14 May
1998
14 May
'98
10:24 a.m.
<I am interested in purchasing the North Star Horizon. I am not local
<and don't have a trade so would be a cash deal.
<
<Do you have any info about the machine such as amount of memory, type of
<floppy(ies), last known operating system, hard drive (if any), keyboard,
<monitor, and condition (working/nonworking).
Why?
It interests me why some one wants a particular machine especially since
you do not seem to know much about it.
FYI:
NS* were setup with 16-62k of ram. There were three common OSs run on
them NS*dos(nothing like PC dos), CP/M-80, there was also UCSD pascal
P-system. I believe NS*dos reached at least V5.4. They didn't not use
a monitor or keyboard as a terminal was commonly used.
Allison
14 May
14 May
5:42 a.m.
On 14 May 98 at 15:24, Allison J Parent wrote:
It interests me why some one wants a particular
machine especially
since you do not seem to know much about it.
Well, I can't speak for the person you were replying to, but in my
case I'm often interested in machines I know little to nothing about
because I'm interested in learning about them. Although you can
learn a lot without one, it can help if you have one to explore.
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
3:29 p.m.
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15 May
15 May
5:07 a.m.
At 01:29 15-05-98 +0100, Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Exactly! I've rescued two of the past business computers from my company
before being dumpstered. First, in 1991, was a 1982-vintage Hewlett Packard
HP250/30 of which I only knew a tiny bit but have learned a bunch since.
This was by simply tearing it apart, studying it, cleaning out much dust
and junk as part of my restoration, reassembling and firing it up. No
documentation whatsoever except for a small Command Reference Guide found
in a desk drawer. I have a stack of hand-drawn schematics of the CPU board
and parts of other boards plus part of the address map, etc. just from
spending time at it.
Next in May, 1997 I got a 1987-vintage IBM 9370 which is still a work in
progress as we've been very busy with buying and moving into a new house.
At least I have all the documents except for the OS manuals which a third
party software support vendor kept. From those docs and from tinkering with
the hardware I have learned a respectable amount but have more to go yet.
Would like to find IBM CE docs on this machine and the HP.
--Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/
On 14 May 98 at 15:24, Allison J Parent wrote:
Hmmmm... I've often accepted and/or rescued machines that I know nothing
about, and then found out about them by looking at the insides, playing
with them, getting the tech manual and reading that, etc. And I'll agree
that having the actual machine is a lot better than just reading the Fine
Manual. It interests me why some one wants a particular
machine especially
since you do not seem to know much about it.
Well, I can't speak for the person you were replying to, but in my
case I'm often interested in machines I know little to nothing about
because I'm interested in learning about them. Although you can
learn a lot without one, it can help if you have one to explore.
But, what is curious here is that somebody has asked for a particular
machine _by name_, and doesn't seem to know that much about it. Odd...
Well, I am looking for a decent DEC PDP-series machine though I don't know
(yet!) a lot about them. I've programmed a couple of DEC machines in
assembler and Pascal during various studies at the local college. That is
somewhat important to be a little prepared but it doesn't amount to much
because I have had virtually no hands-on hardware fun yet. Now I want to
get one to preserve and actually learn more upon. I've not asked here on
the list yet for one that's available, but someday within the next year or
so I will ask if one doesn't show up nearby to me beforehand.
My curiosity at wanting to learn how things work, such as what I've
reported above, has served me very well. I would not have the engineering
job such as I have now nor the activity I have in the antique radio
collecting hobby if I was not so interested. Life would be a whole heap
more boring IMO.
David Williams - Computer Packrat
-tony 
6:55 a.m.
>> > It interests me why some one wants a
particular machine especially
>> > since you do not seem to know much about it.
Agreed with the previous gentlemen. My latest blind rescue was that 68020
Cadnetix system, where the company went under 10 years ago and every
technical document on it seems to have ended up in a Colorado landfill. I
finally tracked down one of the original engineers (from on-line resumes,
of all things) to get some info on it. Granted, it's still dead (and from
what I've learned, probably will stay that way forever) but I'll be damned
if I didn't learn quite a lot from it. As for wanting a specific machine,
I have spent my entire life lusting after machines that I have never even
seen in person, let alone had detailed hardware experience with! What is
it that really makes us want these machines, anyway? Not to say that these
machines are useless, but nobody collects classic computers because of
their amazing processor speed or mammoth memories. It's a much more
rounded aesthetic, having to do with colours, shapes, sounds, etc. I could
easily *see* a computer that *looks* interesting and ask for one by name,
without even knowing where the power switch is. That's the whole fun of
it.
Aaron
3 p.m.
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4:39 p.m.
On Sat, 16 May 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
True... Especially at radio rallies where you see
something odd and pay a
few pounds/dollars to take it home. No idea what it actually is - it's
just interesting...
Just last week, I picked up a "Quorum A160" at a thrift. I couldn't tell
what it was. It had a small numeric keypad, but also had the letter "F" on
the keypad. It had a microphone input. An answering machine? No
telephone jack, but it did have a funky DIN connector. I took it home,
and powered it up. Recorded my voice, played it back. Cool. Punched some
buttons, and left it on the counter for a while.
Opened the front door to the house, and suddenly "WAHHHHHHHHH!".
Turned out it was an alarm system that was activated by presure changes
like a door or window opening. Pretty loud too. I'm glad I didn't find
the model with the anti-personnel mine option attached.
-- Doug
17 May
17 May
9:49 a.m.
Doug wrote:
Opened the front door to the house, and suddenly
"WAHHHHHHHHH!".
Thanks Doug. That one made me blow coffee all over my keyboard.
Still laughing,
R.
--
Robert Arnold
Managing Editor
The MonkeyPool
WebSite Content Development
http://www.monkeypool.com
Creator and Eminence Grise
Warbaby: The WebSite. The Domain. The Empire.
muahahahahaaaaa
http://www.warbaby.com
Dreadlocks on white boys give me the willies.
15 May
15 May
2:52 p.m.
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14 May
14 May
3:31 p.m.
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9564
days inactive
9567
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9 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
aaron＠wfi-inc.com -
allisonp＠world.std.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cfandt＠servtech.com -
dlw＠trailingedge.com -
rax＠warbaby.com -
yowza＠yowza.com