Yes, I went through the exact same thing...
I couldn't find anything under MS-Windoze which would get the CD directly.
It helps to have a dual-bootable machine with MS-Windows and
Linux/NetBSD/FreeBSD/whatever
I rebooted my machine under Linux and just do the "dd" command
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=vms.img
(which you probably already know about).
Then I copied the resulting file to a FAT-mounted drive and after that,
I rebooted the machine under MS-Windows and the file was readable under
SIMH on Windows. That file can the be burned onto a regular CD-R,
shipped off to your friend (I'm assuming here that everybody has all
of the correct & legal software licenses), and your friend can use
the CD-R from Windows...they don't need to dual boot.
I don't think there is any way for SIMH on Windows to read the CD
directly, you need the intermediate image file first.
Thomas Dzubin
Anyone know of a source for PDP-11/R20 bulbs? I have a few
burnt out ones...
See www.parse.com/~pdp11/
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
-RK
--
Looking for Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-1 through PDP-15 minicomputers!
Robert Krten, PARSE Software Devices +1 613 599 8316.
Realtime Systems Architecture, Consulting and Training at www.parse.com
I've been doing a lot of finicky CAD work recently, and my hand is really
starting to hurt from gripping the mouse tightly for fine control. I'm
looking for a larger mouse (according to one site that sells various sizes
of mouse, I'm between a "large" and an "x-large" hand size) that I can lay
my hand more or less flat on top of (maybe with a couple of finger loops,
so you don't have to grasp it constantly) and ideally with a small
multi-button keypad of some kind on top. Is there such an animal out
there (aside from the Space Mouse guys' $500 products) that might have
these features? Suggestions welcome.
Hello All,
I am trying to put together a bio of the Visual 1050 for old-computers.com
and I need a couple of photos of the system for them to accept submission.
Can anyone help me out? I've googled myself out with no luck.
This is the info I've been able to compile so far. Any additions
appreciated. Thanks.
> - Model Name: 1050
> - Brand : Visual Technology
> - Manufacturer: Visual Technology, Incorporated 540 Main Street,
Tewksbury, MA 01876
> - Country: USA
> - Announce date: July 1983
> - Release date: 1984
> - End of production date: 1987?
> - Built-in software or language: Visual 1050 Utility Manager, DR C-Basic,
DR-CP/M MAC & SID, DR-GSX (graphics extensions), DR-Graph, Wordstar with
mailmerge, Multiplan (spreadsheet), TTY-1050 (communications).
> - Keyboard: Keytronic 65-02335 93-key ASCII (incl. numeric key pad & 17
function keys)
> - CPU: Z80A
> - CPU speed: 4mhz
> - Coprocessors: none
> - RAM: 128Kb (bank-switched)
> - Video Processor: 6502-2
> - Video RAM: 320Kb (32Kb x 10)
> - ROM: 8Kb
> - Text resolutions: 640x300 (80 x 25)
> - Graphical resolutions: 640x300
> - Number of colours: mono
> - Monitor: Tatung MN1213P31AU, 12" hi-res, green phosphor
> - Sound: none
> - Size: CPU - 5"h x 17"w x 17"d Monitor - 12"h x 12"w x 13"d (all
approx. dim)
> - Weight: CPU - 15 lbs Monitor - 10 lbs (all approx. weight)
> - Connectors: video, keyboard, serial, parallel & winchester ports
> - Built-in storage media: 2 - 400Kb, 5 1/4", SSDD, 96tpi, floppy disk
drives (TEAC FD-55E) with optional 10Mb external Winchester hard disk drive.
> - Operating system: Digital Research (DR) CP/M Plus (CP/M, Version 3)
> - Power supply: 75 watt, switching @115/230 VAC
> - Extensions:
> - Price: $2700
> Sho 'nuff, but don't feel bad; lots of people
> only think of 64K Z80 CP/M systems like the
> classic Z-2 when they think of Cromemco
I was aware Cromemco had some sort of 68000-based systems with "real"
Unix later in the game. But having only heard rumors I never guessed
they used an '020, and didn't realize they had System V and all those
goodies. Glad to learn of it, and all those firsts.
