On Jun 16, 15:48, David V. Corbin wrote:
> I have also seen a good number of "Y" vs. "Delta" screwups [although
none
> that ever directly effected computer equipment]. The worst was in the
late
> 1970's when a company was being moved to a new part of the power grid
[the
> area was rapdily developing and expanding]. "Someone" did not realize
that
> about half the building was wired in a "non-standard" fashion.
"Fortunately"
> the wiring acted pretty much as fuses and aside from a small fire,
the
> damage was minimal.
I can't think of a specific incident like that, but I do know that our
University uses a non-standard order of phases, and that all the
electrical contractors who come on site get a lecture about it, for
obvious reasons!
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Don't forget bochs (http://bochs.sourceforge.net/).
T.H.x.
Devon
-----------------Original Message--------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 13:17:13 -0400
From: chris <cb(a)mythtech.net>
Subject: DOS application in WinXP
To: "Classic Computer" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <S.0000344787(a)mythtech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I have an old legacy DOS application that I need to run on new Win XP
hardware for the next few months. The problem is, I've been told it won't
run under XP's DOS Shell.
I'm curious what others have used as solutions to run non NT kernel
friendly DOS applications in such an environment. I'm thinking about
something like Virtual PC to run a regular DOS 6.2.2 install inside it,
but I have no idea if that will actually work. Plus I need to do this on
up to 5 machines and buying 5 copies of VPC at the new Microsoft pricing
may break the bank (Connectix used to have an OS free version for
something like $50... MS now charges $130 for the base price).
It looks like VMWare is going to be the same problem with pricing.
So does anyone have any other recommended solutions? I'd like this to be
as transparent to the users as possible (they currently run the software
in a DOS session under Win95, so the closest I can come to that
functionality, the better).
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
Hi Joe
Remember what I said about there most likely being someone
that has a virus. This would explain both the duplicates
that many are seeing ( including me ) and the worm that you
are seeing.
Dwight
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
>Hi All,
>
> I just got the message below from my ISP (Road Runner). It appears that
>a message from the CC List contained Zafi.B worm. I've just spent TWO+
>days installing a new hard drive and reloading all my software after
>getting some DoS piece of crap that I couldn't remove from the old HD.
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
>>Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:32:44 +0800
>>From: Classiccmp <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
>>Subject: RE: Incoming Msg
>>To: Rigdonj <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>>X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine
>>X-Virus-Scan-Result: Repaired 33994 W32.Beagle.X@mm
>>Original-recipient: rfc822;rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com
>>
>> ALERT!!!
>>Road Runner is currently dropping all .com, .exe and .pif files due to the
>>negative affect on our network from the Zafi.B/W32.Erkez.B@mm virus. If
>>you need to send or receive one of these files types, please make sure that
>>the file is sent as a .zip or .gzip compressed file. Road Runner will
>>resume accepting these file extensions as soon as possible, once the
>>negative affect on our network is resolved.
>>
>>The following attachments were infected and have been repaired:
>>No attachments are in this category.
>>
>>The following attachments were deleted due to an inability to clean them:
>>1. Half_Live.scr: W32.Beagle.X@mm
>>
>>The Following attachments were not delivered due to inbound mail policy
>>violations:
>>No attachments are in this category.
>>
>>
>>Road Runner does not contact the sender of the infected attachment(s).
>>
>>For more information on Road Runner's virus filtering initiative, visit our
>>Help
>
>
set an age limit only (make it 15 or 20 years). It is quite fair to have someone email in and say they are trying to get old hardware running. There is no reason (other than personal) to restrict the list to topics as long as they do not include windows, PCs, DOS, or LINUX. It can be quite a challenge to get an old pc running as is ANY S100 based system. I have done both and I am quite willing to help anyone try and resolve issues on any machine I have experience with.
If you see a mesage that you can help on, then great. If you don't, then file it away or delete it. I really don't recall seeing any messages on here that were inappropriate for a vintage forum. If someone outside finds the list and emails a question that is for something newer, then delete it or respond with COURTESY directing them someplace else.
The discussion here over the topic has wasted substantialy more bandwidth then the few emails that come here that don't need to.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
I believe there's an option in Opera's Preferences > Network...Synchronous
DNS. Disabling this should allow other sessions to continue to function.
I'd also check the privacy tab and remove any cookie restrictions.
I've had a similar problem on a University network with flaky DNS servers.
Seems the servers would be unreachable at the moment Opera tried to connect
and it choked. DNS was usually reachable again by the time I ran nslookup.
My solution was to set up a local caching DNS server. This was with Opera
6.05, and it didn't happen that often, but happened on any site. I've also
seen no responce from ebay when attempting to "View sellers other items"
and assumed it was their problem. Never had the problems with Opera 5.12,
but, it wasn't used on that network for very long.
T.H.x.
Devon
-----------------Original Message--------------------------
Message: 35
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 16:08:18 +0000
From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk(a)yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: OT: EBay UK search hanging
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <1087488498.29729.127.camel(a)weka.localdomain>
Content-Type: text/plain
Knowing that there's a few EBay users on the list who also know how to
fix modern software... :-)
On the rare occasions that I do actually bother to search EBay for
anything classic computer related I quite often find that hitting the
search submit button just hangs, with the browser (Opera under Linux in
my case) sitting there saying "Waiting for DNS confirmation of cookie
domain(s)".
If I open another browser window at this point and then try and go to
any other site it'll just sit there with the same message.
If I close the browser and come back later it's fine. Very frustrating.
Anyone else see this or know what causes it? I've *only* seen it happen
trying to do an Ebay search, never with any other website - but it's
been this way for months.
