Yes, I'm back on JPS Internet! So far, so good. Still looking for a
replacement power supply OR maintenance print sets (read: schematics) for a
VaxSERVER 3100 (NOT A VAXSTATION -- VAXServer -- there is a difference) so
I can fix the power supply. Other than that, doing pretty good.
'The Traveling Technoid' will also be moving this month to its new home.
There may be a few days where it is inaccessible. I'll post the new
location here and on Infoseek.
Caveat emptor!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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..."
Can someone educate me as to how the 8800, the 8800A
and the 8800B differ?
I would really like to know about all the differences
in the three.
Thanks very much,
BOB
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Here's my contribution. I must confess to not having read all the
previous ones - traffic on the list has been somewhat high and my boss
has been making noises about my spending so much time reading it :-( I
suppose I'll have to get TCP/IP on my IBM 6150 ...
My name is Philip Belben and I'm an electrical engineer by trade. I
work for PowerGen, one of the electricity generating companies formed
when the UK split up its electricity industry in 1990. I'm 30 years old
(31 next week) and still single. I live alone in a 3-bedroom house full
of computers and other electronic junk, located at Coalville, England.
My introduction to computers was when my school got a Commodore PET in
1979. Suitable pestering of my parents meant that I received a
secondhand, 8K PET for my 13th birthday in 1980. I then caught the
computing bug - I forced the school to let me take exams in computer
science even though they had no-one to teach it.
After leaving school at 18 I did a year with IBM (Marketing - UGH!)
before going to university.
At university in 1987 I met Tony Duell, who had just founded the P850
User Group to preserve old computers. I caught the collecting bug at
about that time, and I now have around 60 of the things.
Old computers is just one hobby among many, though. I also write music;
I play the organ at my local church (yes I am a Christian), and also
sing and play Piano and Bassoon; I have recently taken up photography.
I would add that my computers aren't the only thing that's old - my
camera is a Yashicaflex 635 (late 1960s?) that I bought for 6 UK pounds
(just under $10) at a charity auction. My car is a 1971 Marcos Mantis -
a British kit car of which about 32 were made and 14 are believed to
survive - which I bought two years ago because I wanted something
sportier than my 1965 Ford Anglia (I shall always regret getting rid of
the Anglia). I also have a 1948 Fordson (= UK brand name for Ford
commercial vehicles until 1950s) truck, useful for carting computers
around. When I get the truck back on the road, I intend to join the
Classic Computer Rescue Squad.
Since this is not strictly on topic, I'd better not say any more!
Philip.
<I have a three board set of Q-bus cards plus the boot ROM for a uVAX II,
<dated from 1987, which supposedly turns a VAX server into a workstation f
<DECWindows. I think it was called the GPX II kit? Anyway, the boards wo
<and I have the keyboard, dove bar mouse and cable, but no monitor. I
<believe this board set could drive several types of workstation monitors
<and was programmed for monitor type thru some of the wires in the kbd/mou
I have no clue on the rom as the microvax-II already could run decwindows.
DECwindows is a device and services under VMS. I would not mess with that
rom unless you fully identfy it and its use.
The monitors conformed to the boards not the other way round the cable
carried keyboard data mouse and RGB video for the monitor.
monitors were vr260, 290, 320.
<too? Any specs on it? Will it work in a VAX 3600?
Yes.
<Also, what versions of VMS support the GPX board? Is it still current (V
<I have a VMS 5.5 set of tapes that came with the uVAX, from the old days
<when the VMS license stayed with the CPU and DEC didn't hit you up for
<license transfers.
Most all from v4.2 and later. V5.5 would work well. FYI there is a free
license available for hobby use to US decus members.
Allison
<Can someone educate me as to how the 8800, the 8800A
<and the 8800B differ?
<I would really like to know about all the differences
<in the three.
All three are 8080 and s100.
The 8800 and 8800a are esentially the same save for the A has most
of mods and improvements designed in. The number of mods are in the
dozens but include a powersupply large enough to be useful.
The 8800b is a radically redesigned front panel using proms and more
sequential logic rather that the flaky oneshots used in the earlier
version. There was a front pannel less version with a turnkey boot.
Track down the docs as it's far more to it than this outline.
Allison
On Mon, 2 Mar 1998, Russ Blakeman wrote:
> as the newest addition - a Vector 3 made by Vector Graphics Inc of California
> (I'm guessing by the 213 area code on the label). I also have older Tektronix
Russ, the Vector 3 was manufactured in Santa Barbara, California. Vector
Graphics is an interesting company, in that it was started by two
housewives in the late 70s. One of the ladies was Lore Harp. I forget
the name of the other.
