Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Brent Hilpert]

On 2017-Jan-10, at 11:37 PM, Brad H wrote:
>  Original message 
> From: Chuck Guzis  
> Date: 2017-01-10  11:24 PM  (GMT-08:00) 
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
>  
> Subject: Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you
>  own? 
> 
> On 01/10/2017 09:58 PM, Brad H wrote:
> 
>> Am envying the Altair guys though.  I want one but they always come
>> up at just the wrong time.
> 
> I've still got the 8800 I built (with all those crappy white stranded
> wires) back in the day.  It's not that great, trust me.
> 
> I moved to an IMSAI box and finally to an Integrand box.  Don't have the
> IMSAI any longer, but still have the Integrand.
> 
> Haven't powered any of them up in 30 years.   One tends to forget about
>> such stuff.
> 
>> --Chuck
> 
> For me it'd be purely about the history.Gates and Allen writing the 
> interpreter without an actual Altair to work on. Allen writing the bootstrap 
> on the plane he took to pitch to MITS.  Gates' first written tirade about 
> piracy.  
> An Altair isn't out of my reach.. just.. other stuff (like the Mark-8 boards) 
> keeps coming up just as I've stored enough money to buy one.


In the vein of arcania, somewhere I have an original copy of the Altair 
newsletter with the letter from Bill about software pirating.

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Adrian Stoness]

only surviving model of a phillips p1000


On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 11:58 PM, Brad H <
vintagecompu...@bettercomputing.net> wrote:

> I don't know how rare some of these are but I'm told they are:
>
> 1) Original Mark-8 board set.  (Think there are less than 20 Mark-8s/board
> sets out there currently)
> 2) Tektronix 6800 Board Bucket (probably even less than above?)
> 3) Digital Group Z80 and 8080 systems + 2 cassette Phideck
> 4) Videobrain Family Computer
>
> Am envying the Altair guys though.  I want one but they always come up at
> just the wrong time.
>
>

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Brad H]

 Original message 
From: Chuck Guzis  
Date: 2017-01-10  11:24 PM  (GMT-08:00) 
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"  
Subject: Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you
 own? 

On 01/10/2017 09:58 PM, Brad H wrote:

> Am envying the Altair guys though.  I want one but they always come
> up at just the wrong time.

I've still got the 8800 I built (with all those crappy white stranded
wires) back in the day.  It's not that great, trust me.

I moved to an IMSAI box and finally to an Integrand box.  Don't have the
IMSAI any longer, but still have the Integrand.

Haven't powered any of them up in 30 years.   One tends to forget about
>such stuff.

>--Chuck

For me it'd be purely about the history.    Gates and Allen writing the 
interpreter without an actual Altair to work on. Allen writing the bootstrap on 
the plane he took to pitch to MITS.  Gates' first written tirade about piracy.  
An Altair isn't out of my reach.. just.. other stuff (like the Mark-8 boards) 
keeps coming up just as I've stored enough money to buy one.

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/10/2017 09:58 PM, Brad H wrote:

> Am envying the Altair guys though.  I want one but they always come
> up at just the wrong time.

I've still got the 8800 I built (with all those crappy white stranded
wires) back in the day.  It's not that great, trust me.

I moved to an IMSAI box and finally to an Integrand box.  Don't have the
IMSAI any longer, but still have the Integrand.

Haven't powered any of them up in 30 years.   One tends to forget about
such stuff.

--Chuck

RE: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Brad H]

I don't know how rare some of these are but I'm told they are:

1) Original Mark-8 board set.  (Think there are less than 20 Mark-8s/board sets 
out there currently)
2) Tektronix 6800 Board Bucket (probably even less than above?)
3) Digital Group Z80 and 8080 systems + 2 cassette Phideck
4) Videobrain Family Computer

Am envying the Altair guys though.  I want one but they always come up at just 
the wrong time.  

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[allison]

On 01/10/2017 05:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
> Hi Everyone!
>
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
>
> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
>
> Looking forward to hearing your answers
>
>> _Andy
I have two Altair and early 8800 I built, the second is a 8800BT with
drives.

Another is a IMSAI 8035 control computer.

For really rare, DEC Advice 78032 in circuit development tool (aka
MicroVax!).

Technico Superstarter system Ti9900 cpu.

The rest are or were fairly common by some standard.


Allison

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[ethan]

Cray J932SE

Original paper copies of Dvorak newsletters and software catalogs that 
came with my IMSAI 8080. Prices for Microsoft BASIC and all that. I'd 
imagine the paperwork is more rare than the system. There are color 
brochures for some other systems like vectorgraph as well. I should check 
to make sure they exist in scanned format in the wild.


Apple IIGS that Wozniak autographed for me when he visited Virginia Beach.

