The presence or lack of a numeric keypad on a Model I
is not a good indicator of whether it's Level I basic
or not.
I have a Model I (My original from 1979) which came
without a keypad, and was a Level I computer, but
which I quickly upgraded to a Level II computer.
The only real way to tell is to power the unit up.
Regards,
Al Hartman
P.S.: I'm looking for a working LNW-80 Computer. A
model II would be preferred, but a Model I would be
OK. If anyone has one they'd like to sell, please let
me know..
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To clarify a bit ... Don's disks work perfectly with the DD controller ...
and with the N* base system itself (post overhaul). However, when I
swap out the controller for an SD iteration (tried two actually) ... no
joy. While the boot drive does indeed enable, I can hear that no sectors
are actually getting read.
I'm not positive, but I believe that the N* software (both DOS and
CP/M) changed quite a bit with the advent of the DD controller, as
did the firmware bootstrap. And while the DD controller can read
and format SD disks ...I don't think that it can create bootable disks
that work with the older SD controllers.
Haven't tried it myself yet ...
Scott
> Remember that the Amstrad ppc640 is a PC XT clone with double density
> (not high density) floppy drives.
Knew that.
> It should boot any old version of
> DOS after about 3.3, so long as it's on the proper floppy.
I fear that a Win98SE boot floppy is expecting at least a little extended memory. I've just created a PC DOS boot disk using a Ghost tool.
>These
> things can be tricky to find these days though.
Salvaged a bunch from another IT officer doing a clean out.
> If you can still
> download DR.DOS 7, I know that works, since I've used it on mine.
How did you make a 720 boot disk? Did you find a 720k image or did you make 1.44s, boot a suffciently old PC and create a 720 using format /s?
> Otherwise I'd be tempted to try FreeDOS.
Seems to only be an ISO CD image!
> I'm in the same position,
> though, I don't have any way of making low density 3.5 inch boot
> disks
> for PCs anymore (unless I get busy and put my old PC back together).
Surreal. I just tried to format a 720 in my new WinXP portable and the size wasn't even a option. And when I did it through the GUI under 2000 the anti-virus scanner had a fit. Finally had to format it using the CLI *and* I had to explicitly unmount it first to get the anti-virus software to let go.
Thanks Jim,
Chris J.
Hello,
I picked up a Fujitsu M2284K 80Mb SMD disk drive with a B14L-0300-0018A
power supply. Is there any chance that someone has some technical documentation
(e.g. power supply schematics) on either the power supply or drive?
--tnx
--tom
"No Junk Mail" <3sdiarftt02(a)sneakemail.com> wrote:
> > Otherwise I'd be tempted to try FreeDOS.
>
> Seems to only be an ISO CD image!
Look harder, like at <http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/beta8.html>.
-Frank McConnell
On Thu, 9 Jan 2003; "Lawrence Walker" <lgwalker(a)mts.net> wrote:
> I have a DEC VR320 monitor which I have never been
> able to get to work on a PC and don't want to spring
> for an expensive video card that would sync to it.
>
> I also have a Dec Rainbow 100+ with a color card that
> I use with a VR241-A monitor, and a DEC Pro 150.
>
> It occurred to me that the RB or the Pro 150 (in mono)
> might work with the VR320. I don't want to chance
> blowing something or causing the magic smoke to
> escape tho.
>
> Does anyone have any info on this ?
Here is some info from the manual (EK-VR320-IN-001):
Resolution Frequencies
Model Horiz Vert Horiz - Khz Vert - Hz
-------- ------ ---- ----------- ---------
VR320-CA 1280 x 1024 70.66 66.47 *
VR320-DA 1280 x 1024 77.13 72.56 *
* The VR320 manual states that the monitor can operate at either 66 or 72 Hz,
and is preset to match the machine prior to shipping. The manual also says to
contact DEC Customer Service (yeah, right) if a change is needed. If DEC
set it to 66 Hz they stamped 'CA' after 'VR320-' on the ID tag, if set to
72 Hz they stamped 'DA'. DEC set it to 66 or 72 Hz using a slide switch
that is inside the monitor. The switch is clearly marked 66 & 72 Hz, just
set it to the desired position.
