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101090 discussions

Video connectors (was: CGA Modes (Wuz: Win 3.0

by manney＠nwohio.nwohio.com

I had a customer who plugged in his IDE cable's middle connector (HDD one end, motherboard on the other) into the sound board's IDE pins, because "it looked like it fit." Some people will do ANYTHING! manney ---------- > From: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu > To: Manney > Subject: Re: Video connectors (was: CGA Modes (Wuz: Win 3.0 > Date: Tuesday, February 03, 1998 10:40 PM > > > <example, certainly is. I'm not saying we don't need 15 pins; I say we ne > <15 THICKER pins, and since this connector is typically the only connecto > <on the back of a VGA adapter, there's plenty of room. > > Par of the resoning was that it should have a connector that is not like > any other. if it were a standard db9 or db15 you'd have people plugging > into the serial port screaming it don't work. It's bad enough that you > have people that will force things no matter what. > > Allison >

28 years, 3 months

PS/1 How Much?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 98-02-04 13:25:22 EST, you write: << Hi. There's this guy, in Bahrain, who's got a PS/1 386 2MB RAM, that's been "sitting in his closet." Now, he wants to know what it would be worth. I want to know what it'd be worth, too. (There's going to be arguements.... I'm sure.) Anyway, condition is currently unknown, but assumed in working condition. >> post the model number and i can give more info about it. david

28 years, 3 months

Altair 8800b + drive alignment

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

I recently purchased an Altair 8800b from the original owner. He told me that last he used it (1984?), he was having trouble reading from the disk drive, and he was sure that it needed alignment. Apparently an alignment disk is required. I suspect an oscilloscope as well. I have two questions; 1) Can someone explain the process of aligning a disk drive, what is out of whack, and how tricky it is for a rank electronics amateur like myself 2) Where can I obtain an alignment disk, if required. Oh, I forgot to mention, the drive is an 8", the Altair model that has the same basic case and look of the Altair itself. This repair is one of the (I suspect) many that will be required to bring the Altair back to life. I've managed to get it (almost) firing up during the self-test stage, but one of the address lines doesn't behave (the light doesn't come on on A2 when I flick the switch that should light all of them, yet the light is operational at other stages). I'll get to that one later. Looks like a long, slow process. But worth it, no? Cheers Andrew

28 years, 3 months

Stupid bus tricks

by mtapley＠swri.edu

> >I thought the multiplexed NeXT "Zilla?" used the SCSI ports... > Zilla's copyright 1990, (so off-topic, please excuse me.). It uses regular ethernet networking. It's on my NeXT, but I've got no further information and no contacts about it. (If anyone else does, please contact me by email.) - Mark

28 years, 3 months

Slipsticks and calculators

by manney＠nwohio.nwohio.com

(I can remember the simpler functions (multiply, divide & the > like) but how to use the thing for calculus & whatnot I'm sure has > "slipped" my mind... (lame) Pun intended ;^> Lame is right -- you're slipping. You can'y use 'am for calculus...you must be thinking of trig. > > And tho we did have some TRS-80 Model 4's (and an old IBM Series/1) in high > school, I did use it occasionally during geometry / algebra class when > necessary -- took it to college a few times to, but just to watch people > gawk... ;-) I went through Navy Nuclear Power School in '76, and they were required...even tho' calculators were cheap, then. Texas Instruments was naming some of their calculators "SR" (for Slide Rule) up until the mid-80's, at least. My first one was the SR-10...the LED "wedge". $110, IIRC Was that TI's first? manney

28 years, 3 months

Altair 8800b + drive alignment

by adavie＠mad.scientist.com

The manual/documentation I have gives a procedure you can follow (manually flipping the switches all the way) which is a self-test. Following the procedure you can check if your 8800b is working correctly. Using this procedure I tracked down several problems (loose wires to fron panel) but still have the address light problem. I'll track down the procedure and explain further, if there is any interest. I appreciate the comments about the alignment problem, and can see how basically I should be concentrating on the Altair first. So thats what I'll do. More soon. Andrew -----Original Message----- From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, February 05, 1998 4:24 AM Subject: Re: Altair 8800b + drive alignment ><From CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Wed Feb 4 11:40:41 1998 > ><> This repair is one of the (I ><> suspect) many that will be required to bring the Altair back to life. ><> I've managed to get it (almost) firing up during the self-test stage >< ><"self-test stage"? Is this a turnkey model with a boot in ROM, ><or not? > >ALTAIR 8800b (with altair disk controller) used a boot program or a boot >rom card and DID NOT have anything resembling PC self test(or any >diagnostics). > >Allison > >

28 years, 3 months

Altair 8800b + drive alignment

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<From CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Wed Feb 4 11:40:41 1998 <> This repair is one of the (I <> suspect) many that will be required to bring the Altair back to life. <> I've managed to get it (almost) firing up during the self-test stage < <"self-test stage"? Is this a turnkey model with a boot in ROM, <or not? ALTAIR 8800b (with altair disk controller) used a boot program or a boot rom card and DID NOT have anything resembling PC self test(or any diagnostics). Allison

28 years, 3 months

How much do 8" Floppies hold?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I keep an 8" floppy disk in the front of my store to amaze people ("Jus <fold it twice and stick it in your drive...it holds a lot!") < <Just how much do (did?) they hold? (I'm sure there were different data <densities...just a range is all I want!) standard single sided single density was 128bytes*26 sectors*77 tracks or 256k. The high end is double density two sided and around 1mb. Allison

28 years, 3 months

PS/1 software

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

I used to support these machines but its been a while. i think the hard drive is proprietary, but i do remember someone somewhere mentioning adding a really big hard drive and getting it to work. send me another notice via private mail reminding me, and i will check on it when i get back to work. david In a message dated 98-02-04 00:20:43 EST, you write: << Yes, its a 2011-c34. I have no problem booting from the rom. I hear the hd spin up but then it slows down again and the light stays on. I get a 1701 error and an indication to press f1. After pressing f1 the computer boots from either the floppy or the rom. I wish I could have made backups first but it was doa when I got it. Do you know if the parts (hd floppy) are interchangeable with ps/2 hardware? Thanks for the software source tip. >>

28 years, 3 months

TRW Acquisitions, VCF/building s100 systems

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>They may work muost just pull the 360k drives from an XT. < < Aren't SA 400's single density? XT drives are Double Density. Yes, <they'll probably work but the media wouldn't be interchangable. Sa400 would do FM (single density) and MFM (double density). the 360k drive also do single density. It's the 1.2m 5.25" drives that are weird. < Do you have the old NS* software that will run on the Alrair? By default yes.. and no. The stuff will run on an altair but the IO which is personalized for my NS* with it's two serial ports. there is no way I can personalize it for the altair as I have no clue of the IO (serial boards used and their addreses). The NS* motherboard (backplane) has two serial ports and a parallel port plus a few other useful things so their configurations were easier to be certain of. You need to track down a set of NS* manuals or copies. FYI: NSdos requires a minimum 16k of ram starting at 2000h it does not use ram below 2000h (or care). Also it assumes the ports start at 00 and the port devices are 8251s with hard jumpered baud rates. If you are going to configure an altair you need manuals, more manuals and it doesn't hurt to be able do digital design to understand what they did. You see the docs with early altairs were not amoung the best. Most of what you may need to know often had to be extracted from the printsets by understanding the logic. then you have the non-altair boards plugged in that manuals are very handy for too. If the boards require extra or specific software (some terminal interface or video display boards) the hadware and software manuals may be needed. Allison

28 years, 3 months

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