Whilst it's hung like this in the browser I can do DNS lookups from the
shell fine, so it's not a DNS problem or a local configuration problem.
I assume Opera happens to use shared DNS lookup code and for some reason
something to do with EBay's search *sometimes* makes it hang.
Presumably others might be able to shed some light on this, or at least
confim / deny that they've seen similar problems with EBay UK from
different platforms and browsers...
cheers
Jules
On Jun 17, 16:29, Joe R. wrote:
> At 09:22 PM 6/16/04 +0100, you wrote:
> >My specific requirement is to put together a PC to run 22DISK, my
> >DOS-only PAL/PROM programmer software, and the like. It will run
DOS
> >6.22 in a FAT16 partition (and probably WinXP in another partition
> In that case, you might want to give this a try.
> <http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/Articles/BootItNG/>.
Looks interesting. Once I get as far as fully-working drives and feel
like installing something on the hard drive, I'll try it. Thanks!
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jun 17, 19:25, Witchy wrote:
> I've borrowed a universal device reader/programmer (MQP Pinmaster 48)
and
> I'm trying to dump the ROMs from my dead TRS80. It claims to be able
to read
> anything because of its completely configurable design (with an
appropriate
> adapter for non-DIP style packaging) and I've already dumped some
EEPROMS.
Sounds a bit like the MicroPross at CompSci, where I used to work.
Very cool machine.
> However, it doesn't like either of the TRS80 chips (NEC 4K marked as
2332
> and 2364) nor the ROMs on my Tangerine Microtan 65 TUGBOARD (4K roms
again I
> think).
>
> This thing knows about over 6500 different *ROMs so maybe there's an
> equivalent name I can feed it to see if I can read these ROMs?
2332 is a standard mask-programmed ROM; lots of companies made them.
uPD2332 is the equivalent of Intel 2332, Motorola MCM68A332, Mostek
MK3200, Texas TMS4732, Signetics 2663, etc. However, one the options
is how the outputs are enabled, controlled by pins 20 and 21. Each can
separately be specified before manufacture as active high or active
low. Some vendors also allowed a choice on pin 20, either a chip
select or a power-down/output-enable (different timing, different
effect on power consumption).
Also, a 2364 is an 8K ROM, but I expect you worked that out.
Check what the TRS80 expects the active level to be on each of those
pins (I'd guess active low), and that the programmer is doing the same.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jun 17, 15:49, Joe R. wrote:
> I just got the message below from my ISP (Road Runner). It appears
that
> a message from the CC List contained Zafi.B worm.
That doesn't seem very likely, Joe. First of all, the mailing list
won't send attachments, yet the report you got says the worm was in an
attachment which was therefore removed. Secondly, they say the mail
came "From: Classiccmp <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>" The mailing list
never sends a header like that. The mail currently comes with an
envelope "From" (no colon) of "cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org" which
contains no other name, and always claims to be "From:" (header
"From:", with a colon) the original poster.
What your ISP has reported on apeears to have had headers forged by the
sender, and didn't come from the list. It may have come from some
listmember's own machine, or at least an infected machine with
"classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org" in an addressbook, but not the list.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Hi All,
I just got the message below from my ISP (Road Runner). It appears that
a message from the CC List contained Zafi.B worm. I've just spent TWO+
days installing a new hard drive and reloading all my software after
getting some DoS piece of crap that I couldn't remove from the old HD.
Joe
>Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:32:44 +0800
>From: Classiccmp <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
>Subject: RE: Incoming Msg
>To: Rigdonj <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine
>X-Virus-Scan-Result: Repaired 33994 W32.Beagle.X@mm
>Original-recipient: rfc822;rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com
>
> ALERT!!!
>Road Runner is currently dropping all .com, .exe and .pif files due to the
>negative affect on our network from the Zafi.B/W32.Erkez.B@mm virus. If
>you need to send or receive one of these files types, please make sure that
>the file is sent as a .zip or .gzip compressed file. Road Runner will
>resume accepting these file extensions as soon as possible, once the
>negative affect on our network is resolved.
>
>The following attachments were infected and have been repaired:
>No attachments are in this category.
>
>The following attachments were deleted due to an inability to clean them:
>1. Half_Live.scr: W32.Beagle.X@mm
>
>The Following attachments were not delivered due to inbound mail policy
>violations:
>No attachments are in this category.
>
>
>Road Runner does not contact the sender of the infected attachment(s).
>
>For more information on Road Runner's virus filtering initiative, visit our
>Help
At 07:16 AM 6/17/04 -0700, you wrote:
>
>> A friend found a SuperPET in someone's trash pile this afternoon and
>> dropped it by. It came with a 2040 dual drive floppy disk and the IEEE
>> interface cable. It is pretty rough looking and according to the friend,
>> was in the former owners garage for quite some time. It looks like it sat
>> on the cement floor for awhile too, as it has lots of small rust spots.
>>
>> On that note, whats the best way to clean up rust spots on these types of
>> systems? Should they be buffed out or is repainting a better idea?
Full strength Lime-Away will usually dissolve it. If it's on painted
metal surface or plastic that acid won't hurt, I have full strength nitric
acid to dissolve it.
Joe
>From: steven <tosteve(a)yahoo.com>
>I recently acquired an IBM System/23 Datamaster (model
>5322) computer, but I don't know anything about it.
Quoting from BYTE September 1990, from an article "The creation of the IBM
PC" by David J. Bradley (who worked on the development of both the
DataMaster/23 and the IBM PC):
==============================================================
The DataMaster was an Intel 8085-based system intended to run business
applications written in BASIC.
