Re: From: John Klos

[Murray McCullough via cctalk]

"That might be true for discussions where people don't care to do any
research, or where words like "first" are uses more for hyperbolic
emphasis, but suggesting someone started an industry on a list like this,
I think, doesn't seem out of place."


I agree that using ‘*first**’* has a certain connotation. However, until it
is proven otherwise it’s quite appropriate. If this word were not used, by
me or anyone else, on this website then we never get to learn anything ‘
*new*’. Even in historical writing, of which I’ve done some as a historian,
one has to acknowledge a source, but I for the life of me can’t remember as
I didn’t have the source on my electronic-research rolodex. In such an
occasion, as the note I sent to cctalk, should have stated this. My
apologies.


Happy computing!


Murray  🙂





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Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

I found this blog post quite interesting. I've left what I hope is an
informative, helpful comment. I wonder if anyone else here would have
more to add?

https://www.forsure.dev/-/2020/05/19/640-kilobytes-of-ram-and-why-i-bought-an-ibm-5160/

-- 
Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: Off topic ?

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Aug 25, 2020, at 8:32 PM, Chris Elmquist  wrote:
> 
> On Tuesday (08/25/2020 at 04:36PM -0400), Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
>> Not sure if this is off topic, but anyway..
>> 
>> There was also one with "tree" in its name, don't remember its full name and 
>> I think they shut down. 
> 
> Smalltree?  They are some former SGI guys here in MN,
> 
> https://small-tree.com/about-us/
> 
> -- 
> Chris Elmquist

Yes, that sounds right.  They don't seem to do iSCSI any longer. 

paul

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Bill Degnan via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 7:43 AM Liam Proven via cctalk 
wrote:

> I found this blog post quite interesting. I've left what I hope is an
> informative, helpful comment. I wonder if anyone else here would have
> more to add?
>
>
> https://www.forsure.dev/-/2020/05/19/640-kilobytes-of-ram-and-why-i-bought-an-ibm-5160/


I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when Sellam
ran shows.  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the
XT class machine world when they were pervasive.  To me he seems to be
exploring how they work as he teaches his son, but I guess most people
forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.

Bill

>
>

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 15:10, Bill Degnan  wrote:
>
> I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when Sellam 
> ran shows.

I can believe that.

I gutted 2 original working PC-ATs in about 1996 for cases for
Pentium-class machines. I deeply regret it now but it was 25y ago --
they were only about 10y old and not remotely collectable or even very
interesting at the time.

I still have 2 MDA cards and one screen from them.

>  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the XT class 
> machine world when they were
> pervasive.  To me he seems to be exploring how they work as he teaches his 
> son, but I guess most people
> forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.

Exactly, yes. The PC came out nearly _forty years ago_ now, and only
middle-aged types like myself (52!) remember them when they were new.
I didn't see one until Uni in 1985, when I was 17.

Working adult IT professionals in their mid-twenties to early 30s
today grew up only with multicore 64-bit machines and have quite
possibly only used SSD-equipped machines at work. Most have never seen
or used a floppy diskette or CD-ROM, and machines with ISA slots and
optical drives disappeared when they were small children. They might
never have seen or used any kind of rotating or magnetic media
whatsoever. Some I have personally encountered have never used a wired
network connection.

The era of 16-bit machines with rotating 5¼" media  (floppy, hard or
optical) that you can _hear_ turning, that take time to get up to
speed, where as you wait a minute or two for it to creak into life you
can _hear_ motors whirring up, is as unknown to them as spinning the
thread to make their own garments.

For me, who started out at work on a PC-AT and worked on PC-XTs, it's
a smooth continuum, but it's easy to forget that it really hasn't
been, and the days of text-only single-tasking command-line machines
with moving parts are last century...

