test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by rcini＠email.msn.com

Does anyone know what software is required for the Apple II SCSI card?? I got the card last week from a friend of mine, but without SW. Apple's ftp site has only a "SCSI Utilities Disk", but the description says nothing about "drivers". Alltech Electronics carries a new CMS card with SW, but for $40. Seems that I should be able to get the Apple SW for less than that... Any clues appreciated! Rich Cini/WUGNET Charter ClubWin! Member MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking

28 years, 5 months

387 emulators (was: Wanted:387 SX)

by MPritchard＠EnsembleStudios.com

I can verify that *some* floating point functioncs (basic ones ususally ie +, -, etc) can be emulated faster than the stock 80387 or 80387sx co-processor can do them. The majority of functions can not be emulated faster though. -Matt Pritchard Graphics Engine and Optimization Specialist > -----Original Message----- > From: Uncle Roger [SMTP:sinasohn@crl.com] > Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 1997 6:08 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: 387 emulators (was: Wanted:387 SX) > > At 05:07 PM 10/20/97 +0000, you wrote: > >> 2) I saw several emulators, but the only one I found that actually > worked > >> well, the file was called "FRANKE87" and was German in origin. It > actually > >> fooled AutoCad 10 into believing there was a co-processor chip on > my 386SX > >> and actually did speed up FP instructions (measured with CheckIt). > >Not. Autocad is processor heavy program and better unload that FP to > > >that coprocessor result in even powerful system when using the > >suitable s/w like autocad. > > IIRC, Autocad *requires* a mathco, so one has a choice of a) buying a > mathco > (used to be $$$), b) running with an emulator, or c) not running > autocad. > > As to whether the system will run faster with or without a software > mathco > emulator, I must admit, it would seem obvious that an emulator would > only > slow the system down (by using more Cpu time to handle the emulator > than > going straight to the CPU -- kinda like buying direct from the mfr and > eliminating the middleman) but I cannot say that that's true without > testing it. > > The FRANKE87 program may be really good at what it does, enough to > make a > difference when compared to Intel's idea of FP math. I have to say > that if > Merch says he measured the difference and the emulator is faster, I'll > take > his word for it until proven wrong. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > O- > > Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad > sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen > know." > Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates > San Francisco, California > http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 5 months

looking for northstar dos...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Is there anywhere on the net northstar* dos version 5.x for DD controllers. My archives only have the single density version. Allison

28 years, 5 months

DEC LK201 keyboard

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Several seem to have the same problem in that the 4 status <LED's all light up, but the keyboard does not respond. <Has anyone encountered this problem and repaired the <keyboard? < <Does anyone have a schematic for this keyboard that they You don't need it. There isn't much to see. Probe the board for +5 and -5 power if either is missing track it backwards. the keyboard is powered off +12v from the system and there is a +5v regulator on the board (7805, TO220) if that's ok then check for -5v(or so) on the RS423 driver chip(9636). If that's there then probe the 8051 for valid reset and crystal osc running. There isn't much to them and the key is the 8051 microprocessor, if it's fried then look for a keyboard that's mechanically trashed. Coffee, mechanical damage and ESD are the common failure mode. Allison

28 years, 5 months

Relative age

by rcini＠email.msn.com

In 83-85 (high school), we had mostly Apple IIs, and a DEC dot-matrix terminal to access a time-shared computer somewhere. In Jr. High (81-83), we used mostly Commodore PETs (mostly the 4016 and 4032). AFAIR, there were no Tandys or Ataris Rich Cini/WUGNET Charter ClubWin! Member MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking

28 years, 5 months

VINTAGE COMPUTER FESTIVAL WRITE-UPS

by dastar＠wco.com

Ok, time for those write-ups to start pouring in. I understand if you didn't have time to do it but could you let me know if you were supposed to do one but didn't so that I can plan appropriately? Thanks! Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass Attend the First Annual Vintage Computer Festival See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!

28 years, 5 months

Info on a Scantron unit?

