Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

Hi all, Question to the group...not a vintage computer problem. A problem with a much newer system. An Acer Aspire desktop about 10 years old. I'm trying to sell it and reset windows (vista) to factory original. It locked up'd during that process and I reset it. Seems the BIOS is now

Re: Dumping Intel 43201 microcode ROM

Eric, a friend pointed me to your inspiring ClassicCMP post about getting your 432 online. The photos of your home-made QUIP socket were really cool. I reached out today because I've been wanting to hack on a 432 emulator for some years, ever since I found some contemporary textbooks about th

First Computer Store

A momentus event happened 40 years ago around this time, July 1975, the world's first computer store opened in West Los Angeles, called Arrow Head Computer Store, tag-lined, 'The Computer Store'. It was opened by Dick Heiser. How time has flown by! Murray :)

Re: Chromatics on ebay

+1; weak sauce from the seller ... he listed it and the auction ran to completion ... It always irks me when people renege on eBay auctions. Best, Sean On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Todd Goodman wrote: > That's just seller's remorse. > > It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly cons

Re: Chromatics on ebay

On Thu, 23 Jul 2015, William Donzelli wrote: That's just seller's remorse. It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly considered disputing it with eBay as a seller refusing to honor the auction results is every bit as bad (or even worse) than a buyer refusing to honor the auction result

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

On Wed, 22 Jul 2015, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 07/22/2015 10:09 PM, Tothwolf wrote: One example I can give are some Pentium P55C architecture (Socket 7) systems which I've been running with minimal downtime for ~15 years. The original power supplies with their original (and relatively low quality

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> From: Josh Dersch > I spent some time debating that last night and this morning. Chalk it > up to me feeling charitable this week ... I thought I'd give the guy a > break. Well, the question is, how important is this gear to you? If you've been looking for one for a decade, that

Re: Fwd: Old gear avail in NY

On 07/23/2015 18:18, Tapley, Mark wrote: forwarded from Cindy at Electronics Plus. Contact eaustin in NY directly [...] Please email eaus...@sunnking.com if you are interested in purchasing these or similar items in quantity. Sounds suspiciously like it might be

Re: VCF Midwest 10

A few notes regarding the upcoming 10th incarnation of the Midwest's finest retro technology/hacker/pizza con: - The dates are August 29th and 30th, with early load-in and dinner on the night of the 28th. Can't mention that enough. - Table registration has closed (Check out our exhibitor list at

Re: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

Al wrote: > does it have a horizontal oscillator? > some ball monitors require horizonal drive before the hv works It doesn't appear to have a horizontal oscillator.

Re: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

On 7/23/15 6:56 PM, Eric Smith wrote: I'll test the monitor on a lab power supply to see if it's drawing too much current. does it have a horizontal oscillator? some ball monitors require horizonal drive before the hv works

diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure

A few weeks ago, while I was testing a spare IPB-80 CPU card in an Intel Series II MDS, the monitor stopped working, with the raster collapsing to a very bright dot in the center of the screen. I hit the power switch and pulled the line plug immediately, but the dot persisted for several minutes, o

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> I'm also trying to be a nicer person (look how few arguments I've gotten in > on cctalk lately! progress!) and I thought I'd give the guy a break. But > I'm still pretty ticked off about it, so maybe I'll reconsider :). Reconsider with some shitty feedback. -- Will

Re: Chromatics on ebay

On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 2:15 PM, William Donzelli wrote: > > That's just seller's remorse. > > > > It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly considered disputing it > with > > eBay as a seller refusing to honor the auction results is every bit as > > bad (or even worse) than a buyer refusin

Fwd: Old gear avail in NY

All, forwarded from Cindy at Electronics Plus. Contact eaustin in NY directly if you are interested. No connection, just forwarding. - Mark Begin forwarded message: From: mailto:sa...@elecplus.com>> Subject: Old gear avail in NY Date: July 22, 2015 at 12:49:02 PM CDT To: Mark Tapley mailto:mtap.

Re: Chromatics on ebay

Another thing that will affect the value here that I don't think has been pointed out yet: the seller apparently has three of these things (note his responses to bidder questions.) And another another thing: they've also been sitting outside for who knows how many years.

