You wrote...
>> I have an opportunity to acquire a Honeywell Bull mainframe, free of
>> charge
I am by no means well acquainted with the Honeywell line. But I was under
the impression that a Honeywell DPS was never called a BULL, it was called a
DPS. The only system with the Honeywell brand that was called a BULL was
actually an OEM'ed RS6000 that Honeywell put the BULL label on.
Can someone confirm or deny?
Jay West
You won't find eBay wanting to "get in the middle" in that way. They get a
fee based on the high bid. They don't really care whether the transaction
is completed. Of course, the seller gets a credit for his fee in the case
where the sale isn't completed, but eBay still gets the money.
Why would they want to change this comfortable arrangement?
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com <Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 1999 7:52 AM
Subject: Re: (fwd) WARNING! New Ebay SCAM! (fwd)
>
>
>>>>It means that the "dealer" has an item X in their inventory, they see
that
>>>someone else on Ebay is selling an equivalent X. The dealer follows the
>>>auction to completion, when complete, the dealer sends email to the
second
>>>highest bidder and asks if they would like to purchase the item from them
>>>for the price they offered the seller.
>>>
>>>This is a scam? Give it a break guys. If I bid on something and am not
the
>>>high bidder I would like a chance to buy. If you don't then don't reply.
>>>Sometimes you can get in a bidding war and end up pay many times the
value
>>>of an item, I.E. Imsai or Altec on Ebay, Is it really that different
than
>>>making an offer here to someone who has something you want? So who looses
if
>>>a seller contacts you and you agree on a fair price? Ebay? Time to face
the
>>>facts Ebay, Yahoo, etc., etc. auctions are going to stay a while.
>>
>> The above was an explanation of the legitimate practice. The abuse is
where
>> a third party pretends to be the seller, contacts the second etc. bidders
>> and requests payment be sent to a blind PO Box, then skips with the funds
>> never sending any goods.
>>
>> BTW I just sent an inquiry to eBay to see if this is rumor, hoax, or
fact.
>
>
>Oh. I got the impression that it was the highest bidder doing this, i.e.
>outbidding the legitimate bidders; then selling his stuff to the failed
bidders;
>and only then backing down on the original sale. Very nasty, because the
>original vendor can't sell to the failed bidders until he has definitely
heard
>that the winner is backing down...
>
>At a genuine auction in the UK, the auctioneer has the legal power to sign
a
>contract of purchase on behalf of either party. So backing down is very,
very
>difficult. But this sort of safeguard has yet to reach Ebay, I suppose.
>
>Philip.
>
>
>
>
>
--- Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >... wouldn't turn down a PDP8/e mind you.
>
> Why the 8/e in particular? The PDP8 is a very elegant machine, so I can
> understand wanting to own one (I have a couple...) but I can't see why
> you'd pick that one model. It is the most common one, I guess...
In my case the -8/e was the _last_ one I got. I'm personally fond of the
pre-OMNIBUS machines (-8/L and -8/i) for the simple matter that they are made
of wads of TTL and assembled in such a fashion that it's entirely possible to
envision how this gate connects to that flop, etc, and trace the operation of
the ALU, etc. The appeal of the OMNIBUS machines is that it's easier to hang
modern devices off of them.
Of course, it probably comes down to the question of "what did you encounter
first". In my case, it was an -8/L followed by an -8/i followed by an -8/a.
As for most common, around here, I ran across as many -8/a's as all other
kinds put together (during the 1980's when such things were to be found in
the wild at all). I wish I could have rescued the two -8/m's that were
at OSU analyzing horse urine for the state racing commission. They had a
rack of Diablo RK03's on a switch with one CPU attached to a mass spectrometer
and the other CPU attached to a 9-track and a Tektronics printing terminal.
It was four racks of CPUs, disks and such. The last time I saw them was 1987,
give or take a year. It's where I cut my teeth on RTS-8 (during the
maintenance
time on the mass spec).
-ethan
_____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com
Does anyone know where I can find a few rolls of thermal paper for a TI
Silent 700? I have only about half a roll left and don't want to waste
what little I have if I can't find more. Is there any suitable
replacements for this paper?
Robert
Have you tried AltaVista's "Babelfish"?
http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?
