<Are you saying that, 10 years ago, the military had machines that could car
<out calculations with the speed of a Pentium II -300? (I hesitate to mentio
<the Alpha 5-433, because I think the alpha project was originally funded b
<the military)
No! the military had the best available technology of the time and only for
applications that needed it. However P-II or alpha level perfomance was
hard to come by ten years ago as that was your BIG cray and CDC type
machines. Actually much of military technology was super rugged and not
always the most modern. The computer(s) for F16 fly by wire are not very
exotic save for they are absolutely fault tolerent, after all an error
there can kill the pilot and destroy the aircraft at the maximum or cause a
mission abort at the minimum.
I say this as in the 71-72 time frame I had a friend that was a computer
hacker and was able to get the then surplus Minuteman missle computers.
Compared to the PDP-8I we both knew it was terrible! All transistor, no
core (it used a 65kw disk for all storage). It was a major programming
challenge to make it do anything even though it was in pristine condition.
My understanding is a similar computer was used in the Intruder
fighter/bomber which was then the current military inventory.
Allison
Alpha was not funded by military or even military business which formed only
a small part of total DIGITAL bisiness. Alpha was DEC trying to figure what
they could do to out VAX their VAX. The basic design had to address three
problems, bigger numbers, super huge memories and indexes than might fit in
32bits and a need for more speed than even the most scaled and piplined vax
could deliver.
If anyone lives in the northern N.J. area and can help this person
out, please contact him and copy me.
> >I have a number of 5.25 disks that were created on a Franklin. They
> >contain the memoirs of my late Uncle. The computer is no longer
> >available. How can I access the information on these disks?
>>I live in Wyckoff, NJ (Bergen County -about 15 miles from NY). I have
>>not a clue what type of software was used. Can they be converted to
>>Word, Wordperfect, or Prowrite?
The subject of his message was ACE 2200. I have a working ACE 2200,
and ACE Writer software, but I prefer not to have him risk his disks
in the mail ("the truth and the first Altair are still out there").
This is one of the reasons I collect computers. Again if you can help
him copy me too.
The address is David Merdler <saxon12(a)bellatlantic.net>
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
Attend the First Annual Vintage Computer Festival
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
=========================================
In a message dated 97-11-05 11:54:09 EST, you write:
<< Speaking of reference manuals, does anyone have any information / insights
into a Visual Technologies Commuter? Manf in 1984, it uses two Intel chips
(8086 and 8088) with a plethora of RAM chips not to mention at least four
program subroutines. The manufacturer seems to have disowned this
particular
unit since two people in their tech department have not heard of it.
Thanks in advance
Sam >>
I wonder how many non - PC compatibles have used Intel 8088 or 8086 chips. I
have heard of a machine called an "ACT Apricot", which is said to have had
voice recognition and a GUI. Could someone tell me about it and others? My
reasoning is that there are lots of neat things that could be done on an
8088, but not with a DOS system.
I have the Commodore 64C manuals, and some disks. I also have the Commodore 64
Programmers' guide. I could probably get some manuals and disks for an Apple
II, as well. I am not in the habit of shipping, though.
__________________________________________________________
Original Message:
Hi,
I am a collector and classic enthusiast. I'm looking for copies of the
original operating manuals for the following computers:
Amiga 1000
Apple ][ plus
Apple //e
Apple //e Platinum
Commodore 64
Apple DuoDisk
Apple Disk II
I also need original boot and os disks for these computers. If you have
such materials, and they are in good-excellent condition, please email me
at:
mark(a)cyberlightstudios.com, and we can work out a price. I'd be very
anxious to obtain these documents, particularly the Apple specific manuals.
Thanks again,
Mark
At 12:40 11/6/97 -0800, you wrote:
>....all sorts of lusers will start crawling out and insisting
>they *need* a Nova, price is no object, just like happened with my
>Altair's, IMSAI's, and Apple I's.
Apple I's, like, _plural_??
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
Does anyone have any systems that they could sell me? Anything... all I've
got is an XT that dosn't work.
----------
From: Tim Shoppa <shoppa(a)alph02.triumf.ca>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Classic Computer Rescue Squad
Date: Thursday, November 06, 1997 8:45 PM
> > After signing up for the Classic Computer Rescue Squad, I started
> > thinking, if a big old machine actually needed a rescue, what
> > would we do? I mean, maybe we should collect info on how big
> > these old things are, in terms of floor-space, tonnage, time to
> > dismantle, and so on.
