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

Sun and the CPU Wars (was Re: NeXT cubes or slabs.)

by fmc＠reanimators.org

William Donzelli <william(a)ans.net> wrote: > > So...how did/do you read the 386i? > > A bad mistake. I gather that is what Sun feels these days too. A while back I asked a friend within Sun who has been able to find interesting stuff for me >from time to time whether he could get certain information about the 386i[1], and that is about the answer I got: don't ask about the 386i, no-one wants to remember. > God only knows what they were thinking - the 68020 and 68030 machines were > quite capable at the time. Well, one view is that they were thinking with a different brain -- the 386i was a somewhere-in-Massachusetts creation, while the rest of Sun is in (or slightly north of) Sillycon Valley and I've gathered didn't pay much attention to the 386i. Also (from looking at the manuals) I gather it would have made a pretty nifty MS-DOS development environment for its day, being able to boot MS-DOS in several independent virtual machines. I'll have to play with that someday and see how well it really works. > Wasn't the i386 pretty much a failure by the time the Sun-4s came out. I don't think so. In fact I think it came out pretty much concurrently with, or maybe even shortly after the early Sun-4s -- it only ever ran its peculiar version of SunOS 4.0.x. That's why I used to think of it as Sun hedging its bets on the future. -Frank McConnell [1] Someone wanted to port Linux to it. No, I don't understand why, there are plenty of i386s in the world to run Linux, and besides the Sun 386i and the appropriate SunOS really sort of go together IMO. But I figured I would inquire anyway, one can never have too much documentation.

28 years, 1 month

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Fw: Free Morrow S-100 CP/M Systems

by cgregory＠lrbcg.com

-----Original Message----- From: Art Carlson <xnospamx(a)netrix.net> Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm Date: Saturday, June 13, 1998 10:50 AM Subject: Free Morrow S-100 CP/M Systems >*** DO NOT AUTOREPLY *** > > I have two Morrow S-100 systems complete with drives, manuals, and >disks, which I will give to a good home. They do not include terminals. > The catch is that they are located in Northwest Montana, and I will >not pack or ship them, they would have to be picked up here. > E-mail me with any serious inquiries. >SPAM BLOCK replace xnospamx in the address with acarlson > Art Carlson >

28 years, 1 month

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Sun and the CPU Wars (was Re: NeXT cubes or slabs.)

by fmc＠reanimators.org

William Donzelli <william(a)ans.net> wrote: > Actually, the 88000 was killed off because Sun went with the SPARCs for > their next generation of machines, the Sun-4 series. So...how did/do you read the 386i? Back then, I read it as Sun hedging its bets against a total victory by Intel in the CPU Wars of the late 1980s: they could sell Motorola, Intel, and SPARC today (today being then, not now) and promise to be around tomorrow no matter what the CPU of tomorrow looked like. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 1 month

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IBM RS6000 for sale

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> The 320H is a decent machine (unlike the 220 dog), but lacks a ethernet > port. Like most RS/6000s, it has screaming floating point, and can use XGA > (a bit more tube freindly than other workstations). [Pause while I get up from my desk and go and look at our RS/6000s] Hey! You're right! Our 320 machines (320E, upgraded from 320 something else I think, equivalent to 320H) have ethernet on a microchannel card. That shouldn't be too hard to find... We've had our 320s for six years or more, our 375 for four or five. We are thinking of getting something faster but it's hard to match the FP performance on anything modern. With luck, when (if) we do, I'll get the old ones. FWIW the fastest FP we found in our sort of price range was the RS/6000 model 397. The last of the POWER RISC machines, much faster than the Power PC RS/6000s... But I fear we're a bit off topic here... Philip.

28 years, 1 month

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new additions (and plenty of em!)

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

some guy at work knew i enjoyed collecting old stuff so he contacted me and gave me all this: 15 apple scsi peripheral cables, 7 that were never opened 3 //e enhancement kits. 1 in original packaging. also some loose chips thrown in with the rest of the junk i got. localtalk locking connector kit. <?> 2 ext 80 col card 1 in original packaging never opened. 1 imagewriter 2 /lq localtalk option 2 mouse //e 1 never opened //gs mem exp card 2 supr serial card 1 never opened 1 mouse //e workstation card never opened <!> 6 apple 256k mem exp upgrade kits. only 1 was opened. microtek language card unidisk 5.25 controller undisk 3.5 controller many user manuals for apple // and mac some never opened tandy dcm3 modem 2 ext 80 col card 1 scsi cable extender grappler card ibm 2.88 floppy drive. has standard form factor unlike ps2 2.88 floppy. proprinter ribbons ps2 mouse never used in box ps2 tape backup for qic80 tapes with matching install b and c kits appleshare pc program future domain isa scsi card 2 ps2 4meg kits never used 1 16meg ecc mem 1 box of 10 2meg upgrade kits. never used! mca 16/4 token ring nic mca 2-8 meg mem expansion card 11 boca 512/1meg svga isa video cards never used apple tutorial disks never used. also a few other minor things i cant remember. everything above remain in their original boxes im cancelling a fishing trip to go back to his house tonight and pick up some more things. he used to either work for skool system or was with a servicer involved with skools which is where this probably all came from. i'll update when i get the other goodies. unfortunately, no lisa stuff, although it cant hurt to ask. i'll probably keep most of this although i bet i could make a killing hyping it up for sale on ebay... 8-( david

