Re: Selling keyboards without the terminal

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

Ugh - this is super frustrating to see. Especially since I have a 3101
here with no keyboard. And the reason *why* it has no keyboard? It got
bought out from under me. I bought this terminal, complete, on eBay.
It arrives... with no keyboard. I complained to the seller, he
refunded all my money and just said, basically "Sorry, someone gave me
a whole lot of money for the keyboard alone, you can keep the
terminal" Great. So, now I have a useless terminal on my shelf
waiting for me to get extremely lucky and find the missing keyboard.

What's even worse is this wasn't even the first time this happened to
me. I have an Infoton here that's missing it's keyboard for the exact
same reason.

Collecting computer terminals has gotten horribly frustrating, and
really, these keyboard scalpers have sucked a lot of the fun out of
the hobby for me.

-Ian
On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 11:34 AM Bill Degnan via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> Here is a great example of why the keyboards and terminals are getting
> separated
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-3101-beam-spring-keyboard-purchased-new-in-1982/123422383512?hash=item1cbc8c1d98:g:sCkAAOSwfbhbwQvU
>
> Note the price $2000 so far.  How could one blame the seller.  I wonder if
> this is the terminal I sold to a buyer in California years ago when I sold
> my Series/1 computer.  All he wanted was the terminal, I donated the rest
> to what was the MARCH museum.  At the time I remember having a few words
> with the buyer who would not also take the Series/1 system (2 racks) or the
> manuals.
>
> There is a naked terminal up for grabs if you're out his way.
>
> Bill

Re: Wanted: tech docs on original Iomega 8-inch full height 10MB Bernoulli drive (Alpha-10)

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

I can confirm that the media is starting to degrade - at least, it
does if it wasn't stored properly. I have a couple of cartridges here
that are shedding badly. You can manually open the cartridge by
tripping the catches and sliding the door open, and look at it. Here's
a picture of such a shedding/unusable cartridge after an attempt to
read it:
https://i.imgur.com/Pb4AyQo.jpg
The oxide clogs the heads up pretty good - it's vital to keep the
heads clean and to inspect cartridges before using them so you don't
gunk them up. Look for dull/chalky looking media. Obviously any mold
spots are bad as well. And if you do get a bunch of read errors
(clunking noise), be sure to check and clean the heads before using a
good cartridge. I'm not sure if the oxide buildup will damage
otherwise good media, but I can't help but think it might.

I do have a fully working 10MB drive and controller, and the ability
to image cartridges.

I'd love to find more actual technical documentation on these drives
as well, everything I know about them is from getting mine to run. I'm
also always looking for more cartridges.

-Ian
On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 9:59 PM Michael Brutman via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> Hi Eric,
>
> I have working 10MB and 20MB units here being driven by a PC XT with the
> Iomega specific card for them.
>
> I've had to puts lots of effort into cleaning the heads on them.  I'm not
> sure if there is an oxide shedding problem or just 30 years of dust that
> I'm fighting, but they do seem to be very finicky at this stage.  It also
> could be a media formatting problem; I think they have servo tracks that
> were laid down at manufacturing time, so if you have a read error on the
> servo track there is no way to fix it.
>
>
> Mike
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 9:34 AM Eric Smith via cctalk 
> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone have the user, technical and/or service manual for the original
> > 10MB Iomega Bernoulli drives? Bitsavers has the manuals for the later
> > half-height 10.0/10.5 MB "Alpha-10H", but I'm looking for docs for the
> > original model, which was full-height with a SASI (pre-SCSI) interface.
> >
> > I have the drives, about 20 cartridges that I want to image, and some
> > additional scratch cartridges.
> >
> > I've never used Bernoulli drives before. These drives and cartridges were
> > last used around 1986. I'll disconnect and test the power supply before
> > powering up the actual drives, but is there anything else I should be
> > concerned with?
> >
> > Does anyone have known-working 8-inch Bernoulli drives?
> >

Re: DG microNOVA in Cleveland on CL

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

Someone linked this to me on IRC. I called, but it was already
claimed. Just hope it gets to a good home.

