test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by akb+lists.cctech＠imap1.mirror.to

Hi-- I was wondering, is all blank papertape media interchangeable? I know that it can be made of paper or mylar, and that it comes fanfolded and on spools, but are there variations that would block interoperability, like varying widths? In particular, I'm wondering if any one can tell me if the tape offered up on ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2519056219&category=11805 will work in my friden flex-o-writer sps... (for that matter, if anyone here can help me find sps user and repair manuals, that'd be lovely... I'd like to know the pinouts on the i/o ports on the side, and I need to repair one of the carriage return straps...) --thanks in advance --akb

23 years, 1 month

Need byte-splitter utility

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Hi, gang, I've got a single EPROM file that I need to split into separate odd-byte/even-byte files for programming into two separate (smaller) EPROMs. I'm not able to figure out how to make the Unisite programmer do this, so I'm thinking a DOS or Windoze based splitting utility will do the trick. Here's the problem; I've searched all over Google, and can't find anything that'll work. Any ideas? Thanks much. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com ARS KC7GR (Formerly WD6EOS) since 12-77 -- kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com "I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to what I have now..." (Taki Kogoma, aka Gym Z. Quirk)

23 years, 1 month

XT slots (was: RE: IBM 5161

by melamy＠earthlink.net

after checking in my IBM XT reference manual, the fact is that they added a buffer to the normal data and address bus and sent buffered these signals into J8. Also, they added a 14.318mhz oscillator on the expansion chassis side because they did not want pass this high of a frequency over the cable. This does mean that the manin 14mhz and the expansion chassis 14mhz are not in phase. The added buffers make the timning in slot 8 a littl emore tight because of the added delays through the additional chips. Slot 8 also had a requirement that it supply a card selected signal back to make sure the card was really ready to be accessed. The buffering from an engineering standpoint was done to increase the drive on the cable to the expansion chassis as well as help isolate the rest of the system bus from any added capacitance and noise from the outside world. best regards, Steve Thatcher >--- Original Message --- >From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> >To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org >Date: 4/2/03 12:36:58 PM > > > >But in the XT, one slot is different. >> > Why? > >On Wed, 2 Apr 2003, Ethan Dicks wrote: >> decided it was easier to give away a serial card than deal with the >> customer-support issue of random 3rd-party cards not working in that >> slot. > >But "WHY?" >Did they leave off the buffer chip BECAUSE the serial card didn't need it? >Or did they use the serial card to cover up a MISTAKE? >Or did they have some OTHER plan for it, and used the serial card as a >"placeholder"?

23 years, 1 month

IBM RS/6000: PS needed

by pat＠purdueriots.com

I managed to pick up a near-complete RS/6000 model 250 (7011-250) today, complete with ram, disk, framebuffer, sound card, and video capture card... A pretty neat thing to play with if it had a working power supply. Does anyone have a spare that they would be willing to part with? Thanks, Pat -- Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS Information Technology at Purdue Research Computing and Storage http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 1 month

H89 CP/M hard-secored boot diskette

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Patrick Rigney" <patrick(a)evocative.com> > >> Hi >> Old dry grease is quite common on these old drives, as >> well as slight corrosion on the guide bars. You should >> be able to relube and get it running, without changing >> the stepper settings. >> As I recall, the H89's came with one of the snail track >> type positioners. The biggest problem would be the guides. >> Dwight > >Dwight, yes, the mechanism is very stiff, and I hope a little careful >lub'ing may restore its health. Now that I think about, though, I wasn't >very smart by trying as many diskettes as I did... hopefully I didn't >strain/burn/damage the stepper during my experimentation. Hi You don't have to worry about the stepper. These draw almost the same power if they are stalled or moving. Especially at the slow speeds used for a disk drive. Dwight > >This drive is worm gear rather than snail track. It's one of the drives >with the gigantic door that covers almost the entire face of the drive... >Siemens FDD100-5. I think this is the drive that's original to these >beasts, so I'd like to keep it alive if I can. > >Patrick