28 years, 1 month

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Way to identify original IBM-PC?

by ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca

Hi, I was wondering if there's a surefire way of telling if an IBM-PC has its original motherboard, without opening the case. I saw one at the Salvation Army today and was considering dragging it home (though I decided to take another machine instead). The machine did have a cassette port in the back, with a femal DIN connector. Is this attached to the motherboard? The machine also had a full complement of cards in its slots, with lots of ports coming out of it. And a 3.5" drive that was poorly fitted into the case. I'm wondering if I should make a trip downtown sometime this weekend, with the car. Doug Spence ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/

28 years, 1 month

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NeXT cubes or slabs.

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

Sounds cool. Many of the greatest design concepts are stopped... not because of bugs, not because of tiredness of developers, but because of the only thing obstructing innovation: Money. Tim -----Original Message----- From: George Currie <g(a)kurico.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Friday, June 26, 1998 9:04 PM Subject: Re: NeXT cubes or slabs. Actually they (NeXT) had started work on a dual Motorola 88000 machines before NeXT dropped out of the hardware biz. Some former NeXT hardware guys went on to form a company called FirePower to design PREP?, CHRP? compliant PPC computers. They released a few but were then bought by Motorola and of course we all know what happened to PREP/CHRP/WhatEVER. George

28 years, 1 month

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OS's In ROMs (was: Re: Mac Classic prob (was Macintoshes

by jeff.kaneko＠ifrsys.com

Not to mention the HP-110 Portables . . . > operating systems in rom? that seems fairly popular. my atari portfolio has > dos in rom as well as my tandy 100 has apps in rom. even the original 2011 IBM > PS1 had dos in rom. > > david > > In a message dated 98-06-26 14:22:44 EDT, you write: > > << I LOVE that idea. Now, it'd need to be EPROM, especially nowadays with bug > fixes, a new version every other day of the week, etc. but still, it's a way > cool concept. Which computers did this? > Ciao, >> > > > +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Disclaimer: | | | | These opinions are entirely my own, and in no way reflect the | | policies or opinions of my employer. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

28 years, 1 month

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CLASSICCMP digest 457

by yakowenk＠cs.unc.edu

On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, Uncle Roger <sinasohn(a)ricochet.net> wrote: ] Picked up a cartridge for the Coco t'other day, and I'm not sure what it ] is. It says "Cat. No. 26-3129" and "Color Computer Controller" on it. Has ] the card-edge connector where it plugs in, then another, smaller one on the ] back end. My guess is it's a floppy controller? Here is a URL for you: http://members.tripod.com/~qtv/index-7.html It lists Radio Shack items and catalog numbers. According to that, what you've got is a "Color Thinline Disk #0 Kit 349.95". I suppose that part number was for the entire kit, drive and controller both. Bill.

28 years, 1 month

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OS's In ROMs (was: Re: Mac Classic prob (was Macintoshes...))

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

operating systems in rom? that seems fairly popular. my atari portfolio has dos in rom as well as my tandy 100 has apps in rom. even the original 2011 IBM PS1 had dos in rom. david In a message dated 98-06-26 14:22:44 EDT, you write: << I LOVE that idea. Now, it'd need to be EPROM, especially nowadays with bug fixes, a new version every other day of the week, etc. but still, it's a way cool concept. Which computers did this? Ciao, >>

28 years, 1 month

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NeXT cubes or slabs.

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

If you ask me, CHRP was worthless, like the rest of the Apple cloning program. In the end, not a soul made a cent off that whole thing, and many people were stuck with machines that didn't have warranty / support. Lastly, what's so good about a DB25 serial port on a Mac anyway? Now USB is good. Could NeXTs run any non-NeXT software? >Sounds cool. Many of the greatest design concepts are stopped... not >because of bugs, not because of tiredness of developers, but because of the >only thing obstructing innovation: Money. > >Tim >Actually they (NeXT) had started work on a dual Motorola 88000 machines >before NeXT dropped out of the hardware biz. Some former NeXT hardware >guys went on to form a company called FirePower to design PREP?, CHRP? >compliant PPC computers. They released a few but were then bought by >Motorola and of course we all know what happened to >PREP/CHRP/WhatEVER. > >George > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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NeXT Resources?

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

Hi. Does anyone know of (or have) a page on NeXT's with photos, docs, etc.? Thanks, Tim

28 years, 1 month

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TRS-80 video synch chaos

by ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca

I've got a TRS-80 Model I that MOSTLY works (I typed in a program to fill the screen with characters and the screen did fill up) except for the video synchronization. Characters lean to the right, and the display moves all over the screen. Usually the motion is quickly to the left while also moving upward, though sometimes it stabalizes and just moves upward. Is there an adjustment to control this somewhere? The machine is in beautiful physical shape - it looks unused. There's even a sticker still on it that is stuck to the expansion port's trapdoor and sticks also to the machine's case. And the warrantee seal hasn't been broken yet. Doug Spence ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/

28 years, 1 month

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NeXT cubes or slabs.

