This does sound good. Design the database using ISO/IEC 11179, Metadata Standard. Then the records can be exchanged & understood by many systems.
Then the records can either be entered by one/one group of people. Or people can self-register their computers, pictures, etc.
Problem with having one person do it: time and money.
Problem with self-registration : how to motivate collectors to register their stuff? Why bother?
The one Internet tool that I've seen that really has people using, strategizing, and making complete registrations on is eBay. Sellers are motivated to have their things well-placed and carefully indexed so that they can be found by prospective buyers.
Well, that's not entirely true. Computer collector websites are often very very cool; full of photos, scanned documents, lists of possessions, tips, stories, and other exotica. And to find those, I don't need a database, I need Google.
Cynde Moya, MLIS
-----Original Message-----
From: Tore Sinding Bekkedal [mailto:toresbe@ifi.uio.no]
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 2:20 PM
To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Collectors worldwide, UNITE!
Over the weekend, a thought has been taking shape inside my head:
What if we made a Grand Unified Union of Computing Collectors? Okay, GUUCC
doesn't pronounce well. "Geeewkhkh". (shudder) How about Collector's
International Association... Erm, nope. ;) International Computer Artifact
Preservation Society! ICAPS sounds good. Or, if you totally disagree with
it all, send a suggestion.
OK, www.ipacs.org. What should it contain?
-A member's directory with all the computers he/she owns
-A directory of computers
-A knowledge base revolving around all of the computers.
For example, a user should be able to:
Search for "6-611"
1 Machine found.
Siemens 6-611 (198?)
1 Owner found.
Tore S Bekkedal
One would then click the entry link, and open up a window with pictures
and specs etc, and there would be interesting links regarding that
machine, downloadable boot images, etc, etc.
If one clicked the owner, one would see other machines in his collection.
There should also be a "Market" where people could exchange spares, and
machines etc.
Also an "Opportunities" "Map" where you could see pickup opportunities?
Companies should be able to "Donate" to the organization whereupon an
entry would appear on the "map".
IPACS would also allow for sharing of storage space, people splitting the
bill for major warehouses?
Any suggestions, alterations, criticism, etc, etc, most welcome!
-Tore
"Why O why must I always write an interesting quote below my name? Can't
I write something about toenails? Or are they interesting as well?"
Hi All,
> Yes a FEW of the HP-IB hard drives. The only drives that would work
>without specail support were the HP 9133/9134 that had a apecial option
>that made the disk look like three HP 9895 8" floppy dirves. There is a...
Sounds like it is a bit of a non-starter...
> I replied to you several times but my messages don't appear to be
>getting through. I haven't had time to set up a machine with the HP-IB card
>and install your SW.
Let me know when you get things going, the software has gone through a
number of revisions since the version I sent you. I'm now looking at an
application that first strips all the data from an HPIB disk drive dumping
it onto a PC. A second application on the PC then emulates an HPIB drive
using groups of files stored in a simple directory system on the PC.
>I've been spending a lot of time with the HP 1000s and
>with a HP-IB interfaced Speech Synthesizer that I found. (It's COOL!)
Sounds like a pretty rare piece of kit - is it a commercial Speech
Synthesizer or home-brew?
>That's taken me deeper into the HP-IB bus operation and I've had to repair
>a couple of HP 59401 HP-IB Bus Analyzers for use with that. (Anybody got a
>manual for these?)
I certainly have an operations manual, it may include some service bits and
pieces. I'll take a look when I get home to the UK.
I have a couple of these bus analysers at home, I used them in the initial
investigations for the CS80 reader. You can use them to slow down the bus
traffic on an HPIB system either to 2 transactions a second or single step.
I tried using one to investigate the traffic between a 9000 300 machine and
a disk drive but as soon as you slow the bus down the 300 series machine
complains that the disk has timess out.
Luckily I have an old HP 3562 spectrum analyser than interfaces to CS80 /
AMIGO disks. You can single step though commands with no timeout problems
using it as the disk controller.
In the end though useful the 59401 is somewhat limited in what it can do.
With the long command sequences that I was examining I ended up having to
write down each octal (Yes, OCTAL - the I lost count of the number of times
that I accidentally read the numbers as hex....) data packet as it appeared
on the bus and then go back and try to decode what it all meant.
The bus analyser also occasionally dropped the first byte of information
being sent back by the HPIB disk drive.
I'm currently investigating another option.