(And yes, the "?" is part of the URL)
>
>OT: That brings up a good point. I've tried before, searching
>for "something" to translate Russian pages. What I found was
<snip>
> Are there any suggestions for a better & free translator?
>
Bill Richman
incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r
(Home of the COSMAC Elf
microcomputer simulator!)
>I am by no means well acquainted with the Honeywell line. But I was under
>the impression that a Honeywell DPS was never called a BULL, it was called a
>DPS. The only system with the Honeywell brand that was called a BULL was
>actually an OEM'ed RS6000 that Honeywell put the BULL label on.
Hmm... I haven't seen the unit, just talked to the fellow on the phone.
I asked him what kind of computer it was, he put the phone down to go
look at it, came back, and said it was a "Honeywell Bull", also giving me
the dimensions (4x3x2). The computer was used by a company that
assembles line and bucket trucks. I believe they had a good number of
remote terminals set up, and used the system to transfer specs and price
sheets.
Tom Owad
At 12:34 PM 5/18/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Here's a bit of a report of what I found at the Hamvention. I was there on
>Friday from about 09:15 to 17:30 except lunch for which we went off the
>grounds and on Saturday from about 08:00 to 13:30. Therefore with my method
>of checking every promising box and poking around under tables I saw about
>3/4 of the whole fleamarket. I was looking for quite a variety of things
>-not just old computers.
>
>Stuff I dragged home were two DG Ones (model 2208A), two DG printers which
>go with them (model 2230), one AC power supply and one printer cable all
>for $15; VMEbus boards including one unopened Force Computers SYS68Y DRAM-2
>memory board ($5) and four Motorola CODEX boards, $15; an IOMEGA Ditto Easy
>3200 external tape drive (Travan 3) with cable and power supply, $25.
>
>And my best find of all: a virtually mint, seemingly unused HP9000/300
>computer with 7958B hard drive (150 Mb IIRC) and 9144A 16-track tape drive.
>A label on the 98574 CPU module indicated it's been upgraded to a 375 which
>is just about the ultimate of the 300-series. A 68030 processor running at
>50MHz and 16 Mb of RAM. Nice!
>
>I've been casually looking for one of the 300's for a couple of years. My
>ex-colleague who's an engineering manager from my ex-company's German
>parent company told me last week when he visited the house that an HP
>9000/332 system was promised to me and will be shipped to me from their
>Chicago facility late this year.
>
>My new 9000/375 system was built into a 19" rack enclosure which was in
>turn bolted into a fiberglas transit case about 3' tall, 2' wide by about
>2.5' deep. It was part of a military surplus system. I did not get a chance
>to find the AN system designation on the rack or case, just that it weighed
>97 pounds and required two persons to carry.
>
>Apparently it had been built and not used *ever*. Just stuck in a military
>warehouse probably as a result of a military contract which didn't go
>anywhere or as a result of the Cold War ceasing or something. I absolutely
>cannot see *any* dust on the leading edges of the fan blades so this system
>has maybe only an hour or two at most of operation :) SNs are from mid-89.
>There's a Federal Stock Number or system part number rubber stamped onto
>the right side of the computer box. A probably earlier FSN or contractor's
>PN has been blacked out with paint (about 3/8" x 1.5" strip) and the
>present number rubber stamped onto the case after the upgrade to the 375
>model was done. A little ugly, but what the hey! It shows a bit about the
>original purpose of the machine. That's the only indication of any special
>use of it. The update was done in December '91 according to a date
>handwritten on the CPU board tag inside.
>
>I was passing by the previous owner's space when I overheard one of the
>guys asking "What is it?" as they were taking the cover off the 7958B box
>to try and figure out just what *it* was. I looked and saw the main box was
>a 300 system (Whoa!! Let's stop and look!), became interested and checked
>it out. I offered an explanation as to what it was, what it was usually
>used for, typical processors used in the 300's, etc. Apparently the
>then-new owner who'd just dragged it to his space from a nearby surplus
>dealer didn't see a use for it for himself and offered the HP 9000 items to
>me and I paid him nearly all the remaining money I had to spend: $40 for
>all three boxes. He kept the transit case and 19" rack which bolted inside
>as he had a use for it back at home in Houston. He didn't recognize at
>first when he bought the whole transit case (for $50) that those 3 HP boxes
>which were clamped onto rack slide plates were actually a computer. He was
>happy somebody got it who knew what it was and could use it and he was
>happy to have the transit case. I love happiness :-) Only thing I had to
>promise him was to email him with what I found on the disk. He's a UNI*
>system admin and had enough UNI* machines of his own. I'm surprised he
>hadn't seen an HP 9000 machine before but these 300's were obsolete some
>time ago and he indicated he was always an Intel-based UNI* user.
