The Seattle Times ran this in the Aug. 30th edition.
http://www.seattletimes.com/news/technology/html98/muse_19990830.html
I noted, with some amusement, that the author of the article doesn't seem
to understand the difference between drum and disk storage. His use of the
term "drum memory disk" was a bit of an eyeball-roller.
Other than that, it's a decent article. Enjoy.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77
"Our science can only describe an object, event, or living thing in our
own human terms. It cannot, in any way, define any of them..."
--- Lance Lyon <black(a)gco.apana.org.au> wrote:
> > any ideas as to what might be wrong? any
> > common failures in A500 PS's?).
>
> Happened often, there were third party p/s's available that replaced the
> 500's brick.... I know, I had to buy one of 'em after my original died & an
> attempted repair didn't work :-(
The "Bigfoot" PSU for the A500 is just a 200-240W PC supply with an A500
cable coming out of it instead of the "standard" P8/P9 cables. If you
aren't afraid to solder, it's easy to make - get a cheap AT PSU, open it
up, remove the PCB, unsolder the old P8/P9 connectors, noting which colors
of wires go to which holes in the PCB, match the voltages for the A500 cable
and solder them in the correct holes. Some PSU PCBs have the output voltage
pads labeled. You can also cut the old wires and splice on the A500 power
cable on the inside or the outside of the PSU enclosure, but I prefer a
sturdier construction.
-ethan
===
Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away in February.
Please send all replies to
erd(a)iname.com
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
Could you tell me what voltages come from what pins on that A500. The one I have doesn't have a power supply.
John Rollins wrote:
>Been a little while since I got a "new" computer. One of the neighbors was
>getting rid of some stuff from their basement, which included two
>computers. Luckily they now I'm a computer freak and told me I could have
>whatever I wanted. So, now I have an Amiga 500 with p/s, A520 video adaptor
>and what looks like a printer cable. No disks :-(, but it did have the
>original box(wow! a 7MHz 68000 and 512K RAM!!!). Also got a C64 with 1541
>drive, two joysticks and probably 50-70 disks(haven't gotten around to
>counting. But hey, Pac-Man is in there!). The C64 seems to be working just
>fine(not sure about the drive yet), but the Amiga isn't. When I finally
>figured out how the A520 worked, all I could get on my Apple composite
>monitor was a green screen with a blank area at the top(looked kinfa like
>the video is off a bit inside the monitor, which is partially true but it's
>not THAT bad... just some hidden text on the edge usually) which blinks
>maybe every 10-15 seconds or so. No sounds, no text, not really any video
>at all. The power light is kinda flashing, maybe once every second or
>two(haven't timed it yet). Any ideas on what's wrong? I'll hold off on the
>how do I use it questions until after I finish raiding the local library of
>the computer books, but feel free to send me any tips and tricks for these
>systems...
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>| http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html |
>| orham(a)qth.net list admin KD7BCY |
>| ham-mac(a)qth.net Portland, OR |
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>ALSO, I am about to try out (if I can get a degausser) some TK50 tapes
>in a TK70. But I want to be able to have both the TK50 and a TK70
>tape drive on line.
You certainly can!
> I have done a SYSGEN and the MUX.SYS device driver
>allows two devices, (MU0: and MU1:), but I don't have the dip switch
>settings for alternate CSR values. Can anyone help? PLEASE?
On both the TQK50 and TQK70, the CSR is set by jumpers, not by DIPswitches.
(the DIPswitches on a TK50 actually set the rev level reported by TMSCP
inquiry commands, which changed more often than the CSR's at one point!)
The default CSR is 774500. The CSR must be a multiple of 4, so the low two
bits are always zero, and the CSR must be in the I/O page, so the high
5 bits are always on. The in-between bits are set with the jumpers near
the edge connectors. Seen with the edge connectors to the bottom, the
default looks like:
XXXXXX (jumper in for CSR's starting with 77, jumper out for 76)
XXXXXX \
|
. . |- a "4"
|
. . /
XXXXXX \
|
. . |- a "5"
|
XXXXXX /
. . \
|
. . |- a "0"
|
. . /
. . jumper in if last digit is "4", out if a "0".
