On January 14, blstuart(a)bellsouth.net wrote:
> There was a 2nd drive mod whose design was circulated and there
> was also a mod that allowed for bigger drives by supporting a larger
> number of cylinders.
Ahh, yes! I remember that now. Didn't it involve replacing the
WD1010 with a WD2010 to get the higher cylinder number support, or
something along those lines?
Dammit, now you guys have me wanting another 3B1 or 7300. *GRRR!) :-)
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf
Greetings,
Since I have no access to a T1 telephone line, and hence am unable to
use the DECvoice board set in my VAX 4000, consisting of one each of
M3135-01, M3135-02 and M3136 boards, I was wondering if anyone's
interested in a trade. The bulkhead panel, and cabling to these
boards that came with my VAX, will be included. The DECvoice software
appears to reside on my system we well. It appears that resellers are
asking quite a bit (over US$1,000) for one of these boards.
If anyone's interested in making an offer for the set, or individual
boards, of cash or trade, then I'm willing to consider offers for
trade. Some of the things I'm interested in and may consider towards
a trade:
- additional memory
- large DSSI disks with sleds and front panels
- SCSI board
- a tape drive and mounting sled/brackets, etc. (preferably DLT)
- hub with both BNC and and 10-Base-T connectors
Other suggestions are welcome. :-)
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ethan Dicks [mailto:erd_6502@yahoo.com]
> I know that some model of UNIX PC had room for a full-height MFM drive
> under a hump (most only had room for a half-height). It was
> too little,
> too late, but you could drop a lot more than 40Mb inside - maybe 80Mb
> or more! :-)
IIRC, that was the second UnixPC model that was never released. (7400?) It was also supposed to have a color screen. That said, I suppose it wouldn't be difficult to run the drive interface cable through a plate in the back of the machine, if you can find a plate that will fit it, and has a hole for a connector that you can run to an external drive chassis.
In fact, I haven't opened the machine in ages, but you could possibly even run the external disk as a second drive, given some other slight modifications. I don't recall whether the UnixPC had any data cable header for a second drive. Probably not, since it wouldn't have fit inside.
On the other hand, there are MFM to SCSI bridges, I believe, and I wonder whether you could just use one of those and run some 1GB or so disk on it.
Regards,
Chris
Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL
/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
! >We have a local computer shop that (last week) had as-is 3c589 NICs
! >for $5, but no dongle. I bought a couple spares, and a
! >Xircom PS-CEM-28
! >(also no dongles). Hopefully the 10BaseT dongle I have for another
! >Xircom card will work (the 100BaseT dongles _are_ different).
!
! I saw some generic dongles down at the CompUSA a little while
! back. They
! were $25. The blister pack said it worked with 3com and other PCMCIA
! cards. I used it successfully with a XIRCOM 10bt/56k modem card (only
! with the Ethernet half... modem used a different connection, but that
! looked similar to the one that fit in my old ActionTec modem, I just
! never got around to trying it).
!
! The dongle also said it worked with 10/100 ethernet. There are no
! markings on the dongle of value (it is here in front of me)
! so I can't
! tell you the brand, but I do know for sure I bought it at CompUSA
!
! -chris
!
! <http://www.mythtech.net>
!
Well, I have the Xircom 10/100 & 56k modem combo card, that has the actual
jacks buit into it. No dongles to worry about :-P Granted, it does take up
two PCMCIA slots, but I don't have anything else to use in there now
anyway...
--- David A Woyciesjes
--- C & IS Support Specialist
--- Yale University Press
--- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu
--- (203) 432-0953
--- ICQ # - 905818
Hello,
The Local GoodWill has a fairly nice Mac IIci. I've done some research
on the Low End Mac web site, but am still undecided if I should buy it.
Low End Mac says it is a "Mac Best Buy", meaning that it is one of the
models to buy, instead of avoid. Some models are best avoided because
of compromises in design or limited expandability.
It is uses a 25mhz Motorola 68030 processor. What would be the
approximate Intel/PC equivalent? The 386DX-25? The 486DX-25? faster,
slower, what? I don't have much Mac experience at all. I own a Plus,
but after cleaning it, I haven't done anything with it but let it sit,
mainly because of the silly 800K drives.
It has a Radius video card, but unfortunately, the Radius monitor got
sold separately. It was a "Pivot" monitor. I pulled the monitor of the
nonfunctioning IIcx and the ci boots fine, and is running System 7.1.
How much should I offer?
Thanks,
Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA
I have not yet tried this yet --
In theory, electrolytics can be re-formed.
There is a very thin aluminum oxide layer that disappears after a long time.
Running current through the cap will rebuild the insulating layer until current will no longer go through it.
I want to reform the original capacitors in my Altair "in place" -- i.e., without unsoldering them.
I have the following setup in mind:
1. Insulate the computer from the world -- unplug it and put it on a rubber table.
2. Use ultra mini test clips to connect to both leads of a capacitor.
3. Connect the test leads to one of those lab power supplies that have adjustable DC voltage and a milli-ammeter.
4. Connect + on the lab power supply to + on the capacitor (very important).
5. Start at zero voltage and increase slowly while looking at the ammeter.
6. Stop increasing the voltage when the ammeter reads anything more than a few milliamps.
(If it draws too much current, the capacitor will heat up and may blow up)
7. Wait for the current on the ammeter to drop to zero.
8. Continue to increase the voltage, and wait for the ammeter to drop until you reach the rated voltage limit of the capacitor.
9. Repeat for every electrolytic cap in the computer.
Has anyone done this ?
Will it work ?
Comments?
-Rob
On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Tony Duell wrote:
> >
> > One quick question, are those normal or inverted signals? The PC floppy
>
> Active-low (inverted, -ve logic, whatever you call it)
>
> > adaptor seems to have all negative logic (inverted) signals. If they're
> > really negative logic, it'll be possible to rewire a cable pretty easily,
> > otherwise I'll need to put some inverting buffers on it.
>
> No, it's just a cable. The only issues are :
>
> 1) The data rate is 500kbps (same as a HD PC drive) in DD mode, so you
> can't use an XT controller (not that you'd want to...)
>
> 2) The Low Current signal. This is a reduce-write-current input that
> should be asserted (pulled low) when writing to tracks >43. Most PC
> controllers can't supply that signal directly. If you're just wanting to
> read disks, then it's not important, though.
>
> 3) Many PC controllers have problems with single-density operation...
>
OK, A couple more issues I wanted to ask about:
1) Should I use "Read Data Composite" or "Read Data Separated"? What's the
difference?
2) Do I need to do anything with the "Clock Separated"? I'm guessing
that's an output that goes with the Read Data Composite/Separated outputs
3) Can I just connect the 'head load' to 'ready' or is 'ready' dependant
upon the heads being loaded?
Thanks a TON for the info!
-- Pat
> -tony
>
Well today I got my NeXT Dimension board fully functional
with 32MB of RAM installed. Unfortunately the RAM came out of my
slab. I am asking this here due to the number of SIMMs I am now in
need of. If anyone has the following and would like to sell them,
please let me know.
16 - 4MB 30pin SIMMs, 100ns or better, parity or non-parity
(as long as they all match), low profile preferred. These are to
replace the 1MB SIMMs currently in my Cube's '040 mainboard.
8 - 4MB 72pin SIMMs, 80ns or better, 1M x 32 or 1M x 36 (as
long as they all match). These are for my slab to replace the SIMMs
I pulled for use in the Dimension board.
Thanks
Jeff
--
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.cchaven.comhttp://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
On Jan 14, 14:26, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> --- Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com> wrote:
> > I do believe the main reason for the 68010's appearance in what was
> > previously a number of 68000 applications was that it could support
> > virtual memory, while that was awkward on a 68K.
>
> That's my recollection as well.
There are two relevant differences. The first is that on the 68000 (and
68008), reading the system byte in the status register isn't privileged, so
MOVESR works in user mode as well as supervisor mode. In the 68010, that
was corrected and an extra opcode was added to allow reading the user byte
(condition codes) in user mode. The second difference is that the 68010
has the VBR (vector base register) so different interrupt/trap vectors can
be used in different modes; the vector base is fixed in the 68000/68008.
There's no difference in things like address range, modes, MMU
interfacing, etc. Those changes came with the 68020.
The other changes were improvement to the microcode, which made loops
faster.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Hi all,
We have an HP 9892A card reader which appears in decent shape. We would
like to interface it to a PC if possible.
It is a rebadged Documation M600.
Anyone have docs or info about this model and its interface?
Regards,
-- hbp
On January 14, Christopher Smith wrote:
> > I know that some model of UNIX PC had room for a full-height MFM drive
> > under a hump (most only had room for a half-height). It was
> > too little,
> > too late, but you could drop a lot more than 40Mb inside - maybe 80Mb
> > or more! :-)
>
> IIRC, that was the second UnixPC model that was never released. (7400?) It was also supposed to have a color screen. That said, I suppose it wouldn't be difficult to run the drive interface cable through a plate in the back of the machine, if you can find a plate that will fit it, and has a hole for a connector that you can run to an external drive chassis.
Umm, no, that was the 3B1. It was most definitely released, as I've
had several of them. I used to run Seagate ST4096 80MB drives in them.
I'd kill for one with a color display though. :)
> On the other hand, there are MFM to SCSI bridges, I believe, and I wonder whether you could just use one of those and run some 1GB or so disk on it.
Those bridges typically go the other way, to put MFM drives on a
SCSI bus. I'd imagine it'd be pretty difficult to build one to go in
the other direction.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf
On Jan 14, 15:52, Rob Kapteyn wrote:
> I have not yet tried this yet --
> In theory, electrolytics can be re-formed.
> There is a very thin aluminum oxide layer that disappears after a long
time.
> Running current through the cap will rebuild the insulating layer until
current will no longer go through it.
>
> I want to reform the original capacitors in my Altair "in place" -- i.e.,
without unsoldering them.
>
> I have the following setup in mind:
>
> 1. Insulate the computer from the world -- unplug it and put it on a
rubber table.
> 2. Use ultra mini test clips to connect to both leads of a capacitor.
> 3. Connect the test leads to one of those lab power supplies that have
adjustable DC voltage and a milli-ammeter.
> 4. Connect + on the lab power supply to + on the capacitor (very
important).
> 5. Start at zero voltage and increase slowly while looking at the
ammeter.
> 6. Stop increasing the voltage when the ammeter reads anything more than
a few milliamps.
> (If it draws too much current, the capacitor will heat up and may
blow up)
> 7. Wait for the current on the ammeter to drop to zero.
> 8. Continue to increase the voltage, and wait for the ammeter to drop
until you reach the rated voltage limit of the capacitor.
> 9. Repeat for every electrolytic cap in the computer.
>
> Has anyone done this ?
> Will it work ?
I've not done that in-circuit, but it might work. There are some gotchas.
If you're talking about power smoothing caps, any voltage you put on the
cap will also be powering the rest of the circuit. Disconnect any
transformer. You don't want to feed them DC. Also, the current drawn by
the rest of the circuit will make it impossible to gauge the leakage
current in the capacitor.
If you're talking about any other capacitor, putting a voltage on it may
provide power to some signal line connected to an unpowered device, which
the device may not like. In particular, TTL doesn't like power on some
signal inputs when there is a ground connection but no Vcc.
In either case, the voltage rating on the capacitor is likely higher than
the maximum for the logic ICs, and TTL in particular does not like
excessive voltage (NMOS is more tolerant). Don't exceed the lowest
maximum-voltage rating of any device on the board.
Of course, you're assuming that the capacitors need reformed. They might
not (but it's good practice to assume they might). If you can't remove
them without risking damage to the PCB, I would try feeding power into the
board through a current-limited supply at a low voltage and gradually
winding it up to the normal value over a period of several tens of minutes.
If they've completely dried out, they're dead anyway. Stop if the current
shoots up, or seems too high -- you probably have a short. Is an Altair
board like a typical S100 board, fed from an 8VDC unregulated supply, and
with on-board regulator? If so, just use a bench supply as above.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On January 14, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> > used the 68010 even though they had rather limited HDD
> > resources. It would have worked better with two drives, methinks.
>
> I know that some model of UNIX PC had room for a full-height MFM drive
> under a hump (most only had room for a half-height). It was too little,
> too late, but you could drop a lot more than 40Mb inside - maybe 80Mb
> or more! :-)
If memory serves, the one with the half-height bay was called the
7300, and the full-height version was the 3B1. They were the same
otherwise; I swapped a few out from damaged machines many years ago.
They sure were great machines. I wouldn't mind having one for
posterity.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf
> On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
>
> > > But A/UX sucks humongous hairy sweaty donkey balls.
> >
> > has anyone every noticed that *nothing* ever sucks
> > tiny little dainty hairless donkey balls?
>
> I bet tiny little dainty hairless donkeys do...
Don't they call those "gerbils"?
<ducking>
;)
Finally -- a nice haul in my area.
BUT I WAS ON VACATION !!!!
Is any of this still available ?
It ALL looks interesting to me.
I am in Chicago and I have a truck, and a lot of storage space (with loading dock).
-Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Auringer [SMTP:auringer@tds.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 6:53 AM
To: Classic Computer Mailing List
Subject: VAX 11/780s - Masscomp - Valid equipment available
Hello all,
Along with the Astronautics ZS-1 machines I posted about earlier, we
have some other equipment available. I have someone interested in one of
the 11/780 machines and possible others. As with the ZS-1 machines, the
time frame isn't very long. Again, we are closing this facility and the
equipment will be scrapped if not rescued.
1 DEC 11/780 (3 wide cabinet) currently up and running 4.2 BSD
3rd cabinet has a Ven-tel plugin modem rack w/~10 modems
1 rack containing 4 Fujitsu Eagle drives (one drive is off-line due
to increasing errors)
1 Fujitsu 9-track tape drive in 2 wide cabinet (not quite as tall as the
VAX cabinet)(This is a nice auto loading drive, there is a second
one available with two drives from a non-VAX system)
1 DEC TE16 9-track tape drive (1 wide cabinet)
1 Fujitsu line printer
1 DECWRITER III printing terminal as console
1 DEC 11/780 (3 wide cabinet) currently down but was running fine
when turned off (VMS)
3 DEC RP07 drives (each the size of a washing machine on steroids!)
1 DEC TU78 9-track tape drive
1 Scicards design station (This is a dedicated color graphics
terminal used for printed circuit board (PCB) layout)
I am told the tube was a little on the fuzzy side.
1 Benson photo plotter (we used this exclusively to print out PCB
artwork for checking)
1 Dataproducts line printer
1 DECWRITER III printing terminal as console
3 Valid Systems m68k based Multibus systems. Each system has several
dedicated mono graphics cards to drive multiple design stations.
Each system is in a half-height rack which contains the Multibus
rack, an 8" Fujitsu fixed disk drive and the slot loading 9-track
tape drive. I am unsure of the status of these systems. I believe
they were running when shut down, but I have doubts about the drives.
6 or more of the Valid Scaldstation design stations. Each includes a
table with built-in digitizer and a 19" green monochrome graphics
monitor. These systems were used primarily for schematic capture,
but ran a full blown UNIX, so I always enjoyed reading news on the
"big screen". :)
1 Masscomp m68k based system
This system is also Multibus based and resides in a pair of 5' high
racks. One rack contains the multibus chassis and a pair of Fujitsu
drives. The second rack houses the 9-track tape drive and a third
8" Fujitsu drive. This machine was only lightly used when I signed
on in 1989, and shut down shortly thereafter. I have gotten it up
and running RTU on its ST-506 boot drive, but haven't managed to
get the Fujitsus online.
7 Masscomp MC-500 deskside chassis
These are also Multibus based m68k systems. These run the same OS as
systems above. They have an internal 5-1/4" floppy and ST-506 fixed
drive. There are a bunch of the monochrome graphics tubes that go
along with these units. Actually, it appears like each chassis is
designed to drive a pair of the graphics terminals. I have one of
these boxes that I did a clean install of the RTU OS. The other 6
are in varying states of repair. I think there are enough bits to
assemble at least 3 more complete systems.
2 DEC MicroVax II in a 19"
There is also a rack mounted chassis with a pair of SMD drives.
Each of the MVII has a SMD controller card. Both of the boot drives
are dead and I don't have a way to format replacements. I would
like to hang on to these if I can manage to get them home without
doing myself harm.
1 Tek 4014-1 graphics terminal w/hard copy unit. The terminal works
fine, but I haven't had a chance to test the hard copy unit. I would
like to hang on to this unit, but moving it is definately a two person
and a truck kind of thing. So I may have to let it go. :(
? StorageTek 9-Track drives. 110V operation. How many of these I have
depends on the fate of the ZS-1 machines. I have a couple now, and
will have several more if the ZS machines are scrapped.
Large quantities of documentation. Over a dozen UNIX programmers
manuals in metal desktop racks. Complete documentation sets for VMS,
gray and orange binders. I have a box with complete unopened
docs for a later version (don't remember off-hand which version) of
VMS than we had ever installed. Documentation for several revisions
of SunOS4. If I were to walk through the building, I could easily
double this list. Basically we have just about everything!
Thanks for listening,
Jon
Jon Auringer
auringer(a)tds.net
On Jan 14, 19:16, Tony Duell wrote:
> Read that as 2SB1243 -- which is not in 'Towers International Transistor
> Selector'.
No, but it's in my Japanese transistor book (I can't tell you the proper
title because it's in Japanese :-))
Yes, it's a PNP power trannie, in an ATV package, which is a bit like a
TO220 but without the metal tab. It has a beveled edge on the front top,
instead of a metal tab on the back.
Vcbo -60V
Vceo -50V
Ic(max) -3A
Pc 1W
Icbo -10microA
Vcb -40V
hFE min 56 max 390 at Vce=-3V Ic -0.5A
Vce(sat) -1V
Vbe(sat) -1.5V
Ft 100MHz
Pin order is ECB (opposite of the common TO220).
Near equivalent 2SD1864.
> I am pretty sure 2SB numbers are 'power' PNP transistors. In which case
> I'd expect the emitter to go to a +ve supply line and the collector to go
> to the printhead pin. If it's a TO220 package, then it's a good bet the
> pinout is :
>
>
> -------------
> | | |------------- emitter
> | O | |------------- collector
> | | |------------- base
> -------------
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I just got a pair of SSDD 8" Control Data disk drives, and was wondering
if anyone had any information about them. Here's the info I can figure
out from the drive:
1) Spindle motor has a 3 pin molex connector, is rated 120V, 0.77A at 60Hz
2) 2pin next to a 4pin power connector 'J7' on the logic board
3) 50pin data connector (Can't be scsi, can it?)
4) empty 16pin DIP socket
5) 8 switch DIP switch
"Magnetic Peripherals Inc. a subsidiary of CONTROL DATA CORPORATION" label
with 120V ratings:
Equip. Ident. No. BK8A2A (could be BR8A2A)
Series Code 09
Part Number 75744025
Serial Number 127888
Label on opposite side:
Flexible Diskette Driver
Educational Computer Corp
Orlando, Floriday
MFG PART NO: 910024000-009
MFG SERIAL NO: 127888
There's a bunch more numbers stamped on the drive pieces, but I'm
guessing that they won't be of much use unless I want to build a new drive
>from scratch (after getting in a time machine to go back 20-25 years).
Thanks for the help!
-- Pat
I'm getting closer to a real PDF file!!!
<<<<GROUP 4 FAX TIFF>>>>>>>
First, here is my notes on converting an
JPG image to a G4 TIF image in Windows:
------ Converting to G4 TIF --------------
In Win95/98/NT, path to follow is:
Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Imaging
In Win95, the program is called Wang Imaging
and is usually found in c:\windows\wangimg.exe.
In Win 98, the program is called Kodak Imaging
and is usually found in c:\windows\kodakimg.exe.
In Win NT, the program is called Wang Imaging
and is usually found in
c:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\ImageVue\wangimg.exe.
Now since I'm running Win98, the following
is dealing with Kodak Imaging.
After kodakimg.exe starts I load a .JPG file:
File -> Open
In my example the file is 8.5x11 300dpi
8bit(256 shades) grayscale.
Then I copy the file to the scrapbook:
Edit -> Copy Page
Then I create a NEW image with G4 compression:
File -> New
*File Type tab - check "TIFF document(TIFF)"
*Compression tab - Pull down "Compression" and
select "CCITT Group 4 (2d) fax". (This changes
the Color tab selection to "Black and White").
*Resolution tab - I set pull down "Resolution"
to "300 x 300 dpi".
*Size tab - Defaults to 8.5x11
Click "OK"
Then I paste the scrapbook image into the NEW
image:
Edit -> Paste
The 8bit gray image is now a bitmap.
You can check the image's properties at any time:
Page -> Properties
Then just save the file:
File -> Save As
Set the filename and click "Save"
---------------------------------------------------
This converted a 2,851KB 8bit JPEG to a 448KB
bitmap TIFF file. I can also scan and create
multi-page TIFF files with this program.
<<<<PDF FILE>>>>>>>
Hans turned me onto IMG2PDF for windows (demo version
on the Web). But I must have screwed up the
installation. It produced a 6 page PDF file but the
pages were all blank and the file was 4K in size!!
Now I downloaded the demo version of TIF2PDF from
the same company (Excel Info Tech, Inc.). The program
installed fine and it created a beautiful 6 page
PDF file that is 1,669K (Much better that 15MB).
The problem is that the demo version inserts
"Copyright of Excel Info Tech, Inc." in red across
each page of the PDF!!! And for some reason it
insert the pages in the order 2,3,4,5,1,6. If I
create a three page PDF, it inserts the pages in
the order 2,1,3.
Regards,
--Doug
=========================================
Doug Coward
@ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog
Analogrechner, calculateur analogique,
calcolatore analogico, analoogrekenaar,
komputer analogowy, analog bilgisayar,
kampiutere ghiyasi, analoge computer.
=========================================
Hi,
On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 Fred Cisin wrote:
> Apple Turnover, and it's even theoretically possible to do it with the
> CopyII Option board (if you are willing to write a program comparable to
> the Apple OS file system. Same with Catweasel - theoretical possibility,
> but significant software needed but not available.
See http://www.ece.nwu.edu/~cbachman/apple.html
Using a Copy II Option Board (or Deluxe Option Board) and its supplied
software you can create an image file of Apple II disks. Then use the program
on that page convert to a plain disk image.
[About the Option Board (earlier non-ASIC model): I'll volunteer to trace the
PCB of one of these as part of an effort to figure out exactly how it works.
But I only have Deluxe Option Board here at the moment, which uses an ASIC.]
There are free programs (source available) for extracting files from and
otherwise manipulating Apple disk images; one is AFID.
> If you have an Amiga, and are willing to buy or write significant
> software, it can (in theory) do both Apple and PC.
Free software already exists on the Amiga for reading Apple disks, and
transparently reading and writing MS-DOS disks.
For reading Apple disks, use the disk2file program included in this archive
(which also includes an Amiga executable of the AFID program):
http://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/Apple2000v13.readmehttp://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/Apple2000v13.lha
Versions 2.04 and later of the Amiga OS come with CrossDOS, which allows PC
(and Atari ST) floppies to be accessed transparently. A comparable package
which comes with source code is MSH:
http://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/msh_156.readmehttp://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/msh_156.lha
> > I have a CompatiCard I and Uniform, and I still have
>
> Those will be nice for doing MFM diskettes. No help at all for GCR
> (Apple and Commodore).
An Amiga with 5.25" drive can also read Commodore 1541-type disks. One free
package (which from memory includes source code) requires that the disk motor
be slowed down slightly, from 300rpm to about 280 (easy enough on Commodore
A1020 5.25" drives, and non-Commodore disks are still readable at that speed).
http://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/1541.readmehttp://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/misc/emu/1541.lha
All in all, an old Amiga 500 or whatever costing about US$10 can be a good
investment if you need to read "strange" disk formats. An Amiga 5.25" drive
should cost about the same or a little more.
-- Mark
Hi, I've just been having a go at fixing an old Acorn AKF40 monitor (a
few months shy of ten years old I'm afraid), which makes a screeching
sound and fails to provide any display when powered up. Not having done
anything like this before (I generally stick to low voltage digital
stuff) I could do with a little advice.
I checked for bad connections and dry joints first, then started going
around with a multimeter looking for open resistors, shorted caps etc. I
soon located a fault- a power resistor with a discoloured area on it
which is completely open circuit. It's located somewhere in the switch
mode power supply. What do you think this resistor is likely to be for,
and is its failure consistent with the symptoms I'm seeing, or should I
be looking for other failed parts too? Also, it says on it:
4.7 [ohm symbol] K 7W
Would I be right in thinking that that means 4K7 rated to 7W?
--
------------ Alex Holden - http://www.linuxhacker.org ------------
If it doesn't work, you're not hitting it with a big enough hammer
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Bradford [mailto:mrbill@mrbill.net]
> I've got two QIC tapes here:
> Free for the cost of postage. Surely someone has a 3b2 and needs
> an OS..
Yep, but my 3B2 has a floppy drive and no tape. :/
Chris
Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL
/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
Please disregard my post. Apparently screaming loudly at upper-level
RoadRunner reps works wonders. We now have a DNS record, and since I
can get mail on the mdrconsult account from Yahoo, it looks like they
got it done and propagated in less than an hour. Still, overall,
inexcusable.
Doc
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt London [mailto:classiccmp@knm.yi.org]
> Ahh - I fear I will have to do the same for my gf, but I plan on
> emigrating to canada to be with her anyway, so I won't be able to take
> most of my kit. When that time comes, I'm sure classiccmp
> will be able to
> find good homes, unless I have to resort to ePay to get some
> money for the
> move :&/
Have you tried the "cute, furry animal" trick from the FAQ? :)
Regards,
Chris
Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL
/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
On Jan 14, 9:45, Jerome Fine wrote:
> >Pete Turnbull wrote:
>
> > >On Jan 13, 21:27, Louis Schulman wrote:
> > > Old computer power supplies generally have big old electrolytic
> > > capacitors. When these go bad, they can
> > > cause real problems, and damage other components.
> > > The literature indicates that many of these only have a working life
of
> > > 2000 hrs., or a shelf life of ten years.
> > > Obviously, this will be exceeded in old computers.
> > I think you may have lost a digit off the working life, Louis, at least
if
> > you're referring to the sort of electrolytics found in PSUs :-)
>
> Jerome Fine replies:
>
> I was hoping you would answer this question. Thank you! Of all the
> hobby users around here, it seems that you have the most experience
> with repairs.
Oh, I don't know about that, particularly for older equipment there are a
few others here who can outdo me, I think .
> Now, that lost digit for the working life, I presume you mean that 20,000
> hours is more reasonable? Would that vary if the usage was 24/7 (on all
> the time for the whole 20,000 hours) as opposed to being on for 10 hours
> continuous once a week on average, i.e. about 50 times a year or 500
> hours a year?
20,000 hours is the top end of the range, really. 2000 is very low,
though. No, 24/7 versus several hours on different occasions won't make
much difference. Temperature makes a difference, becasue high temperatures
make a cap dry out faster, as does the ripple current, because of internal
heating (high current or high ESR).
> The other MUCH BIGGER question for the stuff most of us tend to work
> with is shelf life. That was estimated at 10 years. What is a
reasonable
> estimate? Also, more specifically, I have a number of BA23/BA123 boxes
> which are about the only PSU I am concerned about for the long term.
> Most are probably more than ten years old already - as far as shelf life
> is concerned. Is a PSU (in general an very specifically a BA23/BA123
> box) more likely to have a longer shelf life of used every so often - any
> if so, how often - once a week, month, year, decade?
That will make a difference, as electrolytics tend to degrade over time.
The insulator is really a thin layer of oxide on the metal foil inside,
and if left sitting unused, that may dissolve. Hence the low shelf life.
That's why you run long-unused electrolytics at a low voltage for a while,
to reform the oxide layer. Running the PSU every so often -- once or twice
a year -- will prevent that happening. With a linear supply, running it at
low voltage is not too difficult -- if there's no variac handy to reduce
the voltage, a low wattage (but mains voltage!) light bulb in series is a
good idea. That's not a good idea with switchers, because they just try to
draw more current instead, which is often worse. The ideal solution is to
remove the caps and run them on a current-limited bench supply, gradually
winding it up from a low voltage to the rated voltage of the capacitor.
The PSUs in BA23/123 (almost all QBus machines, in fact) are switchers,
BTW.
> Could shelf life of some PSU also be as long as 30 years?
Yes, it could, if stored under optimum conditions (but I confess I'm not
sure what "optimum" would mean -- probably not too hot and dry, but not
damp either) and started up periodically to make sure the caps reform.
However, a blown electrolytic is easy to replace and often not hard to
spot, because there's often a bulge or even a hole in the end!
Or in extreme cases, an empty can where the capacitor used to be. A few
years ago, I needed a non-polar electrolytic to fix an Atari monitor. The
nearest equivalent I could find was the same value and voltage but
physically much smaller than the original. The ripple current rating
wasn't very high, either, but I didn't know what the original was rated
for, so I tried it anyway. The monitor ran fine with the case off for
about ten minutes, then there was a loud BANG! and small pieces of fluff
floated down from the ceiling. Apparently the ripple current rating wasn't
high enough :-) I replaced that one with a polyester cap in the end.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Hi all,
The following are free for local pickup only (Menlo
Park CA) FCFS:
HP150 (original touchscreen), w/2225 printer (HP-IB,
that was a mistake on my part!). Las worked when
powered up several years ago.
2xDEC Pro-350s with monitors. Unknown status.
2xHP9000 840s - one with CPU and video only, 2nd with
couple I/O cards. Unknown status.
Thanks!
Lee Courtney
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
Anybody know anything about a Tallgrass Technologies TG-1140 Tape
Storage System? Apparently takes 40MB cartridge tapes. The guy who has
it thinks it was built about 1988.
I don't have access to it, so that's all the info I have.
Yeah, I know. Tony Duell has all the manuals.... :^)
Doc
On Jan 14, 9:39, Gary Hildebrand wrote:
> IMHO, it depends mostly on who made the electrolytics. I have large
> "computer grade" electrolytics from the 60's, salvaged from Ampex VTR's
> that are still 100%, and have never failed in over 30 years.
Not unusual...
> OTOH, the cheap electrolytics found in consumer grade electronics seem
> to dry out and fail on a yeary or biannual basis. One of the worst
> failure rates I've seen is the teeny tiny 160VDC electrolytics; I just
> replace then no matter what and usually that cures the problems.
...and also not unusual. I've seen a batch of Pentium motherboards that
had a stack of small cheap electrolytics right beside/under the Slot1
processor -- and all dried out and failed within a few months.
> The best way to check those #$%#$%^# caps is to use an ESR meter. And
> only then should yo buckshot them. And replace them with good grade
> Spraggue or CDE if possible. I've had mixed to poor resutls with
> Nichion, or other cheap Japanese caps sold by MCM Electronics.
>
> Gary Hildebrand
>
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
! > While not quite yet a classic, one of my more favorite
! > series of laptops is the Compaq LTE 5000. It supported
! > a total of 4 pcmcia cards when it was used with a
! > docking station. These were truly unique machines IMHO,
! > and set the standards for removable cdrom and floppy
! > drives in future laptop systems. I don't know of any
! > other manufacturer at the time who offered a
! > machine with similar features.
Sounds like my DockStation II for IBM Think Pads. That sucker was
big, and at least half made of metal. It added 2 more PCMCIA slots, 2 ISA
(or PCI) slots, included a special SCSI CD-ROM (Kodak Pkoto-CD compatible!),
a full size SCSI expansion bay, an high density 50-pin SCSI connector on the
back, stereo speakers, PS/2 mouse & KB connectors, printer, serial, video,
audio in/out, external floppy connector...
Works great with my 760EL...
--- David A Woyciesjes
--- C & IS Support Specialist
--- Yale University Press
--- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu
--- (203) 432-0953
--- ICQ # - 905818
Free 11/750 for pickup near Dallas. Please contact Alan directly if
interested.
Bill
----- Forwarded message from Alan Andrews <alan(a)tieless.com> -----
Subject: Re: VAX 11/750
From: Alan Andrews <alan(a)tieless.com>
To: Bill Bradford <mrbill(a)mrbill.net>
Date: 13 Jan 2002 13:59:55 -0600
On Sun, Jan 13, 2002 at 06:25:48AM -0600, Alan Andrews wrote:
> > I know it's not a PDP 11, but I have a VAX 11/750 that's looking for a
> > good home. If you know anyone interested, please pass on my email
> > address.
I'm in Frisco, about 20 minutes north of downtown Dallas.
The 11/750 has System Industries hard drives (2 450meg and 1 350meg),
disk pack, tape drive, and a DEC remote diagnostic card. I got it from
the company that used it for their accounting system before switching to
a client/server system in the early 90's. It's been stored in my garage
for about five years. I know some of it's history, and it's in good
shape, although it hasn't been turned on in ten years. It's free to a
good home.
----- End forwarded message -----
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
Thread crossing alert...
Since the ZEBRA used a drum for storage, most instructions had to wait for
the drum to rotate into position, so one instruction takes a variable
amount of time.
And so the computer had a moving-needle efficiency meter on the front panel,
which presumably integrated a series of pulses (similar to the circuit
Tony described earlier). Or I suppose it could have divided the rate
of instruction execution by the rate of drum rotation (since there was
a timing track on the drum anyway). 100% efficiency was attainable
but only by simple programs such as a parity check of the drum.
It also had a telephone dial, sense switches, the usual memory-tweaking
switches, and a register display. In the second-generation (transistor)
machine, the register display was a CRT. In the first-generation (tube)
machine the register display was a bunch of Magic Eye units IIRC.
-- Derek
On Jan 13, 21:27, Louis Schulman wrote:
> Old computer power supplies generally have big old electrolytic
capacitors. When these go bad, they can
> cause real problems, and damage other components.
>
> The literature indicates that many of these only have a working life of
2000 hrs., or a shelf life of ten years.
> Obviously, this will be exceeded in old computers.
I think you may have lost a digit off the working life, Louis, at least if
you're referring to the sort of electrolytics found in PSUs :-)
> So, should these be replaced if they exceed a certain age?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. As always, there's an exception to prove
the rule. If one of a pair goes, it may be worth replacing both to get the
values to match. Or in some PSUs, if one or more fails, they may all have
got too hot or dried out, and at least for small ones (relatively
inexpensive), I tend to replace the lot. In any case, check the others,
they may be on their way to join it.
The working life is an estimate based on mean time between failures (MTBF).
All this says is that for a large sample, it is statistically likely that
a certain proprtion will fail in a certain time. Variation can be
enormous.
> For the screw terminal type, is it necessary to
> use "computer grade" capacitors, which can be fairly expensive?
Depends. The more expensive ones may differ in a few ways:
-- lower ESR and/or higher ripple current tolerance. This means they won't
waste so much energy (and heat up) if used in a PSU delivering a high
current.
-- higher temperature rating. PSUs often get rather warm, and the higher
temperature rating makes them less prone to drying out.
-- longer working life (related to temperature and other factors).
If one can't find the right value in the right
> size package, how much extra capacitance is acceptable?
Electrolytics often have a wide manufacturing tolerance. -20%+50% is still
not unusual. If it's just a filter capacitor I'd say up to 2x is
acceptable. The real issue is likely to be cost. Also bear in mind that a
capacitor of the same size but a higher capacitance may have other
differences, like ripple current rating. I recently replaced a pair of
7700mfd caps in a DEC PSU; I could only get 10000mfd in the right size. In
capacitor terms, that's close enough to be considered a match.
> And any higher working voltage rating is OK?
Yes.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Thanks folks :)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Nadeau [mailto:menadeau@mediaone.net]
> Sent: 11 January 2002 23:54
> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Atari games in limestone cavern
>
>
> It's O'Shea Ltd. at www.oshealtd.com.
>
> --Mike
>
> Michael Nadeau
> Editor/Publisher
> Classic Tech, the Vintage Computing Resource
> www.classictechpub.com
> 603-893-2379
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Adrian Graham" <witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 6:45 PM
> Subject: Atari games in limestone cavern
>
>
> > Odd subject I know, but sometime last year there was a
> story of a guy in
> > California (ish) who had 2 million Atari 2600/7800 games in a cavern
> > somewhere and he was selling them for $2 a pop.....
> >
> > Anyone got a link to him?
> >
> > also, anyone got a spare boxed Magnavox Oddysey they'd like
> to pass on
> > to a UK computer museum? :) I'm talking money
> here....though donations
> > are always welcome!
> >
> > --
> > witchy/adrian
> > www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the online computer museum
> > www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - monthly gothic shenanigans
> > Linux Powered!
> >
> >
>
Does anybody have a schematic or at least the
DIP switch settings for a late model AIM65 with
the two 28-pin RAM/EPROM sockets (not 8 x 2114)?
Help would be greatly appreciated; thanks.
mike
At 01:24 AM 14/01/2002 -0500, Boatman on the River of Suck wrote:
>But A/UX sucks humongous hairy sweaty donkey balls.
Them's fighting words :-)
My first Unix workstation was a Mac IIcx running A/UX version 1.something.
Given what Apple was trying to achieve this wasn't a bad first effort.
Version 2 was more than usable, if you wanted you could hide most of Unix
behind a Mac interface (sounds a lot like OS X to me :-). I never upgraded
to A/UX version 3 (by this stage I'd moved the Mac home and had upgraded to
a Personal DECstation).
In all the years of hacking with the Mac I don't recall ever crashing A/UX
and after a while there were lots of standard Unix applications ported
across. I must admit I stopped using the finder and just started X11 but
that was a personal preference.
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)kerberos.davies.net.au
| "If God had wanted soccer played in the
| air, the sky would be painted green"
>Can I use my 9 pin parity simms from my old 386? The parity bits are
>just ignored right? If so, then I can drop 32megs into it.
I just scanned apple's TIL, and it looks as though Parity chips are ok on
the IIci. I base this off an article discussing the fact that it needs
FPM memory 80ns or faster (the article indicates that pretty much all 30
pin chips 80ns or faster will be FPM). It lists a few part numbers for
ram upgrades offered by apple... two of them are Parity chip packages. So
if apple is telling you that those are available as upgrades for the
IIci, I have to assume parity memory will be just fine.
And the IIci will handle a max of 128mb (8 - 16mb chips). You must
install RAM in groups of 4 however (and I am fairly sure all ram in a
grouped bank must be the same type, so either all parity, or all non
parity)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>It should be happy with parity. Note that some unlucky people have ended
>up with a less common variant of the IIci that *requires* parity RAM. To
>check if you have one of these units, look for the 'parity' label on the
>motherboard and see if there is a chip there. If it is, hope you have
>parity RAM on hand, because that unit will not work without it. Fortunately,
>the vast preponderance of IIcis don't care what type of RAM they get.
There is a similar build of the IIfx... I saw a tech note on it while
perusing the TIL earlier... it seemed to imply that it was done for some
government spec reason, and was only issued to government sales... but
that was just implied, not actually stated, so who knows if they were
released to the public as well (or if some of those government ones made
it into the private sector)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>It is also worth noting that with a full 128MB installed, the on-boot
>RAM test takes a considerable amount of time, something like over two
>minutes
YIKES!
Is the disable startup ram test option in the memory control panel as
early as 7.6? or did it first appear in 8.0? (7.6.1 is the latest the
IIci can handle... to check for the disable feature, open the memory
control panel while holding down option, an extra choice will appear at
the bottom allowing you to disable the startup ram test)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>Does anyone know what the maximum memory you can put in a IIcx (I suspect
>that
>the answer is the same as a IIci). I've got a IIcx that I paid far too
>much for
>when it was new (say $10K) and it's only got 8Mb. If I could upgrade to
>more memory
>it might be worthwhile turning it on again and running A/UX (this
>corresponded to
>about $3K of the cost with another $2.5K being the 300Mb SCSI disk drive).
128mb
For this and other bits of Mac hardware info, go to the souce and check
Apple's spec list at <http://www.info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf>.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>It's a pity that Apple didn't decide to have wireless keyboard and mouse
>for the new iMAC.
That was my personal only complaint with the new iMac. If they had a
wireless keyboard with built in track pad... I would have considered it
perfect. (Despite that ommision, I still want one)
But I figured I was just being too picky... but while sitting at my
parents house this evening, I was talking about the new iMac, and my
Mother of all people piped up and said they should have given it a
wireless keyboard. Her only look at it was the Time magazine article, her
complaint was, it was perfect for the end table, except for the "tangle
of wires" needed for the keyboard and mouse.
So if my mother could see this as a problem, why couldn't Jobs?
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>It is uses a 25mhz Motorola 68030 processor. What would be the
>approximate Intel/PC equivalent? The 386DX-25? The 486DX-25? faster,
>slower, what? I don't have much Mac experience at all. I own a Plus,
>but after cleaning it, I haven't done anything with it but let it sit,
>mainly because of the silly 800K drives.
The 68030 and 68040 were roughly equivelent to 80386 and 80486
(respectively). Clock speed to Clock speed. There didn't start to be
major differences until the PPC chip line. But frankly, that is just
"rough analogy" as what you run will make huge differences in performance.
The only thing that can be tough about the IIci is that is uses 30pin non
parity simms, which are starting to be harder and harder to find
inexpensively. The IIci *might* be able to work with parity simms, not
sure (early macs could NOT, but some of the later ones IIRC could use
parity or non parity)
>It has a Radius video card, but unfortunately, the Radius monitor got
>sold separately. It was a "Pivot" monitor. I pulled the monitor of the
>nonfunctioning IIcx and the ci boots fine, and is running System 7.1.
>How much should I offer?
The IIci has a built in video card as well. You can use a standard Apple
RGB monitor with it, or get an RGB to VGA adaptor (or I can send you the
pinouts for making a good one), and use any VGA or SVGA monitor.
As far as what to offer... as little as you can get away with. The
machine is decent, but at this point, low end PPCs are winding up in
dumpsters. So unless you WANT the IIci compared to you just want A
useable mac... I wouldn't pay much more than about $10.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>The Zebra
>systems that ran Pick were produced by General Automation, not STC. Unless
>of course, they were rebadged somehow.
I have NO idea who made the Zebras I had. I just always remembered the
name of the machine was Zebra (that and for the last month or so, I have
been tripping over the manuals since they migrated from their storage
shelf to the floor next to my desk for lack of room elsewhere)
I DO know that they ran Pick, so if STC didn't make a Pick version of the
Zebra but General Automation did, then I would have to say they were
probably General Automation machines.
>Well the '59 version is 6' high by 9' by 2', plus
>a desk for the operator console and i/o equipment.
WOA... definitely NOT the machines I had. I don't remember the exact
size, but they were luggable size (large desktop PCish). Probably about 8
or 10 inches high, 18 inches or so wide, and about 36 inches long. Don't
remember the weight, but I carried them to the trash, so they were
manageable. Both of mine had been stacked on top of each other, and sat
on a metal desk.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
Try Dial Electronics http://www.dialelec.com.
They have TMS4060 in stock
TMS4060JDL 3-4 WEEKS CALL
TMS4060JL STOCK ?8.4999 $12.74985
TMS4060NL 3-4 WEEKS ?1.1199 $1.67985
Note: J suffix is ceramic package, N for plastic.
Best Regards
Chris Leyson
On Jan 13, 20:27, Tony Duell wrote:
> Yes, it's certainly a switching regulator, and the inductor (the large
> block with screw-post terminals) is needed for it to work. Don't try
> shorting it out -- I am not sure what happens if you do, but I would hope
> the crowbar would fire as soon as the chopper turned on and supplied
> 30V-ish to the output (with no inductor, the output voltage would rise
> essentially intantaneously).
>
> These supplies will whistle if :
>
> The capacitors -- particularly the output one -- have high ESR. Check or
> replace them.
Done.
> The load is just 'wrong' (these, AFAIK, are not constant-frequency
> supplies). Try adding or removing load (!).
Tried that. At very light loads, the whistle almost disappears. It gets
louder and the pitch changes as the load increases. The most load I've
tried is a full backplane, though I'm not exactly sure what the current
drawn would be.
> The Inductor potting compount is breaking up.
Swapping the inductors between 4 x H744 and 2 x H745 makes no apparent
difference, and I expect it's unlikely they've all suffered the same fate.
They came from two different machines.
> Loose fixing screws can cause odd noises -- try tightening everything in
> the PSU chassis.
One of the first things I checked :-)
I suspect, as Allison wrote, that it's just the normal noise from that type
of regulator, and I'm just a bit oversensitive to it :-(
Thanks for the various suggestions, everyone. I'll try putting covers on a
couple of them (one already has one, and some of the other regulators do as
well) and mounting them on a sheet of damping material, and learn to live
with the residual noise.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jan 13, 20:28, Tony Duell wrote:
> > On Jan 12, 20:14, jpero(a)sympatico.ca wrote:
> >
> > > Sounds like PSU is reacting to overloading or medium shorts
> > > downstream of that PSU outputs. Also can happen with dried
> > > up capacitors (too high ESR).
> >
> > I don't think it's any of those. The regulators all make a similar
noise
> > when I put them on a dummy load drawing 5A, on the bench. And I'm sure
>
> Have you tried a lighter _or heavier_ load? It can make quite a
> difference.
Yes, it changes the pitch somewhat (as I would expect) and it gets slightly
louder with a heavier load.
> > it's not bad caps, as two of them are ones I repaired recently.
>
> Which, if any, capacitors did you replace?
In one H744, all the electrolytics (the output one had gone, so I figured I
might as well do the lot).
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jan 13, 17:03, ajp166 wrote:
> From: Pete Turnbull <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
> >On Jan 12, 20:14, jpero(a)sympatico.ca wrote:
> >
> >> Sounds like PSU is reacting to overloading or medium shorts
> >> downstream of that PSU outputs. Also can happen with dried
> >> up capacitors (too high ESR).
> >
> >I don't think it's any of those. The regulators all make a similar
> noise
> >when I put them on a dummy load drawing 5A, on the bench. And I'm sure
> >it's not bad caps, as two of them are ones I repaired recently.
>
> This is normal for them as well as the older H780. They are very loud
> and the pitch varies with load as well. That is a side effect of older
> low voltage, low frequency switch mode PS designs of some 20+ years ago.
I suppose so, I just didn't think it ought to be so irritating!
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
In a message dated 1/13/2002 3:07:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
fernande(a)internet1.net writes:
> The Local GoodWill has a fairly nice Mac IIci. I've done some research
> on the Low End Mac web site, but am still undecided if I should buy it.
>
i'd say get it if you dont have one. ci model is much better than si and
unlike the cx, has builtin video. I have one complete with video capture card
and came with and still setup for videoconferencing.
> I think I have cracked the issue of converting scanned images into PDF
> using only freeware!
>
> First off get the imagemagick toolset from www.imagemagick.org
> You will also need c42pdf available at http://c42pdf.ffii.org/
>
> c42pdf will create pdf files from group 4 encoded tiff images (only). To
> get to those images use imagemagick convert :
>
> convert -compress group4 <any image file> image.tif
> c42pdf image.tif
>
> will create image.pdf. Read the docs to see how to build multi page PDFs.
>
I convert tiff to g4 tiff with the following
tiffcp -L -c g4 -r 10000 infile1 [infile2...] outfile
This tool takes much less memory to convert. This is
>from libtiff-3.5.5-2. http://www.libtiff.org/ (part of the tifftools)
I have a version that I fixed some problems in c42pdf at
ftp://ftp.pdp8.net/software/c42pdf/
If somebody wants a windows binary I can try building a command line one
with cygwin, email me.
Command line I use
c42pdf -q -o outfile -p o --nostretch --noflip infile.tif
It also has a --pages flag to only convert some pages. This is done on
the fly to convert the tiff's on my site to pdf.
This doesn't create optimized PDF's so acrobat can't fetch them a page
at the time (for good or bad, frequently that delay on each page annoys me)
http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8cgi/query_docs/query.pl
David Gesswein
http://www.pdp8.net/ -- Run an old computer with blinkenlights.