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

by mallison＠konnections.com

Copyrights are valid (those affecting 1960) for 75 years, at least. That's for whoever made them, assumed them, or what have you. Someone owns the rights, whether the company exists or not. -Mike ---------- > From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: EC-1 (was Re: Re[2]: Computer Values) > Date: Friday, May 29, 1998 9:34 PM > > At 09:23 PM 5/29/98 -0500, you wrote: > >On Fri, 29 May 1998, Shawn Rutledge wrote: > > > >> FWIW, the company that currently sells Heathkit manual reprints doesn't > >> look too kindly on people publishing web manuals from what I've heard. > >> I'd sure like to publish my stash too if I could do so without getting > sued. > > > >Hmm, I know that any patents associated with the EC-1 have expired by > >now, but I don't recall how long a copyright lasts (more than 38 years, I > >suspect). > > Yes, but are they still valid if the owner is out of business? I know > the HK manuals are WIDELY copied and the copies sold. So are Tektronix, HP > and a lot of others, and they're still in business! > > Joe > > > > >-- Doug > > > > >

28 years, 2 months

3
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S2350 data sheet

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text Size: 191 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/19980530/9f18e464/at…

28 years, 2 months

1
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Token Ring

by afritz＠iname.com

I know this MAY not be 10years yet, but its getting there. Does anyone know a good place to get ISA and (especially) EISA token ring cards? (IBM or 100% IBM-compatible prefered.) I figure there must be someone who's got a bunch they'd love to get rid of. :) I don't want (or like) any of this new PCI-based junk. af ---------- Adam Fritzler afritz(a)iname.com http://www.afritz.base.org ----------

28 years, 2 months

2
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Insanely Great

by photze＠batelco.com.bh

>>2)It mentioned a "new input device" that was before the Xerox machine, >>to be used alongside the mouse, was flexible but required training. >>What was it? > >Doug Engelbart designed a five-key keyboard that would do most of seven-bit >ASCII by accepting chording combinations. His idea was that you'd always >run the keyboard with one hand and the mouse with the other. Sounds cool, but hard to use, especially in a time when to use a computer, you needed to type at least 30-50WPM (WAM), and spent enough time on a computer to compute in your sleep!!! That kind of typing can't be easy to forget. I recently saw a one-handed keyboard, which looked kinda like a MS Natural Keyboard, with the right hand sawed off, and the numeric keypad next to the left. It looked like there were a few extra keys, but you had a key that you held down, kinda like shift, and it would make the oposite character (like A for H, S for J, etc.) Ciao, Tim D. Hotze

28 years, 2 months

3
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Tandy web page malarkey

by nitedriver＠webtv.net

For data on TRS-80 & LDOS try: http://www.kjsl.com/trs80/ then link to Tim Mann. Regards, JT

28 years, 2 months

2
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Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm thanks I'll have time in the next day or so to pull the thing apart and relay back my findings............ -----Original Message----- From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, May 30, 1998 9:03 Subject: Re: Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old >[IBM PC floppy drives] > >> I get nothing out of them, no motor spin up, no led, no >> nothing................... > >I've got the Type 1 drive schematics here (from the O&A TechRef volume 1). > >Let's go through the obvious things first. > >You have a DIP shunt (a little plastic block with shorting bars) in >socket 1E of both drives, right? And a termination resistor pack in >socket 2F of the drive physically furthest from the controller. > >Check that the cables on J4 at the back of the logic board are connected >properly. There are some blank pins (4?) nearest to the edge connector, >and then P8-P12 in order along the pins. > >Also, check the supply voltages - +5V and +12V at the drive when the >machine is turned on. You do have the power cables plugged in, I trust >:-) (don't laugh - I've forgotten them). > >OK, let's sort out the lack of LED first. Unplug the cable from the >controller (leave it hooked up to the drives) and turn on the machine. > >Ground pin 3 of IC 3E (a 7407) in the drive. Does the LED come on now? If >so, then suspect the controller, DIP shunt or cable. If not, then ground >pin 4 of IC3E. If the LED now comes on, then IC3E is defective (or not >geting power). > >Problem is, if IC3E is defective, then how many other parts have been >damaged. 7407's are pretty reliable, so if it's damaged, it sounds like >power problems. You didn't hook up the power cable backwards, did you? > >You can trace the motor on signal similarly. Try grounding pin 16 on the >edge connector (the even numbered pins are on the top of the board, >starting from the end nearest to the notch in the connector tongue), or >equivalently pin 1 of IC3E. If the motor doesn't start,then try grounding >TP13. If that starts the motor, IC3E is defective. If the motor still >doesn't start then I'll have to talk you through the motor control board >at the back. > >> >> >> > >-tony >

28 years, 2 months

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CTOS/BTOS recovery

by red＠bears.org

Hi. I recently picked up some more Convergent machines at a thrift shop. I was pretty amazed; my 186 model was the only one I'd ever seen. Now I've got 286 and 386 models. Wow! Anyway, I also picked up a few disk modules. Two 85 MB modules, I think. (compare to my existing pair of 10 MB modules...) One is an 'expansion' and needs to be connected to another disk module to work. My problem is this: the one disk that has CTOS installed was set up as a 'Cluster Controller' and actually has accounts and passwords set up. I can just press 'Go' at the login on my CM001 and use the system. This doesn't work on the new system. Is there a way I can recover the files on this disk (meaning the OS and application software)? I have OS disks for the standalone version, but I'd like to preserve the cluster controller so starting over is a less-than-ideal option. I do have other working systems and parts available to press into service for the cause. Thoughts, hints, suggestions? ok r.

