Re: 1970s CDC disk drive (Craigslist, Washington DC)
On 10/21/18 7:12 PM, Ken Shirriff via cctalk wrote: > Someone pointed out this CDC disk drive on Craigslist in the Washington DC > area: > https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/zip/d/early-computer-era-rolling/6728728220.html > > I have no connection to this, and don't know anything about it, but figured > someone on cctalk might want to pick it up, rather than it getting scrapped. > Looks like a 9746. --Chuck
Re: Softcard (Was: Microsoft-Paul Allen
I have a Basis (apple ][ clone) with a cpm card built on the main board…. George > On Oct 21, 2018, at 11:09 AM, systems_glitch via cctalk > wrote: > > I'd heard, but have no sources for said hearsay, that the most common CP/M > machine in volume was the Apple II. > > There were definitely knockoffs of the Microsoft Z80 Softcard. One of my > IIe systems has one from SPACE BYTE, the other is no-name. I've personally > seen more knockoffs than actual Microsoft cards. The two I have currently > are definitely "photocopy" type knockoff/clone cards, the layout is nearly > identical to the real Microsoft card I've got. That of course doesn't speak > for what was actually deployed. > > Some Apple II compatibles also came with CP/M compatibility out of the box, > I don't personally know if that was MS Z80 Softcard compatible or something > else. > > Thanks, > Jonathan > > On Sat, Oct 20, 2018 at 5:54 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk > wrote: > The Softcard was a Z-80 based single-board computer >> >> On Sat, 20 Oct 2018, Eric Smith via cctalk wrote: >>> It wasn't. It was only a processor card. >>> No version of the Softcard had it's own video output. It used normal >> Apple >>> video output. If you wanted 80x24, you had to use a separate third-party >>> 80-column card, or (later) and Apple IIe, IIc, IIc+, or IIgs. >>> I'm not sure what you're referring to by "etc.", but the vast majority of >>> Softcards and their clones did not have their own RAM, and used that of >> the >>> Apple II. >>> The PCPI Applicard and it's clones had their own RAM. Some very late >> models >>> of the Softcard had their own RAM. >> >> I remember hearing, at one point, a statement (not necessarily reliable), >> that said that 20% of Apple computers had a Softcard. >> What was the approximate percentage in 1980/1981, when IBM contacted >> Microsoft? >> (or number that had been sold, which would include ones not actually in >> use) >> >> What was the PEAK percentage? >> (or number that had been sold, which would include ones not actually in >> use) >> >> Were there other brands, or imitations, available then (1980/1981)? >> >> Later, what percentage were imitations? >> >> Speculatively, how much were they used V use of the machine in non-Z80 >> ways? (How many people bought it just ot have the capability, without >> necessarily being active CP/M users?) >> >> >> This is definitely not the first time that I have heard that IBM had >> assumed that CP/M was a Microsoft product. >> >> >> >>
1970s CDC disk drive (Craigslist, Washington DC)
Someone pointed out this CDC disk drive on Craigslist in the Washington DC area: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/zip/d/early-computer-era-rolling/6728728220.html I have no connection to this, and don't know anything about it, but figured someone on cctalk might want to pick it up, rather than it getting scrapped. Ken
PDP8A Power Distribution Board
Hello alltogether, i am restoring a PDP8A at the moment. The machine got a problem in the Powersupply. I think one of the emergency ciruits trigger a shutdown of PSU. In tracing this isue i hab two questions. My 8A`s manufacturing year is 1977. It`s model is 8A620. On Bitsavers i found a matching shematic for the BA8C Power distribution Board from 1976 (File: EK-8A002-MM-002_PDP-8A_Miniprocessor_Users_Manual_Dec76.pdf page 597). The Board Number is 5412000-0-1. My first question is if somone has the Board Layout with it's component locations? My second question is about the DEC4011 Chips. As i inspected the Board i found the DEC4011 Chips. First i think they are the standard CMOS 4011 quad two-input NAND`s. In the shematic it look more like a four Transistor array. Did anyone know somthing aput these Chips? Are there any equivalent parts? Have anyone a Datasheet of it? Marco
Re: Microsoft-Paul Allen
Tony Duell says: > > In some of the documentation, the sketch of a joystick was clearly > > the Radio Shack Coco joystick (which needed a different connector) > > And is electrically different. The Tandy 1000 series has Color Computer joystick ports (and the TRS-80 card-edge parallel port). I've read that some software is incompatible with CoCo joysticks, but don't remember seeing any such with my 1000SL. -- geo:37.78,-122.416667
Re: Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)
Hi Tom, thanks for getting in touch. I got some hardware and documentation from PWA as they wanted to get rid of all the small portion which remained. I focused on the 16 bit machines so I have 1602 (forwarded 1602b to a colleague) and a mse14. All restored to working condition. With two colleagues we built a hdd simulator, so the mse is running mapped RDOS. My marvels I guess are a microcode development kit for the 1602 and the Rolm "mother". Currently I am in Denver to attend the nova-at-50.org... More if interested next week... Erik. Am 20. Oktober 2018 17:03:22 GMT-06:00 schrieb Thomas Hollowell via cctech : >Hi Eric, >My name is Tom Hollowell. I took the US support of Rolm in 1998. PWA >assumed the international. I noticed that you have some ROLM hardware. >I may be interested in finding out what you have. >Let me know, >Thanks, >Tom > >Sent from my iPhone -- Diese Nachricht wurde von meinem Android-Gerät mit K-9 Mail gesendet.