Re: Chromatics on ebay

obviously not in this case! On Jul 23, 2015 8:21 PM, "Ian Finder" wrote: > Just for the record, I hate the methodology below: > Are auctions no longer a valid way to determine value? > > > > I told him start with buy it now for $2000 with best offer, leave it > > to see what kind of watchers and

Re: Chromatics on ebay

Just for the record, I hate the methodology below: Are auctions no longer a valid way to determine value? > I told him start with buy it now for $2000 with best offer, leave it > to see what kind of watchers and interest he gets then lower the price > until a sale is made. Sent from my iPhone

Re: Chromatics on ebay

On 07/23/2015 2:15 PM, William Donzelli wrote: That's just seller's remorse. It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly considered disputing it with eBay as a seller refusing to honor the auction results is every bit as bad (or even worse) than a buyer refusing to honor the auction result.

Re: Chromatics on ebay

You can offer to take him to small claims court for the item. That option has worked well for me in the past. Once you let them know the option of a court case is real they are more than willing to deal with the contract. IT's quite clear in the ebay auction terms. On 7/23/2015 3:54 PM, Noel Ch

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> From: william degnan > I told him start with buy it now for $2000 with best offer And there's the key to the situation. The seller thought they were going to get big dineros for it, and not so much. Which is likely a good part of why they aren't being reasonable in the post-sale ne

Re: Chromatics on ebay

On 07/23/2015 03:27 PM, William Donzelli wrote: It is always hard to know the real story. It *is* possible the seller genuinely didn't know what they were doing. As an Ebay veteran, I can say I have heard ALL the excuses. This does sound like classic sellers remorse. I agree with this. I've

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> It is always hard to know the real story. It *is* possible the seller > genuinely didn't know what they were doing. As an Ebay veteran, I can say I have heard ALL the excuses. This does sound like classic sellers remorse. If he really though it was worth serious money, he should have been more

Re: Chromatics on ebay

different than chromatix, correct? On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 6:12 PM, Jarratt RMA wrote: > It is always hard to know the real story. It *is* possible the seller > genuinely didn't know what they were doing. I know I can be too willing to > give others the benefit of the doubt, and, equally this cou

Re: Chromatics on ebay

It is always hard to know the real story. It *is* possible the seller genuinely didn't know what they were doing. I know I can be too willing to give others the benefit of the doubt, and, equally this could be an experienced seller pretending not to know, when his plan to avoid higher insertion fee

Re: Chromatics on ebay

I told him start with buy it now for $2000 with best offer, leave it to see what kind of watchers and interest he gets then lower the price until a sale is made. That said, because you're asking for the item to be shipped, the seller can refuse on that ground, you have a Mexican standoff. I beli

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> From: Josh Dersch > the seller and I failed to reach an agreement You were very nice to try and work with the person; if they couldn't take that on board, and in return come to some agreement that you could be happy with, they're being some combinations of greedy and unreasonable. I ha

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

I wrote: >> I proposed it, and was willing to build microcontroller-based boards >> and write firmware, but IIRC it was decided that there was too little >> benefit. On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 12:00 PM, William Donzelli wrote: > That seems odd, considering the lengths you guys took on the caps, and

Re: Chromatics on ebay

> That's just seller's remorse. > > It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly considered disputing it with > eBay as a seller refusing to honor the auction results is every bit as > bad (or even worse) than a buyer refusing to honor the auction result. I agree. Report him. Basic Ebay auctio

Re: Chromatics on ebay

That's just seller's remorse. It's obviously up to you, but I'd have strongly considered disputing it with eBay as a seller refusing to honor the auction results is every bit as bad (or even worse) than a buyer refusing to honor the auction result. The value of it was determined. It's the $5 you

Re: Chromatics on ebay

Just FYI -- the seller and I failed to reach an agreement; I assume this means he'll be relisting it (hopefully with a starting bid or reserve that matches his expectations). - Josh On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 10:45 AM, william degnan wrote: > I told him he might get $500 in untested condition, a l

paging Paul Birkel

List - sorry for the noise.. Paul - sent you a couple emails on the 2100 front, wasn't sure if you got them (re: WCS boards). J

Re: Fast Company talks about Vector Graphic Inc

On 2015-Jul-23, at 6:56 AM, Christian Liendo wrote: > > http://www.fastcompany.com/3047428/how-two-bored-1970s-housewives-helped-create-the-pc-industry Nice writeup. I recall that picture of the two holding the VG1 appearing with a product release blurb in kilobaud circa 1977. My Vector Graph