By contrast, I was well aware of the many CPU options from CompuPro
(Godbout) including the CPU-68k, which I used, and the 32016, which
I'd still like to find someday...
Somewhere around here I have some S-100 Journals (I think that's the
name) that I found on the newsstand in the late 80's. Be interesting
to see what was being listed besides 386s and Concurrent DOS.
--Steve.
I have an ODEC line printer ( I think a 300 LPM ). I received it in 1985 but
never used it. I think it has been used very little. I would like to sell
it. Is there any market for such a printer?
to:
Here's a cool website about the 2068 with pictures of
the old Zebra (Portugese) Disk Systems.
http://www.timexsinclair.org/
Enjoy!
I had fun reading these articles...
I still have half of a disk system here, and my friend
Tom in NJ has the other half I'm sure I can grab from
him some time...
Al
I have a PDP-11/10 (a.k.a PDP-11/05) which I am attempting to bring back to
life. It was placed in storage many years back, and appears to be in good
condition. I am at the point where I can enter programs from the front panel
and execute them (core memory and processor appear to work). I have a LA36
hooked up as the console to the SLU. I think the TS03 tape drive may work,
and I am in the process of cleaning a RK05 disk drive and disk pack.
My question is, what am I looking for in order to load RT-11? Is RT-11
easier to install via tape, or am I looking for a bootable disk pack?
At this point, I am not looking for specifics, I need to know what is the
general means to bootstrap RT-11 onto a PDP-11. This exercise is a
precursor to getting a PDP-11/20 up and running.
I would also like to know if one of the PDP-11 emulators would assist me to
learn what I need to do in terms of bootstrapping a system. I have used a
PDP-11 10+ years ago, but never needed to bootstrap a system.
Thanks for any assistance.
--barryM
Forget the Univac III, get yer Cray now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3403082724
What the heck is going on here? Next thing, we'll find out the ENIAC was
secretly hidden away in some building on North Base.
--
Jeffrey Sharp
Many profuse thanks to everybody that rounded up information for me about
TELEX ttys.
I'm in a bit of an embarrasing situation-- after getting this nice Model 32
WU tty,
tsting it out, finding out it works perfectly, I finally realize -- I don't
have any space for it!
My SWL area is very small, already full, plus no easy way to get the TTY
down the steep narrow stairs to my lair.
So I've reluctantly put it up for auction on eBay. Interested folks can see
it at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3010656618
You could do a lot worse than to have a shiny , sleek, and well-working
Model 32 TTY.
Thanks for reading,
George
Hi,
Below is a post I sent about 3 years ago on some transputer boards that I
received which I didnt know what they are. Well, I finally got some answers
(nothing is late in this hobby)....
Vytal LTD designed the B020 graphics board and the VTM 301 Vector Tram board
(as well as the VecTram) which was licensed to INMOS to be sold.
The VTM 301 is a pre-cursor to the IMSB420 VecTram module and was the 1st of
many production runs. It is not software compatible to the IMSB420. The
underside of the tram is where the DSP processor is inserted...
The IMSB020 graphics board was also designed by Vytal LTD...
The Paradise 1/A was designed by T2SL and is a SCSI Tram. I finally found
information on this and scanned the documentation and posted it on the web.
The link is
http://www.classiccmp.org/transputer/documentation/t2sl/Paradise-1.doc.
Yes, it is in microshaft format, but I will soon change that. Now on other
transputer stuff I recently aquired like a prototype RS232 to Transputer
link board from INMOS...
Cheers,
Ram
**********************************************************************
Hi,
I picked up several transputer based hardware including
a B020, B008 and several trams including 2 SCSIs trams
and an ethernet tram. Among the collection, I found 2
wierd looking ones. One is a tram and the other I got
no idea how to use it.
The Tram is a size 4 tram and has the following labels:
T2SL
Paradise- 1/A
It contains what looks like an IDE connector and
has the following chips:
INMOS IMST222C
LOGIC L54C80JC-4
and two INMOS IMS1620S55 ICs.