23 years, 1 month

H89 CP/M hard-secored boot diskette

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Patrick Rigney" <patrick(a)evocative.com> > >> [Tony wrote:] >> Very odd... >> >> You might try checkking the index monostables on the hard sector >> controller (they only really do anything once per track, when the index >> hole between the sector holes comes round), but I can't see why it would >> then work for the first 4 cylinders. > >Well, as it turned out, the stepper motor on the drive was locking up. The >further towards the inner tracks it got, the more it struggled, and it >wasn't close to correctly centering over any track beyond the first few. >I'll mess with that later. I was able to replace the drive with a spare, >and I'm again up and running. I produced several good test boot disks, BUT, >I don't know how well that new drive is aligned, it's straight off the shelf >from the As-Is room at Wierd Stuff. Rotation speed is spot-on according to >the internal diag, but I don't have a 5.25" alignment disk to check it >otherwise. Anyone who receives a boot disk from me is, therefore, going to >be my "canary in the mine." :-) > >Next task... get the soft-sectored controller running. Unfortunately I have >no docs for this whatsoever, not even a schematic. I understand that it >requires MTR-90, and possibly a certain HDOS software distribution as well. >Does anyone know? > >Patrick > Hi Old dry grease is quite common on these old drives, as well as slight corrosion on the guide bars. You should be able to relube and get it running, without changing the stepper settings. As I recall, the H89's came with one of the snail track type positioners. The biggest problem would be the guides. Dwight

23 years, 1 month

New Heathkit/Zenith Find

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Today at a local computer shop I picked up Heathkit/Zenith Educational System ET-1000 Circuit Design Trainer. No manual for it but I have do checked online yet.

23 years, 1 month

Need byte-splitter utility

by glenslick＠hotmail.com

What is the difference between odd/even and high/low? >As it turns out, it's not an odd-even split I need; It's high-byte/low-byte >split. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

23 years, 1 month

Two ESDI drives available

by kelly＠catcorner.org

Well, I've made up my mind. Actually, I found a controller for these drives and have installed them in a computer I use to emulate the old Tandy's I collect. How's that... Emulating a 20 year old computer on a 10 year old computer with 15 year old hard drives. Now, on to the next question. I need a 34 conductor flat cable with male IDC on one end and socket on the other. Anyone know of a good source for these? Thanks, kelly -----Original Message----- From: Kelly Leavitt [mailto:CCTalk@catcorner.org] Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 6:29 PM To: 'cctalk(a)classiccmp.org' Subject: Two ESDI drives available I have two: Imprimis 94166-182 (150 MB) Maxtor XT-4170E (170MB) Any one need them? I collect mostly old Tandy stuff. Model II, 12, 16, 6000 is my main focus. Any interesting uses for these boat anchors? Thanks, Kelly

23 years, 1 month

Victor Keyboard Identification

by thosmm＠yahoo.com

Rob, It's an enhanced keyboard from a Victor 9000 system. They were built in the early 80's and were pretty good machines. 80 track 5.25" disks held 1.6MB and ran CP/M-86 or MS-DOS. 800x400 graphics mode, although most were monochrome. You can also see them labeled as Sirius machines from time to time. Tom >>Hi All, > Can anyone help me identify what machine this >keyboard goes to: >http://idisk.mac.com/colourfull_creations/Public/victor.jpg >It's from Victor Business Products. It says Model 703 >on the bottom. It >also has a keyboard cable with an RJ-45 plug on it. >I just acquired it this weekend. I only have the >keyboard not the >machine. >Thanks >Rob ===== ---------------------- "I drank what?!" - Socrates Thomas Martin thosmm(a)yahoo.com