Yamaha C1 286-12 midi laptop. It doesn't work and most others I find are 
same situation. But more rare than the computer is I found a print copy of 
the service manual that even Yamaha doesn't have. It came with 
documentation that wasn't in the wild, so I set it free and it should 
answer questions for others. Would like to get hold of working unit eprom 
dumps.


--
Ethan O'Toole

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Jon Elson]

On 01/10/2017 06:01 PM, Guy Sotomayor Jr wrote:

Although not yet physically in my possession (I still have to “pick it up” for 
large values of “pick up”) my rarest/most unusual system is an IBM 4331 with 
all of it’s related peripherals.  Specifically it includes:
* IBM 4331 CPU with 1MB of RAM
* 4 IBM 3340 drives (w 12 70MB winchester packs)
* IBM 2821 control unit
* IBM 1403N1 printer
* IBM 2540 card reader/punch
* IBM 3803 control unit
* 2 IBM 3420 tape drives


Holy moly!  I had no idea any of that vintage of stuff was 
still in circulation.  The 2821 is really chunks of 1401 
parts repurposed into a 360 unit record controller.  
Germanium transistors on SMS cards!


Hope you have strong floors!

Jon

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Jon Elson]

OK, I have some TINY core planes out of a Honeywell system.  
One unit was a tape drive, the other a line printer.  These 
were hooked together to make an off-line print despooler.  I 
got it working enough to analyze the signals, and then wrote 
a driver and built an interface to my S-100 Z-80 system.  
So, I had a 300 LPM drum printer on an S-100 system.


All I have left of it is the core plane cards and a few 
other bits.


I also have a PDP-8 core plane.

Jon

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[drlegendre .]

Off the top of my head, here's a whimsical little oddball - the
Passez-Sonna Floppy Clock:

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/modern-floppy-disc-clock-passez-sonna-430407608

Mine has a red, white & blue 'stars & stripes' (US flag) motif printed on
it, but is otherwise identical. It's the only one of its type I have ever
seen..

On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 8:47 PM, Chris Elmquist  wrote:

> On January 10, 2017 5:29:00 PM CST, Chuck Guzis  wrote:
> >On 01/10/2017 02:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
> >> Hi Everyone!
> >>
> >> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around -
> >> What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
> >>
> >> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
> >>
> >> Looking forward to hearing your answers
> >
> >That's a tough one.  A 1401 core plane?   Some CDC 6000 "cordwood"
> >modules?  Two Durango F85s, complete with 14" Shugart hard drive?
> >
> >Got a couple of boards that I don't even know the provenance of.
> >
> >PSU diodes and heatsink from a STAR 1B?
> >
> >Lotsa junk.
> >
> >--Chuck
>
> ETA-10 CPU board?
>
> The star off the front of one of those STAR machines
>
> Two mag tapes from Univac I.  They are 8" dia, steel and weigh about 8 lbs
> each ;-)
>
> IBM 5100?
>
> Two i4040 engineering samples (that work)?
>
> cje
>
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Elmquist
>

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Josh Dersch]

On 1/10/17 3:29 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:


On 01/10/2017 02:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around -
What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!

Looking forward to hearing your answers

That's a tough one.  A 1401 core plane?   Some CDC 6000 "cordwood"
modules?  Two Durango F85s, complete with 14" Shugart hard drive?

Got a couple of boards that I don't even know the provenance of.

PSU diodes and heatsink from a STAR 1B?

Lotsa junk.

--Chuck



.



For me:
 - AMT DAP 610 (64x64 array processor, probably only a few hundred made)
 - Imlac PDS-1D (early graphical terminal/computer, 1971)
 - PERQ-1A (early graphical workstation, bitslice CPU, goodness all around)
 - RGS 008 micro (8008 kit from 1974-1975 with switches and blinkenlights)

- Josh

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[dwight]

You reminded me of two other interesting things:


One is an early development system for the I4004.

Includes a SIM4-01, MB-410 and MP7-03.

I've actually written some code for it. Blowing 1702As by

the serial 110 baud is about 7 minutes. I wrote code to do

a standalone copy of another EPROM that runs in 2 minutes.

That of course is I4004 code.


 I also have a NC4000 Forth computer that I've connected

a 5Meg had drive to and two 360K floppy drives. I used parts

from old XT computers, found at surplus shops. I am able

to recompile the entire Forth operating system in less than

15 seconds with the old MFM hard drive as source.