My recommendation is to get a truck with a lift-gate, especially if
you don't have real loading docks at each end of the journey. A
substantial amount of time and effort is saved if you can simply
move entire racks onto the truck rather than having to unwire all
the boxes and remove them from each rack. A liftgate that can handle
the two- or three-bay racks is even better.
I've made many rescues without liftgates, and usually I regret
it! Moving 5000+ lbs of stuff with only a heavy-duty applicance
dolly and a ramp wears you out quite quickly!
Tim. (shoppa(a)triumf.ca)
> From: Bill Yakowenko <yakowenk(a)cs.unc.edu>
>...
> After signing up for the Classic Computer Rescue Squad, I started
> thinking, if a big old machine actually needed a rescue, what
> would we do? I mean, maybe we should collect info on how big
> these old things are, in terms of floor-space, tonnage, time to
> dismantle, and so on. Then, when a rescue call comes in, we
> could maybe decide if we can feasibly deal with it, and if anyone
> actually wants the thing. If only three guys show up to dismantle
> 200 tons of vacuum tubes, it isn't gonna happen on-schedule. And
> it's one thing to keep a mini in a corner, but not all of us can
> arrange space for, say, a 360. So there are legitimate (if sad)
> reasons that we might have to pass up a find.
There are a small number of serious collectors and at least one museum
who will make space for a big machine, depending on what it is. Any
vacuum tube machine and most discrete transistor machines are a
no-brainer, someone will want them. They are extremely rare and will in
essentially all cases have been dismantled already. More recent machines
may or may not be worth saving. In all cases with a big installation
make sure there will be a home for it before carrying through with a
rescue.
Except for a few enormous installations like SAGE or Harvest, all gone
now, a large mainframe will consist of (or can be taken apart into) no
more than 10 large units each of which should fit in a medium size
freight elevator. (Cray's are an exception, the CPU won't come apart.)
There will also be a larger number of smaller peripherals such as disk
drives, tape drives, console, printer, maybe card machines.
One or two people can disassemble and pack a modern (e.g. IBM 370
series) air cooled mainframe in one (long) day. Other cases could take
longer but generally not more than a week. More people is not
necessarily a good thing. Some machines will benefit from specialized
help from the manufacturer or a rigger or specialty moving crew.
Always save all the documentation and software you can get.
Paul
At 17:44 11/5/97 -0800, you wrote:
>Bill Yakowenko wrote:
>> Hey all. I think its about time I de-lurk and introduce myself.
>>....
>> We had a couple SwTPC 6800 systems in my high school way back when,
>> and I'd love to see one again (or own one!).
>
>Hi Bill, welcome to the list! BTW, what is SSB stuff? I think of SSB as
>Single-Side Band....
Smoke Signal Broadcasting, SS50-bus micros -- SS50 was like oversize Molex.
I also wanted to say that, Bill, that was very elegant of you; I can't
remember having seen a properly executed <delurk> in years. The Net today
has no time for the little graces.
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
Hello to all
Had a pretty slow week last week only a few finds will later in week. Today
I got a box load of SYM-1's somewere betweeen 15 and 20 of them. I still
have not unpacked all the goodies I got today. After I count them and look
them over I will offer them for trade or sale. I also got something called
a IVS TRUMPCARD 500 by Interactive Video System and have no idea what it is,
any help out there ? A copy of Disk Manager MAC in the box with manuals for
.07. Apple Writer II model M6000 for $5.35. Also a Shimndru RPR-G1 GC
Processor whatever that is, anyone ?? A HP model 2D-2 & 2D-3 Series X-Y
recorder service & operating manual. Over at the goodwill a Apple Scanner
flatbed model A9M0337 for $45. A Zenith Supersports 286 laptop for $5 and a
AMIGA 520 for .25. Well that's all for now have tons of things to test out
and will list later. Oh yes found a Next Cube today but the guy pulled it,
he had two of them with KB, Mono monitors and mice complete units were $20.
I will be going back next week to see if he will let them go. John Keep
Computing !!!
