test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by archive＠navix.net

Does anyone know how to access the BIOS of an old Toshiba 2200sx laptop? It is Pheonix, but I can't tell what version, etc., as it flashes on screen very fast. I need to set up the COM ports of this thing and can't seem to figure it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated! CORD COSLOR -- ____________________________________________________________ | Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\ | Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | | | on AOL Instant Messenger: DeannaCord | | | http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | If you don't have AOL (like us) but want a great instant | | | chat feature, just go to http://www.aol.com/aim | | |____________________________________________________________| | \_____________________________________________________________\|

27 years, 11 months

Early Mac Clones

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, June 09, 1998 8:35 Subject: Re: Early Mac Clones >> >> bit hard getting a mac into a pc case though, remember that macs have all >> the connectors on board, > >Why do all computer owners forget about tools other than screwdrivers ? > >The above problem can be solved either by drilling/cutting the PC case to >allow plugs to fit into the sockets on the Mac logic board, or by making >up extension cables between connectors on the case and those on the logic >board. > >> >> desie > >-tony > email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm I know, Ive done it before, the back panel is not a pretty site afterwoods.............

27 years, 11 months

old sound driver?

by archive＠navix.net

I remember a program, actually a sound driver, that was written for computers without sound cards. I think it was intended for Windows 3.1 or something like that to allow simple .wav files to be played --- in lue of a sound card -- simply used the internal pc speaker. If you have any information on something like this, could you respond to me via private e-mail? Thanks, CORD COSLOR -- ____________________________________________________________ | Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\ | Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | | | on AOL Instant Messenger: DeannaCord | | | http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | If you don't have AOL (like us) but want a great instant | | | chat feature, just go to http://www.aol.com/aim | | |____________________________________________________________| | \_____________________________________________________________\|

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Field Service

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<rearranging RAM in others (so the SIMMS were no longer paired). Noone <solved this. Better yet, the next issue, they published a letter <saying that these were clearly artificial problems, and I quote, <"IDE cables just don't fail". The guy said that a tech would never <think to look at it. Poor, while unlikely the obvious is the problem. <BTW, do you train service techs? Sometimes if they needed someone in my specialty on short call. More often the trainers were part of my product development team and I was managing technology transfer and strategy for repair. I was tasked mostly with developing the service process/plan. Remember: Good, Fast, Cheap pick any two. Here in the USA the cost to repair often exceeds value on unit, of comes very close to it. A new boom box 125$, an hour of service time is typically 35-50$ plus parts (usually a subassembly). If the set is more than x many years old the feature of a new one and the cost to repair... In some places where goods are scarce or expensive that level of waste can't exist. I've gotten some good equipment for this reason. I also have some old equipment because I could fix it real cheap. My first 11/23 was made >from failed FS spares returns that were 'shot to the chip level. That includes the RL02 I got on a bet. It was mine of I could fix it, it had been totally taken appart by several people that couldn't fix it... problem was a bad crimp on a spade lug to the motor start cap. It's still running and I've never used a alignment pack that one of the people that took it apart said it would need despite the heads never being desturbed. Then again I can solder too. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Museums (was: Final Xerox Star demo)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Give me a person who likes and works with machines and understands <block diagrams, transmission lines, and power and servo subsystems <and he/she'll beat the hell out of the paper wonders any time. That says it all. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Wang PC-002 ??

by ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca

Greetings, I saw a very large Wang box at a thrift store yesterday, I *think* the little sticker on it said "PC-002". I didn't see the keyboard, but I didn't look. The machine was really big, I think about twice the height of an old IBM-PC and about the same width. It was longer than it was wide. It had two full-height 5.25" floppy drives.

27 years, 11 months

Early Mac Clones

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Tom Owad <tomowad(a)earthlink.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, June 09, 1998 6:09 Subject: Re: Early Mac Clones >>I made a timely find today of the first edition of _Build Your Own >>Macintosh and Save a Bundle_. In Chapter 2 it has a price comparison >>between the clone "Cat" Mac and the real Mac. The computers it lists are: >> >>Cat Mac SE >>Cat Mac SE 30 >>Cat Mac II >>Cat Mac IIfx >>Cat Mac IIcx >>Cat Mac IIci > >I was referring to the actual clones. I'm not sure where it is in your >book, but in my 2nd edition, if you look at Chapter 11, Cat Mac builder >alternatives, you will see mention of the Mac clones Zane listed. > >Tom Owad > email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm So it seems that no one has been able to reverse engineer Mac roms? Is it just that no one cares or is Apples legal department much tighter than IBMs

