from:"Alan Perry"




On 5/2/18 9:55 AM, Guy Sotomayor Jr wrote:



On May 2, 2018, at 9:50 AM, Alan Perry via cctalk  wrote:




On May 2, 2018, at 8:58 AM, Cory Heisterkamp via cctalk  
wrote:


[snip]


Chuck makes a good point about the Make-Offer feature, and it should be
noted that sellers have this option available to them within the eBay
messenger system even if the button isn't present in the auction, so if you
have your eye on something and feel the price is too high (or your search
of completed auctions shows the item has been relisted several times with
no takers), there's no harm in sending the seller a message with a dollar
amount in mind. -C

YMMV. There is a type of system that I am interested in adding to my 
collection. An eBay seller has a bunch in a number of BIN/Make Offer  auctions 
over months. I asked an expert on the systems his opinion on the auctions, 
including what he would offer. I offer 50% more, but it was still 2/3rd the BIN 
price. They countered by taking a bit over 10% off. I countered by splitting 
the difference but they didn’t go for it. The auction closed and I looked at 
the auction history. I saw that the systems had previously been offered at a 
price less than my split-the-difference offer. When they came back up for 
auction again, I offered the split-the-difference price and noted that the 
lower price in a previous ‘no-takers’ auction run. They countered with a higher 
price than their counter to my initial offer. They went unsold again and I 
waited for the next auction run. I offered the split-the-difference price again 
and they countered even higher. I got the message and have stopped bidding. 
That was a couple months ago and they still have sold any of those systems.


In case it wasn't clear from the context, I meant to write "still have 
**not** sold any".





I’ve also found that if a seller has a number of the same item for sale, I’ll 
offer to take the entire lot at a significant discount.  A number of the 
sellers will go for that (e.g. they can unload all of the items in one 
transaction).


I am still passing through the systems that came from Pete :)

Actually, I only have two of them left ...

alan



TTFN - Guy

Re: (OT) Re: Is This A Shill?



> On May 2, 2018, at 9:34 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 5/2/18 9:20 AM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk wrote:
>> change the format from fixed ending time to automatically extending the 
>> auction period N minutes past the last bid.
> Ain't gonna happen.
> Other sites tried it, and failed because auctions would literally drag on for 
> hours with penny bids.
> 

Not with minimum bid increments.

alan 



> 
>

Re: (OT) Re: Is This A Shill?



> On May 2, 2018, at 9:20 AM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
>> On May 2, 2018, at 09:08, Chuck Guzis via cctalk  
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Although eBay in the past has tried to kill off sniping because it
>> reduces the number of visits an individual might pay to their site, I
>> think they've given up with trying to kill the sniping system.
> 
> If eBay really wanted to kill sniping and maximize winning bids, I think they 
> could simply change the format from fixed ending time to automatically 
> extending the auction period N minutes past the last bid. There would still 
> be some benefit to a bidder for bidding late and hoping nobody notices, but 
> there would always be a window of up to N minutes for other bidders to decide 
> to increase their losing bid. It would end up as a a hybrid of proxy bid + 
> live auction.

That is what the classic car auctions on Bring-A-Trailer do. Within 2 min of 
auction close time and thereafter, each bid extends the time 2 minutes.

I was high bidder on a car at $15k with 30 seconds to go. The price went up 
$10k (and someone else got the car) in the 15 min after the scheduled close 
time.

alan

> 
> -- 
> Mark J. Blair, NF6X 
> http://www.nf6x.net/
>

Re: Is This A Shill?



> On May 2, 2018, at 8:58 AM, Cory Heisterkamp via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 10:22 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
>>> On 05/02/2018 08:06 AM, Eric Christopherson via cctalk wrote:
>>> 
>>> When you say you snipe with a bot, do you mean you use eBay's highest-bid
>>> functionality to do it? Or do you use third-party software?
>>> 
>>> I've never been clear on how the built-in highest-bid functionality
>> works.
>>> I often see things where the same person has several consecutive bids,
>>> which doesn't make any sense to me in the absence of other people's bids
>> in
>>> between them.
>> 
>> When you submit a bit do eBay using the traditional method, your bid is
>> really a proxy bid--it's increased by specified increments until it's
>> outbid by another bidder.   If you prevail, you win by the minimum
>> winning proxy bid.
>> 
>> For example, I was looking for a cheap HDMI cable.   There were a few
>> available for a starting bid of $0.50.   I submitted a bit for $1.00 and
>> won with a final price of $0.69.
>> 
>> Sniping simply reduced the amount of time that a competing bidder has to
>> submit a bid when he discovers that he's being outbid.  There's nothing
>> unethical about it--auctions end at a specified time and you get your
>> bid in at the last possible moment.
>> 
>> There's software for this, but since I'm an original member of the
>> eSnipe service, I use them and haven't paid them a fee for years, since
>> bids under a certain amount aren't assessed for a commission.   Later
>> subscribers don't have the same deal, I believe.
>> 
>> When I'm interested in something small, I'll submit a snipe bid for what
>> I'm willing to pay and then forget about it.  If I win, great, if not,
>> no bother.
>> 
>> One thing that many eBay subscribers overlook is the "Make offer"
>> feature of some auctions.  In my opinion, that's where the real gold can
>> be.  If the BIN price looks too high and you really want an item, make
>> an offer.  You never know--the seller just may be want to be rid of the
>> thing and will take any offer.
>> 
>> 
>> FWIW,
>> Chuck
>> 
>> 
> Chuck makes a good point about the Make-Offer feature, and it should be
> noted that sellers have this option available to them within the eBay
> messenger system even if the button isn't present in the auction, so if you
> have your eye on something and feel the price is too high (or your search
> of completed auctions shows the item has been relisted several times with
> no takers), there's no harm in sending the seller a message with a dollar
> amount in mind. -C

YMMV. There is a type of system that I am interested in adding to my 
collection. An eBay seller has a bunch in a number of BIN/Make Offer  auctions 
over months. I asked an expert on the systems his opinion on the auctions, 
including what he would offer. I offer 50% more, but it was still 2/3rd the BIN 
price. They countered by taking a bit over 10% off. I countered by splitting 
the difference but they didn’t go for it. The auction closed and I looked at 
the auction history. I saw that the systems had previously been offered at a 
price less than my split-the-difference offer. When they came back up for 
auction again, I offered the split-the-difference price and noted that the 
lower price in a previous ‘no-takers’ auction run. They countered with a higher 
price than their counter to my initial offer. They went unsold again and I 
waited for the next auction run. I offered the split-the-difference price again 
and they countered even higher. I got the message and have stopped bidding. 
That was a couple months ago and they still have sold any of those systems.

alan

Re: SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))

2018-04-30 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk




On 4/30/18 10:20 AM, Eric Christopherson via cctalk wrote:

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 5:40 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:


I keep them all. Not counting the bad ones in the SS1 and 2, I have 7.