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

>The latter (Sam Goldberger) is in Mill Valley, California. I think >Deep Space is in New Mexico. There used to be some guy on the east >coast but he seems to have disappeared... odd since he seemed to have >most of the CIA inventory. And what, prey tell, is so odd about that? ;-) >Since I'm an Openstep developer, in my mind they aren't really >antiques... though the CPU clock rates are low by todays standards >they still perform very well for day-to-day use because the software >(OS, application framework and display mode) layers were engineered >very efficiently. The platform is just barely ten years old and >still very modern if not futuristic. Yep. I actually think that Apple could appeal more to the design market by releasing a new PPC based NeXT. That would give the platform a significant boost. Especially becasue I've heard that Apple's going to be making $500-$1500 devices. PPC NeXTs could sell for well over $5-$10, even for a lower-end one. >The "PrinterWorks" I believe, still sells laserprinters for them. >With these, you can essentially turn a NeXT Cube or station into a >Win 95/NT printing engine via Samba networking, have it run your web >server, and use it to run many applications that would make both >Windows and plain old Unix jealous if they were jealous kinds of >Operating Systems. Sounds cool. But getting more and more off topic... >If all else fails, there's also comp.sys.next.marketplace, where >everyone is trying to sell what they have right now. ALL RIGHT!!! There's a NeXT in my future! >Collectable items include extra DSP memory, the ancient ISDN modem >that worked through the DSP port, Ariel Digital Microphones, Digital >Ears [a Digital Sound I/O system]. DSP Memory? DUDE!!! >Also... the 20 " monitors were _beautiful_ to work nexst to. Before >I sold mine I always felt like I was almost living inside my NeXT. >But they are oh so heavy! Well, it could have been inside of a titanium alloy casing... >Cubes are ultra-ergonomic. The cases very somewhat depending on >when they were made. I like the cases the early 68030 machines... >they had less ventilation I think but they looked cooler... more >metalic somehow. No kidding. That's the big catch to NeXT's. The looks. Once you see one, you can't really sleep easy until one's inside of your house. Ciao, Tim D. Hotze

28 years, 1 month

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Old computer books (was: Re[2]: Quarter classics (was: Big Iron Was:RE: Backwate

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

GOD this is a long thread! >Well, considering the reason that I started collection computers 12 >years ago was so that people would have the chance to use >frontpanels, paper tape, punched cards etc in he future, I might do >that sometime. Problem is it would take a lot of work, and I doubt if >anyone would buy it. > >-tony Why not? The Soul of a New Machine, Insanely Great, and Hackers seemed to do just fine, to name a few. I don't mean an encyclopedia, but a bunch of stories about the design of stuff (i.e. a chapter on how Multics was made, a chapter on how the Apple arose, a chapter on where the ENIAC came from,etc.). It seems that people can only read things like this if they are made about people rather than, "The idea began slowly to take shape that instead of using a two-stage adder it would be easier to use a shift register. This was to come up later when..." ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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IMSAI 8080

by franke＠sbs.de

>> >So, what to use ? Writable CDs ? They have only a guaranteed >> I suggest real CD-ROMs > Do you believe that there will still be working CD-ROM drives in > 20 or 30 years time? Remember they contain custom chips as well... Jep, I think there will still be (new) compatible drives in consumer price range - and I bet that there are for shure still new drives in the 'professional' price range in 20 years >from now. I don't think the drive is the problem, new medias are maybe a lot more difficult to aquire - try to buy _new_ _manufactured_ 8" disks - everyting you get as 'new' is at least 6 years old. > And storage systems change. When was the last time you saw a working > Syquest 10Mbyte drive (note, the 2 on my shelf don't count, as they need > minor repairs...) No, never had one, but what about 10 MB Bernouli Drives from Iomega ? I still have a unit of two in working condition - now 15 years old. >> What is the problem with EPROMs? Why not just put them in styrofoam? > The problem is that the data is held by an electrostatic charge on a > floating gate in the chip. It's a capacitor, really, and like all > capacitors it slowly discharges. Now, the time constant may be 10 years > or 20 years, or whatever, but it's still going to discharge. ? depending on the tecnology. > And chips - all chips - fail. If (say) the bondout wire on one of the > data pins falls off, there's no easy way to repair it. Yes, but a lot less and later than magnetic medias. > Oh, and putting chips in styrofoam is the quickest way to damage them > from static. And although the damage may not be noticeable at the time, > the chip might fail 1 month later, or whatever. :) Gruss H. -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