23 years, 1 month

H89 CP/M hard-secored boot diskette

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Don Maslin" <donm(a)cts.com> > >On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, Dwight K. Elvey wrote: > >> Hi >> As I mentioned earlier, I have a Forth that runs standalone >> on hard sectored. Since it is standalone, I've used it to >> make exact copies of other disk. I've done things like changing >> the interleaving to make about a 10X improvement in load >> speeds for many programs. > >Is it available for download, Dwight? > > - don Hi Don Not yet but it could be. Since it is a standalone, I don't know how one could easily transfer it with HDOS. Still, I think I can come up with a simple serial to disk boot strap that would allow one to dump it from a PC onto the H89 disk, through the serial port of the H89. I've done this for several other processor ( like my Poly88 for tape images and my IMSAI to bring it back to life ). It has been a long time since I've looked at the disk EPROM's access methods. I'm sure I can figure it out and get something going. That way you could save the disk as an image file and all one would have to do is enter a small boot strap program from the monitor to get it going. I've always felt that this was the way you should be maintaining the library since it is simpler than sending media around the world. It does require that the machine in question have a code monitor or possibly a location to install a bootstrapping EPROM at worst. In any case, it would be good to get my Forth and the HDOS stuff I have transferred to something that can be easily distributed. Dwight > >> It has been a while since I had the machine running. I can >> fire it up and check what I have. The only issue I have for >> making copies for others is the media. I only have a few >> hard sectored disk. For some reason, I thought that disk >> formats would last at least as long as 33 lp records. I >> didn't realize at the time that media was being obsoleted >> as fast as it was produced. I know better now. >> Anyway, if I can get it all running, I'll make copies >> if someone supplies media. >> Dwight > ><snip>

23 years, 1 month

Gernsback Publishing closing

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hello, all: I just got my latest copy of Nuts & Volts last night and to my surprise, there's a note from Larry Steckler of Gernsback, the publisher of Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics (merged into Poptronics). He says in the note that Gernsback Publishing is closing after 94 years and N&V will be fulfilling the balance of the subscriptions. I pass this on to the list with mixed emotions. For many years I subscribed to both R-E and PE but once I found Nuts & Volts, I did not renew either subscription. They strayed too far from the content I liked and N&V had some interesting regular columns -- Amateur Robotics and BASIC Stamps -- that more closely followed my interests. I had the same feeling when Byte, well, bought it, in 1995 -- a formerly great publishing that lost its way and its relevance to its core readership. Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. First Vice President Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile)

23 years, 1 month

software mentioned in March

by xtguy＠mindspring.com

Last month, someone mentioned some old software they had found in an old house. Listed among the items was a copy of Word Perfect 3.0 for DOS. I've been trying to find that for a while and if it's still available, I'd be interested. I'm also trying to find a copy of Word Perfect 2.0 for DOS, and a copy of Wordstar 2x for CP/M. Thanks. Kevin

23 years, 1 month

Interupting RSX startup, (was:Ignoring Mount requests on startup in OpenVMS)

by fm.arnold＠gmx.net

cctech-request(a)classiccmp.org schrieb am 01.04.2003: From: "Don Mitchell" <runtime(a)wzrd.com> To: <cctech(a)classiccmp.org> Subject: Ignoring Mount requests on startup in OpenVMS Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 06:49:46 -0500 Reply-To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org >.... >Who remembers how you could interrupt an RSX startup and >then, with luck, >PIP your way out of trouble with files that shouldn't have >been there? > >Don Mitchell That's simple: type a ctrl/c a few times during the the startup-file output to get the explicit MCR> prompt. There you type "abo at." at. is the indirect task executes the startup.cmd file. If you'r luckey, you have now an open console that is also priviledged. If you're unluckey then a smart sysadmin may however have build some precautions into the startup.cmd file to prevent this to happen. Frank

23 years, 1 month

Victor keyboard identification

by xtguy＠mindspring.com

I have a Victor 9000 (a.k.a. 'Sirius') with a keyboard that looks identical to that. (just joined the list a couple of days ago.) Kevin

23 years, 1 month

Z-Star 433 VL info/parts

by jmaranon＠ing.unlp.edu.ar

Hello Ray: I've got one notebook like that you have. I think is difficult to run win95 in this machine, because it has 2 Mb RAM memory, but if you get about 10 Mb RAM more you can run win95. I haven't got the battery pack, maybe you can build one buying the adecuate batteries. But, now, I am asking something to you. Do you have the owner manual of the machine (better if you have an archive with this and the technical information)? The machine that I have is not working and I am looking for technical information. thanks, Julio

