In message "CLASSICCMP digest 375", John Rollins <rexstout(a)uswest.net>
writes:
>Third card is another one from Intel, labeled "iSBC 576", with another
>8086, two connectors on the top, and an SBC576 daughtercard.
I checked my Intel "OEM Boards and Systems Handbook (1988)" but cannot
identify this card, although the book lists many other Multibus boards.
Intel sold their Multibus interests to Radisys some time back; they're
on the web and maybe they can help. Both National Semiconductor and
NEC made Multibus board clones, often with similar part numbers, so you
might get lucky finding info if you're persistent.
>Fourth card is a PROSE 2000, with a 26-pin edge connector and another
>connector, and a bunch of EPROMs marked "Speech Plus (c)1983", and yet
>another 8086 chip. Looks like the company name is Speech Plus Inc. I guess
>this is a speech synth.
Strange coincidence! I recently rescued one of these from a scrapyard
(it was literally waiting to be ground up into metallic dust). Yes, it's
a text-to-speech board, but I haven't had any success finding
application data. The company that made it, Telesensory Systems, does
still exist and I did call them looking for information. They were
cordial, but could not help because the board was just too ancient for
their support staff to have any useful knowledge about it. Too bad; I
thought it might be welcomed by one of my local charities. I don't have
Telesensory's phone number here but try a web search. If you can't find
them let me know and I'll see if I can retrieve the number. Please keep
me in mind if you do manage to track down some information on it.
--
Arlen Michaels
Nortel
Ottawa, Canada (613) 763-2568 amichael(a)nortel.ca
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hotze [mailto:photze@batelco.com.bh]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 1998 12:42 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: FW: Y2K
>
>
> It very well might be running today. Not doing the hardlabor
> tasks that it was origiohnally made for, but possibly as someone's
hobby.
> Anyway, five years, and accelarating is a odd estimate. PC's nearly 3
or
> 4 years old are used day to day, as primary computer systems. The
> origionally cost around $2,000, and now can be effectively replaced
for around
> $500-$800, yet they haven't. Sure, high end servers are still being
produced, and in some institutions (even if I can't name any) are
updated monthly or so with their server technology.
Being from the Big Iron era (Univac 1100s and CDC 6000s), I can assure
you no one ever believed any of those machines would last for 30 years.
We knew the "fourth generation" computers based on large scale
integration were coming, although what was expected was the bit slice
type logic, not integrated microprocessors. No one ever questioned
using 2 digit dates, because the programs weren't going to be used for
30 years. After all, how many 30 year old computers were still running
in 1975? Back then a "legacy" program was supporting Autocoder from the
60s. Ten years was ancient and obsolete.
Even in the 80's I saw very few software applications that switched to 4
digit dates. Our company converted to all 4 digit year dates in 1987,
primarily because we were revising our major packages, plus we wanted to
be compatible with some applications we OEMed along with our own
software. Even in 87 I didn't think our programs would still be in use
in 2000, but suprise, they will be. Was it brilliant foresight we
converted way back then? Not really, more like plain dumb luck. But
disk and memory were getting much cheaper by then, we could afford to
use the extra space. When we only had 5MB drives and 16KB partitions
the savings on 2 digit dates was significant, but once we had 100MB+
drives and virtual memory that was no longer an issue.
Jack Peacock
OK.. so, I admit, I wasn't even around then. I've never seen big iron in my
life, and as far as I know, the school's still running on the Compaq PPro
200 that we got a while back. But here's my .02 on what would think in that
same posisiton:
>I know I was asking some of my friends what was going to happen as far
>back as in the late 60' and early 70s when as high schools and college
>students we were asking what happens if this machine should still be
>running in the year 2000? Some of us considered that unlikely as the
>pace for new machines at the time suggested it's life was maybe five
>years and that pace was accelerating.