NI make a GPIB+ card (ISA or PCI) that acts as both a GPIB controller and a
GPIB analyser. In theory this can be set up to 'sniff' the GPIB bus and
generate a log file of each GPIB bus event (with a 50 ns time resolution).
The log can be as long as you want so no more laboriously copying down octal
codes. I'll let you know how I get on.
> I'm still looking for those blankity-blank manuals! Don't know where I
>put them. I found a set of paper back manauls of the same thing.
I don't need the manuals straight away. I'm hoping they contain some info
about HP-UX file formats (and general HP-UX stuff - I have no experience
with HP-UX systems)
>Did the other manuals arrive yet?
I haven't seen them yet but it's a few days since anyone checked my mail for
me.
Cheers
Peter Brown
_________________________________________________________________
Tired of 56k? Get a FREE BT Broadband connection
http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/btbroadband
IBM made a bunch of printer terminals based around the Selectric typewriter
- 1052, 2740, 2970 etc. Look in any old copy of BYTE, and you'll also find
several vendors were selling 3rd party terminals based around IBM
Selectrics, often converted for ASCII/RS-232c operation, as teletype
alternatives.
Where have they all gone? (I appreciate, from what I've heard, that many
folks who used them in anger would reply 'I don't know, I don't care, good
riddance!') Early DECwriters are not uncommon. Teletypes are (almost) ten a
penny, ASR33s show up frequently enough on ebay, I have several.
But the only Selectric based unit I've *seen* in over ten years of
collecting is a 2970 Reservation Termainal (see
http://www.corestore.org/2970-1.jpg ) which I was offered a year or so ago.
It needs a fair bit of TLC, and it's a print-only device; it can receive
data from a host and print it, but not send anything back from the keyboard.
I'd love to get a bidirectional equivalent to use as an 'authentic' terminal
for a 360 emulator I work with... any clues? Can anyone recommend a
Selectric repair shop? No way I want to try to fettle something THIS
mechanically-intimidating myself!
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
Oh Man!!!
I thought I was the only one who remembered this book
fondly!
I used to have this book and pour through it. Wishing
I had the money to build a replica of the Enterprise
bridge and make each station a Computer like this book
outlined.
Alas, I've lost my copy of this book. I hope I can
find another some day... (Can you send me ISBN
Information?)
Thanks for the title and author, that should help a
lot...
I think something like this would make a WONDERFUL
type of attraction. Where people would pay to spend a
day in the Simulator and go "Exploring".
What's missing in a lot of the Computer Games today,
is just the fun of exploring... Not just blowing up
Borg or Klingons and the like...
Like Starflight I or II...
Even Escape Velocity on the Mac is fun, because you
don't have to go battling, you can just go around
trading and building up your ship...
Regards,
Al
From: Alan Greenstreet <aeg(a)paradise.net.nz>
>
> A slightly older networked "game" I know of was
> written by Roger Garrett and published in
> "Interface Age" magazine in the August /
> September / October 1977 issues. It was then
> followed by a comprehensive book in 1978 (which I
> have). There is a complete programme structure for
> a networked game - rather ambitiously titled
> "Star Ship Simulation" and based on the previous
> 1975 books detailing the Star Trek Enterprise
> design blueprints and Star Fleet Technical
> Manual. Each computer is one of the main bridge
> stations; Science, Engineering, Weapons, Navigation,
> Communications etc.
>
> I have read through most of the book and it is
> suggested that the programme could be written in
> Fortran, Basic or Machine Code - depending on the
> choice of the programmer. I have never seen or
> heard of this programme running. Has anyone else
> come across it?
>
> Alan
Hi,
I've just finished fixing the Ace's PCB using wire-wrap wire. All the
broken tracks I've managed to find have been fixed and all the damaged
through-hole plating has been repaired. Except there's one problem. The Ace
*still* won't boot to the FORTH interpreter.
There is a load of garbage on the display - this seems to change while the
machine is running. The power consumption of the board - CPU and all - is
around 800mA (according to the crappy meter on my Farnell 1A bench PSU). I've
got the output on the PSU set to 9V, no current limit.
Does anyone here have a logic analyser or microprocessor debugger that I
could borrow for a few days? I've got two scopes (a Tek 466 and a Gould
OS1100) and a Fluke 25 multimeter, but that's about it in terms of test
equipment.
Alternatively, does anyone know if a diagnostic ROM exists for the Ace?
Something that would replace ROM A and just load the video/font RAM with the
usual Ace character set would be very handy.