RE: PDP 11 gear finally moved

> > * I once talked to a power supply guy about over-voltage sensors and > the like, and he said that over-voltage conditions (like a power > supply freaking out and giving TTL 8 Volts or something) due to > component failures are exceedingly rare. When it does happen, it is > almost always due to

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

> I proposed it, and was willing to build microcontroller-based boards > and write firmware, but IIRC it was decided that there was too little > benefit. That seems odd, considering the lengths you guys took on the caps, and the whole museum mentality of keeping things "safe" for the artifacts. Mi

Re: Chromatics on ebay

I told him he might get $500 in untested condition, a lot more if it works. Video, good pics, be ready with a ship quote, etc. He may have asked more than just me, but that is what I told him On Jul 23, 2015 12:31 PM, "Josh Dersch" wrote: > It was me. Despite the listing being "local pickup o

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 12:06 AM, William Donzelli wrote: > Did the team ever consider some sort of active monitoring of the > power, beyond whatever DEC implemented? I proposed it, and was willing to build microcontroller-based boards and write firmware, but IIRC it was decided that there was to

Re: Chromatics on ebay

It was me. Despite the listing being "local pickup only" the description notes that the seller's willing to arrange shipping (it just won't be cheap). So I put in a lowball bid on it. Did not expect to be the high bidder, definitely did not expect to be the only bidder. That said, immediate

Re: EPROM image for Xylogics 472 (multibus Pertec controller)?

Hello, Sorry to revive this old discussion but I'm having problems with getting a Xylogics 472 board recognized when probing the Multibus. I'm hoping that maybe it's bitrot in the EPROM since that would be an easy fix. I dumped my current one (180-001-957 rev A I think it says, the label is pretty

Re: Chromatics on ebay

Geography matters ... if you're in the right area, say, near a university with a historically high computer science impact, or large high-tech industries ... you can find a lot of equipment for free or very low cost since the density was high and you're well situated to inexpensively pick up large

Re: Chromatics on ebay

I told the person that they will get more $$ if they prepare in advance to ship, etc. People don't care and /or are lazy sometimes. b On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Bill Sudbrink wrote: >> I spoke with the person, told him it was historic, looked up some info >> on the machine and when it was

RE: Chromatics on ebay

> I spoke with the person, told him it was historic, looked up some info > on the machine and when it was produced, etc. VERY surprised it sold > for $5. Total bargain. That's what "local pickup only" will do to an auction. There's a Vector MZ for 99 cents right now for the same reason. Bill S.

Re: Chromatics on ebay

I spoke with the person, told him it was historic, looked up some info on the machine and when it was produced, etc. VERY surprised it sold for $5. Total bargain. b On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 10:24 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > did anyone here get this? > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/281752359535 > > I am i

Chromatics on ebay

did anyone here get this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/281752359535 I am interested in a firmware dump, but not enough to drive to socal to get it.

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

> From: Lyle Bickley > we tested each capacitor for capacitance and ESR > ... > Each power supply had to meet it's specifications .. (every test was > logged and documented). > ... > Every year we do a complete DEC specified preventative maintenance on > the PDP-1

Fast Company talks about Vector Graphic Inc

http://www.fastcompany.com/3047428/how-two-bored-1970s-housewives-helped-create-the-pc-industry

Offered: Amiga 500/2000 BASIC manual, in German

In honour of the 30th anniversary. Anyone want this handbuch? In good condition, some staining on front cover but no dog-ears or creases. Free for the cost of postage from the Czech Republic. -- Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Tw

Looking for AM2900 evaluation and learning kit

Hi, Maybe somebody on the list have such a board in collection and want to sell it. It looks like this: http://ferretronix.com/march/sbc/amd2900/2900_trainer_80.jpg Cheers, Jacek

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

On 2015-07-23 07:09, Tothwolf wrote: On Tue, 21 Jul 2015, Lyle Bickley wrote: On Mon, 20 Jul 2015 23:14:36 -0600 Eric Smith wrote: On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 4:46 PM, Rich Alderson wrote: industry white papers with tables of decay rates for the aluminum electrolytics that indicate that, *no ma

Re: PDP 11 gear finally moved

On Wed, 22 Jul 2015 09:01:35 -0400 (EDT) j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) wrote: > > From: Tothwolf > > > How do you know those aluminum electrolytic capacitors are functioning > > just as good as they did when they were new? Unless you've tested them > > out of circuit ...