5 Nov
2010
5 Nov
'10
6:18 p.m.
Hi all -
Just got myself a Terak 8510/c workstation, in pretty decent shape. I'm
going over it, and preparing to power it up (after testing the power
supply). Anyone know any details about this particular model? (And
what technical differences there are between the /a and the /c?) There
appears to be a good amount of information about the 8510/a, but I can't
find a thing about the /c variant. The /c appears to be considerably
newer (mine dates from around 1982 and is branded Calcomp on the front),
seems to have replaced the single internal 8" drive with two half height
8" drives, and the keyboard and monitor are completely different.
A service manual would be extremely helpful -- a few of the
double-height QBus cards came loose during shipping and were banging
around and I'm not sure yet what the order is supposed to be (I guess
I'll have to figure out whether the backplane is serpentine or not...
shouldn't be too hard) and it'd be useful to know what the power supply
pinouts are so I can test the voltages.
And while I'm at it -- has anyone archived any Terak floppies? There's
nothing on Bitsavers and I can't find anything anywhere else. Be nice
to have some software to run on this thing after I get it running again :).
Thanks as always,
Josh
5 Nov
5 Nov
6:36 p.m.
On 11/5/10 6:18 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
Hi all -
Just got myself a Terak 8510/c workstation, in pretty decent shape. I'm going over
it, and preparing to power it up (after testing the power supply). Anyone know any details
about this particular
model? (And what technical differences there are between the /a and the /c?)
I'll check to see if I have anything that isn't on line. John Foust should have
some of this.
I've got a couple of the CPUs (also Calcomp), but no keyboards.
8:11 p.m.
In article <4CD4ACEF.60003 at mail.msu.edu>,
Josh Dersch <derschjo at mail.msu.edu> writes:
And while I'm at it -- has anyone archived any
Terak floppies? There's
nothing on Bitsavers and I can't find anything anywhere else. Be nice
to have some software to run on this thing after I get it running again :).
I have a complete system with a number of floppies. I've been meaning
to send them to Al for archiving...
--
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<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
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8:31 p.m.
On 11/5/10 8:11 PM, Richard wrote:
I have a complete system with a number of floppies.
I've been meaning
to send them to Al for archiving...
8010/a or /c ?
CHM has a few hand-labeled Terak floppies, probably from the 8010/a's
that we have.
Josh, which video card do you have? The later machines used 7220-based
cards (just color ones?)
I dug up a few more documents, but nothing all that interesting.
There was also someone working on a simulator at one point
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bk-terak-emu/
6 Nov
6 Nov
1:22 a.m.
In article <4CD4CC23.4000503 at bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
On 11/5/10 8:11 PM, Richard wrote:
The nameplate doesn't say A or C:
<http://picasaweb.google.com/legalize.slc/Terak#>
I have a complete system with a number of
floppies. I've been meaning
to send them to Al for archiving...
8010/a or /c ? CHM has a few hand-labeled Terak floppies, probably
from the 8010/a's
that we have.
I have a fairly large number of them and they include Pascal, RT-11
and a music system.
I dug up a few more documents, but nothing all that
interesting.
I have some documentation, but I don't think its anything that isn't
already on bitsavers.
There was also someone working on a simulator at one
point
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bk-terak-emu/
Cool, didn't know about that. Looks like the only thing holding him
back on the Terak is a ROM dump.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
6:18 a.m.
At 03:22 AM 11/6/2010, Richard wrote:
No, that project has been idle for years, and was no more than speculation
on that person's part that a Terak emulation would be as easy as
any 11/03 emulation. The Terak has its own graphics hardware that
you'd need to emulate. It may not be difficult by today's standards,
and we all have the boards to decipher. John Wilson was once
interested in adding support to Ersatz-11.
- John
The nameplate doesn't say A or C:
<http://picasaweb.google.com/legalize.slc/Terak#>
That says 8510. Good catch on that 10/4 email that was forwarded to
the list; I didn't see "Calcomp Terrac" or I would've jumped on it!
This is the 8510/a. Without consulting my docs, and my brain may
be faulty, but I think the /c just means it was sold with the
8512 second drive. Google "terak 8510/c" and all you find is
a message from me in 1996 saying that I have one, which
surprised even me.
