When you do a dir C: can you read what was originally on the hdd prior
to the upgrade attempt? If so, try booting with a DOS 5.0 boot
diskette which contains sys.com in A:, then copy command.com to C:
and do a SYS C: from A: as well. This might get this system bootable
again. On the other hand, if you can access your original data, now
would be a good time to back it up. Good Luck.
Marty Mintzell
We just gave a teacher a Magnavox Headstart 486SX PC. It has a large
yellow sticker on the back that reads "DO NOT FORMAT THE HARDDISK". So
what do you think he did? :-) Tried upgrading DOS. (5.0 > 6.2)
Dos says, "Wanna format the harddisk?" User says "OK, Whatever..."
Now we have a dead PC. It will boot off the floppy, it will do dir C:, but
it refuses to boot from the harddisk. I'm thinking they hid something
proprietary in the bootsector. Anyone else know anything? We have no docs
for it, but there's another PC like it in the building somewhere, I have to
go find it... Would it fix my problem if I were to get the partition
table off the other (good) machine and write it to this one, would that fix it?
We already laplinked it to another Magnavox Headstart and tried transferring
everything back, that finished OK but still won't boot. I'm getting ready to
hand the guy a bootdisk and say "Here, you have to boot from that..."
-------
Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com> wrote:
> The Grappler was without RAM buffer. The Grappler+ had the 64K RAM. I
> should know...Power Demon I (my souped-up //e with 3.3Mhz accelerator, 1MB
> RAM, 20MB HD...) had one.
The Grappler/Grappler+ thing came to mind, but I came across a
Grappler+ a couple of months ago, had the presence of mind to note it
as such in my inventory, and don't remember there being any obvious
RAM on it. That probably says more about my memory than about any on
the card though, and I can't remember whether the Grappler I had in my
old ][+ was a + or not, just that it didn't have RAM. Whatever it is,
it's a parallel printer interface.
> > > > CableTV kludge to a "SUP 'R' MOD CH.33 TV Interface Unit ??
> But there was a necessity for Apple to ship one with every Apple ][ as
> Kip's message alluded to. Right around the time was when the FCC started
> laying down the law with regards to computer emissions. I'll have to
> look-up the specific why's but I know that's the basic gist of it.
Huh? The necessity was that there be some way to hook a ][ up to a TV
set, because not having to buy a monitor kept the overall cost of the
][ down for the many people who were willing to do that. But
designing an RF modulator in meant more work, time, money (and hence a
later, more expensive product) to get the sort of FCC certification
required for devices that are expected to produce RF.
Read what Kip wrote again:
K>The Sup'r Mod was the RF demodulator that one of the Steves talked Marty
K>Spergel into making as a third-party product, because then the Apple II
K>could be marketed under a much less stringent FCC restriction. As you might
K>imagine, Marty got passably rich.
What Apple did was to get someone else to make and sell the RF
modulator. They didn't make it, they didn't sell it, and the ][
worked fine without it (using a monitor with composite video input) so
when they went for FCC type acceptance they didn't have to include it.
Of course, something needed to happen to make sure that all those
prospective ][ buyers knew what they needed to get to hook the ][ up
to the TV, and that it was readily available to them. Kip? Care to
shed any light on how this was accomplished?
Anyway, I installed a brand-new Sup'R'Mod in my then brand-new ][+
before I turned it on for the first time, and I expect I wasn't the
only one who did, so you can't take the presence of a Sup'R'Mod as an
indication that what's in front of you is a ][ as opposed to a ][+.
-Frank McConnell
I am in search of BYTE Magazine from Issue #1 until December 1977.
Does anyone know where I might find these for sale and what a
reasonable price would be to pay?
Thanks-
Marty Mintzell
email: marty(a)itgonline.com
I just got a CMS SCSI card for my Apple // computer, but it came without a
manual. Does anyone have info on the jumper settings?
TIA!