Dwight



From: cctalk  on behalf of Chris Elmquist 

Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 6:47:34 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts; Chuck Guzis
Subject: Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

On January 10, 2017 5:29:00 PM CST, Chuck Guzis  wrote:
>On 01/10/2017 02:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
>> Hi Everyone!
>>
>> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around -
>> What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
>>
>> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
>>
>> Looking forward to hearing your answers
>
>That's a tough one.  A 1401 core plane?   Some CDC 6000 "cordwood"
>modules?  Two Durango F85s, complete with 14" Shugart hard drive?
>
>Got a couple of boards that I don't even know the provenance of.
>
>PSU diodes and heatsink from a STAR 1B?
>
>Lotsa junk.
>
>--Chuck

ETA-10 CPU board?

The star off the front of one of those STAR machines

Two mag tapes from Univac I.  They are 8" dia, steel and weigh about 8 lbs each 
;-)

IBM 5100?

Two i4040 engineering samples (that work)?

cje




--
Chris Elmquist

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Chris Elmquist]

On January 10, 2017 5:29:00 PM CST, Chuck Guzis  wrote:
>On 01/10/2017 02:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
>> Hi Everyone!
>> 
>> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around -
>> What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
>> 
>> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
>> 
>> Looking forward to hearing your answers
>
>That's a tough one.  A 1401 core plane?   Some CDC 6000 "cordwood"
>modules?  Two Durango F85s, complete with 14" Shugart hard drive?
>
>Got a couple of boards that I don't even know the provenance of.
>
>PSU diodes and heatsink from a STAR 1B?
>
>Lotsa junk.
>
>--Chuck

ETA-10 CPU board?

The star off the front of one of those STAR machines

Two mag tapes from Univac I.  They are 8" dia, steel and weigh about 8 lbs each 
;-)

IBM 5100?

Two i4040 engineering samples (that work)?

cje




-- 
Chris Elmquist

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Brent Hilpert]

On 2017-Jan-10, at 2:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
> Hi Everyone!
> 
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
> 
> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
> 
> Looking forward to hearing your answers


How about this Tyrotek analog computer, ca. 1968.
Tyrotek was a small garage startup company, this is one of 6 made.
The people that made it eventually found my web page and provided some history:

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/tyrotek/index.html

Everybody loves plugboards.

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Ben Sinclair]

On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 4:09 PM, Andy Cloud  wrote:

> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
>

My rarest item is probably an IBM System/360 nameplate, the type that was
attached on top of a console. It hangs above the window in my office and is
one of my favorite items.

This isn't too rare, but I also really a Woz signed Apple I schematic that
I have framed on the wall.

-- 
Ben Sinclair
b...@bensinclair.com

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[COURYHOUSE]

That is amazing Ian !  -   Photo?
Wonder  what the  ticket  was  for that back in its new  day...
Ed#
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/10/2017 4:27:44 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
isk...@uw.edu writes:

I'd have  to say my VAX 6000-600.  It has six processors, and therefore  is
alternatively known as the VAX 6660 - the Devil's VAX.  :-)   I've not been
able to boot it because I don't have three-phase power to my  house.
However, I've been informed that the H405 can be rewired to run  correctly
off dryer power, which I do have.  That's one of the (many)  projects on my
post-dissertation list.

With six processors and a  half-gigabyte of RAM, I've been told this is
probably the most built-out  VAX 6600 remaining.  -- Ian
-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D.  Candidate
The Information School  
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered:  Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design  Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal  
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab  

University of Washington

There is an  old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to  China."

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[COURYHOUSE]

 
DIGITAL TRAINERS
 
TUBE TYPE - IBM Digital trainer -   uses  the earliest of  IBM plug in tube 
things that were in their commercial systytems
http://www.smecc.org/video/logic_5.gif
IF ANYONE CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS IT WOULD BE  FANTASTIC!
 
SOLID STATE   -  DEC COMPUTER LAB  with the pdp-8 I  toggles... not  RARE  
but   is  cool!
 
RELAY - - MINIVAC 601 
 
COMPUTERS 

 
for  tube computer- -  our  sage   stuff  also.
 
for solid state   -  some of  our  GE   Erma   material.
 
for mechanical analog  computer   -- some kid of weird  thing  with gears 
shafts , bellows and I think
this weird thing runs off compressed air. details  pending
 
for electronic analog computer - Syston Donner  with Tubes in  it not that  
RARE but  we  are proud of it! 
 
for calculators -   W.W. Salisbury's  HP 35 that he   used for Spiral 
Fusion Calculations
 
ACTIVE  DEVICES
 
Tubes- -  single Plate early Deforest Spherical Audion
 
Transistors - -  experimental and Pre-production  prototypes  ALL Bell 
Transistors  
 
 
DIGITAL TRAINERS
 
IBM Digital trainer -   uses  the earliest of IBM plug in  tube things that 
were in their commercial systems
http://www.smecc.org/video/logic_5.gif
IF ANYONE CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!
Comes in a fitted  wood case with lots of plugable modules with tubes  and 
other  parts.
 
