical spike which drives the spark plug at exactly the right point in the engine cycle for a two stroke engine, or for a four stroke, one spark is just wasted, though it would be possible for the magneto to be run off the camshaft. The Magento was in turn was a big advance on the old hot tube ignition, but thats another story. Roger Holmes ICT 1301 UK101 Apple 2,3,Lisa and Macs

18 years, 6 months

Archival preservation of software

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Archival preservation of software Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com <mailto:cctalk%40classiccmp.org?Subject=Archival%20preservation%20of%20softw are&In-Reply-To=471ABEF2.50308%40bitsavers.org> Sat Oct 20 22:16:48 CDT 2007 * Previous message: Archival preservation of software * Next message: Archival preservation of software * Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] ________________________________ On 20 Oct 2007 at 19:52, Al Kossow wrote: > 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. Exactly. I'm starting to see a trend with some brands of floppies more than 25 years old where the oxide is starting to separate from the substrate, leading to fouled heads and "see through" tracks. Mostly on Wabash brand floppies currently, although a few off-brands such as "Precision" seem to also be showing this behavior. Time to get 'em archived. Cheers, Chuck ________________________________ -----REPLY----- Agree. I have made disk images of about 400 NorthStar Horizon disks. I am seeing some percentage of disks which just are not readable any longer. Fortunately, not too many but it seems like INSUA and other original disks are the worst. What I am doing and encourage others to as well is to make disk images of all of your NorthStar Horizon disks. Write a one line summary of the contents of the disk into an index and send the images to Bitsavers.org. There is a NorthStar Horizon disk image archive at: http://bitsavers.org/bits/NorthStar/NorthStar_Horizon/ You can send the disk images and indexes to me and I will load them for you. Don't let your NorthStar Horizon information fade away. Once it is gone, it is gone for good. Thanks! Andrew Lynch

18 years, 6 months

CP/M is BSD-ish licensed???

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I just noticed that on the Wikipedia talk page for CP/M someone write that CP/M was released under a BSD-like license in October 2001. Who had the copyrights at the time to do this? -- 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, 6 months

Any interested in a VSV-11 kit?

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Available : 1x Dec VSV11 kit. Contains - boardset M7061, M7062 & M7064 - original joystick - videocable - bulkhead/distibution panel - inetconnect box (switchable between 110/220V), heavy! - VT100 keyboard It is a pull from a working machine. Contact me offlist please.

18 years, 6 months

Paging Brad Parker

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Sorry to take up the bandwidth...I've gotten no response on direct email... Brad; I burned your M9312 proms... give me a shout to arrange shipping. Jay West

18 years, 6 months

Predicta?! -> philco computers

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Predicta?! -> philco computers > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 12:37:06 +1300 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 10/21/07, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote: >> > I did not look, because I did not think any were left. >> >> Talk to hams. RTTY was very popular many years back. Hams never throw >> anything away. > >Until we moved Comms out of the Dome to the new Station, we still had >an RTTY rig set up for emergency communications. It was used in 2004, >for certain, when we were between satellite passes and we couldn't get >a call through on our Iridium phones. > >To keep this nominally on-topic, it was one of two 386s in production >when the dome was still in use - the other was a Dell 386SX-16 working >as a front-end to our PBX. There was a sign on it warning people not >to throw it away. > >RTTY always sounded like fun, but, despite my Ham ticket, I have yet >to set up so much as a packet station, let alone something I know less >about. > >-ethan RTTY is one of the oldest digital modes, Amtor and Clover are newer. Some of the newest weak signal modes require 500mhz systems with decent soundcards. Examples are PSK31 and JST65, they work to the noise level and below. One of my pet projects is to get somthing like PSK31 working on a Qbus PDP11 I have fast A/D and D/A needed to do the 22K or better samples/sec. but the DSP software is a new thing to me. PSK31 translates user text IO at 31.5 baud to a variable length code and then to something a transmitter can digest (Narrow audio bandwidth, less than 31hz!). The software to do it on curent laptops and PCs exist but that's no fun. Allison