The other card has an IMST800D-G20S chip
and has the following on the board:
VYTAL VTM 301
Copyright VYTAL LTD 1989
On the underside, it has a socket for another
transputer chip (maybe??).
Oh, there is another board too. It is also a size
4 tram and has a T805-G30S and the board is
>from INMOS. There is a label on one of the IC
chips (written using a pen, so might not be
reliable) "B417-17 SE006".
Also, the B020 graphics card has no SIMMs on it.
Does anyone know what type of SIMMs I can use.
Finally, I got an ethernet tram without any cables.
What type of cable to I need to use it. It is an IMSB421
tram. The SCSI trams would probably use standard
SCSI cables. Am I right. Thanks for you help.
Ram
_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Well, I finally got around to working on my Novas again, and the first thing
on my list was to replace the burnt out bulbs on the front panels. I started
with my Nova 2. Several months ago I bought a bulb at Radio Shack to try out
and today I soldered it on to the Nova 2 front panel PCB. It worked, the
light lit up very brightly when the machine was in the RUN state (it was the
RUN light that I replaced). The light is *very* bright. It also gets warmer
that the others do, but it is a smaller bulb. It also seems that all the
other lights dim when it comes on, but IIRC, they always did that when the
machine was in the RUN state, before I replaced any bulbs.
Anyway, I wanted to double check before I replaced all the lights and make
sure of the voltage level. Does anyone know what that is? I don't have much
Nova 2 documentation, and the Nova 1200 documentation I have doesn't list
that information.
--
Owen Robertson
> I tested a Viking QDT with RT-11 and a 1 gig HD. Of course, I could only use
> the first 30 megs. This one is destined for a BSD machine anyhow.
The Viking QDT and RT-11 can address a lot more of a HD than 30Mb. For
example V5.3 supports 8 partitions (8 * 30 = 240MB), newer versions support
more. I can't remember off the top of my head how much as I'm running a
newer version, but I'm using 100Mb and 200Mb HD's under RT-11.
The QDT is a great board, on my /73 I've got a Plextor 8x CD-ROM, DEC TLZ06,
and two PC Removable disk trays (for easy swapping of HD's) hooked to one.
I've successfully run RT-11, RSX-11M, RSX-11M+, and RSTS/E on this setup.
I was originally using 100MB and 200MB SCSI disks, I now use 2GB 7200RPM
Seagate Barracuda's.
> I got the QDT for $45 on eBay. Someone put it up with a buy-it-now of $45.
> Someone tipped me off, and I got there first. It pays to keep a sharp eye on
> eBay. I just bought a KDJ11-SD off eBay for $5. This is a nice one: rev -09
> CPU, 18 MHz, 1.5 megs RAM. Other recent eBay steals: RQDX3 for $10, DESQA
> for $8.50.
Nice, it shows I've not been keeping a close enough eye on eBay.
Zane
----------------Original Message-----------------
From: "Philip Pemberton" <philpem(a)dsl.pipex.com>
Subject: WTD: AMD or Intel 80387 Math Coprocessor IC
Hi all,
I'm trying to track down a 387 math coprocessor IC for an old 386-based
Linux box that's going to be doing a bit of numbercrunching for me. Has
anyone here got an AMD or Intel (AMD preferred) 387 coprocessor rated at
40MHz (-40 part number suffix) that would work correctly with an AMD
Am386DX-40? No, before you ask, the 386DX does *not* have a built in
mathco - the 486DX was (IIRC) the first DX-series chip with a built-in
coprocessor.
Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you're not in a hurry, I've got a couple here; as noted elsewhere, I don't
think Intel made any at that speed in the good old days and IIRC they were
all second-sourced. The two that I have are a ULSI and a Cyrix, both 40Mhz,
and both on boards using the AMD 386 DX-40..
I think you were also looking for a riser board to allow mounting ISA cards
horizontally; might be able to help you out there as well, but would need
exact dimensions. Finally, I haven't forgotten about the other stuff you & I
were talking about, the PPT punch, reader and tape and the small footprint
386 boards, have just been dealing with a lot of other crap in the last while.
