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

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> Does anyone have any info on this unit? Going from memory this is one of the add ons for the Anritsu spectrum analyser range. The slots were for 'personality' modules that added functions to the basic analyser and the disk drive was for data logging. I used Anritsu analysers quite a bit. They were, at only twice the cost of the Landrover Discovery I used to carry them around in, a lot cheaper than the HP equivalents. Can't remember if the slots were PCMCIA or not. Lee. . Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 2 months

1
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Today's TRS-80 haul

by KParker＠workcover.com

I'm glad you saved them. I can't imagine there are too many around. I have a Model 12 that has been "officially" upgraded to a Model 16B. Its an interesting mix - Model 12 look, Model 16B workings. Last I checked it wouldn't boot so that's a job for a rainy day on the bench. ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Kelly Leavitt Sent: Monday, 11 April 2005 5:05 AM To: 'cctalk at classiccmp.org' Subject: Today's TRS-80 haul Through the grapevine I heard about some computers that needed saving. Anyway, I made the 1.5 hour drive to Montvale, NJ and this is what I got for my effort: 3 TRS-80 model 12 computers, complete with keyboards. 2 Boxes of manuals 1 Box of miscellaneous 8" diskettes. I know there isn't a lot of interest in the model 12, but it is one of the very first computers I ever worked on. I'm glad that I was able to find 3 of them in great shape. If anyone knows of any of the "big iron" TRS-80/Tandy computers that need rescuing, let me know. I've hauled them back to New Jersey from as far away as Arkansas. Kelly ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 2 months

3
2
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FW: IBM Series 1

by CCTalk＠catcorner.org

> I have the chance to rescue and IBM Series/1 minicomputer. Any good > references out there for these? Anyone on the east coast interested in > rescuing one? It includes an 8" and a 14" winchester drive in racks. > > Kelly

21 years, 2 months

1
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Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 1.0

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

Announcing: ***************************************************** * * * VCF / Midwest 1.0 "Lite" * * * * Sat-Sun, May 28-29 * * Purdue University: West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 * * * ***************************************************** Purdue's IEEE Computer Society will be sponsoring the first Midwest-area Vintage Computer Festival on May 28-29. We are currently looking for people who want to exhibit, and potential speakers for the event. If you want to do either, or know someone who might, please have them get in contact with us at vcfmw at computer-refuge.org. Also, if you are planning on attending, please send mail, so we can get a rough attendance count. More information on the event and the West Lafayette area are posted up at: http://computer-refuge.org/vcfmw/ Back now to your regularly scheduled programming. Pat -- Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

21 years, 2 months

3
3
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rsts pip tape

by brad＠heeltoe.com

Hi, I made an image of an old tape I have (I think it has a copy of the whitesmith's C compiler on it). I'm not sure how it was made, however. I think it is just done with PIP. It has a lot of tape marks separated by a variable number of records. The first record of each tape 'file' is 14 bytes. All records after that are 512 bytes. The 512 byte records are clearly the file contents. After the file contents there is a tape mark. I'm guessing the 14 bytes is radix-50 file name + info. What's the best way to make sense of this from unix? (short of running RSTS on an emulator). Is there a unix/dos program which which can interpret the data? Will PUTR be able to read and show a directory if I turn the simh format file into a byte stream? (wish putr could read simh style tape images) thanks! -brad

21 years, 2 months

10
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anritsu m8104a data storage unit info?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Does anyone have any info on this unit? It's about 4" high, about 12" wide and about 15" deep and has a HP-IB port on the rear and what looks like two PCMCIA slots and a 3 1/2" disk drive on the front. Joe

21 years, 2 months

1
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Today's TRS-80 haul

by kelly＠catcorner.org

Through the grapevine I heard about some computers that needed saving. Anyway, I made the 1.5 hour drive to Montvale, NJ and this is what I got for my effort: 3 TRS-80 model 12 computers, complete with keyboards. 2 Boxes of manuals 1 Box of miscellaneous 8" diskettes. I know there isn't a lot of interest in the model 12, but it is one of the very first computers I ever worked on. I'm glad that I was able to find 3 of them in great shape. If anyone knows of any of the "big iron" TRS-80/Tandy computers that need rescuing, let me know. I've hauled them back to New Jersey from as far away as Arkansas. Kelly