It very well might be running today. Not doing the hardlabor tasks that it
was origiohnally made for, but possibly as someone's hobby. Anyway, five
years, and accelarating is a odd estimate. PC's nearly 3 or 4 years old are
used day to day, as primary computer systems. The origionally cost around
$2,000, and now can be effectively replaced for around $500-$800, yet they
haven't. Sure, high end servers are still being produced, and in some
institutions (even if I can't name any) are updated monthly or so with their
server technology.
What worries me is that around 2025, a system should last as long as you
want it, as the speeds will probably be at the speed of light across the
board, so there's no wait state. It's as fast as the software that you
choose for it. The systems won't become obsolete. I personally belive that
it's then that the speed of light will be broken, but I can't prove that,
other than the belief that we will continue to grow and outcome obsticles.
What then?
Just my opinion,
Tim D. Hotze
Well, I finally got around to looking at the terminal PC that came with
the Cadnetix workstation. Turns out it's a pretty kick-ass Sperry 286
PC/IT, with some nifty stuff. A Genoa 4850 video card, which my info says
can display 800x600, an SIIG FK3459 I/O board, a Rybs Electronics HicardAT
memory board, a WDC 1002-WAH HD controller and 20meg HD, and a net card to
boot. It also has 1 meg on the board and the math coprocessor installed as
well.
The little bit I could find on the video card claims that it uses a
multisync monitor. It has the two rca jacks and a db-9; how do I wire an
adapter for db-9 to hd-15?
Thanks,
Aaron
BTW, I also got a couple hundred 5 1/4 floppies with it, including 2
complete sets of SCO OpenWindows 1.0.0.y; anyone want one?
Hello. Ive recntly gotten a NEC PC Engine system, about 6"x6"x1" in size.
It has a port that's around the size of a PS/2 port, but with different
connections. The system uses a cool-looking card system, labeled as HuCARD,
and I've got two games, PAC-LAND and a game that's entirely in Japanese
labeled as THEthen lots in Japanese, I'll try to scan it in later, in a
monocrome format.
On the bottom, it says NEC PCEngine
Japanese, then at the far right, it says PI-TG001 , then one line down, more
Japanese writing, then at the far right, 4W writen. Then, another line
down, it has Japanese, then at the far right, (PAD-105,PAD-106)
Then there's an entire line of Japanese writing, then another line down, the
words MADE IN JAPAN. Below that, in another indent, is the number that was
pin-printed as 8Z14066H .
At the right of the system, there's a port labeled ANT SWITCH, which I'm
guessing I connect to a TV monitor. There's no port for sound. On the same
location on the left, there's a thing labeled AC ADAPTER, which I don't
currently have. Can I use a Nintendo adapter for this? A Sega?
Any information would be appriciated. BTW, the controller seems to be a
slightly-stylaziied version of an origional NES controller, with buttons
labeled II and I, in the place of A and B, a select and Run button (Run in
the place of Start) and a standard digital-arrow pad, as found on most
gaming systems.
Thanks,
Tim D. Hotze
This stuff is apparently going to get hauled away by the Garbage
Gorillas on Wednesday of this week, so move quick and reply directly to
the sender (john(a)egh.com, or call at (781-861-0670) if you want the
stuff...
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
From: jasantos(a)ultranet.com (John A Santos)
Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11
Subject: Free Unibus hardware (act fast...)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 06:14:36 -0400
Organization: UltraNet Communications, Inc. http://www.ultranet.com/
Lines: 70
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NNTP-Posting-Host: d73.dial-1.cmb.ma.ultra.net
X-Complaints-To: abuse(a)ultra.net
X-Ultra-Time: 7 Apr 1998 10:17:29 GMT
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Path:
blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!news.burgoyne.com!news.eecs.umich.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feed2.news.erols.com!erols!news.ultranet.com!not-for-mail
My company is cleaning the basement, and there is a large collection
of PDP-11 (mostly, some useful on VAXes) stuff that is going to be
carted away on Wednesday (4/8) by the junk man.