18 years, 6 months

PDP8A K&T

by riedelec＠wi.rr.com

Vince, I know plenty about your PDP8A and it's use in Kearney & Trecker machine tools. I fixed these and PDP8E computers for K&T back in the 80's and continue to do it to this day. I am running one as I write this. If you want to talk email at riedelec at wi.rr.com Dave Riedel Electronics/Telstar phone: 262-392-3366 fax: 262-392-3971 www.predicta.com riedelec at wi.rr.com

18 years, 6 months

That poor system/36

by ballsandy＠msn.com

>> Yes, an S/390 would be really nice (hey, you can even go with linux if >> you really wanted to) but they seem a >> a tad too small for me. It also looks too modern IMO. > >But Linux on a S/390 would be like Linux on a SGI (unless it was in a >single LPAR) - it's lacking something. That's what the "if you really wanted to" part meant. You can run linux on it if you want but it's a promise you won't be able to fully harness the system. >> Yes I also know that mainframes were usually designed for databases and the likes > >The 360 in System/360 stands for 360 degrees of coverage, meaning the >machines were made to do all sorts of tasks. Before the workstation >came into real power, mainframes had a significant portion of the CAD >and simulation market. Yeah but the odds of finding a 360 now are pretty slim. Besides, Most homes are not equipped with three-phase power. >> but they can still be fun to >> play with and you gotta admit it's fun showing off those massive IBM hard drives and then telling your friends >> how much that massive drive can actually store (20-80 megs if more). > >Here you will have troubles. The big IBM drives (DASDs) are almost all >gone. The last of the really huge disks, 3390s, are just about all out >of service. Just about everything else big, from early times, is gone, >except for a few anomalies (like the recent 3350s out of Columbus, >OH). > >For big drives, the CDCs seem to have survived the best. > >And oddly, old IBM tape drives - the 3420s - can still be found. yeah, and that's what makes that one system/36 so nice. Not only do you have the two internal hard drives in the processing unit but included are two tape drives. I love 3420's. There is something I have always liked about a wall of them just working away. It must be the cool noises they make. >> There is no way I will look into a DEC. I have absolutely no knowledge on any of their good old systems (I have >> never even seen one) and I have always loved IBM systems (yes, criticize me). > >DEC systems mostly just make a lot of sense. Try one, you might like it. So you want me to start off with a VAX? http://www.nekochan.net/gallery2/d/11127-2/vax11_750.jpg hmmm, well if that 11/750 is running in a home it might be worth a try. _________________________________________________________________ Are you ready for Windows Live Messenger Beta 8.5 ? Get the latest for free today! http://entertainment.sympatico.msn.ca/WindowsLiveMessenger

18 years, 6 months

AlphaServer 2100 parts

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Parting out an AlphaServer 2100 RM machine. Does anyone need: 1x 275MHz 21064 processor 2x B2021-FA 128MB CBUS memory 2x AlphaServer 2100 PSU units 1x CBUS board 1x floppy/3.5" sled 1x CD-ROM/5.25" sled internal cables, AlphaServer 2100 base I/O, 2100 I/O breakout panel, operator's panel, etc.

18 years, 6 months

AT 286 motherboard with mathco

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I have an AT 286 clone motherboard with math coprocessor that needs a home. I only ask for postage. I'm in southern California. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 6 months

H89 enthusiast opportunity

by cclist＠sydex.com

We received an inquiry from someone who's looking for someone else to furnish him with CP/M and HDOS diskettes for his H89 (hard and/or soft sectored, 5.25" or 8"). While we could probably do it, it's outside of what we normally handle (i.e. conversion). If anyone would like to put their old H89/Z89 to some use for a few bucks (I assume), drop me a note offlist and I'll hook you up. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 6 months

Predicta?! -> philco computers

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Predicta?! -> philco computers > From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 11:02:27 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Henk Gooijen wrote: >>> Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:36:13 -0400> From: wdonzelli at gmail.com> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Predicta?! -> philco computers> > > I did not look, because I did not think any were left.> > Talk to hams. RTTY was very popular many years back. Hams never throw> anything away.> > --> Will >> That's definitely true :-) >> >> Henk, PA8PDP >Thats why you can't buy any. :) >Also some sort of TTY is still used for DEAF people to talk over the phone. Lesse a bunch of years ago I gave one [asr33] away due to space and noise in use. More recently I refused a KSR36 on no space to use or store it. They are out there though many will likely require basic maintenace use as is. Of course a small computer can simulate any as needed. Allison

