RE: testing
Re: "ACK", Love this place 😃 Not sure what coughed on the mailing list server, reboot fixed it oddly. Thanks DaveM for poking me about it! J -Original Message- From: William Sudbrink Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:29 PM To: jw...@classiccmp.org; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' Subject: RE: testing ACK -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of jwest--- via cctalk Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 5:29 PM To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' Subject: testing Test test -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
DEC H500 Digital Computer Lab
As there is no real cctalk traffic other than test messages I thought I post something a bit more interesting. Here is a short video of my fully restored DEC H500 Computer Lab with an 8-bit counter implementation including reset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57xU3Xqnqx4 Enjoy Tom Hunter P.S. Is there some problem with the mailing list? The few "non-test" messages I get are often out of context.
Re: testing
Works ok now. Was silent for a few days. > On 11 Mar 2022, at 13:59, jwest--- via cctalk wrote: > > Re: "ACK", Love this place 😃 > > Not sure what coughed on the mailing list server, reboot fixed it oddly. > Thanks DaveM for poking me about it! > > J > > -Original Message- > From: William Sudbrink > Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:29 PM > To: jw...@classiccmp.org; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > > Subject: RE: testing > > ACK > > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of jwest--- via > cctalk > Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 5:29 PM > To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > > Subject: testing > > Test test > > > -- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Re: DEC H500 Digital Computer Lab
On 2022-03-11 8:03 a.m., Tom Hunter via cctalk wrote: ... P.S. Is there some problem with the mailing list? The few "non-test" messages I get are often out of context. Open secret -- There's something wrong with every mailing list...
Seeking a MC75325L Dual Memory Driver
I have here in my hands a DEC H222A (16Kx18), part of a MM11-DP, that took a blow at sometime in the past. In consequence there are a number of small parts damaged (snapped diode, crushed axial electrolytic, chipped mica capacitor, cracked/broken SIP resister net) but those all appear to be relatively easy to replace. What's not so easy to replace is the MC75325L Dual Memory Driver (L = Ceramic) that was de-lidded in the process :-<. I am wondering whether anyone has one of these ICs in their spare parts drawer that I could acquire? I do see a MC75325P (plastic) on eBay at littlediode_components for ~20USD, plus a surprisingly modest shipping charge (Royal Mail International). UTSOURCE claims to have a supplier of the ceramic part "new", with a significantly higher shipping charge. Before I go with the ceramic part (IMO not the sort of packaging that gets . remarked) I thought that I would check here for alternative sources. Thank you, paul
Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch
I have the mechanism for a Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch.
It turns out that Surplus Sales currently has one of these for sale; see
item "(EQP) P135-20/35".
It is accompanied by a three-page snippet of a much longer manual for this
punch.
See: https://www.surplussales.com/equipment/pdf/eqp-p135-20-35.pdf
That's the only documentation that I've been able to find :-{.
I'd very much like to find/acquire the remainder of this manual, or other
relevant documentation. Can anyone help me?
Thank you,
paul
Re: Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch
did u try talking to that outfit to see if they got more documents with it?
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 9:08 AM Paul Birkel via cctech <
cct...@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> I have the mechanism for a Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch.
>
> It turns out that Surplus Sales currently has one of these for sale; see
> item "(EQP) P135-20/35".
>
> It is accompanied by a three-page snippet of a much longer manual for this
> punch.
>
>
>
> See: https://www.surplussales.com/equipment/pdf/eqp-p135-20-35.pdf
>
>
>
> That's the only documentation that I've been able to find :-{.