28 years, 2 months

1
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Computer Values

by Marty＠itgonline.com

I have a Heathkit EC-1 analog computer in operational condition with the patch cables, assortment of caps and resistors plus the operating manual. I have entertained selling this (robbing Peter to pay Paul) to help fund a 1939 pre-war television acquisition. A dilemma. Should I part with the EC-1 I doubt I will ever find another. As toward the value of the EC-1 I don't have a clue but would like to know what anyone else thinks a fair price would be. -Marty ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Computer Values Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 5/15/98 5:38 PM On Thu, 14 May 1998, Marvin wrote: > a TRS-80 Model 4P and a Coco 2. IMNSHO, the values of all computers will > vary greatly depending on the knowledge and experience of the person > doing the valuation. Hmmm, sounds just like *every* other form of > collecting. I used to collect coins when I was a kid, and the Blue Book (wholesale values) and Red Book (retail values) were my bibles. Coins had a pretty good grading system, and you could find fairly reliable production data. I don't know of anybody that has tried to do anything close to this for computers. > I, for one, do like to see what E-Bay is doing. I kept track for a > while of the people who were bidding on the stuff, and there were a > number of people there who were collectors. Last year, I was bidding on > a Sol-20, and the guy who outbid me won the bid at $800 or so. High? I > talked with the guy later on, and the machine was in mint condition, had > all the original documentation, and also included some of the > peripherals. The Altairs that have been sold there are *all* selling > below the prices I have seen for similar systems. eBay and other online auctions are probably the best gauges of prices there are, because they represent fairly efficient markets. In fact, some online auctions that move their own inventory do regression analysis that tells them more or less what price they can expect to get for any given item. If somebody were to do the same analysis on person-to-person auction data, that would be a very good starting place for a price guide (especially from an auction like Haggle Online that also stores condition, make, and model information :-). If you only look at one or two anecdotal transactions, that doesn't tell you much. > FWIW, I tend to value my collection in the millions of dollars. And > that is probably conservative ... if one were to go back in time and > look at what the stuff cost new :). The real question is what value does your insurance company place on your collect. My guess is that they would value an Apple 1 based on a twenty year depreciation starting with a $666 basis! BTW, if, hypothetically, I were to find somebody willing to sell me a Heathkit EC-1 analog computer in good condition, what value would you experts assign to it, and what would you base your valuation on? -- Doug ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists4.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998May15.173832.1767.41873; Fri, 15 May 1998 17:38:33 -0400 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists4.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with SMTP id VAA25383; Thu, 14 May 1998 21:03:19 -0700 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id VAA29926 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>; Thu, 14 May 1998 21:03:09 -0700 Received: from behemoth.host4u.net (behemoth.host4u.net [209.150.128.29]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with ESMTP id VAA06570 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Thu, 14 May 1998 21:03:08 -0700 Received: from localhost (yowza@localhost) by behemoth.host4u.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id XAA32029 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>; Thu, 14 May 1998 23:03:02 -0500 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980514224917.29083B-100000(a)behemoth.host4u.net> Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 23:03:00 -0500 (CDT) Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: Doug Yowza <yowza(a)yowza.com> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: Re: Computer Values In-Reply-To: <355BB476.56756898(a)rain.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> X-Sender: yowza(a)behemoth.host4u.net X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

28 years, 2 months

5
5
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System/34

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I have started to dismantle my System/34 so that I can save at least the parts until someone can get them. One question is, does everything in each S/34 plug together the same way? If so, I don't have to label the cables, which is going to be a looong task. Also, how should I park/lock the 62 megabyte hard drive? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 2 months

1
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Mort boards...

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

2 datapath boards I was missing for the 785, almost the rest of the 780 (Missing only one board! The microsequencer... [M8235]...) Interesting toys include: A DZV11. Does anyone have the pinout for the distribution panel for this? And a SUMMUS 422-U controller. It has a SCSI-style plug at the top, it's a quad-height ?bus controller, and I'm told it wants a SCSI tape drive attached to it. The main chip says "442/UDT 4641" on top. A ROM is on here, it says "Viking U/B A4.4" Any info on this? -------

28 years, 2 months

5
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20 years of BYTE

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I remember back in the soviet union there were a couple of good magazines for young people that had projects in them.I was too young to build any of them, and you'd have a hard time getting a blank PCB there anyway, but they had a primitive rover-like robot (with programmable modules based on the arrangement of electrical traces on a cartridge), an RC boat, etc. I'd love to get my hands on one of those. When I go back there (hopefully in a couple of years), I will be sure to photocopy some of the stuff. Nothing like "build 99 projects" of today. >> > >> >> It's no loss IMO. Byte hasn't been worth the paper it was printed on > >Agreed. I stopped reading Byte shortly after the last 'Ciarcia's Circuit >Cellar'. It's not that that was the only interesting article in it - many >of the programming articles were great as well. But all the good stuff >went at about the same time, and Byte became yet another ready-built >PC-clone mag. > >> for a looonnggg time. The same thing happened to Popular Electronics, >> another of good OLD magazines. > >Are there _any_ good electronics/computer mags left now (especially in >the UK)? Elektor used to be good, but recently it's all been >pre-programmed PLDs with no idea as to what's in them, controlled by >binary-only software for Microsoft OS's. No interest there for me... > >> >> Joe >> >> > >-tony > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 2 months

1
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IBM Techref's available?