Will be in touch ASAP,
mike
----------------Original Message----------------
From: "Steve Jones" <classiccmp(a)crash.com>
Subject: Cromemco 68k System 100 on eBay
Looks like most of a 68k-based Cromemco on eBay.
...
I hadn't realized anyone had put a 68020 on the S-100 bus...
----------------------------
Sho 'nuff, but don't feel bad; lots of people
only think of 64K Z80 CP/M systems like the
classic Z-2 when they think of Cromemco, not
the professional UNIX-V systems that gave DEC
et al a run for their money in the later days,
especially after Cromemco merged with Dynatech
in December 1986.
To quote from one of their ads listing their
technical contributions, they:
-Named the S-100 bus
-Developed the first micro that used the Z-80
-Developed the first multi-user micro
-Developed the first UNIX-like OS for a micro
-Developed the first micro using a Winchester HD
-Developed the first micro with 16MB RAM and
50MB HD for less than $50,000
-Developed the first colour graphics micro
-Developed the first micro addressing >64 KB RAM
-Developed the first UNIX V micro
-Developed the first micro capable of IBM RJE
-Developed the first intelligent I/O interfaces
with separate microprocessors on the I/O boards
-First adapted mainframe I/O channel processor
concept to a micro
-Developed the first micro that could auto-boot
from ROM
-Developed first micro with auto-baud console
-Developed first micro capable of self-programming
an EPROM
-Developed first micro with error correcting RAM
-Developed first computer capable of sync'ing to
a TV signal and overlaying computer & TV images
Considering all that, I'm surprised how rarely I
read about them here.
Sorry to say we scrapped a number of CS-100/300/400's
a few years ago before I discovered this site (and
considering the time I've wasted scrolling through
the garbage lately in digest mode there are times
I've regretted that I did find it). Mind you, when
I offered some of the older CS-1/CS-3 and Z-2's here
a while ago, no one wanted to pay the shipping from
Toronto, so it probably wouldn't have made any
difference; fortunately Dan Cohoe, another crazy
Canuck, is going to take them off my hands.
However, I might still be able to lay my hands on
some documentation and software for the 100/300/400
models, so if someone here grabs the one on eBay, I
*might* be able to help (no promises, though).
mike in Toronto
Are any of the DECUS 12 bit SIG newsletters online? I just found parts
of two of them in my attic (#39 - March 1980 and #40 - Summer-Fall-Winter
1980) and they have some interesting comments about TU-58s and 12-bit
machines.
It's interesting considering the recent activity regarding TU-58s and
emulators. According to (I think) Jim Van Zee, formerly of Laboratory
Data Systems of Seattle), being able to send a break is critical for
reliable operation of a TU-58 (and gives the exact reasons). The M707
and the M8650 cannot do this without modifications (but he does describe
the mod to the M707 and says that it can be done to the KL8E (M8650) but
not the KL8EJ (M8655) or KL8A).
The author goes on to describe a handler he wrote for OS/8 - a non-
system handler. It adds "DTU0" and "DTU1" of 682 OS/8 blocks. He also
writes that it is impossible to write a system handler without an
external circuit or ROM code (a-la 8K TD8E + ROM) to calculate checksums.
His hardware solution is 4 chips grafted onto an M8650 (one of which
is an Intel 8748 microcontroller!)
Additionally, he mentions a virtual TU-58 server written for the VAX
by Jim Gladden, and describes a submission to DECUS of a non-TU58
serial line device handler for the VAX (ASCII files only) that *may*
be submission number 8-921 (my handwritten notes in the margin).
So... if anyone wants to hang a TU-58 (physical or virtual) off of a PDP-8,
we have somewhere to start.
-ethan
> From: acme(a)ao.net
>
> > But, as-is it wouldn't pass FCC regulations.
>
> Not to doubt your word, but what is your source for
> that information? I've had several conversations
> with George Grimm (President of Timex Computer
> Corp.) and he never mentioned a problem with the
> FCC.
I have to say that it was anecdotal and repeated in
every review of the machine I have ever read.
