I saw this on comp.sys.apple2. Can anyone help? I don't think he is on the
list.
-- Kirk
-----Original Message-----
From: James <jmcp(a)pacbell.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Date: Sunday, March 01, 1998 2:10 PM
Subject: help: Apple][<==> PDP-8
>Hi.
>I would like to replace my near dead teletype (paper tape works, but the
>CR does not work properly) with either my //c or //e.
>I figure I could just use a serial port, but the PDP-8 (compatible) uses
>a teletype connector, and I don't know how to create a proper cable.
>Also, how would I get the PDP-8 programs from the paper tape reader on
>the teletype to the Apple ][?
>Has any one done something like this before? I have heard that people
>have done this with a PC. The PDP-8 news group appears dead, and I have
>not been able to find any web resources on this subject.
>
>You may ask "Why?"
>Well, I'm not really sure, but I sure do love watching all those pretty
>LED's flickering on the PDP-8 front panel! I also have loads of paper
>tape, and I want to know what it all does.
>
>Thanks for your help,
>James
>jmcp(a)pacbell.net
>
>
MAINFRAME HEWLETT PACKARD Model:64100A
THE 64100A IS THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF THE 64000 DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM, CONSISTS
OF CONSOLE WITH INTEGRAL 12" CRT, FULL ASCII KEYBOARD, RS-232 INTERFACE AND
SPACE FOR 10 OPTION CARDS. UNIT HAS 64941A OPTION CARD CONTROLLING 2 X 5"
FLOPPY DRIVES
This is available for CAN$45
Is this rare/desirable? I'm thinking of passing it up anyway, but just
curious.
A
>That particular unit (a CASIO) had a problem dividing by 0 - it
>tried to!! The display patiently counted from 0 up to... well I never saw
>it stop before the batteries gave out. I guess thats what started my prime
>interest in computers - the quirky and unusual.
>
My first calculator, a Sinclair Cambridge, did that as well. Perhaps
someone on the list could enlighten us as to whehter this was a common
weakness of early calculators, and possibly why those who wrote the code for
them allowed it to happen ;-)
My condensed bio:
I am 40 years old and live near Shrewsbury (UK), on the border between
England and Wales. I have had an interest in computers since 1985 when I
worked for the local council as a Meat Inspector. The Environmental Health
Department got their first computer and I wrote some applications for it and
then decided that I wanted to be a programmer for the rest of my life. I
have been to University 1 day per week for the last 5 years and gained a BSc
in Computer Studies last September. I am currently working (bored and
underpaid ;-() as a MIS programmer for a college of further education
producing reports in Access. Apart from collecting computers I enjoy
motorcycling and rock climbing.
My collection consists of:
1 MicroVAX II with a TK50, 4 RA81s and an RA82
3 Sun 386i, I working and 2 with dead/dying NVRAMs
1 Tulip PC Compact 2 - NEC V30, 40Mb hard disk
1 Sinclair Spectrum 48k
1 Sinclair Spectrum +2
1 Amstrad CPC464 with colour monitor
(and off topic)
1 486DX2 PC running linux 24/7 except when I have to reluctantly reboot into
Win95
1 Toshiba T3100SX portable with dead LCD display
Wish list:
The one I would really like is an ICL Quattro - The first machine I
programmed and administered. It was an 8086 based machine with 10Mb hard
drive and 1Mb RAM running CCP/M86 and capable of supporting 4 terminals each
of which could support 4 virtual terminals giving a theoretical total of 16
users. Not bad for an 8086 :-). The later 'go faster' version had a 286
processor.
Regards
Pete
>I'm kind of curious as to the demography of the Classic Computer
>Mailing List. What are people's backgrounds, what are they doing now,
>and so forth.
Hi,
I'm Hans Olminkhof, mid 40's, a mechanical engineer living in Sydney
Australia. Married, 3 kids. I don't have much to do with computers for a
living, building the occasional Lotus Notes database being about it.
I was originally exposed to computers as an undergraduate and remember
writing my first program on punchcards in Forgo, a students version of
Fortran2. It ran on an IBM 1620 or something at the University of Western
Australia where we could see in the next room a PDP6 in all it's blue glory.
Never got any closer to that though. The next year we were limited to remote
teletypes linked to the new computer, a Cyber72 which I never saw.
I had no contact with computers again until about 1986 when I finally found
something useful to do on them, Finite Element Analysis. (engineer stuff).
We bought a 286 for home about 1991 and spent $500 a year later get the 80Mb
hard drive in it fixed. Not long afterwards I figured out how easy it was to
do all that myself.
One day in about 1993, I said to someone in a shop what a museum piece the
IBM AT I was looking at was. Somehow the conversation got around to me never
having even seen the original IBM PC. Then came a trip to the back room to
see racks and racks of them. I walked away with one for $20, got to fiddling
with it and a few weeks later owned another dozen or so. They would have
been on their way to the tip otherwise.