-------------------------------------------------
Rich Cini/WUGNET
<nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> (remove nospam_ to use)
- ClubWin Charter Member (6)
- MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> wrote:
>>OK, let's say I pull an old PC and some boxes out of a dumpster, and
>>there's a set of original AutoCAD Release 9 disks. By your rule, how
>>can I tell if I own a legit copy or not?
>
> Real simple. It they're original disks then it's a legit copy! Doesn't
>matter if it came from a dumpster or not.
No, it's not necessarily a legit copy. Autodesk sold one license
of the software, not one for each upgrade. You can't give away your
old disks if you upgrade. Licenses do not multiply when you upgrade.
>But unless you specificly agreed to that BEFORE you bought the software
>they can't hold you to it. The shrink-wrapped "agreements" are completely
>worthless. The US federal courts have made that ruling several times.
Leaving aside your quick dismissal of swaths of software precedent,
how exactly do you define "separate, licensed copies of software"?
Your "disk equals license" rule seems far too wishy-washy to me.
What's special about a disk? Are you saying that every copy a
company sends you is a separate "copy" that can be given away?
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
> Or maybe a moth.
> One of my favourite pictures - but is this a myth as WELL as a moth?
> http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~csclub/museum/items/first_bug.html
> Can anyone confirm this is the origin of the term "bug"?
> Its a nice site for Classic computer collectors, anyway.
A few years ago someone wrote a letter to the editor of Scientific
American about this moth. The letter quoted a letter from Thomas Edison
which uses "bug" in this way and explains the term.
The moth can at most claim to be the first time a bug was caused by a
_real_ bug.
Roger Ivie
ivie(a)cc.usu.edu
Sorry David, it's taken. It took about 5 minutes....
Cheers,
Aaron
At 10:56 AM 2/11/98 EST, you wrote:
>yes! i need one! glad to pay shipping to nc. is it available?
>
>david
>
>
>In a message dated 98-02-10 15:25:34 EST, you write:
>
><< Does anyone need a Mac mono monitor? Model number MO400, circa 1987. Best
> offer takes it, no matter how pathetic. Recipient either pays shipping or
> picks it up in the LA area (it's not heavy at all, I can't imagine that ups
> ground would be more than a few bucks on this thing). >>
>
>
I added another 50+ volumes to the Vintage Computer Library today. A very
ecclectic bunch of books, manuals, leaflets (no I didn't count the
leaflets). I love collecting the books because in the dry times where I
don't find much hardware they still can give that "what a find!" thrill,
especially when you find a book from the 60's (or sometimes even the
50's!) on data processing or computer science with lots of nice pictures
of old data processing gear.
However, today's quick trip to the thrift store produced a very cool piece
of hardware. I found a California Access "Bodega Bay". It's an Amiga 500
expansion chassis! First of all, Bodega Bay is a cute play on words,
since that is also the name of a northern California coastal town, perhaps
where this particular piece of hardware was manufactured. I remember last
year picking up a California Access 3.5" floppy drive with a DB-25
connector, and now I know what it went to!
The chassis is a desktop PC sized case. Inside there is a passive
backplane with several slots. There are two cards occupying two of the
slots. One is a memory board and the other is a hard disk controller. The
chassis also houses an ST-225 hard drive. The 3.5" floppy was removed
>from the A500 and re-installed inside the chassis. What is very
interesting about the backplane is that it also seems to have 4 PC-style
16-bit slots. I only had an 8-bit card handy to try out but it fit
perfectly in the "8-bit" portion of the slot. I am almost sure this unit
could allow one to use IBM compatible hardware. Am I wrong about this?
The passive backplane extends into a protrusion coming out the front of
the chassis and plugs into the side expansion slot of the A500, which
connects neatly to the chassis to form one unified computer system.
Does anyone have any solid technical information on this? Unfortunately
in all the books and manuals I brought home not one was for this thing.
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!
I'm sure someone in the Toronto area would like to help Ennio out. Please
respond directly to ennio.cellucci(a)Canada.Sun.COM in you're interested.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)wco.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0!