>
>I've got a copy of HP-UX 7.0 on tape with the license, both still
>shrinkwrapped, and manual set that I've had for some time. Now I've got a
>machine to hang it upon! :) BTW, ver. 7.0 is near or at the end of HP-UX
>support for the 300's. Have BASIC-UX ver. 5.0 w/license and docs too!
>
>The keyboard and monitor were some sort of rugged, militarized things built
>into an operator's station. The fellow who had it never got from the
>surplus dealer as it obviously didn't quite interest him and maybe he
>didn't realize what it was. If it's what I *think* I saw an hour or so
>earlier at a surplus dealer's space not far away it definitelly wasn't the
>normal HP keyboard as it was part of some other section of the system used
>as the operations console and was connected via AN/MS connectors and
>cables. Have absolutely no idea as to the function of the whole system. If
>there's something on the hard disk when it comes up it may give me a good
>clue. But I gotta get it lit up first.
>
>So, does anybody have a very decent looking keyboard and HP-HIL k'bd cable
>they're willing to sell to me? Keyboard model *I think* should be a 46020
>or 46021 or a 98203C.
I have a fairly substantial pile of 46021 keyboards, HP-HIL cables, and
mice for the 9000-300 series, and you are welcome to have one of each for
free. All I ask is reimbursmment for the shipping charges.
Regards,
I don't know the exact differences as I have no
>pictures or specs. but they are mentioned in the "Peripheral Installation
>Guide for the HP 9000 Series 200/300", which I have had for some time, as
>being used with the 300-series. I'll post a separate request for a k'brd
>and other info in a separate msg. later today or tomorrow. Need feet for
>bottom of the boxes too but probably large stick-on rubber feet should be
okay.
>
>I've got two old non-HP fixed frequency monitors I'll drag out of the
>garage and try after I get a k'bd. The video interface card is a 98547A
>which is not mentioned in the Periph. Inst. Guide.
>
>I saw a few DEC items: A rather lonely RL02 standing amongst a bunch of
>fairly new amateur gear; a VT320 and VT 420 with a few of DEC's serial
>cables; a couple of AUI-to-BNC translator modules for $10 each (Too much?
>Just right?) and little else that I could see.
>
>Bought a couple more Ethernet NICs for $10 new (Intel 8/16); 3.5-to-5.25"
>floppy adaptors for $1 each; 25' CAT5 cables for $3 each; "The Hard Disk
>Technical Guide", "The Modem Tech. Guide", and "The Network Tech. Guide"
>all w/CDROMs, published by Micro House, for $5 each; misc. cables and bits.
>Hard disks were even cheaper than I'd ever seen but had no extra bucks to
>spend, dang it.
>
>Also saw a pallet full (4' x 4' x 5' high) of Sun SPARC LX boxen; a Grid
>computer, don't know exact model as I don't know Grids, but I'd wager it
>was early. No model # on bottom or back. It weighed a ton it seemed,
>painted black. Guy wanted $30 but by then I was flat broke by then :( ;
>lots of C64 and C128 machines and accessories; tons of PeeCee stuff of all
>ages and condx; pallets full of printers and monitors; lots of IBM
>MicroChannel machines and boards; several HP Vectras; boxes of network
>stuff of varying conditions and types; boxes of shrinkwrapped software;
>bunches of other stuff I can't recall at the moment. Lots and lots of
>amateur radio gear of course.
>
>I wish I had more money to spend there dang it!
>
>Importantly, I did score a few really hard to find parts for the WWII
>BC-191F transmitter I'm trying to restore plus a few military connectors
>for some gear in the collection; also got a couple of test equipment
>manuals for units I have in the collection. Still wish I had more $$$ so I
>could get more old gear and parts! Dang.