21 years, 2 months

5
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OT but cool: ABOVO Personal Communicaion Device

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

I just snagged an ABOVO PCD-P with remote display unit, mostly because it was cheap and it has a keyboard. :) It didn't come with a charger or documentation, and Google is not very forthcoming with information. It seems to be a text-messaging unit, with an ADB computer interface and infrared output to the remote LCD device. http://www.dcdinc.com/abovo.html It's definitely not 10 years old, but IMNSHO it's odd enough for a dispensation. :) Any info, resources, docs, or software would be much appreciated. I have email in to DCD's support, but I'm not counting on much of a response. Doc

21 years, 2 months

3
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FPU emulation in IRIX?

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

While looking around, I found a SGI brochure on FutureTech that indicated that the FPA was an option on the Personal Iris [4D/20 - ???] Does anyone have an idea of which versions of IRIX emulated FPU instructions? (5.3 doesn't seem to) - Scott Quinn

21 years, 2 months

1
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Cipher M990 service manual

by aek＠spies.com

The service manual is now online at http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cipher

21 years, 2 months

3
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battery desoldering advice

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I need to replace the battery in an item I have. It's the quartersized/style one. The way it is attached to the board, is via a clip arrangement that you'd swear makes the battery removable. However, it is in fact soldered or spot welded into the clip somehow. As a result, I'd rather not just cut the clip arms to replace the battery as I'd have trouble getting the new one in. The only possibility I see is unsoldering the clip from the battery, but it strikes me as a rather bad idea to put a soldering iron to a battery. Suggestions? Jay West

21 years, 2 months

10
10
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Definition of a Computer

by brian.russell＠iclway.co.uk

> Megan wrote: > > Years ago, someone (I don't remember who) gave the definition of a > > computer as a "device which inputs some stuff, does some stuff to > > it, and outputs some other stuff". > > Eric Smith wrote: > Which is presumably not actually very useful as a definition of a computer, > since a cow would qualify. I was always under the belief that a 'computer' was originally a man (yes, almost always a man) who performed computations using slide-rule, log tables, pencil and paper. When I look up my Chambers Dictionary this evening, I get the definitions: "Compute: to calculate, especially with a computer; to estimate. Computer: a calculator; a person who computes; a machine or apparatus, mechanical, electric or electronic, for carrying out (especially complex) calculations, dealing with numerical data or with stored items of other information, also used for ..." Which seems to me to be only one step removed from the apocryphal definition in the mythical dictionary of computer terms: "Recursion: see recursion." Whatever definition you prefer, "always remember that the computer is out to get you; the proof of this can be seen every time it does exactly what you told it to do!" Regards, Brian M. Russell.

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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SGI Indy keyboard

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

I'm not sure what Greg means about missing features- I have both SGI and PC PS/2 keyboards, and I can't see much of a difference (the older SGI keyboards are quite nice keyboards, though). In fact, a number of Indy-era keyboards (newer granite) were made under contract by NMB, and, since they are "NetWare approved" I don't think they made many changes from their PC keyboards. -Scott Quinn Attribution Error: Lyle replied about the 4D parts, Patrick was the one who answered the RS/6000 question.

21 years, 2 months

4
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IBM Thinkpad 730T pen wanted

by aw288＠osfn.org

I obtained an IBM FS tool today at a hamfest - I do not know what it was for. It contains an IBM 730T Thinkpad and a little printer. The Thinkpad is a pen based machine, but GUESS WHAT IS MISSING. So, if anyone has an IBM pen, I would like to talk to you. William Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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rx01 w/o controller board

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: Re: rx01 w/o controller board > From: Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> >On Wednesday 06 April 2005 03:50, Gooijen H wrote: >> Hi Brad, >> >> the connection from the controller board (UNIBUS or QBUS) is a >> straight cable AFAIK. The RX01 and RX02 exist as a table top box and >> uses a DB25 connector to the controller. > >Not all RX01's have a DB25 to connect to the controller, on the ones I >recovered with an 11/23 system (rackmount drives), there's just a >ribbon cable connecting the two berg connectors on the controller and >drive together. The ones with DB25 were used with Decmate-1 all others only had a ribbon cable exiting the box at a bracket to support the cable. the DECmate-1 version FYI still has the same baords and cable hookup internally so it is usable with any system (after setting internal dipswitch). Allison

