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

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

Time to clear the closets! I have one great condition ZDS ZWX-0248-62 (aka Z-248) unit as follows: *Case - has two external bays, 4 internal. Filler plate on one external *Power supply - standard Z-248 power supply in great condition *Motherboard - standard 286 Z-248 motherboard *Both drive bay inserts (the steel drive holders that slip in/out) *Hercules/parallel video board - use with a monochrome monitor for outstanding graphics, even in Win 3.xx *ZDS I/O board with 1 serial, 1 parallel *MFM and FDD controller (no cables) Should take both sizes of 3.5" and 5.25" floppies. *Memory expansion board - gives the system a total 640k base memory, 1024k addition ext. memory (allows Windows to run nice and fast!) The unit does NOT have a hard drive, floppy drive or the FD or HD cables. This saves weight in shipping since most of us have closets full of 360k, 1.2, etc drives and tons of MFM hard drives. How much? $10 plus actual USPS shipping. This mostly covers my time in packing it up and hauling it to the post office. (I've seen the memory upgrades go for $20 easy by themselves) It seems to weigh in the area of around 15 lbs. My zip is 40144 in case anyone wants to estimate shipping. Payment by money or cashier's checks only, prepaid. This is, if anything, a cheap source of upgrade and parts for someone with an in-use Z248. Add a floppy, HD and cables and you have a working unit for next to nothing as well. Should someone really need a floppy drive, all I can offer is a good original black faced 360k that came in the unit new, free with the unit, but it will add shipping weight. I can also toss in a Seagate MFM hard drive but since I have no cables the drive will not be guaranteed to work. I need this out of my way soon or it goes to the scrap heap. Let me know by January 2nd if you're interested, by direct email to RHBLAKE(a)BIGFOOT.COM Serious US/APO/FPO addresses only.

27 years, 7 months

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SCSI floppy controllers

by jim＠calico.litterbox.com

I wonder if these things would work with my GS and let me read PC disks with it? This sounds like a fun thing. :) What was that price again? -- Jim Strickland jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there? -----------------------------------------------------------------------

27 years, 7 months

1
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SCSI floppies

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 10:41:57 PM US Eastern Standard Time, kurtkilg(a)geocities.com writes: > Dunno. Whatever 386 PS/2 w/SCSI and MCA. Seemed like a 2.88 at the time. i believe that would be the 8556/8557 models. they had built in scsi and those 2.88 drives. the 95xx series did as well. david

27 years, 7 months

4
4
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SCSI floppies

by Innfogra＠aol.com

I have a bunch of new SCSI to floppy only controllers. They are of NCR manufacture. I got them from the Biin project, about 1991 so they would run at least 1.2s, maybe 1.44s. $5 each plus shipping. If there is any interest I will get more info. Replies should go off list. Contact me at whoagiii(a)aol.com. Happy Holidays. Paxton Hoag

27 years, 7 months

2
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FS (quick): Tandy 1000 items, monitor, TL2, keyboard

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

FOR SALE - Tandy 1000 Series items, all in like new condition: *Tandy 1000 model TL/2 main unit. 250-1602 Specifications can be seen in the pages at http://support.tandy.com/support_computer/1220.htm Unit has 40 mb IDE hard disk with controller, 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives. Can use either a composite or CGA monitor, TV (using modulator or VCR as a modulator) or you can optionally add a VGA card and monitor (see item at above site for specifics on this). Has 768K RAM, 80286 processor, 4 open slots. Unit DOES NOT include monitor or keyboard. The keyboard can either be the enhanced 101 that Tandy made for it or a generic 101 (switchable XT/AT type preferably) one. Has DOS 3.3 and Deskmate in ROM. $20 plus actual USPS shipping (about 25 lbs) *Tandy CM-11 Hi Resolution CGA monitor 25-1024/A/C Specifications can be seen in the pages at http://support.tandy.com/support_accessories/6011.htm Monitor in beautiful condition, very clean crisp video that can be used on a Randy or standard machine with CGA output. Has been run tested for 12 hours to insure that there are no heat problems. A very nice addtion to your Tandy system. $20 plus actual USPS shipping (about 24 lbs) *Tandy 1000 90 key scultured keyboard (8 pin DIN) This is the standard white keyboard used on the earlier 1000 series. This keyboard is near new, was a sealed spare with vitrually no use. Looks as if it were just made and operates as if it were just made as well. $10 plus actual USPS shipping (about 5-6 lbs) Contact me SOON by direct email at RHBLAKE(a)BIGFOOT.COM Items are located in central Kentucky and ship from zip 40144. Serious inquiries only. US shipping addresses only, including APO/FPO. Payment to be made by money order or cashier's check in advance. Items will go on auction if no responses by January 2nd, 1999

27 years, 7 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 1:07:38 AM Pacific Standard Time, Innfogra(a)aol.com writes: > > > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at $1000. > > > > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. > Paxton you obviously did not check it out, but you are correct. the bidding had closed with no bids. Merry Christmas!