----------
From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Sorry, I need to get this to PG Manney, there was
Date: Sunday, November 02, 1997 7:56 AM
>> I'm new at collecting classics. What is a VIC-20?
>
>The VIC-20 was Commodore's first computer...2K of RAM (I think), did
sounds
>and color TV screen stuff.
>The VIC-20 was my only
>computer from '82-'86 unfortunatly I gave it away in '90, and I finally
got
>one to replace it today!
Congradulations on getting your VIC-20, and I would like to know about it's
specs.
>I believe TV's in Bahrain are PAL instead of NTSC, or maybe I'm thinking
of
the United Arab Emirates.
Yes, here in Bahrain they are PAL, but I'm an American, born and bred, and
I'm only living here for a few years, so it's a multisystem, so it can do
NTSC, PAL or any other major standard. They're PAL pretty much everywhere
>from the UK to China, then in Japan, it goes back to NTSC.
Thanks,
Tim D. Hotze
I came across your email address when I was trying to find some
information on pong. I was actually looking for what a current price
maybe if you wanted to sell an Atari Pong home game. If you know where
I may be able to find this informatin or you know it yourself, I would
be very appreciative if you could share it with me.
Thanks
Kristi
Hi,
I am a collector and classic enthusiast. I'm looking for copies of the
original operating manuals for the following computers:
Amiga 1000
Apple ][ plus
Apple //e
Apple //e Platinum
Commodore 64
Apple DuoDisk
Apple Disk II
I also need original boot and os disks for these computers. If you have
such materials, and they are in good-excellent condition, please email me
at:
mark(a)cyberlightstudios.com, and we can work out a price. I'd be very
anxious to obtain these documents, particularly the Apple specific manuals.
Thanks again,
Mark
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first---Invent the
Universe
---Dr. Carl E. Sagan
At 03:25 PM 11/5/97 -0500, SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com wrote:
>some guy i bought a mac video card from said he had something called an
>apollo workstation. he said it was a 68020/68030 with a 19 inch monitor, can
>run *nix, and would only want ~$50 for it. anyone heard of this machine or
Apollo made workstations similar to (in the eyes of an HP3000 guy) Sun
workstations. They were bought by HP. They run X-windows, an adequate
terminal emulator, and Mosaic. (I used one briefly during a stint at HP.)
They might have Unix underneath, but I couldn't figure out how to do
anything except connect to the 3000 and run Mosaic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)ricochet.net that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
In a message dated 97-11-05 00:04:30 EST, you write:
<< Oh yeah???
Military electronics has ALWAYS been about ten years ahead of what we see.
That stuff is generally demilitarized (shredded) when it is taken out of
service. The really high end stuff - crypto and countermeasures - always
is destroyed beyond recognition. True, the computers in the F-16s and such
may be a few years behind, but then they do not need such power. Things
that need to do signal analysis on incoming radar pulses on the fly, or
decrypting very high speed bursts of data do.
>>
Are you saying that, 10 years ago, the military had machines that could carry
out calculations with the speed of a Pentium II -300? (I hesitate to mention
the Alpha 5-433, because I think the alpha project was originally funded by
the military)
<Seeing how it's advertised as a 16 Meg module, it probably isn't
<a particularly pretty example of core. In my opinion, the older
<core styles - where the individual beads and wires are actually
I'd be surprized, as that is huge for a core system. It's far to big for
one plane. My guess is it's a 16k. Way back however EMC did corestore
systems of disk sizes for rapid store/recall to replace things like swapping
drums and rotating media systems.
It would be fun to get something like that and have it working!
Allison
> > I have been told that the CDC Cyber 70/170-series used a 60-bit wordlength.
>
> Well, I am currently in a room full of 64 bitters (Alphas). Cray machines
> as well...
>
> Many (all?) CDC machines are 60 bit machines.
I have at home a memory bank from a CDC Cyber two-hundred-and-something
(?) which is 18 bits wide. I had always assumed that this was 16 bits
plus two parity but it doesn't fit into 60 bits either way. (Memory
bank is huge quantities of 40ns and 45ns 64k x 1 static RAMs surface
mounted on both sides of numerous daughter boards. Each daughter board
is 64k x 18 and they stack four deep all over the "mother board" of the
bank.) I always meant to use this in something, but somehow I never got
around to it...
Philip.