 
 
But  we  love all the  stuff!  Ed#  _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)  
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/10/2017 4:42:21 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us writes:

On Tue,  10 Jan 2017, Andy Cloud wrote:

> I thought this would be an  interesting question to ask around - What's 
the
> rarest or most unusual  computer-related item do you own?

64Kbit core plane from  an AN/FSQ-7 (SAGE)  computer:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/Coreplane-1L.jpg

...along with other Q7  parts:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/


Mike  Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology  http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[steven]

Somewhere I have (misplaced) a BCROS card from a 360/50. Beautiful, intriguing
thing... haven't seen it in years unfortunately.

Also a pair of earrings made from two IBM 1403 chain printer type slugs my dad 
made
for my mother many decades ago, long before 'retro tech jewellery' became a 
thing.

An australian S-100 prototype board for the SC/MP CPU, rescued from the rubbish 
bin
at Applied Technology (who later made the MicroBee) as it was a failed PCB 
etching.

Steve.

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Guy Sotomayor Jr]

Although not yet physically in my possession (I still have to “pick it up” for 
large values of “pick up”) my rarest/most unusual system is an IBM 4331 with 
all of it’s related peripherals.  Specifically it includes:
* IBM 4331 CPU with 1MB of RAM
* 4 IBM 3340 drives (w 12 70MB winchester packs)
* IBM 2821 control unit
* IBM 1403N1 printer
* IBM 2540 card reader/punch
* IBM 3803 control unit
* 2 IBM 3420 tape drives

TTFN - Guy


> On Jan 10, 2017, at 2:09 PM, Andy Cloud  wrote:
> 
> Hi Everyone!
> 
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
> 
> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
> 
> Looking forward to hearing your answers
> 
>> _Andy

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Peter Cetinski]

Probably my rarest setup is the Tandy 6000 HD with Xenix and working Bernoulli 
disk cartridge backup system.

https://youtu.be/mM1IH8frd_U

Pete

> On Jan 10, 2017, at 5:09 PM, Andy Cloud  wrote:
> 
> Hi Everyone!
> 
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
> 
> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
> 
> Looking forward to hearing your answers
> 
>> _Andy

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Jerry Kemp]

Wow, that must have taken a lot of will power to give that up.  If I had it, I'm 
not sure I could have done that.


It's none of my business, but..fingers crossed.that your 3b2 stuff made 
it to Seth Morabito, the gentleman who is working on the 3b2 emulator project 
and is in need of hardware and documentation to continue.


Jerry


On 01/10/17 04:31 PM, Tom Manos wrote:

I just gave away my pride and joy: an AT 3B2 1000 in perfect
condition with just about every accessory you could want and fully
configured. It was a dual processor system, and fully maxed out with
RAM and ports. It had an ethernet card and SCSI,

I collected boards and documentation for many years and had a complete
set of original docs, and many, many spares.

I was downsizing and ended up giving it away to another denizen of the
list along with a couple Sparc 20's and a bunch of other stuff. It
completely filled up a rental SUV and traveled from Virginia to a
state way out west. Many hundreds of pounds of stuff.

It's happily running now.

I miss it, but hopefully it's getting more use than I was giving it.


On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 5:09 PM, Andy Cloud  wrote:

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!

Looking forward to hearing your answers


_Andy

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Mike Loewen]

On Tue, 10 Jan 2017, Andy Cloud wrote:


I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?


   64Kbit core plane from an AN/FSQ-7 (SAGE) computer:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/Coreplane-1L.jpg

   ...along with other Q7 parts:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/


Mike Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology  http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Jules Richardson]

On 01/10/2017 04:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?


I don't know if it qualifies as computer-related or not, but I do have a 
Burroughs adding machine from January of 1905 - it's a little unusual 
because although it's a non-motorized machine, it has a very early variant 
of the stand/side-table (where the majority of the manual machines were 
intended for desktop use)


I was mainly into micros (due to lack of space back in the day), so there's 
nothing really exciting in the electronic side of things, although:


Likely < 20 survivors:

Acorn System 1 (2-board 6502 machine ~1979)
Acorn System 5 (backplane-based variant of above with various extra boards)
Acorn Cambridge Workstation (6502/32016 dual CPU machine)
Acorn/BBC Domesday system
Torch Quad-X (VME-based m68k Unix machine)
Research Machines 480Z (one of the first few made, with the metal case)


And slightly more common items:

Amiga 1000 (a few about, but far more likely to see an A500, 1200 etc.)
Vectrex
Osborne 1a
Commodore +4 (a working one, I'm sure there are more dead ones around!)
SGI Indigo2 (fully-loaded)
SGI Origin 2200
Compaq Portable (a II and a '286)
Research Machines 380Z