The "autoconfigure" CSR selection for a second TK50 in a system is 760404,
though of course this moves around if you've got other second controllers
in the systems, or a serial multiplexer, and of course RT-11 doesn't care
a damn bit about autoconfigure rules as you've got to manually configure
it anyway :-)
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
On Fri, 10 Sep 1999, Hans Franke wrote:
>> Well, check at startup the DX register - if DH is 3 it is a DX,
>> if 23 it's a SX (DL is the stepping).
At 12:54 PM 9/10/99 -0700, Fred wrote:
>And then the POST (Power On Self Test) IMMEDIATELY wipes it. It's easy to
>bypass some parts of the POST, but how do you suggest checking the value
>in that register before the computer has booted enough to even have video?
Could you jump into protected mode and out again (which forces a reset) and
pull the value out of DH then?
--Chuck
I'm no longer subscribed to ClassicCmp so if anyone has been trying to
contact me please do so directly at sellam(a)siconic.com.
If anyone was still interested in the misc. computer stuff in Richardson,
Texas, please contact me directly and I'll give you the contact
information.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 08/17/99]
well, ok but how can i get software from my mac (or pc) to the pdp8???
thanx
mark
>From: Kevin McQuiggin <mcquiggi(a)sfu.ca>
>Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
>To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
><classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
>Subject: Re: PDP - 8
>Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 20:07:12 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Hi:
>
>Software and systems documentation are at
>http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/pdp8.
>
>There's more, check out metalab.unc.edu under
>computer-science/history/pdp8 or
>thereabouts, I may not have this URL exactly correct.
>
>Good luck,
>
>Kevin
>
> >
> > Just got myself a pdp-8e and i was wondering if anyone out there had or
>knew
> > where to get software for it ??? It came with 8" drives and no dec tapes
>or
> > a papertape reader....... so i'm limited to floppy media. The system
>seems
> > to work fine and cannot wait to get it set up!
> >
> >
> >
> > mark
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> >
>
>
>--
>Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD
>mcquiggi(a)sfu.ca
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I still have my Seattle Computer Products Gazelle. 128 kb mem 2 8 inch
floppies 1 5 1/4 floppy. 8086 (full 16 bit) at 8 mz
Also have all the manuals for the boards.
Runs as good as the day I bought it. One problem. Had to replace the
disk control the first month I had it in 1983.
Walt Griffith
Yes, it's core based, and the cpu is entirely hardwired. I don't have my old
HP catalog around at the moment, but off the top of my head an approximate
year of introduction would be 1967. Somewhere I saw a list saying the 2116
was the first, followed by the 2115, then the 2114. I don't have any firm
evidence to contradict that, but from what I know about the machine
architectures and features and such I would be inclined to suspect that the
order was 2114, 2115, 2116 instead. Don't know for sure.
Jay West
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, September 10, 1999 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: HP2114 on ebay
>
> Wow...that is a *lot* of hardware. A lot of very fun-looking hardware.
>
> I assume the machine is core-based? When were these systems sold?
>
> -Dave McGuire
Damn... I've been sitting on a real s-100 exidy expansion box for the
sorcerer for a long time now (no, its not for sale) and I can't find an
sorcerer to go with it eiither... alas
Hmm... I'd be willing to trade a Heathkit H8 or maybe a TRS6000HD, or....
if that would pry one from somebody's hands...
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, September 10, 1999 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: Spectravideo 318
>> Well, I have an Apple ][ here, but I'm also looking for an
>> Exidy Sorceror. Anybody know of one in the UK that's
>> looking for a good home (or a swap)?
>>
>> Is it true that the Exidy's ROM cartridge is housed in an
>> 8-track tape case?
>
>My sorceror is not looking for a good home because it already has one
:-)....
>
>But yes, the ROM cartridges _are_ 8-track tape cases with the tape and
>mechancial bits removed and the end cut open (not very well IMHO) to
>allow the edge of the PCB to fit into the edge connector in the machine.
>The ROM PCB contains 4 ROM chips and a couple of TTL ones (address
>decoder I think).
>
>Hence the question on a University of Bristol computer society quiz
>'Where did 8 tracks become 8 bits' ;-)
>
>-tony
>
>