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

I emailed IBM. they said they transferred the stuff to someplace called Greenleaf computers (I think, not sure). I didn't bother to pursue it. They will be happy to give you the phone #. >> Hi, >> >> Are technical references for IBM XT's / 286 machines avaialbe from IBM >> still? If so then I assume that they charge quite a bit of money for >> them! > >AFAIK, all are out of print, but IBM probably have some remaining stock >of most of them. I bought several manuals about a year ago. > >The XT Model 286 manual is unavailable. > >The others that you might need are : > >PC >XT and Portable PC >AT >AT suplement for the type 2 board >(those contain schematics of the motherboard and keyboard, BIOS sources, etc) > >Options and Adapters. 2 volumes covering just about every card for the PC >and XT, monitors, drives, etc. >O&A AT update (16 bit cards, serial/parallel adapter, etc) >Scientific O&A (GPIB, DAC, PGC, etc) > >PC-jr (PC-jr motherboard _and all option cards_ for it in one manual) > >I posted the forms numbers (which you need to get them from IBM) on this >list a few months back - it's probably in the archives somewhere... > >They're not cheap, but not too expensive IMHO. Figure on \pounds 50.00 >per volume. I was pleasantly supprised by the ammount of information that >I got. > >> Jules > >-tony > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 2 months

1
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Byte Magazine RIP

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

I don't know if everyone has heard, but the July issue of Byte will be the last issue. It's a sad day for the computer industry. While Byte has become primarily a Windows magazine in the past few years, they were still the closest thing to a general purpose magazine left, and the only non-specialized computer magazine that I still bought. The following C/Net article gives the details http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,22532,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |

28 years, 2 months

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Tandy web page malarkey

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Is there a socketed PLCC chip in the middle of the board? (the so-called <GIME chip). If so, it's a 3. Yes there is. <The disk controller is basically a WD1773 + support circuitry. And a ROM <containing the disk extensions to basic. Not trivial to build, but not <impossible. You might find a second hand one somewhere. The FDC is easy as I have 1793 and 8229(glue chip). The rom is a show stopper. I'll have to keep an eye open. Allison

28 years, 2 months

1
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old Toshiba laptop help (on topic??)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 29, 6:53, Joe wrote: > Cord wrote: > >I just picked up an older style laptop that I need some hlp on. It is > >a Toshiba T2200SX laptop. > >1) I need a battery for this unit. I have the power supply, but the > >battery with it won't charge. > Your chances of finding another battery are slim. Even if you find one > it will be old and probably won't last long. My suggestion is to take it > to one of the battery places that rebuild batteries and have them replace > the cells in your old battery. If you can take the battery pack apart (separate it into single cells) in such a way that it could be re-assembled, all is not lost. The usual problem with NiCds is that internal crystal growth makes short circuits; the battery will show virtually 0V. If you force a sufficiently high current through the cell, it will often remove the short. However, the current needs to be very high, and has to be of short duration to avoid other damage. The way I do it, is to charge a large electrolytic capacitor up to 20V - 30V, connect one side to one end of a cell with a short thick wire, and touch ("flash") the other side to the other end with another short thick wire. The spark is usually fairly dramatic, so it's best to touch the wire to the terminals and not the case (lest the arc burn through it), and use eye protection. Repeat as required until the cell shows some reasonable voltage. Then put the cell through a full-charge/deep-discharge/full-charge cycle. I've resurrected quite a few NiCds with my 24V bench PSU and a 50,000mfd 30V electrolytic. BTW, inside a lot of laptop batteries, you'll find a small metal box in series with the cells. Don't throw it away; it's a thermal cutout intended to prevent excessive current flow. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

28 years, 2 months

5
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IBM Techref's available?

by JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk

Hi, Are technical references for IBM XT's / 286 machines avaialbe from IBM still? If so then I assume that they charge quite a bit of money for them! If you can't get them any longer, then has anyone scanned any of the information and stuck it on the 'net anywhere? (Schematics are one thing, I remember downloading lots of info on various things such as DMA controller specs etc. a few years ago, and theamount of conflicting information out there made it rather difficult to get anywhere!! :) ta Jules

28 years, 2 months

2
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my first computer, game of "life"

by ddameron＠earthlink.net

I first discovered digital logic and TTL IC's about 1973, and wanted to build something not trivial with them. The project I chose was John Conway's game of "life" as described in Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games in "Scientific American" I ending using a 32x32 element grid using 2 (then expensive!) 2102 rams (No A or other suffix then) I would calculate one generation from one ram and write to the other. I used about a 60kHz clock and 74193 counters to generate the addresses. The clock went to a decade counter and the first 8 states generated +/- x and y clocks to visit the 8 neighbors of a given cell. If the cell was a "1", another counter was incremented, number of neighbors. The 9'th state was at the given cell. The rule was then used: Neighbors =2 and cell active, or Neighbors = 3, then the new cell was active, otherwise it was not. The 10'th clock wrote the cell to the new generation (the other ram). Thus 10 clock cycles were needed for each cell, or 10240 for each generation. This was much faster than a later 4MHz Z-80 program! I displayed the results on a 5 inch oscilloscope, using 555 timers with PNP transistor current sources to charge the timing capacitor, for x and y ramp or deflection waveforms. This was straight out of a National Semiconductor databook. The refresh rate was about 60Hz. The "load" signals for the 74193's was used to write data into locations from address switches. Finally 3 7490's and 7447's displayed the generation number on 7 segment displays. It was fun to watch the generations flash by. The total number of IC's was about 35 + 6 for the generation counter. -Dave

28 years, 2 months

5
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Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old

by icyblackhand＠hotmail.com

i live in the USA, but already have the PC mike

28 years, 2 months

1
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Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, May 28, 1998 8:31 Subject: Re: Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old >> oh well with my 5150 it has two FH IBM drives in i and they both seem to be >> dead, Ive replaced the controllor card check the dips, >> checked power output, it seems here in Austrlaia these drives are almost >> impossable to get a hold of...... > >I have schematics for these drives (in the IBM O&A TechRef) and the Tandy >instructions for aligning the single-sided version. So I think we can get >them working. > >You say they're 'dead'. How dead? Why you access them, does the motor >start. Does the spindle rotate? Does the head carriage move to track 0 >when you first boot up the machine (turn off, move the head towards the >spindle, turn on). Does the LED come on? > >Or do they seem to work, and go through all the motions, but give you >data errors? > >> >> >> >> > >-tony > email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm I get nothing out of them, no motor spin up, no led, no nothing...................