>
>
>
> I'd very much like to find/acquire the remainder of this manual, or other
> relevant documentation. Can anyone help me?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> paul
>
>
Re: DEC H500 Digital Computer Lab
check ur spam box and mark not as spam when you find stuff that shouldnt be in the spam box On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 7:03 AM Tom Hunter via cctalk wrote: > As there is no real cctalk traffic other than test messages I thought I > post something a bit more interesting. Here is a short video of my fully > restored DEC H500 Computer Lab with an 8-bit counter implementation > including reset: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57xU3Xqnqx4 > > Enjoy > Tom Hunter > > P.S. Is there some problem with the mailing list? The few "non-test" > messages I get are often out of context. >
Re: DEC H500 Digital Computer Lab
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 8:03 AM Tom Hunter via cctalk wrote: > As there is no real cctalk traffic other than test messages I thought I > post something a bit more interesting. Here is a short video of my fully > restored DEC H500 Computer Lab with an 8-bit counter implementation > including reset: Hi, Tom, Great post and timely. I recently got leads for my H-500 but I didn't get exactly "one set". I know I didn't get any of the longest wires but I also got a couple extra, I think, brown ones for the tips. I read through the handbooks and the closest thing I found was page 173 in the Workbook that mentions "Bundle of Taper-Pin Patchcords (107 of Assorted Lengths), Model Number 916, $30). Could you post how many of each color you have? It's possible, of course, that you don't have exactly "one set" either, but if you happen to have 107 wires, that's a good indication, especially if your tally matches mine anywhere. Here's what I have: 22 BRN ~ 3" ( 2-7/8") 30 RED ~ 5" ( 4-7/8") 25 ORN ~ 7" ( 6-7/8") 20 YEL ~ 9" ( 8-7/8") 10 GRN ~17" (16-7/8") 0 BLU - 107 -ethan
RE: Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch
Yes indeed. No response whatsoever :-<. Not even a receipt acknowledgement.
From: Adrian Stoness
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2022 10:21 AM
To: pbir...@gmail.com; General Discussion: On-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch
did u try talking to that outfit to see if they got more documents with it?
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 9:08 AM Paul Birkel via cctech mailto:cct...@classiccmp.org> > wrote:
I have the mechanism for a Digitronics P135-20 Paper Tape Punch.
It turns out that Surplus Sales currently has one of these for sale; see
item "(EQP) P135-20/35".
It is accompanied by a three-page snippet of a much longer manual for this
punch.
See: https://www.surplussales.com/equipment/pdf/eqp-p135-20-35.pdf
That's the only documentation that I've been able to find :-{.
I'd very much like to find/acquire the remainder of this manual, or other
relevant documentation. Can anyone help me?
Thank you,
paul
Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
Dear Classic Computers Members,I am looking for someone who had an operating floppy disk drive that can read old 5-1/4" floppy disks from the 1980s.I may also need someone to read hard, 3" floppies. The disks can be mailed and the info can be saved as text and sent via email or to the Cloud.I would need a price estimate, as well. I live in Virginia.Thank you in advance.Terry Joseph
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
I use a greaseweazle to read and format DEC RX01/RX02 8" diskettes. It supports all sizes and formats. https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle https://decromancer.ooo/greaseweazle/ https://retrocmp.de/hardware/greaseweazle/greaseweazle.htm https://www.tindie.com/search/?q=greastweazle On 3/11/2022 11:28 AM, Terry Cox-Joseph via cctalk wrote: Dear Classic Computers Members,I am looking for someone who had an operating floppy disk drive that can read old 5-1/4" floppy disks from the 1980s.I may also need someone to read hard, 3" floppies. The disks can be mailed and the info can be saved as text and sent via email or to the Cloud.I would need a price estimate, as well. I live in Virginia.Thank you in advance.Terry Joseph
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
Terry, If you're willing to travel to Kennett Square, PA we have a diskette archiving station set up for use here. Contact me privately if interested. Bill Degnan CONTACT---> https://www.kennettclassic.com/contact.cfm On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 12:41 PM Terry Cox-Joseph via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Dear Classic Computers Members,I am looking for someone who had an > operating floppy disk drive that can read old 5-1/4" floppy disks from the > 1980s.I may also need someone to read hard, 3" floppies. The disks can be > mailed and the info can be saved as text and sent via email or to the > Cloud.I would need a price estimate, as well. I live in Virginia.Thank you > in advance.Terry Joseph >
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Terry Cox-Joseph via cctalk wrote:
Dear Classic Computers Members,I am looking for someone who had an
operating floppy disk drive that can read old 5-1/4" floppy disks from
the 1980s.I may also need someone to read hard, 3" floppies. The disks
can be mailed and the info can be saved as text and sent via email or to
the Cloud.I would need a price estimate, as well. I live in
Virginia.