18 years, 6 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 50, Issue 61

by technobug＠comcast.net

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:21:24 -0400 Dan Roganti <ragooman at comcast.net> wrote: > Jules Richardson wrote: >> Grant Stockly wrote: >>> The base eZ80SBC from howard is $250. Add $100 for the disk >>> board... >> >> Hmmm, I suppose if a SASI interface and ST412 interface could be >> added >> to talk to those kind of devices too, $250 wouldn't be too bad for >> the >> 'core' portion. $350 for just a floppy interface is perhaps a little >> on the high side, though. >> >> (Someone here was working on a generic ST412 interface - presumably >> over-sampling tack data and processing in software - weren't they? >> Can't remember who it was now...) >> >> > > There's already an inexpensive eZ80F91 development board from Zilog > for > the budget conscious -only $99. And it's complete with cables, jtag > debugger, IDE, and C compiler. It has an ethernet port among other > interfaces. It doesn't have USB, but easily done with a RS232-USB > converter. The expansion interface provides all the GPIO's to let you > connect a floppy interface.And it's available from Mouser or Digikey. > http://www.zilog.com/products/partdetails.asp?id=eZ80F910200ZCO You might want to look at Luminary Micro's Stellaris LM3S6965 Evaluation Kit ($99 @ Digi-key <http://www.luminarymicro.com/products/ ekc-lm3s6965_ethernet_evaluation_kit.html>). The beast is an ARM Cortex with USB and Ethernet along with a bunch of I/O. There is GNU support as well as several eval compilers. Fun toy. CRC

18 years, 6 months

VAXen at home - 3ph source/MG set?

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

> You know, it's ironic this topic has come up, as I'm currently working > on > converting my 3ph SGI Onyx to single phase and had looked into static > and > rotary phase convertors. Having never had any reason to look at one > before > I started anew - and decided quickly that they did not appear to be > safe > for computer use. Disclaimer- I have no 3-phase equipment, nor any 240V-required computers so take this with the contempt it deserves. For the PSUs (for given machine X that does not have 3-phase motors for blowers or drives, or another thing that requires the rotating field of 3-phase), aren't they composed of (roughly) 3 standalone PSUs that convert the incoming power to a DC-source feeding the rails? Therefore, (and especially if it is wired phase -> neutral rather than cross-phase), provided the voltage supplied by a single-circuit would be within the range of acceptable input voltages for the PSU, couldn't they be driven by 1 split 240V circuit (driving 2 at 120V hot-to-neutral) and a third 120V line feeding the third PSU?

18 years, 6 months

Philco computers

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I'm not familiar with what happened to the computer division with the demise > of Philco They were bought by Ford, and survived into the late 60's. The 212 at the Computer History Museum is a Philco/Ford product.

18 years, 6 months

Chance to Recycle...

by technobug＠comcast.net

I was at my local scrapper (Tucson, AZ) and got to look at recent acquisitions that were stored in an adjacent warehouse. In the short time I was allowed to look I saw at least two RL02s, numerous disc packs including an alignment pack, a DECStation 3300 case (no boards), and several what appeared to be microPDP11 crates (again, unpopulated). In another area was a DEC 9000 rack which looked like it had a couple of CPUs and disc arrays. When I went to look at some test equipment, I found an SGI O2 which lights and talks (asks for password to do anythng...), but no disks (there are plenty lying around...). If there is any interest I'll have the rippers and cutters stayed and connect you with the knowledgeable party. CRC