I can send them to you. I don't mind pick up the shipping costs for
something small like that. But the $70 that is it going to cost to ship the
SS20 to its new home is another matter.

alan

On 4/27/18 3:33 PM, systems_glitch wrote:


You can always send me the dead modules and I'll rebuild them
(GlitchWorks == me, my wife sometimes helps with assembly). Whatever you
do, don't throw out the dead NVRAMs -- I'll buy them or pay for you to ship
them or whatever, they're not making more and they're the only solution
that's 100% compatible.

Yeah, the "still works but pukes errors" is the typical symptom of the
newer, slightly incompatible 48T02s in Sun machines. I don't recall if mine
kept accurate time with the newer modules.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

 The ones from Mouser work well enough in every system that I have
 used them in. I still get the IDPROM corrupt message on boot on
 some systems, but it holds the MAC and the systems boot without
 intervention.

 I tried to repair a few and botched most of them. I know that I
 should be using the GlitchWorks stuff, but it has been easier to
 just buy something that I can plug in.

 alan


 On 4/27/18 3:15 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:

 Don't get the new MK48T02/MK48T08s from Mouser et al, they're
 not fully
 compatible. They will retain NVRAM but the clock part is
 different and
 you'll get an error on that (system won't autoboot). Rebuild
 your old
 NVRAM! I made up some little boards to make the repair cleaner
 and faster
 to do (I had about 50 NVRAMs to repair):

 http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1
 <http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1>

 There are other guides for tacking on a coin cell holder
 without cutting
 off the entire top encapsulation, but if you do that, it may
 not fit under
 SBus cards if you're doing it on a system that puts SBus slots
 over the
 NVRAM.

 Thanks,
 Jonathan

 On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk <
 cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

 On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 1:55 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk
 mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

 - SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad
 IDPROM; aside from that
   it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no
 HDD now, and a 3.5"
   floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the
 IDPROM, it doesn't
   have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet).
 Like the SS2, it
   needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover
 over the rear of the
   case is broken off.

 What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are
 around $25 on Mouser.
 SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD
 are $60 plus
 shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of
 25 year old HDDs

 with

 a stated service life of 5 years (according to one
 spec sheet that I

 read),

 SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.

 When you say IDPROM, is that a Dallas built-in battery
 NVRAM type of
 thing? I have an SS1 with a dead NVRAM thing. Are the
 currently
 available versions of those new at Mouser fully
 compatible? Those are
 one of those things that the new versions aren't always fully
 compatible with the old versions for some systems, even
 though they
 are supposed to be.

 My SS1 is also in the Seattle area. If there is much
 demand for those
 it's probably one of those systems I'll never get around
 to doing
 anything with it myself. I also have a 4/110. Those seem
 to be a lot
 less common, and maybe more collectible.


Last year some time I replaced the timekeeper in my first SPARC with one I
ordered off eBay. It's been a while since I tried it in that machine* but,
last I knew, it was slow at keeping time but time was still moving forward,
and it had

Re: SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))


I keep them all. Not counting the bad ones in the SS1 and 2, I have 7.

I can send them to you. I don't mind pick up the shipping costs for 
something small like that. But the $70 that is it going to cost to ship 
the SS20 to its new home is another matter.


alan

On 4/27/18 3:33 PM, systems_glitch wrote:
You can always send me the dead modules and I'll rebuild them 
(GlitchWorks == me, my wife sometimes helps with assembly). Whatever 
you do, don't throw out the dead NVRAMs -- I'll buy them or pay for 
you to ship them or whatever, they're not making more and they're the 
only solution that's 100% compatible.


Yeah, the "still works but pukes errors" is the typical symptom of the 
newer, slightly incompatible 48T02s in Sun machines. I don't recall if 
mine kept accurate time with the newer modules.


Thanks,
Jonathan

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk 
mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:


The ones from Mouser work well enough in every system that I have
used them in. I still get the IDPROM corrupt message on boot on
some systems, but it holds the MAC and the systems boot without
intervention.

I tried to repair a few and botched most of them. I know that I
should be using the GlitchWorks stuff, but it has been easier to
just buy something that I can plug in.

alan


On 4/27/18 3:15 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:

Don't get the new MK48T02/MK48T08s from Mouser et al, they're
not fully
compatible. They will retain NVRAM but the clock part is
different and
you'll get an error on that (system won't autoboot). Rebuild
your old
NVRAM! I made up some little boards to make the repair cleaner
and faster
to do (I had about 50 NVRAMs to repair):

http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1
<http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1>

There are other guides for tacking on a coin cell holder
without cutting
off the entire top encapsulation, but if you do that, it may
not fit under
SBus cards if you're doing it on a system that puts SBus slots
over the
NVRAM.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 1:55 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk
mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

- SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad
IDPROM; aside from that
  it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no
HDD now, and a 3.5"
  floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the
IDPROM, it doesn't
  have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet).
Like the SS2, it
  needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover
over the rear of the
  case is broken off.

What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are
around $25 on Mouser.
SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD
are $60 plus
shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of
25 year old HDDs

with

a stated service life of 5 years (according to one
spec sheet that I

read),

SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.

When you say IDPROM, is that a Dallas built-in battery
NVRAM type of
thing? I have an SS1 with a dead NVRAM thing. Are the
currently
available versions of those new at Mouser fully
compatible? Those are
one of those things that the new versions aren't always fully
compatible with the old versions for some systems, even
though they
are supposed to be.

My SS1 is also in the Seattle area. If there is much
demand for those
it's probably one of those systems I'll never get around
to doing
anything with it myself. I also have a 4/110. Those seem
to be a lot
less common, and maybe more collectible.

Re: SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))




On 4/27/18 3:03 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk wrote:

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 1:55 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk
 wrote:

- SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad IDPROM; aside from that
  it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no HDD now, and a 3.5"
  floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the IDPROM, it doesn't
  have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet). Like the SS2, it
  needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover over the rear of the
  case is broken off.

What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are around $25 on Mouser.
SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD are $60 plus
shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of 25 year old HDDs with
a stated service life of 5 years (according to one spec sheet that I read),
SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.


When you say IDPROM, is that a Dallas built-in battery NVRAM type of
thing? I have an SS1 with a dead NVRAM thing. Are the currently
available versions of those new at Mouser fully compatible? Those are
one of those things that the new versions aren't always fully
compatible with the old versions for some systems, even though they
are supposed to be.


Yes.

The better option is to repair the NVRAM to use a replaceable battery. 
As noted elsewhere, the new ones on Mouser aren't completely compatible, 
but they work good enough in my experience with the lunchbox systems and 
SS5/20s.




My SS1 is also in the Seattle area. If there is much demand for those
it's probably one of those systems I'll never get around to doing
anything with it myself. I also have a 4/110. Those seem to be a lot
less common, and maybe more collectible.


I don't think there is much demand. The SS5s and 20s that I got from 
Pete's place were claimed quickly. No takers yet for the SS1 or SS2. If 
there ends up being no takers, I will still refurb them and make them 
into nice running systems.


alan

Re: SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))

The ones from Mouser work well enough in every system that I have used 
them in. I still get the IDPROM corrupt message on boot on some systems, 
but it holds the MAC and the systems boot without intervention.