-- 
Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Bill Degnan via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 9:32 AM Liam Proven via cctalk 
wrote:

> On Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 15:10, Bill Degnan  wrote:
> >
> > I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when
> Sellam ran shows.
>
> I can believe that.
>
> I gutted 2 original working PC-ATs in about 1996 for cases for
> Pentium-class machines. I deeply regret it now but it was 25y ago --
> they were only about 10y old and not remotely collectable or even very
> interesting at the time.
>
> I still have 2 MDA cards and one screen from them.
>
> >  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the XT class
> machine world when they were
> > pervasive.  To me he seems to be exploring how they work as he teaches
> his son, but I guess most people
> > forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.
>
> Exactly, yes. The PC came out nearly _forty years ago_ now, and only
> middle-aged types like myself (52!) remember them when they were new.
> I didn't see one until Uni in 1985, when I was 17.
>
> Working adult IT professionals in their mid-twenties to early 30s
> today grew up only with multicore 64-bit machines and have quite
> possibly only used SSD-equipped machines at work. Most have never seen
> or used a floppy diskette or CD-ROM, and machines with ISA slots and
> optical drives disappeared when they were small children. They might
> never have seen or used any kind of rotating or magnetic media
> whatsoever. Some I have personally encountered have never used a wired
> network connection.
>
> The era of 16-bit machines with rotating 5¼" media  (floppy, hard or
> optical) that you can _hear_ turning, that take time to get up to
> speed, where as you wait a minute or two for it to creak into life you
> can _hear_ motors whirring up, is as unknown to them as spinning the
> thread to make their own garments.
>
> For me, who started out at work on a PC-AT and worked on PC-XTs, it's
> a smooth continuum, but it's easy to forget that it really hasn't
> been, and the days of text-only single-tasking command-line machines
> with moving parts are last century...
>
> --
>

I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that you see
in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the filming.  I
could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
practical joke
B

>

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Ethan O'Toole via cctalk]

I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that you see
in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the filming.  I
could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
practical joke
B


That is awesome!

--
: Ethan O'Toole

Re: Computer stores

[Alan Frisbie via cctalk]

Fred Cisin  wrote:

> On Tue, 25 Aug 2020, Alan Frisbie via cctalk wrote:

> > A few months later, two guys named Steve showed up at a meeting
> > with a kit they called the "Apple I", for the grand price of
> > $666.66.  I wish I had had the foresight to buy one!

> Q: although WE call it "Apple I", did the Steves call it "Apple I" or
> "Apple Computer"? The answer tells us whether they were explicitly
> planning on  making other models later!

I honestly do not recall if they used the "I" or not.  This was,
after all, 45 years ago!

At that time there were many tiny startup companies trying to get
our attention, most of which sank without a trace.  If I had been
asked back then which ones I thought would survive, I probably
would not have picked Apple.  Not my first mistake, and certainly
not my last.  :-)

Those *were* exciting days, with new products and developments
happening every month.  I looked forward to every SCCS meeting,
with people showing off their latest homebrew project, swapping
tips, and buying parts & boards.  For a while, there was even
a large wheel of cheese which we eagerly devoured.  :-)

Alan Frisbie

Re: Computer stores

[Eric Smith via cctalk]

On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 10:28 PM Hagstrom, Paul via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> The circuit boards say "Apple Computer 1" on them.  So they had the
> optimistic "1" in the name originally.
>

The user manual, schematic, and some but not all advertisements also say
"Apple 1" or "Apple-1".

I haven't seen any official documents or communication that used the roman
numeral "I", though some third-party material does.

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Ethan Dicks via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 9:59 AM Bill Degnan via cctalk
 wrote:
> I could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
> practical joke...

About 5 years ago, I set up a classroom of discarded but essentially
modern machines (Core2 Duo but couldn't run latest Windows) at our
Makerspace.  For amusement, I set up a Commodore 64 in the back
corner.  It got a lot of laughs.

Except that we needed the seat for a student, I would have left it up
for a few weeks.

-ethan

CYCLOID faceplate for Altair computer...

[William Sudbrink via cctalk]

I seem to remember this being discussed many years ago, but I can't find it.

 

Anyway,  there's an Altair on epay right now with a CYCLOID faceplate.

If I remember correctly, this is just a replacement plastic insert that was

sold simply to "freshen up" an Altair where the original had worn badly,

as so many did.  I've done a fair amount of searching but I can't find an

ad or other reference to the product.  Does anyone recall the time period?

I would assume it was at least a couple of years after the introduction of

the Altair. 78 or 79?  A pointer to an advertisement or one of those "new

product" paragraphs that many of the magazines did back then would be

most helpful.

 

Thanks,

Bill S.



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[no subject]

[Bill Degnan via cctalk]

More interesting stuff

[Bill Gunshannon via cctalk]

Found a few other items that might be of interest to someone.

Two DEC Mice VS10X-EA Rev A3

DEC Joystick Model H3060

bill