28 years, 2 months

2
1
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Coleco and Sensation

by allisonp＠world.std.com

This is one of countless reasons that I regard the ADAM as not much more <than a cruel joke ;) CP/M on a cassette based system? And one which <uses a non-standard cassette format (off-the-shelf tapes won't work)... <How many CP/M apps were produced in "Digital Data Pack" format? Any? It was an attempt to produce a system that was low cost but still have a block device (disk usually). The tapes were digital casette and was a standard format for the time. It was however an interesting machine. I'd love to find one and/or the prints for it. I'm interested in how they did the tape system. Allison

28 years, 2 months

1
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RS-232 port with modem?

by archive＠navix.net

I have an old PC compatible computer and I also have a 14.4 Data/Fax modem that uses the RS-232 port with the cable. My question is: how can I get the two of them to work together. Can I use just a simple term program to log onto a Unix host? How do I tell the computer that I want it to check for the modem/phone line via the RS-232 port. My computer also has a 2400 baud modem that isn't in use. Thanks for any help! -- ____________________________________________________________ | Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\ | Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | | | on AOL Instant Messenger: DeannaCord | | | http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | If you don't have AOL (like us) but want a great instant | | | chat feature, just go to http://www.aol.com/aim | | |____________________________________________________________| | \_____________________________________________________________\|

28 years, 2 months

1
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old Toshiba laptop help (on topic??)

by archive＠navix.net

Hi: I just picked up an older style laptop that I need some hlp on. It is a Toshiba T2200SX laptop. It is a 386 I believe, 3.5" floppy drive, 80 something meg hard drive, black and white LCD VGA display running Windows 3.1. Here's what I am looking for, or at least some advice on where to direct this help request to. 1) I need a battery for this unit. I have the power supply, but the battery with it won't charge. The battery I have is made by Toshiba and is model # PA2404U. Please let me know if you have one of these or know where I could find one! 2) Modem. It has a 2400 baud modem with it. It is of the more modern style (I think) in that the modem is a small card that inserts in the side. It is labeled T24M - Modem - 2400 BPS - MNP5. On the back is PC22-T24M. Here's the problem... there is a small 'port' that supposedly is used for a special cable to connect the phone line to. It doesn'e have the cable for the modem to the phone line. I am interested in knowing where I may be able to find this special cable to be able to use this modem. Also curious to know if the model of laptop will handle new laptop modems. I know that many modern laptops use this type of modem (slide in card), and would be willing to just get a new modem if I can't find this special cable for this particular modem. 3) Additional memory: It has 2 meg of RAM internally. In addition, there is a 2 meg card, similar to the modem, that slides in on the opposite side of the laptop. It is labeled Enhance Memory Products, Inc., TMC02 2MB -- my question is: can I add additional memory... a larger card? Are newer laptop memory cards compatible with this computer Anyway help would be greatly appreciated. If you have some of the above items, please let me know and include the price you're willing to sell it for. Also, a pointer to a better place to take this request to (is there such a place? :-) would also be much appreciated! Thanks, CORD COSLOR -- ____________________________________________________________ | Cord G. Coslor : archive(a)navix.net |\ | Deanna S. Wynn : deannasue(a)navix.net | | | on AOL Instant Messenger: DeannaCord | | | http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4395 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | PO Box 308 - Peru, NE - 68421 - (402) 872- 3272 | | |------------------------------------------------------------| | | If you don't have AOL (like us) but want a great instant | | | chat feature, just go to http://www.aol.com/aim | | |____________________________________________________________| | \_____________________________________________________________\|

28 years, 2 months

3
2
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Coleco and Sensation

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

Could someone describe to me the Colecovision family entertainment system? It's a dual cassette deck with expansion ports, cartridge ports, a phone jack, and 9-pin ports. Processor? RAM? Also, I saw a Tandy Sensation (I think) system. Not quite classic, it's and MPC 1 machine, looks like a DECpc. Has anyone known it? Lastly, I saw an Apple //c setup guide. Why does it say only to use the computer propped up by the handle? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 2 months

5
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FW: FREE VAX3900!

by kyrrin＠jps.net

Dang... it's ads like this that make me wish, sometimes, that I were a lot closer to the midwest.... Anyway... if you're in a better position than me, and want to give a good home to a darn good VAXen (definitely late-model), get in touch with this guy. -=-=- <snip> -=-=- Message-ID: <356CD657.852FEBD4(a)sysman-inc.com> Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 22:13:27 -0500 From: "Mark E. Levy" <levy(a)sysman-inc.com> Reply-To: levy(a)sysman-inc.com Organization: System Management Associates, Inc. X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.os.vms,comp.sys.dec,misc.computers.forsale Subject: VAX 3900 Free for the taking Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.100.242.150 Lines: 24 Path: blushng.jps.net!news.eli.net!news-out.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!4.1.16.34!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!chicago-news-feed2.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.dls.net!209.100.242.150 Xref: blushng.jps.net comp.os.vms:2601 comp.sys.dec:928 misc.computers.forsale:317 Available immediately: VAX 3900, 32Mb, no licenses. KDB50 Ethernet KLESI (2) RA90 (2) RA70 Emulex UC07 SCSI controller TU81+ Complete only. Removing any part diminishes the value of the rest, and I don't want to have to scrap it. 20 Miles north of Chicago. You pick it up or pay for shipping. Serious inquiries only. -- Mark E. Levy System Management Associates, Inc. OpenVMS, MacOS, Windows 95/NT, Networks levy(a)sysman-inc.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, SysOp, The Dragon's Cave BBS (Fido 1:343/272) kyrrin {at} j<p>s d[o]t n=e=t "...No matter how hard we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object, event, or living creature, in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them!..."