In that day, FCC regs were the big talk about all
sorts of computer equipment.
It was also said that one of the reasons the TRS-80
Model III was created was because the Model I wouldn't
pass FCC regulations as a home computer.
Many PC Clones had problems with the FCC also.
Used to be when you bought a clone you asked:
Does it have an FCC ID?
Does it run Lotus 1-2-3?
Does it run Flight Simulator?
Usually, in that order.
So no, I have no hard data to back that up.
But, the inside of the TS-2068 is shielded and the
Spectrum isn't.
> I would be interested to see photos of the
> prototype. Do you have any Web space you can post
> photos to?
Yes, but they'd be diappointing. Basically, it looks
exactly like a British Spectrum but it has an American
RF converter in it.
No discernable difference on the outside.
> Mind if I ask the company name?
Not at all, it was: Zebra Systems, Inc.
www.zebrasystems.inc
I did most of the tech support, and wrote most of the
manuals and some of the advertising. It was a fun
job...
We did Timex, Coco (I also worked for Specrrum
Projects before coming to Zebra), Amiga and Atari-ST.
Zebra was a sister company to Alpha Products and
Colorware (Tim Jenison of Amiga Video Toaster fame. In
fact, he prototyped the toaster on a Coco.)
Regards,
Al
In a message dated 2/26/03 7:21:26 AM Pacific Standard Time,
rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com writes:
> Correct, XEROX made a model 8/16 that had two CPUs, one 8 bit and 16 bit. I
> THINK one was a Z-80 and the other was a 8086 but I'm not sure any more. I
> used to have the docs for an 8/16 and I've been looking for one but haven't
> managed to find one yet.
>
>
Xerox made a couple of 8/16s. I have one of the 8086 second CPU boards for my
Xerox 820-II. I was going to install it till a house fire melted the 820.
The original 820 came with dual 8" floppies or an 8" floppy and an 8"
harddrive and ran CPM. It was a spendy little computer for its time. Then
they fit Dual 5 1/4" floppies in an external case, came out with a low
profile keyboard and the add on 8086 Board. They called it the Xerox
820II-8/16.
IIRC the design was taken from the Z80 Big Board which was a popular kit at
the time. It was mounted flat, underneath the CRT and looked much like a
terminal.
At the time the IBM PC came out the Xerox design was hopelessly outdated.
They redesigned the case to a rectangular shape with a separate monitor ala
the IBM PC. They used dual 5 1/2" half height floppies oriented horizontally.
I never saw an actual one but IIRC they used the same Big Board coupled with
the 8086 board that was in the 820 and sold it as the Xerox 8/16.
It ran CPM, CPM-86 and MS-DOS ( IIRC to 2.11). However it was not IBM
Compatible, and did not have IBM graphics.
By the time it was ready the bottom had fallen out of the crossover market. I
don't think Xerox sold any commercially. A liquidation company sold the
remainder for about three years. I doubt they sold many, I bet most were
scrapped for the drives.
The Xerox 820 II was my second computer system and still one of my favorites.
(The first was State Surplus Litton 1251 that I bought for $25.00) I have had
almost all of the various models of the 820 go through my hands over the
years. Besides my original melted one I still have another packed away with
all it's SW. Someday it will run again.
Paxton
Astoria, OR
> From: Patrick Finnegan <pat(a)purdueriots.com>
>
>
> Umm, actually, 'no'. The cable has pins removed to
> change drive selects, and the drives don't have any
> method of setting the drive selects. So,
> swapping the position of the drives changes what
> drive they are. The LED on the front of the drive
> confirms that.
If you're that sure. It sounds like you just have bad
boot disks.
Remember, a Model IV needs a boot disk with the Model
IV ROM file on it or else it won't boot properly. It
will only boot CP/M+ for the Model IV without this.
This *MAY* be why you're having a problem booting
stuff..
> Is there an easy couple line program I could type up
> in basic that using INP() and OUT() to test the
> drive controller to see if it can read from
> the disk? I _could_ read the tech manual I have,
> but I tend to be lazy when it comes to re-inventing
> things that other people already have done.