Re: Selling keyboards without the terminal
On 10/21/18 11:25 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > Because of my job, I have to think about what the museum needs to collect > at the bottom of the supply bathtub curve, and I get nervous when things > start to come up on the tail side. I should probably expound on that a bit more. I've noticed our collection is pretty weak in IBM and compatible comms gear. I had some documentation to fill in some holes, but that made me think more about 3rd party devices, which are a little easier to document because it isn't full of IBM ASICs. I've been making some calls, you'd think the stuff would still be out there, but after they stop laughing the brokers either say they threw that stuff out decades ago, or want thousands of dollars for it then don't have the documentation. Maybe I'm just calling the wrong places. The one thing I'm really looking for is the AT&T/Memorex MCS 6542 control unit. I stumbled upon the hardware description looking for something else about two weeks ago, but can't find anyone that still has one. 6541s are easy to find, but they use a proprietary "standard serial interface" which only works with AT&T terminals.
Re: Softcard (Was: Microsoft-Paul Allen
On Sun, 21 Oct 2018, systems_glitch wrote:
I'd heard, but have no sources for said hearsay, that the most common CP/M
machine in volume was the Apple II.
At one time.
I have heard that Amstrad eventually passed them.
How were sales of Commodore 128?
There were definitely knockoffs of the Microsoft Z80 Softcard. One of my
IIe systems has one from SPACE BYTE, the other is no-name. I've personally
seen more knockoffs than actual Microsoft cards. The two I have currently
are definitely "photocopy" type knockoff/clone cards, the layout is nearly
identical to the real Microsoft card I've got. That of course doesn't speak
for what was actually deployed.
I would assume that in the early days, it was all, or almost all the real
Microsoft one. That would include the time when IBM thought that
Microsoft was the source of CP/M.
LATER, there were imitations, copies, clones, and counterfeits.
Some of the "imitators" were legal, and may even have had improvements.
Don't know where to get numbers of those. Sales data for the Microsoft
one exist, but for the others?
The law is not always clear as to how close an imitation may be. For
example, Kevin Jenkins/"Hercules" copied the MDA design, adding RAM and
graphics capability. Then he was furious when others copied his design.
("clone smasher" ad campaign, that even claimed that imitation boards
could destroy the computer)
Some Apple II compatibles also came with CP/M compatibility out of the box,
I don't personally know if that was MS Z80 Softcard compatible or something
else.
Basis 108 had a Z80 secondary processor.
Re: Selling keyboards without the terminal
On 10/20/18 10:05 PM, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: > It's Beanie Babies all over again, people. Give it a year or two and the > keyboard market will likely crash. I don't see it happening, unless someone turns up a warehouse full of the things cheap to drive supply up. All I hear about are guys with warehouses scrapping CRTs, and those are 80's & 90's commodity ASCII terminals. The only terminal keyboards still turning up in volume are Wyse because the rest were junk that got flaky 10+ years ago. Beanie Babies were sold as collectables, and millions were made. CRT terminals aren't collectable. You don't flip them. There are a handful of interest to collectors, like VT100s. Before Hercules, no one cared about CU terminals because there was nothing you could do with them without the knowledge of the care and feeding of IBM big iron. Even twinax was pretty out there. Only 'corestore' ever showed much of anything in that world. So now, all of that is pretty much obsolete and getting thrown out by the warehouse load. Hell, even I ended up with 10 3191 terminals recently because they would have been tossed. Because of my job, I have to think about what the museum needs to collect at the bottom of the supply bathtub curve, and I get nervous when things start to come up on the tail side.