23 years, 1 month

Looking for vaxft 410

by RAWagner＠tribune.com

The company I work for is looking to purchase a vaxft 410 and/or spare parts. We might be able to trade for PDP-11 parts PICS Vaxft 410 MODEL # 52XBA-AA-C05, Series BA22 BOARDS ------------------ T3999AA KFE52-AA KA550-AA 17-02194REV.A01 62351-000 MS520-BA MS520-BA T3999-AA Any help in locating a replacement box or parts would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob Wagner Systems Analyst Chicago Tribune rawagner(a)tribune.com

23 years, 1 month

Epson HX-20

by Paul.Hills＠siemens.co.uk

Charlie, Your subject disagrees with the body, which would you like to buy, an HX-20 or an HX-40? I have three HX-20s. I only need one for my collection, so I'm willing to sell or swap two of them. I'm in Manchester in the UK. paul -----Original Message----- From: charles finnegan [mailto:finncr@msn.com] Sent: 01 April 2003 01:13 To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Epson HX-20 I would like to buy a EPSON HX-40. Who can help. I also need a printer cable. Charlie

23 years, 1 month

Zebra Pick manuals

by cb＠mythtech.net

>If the pick box is small, I'd be interested if it's available. :) The Zebra machine is LONG gone. One of my first tasks at this company was to replace it, that was some 13 or sheesh, maybe 15 years ago. There were two of them I think, and I know I tossed them in the dumpster (this was before my collecting days when I just didn't know any better). The two PC's running pick: One was dismantled, the DigiBoards have been repacked and stored, and the hard drive has been put in storage (with Pick still installed). The rest of the PC I think is either in storage or has been stripped of parts (it honestly might still be standing on end next to my desk... I get so used to seeing things in my office that I think of them as furniture and forget all about them). The other is sitting in storage in one peice, in theory it could be booted tomorrow, but it has been offline for probably about 5 or 6 years now. I think it might have a broken DigiBoard in it as well. I seem to recall that a capacitor was snapped off one of the DigiBoards at one point. What I don't remember is if it was one being reboxed (makes sense) or if it was one that was left in the whole PC. I'm not at the point of getting rid of the whole one yet. It was saved in its runnable state because it has an old job on it that we wanted to be able to just drop back in place and run again if we wanted to. Although, at this point, even if the client DID restart the job, I suspect they would have enough changes to it to make it worth while rewriting it on a newer system. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 1 month

Zebra Pick manuals

by cb＠mythtech.net

>I'd be happy to scan these, and forward them on to the person who >has the Zebra system.. In the event that the lady that used to run our Pick stuff doesn't want them... then I think sending them to Al for scanning is probably the best long term idea. I actually had planned to scan them myself, but I just never got around to it (nor have I ever done a scanning project, so I don't know how hard it is). I do have two people that would like them, and I'll feel bad telling them they can't have them... but personally I would be happiest knowing they go and get scanned so that everyone can benifit from them. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 1 month

GenRad Future Data

by webmaster＠khssoftware.de

Hello, do you know what I have here ? I need technical infos like CPU, RAM, ROM and so on. I have one disk for this machine, but I can't read it. Therefore I need a short reference about the RDOS OS. A rare machine I think, because I can't find any information about the FutureData in the www. Sincerely, Wolfgang Kainz-Huber, Munich (Germany) www.computermuseum-muenchen.de [demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a name of futuredata.jpg]