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 10:14:33 -0500
From: ENNIO CELLUCCI <ennio.cellucci(a)Canada.Sun.COM>
To: vcf(a)siconic.com
Subject: TRS 80 model II
Hi,
I was hoping you could help me. I have an old TRS 80 model II I just
don't have room for anymore. It comes with three BIG hard drives
(physical size rather than storage capacity). Would you happen to know
anyone in the Toronto area willing to give it a home?
Thanks...Ennio
yes! i need one! glad to pay shipping to nc. is it available?
david
In a message dated 98-02-10 15:25:34 EST, you write:
<< Does anyone need a Mac mono monitor? Model number MO400, circa 1987. Best
offer takes it, no matter how pathetic. Recipient either pays shipping or
picks it up in the LA area (it's not heavy at all, I can't imagine that ups
ground would be more than a few bucks on this thing). >>
Or maybe a moth.
One of my favourite pictures - but is this a myth as WELL as a moth?
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~csclub/museum/items/first_bug.html
Can anyone confirm this is the origin of the term "bug"?
Its a nice site for Classic computer collectors, anyway.
Cheers
Andrew
At 09:35 AM 2/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Yes, indeed the term "bug" is older than th earliest electrical computer.
>As eveidence, one could check out some of the 1930s issues of QST (a
>hamradio magazine), and the term shows up. If I could dig them out, I
>could give you exact dates.
I seem to remember a certain species of cockroach that was quite fond of
wire insulation...
- John Higginbotham
- limbo.netpath.net
Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> wrote:
>If you have the original disk then that is normally considered proof
>that you have a legal copy of the software.
...
> You're trying to read too much into this. I never said the having one
>copy of disks allowed you to have all the upgrades or newer versions. If
>you have a set of original disks for XYZ v 1.0, then that is generally
>considered proof of ownership of XYZ v 1.0 PERIOD.
OK, let's say I pull an old PC and some boxes out of a dumpster, and
there's a set of original AutoCAD Release 9 disks. By your rule, how
can I tell if I own a legit copy or not?
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Is there a command to make TOPS-20 kill something from the mail queue BEFORE
it gets sent? That's really aggrivating(sp?) when you see so(a)and.so#Internet -- Queued and you realize that's NOT the intended reciever, and it sits in the
queue for awhile before getting sent, and theoretically you COULD stop it but
I can't figure out how...
Go ahead and (all but Sam) disregard that!
-------
>
>That depends on the terms of the license. A few years ago when I took
>up an offer from Borland to upgrade Turbo C from version 1.5 to 2.0 I
>asked them if I could sell on the old disks and manuals legally and they
>said that they fully supported that course of action because it
>increased their user base.
>
Now that would be just too logical, cut out this heresy. Next thing you know
MS and Netscape will get along and PC's and Mac's will be compatible.
-- Kirk
<I saw what was supposed to be the first Bug at the Smithsonian last week
<It was indeed a Moth and it was taped to a computer log sheet.
<
<George
The machine was one of the early relay based machines where a "bug" in the
contacts would indeed mess up execution.
The programmer was Grace Hopper (later to become Admiral).
Allison
Personal point of view:
<I always thought it was a desire and knowledge (and making use of same)
I always thought it was a desire to _attain_ knowledge and apply it.
^^^^^^
Allison
I picked up a nice example of an old GRiD Compass 1100, the first, most
rugged, and most beautifully rendered clamshell design laptop (1982). For
the most part, it works great. But it won't boot. It wants to boot from
it's internal bubble memory, a set of three Intel Magnetics 7110s. I
queried MemTech, the company that acquired Intel Magnetics, and they'd
like $400 a bubble to replace them, or, for $150, they'll try to "reseed"
mine and fix the "bootloop".
I'm not bubble savvy, and I would like to see this Compass live again.
Any suggestions on how I can boot my bubbles? Are there any other 1100
owners out there that have a spare boot bubble bobbing about (sorry, it's
late).
Thanks,
Doug
Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Lawrence Walker wrote:
> > Grapple+ Printer Interface......... Serial, Parallel ??
>
> A very nice parallel printer interface with a 64K buffer.