The 2114Ls I'm using appear to be OK, but they draw a lot of current - in
the region of 75 to 100mA each.
Thanks.
--
Phil.
philpem(a)dsl.pipex.com
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/
Curt Vendel of the Atari Historical Society needs help. He's obtained a
bunch of RM05 carthridges that apparently contain a lot of interest Atari
corporate data. He'd like to read these but doesn't have the necessary
gear.
Is there anyone in the New York area (or thereabouts) who has an RK05
drive that they can loan to Curt so he can read these? Better yet, does
anyone have a working PDP-11 system upon which these tapes can be read?
Anyway, if you think you can help, please contact Curt directly at
<curt(a)atarimuseum.com>.
On behalf of Curt, thanks!
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
* Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *
Earlier, Frank McConnell wrote:
> Received: (from uucp@localhost) by skylane.kjsl.com
> (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) with UUCP id h515RA9J093507 for
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org; Sat, 31 May 2003 22:27:11 -0700 (PDT)
> (envelope-from fmc(a)reanimators.org)
> Received: from daemonweed.reanimators.org (localhost.reanimators.org
> [127.0.0.1]) by daemonweed.reanimators.org (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP
> id h515P4Qo013771 for <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>; Sat, 31 May 2003
> 22:25:04 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from fmc(a)daemonweed.reanimators.org)
> Received: (from fmc@localhost) by daemonweed.reanimators.org
> (8.12.9/8.12.9/Submit) id h515P4fo013768; Sat, 31 May 2003 22:25:04
> -0700 (PDT)
> I'm thinking what this means is that you can use TCM to copy 1.44MB
> 3.5" media, but there's no guarantee that it will reliably copy
> media that are copy-protected.
>
Thanks for the info ... that's what I was afraid I was going to hear.
I notice you are connected to kjsl.com via UUCP. There's less and less
of that any more. For anyone's interest in the Ohio area, I've got a
UUCP number in Columbus, and there are still 4 or 5 systems that use
me as an upstream mail hub. Since the mapping project shut down, it's
difficult to find a connection.
- Charlie
--
Charlie Smith classic(a)elektro.cmhnet.org 614-271-1418
http://elektro.cmhnet.org/~charlie/ Columbus Ohio USA
SMS: charlie.sms(a)elektro.com
>From: "Al Hartman" <alhartman(a)yahoo.com>
---snip---
>
>I think if I spot a Jupiter Ace on eBay, I'd like to
>get one. Just for play.
>
---snip---
Hi Al
Don't be surprised by sticker shock. These don't
go cheap like a C64 or something.
Dwight
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
---snip---
>
>[2] A useful trick, I don't rememebr where I learnt it, is to pulse the
>reset line at a few 10's of Hz. Slow enough that the machine does
>something after each reset, but fast enough that you get repetitive
>signals to look at on the non-storage 'scope.
>
>[3] A delayed timebase is very useful here....
>
>-tony
>
Hi
Another useful trick for debugging 8080/Z80 machines
is to float the data bus with some pullup resistors
at the uP. This causes the processor to execute endless
RST7's. This will make it loop through the addresses
so that one can easily check out selects and such with
a scope. I remember from my old days at Intel, I had
an 8080 on a home made socket adapter that I could
do this with. It was always the first thing I grabbed
when I had a new system that wouldn't boot. It had a
switch on it so that I could convert the normal PUSH
of the address to be a read instead of a write. This
allowed me to check data buffers in both directions
as well. It seems like the switch changed the pullups
to pull downs to generate NOP's instead of RST7's but
it has been a long time.
Just a thought.
Dwight
John has been making these for years.
Try this link. http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html
Brian.
Brian Roth
Network Administrator
A+ N+ CNA CCNA
Network Services
First Niagara Bank
(716) 625-7500 X2186
Brian.Roth(a)FirstNiagaraBank.com
>>> Innfogra(a)aol.com 05/29/03 12:48PM >>>
> That way those of us with
> an 8" hooked to a PC could make 8" disks.
>
How do you do this? I am interested.
What floppy controller do you use? I am assuming it is for the ISA bus?
Anything for a PCI bus.
Anything for EISA, I am keeping one EISA bus system.
Paxton
Astoria, OR
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Anyone know what this M233 Disk Shift Reg. goes into? I've checked the
field guides and google, and so far nothing. It is a DEC single height
M-Series Module.
