Here's something from our friend Mike. Please send all replies to him.
Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 10:25:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mikeooo1(a)aol.com
To: dastar(a)crl.com
Subject: hhc eproms
Sam,
I didn't hear from you before so can you let me know if there is going to
be any need for HHC eproms? I am sitting on approx. 5000 of them which I have
received a salvage offer of $1.25/lb for and I'm probably going to take,but I
don't want to put anyone in a position where they are requested but now not
available like before with the HHC's.So I would appreciate you letting me
know.
Thanks Mike
>
> > For Switch #1:
> > For Switch #2 (some obscure combos not typed in)
>
> It seems to me that one of the sacred switches will put the machine into
> an endless loop of reboots - just after the self tests, etc., the machine
> would boot again.
>
> I did not know about this, and had a machine that had this "problem". A
> trip to the library solved it.
You guys may be talking about Switch 1-1 -- which, for an XT, will do this.
Switch 1-2 tells it (both PC and XT) about the presence of the coprocessor.
(I do, btw, have an 8087 in my collection...only one I've ever seen! Even
rarer was the 8088 to 386 SX-16 upgrade board...the world's s-l-o-w-e-s-t
386.)
I'd like to add an 8086 motherboard to my collection...anyone have one?
Well, today I decided to repair the power supply on the Percom floppy that I have for my pair of Model I's. Then, I decided to see if a complete keyboard-EI-floppy setup worked. Therein lies the problem...
It seems like each CPU (a 4k and a 16k Level II) won't recognize either EI (a Rev 0 and Rev 1). Both EI's have 32k of RAM. All that I get on the screen is garbage. I'm turing the EI on first, then the CPU. I've also tried two types of EI cables, one buffered and one not. I can tell which cable goes to which EI because the floppy drive will initialize only with the right combo.
It sounds like I have two bad EI's, but the thing that throws me is that the floppy interface performs a floppy reset.
Does anyone have any clue?? Also, how does one refer to the floppy drive in a BASIC statement? For example, if I want to load a program, do I type LOAD "0:test.bas"? I have no manuals for these machines, and it's been a loooong time since I used one of these.
Also, on an unrelated note, the Altair scans are in, but I'm waiting for Bill Whitson's address so that I can Fedex a tape to him. Does anyone have it??
Rich Cini/WUGNET
<rcini(a)msn.com>
If any of you have need of a very decent 525 MB SCSI tape drive, check
with this fellow. This is an excellent price for what he describes, though
he does not appear to be aware that DC6525 tapes exist. ;-)
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
I have the following for sale:
Archive Viper 2525 25583 Rev 002 SCSI tape backup units. Comes in
external
enclosure with Unisys Tape Streamer marked on it. Uses DC-6150 (150 MB
uncompressed) and DC-6250 (250 MB uncompressed) tapes. Tested with
Novastor Tape Backup and Cheyenne Tape Backup and Seagate Backup Exec.
Novastor has software compression to double capacity. Works great. The
unit has a SCSI selector switch and two large 50 pin SCSI connectors on
back of unit. $50 + shipping.
Thanks,
James (jevans2(a)sisna.com)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL SUBJECT TO $500.00 PROOFREADING FEE PER ITEM SENT.
SENDING ME SUCH UNSOLICITED ITEMS CONSTITUTES UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS.
Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave (Fido 1:343/272)
http://www.wizards.net/technoid
"...Spam is bad. Spam wastes resources. Spam is theft of service. Don't spam, period..."
Is the 7-pin power connector on certain VIC-20's the same as the power supply
on the C64?? I just got a couple VIC's of this type with no power supplies.
TIA!
+============================================+
| Rich Cini/WUGNET
| <rcini(a)msn.com>
+============================================+
"Daniel A. Seagraves" <dseagrav(a)bsdserver.tek-star.net> writes:
> The front panel on the box says:
> HP 1000 A900
> HEWLETT PACKARD.
Fairly late-model HP 1000, replaced by the A990 in 1991 I think. I
don't know that much about them but think they are descended from the
HP 2100 and 21MX processors used in earlier 1000s (and would like to
find out more, so corrections are invited). What are the first four
digits of the serial number? That will give you some idea of its age;
first two digits are probably year less 1960, next two digits are
week-of-year.