Re: Softcard (Was: Microsoft-Paul Allen
I'd heard, but have no sources for said hearsay, that the most common CP/M machine in volume was the Apple II. There were definitely knockoffs of the Microsoft Z80 Softcard. One of my IIe systems has one from SPACE BYTE, the other is no-name. I've personally seen more knockoffs than actual Microsoft cards. The two I have currently are definitely "photocopy" type knockoff/clone cards, the layout is nearly identical to the real Microsoft card I've got. That of course doesn't speak for what was actually deployed. Some Apple II compatibles also came with CP/M compatibility out of the box, I don't personally know if that was MS Z80 Softcard compatible or something else. Thanks, Jonathan On Sat, Oct 20, 2018 at 5:54 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > >> The Softcard was a Z-80 based single-board > >> computer > > On Sat, 20 Oct 2018, Eric Smith via cctalk wrote: > > It wasn't. It was only a processor card. > > No version of the Softcard had it's own video output. It used normal > Apple > > video output. If you wanted 80x24, you had to use a separate third-party > > 80-column card, or (later) and Apple IIe, IIc, IIc+, or IIgs. > > I'm not sure what you're referring to by "etc.", but the vast majority of > > Softcards and their clones did not have their own RAM, and used that of > the > > Apple II. > > The PCPI Applicard and it's clones had their own RAM. Some very late > models > > of the Softcard had their own RAM. > > I remember hearing, at one point, a statement (not necessarily reliable), > that said that 20% of Apple computers had a Softcard. > What was the approximate percentage in 1980/1981, when IBM contacted > Microsoft? > (or number that had been sold, which would include ones not actually in > use) > > What was the PEAK percentage? > (or number that had been sold, which would include ones not actually in > use) > > Were there other brands, or imitations, available then (1980/1981)? > > Later, what percentage were imitations? > > Speculatively, how much were they used V use of the machine in non-Z80 > ways? (How many people bought it just ot have the capability, without > necessarily being active CP/M users?) > > > This is definitely not the first time that I have heard that IBM had > assumed that CP/M was a Microsoft product. > > > >
Re: Selling keyboards without the terminal
On 10/20/18 8:11 PM, Warner Losh wrote: > I have an old Apple Newton keyboard... would that be useful? It's just a > simple serial protocol with a table that at one > point I write a program that used the xtest extension to allow me to use it > as my main keyboard while in X11 Would > that be helpful / useful here at all? It would be good to get it documented somewhere.
Re: Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)
Hi Paul, thanks for your reply - good to see that there are still guys out there who worked with this heavy iron. So you have been in the UK while working with the Rolm? I guess it was a 1602B or later and pesumably some airborne early warning stuff? Best wishes, Erik. Am 21. Oktober 2018 03:12:52 GMT-06:00 schrieb Paul Anderson via cctalk : >I was at the DG factory school at Southbourgh in 76 or 77, and worked >on a >ROLM NOVA while at RAF Chicksands in the late 70s. Unfortunately, my EX >through out all of the manuals, prints, etc along with a complete set >of >SAGE (ANFSQ-7) docs. > >Paul > >On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 3:38 AM Thomas Hollowell via cctalk < >cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> Hi Eric, >> My name is Tom Hollowell. I took the US support of Rolm in 1998. PWA >> assumed the international. I noticed that you have some ROLM >hardware. I >> may be interested in finding out what you have. >> Let me know, >> Thanks, >> Tom >> >> Sent from my iPhone -- Diese Nachricht wurde von meinem Android-Gerät mit K-9 Mail gesendet.
Re: Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)
I was at the DG factory school at Southbourgh in 76 or 77, and worked on a ROLM NOVA while at RAF Chicksands in the late 70s. Unfortunately, my EX through out all of the manuals, prints, etc along with a complete set of SAGE (ANFSQ-7) docs. Paul On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 3:38 AM Thomas Hollowell via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi Eric, > My name is Tom Hollowell. I took the US support of Rolm in 1998. PWA > assumed the international. I noticed that you have some ROLM hardware. I > may be interested in finding out what you have. > Let me know, > Thanks, > Tom > > Sent from my iPhone
Re: Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)
Hi Eric, My name is Tom Hollowell. I took the US support of Rolm in 1998. PWA assumed the international. I noticed that you have some ROLM hardware. I may be interested in finding out what you have. Let me know, Thanks, Tom Sent from my iPhone