If anyone near Lexington Mass wants to grab any of it (or if you are
willing to pay shipping, for the smaller items), please email me
or call me at work. Unfortunately I just found out about it today,
and it is going tomorrow, so there isn't much time to rescue this
stuff from oblivion.
Items include:
Unibus backplanes (4 & 9 slot, a couple of each)
4 or 5 Unibus cables, varying lengths (at least one is brand new.)
Lots of Unibus jumpers (M920 and some of the long ones (M9200?))
Thousands (well, dozens) of Grant jumpers (G727?)
2 DELUA's + cab kits
2 UDA-50's + cab kits (I think one has one bad board, the other works)
1 DH11 (and maybe some spare parts)
4 DZ11's (with CAB kits)
2 KMD11's (X.25 interface with a KMC11B and a line and modem board)
1 or two DV11's (synch multiplexor)
1 TMB-11 (TU10/TE10 controller)
1 RH11 (Unibus to massbus interface, has a stuck bit)
1 LP11 interface
several DL11 boards, various vintages
2 Able (?) boards that each emulate 4 DL11's.
2 BA11 10 1/2 inch expansion boxes, one in pieces.
2 TE16 and one TE10 9-track tape drives, mostly disassembled
2 TM03 (maybe one is a TM02) Massbus tape formatters.
Lots of H945? power regulators (I think they take 18V AC and output
either +-5V DC or +-15V DC, depending on model) Anyway, these are
the boxes about 4x6x8 inches that sit inside BA11's and PDP 11/40-
vintage CPU cabs.
There are also some print sets and manuals for some of this stuff.
There might be a few Massbus cables, too.
There might also be an old PDP-11/40 CPU board set.
If you want any of this stuff, either email me (at work is better; I'll
see it sooner) john(a)egh.com, or call me (781-861-0670).
I can't guarantee that any particular items on this list won't be grabbed
back by the powers that be, or that any particular item works, but hey!
Many of the bits were working when last used, in October.
This list is all from memory, so I could be wrong about quantities.
It is mostly sitting in a big pile waiting for the trash-man, who rumor
has will be coming on Wednesday, so this is both your first and last
chance.
If you want some particular item, but can't arrange shipping or to drop
by, let me know and if it isn't too big, I can probably rescue it and
save it for you.
John Santos
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, SysOp,
The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fido 1:343/272)
kyrrin {at} j<p>s d[o]t n=e=t
"...No matter how hard we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe
an object, event, or living creature, in our own human terms. It cannot possibly
define any of them!..."
Ha! Got my first "official" rescue coming up on the 18th. One of the local
colleges (by 'local' I mean Washington state) is disposing of their old
PDP-11/44 and all its peripherals.
Here's the bad news. I don't have the space or the hauling capability to
save the entire system. I'm taking the Fujitsu 'Eagle' they've got, its
Unibus controller (an Emulex SC31 I'm told) plus some RSTS distribution
tapes and a tape drive and -possibly- a rack.
Last call: Is there anyone else in or near WA who would like to help save
the rest of the system? If not, most of it will end up with the scrappers.
Please get in touch with me directly as I will need to get my contact's OK
(he's just expecting me at the moment).
Thanks!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
Hello all...
A couple of weeks ago, I put out an e-mail to the List that mentioned that
a friend had given a DEC PDP-11/70 (or so he thought) to me that had been
'hardened' by Schlumberger for use in the oil patch. The machine supposedly
works and weighs close to 200 lbs. The oldest board claims, I think, to
have been built in late 1978.
I know practically nothing about the PDP series and so don't have the
foggiest as to what I really have.
Finally, over the weekend, I was able to open the box (1/4" armored steel
ugly thing) and take a look at the boards -- there are a total of ten as
follows: (Keep in mind that I don't know what typical DEC parts numbers
look like -- I think that a lot of the numbers that I wrote down are
actually production lots etc):
(1): Obviously a CPU board -- AH13Z-06. Also claims DEC P/N 1216988. Has a
15MHz crystal and is 15.5x8" in size. It has edge connectors (as do all of
the boards).