> It says "hp 7970E"
It is a 1600 BPI 9-track drive.
Is yours in a lo-boy cabinet with the supply and takeup hubs side-by-side,
or in the tall cabinet with supply mounted above takeup? Mine is a lo-boy
but I have used both.
> Buttons a re LOAD, REWIND, ONLINE, RESET, 0, 1, 2, 3, OFF
> Connector is a small printer-plug looking thing (Like the plug on your
> printer, but smaller.
Sounds like HP-IB all right. Note that not all 7970s are.
> I do have a scratch tape, how does one get the tape into these?
As Tony said, there should be a diagram that shows the tape path.
Pop the lever in the center of the supply hub up, and slide your tape
on. Leave the lever up for now; you will be pulling tape off the
supply reel and if the hub were engaged you would have to turn it too.
Pull the tape off the supply reel, threading it around the stationary
post, then the tension arm, then the heads (lift the cover over the
read/write head to thread the tape through), then the other tension arm,
then the other stationary post, then onto the takeup reel.
Hold the tape against the takeup reel -- stick your finger through
the little hole -- and make a turn or two of the takeup reel to get the tape
firmly held on the reel.
Push the lever on the supply hub down to engage the supply reel.
Now you can push LOAD to get the tape drive to scan for the load
point. If it just keeps going and going then there is a problem with
the light/sensor assembly.
ONLINE puts the drive on-line. Won't work unless the tape is loaded.
RESET is "stop what you're doing and take the drive offline".
REWIND is "rewind to load point or 'til the tension arms lose tension
because the tape came loose from the takeup reel".
0, 1, 2, 3, OFF switch the drive's unit number; OFF is effectively
offline. Note that unit number may not have an obvious relation
to the system's device name or number. I don't know much about RTE
(the OS on the 1000s) but under MPE on classic 3000s it was a
component of either the DRT number or the unit number, which were
in turn referenced by the logical device number.
> Any info is appreciated.
Hope this helps, if you have more questions feel free to ask.
-Frank McConnell
If you jumped buses, it was Atari Stunt Cycle (1976).
Basically a clone of Atari Night Driver
(http://www.pipeline.com/~jhardie/gallery/coinop/nightdrv.jpg), which I
believe owns the title as the original "black & white dots" driving
game. I don't recall what Atari's earlier entry (the first driving game)
called Gran Trak looked like. Another well-known example was 280ZZZAP.
Kai
> ----------
> From: Cord Coslor
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 1997 6:50 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Old arcade game?
>
> Does anyone happen to remember a very old 'arcade game' that foes
> something like this. I remember playing this in an airport probably 10
> years ago, although the game must have been older. It was encased it a
> type of stand-up motorcycle. I remember it as being red with those
> sparkly
> flakes all over it from that age. Anyway, it was simply a black and
> white
> game in which you control a motorcycle (a white dot or line) down the
> road, again white lines, and try not to die. A very simple game. I
> also
> remember you only had to hit the coin slot to get it to play.
>
> Does anyone know what this was called or any other memories fo this?
>
> Thanks a ton,
>
> CORD
>
> //*===================================================================
> ==++
> || Cord G. Coslor P.O. Box 308 - 1300 3rd St. Apt "M1" -- Peru,
> NE ||
> || (402) 872- 3272 coslor(a)bobcat.peru.edu
> 68421-0308 ||
> || Classic computer software and hardware collector
> ||
> || Autograph collector
> ||
> ++====================================================================
> =*//
>
>
Heads up to our UK readers! Fellow's got a decent MicroVAX system that
sounds like it would be free for the picking up. Heck, I'd pick it up if I
were in the UK...
If you can help, PLEASE get in contact with this fellow post-haste. Thanks!
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:57:09 +0100
To: port-vax(a)netbsd.org
From: Robin Birch <robin(a)falstaf.demon.co.uk>
Subject: uVAX 2 in uk
X-Mailer: Turnpike Version 3.03b <YSkKJATYm0AxAbv6xwlBrCeVCW>
Sender: port-vax-owner(a)NetBSD.ORG
Delivered-To: port-vax(a)NetBSD.ORG
Dear All,
A week or so ago I advertised a uVAX 2 with 2*RA81, TK50, 8MByte, KDA50
offers please
Nobody replied, does this mean that nobody wants it and I've got to
throw it away or does some one want to give this box a home.