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Field Service

by jeff.kaneko＠ifrsys.com

At 09:59 PM 6/8/98 -0500, Allison wrote: >I earned my keep fixing commercial VHF and UHF radios which from call to >call could be dynamotor and tubes or the lastest IC and solid state >usually no prints and under time pressure. It paid for college. > >FYI I was at DEC from 83->93 CSSE ML0 Printing systems along with >Pattenden, Howard, Preece and Paul Nelsons merry crew. > > >Allison > > > I know this isn't a 'vintage radio' list, but . . . So, were you in the Motorola camp (Twin-V, T-Power, Motrac, Motran) or were you GE (Prog Line, TPL, Mastr? Or possibly one of the few in the RCA arena (CarFone, SuperCarfone, etc.)? I was Motorola, in the Mid 80's myself . . . Jeff

27 years, 11 months

Homebrew computer

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm Some of you guys might find this quite interesting............. http://www.users.interport.net/~zebra/ts2/index.html

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Museums (was: Final Xerox Star demo)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I make things less original in one way, but easier to spot as well. I put <the replacement chip in a socket (a good turned-pin socket). IMHO a board <of TTL with one odd chip in a socket that looks to have been <hand-soldered is likely to suggest that the chip has been replaced at <some point, even if the notes documenting the repair are missing. I'm one to both restore and modify. I ahve two CCS s100 systems one is stock and the other is in the proces of recieving some mods like a IDE adaptor. Why? The second is sans hard disk and for what I do it would be a nice box with a hard disk as it's small. it's also reversable as the front pannel that will also be modified will really be a new one and not the original one. If I had a PDP-8 and no disks I'd likely make a IO interface for a modern drive becuase PDP-8s are easy to hack that way and it's also reversable. The real trick would be using whatever micros so that the new disk interfaced and behaved like an older one so I could run old code as is. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Early Mac Clones

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I read about a multitasking kernel for the Microchip PIC microcontroller. <I think it used the counter/timer as a heartbeat, and could also do task <switched on the port change-of-state interrupt. No idea how big it is, <but I guess it's pretty small. It can be done on most CPUs no matter how small. Dynamic multitasking like Unix or VMS does is far more complex. The basic principles are the same. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Field Service

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I watched them swap memory, power supply, motherboard, hard disk controll <and such for an hour. LN01 training, I goosed the trainer that I could create a fault he couldn't find in excange for one. I found mine in and he was still going later. the bug, lead pulled off the fuse holder in the main PSU. I earned my keep fixing commercial VHF and UHF radios which from call to call could be dynamotor and tubes or the lastest IC and solid state usually no prints and under time pressure. It paid for college. FYI I was at DEC from 83->93 CSSE ML0 Printing systems along with Pattenden, Howard, Preece and Paul Nelsons merry crew. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Former Disk Costs (was: 32 bit Macs (was Atari hard ))

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<OK, I'll give you that it's possible. But it would be very slow (TeX <contains a lot of routines that are executed when it sees keywords in <the input file, so you'd be for ever swapping things in), and I doubt it <would be practical on a floppy-disk only system. Considering the size of the data file and the DVI result... floppy? Nope. Hard disk or large ram disk(1mb better). Allison

27 years, 11 months

Packing RL02's

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

Bit of a different note here. I've got someone that is interested in shipping me some RL02 packs for my systems, but is concerned about packing. Does anyone have any advice on the subject.

27 years, 11 months

Final Xerox Star demo

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

Well if they arent keeping it, it should go to a museum like the one at Boston..... One question though, wasent the Xerox 820 basically the same as the Alto? -----Original Message----- From: Max Eskin <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, June 02, 1998 8:53 Subject: Re: Final Xerox Star demo > > > > >What processor did it use? >Also, what will be done to the machine after the "last run"? >>On Mon, 1 Jun 1998, Larry Groebe wrote: >> >>> >Is there someone to contact by phone to see if there will be >videotapes >>> >available? >>> > >>> >thanks >>> > >>> >Kai >>> > >>> >-----Original Message----- >>> >From: Doug Yowza [mailto:yowza@yowza.com] >>> >Sent: Monday, June 01, 1998 3:17 PM >>> >To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers >>> >Subject: Final Xerox Star demo >>> > >>> > >>> >>Xerox PARC is giving one final demonstration of the original Xerox >Star >>> >>workstation built in 1981. This may be the last time it gets >>> >>demoed, as the hardware has begun failing due to its age. Don't >miss >>> >>this opportunity to witness one of the most important steps ever >taken in >>> >>the history of computing and user interface design. >>> >>> >>> Better yet, has anyone given thought to the viability of building a >Star >>> emulator? How fast could those things have been? >> >>Not terribly. IIRC, there was a discernable lag between keystroke and >>the appearance of the character on the monitor screen! >> >> - don >>> --Larry >>> >> >> donm(a)cts.com >>*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* >> Don Maslin - Keeper of the Dina-SIG CP/M System Disk Archives >> Chairman, Dina-SIG of the San Diego Computer Society >> Clinging tenaciously to the trailing edge of technology. >> Sysop - Elephant's Graveyard (CP/M) - 619-454-8412 >>*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--* >> see old system support at http://www.psyber.com/~tcj >> visit the "Unofficial" CP/M Web site at http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm >> with Mirror at http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm >> >> >> > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com >

