I'd just like to make an update for all who may be interested in that
potential PET to S100 bus device that I had sitting in storage.
I pulled it out tonight instead of studying for exams, and it is indeed
what was suspected.
The "motherboard" (if that is the correct term) is a Vector Graphic Inc.
S100 bus board. The RAM board that was being used for the PET, is a
Vector Graphic Inc. 16K Static RAM board with a date of 1977 on it. The
power supply says "KIMSI-PLUS Power Supply" on the back, 1977 from
Forethought Products.
This is all very wild, because I had no idea there was S100 stuff in this
house.
Anyway, the really interesting piece of circuitry is the PET to S100
interface board. It's the same size as the RAM board, and of course plugs
into the S100 bus. At the top of the board is a 50-pin connector that
plugs into a cable, that in turn plugs into the side memory expansion
connector on the PET 2001.
In white lettering, it says
.----------.
|_| | | |_||
| | |_| | || (<-- my cheezy attempt at duplicating the company
.----------' logo with ASCII, it's HUH surrounded by a question
.ELECTRONICS mark.)
S100 MPA
and etched into the board it says "COPYRIGHT 1978 BY HUH" and "S100 MPA
REV A".
The board isn't very heavily populated, compared to the RAM board, and
most of the chips are 74LSxx chips.
Anyone out there know more than I do about this thing?
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
| ----------
| From: Doug Spence[SMTP:ds_spenc@alcor.concordia.ca]
| Actually, I also want to build a kind of "SuperVIC" machine.
I want it to
| ba a luggable like my TeleVideo or Kaypro II
Um, isn't that a Commodore SX-64?
Kai
Whilst in a self-induced trance, hellige happened to blather:
>On 28-Apr-97, classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu wrote:
>
>>I seem to recall that Definicon made coprocessor boards (68000 series, and
>>maybe 32016 series as well) for PC's. You rean special language compilers
>>on the PC that converted your high-level source into machine code for the
>>68000 or whatever, and ran it on the coprocessor board
>
> What would be the point in doing this though, if the board didn't
emulate a
>specific 68000 series computer?
Jeff,
It's way past my bedtime, but I just had to comment on this post...
Believe it or not, the board doesn't have to emulate a specific 68K
computer... it *is* a specific 68K computer!
The board quite possibly was a system that would just use the PeeCee's
hard/floppy/parallel/serial (etc.) ports and would run OS-9/68K or another
viable 68K operating system of the day (Xenix?). This in itself is not
new... shortly after the IBM-PC came out there was a 68000 board for it
that ran OS-9. Remember, the 68K was first, and by then already had several
super-powerful (compared to MS-Dog) OS's available for the platform. I have
a review of one in an old copy of Byte laying around somewhere around here.
BTW, put away the asbestos... it's not a flame! I'm just tired (& cranky)
and don't have a bad case of run-on fingers like usual!
See ya,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should *not*
zmerch(a)northernway.net | be your first career choice.
Howdy,
I just thought of something. Are any of you using a database to
catalogue what software you use/have for these old machines?
I've got a database that came on a Big Blue Disk back around '88
called Software Indexer. It's small and all but has some nice
features including cascading menus with a lot of pre-defined
categories. These can be edited/deleted/added to.
There's not much data entry because of the menus/pick-lists.
Once you type in the name of the program everything else is a matter
of choosing what's there except for the comments field.
Here's examples that may interest you (jeez I sound like I'm
spamming a new product here). Example/sample of menu selections:
System
Macintosh
MFS (Old format)
HFS (Current format)
Lisa Office System
Apple II Series
Apple ProDOS 8
Apple ProDOS 16
Apple DOS 3.3
Apple DOS 3.2
Apple CP/M
Apple Pascal
Apple GEOS
Apple /// (SOS)
CP/M
CP/M-80
CP/M-86
CP/M-68K
Orphan Machines
Timex/Sinclair
TI 99/4
TI Professional
Osborne
Exidy Sorcerer
CompuColor 2
SOL-20
Ohio Scientific
Altair
Cromemco
Mainframes
DecSystem-10/PDP-10
DecSystem-20
RSTS
Multics
Minicomputers
IBM System 34/36
DEC VAX (VMS)
PDP-11
Video Game Systems
Atari VCS (2600)
Atari 5200
Atari 7800
ColecoVision
Magnavox Odyssey 2
Sega Master System
(more)
Medium
5.25" floppy
Double-density
High-density
Single-sided
"Flippy"
8" floppy
"Twiggy" (old Lisa)
And all the other stuff. Atari's, Amiga's, Commodore's, Intel x86,
etc.
Other categories/menus are Distribution & Category. All customizable
'til you run out of menu space (easy to do).
Anyhind, if anyone's interested I can zip it up and send it
to whoever's interested. It is/was shareware.
I used to get Big Blue Disk but don't remember if I got this from
there or from a BBS way back when.
Marc
--
>> ANIME SENSHI <<
Marc D. Williams
marcw(a)lightside.com (finger at: marcw(a)mail.lightside.com)
marc.williams(a)mb.fidonet.org
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/internet.html
> A guy at my
> work is supposed to give me his, which he says is a ][, but he's not
> always all there, so it could just be a ][+. But I would say a ][ is
> probably worth about $100 with some accessories, like a disk drive and
> monitor and the language card.
I just swapped a bare II/E for a Bare II. Going price for a bare IIE is about
$20 on the Apple newsgroups. Apple II's don't seem to be valued very much in
the Apple II newsgroup or for sale group.