-------------------------------------------
ebaY's Security Breach and Coverup
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic110.htmlSellYourItem.com - Your Member Driven Auction Community!
http://www.sellyouritem.com
On Monday, June 2, 2003, at 01:52 AM, vega wrote:
>
> Hey man, whats your realtime location? Im in new york, I think Id like
> to take a look at some of your shtuff
San Jose, CA
Just been watching John Carpenter's film "Dark Star" (again). There's
a very brief shot of a computer toggle-switch front panel. It seems to
have two rows of 15 lights (neons?) and two rows of toggle switches
(with plastic tips). It looks like a genuine machine, not a made-up
prop, but what machine is it? Does anybody know?
--
John Honniball
coredump(a)gifford.co.uk
Question regarding the PDP-7 (see
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-June/015291.html)
I am working on the Teletype (KSR33) and wondered if anyone has (a
reasonably priced) one? ASR is a small plus, but not neseccary.
I have a pathetic budget for this (?9, $12-ish) project, but I could
probably scrape up some dough if needed.
I live in Norway, so Europe is a plus. We have the 220v-115v converter
built-in to the stand.
And, does anyone know about the interface of the thing?? Is it RS-232
compatible?
Love, Piece, and Understatements
_____________________
/Tore Sinding Bekkedal\
|toresbe(a)ifi.uio.no |
|+47 91 85 95 08 \_________________________
| Semi-proud resident of Norway since 1988 \
\_______________________________________________/
Hello! Thought I might bring you an update on the PDP-7.
IT FRIGGIN' POWERED UP!!!!
*ahem*
With shaking hands (afraid the huge caps would explode all over me), on
Wednesday 28th of May, I flipped the magic switch. Nothing happened. I
flipped it again, and it worked. The surprise of it not catching fire was
enough for me to yell without noticing it, "It WORKS, damnit!". I then
proceeded to point at it and make a funny sound. Video of this will come
up on http://tore.nortia.no/video when I have time to digitalize it.
The rest of the day was spent testing the memory and the CPU (which mostly
works). Thursday I tested the IO further, as did I on Friday. I got the
paper tape punch to revolve, and feed at the command of the conveniently
marked "Feed" button on the console.
Now, further I/O repairs need doing, and maybe constructing an emulated
Paper-Tape Reader is nessecary - - if so, I'll hook up the punch to it as
well.
Please see http://tore.nortia.no for continuing coverage. If you ever
worked on this machine, especcialy while on DEC's side, LET ME KNOW!
PLEASE; drop me a line!
And yes, we do have software. Lots and lots of it in good condition. Don't
know about the DECtapes though.
Love, Piece, and Understatements
_____________________
/Tore Sinding Bekkedal\
|toresbe(a)ifi.uio.no |
|+47 91 85 95 08 \_________________________
| Semi-proud resident of Norway since 1988 \
\_______________________________________________/
Hello all,
We have a graphics software package called DIAGRAPH which was released
for HP 9000/200 and HP-150 computers each using a different hardware
protection key.
It turns out that we have the software for the 9000/200 but the key for
the 150.
Can anyone help us recover a working set of software and key?
Regards,
-- hbp
Justin, I read your message from 31-Dec-02 about the LK401. I have a
few new keyboards which you can have.
I used sell this stuff but stopped a few years ago. I hate to just
throw them away. I am in Massachusetts if
you are interested.
Paul Donovan
Steve Jones wrote:
> The PDT has no Qbus.
I should hedge my bets here: There is no Qbus backplane in the
PDT-11/150. There are some stacking connectors between two dual-
height sized boards (serial ports and memory) on top and the
middle board, which carries the CPU complex. I believe the bottom
board in the stack is the floppy controller - not sure if the
console circuitry (8085 based?) is on that or the middle board.
Now, where on earth do I have the docs for that critter...
--Steve.
smj(at)spamfree.crash.com (lose spamfree to get through, m'kay?)
Charlie Smith <classic(a)elektro.cmhnet.org> wrote:
> Earlier, Frank McConnell wrote:
> > I'm thinking what this means is that you can use TCM to copy 1.44MB
> > 3.5" media, but there's no guarantee that it will reliably copy
> > media that are copy-protected.
>
> Thanks for the info ... that's what I was afraid I was going to hear.
Still, it shouldn't hurt to try. The TCM chapter in the manual has
several hints that it may work, but I'm guessing it depends on the type
of protection used.
> I notice you are connected to kjsl.com via UUCP. There's less and less
> of that any more. For anyone's interest in the Ohio area, I've got a
> UUCP number in Columbus, and there are still 4 or 5 systems that use
> me as an upstream mail hub. Since the mapping project shut down, it's
> difficult to find a connection.