>
>Saw a couple of antique radio collector friends from other distant parts of
>the country; made contacts with a couple of folks who may have parts for
>the BC-191 and the virtually identical BC-375 transmitters. Understand from
>another email list (Greenkeys) that a couple of fellow teletype collectors
>were there too. Not much TTY gear to be found though :( May have bumped
>into one of you ClassicCmp folks but we wouldn't have known each other
>visually.
>
>All-in-all a very good time. Free shuttle buses running frequently all day
>every day between the several distant parking areas (we parked free at the
>Salem Mall) and that made it very convenient to haul a heavy object or
>several bag loads back to the car :)
>
>Something for everybody there. Rain held off on Fri and Sat was really
>beautiful. I may go again someday as my uncle lives in nearby Xenia, OH and
>I have basically free room and board :) Only 360 miles from home so I don't
>have too much of an excuse not to go especially if after I find a decent
>paying job and could have extra $$ to spend.
>
>Wonder what the attendance was this year? No motel rooms available within a
>75 mile or more radius. Columbus area was reported to be closest rooms.
>
>Incidentally, you locals may have noticed there's quite a different scene
>at Mendelson's Surplus in the past year or so. We went there to pickup a
>Hamvention ticket for myself and I was pleasantly surprised. New minor
>league baseball stadium being built across the street, an audio store just
>opened inside the main building, new parking lot in back of the church, a
>new Mendelson's outlet store next door across the new parking lot. But it
>apparently still has the good ol' 3rd floor full of all kinds of parts,
>equipment and untold amounts of obscure goodies! :-)
>
>Yes indeed, next year :)
>
>Regards, Chris
>-- --
>Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
>Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
>Member of Antique Wireless Association
> URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa
>
>
Kenneth L. Marshall
Research Engineer, Optical Materials
Laboratory for Laser Energetics
University of Rochester
250 East River Road
Rochester, NY 14623
Phone:(716)-275-8247
Fax: (716)-275-5960
Doug Spence wrote:
> Does anyone have the program "RACE" from Cursor #2?
About a year ago, I transfered the first 15 or so CURSOR
tapes to Commodore disk for Larry Anderson to put up on
his BBS. I did it in a hurry and didn't keep a copy of
the disks. You can ask him for a copy or I can try to
"dig" the box of CURSOR tape out of which ever pile it
wound up in. If I can find the tape, I can transfer it to
the pc on the little C64 dev station I set up at work.
Let me know.
Doug Spence wrote:
>I need some information about the Commodore cassette storage format.
>....snip.....
>In the data portions, it appears as if every 20th wave is special
About a year and a half ago, I took my shot at converting wave files.
Unfortunately I had to move on to other projects just as I was making
progress.
First, IMHO if you are sampling at less than 44.1, you are making
things too hard on yourself.
I did find the format of the header in a book and now I can't remember
which book it was, but I'm fairly certain it was a PET book.
I started with a test program consisting of:
10 REM ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Then I wrote a C program to measure pulses from "bottom to bottom".
Analyzing the data, I choose 15 samples as the difference between
small pulse and a large one. 15 or less was small and 16 or greater
was a large.
> with maximum amplitude and a smaller frequency.
Yes, this is a sync bit at the start of ever byte. Watching for this
will tell you when the data begins.
Below I have copied the begining of the last test output I ran.
First there is a row of pulse lengths (in samples)
(20 17 17 14 14 17 14 17 17 12 14 17 13 16 13 16 16 14 13 17)
Then there is a row where zero is a "small pulse", 1 is a "large" pulse.
( 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 )
With that information, I determine the byte like this:
* the first two pulses are 1 and 1 - this is the sync bit.
* the next two pulses are the low order bit
* a 1 followed by a 0 is a 1
* a 0 followed by a 1 is a 0
* and the last two pulses is the parity bit
So in the first line of data:
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
represents hex 89.
This is just a small portion of the output file. It shows the header
up to and including the filename (TEST1).
If you want, I can sent you the rest of this file off list.
;
; Cassette Tape Analysis of c6444812.wav Created 09/11/97
;
Silence............for 0x0024F2 bytes
at byte count 0x000024F3
Reading leader.......