I got very interested in the idea of keeping them alive and in the whole
idea of how quickly this technology was progressing and disappearing.
Anyway, now I've got a whole heap of old computers, maybe half of them
working, lots of old software to go with them, manuals etc. I spend a few
hours a weekend looking around for more.
The list includes:
IBM PC's, XT's, AT's, Portable PC's, Convertibles, Displaywriters
Compaq Portable's, Portable Plus's, Portable II's
Kaypro II's, and IV's
Various Apple II's and early Mac's
Atari 400's and an 800
Various Apricots
A heap of Sirius's (Victor 9000 in USA)
Decmate III's
Osborne 1's and Executives
DOT's
An original PET
A CBM3032 and the wreck of an 8032
A Compupro box
A Cromenco C10
Various BBC's
HP 85's, 71B's and a 110
An MAI 4105
Various Microbees
An NEC APC and a number of APC III's
NEC 8201, 8401, Tandy Model 100
Olivetti M21
Panasonic 840
Sharp PC 5000, 2 X 7000's, MZ811
Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum's
Epson HX20
Canon A200's
probably some I forgot, and some uniquely Australian machines,
a "Porchester Executive", a "PortaPak" and a Dick Smith "Mini Scamp" (a 1977
kit)
I've also got some PDP11 stuff coming when I organise a truck!
>> Far as I can tell one of the few active women in legacy(old machines are
>> us) computing. For me thse old system were the computer I couldn't
afford
>> when I was playing with them new.
>
>Well, unless someone else pops up, you're probably the ONLY woman into
>this sort of thing. You're like the Grace Hopper of vintage computer
>enthusiasts :)
What's a woman?
Can you program it? Does it have a nice chassis?
Is there somewhere to rest your beer while you're working on it?
:)
A
I forgot to mention one last thing I picked up today.
The CE-125 Printer and Microcassette Interface for a Sharp Pocket Computer
PC-1250. This basically adds a 20 column printer and micro-cassette to
the Sharp Pocket Computer. Basically makes the equivalent of a small
Epson HX-20 (almost). The Sharp would slide into this unit and you could
then carry the whole contraption around in a carrying case which came with
the interface. Very cool. Now all I need to find is a Sharp PC-1250. In
the box with all accessories and manuals, $15.
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!
<> Correction it's the BIG blue box. Mine is circa '76 or earlier and was
<> used by the DEC VT100(and others) development team.
<
<Hmm, the one I'm thinking of may be a later vintage. But if BIG means
<a cube about 3' on a side, then it may be the same.
The MDS800 was about 13" tall, 28" deep and 19" wide box and the 8" disk
box was another 8" or so tall. Nice multibus system. Most of the MDS
systems were nominal rack width. My favorite was the series 225 with the
integrated crt and seperate keyboard, did a lot of development time on
those. I wouldn't mind finding one.
<You've caught me with my hardware pants down. To my software eyes, they
<look like VME cards, but I know Intel doesn't do much VME stuff. They'r
<386-16 boards from circa 1987 (just slipped under the 10-year barrier).
Two bus edge connectors 12"wx6.5"? If so it's Multibus.
Myself I'd find a 80/10 or 80/20 or BLC80/204 for multibus more appealing
as I can use them.
Allison
<> 1 SB180 with SCSI adaptor and 20meg HD(also used frequently)
<
<BTW, what's this? Someone is going to sell me one and all I know is tha
<it runs CP/M.
SB180 Micromint (in CT), circa 1985 and featured in both BYTE September
and october 1985 (byte back issues is still available).
The SB180 is a 64180 (z180) with 32k Eprom, 256k of dram and floppy
controller for 8/5.35/3.5" drives on a really small card. Very low power
and runs CPM. There was a piggyback board that added a 300baud modem and
NCR 5380 scsi chip, mine only has the SCSI. Most were clocked at a cpu
speed of 6mhz but 9mhz was possible with a fast chip. Good little board.
I have mine stuffed into a old PS2/25 case using the 3.5" floppies (780k)
and a Xybec scsi controller that's twice the size of the sb180 card!
Allison
<I might as well get the ball rolling with an introduction of sorts.
Oh why not.
I'm older at 45 so, that means I have hands on time with new PDP-8Is and
KA/I/L-10s. I was in EEschool when the 8008 hit and I was already working
(to pay for school) with it soon after it was available at work. I've
done design with everything from DC to 1ghz RF analog and even a fair
amount of digital from transistors to asics. Likely one of the few that's
designed with tubes, transistors and ICs. Former companies I've worked
for Automated processes(maglink SMPTE timecodes), Tandy(trs80),
NEC(chips), Hazeltine(terminals), DEC(printing systems) and a few more
inbetween.
