You know, I've been wanting to get one of these 'CatWeasels'
so I could make Commodore disks. I've never met anyone who
has purchased one of these. If any one here has, I'd like to hear
about it.
BTW-- DOes anyone know what a Central Point 'TransCopy 3'
board does? It's an ISA floppy interface, but that's about all I know
about it.
I picked up someplace, and I don't even know if there's software
for it . . . .
Jeff
On Thu, 1 Oct 1998 17:04:03 -0700 Paul Kearns <paulk(a)microsoft.com>
writes:
>> Is there a device that would allow _any_ disk, independently of
>> format, including Apple ][ disks, to be read?
>>
>You can look at http://members.tripod.com/~apd2/catweasl.htm for an
>ISA card
>that'll (allegedly) read several MFM and GCR formats, including
>Commodore,
>Amiga, FAT, Atari, Macintosh, and Apple //.
>
>I haven't ever used one, so I can't comment on its reliability, but it
>might
>be worth investigating.
>
>Paul Kearns
>paulk(a)microsoft.com
>
___________________________________________________________________
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Dah. What could be more fun eh.
But seriously folks, I have too many email accounts and I consistently bore
this august group with my personal replies. Please excuse me once again. And
Dougie, you better be kidding...
IBM did similar thing at a graphics conference in the early 1980s. Over a
week they installed a 3090 on the show floor. I hear there is a time-lapse
video of the event.
OK, who's got something big enough, close enough, in working condition, and
knows how to do a professional install? We know you're out there.
>On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Unusual systems wrote:
>
>> Here's an idea for 3.0...get somebody close by with a working, large mini
>> configuration or small mainframe and have them spend all day assemblying and
>> wiring and booting it and demonstrating it the next day. A good full install
>> should day all at least.
>
>There goes Kevin trying to scare off collectors again! Let's demo both
>the install and the de-install and simulate a tie getting caught in the
>line printer, the 600 lb disk drive dropping on toes, a couple of
>high-voltage mishaps, and the disk-drive-as-fly-wheel effect as the truck
>drives away and then tips over when it tries to make a turn. :-)
>
>-- Doug
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems
+1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5
Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from
the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles.
Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers &
Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6
.
OK, it just booted. The only difference was I turned the VT420 off, and
the BA123 had been sitting powered off while I wrote my panic message. I
decided to give it one more try before crashing for the night in dispare.
I'm totally confused. Either it needed to sit for a few minutes, or the
terminal needed power cycled. Or maybe it was waiting for me to panic and
act foolish :^)
Argh! Ideas?
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
OK, I had the PDP-11/23+ board in place, and the system loaded up. I was
testing out the memory boards I've got by swapping them in. It didn't seem
to like a pair of clearpoint memory boards I've got, and then I put in the
M8637-EC board, and NOTHING works. It won't even come up with the info on
the /23+ ROM. I've a very bad feeling about having put ECC RAM in it.
I went so far as to pull out all the boards, nothing. I swapped the /23+
with a /73 and still nothing! What on earth did I do? The diagnostic LEDs
on the /23+ are D1, D2, and D4 unfortunatly the manual I've got on the
board doesn't seem to explain what the LEDs mean.
It's as if I managed to fry the backplane, but that really doesn't make sense.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
If interested reply to Joseph Kimball instead of me.
Zane
>Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 10:40:14 -0600
>From: "Joseph Kimball" <HPJKimba(a)ihc.com>
>To: healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com
>Subject: Re: classic computers
>
>I am in Utah.
>I actually have two PCjr monitors, three PCjrs with 128k, and one sidecar
>with 512k, and one sidecar with a parallel port, and one sidecar with a
>voice synthesizer, and one external floppy drive.
>The floppies don't work properly, and will only occaisionally boot to DOS.
