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101090 discussions

PC World: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers in Use Today

by lproven＠gmail.com

By Benj Edwards, PCWorldFeb 19, 2012 6:00 PM ?It?s easy to wax nostalgic about old technology--to remember fondly our first Apple IIe or marvel at the old mainframes that ran on punched cards. But no one in their right mind would use those outdated, underpowered dinosaurs to run a contemporary business, let alone a modern weapons system, right? Wrong!? http://www.pcworld.com/article/249951/if_it_aint_broke_dont_fix_it_ancient_… (I may have posted this before - it's a year old. If so, sorry.) -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884

12 years, 11 months

Machines for Local Pickup in Flushing- Prices Negotiable

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Im trying to purchase a vehicle and finance a move so these machines gotta go. Local Pickup only, Im not shipping these machines IBM PC 5150, Nice original machine with Sysdyne Color RGB Display Original Boxes, Has a 20MB Hardcard installed, along with an ethernet card $200 Nice original Apple II Plus System Monitor /// z80 Card ThunderClock Plus Clock Card Monitor /// Stand Kensington SystemSaver $200 Apple IIGS System Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse AE GSRam Plus Ram Upgrade with 1MB RAM, Expandable to 6MB SCSI Card and 80MB External HDD $200 Apple //e System CFFA 3000 Z80 CPM Card Super Serial Card Apple UniDisk 3.5 Drive card with 2 Unidisk 3.5 Drives DuoDisk 5.25 Drive Apple II Appletalk Card- Connects your Apple II to your localtalk network Apple RGB Monitor Card Apple Color Monitor 100- Digital RGB Monitor for //e $300 dollars Bell & Howell Apple II 1 Matching Bell & Howell Drive Hayes Micromodem II with Microcoupler z80 Card Super Serial Card Matching black 9inch CRT Monitor $300 Atari ST520FM TOS 2.0 ROMs included not installed Monitor and Mouse 52MB SCSI HDD with ICD ACSI to SCSI Adapter Card $100 Televideo TVI 925 Terminal- Works great $100 Osborne 1 System- Bad caps $40 Compaq Portable /// Works $40

12 years, 11 months

C64 Direct-to-TV

by gewtnet＠me.com

I don't have a REAL Commodore 64, so I unfortunately cannot mess with the physical hardware. But! I have a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C64_Direct-to-TV and it seems that it is pretty hackable. Should be interesting to mess with?unfortunately I have no idea where the soldering equipment is here so I can't do much with it. ;)

12 years, 11 months

got my dot-matrix printer

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:11:36 -0400 > From: John Wilson <wilson at dbit.com> > Subject: Re: got my dot-matrix printer [snip] > Last time I looked there was at least one vendor online still selling > brand-new bulk ribbon (for you to wind yourself onto the old spools) so > there's still a fallback for TTYs or LA30s/LA36s/LA120s/etc. when the > ribbons finally get too tattered to re-ink. > > John Wilson > D Bit Do you recall the vendor's name? I've got several old printers (and an ASR-33) that need ribbons. Thanks, Bob

12 years, 11 months

Thorny diagnostic issue for an Epson QX-10

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > Symptom: A QX-10 keeps shutting down, but at random and in an erratic way. > By erratic it will sometimes shutdown--Start---Shutdown--start---within a > 1/2 second of each sequence. > > It sounds like there is a short somewhere or at least some component > failing. But where? Its hard to diagnose because (1) It's intermittent > and (2) I don't want to run the machine when it's flip flopping on and off. > That's definitely not good for the components. > > I've determined that it's either the PSU or mainboard at fault. Both are > for sale on e-Bay. However, I don't whant to buy both when only one is the > problem. > > Any ideas how I might determine which? The PSU doesn't not fire at all if > there is no load on it. > I've never seen an Epson QX-10 - I don't even know what it is. Whatever it is, one way to approach it is to make a dummy load for the PSU which resembles the normal load on it as far as possible. If the PSU continues to malfunction when feeding only the dummy load, the problem is almost certain to be in the PSU itself. Dummy loads for low voltages can often be made from bulbs for use in cars, including dual filament bulbs which had to be replaced because one filament failed. Another useful thing to do is to look for bad connections in the PSU. If it is constructed on a printed circuit board, while feeding the dummy load, try examining the underside of the board in a darkened room while tapping the board with something insulated. You might see or hear tiny sparks indicating the location of a bad solder joint. Be aware that the PSU probably contains high voltages and that these may remain for a considerable period of time after power has been removed, particularly if the unit is faulty. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

12 years, 11 months

Internet Software Archive

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 06:08 AM 4/16/2013, Liam Proven wrote: >http://theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2261567/internet-archive-opens-its-sof… > >?DIGITAL STORER the Internet Archive has opened its collected Archive >of Historical Computer Software, and the archivist who collected it >challenged anyone to match it. Except "Well, our metadata is shit." I think he put that in there just to let the professional archivists blow their coffee out their noses. - John

12 years, 11 months

Exidy Sorcerer available in Australia

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

Was contacted by the person below looking for someone in Australia interested in an Exidy Sorcerer. Passing along here. Contact the person below. I would be interested in possible copies of any doc or such which I don't have for my Sorcerer if someone picks this up. David Williams www.trailingedge.com ----------------- I am in Australia. Do you have a contact here that would like to have it for collection or museum? it WAS a 48K memory version but in later years of use the memory dropped to 32K - presumably a meory fault or dry joint somewhere. Unfortunately, I cannot tell if it is still working, because I have lost the connector cable for the video to the modified TV which Dick Smith electronics sold with it. I also have about half a file drawer of documentation related to it and related matters. Cheers... Keith Dyson ph 08 9457 8913 (inside Australia) or email keithdy at iinet.net.au (preferred)-----------------

12 years, 11 months

Whoops

by john＠yoyodyne-propulsion.net

Sorry for the last post, it was supposed to go to Gene... but hey, if anyone here writes xscreensavers, the help would be appreciated. -- Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: "The Future Begins Tomorrow" Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net -------- "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to discover that he had been transformed into a giant cockroach." Nah, it's too good. --Max Bialystock

12 years, 11 months

8mm Movie to Digital Service?

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 11:16 AM 4/16/2013, Bob Vines wrote: >Which "film to digital" service did you use? I have a box of 8mm >family videos taken in the '60s-'70s that I would really like to save. > It sounds like you are very happy with the results. <http://filmtransfer.com/>http://filmtransfer.com/ , now <http://pixcel.com/>http://pixcel.com/ . Look around for a coupon / Groupon, they do have discounts and frequent promotions. I think this digital scanning of old film is entirely apropos for computer preservationists. Many early computer animations were recorded this way. It seems like many film-to-digital conversions happened by way of steps that involved NTSC video. That's a shame, and reminds us of the lesson of the value of keeping the original material. - John

12 years, 11 months

Commodore C65 prototype sells for 17,827 Euros!

by pet4032＠gmail.com

17,827 Euros is about $23,303 US dollars. http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271183784636 Cheers, Bryan

12 years, 11 months

Hardware vs Simh

by jonas＠otter.se

On Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:08:47 +0100 (BST), ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > Ah, but to me the hardare is just an interestign electronic circuit that > happens to execute programs. In otehr words I think of the gates and > flip-flops, not the program instrucions. I totally agree! > > I think this is why I find the peripehrals to be as interesting as the > CPU in a lot of caes. Ubnderstnading the cotnrol state machine of the > HP9866 printer was as interestign to me as understandignthe microcode > (and sequencer) of the HP9830 that drives it. I totally agree with that, too. I remember when I was doing my thesis, I printed it on the department's Qume daisywheel printer. They had the service manual with complete schematics. It was very interesting, with analogue servos for the carriage motor. A very nice piece of equipment. Not to mention the 11/40 we used, or the big 80 MB Ampex disk drives. /Jonas

12 years, 11 months

FS: Nice vintage computers- Local Pickup ONLY in Flushing Michigan

by slandon110＠gmail.com

12 years, 11 months

10 dollar computers for local pickup in flushing michigan

by slandon110＠gmail.com

I have a ton of old common macs, all work, all 10 bucks a machine for LOCAL pickup in Flushing Michigan. SE's, Plus's, PowerMac 6100s, Quadra 610s, 650s, Mac IIVX's, Performa 600s. 10 bucks a machine if you pick it up Or fill your car with computers and stuff for 100 dollars

12 years, 11 months

Internet Software Archive

by lproven＠gmail.com

http://theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2261567/internet-archive-opens-its-sof… ?DIGITAL STORER the Internet Archive has opened its collected Archive of Historical Computer Software, and the archivist who collected it challenged anyone to match it. The Software Archive is the work of professional archiver Jason Scott and in a post to his website he boasted of the scale of the software database and spoke of what a treasure trove of historical software it is.? -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884

12 years, 11 months

Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 05:13 PM 4/15/2013, Christopher Satterfield wrote: >I actually know someone who uses a modern system to convert older audio >formats to digital formats (usually FLAC). They also have a 1200dpi scanner >(so old it's SCSI) they use for film or printed pictures. Works >surprisingly well, Some processes are better today. I recently had some old (1940s to '70s) 8 mm family movies scanned digitally. The service cleans the film and uses a wet-gate process to reduce scratches. They scan each frame digitally at HD resolution (1920 x 1080) using even LED illumination. They scan the entire film edge-to-edge. Many old cameras exposed the entire width of the film while the projector only showed the majority of the middle, so you see more image than ever before. I asked for a digital movie file for editing, so I sent them a hard drive. The results are astoundingly dramatically better >from what you got from an old projector. No playback jitter >from worn sprocket holes. Bright, even illumination. It's far better than the film-to-VHS transfer I paid for in the early 90s. (Private YouTube example links available on request.) All this for a dime or two per foot. I'll be able to edit digitally and provide family members with DVD or Bluray copies. The same is true for restoration and duplication of old family photographs. With a digital process, you can undo damage and easily multiply copies. As with the classic computer avocation, it can come with regrets, too. I wish I would've rescued 1930s family films from a distant cousin who passed away a decade ago. I had a VHS copy of some of his films, but not the originals. - John

12 years, 11 months

Data General Dasher D200 Manuals

by steve＠stephenmerrony.co.uk

I've looked in all the usual places and can't find any manuals for the D200 - does anyone have a scan? I know there are manuals for the later D410 and D411 floating around - but I would like to get some definitive details on the D200. (Also - still looking for any help with the MV/2500...) Steve http://stephen.homedns.org/dg/

12 years, 11 months

AE GSRAM Plus- DRAMS needed 1024x1, Total of 40 needed

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Im looking for 40 dram chips for my AE GSRam Plus to expand it to the full 6MB It takes 1024x1 DRAM Chips Thanks Steve

12 years, 11 months

isn't this sort of old news/

by jws＠jwsss.com

not that they don't have a large collection of old software, but the gee whiz nature of the blip seems a bit uninformed http://tech.slashdot.org/submission/2601751/the-internet-archive-is-now-the… Don't need a huge thread about how noone reads slashdot, they are just usually the conduit that provides the news. original article here http://paritynews.com/web-news/item/974-the-internet-archive-is-now-the-lar… and they are so proud of collecting the documentation too. Maybe this is different than bitsavers mission, and larger, don't know. Jim

12 years, 11 months

Hardware vs Simh

by jonas＠otter.se

Tony Duell wrote: > But I would also argue that nobody (or at least very few people) wil > leb > equally interested in hardware and software. If you are a hardware > person, you will want to ru nthe real hardawre, you will want to laod > the > alignment pack and connect the 'scope to the read preamplifer. You > will > want to have a logic analyser conencted ot the CPU microcode address > bus > and wacch how it executes machine instructions. > Then I would be one of those very few. I find hardware and system software (operating systems, database managers etc) equally interesting. Actually, my view is that they are to a great extent two different incarnations of the same thing: The hardware is a physical machine that executes programs, the operating system is a kind of virtual machine which executes user programs. Then there is virtual machine software, that is also very interesting. I wrote a very simple operating system once in my career, now I am playing with writing another one in my spare time. Some day I will most likely also design and built my own processor, whether with discrete logic or an FPGA I am not sure, perhaps both. And then the physical experience of an actual old machine running is something special, quite like driving an old car or riding on a steam train. /Jonas

12 years, 11 months

Computer ASCII Text Art from the 1970's

by jfoust＠threedee.com

So how often do these original CDC "Mona Lisa By the Numbers" posters come up for sale? Or the old circa 1960 Calcomp 30-inch plotters? - John

12 years, 11 months

Hardware vs Simh

by wlewisiii＠gmail.com

On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 12:00 PM, <cctalk-request at classiccmp.org> wrote: (much snipped) You'd think by now I'd know better than to start a thread like this while on digest mode. First, thank you to everyone who replied. I got at least something out of every post so far and that's no small thing. I must have misread something along the way as I thought the /23 had separate I/D spaces. Good thing to have that correct now. I'd not mind getting one to run it for it's own sake but to get it thinking it could do something it couldn't would be much more annoying. Thank you to the pointers to additional docs - the field guide as especially nice to find as I'm still learning my way around the DEC module names. The chassis information was quite helpful as well. As for why, well... I graduated HS in 1982 & took a short detour into the Army so I missed a lot of the "glory days" of some of the things on this list. I started with micros and as a student the closest I got allowed to the Vax was a login prompt. The first (non DOS,OS/2,Windows) software environment I really got to know well was Unix and then learning of Lisp & LispM's. These days emulators are fun, capable and perfect for most home users - I certainly would not have the room or power budget for a CADR or PDP-10 or 11/780 in the basement! I respect those who can but, alas, I'm not able to do that in my current rental But I do have the room and enough of a toy budget to slowly put together a classic PDP-11 system of the later /73, /83 or /93 type & run the kind of software I'm familiar with on it. Might even try to see if I can back port Franz lisp and to it from the 4.2 distribution just to give myself a reason for it. Ultimately I'd like to have a small collection of real classic hardware - a Symbolics XL1200, a Vax (or Vaxstation) 4000 & a PDP-11. I'll work on that last one for now and deal with emulation for the rest :) Thanks again to everyone, William -- Live like you will never die, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no-one is watching. Alex White

12 years, 11 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 116, Issue 42

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

On 14 Apr 2013, at 23:59, "Tom Sparks" <tom_a_sparks at yahoo.com.au> wrote: > >>> I refuse to follow planned obsolescence. >>> I also hate planned obsolescence >> my X86's I buy newand keep retooling the software until they die > >Understandable. > >> my classic / remake systems (amiga, riscOS), I well upgrade/update them to a point >> (I will not convert my desktop amigas to a tower) > >I bet you they'll outlive the x86s. ;) >thats debatable, the Operating system needs to abandon its ties to the older hardware and become open source (RiscOS open / AROS ) if older software is need to be run emulation in the form of rosetta or wine can be used apple inc has made thetransition through a group of cpus then there is hope (6502 -> 68k -> PPC -> intel) >> I am sickof products that use the Freebie marketing / razor and blades business model >> >> thats why I am buying older printers because I can buy the Consumables (stil-inbox) on ebay > >They'll outlive a new printer! >its looking that way....... > >> tom >> >> > > > >On Apr 15, 2013, at 12:01 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote: > >> Also interesting is that it's the SF/Bay Area Craigslist, but the area code is Washington DC.? Photo's would have been nice. > >I live in Philadelphia and have a Baltimore area code.? Blame >cell phones? > > >- Dave > >On 14/04/13 11:24 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote: >> >> >> On 14 Apr 2013, at 22:54, "Toby Thain"<toby at telegraphics.com.au>? wrote: >> ... >>> The dominant culture thinks nothing of discarding working, useful things. When it comes to electronics, it is fairly certain we junk far more stuff in perfect working order, than faulty stuff. >> >> That leaves us more to dumpster-dive for. ;) > >That's how I know it's true. But only a tiny part is meaningfully >reused, recycled, or repaired. > >--T > >> >>> >>> Our only consolation is that one day, we will have to stop doing this. It's a very finite rope. And boy, will we feel dumb then. >>> >>> --Toby >>> >>>> or do without."? I just recently (three days ago) explained to someone >>>> that taking a computer I was offering was actually doing me a favour, >>>> because it lets me get rid of a machine without tripping my "aak! >>>> throwing away working hardware!" issues. >>>> >>>> /~\ The ASCII??? ??? ??? ??? ? Mouse >>>> \ / Ribbon Campaign >>>>? X? Against HTML??? ??? mouse at rodents-montreal.org >>>> / \ Email!??? ? ? 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39? 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B >>>> >>> >> >> >> > > >>> There is more to vintage computing than just software!! >> I agree!!? Can you describe what is included in "more"? > >I don't have anything like a PDP-11.? The oldest machine I have is probably >a BBC Micro and the biggest, noisiest machine I have is an Alphaserver 2100. > >> (a)? Extra noise > >I've been known to mess about with trying (not very successfully) to get a >sound card to produce a 400Hz background whirr that comes and goes as I move >around the room.? The sound of fans and disks does help create the right mood >as long as it is not loud enough to be irritating. > >> (b)? Extra heat > >Not a problem in winter (except for the effect on system reliability).? More >of a difficulty in summer. > >> (c)? Total cost is more > >Not necessarily.? I've paid at most nominal amounts for most if not all of my >older equipment although I have sometimes had to invest a little more for the >parts and peripherals I occasionally need.? I am not part of the crowd that >collects old equipment hoping for it to increase in value. > >There would be an incremental cost to the world and the environment if I was to >purchase hardware and software from companies producing the latest equipment >and running the latest bugware. > >> (d)? Slower CPU > >If it's fast enough, I am not bothered by how much faster it could be. > >> (e)? Slower disk I/O > >Same. > >> (f)? Slower ethernet > >Same. > >> (g)? Less disk space > >I am fairly disorganised.? Less disk space gives me an incentive to keep >things tidy and get rid of clutter. > >I am slightly more worried about reliability of old disk hardware. However, >I've managed to keep ahead of the disks that have died on me so far. > >> (h)? Smell, touch and feel of original hardware > >I like the touch and feel of the original software as well as the hardware. >If the hardware I want is not available and a good emulator is, I'll use >the emulator to experience the software.? I'll still use something pretty old >to run the emulator on though. > >Regards, >Peter Coghlan. > > > >

12 years, 11 months

Warning: fake ebay 'second chance' offers

by tmfdmike＠gmail.com

Folks, I was an underbidder on the System/360 panel that recently went on ebay. This morning I received an obviously fake 'second chance' offer email. The interesting part is that the sender had clearly done some research, as ebay has not exposed your email address for many years, precisely to prevent scams like this. Since my ebay ID is 'corestore_org' it's not too hard to google and find an email address for me; they clearly did so, as the email correctly associated my email address with my account name, exactly as a genuine ebay email would. I don't think anyone here would be taken in by such for an instant, but be warned all the same; someone is being 'active' with scams tailored to our interests. The email claimed to originate from 'ebay at ebay.joe211.info' and sought a reply to 'jrengineer70 at gmail.com'. EDIT a google reveals several other scam emails using this email address. It never struck me before, but of course ebay doesn't even show underbidder *account names* any more; they splash them with asterisks and display them as x******x. Yet the scammer knew my full ebay ID, my correct email address, AND the amount of my underbid. Someone *must* have cracked the ebay database... Mike http://www.corestore.org 'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame. For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'

12 years, 11 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 116, Issue 42

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

>________________________________ >I refuse to follow planned obsolescence. >I also hate planned obsolescence my X86's I buy newand keep retooling the software untilthey die my classic / remake systems (amiga, riscOS), I well upgrade/update them to a point (I will not convert my desktop amigas to a tower) I am sickof products that use the Freebie marketing / razor and blades business model thats why I am buying older printers because I can buy the Consumables (stil-inbox) on ebay tom

12 years, 11 months

looking for Daisy Wheel Printer

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

I am looking for a daisy wheel printer to buy I know I need one with a parallel/ Centronics port but what else should I get? ?--- ?tom_a_sparks "It's a nerdy thing I like to do" ?Child of the Internet born 1983 ?PGP DA98 A195 06AD 1330 7EB0??50C3 724C 9974 A7EF 6006 ?Please use ISO approved file formats excluding Office Open XML - ?http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html ?Ubuntu wiki page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/tomsparks

12 years, 11 months

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