Re: Did anyone see Vintage Tech Hunters on Discovery Canada yet?
Many of the 8-bit ones go for quite a bit more. There was an SB 1.5 that went for $200 recently, and a Game Blaster went for $400! Once you go past the SB Pro the prices drop a lot, SB 16s (especially the Vibras) are dirt cheap. I think people have a fascination for the old Creative CMS chips (just Philips SAA1099 devices) and the SB 1.X and Game Blaster cards are one way to try them out. On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 9:02 AM geneb via cctalk wrote: > On Thu, 8 Nov 2018, Zane Healy wrote: > > > > >> On Nov 8, 2018, at 8:52 AM, geneb via cctalk > wrote: > >> > >> On Thu, 8 Nov 2018, Electronics Plus via cctalk wrote: > >> > >>> > >>> Seriously? Vintage Sound Blaster cards are still so easy to come by! I > pass them up all the time because they never sold well. > >>> > >> Take a peek on eBay sometime. ISA Soundblaster cards go for stupid > coin. > >> > >> g. > > > > Seriously? I need to see what I have in my stash. I think I might have > > dumped them all though. > > I was trying to find a good 16 bit ISA SB card the other day (before I > found my stash) and they were all north of $50. > > g. > >
Re: does a reverse-engineering EDA tool exist?
I've gone through this a few times myself. There are a few approaches. One is to use a schematic tool like Kicad to place all the ICs first, then add the wires and rearrange things as you buzz out the connections. Another approach uses an intermediate step where you enter all the buzzed out connections into a spreadsheet, then go from the spreadsheet to the schematic. You can mark completed rows in the sheet so it's easier to keep track of your progress. What I've done in the past is to image both sides of a 2-layer board, pull it into GIMP, then trace out the traces and enter them into schematic. It won't work on >2 layer boards, although if a 4-layer board only uses the inner layers for power and ground planes, you can cheat a bit. For pads tied to power or ground, you can often shine a light from the back and look for the thermal "spokes" tying it to the plane. There is also a program called Sprint-Layout which I have not used but lets you place a reference photo underneath a board layout. One of the Amiga people have used it to reverse engineer the A3640 CPU board: http://wordpress.hertell.nu/?page_id=514 (I'd check out his page anyway because he also describes his spreadsheet method.) I have also heard (but not personally confirmed) that Diptrace lets you do that too. On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 2:51 PM Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > To draw out the schematics for the Displaywriter I have a bunch of boards > to trace out, > and I don't want to do the usual "scribble on yellow pad" > to do it. Has someone written a graphical tool for doing this? > > What I would like to find is a tool that puts up a bunch of footprints > with internal IC functions > shown, then a way to rapidly enter the buzzed out interconnections, > generating a netlist. > > This is exactly backwards workflow from normal schematic entry and pcb > layout. > > I suspect I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and write it.. > > > >
Looking for Targa 1.0 drivers
I have some old Targa 1.0 video boards (dating back to their AT&T days) but no driver diskettes. Does anyone happen to have some? I think they should work with Targa 16 drivers.