>- Joseph
>
>- Joseph Kimball
>IHC Health Plans
>Service Desk
>
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
>Xref: world alt.sys.pdp11:5205
>Path: world!blanket.mitre.org!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!Supernews73!supernews.com!Supernews69!not-for-mail
>From: "Eric" <evb(a)citx.com>
>Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11
>Subject: pdp11/44 free to good home in TX
>Date: 2 Oct 1998 02:01:12 GMT
>Organization: http://www.supernews.com, The World's Usenet: Discussions Start Here
>Lines: 13
>Message-ID: <01bdeda9$0467a840$22a442c6(a)moonpie.citx.com>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.66.164.34
>X-Trace: 907293672 0R4SAZH0CA422C642C usenet54.supernews.com
>X-Complaints-To: newsabuse(a)supernews.com
>X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155
11/44 CPU
TS11 tape drive
(2) RK07 disk units
many rk07 packs
decwriterII
vt100 terminal
manuals, service history
unit operational at de-installation
deinstalled from a school
30 days and it's going to the metal scrapyard, would rather see her have a
good home.
It would have to be PC-DOS 2.10. Version 2.11 was MS-DOS i think. I have a
copy of 2.10 on the shelf with the book. I don't know anything about PC Jrs
though, with the exception of a thrift store here in Portland, OR that has a
monitor for one.
If you are interested in the SW contact me directly. I was actually looking
for DOS 1.XX to see if I might have it. I don't but I ran across the book set
marked 1.01 for the 3270 PC. I got excited but what was inside was PD-DOS 3.0.
Oh well, such is life. I have lots of versions of PC-DOS 3.0 & 3.1, and a
couple of MS-DOS 2.11 for other computers that I am interested in unloading.
Any interest out there.
Paxton
Whoagiii(a)aol.com
Nice going ace!
Here's an idea for 3.0...get somebody close by with a working, large mini
configuration or small mainframe and have them spend all day assemblying and
wiring and booting it and demonstrating it the next day. A good full install
should day all at least.
>On Mon, 31 Aug 1998, Pete Joules wrote:
>
>> There was write up of the VCF in todays Guardian, it included a picture
>> of an Altair and a wooden Apple, along with an account of Ray Holt's
>> talk.
>
>Oh good! Is there a pointer to this article on the web? If not, could
>you PLEASE transcribe it for me and e-mail it along? (PS. the wooden
>Apple would probably be the Apple 1).
>
>> It also says the it was organised by "...Sam Ismail, a goateed,
>> hyperactive young programmer who started his own collection of 200
>> machines 11 years ago...". Is this a fair description Sam? ;-)
>
>Pretty much. Except it understates the total number of machines in my
>collection :)
>
>> PS Congratulations, Sam, on what seems to have been a very sucessful
>> event.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Ever onward.
>
> Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 09/21/98]
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems
+1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5
Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from
the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles.
Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers &
Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6
.
The Xerox 16/8 is a desktop CPM Computer of the mid 1980s vintage. It has both
8 and 16 bit processors in the cabinet. I believe the original computer was
based on the UK Big Board design. The 16 bit processor is on a propriatory add
on card. It runs CPM-80 & CPM-86. If I remember right it will run an early
version of MS-DOS.
It has been years since I have run mine. My 2nd computer was a Xerox 820, an
earlier model. I was delighted when I got a 16/8.
It uses external drives which you may not have gotten. The disks availiable
were dual 8" floppys, dual 5" floppys or a 8" Floppy and 8" HD. You could use
only one set at a time. Brian of Emerald Microware (business no longer in
existance) in Beaverton, Oregon made a data sharer that would alow you to hook
up both 5 & 8" drives at the same time. He supported this family of computers
for many years. It was a nice machine.
There are two styles of keyboards, the original which is bulky and a low
profile which uses a different ROM. The basic computer consists of three
pieces, the Monitor/CPU, a keyboard and a drive cabinet.
I have docs, drives, cpus and parts if you want to communicate with me
directly.
Paxton
Whoagiii(a)aol.com
Hi Joe;
Nice find.
Almost any NEC multisync momitor will work. There is a adapter that goes from
9 pin to apple for the older multisync monitors and another 15 pin to Apple
for later monitors. I can get them here in Portland, Oregon at Oregon
Electronics. You should be able to find a cable house in your neighborhood
that has the adapter or a cable that would work. Other monitors like the Sony
should work also.
Paxton