28 years, 2 months

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Locking RL-02 Heads

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<There's a little locking clip inside the drive assembly that holds the <heads in place mechanically. Just flip it over the end of the retracted <head assembly and tighten it with a screwdriver. that would be the early model RL02s. The later ones it was a plastic spring loaded arrangement that was pushed out of the way by installing the pack. Transport all of them without a pack installed. Allison

28 years, 2 months

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PS/2 items FS/Trade

by rhblake＠bbtel.com

I have about half a dozen PS/2 model 55SX machines that I need to sell or trade. They're all in excellent working condition with hard drive, floppy drive, built in video/com/lpt/mouse ports. Can accept up to 16mb of ram and runs a 386SX-16 processor. These are tested and in good physical and working condition. Just add SIMMs, keyboard, mouse and monitor. Great replacement for a flaky unit or to add a machine for the kids. All have MS-DOS 6.2 on the hard drive. Reference/Setup disk included. Asking $30 each plus shipping. The Dallas realtime clock chip on the board or even the floppy drive are worth that alone. Trades of other IBM ISA, MCA or VLB equipment will be considered. I also have 55SX motherboards in great condition for $10 each plus shipping. Shipped in foam padded mailer with setup/reference disk. Just open your dead machine and replace the board. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Russ Blakeman RB Custom Services / Rt. 1 Box 62E / Harned, KY USA 40144 Phone: (502) 756-1749 Data/Fax:(502) 756-6991 Email: rhblake(a)bbtel.com or rhblake(a)bigfoot.com Website: http://members.tripod.com/~RHBLAKE/ ICQ UIN #1714857 AOL Instant Messenger "RHBLAKEMAN" * Parts/Service/Upgrades and more for MOST Computers* --------------------------------------------------------------------

28 years, 2 months

1
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old Toshiba laptop help (on topic??)

by bill.sheehan＠stoneweb.com

I'm now on my fourth set of batteries for Toby-San, my T1000. The latest set was purchased from 1-800-Batteries, a company that seems to have every size and style of laptop and camera battery ever dreamed of. You can find them on the web at http://www.800batteries.com. -- BIll Sheehan Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> on 05/29/98 02:53:59 AM Please respond to classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> cc: (bcc: Bill Sheehan/Corporate/SWEC) Subject: Re: old Toshiba laptop help (on topic??) At 12:59 AM 5/29/98 -0700, you wrote: >Hi: > >I just picked up an older style laptop that I need some hlp on. It is >a Toshiba T2200SX laptop. It is a 386 I believe, 3.5" floppy drive, >80 something meg hard drive, black and white LCD VGA display running >Windows 3.1. Here's what I am looking for, or at least some advice on >where to direct this help request to. > >1) I need a battery for this unit. I have the power supply, but the >battery with it won't charge. The battery I have is made by Toshiba >and is model # PA2404U. Please let me know if you have one of these >or know where I could find one! Cord, Your chances of finding another battery are slim. Even if you find one it will be old and probably won't last long. My suggestion is to take it to one of the battery places that rebuild batteries and have them replace the cells in your old battery. There is a place in Sanford, Florida that I have used a lot and that I'm very happy with. Their name is TNR, I don't have their phone number handy but you can get it from directory info. They use good quality batteries so their batteries will usually last a lot longer than the original ones since the OEMs usually use the cheapest junk they can find. Joe

28 years, 2 months

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Locking RL-02 Heads

by healyzh＠ix.netcom.com

Quick question, how does one make sure the heads of a RL-02 drive are locked? I'm supposed to be picking one up this weekend (mainly for the Q-Bus controller and diskpacks). I want to make sure I transport it correctly since I might need it for my PDP-11/44 (still don't know the state of it's drives. On another note, anyone have any recommendations on where to get some RAM boards for a /44? Once I have the packs that will be the only thing I'll need (assuming everything works). Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |

28 years, 2 months

2
1
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Processing data in blocks

by fmc＠reanimators.org

"Max Eskin" <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > So, indeed, you're talking about a keyboard buffer, only intelligent > and on a much larger scale. Or multiprocessing. Maybe Tim is, but on reflection (no pun) I'm not. The terminal acts as a buffer for the data, not for the keyboard. The keyboard is used to make changes to the data in the buffer and initiate the transfer of the changed data back to the 3000. The keystrokes themselves don't get sent to the 3000, only the edited data. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 2 months

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Looking for Osborne I or Executive

by jvaverysm＠sprintmail.com

I'm looking for an operational Osborne I or Executive CPM machine to operate or restore. If you know of one I would be interested. Thanks! Joe Avery jvaverysm(a)sprintmail.com

28 years, 2 months

3
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Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, May 28, 1998 1:58 Subject: Re: Original IBM PC (was Re: Prices to pay for old >At 02:40 PM 5/27/98 +1000, you wrote: >Desie, > > Let me know if you want some. There's plenty of them here in the trift >stores. I can buy the entire PC for about $5. If you want some drives and >are willing to pay the cost ($5) and shipping (?), I'll get some for you. > > Joe > > >> >>oh well with my 5150 it has two FH IBM drives in i and they both seem to be >>dead, Ive replaced the controllor card check the dips, >>checked power output, it seems here in Austrlaia these drives are almost >>impossable to get a hold of...... >> >> >> >> > email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm where abouts do you live?? to ship from anywhere other than within Austrlaia would cost a small furtune considering the weight of a IBM PC

28 years, 2 months

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Compaq Portable in OZ?????

by desieh＠southcom.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Adam Jenkins <adam(a)merlin.net.au> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, May 28, 1998 12:04 Subject: Re: Compaq Portable in OZ????? > >>anyone on this list in OZ have a original Compaq Portable they want to >>sell/trade or give away?? > >Are you still after one? What are you after generally? I might have a >lead on one, but I am inclined to keep my own unless it is for something >urgent. :) > >Adam. > > email: desieh(a)southcom.com.au desieh(a)bigfoot.com museum_curator(a)hotmail.com Apple Lisa Web Page: http://www.southcom.com.au/~desieh/index.htm Im looking for a original Compaq Portable the first one, (1981-1982) I have 2 x Compaq Portable IIs and I love them.............