27 years, 7 months

5
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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Yes, but the controllers might be different, or at least have different >link options on them. > Possibly. I thought you meant the main controller/bus. > >That's odd. A single SCSI bus is limited to 8 devices, but the host >adapter counts as one of them. So it can't be all one bus... > My slip-up. I re-checked the manual. It doesn't say how many devices can be connected at once, except the three drives and the HD. I just remembered the 0-9 ID setting wheel. I'll check on the controller tomorrow. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 7 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 2:10:15 PM Pacific Standard Time, rhblake(a)bigfoot.com writes: > Either that or the person that listed it is a lurker in here and saw the > comments > and decided to get real. > my original comment was made about 30 seconds after the first msg pointing to it. the auction was already closed. I don't believe our list is that slow. it would be interesting to know why it was removed. also, i can't seem to find it again. i deleted the original message with the url, but i would think I could search on ebay and find it, but it ain't showing up. kelly

27 years, 7 months

3
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SCSI floppies

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

> I know it was mentioned here before that the rz23 drives don't autostart. > Does anyone know if older macintosh's (say, an se30) can give the device > start sequence? or if there's any simple way to force the drive to start > anyway? It's possible to make the drive autostart; it's some sort of settable option in the drive's firmware. The only program I've seen to manipulate it, however, is rzdisk on the MIPS-based DECstations. Using rzdisk under Ultrix, you can configure the drive to spin up on power on. I believe there's also a version of RZDISK available for Alpha VMS, but I've not encountered it there. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

27 years, 7 months

3
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SCSI floppies

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

On Fri, 25 Dec 1998 rhblake(a)bigfoot.com wrote: > Huh? The 55SX has an ESDI controller for the HD and uses stock MFM 1.44 > floppies. It can use the floppies from other units as well Even the 56/5gSLC > that has a SCSI interface and 2.88 mb floppy doesn't have a SCSI floppy. Where > did you get this from? Dunno. Whatever 386 PS/2 w/SCSI and MCA. Seemed like a 2.88 at the time. ---------------------------------------------------- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 7 months

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SCSI floppies

by allisonp＠world.std.com

DEC 3100 seris system had RX24(720k) and RX23(1.44) compatable floppies. They had a SCSI interface as well. I believe the drives were stock drives with a SCSI->Floppy bridge. Allison

27 years, 7 months

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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

> >Is the hard disk on the same SCSI bus as the floppy? > Yes. When I set the floppy ID to [0], I get errors coming out the patooey. >Right. I still wonder what chips are on that interface board... > I'll have to take it apart again. That won't be until tomorrow, though. >Now, whether you can use a different type of floppy depends on how clever >that ROM firmware is. If it's dumb (as I expect) then it'll only work >with the SCSI->floppy card you have, and with the 360K drive. If it's a >bit more intellegent it might work with a 720K drive. > I'd say that it's fairly intelligent. In the manual, it says that a 360k 5.25", 720k 3.5", and 1.2MB 5.25" drive were available. It claims that any one or all the drives could be connected. It says nothing about a 1.44MB 3.5", though (were 1.44MB drives around in 1986?). It supposedly can support 9 devices, including the internal HD. What devices, other than the three floppies, I'm not sure. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 7 months

2
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SCSI floppies

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

On Fri, 25 Dec 1998 healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote: > Yes. I'm thinking that the NeXT slabs used 2.88Mb SCSI floppies, but... > Can't think of any other instances at the moment, but I have heard of such > a beast before. The PS/2 55SX (a 386 SCSI MCA machine) also had 2.88Mb SCSI floppies. ---------------------------------------------------- Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor

27 years, 7 months

4
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Any Biin Computers out there??

by Innfogra＠aol.com

The Biin Computer was a joint project of Intel and Siemens to manufacture a fault tolerant computer for Online Transaction Processing about 1989. It used multiple custom processors i860 or i960 based, I'm not sure which. Memory was 32 or 64 Meg from the factory. It's operating system resided on a 5 1/4 FH 300 Meg Siemens HD. Data resided on one or more IPI interfaced 9" 800 Meg HDs. VME Bus, SCSI peripherals. Unix based I think. The story was to build 100 prototypes, put them out for testing and see where it went. Biin wanted to compete with IBM and Tandem. After several years, problems with split management and, not the least, too small of hard drives they had spent $5 million. When they were going to have to spend at least 3 times that to ramp up production they pulled the plug, called in the machines and liquidated the company. I suspect they couldn't generate sales. Biin scrapped the machines. We bought and sold the IPI drives, memory 1300 DC600 tapes and much of the new part inventory. Under a certified destruction contract we scrapped the remaining chassis. These were very interesting, about 20 "W X 30"H X 36"D. NEW! They had been shipped Air freight from Germany. Fully assembled, ready to have drives and cards installed. Very well made, It took a skilled person 4 hours to disassemble one to component parts. I hated doing it, they were extremely nice machines, great German workmanship. I was wondering if any of the machines might have escaped from Biin's grip? Maybe in Germany? Culled from the 1300 tapes is a complete factory set of Biin Software. If there were a machine around it might be useful to keep. Much later I was able to obtain the pinboard tester for the main CPU card. It came with a prototype card, test manual and SW for the tester. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has seen, used or has one of these computers? The Biin is definitely rare and about 10 yrs old. If any exist it would be collectable.