The one-piece DataMaster was a business-oriented single-user system. It
served as a model for many of the features of the original IBM PC. The IBM
PC keyboard came from the DataMaster.
==============================================================
Sorry, no scanner in the house, so I can't send you a copy.
Freek Heite.
Folks,
I've borrowed a universal device reader/programmer (MQP Pinmaster 48) and
I'm trying to dump the ROMs from my dead TRS80. It claims to be able to read
anything because of its completely configurable design (with an appropriate
adapter for non-DIP style packaging) and I've already dumped some EEPROMS.
However, it doesn't like either of the TRS80 chips (NEC 4K marked as 2332
and 2364) nor the ROMs on my Tangerine Microtan 65 TUGBOARD (4K roms again I
think).
This thing knows about over 6500 different *ROMs so maybe there's an
equivalent name I can feed it to see if I can read these ROMs? Is there
anyone with a TRS80 to hand who can tell me what ROMs theirs contains?
TIA!
--
Adrian/Witchy
Owner & Webmaster, Binary Dinosaurs
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf(a)siconic.com>
>
>On Thu, 17 Jun 2004, Ernest wrote:
>
>> If the paint job is beyond hope, you might as well try to do a
>> restoration on it, rather than a preservation. One thing you might
>> consider, if you really want it to look like new, is to take the empty
>> case to an auto paint shop and have them give it a professional paint
>> job. A friend of mine did this with one of his old computers, and the
>> shop did a fantastic job for less than $100.00. Those guys know how to
>> match paint, patch dents and scratches, and all that.
>
>Or take it to a place that will powder coat it, so they can also match the
>texture.
>
Hi
I'm told that some vinegar will remove rust stains. Try
putting a piece of paper towel on a small patch and wet it
with white distilled vinegar. Let it sit for a few hours
and see how it does.
Even if it doesn't work, what do you have to lose.
Dwight
Technically I guess it wasn't a find, as this time this one found me...
A friend found a SuperPET in someone's trash pile this afternoon and
dropped it by. It came with a 2040 dual drive floppy disk and the IEEE
interface cable. It is pretty rough looking and according to the friend,
was in the former owners garage for quite some time. It looks like it sat
on the cement floor for awhile too, as it has lots of small rust spots.
On that note, whats the best way to clean up rust spots on these types of
systems? Should they be buffed out or is repainting a better idea?
-Toth
At 22:18 -0500 6/16/04, pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com wrote:
> According to my
>SUBSCRIBE CLASSICCMP confirmation email (you all kept yours, didn't
>you?)
(mumble) (blush) er... ahh... it must be here somewhere.
Earliest thing I have is from July 1997, which probably doesn't put
me in the top thirty. But I've enjoyed the group enormously anyway.
Re: charter mods:
I love being able to ask about my NeXT on here, so 10 years
is a nice number for me. 15 would be OK, I guess.
I do think there is value to questions on how to run new
software on old (>10 year) hardware.
I do think there is value to questions on how to run old (>10
year) software on new hardware.
I suspect there are very few "how do I fix my PC" annoying
questioners who are using *either* hardware *or* software more than
10 years old.
My vote is to keep the 10-year limit [1], and clarify it to
make clear that if either the software running or the hardware it's
running on makes the 10-year limit, it qualifies.
[1] There's that VAX VLC4000 that I keep meaning to spend some
quality time with....it's pretty fresh-on.
--
- Mark
210-522-6025, page 888-733-0967
my bedroom is required to be a computer free zone...
-----Original Message-----
From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre(a)floodgap.com>
I've got a VLB-based 486 in the bedroom.
I believe there are only 2 public domain OSes for the Pro series.
One is the infamous PO/S and the other is Venix. Both are
available from <ftp://ftp.update.uu.se>ftp.update.uu.se. You need
<http://64.253.97.239/pdp11/Proaccms.zip>Proaccms.zip if
you run Venix and have acess to a MS-DOS machine.
<http://64.253.97.239/pdp11/Proaccms.zip>Proaccms.zip is available at
www.saracom.com :)
RT-11 does run nicely but it is still copyrighted. I don't
know about whether the other OSes will run.
Max
>On OSes for the
David V. Corbin <dvcorbin(a)optonline.net> wrote:
> Ps: It was ex-Wife #2 who threw out my PDP-8/I because it was "junk"......
> The one thing I still have not forgiven her for.
Now that one deserves execution! I would not settle for anything less
than the death penalty for her.
MS
> The bad drugs made me forget the operative word
> ...
> I'll *never* forget one thing, tho: Vioxx sucks.[1]
Oooh, send it to me then! Vitamin V makes snowboarding
a whole lot more survivable in your 40's.
Seriously, though -- it's just an antiinflammatory, shouldn't
have any psychological consequences. Are you getting weird side
effects?
Brian
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
_| _| _| Brian Knittel
_| _| _| Quarterbyte Systems, Inc.
_| _| _| Tel: 1-510-559-7930
_| _| _| Fax: 1-510-525-6889
_| _| _| Email: brian(a)quarterbyte.com
_| _| _| http://www.quarterbyte.com
> Roger Merchberger wrote...
> The bad drugs made me forget the operative word
> ...
> I'll *never* forget one thing, tho: Vioxx sucks.[1]
Oooh, send it to me then! Vitamin V makes snowboarding
a whole lot more survivable when one is in one's 40's.
Seriously, though -- it's just an antiinflammatory, shouldn't
have any psychological consequences. Are you getting weird side
effects?
Brian
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
_| _| _| Brian Knittel
_| _| _| Quarterbyte Systems, Inc.