I've possibly got the only surviving Cumana 68008 co-processor for a BBC 
micro, and also the only surviving Acorn 80286 co-processor for the same, 
but that probably only means something to folks who collect Acorn hardware :-)


Oh, and for slightly unusual I do have an Apple II+ which was built in week 
51 of 1982, which is a couple of weeks after the line was discontinued by 
Apple. It's a shame that nobody goes nuts for high serial numbers.


cheers

Jules

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/10/2017 02:09 PM, Andy Cloud wrote:
> Hi Everyone!
> 
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around -
> What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
> 
> For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!
> 
> Looking forward to hearing your answers

That's a tough one.  A 1401 core plane?   Some CDC 6000 "cordwood"
modules?  Two Durango F85s, complete with 14" Shugart hard drive?

Got a couple of boards that I don't even know the provenance of.

PSU diodes and heatsink from a STAR 1B?

Lotsa junk.

--Chuck

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Ian S. King]

I'd have to say my VAX 6000-600.  It has six processors, and therefore is
alternatively known as the VAX 6660 - the Devil's VAX.  :-)  I've not been
able to boot it because I don't have three-phase power to my house.
However, I've been informed that the H405 can be rewired to run correctly
off dryer power, which I do have.  That's one of the (many) projects on my
post-dissertation list.

With six processors and a half-gigabyte of RAM, I've been told this is
probably the most built-out VAX 6600 remaining.  -- Ian
-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School 
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal 
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab 

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."

Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[dwight]

I have  Nicolet 1080. It is a 20 bit computer and has

12Kx20 core memory.

To my knowledge, there are only 5 of these remaining in existence.

Only 375 were said to have been made.

Mine is mostly working but the last time I ran it, it had disk problems.

I need to debug it.

Dwight



From: cctalk  on behalf of Andy Cloud 

Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 2:09:52 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!

Looking forward to hearing your answers

>_Andy

What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

[Andy Cloud]

Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's the
rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

For me, personally, I have a Altair 8800!

Looking forward to hearing your answers

>_Andy

Re: Female Computer

[dwight]

I've always kind of thought of computers as more

like dogs.

Gender is not a big issue with dogs ( except in special cases ).

Like dogs, they are constantly needing retraining and feeding.

Dwight



From: cctalk  on behalf of ben 

Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 1:28:41 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Female Computer

On 1/10/2017 7:49 AM, Rick Bensene wrote:
>
> Ben Wrote:
>>
>> Where are the Female Computers?
>> Hal
>
>> To which Dave W. replied:
>> Here they were ...
>
>> http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg
>
> And, to this I say -  BRILLIANT!   These ladies were indeed called
> computers back in those days!
>
> -Rick
Buy why so ummm Ancient?
But any how, why are computers thought as male in general.
Ben.

Re: Female Computer

[ben]

On 1/10/2017 7:49 AM, Rick Bensene wrote:


Ben Wrote:


Where are the Female Computers?
Hal



To which Dave W. replied:
Here they were ...



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg


And, to this I say -  BRILLIANT!   These ladies were indeed called
computers back in those days!

-Rick

Buy why so ummm Ancient?
But any how, why are computers thought as male in general.
Ben.

Compaq C series 2010c - aka series 2930a posters & Point of sale stuff needed

[COURYHOUSE]

Compaq C series 2010c - aka series 2930a  posters & Point of sale  stuff 
needed
We were given one - apparently not  used   in box  the  tab  for the   what 
I assume is the config battery next to the  main battery compartment  never 
even had its white paper pull tab pulled  out  to stat the battery up.
 
So anyway  want to get othermarketing stuff  etc  to help embellish a  
display at SMECC project.
thanks ed#  _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) 

Re: Boot Loader for 3P+S on IMSAI

[william degnan]

On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 1:30 PM, william degnan 
wrote:

>
>
> I believe this image is set to cause the 3P+S to act like a 2SIO card for
> BASIC.  NOTE:  It's set for a 20 mA current loop Teletype.  You're not
> using a teletype, so ignore related jumpers (EIA vs. 20mA current
> loop)...the rest should be correct for what you're trying to do.
>
> b
>
>
> http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=633

Re: Boot Loader for 3P+S on IMSAI

[william degnan]

On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 1:12 PM, Win Heagy  wrote:

> Took a little digging but I found the thread where you were talking
> about port 20/21.  I was able to configure the 3P+S card and run the
> test from the solivant site successfully, but I'm not able to upload
> basic.  I have a couple more things to try, including setting a small
> upload delay as Bill suggests on his page.
> http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=318
> However, I'm thinking that I may still have a configuration issue on
> the 3P+S card.  But I think I'm getting close.
>
> Win
> --
>
>

Did you verify "echo characters" works?  There is a test program in the
solivant site that explains this.  If so, then you very well may need to
experiment with character delays when you download BASIC.  You can watch
the lights and see when the various loaders load, that might help give you
a clue where the failure point is.

