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101090 discussions

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by blacklord＠telstra.com

> > Amiga. > And it's the best one (subjective) out of all the others so far mentioned. An A1000 can still happily run just about anything you can throw at it, plus it's emminently expandable. cheers, Lance ---------------- Powered by telstra.com

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Roger Merchberger [mailto:zmerch@30below.com] > (under OS-9) 512K Ram, hacked easily to 2M (recently hacked > to *64Meg*!!) Ok, when I get a CoCo 3, I want it to have 64M of RAM. How's it done? :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Dave McGuire [mailto:mcguire@neurotica.com] > What wonderful machines these are. The first ones, though, shipped > with 10MB drives, not 40MB, and it was SYSVR2, not 3. I don't doubt the 10M disk, but I've never seen anything below 3.0 for it. I have 3.5 on mine, with a 3.0 dev kit. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

DEC field veterans: what's KA64A's self test #21?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Gunther Schadow wrote: > >do you know what the KA64A's self test #21 is? I have two of these >boards that just won't come up, they both stop at > >#123456789 0123456789 01 After an extensive trawl of the manuals, I think I've found something. This is, as you have said, failing test 21. This is Backup Tag Store Parity Error Test. Not a happy CPU, I would guess. I have no idea how repairable this is. To verify (for sure) you should have the yellow LED off (self-test failed) and the red LEDs below that reading OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF, OFF, ON (which is 21 in BCD - no, I don't know why!) >system self test and get me to a console prompt, I get the error >that these two boards didn't get to console mode. What could be >wrong here? They almost certainly need the tender care of a soldering iron and a new chip or two. I have no schematics for these (I doubt that anyone other than the DEC repair centres ever did have these). Antonio

24 years

IBM PS/1 Recovery/Install diskettes available

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, A bit too new to be on topic, but... I was scrounging through some stuff yesterday, and unearthed a set of original diskettes for an IBM PS/1. One of the disks is labelled "IBM PS/1 Recovery Diskette" There are 13 more diskettes labelled "IBM Original PS/1 Software, Diskette X of 13", where X of course goes from 1 to 13 :-) They are also labelled "Version 2.2" and the latest copyright date is 1993. If anyone wants these diskettes, first come, first served, no charge except shipping... I did test them by copying them onto my hard drive, so they are readable... Rich B. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

24 years

Pr1marily Contented (Longish)