(2): 'Bootstrap Terminator' - DEC-81. 5013263C-P2. 8x5".
(3): 'Flip Chip" 5008691 PCC-1Vo. 2.5x2". This is some sort of jumper board.
(4): 4MB(?) DRAM. DEC P/N 1216988 (notice that this is the same p/n as the
CPU board -- that is, I suppose?, the system part number), A88D30824
RA1-RA3: RM8-3.3Kx3 (probably a component label for a resistor pack but not
sure); C:TD104/5DX92 AH12Z-12. 15.5x8".
(5-9): H-236341 EXT BRD 10.5x8". These appear to be extendor boards that
bring +15VDC and a few timing signals out to the edge of the cage -- why
there are five, I cannot imagine...
(10): "FLIP CHIP". FEB 78 SCO/R1L OPTION M7856 H236602 -01048. 10.5x8"
This appears(?) to be possibly an I/O controller board of some sort...
Does anyone have any idea of what these things came out of?
They are free to a good home -- preferably someone that can actually use
them and put them back to work (can you imagine how boring it would be to
madly process seismographic data for 20-years -- I bet they would like to
try something different for a change) (postage + packing costs).
Regards
Jack Harper (Friend to all things Symbolics)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Harper Bank Systems 2000, Inc.
303-277-1892 Golden, Colorado USA
"21st Century Financial Applications"
Optical Cards for Bank, EBT, and Medical Applications
Visit our Web Page: http://www.bs2000.com/talos (Last Update: 970902)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=10391784
to get in on the bidding for a 128k TRS-80 Model 4 computer.
CORD
--
___________________________________________________
| Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\
| Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | |
|---------------------------------------------------| |
| http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | |
|---------------------------------------------------| |
| PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | |
|___________________________________________________| |
\____________________________________________________\|
Saw a post on Usenet answering someone's request for info on a Toshiba
T3100 with the comment that the user manuals are all online. Went to
<http://www.toshiba.com/>, did a search on "t3200 manual" and sure
enough, found this page:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/tais/csd/support/files/manuals.htm
which has manuals for their laptops going bat to the T1000LE. I'll be
busy downloading tonight...
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
Sent to massyr(a)washpost.com copied to classiccomp:
My cut on a nook in computer history. It's mine as I was only of
those nutty kids hacking a pdp-8 in highschool in 1969 wondering about
31 years lateer and how that would not fit into a 12 bit word used to
express date.
<i'm working on a piece here at the Washington Post about the Year
<2000 bug, and
<although there is plenty of info about what it is and how to combat
<it, there is very little
<history available.
<specifically, i'm trying to find out 1) who were the co-authors of
<the COBOL language
<along with Grace Murray Hopper,
Since she was military (LT at the time if memory serves) her fellows would
be military members as well. That may help you.
2) who decided to use two digits for the year instead of four,
Rather than answer that question directly as I cannot I'll supply resoning
instead. Computers over the years have come down in price, up in speed
and increased greatly in storage and memory. Those last two items are
significant to the discussion.
Starting in the early 50s a computer with 4000 words of memory and sorage
of say several hundred thousand words of data were large and scarce. The
technology for making memory and bulk storage were new. This would remian
true for many years, through the 60s. Because of the cost for even a few
bits of storage it was resonable to not store obvious data like the first
two digits of the date, after all tht was known and the lifetime of the
mache was like five years at best. So programming languages like Cobol
and more importantly the operating systems that managed the machine would
only keep the minimum amount of storage for the variable part of the date
(month, day, year). Memory was a premium for many machines and costly way
waste it on storing things that are assumed.