27 years, 7 months

2
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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>I'm quite sure that things like SPARCbooks are normally considered to be >both laptops and workstations.... > SPARCbooks had a network connector, didn't they? The WANG only has a RS-232C and a modem (300baud? I never even got it working yet.) > >Quite possible. What chips are on the interface board? Does it appear to >have enough smarts to be a scsi->floppy controller (SCSI chip, FDC chip, >CPU, RAM/EPROM probably), or is it fairly simple? Is it known that the >host interface is SCSI, or is it just a 50 pin cable (which could be a >lot of things). > It's definitely SCSI, because when I once forgot to connect the HD (internal), it came up with a message "SCSI controller failure at address [0]", or something like that. It's got a SCSI terminator on the non-used plug on the floppy, too. > >A 720K drive should go straight in, unless the software is totally broken >(the hardware interface is the same, apart from the drive having 80 tracks). > Software? No software driving anything on this machine, except for the WANG video to CGA converter and PC-emulator. Everything else is hardware. If it was software-controlled, there would be absolutely no way to initialize the system, since according to the manual, The computer came with a clean, unformatted HD. You would boot from the floppy, initialize the HD, partition it, format it, then install the system software, and configure it to what you needed. From what it sounded like, it was the type of computer for more experienced computer users. -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 7 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/25/98 7:44:25 AM Pacific Standard Time, KFergason(a)aol.com writes: > > > > > > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at > $1000. > > > > > > > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. > > Paxton > > you obviously did not check it out, but you are correct. the bidding had > closed > with no bids. > > Merry Christmas! > Interesting. When I looked at it, shortly after it was mentioned on the list, it had 5 days left before closing. I wonder why the lister pulled the ad? I believe you still have to pay your listing fees. Did anyone contact the seller? Paxton

27 years, 7 months

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SoCal TRW Swapmeet

by jpl15＠netcom.com

A quick lo-bandwidth reminder to all and sundry who might be in the Los Angeles area this weekend: The monthly TRW Ham Radio and Electronics swapmeet will be held tomorrow, Saturday, 26 Dec, from 7:30 until 11:30 am in El Segundo... see previous post for directions or e-mail me privately. Have a __________________________ ______________________! (congratulatory adjective) (winter solstice fest) John

27 years, 7 months

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SCSI floppies

by roblwill＠usaor.net

>Many of the dual adapter Adaptec had floppy controllers, MFM of course. The only >machine I've ever seen with SCSI floppies was a workstation, and although I'm >sure it wasn't a NeXT, I don't recall what brand it was. > Only problem is that the WANG isn't a workstation it's not even a desktop. It's a *laptop*. It's and 8086 with 1 MB RAM, and a 10 MB HD. There's no place to install a new SCSI controller card. I dismantled the external floppy (there is no internal floppy), which is nearly the size of the computer, and it appears to have a standard 360k floppy, connected to another board, which is connected to the dual SCSI socket on the back of the unit (centronics? look like a big printer connector- on the printer end). The drive ID dial is also connected to the board. Where would I be able to find some drives (1.2 MB, 720k, 1.44MB, HD's) that would be fairly cheap (with cables)? I'm not sure if the controller that's in the drive box now is capable of running a higher density drive, but I'd like to keep it original (when the drive is being accessed, the light flashes like HD light). If anyone would like a picture to see what it looks like, just send me a personal email, and I'll send you a picture (about 40k). Happy Holidaze, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

27 years, 7 months

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OT - Clinton

by Watzman＠ibm.net

I don't want to turn this into a debate on Clinton, and for that reason I will ***NOT*** argue the matter on this message board, in any way, at all (I've done that on other forums, but this is not the place for it). But I do want to make it clear that those who support his ouster speak for themselves only, and that many others disagree with their positions and their logic/arguments. Opinions here are greatly divided, ranging from those who believe he should be forcibly removed from office and possibly even imprisoned to those who think he's one of the better presidents of the 20th century (I'm in the latter group). History will judge with more and probably better perspective than any of us can currently apply. It will also judge those who work towards and favor his removal. That's all. Barry Watzman

27 years, 7 months

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Unsoldering

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 24, 16:58, Allison J Parent wrote: > Subject: Re: Unsoldering > > <I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to = > <work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad = > > I use that trick to get parts off board where I don't care about the board. > Sometimes I apply a propane torch. I get good parts but the boards a mess. I suspect Hans may be using a thermostatically controlled hot air gun; Steinel make a very nice one which is intended for this sort of work, but it costs about 3 times the price of a normal paint stripper. They're easy to find in DIY stores in Austria, so I imagine they're fairly common in Germany too. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