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

Now that my Prime 2455 is fully operational again, I want to thank everyone who offered advice here. After giving up on repairing the power supply, I decided to buy one. Had I known they'd only cost $100, I'd have bought one sooner. Well, that was my Christmas present to myself for Christmas 2000. It arrives, I install it, press the power button, and see a message from the VCP about it beginning its self-test. Then it completes, and then I get the date & time, and then... Then I get the "ON" LED flashing defiantly at a 2 Hz rate. Time passed, and I began to suspect that more than the PSU had gotten toasted. I intended to start saving money to shotgun the machine, board by board, until I had it running again. More time passed and no savings took place. Well, in steps a lister who I believe wishes to remain anonymous. Said lister faciliated the acquisition of said boards, NONE OF WHICH SOLVED THE PROBLEM! Not his fault, of course... and there is more of this part of the story I'll relate below, that should be of interest to all ClassicCmp listers. But I should thank the lister again, he knows who he is, and without his help, the Prime would still be an emotional singularity... Finally, again in desparation, I posted again to comp.sys.prime. This time, an owner of the same model I have, replies. Over the course of several dozen e-mails, we narrowed down the problem. As it turns out, the replacement PSU was either failing to ground or was in fact asserting a line known as BBUREQ+, which signals a battery backup problem to the virtual control panel. Grounding that pin got the system past the point in the boot where it would flash the LED. I suspect a forgotten FCO... More problems... it says it thinks its a 2450 and it can see it has 2455 parts, not right, won't boot. Swap VCP. Same. Swap in my original VCP. Ok, now it's happyy... nope, now the CPU won't verify. Swap in a second CPU board set. Nope. Ok, go for broke, swap in the remaining CPU board set, replace newly-provided CPU board interconnects (top hats) with my old ones. Replace my VCP-to-CPU cable with 3rd party cable. Now it's verifying the CPU ok, but can't autoboot from drive unit 0. I freak thinking it's the controller. Better that than the drive, tho... The bulkhead cable had gotten munged a bit, so I began to suspect it, and mangle it further trying to fix it. Still no good. Ok, stick a new connector on the cable. Nope. Remove and reseat the external cable to the duplex shoebox. Nope. Try different SCSI unit addresses... hey, that worked... But I can only see one drive. I mess around with various adresses, suspecting a dropped bit in the bad cable. Still can't get them both online. I finally ended up swapping the two unit select switches, or rather, the connectors, so that each drive was using the other's selectors. Then set them for the appropriate values. Bingo! Autoboot to unit 0 and unit 1 is also seen and mounted. So, I'm able to boot it into: Primos Rev. 23.4.Y2K.R1 Primos Rev. 20.0.8 Primos II Rev. 20 and these from either disk or tape. Whew! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Now, on to the part of the story that's widely applicable. Don't underestimate the potential usefulness of a 3rd-party service organization. The company in question services other stuff that they actually make money from. But they make no money from servicing Primes. They have a policy about repairs, as since these days, it's mostly remove & replace. Techs with experience are expensive so customers tend to do their own work. But this firm charges for a part IF and ONLY IF it effects a repair. Now, that's probably standard. But when a part doesn't fix the problem, this firm has no desire to incur the shipping costs of returning the part to them, and they sure as hell can't get the customer to pay for it if it doesn't contribute to the fix. So the upshot of this is that I got to keep all the spares, and the lister who facilitated this will be charged only for the time spent talking to a technician (who found the thing about the LED flash and what it meant *ABOUT 4 HOURS* after I got the system semi-operational as described above). >From the postings here, most of you would be a little better equipped (not much just a little) to financially faciliate a repair operation like this one became. But I suspect that like me, a 3rd-party servce organzation would be about the last thing you'd consider, as a hobbyist. You'd assume like I did that it would cost a fortune. But the technician I spoke to was also a preservationist (although now I forget what he likes!). So before you give up on that old iron and dump it, try calling for service, and when you get the technician, explain to *him* that you're non-commercial and can't afford much. You may just land a bargain. Regards, -doug q

24 years

Shoddy Hardware (Was: Re: WW fixtures (was Re: "New" PDP-8))

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> On Mon, 1 Apr 2002, John Chris Wren wrote: > > > I do have one theory that applies to PCs and cars: If you fail to shed > > blood and appease the gods, it will not work when you're done. > > Absolutely. Although Sridhar and I have discussed the possibility of > offering up chicken blood instead.... Chris Smith and I were discussing repair techniques offline, and the above were amongst the discussed techniques. However, I prefer erecting totems next to the troublesome devices... ;) -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

24 years

Vector brochure

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Does anybody want a 1976 brochure from vector? I'd prefer that it go to someone that will scan it and post it on the net. The brochure is six pages long and covers the well known S-100 vector boards, Slit-N-Wrap tools, ribbon cable making tools and other computer building goodies from 1976 and includes prices. there's also a price change sheet dated 1978. Picture at <http://home.cfl.rr.com/rigdon14/a6/vector.jpg>. Joe

24 years

"New" PDP-8

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502(a)yahoo.com> >What else would be "useful" from a DECmate board? I agree about Depends on if it's a DMII or DMIII. The dmII had less integration so the 6120, eproms and likely a 6121 plus UARTs are available. The DMIII it will be the 6120 and maybe a 6121 plus 2882 and the eproms, though I'm less sure as it's been a long time since I've had to open one. Allison

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> What are some good old computers manufactured in 1986? Well, since I don't think DEC was still making PDP-10's at that point, that means you're limited to various PDP-11's, VAXen, and the Macintosh. Zane

24 years

OT: MS/Unisys Have Made My Day

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

> The M$ foot gets another dose of lead Ummm, Doc, I think you fell for an April Fools prank. If you view, say, http://www.wehavethewayout.com/xxx you get a standard IIS 404 page, and the HTTP response header say "Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0" I think Microsoft learned its lesion when it took, what, a couple of years to migrate Hotmail off of Unix onto NT/2000? Or did I fall for the prank by responding? :/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _| _| _| Brian Knittel / Quarterbyte Systems, Inc. _| _| _| Tel: 1-510-559-7930 Fax: 1-510-525-6889 _| _| _| Email: brian(a)quarterbyte.com _| _| _| http://www.quarterbyte.com