Far as I can tell one of the few active women in legacy(old machines are
us) computing. For me thse old system were the computer I couldn't afford
when I was playing with them new.
My collections includes:
4 operational s100 machines
Vector MX (vector box computime boards)
Northstar* horizon (actively used has HD)
Explorer-85
S-S100 (my design z80 supersystem) (active and archive system, big HD)
3 Vt180s (in use)
1 kaypro (in use)
1 Epson PX-8 with 120k wedge (my laptop)
1 amproLB+ with 45mb scsi drive (used often)
1 SB180 with SCSI adaptor and 20meg HD(also used frequently)
1 DECMATE-III runs OS/278
VAXEN: All operational ant netted via decnet/eithernet
1 MV-II ba23
1 MV-II ba123
3 VS2000 2 vms and one ultrix
1 Vaxstation3100-m76 VMS
PDP-11 systems: all operatonal
1 ba11n 11/23b (rx50)
1 ba11n 11/73 (rx33, rd52, RX02, RL02, TK50)
2 BA11va 11/23 (shoebox system with tu58 tape)
1 PDT11/130
1 Pro350 with venix
Misc SBCs: operational
IMSAI IMP-48 (8035 based SBC)
COSMAC ELF (base design)
national SC/MP Demo board
National TBX tinybasic chip on a board
Technico superstarter sytem (TI9900)
Misc 8085 boards used for random uses.
NEC TK-80 8080 system
DEC ADVICE microvax-II chip based sbc/ice
Intersil 6960 demo kit (pdp-8 cmos chip (6100) to make a minimal system)
Misc machines:
INTEL MDS-800 multibus 8080
TI99/4a with PEB, disk, mem exp, voice, disk software and 20+ carts.
Altair (retired)
PCs:
Leading Edge mod D (XT class) running dos
DTC turboXT slated for minix (running dos)
386dx/33 running linux
486dx2/50 running dos (this system)
My wish list includes:
more SBCs (mostly because they are fun and small)
PDP-8/e/f/m series (always wanted one since '69)
any pdp-10 ( I can wish!)
Intersil/harris 6100/6120 based systems
Allison
<From: Doug Yowza <yowza(a)yowza.com>
<> Misc machines:
<> INTEL MDS-800 multibus 8080
<
<Is this a blue box? I had a chance to get one once....
Correction it's the BIG blue box. Mine is circa '76 or earlier and was
used by the DEC VT100(and others) development team.
<That reminds me. I have two piSBC 386/116's that I have no plans to do
<anything with (I don't have a card cage for them). They are available a
<trading fodder for just about anything smaller than a breadbox.
What are they? Most of the SBCs I'm interested in are of the mid '70s
through mid 80s designs.
Allison
In a message dated 98-03-01 17:25:56 EST, you write:
<< It was thus said that the Great Seth J. Morabito once stated:
>
> I'm kind of curious as to the demography of the Classic Computer
> Mailing List. What are people's backgrounds, what are they doing now,
> and so forth. >>
My name's david, and i'm based in north carolina. I do level 2 technical
support for IBM's consumer line. I only started really collecting computers
about 3 years ago and am up to ~75 or so. It all started way back in 1984 in
high skool when i discovered the apple //e. I flunked computer science, but it
eventually worked out pretty well. I never did get my own computer until 1987
when i bought a second hand apple ][+ with no disk drive for $200. ( i still
have it) I've got quite a varied collection which includes apple // series,
68k compact macs, IBM, a microvax, xycom business cpm machine, osi, atari, TI,
heathkit,kaypro, tandy, and some others i cannot think of right now including
spare parts for the apples and xt era pc machines. most machines will be on a
website soon once i can get my mind back into it. my primary interest is early
pc era stuff from big blue, naturally, such as ps2 models, pcrt, and pcjr
types. i also have an extensive collection of nibble and compute! magazines
>from the 80s as well. It would be nice to find some old working minicomputer,
but for right now, it's just 80s micros, since that's what I grew up with.
david
Ok, it sounded stupid...I'm basically asking where there's a list of
these type message areas, such as the one we're reading right now. I
know about the Heath area and the Classic Computer area by word of
mouth, but is there a place to get an overall listing of all that a
person could subcribe to? Newsgroups are easy as they show with the
newsgroup reader in your browser.
Appreciate the time in responding to this or any of my messages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Russ Blakeman
RB Custom Services / Rt. 1 Box 62E / Harned, KY USA 40144
Phone: (502) 756-1749 / Data/Fax:(502) 756-6991
Email: rhblake(a)bbtel.com or rhblake(a)bigfoot.com
Website: http://members.tripod.com/~RHBLAKE/
* Parts/Service/Upgrades and more for MOST Computers*
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Marty,
I have one of the double-density models and can provide you with
copies of docs and some software. I have a bunch of application
software but it's in quad-density format for the Advantage and I
haven't bothered to transfer any of it to the Horizon.
