13 Nov
2005
13 Nov
'05
12:48 a.m.
Subject: Re: FPGA VAX update, now DIY TTL computers
From: Scott Stevens <chenmel at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 19:27:33 -0500
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 17:16:54 -0500
Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
XT and XT clone motherboards are becoming increasingly rare. 286 and 386 motherboards are
falling into that class rapidly. 486 motherboards are still around but gradually becoming
rare, too.
What I have lying around in big annoying quantities at this point in time is all Pentium
and Pentium II motherboards. And actually, most of them are 'lying around'
because they've become defective and due to the finer pitch and custom-chip
construction are unservicible. All the XT hardware I still have is either working or
easily repairable.
Full AT hardware, i.e. motherboards before the 'Baby AT' generation, is close to
being 'key' as far as scarcity. The hardware of that era was a magnitude of scale
more expensive than the huge fleet 'Baby AT' that came after it. And much of it
was built like a Sherman Tank, as compared to the disposable humvee quality of the Baby AT
era hardware. Early and slow (less than 16 MHz) full AT '386 motherboards are quite
rare now. (aside- yes, in the eyes of the military the Humvee, like the Jeep before it,
is a cheap throwaway transport)
And oddly, at this point in time, people like me find ourselves with far more middle-era
Sun Microsystems hardware than we can use. Those nice little lunchbox Sparcs and Pizza
Box systems are plentiful and you can cart them off in whatever quantity they are
available at surplus gear auctions. They used to be the star item at said auctions.
There are historical books now that show all the wonderful architecture that has been
destroyed, i.e. the 'Lost Twin Cities' book and video series highlights some
marvelous buildings that were demolished in the name of 'progress.' Time rolls
on, and what's missed sorely 20 years after is always whatever was knocked down. This
also remains the case with old computer gear. Nobody imagined ten years ago that anybody
would have any use for a 8 MHz full-AT 80386 motherboard, so nobody kept any.
Ummm. Same as it ever was.
Save for the INboard386 (38616 for AT processor replacement) and the SIIG3000
bick thats a real 5mb, IDE disk and floppy 386/16 powered system I keep as
it's plain handy! It not only does VGA but RS170 video. I do have a small
footprint 386/25 (or 8mhz with turbo jumper off) board I keep as its plain
cute and works too.
Nope nobody kept them. ;)
Allison
Subject: Re: FPGA VAX update, now DIY TTL computers
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:33:43 +0000 (GMT)
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
There are tons of mostly unidentifyable boards with usable parts or we
know what they are and maybe they even work but heck there's a stack
of 100 in the corner with good parts for salvage.
Examples of salvage to me XT clones that were never rare, 386 and 486
boards with salvageable parts. A sharp TV with a dead red drive from
a doitall chip is junk for stripping. Non-salvage items, things I
keep and fix like my uVAX ADVICE as it's an in circuit emulator for
the uVAX chip so it both maybe the last in existance and unusual.
There is junk and not. The junk is there to make the not junk work.
One can have too much junk, rarely!
On 11/11/2005 at 11:12 PM woodelf wrote:
>PS. As for getting 7400 off scrap boards, if I had the scrap boards I
>would most likely try to get the scrap item working again. :D
Me too. I've got piles of obscure boards that I'd like to get going again
sometime. Most have no real practical function, but are part of the
history of computing/electronics.
About the only thing I'll raid for parts are no-name clone PC
motherboards and cards.. And those are not a good source of standard TTL,
alas.
There are plenty of junk boards that have no particular useful function.
I've got a bunch of ISA cards that I salvaged. All were old models of a
gizmo that appeared to a PC as a monochrome adapter, but which translated
the CPU writes to video memory to serial codes to a VT-220 type terminal.
Now that sounds unusual enough to be very interesting. Put it this way,
if I had something like that I'd be trying to track down a dump of that
missing ROM. I would not be raiding it for parts.
-tony