28 years, 1 month

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The Beatles

by jeff.kaneko＠ifrsys.com

> > I just found a discarded Packard Bell 486 (I almost left it because the > > case looked like a 286's). I don't know why you all dislike those things > > so much, this case is very good. Anyway, when the machine boots, the ROM > > displays a "Packard Bell" graphic, complete with a 3-second fade-in (if > > only people paid so much attention to _useful_ stuff). Underneath, it > > displays, "America grew up listening to us. It still does." Now, this is > > my question. What does this mean? When was this company founded, and > > what was their original product? > > Packard-Bell, as you see it, is simply not the company it used to be. As > with so many American company names, someone bought the name. <Some Defence-Related stuff PB did in the 1950's SNIPed> > I have no idea what happened to Packard-Bell. They may still be around, > doing defense work, or they may have been swallowed up. The Packard-Bells > at CompUSA, however, are simply not related. The way I seen it, P-B may have been a defence contractor during WWII and later, but their main claim to fame was that for decades, they were one of the biggest manufacturers of Broadcast radios, and Television Sets. I know for a fact they were making TV's (of the humongous console variety in vogue at the time) in the early 70's because I remember an inane TV commercial for it. In the 50's and 60's there were some other major players that manufactured TV's (they actually *made* the stuff): Admiral (my grandmother had one), Motorola, GE, RCA and Zenith. Others were: Pilot, Curtis-Mathes (still around, I think), Hofmann, Westinghouse and a whole bunch of other minor players. Then the Japanese arrived (en force) in the mid 70's, and the next thing we knew thousands of americans were out of work, and no Televisions (or Computer monitors, for that matter) were made domestically. Packard-Bell was one of these victims. I don't know who is behind the resurrection of the P-B brandname. I suspect they wanted to appeal to baby-boomers who fondly remember watching 'Hopalong', 'Cisco' or 'Bonanza' on their parents' Packard Bell console TV. Jeff > > By the way, Packard-Bell has nothing to do with HP. > > William Donzelli > william(a)ans.net > > > > +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Disclaimer: | | | | These opinions are entirely my own, and in no way reflect the | | policies or opinions of my employer. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

28 years, 1 month

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NeXT cubes or slabs.

by thomas100＠home.com

Actually the slabs are very common in the U.S evidently because of the contract NeXT had with the CIA. Cubes aren't that much rarer... just more expensive. Two places where you can go for NeXT equipment are: http://www.deepspacetech.com http://www.orb.com The latter (Sam Goldberger) is in Mill Valley, California. I think Deep Space is in New Mexico. There used to be some guy on the east coast but he seems to have disappeared... odd since he seemed to have most of the CIA inventory. I seem to remember his warehouse lease expired and he had some kind of blowout sale last year! Since I'm an Openstep developer, in my mind they aren't really antiques... though the CPU clock rates are low by todays standards they still perform very well for day-to-day use because the software (OS, application framework and display mode) layers were engineered very efficiently. The platform is just barely ten years old and still very modern if not futuristic. The "PrinterWorks" I believe, still sells laserprinters for them. With these, you can essentially turn a NeXT Cube or station into a Win 95/NT printing engine via Samba networking, have it run your web server, and use it to run many applications that would make both Windows and plain old Unix jealous if they were jealous kinds of Operating Systems. If all else fails, there's also comp.sys.next.marketplace, where everyone is trying to sell what they have right now. Collectable items include extra DSP memory, the ancient ISDN modem that worked through the DSP port, Ariel Digital Microphones, Digital Ears [a Digital Sound I/O system]. Also... the 20 " monitors were _beautiful_ to work nexst to. Before I sold mine I always felt like I was almost living inside my NeXT. But they are oh so heavy! Cubes are ultra-ergonomic. The cases very somewhat depending on when they were made. I like the cases the early 68030 machines... they had less ventilation I think but they looked cooler... more metalic somehow. thomas100(a)home.com

28 years, 1 month

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High-end SCSI 9-track drives available!

by kyrrin＠jps.net

Heads up, 9-track users! RE-PC, a local (Seattle/Tukwila, two locations) used computer place I work with has turned up yet -another- pair of M4 Data 9914R 9-track tape drives. Specs can be found at www.m4data.com. The 9914 is built like the proverbial tank. It is actuall a dual-interface device. Leave the SCSI card in, and it is standard SCSI-1 with a 768K buffer. Pull the SCSI card out, and uncover the edge connectors on the back, and it becomes a standard Pertec interface unit. Only one interface may be used at one time; you cannot have both simultaneously. One -really- nice feature of the 9914's, besides how robustly they're built, is that they're quad-density. They will handle any standard density of 9-track tape from 800 (NRZI) to 6250 (GCR). They're front-loading, horizontal mount, and feature a very reliable vacuum-driven autoloading system. Stick the reel in, close the door, and wait about twenty seconds. The 9914 is still manufactured, and supported by M4 Data. Documentation, parts and firmware updates are still available if you can live with some of M4's prices. I've inspected both drives and they look to be in good shape. One looks like it took a minor impact to the rear quarter, as the card cage cover had bent corners (believe me, that's not going to bother a 9914!). Other than that, they look great. If you're interested, contact RE-PC in Tukwila directly: (206) 575-8737. Ask for Eric and tell him I referred you. The last 9914 in good shape went for $165 (a steal considering that these monsters still go for around $7,000 from M4), and I expect the others will be about the same (probably less for the one that's slightly dinged). Take a friend with you when you go. These drives are not light! I can lift one by myself, but it's not a fun experience. The back end is the heaviest as that's where the power transformer is. I've already grabbed three of the beasties. It's time to share the wealth. Enjoy! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Sysop, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fidonet 1:343/272) (Hamateur: WD6EOS) (E-mail: kyrrin(a)jps.net) "Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."