Silence............for 0x001C77 bytes
at byte count 0x00004296
Reading leader.......
Leader = 27136
Reading data.......
20 17 17 14 14 17 14 17 17 12 14 17 13 16 13 16 16 14 13 17
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
89
20 16 14 17 14 17 14 17 16 13 13 17 13 16 13 16 16 13 16 14
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
88
20 16 17 14 17 14 16 13 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 16 14 17 14
1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
87
20 16 13 17 17 13 16 13 13 15 13 16 13 16 13 16 16 13 13 17
1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
86
20 16 17 14 14 17 17 13 12 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 17 13 13 17
1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
85
20 16 14 17 13 16 17 13 13 16 14 16 13 16 13 16 16 14 17 14
1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
84
19 17 17 14 16 14 13 16 13 16 14 16 13 16 13 17 16 13 13 17
1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
83
20 16 14 17 17 13 13 17 14 16 13 16 13 16 14 17 17 14 16 13
1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
82
19 16 17 14 13 16 14 16 14 16 13 17 13 16 13 17 16 13 16 14
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
81
19 17 17 13 13 17 14 17 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
01
20 17 17 14 14 17 14 17 14 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
01
20 17 14 17 15 17 14 17 16 13 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
08
20 16 17 15 17 13 13 16 13 16 13 16 16 13 13 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
23 #
20 16 14 17 14 16 13 16 17 13 13 16 14 16 13 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
08
19 16 14 17 14 17 17 13 13 16 16 13 13 16 17 14 13 17 14 16
1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
54 T
19 16 17 15 13 17 16 13 13 16 13 16 13 16 16 14 13 17 14 17
1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
45 E
20 17 17 14 17 14 13 17 13 17 16 13 13 16 16 13 13 17 17 14
1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0
53 S
20 16 14 17 14 16 17 13 13 17 16 13 13 16 16 14 13 17 13 16
1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
54 T
19 16 17 14 13 17 14 16 13 16 16 13 17 14 14 16 13 16 13 16
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
31 1
19 16 14 17 15 17 13 16 13 16 13 16 16 13 13 16 14 17 14 17
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
20
I hope this helps,
--Doug
====================================================
Doug Coward dcoward(a)pressstart.com (work)
Sr. Software Eng. mranalog(a)home.com (home)
Press Start Inc. http://www.pressstart.com
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Museum of Personal Computing Machinery
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/museum/
and the new
Analog Computer Museum and History Center
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
====================================================
In a message dated 5/17/99 3:30:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes:
> I picked up a pair of Intel extender cards in my travels and I'm
> wondering if anyone knows what they might be for. They have two sets of
> contacts with 80 contacts in each (40 per side per set). The contacts in
> each set have 1/10" spacing. No, they're not Multibus :-(
I suspect they are Multibus II. They look similar to VME cards. My books are
still at the whse. I will check when I get down there tonight.
Paxton
The only XT I still have is one based on an 80186, which I've used to
develop code for the '186. The XT was, for the most part, hampered by the
presence of all the PC hardware. With the '186, you could make the internal
peripherals go away and reappear at a location not addressed by the PC
hardware, though there were sometimes ambiguities which fouled things up.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: allisonp(a)world.std.com <allisonp(a)world.std.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 1999 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: Are IBM PCs classic?
>> To provide a counterpoint to that, there were so many PCs and PC clones,
>> that collecting them would be more tantamount to collecting matchbox cars
>
>While I don't specifically collect PCs I do have a few I'm holding as
>they are interesting or unique. The key being yes they are clones but
>they are in some waus more desireable than the IBMs or the lesser popular.
>
>For example a leading edge model D XT clone, smaller and has videomono
>and color), serial, printer and floppy on the MB. Yet it has many slots
>for add ins and is quite compact.
>
>Another is a Kaypro xt that has a passive mother. The whole system
>floppy, video, cpu ram are on two ISA-8 cards! Very different.
>
>The last of the oldies is the PS2/50z, MCA and a really better 286 than
>some.
>
>There are many like the DTK machines I just junk as they were common turbo
>XTs that had no redeming features.
>
>Allison
>