This habit persisted will into the '80s as while memories got larger and
machines smaller many would be expected to run the same or related
programs from their older parents. the scene is now set. Another thing
was the emergence of standard programming languages where certain aspect
of the language were expected to behave the same on sometimes radically
different machines.
The rest is history as many programming languages like cobol were expected
to be dead. However conservitive users like banking, government insisted
on tried and proven programming tools and languages thus propagating abd
prolonging the life of these burdend items. The burden was they had to
behave like their ancestors right down to little things like the date!
3) who discovered the Y2K problem?
It wasn't "discovered" nor was it a new problem. Some manchines and
operating systems had the equivelent of the Y2k problem several times
over and well before the year 2000. The example I know best is the
Digital Equipment Corp PDP-8, in teh mid to late 60s this machine was
introduced with the following attributes, small, low cost. It would
persist well in to the 1980's in various smaller and more compact forms.
The significance of the machine was it's the first "minicomputer" to be
sold in volume. In it's time thousands was big volumes. Now, it was
also a small machine in memory. The designeers for one of the popular
operating systems for it (known as OS/8) knowing that memory was a
precious commodity used the minimum needed to implment time and date.
The year portion was accorded a platry three bits meaning it could only
count from 0 through 7. Since this was introduced in roughly 1969 their
Y2k problem would occur every 7 years!. This was not the only machine or
company, just an example.
I know I was asking some of my friends what was going to happen as far
back as in the late 60' and early 70s when as high schools and college
students we were asking what happens if this machine should still be
running in the year 2000? Some of us considered that unlikely as the
pace for new machines at the time suggested it's life was maybe five
years and that pace was accelerating. Was was missed was the persistance
of some applications programming languages. While the PDP-8 has been out
of production for over 15 years many are still in use. While Cobol has
dropped as a mainstream language for over 10 years the problems that
are now tried and proven persist. This is true for several other
languages and some operating systems as well.
So no, the year 2000 problem wasn't discovered, save maybe for the media
person to finally put into print what every programmer and systems person
already knew. "We didn't use enough bits and were running out".
Allison
In IBM's description of the PS/2 Model 70, the said that it ran
DOS 3.3 and higher, OS/2 1.0x and higher, and AIX PS/2. Does anyone
have possession/experience with the last item? I guess it's a form
of UNIX.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
got a card labeled SUPERTALKER II by mountain computer. i've heard of the
company, but not of the card. seems to be speech synthesis or similar. web
search on the company and the card brought up nothing. anyone have more info?
david
It occurs to me that, whilst we have heard several opinions about what to do
with old data, these posts are being achived! If someone who is thinking of
disposing of a machine sees that some on the list appear to have less
respect (IMHO) for the confidentiality of old data than others might this
not put them off giving a machine away.
FWIW I believe that we should make it clear on all 'collection associated'
web sites that any old data, whatever its nature, will be treated in the
strictest of confidence.
Regards
Pete
(Dons asbestos suit and runs for cover ;-)
Sounds like it is meant to go with early multisync monitors like NEC
Multisync I and II which have a 9 pin socket so in reality it is probably
just an EGA card.
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Christopher Finney <aaron(a)wfi-inc.com>
The little bit I could find on the video card claims that it uses a
multisync monitor. It has the two rca jacks and a db-9; how do I wire an
adapter for db-9 to hd-15?
The budding started tonight for a TRS-80 Model 3 network computer which
has the serial # of 0000510!! Check out this URL to get in on it if you
wish:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=10391298
Thanks,
CORD COSLOR
--
___________________________________________________
| Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\
| Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | |
|---------------------------------------------------| |
| http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | |
|---------------------------------------------------| |
| PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | |
|___________________________________________________| |
\____________________________________________________\|
Toshiba also has files listing specs of older machines, and a file that
lists prices of discontinued items. See:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/tais/csd/support/files/product.htm
P.S., the other page wasn't 100% complete (had the T5200 but not the
T5100) but still was pretty good. This one looks to have most (older)
models.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
[Autocad not requiring math coprocessor]
Well, version 12 for Dos, which is what I have, seems to require it.