The Horizon is a terrific, solid machine. The first serial port
is for the console and the second port is available for a printer,
etc. Both are easily reconfigured via the USER.ASM code (at least
my Lifeboat CP/M version). Two parallel ports are also available
on the motherboard.
I'm not sure if the Horizon bus is fully IEEE-696 compliant. Tim or
Allison?
BTW, California Digital (www.cadigital.com) sells hard-sectored
disks for around $10/box. They also have 8" SSDD floppies (ran
out of double-sided, unfortunately).
Regards,
Jason Brady jrbrady(a)mindspring.com Seattle, WA
I have a new, in the box, AST-5251/11 setup that allows a PC to
communicate with an IBM 34/36/38 mainframe (?). It includes a thick
manual, 5.25" and 8" floppies, twinaxial to adapter card cable w/tee,
and the adapter card for an ISA slot. Still with the original overbox
that shows all the features of this beauty.
The box states that the card is an 8 bit, DMA selectable for PC/XT/AT,
selectable interupt channel, on board high speed 8X305 processor,
5251-11/5291 or 5291-1 display terminal emulation, host addressable 5256
printer support on the PC's printer, concurrent host and PC sessions
with hot key assist, bidirectional file transfers, and more. This is the
enhanced version.
I have no use for this and many of you are into connection to mainframes
and minis, so make me an offer, whether it be cash or trade for PC
compatible items.
Email a reply direct to me, please.
Russ Blakeman
rhblake(a)bbtel.com
> Looser Attitude Readjustment Tool. LART. Usually a big stick, but
can be
>anything handy that can inflict pain and suffering upon loosers who
don't
>know a calculator from a computer and think Bill Gates is Good.
I would say the optimal is a PC clone case with Windows 95 cds glued
on. Anyway, what IS the difference between a computer and a calculator
(yeowch!)? I know the one between a Cray and TI-10 (4-function calc.),
but what about a 68k based TI-92 graphics, which a friend of mine is now
making a multitasking OS for? It has a full keyboard (half the area).
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
from: sethm(a)loomcom.com
<I'd really love to find a MicroPDP 11/23+, or possibly even just
<a regular PDP 11/23, with disks and an OS to play with. I do
<miss playing with octal!
They are common enough keep looking. Typically they will have RD52->54
disks (30-159mb), rx50 floppy and plenty of serial io. Boards are common
enough and generally free to cheap. if your real lucky you may find a
copy of RT-11 on the disk or with the machine. Docs are always handy.
<for nostalgia reasons having to do with school: I'd love to find a
<DECStation 5000/200 with Ultrix 4.3a. Those were are main campus UNIX
You might find a DECstation 3100 with ultix easier. Or a VS2000 or
Microvax-II with ultrix.
<Actually, I think that's about it for the "realistic" wishlist at the
<moment. Of course, I'd adore having a PDP8, 8/E, 8/I, or 8/M to play
<with, but space and power restrictions kind of prevent it at the moment.
<Ah, perhaps later.
Find a DECmate-II or III it's mostly PDP-8 and real small.
Allison
I just obtained a machine that has the same all-in-one look as a TRS-80
model 3 or 4 but the drives are located in an external box and has the
name Vector 3 on the front and the label on back states that it's made
by Vector Graphics, Inc. The external box has a 5.25" floppy and a 5.25"
hard drive in it and it has a monitor and keyboard in the main unit. I
haven't even powered it up yet so I don't even know if it works.
Anyone know of a museum/collection site with info on this, or have info
on it themselves? I'd like to see what it is before I decide to gut it
for the drives or keep ot for my oddities collection.
Any information of this machine is greatly appreciated.
Russ Blakeman
Harned, KY USA
I debated if I shouldn't just send this directly to you, seth, but
I decided that knowing where old computer providers and users are is
good for the whole list.
I am a high school student in Boston, MA (If anyone is familiar with
the Boston Latin School, that's it). I had a C-64, but fried it two
years ago. I now have a Mac Portable, Apple //c, 386 Clone, P*****m
clone, which is what I usually use.
I am interested in classic computers because they are cheap and easy
to understand. They usually have less bugs, and, most importantly,
they were made in an era when money wasn't all that counted as far
as computers went (everything else was long past that point).
I am also working on System/34 in my school's supply room. I will start
monday. C'est tout.
>Club, formed to prevent people from trashing all the PDP11's that were
>How about other folks? What kind of backgrounds and current
experiences
>do you all have? I'd love to hear about it.
>
>-Seth Morabito
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I acquired a Dragon 64 base unit today. Can anyone post the pinouts for
the power and video connectors?
--
Hans B. Pufal : <mailto:hansp@digiweb.com>
Comprehensive Computer Catalogue : <http://www.digiweb.com/~hansp/ccc/>
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