The extra pointers I added were things I found useful, but I was using the
2SIO card.

b

Re: Boot Loader for 3P+S on IMSAI

[Win Heagy]

Took a little digging but I found the thread where you were talking
about port 20/21.  I was able to configure the 3P+S card and run the
test from the solivant site successfully, but I'm not able to upload
basic.  I have a couple more things to try, including setting a small
upload delay as Bill suggests on his page.
http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=318
However, I'm thinking that I may still have a configuration issue on
the 3P+S card.  But I think I'm getting close.

Win
--

>The manual pretty much has the exact config for that port 20 is all you
>have to remember

>Bill Degnan
>twitter: billdeg
>vintagecomputer.net
>On Jan 6, 2017 7:41 PM, "Win Heagy"  wrote:

> I have an IMSAI that I am restoring.  The basics appear to be working
> (front panel, CPU and RAM cards).  I have a Processor Tech, 3P+S card
> that is next on the list for testing.  I have the manual, but the card
> was not configured for RS-232...not sure what it was configured for
> but it doesn't match anything in the manual.  I plan to reconfigure it
> for RS-232. I'm trying to locate boot loader code for that board to
> allow serial uploading of files from a PC to the IMSAI? I have boot
> loader code for a 2SIO board on an Altair that I restored awhile back,
> and would like to find something similar for the 3P+S. I want to be
> able to toggle in a boot loader routine and then initiate an upload
> from the PC to IMSAI -- something similar to this
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwC1T9oLK1U=212s
> (at 1:10s in) but with a 3P+S board on an IMSAI.
>
> Also, a picture of your RS-232 configured card and wiring of the edge
> connectors would be helpful to make sure I get things right.  Any help
> is appreciated.

Re: Boot Loader for 3P+S on IMSAI

[william degnan]

I believe this image is set to cause the 3P+S to act like a 2SIO card for
BASIC.  NOTE:  It's set for a 20 mA current loop Teletype.  You're not
using a teletype, so ignore related jumpers (EIA vs. 20mA current
loop)...the rest should be correct for what you're trying to do.

b

Re: OT: Female Computer

[Jochen Kunz]

Am 10.01.17 um 09:08 schrieb Dave Wade:
> Here they were ...
> 
> http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Computers
-- 

tschüß,
   Jochen

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Noel Chiappa wrote:

> > From: Phil Budne
> > I've always assumed the P in PAL was for paper tape.
> > The Wikipedia artile for PDP-8 says that PAL-8 assembled from paper
> > tape into memory, so the A and L could have been for Assembler and
> > Loader.
>
> I have a number of different versions of the "PDP-11 Paper Tape
> Software" manual, and the earliest one (DEC-11-GGPB-D, March '71)
> turns out to be for PAL-11A, and it says it stands for "Program
> Assembly Language for the PDP-11's Absolute Assembler" (pg. 3-1).

Someone with a talent for making lists (*cough*Phil*cough*) ought to
compile a comprehensive table with all PAL and MACRO variants.

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Noel Chiappa]

> From: Paul Koning

> Is that the Unix assembler convention?

Yup. From "Unix Assembler Reference Manual" (by DMR; no date, but the one I'm
looking at came with V6): "An octal constant consists of a sequence of digits
... A decimal constant consists of a sequence of digits terminated by a decimal
point '.'."

> It certainly isn't the one used by the GNU assemblers, which are modeled
> after the old Unix syntax.

Except when they gratuitously change things.

   Noel

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Noel Chiappa]

> From: Phil Budne

> I've always assumed the P in PAL was for paper tape.
> The Wikipedia artile for PDP-8 says that PAL-8 assembled from paper
> tape into memory, so the A and L could have been for Assembler and
> Loader.

I have a number of different versions of the "PDP-11 Paper Tape Software"
manual, and the earliest one (DEC-11-GGPB-D, March '71) turns out to be for
PAL-11A, and it says it stands for "Program Assembly Language for the
PDP-11's Absolute Assembler" (pg. 3-1).

Amusing factoid: the manual says it takes about 45 minutes to re-assemble
PAL-11A from the source tape, and punch a new binary tape (this is using the
HSRP).

> ISTR PAL-11A was also an "absolute" assembler (did not output REL
> files), but there was also a PAL-11R.

Yup. PAL-11A took an input an ASCII tape with the program, and produced as
output "an absolute binary tape" (pg. 3-23).