I have two Vector 1's. There was also, of course, a Vector 2.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
FYI
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 05:26:24 -0500
From: shewless(a)bestweb.net
To: danjo(a)xnet.com
Subject: Wanting to sell...
I am wanting to sell a Color Computer 2. I have the basic unit, books to
it, the cassette player, the 5 1/4 floppy drive, the dot matrix printer and
all cables in great conditon. Please email me if you or anyone you know
would like to purchase it. Thanks, Ron Roberts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BC
<IIRC the Z-80 stacks the PC after the it's been incremented. So it fills
Correct, been looking at to much C code lately.
<were only 7 bits of video RAM on that machine, so 00 displayed as 40 =
<'@'). That was a standard diagnostic test I think.
Yes!
Allison
I just acquired (5 minutes ago) a DEC TU80 open reel tape drive, but no
docs. There is a 3rd party Q-bus card (Distributed Logic Corp) that came
with it, cables seem to line up. Does anyone know anything about this tape
drive, is it a 6250 bpi drive, can it work in a MicroVAX II or VAX 3600
Q-Bus, and is it supported under VMS 5,6, or 7? Is there some kind of SCSI
adapter so I could connect it to an NT machine or an Alpha?
A longtime customer just showed up at my door with it in his pickup, asked
if I wanted it. It's clean and he says it was pulled from a running system,
but no details. It's in a nice DEC rack, like the kind VAX 3600s came in.
Is it treasure or trash?
Jack Peacock
There's a chart at the bottom of the page at:
http://www.geocities.com/~compcloset/MITSAltair8800.htm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Wood [SMTP:altair8800@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 1998 6:13 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Altair 8800, 8800A, 8800B??
>
> Can someone educate me as to how the 8800, the 8800A
> and the 8800B differ?
> I would really like to know about all the differences
> in the three.
>
> Thanks very much,
>
> BOB
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I have a three board set of Q-bus cards plus the boot ROM for a uVAX II, all
dated from 1987, which supposedly turns a VAX server into a workstation for
DECWindows. I think it was called the GPX II kit? Anyway, the boards work,
and I have the keyboard, dove bar mouse and cable, but no monitor. I
believe this board set could drive several types of workstation monitors,
and was programmed for monitor type thru some of the wires in the kbd/mouse
cable. Does anyone know if it can run some PC type monitor? VGA, MDA, CGA,
multisynch VGA? I don't have any info on the connector pinouts, or the
types of monitors it supports. Is it mono only or does it support color
too? Any specs on it? Will it work in a VAX 3600?
Also, what versions of VMS support the GPX board? Is it still current (V7)?
I have a VMS 5.5 set of tapes that came with the uVAX, from the old days
when the VMS license stayed with the CPU and DEC didn't hit you up for
license transfers.
Thanx for any info you might have, Jack Peacock
Hi Sam,
Is this the circa 1980 Dos-ish machine from Canada? I'd be interested....is
it yours? I live just north of Orange County (Glendora) and I could go pick
it up.
Thanks,
Aaron
BTW, no pressure on that ATR8000, but did you trade it away? I'm only
asking again because there was a rumour of one on ebay that I'll bid on if
so....
At 09:34 AM 3/4/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
>Does anyone in Orange County, California want a Victor 9000?
>
>
>Sam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer,
Jackass
>
> Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
> See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
>
>
<> That's a very good point. A TI-85 is a 6 MHz Z80,
I wonder what the odds of finding a ti-85 are and cost? They are hackable
>from what I gather.
Allison
From: Tim Shoppa <shoppa(a)alph02.triumf.ca>
>> I just acquired (5 minutes ago) a DEC TU80 open reel tape drive, but no
>> docs. There is a 3rd party Q-bus card (Distributed Logic Corp) that came
>> with it, cables seem to line up. Does anyone know anything about this
tape
>> drive
>
>Sure - it's a rebadged CDC Keystone, Pertec formatted interface.
Is that the same interface as a TS05? I have a TSV05 Q-bus controller, same
dual 50 pin cables.
>>, can it work in a MicroVAX II or VAX 3600
>> Q-Bus
>
>Sure. Is the card a DQ132?
It's a DQ152, rev A, dual wide Q-bus card, with 2 50 pin ribbon connectors.