_| _| _| Tel: 1-510-559-7930
_| _| _| Fax: 1-510-525-6889
_| _| _| Email: brian(a)quarterbyte.com
_| _| _| http://www.quarterbyte.com
Hi Steven
It is an offshoot of fig Forth. I wrote the stuff
under FPC by Tom Zimmer. It is mostly Forth-83.
One could make it work under most any other but
like most Forths of this era, the file access
may be different.
Of course, one can still get FPC from the web.
Dwight
>From: "Steven Canning" <cannings(a)earthlink.net>
>
>Dwight,
>
>Is it written in micro-FORTH or FIG FORTH ?
>
>Best regards, Steven
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey(a)amd.com>
>To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>Sent: Monday, June 14, 2004 5:00 PM
>Subject: Re: Cool 4004 based calculator
>
>
>> Hi
>> I thought I'd mention that I've written a simulator
>> for the 4004 in the environment of a SIM-4. One
>> could adapt it to most any hardware environment.
>> It is written in Forth so it can be quite flexible
>> for someone that knows Forth.
>> If anyone is interested, I can dig it up. With
>> a little time to refamiliarize myself with the
>> code, I can help connect up I/O.
>> It runs under FPC on a DOS PC platform. There is
>> a simple assembler and disassembler as well.
>> For someone wanting to do a 4004 project, it can
>> be quite useful at debugging code and hardware
>> concepts.
>> Dwight
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
I recently acquired an IBM System/23 Datamaster (model
5322) computer, but I don't know anything about it.
A little help here?
Steve.
http://www.oldcomputers.net/pics/IBM5322.jpg
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
On Jun 16, 16:57, David V. Corbin wrote:
>
> >>> A problem is the braindamaged BIOS/mobo, which only handles
> >>> one floppy.
>
> Pete, altering the number of FDC/HDC from what the BIOS expects is
typically
> a significant problem as this is where all of the hardware access is
routed
> through.
Depends on the OS, but I believe DOS does so, for floppies at least,
unless you use a third party driver. However, I thought one of the
points of disabling an onboard device was to allow you to use one on
an additional card (other reasons exist, eg preventing startup errors
if you have removed floppies for security).
I think I've solved the problem, insofar as I've found a combination of
settings that works. I decided to make a list of the all possible
permutations of relevant links on the ISA controllers and
enable/disable/auto settings in the BIOS, work methodically through
them, and write down the results. Mainly because I couldn't remember
exactly what perms produced which problems last night! One combination
of disabling the onboard controller, using a particular card
(WDAT-240), having both floppies on that card, worked. Odd, because it
was an obvious one that I was sure I'd tried before; perhaps I did one
BIOS reset too few or something.
I've not tested single density yet. And I'm not sure about
reading/formatting/writing DD disks in the HD 5.25" drive. But it's
well after 1am here, and I've run out of time again...
> Please feel free to contact me off list if you want to discuss this
further.
> I do not think there are any "simple" answers [although someone else
may
> have an idea, which is why I am publicly responding].
Any other suggestions are welcome :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On Jun 14, 21:54, Jules Richardson wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-06-14 at 21:40, Carsten Brasholt wrote:
> > Hi again,
> >
> > I just opened it up....
> > It's got 5 chips inside it.
> > 74LS00
> > 74LS74
> > 8251AP-5
> > 74LS32
> > 4060
> >
> > Does this help??
> >
> > I know that prestel is some sort of teletext service - and perhaps
a
> > dial-up service, but this unit doesn't really look like it's
related to
> > a modem.....
<pedant>
Strictly speaking, "teletext" is broadcast, the generic term is
"viewdata" :-)
</pedant>
> The 8251 is a serial comms chip - looks like you have an Amstrad
> cartridge giving you a serial port on the DIN plug, to which you'd
> connect up a serial modem in order to access Prestel.
>
> I have a feeling Prestel was 1200 baud downstream and 75 baud
upstream,
> but someone else will know for sure :-)
Correct. The idea was to make most use of bandwidth with the
technology of the early 1980s. Most of the data went from a central
host to a terminal; what went back was mostly typed (page numbers, data
entry fields, email), and few people regularly exceed 7 cps. There
were special ports running normal symmetric 1200 half duplex and full
duplex for "Information Providers" on a machine called Duke, but
ordinary users didn't have access to Duke, or those ports. Data
available included train and airline timetables, news, weather, lots of
microcomputer stuff including "telesoftware", and all sorts of other
things.
There were quite a few other viewdata services besides Prestel. Some
large businesses used viewdata, a few bulletin boards did, the Open
University, some banks, and it was widely used by travel agents --
there was a special system run by a consortium for clearing holiday
bookings. Derivatives included the French Minitel service, Germany's
Bildschirmtext, and Canada had something too. The last commercial
viewdata system I know of (Bank of Scotland HOBS service) finally
closed last month (though it may still be running for special
purposes).
It would seem that there is little point in finishing off the rough
edges on my X-Windows Prestel terminal software ;-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Hi,
Does anyone have technical information of the IBM cassette tapes
used to load diagnostic programs in systems like the IBM System/7,
IBM System/3 and the original IBM PC 5150 ?
I am looking for the used frequencies (fsk), the data speed,
the format, etc etc.
Thanks for all your replies.
Regards
Henk Stegeman
IBM S/7 restorer.
http://www.anysystems.nl/system7.html
Rumor has it that David V. Corbin may have mentioned these words:
>
>Fair warning, the following message contains the ratings of a single
>individual.
Danger, Will Robinson!!! ;-)
>As shown by the above quote, there is a strong anti "PeeCee" bias by many
>here. While I completely agree that there are significant *problems* with
>both the hardware and (Windoze) software, I do believe that the more extreme
>views are off base.