28 years, 2 months

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Coleco and Sensation

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 98-05-28 21:20:23 EDT, you write: << I believe it wants you to use the \\c propped up on the handle because it will air out better. They didn't have as good fans as they do now in those days. I'm not sure though. That computer is before my time (i'm only 12). I'll check in my \\c manual though. mike >> because the //c was compact and had more capabilities in it than the //e, i guess it runs much hotter so propping it up by the handle allows more air access for cooling. i never had a problem with it though. i thought the pivoting handle was just to tilt the keyboard for certain typists. david

28 years, 2 months

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Fwd: Coleco and Sensation

by icyblackhand＠hotmail.com

I believe it wants you to use the \\c propped up on the handle because it will air out better. They didn't have as good fans as they do now in those days. I'm not sure though. That computer is before my time (i'm only 12). I'll check in my \\c manual though. mike

28 years, 2 months

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Help identify this not-so-classic board

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

I searched and came up blank! is that the part number or fru number? are you sure thats the board number, or just a number for one of the components? In a message dated 98-05-28 17:41:47 EDT, you write: << trying to find some info about an IBM ISA SCSI board which has the following part number etched onto it 75H8895. This group seems to have the most diverse resources of any I've seen so I figured I'd give it a try and hope someone's got some info. Any info on this not too classic board would be appreciated. >>

28 years, 2 months

2
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Processing data in blocks

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> > Good question. I have a couple of 150s and I have WS for the 150 but my > disks have bit rot :-( Last time I was in Sunnyvale, CA I found a pile of WordStar 3.24 distribution kits at Weird Stuff Warehouse. I payed (IIRC) $2 for the one I wagged off. There were several other copies. They're marked "CP/M-86 or MS-DOS" or somesuch only because it's not obvious from the documentation which version it is; the one I bought is for MS-DOS and I presume the remaining ones are as well. I picked up a copy of Desqview/X there, too. It's a good thing I don't live in Silicon Valley; Weird Stuff Warehouse would get all my money. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

28 years, 2 months

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Apple IIgs in Apple II case?

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

How would you tell a prototype from the conversion? thanks Kai -----Original Message----- From: KFergason [mailto:KFergason@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 1998 8:19 PM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: Re: Apple IIgs in Apple II case? I can verify this. We got 2 beta units to develop on, in the IIe case. I always wondered what happened to them. Kelly In a message dated 5/26/98 10:01:56 PM Central Daylight Time, photze(a)batelco.com.bh writes: > I seem to remember hearing (although I couldn't tell you where if my life > depended on it...) that Apple made it's earlier IIGS prototypes inside of > IIe cases. > Ciao, > > Tim D. Hotze >

28 years, 2 months

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Processing data in blocks

by maxeskin＠hotmail.com

So, indeed, you're talking about a keyboard buffer, only intelligent and on a much larger scale. Or multiprocessing. >> Back when I asked about the HP 3000, someone mentioned that it >> processed data in blocks. What exactly does that mean? How does it >> work? >I think the comment you're talking about was directly related to >HP3000 full screen editors; these generally need a HP terminal >that's capable of block-mode operations. This means that >the terminal is capable of simple on-screen editing tasks by itself, >and transmits a bunch of changes to the computer only when the >computer needs to ask for the accumulated changes. > >This is very different than the mindset in the microcomputer and Unix >world, where it is expected that the main CPU will want to devote >attention to each and every keystroke typed by every user, and then >the main CPU will devote all its effort (for a little while) to >echoing this single character. This simply isn't the way >things are done on mainframes and "heavy-duty" mincomputer OS's. > >Tim. > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

28 years, 2 months

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Help identify this not-so-classic board

by pechter＠shell.monmouth.com

I'm trying to find some info about an IBM ISA SCSI board which has the following part number etched onto it 75H8895. This group seems to have the most diverse resources of any I've seen so I figured I'd give it a try and hope someone's got some info. Any info on this not too classic board would be appreciated. Bill +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Bill/Carolyn Pechter | 17 Meredith Drive | Tinton Falls, New Jersey 07724 | | 908-389-3592 | Save computing history, give an old geek old hardware. | | pechter(a)shell.monmouth.com | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

28 years, 2 months

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SUN equipment (x-post)

by rhblake＠bbtel.com

Pulled this from the web, and I know there are Sun users that might be interested in these. Email Pat direct if interested... ................................................................................................................................ Pat Stakem <stakem(a)loyola.edu> Columbia, Md - Wednesday, May 27, 1998 at 12:18:02 I have 5-10 spare Sun workstation video monitor cables (about 1 meter long, and 13w3 standard). also, 5-10 spare type 4 keyboards, with optical mice. email me if interested. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Russ Blakeman RB Custom Services / Rt. 1 Box 62E / Harned, KY USA 40144 Phone: (502) 756-1749 Data/Fax:(502) 756-6991 Email: rhblake(a)bbtel.com or rhblake(a)bigfoot.com Website: http://members.tripod.com/~RHBLAKE/ ICQ UIN #1714857 AOL Instant Messenger "RHBLAKEMAN" * Parts/Service/Upgrades and more for MOST Computers* --------------------------------------------------------------------