Re: The near-mythical IBM color MDA
It only supports mode 7 since it's an MDA card. :) The QBASIC COLOR statement doesn't bother to range check the arguments, it just copies them into the attribute byte in video memory. This is why the trick works. Other programs *know* that you clearly have a monochrome card so they won't use the full attribute byte even though they can. If you manually poke values into the BIOS data area (0x449) to indicate mode 3, then programs will start writing to 0xB8000 instead of 0xB and you won't see anything on the screen. I thought about it some more this morning, and I realized that the video memory on the MDA card has a memory address decoder (actually a 'LS138, U51). By pulling pin 1 of the chip and tying it to ground, I was able to alias the MDA video memory at 0xB8000 as well as the normal 0xB location. When I poked 3 to 0x449 using DEBUG, it actually worked, and I got QBASIC up in color! https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1033028673970921472 There are a few strange effects, naturally. QBASIC reprograms the cursor incorrectly so it appears in the middle of the character cell. Also, because the underline generator still uses the attribute byte, dark blue text appears underlined. On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 8:49 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > OK, so the demo was with a "MODIFIED" card. :-) (admittedly a trivial one > that brought it in line with published schematic) > > Which Int10h modes does it support? > QBASIC is presumably simpy using the INt10h modes. > The MDA by default was in Mode 7. > If it will do mode 3, then it can do Lotus in color, etc. > > Obviously, it doesn't have the RAM to do any "high resolution" modes, . . > . > > > > On Thu, 23 Aug 2018, Eric Schlaepfer wrote: > > > I'm not that lucky! But yes, an early card with the light pen connector > > should work. > > > > The card I used for the demo is a somewhat later revision. I added rework > > wires to match the schematic in the technical reference manual of the > > earlier revision. > > > > With either an early MDA card or a modded card, if you fire up DOS 5.0 > and > > have QBASIC, you'll find that the COLOR statement... just works! It's > quite > > strange. > > > > On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 8:24 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> > > wrote: > > > >> On Thu, 23 Aug 2018, Ali via cctalk wrote: > >>> Which revision MDA is this? I have an original NEC Multisync and I have > >>> a tone of MDA cards including one in one the first 5000 IBM 5150s > >>> produced. I would love to get color out of it just for the sake of > doing > >>> it. Do you still have your demo programs? > >> > >> Do any of yours have the 6 pin Berg connector near the top of the > mounting > >> plate? Some did. On CGA, that connector is for light pen. > >> Supposedly some early MDAs had pins 3,4,5 connected (not connected in > >> later ones). That MIGHT be the same ones as have the light-pen? > >> connector. > >> > >> https://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/mda.html#cmda > >> > >> http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/5150/early/5150_early.htm >
Re: The near-mythical IBM color MDA
I'm not that lucky! But yes, an early card with the light pen connector should work. The card I used for the demo is a somewhat later revision. I added rework wires to match the schematic in the technical reference manual of the earlier revision. With either an early MDA card or a modded card, if you fire up DOS 5.0 and have QBASIC, you'll find that the COLOR statement... just works! It's quite strange. On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 8:24 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > On Thu, 23 Aug 2018, Ali via cctalk wrote: > > Which revision MDA is this? I have an original NEC Multisync and I have > > a tone of MDA cards including one in one the first 5000 IBM 5150s > > produced. I would love to get color out of it just for the sake of doing > > it. Do you still have your demo programs? > > Do any of yours have the 6 pin Berg connector near the top of the mounting > plate? Some did. On CGA, that connector is for light pen. > Supposedly some early MDAs had pins 3,4,5 connected (not connected in > later ones). That MIGHT be the same ones as have the light-pen? > connector. > > https://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/mda.html#cmda > > http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/5150/early/5150_early.htm >
The near-mythical IBM color MDA
The NEC Multisync monitor thread reminded me that I used one to produce a video, and I thought a few of you might enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TiHFWH4NWk
Re: NEC Multisync monitor manual