27 years, 7 months

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SCSI floppies

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 25, 14:16, Sergey Svishchev wrote: > Subject: Re: SCSI floppies > On Thu, Dec 24, 1998 at 07:44:19PM -0800, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > > >Hi! I've got a question: has anyone ever heard of a SCSI floppy drive? I > > >was talking to someone about one, and he said he'd never even heard of one, > > >and when I thought about it, I hadn't either. > > > > Yes. I'm thinking that the NeXT slabs used 2.88Mb SCSI floppies, but... > > DEC RX23 and RX26 (1.44MB and 2.88MB respectively) are SCSI floppy drives. SGI used SCSI floppies too. The SGI ones are TEAC FD235 units with a motor eject, and a small daughterboard fitted to the bottom. SGI also used INSITE 3.5" flopticals which can be used as SCSI floppies. And Eltec (in Germany?) made SCSI add-on boards so that standard floppies could be put on a SCSI bus. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

27 years, 7 months

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Ebay Kaypro 2

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 10:42:01 PM Pacific Standard Time, marvin(a)rain.org writes: > > I found an amusing listing tonight on ebay for a Kaypro 2 listed at $1000. > With that kind of asking / starting price I bet he gets no bids. Paxton

27 years, 7 months

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Unsoldering

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 2:00:27 PM Pacific Standard Time, allisonp(a)world.std.com writes: > If I want to lift parts and keep the board I have a tin container filled > with about a 1/2 inch of solder (used for wave soldering). heated over a > gas stove (coleman) I can float a board and pick off components with > tweezers. takes a little care to keep the heat reasonable. > A cast Iron frying pan works well to float a pool of solder in. There are even square frying pans. I have had some success with the new generation of propane micro torches when I need to straighten leads before pulling. Once, I got from Intel a couple of solder pots that pumped molten solder up against a circuit board and then drained off to the sides. It was designed to work on large circuit cards by flowing solder against a 4" section at a time. I also had a couple of bench machines that use hot air for component removal, usually surface mount stuff It pays to use a good commercial heat gun for component removal. They have better temperature regulation. Hot Air Guns made for component removal are expensive but you can get tips for almost all of the chip packages. With a little bit of creative metal bending you can make your own tips for a std commercial heat gun. Paxton

27 years, 7 months

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Commodore Pet 2001

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

> From: Phil Clayton <handyman(a)sprintmail.com> > Subject: Commodore Pet 2001 > > I have been searching the internet for 6 months now for a > Commodore Pet .. > Well I finally got an original Commodore Pet 2001 8MB RAM > Purchased this fine computer from an individual for $230.00 > knowing that it did not work. That's pretty good, some have been searching alot longer for one of the originals. > It is cosmetically in Very Fine Condition, however the previous > owner said it was dead and only got a cursor on the screen.. > After I received it, I started looking closely on the main board > and there it was a video IC chip that had 2 pins not in the socket. > I reinserted it, and did get a prompt but just for a few moments. > So decieded to reinserted all the IC's. I powered it up again.. > And there is was 8 MB RAM and the beautiful Commodore > Basic prompt.. This is VERY common (better add this to my PET FAQ!) the chips tend to loosen themselves out of thier sockets. and a push-down is a common troubleshooting procedure. In later computers like the Atari ST and Amiga it was drop the computer from a hight of a few inches (they didn't want you to open the case). :/ Now when it powers up if it reads: *** COMMODORE BASIC *** you have the original classic (read 'bug-ridden') ROMs. if it reads: ### COMMODORE BASIC ### you have the 'upgrade' (mostly bug fixed) ROMs. > Typed in a small BASIC program and it worked just fine. > The Chicklet keyboard has several keys that are hard to get to > work, I must press some of them several times to work.. This is due to deterioration of the cunductive surface on the key-bottoms, mashing them sometimes scrapes enough crud to get them to work. > Anyone have any ideas on how to clean them. Unplug the keyboard cable from the computer (careful on this those old pet keyboard wires are more brittle then most) remove the keyboard assembly from the housing and then carefully remove all the dinky screws from the botton of the keyboard. When you pull apart the bottom PCB from the keyboard assembly you may have some of the rubber key-cups still stuck to the PCB, just put them back in thier proper place in the assembly half. With a clean pink-pearl erase erase all the 'fingers' on the PCB (not too hard), wipe off the eraser crumbs then wipe the keyboard with a paper towel moistened with isopropyl alcohol (you can use rubbing alcohol, but make sure the water/glycerne content is low, otherwise 100% isopropyl is found in the paint section. Make sure the pcb is dry and free of dust or lint. Cleaning the little conductive 'feet' in the cups is another matter, I usually to a quick (light) wipe with a clean eraser (you will note it picks up some of the carbon, make sure you 'erase' on some paper to re-clean the eraser as you go.) Some use scotch tape to lift off any particles (sometimes works, less descructive). The worst thing I saw was someone who gold-leafed all the feet (which probably worked for a champ until sometime before I got the machine.) Reassemble the keyboard (carefully tighten those dinky screws, they strip easily) and test. If every other (or every third or fourth) key is not printing, most likely one of the keyboard wires probably broke during the cleaning, check the wires. > Have not tested the built in cassette yet.. The earlier units used butchered SANYO cassette players (you can tell if the unit has white control buttons and a lift-lid. Later units were a clean commodore design in all-black with eject button. > I am very excited to add this great machine to my collection. > In 1978 I Lusted for the first time for a computer, and it was > this machine. But in 1978 no way could I afford to buy one.. > Phil... For more information check out my PET FAQ: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/petfaq.html And my Commodore PET tribute Page: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/pet.html nopt to mention the PET related links on my main commodore page (see signature line)