*Everything* extreme is off-base to someone (quite often to a large
installed base of someones!)
That's human nature. (BTW, I'm not denigrating or disagreeing with what you
stated -- I'm reinforcing it.)
>IF the computer industry had remained with a large number of completely
>different hardware/software environments which required trained operators
>for even the most basic operations, then computing would not have become a
>household commodity.
I disagree. I do think it would have been more difficult, but it by no
means would have been impossible.
> Even neglecting price, consider the concept of everyone
>having a [fill in the machine of your choice] in their home, at school (even
>at the lower grade levels or preschools!], and in all of the other locations
>where it is common to find computer access.
>
>Standardization of both hardware and software HAD TO HAPPEN, if computers
>were to become the commodity they are today.
Noper -- look at game consoles. Granted, some are a bit more popular than
others, but there are still 3 main (and mainstream) platforms to choose
from, all of which are incompatible with each other (and sometimes with
themselves! ;-) ).
>IBM/Intel had the technology, manpower, and finances to create a platform
>that was (reasonably) affordable
and the tech, manpower & most importantly finances to jam said inferior
platform down everyone's throat. From IBM, it was by no means even
reasonably affordable. (When I worked for GM/EDS on "da big iron" I was
vacillating between purchasing an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 w/30Meg HD and a
<mumble> Color Macintosh <mumble>[1] -- neither of which I could afford,
even on GM's plans. I bought a 386SX16 clone with 2x memory, 2x HD, better
video, better monitor (which was actually OEMmed by IBM anyway, believe it
or not) at .5x the price.)
That's why Goatway, Hewlett Putrid & Hell computers are king, not IBM.
(Compaq used to be king... where are they now?)
When IBM said "You buy our PCs for your company, or you'll lose the lease
for that IBM 3090..." What do you think those companies did?
>, and significantly exceeded the
>capabilities of the current generation of "personal" computers.
That clone I purchased above, I bought for 1 reason: Games. It was an $1800
Nintendo. When I wanted to do *real* work, I sparked up my CoCo, as I could
do more work in less time under OS-9. In 512K, sans HD, on a <2Mhz CPU, I
could run a telecommunication software in one window, my spreadsheet in a
second, word processor in a 3rd, Basic09 in a fourth, keep one window just
at the prompt in case I needed it, and *still* had room for a 200K
RamDrive. I didn't have a snowballs chance in Hades of doing *anything*
like that with my IBM.
>Bill Gates had the opportunity to develop an operating system [MS-DOS]
Erm, it's well known he *bought* that. He did *not* develop it. The last
thing BG worked on himself was the OS for the Tandy Model 'T' (Kyocera
OEMmed) series of laptops. And that was back when Micro$haft still knew how
to make decent software, instead of buy crap & selling it to IBM.
>[snippety]
>So does the PC Hardware Platform have some serious shortcomings? YES
>Could a machine be build with significant technology advantages over a PC
>architecture? YES
>Does Windows have some real technology problems? DEFINITELY
>Is the current pricing/licensing model out of line? DEPENDS IF YOU ARE A
>VENDOR OR CUSTOMER <g>
Yea, and judging from *my* margins, you're one helluva lot better of if
you're a customer instead of a vendor... Unless you're name's Michael Dell,
you won't get rich selling PCs in your hometown anymore...
>Even with these issues, lets face the facts Windows/PC is going to be around
>[and dominant] in most business and personal environments for a significant
>period of time, unless something RADICAL happens on the technology level
>[Bio-Neural-Networks come to mind]. So lets stop the bashing, and just LEARN
>TO DEAL WITH IT!
Gee, thanks for yelling. Just when I thought you were going to keep a
logical, professional slant to your (up until now) well-thought-out missive.
Sad, really.
Regards,
Roger Merchberger
[1] I'm not denigrating said Macs -- I *really* wanted one. I just don't
remember the model #s I was looking at buying - hence the <mumble>.
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger | "Profile, don't speculate."
sysadmin, Iceberg Computers | Daniel J. Bernstein
zmerch(a)30below.com |
On Jun 15, 17:22, Rob O'Donnell wrote:
> >I'd love to see the server-side of things running somewhere again
> >though.
> >
> >It'd be nice to have a Prestel server at Bletchley with some
assorted
> >80's machines hooked up to it (bodging the phone network inbetween
:)
> >but chances are that nobody's got a copy of the necessary server
> >software any more :-(
> I should still have enough equipment and software about to set up at
least
> two of the various BBC-micro based servers which I ran at various
times,
> including the multi-user software that the GnomeAtHome ran on which I
had
> an official copy of...
Wasn't that basically CommunITeL? I still have a copy, and I think I
have a copy of at least one other server package for a Beeb. I used to
run a viewdata BBS for a short while.
> (Ah, the joys of building ring-detect circuits for cheap and nasty
1200
> baud modems that didn't have them..)
'cause BABT made it so difficult (and ludicrously expensive) to get
approval. I built one that did ringback in hardware, so we could tell
whether it was a BBS call or a real person (only had one phone line).