Offers please, buyer collects.
Robin
Robin Birch robin(a)falstaf.demon.co.uk
M1ASU Old computers and radios always welcome
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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..."
Um...not quite. Please see my post.
----------
> From: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> To: Manney
> Subject: RE: Computers (fwd)
> Date: Monday, August 18, 1997 9:30 PM
>
> >From the handy "Programmer's PC Sourcebook" by Thom Hogan, Microsoft
> Press, ISBN 1-55615-321-X:
>
> For Switch #1:
>
> Switch 1: number of drives, ON=drives installed, OFF=no drives (see
> switch 7/8)
> Switch 2: Not used, must be ON
> Switch 3 & 4: Memory on system board
> ON ON = 16K (PC1) or 64K (PC2)
> OFF ON = 32K (PC1) or 128K (PC2)
> ON OFF = 48K (PC1) or 192K (PC2)
> OFF OFF = 64K (PC1) or 256K (PC2)
> Switch 5 & 6: Display adapter
> ON ON = no adapter
> OFF ON = CGA 40
> ON OFF = CGA 80
> OFF OFF = MDA or >1 adapter
> Switch 7 & 8: Floppy drives
> ON ON = 1 drive
> OFF ON = 2 drives
> ON OFF = 3 drives
> OFF OFF = 4 drives
>
> For Switch #2 (some obscure combos not typed in)
> Switches 1-5: Memory Installed
> ON ON ON ON ON = 16-64K (Switches 3 & 4 control total memory)
> OFF ON ON ON = 96K (for this and below switches 3 & 4 should be OFF)
> ON OFF ON ON ON = 128K
> ON OFF OFF ON ON = 256K
> ON ON ON OFF ON = 320K
> ON OFF ON OFF ON = 384K
> ON OFF OFF OFF ON = 512K
> ON OFF ON ON OFF = 640K
> Switches 6-8: Not Used, must be OFF (switch 7 reserved for 8087 on PC2)
>
> Kai
I can't speak for the 7970, but I can tell you that Pertec formatted
connections are usually a pair of 50-pin (25 to each side) PC edge paddles.
I've seen a few (very few!) devices, specifically an old Unibus tape
controller, where one connection was a Berg 50-pin header and the other was
an edge paddle.
From your description, it sounds as though the drive may not have its own
formatter built in, outside of the HPIB interface section. I could,
however, be mistaken (read: I'd need to see the drive).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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..."
Cross posted without permission but considering all...
Please can a UK person rescue this? That is a very nice MV-II system.
<Delivered-To: port-vax(a)NetBSD.ORG
<Status: R
<
<Dear All,
<A week or so ago I advertised a uVAX 2 with 2*RA81, TK50, 8MByte, KDA50
<offers please
<
<Nobody replied, does this mean that nobody wants it and I've got to
<throw it away or does some one want to give this box a home.
<
<Offers please, buyer collects.
<
<Robin
<Robin Birch robin(a)falstaf.demon.co.uk
<
<M1ASU Old computers and radios always welcome
<
<find enough boards to get an H-11 up and running.
<I was wondering if any of the DEC experts out
<there could identify the purpose for any of these
<boards.(Names come from whats written on each board)
<They all appear to be Q bus.
<
< M7940 or M7946 RXV11 LSI 11 Interface (Half width)
RX01 floppy controller for q-bus (includes h-11). You
would need the RX01 disk sustem to match it.
< M8340 Decoder and Step Counter (Full width)
< M8341 Multiplexers and Timing Generator (Full width)
<
< These two boards are linked togather with a
<connector across the top of the boards.
KE-8E extended arithmetic element for PDP-8E
< M8639 RDRX Disk Controller (Full width)
AKA RQDX2, this is a Qbus (also h-11)hard disk and floppy controller that
supports st506,st412,st225, st251,q540 and RX53(1325) mfm hard disks and
RX50 dec floppy. It's connector goes via a50 pin cable to a M9058 signal
distribuition board and from there to the disks.
