Strangely, I receive notice of a computer rescue via fax.
It includes a "works great" Morrow MT-70 (a CP/M era machine) and
a Silver-Reed printer, all with manuals.
Contact Earl Guertler at ejguertler(a)aol.com .
- John
Hi folks,
Had a mail from someone wanting to know which SCSI chip is used in the
Infoserver 150. My own machine is 250 miles away so have any of you got said
machine handy for a quick check?
cheers :)
--
Adrian/Witchy
Owner/Curator of Binary Dinosaurs, quite probably the UK's biggest private
home computer collection
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the online museum
www.aaghverts.co.uk - *the* site for advert whinges!
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - former gothic shenanigans :(
Was fiddling with our Decsystem 570 this weekend. Seems like we may have
a PSU fault as the left-hand M8728 MOS memory boards in the crate don't
have a lit green LED on the top, whilst the right-hand boards do. Tried
the obvious swapping memory boards around and the associated A/B control
boards with no luck, and according to the bitsavers docs a problem with
PSU B would knock out that portion of the memory crate's bus.
Anyway, I'm looking for either the schematics for either the MK11 box
controller, or for the M8159 data buffer board.
In particular I need the pin connection diagram for the 40 pin ribbon
cable that runs between the box controller and the M8159 board.
Our Decsystem 570 never had a box controller; instead it had someone's
homebrew attempt at half a box controller - a bunch of LEDs on a single-
width board plugged into slot 26/F of the memory crate, and a couple of
SPDT switches grafted onto the edge of the M8159 board (yuck!). Slot 26
in the MK11 appears to be a spare; someone's added wires beneath to
connect three of the LEDs back to the power supplies, so I know those
are doing the equivalent of the battery status LEDs in a real box
controller.
However, there's three more LEDs on the homebrew board that are soldered
directly to various pins on the box controller connector of the M8159,
and the two bodged switches are connected up to pins here too.
The two switches are unlabelled, so knowing the pinouts of the box
controller connector is the only way of working out what they do.
Working out what the three unknown and unmarked LEDs are for would be
handy too!
The manual for the MK11 doesn't go into detail of connector wiring
though - any have the relevant schematics?
cheers!
Jules
I asked about cleaning up the Flexowriters and a friend of mine
reminded me that the old typewriter shops had vats of solvent that they
would dunk the entire assembly into (taking off electrical and rubber parts
before-hand). These are pretty nasty so I thought that sounding like a
good idea. I was thinking of using minerals spirits. Anybody have any
experience with using that on electromechanical stuff? Any sugggestions? I
thought I'd remove the platen and belt on the RH side and any other rubber
parts that I could see. Does anyone know if there are any parts inside the
Flexowriters that should be removed first?
Joe
I'll be making a trip this weekend to pick up a few ICON's.
Passing throught Toronto from Ottawa on route to Guelph.
Since I'm renting a van for the trip I may have some space for additional
machines.
--
Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600
Machines to trade http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600/trade.html
Open Source Weekend http://www.osw.ca
Hi All,
after some distraction on other projects I picked up my pdp8/e simulator
that runs on the 6809 Core Board. When I stopped a few months ago, I got
the simulator working (as far as I can know with my very limited pdp8/e
knowledge), but the console (yes, blinkenlights!) crashed the software.
That problem is fixed, but what I can not get clear from the books is
the active position of the HALT and SING-STEP switches.
When the Switch Register switches are "down" they produce a logic zero;
the "up" position present logic ones. Likewise for the SW switch.
The momentary switches CLEAR, CONT, and EXAM are "up" in their normal
position, but in that 'block' are also two switches: HALT and SING-STEP.
Are these two active in the "up" or the "down" position?
TIA,
- Henk, PA8PDP.
I have a complete Imagen 8/300 system with Ethernet interface available. It
includes a like-new CX engine (it was on only its second toner cartridge when
I stored it away), spare parts, CX maintenance manuals, etc. Because of the
weight this pretty much has to be a pick up in Gloucester, MA.
Dan Lanciani
ddl(a)danlan.*com
Allright, my grandma called me telling me she saw something I might like
at a fleemarket. Thinking it would probably a typewriter or an SVGA
screen, I still wanted to stop by the fleemarket.
I was wrong.
It's a big, blue, keyboard-folds-down Atlantic Research Corporation
Interview Comstate I.
This is one of the coolest pieces of equipment I've ever seen.