For those who've not come across this usage of "ringback", it means a
system where the caller hangs up after the first ring, then immediately
redials. The modem only responds if the first ring is short enough,
and the second follows after a minimum (but still within a maximum)
time.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
I would not want the group to lose focus either, but I consider my IBM XT just as useful as my H88, my Northstar Horizon, and my Intel MDS-225. I also was proposing a 15 to 20 year period rather than just ten.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
-----Original Message-----
From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey(a)amd.com>
Sent: Jun 16, 2004 12:28 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: age limits for classic computers
>From: "Steve Thatcher" <melamy(a)earthlink.net>
>
>set an age limit only (make it 15 or 20 years). It is quite fair to have
someone email in and say they are trying to get old hardware running. There is
no reason (other than personal) to restrict the list to topics as long as they
do not include windows, PCs, DOS, or LINUX. It can be quite a challenge to get
an old pc running as is ANY S100 based system. I have done both and I am quite
willing to help anyone try and resolve issues on any machine I have experience
with.
>
Hi
It is just that it would be a shame to turn this into a
"Fix My PC" group. There was an active news group that that
happened to. They changed the name of the group but it
never recovered. All the people the new how to fix PC left
and now just about all one sees are single letters asking
for help in the old group.
I think that rather than a 10 year limit, we might consider
a specific date. For those that want to deal with newer machines,
they can spawn a new side group. Similar to the tech group.
I don't want to shut out the newer stuff but then, I also don't
want to see this group loose its focus.
Dwight
>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf(a)siconic.com>
>
>On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 charlesb(a)otcgaming.net wrote:
>
>> is it me, or are we still getting double posts ??
>
>I always get double, sometimes triple or quadruple sets of the same
>messages. They come in spurts. I have never been able to figure out why.
>Well, I've never really tried. I asked Jay about it and he says it's not
>on his side. I'm taking his word for it and assuming my e-mail server is
>screwed, which is a distinct possibility. I've been meaning to install a
>new server but have not had time to do so. I'm assuming a brand new
>server with new everything will fix this problem, but I'd be curious to
>know if other people are experiencing the same thing. It started doing
>this one day last year.
>
>This only happens with CC list traffic (it's the only list I'm on).
>
>
Hi
I suspect it is someone out there with a virus. I'd guess
the virus thinks it is sending infected messages but isn't.
This is just my guess.
Dwight
In a message dated 6/16/04 10:05:14 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
dvcorbin(a)optonline.net writes:
Same issue here. I *should* be just getting messages once as they are
posted, however 2-3 times per day, I get a complete burst of multiple
messages
Interesting, I don't see any of this behavior in the posts I receive on AOL.
Did get some rare double echoes days later the other day but that is all I
have seen.
Paxton
Astoria, OR
(Where they are making The Ring II right now. Fun with moviemakers in town
again!)
>From: "Steve Thatcher" <melamy(a)earthlink.net>
>
>set an age limit only (make it 15 or 20 years). It is quite fair to have
someone email in and say they are trying to get old hardware running. There is
no reason (other than personal) to restrict the list to topics as long as they
do not include windows, PCs, DOS, or LINUX. It can be quite a challenge to get
an old pc running as is ANY S100 based system. I have done both and I am quite
willing to help anyone try and resolve issues on any machine I have experience
with.
>
Hi
It is just that it would be a shame to turn this into a
"Fix My PC" group. There was an active news group that that
happened to. They changed the name of the group but it
never recovered. All the people the new how to fix PC left
and now just about all one sees are single letters asking
for help in the old group.
I think that rather than a 10 year limit, we might consider
a specific date. For those that want to deal with newer machines,
they can spawn a new side group. Similar to the tech group.
I don't want to shut out the newer stuff but then, I also don't
want to see this group loose its focus.
Dwight
Hi.
I am looking for the EISA Config Utility (ECU) floppies for the folowing
machines:
AlspaServer 2100 5/250
AlspaServer 1000A 5/400
AlspaServer 1000A 4/266
AlphaStation 600 5/266
If someone wants to by the AlspaServer 1000A 5/400 drop me a note.
It is located in Kaiserslautern / Germany. I can deliver to Karlsruhe
(LinuxTag) next week.
Also for sell: DEC HSD30 SCSI to DSSI RAID with two empty BA350 Storage
works shelfes and PCI DSSI adapter.
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
---snip---
>I don't like the current over-bloated version-of-the-day MicroSoft products
>either but it doesn't mean that the early PCs are uninteresting and not
>worth collecting.
>
> Joe
>
Hi
I have Joe address so just ask me and I'll give
it to you to send your old junk computers, hardware
and software.
Dwight
PS just kidding. Your right Joe, it is all information
that is being lost. The problem is for the most part,
we still have to pick and choose. Not many people
want a 1951 chevy either. Now, a 1957 Nomad, I'd consider
that.
akb+lists.cctech(a)imap1.mirror.to (Andrew K. Bressen) wrote:
> [incredible wealth of great useful info]
Andrew, thank you very much for such a detailed answer packed with
actual information!
Earlier today, though, I sent someone a check for an HP LaserJet 4Si,
so in all likelihood I'll be using that as my printer. I worked with those
before and I love its engine and the way it's built, it's a great
printer, and it can be equipped with a duplexer, which is extremely
important for me. Since I'm a ClassicCmp'er, my printing consists mostly
of specs, manuals and datasheets, and I need duplex for that.
Though 4Si has only a parallel port on the base unit and is usually
equipped with a JetDirect Ethernet MIO card, I have found that there
exists an MIO parallel/serial card and an HP printer parts dealer is
willing to sell me one. If I equip my 4Si with that card and with the
PostScript SIMM, I could use it as a pure serial PostScript printer and
pretend that it's a DEC LN03R. (I would also want to disable PCL and make
it PS-only. HP doesn't really want you to be able to do it, but it can
be set to PostScript personality in the menu. It doesn't disable PJL
commands and those can still throw it back into PCL, but blocking the
ESC character in the UNIX daemon/filter driving it will stop it.)