-Ian
On Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 2:32 PM jos via cctalk  wrote:
>
> On 04.10.2018 20:03, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
> >
> > https://cleveland.craigslist.org/sys/d/data-general-free-for-good/6714121268.html
> >
> >
>
> A MP/200. 16 bit CPU  built with AMD2901.
> Rare beast, alas mine doesn't post. Powersupply is OK.
> Lack of schematics / detailed documentations hampers progess
>
> Jos

IBM 3101 keyboard - was Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

Well, let me know if you find another one. Or, if anyone else has one
they'd be willing to part with for reasonable money. The regular 3278
type keyboards won't work on an IBM 3101 - and those are a lot more
common. The one I need looks like this:
https://i.imgur.com/1Cz8hMi.jpg

It has the configuration switches to set the baud rate and such under
that panel at the top.

Without this particular keyboard, the terminal I have is useless - you
can't even have it just receive/display data, since the configuration
switches are in the keyboard.

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 1:42 PM, Electronics Plus <sa...@elecplus.com> wrote:
> I had no idea you wanted one! I just sold 1 in superb shape, but yes, the 
> fellow did pay a fortune for them. He is in Canada.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ian Primus 
> via cctalk
> Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 10:40 PM
> To: Guy Sotomayor; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"
>
> On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 12:35 PM, Guy Sotomayor via cctalk 
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>> …are the bane of my existence and should all rot in hell.
>>
>> Sorry, I just received an email from a “keyboard enthusiast” who was
>> looking for various IBM 327x keyboards and wanted to know if I could
>> help him and I needed to vent a little.
>
> Ugh. Don't get me started. I collect terminals. Missing keyboards is a 
> perennial problem, but it's gotten WAY worse in recent years. I have two 
> terminals here that are missing the keyboards because some "enthusiast" 
> bought them out from under me during an eBay transaction.
>
> So, now I have an Infoton and an IBM 3101 here that are completely worthless 
> because the keyboards are missing.
>
> And I have no hope of ever finding replacements - especially for the IBM 
> 3101, because that's one of the ones the keyboard jerks really seem to love 
> because it's the older beam spring kind.
>
> Grr.
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>

Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 12:35 PM, Guy Sotomayor via cctalk
 wrote:
> …are the bane of my existence and should all rot in hell.
>
> Sorry, I just received an email from a “keyboard enthusiast” who was looking 
> for
> various IBM 327x keyboards and wanted to know if I could help him and I needed
> to vent a little.

Ugh. Don't get me started. I collect terminals. Missing keyboards is a
perennial problem, but it's gotten WAY worse in recent years. I have
two terminals here that are missing the keyboards because some
"enthusiast" bought them out from under me during an eBay transaction.

So, now I have an Infoton and an IBM 3101 here that are completely
worthless because the keyboards are missing.

And I have no hope of ever finding replacements - especially for the
IBM 3101, because that's one of the ones the keyboard jerks really
seem to love because it's the older beam spring kind.

Grr.

Re: Ann Arbor Ambassador XL / Re: pile of gear for sale (DEC, Sun, PC, ephemera, v.35 cables, etc etc)

[Ian Primus via cctalk]

I'm definitely interested in the Ann Arbor terminal - I have sent you
a couple of messages but haven't heard back - I'm not sure if I have
the right address? Let me know. Thanks!

-Ian

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 1:35 AM, Andrew K. Bressen via cctalk
 wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 02:22:34PM -0700, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:
>>>(Not sure what the XL designates, I knew them as just Ann Arbor Ambassador).
>>
>
> John Wilson via cctalk  writes:
>> It's a newer version.  I think maybe 60 lines vs. 48 for the classic AAA?
>> Could be wrong.
>>
>> John Wilson
>> D Bit
>
> Yeah, it has a pretty tall aspect ratio, 60 lines seems very believable.
>
>