27 years, 11 months

Clueless Field Service

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

A few months ago, PC World did a similar thing, only they made real hardware problems. Cutting the IDE cable on some machines, and rearranging RAM in others (so the SIMMS were no longer paired). Noone solved this. Better yet, the next issue, they published a letter saying that these were clearly artificial problems, and I quote, "IDE cables just don't fail". The guy said that a tech would never think to look at it. BTW, do you train service techs? >> >> Allison >> >> > >Actually I agree with you. I put the following problem in front of some >techs at TRW who did dos PC's as part of some in-house training. > >I wrote a program that did a cold boot. I attached it to the >ANSI.SYS driver. I gave this PC to them to fix. > >I watched them swap memory, power supply, motherboard, hard disk controller >and such for an hour. > >After they got tired... I closed the floppy door an a write protected >MS-DOS 3.3 floppy and it booted. > >They never once looked at a software problem. I guess doing mini systems >taught me something. > >Bill > >+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ >| Bill/Carolyn Pechter | 17 Meredith Drive | Tinton Falls, New Jersey 07724 | >| 908-389-3592 | Save computing history, give an old geek old hardware. | >| pechter(a)shell.monmouth.com | >+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

27 years, 11 months

Early Mac Clones

by tomowad＠earthlink.net

>I have one--in pieces. I don't know if it works but I got it all >disassembled with cables hanging out of it. A neat unit. Hopefully I'll >find a complete one some day, or get this one working. There were not Mac >ROMs in it by the way. I paid $5. Do you mean they were cloned or just weren't any there? >What specifically did you want to know? Anything not already mentioned. The Outbound I've read about, but the other clones are entirely new to me. Tom Owad

27 years, 11 months

Former Disk Costs (was: 32 bit Macs (was Atari hard ))

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<YEs, but you need to keep quite a bit of stuff in memory. I think perhap <32K of data memory. I'd like to see anybody fit all of TeX82 into the <other 32K that's common on a CP/M system. Overlays and other sectioning techniques. Also a good portion 32k data area can be farmed to disk files. 64k space can be tough but people ahve done bigger things in smaller machines. Allison

27 years, 11 months

Amazing

by red＠bears.org

Microsoft NT Server 4.0 ships with GORILLA.BAS Completely bizarre. Any guesses why? I know it's not really classic as I'm fairly sure GORILLA.BAS didn't ship with MS-DOS until version 4 or 5. Still. Weird. ok r.

27 years, 11 months

680x0's, Towers, & Serendipity

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> The tower actually *boots* from the tape during install! Is that <> crazy or what? < <What's strange about that? My old Zilog S8000 (Z8001 processor) does the <same. And most minis can boot from their tape drvies. It's a standard way <boot real machines. Bigtime PDP-11s (rsts, RSX-11 and even RT on tape), vaxen all can. I've booted CPM from paper tape! Allison

27 years, 11 months

Wire Recorder

by lgroebe＠insidermarketing.com

>This is not about computers, but it's vintage tech so it's almost on topic... > >Just picked up a very cool miniature battery operated wire recorder and I >need to find out what sort of battery it originally used - or at least to >find out what voltage it takes so I can try it out. Also would like to find >out more about it - date, original cost, etc. > >It's a Minifon Special, made by Protona (Hamburg, Ger.). The battery >compartment measures 1.25 x 3.5 inches, with a flat, brass spring contact >at either end. > >It's a beautiful little machine, in mint condition, complete with fitted >pigskin case. Even the original spool of hair-thin wire is unbroken. >Outside dimensions are 4 x 6.5 x 1.25 inches and it's finished in a sort of >goldish-cream textured lacquer. There are two din sockets on the front, one >with three pins for the mike (included), and another, unmarked, with nine >pins. > >Anybody know anything about this little gem? Surely someone on the list >goes back far enough to have seen one of these... > >R. > Ahh yes, the Minifon. Yes, it's off-topic, but it is/was indeed a cool piece of technology. German from the early 1950s. Wire recording had all but died out, but this machine was smaller than any TAPE recorder, so there was a niche market. Yes, it was used by spies, law enforcement, and such. (There was a version of the microphone built to look and be worn like a wristwatch!) It used subminature tubes 1 1/2 inches long. If you find a 1953 Allied radio catalog you'll find it listed for sale there for $289.50. A transistorized version of this wire recorder was being built after 1960! There's some info on this and about a zillion tape recorders from the 1950s and 60s in a book called "Evolution of the Audio Recorder" by Phil Van Praag. A book I thought I'd never see written - I guess it took an old audio technician to write it. --Larry (Who, in an attempt to drag this back on topic, is trying to envision a wire-recording storage device for a computer. Lousy tracks per inch.)