Thank you in advance.
Terry Joseph
You might want to include a little more information.
1) Are you trying to make machine readable images that are only for
storage and later duplication?
OR, do you want to be able to get use of the content of the FILES on them?
Your mention of "sent as text" implies that they are word processing
files, but 1980s word processors stored their text in files that are
incomprehensible to "modern" word processors. Current Microsoft Office
can no longer handle Wordstar, Electric Pencil, Scripsit, or WordPervert
files (or many hundreds of others).
2) Which of the [thousands] of disk formats are they?
You should clarify those two questions before you send the disks to
somebody who can't help you do what YOU want.
In the 1980s, there were several different formats of floppy disks.
Some estimates are as high as 2500 mutually incompatible formats of floppy
disks, most of which were 5.25".
IF those are floppy disks from a PC, then there are two common formats
("360k" and "1.2M"), out of six formats used by IBM, and a PC with a
"1.2M" drive can easily read five of those. With some special extra
software, it can also read the sixth one (IBM PCJX).
Hundreds of the non-PC 5.25" formats can be read on a PC with special
extra software.
There are some, such as Apple, NorthStar, Vector Graphic, Victor, Sirius,
that require special extra hardware AND software to read on a PC.
3" floppies were used by the Amstrad, in double sided, single sided, or
"flippy" formats. The second side of the "flippy" disks can be read by
flipping it over in a single sided 3" drive, but will require special
hardware or software to get at if you only have the double sided 3" drive.
3" floppies were also used by Amdek, the most popular being [mutually
incompatible] Apple and Coco.
But, you are PROBABLY thinking about 3.5" floppies, rather than 3".
In which case, the PC used "720K" and "1.4M" (usually erroneously called
"1.44M", which was NOT the correct capacity for any rational meaning of
MegaByte)
Apple used "400K"/"800K" (single and double sided), and "1.4M".
Reading the Apple "1.4M" can be easily done on a PC with special extra
software.
Reading the Apple "400K"/"800K" on a PC requires special extra hardware
AND special extra software.
Other than those most common ones, there are at least a hundred other
3.5" formats that will require special extra software, and a rare few,
such as the Tandy portable drive for model 100/200, etc. that require
special extra hardware.