23 years, 1 month

H89 CP/M hard-secored boot diskette

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Patrick Rigney" <patrick(a)evocative.com> >> According to my H89 manual, it takes 10 sector disks. I have had my H89 >> for a while, but I haven't been able to locate any software for it yet. >> I bought it at a hamfest and the person that sold it to me claims to have >> the software and that they will send it to me, but I'm not holding my >> breath... > >Tom, Tony, et al, > >Maybe I can be of some help to a few people here. I have a >recently-acquired soft sector controller and some other spare parts. I have >no idea if the soft sectored controller works, because I just got it and >have yet to plug it in. All of the software I do have is hard-sector >HDOS... no CP/M whatsoever. I thought I had it, but apparently I don't, >unless I missed a box. I have already contacted Don Maslin off list to >request a soft-sectored Magnolia CP/M boot disk, and check my thinking >here... it should be possible to create a bootable hard sector disk from the >bootable soft sectored one by installing both controllers. Unless I'm >missing something, that seems like a no-brainer. If that is in fact >possible, I will be happy to share the benefits of that (small) labor with >those in need. Hi You do know that there is a hardware modification needed to run CP/M? As far as I know, this makes it so that it doesn't run HDOS. I could be wrong though, it has been a while since I looked at this issue. You should also try to get a copy of the listing for the hard sectored controller as well. I may have a copy of this someplace ( it was published by HeathKit ). I think the soft sectored code was also published. > >One unfortunate rub since my earlier discussion in this thread with Tony... >last night I pulled my reference machine out of storage and powered it up, >and it almost boots. Almost. A working machine went into storage six >months ago, but what has emerged seems to take a (hard sector) disk read >error on every modulo-10 numbered sector starting at 40 (that's sector, not >track), with any diskette I use. No problem with any other sectors, just >40, 50, 60, etc. I have to diag and solve this problem first, obviously. >Disk rotation speed is good (between 177 and 200), so any pointers any of >you may have may help me save time dinking around. I have both spare drives >and controllers, but all are in unknown states at this point. Timing wise, >once that's fixed, I will need to have received the disk from Don, and see >if the soft-sectored controller is working at all, and diagnose THAT if not. >And THEN we'll be in business. Check to see that none of the rubber from the drive belt is sticking on the flywheel or drive pully. Check with your finger to make sure both surfaces are very smooth. Even a tiny bump will cause read errors. As I recall, these came as single sided so you also need to check the pad on the head load. Dwight > >For those of you who would like either the bootable HDOS (hard sector) or >the bootable CP/M (hard sector) when this gets sorted out, please reply to >me OFF LIST. I'm hoping the hard sector drive problem is trivial. I also >found a bootable/standalone HDOS diskette with a comm program on it, so >those that don't specifically need CP/M could use this, if you like. > >Ideas on the disk issue? > >Patrick

23 years, 1 month

Zebra Pick manuals

by aek＠spies.com

> Does anyone want them before they are tossed in the garbage? Instead of tossing in the garbage you might consider sending them to Al Kossow for scanning. -- I'd be happy to scan these, and forward them on to the person who has the Zebra system..

23 years, 1 month

Zebra Pick manuals

by cb＠mythtech.net

>I have the following (I guess I should have done this before, but I was >too lazy): Ugh... these bloddy manuals are cursed. I am destined to never be rid of them. I have to retract my offer on these manuals for the time being. I was just told that the lady that used to handle our Zebra has expressed interest in taking the manuals. I haven't spoken to her directly yet (I've been told 3rd party by someone else here that still talks to her). But until I know what is going on with giving them to her or not, I don't want to promise them off to anyone else. I have to at least give her first dibs on them since the Pick stuff really was her baby. (the Zebra first, and then later the Pick OS on two PC clones we had, although at least I dabbled a bit in the Pick/PC setups). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 1 month

Gernsback Publishing closing

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> And thusly Zane H. Healy spake: > > > > >P.S. The place I have found with the *most* selection of magazines is the > > >World's Biggest Bookstore in downtown Toronto. > > > > If some place can beat Powells Books, then how big are they? Powells Books > > takes up an entire city block, is multi-story for a good chunk of that > > block. They don't even stock technical books in the main store, for that > > you've got to go a couple blocks away and the Technical Bookstore is has > > more books than most normal bookstores! Plus they've got so many books > > that they had to open another LARGE store about 20 minutes away, and then > > finally get at least one warehouse. They've been one of Amazon's major > > suppliers from Amazon's start. > > > > When it originally came into being, there were no other book stores (that I > knew of) like it. Nowadays the Chapters and B&N's are about the same size. Then the main Powells has them beat without even trying. Shoot, Powells Technical is almost that big :^) Zane

23 years, 1 month

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