Oh well, at least I'm glad I've found the MIO card for it with a serial
port, so I won't have to connect it to Ethernet (in fact I'll remove the
JetDirect card and put it in the closet out of my sight as soon as I get
it). It's just awful, a protocol kitchen sink.
But I may still some day get to play with an LPS, so I have saved your
information-packed message for that day. Thanks again!
MS
Hi everyone,
In my search for what would be the best laser printer for me, I'm
currently thinking about DEC LPS17, aka Digital PrintServer 17.
A DEC dealer close to me is willing to sell me one for a reasonable
price, and it seems like a really cool printer: just like the
LPS40/20/32 monsters, but fits on a tabletop.
Like all Digital PrintServers, it has a built-in VAX CPU running the
PostScript interpreter. However, the firmware image for this VAX,
containing the PS interpreter and everything else, does not reside in
ROM but is instead down-line loaded on powerup over Ethernet, I presume
via MOP. So it needs a MOP server on the network serving its firmware
image. I can set up a MOP server, but I don't have the LPS firmware
image.
So here comes my first question to the list: does anyone have an LPS
firmware image or is one publicly available on some archive site?
DEC docs seem to imply that the firmware is the same for all LPS'es, is
this true or not? I need an image that can run on LPS17 as that's the
only LPS I can get.
Second question. It is my understanding that once an LPS has booted its
firmware, it becomes an independent node on the network accepting print
jobs from anywhere on the network. Is this true or not? The protocols
it speaks are DECnet and TCP/IP, right? If so, how does it obtain its
DECnet and IP addresses? And if I want only one of the two, how do I
configure it? Does it down-line load a configuration file from the MOP
server along with the firmware image specifying DECnet and IP addresses?
What is the format of this file?
Third question. It is my understanding that the protocol spoken over TCP/IP
is extremely simple: no LPR/LPD or anything like that, just a simple TCP
port, you connect to it and everything sent to that TCP port goes to the
PostScript interpreter's %stdin, and this port is 170. Is my understanding
correct? If so, that's perfect, that's exactly what I want, I don't want
it to do any spooling or other lpd-level intelligence, I want my 4.3BSD
server to do all that, with a raw PostScript over Ethernet connection to
the LPS.
Fourth question. Is this PostScript-over-Ethernet connection on TCP port
170 binary clean, or is 0x04 (^D) interpreted as end of one PS job and
beginning of the next? In other words, does my lpd on the 4.3BSD host
driving it need to send a 0x04 between print jobs or should it close the
TCP connection and reopen it instead?
Fifth question. Is there any access control mechanism by which LPS firmware
can be configured to accept connections only from certain sources, or will
it always accept connections (and print jobs) from the entire Universe?
TIA for any help,
MS
Hello Jim,
I've just bought a HP1652B logic analyser on eBay. Now I'm searching
for the 10391b Inverse Assembler toolkit.
I've found your posting from 2002 on classiccmp.org.
The files don't seem to be downloadable from Agilent's FTP server anymore.
So may I kindly ask you if you could please send me the files for the
toolkit and Agilent's IAs by e-mail ?
Thank you for your help !
Greetings from Germany
Michael
--
Michael Reimann . Hardware Development
batalpha Bobach GmbH . Germany . www.batalpha.com
In the late 80's early 90's I wrote a viewdata BBS for the Acorn BBC. Due
to the fact that my beeb is currently broken I have no means of sorting all
my disks. When I find the time to fix it I'll probably find this program.
Cheers,
Eelco
>>> Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk(a)yahoo.co.uk> 06/15 11:31 >>>
On Tue, 2004-06-15 at 01:53, Pete Turnbull wrote:
> There were quite a few other viewdata services besides Prestel. Some
> large businesses used viewdata, a few bulletin boards did, the Open
> University, some banks, and it was widely used by travel agents --
> there was a special system run by a consortium for clearing holiday
> bookings. Derivatives included the French Minitel service, Germany's
> Bildschirmtext, and Canada had something too. The last commercial
> viewdata system I know of (Bank of Scotland HOBS service) finally
> closed last month (though it may still be running for special
> purposes).
I'd love to see the server-side of things running somewhere again
though.
It'd be nice to have a Prestel server at Bletchley with some assorted
80's machines hooked up to it (bodging the phone network inbetween :)
but chances are that nobody's got a copy of the necessary server
software any more :-(
Even if they did have the server software, I can't see them having a
snapshot of live data from the 80's which is what would make it really
interesting. I don't really fancy writing a few hundred fake pages :-)
I've heard mention of some sort of viewdata server system there (not
Prestel), although I haven't personally stumbled across it in storage
yet (no room currently to have it on display!). PDP hardware IIRC. I'll
have to find some more details and then see how viable it is to get
running again...
> It would seem that there is little point in finishing off the rough
> edges on my X-Windows Prestel terminal software ;-)
See above :-)
cheers
Jules
I've got a friend who's looking for a TC01 for sale or trade. Does anyone
have one?
Please e-mail me and I'll put you in touch with the interested party...
--
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 ]
Morning All,
I've pulled an old Raidion LTX SCSI RAID out of the closet in hopes of
using it to backup a small server (SS20) and need some help getting it
running again. For example, is replacing the drives a simple swap? The
existing ones are Micropolis 3243's but 2 of the four are dead and I'd
like to replace them with 4 Seagate 9.1GB narrow drives that are handy.
The company appears moribund (www.raidionsystems.com). The online
links to manuals are dead and email to the tech support address is
returned as undeliverable. Phone calls to Tech Support get voicemail
but no return call. Web searching leads to old product reviews, the
company homepage, and not much else that's useful.