It refuses to start up, quitting with "80x87 required, but not
present". Whoever said it doesn't, maybe you have a lower version.
If so, which and what's it like? I would certainly be interested in
an older version, such a 7 or 8.
______________________________________________________
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At 11:47 PM 4/3/98 -0600, you wrote:
>> >* I'll return or destroy any personal data I find on a machine I acquire.
>>
>> ...acquire, keeping it in the strictest confidence should I find it
>> necessary to view it.
>
>More like...if the person(s) that ditched the computer in whatever form
didn't
>feel the need to safeguard the information prior to release of their
>personal/corporate property, then it's of no reason to follow through with
any
>protection of data/software contained on the machine or disks. If you buy a
Except, that people may feel it's easier (and/or safer) to just destroy the
machine than it is to try and make sure no one can read their data. What
if some one told you, "yeah, I had one of those imsai computers, but I had
it smashed up to make sure no one could get at my old tax returns." Not a
pleasant thought.
I agree that people should be responsible for their own data, but I also
feel that we, as collectors, need to hold ourselves to a higher standard,
so that people will feel comfortable giving us their old machines.
Similarly, would you tell your analyst/doctor/lawyer as much as you do, if
you thought they might be telling everyone in the pub what you told them?
>camcorder at a consignment or pawn shop and the last owners left a tape of
>their after-hours playtime in the camcorder, is it my responsibility to
erase,
>safeguard or return it? I think not. I feel the same should apply to personal
It's your responsibility to post it on the internet! 8^)
Camcorders are reasonably well understood items; what if it were a digital
camera? Someone might decide not to pass it on if they thought they might
not have erased everything...
Most of the people here probably know how to wipe a hard drive so it can't
be read. (My best guess is a low-level format, then fill it with worthless
data? Good thing I have nothing to hide!) But the average AOL user
doesn't. When Grandpa passes on, you don't want the grandkids trashing all
his old computers because they don't know how to make sure that no one will
know about all the porno sites he visited on the web.
>Roger: Very nice page of your collection. A few more pics of each item and it
>should become a very informative source for those interested in the world of
>the obsolete (the computers, not you).
I tried to get pics of each side and any important features... You think
even more pics would be appropriate? Or do you mean pics of more computers?
P.S., for them what was interested, I'm still working (in my Copious Spare
Time) on documenting the programs I use to generate the pages. I'll post
when I get them finished and uploaded.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
Got this in the mail... Please respond to Ed at ed(a)estival.com...
>X-Persona: <Roger(a)Sinasohn.Com>
>X-Originating-IP: [32.100.144.158]
>From: "Ed Schreiber" <edschreiber(a)hotmail.com>
>To: roger(a)sinasohn.com
>Subject: Franklin computer available
>Date: Sun, 05 Apr 1998 20:34:11 PDT
>
>To computer museums and serious collectors:
>
>There is a Franklin 1000 computer available for donation (Apple II
>clone). Monitor, two floppy drives, all cables, some software, still
>works.
>
>If interested, please respond.
>
>Ed Schreiber
>http://estival.com
>ed(a)estival.com
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
<It's a Netronix 8085 SBC from around 1979 (I thought the 8085 came out a
<little later than that), with some sort of S-100 compatibility. He's
<faxing me a spec sheet tonight. I may pick this up if nobody else wants
<it, but I'll defer to somebody who's also interested in a (home made?)
<terminal and a small thermal (Telepar?) printer.
The 8085 is late '77 I built my Netronics8085 in mid '78. I used to
call on netronics. Mine is still in use as a Eprom programmer.
The system was motherboard based with bus expansion as S100. The CPU
was a 3mhz 8085. There was also a simple serial IO (bitbash) and casette
interface on the board along with an assortment of parallel IO. The base
board could be configured to take up to 8k of 2716 eprom (or 2116 2kx8
ram) and 4k of 2114 ram. The Northstar disk and PT-VDM1 worked very well
with it makes in very compact s100 system.