Anyways, it's got a program bank. Are there any other programs availible
out there?
It can function as a 1200bps terminal, and it does.
Anyone know anything about it?
TIA,
--
Tore S Bekkedal <toresbe(a)ifi.uio.no>
Gang - Any tips/pointers appreciated. I have some cassette tape
audio files using 300 baud 8/n/1 format simple fsk 1200/2400Hz
I think. Same audio you would find on a cassette tape for program
storage except in a wav file. Any easy way to demodulate it back into
data? Something like a software (mo)dem that can read the audio file
and create the contents?
Otherwise I will have to type the program in again (yuck) or
read it into the old machine and rig up a serial interface
to transfer it to a new PC running a simulator (more fun but
would rather just extract it directly).
Thanks
--Chuck
Today I started working on the 2nd Flexowriter. First I should point
out that this is a newer machine than the first one. This one has an
~13,500 serial number and the first one has an ~4,000 serial number. This
is what it looked like to begin with; front
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2front.jpg> and back
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2back.jp.g> and right hand side
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2right.jpg>. At least the keyboard
hasn't been smashed in this one but you can tell that it hasn't been used
in a LONG time by the mildew on the keys. The keys are supposed to be black
and not white! The power cords of both machines had been wrapped around the
carriage for so long that they had taken a permanent set and they broke
when I tried to unwrap them! The first thing that you notice about this
machine is that all the removeable covers are dark blue instead of brown.
I've been told that sometime in the 60s they changed the machine color from
brown to blue. Perhaps this is a transistion model or maybe somebody just
mixed up the parts during a repair or modification. This is the same model
as the first one but it's very different. For one thing it has a
transformer in it <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2motor.jpg>. It also
has a 2nd circuit board lurking behind the transformer and the fuse holders
are very different from the first machine. But in the back it's even more
changed. There are a lot more relays in it and the relays have a lot more
contacts. <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2relays.jpg>. The blue
arrows show all the new relays and the red arrow shows a stepping relay
that has also been added to this machine. This appears to be a factory
modification since all the brackets, wiring, etc fit perfectly. However all
the added parts use wire with grey plastic insulation instead of the
various colored cloth covered wire used originaly so this appears to have
been done long after the machine was originally built. This mod also uses a
different type connector (white arrow). In addition to the added relays,
the encoder <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2encoder.jpg> has three
more switch levers added (red arrows) to the original seven levers (blue
arrows. And of course there are three added sets of switch contacts (red
arrows) on the back of the plate that hold the original seven sets (blue
arrows) <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2switches.jpg>. All of the
added electrical parts use the same grey plastic insulated wires. Another
change that I spotted was the use of round rubber feet with studs sticking
out of the top and bottom of it (the one in the picture is broken). The top
stud screws into the machine to mount the foot but I don't know for sure
what the bottom stud was supposed to screw into.* The first machine used
square rubber feet that were obviously make to sit on a flat surface such
as a table top. Both of these machines were built by Commercial Controls
Corporation prior to it being taken over by Frieden in the early '60s.
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/CC.jpg>. FWIW Here is also a picture
of the PT punch <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2punch.jpg>. It's a
modular design and I had to take it off to remove the encoder.
*When I was a kid my dad had several teletype machines. A year of two
ago he told me about another machine that he used to have that printed form
letters from a paper tape. He said that it stopped printing at certain
points and you could manually type in people's names, addresses, etc. He
got rid of the machine many years ago and didn't remember the name on it.
Today I called him and asked him about it and asked if it was a Fleowriter
and he said that it was. He said that he still has a few accessories for it
including a bit bucket and a Frieden marked dust cover. He also said that
his Flexowriter sat on it's own stand. I suppose that that is what the
rubber feet with studs on this machine are intended for.
As I mentioned. I worked on the second machine today. I found that
there's something locking up the carriage and preventing it from going back
to the left. The release buttons have no effect even though all the linkage
is free and moves like it should. The problem seems to be in something
UNDER the carriage. I finally found a escapement behind the carriage and I
pryed over the lever that prevents it from turning backwards and I was able
to move the carriage to the left. I need to find out more about the
escapement and what how it's supposed to work. The shafts in the encoder
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2encoder.jpg> that rotate and move the
switch levers were also rusted up. I had to take the encover out and take
it apart and clean the pivots before it worked. Boy getting it all back
together was fun! NOT!
Joe
