- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by timjarrett＠mcmurdo.co.uk

Does anyone have a technical / service manual for a Stag PP39 Eprom Programmer ? I have tried Stag but they were very unhelpful. Any info would be greatly received Thanks Tim Jarrett

25 years, 2 months

4
3
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Available for pickup: Kennedy 9400 vac column 9 track

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

Hello Everyone, My space has undergone some sudden compression and I need to let go some of the things I don't use in my collection. One of the things on that list is a Kennedy 9400 vacuum column 9-track tape drive. It worked when it was decommissioned however in storage the glass cover plates in the vacuum columns have slid down a bit making them no longer air tight. A heat gun to loosen the adhesive and readjust these should make it right as rain again. It is in a rack (DEC corporate type, not an H960) and its in Sunnyvale CA. If you're interested in it let me know. It was, in its day, the Cadillac of tape drives. --Chuck McManis

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Commodore 386 LT power adapter

by lgwalker＠look.ca

I picked up a Commodore 386 laptop without a power adapter. A nicely designed little box except for the !#%$%^^$ proprietory adapter connection. It's like a Mac 8-pin minisub mounted upside down. Anyone know the pinouts for this ? Amazingly little info on these boxes (286/386)on the net. Like many LTs it is 16v with a 12v battery. 3 of the pins are tied to ground and one seems to go to the battery. Anything similiar on the Amiga ? larry Reply to: lgwalker(a)look.ca

25 years, 2 months

1
0
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Computers for swap or sell

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Hi, I have some extra systems, see if there's anything that you like! 1.Apple IIc with monitor (small green screen) 2.Apple IIc Plus 3.Apple III with Monitor III 4.Macintosh Portable (model 5120) 5.TI-99/4A (black/silver) 6.TI Peripheral Expansion Box (PEB) 7.HP-110 8.Timex Sinclair 1000 with 16K memory pack 9.Kaypro II 10.Several Commodore 64 computers (non-working) 11.Several Commodore 1541 floppy drives (working) 12.Amiga 500 13.Amiga 1000 14.Amiga 2000 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

25 years, 2 months

3
2
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Thanks, Tony! (Duell)

by Marion.Bates＠dartmouth.edu

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25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Mac IIfx

by witchy＠vorbis.demon.co.uk

Hi folks, I'm slightly happy in that I got my paws on the above machine today, complete with a CD, MacinStore hard drive and Magneto-Optical drive. What I'm not slightly happy about is that I discovered later on that because the SCSI on the IIfx is 3 times quicker than the SCSI on other MacIIs I need the special 'black' terminator to make it all work. I remember the terminator being in a box of cables but because I didn't know it was necessary I didn't pick it up and the chances of it being there next week are slim. Begging time - anyone got a spare? :) Also, I picked up another Sanyo MBC555 just to get the RGB monitor - Sellam's mentioned (with just a hint of irony :) that the MBC is one of this list's 'favourite' machines so I take it that it's not well liked here? If so why not? cheers! adrian/witchy www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the Online Computer Museum (as featured in Computer Weekly) 0:OK, 0:1

25 years, 2 months

22
46
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Booting an older RS6000 off cdrom

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 24, 21:49, Enrico Badella wrote: > I tried all the cd players I had Matshita, Pioneer, Sony (ex Sun) > and even IBM. All on SCSI ID 6 512 bytes/sector none ever worked > except the Toshiba I pulled out of a RS6000 7013/59H. With this I > installed 4.2.1 then maye a mksysb tape. > > I could never explain why the 320H is so picky about CDs Ah, I've got one of those ex-RS/6000 Toshibas. I have the opposite problem -- it won't work on anything except an RS6000! It has custom firmware. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 2 months

2
1
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Commodore 386 LT power adapter

by lgwalker＠look.ca

I picked up a Commodore 386 laptop without a power adapter. A nicely designed little box except for the !#%$%^^$ proprietory adapter connection. It's like a Mac 8-pin minisub mounted upside down. Anyone know the pinouts for this ? Amazingly little info on these boxes (286/386)on the net. Like many LTs it is 16v with a 12v battery. 3 of the pins are tied to ground and one seems to go to the battery. Anything similiar on the Amiga ? larry Reply to: lgwalker(a)look.ca

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

PC-RTs and AIX (was: X10 & RTs)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 4/24/01 5:21:42 PM Central Daylight Time, rdd(a)smart.net writes: << Do I recall correctly that the PC-RT's tape drive is a "floppy tape" sort of critter? It so, I'm wondering if I can just attach that tape drive to a UNIX box that supports it (if that's possible) and create some sort of bootable tape from the image files. Has anyone here done this? If not, has anyone here created a bootable tape from a working RT running AIX? -- Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis >> Are you talking about the 6157 tape drive? I've heard that is the only drive that the RT will work with. I have both 6157 and RT, but no interface card for it yet. DB Young Team OS/2 antique computer collection, hot rod pinto, and more at: http://www.nothingtodo.org