27 years, 7 months

2
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vaugue musings...

by netcafe＠pirie.mtx.net.au

-----Original Message----- From: Jim Strickland <jim(a)calico.litterbox.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, 24 December 1998 19:25 Subject: Re: vaugue musings... >*snip* >> (I still can't get all this Clinton stuff - You (Americanos) >> must live on the happiest place of this world, if you have >> the time to go for this zipper thing ...) >> >> Gruss >> H. >*snip* > >Beautifully said. :) Most Aussies feel the same way. Not many here care if he got a head job from some dame at work. Or more than a head job. It's a personal matter. This whole thing is a media driven circus. I think it's backfired on those that thought they had the most to gain from it, his popularity is very high despite (or in spite - who knows) of the circus. The majority of US voteres seem to think he's a good president. Nothing else really matters. Aussies and Brits generally assume that pollys are getting a bit on the side here and there. But no-one really cares anymore. His biggest mistake was responding to this type of question. Refusing to even comment on personal matters would be the sensible approach. Just my 2c worth. Merry Christmas All It's after 7:30pm Xmas Eve, and it's 36C. Seeya Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Room Internet Cafe Port Pirie South Australia. netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au

27 years, 7 months

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Fwd: Re: Old Radios

by cfandt＠netsync.net

Hey gang! Hope your holidays have been good to you so far whether Chanukah or Christmas or Ramadan or Kwanzaa or no particular reason. Well, here's a bit of a lead. Recall several days ago we got the original msg posted here giving a list of Russian radios for sale? Being one of the resident old radio nuts on the ClassicCmp list I sent a private email sort of taking them to task for sending an off topic post to our list. Only Wm. Donzelli and myself on this list would even be interested in old radios as we are both members of the AWA. Maybe one or two others here are also members or simply like old radios --Tony D. is one, otherwise I don't know. BTW, the jpg attached to the original msg showing a Redstar radio seems to be the same radio as I had seen at our Annual AWA Conference last September. IIRC, a fellow from Great Britain bought it at our equipment auction. Paid a big buck for it too. It had a metal case painted in that interesting red woodgrain pattern. My Swedish friend commented it was a direct copy of a French radio design and that the paint often falls off these things and they rust badly. Anyway, I got a reply back saying they can get old Russian computers (from 195.90.136.126 (dialup26.kaluga.com) by mx.kaluga.ru). In the back of my mind I *knew* I might get a reply from them saying they could get old computers. So, by golly, here it is below. I figure it is one or more Russian folks who are trying to make some sort of money. Times are real hard over there as you already know. But I'm not too sure about doing any business with them. I would likely work with an AWA member from Sweden, France or Germany that I personally know to get Russian radio gear. Hans F. may have some trusted Eastern connections to get Russian Computer gear. So, these guys are just spammers in my book as far as I can presently see. Oh well . . . Regards, Chris -- -- >From: "The Old Radios Trade" <oldradios(a)radiolink.net> >To: "Christian Fandt" <cfandt(a)netsync.net> >Subject: Re: Old Radios >Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 11:43:16 +0300 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 > >Dear Friends > >What russian old computers are you interested ? >We can to acquire it here for you! > >Thanks for your interest. > >The Old Radios Trade. > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> >To: The Old Radios Trade <oldradios(a)radiolink.net> >Date: Thursday, December 24, 1998 6:44 AM >Subject: Re: Old Radios > > >>At 00:08 12/24/98 +0300, you wrote: >>>Dear Colleagues >>> >>>We have for sale multitude of rare russian antiquarian radios. >>>There are Zvezda 54 (RED STAR) , Belarus 53, SVD9 and many others solid >>radios. >>> >>>We have are the following portable radios: >>>model, year. >> >>Why did you send this to our list? We are interested only in old computers >>on the ClassicCmp list, not radios. Please don't do it again. >>-- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/

27 years, 7 months

3
2
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Trantor Mini-SCSI

by Watzman＠ibm.net

Trantor was bought by Adaptec. The mini-SCSI boxes are well supported, they will usually be auto-detected by Win95/98 and the correct drivers automatically installed. I used to have a T338 (one of the several devices in this series of products), and I probably still have a copy of the driver disks somewhere. E-Mail me if you need them, and I'll look, but they are probably also on the Adaptec web site. Barry Watzman Watzman(a)ibm.net

27 years, 7 months

1
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OT: Sam explains why Billy Boy is in trouble!

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 10:06 AM 12/24/98 -0800, you wrote: > >This is grossly off-topic but I just want to explain to our foreign >friends why Clinton should not be running our country. YA!!!! Well said Sam!!!!