18 years, 6 months

VAXen at home

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > >> No, when I've talked to people (in the UK) about a rotary converter, >> they were talking about a large 3 phase motor wired up with big >> capacitors so that it could be started on a single phase supply and >> once turning, the other two windings would provide the other two >> phases whilst the pulses to the first winding would keep it running >> at the right speed. Of course for a 10kVA supply, I would have needed >> at least a 30kVA motor as only one phase was actually driving it. > > There is the class of the commutating synchronous rectifier (for want > of a better made-up term). See > > http://www.nycsubway.org/tech/power/rotary.html Amazing and very interesting. It seems for every accepted modern technology there were always alternative ways used in the past which have been almost forgotten. Take the crank pin and crankshaft, back in the early days of steam power, someone had a patent on that, so someone else thought up two cog wheels rotating round each other in a similar motion with tie rods to keep them in mesh but did not transmit power. Or take the poppet valve used in engines, an american, Mr Knight invented a sleeve valve sold under the name Silent Knight, which fitted between each piston and cylinder in an engine, which allowed much larger inlet and outlet ports to be in the wall of the cylinder. In the calculation field, there have even been base 3 mechanical calculators using digits 0, +1 and -1 instead of conventional binary or BCD. > To be honest, I suspect that a gizmo of this vintage is simply too > much of an antique to have been used to power any mainframe systems. I would think the slip rings would produce the odd spark which would generate big glitches. > > The term for the ildling 3-phase motor driven from a single-phase > source via one or more large capacitors used here in the US is > usually "Phase Converter" or "Rotary phase converter" or "Dynamic > phase converter" to differentiate itself from a simple capacitor bank > feeding a 3-phase motor, sometimes called a "static phase converter". > There is a trade name for the former, Rotocon, and occasionally > you'll see their reference to their products as "rotary converters", > but that's not general usage. Looking on Wikipeda, it says 'Rotary Converter' covers both types, and they say, even covers motor generator sets. > > Regardless, I don't know if I'd try powering a three-phase computer > power supply from one. Nor me, thats why I bought the proper diesel powered generator, though almost antique and a hundred times bigger than a modern generator, it would just chug on continuously, for years on end if I needed it to with simple topping up of oil, water and fuel and a twist of the oil cleaning discs now and again. One decade I might have to give it an oil change I suppose, its probably got some of the original wartime oil in it, incredibly diluted of course with all the new stuff added over the years. The other maintenance was to periodically wash the exhaust through with caustic soda (sodium hydoxide) to unblock all the carbon deposits.