A later version of the 'Paper Tape Software' manual (DEC-11-ASDB-D, May '71)
covers PAL11-R (although it does not, alas, decribe the relocatable output
format in detail - although I think it's documented elsewhere), and also
Link-11 and Libr-11. PAL11-R require DOS.

Noel

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Paul Koning]

> On Jan 10, 2017, at 8:03 AM, Noel Chiappa  wrote:
> 
>> From: Brent Hilpert
> 
> One assembler doc uses a prefix of ""
> 
>> So the answer is, by modern expectations the old standard would be
>> ambiguous or misleading.
> 
> Well, the ideas of 'assembler' and 'standard' don't really go together in my
> mind... :-)
> 
> But seriously, I don't know how many different PDP-11 assemblers there were,
> but the two _main_ ones (DEC's, and Unix's) both use the same numeric
> convention (although they differed in other ways, probably because of the
> CTSS/Multics erase character convention): a sequence of digits is an octal
> number, unless there's a trailing '.', in which case it's decimal.

Is that the Unix assembler convention?  It certainly isn't the one used by the 
GNU assemblers, which are modeled after the old Unix syntax.  That one assumes 
decimal, and doesn't appreciate decimal points after a digit string.  

I wonder why DEC changed comment markers in their assemblers (from / in the 
PDP-8 to ; in the PDP-11).  Yes, not using / frees it for use in expressions, 
but at least early on it wasn't supported there.

paul

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Paul Koning]

> On Jan 10, 2017, at 11:37 AM, Phil Budne  wrote:
> 
> I've always assumed the P in PAL was for paper tape.
> 
> The Wikipedia artile for PDP-8 says that PAL-8 assembled from paper
> tape into memory, so the A and L could have been for Assembler and Loader.

Could be.  I took it to be PDP11 Assembly Language, but I'll admit that was 
just made up on the spot and I never saw a real explanation.

> ISTR PAL-11A was also an "absolute" assembler (did not output REL
> files), but there was also a PAL-11R.

The PAL I remember was part of the Paper Tape Software package for the PDP-11.  
Two pass assembler, you actually had to feed it the source tape twice, if I 
remember the manual right.  (I never had to use it for real.)

There's also a non-Macro assembler for RT11 for systems with just 8k of memory. 
 ASEMBL.SAV?  It came with a separate macro processor called EXPAND, so you 
could assemble PDP-11 assembly code with macros, it just took more steps.

paul

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Phil Budne]

I've always assumed the P in PAL was for paper tape.

The Wikipedia artile for PDP-8 says that PAL-8 assembled from paper
tape into memory, so the A and L could have been for Assembler and Loader.

ISTR PAL-11A was also an "absolute" assembler (did not output REL
files), but there was also a PAL-11R.

RE: Contacting Jay West

[Rob Jarratt]

> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of geneb
> Sent: 10 January 2017 15:18
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> 
> Subject: Re: Contacting Jay West
> 
> On Mon, 9 Jan 2017, ben wrote:
> 
> > On 1/9/2017 3:13 PM, geneb wrote:
> >> On Mon, 9 Jan 2017, Rob Jarratt wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> No HP-2000 problem, just wasn't HP-2000 sure if I had sent it to the
> >>> right place HP-2000.
> >>>
> >> "Meet single HP-2000 in your area!"
> >>
> >> g.
> >>
> >
> > Where are the Female Computers?
> 
> They're ALL female. :)
> 
> g.


My wife would agree, given the amount of attention I give to them.

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Noel Chiappa wrote:
> > What's the difference between PAL-11 and MACRO-11?
> Without going through the manuals at length, basically MACRO-11 supports
> macros, and PAL-11 doesn't. The syntax is otherwise very similar.

So I wonder if this holds true in general, PAL are simpler assemblers
without macros?

> > PALX is also the name for a cross assembler targeting PDP-11.
> I know it was used on ITS (although the PALX source had assembly
> options for all the main PDP-10 OS's, except TOPS-10), was that where
> it was written, do you happen to know? It's in MIDAS, so probably...

http://www.saildart.org/PRUNE.DAT[1,3] says:
PALX ... MIT'S PDP-11 ASSEMBLER

Re: Contacting Jay West

[geneb]

On Mon, 9 Jan 2017, ben wrote:


On 1/9/2017 3:13 PM, geneb wrote:

On Mon, 9 Jan 2017, Rob Jarratt wrote:



No HP-2000 problem, just wasn't HP-2000 sure if I had sent it to the
right
place HP-2000.


"Meet single HP-2000 in your area!"

g.



Where are the Female Computers?


They're ALL female. :)

g.

--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.

ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

RE: Female Computer

[Rick Bensene]

Ben Wrote:
> 
> Where are the Female Computers?
> Hal

>To which Dave W. replied:
>Here they were ...