27 years, 7 months

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Disk partitions under RT-11 using a WQESD controller

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

I'm working on getting TCP/IP working under RT-11 right now, and I decided to bring the second partition on the disk online. I'm using a WQESD ESDI controller and have the disk I'm using for RT-11 partitioned into several disks. I pulled out the manual for the disk controller and figured out how to do set du3: unit=2 part=1 so it would recognize the correct partition. Unfortunatly when I try to then use the disk I have the following results. .init du3: DU3:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y ?DUP-F-Output error DU3: . .init/bad du3: DU3:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y ?DUP-F-Bad block in system area DU3: .copy sysgen.ans du3: Files copied: ?PIP-F-Output error DU3:SYSGEN.ANS . Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |

27 years, 7 months

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Sam explains why Billy Boy is in trouble!

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>At 10:06 AM 12/24/98 -0800, you wrote: >> >>This is grossly off-topic but I just want to explain to our foreign >>friends why Clinton should not be running our country. > > YA!!!! Well said Sam!!!! > I agree but want to add a couple items. He is supposed to be the "Commander in Chief" of the Armed Forces and there have been many servicemen and women discharged, stripped of their rank, retirement pensions, and I think some have even spent time in prison for similar and less serious things than Clinton has done. One of the things that the "government" looks for when they do security checks before you can work in a "classified" area is a full background check looking for anything that someone could blackmail you with. One of the biggies is just what Clinton did. If you put it down on the paperwork they will just verify it but if you don't or are off by a month or 2 boy are you in for the questions. This could be something recent or 15 years ago. Dan

27 years, 7 months

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Unsoldering

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to = <work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad = I use that trick to get parts off board where I don't care about the board. Sometimes I apply a propane torch. I get good parts but the boards a mess. If I want to lift parts and keep the board I have a tin container filled with about a 1/2 inch of solder (used for wave soldering). heated over a gas stove (coleman) I can float a board and pick off components with tweezers. takes a little care to keep the heat reasonable. Allison

27 years, 7 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The biggest thing you mention is CACHE. Try it on a 386 without cache. <I'm amazed how much cache improves the performance of a 486 or Pentium. <I ran a Cyrix 586/133 without internal and external cache and it ran <Unix slower than a 386SX/25. Cache, is a big plus on any system where main memory is slower than the cpu memory cycle. Even teh fasest machine without cache is going slow terribly as it has to wait for ram and even fast parts are sub 40mhz under most cases. The old -11s benefitted as the Ram(semi) or Core was very slow, typically 0.400 to 1.8uS so that was always a limit. Allison

27 years, 7 months

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Other TEK weight availiable in Portland, Oregon

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Yes, I maintain the InnfoGraphics warehouse. Jim Willing has been a good customer and a valued source of advise. He has bought many systems over the years, several SOL-20s, SWTP S-50, IMSAI, NS Advantage, his Vax750 and more. I only wish he had told me of this list years ago. I am closing out the warehouse very soon, hopefully January. I am getting ready for a large auction to empty the space. So, if you are interested in anything please contact me now. I have posted a couple of lists to the mailer. I have a couple more that I will post over the holidays. I have not had the warehouse open for sales for nearly a year. I have done all of my sales through the Internet. I have sold lots of my collectable computers through this list. Many thanks to the list provider and maintainer. Much of my lab equipment I have sold through the LabX Auction. Highly recommended http://www.labx.com/ I am open for private showings for a very short while. I can be reached at whoagiii(a)aol.com, my regular mail address. Please contact me there. I am oft out of town for meetings of a nonprofit I am involved with. One of the latest discoveries is a Lilith Mouse in rough condition. The original Lilith you can add to my top 10 sins. Thanks for your interest. Paxton Hoag

27 years, 7 months

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vaugue musings...

by dburrows＠netpath.net

> you think -3C is bad... Come and try our -15C to -20C here in the great > Minnesota... Minus 15 C right now ? thats lower than in Sibira ! Thats around ZERO Farnheit (isn't it ?) Brrrrr. And he is in Minneapolis. I used to live near Duluth and remember a week here and there of -30 F. That is before the wind chill factor. I recall -85 and -90 wind chills. Now I am in North Carolina in the middle of an ice / freezing rain storm. Just got power back after a tree dropped on the line about 9:30 this morning. Dan

27 years, 7 months

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Other TEK weight availiable in Portland, Oregon

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/10/98 5:49:29 PM Pacific Standard Time, zmerch(a)30below.com writes: > > I like Tex stuff (that's what my o'scope is nicknamed...) as I worked with > some early color printers from Tektronix when I worked for Electronic Data > Systems (General Motors) back in '89 / '90. > Speaking of weight are you interested in a 4692 or 4693. I had two 4691s but they got parted out, sorry. I posted on another thread of the dimensions and weight on the Tek 8000s. Much lighter are a set of emulator plugs for the 7D01 Logic analyzer. I have a 8080 and a 6800 plug in, a couple others and documentation that I am interested in selling. I also have a few Tek calibration instruments left. I also have a couple of 4315s, 4404 & 4405 systems. I also have a rare 4113, 4125s, 4115s, some upgrades to 4128 & 4129. For Tek Terminals I have 4105s, a 4107, 4109s, 4111s, 4207. 4208s and a 4211. I also have mice, pads and pucks. And I am looking for a manual on a 4096 plotter but have not found one yet. If interested please e-mail me directly at whoagiii(a)aol.com. Paxton

27 years, 7 months

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vaugue musings...

by fauradon＠pclink.com

you think -3C is bad... Come and try our -15C to -20C here in the great Minnesota... -----Original Message----- From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, December 24, 1998 8:49 AM Subject: Re: vaugue musings... > >> Merry Christmas All >> It's after 7:30pm Xmas Eve, and it's 36C. >> Seeya > >If it wasn't for Christmas, I'll hate you for teasing us >with this ridicoulus temperatures while we have -3C :) > >Anyway, Fr?hliche Weihnacht to all of you. > >Servus >Hans >(Going for my mother to part in Christmas dinner, off until Monday) > >-- >Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut >HRK >

27 years, 7 months

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Unsoldering

by Watzman＠ibm.net

Boy, Hans, you are a better man than I am ! I've tried using a heat gun to unsolder things, and I can't get it to work. Either the solder doesn't melt, or the board gets too hot an bad things happen (foils lift, board chars, etc.). It sounds good in principle, and obviously its a matter of controlling the heat, but I have never been able to get this to work satisfactorily.

27 years, 7 months

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Unassembling kits

by Watzman＠ibm.net

I feel like I've been "unassembling" items back into the original kits. I have recently acquired a variety of old S-100 stuff, very dirty and mostly not working. I spent a lot of time cleaning up an IMSAI, it was really dirty. I disassembled it completely, even removed the motherboard. Cleaned everything completely with flux remover and solvents, and reassembled. Did some troubleshooting and some parts replacement, and have obtained some additional boards from various other people. It now boots CP/M, but only in a very limited way (e.g. it?s a crude BIOS, single drive and console I/O only, minimal, but it works). I took two Cromemco Z-80 CPU cards, neither working, and removed all of the IC sockets from the boards, then rebuilt the boards with all new sockets and all-new IC?s (I seriously considered soldering the IC?s, but in the end I decided to use new sockets). The old sockets had a bunch of green corrosion crud inside the contacts (they were TI sockets, which can be removed by prying off the plastic, leaving individual pins soldered to the board, which can then be removed one at a time). Removing the IC sockets was VERY difficult and VERY time consuming, and I did some minor damage to the board traces and pads. I had access to a vacuum desoldering unit at work, but I figured I would remove the sockets and pins first, and then just use the vacuum tool to clear the holes. BIG MISTAKE. The vacuum device works wonders for removing IC?s and IC sockets, but it does NOT do a good job at clearing empty holes. If I?d used it properly, the work would have gone better, with less damage to the boards, and would have taken half the time (e.g. about ten hours instead of about twenty). I know this because when I scrapped a Shugart SA-860 drive for parts, I removed the non-standard IC?s from it?s PC board before pitching it, and that went so much better than the work on the CPU cards. The SA-860 was one of four, and now the other three all work. However, all of that said, both Z-80 CPU boards are now working perfectly as far as I can tell. The system is booting and running at both 2MHz and 4 MHz, and even the front panel works at 4MHz. I?ve built up an external dual-drive box with two 3.5" 1.44 Mb drives, and an adapter board that makes it connect to a 50-pin cable and look like two 8" drives. The next step will be to get this unit working, which will be quite a bit of work because of many, many software issues. Once I do, I want to transfer everything to 3.5" disks from 8" disks (I have about 500 8" disks full of sofware). This box has a connector on the back for 8" drives, so I can support 4 drives, two 3.5" and two 8". I?m desperately looking for a Seattle Computer CPU support card, please let me know if you know of anyone who has one. Barry Watzman

27 years, 7 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> I agree. I've got a friend who tried their 386 with Windows 95... he <> said it took him an hour and a half to open Word for Windows 95... <> then he gave up... and it even had 15MB RAM! I don't. I ran w95 on a 386dx/40 with cache 16mb ram and a 1.2gig partitioned as a pair of disks just last week and a backup for a croaked pentium board. It was slow but not hours. It was also running office97 as that was on the drive too. A 486DX2/50 was much better. I did however do some major tuning tricks on the cmos and things like windows swap drive. Some of those old boards if you take the cmos defaults you get a very pokey system often 1/3 the performance or worse. Allison

27 years, 7 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/24/98 5:40:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, tim(a)thereviewguide.com writes: > > >my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but > > actually > > >not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. > > I agree. I've got a friend who tried their 386 with Windows 95... he > said it took him an hour and a half to open Word for Windows 95... > then he gave up... and it even had 15MB RAM! > my girlfriend uses Excel mostly, but also Word. takes about 5-8 minutes to come up. printing a 20 page document, now thats a hour long task. kelly

27 years, 7 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by kurtkilg＠geocities.com

A _little_? How many minutes does it take to boot? I have tried booting a 486sx/20 with 4 MB RAM from a premade Win95 setup, and it took a looong time! I started and finished a major meal and it still wasn't done. >my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but actually >not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. > >Kelly