I tried to repair a few and botched most of them. I know that I should 
be using the GlitchWorks stuff, but it has been easier to just buy 
something that I can plug in.


alan

On 4/27/18 3:15 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:

Don't get the new MK48T02/MK48T08s from Mouser et al, they're not fully
compatible. They will retain NVRAM but the clock part is different and
you'll get an error on that (system won't autoboot). Rebuild your old
NVRAM! I made up some little boards to make the repair cleaner and faster
to do (I had about 50 NVRAMs to repair):

http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1

There are other guides for tacking on a coin cell holder without cutting
off the entire top encapsulation, but if you do that, it may not fit under
SBus cards if you're doing it on a system that puts SBus slots over the
NVRAM.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:


On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 1:55 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk
 wrote:

- SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad IDPROM; aside from that
  it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no HDD now, and a 3.5"
  floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the IDPROM, it doesn't
  have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet). Like the SS2, it
  needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover over the rear of the
  case is broken off.

What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are around $25 on Mouser.
SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD are $60 plus
shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of 25 year old HDDs

with

a stated service life of 5 years (according to one spec sheet that I

read),

SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.


When you say IDPROM, is that a Dallas built-in battery NVRAM type of
thing? I have an SS1 with a dead NVRAM thing. Are the currently
available versions of those new at Mouser fully compatible? Those are
one of those things that the new versions aren't always fully
compatible with the old versions for some systems, even though they
are supposed to be.

My SS1 is also in the Seattle area. If there is much demand for those
it's probably one of those systems I'll never get around to doing
anything with it myself. I also have a 4/110. Those seem to be a lot
less common, and maybe more collectible.

SPARCstation rescue giveaway (Was: Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP))

I wrote:
>... yesterday I managed to take the two SPARCstation 20s that I gotfrom
>Pete's and make one working dual-processor SS20. I alsopassed on one of
>the SS5s to its new owner. The person who originally spoke up for the
>SS20 has not responded to subsequent e-mail, so it may be available. I
>will also have a SS1 and SS2 available, but I need to order more IDPROMs
>before I can finish refurb'ing them.

An update - The person who spoke up for a SS20 responded this morning and
the one that I put together from the two broken ones from Pete's will soon
be on its way to its new home.

What I have left to give away are:

- SPARCstation 20 chassis. No top cover. The front left corner plastic
 cover is missing and the front right plastic cover has broken tabs and
 won't stay on. It has a working power supply and a motherboard that the
 firmware reports "replace motherboard" during diagnostics. It has no
 MBus (processor) or SBus cards nor any memory. It has the HDD backplane,
 cabling for the HDD and optical drive, and the drive cooling fan.

- SPARCstation 2. Complete and boots into SunOS 4. It has 48M memory, a
 Sun207 (nominal 207M) HDD, and a 3.5" floppy drive. It also has an extra
 SCSI SBus card (501-1759) and a GX CG6 frame buffer, dual-slot SBus card
 (501-1645). It has a bad IDPROM and the case needs to be cleaned. It has
 its hostname "smoked" written all over it; I don't know if there is a
 story that goes with that.

- SPARCstation 1. Chassis is intact. It has a bad IDPROM; aside from that
 it passes onboard diagnostics. It has 12M memory, no HDD now, and a 3.5"
 floppy drive. It has no SBus cards. Aside from the IDPROM, it doesn't
 have any issues (but I haven't run an OS on it yet). Like the SS2, it
 needs a bath. A small portion of the plastic cover over the rear of the
 case is broken off.

If you want one of these, the systems themselves are free. I just want
shipping costs and actual parts expenses (i.e., IDPROMs, HDDs, etc.). The
22x22x6 box that they fit in costs $15 (when bought one-at-a-time). I
haven't weighed a SS1/2, but the boxed SS20 weighed 30 lbs. The ship-from
zip is 98110. If you are local to Puget Sound, I will deliver.

What are these "actual parts expenses"? IDPROMs are around $25 on Mouser.
SCSI HDDs start around $70 shipped on eBay and SCSI2SD are $60 plus
shipping to me plus the SD price. Given the price of 25 year old HDDs with
a stated service life of 5 years (according to one spec sheet that I read),
SCSI2SD looks pretty attractive.

If no one chimes in NOW and says that he wants one to refurb himself, I
will start refurb'ing the SS1 and 2.

alan

Kei cars and motorcycles (Was: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP)




On 4/26/18 11:52 PM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:

On Fri, 27 Apr 2018 at 00:48, Fred Cisin via cctalk 
wrote:


The Honda 600 was NOT a bike. Well, mostly not.  After demise of the mid
1960s Honda S600/S800 ("poor-man's-Ferrari" design exercise that got out
of hand and went into production), Honda engineers took a 360CC parallel
twin, detuned it and upped it to 600cc, added a differential, and a
reverse (tacked on to the outside of the case), and put it in a car body
that resembled the Mini.  AN600 was the first Hondas officially imported
into USA (1970).  A later Z600 had a "sportier" body, and one was cut in
half in the down-under movie "Malcolm"

Never heard of any of them. I guess they were not sold outside North
America and Japan.


The Z600 was sold on the Continent. Per Wikipedia, about a thousand were 
sold.




Kei cars are extremely rare in Europe as there is no financial advantage or
incentive to own them, and without that, they're cramped and overpowered.


That mostly sums it up, but there are some kei cars that interest 
enthusiasts, such as the Honda Beat and certain versions of the Suzuki 
Alto. A local shop here has three Mazda/Autozam AZ-1s and I am very 
tempted to get one.




Oddly, the 600cc "supersport" motorcycle category is huge, in contract,
because insurance is much cheaper for machines of 600cc or less.

But I know little of cars. Evil tin boxes, to me as a bicyclist and
motorcyclist, generally driven by homicidal morons.


Given the other people on the roads around here, I will take the 
additional protection provided by my evil tin box. I won't ride my 
motorcycle in the city unless it is to the dealer for service. Too many 
very close calls. Then again, I saw a motorcyclist almost take out a 
pedestrian (in a crosswalk, with the light) yesterday.


alan

P.S. To get this kinda back on topic, yesterday I managed to take the 
two SPARCstation 20s that I got from Pete's and make one working 
dual-processor SS20. I also passed on one of the SS5s to its new owner. 
The person who originally spoke up for the SS20 has not responded to 
subsequent e-mail, so it may be available. I will also have a SS1 and 
SS2 available, but I need to order more IDPROMs before I can finish 
refurb'ing them.

Picked up stuff from Pete's

2018-04-24 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

For those follow the rescue of equipment from Pete Lancashire's place 
outside of Portland ...


I went out there last Friday. Pete was unavailable, so a friend of his 
let me and showed me where to avoid stepping.


The amount of stuff there was impressive/amazing/overwhelming. Aside 
from the test equipment and old telecom equipment that was pointed out 
when I was shown around, it was hard to focus on one thing because I 
would immediately see something else interesting that grabbed my attention.