28 years, 2 months

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Tandy web page malarkey

by dastar＠wco.com

Check out Tandy's version of history from their web page: "1977 TRS-80 Model I Personal Computer introduced. (First mass-marketed personal computer. In contrast to build-it-yourself computers available at the time, the TRS-80 was fully-wired and tested. Sold at a breakthrough price of $599. More than 200,000 TRS-80 computers were sold from 1977 to 1981.)" Ok, let's conveniently forget about the Apple ][. This is the most blatant denial of reality and outright lie I've ever seen a company publicly endorse. "1980 TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer introduced. (First computer ever to feature five programs and a telephone modem built-in. Used by journalists throughout the world.)" First I question the year (I know it was later than 1980). This claim is dubious at best. Mostly its broad and irrelevant. It seems they're trying so hard to make this seem like a breakthrough (it was) that they forgot to mention the real reasons why. "1984 Tandy 1000 Personal Computer introduced. (First PC-compatible personal computer. Within one year, the Tandy 1000 became the best-selling PC-compatible computer.)" God, what a load of chicken turds. I think they missed this distinction by 3 years and umpteen other companies. I'd like to kick the guy who wrote all this crap in the nuts. 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: 05/11/98]

28 years, 2 months

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Steve Wozniak home page

by stephen.j.gabaly＠lmco.com

For anyone that's interested Steve Wozniak has a home page at www.woz.org <http://www.woz.org> . He has a digital camera in his office which you can point and zoom to see what he is up too, just click on the wozcam button. His email address is also there, I have emailed him several times about questions I had on the early days of Apple, he responded quickly (few minutes). Generally if he can answer the question off the top of his head, he will, otherwise he will politely tell you he is too busy. I think I have used up my quota of questions for the year so perhaps someone on this discussion group can organized a question of the month so he won't get bombarded with a hundred questions and change his email address. Just a thought. steve

28 years, 2 months

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Processing data in blocks

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<At 10:42 5/28/98 -0700, Roger wrote: <>Wordstar on the Otrona Attache was also very WYSIWYG because the Otrona <>could do any video attribute Wordstar ever dreamed of.... < <Nice keyboard, too. Visual 1050 had all the char modes and graphics as well. The keyboard is better than many. Allison

28 years, 2 months

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Processing data in blocks

by fmc＠reanimators.org

"Max Eskin" <maxeskin(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Back when I asked about the HP 3000, someone mentioned that it > processed data in blocks. What exactly does that mean? How does it > work? Tim's answer got part of it. Here's some more of the picture, maybe in gorier detail than you wanted to know. Many HP terminals are somewhat intelligent and can be told (via escape sequence or strap setting) to operate in "block mode", where the terminal buffers data in its local display memory and lets the user do local editing of it there. There can also be protected and unprotected fields, which basically turn the display into a fill-in form where the user can type in the unprotected fields and not in the protected fields. Some keys (ENTER (not RETURN) and the function keys) will still initiate a transfer to the host computer. How that works is a collection of fiddly little details but I'm going to try to describe it in terms of the DC1/DC2/DC1 block-mode handshake. Once the form has been sent to the terminal by the application (which basically sends escape sequences and text to set up the block mode, the form, and the unprotected fields), the application starts a read. The terminal I/O system then sends a DC1 (control-Q) to the terminal so the terminal knows there's a read pending. When the user presses ENTER or a function key to tell the terminal to send the form, the terminal sends a DC2 (control-R) to the host as an indication that there's a block of data ready for transmission. The host does whatever it needs to do to get ready for the block (this was important in the days of the Series II/III which used a terminal controller that couldn't handle all 16 ports sending 2400 bps data at the same time) and then sends another DC1 as a go-ahead, and the terminal sends an escape sequence for the pressed key followed by the block of data (usually the data from the unprotected fields on the form, separated by field-separator (FS) characters, and finishing up with a record-separator (RS) character). The terminal won't send anything more 'til it sees another DC1 from the host. OK, well, that's about what you see on the wire if you stick a serial line analyzer in between the 3000 and a terminal, and watch as an application written using one of the more popular block-mode application subroutine libraries (VIEW aka V/3000 aka VPLUS/3000) is in use. Later 3000s have terminal controllers that can handle full speed on all ports, and they can use a simplified block-mode handshake (i.e. the 3000 sends the initial DC1, and the terminal just sends the block when the user presses ENTER or a function key). The goal of all this was, as Tim said, getting a rather slow HP3000 to run a surprisingly big bunch of terminals doing transactions against data on the 3000. The 3000 didn't have to do any work for the user until the user had the transaction edited on the screen, in particular it didn't have to respond to every user keystroke, and as the terminal didn't have anything better to do it could respond to the user's keystrokes right away. There were also some full-screen editors that relied on the terminal to buffer lines of text and let you do your editing in the terminal. Those I used tended to run in line block mode (vs. VIEW which I think used page block mode) where once the user pressed ENTER the host would home the cursor and start sending escape sequences ("<ESC>d" I think, followed by a DC1 once the read was pending) to get the terminal to send the current line 'til it got to the bottom. Feel free to ask questions about this if you want to know more. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 2 months

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Processing data in blocks

by IVIE＠cc.usu.edu

From: Frank McConnell <fmc(a)reanimators.org> > HPWORD was actually a little more WYSIWYG than, say, Wordstar, because > the terminal actually had bold and italic faces and underlining > features. Wordstar on the Otrona Attache was also very WYSIWYG because the Otrona could do any video attribute Wordstar every dreamed of: italics, underline, strikethrough, bold, etc. Roger Ivie ivie(a)cc.usu.edu

28 years, 2 months

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VAX 785 Backplane Schematic

by DSEAGRAV＠toad.xkl.com

Anyone have the printset describing the VAX 785 CPU backpanel? I'd be interested in a scan of it... -------