27 years, 7 months

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Back on the List

by fauradon＠pclink.com

Welcome back tim Have you been looking around for computers in Guyana? Anything interesting? Francois -----Original Message----- From: tim(a)thereviewguide.com <tim(a)thereviewguide.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Tuesday, December 22, 1998 3:33 PM Subject: Back on the List Hi. For those who remember, and for those who care, I'm back. After coming back from my vacation to my new home in Guyana... (yes, I swore off Kool Aid) and found that it had numerous problems. After sorting most of them out, getting back on-track, and then spending lots of time thinking about but not doing, I got back on the list. Ciao, Tim D. Hotze

27 years, 7 months

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On-Topic Internet Request...

by zmerch＠30below.com

This is a request for information as an Internet professional, but it *is* on topic... I've met a family who would like to get on the Internet to mainly do email - but all they have is an Apple 2 GS. Other than a shell account (these folks seem to be "stick in disk, run command written on disk, scratch head...) is there, say, a pop3 email client and IP stack software available for that beast? (Sorry - not much of an Apple byter - I'm a Radio Smacker myself...) Thanks for any and all help, and Happy Holidaze! Roger "Merch" Merchberger ===== Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- zmerch(a)30below.com SysAdmin - Iceberg Computers ===== Merch's Wild Wisdom of the Moment: ===== for (1..15) { print "Merry Christmas\n"; } (from perl.1 man page, version 4.)

27 years, 7 months

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vaugue musings...

by dogas＠leading.net

Thanks for all the responses. Hans, thanks for the description of your technique. I'm now in seeker mode for the superhairdryer at yonder fleamarket. No, I'm not planning on an eBay kit sale... But unlike Allison three times over, I haven't had a chance to build one (I dont even have an altair yet, but I do have a few imsais)... and the zenness of seeing one apart is alluring. Let me be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas.... for next year. Heh Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 7 months

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OT, but info needed: RAM uprade

by KFergason＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/23/98 4:27:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, tim(a)thereviewguide.com writes: > > I've no idea how Win95 _works_ with 4MB RAM, since it doesn't _work_ > > with 16MB -- though with 16MB it boots within a few minutes. I took > <snip> > > I agree here, too. Windows 95 really won't like a 486/20. Sure, in my girlfriend runs Win95 on a 386/20 Dell laptop. a little slow, but actually not that bad. oh, 4M of ram. the slowest thing is printing. Kelly

27 years, 7 months

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vaugue musings...

by dogas＠leading.net

Not having an assembly manual for any of the early 8bit kits (altair, imsai, etc...) I was wondering about the experiences/success of anyone DISassembling one *back* to kit form. Anybody? MIke: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 7 months

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OT question for electronics wizards

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>Okay. Let's try again. When it says it wants 7 amps at 115, does it ALWAYS >want 7 amps at 115volts? or only when the computer it's driving really wants >all 300 watts it can put out? > It would have to be an awfully inefficient switched to draw 7 amps at full load.(300w). I would guess that there is a second NEMA connector to plug a monitor into. The load of that AND the PC at full loading(spinning up HD's etc.) might add up to 7 amps @ 115v Dan

27 years, 7 months

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what is this? motorola alphamate

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

picked this up the other day. its a small unit comprising a relatively full size keyboard and a 3x40 line lcd display. machine also has connections for rs232, telephone, and din plugs for modem and printer. machine can also run on batteries or ac power. is this a TDD? might be worth something if it is. david

27 years, 7 months

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blue-planet downtime explanation

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

TWIMC: Here's an explanation as to what happened to the blue-planet hard drive page. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 12/07/98] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 19:40:52 -0800 From: Shawn Butler <b-planet(a)ix.netcom.com> To: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> Subject: Re: Trouble accessing your site Thank you for your inquiry: The site was down for over two days and is now back up!!!! The DNS IP address changed, and until all the DNS servers out there cached the new IP, they were accessing the wrong server. All the information on The Tech Page is free, and will never require special passwords for access. Sorry for the down time! Blue Planet b-planet(a)ix.netcom.com Sam Ismail wrote: > I seem to be having trouble trying to connect to your hard drive page. > When I enter in the URL > > http://www.blue-planet.com/tech/no_frames.html > > I get a login window. I hit cancel and then get some noise about how I'm > not authorized to access the page. Other people I know are experiecing > the same problem, but still others are not and can get into the site fine. > Can you shed some light on this? Thanks. > > Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Always being hassled by the man. > > Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 > See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! > [Last web site update: 12/07/98]

27 years, 7 months

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OT: Online auctins an institution?

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 06:33 PM 12/21/98 +1, you wrote: >to build a Z3 or Mark I). Also later on things like GUI >have been developed in a non capitalist environment. Not I know it sure *seems* like it, but really, Xerox was never out to lose money on computers... And I won't bother mentioning Apple or Microsloth... (Oh, okay I will -- I'll stipulate that Woz may have been in it for fun, but Jobs was/is definitely in it for the money.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- O- Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know." Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/

27 years, 7 months

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