25 years, 2 months

2
1
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X10 & RTs (was: IBM PGA)

by ken＠seefried.com

> > From: "Eric J. Korpela" <korpela(a)ellie.ssl.berkeley.edu> > > We also had a couple of PC-RT's running > X10 as a windowing system as opposed to X11. > Wow...that brings back memories. Anyone else use X10 on a BellTech BLIT card under System V/386? Quirky Intel video processor & all. I still see people using the cheapo BellTech HUB6 cards. How many have the 8530s unsoldered and replaced with 16550s... Anyone else use Dell System VR4/386? That was a really nice distro. Much nicer than Everex, AT&T, Microport, et. al. Yes kids...there was time when *nix on the i386 wasn't free. > > And a couple XTs running some Unix version (PCIX?) > I seem to recall PC/IX. Didn't Venix run on them as well? Anyone else remeber Venix? > > I need to stop the nostalgia now or I'll break into a rousing rendition of > "Where have all the RTs gone?" > Ack. No. I'm sure they are in the same place all of the other technicalliny interesting, ultimately quirky, underpowered, overpriced & poorly marketed hardware is. Ken Seefried, CISSP

25 years, 2 months

3
2
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DEC RRD40 CDROM Drives

by kees.stravers＠iae.nl

On 2001-04-24 classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org said to kees.stravers(a)iae.nl >You can bet there's a collector who is trying to get one of every >model of DEC storage device or something who will want an RRD40. >-tony I have one and I am very happy with it. Why people are talking bad about it I can't understand. Sure it isn't fast and has a strange caddy, but it is _very_ reliable IMHO. Once the disk is in, you won't get any read errors or timeouts or some such. I have installed operating systems on several VAXstation 3100s with other SCSI drives and with the RRD40, but while with other old non-DEC SCSI drives I sooner or later always got read errors or timeouts, installing with my RRD40 always worked first time without problems. And don't forget it is one of the very first CDROM drives ever. DEC was a very early adopter of the CDROM technology developed by Philips. The CDROM mechanism inside the RRD40 is the first 5.25 form factor drive made. The caddy system was used because of that form, the box was too full to add a motorized drawer. The first drive after it that had a drawer instead of the caddy did not have a motor, you had to pull out the drawer by hand. Please cut the RRD40 a little slack. It is amazing it still works today, even when connected to modern controllers. Kees. -- Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - kees.stravers(a)iae.nl http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/ My home page (old computers,music,photography) http://www.vaxarchive.org/ Info on old DEC VAX computers (Mirrors: http://vaxarchive.khubla.com/ and http://vaxarchive.sevensages.org/) Net-Tamer V 1.08.1 - Registered

25 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

BCD accuracy (was: HP 85/Rocky Mountain BASIC replacement)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Jim Battle <frustum(a)pacbell.net> >clarifies the matter at hand. I claim that a floating point representation >specifies precision and has nothing to say about accuracy (other than >accuracy is limited by precision). Floating point binary is infamous for it's errors in that regard. >To clarify, say a number is 175.136985. This represents my weight very >precisely, but whether it is accurate or not is a different matter. Ah but if you convert it to a 24bit floating point (more bits would help but limiting it makes the error glaring) you may not be able to express it accurately enough. The BCD case induces more truncation limiting precision. >Again, I must be missing something, or perhaps it is a definitional >thing. I've given my definition for precision (or what you call >resolution) and accuracy. I claim accuracy is largely outside the scope of >a number representation. Perhaps you and others have a different >definition than I do and are also internally consistent. I'd like to hear >it, since I keep running into it and don't understand it. Accuracy express 1/3 binary and decimals for the same total bits. Limit the case to something shorter than the usual 32 or 64 bits say like 10 or 12 bits and you see the error. This is the gray zone where resolution, accuracy and range can collide. Of course with 128 bits of either case it's really meaningless then. Back in the olden days (8080/z80/6502) when math was often limited in the number of bits to something less than 32 bits this was more accutely noticed by the users. The infamous MSbasic 3.99999=4 and other examples come to mind. This led to things like NS* basic and HP using BCD to avoid the SQRT(16)=3.99999! >If, on the other hand, you want to know what is sin(0.1), I claim the >binary representation is more precise (and thus allows more accuracy; >accuracy here depends on the implementation of the trig algorithms and not >inherently in the number system). But the number of bits do make a difference. >maybe I should give up and take this to the alt.ieee.vs.bcd.floating-point >newsgroup. :-) Logically your correct but in the realm of older machines this was a real issue. Allison

25 years, 2 months

8
11
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3Mb Ethernet

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >AFAIK it is not backwards-compatible, at least in the sense that no >10Mbps ethernet controller supports the 3Mbps data rate (at least, I've >never seen one that does). Neither have I. Also Eithernet AKA 802.x was never that slow. The 3 mb/s stuff I'd always called ARCNET. >There were no single-chip ethernet controllers, if that's what you're >asking. The ethernet circuitry for the classic PERQ (which was generally >10Mbps, but early enough that single-chip controllers didn't really >exist) is a 2910 sequencer, some microcode PROMs, some 9403 FIFOs, and a >lot of TTL glue logic (and some comparator-type parts for the interface >to the AUI connector). It takes up about 1/3rd of the EIO board. Correct, there wasn't current LSI that was fast enough in the beginning. The would change fairly quickly by 1984-85ish. Allison

25 years, 2 months

13
19
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Commodore 8050M disk drive. What's it for?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 24, 19:24, Tony Duell wrote: > > > > At 07:22 AM 4/24/01 -0700, Cameron wrote: > > >> I just picked up a Commodore 8050M dual 5 1/4" disk drive with a HP-IB > > >> interface in a surplus place. Can anyone tell me what system(s) it's made > > >> to work with? > > > > > >PETs, of course! > > > > Any PET? I have an 8032 in DEEP storage. > > I use an 8050 on my 8032SK, and it works fine. The 8032SK is an 8032 > logic board in a plastic case with a separate keyboard. So as far as I > know, the 8050 will work with the normal 8032 as well. I can confirm that it does (well, mine does). Any PET with Revision 3 or later ROMs does. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Partially garbled screen means what?