I don't think so. It might be possible, but I don't
know how to do that.
> One last thing, if it matters... it seems my machine
> was upgraded to 128kB RAM. Is is possible that the
> machine has bad memory that shows up when booting
> from a disk but not when starting up basic?
If the problem is in the first bank, maybe...
I used to use a simple program to test RAM in the old
days...
I think this will work (If I remember it correctly)
10 A = Mem (0)
20 Print A;" ";
30 gosub 10
What happens here is that the program puts the return
for the gosub on the stack and reduces the RAM by a
few bytes each iteration.
If there is bad ram, the computer will crash.
If not, it will eventually end with an out of memory
error.
Contact me off list. Maybe I can somehow make you a
disk you can boot.
I could probably set up my Coco with a Disk Copy
program to copy the disk.
If my Model I were working, I could use SuperUtility
to make you a bootable disk.
I'm looking for a Model III or IV locally to play
with.
Anyone in Philly have one they'd part with?
I'd certainly use it to help Pat out as a start...
I might have something to trade for it you'd want
(like a 56k Modem for a PC or a low capacity PC IDE
Drive?)
Regards,
Al
> From: Patrick Finnegan <pat(a)purdueriots.com>
>
> I recently picked up a TRS-80 model 4, that seems to
> have problems with its floppy drives.
>
<Snipped>
>
> I tried swapping the floppy drives, and that time I
> got a "Diskette?" prompt if there was no disk in
> the drive, and pressing any keys didn't cause
> anything to happen. If I put a disk in the
> drive, the machine never displays anything, and
> then after 10-20 seconds, the drive light goes out.
>
> I tried connecting only one drive at a time, with
> the same results. If I connected a 1.2MB floppy
> that I had laying around (a Teac FD-55GFR-149-U),
> it did the same thing as if the drives were swapped.
Ok, a quick primer about TRS-80's and Floppy drives:
Unlike IBM Drives, TRS-80 drives are usually hard
jumpered for specific positions (Not always, but
internal drives are..)
What most people in the PC world don't know is that
floppy drives have an addressing scheme similar to
Master/Slave jumpers on hard drives.
They can be set to positions 0, 1 ,2 or 3. And the
last drive in the chain needs to be terminated (like
SCSI Drives).
For external drives, the drives are set to all
selects, and pins are pulled from the drive cable to
determine what position they are in. If you notice on
IBM Floppy drive cables, there is a twist between the
A: and B: connector. That twist brings the select from
the 0 drive to the 1 select pin. All IBM drives are
set to position 1 (second position).
I don't think a 1.2 mb FDD will work properly on a
TRS-80 Model IV for two reasons. The 1.2mb drive is
much more like an 8in drive than a 5.25in drive. And
transfers data at a higher rate.
Unless the drive can autoswitch to the slower 360k
data rate, it won't work on the controller.
And if you did get it to work, it has a different
Tracks per inch capability than 360k / 180k drives.
However, assuming your problem is with the floppy
drives, and not the diskette you are trying to boot...
A 360k XT Style floppy will work fine, and once you
get it booted, a modern OS like Newdos 80, L-DOS,
MultiDos, etc... Will allow you to use both sides of
the drive for 360k storage.
You can even use 720k 3.5 drives in the same way.
I know for the Model I, LNW made a Disk Doubler Board
that worked with 8in drives, and so would accomodate
1.2mb drives. I don't know if such a disk controller
was ever made for the Model IV.
If you have a PC with 360k Drive, you should be able
to run a TRS-80 Emulator and use a disk image of an OS
to make a bootable floppy in 180k or 360k format.
Let me know if I can help you in any way with this.
The Model I/III/IV was my first machine, and I'm
pretty sure I can remember a lot of info regarding it.
And I still have all my books and disks in my closet.
Regards,
Al Hartman
http://www.geocities.com/alhartman
Join the Macintosh Emulation List...
http://www.topica.com/lists/Macemulist
"It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us
the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the
poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is
the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us
the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who
salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and
whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the
protester to burn the flag."
-Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Sergeant, USMC
> From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
>
> Yep
> The earliest 1.2M drive that I saw (before the AT)
> was a Mitsubishi 4854? I was told that it had had
> been designed for the explicit purpose of replacing
> 8" drives. It did NOT also have a "360K"
> mode.
>
> I also heard a rumor (probably not true) that "When
> Microsoft was writing the DOS and AT BIOS support
> for 1.2M drives, they thought that IBM had
> decided to release a model with 8" drives".
Cool info! Thanks!
> Hmmm. mixing single density sectors and double
> density sectors on the same track?
No, but one could replace the boot sector with the
correct density boot sector when copying the disk to
make it boot on one system or another. It may have
been Vernon Hestor's other OS. V-DOS I think it was
called.
It was a cut-down Multidos he wanted to market to game
manufacturers.
> This'll make your day,...
> I had an LNW. (also a Lobo expansion interface, a
> PMC81, etc.)
I never saw a Lobo Max-80, though I had a few friends
who bought the Mapper board from them to run CP/M on
their Model I's.
> Most of that stuff, I sold cheap at VCF (which is
> run by your buddy Sellam).
He made a comment to me a month or so ago that
indicated he at least KNEW what an LNW-80 was...
Oh well..
An ex-employer (and former LNW Dealer) had several
that he trashed. I found out when I called him to ask
if he would sell or trade any away...
Bummer!!!
Thanks for the cool info!
Regards,
Al
> From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
>
> Try re-seating the 'ribbon cable' between the CPU
> board and the disk controller PCB _at both ends_. I
> would estimate that over 50% or disk problems on
> M3s and M4s come from this cable!
You're right about this. It all starts to come back to
me... *Grin!*
This was one of the first things I'd do when a machine
came in with disk controller problems.
I'd also remove the cable totally and clean the
connections with a pencil eraser and possibly some
alcohol.
Mostly, I'd just use the eraser.
Tin to Tin connections would often get oxidation.
Jerry Pournelle used to talk about something called
Stabilant-21 that worked well to keep this from
happening.
This stuff worked great on Model I keyboard to E/I
cables (I soldered on the infamous Gold Plugs on mine.
and made a gold and shielded cable besides) and floppy
cables.
But since the behavior changes when he moves the
drives, it sounds like his "0:" drive is bad.
Regards,
Al Hartman
On Feb 27, 16:50, Megan wrote:
> >I'd remove the CXA16-M serial
> >multiplexers, which I don't think any normal PDP-11 OSs support,
>
> I believe the CXA16s are DHV-like interfaces, RT supports DHVs.
Wel, that would make sense. Easy enough to check by running RT11 with
the correct driver. If so, I stand corrected.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
From: Robert Borsuk <rborsuk(a)colourfull.com>
Date: 02/27/2003 10:39 AM
> Woohoo,
> Timex guys on the list. I can ask a Timex (sort of ) question now.
Hmmph. I've been on this list for years :>)
> I have an A&J MicroDrive (Stringy Floppy - The next big thing to rule
> the world) that I don't have any information on. I would love to use
> it with my T1000. It was almost complete in the box. Interface, drive,
> cable, even some new stringy floppies still sealed. Does anyone have a
> manual for this thing? I've poked around online but haven't seen too
> much.
Okay, I have the manual and will be gled to scan it and send it to you.
HOWEVER -- there are some things you should know . . .
First, it will never work with a TS1000 -- only a TS2068.
Second, these things came in two versions -- "A" and "B" -- and the different
versions use physically different tapes, so make sure you have the proper
tapes before wasting any time with it.
Third, these things are the most unreliable form a data storage I have ever
encountered (see the classiccmp thread a couple of years back titled "World's
Crappiest Mass Storage Device" or similar name). Typically, the tapes have
a useable lifespan of less than five hours. Then they break. (This is not
due to my having one faulty drive -- I've owned several and seen more and
they ALL suck!). If you do find a tape that lasts, inevitably the media
goes south (no longer readable) and your data goes with it.
The drives are "cute," and nice for a collector to have, but completely
unreliable.
Later --
Glen
0/0