The model number is JC-1401 if that helps. On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 6:08 PM Charles Dickman via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > I am looking for a manual for the original NEC Multisync monitor. > > Google fails me because of all the follow on monitors had Multisync in the > name. > > -chuck >
Prototype IBM DemiDiskette drive
Yesterday I dug out my prototype IBM DemiDiskette drive and took some photos: https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1032066215647166464. It caused a bit of interest on Twitter so I figured some of you here may also like seeing it. I don't really know a whole lot about it other than what my grandfather told me (he worked on the team that developed it). Dates on the remaining paperwork go from December 1979 through August 1980. It was supposed to be a very low cost drive for the microcomputer market (target price IIRC was <$100). Although it was originally developed by a team working at IBM Austin, it was handed off to a different team apparently working out of Rochester. The disk capacity was not very large--I don't remember the exact number but it was probably around 100K or less. A few interesting observations: * The stepper motor uses a spiral cam to convert rotation into linear motion to drive the head. * It is a single-sided drive. * A microswitch senses the presence of the disk instead of an optical pair. * There is no write protect notch or sensor. * There is no index sensor. * The spindle drive motor is a DC brushed motor with an encoder wheel for speed control. * Not shown in the pics, but the plastic "spot welds" holding the vinyl jackets on the disks are intentionally widely spaced making the cookie easier to remove for analysis. It's not really something you get to see every day, that's for sure... --Eric
Re: PTAP2DXF - make paper tapes without a punch
This is awesome! I've had an idea on the back burner that would require some fairly custom plastic punched tape. I was thinking of using a laser engraver but this would be a lot better -- no scorched edges. On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 5:51 AM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > If you have a paper tape reader and no punch, you can now make real > working paper tapes using a normal home stencil-cutting machine. > I've written a small command line utility that can take a .PTAP (or any > other binary or textfile) and generate output that these > machines will cut. that your reader will read. > > It can easily make repair pieces for existing old broken tapes from any > byte offset. In addition it can make banner tapes, 5-level > Baudot RTTY tape, your own custom n-level paper tape or cut tapes from > other materials such as plastic. > Even if you don't need it to make or repair tapes, it can be used to > visualise a paper tape through the console output it produces. > > I'd never claim it's any sort of replacement for a real punch, and it's a > whole lot slower. But, it does work :) > > A simple example to make a tape of the characters ABCDEF with 1/2 inch of > sprocket leader and 1/2 inch of trailer: > > C:\> ptap2dxf --text="ABCDEF" --leader=5 --trailer=5 --output=ABCDEF.dxf > +-+ > | . | > | . | > | . | > | . | > | . | > | O . O| > | O . O | > | O . OO| > | O .O | > | O .O O| > | O .OO | > | . | > | . | > | . | > | . | > | . | > +-+ > Joiner : data byte absolute position 0011 > > The resulting ABCDEF.dxf file can be viewed in a DXF viewer such as > Inkscape and directly loaded into the paper/vinyl cutter for producing > the actual working tape. > > > Another example: say you need a repair piece for an absolute loader, > starting at byte 57 for 12 bytes. (A repair piece has removeable side > tabs for handling as a self-adhesive vinyl joiner): > > C:\> ptap2dxf DEC-11-L2PC-PO.ptap --range=57,12 --joiner --ascii --control > +-+ > | O .O O| JOINER % > | . O | JOINER > | . | JOINER > | O . O| JOINER ! > | . OO| JOINER > | .OOO| JOINER > |O. O| JOINER > | O O.O | JOINER , > | . | JOINER > |O.O | JOINER > | OO . OO| JOINER c > | . O| JOINER > +-+ > > The output for machine cutting will be in DEC-11-L2PC-PO.dxf > For larger tapes, the output can be chunked into sections which can be cut > individually. There are other options to invert, mirror, reposition > the sprocket feed and so on. > > If you think you may find it useful, it's fully open source and available > at https://github.com/1944GPW/ptap2dxf > It will run on Windows (pre-built exe provided) and Linux and Mac (follow > building instructions). > The 26-page illustrated User Manual PDF is at https://github.com/1944GPW/ > ptap2dxf/blob/master/Documentation/PTAP2DXF_User_Manual_v1.0.pdf > > Steve. > > >
Re: WTB: HP-85 16k RAM Module and HPIB Floppy Drive