28 years, 1 month

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New eMail Address; Out Of Contact

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

Hi. For those who care, from the 27th to the 8th of July, I'll be out of contact. In the mean time, I can be reached at worldsfate(a)geocities.com , and that should get to me after the 8th. This eMail address is getting disconnected. I'm unsubscribing from the list until I can get a faster POP account. Maybe a Hotmail/web based eMail one would work. Anyway, does anyone know an ISP in Washington, DC that could get me hooked up QUICK, from a handheld and only for about a month? Ciao, Tim D. Hotze

28 years, 1 month

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"No name" S-100 computer

by bobstek＠ix.ix.netcom.com

Dave - Your timing is good for asking about a ProcTech tape archive. I've been working with another Sol owner and will soon have a CUTS programs CD-ROM (just use a portable CD-ROM player in place of the cassette player) with as much of the original software as it's been possible to find (TARG, BASIC5, TREK80, FOCAL, PILOT, etc.). I also have a tape from Proteus, the ProcTech users group, which I can send you immediately. Email me you address and I'll pop it in the mail. Bob Stek

28 years, 1 month

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macintoshes, part ][

by PB14＠leicester.ac.uk

On 25 Jun 98 at 21:38, SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com wrote: > Ive got a IIcx that ive tricked out with 5meg, mono display, two external > drives, syquest 44 meg drive and the apple cd300 drive and a radius rocket > accelerator with 8 meg. unfortunately, the rocket accelerator locks up the > machine on the second reboot. disabling it lets the mac work at original > speed. can anyone provide suggestions? the rocket seems to be temperamental, > from what i can see. David, You are about to discover how temperamental the Rocket really can be... I dare say you know that Radius still have the latest RocketWare software and a brief FAQ available on their ftp site. There's another utility there called "lift-off" that checks the configuration of the host Mac for timing senstitive cards that may conflict with the Rocket. Have you tried knocking up a minimal system floppy (eg disk tools for System 7.0 with the RocketWare extension added) and thried booting >from that? Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 1 month

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Way to identify original IBM-PC?

by jolminkh＠nsw.bigpond.net.au

> >I was wondering if there's a surefire way of telling if an IBM-PC has its >original motherboard, without opening the case. I saw one at the >Salvation Army today and was considering dragging it home (though I >decided to take another machine instead). > >The machine did have a cassette port in the back, with a femal DIN >connector. Is this attached to the motherboard? Yes it is. So it sounds like it's original. There were 2 motherboards, a 16-64k and a 64-256k. The former was the original one. The latter has a B in a circle stamped on the back plate.

28 years, 1 month

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Mac Classic prob (was Macintoshes...)

by PB14＠leicester.ac.uk

On 25 Jun 98 at 23:22, Zane H. Healy wrote: > Wow, it has the complete OS in ROM? I didn't know any of the Mac's did > that. Are there any others or was this a one shot experiment that failed? > The OS in ROM is the main thing I like about the Atari ST's. ISTR that Apple were looking at a diskless Mac project -- the sort of thing that would interest education. The Classic was available as a hard diskless model according to the manual but I've never seen one. Of course the diskless idea would never have worked very well as there was nowhere to install extensions/INITs and the diskless Classic was stuck on System 6.0.x and there was no ethernet capability. (An aside: Sonic Systems later developed The Diskless Mac (TDM) which used a boot PROM on an ethernet card to attach to an AppleShare server where a System image was stored. This worked with System 7 but the hardware range was limited.) Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 1 month

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Attache Altair??

by altair8800＠hotmail.com

I have made contact with an individual who has what he describes as an Altair 8800 which is in an "Attache" case made by Icom in 1976. Would appreciate any information about this "Attache". Is it a very desirable thing. Were very many produced, etc? It has MITS boards (CPU, IO, disk controller) and power suppy. He wants to trade it to me for an Imsai 8800. Would that be a good trade on my part? Thanks, Bob ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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subscribe

by thomas100＠home.com

Please forgive if this is an inappropriate way to subscribe and it goes onto your mailing list. I'm not sure whether this server knows to add me or if I need to make contact with a specific individual before I am subscribed. I've been looking around this list for what must be years! Thomas Pfaff thomas100(a)home.com Trs-80 Model 4 lover

28 years, 1 month

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CP/M

by higginbo＠netpath.net

At 07:44 PM 6/18/98 -0700, Bruce Lane wrote: > Where did you get the idea that tape is so fragile? I'd wager the ones you >encountered were either of very poor quality or were stored under adverse >conditions (high heat, high humidity, etc). A side note: I've got VHS tapes that are 10-12 years old and still look the same when played. I find that most tapes fail with heavy use, not age deterioration. - - john higginbotham ____________________________ - webmaster www.pntprinting.com - - limbo limbo.netpath.net -

28 years, 1 month

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Mac Classic prob (was Macintoshes...)