21 years, 2 months

10
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Switch Handle Pictures

by v.slyngstad＠verizon.net

I put up some pictures of the switch handles I have cast so far. (It will be clear why I think they're not ready for prime time.) http://so-much-stuff.com/pdp8/sw-handles.html Vince

21 years, 2 months

8
10
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Toshiba PA8312U (2 MB memory card) question

by ss＠allegro.com

I just picked up a couple of Toshiba PA8312U 2 MB memory cards, and was wondering if they're useful in anything other than an early Toshiba laptop? At first I hoped they were some kind of Fujitsu-like pre-PCMCIA card ... but they've got only one row of about 44 sockets, unlike a PCMCIA card with 2 rows of fewer sockets (holes) per row. Also, if anyone wants one (or more), I may be able to get more of them. thanks, Stan

21 years, 2 months

1
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SunOS, LaserWriters, Resolution Enhancement

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

For a while, I saw www.sun3arc.org had downloads of SunOS for Sun3 machines. They don't seem to be up now, but still have a DNS so I'm not sure what's up there. At introduction, LaserWriters had the interesting distinction of being more powerful than the Mac that drove them. I dimly remember this explanation of Resolution Enhancement (don't know if it's marketer-speak or not): The printer only prints 300 (600, whatever) DPI, but along the edges of curves those dots can be made smaller even though there aren't any more of them. The result is smoother looking curves

21 years, 2 months

1
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cctalk Digest, Vol 20, Issue 30

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

21 years, 2 months

1
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Must-have PDP-11 accessory on eBay -- VINTAGE BUS GRANTOSAURUS REX

by James＠jdfogg.com

> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&it em=5181545036&rd=1 Odd - even the board artwork reads Bus Grantosaurus Rex. It looks like someone made some custom PC Bus Grant boards and needed a laugh. Making such a board at home would be a simple project.

21 years, 2 months

10
15
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Free Sun3 workstations

by lproven＠gmail.com

A person in Fulham, London, UK, is trying to give away 3 Sun3 workstations & not having much interest. Anyone fancy one? Mail them directly. I've talked to them & they asked me to plug the machines if I could. I'd love one myself but I have no space for them. :?( From: Kake L Pugh <kake at earth.li> Date: Apr 4, 2005 11:58 AM Subject: [FreeCycleLondon] OFFERED: Sun 3 computers, SW6 To: freecyclelondon at yahoogroups.com Note: these are old computers, and they are large. You will need a car. Collect before Sunday 17th April, please. Take one, two, or all three! We're in SW6, just off Fulham Palace Road. Two of the machines are diskless, but it's straightforward to boot them over the network, and I'd be happy to lend a hand to get them to do so. The enormous monitors mean they make excellent X terminals with nice big text. You can boot them straight into X, or you can run an OS on them in diskless mode. I've run SunOS 4 and NetBSD on them; I believe it's now possible to run linux as well. snack has a disk with SunOS installed, so doesn't need to boot over the network. It has a hybrid X server which supports the NeWS windowing system. stinky: Sun 3/50, 4MB RAM, 16MHz 68020 CPU with floating-point coprocessor pizzabox case 10base2 ethernet Huge 1152x900 monochrome monitor snipe: Sun 3/140, 16MHz 68020 with floating-point coprocessor. 3-VME-slot case: can either sit flat with a monitor on top, or stand freely. Huge 1152x900 monochrome monitor AUI network (but I can throw in an AUI->10base2 transceiver free) This machine has no fan! It's very quiet as a result. snack: Sun 3/60, 20MHz 68020 with floating-point coprocessor. pizzabox case colour framebuffer and colour monitor 10base2 ethernet ~100MB disk drive with SunOS and OpenWindows installed See http://www.sunstuff.org/hardware/systems/sun3/ for more details. -- Liam Proven Home: http://welcome.to/liamsweb * Blog: http://lproven.livejournal.com AOL, Yahoo UK: liamproven * ICQ: 73187508 * MSN: lproven at hotmail.com

21 years, 2 months

5
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TM11 BP available

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Anybody interested in a TM11 backplane? Comes with the cable board (M983). Free for the cost of shipping (from Holland) Ed

