Does anyone know where one might get a hold of 2 mm spaced (not 2,54 mm) card-
edge connectors? The Atari ST cartridge port is using that spacing, which
doesn't seem very popular.
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
Min andra dator ?r en VAX.
Ben Franchuk wrote:
> I thought try this ...
> "The Missing 6809 UniFLEX Archive" http://www.rtmx.com/UniFLEX/
> but the webpage is now missing! Does anybody know what happened to it?
> This very bad when old information vanishes with out a trace on the web.
Too offen I find web pages that I count on turn up missing, so I have
started trying out a program called WebZIP.
http://www.spidersoft.com/default.asp
----- Start Quote -------
Use WebZIP to download web pages or entire web sites, including images,
sounds and other media files to your hard drive, so you can browse them
offline.
Using the new FAR add-in tool for WebZIP, you can compile your
downloaded
content to HTML-Help.
WebZIP also gives you the option of saving your captured web content
into a single compressed Zip file - a great way to archive Web sites,
or distribute them to friends and coleagues.
WebZIP's powerful Task Editor gives you total control over what and how
much of a Web site is downloaded. It lets you specify the file types,
depth and scope of retrieval in addition to giving you powerful URL and
location filters and allowing you scheduling your download for any time
of the day.
------ End Quote --------
And of course it has the option for you to save a web site WITHOUT
the banner ads.
Regards,
--Doug
=========================================
Doug Coward
@ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
=========================================
Interesting how peoples experiences differ.
(1) I never had any problems with the drives on my Osborne under moderate to
heavy use, but I did have a DD upgrade done. I purchased it in Feb of 1981
and it had a fairly low serial number.
(2) I found Elephant disks to be the _worst_ brand I used. I ended up
tossing them all out (a box or two). I had much better luck with Maxell and
Dysan.
-----Original Message-----
From: Louis Schulman [mailto:louiss@gate.net]
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 2:34 PM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Osborne floppy drives (was Apple Floppy Drives)
I am happy to hear that. That Osborne was evidently "very low mileage".
And, while I don't remember
exactly, I may have aligned the drives on that machine, or swapped drives
with another to get a pair of
dirves that worked together. For some reason, drives that won't work
correctly in one Osborne sometimes
will in a different machine, even though this would appear to not make
sense.
Louis
On Fri, 9 Nov 2001 01:21:09 -0500, Glen Goodwin wrote:
#> From: Louis Schulman <louiss(a)gate.net>
#
#> What about the single board CP/M machines? I have them too. The disk
#drives on the Osborne were,
#> based on extensive experience, the least reliable ever made. If one
#drive could read what another had
#> written, it was a gift from God. And with the double density upgrade, it
#was much worse.
#
#Really?? The Osborne 1 I got from you works perfectly. I've used it to
#copy boatloads of disks, and have also used my Kaypro 10 and my Wintel PC
#to make disks for it, without fail.
#
#Glen
#0/0
#
> On Fri, 9 Nov 2001, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
>
> > > My personal favorite burger
> > >
> > > 1. Texas toast
> > > 2. barbecue sauce
> > > 3. fried onion ring
> > > 4. bacon
> > > 5. melted cheddar cheese
> > > 6. extra well-done meat patty
> > > 7. barbecue sauce
> > > 8. Texas toast
> >
> > Yeah... but don't try the Burger King version of this
>
> I've found the closest thing thus far at Sonic.
Yeah, I agree... I just wish Sonic made burgers that
were at least as large as the bread they're on...
-dq
> On Fri, 9 Nov 2001, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
>
> > Our good friend Jeffrey Sharp first said:
> > > All right, all right. The poor Okie needs an education.
> > > What the hell is Nutella?
> >
> > Then, shortly thereafter:
> >
> > > On Thu, 8 Nov 2001, Chris wrote:
> > >
> > > > My family has direct ancestry to settlers on some of the first ships
> > > > [...] How far back is one supposed to go to decide their "heritage"
> > > > 100 years?
> > >
> > > I was born in America. I'm an American. That's how I see it.
> >
> > So, which is it?
>
> Yes.
A fine answer in the Richard Feynman tradition!
In addition to being a Hoosier, I'm a Paver, but
that's a State of Mind.
-dq
---- On 9 Nov 2001 21:12:12, Iggy Drougge (optimus(a)canit.se)
wrote:
> M H Stein skrev:
>
> Just for the record, I've never heard of Cromemco.
>
> >As to the performance figures vs. DEC, they were taken from
Datamation
> & Unix
> >World magazines and a UNIX USENET study, this being in late
1986.
> >Interestingly enough, Dhrystone benchmarks are:
>
> >Cromix CS420: 3703
> >VAX11/785 2136
> >VAX11/780 1662
> >MicroVAX-II 1612
> >VAX11/750 1091
> >IBM RT 1333
>
> >While the Whetstone scores make the MicroVAX look a lot
better:
>
> >CS420 1,050,000
> >MicroVAX II 877,000
> >VAX11/780 476,000
> >IBM RT 200,000
> >Cromemco Z80 7,000
>
> Isn't this rather odd? The MicroVAX II is supposed to be 0,5
VUP, right?
> So
> what have the DEC engineers done to make it just as fast in
the
> Dhrystone and
> even faster than the 11/780 in the Whetstone benchmarks?
>
> --
> En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
>
> "I'm all man underneath my skirt."
> Boy George
>
>
IIRC the MicroVaxII was 0.9 VUP.