24 years

CP/M and Imsai

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Don Caprio <caprio(a)dcms.com> >I purchased an Imsai 8080 and would like to run some version of CP/M. >Should I stick with Imsai's IMDOS, which we know works? If CP/M is doable >What version would be the best choice? Cpm is doable on ANY 8080/8085/z80/z180/z280 machine with the minimum of: 20k of ram {16k for V1.4} Console IO device {serial, parallel or video} Some form of block addressable mass storage device {disk, tape or rom/ramdisk} Nice to have: Boot prom/eprom (doesnt have to be big) Second port for printer hard disk >Does CP/M need some sort of BIOS like the PC? If so where do I get the BIOS >source in order to burn an EPROM? CP/M does (invented) the idea of a bios but.... it is not resident firmware as in PCs. It's loaded at boot time from mass storage. A BIOS for the DISK CONTROLLER and CONSOLE IO may or may not exist depending on YOUR specific configuration. S100 system could vary a lot and were not anything close to plug and play. However, you could write your own bios and there are plenty of examples out there as well as the docs needed. Allison

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: r. 'bear' stricklin [mailto:red@bears.org] > Surely not quite that large, though I guess he might have a > small desk. (; Judging from the size of the Onyx's, I got the impression that the machine was about twice that size, but admittedly, I haven't seen many good photos of them. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question))

by cdl＠proxima.ucsd.edu

> From: "Allison" <ajp166(a)bellatlantic.net> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: Soldering and other skills (was Re: QL-Quality (Was: ZX-81 Question)) > Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2002 08:40:54 -0500 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > From: Chad Fernandez <fernande(a)internet1.net> > >How much lead does solder dor electronics contain? I thought only > >solder for pipes contained lead? > > The best alloy is 63/37 63%lead 37% tin. Common variety is 60/40. > > The lead is not a hazard by inhalation though some of the fluxes can be. > It is a contact hazard over time as it can be transfered from the skin > to lips and injested. Solution, wash hands after using. > > Solder for pipes, by mandate has been below 5% lead for years, it > used to be mostly lead {90/10}. But the replacement for lead in plumber's solder is cadmium. And cadmium is a pretty hazardous material itself. carl -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego clowenstein(a)ucsd.edu

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Torquil MacCorkle III [mailto:torquil@rockbridge.net] > Which SGI would actually have an R2000? Um, none of them. IIRC, R3000 was the first chip that SGI used from MIPS. There are other systems that use them, including some (I have some r2ks, I think) made by MIPS, themselves. An SGI from that period is something like the IRIS 2000, or possibly by then IRIS 3000, which was very large and based around a motorola 68k chip of some sort. Great machines, but they don't fit your relatively low power requirement, and they're as large as your desk easily. :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by zmerch＠30below.com

Rumor has it that Christopher Smith may have mentioned these words: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Roger Merchberger [mailto:zmerch@30below.com] > >> (under OS-9) 512K Ram, hacked easily to 2M (recently hacked >> to *64Meg*!!) > >Ok, when I get a CoCo 3, I want it to have 64M of RAM. How's >it done? :) http://home.wwdb.org/irgroup/nocan3b.html He's got it to 8Meg here, and said that 16Meg should be no problem... I could have sworn (albeit not with my life) that he had a proto running 64Meg, just to see if it could be done, but with a very quick perusal I couldn't find reference to it again... but I did find reference to RAMZilla, which didn't have a direct link, so I think that was associated with it somehow. Drat... but admittedly, *filling* 64Meg on a CoCo would be a chore in itself, unless you wanted one _big honkin'_ ramdrive. He's also got a wire-wrapped CoCo listed elsewhere on the page... Gotta get back to work, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

24 years

The Future End of Classic Computing

by mythtech＠mac.com

>In the Betamax case, the US Supreme court said that if there is ANY >legitimate use of a device, then it is legal, even if most uses are >illegal. And that's the way it SHOULD be. Prosecute the people for doing something illegal, NOT for owning or using a device that COULD be used for illegal purposes regardless of what they were using it for. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years