I picked up seven Sun SPARC systems and three Compaq-branded Alpha systems.

The Alpha systems all went to a local (Seattle) person who is talking to 
Bill Gunshannon about possibly getting one out to him. One of the Alphas 
was a DS20 deskside and I never figured out what the other two were. 
They were narrower and longer than the DS20. There were also some loose 
72G Ultra3 SCSI HDDs.


The Suns were a SS1, SS2, two SS5s (one with a Netra top cover), two 
SS20s (one with its cover removed and MBus card and memory lying near 
it) and a SS1+ "prototype". I am keeping the SS1+ and a SS5. I have 
found a home for a couple more of them and will be looking for a home 
for the rest.


The SS20s are the most problematic. As you would expect from a system 
with its top cover missing, one of the SS20s does not display any 
diagnostic output or get to the OBP prompt after being powered on. The 
"good" one displays a "replace motherboard" message while going through 
its diagnostics.


Also, as you might expect, the one called a prototype was the most 
interesting to me. I am a long-time Sun employee and, while I wasn't 
around when the SS1+ was developed, I know people who were. It isn't 
like any prototype that they knew of. Still trying to figure out exactly 
what it is. The top cover is metal and slides over the chassis (not 
plastic and pivots into place like a SS1+. There are no external 
markings on it. It has a Sun SS1+ motherboard, Sun0424 HDDs, and uses 
SS1/SS1+/SS2 HDD carriers, but has a Sony (not Sun) labeled power supply.


As far as the 029 keypunch, it is still there. There was some confusion 
and the people who were supposed to come get it didn't. I have described 
to them where it is and how I would go about removing it.


alan

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months

2018-04-20 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

OK, thanks. It took less time than Google Map said it would; I am at the house 
now (taking a nap).

alan

> On Apr 20, 2018, at 3:41 AM, Pete Lancashire  wrote:
> 
> If you need to contact the person representing me his cell phone number is 
> 360 348 5922 again he will be at the banks house at 8 a.m. His name is 
> Charles Osborne
> 
>> On Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 8:39 AM Alan Perry via cctalk  
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> > On Apr 16, 2018, at 8:05 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk 
>> >  wrote:
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> >> On 04/16/2018 10:54 AM, Alan Perry wrote:
>> >> There are a few cross conversations going on here and in separate e-mail 
>> >> and maybe some confusion.
>> >> 
>> >> On Friday, I am going to meet Pete to pick up the Suns and do some prep 
>> >> for later coming back to get the Alphas and the keypunch. I may also pick 
>> >> up Alphas, depending on my judgment on Fri whether I can transport them 
>> >> safely.
>> >> 
>> >> There will be a second trip to pick up the keypunch and Alphas not picked 
>> >> up in the first trip. It is going to take at least two people to move and 
>> >> load the keypunch. I plan on using the first trip to evaluate whether two 
>> >> will be enough. Also, Pete says that stuff needs to be moved to access 
>> >> the Alphas and the keypunch. I intend to do some of that on the first 
>> >> trip.
>> > 
>> > Might be interesting to know what stuff has to be moved.  :-)
>> 
>> Yeah, I was wondering about whether any of the stuff that needs to be moved 
>> is of interest.
>> 
>> >> 
>> >> One complication is that the guy helping with the second trip is also 
>> >> intended in the Alphas.
>> 
>> I intended to write ‘interested’ here. Thanks, autocorrect!
>> 
>> > 
>> > No big deal.  If you have a taker for the Alphas out there at least they 
>> > don't end up
>> > in the skip.
>> 
>> We can discuss this offline.
>> 
>> > 
>> >> 
>> >> As far as getting one or more Alpha to Wellsboro ... it would be a race 
>> >> car team transporting the machine. I would make arrangements at the race 
>> >> in Portland this coming weekend, drop the equipment off with them at the 
>> >> next race in WA state and the equipment would be at the race after that 
>> >> in Wellsboro. But, at this time, I have not yet identified a team that 
>> >> would do it. They would want specifics on the Alphas that I don’t yet 
>> >> have.
>> > 
>> > I can't wait to hear where the racetrack is ion Wellsboro cause I sure 
>> > can't see one
>> > on Google Maps.  Ours (Hamlin Speedway) is rather obvious in satellite 
>> > view.  :-)
>> 
>> We don’t race on tracks. It is called ‘stage rally’, the US version of the 
>> World Rally Championship. They race against the clock on closed, gravel 
>> roads. The cars are street-legal and, to get from one timed section to the 
>> next, they drive on open, public roads, obeying the rules of the road. On 
>> the timed sections, someone sits in the passenger seat calling out a 
>> detailed description of the next turns coming up to the driver. When I 
>> competed, I was one of those guys reading directions.
>> 
>> The Wellsboro rally is called STPR (Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally).
>> 
>> alan
>> 
>> > 
>> > bill
>> > 
>> 
>>

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months

2018-04-16 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk



> On Apr 16, 2018, at 8:05 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 04/16/2018 10:54 AM, Alan Perry wrote:
>> There are a few cross conversations going on here and in separate e-mail and 
>> maybe some confusion.
>> 
>> On Friday, I am going to meet Pete to pick up the Suns and do some prep for 
>> later coming back to get the Alphas and the keypunch. I may also pick up 
>> Alphas, depending on my judgment on Fri whether I can transport them safely.
>> 
>> There will be a second trip to pick up the keypunch and Alphas not picked up 
>> in the first trip. It is going to take at least two people to move and load 
>> the keypunch. I plan on using the first trip to evaluate whether two will be 
>> enough. Also, Pete says that stuff needs to be moved to access the Alphas 
>> and the keypunch. I intend to do some of that on the first trip.
> 
> Might be interesting to know what stuff has to be moved.  :-)

Yeah, I was wondering about whether any of the stuff that needs to be moved is 
of interest.

>> 
>> One complication is that the guy helping with the second trip is also 
>> intended in the Alphas.

I intended to write ‘interested’ here. Thanks, autocorrect!

> 
> No big deal.  If you have a taker for the Alphas out there at least they 
> don't end up
> in the skip.

We can discuss this offline.

> 
>> 
>> As far as getting one or more Alpha to Wellsboro ... it would be a race car 
>> team transporting the machine. I would make arrangements at the race in 
>> Portland this coming weekend, drop the equipment off with them at the next 
>> race in WA state and the equipment would be at the race after that in 
>> Wellsboro. But, at this time, I have not yet identified a team that would do 
>> it. They would want specifics on the Alphas that I don’t yet have.
> 
> I can't wait to hear where the racetrack is ion Wellsboro cause I sure 
> can't see one
> on Google Maps.  Ours (Hamlin Speedway) is rather obvious in satellite 
> view.  :-)

We don’t race on tracks. It is called ‘stage rally’, the US version of the 
World Rally Championship. They race against the clock on closed, gravel roads. 
The cars are street-legal and, to get from one timed section to the next, they 
drive on open, public roads, obeying the rules of the road. On the timed 
sections, someone sits in the passenger seat calling out a detailed description 
of the next turns coming up to the driver. When I competed, I was one of those 
guys reading directions.