21 years, 2 months

1
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NVRAM battery replacement

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 8 2005, 22:57, Saquinn624 at aol.com wrote: > I pulled the coin-cell holder off of an old PC clone PC board and then > epoxied it to the top of the NVRAM- works well and will make future changes easy. > > Ethan- the DS1287 is the one used in SGIs (I2, Indy), isn't it? No, Indys have a Dallas DS1386-8K-150, but I imagine it can be dealt with in a similar way, though I think you can still get them from Maxim. SGI serial numbers are their MAC addresses, so you don't even need to make them up, just read them off the machine's label; also you can program the MAC address into a *blank* Dallas chip from the boot ROM prompt (at least on an Indy), so you don't need any fancy process. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 2 months

1
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old camera-accessory doc found

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

I happened across a little four-page user's guide for the "POLAROID PRINT COPIER Model 240". Based on the style of the thing, I feel quite sure it's on-topic. :) I have no particular reason to keep it; I know some people here are interested in old user's guides and the like, so I thought I'd see if anyone's interested in this one, even though it's not directly computer-related. It's quite short. I've scanned it (300dpi 24bpp); the scans are, for the moment, available on ftp.rodents.montreal.qc.ca in /mouse/misc/polaroid-copier-user-guide under the names page1.ppm through page8.ppm. For those who just want a quick look that doesn't need full information preserval, I've also scaled the scans down and converted them to jpegs, in page1.jpg through page8.jpg. For people who really want the rawest available scanner output, see the pages-?-?.ppm files. The colours look..weird; this appears to be an artifact of the scanner - something about exactly how the slight crinkles in the paper surface change the surface's slope, is my guess. The actual document is printed in black and red on white paper, with halftone grayscales printed in black. If anyone's interested in getting the original paper version, just let me know. As I say, I have no use for it myself. /~\ The ASCII der Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

21 years, 2 months

1
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More Classic Press

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

The May 2005 issue of mobile Technology To Go had a small write-up with pic's on the Cristie's Cyber auction and a section called "retro tech" talking about the Kaypro 2000.

21 years, 2 months

1
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D.G. Nova update -- crapacitors strike again

by tomj＠wps.com

Well I identified the failure, fixed it, and the disk pack is formatting right now. Whew! Another crapacitor -- looks like a tantalum, but it's only .01uF, a dipped-looking bright blue axial part, about the size of a 1/8W resistor. I think these were discussed recently; not necessarily tants, but some short-lived process. Anyways, the problem cap was on the read/write amp board. The bad cap was on the -15V line. The shorted cap took out the 1-ohm, 1/4W series resistor on the logic board (very obvious once I looked at it; all the smoke what went out of it, and all the color-code bands went brown). There's only one chip (LM311) using -15, took that out, nope. Started following copper, removing caps, finally saw one blue cap that was... brown in the middle! Yup, shorted. I replaced the bad one, and all the lifted caps, with ceramic disks since I had 'em partly out anyways. Had to take the head assembly dust cover off, to get the head connectors plugged on, which mean clean-room again. Unnerving. Still running diags, but no errors so far. Man, there's hundreds of those little blue bastards in this machine. I hope future shorts are so benign. Gulp.

21 years, 2 months

6
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Must-have PDP-11 accessory on eBay -- VINTAGE BUS GRANTOSAURUS REX

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5181545036… --Bill

21 years, 2 months

4
3
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Switch Handle Pictures

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "vrs" <vrs at msn.com> > >From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey at amd.com> >> This is great. What are you using to make the molds? > >Well, I went into the local TAP Plastics, described what I wanted to do to >the nice saleslady, and ended up with these products: > >**Mold Making** >TAP Silicone RTV System, Side A and Side B. Side B comes in a couple of >color coded versions. I chose "TAP Silicone RTV Catalyst GREEN", which has >a 1 hour working time, and a 24 hour cure. This stuff is easy to work with, >and hardens to a rubbery consistency, very much what you want for >mold-making. It is white until you mix in the catalyst, which dyes it >green. > >**Casting** >Quick Cast TAP Casting Resin, Side A and Side B. This stuff hardens into a >stiff plastic, perfect for switch handles :-). Side A and Side B are clear, >but the result will be white after it cures. This color change makes it >more difficult to predict the effect of the colorants. This stuff has a >very short working time -- a few minutes. It is recommended to remove the >parts from the mold in an hour (don't know why; some kind of chemical >reaction with the mold is predicted, but I've never seen it). > >**Colorant** >TAP Premium Pigment, in yellow, brown, red, and blue. These are added in >small quantities to Side B of the resin, before side A is added. Only a >very small amount of the pigment will actually stir into side B (most of the >pigment just lays there, no matter how much you stir.) > >Hope that helps :-). More later... > > Vince Hi Vince Someone told me that it was a good idea to use PAM ( cooking spray ) as a mold release. This may help with issues of leaving it in the mold too long. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