Strange word sizes were used in very early machines and special purpose
machines, especially early military computers. If you look hard enough
you can probably find any size, especially in the range 8-40. Here are
some examples off the top of my head, but I probably have some of them
wrong:
> 4 (Intel 4004, etc)
> 8 (Far too many to list)
> 12 (PDP8, PDP12, etc)
> 16 (Again far too many to list)
> 18 (PDP1, etc)
19 Bendix G15, depending how you count
> 20 (PERQ 1, PERQ 2)
22 Packard Bell 250, depending how you count (otherwise 23-24)
> 24 (PERQ 4) <- Also Datacraft/Harris
> 32 (Yep, a lot of those)
> 36 (PDP10, etc) <- including IBM 701 series, Univac 1100 series
40 IAS, SWAC <- Here's the justification for the joke!
48 Burroughs 5500 etc.
60 CDC 6600, Cyber series
64, 128 IBM Stretch
You get even more if you include decimal machines. (Is it fair to list
the 4004 above?)
> -tony
Paul
Hello. My computer was broken, and I have the day off, so I spent it mostly
calling company after company after company about classic computers. I've
found the following: A Sharp "M-80" (Or some letter -80) with a built in
display. Probably has an 8088 processor. Nothing except tape drive.
Requested price: about $80 USD (In the local currency, so it's a little
off)
And also a Olvetti Pr-something, like Prosignia, or Pro something PC-1.
Monitior looks like it's a 13 inch or so mono. Keyboard and CPU built in,
with two 3.5" FDDs. I'm not sure if they're DS DD or DS HD. Does anyone
have info on these? How much do you think that they'd go for?
Thanks,
Tim D. Hotze
At 08:06 11/5/97 -0500, you wrote:
> Not yet a classic, but does anyone have a {spare} copy of the "Technical
>Reference Personal Computer AT"? This is the tech ref guide for the original
>IBM PC/AT, published by IBM (I'm guessing in a gray fabric binder).
Actually, mine was maroon, although the slipcase was gray; and as for "Not
yet a classic," the pub. date was of course 1984. You'd be welcome to mine
if I still had it, but I don't....think.... I do.
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
While moving the 11/34 to a more lighted area, I broke the power switch
off the back. Now it doesn't power on. I need a WHOLE NEW POWER SUPPLY!
Damn! I hate myself sometimes!
That was a Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Mistake!
<usually "a month late". Intel might have just bought it to stamp it out,
<but my guess is they're aiming to do something with the RISC market, they
<could be attempting to lower the Alpha's power down to H/PC levels and the
What the hell.
I used to work for DEC and DEC didn't sell ALPHA they sold the fab unit
that does alpha. It's cheaper to have some other silicon foundry make the
part to your spec. WD, intersil, AMD and Harris have over then years made
parts for DEC that were designed by or for DEC. DEC plans to keep cranking
the Alpha for bet your business systems than PCs have fallen short for.
In the mean time I'm running a few old VAXen to remind me how much better
an OS VMS (OK, OpenVMS) is.
Allison
Hi folks. I picked up a Tandy Model 100 laptop computer from a local
thrift store a few days ago, for about $9. So far so good, but it doesn't
have any ROM's in it (both sockets on the bottom of the machine are empty)
When I switch it on, then off , the "Low Battery" light flickers, but
that's all (the LCD stays blank)
So, are these ROMS (which I think I need) something I can still order from
Tandy (without paying an arm and a leg)?
Thanks in advance (Oh, and I saw, but didn't buy, an Amiga Joyboard . . .)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles P. Hobbs __ __ ____ ___ ___ ____
transit(a)primenet.com /__)/__) / / / / /_ /\ / /_ /
/ / \ / / / / /__ / \/ /___ /
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm/changes.html
--
Greetings from
Fritz Chwolka / collecting old computers just for fun
supporting the Unofficial CP/M Web Page
look at http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm/
and my little collection at
http://www.ac.cybercity.de/user/00136/
*-------------------------------------------------------*
! Internet: Chwolka(a)nt-gmbh.de !
! fritz.chwolka(a)ac.cybercity.de !
! !
! some times Chwolka(a)t-online.de !
*=======================================================*
! !
! If you have an old CP/M System don't throw it away. !
! Try to find someone who give the system a new home. !
! !
*-------------------------------------------------------*