OT: MS/Unisys Have Made My Day

by zmerch＠30below.com

And I just tested it... the website seems to be down. (Yes, I did try in both Nutscrape & Interment Exploder)... Hasty switchover, mayhaps? Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

24 years

CP/M and Imsai

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Don Caprio [mailto:caprio@dcms.com] > I purchased an Imsai 8080 and would like to run some version of CP/M. > Should I stick with Imsai's IMDOS, which we know works? If > CP/M is doable > What version would be the best choice? Don't know. Sorry. > Does CP/M need some sort of BIOS like the PC? If so where do > I get the BIOS > source in order to burn an EPROM? This one I can answer. Yes, it does. -- and -- EPROM? Who needs an EPROM? (CP/M BIOS is stored on the floppy and loaded into RAM, generally.) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> Doug, Anybody, > > Isn't 86 the year the Mac Plus came out? The original was 84, I know. > There was a model ot two inbetween the original and the Plus, but I'm > unsure the exact timing. > > If a Plus is the 86 computer, I do have an extra with addtional goodies. > It does have a slight screen fussiness in one corner of the display, > However. Yup, 86 is right for the Plus. And for Ethernet, you can get a box that hangs off the SCSI port and provides the Ethernet ability.... The device in question seems to have been made by one firm and rebadged and sold by others... Seems like "Nova" is part of the name of the one I've got. Mine has 10-Base-2 (coax) and AUI ports, so it'd need a transceiver to do 10-Base T, I suppose.... -dq -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

> But which would you guys consider to be the most modernly > functional one of the 1986 bunch? That would be you, Mr. MacCorkle.

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Ben Franchuk [mailto:bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca] > Now do you one with or with out TUBES? > Looking a list here http://members.iinet.net.au/~dgreen/timeline.html > 1956 was a great year for TUBE computers. > 1960 was a great year Transistor computers. ( Hmm I could get > a PDP-1 ) I suppose to commemorate my birth, I'll need to get an S-100 box of some sort, or possibly: A "DECStation" A PDP-11/60 A VAX-11/780 (...but what would I run on it? It would have to be RSTS/E, since VMS 1.0 hadn't been released, probably.) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

Computers Manufactured in 1986

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Ron Hudson [mailto:rhudson@cnonline.net] > Anybody got a spare ENIAC ? Not me... > Perhaps an abacus? Have one, also a small slide-rule but I'm kind of attached to them. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years

UCSD P-System & "compile once, run anywhere"

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

I don't think the following post ever made it to the list, during the time my office's domain cesed to exist for a short time... > A friend was claiming that with the UCSD P-System, one could "compile once" > and then "run anywhere" (where "anywhere" means different kinds of > computers running the P-System, not different instances of > the same computer). > > Was this true? I've never seen it contradicted. [...until I saw some replies here...] > Did users commonly compile on system A and then take the P-Code to > system B and run it successfully? It wasn't likely common. [..aforementioned media problems interfered?..] > I'd have thought that media incompatibility would have tended to > limit this capability. Serial ports and modems would more or less get around this problem. [..but it would appear that serial ports baffle quite a few many people..] > Was any commerical P-System software sold that was a single binary, > but the vendor expected the user to be able to install/run it on > any brand/model of P-System? (Or, did vendors have to produce a version > for every platform?) The Smalltalk-80 System also used an interpreter, called the bytecode interpreter, and it was in fact common to take an application compiled on, say, a Xerox Dorado and run it on a Xerox Magnolia, or even a Tektronix box. I've seen references recently to an Alto version of Smalltalk-80 2.2, so the apps crafted at XSIS (Xerox Special Information Systems) like The Analyst(tm), might have been worked out on Altos then run at the The Company on Magnolias. -dq I know of at least 1 person who has a copy of The Analyst, which I almost bought in 1987 (I was just going to buy ASP, the Analyst Spreadsheet)... wish we could get him onboard in the preservationist movement -Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (DougQ at ixsnayamspayIgLou.com) [Call me "Doug"] Surgically excise the pig-latin from my e-mail address in order to reply "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

24 years

Haestad Methods Email List

by info＠haestad.com

Your email address has been removed from our email list. Thank you, Haestad Methods http://www.haestad.com

24 years

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