The rx50 is a double density single sided 96tpi drive unique to DEC. The
storage is about 409k per spindle (there are two). It is the only floppy
that the RQDX firmwhere knows. You may be able to fake it into using one
side of a 1.2m 5.25 floppy strapped to spin at 300rpm.
< M7957 Asyn Mux (Full width)
Qbus DZV-11 multi port serial IO.
< M4002 ? (Half width)
Qbus KW-11c programmable real time clock.
< M8189 KDF 11-B (Full width)
PDP-11/23B ++++ while this may work in a H11 box it will nto support q22
unless the backplane has had the lines wired in (h-11 was Q-16).
This is the most common Q-22 (Qbus 22bit addressing) PDP-11 cpu and is a
good performer. It has two DL compatable serial ports (console and user)
along with a generic boot and ODT console.
The standard chip complment is the CPU (two surfacemount chips on it) and
MMU. Optional were the CIS Commercial Instruction Set, FIS floating point
Instruction Set and the FPP-11 that implments the FIS-11 in hardware.
< M8043 ? (Half width)
Q-bus DLV-11j 4 DL serial ports on one card.
< I have the processor board covered. I have about half
<a dozen M7264 LSI-11 processor boards.
Basic LSI-11/2
< But, I could also use a list of commands for the resident
<monitor. Damn, I can't even remember what it's called.
ODT, they are fairly simple:
@00000G <start execution at 00000
@00000/ 12345 <display contents of location (00000)
the linefeed key will cause the next location to be opend and the contents
displayed
@00000/ 12345 <lf>
@00001/ 02010 <cr>
@
Entering data....
@00000/ 12345 001040 open a location, it's contents are displayed, enter
new contents, CR to close or LF key to advance to
next.
@P when typed at the @ (monitor prompt) the cpu will continue execution
at the current address (assuming there were no errors to cause a
monitor trap).
$ or R Open a register for display or change.
$S or RS opens the processor status register.
This should help.
Allison
I dug these boards out of a closet last night to
find enough boards to get an H-11 up and running.
I was wondering if any of the DEC experts out
there could identify the purpose for any of these
boards.(Names come from whats written on each board)
They all appear to be Q bus.
M7940 or M7946 RXV11 LSI 11 Interface (Half width)
I may have written down the wrong board number here.
This, I'm 90% sure is the serial interface board
I'll need to connect a terminal to the system.
At least it looks like one I had on my LSI-11
many moons ago. If it is, I sure could use the
pin-out for the connector and baud rate settings.
M8340 Decoder and Step Counter (Full width)
M8341 Multiplexers and Timing Generator (Full width)
These two boards are linked togather with a
connector across the top of the boards.
M8639 RDRX Disk Controller (Full width)
Is this a hard drive or floppy controller and
if its a floppy controller, is it single or
double density?
M7957 Asyn Mux (Full width)
M4002 ? (Half width)
M8189 KDF 11-B (Full width)
This appears to be a processor board with only 3 of
the 5 sockets filled.
M8043 ? (Half width)
I have the processor board covered. I have about half
a dozen M7264 LSI-11 processor boards.
But, I could also use a list of commands for the resident
monitor. Damn, I can't even remember what it's called.
Thanks for any help,
=========================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com
Senior Software Engineer
(PSX and Saturn video games)
Press Start Inc.
Sunnyvale,CA
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum
=========================================
My boss is getting rid of a bunch of these. New and used.
$35 apiece new, the used ones are $10.
He's trying to clean out the back room. Can anyone use these?
We have around 50 new, and 500 used ones.
Found a chip in my mailbox today: Z8400AB1
Is this the Z80 CPU?
Not sure who put it there... Doesn't look toasted... No bent pins...
It may be good!
Does it have any useful purpose by itself?
< Yes , I giggled thru the rest of the ng posts, many of which are
<unintelligable to me. I keep hoping that enlightenment will
<miraculously happen. I have been monitoring this ng for a while
<and picking up snippets of info. It occurred to me that the
<PDP8/e/f/m maintenance manual (vol 1 } that I had acquired and
<kept since my course on dig. electronics in 83 because it had a
<beautiful description of the fetch sequence in processors might be
<of value in this group. If it's quite available "nevermind"
that is an interesting doc. While it may have been common at one time
may simply were tossed making them scarce (or still on a shelf somewhere).