It uses an 8097 controller CPU (part of the MCS-96 family if I recall
correctly), 14.745Mhz xtal (an odd speed, something Pertec related?), a
couple gate arrays (Q-Bus and Pertec interfaces?), an EPROM, and a 2063 type
static RAM. Circuit board has a 1986 copyright date
>*Do not* plug the Dilog card into a Q-bus if the board number begins with
>DU. That would be a Bad Thing.
Customer doesn't have any Unibus machines, I thought of that
The board has one jumper block, I assume for the CSR address. It's a single
in-line 10 pin header, with pins 2 and 3 jumpered together. Might someone
have the settings for this? If not I'll try the VMS newsgroup.
Does anyone have an extra ISA or MCA SCSI card? I have a pair of
80MB macintosh hard drives that I want to use...
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
They are marked 2102A
Indeed... 8212
Eproms or PROMS? They're marked C1702A
Now is a good time to ask the list for advice on what to do BEFORE applying
any power to this machine. I consider this one quite historical, and don't
want to any damage. What are the things I should check?
Cheers
A
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Shoppa <shoppa(a)alph02.triumf.ca>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 05, 1998 4:08 AM
Subject: Re: Datanumerics DL8A is here! Have a peek @ ...
>> Datanumerics DL8A web page...
>> http://www.comcen.com.au/~adavie/weird/datanumerics.html
>
>Nice pictures. Are those white ceramic 2101's or 2102's in the back of
>the board? Are the 24-pin chips by the ribbon cable connectors Intel
>8212's, by any chance? And it's hard to tell from the pictures, but
>are the big chips near the RAM banks EPROM's or PROM's?
>
>A few people have remarked at the similarity of the front panel to the
>Altair, but that's hardly surprising: they're both just straightforward
>displays of the status signals available on the 8080A...
>
>Tim.
>
<garbage confined to the last two lines of the screen? (I'll have to go
<dig up my close-up screen shots photos). If so, this could mean a dead
<video ROM.
That would also be least likely as the device used is a mask programmed
component.
Sounds more like the cpu is starting up and then crashing either due to
soft bits in rom or more likely some dead ram(or the bus logic that)
connects the cpu to the ram and rom.
FYI: if the VDM1 (display board) is not accessed by the cpu or the cpu
runs amuck it's contents will be trash. If the cpu is getting nothing
or starts executing from a location where there is no memory the cpu
stacks itself to death and fills the screen (VDM1 is memory mapped).
The reason is an open bus (no memory addressed at all) = RST7 instruction
0ffh and it does a jump to 38h and starts executing from there and if
nothing answeres at that address the same thing repeats itself, each cycle
the return address is put on the stack and it fills memory with 00h, 38h.
Allison
On 1998-03-03 classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu said to lisard(a)zetnet.co.uk
:The PMOS one needs somewhat strange supplies (+5V and -7V from
:memory). I can probably find more data if you need it. I certainly
:have the SC/MP instruction set, etc.
we'd like that, please...
--
Communa (together) we remember... we'll see you falling
you know soft spoken changes nothing to sing within her...
From: Andrew Davie <adavie(a)mad.scientist.com>
>They are marked 2102A
>Indeed... 8212
>Eproms or PROMS? They're marked C1702A
>
>Now is a good time to ask the list for advice on what to do BEFORE applying
>any power to this machine. I consider this one quite historical, and don't
>want to any damage. What are the things I should check?
>
>Cheers
>A
>
2102s are 1Kbit x 1 static RAMS, the memory of choice in the 70's, power
hungry but easy to design with. An Intel 8212 is an 8 bit latch (should be
a 24 pin DIP), commonly used on 8080 boards to latch some control signals.
1702s are 256 x 8 (2Kbit) EPROMs, a real pain to program, that's probably
where your boot code is.
Jack Peacock
Thanks for the the glimmer of hope. Count me in for an order. Any
assistance Lee can offer would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to get
this Sol up and running in as original condition as possible.
Marty Mintzell
email: marty(a)itgonline.com
______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet
Date: 3/4/98 4:40 PM
At 13:14 3/4/98 -0500, Marty wrote:
> Thanks Sam. The video garbage is all over the screen, even overlaying
> the > prompt....Anyway, if roms go wrong
> is there a source for replacements (wishfull thinking)?
Not at present, but Lee Felsenstein and I keep talking about burning some
new ones if we find a fab that would do a short enough run. Lee says
they'd be less than $50 each.