The Wellsboro rally is called STPR (Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally).

alan

> 
> bill
>

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months

2018-04-16 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

There are a few cross conversations going on here and in separate e-mail and 
maybe some confusion.

On Friday, I am going to meet Pete to pick up the Suns and do some prep for 
later coming back to get the Alphas and the keypunch. I may also pick up 
Alphas, depending on my judgment on Fri whether I can transport them safely.

There will be a second trip to pick up the keypunch and Alphas not picked up in 
the first trip. It is going to take at least two people to move and load the 
keypunch. I plan on using the first trip to evaluate whether two will be 
enough. Also, Pete says that stuff needs to be moved to access the Alphas and 
the keypunch. I intend to do some of that on the first trip.

One complication is that the guy helping with the second trip is also intended 
in the Alphas.

As far as getting one or more Alpha to Wellsboro ... it would be a race car 
team transporting the machine. I would make arrangements at the race in 
Portland this coming weekend, drop the equipment off with them at the next race 
in WA state and the equipment would be at the race after that in Wellsboro. 
But, at this time, I have not yet identified a team that would do it. They 
would want specifics on the Alphas that I don’t yet have.

Someone asked about the Suns. I am going to bring them home, determine what 
state they are in and, if necessary, do clean up and sysadmin’ing on them. IIRC 
from the photo, there were a couple SS20s, a couple SS5s, a SS1+, what Pete 
described as a prototype SS1 and a system missing a side panel (so I can’t 
identify it, but it appears to be a SS5/20 vintage system). I am interested in 
a SS5 and the prototype for myself and will look for new homes for the rest.

alan

> On Apr 16, 2018, at 6:43 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 04/16/2018 09:14 AM, Pete Lancashire wrote:
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/4u6k7EaXwPjTZaDS2
> 
> 
> Thanks Pete.  They are the ones I was thinking of.  I can definitely handle
> them.  If Alan's friend (or Alan himself, I wasn't sure about that part of the
> message) can get them to Wellsboro, PA I can pick them up there.
> 
> bill
>

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months

The SPARC boxes are safe from the recycler. Those are the ones that I am 
primarily interested in. But I have lots of Sun boxes, so I am willing 
to share.


alan

On 4/15/18 4:04 PM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:

If anyone is making their way to VCF East, I'd be interested in saving the
SPARCstations from the recycler.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Sun, Apr 15, 2018 at 6:43 PM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:



On 04/15/2018 03:30 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:


On 4/15/18 11:59 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

On 04/15/2018 02:37 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:

On 4/15/18 11:30 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

On 04/15/2018 01:44 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote:

wish this  was  closer!  ed#


Me too.  I could use an Alpha or two for running VMS.

Where are you? I am picking up the Alphas so they don't get scrapped.
I will be looking for homes for them once I get them here and check
out their condition.

Wrong side of the country.  Scranton, PA.  And if they are as
sturdy as the Alphas I have worked with in the past the cost
of shipping one would be very prohibitive.

Are you willing to drive to Wellsboro, PA for one or two? I am heading
down to PDX because I am a motorsports official. The first weekend of
June, the series will be in Wellsboro. If you are interested, I  can
see if one of the teams is willing to haul one or two Alphas that way.


Yeah, I could probably do Wellsboro.  It's  about halfway across the
state from here.
One, two or three.  If I can't use them I  have a lot of contacts with
other people trying
to find machines for VMS Hobbyist program.  They will have good homes.

bill

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months


How big is the keypunch? Where are you?

I am willing to make a second trip down (I am in the Seattle area), hold 
stuff and arrange for shipping. I just don't want stuff to get scrapped.


alan

On 4/15/18 12:10 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote:

Yea,  the Alphas  are  cool,  but  what  we would like is a full size  card punch we  can 
sit a  kid in front of and let  them experience... "Old School Data Entry!"
  
Somehow the Wright-Line  hand held  correcting Punch  does  not have the  same effect!
  
Ed# www.smecc.org
  
In a message dated 4/15/2018 11:59:49 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:


  



On 04/15/2018 02:37 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:


On 4/15/18 11:30 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

On 04/15/2018 01:44 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote:

wish this  was  closer!  ed#


Me too.  I could use an Alpha or two for running VMS.

Where are you? I am picking up the Alphas so they don't get scrapped.
I will be looking for homes for them once I get them here and check
out their condition.

Wrong side of the country.  Scranton, PA.  And if they are as
sturdy as the Alphas I have worked with in the past the cost
of shipping one would be very prohibitive.

bill

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months




On 4/15/18 11:59 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:


On 04/15/2018 02:37 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:


On 4/15/18 11:30 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

On 04/15/2018 01:44 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote:

wish this  was  closer!  ed#


Me too.  I could use an Alpha or two for running VMS.

Where are you? I am picking up the Alphas so they don't get scrapped.
I will be looking for homes for them once I get them here and check
out their condition.

Wrong side of the country.  Scranton, PA.  And if they are as
sturdy as the Alphas I have worked with in the past the cost
of shipping one would be very prohibitive.


Are you willing to drive to Wellsboro, PA for one or two? I am heading 
down to PDX because I am a motorsports official. The first weekend of 
June, the series will be in Wellsboro. If you are interested, I  can see 
if one of the teams is willing to haul one or two Alphas that way.


alan



bill

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months




On 4/15/18 11:30 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

On 04/15/2018 01:44 PM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote:

wish this  was  closer!  ed#
   


Me too.  I could use an Alpha or two for running VMS.


Where are you? I am picking up the Alphas so they don't get scrapped. I 
will be looking for homes for them once I get them here and check out 
their condition.


alan



bill

Re: To be scrapped in as little as 2 months

Do you know the size/models of the Alpha systems? I want to make sure they will 
fit in my car.

alan 

> On Apr 14, 2018, at 7:43 PM, Pete Lancashire via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> 3 x DEC Alphas, small deskside models
> 
> 5 to 6 x Sun pizza boxes one a Sparc 1 prototype
> 
> 029 IBM Keypunch
> 
> The day I can have a 15 cubic yard scrap metal drop box the stuff will
> start to be tossed in.
> 
> All based on when the rains stop and the ground is hard enough
> 
> I can't want much longer
> 
> For those that have not seen me post this before
> 
> The stuff is near (3 - 4 miles outside of) Banks Oregon USA (look it up on
> Google).
> 
> I CAN NOT LIFT OVER 10 LBS, PERIOD.
> 
> -pete

Re: Instruction video on laserdisk

2018-03-31 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

I have a NTSC LD player AND a video capture device (or two). Located in 
the Seattle area.


I recently picked up some Prisoner LDs and confirmed that LD player is 
still working. It did involve opening it up and blowing dust off of the 
optical sensors inside of it.


alan

On 3/31/18 10:28 AM, John Ames via cctalk wrote:

I don't know where you're located, but I'm in the US and have an NTSC
Laserdisc player. If someone can hook me up with a video capture card,
I'd be happy to copy the video for you.