Check your email. How can you tell if it uses a 600 RPM mechanism or not? On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 3:17 AM, Eric Smith wrote: > Hi Eric, > > It's not urgent, but when you have a chance, could you dump the 9122C > ROM(s) and take high resolution photos of the controller board? > > Since it does HD, I suspect it probably does not use a 600 RPM mechanism. > > Thanks! > > Best regards, > Eric > > > On Nov 15, 2017 17:45, "Eric Schlaepfer via cctalk" > wrote: > >> It'd be interesting to find out how well that PRM-85 works. I've laid out >> a >> board for a rough equivalent but I haven't fabbed it out. It may be >> cheaper >> for me to buy that instead. >> >> I've also got a 9122C but I don't have the mass storage ROM so I can't use >> it with my 85. Right now I'm using it with my 9000 series 300. >> >> On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 8:26 PM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk < >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> > >> > >> > > On Nov 14, 2017, at 20:11, Ed Sharpe via cctalk < >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> >> > wrote: >> > > >> > > wondervifcthec9122 drives,will work on 85? >> > > >> > >> > I think I can guess what you meant to say there... :) >> > >> > I’ve ordered a PRM-85 (a modern reprogrammable ROM drawer replacement) >> > which includes the HP-85B version of the Mass Storage ROM, and the >> Extended >> > Mass Storage ROM. Based on what I have read, I think that should let my >> A >> > model use the newer 9122C drive, and other drives using either the >> Amigo or >> > SS-80 protocols. >> > >> > I’d like to get the 9122C mostly because I have a much easier time >> finding >> > 1.44M media than the older double density media. eBay and I don’t talk, >> so >> > that limits my options a bit. If I had easy access to lots of 3.5” DD >> > media, then I would consider getting one of the more plentiful (?) other >> > 3.5” HPIB floppy drives. >> > >> >
Re: WTB: HP-85 16k RAM Module and HPIB Floppy Drive
Yep, I've been meaning to do that for a while. On Nov 16, 2017 3:17 AM, "Eric Smith" wrote: > Hi Eric, > > It's not urgent, but when you have a chance, could you dump the 9122C > ROM(s) and take high resolution photos of the controller board? > > Since it does HD, I suspect it probably does not use a 600 RPM mechanism. > > Thanks! > > Best regards, > Eric > > > On Nov 15, 2017 17:45, "Eric Schlaepfer via cctalk" > wrote: > >> It'd be interesting to find out how well that PRM-85 works. I've laid out >> a >> board for a rough equivalent but I haven't fabbed it out. It may be >> cheaper >> for me to buy that instead. >> >> I've also got a 9122C but I don't have the mass storage ROM so I can't use >> it with my 85. Right now I'm using it with my 9000 series 300. >> >> On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 8:26 PM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk < >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> > >> > >> > > On Nov 14, 2017, at 20:11, Ed Sharpe via cctalk < >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> >> > wrote: >> > > >> > > wondervifcthec9122 drives,will work on 85? >> > > >> > >> > I think I can guess what you meant to say there... :) >> > >> > I’ve ordered a PRM-85 (a modern reprogrammable ROM drawer replacement) >> > which includes the HP-85B version of the Mass Storage ROM, and the >> Extended >> > Mass Storage ROM. Based on what I have read, I think that should let my >> A >> > model use the newer 9122C drive, and other drives using either the >> Amigo or >> > SS-80 protocols. >> > >> > I’d like to get the 9122C mostly because I have a much easier time >> finding >> > 1.44M media than the older double density media. eBay and I don’t talk, >> so >> > that limits my options a bit. If I had easy access to lots of 3.5” DD >> > media, then I would consider getting one of the more plentiful (?) other >> > 3.5” HPIB floppy drives. >> > >> >
Re: WTB: HP-85 16k RAM Module and HPIB Floppy Drive
It'd be interesting to find out how well that PRM-85 works. I've laid out a board for a rough equivalent but I haven't fabbed it out. It may be cheaper for me to buy that instead. I've also got a 9122C but I don't have the mass storage ROM so I can't use it with my 85. Right now I'm using it with my 9000 series 300. On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 8:26 PM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > > On Nov 14, 2017, at 20:11, Ed Sharpe via cctalk > wrote: > > > > wondervifcthec9122 drives,will work on 85? > > > > I think I can guess what you meant to say there... :) > > I’ve ordered a PRM-85 (a modern reprogrammable ROM drawer replacement) > which includes the HP-85B version of the Mass Storage ROM, and the Extended > Mass Storage ROM. Based on what I have read, I think that should let my A > model use the newer 9122C drive, and other drives using either the Amigo or > SS-80 protocols. > > I’d like to get the 9122C mostly because I have a much easier time finding > 1.44M media than the older double density media. eBay and I don’t talk, so > that limits my options a bit. If I had easy access to lots of 3.5” DD > media, then I would consider getting one of the more plentiful (?) other > 3.5” HPIB floppy drives. >