Yes, although these days it's UUCP over TCP over ADSL. I don't think
either of my upstreams have modems for dial-in UUCP any more.
There was some talk here (or on the old classiccmp list) a while back
about reviving the mapping project, but I don't think it ever came to
anything.
-Frank McConnell
I have for you an NEC pc-8300
and a workslate. The workslate has some software and a pen-plotter
device
Both the NEC and the Workslate itself worked last time I tried them.
I also have a load of MAC laptops and a two or three lunchboxstyle
computers
mostly 386 and 486 and mostly disassembled
In the "real junk" stuff I have a vt220 terminal and a paralell dot
matrix printer that
acted failed when I tried them.
This is just an "off the cuff" list.. expect a more complete list when
I can get a cool morning to
dig up stuff in the garage.
I would like to trade them for somthing...
here is a partial list:
HP 41 calculator (any 41 model)
Rockwell AIM 65
Commodore Portable (I have a 64 that I will add to the deal in this
case.. it works and so does it's 1541)
HP 75 or HP 71 "calculator"
I will entertain other sugestions.
Hi all,
I'm not that familiar with 80 series machines.
Can they be interfaced to HPIB HDD's?
Can their tapes be read on HPIB based tape drives?
If so then it may be possible to read/back them up using the HPIB / LIF
reader software I've been working on.
With the work that I've had to do on command formats I think that I may be
able to code a PC+HPIB card system that emulates CS80 or AMIGO based disk or
tape drives.
This would mean that the old HP system could boot from a PC emulating an
HPIB drive, removing ageing disk / tape drives from the loop.
Are these CS80 / AMIGO command set disks compatible with 80 series machines?
Joe: I have been trying to get hold of you -
How have you got on with the early version of the HPIB drive reader software
that I sent you? - does it catalog your drives OK?
I still need to get the postage cost on the 3 HP-UX manuals I won from you
on ebay so that I can close out that transaction. Let me know and I will
send you a cheque.
Cheers
Peter Brown
_________________________________________________________________
Find a cheaper internet access deal - choose one to suit you.
http://www.msn.co.uk/internetaccess
Hi all,
I have in my hands a "Jupiter" computer and am wondering if you can
offer any info on it? It is not the Jupiter ACE home computer, but a much
earlier very large and obviously fairly old rack mounted system. The computer
is based on the 68010 CPU. I can't determine how much memory it has on board,
but there are more than several banks of 4164 mem chips which if I remember is
a 64kbit dynamic Ram device. The huge keyboard is attached via a missing
multipair cable and has two joysticks on either side. The monitor has separate
RGB and Sync cables, each of which are generated using separate discrete
component boards in the chassis. Inside the chassis are two huge Vertex hard
drives, and a 3.5 in floppy, each connected to their discrete driver boards,
Z80 based.
On the front of the computer is "Jupiter". Model number is J12CHAS and
Man date is "514". It was manufactured in Berkeley C.A. USA. The serial number
is "Jup.S.N. 12C-1025-AA". I basically found it all on a curbside and couldn't
resist adding it too my rather small but now growing collection. If you need
any further info to help with identification let me know, I'll see what I more
I can get from the chassis.
Maybe I'm insane and have just picked up what most would consider
total junk, but I personally think that systems such as this are worth
preserving. I haven't been brave enough to switch the damn thing on yet, with
all that discrete hardware it will probably double my power bill with about a
minutes use. However I love all this old stuff, and worse comes to worse at
least their are some interesting discrete components in it. If you need or
would like a photo let me know, I'm a freelance photographer and will take a
few shots anyway, so when I do I'll pass some scans on to you.
Peter T.
Does anyone remember if the Central Point Deluxe Option Board
can copy 1.4 MB 3.5" floppy disks?
I had one of these boards and gave it to a friend last year.
If it will handle 1.4 MB diskettes, I can probably get it back
and install it on some sort of old 386 motherboard system.
You wouldn't believe the old junk burried in my back bedroom!
Or, given this list ... maybe you would believe it. When I say
old junk, it includes stuff like some IBM 2321 Data Cell strips
and other things of that vintage.
:-)
- Charlie
Charlie Smith charlie(a)elektro.cmhnet.org 614-271-1418
http://elektro.cmhnet.org/~charlie/ Columbus Ohio USA
SMS: charlie.sms(a)elektro.com