3
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AT&T 3B2s available in OK

by classiccmp＠vintage-computer.com

I got the following via email over the weekend: "I have three 3b2 machines grathering dust. This includes many loose-leaf binders of 3b stuff, and SCSI drives,also, many Tapes; some with Informix SE & SQL sofeware. I am not able to ship this equipment(you got'ta pick it up), but it's free. I am a retired electronics tech, who spends much time doing PC recording of VINYL's" Everything is in Oklahoma City, OK. Contact Raymond at raymondNOSPAM at NOSPAMnaturesong.com for more details, removing the obvious. Best of luck! -- Erik Klein www.vintage-computer.com www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum The Vintage Computer Forum

21 years, 2 months

4
4
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Oscilloscope question

by dvcorbin＠optonline.net

> Are there any good web sites that > would give some basic info on "scopes for dummies" > or "scopes for beginners"? > 1) Turn on 'scope 2) Dwiddle random knobs till you see squiglly lines 3) Nod knowingly... ...has always worked for me. Seriously, at the low frequencies that the classics use it is ALMOST this simple. When you get above 50MHZ things start to get more interesting.

21 years, 2 months

3
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NVRAM contents, Save some Suns, and a question

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Ethan Dicks ethan.dicks at gmail.com wrote: > IPXs, IPCs, SPARC1s, etc., all suffer from one weakness... dead or > dying NVRAM batteries. There are answers in the Sun NVRAM FAQ, but > one does have to be aware of the issue before the machine comes up > inert (FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF MAC address) one day. Not quite. In some guide, I remember there was a "quick-and-dirty" way of assembling some bogus NVRAM info for Suns. Basically you only have to get the machine class designation right (there is a table for this) and you must set the manufacturer part of the MAC ID to 8:0:20, or you'll get complaints about a broken main board. The rest is totally free, so one usually winds up with host parts and serial no.s that read de:ad or c0:ff:ee or anything like that... On the other hand, Sun still maintains a complete database of the NVRAM infos programmed into any machine that was delivered. If you want to get it historically correct, you want to put those values back; in order to get them, you have to read the four (later: six) character NVRAM ID off the white or yellow bar-code sticker on the NVRAM. Then, the guys at sunopsis (The Sun Museum) can help you. My contact person there is ruediger (dot) frenk (at) sun (dot) com, he'll sure help you too. That is, if you don't flood him all at once now. While we're at it: Erlangen University in southern Germany is about to scrap part of its SUN inventory. There are (several of most types): SPARCstation 1, 1+, 2, 5, 10, 20, SPARCclassic, Ultra 1. The SPARCstation 1 come with mgone monochrome ECL frame buffers, matching monitors are available. 10's and 20's have varying processors. RAM, hard disks and drive sleds may be missing. Keyboards, Monitors, Mice are there, also additional RAM (mostly smaller modules than those currently installed, and a bunch of older Sbus framebuffers. Heck, even some FDDI Boards! I'd like to see as much as possible saved; they're free for the taking, but I'd rather not have to deal with shipping the stuff. Smaller items perhaps, but not whole machines or monitors. Counter-donations accepted - anybody have a SPARCstation 5/10/20 parallel port adapter spare? And a question to the gurus around: When going over the SPARCclassic systems, I noticed there are obviously two variants. It's the pictograms on the back side of the housing, next to the 26-pin Micro-D connector - one kind only has the networking symbol < . . . > there, the other has that *and* a speaker symbol (as on the SPARCstation 10, where you need the splitter cable and the audio box to bring out the signals). Both kinds have Line In and Out as two jack sockets, and the Sun documentation says that only the AUI part of the connector is used in the SPARCclassic: http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/SUNERGY/TrCOMM_SS_LX_10_AUI_Aud io_Port.html Anybody know if the Audio symbol was only put there erroneously, or can you really connect and use a audio box on these systems? Thanks in advance: Arno Kletzander Stud. Hilfskraft Informatik Sammlung Erlangen --- www.iser.uni-erlangen.de