Allison
Tim Hotze scribbled...
>the old ISA cards I've collected, I just got an AWE 64, and my scanner and
>PCMCIA cards are ISA-based. So, is it possible to make a device that will
>make an ISA card fit into a PCI socket? Is anyone making them?
No one that I know of. In fact, I question that such a device is even
economically possible to the point that a company would want to try. The
architecture differences between PCI and ISA are enormous.
The only thing I can think of that -might- stand a chance of working is to
construct some sort of sub-board that the ISA card would plug into. Said
sub-board would contain the necessary circuitry to implement an ISA-to-PCI
bridge.
This means, at bare minimum, dealing with a 220-lead surface-mount PQFP
chip and its supporting components. That means lots of skill in engineering
such bridges, to say nothing of having access to schematic capture and PC
board layout tools that can handle advanced boards...
Well, you get the idea. I'm not going to say "it can't be done" because I
think it can. It's just that I have neither the skill nor the desire to
attempt it. ;-)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272)
(Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net)
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own
human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
Seriously look for a Weitek Math Co processor, especially if you've got lots
of RAM. They were 387-compatible FPU's that used some RAM to boost speed
dramatically. As a matter of fact, a Weitek might even be faster than a FPU
found on a Pentium or higher machine.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Peacock <peacock(a)simconv.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, April 06, 1998 9:34 PM
Subject: RE: Math coprocessors
>Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote:
>> Max Eskin wrote:
>> >
>> > I found a PS/2 Model 70 recently, which would normally have a 386,
>> > but the previous owner installed a Cyrix 486 upgrade chip. Does
>> > anyone know if I can use a 386 math coprocessor with this? I want
>> > to run AutoCAD.
>>
>> The i486 has a coprocessor built in, I assume that the Cyrix does
>> as well. Try the software. IIRC, AutoCAD doesn't _require_ a math
>> coprocessor, but one does help performance by an order or two of
>> magnitude on a 386.
>> --
>No, the Cyrix 486DL (I assume it is a DL or DR2 if it's in a 386
>motherboard) is not the same as an Intel 486. The Cyrix 486DL was an
>upgrade CPU for the 386 pinout, adding a 486 instruction set and 1K
>internal cache. The 486DR2 version was clock doubled. These CPUs do
>not have floating point. Generally an Intel 80387 did not work
>reliably, but the Cyrix 487 co-processor did. ULSI (and I think IIT)
>also made 487s. You can try the Intel 387, sometimes they ran ok,
>mostly it depended on the speed range used.
> Jack Peacock
Having recently discovered this list, I might have a chance at getting some
help for a long obsolete Radius product: the Radius Full Page Display for
the Mac SE. My late mother bought this a while back, attached to a Mac,
for her word processing/typesetting business. It has never worked, due to
the fact that the previous owner of the Mac SE formatted the hard disk
before handing it over to her. The drivers for the card _were_ on there,
but she used the machine for weeks before asking her sons why the big screen
initialized but never worked.
The external monitor comes up, displays a half-tone pattern, then goes
dark. I did manage to get _a_ driver for the card when Radius still had
it on their ftp site, but, alas, the ROMs are too old to work with that
version of the driver. At the time, my mother didn't want to spend $80
to get newer ROMs from Radius, and now, they aren't available.
So... what I could use is either a) an old version of the FPD SE disks
(c. 1987-1989) or b) FPD SE ROMs newer than version 4.1 (the ones that
are installed there now). Besides the version number, the ROMs have a
U number (U19 and U20) and a part number (297-132-D and 297-131-D) and
a size (256K). The date on the ROM labels is 1989. The date on the PCB
silkscreen is 1987.
Thanks for any help.
-ethan
P.S. - I can burn my own ROMs from images. They're just plain-old 27C256's.