Um, maybe. I'm pretty sure I remember the Grappler+ printer
interfaces (like the ones I have) being parallel printer interfaces
with no RAM buffer.
> > CableTV kludge to a "SUP 'R' MOD CH.33 TV Interface Unit ??
>
> This enabled Apple to comply the FCC requirements for a Class ? computing
> device. This means you did in fact get an Apple ][ and not a ][+. Very
> nice find, especially for a thrift store.
No, it doesn't mean that. The Sup'R'Mod was sold separately, there
was nothing to stop you putting one in a ][+, and there was no less
reason to do so because the ][+ didn't have any more of an RF
modulator in it than the ][.
-Frank McConnell
>>OK, let's say I pull an old PC and some boxes out of a dumpster, and
>>there's a set of original AutoCAD Release 9 disks. By your rule, how
>>can I tell if I own a legit copy or not?
>
> Real simple. It they're original disks then it's a legit copy! Doesn't
>matter if it came from a dumpster or not.
>
Though some software manufactures would like you to officially transfer the
license to a new party. It's usually buried in the fine print of the
software agreement.
-- Kirk
< Actually, if they are an earlier version and the software has been
<upgraded they should stay with the upgrade disk(s) and computer. If the
<owner throws them out, he no longer has a legit software package.
For example with VMS there are two types of kits, install and patch.
An install is complete and installs the current version of which you must
have a valid license key for. A patch kit is only those pieces upgraded
and is tied to a specific version or set or sequential versions. So if
some one tosses their V5.4 kit and installed 5.6 or 6.1 those are seperate
kits. If they went from 5.4-4c to 5.4-5h then it was patched. The first
case where the revlevel changes there is a seperate key(a license). So if
you cound a kit for 4.7 in the can it is a distinct copy however without
the key it would run only in minimal standalone mode(limited usefulness)
and only adaquately so for the purposes of installation and key
validation. Keys are either yours (legal) or obtained by other means.
Allison
From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com>
Subject: More books added to the library
>One finds the best stuff at thrift stores. Check out what I found today:
>The Anatomy of the 1541 Disk Drive
>By Abacus Software, 1984
>ISBN: 0-916439-01-1
>It contains a full description of the file system, the file structure, the
>file commands, and also has a full 6502 assembler listing for the drive's
>ROM! Very cool. This book apparently also came with a "Test/Demo" disk
>but the programs are printed in the book so they can be duplicated. What
>a treasure.
If I recall correctly the book also describes tha basics of coding
your own fast drive access routines (fast loader, etc.) which is mighty
handy.
001010100101110100100011010110100011100101001000010100010111001001010000
Somewhat Classic Computer related was my acquisition of a Color
QuickCam for my Mac, I know it isn't even near 10 years old but it is
worthy to mention for its almost instant imaging capabilities... The
thing has a range of 1" to infinity (you can zoom in on the numbers
printed on tops of chips and have them readable!) So now I have to
clear the piles of papers away from a corner so I can use the cam to do
shots of some of my equipment (like a better picture of the P-500, etc.)
To give you an idea of the detail I am extolling, check out this pic I
put on-line for you to see for yourself:
http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/CLOSEUP.JPG
The pictue is of a 12/24 edge connector (.156" spacing), a Commodore
monitor connector and the top of a 6510 microprocessor DIP chip. (best I
could do in a couple minutes of scrounging.
Note this is 'medium size' and the resolution can go up to 640x400.
The real bummer to it is I don't think I can get it to work on my
Commodores,also it's leash (interface cable) is 6'long... :/
Larry Anderson
--
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/
Call our Commodore 64 BBS (Silicon Realms 300-2400 baud) at: (209)
754-1363
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
I just picked up an 8088-based NEC, which reports a bad HDD, but has a 720K
Floppy.
manney(a)nwohio.com
> Does anyone have any portable computers that are 15lb or less that
> they could give or sell to me? This includes Z88, Intel stuff, etc.
> Not the Mac Portable, since I have that. Preferrably, I would like
> something that could run without being plugged in (having replaced
> the battery :). Anyone have an IBM Convertible?
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