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
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From: Kip Crosby <engine(a)chac.org>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
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Thanks for the response Jim. I'll check this out tonight and email
results tomorrow morning. I don't recall a pattern but will look for
that tonight.
Marty
______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet
Date: 3/4/98 2:56 PM
On Wed, 4 Mar 1998, Marty wrote:
> Thanks Sam. The video garbage is all over the screen, even overlaying
> the > prompt (I'll have to fire this up tonight to double-check as I
> haven't had at this machine for a few days). Anyway, if roms go wrong
> is there a source for replacements (wishfull thinking)?
Hmmm... gets me to thinking. Is there any pattern to this "garbage"?
(same characters repeated, etc.) The character display is read directly
out of the 1k of video ram (term used VERY loosely) in the system (static
ram, no refresh issues), and a bad RAM chip or dirty socket can often show
up like this.
This does assume that you are actually getting the SOLOS prompt (">"). If
what you are seeing on the display is a repeating pattern of a graphic and
a 9 (think that is close) which seems to flicker a bit, this would
indicate a problem with the 'Personality Module' or surrounding circuitry.
(ROM bad/missing, module bad/missing, etc...)
Also, is the image otherwise stable? (not rolling and such) If so, then
the bulk of the video sub-system is more or less ok.
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
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From: James Willing <jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
In-Reply-To: <1998Mar04.131410.1767.85773(a)smtp.itgonline.com>
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While my Telebit modem issue was resolved by several nice
classiccomp mail list subscribers, here is the responce I recieved
>from the original manufacturers (actually, the new owners of the
original manufacturers). I have to say, here's how to build brand
loyalty....
--jmg
------- Start of forwarded message -------
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 18:15:23 +0100
From: Christoph Meyer <cerm(a)router.de>
To: maynard(a)jmg.com
Subject: Re: Telebit Zoom FAXModem
Sorry,
we don't support Telebit equipment any longer.
cerm
- --
TLK Kommunikationssysteme GmbH (http://www.router.de)
Christoph Meyer (mailto:cerm@router.de)
Geiststr. 68
48151 Muenster
Germany
Tel: +251/97 256 70
Fax: +251/97 256 79
------- End of forwarded message -------
Damn!
Thanks Sam. The video garbage is all over the screen, even overlaying
the > prompt (I'll have to fire this up tonight to double-check as I
haven't had at this machine for a few days). Anyway, if roms go wrong
is there a source for replacements (wishfull thinking)?
Marty
______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet
Date: 3/4/98 12:39 PM
On Wed, 4 Mar 1998, Marty wrote:
> I've got the Sol-20 up where I can see the monitor prompt '>' but
> there is garbage on the screen which I have yet been able to get rid
> of and attempts to load off a cpm diskette (that came with this
> package) have failed thus far.
This sounds suspiciously similar to what the screen looked like when
Felsenstein & Marsh fired up the Sol-20 prototype at VCF 1.0. Is the
garbage confined to the last two lines of the screen? (I'll have to go
dig up my close-up screen shots photos). If so, this could mean a dead
video ROM.
Sam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer,
Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
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From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Helios II disk drive - Sol-20
In-Reply-To: <1998Mar04.084954.1767.85660(a)smtp.itgonline.com>
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-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com>
>It seems that a lot of you blokes down under have Sorcerers. Were they
>marketed a lot more "down there" than they were in the US? They are not
>very common over here.
>
>Sam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
The Sorcerer was marketed in Australia by a nationwide group called "Dick
Smith Electronics" which was a pioneer in the home computer market here in
many ways. They also sold a TRS80 Model 1 clone called "Dick Smith System
80", the "Dick Smith VZ300" (and others in its family I think), and the
"Dick Smith Wizard". The latter is a strange machine in which the two
paddles, when placed in their slots in the console, make up the two halves
of a QWERTY membrane keyboard, with games providing slide-on overlays for
the paddles such that the game controls activate the membrane keys
underneath. I am not sure if these (other than the Sorcerer) were just
re-badged models from overseas, or commisioned by "tricky dick" (he
advertised a lot, became very rich, then became a sort of Richard Branson
adventurer and philanthropist, and he is actually now head of our civil
aviation authority, and some now want him as the first President of
Australia if we ever become a republic!)
I have here a data sheet for the Sorcerer from 1979 or 1980 in which the 8K
machine cost $A1295 and the 16K cost $1395. The only extras advertised then
were a cassette recorder for $A35 and the monitor for $A150.
>from Brisbane, Australia
Phil Guerney