And of course clean out the rotted foam. Did you plug it in?
All of my Teraks are non-functional now. Someday I'll debug
which caps have gone south. At least I saved the pieces.
I have a fairly large number of them and they include
Pascal, RT-11
and a music system.
There's a Unix attempt or two, too. I haven't ever run MINN/DRAFT.
I don't know if that software is archived in anyone else's collection.
Perhaps that guy has more floppies in a box somewhere. I would guess
based on his college association in La Crosse that this system was
there since its purchase, and they had a connection up the big
river to U-Minn. Or maybe this is one of the multitude that
UW-Madison once bought, and that landed over there.
There was also
someone working on a simulator at one point
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bk-terak-emu/
Cool, didn't know about that. Looks like the only thing holding him
back on the Terak is a ROM dump.
2:27 p.m.
In article <201011061323.oA6DN3Op084629 at billY.EZWIND.NET>,
John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> writes:
And of course clean out the rotted foam. Did you plug
it in?
Not yet. Its on the list to be reconditioned.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
6 Nov
6 Nov
2:11 a.m.
On 11/5/2010 8:31 PM, Al Kossow wrote:
Josh, which video card do you have? The later machines used 7220-based
cards (just color ones?)
Looks like it's got a 7220D in it. The monitor appears to be
monochrome. I put up some pictures of the machine and its PCBs at:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/terak/
Also, it appears that I got two Terak floppies with the machine -- they
were left in the drives. Probably not the best way to ship floppies
across the country. One of them is a lost cause, the magnetic media is
delaminating, but I was able to make an image of the other, and I put it
up (in IMD and raw format) at:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/computers/software/terak/
Scanning the dump for strings reveals:
"MINN/DRAFT COMPUTER-AIDED DRAFTING SYSTEM DEVELOPED AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA JUNE 20, 1980"
So I guess that makes it relatively clear what the disk contains :).
- Josh
9:11 a.m.
On 11/6/10 2:11 AM, Josh Dersch wrote:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/terak/IMG_0512.JPG
main difference I see is the keyboard and monitor connector panel.
It's probably a bit of a hassle, but could you get a picture of the
guts of the keyboard/montor back panel assembly? The keyboard looks
like a Keytronics with a serial interface, similar to the ones we
used on the later AED terminals.
I'm guessing they added a deserializer to the back panel assembly.
noon
On 11/6/2010 9:11 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
On 11/6/10 2:11 AM, Josh Dersch wrote:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/terak/IMG_0512.JPG
main difference I see is the keyboard and monitor connector panel.
It's probably a bit of a hassle, but could you get a picture of the
guts of the keyboard/montor back panel assembly? The keyboard looks
like a Keytronics with a serial interface, similar to the ones we
used on the later AED terminals.
I'm guessing they added a deserializer to the back panel assembly.
Sure thing. I'm out of town this weekend, but I'll take some pictures
early next week. (I need to take the thing apart anyway to get all the
bits of old foam out of it.)
The good news is the power supply seems to be OK (the voltages are
actually listed on a panel on the inside I didn't see the first time I
went over it.) The bad news is it doesn't do much when I power it on.
It blinks the drive access light in a regular pattern (I'm wagering this
is a diagnostic code) but that's it. I don't suppose anyone knows what
these codes are?
Josh
7 Nov
7 Nov
9:54 p.m.
On 11/6/2010 12:00 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
On 11/6/2010 9:11 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
>
> It's probably a bit of a hassle, but could you get a picture of the
> guts of the keyboard/montor back panel assembly? The keyboard looks
> like a Keytronics with a serial interface, similar to the ones we
> used on the later AED terminals.
>
> I'm guessing they added a deserializer to the back panel assembly.
>
>
Took a few pictures of the back panel for the keyboard/monitor.
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/terak/panel/
Those should cover the entire assembly, let me know if you need anything
else.
Josh
6 Nov
6 Nov
2:30 p.m.
In article <4CD57E46.1050200 at bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
It's probably a bit of a hassle, but could you get
a picture of the
guts of the keyboard/montor back panel assembly?
I can do that for my system if it would help.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
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