Here is the details in case you decide to pop for the video card.
VR320-CA VRT320-DA
Pixel Clock: 119.84 Mhz 130.81 Mhz
Pixel Period: 8.34 ns 7.64 ns
Horizonital Pixels
Horiz Freq: 70.66 Khz 77.13 Khz
Horizontal Period: 14.15 us 1696 12.97 us
Active Video: 10.68 us 1280 9.79 us
Blanking Interval: 3.47 us 416 3.18 us
Front Porch: 267 ns 32 245 ns
Sync Pulse: 1340 ns 160 1220 ns
Back Porch: 1870 ns 224 171 ns
Vertical Lines
Vert Freq: 66.47 Hz 72.56 Hz
Vertical Period: 15.035 ms 1063 13.7824 ms
Active Video: 14.49 ms 1024 13.28 ms
Blanking Interval: 552 us 39 506 us
Front Porch: 42.46 us 3 38.89 us
Sync Pulse: 42.46 us 3 38.89 us
Back Porch: 467 us 33 427.9 us
I don't know the outputs of the RB or the 150, so can't say it will
work or not.
By the way, the VR320 will work with some display cards used in the
DECstation 5000.
I do have a spare copy of the VR320 manual and you can have it if you
want it. Send me a private email with your mailing address.
Hope this helps,
Mike Thompson
Today, I picked up (for just the cost of petrol getting there :) a Mator
Shark hard-drive for CBM PETs. All 22meg of it! And it WORKS!
Sounds like a jet engine when you turn it on, and it's about the size of
Texas, but waaay cool :)
Also got a flakey 3032 - I think there's a ROM problem, as it displays a
line from the monitor (debug monitor, that is) with a wildly-flashing
cursor, and no k/b input accepted. Of course, the latter may be due to just
a dodgy keyboard, so this one looks like a bit of a project job.
Plus assorted other gubbins, some of which is probably too new for this n/g
(Amiga, +4, a 4030 floppy drive, 3 printers, an Amiga HDD & C64
serial->IEEE488 i/f box).
Ho boy, am I in 7th heaven right now :)
--
Cheers, Ade.
Be where it's at, B-Racing!
http://b-racing.com
> > Surreal. I just tried to format a 720 in my new WinXP portable and
> > the size wasn't even a option.
>
> Weird. You should be able to format a 720 in any 1.44 meg floppy
> drive, if memory serves they were designed to be backward compatible
> like that.
I know.
> As for what software to run on the thing...
I've remembered that I've got an old Night Owl CD around somewhere (I bought about 3 but I know I've lost at least one) that should have *something* interesting.
> like ip packet drivers and parallel port ethernet adapters, mostly
> because I don't own any such adapters.
There's an interesting text mode Internet suite that was particularly useful to HP200XL users that I might be able to have some fun with. Can't remember if it needs a shell account though.
> I have this machine now
> mostly
> because I lusted after them badly when they started to show up in the
> computer catalogs of the day as they went on clearance for about
> $200.
I remember thinking that these were the coolest portables ever. Mind you, I had been using a Kaypro 4 for a number of years beforehand, so *anything* looked sexier.
Hello, all:
Scott has made much progress in repairing my N* machine. Well,
calling it a N* is a stretch since the only thing N* about it is the
motherboard, case and disk controller.
Anyway, I'm having diskette issues. I have two theoretically good
single-density controllers and disk drives, and Don Maslin made replacement
boot disks for me. These disks don't boot, although the controller attempts
to access them. It may be that the replacement SD disks were made from a DD
controller, but I don't know for sure.
So, I have two choices -- obtain SD boot diskettes made with an SD
controller or get a N* DD controller (MDS-AD|AD2|AD3). Any other thoughts or
recommendations appreciated. Thanks.
Rich Cini
Collector of classic computers
Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
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