>http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg

And, to this I say -  BRILLIANT!   These ladies were indeed called
computers back in those days!

-Rick

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Noel Chiappa]

> From: Lars Brinkhoff

> What's the difference between PAL-11 and MACRO-11?

Without going through the manuals at length, basically MACRO-11 supports
macros, and PAL-11 doesn't. The syntax is otherwise very similar.

> PALX is also the name for a cross assembler targeting PDP-11.

I know it was used on ITS (although the PALX source had assembly options for
all the main PDP-10 OS's, except TOPS-10), was that where it was written, do
you happen to know? It's in MIDAS, so probably...

Noel

Re: Yugoslavian Computer Magazine Cover Girls of the 1980s and 1990s

[Johannes Thelen]

How about this cover from German computer magazine Computer Programmert Zur 
Unterhaltung?

https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/274790014738894542/


...looks like cover of German film, you know what kind of film... I would love 
to know why that photo. Is there article "How to kill your sex life with 64 
kilobytes?"



> Dr Legendre wrote:

>I liked the one with the guy seated at a "desk" which is apparently
>outfitted with nothing more than a color dot-matrix printer and a telephone
>set. Must be a serious power-user, then..

Or he is typical 80s yuppie, he has no ** clue about the computers (nor 
printers), he has reach state where he can sit behind the printer, get good pay 
checks and look girls in the office all day long. In the phone he is trying to 
get cocaine and supermodels to his mansion. What a great job he has! (...until 
stock market crashes...)


>Peter Corlett wrote:
>However, CRASH and Zzap!64 had some rather homoerotic covers instead, painted
>by Oli Frey. Just the thing for confused teenage boys still too young to reach 
>the
>top shelf in the newsagent's.

Probably become marked as a sexual minorty by buying the magazine wasn't only 
reason for death of the Zzap!64, bigger problem was at the 90s that you become 
marked as C64 user ;)





[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/600x315/3e/36/22/3e36226a0f13e528f155ad5be328377b.jpg]

Pete Nelson on
fi.pinterest.com
“Awesome German computer magazine cover from 1983”








- Johannes Thelen
Finland

Before microcomputers blog (Finnish) http://ennenmikrotietokoneita.blogspot.fi/



From: cctalk  on behalf of Andrew Burton 

Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2017 11:27:58 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Yugoslavian Computer Magazine Cover Girls of the 1980s and 1990s


On Fri, Jan 06, 2017 at 06:45:56PM +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> An image gallery of cheesy -- and cheese-cakey -- magazine covers from
> what were for me the golden days.
> But the UK mags weren't ever like this.

Most weren't. I have an issue of one of the unofficial Mega Drive magazines
from the early 90's which did have a hot picture of Madchen Amick inside the
back cover.


Regards,
Andrew Burton
aliensrcoo...@yahoo.co.uk
www.aliensrcooluk.com

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Noel Chiappa wrote:
> Well, technically, DEC had PAL-11 and MACRO-11, but PAL-11 was
> basically a subset of MACRO-11, and used the same number syntax.)

I've been wondering about this!

What's the difference between PAL-11 and MACRO-11?

There's PAL III, PALX, PAL-D, PAL-8, PAL-10, and MACRO-8 for the PDP-8.
What's up with all those?!?

PALX is also the name for a cross assembler targeting PDP-11.

Re: pdp-11 assembly standards

[Noel Chiappa]

> From: Brent Hilpert

 One assembler doc uses a prefix of ""

> So the answer is, by modern expectations the old standard would be
> ambiguous or misleading.

Well, the ideas of 'assembler' and 'standard' don't really go together in my
mind... :-)

But seriously, I don't know how many different PDP-11 assemblers there were,
but the two _main_ ones (DEC's, and Unix's) both use the same numeric
convention (although they differed in other ways, probably because of the
CTSS/Multics erase character convention): a sequence of digits is an octal
number, unless there's a trailing '.', in which case it's decimal.

(Well, technically, DEC had PAL-11 and MACRO-11, but PAL-11 was basically a
subset of MACRO-11, and used the same number syntax.)

I've never heard of that '' bizzaro-stuff - where did you find that?

Noel

OT: Female Computer RE: Contacting Jay West

[Dave Wade]

Here they were ...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg

Dave


> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of ben
> Sent: 10 January 2017 06:50
> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Contacting Jay West
> 
> On 1/9/2017 3:13 PM, geneb wrote:
> > On Mon, 9 Jan 2017, Rob Jarratt wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> No HP-2000 problem, just wasn't HP-2000 sure if I had sent it to the
> >> right place HP-2000.
> >>
> > "Meet single HP-2000 in your area!"
> >
> > g.
> >
> 
> Where are the Female Computers?
> Hal