by PB14＠leicester.ac.uk

Megan Gentry wrote: > >BTW - another question -- when the Mac Classic boots, it shows the > >smiley disk and I hear the internal HD working. The screen goes >light > grey with a pointer on it. This is displayed for a few seconds >and > then I get the 'Welcome to Macintosh' screen. This remains this >way > for as much as 10 minutes (I didn't wait longer). Is this >normal? The Mac Classic contains a complete System 6 installation in ROM that you can boot from. Sorry but I don't have the docs handy, but I think if you press Command-Option-Shift-X on startup, it'll boot from the ROM. Another way that should work is Command-Option-Shift-Backspace -- this key combination should work on any SCSI capable Mac to supress booting from the default SCSI boot device. Once you've booted, you'll need to scrounge a copy of Disk First Aid or a third party utility to check the hard disk. Do you have system install disks etc for the machine? Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 1 month

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Quarter classics (was: Big Iron Was:RE: Backwate

by franke＠sbs.de

>>> It can't be as bad as the Science Museum in London, surely. I was there >>> earlier this week, and what a _joke_!!! >> I never been there - hmm maybe I should tak a weekend - is >> there a Website to get the opening hours ? > Well, IMHO, it's worth the admission charge (\pounds 6.50 (!)) if you're > interested in things other than classic computers. But it's not worth it > for the computers alone. > I've been interested in clocks for about 25 years or more, so seeing a > Synchronome working (even if the description wasn't that good) was worth > it. Ditto for a lot of the other clocks (going back many centuries) - > most of them are ticking away... > Alas they've added some of those 'interactive' experiments. While a good > idea in theory, I'm not sure they should be combined with collections of > historical scientific instruments, etc. The groups of people interested > in the two displays would have virtually no intersection IMHO. Hmm. The Deutsches Museum is a 'hands-on'/'interactive') museum since the first years, and the combination of historic displays and learning works fine - at least for me. >> Ok, the 2002 wouldn't be exactly the machine for continous >> display in action, but even if it is just as static display, > No, but fire it up from time to time to show it in operation. Even just 1 > or 2 days a year. Announce the days in advance and the hackers can come > along and see a real machine in operation >> this one time running test ist the best verification that the >> static display is _complete_. >> (In fact, the critical part of the 2002 is the storage drum - >> even back in time when it was new, every power up and down >> had to be guarded by tecnicans - hmm but even here, since >> the drum is a closed device, one could replace it (invisible) >> by a modern electronic emulation... just thinking) > Oh, back the heads off the drum and replace it with a set of RAMs and > counters :-). Keep the drum turning, and demonstrate the machine with > more modern memory (at least for day-to-day operation). Exactly my idea of a display ... Gruss H. -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

28 years, 1 month

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Back to the Future

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

Aha, y'all thought I was being cute with the subject... 8^) I re-watched BttF II the other night, and noticed that in the window of the shop where Marty buys the sports almanac was an interesting item, an "antique computer". (A mac Plus-ish machine.) I'm not sure exactly what year II came out (about '87-88?) but that was pretty insightful, I think. ('Course, they were pretty cool movies anyway.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/

28 years, 1 month

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COMPUTER AUTOMATION ALPHA-16

by LAAG＠pacbell.net

I HAVE SEVERAL COMPUTER AUTOMATION ALPHA-16 MINICOMPUTERS... THEY HAVE CORE MEMORY AND NO PARTICULAR MICRO-PROC CHIP BUT A WHOLE BOARD OF CHIPS FOR THAT FUNCTION... THESE ARE 16 BIT COPUTERS MADE IN THE EARLY 70'S... ANYONE INTERESTED??? I ALSO HAVE SOME 8" FLOPPIES... LAAG(a)PACBELL.NET

28 years, 1 month

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Free boot disks for Lisa

by lwalker＠mail.interlog.com

Heads up for Lisa owners. Saw this on Obsolete Comps. DO NOT E-MAIL ME. CONTACT THE ADDRESSEE BELOW ! Michael Getsey <getsey(a)ix.netcom.com> St. Louis, MO USA - Wednesday, June 24, 1998 at 03:24:39 Have three 5.25 inch, double sided, double density disks for Apple III PC. I used these for a COBOL class I had at The Citadel. Disks are Apple III E-Z Pieces Boot Disc, Compiler, and Utilities. I believe I was using them on an Apple Lisa at the time ( 1983 ). They're free for the asking. Send me your "snail mail" address, and they're yours! lwalker(a)interlog.com

28 years, 1 month

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Coco Question

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

Picked up a cartridge for the Coco t'other day, and I'm not sure what it is. It says "Cat. No. 26-3129" and "Color Computer Controller" on it. Has the card-edge connector where it plugs in, then another, smaller one on the back end. My guess is it's a floppy controller? Also, does anyone know what happened to Roger Merchberger? Seems to have disappeared. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/

28 years, 1 month

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Old computer books

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>Care to name some cool >technology that wasn't driven by capitalism? OK! the usage of fire, the processing of most materials (iron, copper, wood, stone, etc.). In fact, if you say that capitalism is only present when it's called capitalism, then most technologies. All simple machines. The scale. The boat. Most things achieved by the military such as the computer (yes, they were partly bombing Japan for economic reasons, but that's a little farfetched). All nuclear equipment was engineered separately in the USSR. Had enough yet? The printing press. The castle. The book. Writing. At any rate, I'm not saying Capitalism is BAD, I'm just saying it doesn't promote ingenuity, which is true for many other governments. >- John > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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Mac Answers

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

To the person looking for a Mac keyboard and mouse... Before you start getting that 'ol 512 ready to rumble most of the internet software you want to learn about will NOT work on it (save for an older (really older) mac terminal like Red Ryder via a provider's UNIX shell account). Best to go with the SE and the ADB route and get an appropriate mouse and keyboard to get on the net. (though you can get up to web browsing with an SE but without such niceities as pictures and such.) Then such things as PPP, TCP/IP, etc apply. Though You should ask for something like a color LC, Performa, or centris class as they would also let you work with Open Transport file system along with the old system under 7+. :) ============ To the person regarding IDE drives on a Mac 636...