27 years, 11 months

off topic.....

by poesie＠geocities.com

I found a compaq vocalyst keyboard today, has 4x5 box type plug... _________ o o o o o o o o o x x x x x x x x x x x --------- something like that, w/ the x's as pins. has built in speaker, mic and ext speaker jack, and PS/2 mouse port on keyboard... any idea what this thing is? or what it was for? i realize that it's not that old, but my interest is too piqued to let it ride.

27 years, 11 months

"Computer Hobbyist" + Homebrew computers

by lgroebe＠insidermarketing.com

>On Fri, 5 Jun 1998, Jon Healey wrote: > >> After a fair amount of effort on my part, I found and obtained a >> copy of the July 1974, Radio-Electronics mag that has the cover >> story "Build the Mark-8, your personal minicomputer". I was >> less than delighted to find that in this instance, R-E left out >> most of the construction details (including any skematics). >> They have an offer on the second page of the article where >> you should order the kit with circuit board patterns, and >> the rest of the details. The article includes some theory of >> ops, a parts list and a few photos. > > >Actually... about a year ago as part of my efforts to re-create a >'Mark-8', I contacted Gernback Publications and was able (with suitable >begging and pleading) to get them to loan me the last existing masters for >the article series AND the construction package. > >>snip > >If anyone would like a copy of this document set, drop me a note. I'd >suggest that to avoid generation loss in copying the docs yet again you >consider sending along a blank CD-R disc with a SASE for its return, and >I'll provide you with the scanned (TIFF) files. (no charge) It's WAY too >big for floppies! > >If you require printed copies, it would be just the cost of printing and >postage. > >(...and if you make a new set of PC boards, I want one too!) B^} > >-jim OK, I just got back in town. Were you deluged? What's your address? I'd be happy to send you a blank CD if you'll make me a set. --Larry Groebe --Dallas TX

27 years, 11 months

680x0's, Towers, & Serendipity was:Stupid lusers...

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

>> Anyways, I also have a 400 series Tower (as mentioned in the exerpt >> below), and lots of spare boards (including the meter-long >> systemboard). nice to know there's still some Tower users about - there seemed to be quite a following a few years ago but interest in them seems to have dried up (although there's probably a few posts to comp.sys.ncr still - one day I'll get proper Usenet access here :) do you know if NCR (or AT&T, or whoever's responsible for these things these days!!) can still supply OS tapes? I got my '700 with all sorts of software on the disks - the guys it came from we in to developing programs for X-windows so there's quite a lot of cool stuff on there. Sadly no OS tapes and no manuals (I borrowed field service manuals from someone a while back so have all the useful info from there). mind you, last time I tried to power up the machine it was completely dead. I only had a few minutes so checked obvious fuses etc, but without any luck. Hopefully something simple - I don't fancy trying to trace a fault on one of those system boards :*) > cheers Jules

27 years, 11 months

Early Mac Clones

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<But there's a difference between a Z-80 running a text-mode interface, <and an 8088 running a GUI. Also, remember that Bill Gates didn't know Not much. Some z80 systems were faster, considering by time thge 4.77 mhz 8088 was making inroads around 84ish the z80s were cranking at 8mhz some faster. Also the 8088 was anout the same efficientcy as the z80 for byte data. There were a few z80 system with 128k or more of ram running at 6mhz around the time of the PC introduction. I have a Visual1050 (early 1984) that is z80 128kb ram and GUI capable running CPM and GSX-80 all competing with PC GUI systems. Nice box with 10mb hard disk and two 400k floppies and mono monitor. <very much about operating systems, as opposed to languages. MS Windows <is the only OS MS programmed ground up, something they only started No. The internal file system (disk operating system <dos>) used on the TRS80 disk basic was amoung the many that preceeded it that was before 1979. The file system was FAT based. <after the A1000. And, I've never seen Windows multitask under 8MB in the <way the Amiga or a UNIXoid computer can. W3x was not preemtive nor very good coopertive multitask. And even with 32mb didn't change that. It would take w95 to get to that point. CPM in the guise of MPM was doing for years by then. I'd also had CP/M multitasking in 64k in '81. No majik. There was also multiuser basic for Altair and NS* had a multiuser version of the NS* OS. <>> and Gates replied that multitasking really wasn't possible in <>> anything under 8 megs of ram. To which the same reporter replied, The PDP-11s running RSTS (or TSX-11) in the 70s didn't multitask either... sometimes with several dozen users usually in 64kb and maybe 256kb of ram. But heck the PDP-8 was doing in before that in 8kw (RTS-8 or os/8). Of course if you want something modern that can multitask in less than 8mb VAX/VMS (runs fair in 4mb!). Allison

27 years, 11 months

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