--
Bill Pechter
Systems Administrator
uReach Technologies
732-335-5432 (Work)
877-661-2126 (Fax)
> >> I tend to use wget. Runs on everything. The only problem is, it's a GNU
> >> program, and that's a big problem.
>
> >Why would that be a problem? I tend to use wget a lot and it does a
> >pretty good job.
>
> The problem with GNU programs is that they're so difficult to use.
Wow, I'm drawing a real blank here too...
Are they difficult because they are (or tend to be) command-line
programs? If so, that really isn't a GNU characteristic, it's a
UNIX characteristic... and true, a shell interface isn't for
everyone.
-dq
> From: Louis Schulman <louiss(a)gate.net>
> What about the single board CP/M machines? I have them too. The disk
drives on the Osborne were,
> based on extensive experience, the least reliable ever made. If one
drive could read what another had
> written, it was a gift from God. And with the double density upgrade, it
was much worse.
Really?? The Osborne 1 I got from you works perfectly. I've used it to
copy boatloads of disks, and have also used my Kaypro 10 and my Wintel PC
to make disks for it, without fail.
Glen
0/0
Our good friend Jeffrey Sharp first said:
> All right, all right. The poor Okie needs an education.
> What the hell is Nutella?
Then, shortly thereafter:
> On Thu, 8 Nov 2001, Chris wrote:
>
> > My family has direct ancestry to settlers on some of the first ships
> > [...] How far back is one supposed to go to decide their "heritage"
> > 100 years?
>
> I was born in America. I'm an American. That's how I see it.
So, which is it?
Sorry to pick on ya Jeff, but this here Hoosier is just plain bored...
;-)
------------Original Message-------------
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 08:27:15 -0500
From: "Allison" <ajp166(a)bellatlantic.net>
Subject: Re: Cromemco landmarks
>-The first Z-80 micro
Nope.
>-The first micro with a Winchester HD
Nope.
>-The first micro color graphics system
Yes and significant.
>-The first micro implementation of I/O channel processors
Nope, IMSAI had a 8080 in the FDC.
>-The first micro to boot from ROM without front panel switches
Nope, NS* and a slew of others. First was likely the Poly 88.
>-The first micro with integrated floppy disks
Not hardly.
Nice claims, put dates and supporting evidence up. Cromemco is best known
for The Dazzler color display, RF tight systems in solid boxes and generally
good systems.
Allison
-----------------------
Well, as I said, I'm only quoting their literature; interesting facts or amusing hyperbole, your choice.
But they do indeed quite specifically make those claims, after this introduction:
-
"All of us who use Cromemco systems have, at one time or another, had to deal with the situation
where someone asks you what kind of computer you have, and when you tell them you hear,
"CROMEMCO? Never heard of them."
Well, next time you hear that you can rattle off a few of the following first-time technical
contributions that Cromemco has made to the microcomputer industry:"...
-
Having heard the "Never heard of them" myself often enough, even on this august forum, I thought I'd
share the list with you. Quibble over details if you will, but to the best of my knowledge they were
one of the few companies whose micros were credible enough to seriously compete with the minis
of the day in large government & institutional settings. As you say, all they seem to be known for is
the dazzler and the Sherman-tank-grade archaic 16 K Z-2's & CS3's, not the "big iron" of later years
or the various innovations along the way, and that was my point, that there was more to Cromemco
than most people seem to be aware of.
But AFAIK, last I heard Harry Garland (one of the founders) is still around doing research for Canon,
if you want to email & ask him to back up their claims...
Or, since you're challenging, why not put up some dates & supporting evidence yourself? I'm not
arguing or flaming, but I assume that for you to say 'Nope' so authoritatively & so often you must
have some supporting facts of your own, which would be interesting indeed. Who did market a
commercial micro with an integrated Winchester before Cromemco in '79, for example? If ads are
any indication, at the time Cromemco announced the Z-2H the only other HD's I can find in my old
Bytes is Corvus's add-on external version, and Ohio's Challenger and various add-on drives using
cartridge modules, not Winchesters, although Altos announced one a few months after Cromemco.
As to the performance figures vs. DEC, they were taken from Datamation & Unix World magazines
and a UNIX USENET study, this being in late 1986. Interestingly enough, Dhrystone benchmarks
are:
Cromix CS420: 3703
VAX11/785 2136
VAX11/780 1662
MicroVAX-II 1612
VAX11/750 1091
IBM RT 1333
While the Whetstone scores make the MicroVAX look a lot better:
CS420 1,050,000
MicroVAX II 877,000
VAX11/780 476,000
IBM RT 200,000
Cromemco Z80 7,000
Cromemco never claimed to be the fastest, just that they, using the S-100 bus, "... can clearly
outperform even some of the most capable mini-computers, and do so at a price/performance point
unequalled by any other technology in the industry." How much did a '780 or '785 and a MicroVAX
cost in '86? I'll be the first to admit that I know zip about DEC and the only other literature I had with
prices just went off to Norm in SF (has it arrived yet, Norm?)
And I think they meant I/O channel processors in the mini/mainframe sense, not an intelligent(?)
floppy drive; there's something categorically different between an IOP CBUS I/O controller and a
PET FDD, even with its 2 CPU's...
Raises an interesting point though; what is considered an authoritative source for who did what and
when, if we don't trust ads or company literature, especially as it becomes scarcer & memories
begin to fade? Certainly is a lot of incorrect information on the various 'Web sites purporting to be
accurate time lines, although if that can be trusted the Poly88 came out in '77 while the Cromemco
was definitely around at least in '76...
And I swore I'd never get drawn into one of these discussions :)... leave it with ya...
m
