I had never heard of the Jim Austin Computer Collection before...
https://www.computermuseum.org.uk/
«
The Computer Sheds
The Computer Sheds hold the Jim Austin Computer Collection, over 1500
computers and many thousands of other artifacts such as books,
calculators, spares, test equipment as well as a fine collection of
Radios and Valves (the RadioShed). It has some incredible items
including a computer that weighs over 10 Tons, a computer that ran for
over 30 years, one of the first computer mice, and many others. It is
one of the largest collections of computers and related technology
anywhere.
»
1min video:
https://www.facebook.com/bbchumberside/videos/3790794644572336
--
Liam Proven
Was updating my punch card database/site, www.ibmjunkman.com, and found something I don’t remember.
The 026/029/129 keypunch units printed above row 12 using a dot matrix style character. I still marvel at the plate and the whole mechanism that did the printing. The 557 Interpreter could print on different rows using a solid type slug to print.
I have run across cards that had dot matrix type printing on rows other than above the 12 row. Any idea what machines could do this?
If any of you old unit record guys have any cards laying around I would love to add them to my collection. Needless to say the stock 5081 would have to be real unique for me not to have it already.
Donald
I had not realized that 43 yrs. ago Microsoft purchased 86-DOS for $50,000
– US not Cdn. money. With this purchase the PC industry, IBM’s version
thereof, began. I remember using it to do amazing things, moreso than what
8-bit machines could do!
Happy computing.
Murray🙂
All,
I'm getting ready to dig into my RK05s, two of which are parts units, of which I hope to make a functional unit. I will definitely need to align it as heads from one will have to go into the other. Does anyone have an alignment/CE pack I can buy or borrow? Obviously prefer pick-up at VCF MW to avoid the possibility of shipping loss or damage.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Here is a list of some items I can bring to VCFMW if requested. I am not
going to bring them unless there is interest in them.
Celebris 560 830WW (I think that is this one)
Venturis 466 d54 WW
Venturis 575 921WW
DECpc 433dxLP PC473
2) PCWXE-A2 DECpc
DECpc 433 workstationPCW10-A2
DEC 3000 400 PE40A-CC missing cover, parts machine?
VS43A-CZ VAXstation 4000 60
few 3100 parts units
storage expansion box
VAX CPU, memory, option boards
Q-bus CPU, memory, option boards, most boxes
UNIBUS 100's of boards
LA36 Printers
LA120 printers
I recently picked up a Tektronix XP214M - a MIPS-based, monochrome X
terminal from late 1994. I thought I was going to need XPressWare 7 or
later, but I haven't been able to turn up anything like that except the
8.1 patches shared on this list a couple years ago (thanks Doc!). And
something about the fragments I pulled out of that wasn't working...
XpressWare 6.3 is available on Bitsavers (thanks Al!), but appears to
date from October 1993. I thought that would be a non-starter, since it
predated the announcement of the XP214 by a year. But the v8 docs, and
NC Bridge docs from after NCD bought the Tek X terminal line, indicated
the binaries for the XP350 were used for the XP200 models, and the
terminal was loading the v8.1 "os.350" successfully, it just died later
in the boot process...
So I tried booting the terminal from the 6.3 tree, and it worked the
first time.
It may be possible to tease out what's missing or incorrectly placed
from the v8.1 patch files, but I'm more concerned with getting something
running where the X networking hasn't been neutered...
FYI,
--Steve.
https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View…
FORT MEADE, Md. — In one of the more unique public proactive
transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to
date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt.
Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982.
The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and
People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future
challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable
insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the
fields of computer science and mathematics.
Rear Adm. Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician,
and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of
the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer
programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of
machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC
programming language she created using this theory was later extended
to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use
today. In 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded Rear Adm. Hopper
the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian
honor, awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious
contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S. — for
her remarkable influence on the field of computer science.
While NSA did not possess the equipment required to access the footage
from the media format in which it was preserved, NSA deemed the
footage to be of significant public interest and requested assistance
from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to
retrieve the footage. NARA’s Special Media Department was able to
retrieve the footage contained on two 1’ APEX tapes and transferred
the footage to NSA to be reviewed for public release.
NSA recognizes Rear Adm. Hopper’s significant contributions as a
trailblazing computer scientist and mathematician, but also as a
leader.
"The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the
compiler, is training young people," Rear Adm. Hopper once said. “They
come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say,
'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as
they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to
take chances."
Folks,
Some one in Solihull in the UK has a few terminals, including a VT420, for
sale on Facebook UK.
They appear to be complete with keyboards but otherwise as-seen.
Sadly they are in a private group so you will need to join Facebook and the
group to see them.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/vintagecomputerswapmeet/posts/81591725341583
87/
but if you don't want to do this and are interested contact me off list..
Dave
G4UGM