28 years, 1 month

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Old computer books

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 12:53 PM 6/25/98 PDT, Max Eskin wrote: > >Here's one: Capitalism, the abode of stupidity, is the crematorium of >ingenuity and creativity. Just off the top of my head. Yuck. You don't know me very well, do you? :-) I'm going to send out the classiccmp libertarian goon squad, who will persuade you to think otherwise. (Non-violently, of course.) It's capitalism and lust for money, power, and members of an attractive gender orientation that drives any sort of start-up, including Commodore and Amiga Corp. Care to name some cool technology that wasn't driven by capitalism? - John

28 years, 1 month

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Macintosh II (lisa???)

by PB14＠leicester.ac.uk

On 25 Jun 98 at 5:43, John Higginbotham wrote: > >Mac IIx - 68030? > >Mac IIfx > >Mac IIvx (iirc) You've missed out the IIvi as well. For information about Mac specs, there's a great free utility called GURU from Newer Technology at http://www.newertech.com > I'm not sure about the IIvx either, but I do have a Mac IIx sitting here. > Main difference was just a little boost on the proc speed over the Mac II. The Mac II is a fairly lame 68020 system (no fpu, no pmmu) while the IIX (same as IIcx but different form) is a very usable 68030. > Question: Will any nubus card work in any mac with a nubus slot? (I'm > talking standard form, one piece card, not the little two piece connected > jobbies found on the SI/LC etc.) Yes/No. Size can be a problem. Older cards were often full size and won't fit in a IIsi or later system. Hi res graphics cards from people like SuperMac, Radius, RasterOps etc were always temperamental and are often reliant on OS versions and card ROMs. It is unlikely for example that a graphics card from a 68030 would work in a NuBus equipped PowerMac. Lots of people ditched quite expensive graphics cards because the manufacturers demand(ed) so much for ROM upgrades. Accelerator cards, which tend to be full size, can cause timing problems (eg Radius Rocket which is incompatible with AROSE, the system software that arbitrates between NuBus slots!). Ethernet cards would be a safe bet but the rarer stuff (GPIB, video image grabbers etc) would guarantee interesting times... Phil ************************************************************** Phil Beesley -- Computer Officer -- Distributed Systems Suppport University of Leicester Tel (0)116 252-2231 E-Mail pb14(a)le.ac.uk

28 years, 1 month

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Convergent Miscellany

by jeff.kaneko＠ifrsys.com

> R. Stricklin (kjaeros) wrote: > > > > On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Jeff Kaneko wrote: > > > > > OKay, so what happened to the source for CTIX? Did it vanish? Who > > > does it belong to? WHo do you think I belongs to? > > > > I think it belongs to Unisys. They own the trademark, anyway (through > > their acquisition of Convergent). > > That is the legal situation. I know where I last _saw_ a copy of the > source for version 3.51 for the Unix PC (and a copy of the source for > what would have been next, equivalent to SysVR3) , never made it to > SQA), but I haven't been able to contact him in a couple of years of ^^^ What's his name? Where does he live? We can try 4-11. > trying. (CTIX for the regular machines _did_ reach SysVR3 in > production, but that was after the Unix PC was history). > -- > Ward Griffiths > They say that politics makes strange bedfellows. > Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else. > Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_ Jeff +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Disclaimer: | | | | These opinions are entirely my own, and in no way reflect the | | policies or opinions of my employer. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

28 years, 1 month

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macintoshes, part ][

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

Ive got a IIcx that ive tricked out with 5meg, mono display, two external drives, syquest 44 meg drive and the apple cd300 drive and a radius rocket accelerator with 8 meg. unfortunately, the rocket accelerator locks up the machine on the second reboot. disabling it lets the mac work at original speed. can anyone provide suggestions? the rocket seems to be temperamental, >from what i can see. david

28 years, 1 month

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unsubscribe classiccmp

by wpe＠interserv.com

Off to Montreal for a week.. Figured I'd temporarily un-subscribe for that period, so SPRYNET doesn't get uptight about the size of my mailbox.... I should be back around 4 July..... Will

28 years, 1 month

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Quarter classics (was: Big Iron Was:RE: Backwater areas Wa

by sinasohn＠ricochet.net

At 11:11 AM 6/22/98 -0700, you wrote: >>Robotron is also a video game ca. 1981-2 (Williams, iirc) that was [...] >>each other. Other, similar games included Sinistar (no relation, and don't >>even go there) and one whose name I forgot that had to do with spiders and >What do you mean, there's no relation? They are both William's titles...and Whups... Sorry. I occassionally get sensitive about my last name, and when I was younger, I was the butt of a lot of jokes centered around my name and that game. (Sinasohn, Sinistar.) >Sinistar is the addition of 2 SRAMs, a different interface board (for dual >joysticks), blitter clipper circuit and an additional sound board for Robotron also had dual joysticks, so perhaps that was the same on both games? --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/