21 years, 2 months

4
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Trenton Computer Festival -- April 16-17

by news＠computercollector.com

It's time for the annual TCF event. This year, for the first time in a long time, TCF is back at Trenton State College. It's been so long that they actually renamed the college -- now it's called "The College of New Jersey". Alas, it's the same school. Meanwhile, for those who missed the earlier posting here, there's a new user group -- MARCH -- that's Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists. We have members from upstate New York to central Pennsylvania to Maryland, and everywhere in between. We're new, and TCF will be our first club event. About 10 of us will each bring a few ** working ** vintage computers to the exhibit, which will be located in a special room off of the main show floor. TCF's web site is http://www.tcf-nj.org and MARCH is online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midatlanticretro/ -- Evan K. ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 readers and no spam / Publishes every Monday / Write for us! - Mainframes to videogames, hardware and software, we cover it all - W: http://news.computercollector.com E: news at computercollector.com

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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NVRAM battery replacement

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: NVRAM battery replacement > From: Saquinn624 at aol.com > >Ethan- the DS1287 is the one used in SGIs (I2, Indy), isn't it? how did you >go about fixing it? [e.g. where in it is the batt. &cet.](all of my SGIs are >currently working, but the clock is ticking . . .) I've repaird DS1287s used for PCs. The cast resin case of the chip is actually over a regular plastic dip package. The battery is easy to locate with a small magnet. Once located you scrape or sand the resin in that area to expose it then pry it out. The battery used is a small diameter 3V lithium cell and has a fairly hard steel case so it's easy to sand or scrape down to it but, not through it. The two leads are there and careful soldering will attach new leads to an external 3V coin cell holder. I've done this on maybe 10 of them. We had a rash of 486/133 PCs at work that were about CA 1998 and the batteries were failing (in 2002-3). Allison

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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NVRAM battery replacement

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

I pulled the coin-cell holder off of an old PC clone PC board and then epoxied it to the top of the NVRAM- works well and will make future changes easy. Ethan- the DS1287 is the one used in SGIs (I2, Indy), isn't it? how did you go about fixing it? [e.g. where in it is the batt. &cet.](all of my SGIs are currently working, but the clock is ticking . . .) - Scott Quinn

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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Parting out Laserjet 3s (UK) - anyone need parts?

by listmailgoeshere＠gmail.com

Hi cctech'ers, As the subject says, I've got 2 Laserjet 3s with no toner cartridges and "unknown spec" fusers that I'm parting out. They are otherwise complete, so if you need any parts for one, mail me off-list within 14 days else what remains of them will have gone to the dump. No charge, but you pay shipping or collect. They're located in Yorkshire, UK. Ed.

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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Reviving Suns when NVRAM dies (was UNIX on old-ish machines)

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

Regarding resetting the NVRAM bits, especially the MAC number: If it has a disk, dmesg is your friend (on SunOS anyway, too lazy to fire up the Solaris box). The MAC address is saved in the syslog each boot. I seem to recall that the Sun NVRAM FAQ doesn't point this out, but it saved me from having to "invent" a MAC on my IPX -Scott Quinn

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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New book

by stanb＠dial.pipex.com

Hi, I've just received my copy of a new BBC/Granta book "Electronic Brains, Stories from the dawn of the Computer Age", author Mike Hally. ISBN 1 86207 663 4 I've not read it yet, but from a quick flip through it looks like an interesting, non-technical, account of the early years of computers in the USA, UK, Russia and Australia. Just thought you might be interested... Interest in classic/old computers seems to be entering the mainstream these days. -- Cheers, Stan Barr stanb at dial.pipex.com The future was never like this!