Appreciate any leads to manuals or other documentation.
TIA for your help, Doug
Morning All,
I've pulled an old Raidion LTX SCSI RAID out of the closet in hopes of
using it to backup a small server (SS20) and need some help getting it
running again. For example, is replacing the drives a simple swap? The
existing ones are Micropolis 3243's but 2 of the four are dead and I'd
like to replace them with 4 Seagate 9.1GB narrow drives that are handy.
The company appears moribund (www.raidionsystems.com). The online
links to manuals are dead and email to the tech support address is
returned as undeliverable. Phone calls to Tech Support get voicemail
but no return call. Web searching leads to old product reviews, the
company homepage, and not much else that's useful.
Appreciate any leads to manuals or other documentation.
TIA for your help, Doug
Hi all,
I've just been looking through a box of old computer-stuff and found the
following small item:
It looks like a cartridge (8x5cm) for an Amstrad with a passthrough edge
connector and a lead (70cm) comming out with a 5-pin DIN plug (male) at
the end.
On the label it says:
Cirkit
Prestel Link
Amstrad Interface
Any help appreciated. Searches on Google gives nothing!
Cheers,
Carsten
On Jun 15, 9:31, Jules Richardson wrote:
> It'd be nice to have a Prestel server at Bletchley with some assorted
> 80's machines hooked up to it (bodging the phone network inbetween :)
> but chances are that nobody's got a copy of the necessary server
> software any more :-(
If only for local use, a small PBX or a few line emulators would do.
> Even if they did have the server software, I can't see them having a
> snapshot of live data from the 80's which is what would make it
really
> interesting. I don't really fancy writing a few hundred fake pages
:-)
You might be able to get some pages from peopel who used to run BBC
BBSs. Or people Rob and I know might have some dusty archives.
> I've heard mention of some sort of viewdata server system there (not
> Prestel), although I haven't personally stumbled across it in storage
> yet (no room currently to have it on display!). PDP hardware IIRC.
Some of the commercial systems did indeed use the ubiquitous PDP-11,
but the real thing ran on GEC hardware.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
to all the ranters (no matter what the subject), apply Thumper's Rule to what you say - in the movie Bambi - Thumper the rabbit was told by his mother - "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all." This list is for classic computers. Any chance you all can keep your personal feelings from wasting email bandwidth.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
-----Original Message-----
From: der Mouse <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca>
Sent: Jun 15, 2004 11:30 AM
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: WARNING: RANTING COMPUTER NUT...
> [...rant about the general dislike of peecees...]
> [they're here and not going away]. So lets stop the bashing, and
> just LEARN TO DEAL WITH IT!
Learn to deal with it, yes.
But I don't see that as a reason to stop the bashing. If the
criticisms were unfair, perhaps. But even you, in your rant, admit
they're broken on many levels (as compared to most other machines); I
see no particular reason to stop pointing out something that's broken
just because we're stuck with its presence.
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Hi
I thought I'd mention that I've written a simulator
for the 4004 in the environment of a SIM-4. One
could adapt it to most any hardware environment.
It is written in Forth so it can be quite flexible
for someone that knows Forth.
If anyone is interested, I can dig it up. With
a little time to refamiliarize myself with the
code, I can help connect up I/O.
It runs under FPC on a DOS PC platform. There is
a simple assembler and disassembler as well.
For someone wanting to do a 4004 project, it can
be quite useful at debugging code and hardware
concepts.
Dwight
I'm taking the liberty to forward this post from another list regarding
DEC info... Please reply to the author directly....
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Bob Camp <ham(a)cq.nu>
To: Don Robert House <drhouse(a)mchsi.com>
Cc: greenkeys maillist <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Teletype 33ASR and PDP8 Information
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 09:21:54 -0400
Hi
The KL8 and KL11 interfaces (and for that matter the DL11's later on)
had standard configuration entries for five level code. Has anybody
come across DEC code that drove five level machines like model 28's?
Obviously there was ham code out there that did the job, but was there
anything from DEC?
Thanks
Bob Camp
KB8TQ
On Jun 11, 2004, at 6:52 PM, Don Robert House wrote:
>> Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 17:48:47 -0500
>> To: "Roger F. Bindl - Webmaster" <rfbindl(a)hem.com>
>> From: Don Robert House <drhouse(a)mchsi.com>
>> Subject: ADD LINK TO NADCOMM SITE
>>
>> Roger
>>
>> Please add this link to the NADCOMM website.
>>
>> 33ASR and PDP8 Technical Information:
>>
>> <documentation.http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8cgi/query_docs/query.pl?
>> Search=teletype&stype=Partial+Word&dtype=Document+Sets&submit=Submit+Q
>> uery>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys(a)mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
_______________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
GreenKeys(a)mailman.qth.net
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Hi Joe
Al Kossow has schematics for this board. I don't recall
which ones were which but one of boards ( with a little bit
of modifications ) could have CP/M-8000 brought up on it.
If you want to try this with one of your intel floppy
cards, I'd try to help you. I can compile the code on my
Olivetti M20. It is mostly just getting the BIOS done
and a little fiddle faddle with the addressing.
Dwight
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
> I just posted some pictures of the AMC/AMD Z-8000 Multibus chassis and
>cards that I found last week at <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/amc/>. The
>chassis and CPU card are marked Advanced Micro Computer. AMC was a short
>lived division of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The CPU card is marked
>96/4116 Monoboard. The other two cards are wire wrapped. Most of the ICs on
>them are SSI ICs but the one card has a bunch of Singnetics PLS 105N
>Programmable Logic Sequencers.
>
> Joe
>