Re: Shipping

2018-02-27 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk



I have been thinking about building a Cray 1 cabinet replica for use as 
storage and seating in my office/machine room, so I looked at the one at 
the LCM very closely during VCF PNW. They don't have much padding on the 
cushions.


alan

On 2/27/18 11:10 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:



There are exceptions to each category, such as "desktop" computers too 
heavy to put on flimsy modern desks, minis that won't fit through 
doorways, and you might already live in a mainframe. Although a Cray 
couch doesn't look very comfortable for sleeping on.

Re: Sold on eBay: Convergent Technologies S/50 a.k.a. Unix PC, AT&T 3B1 Unix Workstation

2018-01-17 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

As I mentioned elsewhere, I worked on software for them at Burroughs 
('86-'89). I picked up a bunch of B25 stuff in '03, but I could never 
find any software for them. In retrospect, I wish that I has stashed 
away B25 (and B1000 (I was one of the last people in the office 
supporting software on the B1000)) stuff, rather than return everything, 
when I left the company.


alan

On 1/17/18 11:22 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctech wrote:
You're right, the machine I owned is the one I see from your link. The 
workstation you mentioned is in the same box but with a monitor and 
the location of the clips and led slightly different.
But I was not far ;-) I don't remember what kind of hardware was 
exactly in this machine. Shame on me, I got rid of it, it was the 
pre-internet era, I had no hope to repair and reinstall this machine, 
it would be different today: - /



On 17/01/2018 20:02, Alan Perry via cctech wrote:

Are you sure?

The B20, B21, B22 looked like this - 
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102662660 - and 
nothing like the 3B1 or the S/50. The B25 and subsequent models 
(which are often referred to as B20s) are modular systems that are 
box-shaped and got wider as "slices" were added. The B20s were 
x86-based and the 3B1 (and presumably the CT S/50) was 68k-based.


alan


On 1/17/18 2:41 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctech wrote:
It's interesting, I had exactly the same machine a long time ago, 
but with a different label. It was a Burroughs B20 distributed by 
Unisys


Dominique

On 17/01/2018 06:45, AJ Palmgren via cctalk wrote:

Did it happen to be one of these older-style Convergent AWS machines?

http://mightyframe.blogspot.com/2017/03/convergent-technologies-workstation.html

Re: Sold on eBay: Convergent Technologies S/50 a.k.a. Unix PC, AT&T 3B1 Unix Workstation

2018-01-17 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

There is a link with a photo in my post that you replied to.

Here is another photo link -
https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/images/d/db/Windowsbyte27_%28Burroughs_B20%29.png

Here is a link to a B25 type system -
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/CTOS-B25.JPG/250px-CTOS-B25.JPG

My first job out of college was working at Burroughs on their mainframe-‘PC’ 
integration products.

alan 

> On Jan 17, 2018, at 12:46 PM, Mike Stein  wrote:
> 
> Are there any better pictures around of the B20/21/22 ? If not, I think I 
> still have some brochures somewhere.
> 
> m
> 
> - Original Message ----- 
> From: "Alan Perry via cctech" 
> To: 
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 2:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Sold on eBay: Convergent Technologies S/50 a.k.a. Unix PC, AT&T 
> 3B1 Unix Workstation
> 
> 
>> Are you sure?
>> 
>> The B20, B21, B22 looked like this - 
>> http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102662660 - and 
>> nothing like the 3B1 or the S/50. The B25 and subsequent models (which 
>> are often referred to as B20s) are modular systems that are box-shaped 
>> and got wider as "slices" were added. The B20s were x86-based and the 
>> 3B1 (and presumably the CT S/50) was 68k-based.
>> 
>> alan
>> 
>> 
>>> On 1/17/18 2:41 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctech wrote:
>>> It's interesting, I had exactly the same machine a long time ago, but 
>>> with a different label. It was a Burroughs B20 distributed by Unisys
>>> 
>>> Dominique
>>> 
>>>> On 17/01/2018 06:45, AJ Palmgren via cctalk wrote:
>>>> Did it happen to be one of these older-style Convergent AWS machines?
>>>> 
>>>> http://mightyframe.blogspot.com/2017/03/convergent-technologies-workstation.html
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>

Re: Sold on eBay: Convergent Technologies S/50 a.k.a. Unix PC, AT&T 3B1 Unix Workstation

2018-01-17 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk


Are you sure?

The B20, B21, B22 looked like this - 
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102662660 - and 
nothing like the 3B1 or the S/50. The B25 and subsequent models (which 
are often referred to as B20s) are modular systems that are box-shaped 
and got wider as "slices" were added. The B20s were x86-based and the 
3B1 (and presumably the CT S/50) was 68k-based.


alan


On 1/17/18 2:41 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctech wrote:
It's interesting, I had exactly the same machine a long time ago, but 
with a different label. It was a Burroughs B20 distributed by Unisys


Dominique

On 17/01/2018 06:45, AJ Palmgren via cctalk wrote:

Did it happen to be one of these older-style Convergent AWS machines?

http://mightyframe.blogspot.com/2017/03/convergent-technologies-workstation.html

Re: Getting Sun Sparcstation 10 to recognize its graphics card

2018-01-10 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

Jonathan may be on to something here. I only deal with Sun stuff and am 
mostly unfamiliar with SGI stuff. However, I use LCD displays with 
13W3-to-VGA adapters on my Suns and, relevant to this discussion, I know 
that the adapters used with Suns are different from the ones with SGIs, 
though I don't know the details.


alan

On 1/9/18 4:01 PM, systems_glitch via cctech wrote:

Bill,

Are you sure the SGI monitor will work with the Sun graphics adapter? Just
because the plug fits doesn't mean the monitors are compatible, when it
comes to 13W3. It may be just transferring control to the video console and
*appear* to be locking up, and you're not getting anything out of the
display as a result.

Do you get diagnostic LED patterns on the keyboard LEDs?

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 4:18 PM, william degnan via cctech <
cct...@classiccmp.org> wrote:


Working from this page to configure my sparcstation 10 after NVRAM
replacement:
http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/faq_nvram.html

...but curious is there an installation manual or whatever specific to the
video card in my system, a TurboXGX with STP3010GPA chip
http://vintagecomputer.net/sun/SparcStation-10/Sun_STP3010PGA_TURBOXGX.jpg

I have Solaris 4 installed.  I am guessing around trying different things.
With help I have the OS installed but so far I can't get the system to
recognize the video card and Sun keyboard.  With these installed it freezes
the system...so, I am using a serial terminal to interact with the system.
The video display I have is an SGI GDM-20D11

Eventually I'll poke through to the solution, this is my first Sun box, up
to this point they were "too new" but I'd like to learn how to perform a
system install.

If I find the answers I am looking for I'll post here.