21 years, 2 months

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LaserWriter Plus

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

You can buy an HP 4M Plus for under $50. This is a high-end printer, even by today's standards. It's 12 pages per minute, PCL5, Postscript, serial, parallel and it has an MIO slot into which you can plug in a built-in Ethernet print server. It's an old printer (they will be more than a decade old, probably), but everything is still available, it's based on the "EX" engine, which is excellent (the same engine is used in the LaserJet 5, by the way).

21 years, 2 months

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Unix on old-ish machines - advice sought

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Apr 8, 2005 1:37 AM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > Shoot, systems a lot better than those are free or almost free. I > got my Sun Ultra 60/2300 basically for free from a friend. Wow! I wish I had friends like that. I'd be happy for an Ultra5 for free or nearly free. -ethan

21 years, 2 months

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Oscilloscope question

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: Re: Oscilloscope question > From: David Holland <dholland at woh.rr.com> >I don't claim to be a EE, but FWIW... I am but, that means little. I actually troubleshoot stuff, in the practical world doing is the important part. Experience doing is extremely useful. >I believe that's correct. My (old) B&K was targeted for TV repairmain, >so its rating is a mere 10Mhz. (Analog TV is spec'd at a 4Mhz >bandwidth) My everyday bench scope is a B&K 20mhz dual trace as it's fairly small and warms up fast. I have no hesitation to use it for logic in the 20+ mhz range, however I understand how it behaves and what I'm seeing as a result. If I realy need to see more I have "big guns" for for the task but rarely use them. I do more with a VOM and cheap logic probe before I resort to scopes and logic analysers. Allison

21 years, 2 months

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Switch Handle Pictures

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "vrs" <vrs at msn.com> > >> Wow! Those look DAMNED good to me!! :-) >> Congrats on the effort... > >Thanks! I still want to work a little on the air bubbles, and of course try >to get closer to the DEC colors. > >> Once you get the process down, please document the materials and the >> techniques so that it may be replicated easily. > >Will do, though there is a fair bit of mold tweaking, color mixing, etc. >that I'm not sure how to make a recipe for. > >> Once we get the plastic stuff down, they'll be no reason for any >> classiccmp to remain unrestored... > >I can think of a few more parts made of unobtainium (but I'm working on it) >:-). > > Vince > > Hi Vince Can you get your hands on a vacuum pump. If you pour the stuff in a vacuum and then release it to air, you shouldn't have any bubbles. What material are you using for the plastic. Some of these things can handle a vacuum while others can't. Even using a hand pump made from a bicycle pump can do wonders at removing bubbles. How about a list of the materials you use for molds, colors and plastic? Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Switch Handle Pictures

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Vince Slyngstad" <v.slyngstad at verizon.net> > >I put up some pictures of the switch handles I have cast so far. (It will >be clear why I think they're not ready for prime time.) > >http://so-much-stuff.com/pdp8/sw-handles.html > > Vince > > Hi This is great. What are you using to make the molds? Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Oscilloscope question

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Eric Smith" <eric at brouhaha.com> > >Ashley wrote: >> What kind of scope would I need and how much does one cost? > >Assuming that you want something good but cheap, your best bet is >probably to try to find an old Tek 465. It's a good, solid two-channel >100 MHz scope. ISTR that they show up on eBay frequently, but as >with anything on eBay, there's no telling what condition it would >really be in. > ---snip--- Hi The only issue I've seen with the 465's is that if the sweep frequency switch is broken ( a common failure on these ), this switch is unobtainium. It is good to have more than two chanels of input. It is also useful to have the delayed sweep. Other than that, I like others would recommend a 100MHz as a minimum. Stay away from the 20-30 MHz scopes that are often used for TV repair. You need to get scope probes. These should be 10X probes for doing digital work. Even though Leader doesn't have a good reputation, I've been using one of their high end scopes that has 4 channels, 150 MHz bandwidth and A/B delayed sweep. It has been a good scope. I still like the Tectronix better but when I bought mine ( for $75 ) the Tec's were out of my price range. One thing that I've always wanted to build but have just never had the time is a trigger qualifier. What this is is a large input and gate. It might also have some sequencing as well. Now days, this could be done with some of the FPGA that you reload on each powerup. The idea is that many things that you want to see in a computer need to be qualified by a number of signal and may even require some sequencing to make sure your looking at the right thing. Most logic analysers do this but they rarely have good sequencing control. This is their main weakness. With a reprogrammable FPGA, one can write the formulas and the state sequencing to most any level of complexity. Of course, one can actually buy a logic analyser but like I said, they usually have poor sequencial controls and the display is a little too far removed from the real signals for me. I like to see the real levels that only a scope can provide. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Intellec MDS questions