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Hi, I have a few computers - C64, TI-99/4, that power-up with garbled characters on the screen. Otherwise, they seem to function correctly. What does this indicate? Bad RAM? Bad ROM? Thanks! Steve __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

25 years, 2 months

3
2
0 0

Booting an older RS6000 off cdrom

by claudew＠videotron.ca

Hi all I am in the process of finishing my spring cleanup and I am giving a RS6000 7012 320H powerserver its very last chance to see if I can get it to do anything usefull. I think I have mentionned this machine here before, still I am looking for some help on this. The machine is probably all ok. It was booting of the HDs with the original AIX when I got it and still will boot with the diags floppy disks for RS6000 and I can "talk" to it from a terminal connected to the 1st serial port....The HDs were taken out a bit later and the machine was left sitting in a corner for a long time. Machine has 80 Megs RAM, SCSI card...the hardware is acting ok. I dont have the keyboard, graphics card or monitor so I am woking this thing from the terminal connected to the serial port. I have AIX on 2 cd's they say ENTRY SERVERS R4.2.1. I checked on my Linux box and the files are there and the cds are readable. I have connected a Pionner DR-706S drive on the SCSI chain and also added one of the original HDs (was flushed of original AIX and used somewhere else) with a different ID on the chain. Chain is terminated at the end. I am trying to get this thing to do something usefull by re-installing AIX. I cant get it to boot AIX and install off the CDrom. I tried the CDrom at ids 5 and 6 (suggested in some AIX newsgroup posts for similar situations) The CD is configured for 512 byte block size... its a Pionner. I know that some CDROMs will not boot these RS6000 but is the only issue the block size? I have heard that Plextors, Pionner and original IBMs will boot these Rs6000. I have older toshibas and DEC that should support 512 blocks, should l I try these or its hopeless? I did put the machine in service mode...I did try to disconnect the battery to reset the bootlist. What is happenning now with HD and CDROM connected is machine goes through post and displays 253 then looks like it goes into a never ending loop of resetting the SCSI bus about every 2 or 3 minute or so. I can see the leds on both the HD and the cdrom flicker (cdrom also spins up and led flashes briefly every 2 -3 minutes or so) so I am suspecting that the RS6000 is seeing something on the SCSI bus and the machine is looking for something to boot with. I suspect it sees the devices because without the HD connected, it will go through post and then the floppy led will flash every few seconds waiting for the boot/diag floppies. I suppose it does not see any SCSI devices so it abandons booting from those and expects some floppies... The Pionner CDROM alone on the SCSI chain will result in the machine expecting floppies...so now I wonder if the CDROM is being seen at all... Ideas anyone? Thanks Claude http://computer_collector.tripod.com

25 years, 2 months

5
4
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rs6000 cd scsi boot problem

by thompson＠mail.athenet.net

Sorry, I deleted the original message on getting the rs/6000 to boot from CD rom but intended to reply The author mentioned a code 253, this is supposed to be "Attempting a service mode IPL from SCSI attached devices specified in the ROM device list" The AIX manual lists the following steps to boot from installation media seems like obvious stuff you've probably already done 1) turn on external devices 2) switch to service mode 3) installation media in cd drive 4) turn on rs6k 5) eventually you should get bos install menu I could not find any mention of required scsi ID's for the CDROM. Here is portions of the bootlist man page which might be helpful Description The bootlist command allows the user to alter the list of boot devices scanned by read-only-storage (ROS) when the system is booted. This command can alter the contents of the two battery backed-up RAM (NVRAM) boot device lists and the choice of boot device used on the next and subsequent system boots. This command supports the updating of the following: * Service boot list. The service list designates possible boot devices when the front panel keylock is in the Service position. * Normal boot list. The normal list is used when the keylock is in the Normal position. * Previous boot device entry. Retained in battery-backed-up RAM on the system unit. Each list contains a maximum of 84 bytes. When searching for a boot device, the ROS system selects the first device in the list and determines if it is bootable. If no boot file system is detected on the first device, ROS moves on to the next device in the list. As a result, the ordering of devices in the device list is extremely important. If no device list has been supplied, or if it was empty, the ROS system attempts to boot from the boot device used on a previous boot. (This assumes that the previous boot device was not a diskette drive.) If this boot device is unavailable or not bootable, the ROS system starts searching the I/O bus for the first device from which it can boot. The bootlist command supports the specification of generic device types as well as specific devices for boot candidates. Possible device names are listed either on the command line or in a file. Devices in the boot device list occur in the same order as devices listed the invocation of this command. Device Choices The device name specified on the command line (or in a file) can occur in one of two different forms: * It can indicate a specific device by its device logical name. * It can indicate a generic or special device type by keyword. The following generic device keywords are supported: fd Any standard I/O-attached diskette drive scdisk Any SCSI-attached disk (including serial-link disk drives) badisk Any direct bus-attached disk (Model 320 only) cd Any SCSI-attached CD-ROM rmt Any SCSI-attached tape device ent Any Ethernet adapter tok Any Token-Ring adapter fddi Any Fiber Distributed Data Interface adapter <snip> When a specific device is to be included in the device list, the device's logical name (used with system management commands) must be specified. This logical name is made up of a prefix and a suffix. The suffix is generally a number and designates the specific device. The specified device must be in the Available state. If it is not, the update to the device list is rejected and this command fails. The following devices and their associated logical names are supported (where the bold type is the prefix and the xx variable is the device-specific suffix): fdxx Diskette-drive device logical names hdiskxx Physical-volume device logical names cdxx SCSI CD-ROM device logical names rmtxx Magnetic-tape device logical names entxx Ethernet-adapter logical names tokxx Token-ring adapter logical names fddixx Fiber Distributed Data Interface adapter logical names <snip> Attention: Care must be taken in specifying the possible boot devices. A future reboot in Normal mode may fail if the devices specified in the device list become unbootable. A diskette boot is always available when the keylock is in the Service position. The system must not be powered off or reset during the operation of the bootlist command. If the system is reset, or power fails at a critical point in the execution of this command, a checksum error can cause the system setup information in battery-backed-up RAM to be lost. The file specified by the file variable should contain device names separated by white space: hdisk0 hdisk1 cd1 or one device per line: hdisk0 hdisk1 cd1 --

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Free (or price of shipping) Stuff -- Part 1

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, I have the following stuff available, free for local pickup in North Central Massachusetts, USA, or for cost of shipping to the world (US Postal service ONLY). Of course, if you want to offer real money, that's fine too :-), but as you will see, there isn't too much here worth anything ... I'm moving at the end of May, and don't feel like moving these things... There will be more later... - Commodore 64 CP/M 2.2 - Cart, manual, disk, original box - Qty. 3 Apple IIc -- From an old school district, dirty, engraved, yellowed. Boot DOS 3.3, no power supplies - Commodore C-64C -- Yellowed, but functional -- bare computer - Commodore 1530 Datasette unit model C2N -- untested, original box - Commodore Modem 1200 -- Model 1670 -- no box or manual - Thunderchopper game for C64/128 -- manual, disk, no box - Apple Joystick for IIe/IIc, Model # A2M2012 - Apple TV Switch Box for Apple IIc - TI Joysticks for TI-99, # PHP1100 - Qty. 2 Multi-cassette recorder cables for TI-99 - DEFCON 5 game for C-64/128 -- disk, manual,box - IFR (Flight sim game) for C-64 -- disk, manual, no box - Commodore Video Cable (6-pin DIN marked "Monitor" to 8-pin DIN marked "Computer") - IBM Data Collection Terminal 7527 (RS-232, 422/485 ports, three other ports, possibly serial), no power supply (needs 26 VAC,.5A) - TI-99 software (NO boxes, cart and manual only): - Oldies But Goodies - Games I (cassette) - Star Trek by SEGA - Munch Man - Number Magic - Football - TI Invaders - Personal Real Estate - Statistics - Parsec - Multiplication I - Hangman - Blackjack and Poker Email me (OFF-LIST) your address and lists (first come, first served) and I will quote shipping. You must prepay shipping (PayPal, money order [US $ only], or cash [US $]). If you wish to pick up locally, let me know, and we can make arrangements (I'm about 1hr. west of Boston, or about 1 hr. north of Worcester). If you need an immediate reply, email me off-list, as I only get the digest... Rich B.

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

SunOS 4.1.x binaries

by spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu

Does someone have binaries for tcsh and perl (just the executable, not the libs) for sparc-sunos-4.1? Prefer 4.1.1. I can't get gcc running on this Solbourne because it looks like AST stripped a whole bunch of include files. (which means the included C compiler doesn't work right either, sigh). lynx would also be wonderful if you have it :-) Thanks! -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu -- Work harder! Millions on welfare depend on you! ----------------------------

25 years, 2 months

5
9
0 0

Commodore 8050M disk drive. What's it for?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 24, 10:41, Innfogra(a)aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 4/24/2001 6:48:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time, > rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes: > > > I just picked up a Commodore 8050M dual 5 1/4" disk drive with a HP-IB > > interface in a surplus place. Can anyone tell me what system(s) it's made > > to work with? > It should work on any Commodore with a GPIB port. This was usually traces > brought out to the Circuit card edge for an edge connector to connect with. > Edge connector on one end and GPIB on the other end. Not *quite* any PET. It won't work with early PET 2001 series that still have original ROMs, because there are bugs in the IEEE-488 routines (printers work, but not much else). That's why I want a two-ROM-set piggyback board for mine. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Hmm...what the heck kind of cable is this????

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

In a batch of power adapters and cables I found a stereotypical Commodore style beige serial type cable, having the DIN plug on the end - but only on one end. The other end is a 25 pin female d-sub. I know it's factory as the housing for the 25 pin has the C= emblem molded into it. Anyone know the function of this cable? Is it possibly a factory cable to allow connection to a PC serial port with Commodore peripherals, or PC peripherals to a Commodore port? Never seen one like this and I don't think I've heard of one like this. I know there's Commodore savvy people on this list and they'll know exactly what it's for. Any help is appreciated very much...

25 years, 2 months

7
13
0 0

Need IBM Portable 5155 power supply

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Hi, The PS in my IBM Portable seems to be dead. I would appreciate it if someone could send me a new PS! Thanks! Steve __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

25 years, 2 months

3
5
0 0

Commodore 8050M disk drive. What's it for?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 4/24/2001 6:48:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time, rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes: > I just picked up a Commodore 8050M dual 5 1/4" disk drive with a HP-IB > interface in a surplus place. Can anyone tell me what system(s) it's made > to work with? I have seen them used on newer Pets. Early Commodores used GPIB for disk drives, printers etc. The 8040 was a huge Dual DSDD floppy drive, re. weight/mass & storage for the 8 bit days. It should work on any Commodore with a GPIB port. This was usually traces brought out to the Circuit card edge for an edge connector to connect with. Edge connector on one end and GPIB on the other end. I ran across a couple of those cables a couple of days ago. Prominently marked "Commodore." Several of the early machines had HPIB or GPIB. Of course the HP 8X series is the most well known. The Osborne came out with a GPIB port also IIRC. There was also a 4040 dual SSDD drive. Paxton

25 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Amstrad PPC640 mains adapter

by daverogers90＠hotmail.com

I could not scan the ouside but this is what it says AC ADAPTER MDLE PPC640 AC-B FOR USE WITH PPC 640S/PPC640D/PPC512S/PPC512D MAINS SUPPLY 220-240V 50HZ-35W DC OUTPUT 13V 1.9AMPS

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

VIC-20

by chronic＠nf.sympatico.ca

Hey, I recently picked up a VIC-20 with Tape Recorder, Joystick, 5 games, etc. on EBay for 11 bucks. It was my first purchase as a classic comp collector, and I had a few questions concerning it and was wondering if any of you guys could answer: 1. Are there any mods to improve that god-awful display??? 2. Are there any companies that still sell the memory upgrades for these things? 3. Did i get a good deal for 11 bucks? was it worth it?? And finally, are there any schematics/tutorials on the net for creating text terminals? I wanted one to interface with a 6502 board i'm working at, but I wanted to build it myself and running some prog like HyperTerminal or whatever just didn't seem as fun. -Lanny Cox

25 years, 2 months

9
14
0 0

My first problem w/ ebay came up... needs your advices

by lgwalker＠look.ca

> >> >> "Shipping cost will be $6.00 in the continental US Via US Postal Service" > >> > > >> >Psst. > >> > > >> >1. I'm in Canada. > >> > >> Hmmm, that isn't part of the united states yet, but I think it might be > >> later on. > >> > > > > Naahh, with the US running out of energy and water, we'll become like some > >of the oil-rich Arab states. Every Canadian will have a limosine and foreign > >workers will do the dirty work. > > We might have to seal the border tho to prevent american wetbacks from > >getting in. > > Tsk tsk, sniffing gasoline is a nasty habit. ;) > Well we have so much laying around up here that it can't be avoided. BTW, every British Colombia resident just got around a $200 rebate based on their sales of surplus electric power to California. Hope you have enough light to read this. I might be able to bootleg you some fresh water if you like. The government won't allow exports. It's possible that they might be willing to cut a deal to accept Alaska back tho. As global warming continues it's becoming positively balmy up here, on the other hand I guess increased air-conditioning needs should push up power consumption down there. More bucks in our coffers. &^)) heheheh. I had intended to send the previous message to the list but Pegasus defaulted to the previous reply mode. larry Reply to: lgwalker(a)look.ca

25 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

FS: Mac LC II and LC 580 (ebay)

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

I have two excess machines in good condition just posted on ebay, not sure how many Apple/mac enthusiasts are out there: Here are the links to them in the event you want to look without committing to email with me: Mac LCII (just the main unit/pizza box): http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1232152984 Really good condition but yet untested other than power-up. Mac 580 all-in-one, complete: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1232132300 This one has some minor plastics damage to areas that are not noticeable but otherwise it's in excellent condition

25 years, 2 months

8
14
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Commodore 8050M disk drive. What's it for?

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Tue, 24 Apr 2001 07:22:46 -0700 (PDT) Cameron Kaiser <spectre(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu> writes: > > I just picked up a Commodore 8050M dual 5 1/4" disk drive with a > >HP-IB interface in a surplus place. Can anyone tell me what system(s) > >it's made to work with? > > PETs, of course! And any Commodore with an IEEE-488 interface, even > the 64 if you happen to have an IEEE interface cartridge. Or even a VIC-20 for that matter (just happen to have a GPIB cart for mine :^). ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

25 years, 2 months

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Commodore 8050M disk drive. What's it for?

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 4/24/01 9:48:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time, rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes: > I just picked up a Commodore 8050M dual 5 1/4" disk drive with a HP-IB > interface in a surplus place. Can anyone tell me what system(s) it's made > to work with? > > Joe > Should work with the old PET computers - it should have an IEEE interface. -Linc Fessenden A good magician never reveals his secret; the unbelievable trick becomes simple and obvious once it is explained. So too with LINUX! The nice thing about Windows is - It does not just crash, it displays a dialog box and lets you press 'OK' first.

25 years, 2 months

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3Mb Ethernet

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 23, 19:48, Tony Duell wrote: > > >AFAIK it is not backwards-compatible, at least in the sense that no > > >10Mbps ethernet controller supports the 3Mbps data rate (at least, I've > > >never seen one that does). > > > > Oh, I mean as in being able to plug a 3Mb device into a 10Mb network. > > ALmost certainly not. Remember there were no 'hubs' back then -- ethernet > was implemented using relatively dumb transceivers (certainly without any > form of data buffering or rate conversion) linked by coaxial cable. A > 3Mbps system is not going to be able to handle 10Mbps data on the cable. A hub is just a repeater, it doesn't do anything to the data stream, and it wouldn't make any difference. But repeaters were part of the 3Mb/s spec, and Xerox did have some. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 2 months

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New stuff

by broth＠heathers.stdio.com

Just came back with a van full of goodies. 11/750 with box's full of docs and prints. Early versions of VMS software and New docs in binders. DECwriter II DECstation 2100 Box's of brand new sealed magtapes Spare boards for 11/750's Software for the 11/780. Data General 9-track tape drive from a MV20000 series. RA-92 etc... I also found a VAX 6000 but I beleive the owner has unrealistic ideas of what he can get for it. Brian. -- Brian Roth - System Administrator www.webwirz.com - Old Computer Repository Preoccupation is my main occupation.....

25 years, 2 months

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fairly OT, but y'all may be able to help me :)

by geoffr＠zipcon.net

I need to test a device that uses sensors that send back a signal using a 0-20MA current. anyone know of a source of a schematic to make something to generate such in 1 ma increnemts? or have any tips???

25 years, 2 months

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Pro380 Mono Video Cable

by dittman＠dittman.net

I've borrowed a VR201 for a couple of days but the guy that loaned it to me did not have the cable. Is this a straight-through cable? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

25 years, 2 months

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Adaptec PDP-8e

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

Adaptec never made PDP-8s. I beleve other than DCC the PDP-8 was not ever built by anyother than DEC (or DEC Ireland). For the moment I'll leave out the Intersil/harris 6100 chips and related machines. Allison >> > Get your bids in early on this one. Its a rare Adaptec PDP-8e. Back in >> the 60's DEC licensed their PDP8 architecture to Adaptec to make exact >> replica's of their now infamous design. Sales were sluggish so they >> decided to make SCSI interfaces instead. >> > >> > Truly one of a kind.... >> > >> > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1232453120 >> > >> > Brian. One of a crock!

25 years, 2 months

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Free: PDP parts & VMS "Orange Wall" - Austin, TX

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

I've got a large set of DEC "Orange Wall" binders full of VMS 4.x/5.x documentation, free for pickup in Austin, Texas: http://www.pdp11.org/pics/orange-wall.jpg I'm running out of room and need these to go to a good home. I'll also "throw in" a RX01-compatible dual 8" floppy drive unit, if anybody locally can use it / needs it: http://www.pdp11.org/pics/eight-inch-floppys-front.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/eight-inch-floppys-switches.jpg Bill -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

25 years, 2 months

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RFI shielding Basement

by truthanl＠oclc.org

Clint, Since your basement is already below grade it is not likely you would have too much horizontally polarized RFI radiating from it. You might just consider putting in a decorative tin cieling like in old 1890's vintage saloons, The way the panels interlock might provide a good faraday shield for vertically polarized radiated rf from the basement. It could be electrically bonded and tied to waterpipes etc for a good ground. How about fine metal screen stapled to the botton of open rafter/floor joists. Perhaps you can find foil covered craft paper backed fiberglass insulation, staple it up then bond the seams with 3M foil tape? This would also dampen mechanical noise of a big iron system running. If not insulation, the heaviest wide roll of tin foil. Overlap the seams and staple up then cover with battens to accept acoustic tile cieling? Foil Backed foam panels etc. See what other truly conductive building materials you can find. They even make conductive paint these days. Your best value will be in conventional conductive building materials, not specialized RFI materials. Usually door panels on computer cabinetry are gasketed with spring finger stock to keep RFI leaks to a minimum, but usually there is close mesh and larger grates on the top of machines to allow cooling by convection. Sincerely Larry Truthan

25 years, 2 months

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Adaptec PDP-8e

by brian.roth＠firstniagarabank.com

Thanks Tony. You guys were starting to worry me. Brian. I'm guessing that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the guy who listed the computer mistakenly referring to it as an "Adaptec" -- Tony Brian Roth Network Services First Niagara Bank (716) 625-7500 X2186 Brian.Roth(a)FirstNiagaraBank.com

25 years, 2 months

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Z/H 100 AND S 100 PARTS

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Just spotted this message on comp.sys.zenith. Anybody else interested in a group purchase? Unfortunately, "no lists and no viewing" makes it difficult, but if we could convince him of the number of people interested, maybe he would change his mind?? --------- I just purchased 5 Condo Aircraft Hangers at our local Airport. One hanger has a collection of hundreds of H/Z 100 computers and related parts Also there are many IMSAI, ALTAIR and other Vintage computers plus cards and related parts. The amount is staggering. I need to get this stuff sold hopefully before the end of the year so I can get it rented for Aircraft purposes. I do not intend to use E-Bay at this time. I am also going to add myown extensive supply of H/Z 100 stuff and S100 items to this pile. No lists will be provided and no viewing. Send me an E-Mail or phone me. E-mail to larryc(a)gte.net phone 425 774 2981. ------------ Rich B.

25 years, 2 months

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VIC-20

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On April 22, Lanny Cox wrote: > I recently picked up a VIC-20 with Tape Recorder, Joystick, 5 games, etc. > on EBay for 11 bucks. It was my first purchase as a classic comp collector, > and I had a few questions concerning it and was wondering if any of you guys > could answer: As I sit here repairing a core plane from my pdp8/e (circa 1969) I still can't consider a VIC "classic" no matter how many years go by. Time sure does fly! I remember back in my high school days...my best friend Rob had a VIC-20, later a C64, while I was the Atari 800 freak. We had LOTS of fun on those machines, and taught ourselves lots of great stuff. Those "early" home computers sure did offer a lot of bang for the buck! > And finally, are there any schematics/tutorials on the net for creating > text terminals? I wanted one to interface with a 6502 board i'm working at, > but I wanted to build it myself and running some prog like HyperTerminal or > whatever just didn't seem as fun. Hmm...perhaps Don Lancaster's "TV Typewriter Cookbook"? Definitely a nice historically-sound pursuit. Copies can be found on eBay from time to time. Fun! :-) -Dave McGuire

25 years, 2 months

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VIC-20

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

> 2. Are there any companies that still sell the memory upgrades for these > things? I have an 8K cartridge, and I believe also a 16K cartridge gathering dust on my shelves. Email me your address, and I'll ship them off to you ... No guarantees that they work, but they're free :-) Also, try www.cmdweb.com. Prices are high, but they do have a lot of otherwise unavailable stuff for VICs, C-64s, and C-128s. > > 3. Did i get a good deal for 11 bucks? was it worth it?? > Just judging on price alone, I'd say yes, but as other have suggested, only you can decide that.... I have paid probably more than others would pay for a lot of things in my life, but at the time I considered them good deals...

25 years, 2 months

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3Mb Ethernet

by optimus＠canit.se

As we all know, Ethernet was only running at 3 Mbit in the early days. When was the move to 10 Mbit done and is 10Mb Ethernet backwards compatible? Also, were there any Ethernet controllers back in the old days, or what kind of interfacing did old Ethernet capable equipment such as the SUN 1 or DECNA use? -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6a. Was ist ein Erwachsener? Ein Kind, das vom Alter aufgepumpt ist. --- Simone de Beauvoir

25 years, 2 months

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IBM's PGA Adapter

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On April 22, jpero(a)sympatico.ca wrote: > > Hi. Can anybody provide me with some info on the IBM PGA/PGC adapters for > > the IBM PC/XT systems? > > > > I heard that it is one of the first video adapters with on-board transform > > capabilities, and that it is very ahead of its time. Can anyone please > > elaborate? > > Also, where can I get some pictures, and is it still available for > > purchase? > > Half-half acceleration due to built in CPU and can compute arcs, > lines etc for cad work I think. > > But I know PGA is grossly unusual design and unrealistic cost kept it > from very common plus it requires non-standard PGA monitor to go with > it. Cost was about 5,000 I think. > > BTW, it is 3 boards package and monitor. Saw both monitor and card > set but not in action. If memory serves, the PGA had an 8085 processor on it. Interesting use of an otherwise general-purpose microprocessor. <flame bait> Indeed, an XT-class system with a PGA had a better processor on its video board than it did on its motherboard. </flame bait> -Dave McGuire

25 years, 2 months

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Using a 1.44MB 3.5inch floppy on an old controller

by mbbrutman＠chartermi.net

I have a few PCjrs running around, and I've often thought of either adding 3.5" drives to them, or replacing the standard 5.25" drive with 3.5" drives. The controller only supports double density data rates (250?), so I'm limited to 720KB 3.5" drives. These are getting hard to find. I connected a new 1.44MB drive to the controller, and behold, it worked! (With double density media of course.) The machine booted from the diskette (which was created from a 360kb image prepared on a Linux machine), and it also ran diagnostics. So now I'm confused - why did it work? Does the modern 1.44MB drive sense that the controller is only sending data at 250KHz rate? If so, how is it doing the sensing? (The reduced write-current pin (2) isn't being used - I verified that with a meter.) Thanks, Mike

25 years, 2 months

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VAX 6000 3-phase conversion (was: Re: Three Phase)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Clint Wolff (VAX collector) <vaxman(a)qwest.net> >The cages I've seen are made from an expensive copper screen, >like window screen, but they are for doing FCC interference >measurements, not shielding. I can get 1/2 inch square fencing >from the look home improvement center, but it is galvanized and >quite a bit coarser... > >Comments? First a faraday cage to run a vax is foolish. The FCC notice refered to is basically a hint about whose reponseability it is to fix RFI problems should they occur. Often it's not a problem save for at point blank range. RE: galvanized screening vs fine copper screening. If you cant do it right dont bother. As the holes get larger and the resistivity increases the attenuation decreases. Also as the holes get bigger the frequency at which the screen becomes RF transparent also gets lower. So to get an effective faraday screen fine copper screening with well bonded (often soldered) joints and a door that has RF tight joints are used. Also any wires that enter or leave have to be bypassed to avoid it becomming a leakage path in either direction. I participated in building one and it's a lot of work and after testing to find RF leaks. At the other extreme a cage of .500 galvanized will have effect but the effect is far more limited. to prove it take a roll and make a mini cage large anough to hold a battery AM/FM radio and see what I can hear >from inside it. Then take a tube and coat it with aluminum foil and try it with the same radio. You will also find it very difficult to solder or otherwise effectively bond the joints of a galvanized wire cage. Last item: The average system (even a PDP-8) will be much better in the RFI derby if all the covers are on and the correct cables are used. The later smaller one box systems are fairly decent if the case is metal and all the screws/hardware are in place. The killer items for RFI are SCSI cables, external disks that used any unshielded cables (BC05s come to mind) or monitors that used shielded cables but are incorrectly terminated. RS232 wires that do not use an external shield can be a path to propagate noise out of and otherwise tolerable box as well. Worst offender awards: TRS80 with EI... ghastly both radiating and affected by nearby transmitters. (1w 144mhz ht at 4ft would crash the average TRS80). Some of the Apple][s Early S100s with non-stripline and unterminated busses (altair!!!!). SBCs, no case at all most often. Many of the early all plastic cased (no internal conductive spray coat) with no internal shielding systems. Many (most) CRTs that are not metal boxed internally are noisy. Allison

25 years, 2 months

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What's a Mag Card II?

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

The microbiology lab where I worked kept a different card with each type of pathology report on them. The operator would enter the sample information into a "canned" document, and then could append any additional comments. These machines were real popular in the early 1970's for thesis typing and routine reports. You could put a chapter or a section on an individual card. Our secretary in graduate school had one and kept all the routine documents on individual cards. You wanted to requisition something she put in the requisition mag card, filled in the blanks and printed out the requisition. The unit had a IBM Selectric style printer as an output device. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

25 years, 2 months

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Amstrad PPC640

by daverogers90＠hotmail.com

Hi my name is Dave i live in NewZealand i have been givern a PPC640 wich goes but it wants a start up disc if u have one could you please send a copy of it to me on brav(a)zfree.co.nz i would love to crank it up.

25 years, 2 months

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(3) Northstars + DiscJockey to rescue in Bothell, WA

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I'm trying to reduce the size and increase the sensibility of my collection, so I'll pass this one to the list... please contact him, not me. - John >From: "Wayne Gilmore" <wayneg(a)aa.net> >To: "John Foust" <jfoust(a)threedee.com> >Subject: Re: Old Computers >Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 13:11:57 -0700 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 > >Hi again John, >I am located in Bothell, Washington. A few miles north of Seattle. >Wayne > >----- Original Message ----- >From: John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> >To: Wayne Gilmore <wayneg2(a)mindspring.com> >Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2001 12:35 PM >Subject: Re: Old Computers > > >> At 12:16 PM 4/21/01 -0700, you wrote: >> >Hi. I have 3 northstar computers that I bought new and used for >business and as a personal pc before pc's.... yuk.. Also have a Morrow >Discjokey system that worked with it. I'd like to donate all... Manuals and >anything else that I have had to someone that wants them. Help >> >Thanks >> >Wayne Gilmore >> >> Wonderful! Where are you located? >> >> - John >>

25 years, 2 months

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(3) Northstars + DiscJockey to rescue in Bothell, WA

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I'm trying to reduce the size and increase the sensibility of my collection, so I'll pass this one to the list... please contact him, not me. - John >From: "Wayne Gilmore" <wayneg(a)aa.net> >To: "John Foust" <jfoust(a)threedee.com> >Subject: Re: Old Computers >Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 13:11:57 -0700 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 > >Hi again John, >I am located in Bothell, Washington. A few miles north of Seattle. >Wayne > >----- Original Message ----- >From: John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> >To: Wayne Gilmore <wayneg2(a)mindspring.com> >Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2001 12:35 PM >Subject: Re: Old Computers > > >> At 12:16 PM 4/21/01 -0700, you wrote: >> >Hi. I have 3 northstar computers that I bought new and used for >business and as a personal pc before pc's.... yuk.. Also have a Morrow >Discjokey system that worked with it. I'd like to donate all... Manuals and >anything else that I have had to someone that wants them. Help >> >Thanks >> >Wayne Gilmore >> >> Wonderful! Where are you located? >> >> - John >>

25 years, 2 months

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L@@K! RARE -- 2 EBAY SELLERS CONVICTED and 1 on the run....Another nice ebay ("epay") story...

by claudew＠videotron.ca

Sheeesh...not surprised....at all.... http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010417/wr/crime_ebay_dc_1.html I will continue to boycott this place as both a potential seller and buyer. Claude Canuk Computer Collector http://computer_collector.tripod.com

25 years, 2 months

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VIC-20

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 4/23/01 9:00:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, r_beaudry(a)hotmail.com writes: > > I have an 8K cartridge, and I believe also a 16K cartridge gathering dust on > my shelves. Email me your address, and I'll ship them off to you ... No > guarantees that they work, but they're free :-) > I would love to have one of these myself.. Let me know if there are any "extras" floating around! -Linc Fessenden The nice thing about Windows is - It does not just crash, it displays a dialog box and lets you press 'OK' first.

25 years, 2 months

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