Bill

Re: Details about IBM's early 'scientific' computers

2017-11-15 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk




On 11/15/17 11:13 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

On 11/15/2017 10:17 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:


MANY companies were quite bad at making a go of the computer business.
Xerox is probably legendary, but GE and RCA were certainly also famous
for this.  Honeywell made a LOT of computers in various forms -
aerospace, minicomputer, industrial controls, etc.  But, I guess they
were incompetent at competing with IBM in the large systems market.
They were included in the BUNCH, however.

"BUNCH"?  Never heard that one before.  "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs" was the term I always heard.


Burroughs
UNIVAC
NCR
CDC
Honeywell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUNCH

Re: OT: the death of shortwave / Re: Hallicrafters S-85

2017-10-16 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk



What kind of nets are you looking for?

I am an emergency communications volunteer with Kitsap County so I am 
aware of all sorts of emergency response related nets, but I only have 
equipment for the local nets.


Have you looked at the ARRL Net database?

alan

On 10/16/17 11:24 AM, Ian S. King via cctalk wrote:

On Sun, Oct 8, 2017 at 1:34 PM, allison via cctalk 
wrote:


On 10/08/2017 02:47 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:

When I see something that is   neat...I  camp on it   until I decide or
have a friend  put his hand on and stand in front. Yea...  to many

times  turn

around and  then look  down and someone else  now  has it...  Ed#



In a message dated 10/8/2017 9:52:59 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

I missed  out on a nice Hallicrafters receiver at a hamfest last

weekend...

Walked  way to look it up, and it was gone when I came  back!


I have a few Hallicrafters radios...

SX120 not much of a radio but along the lines of the S-38 (al la AA5
line powered).
  I have two one bone stock and pretty and the other has been modded
  six ways to Sunday by me.  The mods include a 2.1khz mechanical filter,
  additional IF stage and a real product detector using 6AR8 and even a
   power transformer.
SX110, more serious radio, hurts the back some too.
HT37 transmitter Phasing to create SSB at a pair of 6146 power level.

I home brew on HF though 432...

Allison


My FT-817 (5 watts) has no problem reaching from the West Coast of the US
to the East with SSB - IF the band is open.  Most recently I've found 40m
to be open most often (at least when I'm on HF).

Does anyone on this thread know if there are any regularly scheduled
traffic nets?

Re: OT: the death of shortwave / Re: Hallicrafters S-85

2017-10-07 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

> On Oct 7, 2017, at 17:57, Chuck Guzis via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
>> On 10/07/2017 04:46 PM, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:
>> 
>> SW is dead. The internet killed it.
> 
> I tune through the commercial broadcast bands every couple of years
> Bible-thumpers mostly.  The last I checked, the semi-religious HCJB was
> still 5-by-9 here.

I listen to shortwave all of the time.

I have a wire antenna run up a 100 foot cedar tree behind the house. I listen 
on a Sony ICF-SW1 that I got in the 90s when I lived in Europe. Had to get the 
capacitors in it redone a few years ago.

The atmospherics here in the Seattle area are good for picking up Asia. At 
times I can pick up Japan and China better than local stations. There is an 
English-language Beijing commute time show that I often listen to. If 
conditions are right, I can pick up broadcasts from Africa. All with a radio 
the size of a pack of playing cards and 100 feet of speaker wire.

I just got a SDR (software defined radio), but haven't yet tried to attach it 
the wire antenna to see what I can pick up with it.

alan 

> 
> I have fond memories of planting trees on a cold winter day almost 25
> years ago with my wife, listening to the BBC World Service on her
> Grundig Yacht Boy, yours truly with a hoedad, she with a bucket of
> seedlings.
> 
> --Chuck
>

Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC]

2017-10-04 Thread Alan Perry via cctalk

Yesterday I exchanged e-mail with Dal Allan (who gave the CAM committee 
reports to X3T9.2). I didn't get permission to post the e-mail here, so 
I will summarize.


He said that the AT Attachment project got its name on 30 Mar 89.

He said that WD was the source of the name IDE, but he doesn't know when 
it was coined.


He said that the CAM committee meeting minutes and ATA document drafts 
were backed up to QIC tape, but were unreadable when it was attempted to 
transfer them to CD, so, unless another member has copies hidden away, 
they are gone.


alan



On 10/4/17 11:14 AM, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote:

Thanks for your  research which supports my point since all your cites postdate 
the April 1989 date of ATA usage by the CAM committee.

Remember this all started when someone (Fred?) posted that ATA followed IDE.

Regards,

Tom
-Original Message-
From: Pete Turnbull [mailto:p...@dunnington.plus.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 10:56 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM 
drives on a IBM PC]

On 03/10/2017 01:04, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote:

Unfortunately there is no documentation to support Pete's recollection - if 
there is any I would like to see it.

Well, actually, there is, though not for quite as early as I had those conversations.  The company 
I was referring to was HCCS Associates, and although I can't find a copyright date for their 
original software, I can find pictures of the interfaces, clearly labelled "IDE", and one 
version of the software, called "IDE Manager".  It's version 2.1, dated February 1990.  
They used mostly, but not exclusively, Connor drives, by the way.
http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Software.html#H
http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesH2Z/HCCS_IDE_A3000.html

Another I can find is another company who made an interface for a slightly 
later machine from the same family, and one version does carry a date, also 
1990.
http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesH2Z/ICS_ideA.html

The Watford Electronics IDE interface (called WE-IDE) for the same series of 
machines was released about the same time.  The software is dated September 
1989.  They used Western Digital drives, amongst others.
http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Software.html#W

So there's clear proof that at least three companies in the UK were using the 
term IDE before (or at least by) 1990.  I never heard it called anything else 
in that timeframe.


-Original Message-
From: Pete Turnbull [mailto:p...@dunnington.plus.com]
Nope.  I recall conversations with a small-scale developer in the UK
who was creating addons and accessories for the company I worked for
(Acorn
Computers) in 1987-1988, and he was touting IDE

--
Pete
Pete Turnbull

Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC]




On 10/3/17 5:33 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:


On 10/3/17 5:03 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:


Compaq and WD also worked with CDC to use the Wren II HH drive in the Compaq 
Deskpro 286. I found separate reports
confirming the Miniscribe HDD in the Portable II and the Wren II in a Compaq 
Deskpro 386 in 1986.

I have two of the CDC drives, pn 94208-51 date codes 8749 and 8750

also

http://s3.computerhistory.org/groups/compaq-conner-cp341-ide-ata-drive.pdf



I referred to 
http://chmss.wikifoundry.com/page/Compaq%2FConner+CP341+IDE%2FATA+Drive, 
which is a Wiki version of the same history.


Does CHM have the e-mail on IDE history with Bill Frank, Tony Maggio and 
Ralph Perry listed in the references?


alan

Re: PCMCIA (Was: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting




On 10/3/17 4:25 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

Q: was the card slot in the Poqet "PCMCIA"? ("People Can't Memorize
Computer Industry Acronyms"  ("Personal Computer Memory Card Industry
Association", for those who want more formality))
Maybe later ones were, but the first ones were just "card slot" "that
happened to match PCMCIA when that came out




On Tue, 3 Oct 2017, Warner Losh wrote:

PC Cards, defined by the PCMICA standards body, appeared to always be
called that.