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

(disclaimer: it has a 6502 in it, so its kind of a computer B^} ) Anyone out there have any information / docs. on a Scantron model 888mc 'Test Scorer'? -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

28 years, 5 months

olivetti M20

by bigi＠univ-avignon.fr

hey, sorry but my english is very bad. I found the address http://staff.motiv.co.uk/~kevan/classiccmp/1997-08/msg00233.html I have a Olivetti M20D (with - processor Z8001, - floppy disk 5'1/4, - hard disk - 160 Ko (i think 128 + 32) - a printer I haven't undertood if you have an identic machine or if you found this. I know some commands to use it, like : - vf (volume format) with 0: or 10: (floppy or hard disk) - vl (volume list), - etc... If you have some information about this computer, ... you can say these ... You can consult my home'page at : http://taln.univ-avignon.fr:8080/personnel/bigi.html Bye... and sorry if i haven't undertand what you wanted. -- ---------------------------- | Brigitte Bigi | | Laboratoire d'Informatique | | C.E.R.I. | | 339, ch. des Meinajaries | | 84911 AVIGNON Cedex 9 | | 04.90.84.35.25 | | bigi(a)univ-avignon.fr | ----------------------------

28 years, 5 months

Mac Portable

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 04:23 PM 10/10/97 -0700, you wrote: >The battery charger is just 9VDC, but I hope you have a functional >battery, since the Mac Portable will not run on the battery charger. >There is no AC adapter. The batteries are lead-acid and tend to >deteriorate over time. Eventually all of these machines will stop >working. Thanks for the info! Do you know if it's positive on the inside or outside? (either + -O)- - or - -O)- + ?) I found a web page that says you can bypass the battery by replacing the 9v with a battery eliminator and removing both the lead acid batt and its cover. If I can find a power supply, I'll give it a try (since I think my battery is hosed.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 5 months

Osborne I

by sinasohn＠crl.com

Just an FYI... An Osborne 1 is on the block at ebay -- current bid is $42. I've got my fair share or I would be bidding on it... http://206.79.255.82/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1144704 --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 5 months

RE-PC Stuff

by kyrrin2＠wizards.net

For those of you in Washington state (Puget Sound area), RE-PC currently has a good assortment of classic stuff in their 'as-is, where-is' department, including at least a pair of Commodore 64's. They're located south and slightly east of the Kingdome, 1565 6th Ave. south, about two blocks north of Holgate on 6th. They may be reached locally at (206) 623-9151. I'd suggest a visit before the end of the year. They tend to do these big purges every so often. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272) (Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin2(a)wizards.net) http://www.wizards.net/technoid "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..."

28 years, 5 months

relative age

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 10:52 PM 10/21/97 -0400, you wrote: >1985 Apples, macs, Rainbows, PRO350s maybe some PCs > >1980 s100, apple][, swtp, LSI11, micronova Microprocessor chips Actually, ca. 1980-83, I had access to a DEC PDP-11/70 (RSTS/E), PC's, Atari 800's, TRS-80 ModIII, and maybe a couple others. But I think computers may have been a little more prevalent here in San Francisco. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 5 months

relative age

by fmc＠reanimators.org

allisonp(a)world.std.com (Allison J Parent) wrote: > if highschool was x years ago: > 1980 s100, apple][, swtp, LSI11, micronova Microprocessor chips > 1977 PDP-11, vax, nova Some LSI and bit slice ... HP 3000 Series II. Well, that's what we had at my high school in 1977. Sometime along about 1980 it got upgraded to a Series III. Micros weren't in the schools in 1977 but some of us were aware of them (I used to hang around the Radio Shack and poke at the TRS-80). HP brought the 2000A timeshared BASIC system out in...1967? I know there were some (later models, 2000F and 2000 Access) still in service at various Washington DC suburban area high schools into the early 1980s at least, maybe into the mid-1980s. Prince Georges County (Maryland) and Fairfax County (Virginia) both had them, maybe others too. ... We had a mark-sense reader way back then in 1977. An HP 7260A, hooked up as a pass-through device between the terminal and the 3000, but the 3000 had some special "driver" software (in the form of the FCARD intrinsic, which sent the right escape sequences down the wire to get the card reader to Do Stuff). We used it daily to "run attendance": each student had an associated IBM card, and the homeroom teacher would send the cards for absent students to the office. Read cards into disc file, run programs to generate report (print report on continuous-form ditto paper with tractor holes) and update database with attendance information. We also used it twice quarterly to do progress reports (mid-quarter) and report cards (end of quarter). These used mark-sense forms that were pre-printed, then printed in the line printer, then sent out to the schools and teachers where they were torn apart along their perfs, marked, folded, spindled, mutilated, and sent back for reading. Note that bit about being torn apart along perfs. Feed a few thousand of these through (the 3000 at our site did processing for about a dozen schools) and the torn perfs leave lots of paper dust all over in the reader. Twice a quarter, we used to have to call the CE to come out, take ours half apart, and vacuum all the paper dust out so we could read the attendance cards. After I graduated I found that they'd replaced the 7260As with Scan-Tron readers. I saw one once but, well, it's been 14 years or so and I didn't really look at how it plugged in -- given that they had it talking to the 3000 somehow I would bet that it did RS-232. I think I remember being told that they had had to write some software to deal with it, but I guess that wasn't too big a deal as they had also changed the mark sense forms, from two that would fit down a slot designed for IBM cards to one that was wider and didn't need to be kept synchronized with a partner. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 5 months

finally found: Your Computer

by mhop＠mail.snip.net

---------- > From: thedm <thedm(a)sunflower.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: finally found: Your Computer > Date: Saturday, October 04, 1997 12:00 AM > > I'll take it Oh, sorry it took so long to reply. I had 5 people reply within minutes, so I gave it to the first person. His email was only 2 minutes earlier than the next. :) sorry. mhop(a)snip.net

28 years, 5 months

Info on a Scantron unit?

by BROBSTONA＠wartburg.edu

>Wow! A high schooler who's into old computers? Unless there is a >pre-pubescent teenager on this list, I think Daniel has the record as the >youngest collector of old computers. Well, he beats me by two years for age (I'd guess), but when did he *start*? -- Andy Brobston brobstona(a)wartburg.edu ***NEW URL BELOW*** http://www.wartburg.edu/people/docs/personalPages/BrobstonA/home.html My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Wartburg College as a whole.

28 years, 5 months

387 emulators (was: Wanted:387 SX)

by sinasohn＠crl.com

At 05:07 PM 10/20/97 +0000, you wrote: >> 2) I saw several emulators, but the only one I found that actually worked >> well, the file was called "FRANKE87" and was German in origin. It actually >> fooled AutoCad 10 into believing there was a co-processor chip on my 386SX >> and actually did speed up FP instructions (measured with CheckIt). >Not. Autocad is processor heavy program and better unload that FP to >that coprocessor result in even powerful system when using the >suitable s/w like autocad. IIRC, Autocad *requires* a mathco, so one has a choice of a) buying a mathco (used to be $$$), b) running with an emulator, or c) not running autocad. As to whether the system will run faster with or without a software mathco emulator, I must admit, it would seem obvious that an emulator would only slow the system down (by using more Cpu time to handle the emulator than going straight to the CPU -- kinda like buying direct from the mfr and eliminating the middleman) but I cannot say that that's true without testing it. The FRANKE87 program may be really good at what it does, enough to make a difference when compared to Intel's idea of FP math. I have to say that if Merch says he measured the difference and the emulator is faster, I'll take his word for it until proven wrong. --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/

28 years, 5 months

CLASSICCMP digest 211

by prp＠hf.intel.com

> Program the world's first computer! "First" is always difficult, especially in computers. Here are some examples of early machines, draw your own conclusions. The Harvard Mark I was electromechanical. It was fully capable of running a complex calculation, with the program on punched card stock separate from the data. This is where the term "Harvard machine" comes from, referring to a machine where the program and data are in separate memory. The ABC (1939) was mostly electronic, including electronic storage with mechanical access. But its program was, I believe, on a plugboard. It was not as general purpose as, for instance, the Mark I. The Colossus (1944?) was all electronic. It was very special purpose and barely if at all programmable. The Eniac (1946) was all electronic and general purpose. It was programmed by plugging. It and the Harvard Mark I were decimal and a lot like a bunch of adding machines cobbled together. The SSEM (1948) was all electronic and general purpose (but extremely small.) It was a true stored program machine. It was also binary. The Univac I (1950) was all electronic, general purpose and generally useful (and also decimal.) It was a commercially available computer, unlike all the previous ones. Paul Pierce

28 years, 5 months

items available..

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

i'm organizing command central here some ,and have a few things that *might* be useful to someone else. epson equity I user's guide. i'm a big fan of original documentation and shipping materials that things came in so i have two empty boxes available. the first is for a tandy cm11 monitor and the second is for an apple imagewriter I which i'm using to store 10 meg bernoulli carts at the moment, lol. i dont have the foam packing material though. message me before it all gets round filed one day. david

28 years, 5 months

Wanted:387 SX

by COAKLEY＠AC.GRIN.EDU

> Right now I'm using this checkit 3.0 to debug a motherboard because I > am trying to get it into turbo mode by keyboard, It's Nec Powermate > 386 33i (386dx 33 cached all in one board). What is the key combo > to enable turbo? It's Phoenix bios. I think Phoenix bioses use Ctrl-Alt-KeypadMinus. Perhaps that's Ctrl-Shift, and perhaps it's KeypadPlus. This is what I seem to remember, though. -- Ben Coakley coakley(a)ac.grin.edu Station Manager, KDIC 88.5 FM CBEL: Xavier OH http://www.math.grin.edu/~coakley

28 years, 5 months

FWD: Manchester Baby Programming Competition

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> > Program the world's first computer! > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >The world's first computer program was run on June 21st 1948 on the > >"baby" Mark1 at Manchester. As part of the celebrations to mark the 50th > >.... > > Could some of the list members with more historical knowledge comment > on this? I thought the first "electronic digital computer" was the ABC - > Atanasoff Berry Computer from 1939. This was verified in some high > powered patent cases in '73 and '74, that concluded Sperry-Univac could > not claim patents for the ideas from thier Univac machine ("43 or '44?). > Honneywell, CDC, IBM, and others did not want to pay royalties to Sperry. > The Sperry machine is the first "commercial" machine that was offered for > sale. Are you _sure_ the ABC was electronic? I was under the impression that the 1930s machines were all (almost all?) relay computers. Konrad Zuse is the pioneer whose name is oft mentioned here... As I see it, the sequence of events is as follows: The 1940s saw the valve (vacuum tube) computers begin to emerge - in some order (still in debate) ENIAC, Univac and the hush-hush British project, Colossus (hush-hush because it was part of the war effort), all appeared in 1943 I think. Colossus currently claims to have been first, but it is hard to verify with all the wartime secrecy that surrounded it. The Manchester machine claims to be the first _stored program_ machine. It was the first electronic computer, and I think also the first computer, to hold its software in main memory. It was far too small for this to be sensible - the purpose was to demonstrate the principal of it with a view to using similar hardware and software designs on larger machines in the future. All previous machines had a main store for data, and a programming panel for patch leads etc. to hold instructions. Soon after the Manchester machine ran, the EDSAC project in Cambridge pulled ahead with a large scale stored program (Von Neumann) machine. Professor Wilkes, who ran this project, said in one talk he gave that they had wanted to include floating point in EDASC, since it was already available on many relay computers, but this had to wait until a later design... Philip.

28 years, 5 months

Manchester Computer

by hans1＠filan00.grenoble.hp.com

Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk wrote : > Are you _sure_ the ABC was electronic? I was under the impression that > the 1930s machines were all (almost all?) relay computers. Konrad Zuse > is the pioneer whose name is oft mentioned here... > > As I see it, the sequence of events is as follows: > > The 1940s saw the valve (vacuum tube) computers begin to emerge - in > some order (still in debate) ENIAC, Univac and the hush-hush British > project, Colossus (hush-hush because it was part of the war effort), all > appeared in 1943 I think. Colossus currently claims to have been first, > but it is hard to verify with all the wartime secrecy that surrounded > it. All the "computers" prior to the Manchester machines did not store their programs in memory, they are more accurately termed sequence controlled calculators. The Univac came later, it was actually first delivered in 1951, just a month or so after Ferranti delivered the first commercial computer, the Mark I to Manchester University in February 1951 - and no I don't remember that particular event personally ;-). > The Manchester machine claims to be the first _stored program_ machine. > It was the first electronic computer, and I think also the first > computer, to hold its software in main memory. It was far too small for > this to be sensible - the purpose was to demonstrate the principal of it > with a view to using similar hardware and software designs on larger > machines in the future. All previous machines had a main store for > data, and a programming panel for patch leads etc. to hold instructions. Again yes, the Manchester machine had a main memory of 32 words each of 32 bits, it had one accumulator and an instruction set of only 6 instructions. It was built in 1948 to prove the reliability of the Williams tube storage system. The very same hardware was then extensively developed into a fully fledged computer over the next two years. Ferranti, under a government contract, built 6 or 7 production versions, the first of which went to Manchester as stated above. > Soon after the Manchester machine ran, the EDSAC project in Cambridge > pulled ahead with a large scale stored program (Von Neumann) machine. > Professor Wilkes, who ran this project, said in one talk he gave that > they had wanted to include floating point in EDASC, since it was already > available on many relay computers, but this had to wait until a later > design... Indeed, the interests of the Manchester team were in the hardware design, the Cambridge team were more interested in the programming and uses of computers. So while Manchester developed hardware technologies, Cambridge developed software. Manchester has a long and illustrious history of firsts in the computing area. As well as the first working stored program electronic computer, they were the first to incorporate index registers, the first working transistor computer, and the first virtual memory. That is not to say that others were not working on the same or similar lines, its just that Manchester managed to get there first, sometimes by just a month or two. More info about the Manchester machines and the rebuild project at <http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/ssem/ssemhome.htm> -- Hans B. Pufal : <mailto:hansp@digiweb.com> Comprehensive Computer Catalogue : <http://www.digiweb.com/~hansp/ccc/> _-_-__-___--_-____-_--_-_-____--_---_-_---_--__--_--_--____---_--_--__--_

28 years, 5 months

FWD: Manchester Baby Programming Competition

by kevan＠heydon.org

Just thought people here might be interested... ------- Forwarded Message Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 00:19:31 GMT From: chris(a)envex.demon.co.uk (Chris.P.Burton) Reply-To: chris(a)envex.demon.co.uk To: history-of-computing-uk(a)mailbase.ac.uk Subject: Manchester Baby Programming Competition Program the world's first computer! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The world's first computer program was run on June 21st 1948 on the "baby" Mark1 at Manchester. As part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of this event next year, we are holding a competition to program the machine. The winner will have the opportunity to run their program on the replica of the original machine. For details of your chance to program the World's First Stored Program Computer, see http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/prog98/ Information on the 1998 celebration in general is at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/mark1/ Please forward this information to anybody you know who might be interested - i.e. anybody you know with an interest in computing! - -- Chris P Burton - A member of the Computer Conservation Society ------- End of Forwarded Message

28 years, 5 months

"VX/PC"

by marcw＠lightside.com

I saw this in the Linux-8086/ELKS mailing list. Anyone know about this card? Thanks, Marc ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Anyone ever heard of a a "VX/PC" card? I got one today >from a junk bin, there are two full length 8 bit ISA cards connected together; one is marked "VX/PC processor card" and has an 80188 and some ROM and other chips, and the other is "VX/PC memory card" and has a whole bunch of DRAMs. There is another board attached to one of them marked "16.8 million color board" even. Any suggestions? I have not tried installing one and seeing what comes out the video output yet. thanks, Hamish -- Hamish Moffatt, StudIEAust hamish(a)debian.org, hmoffatt(a)mail.com Student, computer science & computer systems engineering. 3rd year, RMIT. http://hamish.home.ml.org/ (PGP key here) CPOM: [***** ] 56% Your train has been cancelled due to defective government at Spring Street..

28 years, 5 months

Osborne Executive Boot Disk

by CHOLSTROM＠HNTB.com

Does anyone have and Osborne Executive that will make a boot disk for my machine? Please.. I have a complete set of Kaypro 10 original distribution software reload disks if anyone would like these..

28 years, 5 months

Wanted:387 SX

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Whatever the coprocessor for the 386 SX was, does anyone have one? < <I heard that (at one time) there was a software emulator for a <coprocessor...anyone ever heard of it? the numeric coprocessor is the 387. Software emulator? What that would be is code in the application to perform those operations. there was a package I believe that was loaded to enable programs that expect the 387 to run but emulation is very slow compared to the real thing. A faster alternative is to run the version of the program that didn't require the 387. 387s are still available and common enough. Allison

28 years, 5 months

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