28 years, 1 month

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Coco Question

by fauradon＠pclink.com

>Also, does anyone know what happened to Roger Merchberger? Seems to have >disappeared. You can find him on the M100 mailing list. Francois ------------------------------------------------------------- Visit the Sanctuary at: http://www.pclink.com/fauradon

28 years, 1 month

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The Beatles

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I just found a discarded Packard Bell 486 (I almost left it because the case looked like a 286's). I don't know why you all dislike those things so much, this case is very good. Anyway, when the machine boots, the ROM displays a "Packard Bell" graphic, complete with a 3-second fade-in (if only people paid so much attention to _useful_ stuff). Underneath, it displays, "America grew up listening to us. It still does." Now, this is my question. What does this mean? When was this company founded, and what was their original product? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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Last two days of ClassicCmp anyone?

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

I got unsubscribed from ClassicCmp somehow. Can someone forward me the last two days worth or tell me where I can get it? Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever onward. September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2 See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details! [Last web page update: 06/11/98]

28 years, 1 month

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EPROM programmers available

by rcini＠email.msn.com

FYI, this guy has some multiple-gang EPROM programmers available. Contact him directly (Mikeooo1(a)aol.com). <PASTE> The Gangpro S I have will enable you to burn up to 32 chips at a time and covers hundreds of device types.Its features are way too numerous to go into but its replacement is selling for over $6000.I am looking for $300 for it.The Gangpro8 will do 8 at a time and covers most device types also. It is self contained where as the "S" can hook up thru a 232 cable with a PC. The one you'll probably be most interested in is an EP-2A-88 by Optimal Technolgy which requires a "personality module" for the eprom type you wish to program and will program 4 at a time. I have such modules for 2716's and 2532's only.I am looking for $45 for that one. </PASTE> Rich Cini/WUGNET <nospam_rcini(a)msn.com> - ClubWin! Charter Member - MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking - Preserver of "classic" computers <<<< ========== reply separator ========== >>>>>

28 years, 1 month

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Zuse

by franke＠sbs.de

>>>Since we were recently discussing the first computer, I wondered, if >>>the Zuse was "first", then what is the ENIAC famous for? >>It's main use was calculating ballistics tables for artillery. If >>anyone really cares, I could explain it in detail - but it's pretty >>boring stuff. > For one thing, why is it generally considered to be the first computer? Maybe a very simple thing - since after the war ther was only the Brit/US developents known to the (Brit/US) Scientists, they just didn't know (like von Neuman is always credited for the idea of a seperation of memory and CPU - but in fact Zuse had published this idea 7 years earlyer). It's a bit like one woman, in Florida, asked me around 1992 if I'm from West Germany, East Germany or new Germany *rotfl* Missing information. Gruss H. -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

28 years, 1 month

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Mark 8 pc boards

by ddameron＠earthlink.net

At 11:04 AM 6/25/98 -0700, you wrote: >On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, Allison J Parent wrote: > >> <I've also learned that the printed circuit boards were 2-sided, but had n >> <plated-thru holes. This may have caused problems to IC solder connections >> <making reliability problems. I don't know if this would make buyers aband >> <them making the numbers larger or smaller than otherwise. >> >> Not a problem. The trick was to solder both sides ot use through wires >> as needed. It made the board much cheaper and buildable by home brewers. > >And that approach is cheaper and easier than the tubular rivet that >preceded plated through holes - if you could even find such today :) > Yes, using wires as jumpers is good too. I'm amazed in TV sets, stereos, etc. most all the printed circuit boards are one sided. The problem I saw was with the actual IC pins. Sockets would make it worse. If you don't plan ahead, there might be not enough lead to solder to on the component side of some disk capacitors (resistors mounted on end?), etc. -Dave

28 years, 1 month

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Mark 8 pc boards

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I've also learned that the printed circuit boards were 2-sided, but had n <plated-thru holes. This may have caused problems to IC solder connections <making reliability problems. I don't know if this would make buyers aband <them making the numbers larger or smaller than otherwise. Not a problem. The trick was to solder both sides ot use through wires as needed. It made the board much cheaper and buildable by home brewers. Allison

28 years, 1 month

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Zuse

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

Since we were recently discussing the first computer, I wondered, if the Zuse was "first", then what is the ENIAC famous for? Also, has anyone seen any kind of in-depth description of either? I mean, what exactly could the ENIAC do? Has anyone seen diagrams? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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Zuse

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

>>Since we were recently discussing the first computer, I wondered, if >>the Zuse was "first", then what is the ENIAC famous for? > >It's main use was calculating ballistics tables for artillery. If >anyone really cares, I could explain it in detail - but it's pretty >boring stuff. For one thing, why is it generally considered to be the first computer? Secondly, what kind of calculation did this involve? Was it a table in the computer or did it involve an equation? What order equation? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 1 month

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