I'd be interested as I still like hacking with PDP-8s.
Allison
Rich,
Hmmm... let's see if I understand you correctly. You have a TRS-80
Model I with EI and floppy drive and when you turn the system on, the
screen fills with random garbage? I have one sitting here in my office
and that appears to be normal behavior if there is no bootable disk in
drive 0 when the computer is turned on or reset. Try holding down the
BREAK key and hitting reset button to enter ROM BASIC.
As I recall, if the EI is connected then the system checks the BREAK key
and jumps to BASIC if it's pressed, otherwise it reads the first sector
>from the disk and executes it. All this happens before video RAM is
initialized so the screen is filled with trash.
Hope this helps,
- Doug
At 11:18 AM 8/19/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Now you can push LOAD to get the tape drive to scan for the load
>point. If it just keeps going and going then there is a problem with
>the light/sensor assembly.
It could also mean that you wound the tape onto the take-up reel past the
load point, or that the tape didn't have one (i.e., it was cut/broken off.)
Try re-loading the tape, after checking for the load point thingy (a little
silver piece of something on the tape.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
Message text written by INTERNET:classiccmp@u.washington.edu
>BTW, what's the correct name for that series of connectors? We tend to
call them 'Amphenol Connectors' in the UK (while realising that Amphenol
make a wide range of different connectors). I've also seen them called
'Centronics Connectors' (after the common use for the 36 pin one I guess),
IEEE (or IEEE-488) connectors (after the common use for the 24 pin one)
and 'Telco Connectors'. I think the last is what HP call them.<
They are generically called "Centronics connectors" in the U.S., being 36
pin, 24 pin, or whatever. The HP connectors are called IEEE-488, since
that is the standard they follow; never heard them called "Telco
connectors" by HP or anyone else.
Gil Parrish
I purchased a batch of old micros which included 3 Apples, 1 ][E and two
that are not identified. The motherboards are longer than on the "E" and
extend under the keyboard. The keyboard has a white key labled upr and lwr
case, pwr. in the lower left corner, and the rear of the case has U shaped
cutouts instead of the type of openings on the "E" and "+".
I havent been able to find "Apple" on the case or motherboard but the
power supply seems identical to that in the "E" and "+". Can anyone suggest
what I have?
Thanks
Charlie Fox
While scouring the garage sales this weekend I found 2 old video games,
an Atari Pong and a Magnavox Odyssey. They both work, and I could NOT
pass them up at the sellers asking price! Hopefully someone else collects
these older games. If anybody knows of a list or web site I would
appreciate the info.
P.S. My T/S 1000 hasn't been sold yet, I guess it is not yet a
collectors piece.
Regard, David Quackenbush dhq(a)juno.com
Re: the 9-track thread on the HP 7970:
Mention has been made that it seems to have an HPIB interface. I ran into
the same thing with an HP7974 drive that I acquired from Teltone here in
Washington state.
However, I also found that the HPIB interface consisted of a removable
cage with three cards and its own power supply. Once this subassembly was
removed, the drive itself appeared to be a standard Pertec interface. I
have yet to actually try it, but a pair of 50-pin card-edge connections
sure look like Pertec to me.
I will let the group know once I get a chance to actually try it.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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..."
At 05:55 AM 8/19/97 +0000, you wrote:
> drive alignment for various disk drives (not even close to ready yet).
Something to mention is to make copies of disks created on drives you plan
to realign before realigning them. That is, if drive A is out of alignment
and disk A was created on Drive A, make a copy of disk A (in drive A) onto
disk B in Drive B (where drive B is a known, well aligned drive.)
Otherwise, when you get all your drives working fine, you won't be able to
read any of the disks created when they were out of whack.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
Does anyone else find this hilariously funny?
> ----------
> From: Tim Shoppa
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Monday, August 18, 1997 5:29 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: What's an M7165?
>
> > What's an M7165?
>
> One half of a KDA50. The other half is a M7164.
>
> Tim.
>