by rsnats＠bellsouth.net

I recently purchased an MDS 800 without a disk drive. It does have a controller and cable to the backplane for a disk drive. Do you have a schematic for the PCB and a wiring diagram of the PCB to backplane cable. I have some old SA801 drives and a power supply that I could use. Bob rsnats at bellsouth.net

21 years, 2 months

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Maplin Z80A Development kit.

by jim＠g1jbg.co.uk

Hi, I built one of the Maplin (a UK kits and components firm) Z80A development kits back in the early 90's, along with the add-on HEX keypad and 7 segment displays, and used it for a while. I've just re-discovered it, and would like to get it going again, but I need a copy of the monitor ROM, if anyone has it. I would also like the serial interface and PC assembler software that was supplied as a third kit (with a different/replacement) monitor ROM, if anyone has one to spare. I do still have copies of the original circuits and articles for all three kits (Z80 board, Keypad/display board, and serial board), and will post them on my site if anyone is interested. Thanks Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 2 months

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Signetics 8266

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

Would someone happen to have a 1970s-era Signetics TTL handbook in which they could look up some details about the N8266? I know that it is a quad 2-input multiplexor/selector and I know what the pinout is. The questions are: - what is the specific logic functioning of the 2 control inputs? - is there any inversion in the data path(s)? >From the cross-references I have the 8266 doesn't seem to have made the transition to a 7400 series standard, probably because it's functioning is a little weird. They are used in a Wang 520 calculator with the control lines operated in two different manners. While the intent of the circuitry would seem apparent, the two uses of the control lines are somewhat idiosyncratic to each other. (FWIW: the 520 is circa 1972, TTL logic, micro-program architecture, core rope micro-program store.)

21 years, 2 months

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3B Journal

by dhbarr＠gmail.com

Hey list, I've recently obtained some AT&T 3B2's, and am diving right in. They supposedly have been recently working, so I thought it would be an interesting foray into getting them setup, running, learning about old UNIX, etc. Anyhoo, to my dismay most of the ftp sites that had working 3B2 programs are down, moved, or otherwise gone. One of these was a repository of Owens-Laing publications' "3b Journal" having to do with 3B1's and 2's. Does anyone have (a) copy(ies) of this or any similar material? Thanks, -dhbarr.

21 years, 2 months

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Need Apple World by Paul Lutus ($$$)

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm looking for a program for a client that I thought I had but after looking I'm now not so sure. It's called Apple World by Paul Lutus circa 1980. It was a CAD-type program that had 3D line drawing. Does anyone have it? An original would be preferable, but even a copy at this point would be useful. This is a bounty so it's worth some bucks. Please contact me off-line. Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

21 years, 2 months

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WD1935-PL

by marvin＠rain.org

Anyone know what the Western Digital WD1935-PL is? I couldn't find a description with Google nor does it show up in my June 1984 WD Storage Management Products Handbook. It is in an unknown piece of gear that could be an older ham radio TNC made by Applied Ditital Technology.

21 years, 2 months

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battery desoldering advice

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> > >I need to replace the battery in an item I have. It's the quartersized/style >one. The way it is attached to the board, is via a clip arrangement that >you'd swear makes the battery removable. However, it is in fact soldered or >spot welded into the clip somehow. As a result, I'd rather not just cut the >clip arms to replace the battery as I'd have trouble getting the new one in. > >The only possibility I see is unsoldering the clip from the battery, but it >strikes me as a rather bad idea to put a soldering iron to a battery. >Suggestions? > >Jay West Hi Jay If the clip is attached to the cell, it is most likely spot welded. It is difficult to actually solder directly to a cell without damaging the seal on the cell. I usually causes excess pressure in the cell bursting the seal. If you can't find a cell with solder tabs, take it to one of those battery stores that are around. We have a chain out here called Batteries Plus. You may have to talk nice to the fellow their to get them to do the job for you but they have the spot welder to do the job. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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