18 years, 6 months

Vintage Computer Festival 10.0 Update

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

_ _ ______ ______ __ __ | | | | | __ | | ____| \ \ / / | | | | | | |_| | | \ \/ / | | | | | | | |___ \ / | | | | | | | ___| / \ \ \/ / | | _ | | / /\ \ \ / | |__| | | | / / \ \ \/ |______| |_| /_/ \_\ November 3-4, 2007 Computer History Museum Mountain View, California http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/ Well, here we are, a little more than two weeks away from VCFX, the tenth annual Vintage Computer Festival. This is it, folks. The culmination of a decade of computer history celebration. From a simple yet over-budgeted inaugural event held at the county fairgrounds to a multi-dimensional extravaganza hosted in the hallowed halls of the Computer History Museum, the Vintage Computer Festival has come a long way. I wasn't quite sure we would even make it to this point, but here we are! I'm as amazed as anyone. \_...> Session Schedule As long-time VCF attendees know, one of the most anticipated aspects of the Festival is the roster of speakers and sessions we assemble each year. This year we've outdone ourselves. We have the most sessions we've ever featured at the VCF, so many in fact that we opened up a third track! There's something here for everyone. See below for the schedule outline but check the VCF 10.0 website for complete session abstracts and speaker biographies. The current speaker schedule is as follows (the name of the room where the session is being held is in parenthesis): Saturday, November 3 Track 01 (Grand Hall) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------- 10:00am The Role of the TRS-80 in Computer Theresa & David History Welch 11:00am Deconstructing the Intel 4004 Tim McNerney 12:00pm Intel SIM8-01: A Proto-PC Zbigniew Stachniak 1:00pm The Computer Revolution 30 Years On Lee Felsenstein Track 10 (Boole) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------- 10:30am The History of RAMAC: The First Al Hoagland Spinning Disk Drive 11:30am More Disk Drive History Shrikant Desai 12:30pm WeirdStuff Panel Dave MacDougall, Chuck Schuetz & Jim Schuetz Track 11 (Theater) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------- 11:30am The DigiBarn Bruce Damer, Al Lundell & Galen Brandt 2:00pm Director's Notes Greg Maletic 3:00pm Director's Notes Jason Scott Sunday, November 4 Track 01 (Grand Hall) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------ 10:00am The Impact of Magnetic Stripe Media Jerry Svigals on Computers 11:00am Booting Sage Computer - A Subjective Rod Coleman Retrospective 12:00pm Recent Developments in Conway's Life, Bill Gosper and a Miniblast from Macsyma's Past 1:00pm The LINC: A Paradigm Shift Tom Chaney, Wesley Clark, Jerome Cox, Gerald Johns, Severo Ornstein, Maury Pepper, Scott Robinson, Mary Allen Wilkes, Bruce Damer Track 10 (Boole) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------- 10:30am Thank You, Jim Jack Rubin 11:30am Phreaking History Phil Lapsley 12:30pm The First Computer Store: What Was Lance Leventhal Then, What Is Now, and Where We Are Heading 2:00pm PDP-1 Restoration Review Lyle Bickley, Eric Smith, Ken Sumrall & Steve Russell Track 11 (Theater) Time Topic Presenter(s) ------- ------------------------------------- ------------------- 11:30am International Obfuscated C Code Landon Curt Noll Contest Awards Presentation 3:00pm Creatively Vintage: Retro-Tech in Art Christine Finn Space * Some titles are subject to change Complete information on the VCF 10.0 session schedule can be found here: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/speaker.php \_...> The Vintage Computer Film Festival The 2nd annual Vintage Computer Film Festival accompanies the VCF again this year. This is a fesitval within a festival whereby we show films, documentaries, shorts and clips that either have a vintage computing or technology theme or are otherwise vintage in their own right. Sometimes we choose stock footage from old computer industry marketing or training videos and sometimes we feature previews from upcoming documentaries (including the filmmakers themselves giving introductions). Screenings run both days of the VCF. The full Film Festival schedulexi will be posted by Saturday at: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/film.php \_...> You Can Still Be An Exhibitor! Exhibit registration closes on October 29th. Exhibiting is the best way to experience the Vintage Computer Festival. It is an enjoyable and rewarding experience. But don't take my word for it, be an exhibitor and find out for yourself. All you really need is a neat old computer, a good story to tell about it, and a little bit of time. Check out the VCF 10.0 exhibit page for more information: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/exhibit.php \_...> Computer History Museum Tours & Demos Each year the Computer History Museum's all volunteer docents give VCF attendees a series of guided tours of the Museum's fantastic collection, providing historical stories about various artifacts in the collection along the way. This year they've added themed tours that cover Internet and Video Game history in more depth and detail. Tours are held in the afternoon and run at hour intervals. They've also scheduled demos of the restored DEC PDP-1 and IBM 1401 computers. The tour and demonstration schedule is available here: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/tours.php \_...> Buy, Sell and Trade at the VCF Marketplace The VCF Marketplace features a wide variety of interesting vintage computers and related items for sale from a variety of vendors. There is simply no better place to buy and sell vintage computers than at the VCF Marketplace. Vendor booths are still available. For more information on selling at VCFX, please visit: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/vendor.php \_...> Lodging Options For our out of town guests, we've arranged hotel room blocks at fine local hotels at discounted rates. There is still time to book a room at a reduced rate, but don't delay as the registration deadlines are looming. Full lodging information is here: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/lodging.php See You There! Complete information about VCFX, including the speaker schedule, exhibit roster, end everything else can be found on the VCF 10.0 web pages: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/ Best regards, Sellam Ismail Producer Vintage Computer Festival ;) -- 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

Apple IIGS and my Amdahl

by RBORSUK＠COLOURFULL.COM

So to help finance and focus my collection, I've decide to part with my decked out Apple IIGS. Check it out on eBay when you get a chance at item #300162750255 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300162750255 I figure it will help me pay for my recent Amdahl acquisition. Rob Rob Borsuk email: rborsuk at colourfull.com Colourfull Creations Web: http://www.colourfull.com

18 years, 6 months

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