Lou
In a message dated 97-04-26 20:44:04 EDT, you write:
> I also remember seeing Apple III's and Atari 800's on sale at Weinstock's.
> There was a strange time for a while in the late 70's and early 80's when
> many department stores had a "computer department". This was the case
> in Sacramento, was it like that in other cities?
>
> --pec
>
Yes Macy's in New York had a computer section in its electronic's department.
Lou
ClassicCmp - The Classic Computers Discussion List
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) v1.0
1.1 What is ClassicCmp?
1.2 Why is ClassicCmp?
1.3 What's a Classic Computer?
1.4 Who runs this thing?
1.5 Don't you know you're duplicating what others have done?
2.1 What can I talk about?
2.2 Can I talk about PCs?
2.3 Can I talk about Mini/MainFrames?
2.4 Can I post advertisments?
2.5 Can I ask people to give me their computers?
2.6 Can I ask for help fixing item x?
2.7 Where should I look before posting a dumb question?
3.1 How many subscribers are there?
3.2 How many subscribers use machine x?
4.1 Does ClassicCmp have a Web Site?
4.2 How come the Web Site is so ugly?
5.1 Where can I find Classic Computers?
5.2 How much is machine x worth?
5.3 Will 1000's of innocent machines be scrapped if I don't save them?
1.1 What is ClassicCmp?
It's a mailing list for the discussion of classic computers. Topics
center on collection (just hoarding), restoration, and operation.
It is also an appropriate place for stories and reminiscences of
classic computers.
1.2 Why is ClassicCmp?
Uh, why not? There are lots of people who love these old machines
and it seems like a fun idea to get together and talk about them.
1.3 What is a Classic Computer?
Any computer that has not been manufactured for 10 years is a classic.
This definition is one I made up and it's entirely arbitrary. It
seems to work OK, so I've kept it.
1.4 Who runs this thing?
That would be me, Bill Whitson. I'm a network administrator at the
University of Washington. This is one of my hobbies and I got tired
of waiting for someone else to create a list like this. I can be
reached at bcw(a)u.washington.edu.
1.5 Do you know you're just duplicating work other people have done.
Damn straight. That's what the internet's all about.
2.1 What can I talk about?
Anything related to classic computers as defined above. There are
many people on this list that really know what they're talking
about, so you might want to check facts before you start shooting
off messages.
2.2 Can I talk about PCs?
Yes. PCs which haven't been manufactured for 10 years. Even then
be aware that in many cases you would get a better response posting
to PC newsgroups.
2.3 Can I talk about Minis/MainFrames?
Yep. Lots of bulky computer folks here.
2.4 Can I post advertisements?
Sure. As long as they're related to _classic_ computers. And, of
course, use your brain - don't post repeatedly.
2.5 Can I ask people to sell/give me their computers?
Sure. But you're not likely to get a very nice response. Mine,
for example, would be: Get your own f***ing computer! There
are several people on usenet who will vouch for this.
2.6 Can I ask for help fixing item x.
Yes. Be aware that it may be difficult to help you fix things
if you don't have much knowledge of how computers work or of
how to use basic electronics tools (DMM, soldering iron, EPROM
burner, etc).
2.7 Where can I look before posting a dumb question?
It might be a good idea to take a look at what's available
in the Archive section of the ClassicCmp web site (see below).
3.1 How many subscribers are there?
Around 200, fluxing daily.
3.2 How many subscribers use machine x?
Don't bother asking me. If you really want to know go ahead
and post to the list. I really don't know what having a
number will do for you...
4.1 Does ClassicCmp have a web site?
Yep. http://weber.u.washington.edu/~bcw/ccl.html
4.2 How come the web site is so ugly?
How come a PET is so ugly? Who cares as long as it works?
5.1 Where can I find classic computers?
The best places seem to be thrift stores and swap meets. These
are closely followed by pawn shops and mom and pop computer stores.
The holy grails are electronics scrap yards - but they tend to be
wary of individual pick-and-choosers. Oh yeah - garage sales!
5.2 How much is machine x worth?
Precisely as much as you'll pay for it. Oh, you're selling it?
Then , precisely as much as I'll pay for it.
5.3 Will 1000's of innocent machines be scrapped if I don't save them?
Yes. This is the impetus behind every collectors tireless and
selfless effort. Each machine we fail to save has it's gold
parts mercilessly hacked off and sold (just like rhino horns - and
look at the rhinos). The remainder is then sent to China to be
made into bicycle spokes. Save a computer! Act now! Remind
you wife of the rhino and cuter, furrier animals. It might work.
The IEEE student group that I belong to here at
Oklahoma State just ran across an old z-80 based
machine called a paraDynamics PRONTO.
It seems to be a CP/M machine (we have a box of
floppies for the twin 8" drives, and some are
marked CP/M 86 and Microsoft Basic, etc.)
The guy who was gonna chunk it in the trash said
it had a USRobotics 1200 Baud modem and a 20 Meg
HD along with 64K or RAM.
He threw in a VT and soon as we can jumper around
the rusty keyswitch, we hope to get some type of
neat program to run on it for the heck of it,
we threw around the idea of a BBS (albeit a slow
one) possibly written in the BASIC that came with
the machine.
Has anyone used such a machine? Lets definately
keep up the thread on BBSes and if we write it
in a 4gl language, maybe a second list can be set
up for the distribution of source code.
BTW: we also got an IBM 5130.... It boots on
a READY prompt, but we have NO CLUE what to do
with it! We think the printer could be used
as a boat anchor.
hasta
scott