The slots in the Poqet predate the PCMCIA specification.
In the original release, Poqet NEVER mentioned "PCMCIA".
It seems likely/obvious? that the Poqet engineers worked from a 
pre-release version of the spec, but they scrupulously avoided 
mentioning that until after PCMCIA became "official"


They do seem the same as PCMCIA Type1, Rev1/0, other than that the 
Poqet calls for cards that can handle lower voltage, and only work 
with SRAM and ROM cards.  The Poqet can NOT use a PCMCIA modem, SCSI 
interface, etc.
The one that the CIS department at the college bought came with a ROM 
card of Lotus!  When the Poqet was sent back to Fry's for repairs soon 
after, the Lotus card "disappeared" at Fry's.


The Poqet predates the PCMCIA spec, but products based on unapproved 
drafts is hardly a new thing in the computer industry.


Stealing from Wikipedia -
"The PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) 
industry organization was based on the original initiative of the 
British mathematician and computer scientist Ian Cullimore, one of the 
founders of the Sunnyvale-based Poqet Computer Corporation, who was 
seeking to integrate some kind of memory card technology as storage 
medium into their early DOS-based palmtop PCs, when traditional floppy 
drives and harddisks were found to be too power-hungry and large to fit 
into their battery-powered handheld devices. When in July 1989, Poqet 
contacted Fujitsu for their existing but still non-standardized SRAM 
memory cards, and Intel for their flash technology, the necessity and 
potential of establishing a worldwide memory card standard became 
obvious to the parties involved. This led to the foundation of the 
PCMCIA organization in September 1989."


alan

Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC]




On 10/3/17 3:57 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

The earliest use I can find of the "AT Attachment" terminology is the
X3T9 project proposal from late 1990 which eventually led to the
formation of the X3T10 group:

http://www.t10.org/ftp/x3t9.2/document.90/90-058r2.txt


On Tue, 3 Oct 2017, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:
As I previously posted, these minutes refer one of two CAM Committee 
meeting in May or Jun 1989 where it was announced that the "ATA 
document" was nearly complete:

http://www.t10.org/ftp/x3t9.2/document.89/89-075r0.txt
I have found two independent sources that indicate a first draft of 
the document appeared in Mar 1989.


We would need to compare that with WD internal discussions, OR
compare public discussions.
ATA committee existed, and was working on a standard; then WD sold 
products; then ATA standard was formally released.



Comparing "FIRST"s in development, is not the same as comparing 
"FIRST"s in release or production.


There are plenty of other races, where one was first to be built, but 
a different one was first to be available.



My guess of the timeline, is that MANY people wanted the same idea. 
People in the standards committee(s) started to discuss it, while some 
drive engineers started to build them.

Were members of committee talking about it before WD spoke up?
Were WD engineers working on it before committee mentioned it?
Yes, to both.


I suggest that you read the narratives at the two links that I posted in 
my subsequent posting.


WD initialy made the controller boards. As noted elsewhere, they did not 
make HDDs themselves at that point. They shopped it around in late 1984 
and got interest from Compaq. According to the document that I am 
referencing, WD did a IDE-to-ST506 board that was used with Miniscribe 
10M and 20M ST506 drives in Compaq Portable IIs (announced Feb 1986). 
Compaq and WD also worked with CDC to use the Wren II HH drive in the 
Compaq Deskpro 286. I found separate reports confirming the Miniscribe 
HDD in the Portable II and the Wren II in a Compaq Deskpro 386 in 1986. 
There were also a number of Conner IDE HDDs (CP340 family) in 1987.  
These were all products released before the SCSI-2 CAM committee was 
formed. However, I have not found any contemporary documentation for any 
of them, so I can't determine whether the interface is called IDE in any 
of them.


alan


The standards committee(s) called it "AT attachment"; the WD engineers 
called it "IDE" NEITHER name was used publicly.  YET.


The committees started to draft standards.  WD started to market.

WD probably pushed the committee(s) to use WD's pinout and details.
Companies are ALWAYS pushing standards committees to do it THEIR way.

Motherboard makers started to call theirs "IDE", because calling them 
ATA might run afoul of the not-yet-released standard.  "ATA" was 
hardly a secret, but it wasn't "official" yet.


When the standard was released, the MB makers were already calling it 
"IDE", and that stuck, in spite of "ATA" becoming the "official" name 
and standard.



Q: was the card slot in the Poqet "PCMCIA"? ("People Can't Memorize 
Computer Industry Acronyms"  ("Personal Computer Memory Card Industry 
Association", for those who want more formality))
Maybe later ones were, but the first ones were just "card slot" "that 
happened to match PCMCIA when that came out"

Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM

On 10/3/17 12:09 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

Scott Mueller mentions it in his "Upgrading And Repairing PCs"
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2028834

He said that "IDE" was a "marketing term", with "ATA" being the
"official" name. Which is pretty much the same as the discussion
here, with both terms being used concurrently, without a clear
comparison of the histories of their origins.

"Which came first? The formal name? or the street name?"

His stuff tends to be fairly accurate. Although he specifically
mentions the Wren II, he makes a statement that the HARDCARD were the
earliest IDE. (Not quite what we were discussing)

He uses IDE as being very general, with ATA being very specific, and
thus opening up tems such as "ATA IDE" and "pre-ATA IDE" But, by using
IDE so loosely as to include HARDCARD, he avoids explicitly declaring
IDE as the SPECIFIC interface, to have existed prior to ATA.

Also, of course, "pre-ATA IDE" can mean IDE prior to the ATA standard
release, rather than prior to the early use of "ATA" as a name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_rates.2C_and_features

The whole issue is complicated by the terms only being used in
advertising and spec sheets, since drives of that time never mentioned
their interface type/name on the drive itself.
Thus, finding the relevant drive on a shelf doesn't answer any of the
questions, and it remains a search of User Manuals and advertising.

NOTE: on the ST157, there is a WARNING label to not low level format.

As always, "FIRST" in history is muddled!
"FIRST" to be mentioned
"FIRST" to be OFFICIALLY mentioned
"FIRST" to be advertised
"FIRST" announced
"FIRST" released
"FIRST" to be manufactured
"FIRST" to be shipped
"FIRST" to be standardized
. . . "FIRST" to end up on my bench.

I am continuing to investigate, but I think that IDE came first. I have
found references that describe the Compaq/WD/CDC Wren II HH disk (which
pre-dates the formation of the SCSI-2 CAM committee) as "IDE". Some of
this reportedly comes from the people who did the work (years after the
fact). However, I have yet to find period documents that include the
term "IDE". I don't know if the people who did the work used the term at
the time or were applying it after the fact.

Here are a couple documents that I used as starting points -

http://chmss.wikifoundry.com/page/Compaq%2FConner+CP341+IDE%2FATA+Drive
http://web.archive.org/web/20081004160101/http://www.ata-atapi.com/histcam.html

alan

Re: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE [WAS:RE: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC]