allisonp(a)world.std.com (Allison J Parent) wrote:
> Gee Frank vt100 was not the only thing in the list.
Granted, on re-reading it (and thinking a bit) you did mention an
H19 and that is not a VT100-compatible or superset.
But what really got my attention was the statement that the HP
terminals won't work. They work just fine, providing you've got the
straps set right. And while you can set the straps so the terminal
starts in block mode I can't recall that being done ever in the last
20 years save by accident (typically user getting into config menus
and whacking buttons not knowing how to get back out, getting
frustrated, calling me to come out and reset the configuration).
And what was I really reacting to? Well, yeah, this is one of my hot
buttons from way back, and I apologize if I came across too strong.
> A terminal emulator on a PC was suggested as if you posted here it's a
> fair likelyhood you have a PC. I'd have suggested a MAC and term emulator
> but I don't know that space.
And as I said that's probably more functional. Quite frankly that's
one of the reasons I carry an HP palmtop and keep a couple of the
older HP Portable Pluses around: the former makes a tolerable LCD
VT100-alike and the latter do good VT100 and HP emulation (with
Reflection in ROM).
-Frank McConnell
allisonp(a)world.std.com (Allison J Parent) wrote:
> < I'd like to get away from having to use a terminal. The only terminal
> <I have are big HP things and I don't know if they would work with the
> <Altair (too fast?, block mode instead of character mode?)
>
> The hp thing would not work. Try and scrounge up a vt100 or other more
> commonplace terminal vt100, vt220, heath/zenith h19, PC running Procomm
> or other term program.
Remember complaints about programmers thinking "all the world's a
VAX"? Now it's time to work on the ones who think "all the world's a
VT100."
I used to use an HP2645 as a terminal on a Compupro CP/M system, so
am sure it can be done. But it definitely depends on the expectations
of the software running on the computer. If it isn't assuming
anything more capable than a Teletype, things will be fine. If your
BIOS or other terminal I/O support wants the terminal to do ^S/^Q flow
control it will be disappointed (264xs don't, 262xs and later can be
configured to do so but don't by default). If your applications
expect the terminal to act like a VT100 by way of responding to VT100
or ANSI escape sequences (i.e. suffering from "all the world's a
VT100" disease) then the easiest thing to do is to get a VT100-alike
as Allison suggests.
All that said, if you want help getting the HP terminal working feel
free to ask. If you'd sooner use a terminal emulator on some other
computer, that's OK too and probably more functional.
-Frank McConnell
At 19:54 29/01/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Am I sure they're RJ11, no. They're physically the same jack with six
>live wires. But beyond that, how would I know???
Because DEC plugs are different from RJ11:
RJ 11= 4 pin; DEC=6
They share the same insertion size, but the DEC have "unplug key" not in the
center
as other RJ's
ASCII-SAMPLE I=========I I=========I
I ^^^^ I I ^^^^^^ I
I I I I
I-----i_i-I I---i_i---I
DEC RJ11
>Does Xenix see these when it loads or do I have to tell it?
You need its own device driver to let it go.
>(Xenix/at 2.2.1)
>
>Do you if they are compatible/similar to anything that might recognise
>the board and work it in today's UNIX world???
They were made for today's Unix world.
The problem is to find its own software.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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? AND PHONECARDS I-47100 Forli'/Emilia-Romagna/Food Valley/ITALY ?
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????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
At 13:15 13-01-98 -0500, William Donzelli <william(a)ans.net> wrote:
>> Me too! But I think a 4381, say or even a 9370, would be easier to work
>> on.
>
>Getting a 9370 should not be a problem - they are dogs that really were
>not sucessful. I have seen quite a few in the scrap yards (none suitable
>for taking, however).
>
I'll agree it's no problem. I got the old 9370 from my company setting at
home. Paid an official $1 to act as a transfer of ownership. It's just
barely a classic now. Obsolete as heck -not too long after we paid $200k+
for it in '86/'87. Lot of Tylenol used to sooth aching back muscles when I
dragged it home piece-by-piece. (Should have seen the wife look at me...)
It's a dog, but nevertheless, something important in the line of S/370
lineage which I literally rescued from the dumpster.
Notably, it is said to be the first actual production unit sold. Don't
exactly recall complete serial number, but it probably is first since it is
something like xxx0001. Will get back to the list later with SN, etc. if
anybody interested in confirming this.
I need OS books (VSE, I think) and help in bringing her completely up.
Xerox, I believe, kept the OS manuals since they did all the software
maintenace under contract. IBM did hardware maintenance, of course. We used
the Xerox Business Management System (XBMS) product to run our company.
Have virtually all other hardware books and most periferal books safely at
home.
Heard that AIX could run on the 9370 under (I think) VM or something. Any
AIX and VM OS's around that I could scrounge for this iron??
Have tried to bring it up at home but, apparently, lack of certain
periferals it expects to see hung off the terminal ports causes the IPL to
quit before OS completely loads. Need a guru or present-day user to help
figure this out.
Any of you folks willing to help me with this project later in the year???
Wife and I just bought another house and will not be settled until
summertime or later. I'm making provisions during my rewiring of the house
to include a 30A double-pole breaker since the 9370 takes 230V, single
phase. Will duct the air coming out of the CPU to heat the house instead of
using the furnace (just kidding, but there's quite a few BTUs dumped outta
the thing and could keep the house above freezing in the winter at least.)
Will tell the list anything more on this machine if any interest.
Regards, Chris
-- --
=======================================================
Christian Fandt Phone: +716-488-1722 -Home
111 Harding Avenue +716-661-1832 -Office
Jamestown, New York Fax: +716-661-1888 -Office fax
14701-4746 USA email: cfandt(a)servtech.com
<I remember CUTS, but someone else mentioned 88-ACR and I'd never
Altair cassette interface which was narrow FSK at 300baud. The actual
board set was called 88-ACR and was a mits sio with a modified modem
board (tx/rx frequencies the same).
bell 103 uses differet tones for TX and recieve so for modem use it was
useless. It is however narrow FSK.
Allison
At 07:07 AM 2/2/98, you wrote:
> If you run it with no ERPOM burner attached, it will probably give you
>an error message stating that the burner is not attached to port X. That
>should give you a clue.
It runs fine, it doesn't go out looking for the burner until you tell it to
actually burn something.
-John Higginbotham-
-limbo.netpath.net-
> >I found a Channel F on saturday. I'm having some problem with it:
> What is a channel F, some kind of game machine like an Atari? There is
> (was?) a Fairchild game machine in a trift store here. I don't remember
> the name but I don't think it was channel F.
The Fairchild Channel F is an old video games console - I believe it
predates the original Atari VCS by a few months. They're regarded as
pretty neat finds these days.
To the original poster - you may have better luck asking on the classic
videogames mailing list (classic-videogames(a)moose.webworks.ca) or if you
have usenet access, on rec.games.video.classic.
--
Ben Coakley http://www.math.grin.edu/~coakley coakley(a)ac.grin.edu
Station Manager, KDIC 88.5 FM CBEL: Xavier OH
Wow, this is global. -Mtn Goats
From: Frank McConnell <fmc(a)reanimators.org>
<Remember complaints about programmers thinking "all the world's a
<VAX"? Now it's time to work on the ones who think "all the world's a
<VT100."
Gee Frank vt100 was not the only thing in the list.
I suggested those as I know they are common and usable. up here in MA
(DEC country) they are as common as house flies. Actually an adm1 or
three was more likely then.
A terminal emulator on a PC was suggested as if you posted here it's a
fair likelyhood you have a PC. I'd have suggested a MAC and term emulator
but I don't know that space.
Allison
Actually, I think that OS/2 prices'll drop soon. As for Linux, there are
several "minimal distrobutions" avaible. One is called "Mini-Linux" which
includes X-Windows, several games, a word processor, etc. as well as full
Linux support, and runs under MS-DOS FAT 16 or FAT 32, as well as OS/2's
system, no repartitioning necessary. It also is in 4 .zip files, each under
1.44MB for diskettes. Another is called "Monkey", which includes Navigator,
X-Windows, all kinds of stuff, and once again, runs without a partition.
Each take up no more than 30MB. I haven't gotten either working. If anyone
can help me.... anyway, they're both first class operating systems.
Ciao,
Tim D. Hotze
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk <Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, February 02, 1998 8:43 PM
Subject: Re[2]: Development, round II
>> > >BTW What is Warp? Is it the OS/2 windowing system? If so, why would
I
>> > >want to use it at all, let alone on a 286? ;-)
>> >
>> > Warp is OS/2v3. You couldn't use it on a 286, but if you had, say, a
>> > 486/33 -- do pardon me for mentioning a nine-year-old part -- it would
>> > begin to be worth playing with. My copy of Warp is still very much to
>> > hand, and I think anyone who can scrounge up an appropriate computer
should
>> > run it (for a while) if they have the opportunity, because it's a real
>> > education.
>>
>> Runs just peachy on my old 386/25. Faster than Windows 3.1 did, not
>> that that's a compliment. I will admit that I prefer it, though of
>> course all of my high-end machines run Linux.
>
>I seem to be reading a lot of good things about OS/2 here apart from the
>price. Since it looks as though I may have found a source of decent
>hard disk drives for my Compaq LTE Lite 20 machines I shall seriously
>consider OS/2 for one of them. The other one, of course, will run
>either Linux or Free BSD - Linux seems to have the vote so far.
>
>Thankyou everyone.
>
>Philip.
>
> > >I don't know of any *real* military surplus stores around SF anymore;
> > >though you'd think there would be some, what with Mare Island Naval
> > >ShipYard, Treasure Island, Alameda (Nuclear Wessels!), The Presidio,
etc.
I know. The Nuclear Wessels were hard to find. Actually, back to the
off-topic topic, there *might* be another wave of stuff, depending on how
many new gadgets various govenrment branches can make, and what we end up
doing with Iraq. (Albright's coming here tommorow.)
> > >There are a few electronics surplus stores around, especially down in
the
> > >(silicon) valley.
Wha? (That seems strange to me)
> As far as military surplus electronics goes, the end-all and be-all will
> always be Fair Radio Sales of Lima, OH. They're even on the web now:
> http://alpha.wcoil.com/~fairadio/
>
>Yeah, but they're still a rip-off. Their prices were high in the
>late 70's when I used to get their catalog, and they're high now.
Of course they are. I mean, as has been pointed out, they can make a profit
out of it. And, people GIVE them the money. I'm betting that many of the
people buying the stuff haven't even heard of Hamfests.
Also, on Classifieds 2000, they've got UNREASONABLE prices on classics
under "Old Computers." I mean, I got a II+ form Jeff Kaneko for $10, and I
saw several advertised, as "Real Rare Classics" for 3 digit figures. And,
if people can make money that way....