28 years, 2 months

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More stuff acquired

by jon＠techniche.com

Hi, I've not participated much since I joined this mail group a number of weeks back, so I thought I'd make myself heard. A few of you seem to be pretty familiar with HP equipment so maybe you can tell me what I have (or have not) here. I pick up a box of junk at the local recycler several weeks ago. It caught my eye because it has some microprocessor emulator pods. In the box were the following: Z8002 emulation pod, HP part # 64233A (says use with 64271A) Z80 emulation pod, HP part # 64252A (says use with 64251A) 6801/6803 pod, HP part # 64256A (says use with 64255A) also the following boards: 64300/66501 internal analysis bd 64154/66501 Static Ram board (only one of 4 rows has sockets installed) 64152/66501 Static Ram board (All 4 rows socketed and populated) [both of the above have 2147 memory chips] 64211/66501 680x Control board I called HP and asked what the pod normally connect to, just in case it was still down at the surplus store and I had overlooked it. HP says that they would normally be used with a "frame" (?) i.e. some sort of general purpose analyzer having a part number of 29000 or 29120 (these two number are from memory since I can't find my notes at the moment where I wrote down the two numbers. It was either 29000 or 59000 but I'm pretty sure it was 29000). I was attracted to the emualtion pods because they looked like they had never been used. All of the pins appeared to be straight and intact. There was protective foam one each pod. What can you guys tell me about these? I'm thinking that without the frame they are not very useful to me. Perhaps they're worth something in trade? Thanks, Jon

28 years, 2 months

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Processing data in blocks

by fmc＠reanimators.org

"D. Peschel" <dpeschel(a)u.washington.edu> writes: > I hope the invitation isn't directed at only one person. :) Nope. > One thing I realized from the exposure (and have since read about) is > that the local editing features are usually horribly limited, _and_ > they're impossible to extend unless you modify the hardware. What > kind of local editing do the HP terminals provide? (Any fancy cursor > movement keys, line editing, cut- and-paste, etc.?) I'm trying to get > a feeling for how well the HP editors stack up against more modern > ones. The line editor sounds pretty nice, actually. (I use vi -- > which is the same kind of full-screen line editor -- a lot. The > navigation commands are nice and quick.) For what passes for full-screen editing, the display is pretty much something you can type on. Cursor movements available are up, down, left, right, page up, page down, home (top-of-buffer), and end-of-buffer. Typing defaults to type-over but there is an insert-char mode that you can turn on and off from the keyboard. If you do this, wrapping is kind of simple (it will open up a new next-line and wrap characters onto that as they go past the right margin). Also you can delete characters from the keyboard (but this does not un-wrap wrapped characters). It's also possible to delete lines and add blank lines, and clear to end-of-display. Not cut-and-paste, though; well, if you can use the memory lock feature of the terminal you might be able to do it but some of the full-screen editors used it in a way such that if you tried to use it you would screw things up and lose work. Things are somewhat different if protected fields are set up; those will limit character insertion and deletion. > I mentioned reading... there are stories about people trying to > combine full-screen interactive editing with local terminal editing, > and finding that the two don't mix. The people usually bit the > bullet, invested in the extra hardware, and gave the workload back to > the CPU. I think there was an enhanced version of TECO at Stanford > that falls into this category. I know that Emacs on MULTICS was > developed like that. Mind pointing me to some of those stories. HP did something odd in the early-mid 1980s: HPWORD. This was a word processing system for the HP3000 that used 2626W (and later, 2628A and HP150) terminals as intelligent front-ends. When you first started HPWORD after turning the terminal on, it would spend about 10 minutes downloading code to the terminal, and then the downloaded code ran the interface and the communications link back to the HPWORD process on the 3000. I was told at the time that the terminal handled processing up to the paragraph level, and got the 3000 to do anything larger. HPWORD was actually a little more WYSIWYG than, say, Wordstar, because the terminal actually had bold and italic faces and underlining features. And it was nifty because you could queue up a print job >from one terminal to a printer connected to another HPWORD terminal; the backing HPWORDs running on the 3000 would talk to each other and get the document printed. Oh, and someone could be typing on the terminal that had the printer connected. All in all, it was a cheaper solution than PCs in the 1983-1984 time frame when we bought into it -- we didn't have to buy a printer for every workstation, and we didn't have to pick a PC LAN with lots of funny cabling. > Personally, I found the local editing completely inadequate for > dealing with the multicolumn file lists and pop-up windows the AS/400 > kept putting onscreen. Using only arrow keys to move the cursor to > precise places all over the screen was a real chore. The designs of > input and display just didn't match ewll. Yeah, and back then I used to switch between editors depending on the job at hand. Some things just work better with good old EDIT/3000, and even for editing code I liked QUAD. Later when I went to work at Wollongong I discovered Voodoo on the 3000 there and got kind of used to it; it tries to be vi-like but the inherent inability of the 3000's terminal I/O to accept characters without a pending read (and to do anything else while there is a pending read) really got in its way sometimes. Now I just use Emacs (though not on the 3000), and quite frankly I do think it works better. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 2 months

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IBM SYSTEM 36 IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA NEEDS LOVING HOME

by Marty＠itgonline.com

An IBM System 36 (Type 5336 or Type 5360 depending on whom you speak to) is available free in Richmond, Virginia at CW Wright Construction Company. Contact Vaughn Atkinson or Bob Jennings @ 804-768-1054 for more details. Marty

28 years, 2 months

1
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DEC Rainbow available in Cambridge UK

by kevan＠heydon.org

Hi, I have a DEC Rainbow that I want to pass onto another collector. I live in Cambridge UK, and while I can deliver for a short distance collection would be the best as there are quite a few manuals that go with it. Drop me an email if you are interested -- Kevan Old Computer Collector: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/

28 years, 2 months

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