Sorry, right now, I do not have convenient access to any of the hardware.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: Seeking a MC75325L Dual Memory Driver
On 3/11/22 07:01, Paul Birkel via cctech wrote: .snip. UTSOURCE claims to have a supplier of the ceramic part "new", with a significantly higher shipping charge. For what it's worth, I've ordered several times from UTSOURCE and the results have been perfect. So far, I obtained a number of the Harris 'pdp8' chips D1-6120-9 and 6402 uarts plus Harris's weird baud-rate generator and 6121 'port' decoder. All have been quickly delivered and were 100% tested by me only receipt and they all met operational specs within specified voltage ranges. Surprised about shopping charges, though. I'm in the US and the shipping charges were quite 'nominal'. Less than $5 on a 25 chip order of about $150. They are so far, "good guys" in my book. -Gary Before I go with the ceramic part (IMO not the sort of packaging that gets . remarked) I thought that I would check here for alternative sources. Thank you, paul -- -Gary
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
I could do it, but I'm a little squeezed for time and energy right now. Spending my mornings under the LINAC. --Chuck
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: I could do it, but I'm a little squeezed for time and energy right now. Spending my mornings under the LINAC. Yikes! The word "under" means that you are not doing atomic physics experiments. Very sorry to hear it. I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can help him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands that he might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the file content into something usable. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On 3/11/22 20:39, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: I could do it, but I'm a little squeezed for time and energy right now. Spending my mornings under the LINAC. Yikes! The word "under" means that you are not doing atomic physics experiments. Very sorry to hear it. I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can help him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands that he might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the file content into something usable. It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? bill
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can help him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands that he might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the file content into something usable. On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote: It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? 5.25" USB floppies seem to be scarce now! I didn't do any serious searching, but neither Amazon nor eBay showed any obvious (on first page) hits. Some of the early USB drives, even if 3.5", MIGHT separate controller and drive enough to be modifiable, . . . I would GUESS that the "modern" ones are too "integrated". -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 7:25 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > >> I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently > >> "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file > >> contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can > help > >> him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands that > he > >> might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the file content > into > >> something usable. > > On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote: > > It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just > > tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? > > 5.25" USB floppies seem to be scarce now! > I didn't do any serious searching, but neither Amazon nor eBay showed any > obvious (on first page) hits. > > Some of the early USB drives, even if 3.5", MIGHT separate controller and > drive enough to be modifiable, . . . > I would GUESS that the "modern" ones are too "integrated". > There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are values in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs a 1.44MB floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. I've looked and gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + TEAC drive (though a greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... If these are the old 360k diskettes, then you'd be out of luck the USB route.. But an imager would be on the order of $30 for the greaseweasel, or similar, and another $40 for a working 5.25" drive and a few hours of your time to set it up and figure it all out... So anybody copying the disks for < ~$100 or $150 would be cost effective for this person... The harder part is converting XYWRITE files into something more mordern... Warner
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On 3/11/22 18:32, Warner Losh via cctalk wrote: > There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are > values in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs > a 1.44MB floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. > I've looked and gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + > TEAC drive (though a greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... > Not completely true--in the old USB 1.0 days, there were a very few USB-to-floppy bridges that could talk 5.25' 250Kbit/sec-speak. SMC had one such and I suspect that multi-chip implementations were also available. But given that few new people understand anything that's not Windows, it would be a futile effort, I suspect. All the best, Chuck
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On 3/11/22 18:04, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote: > It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just > tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? If he wants, he can send them to me. After all, it's just a few keystrokes for me. However, I don't do this for free. --Chuck
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022, 8:04 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: > On 3/11/22 18:32, Warner Losh via cctalk wrote: > > > There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are > > values in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs > > a 1.44MB floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. > > I've looked and gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + > > TEAC drive (though a greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... > > > > Not completely true--in the old USB 1.0 days, there were a very few > USB-to-floppy bridges that could talk 5.25' 250Kbit/sec-speak. SMC had > one such and I suspect that multi-chip implementations were also available > Yea, that's why I said almost. The standard interface just allows an LBA and only certain fixed formats are defined that are very high level. This isn't conducive to different formats, data rates, etc. Unless there are nonstandard endpoints, all you can read is the 1.2MB diskettes... I spent a lot of time making this work with the 1.44mb 3.5" drive on FreeBSD. It can't even read 720k diskettes, at least the drive I had... But given that few new people understand anything that's not Windows, it > would be a futile effort, I suspect. > True. It's likely easier to use an imager and TEAC if they are 360k diskettes... or pay someone :) Warner All the best, > Chuck >
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can help him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands that he might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the file content into something usable. It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 7:25 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: 5.25" USB floppies seem to be scarce now! I didn't do any serious searching, but neither Amazon nor eBay showed any obvious (on first page) hits. Some of the early USB drives, even if 3.5", MIGHT separate controller and drive enough to be modifiable, . . . I would GUESS that the "modern" ones are too "integrated". On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Warner Losh wrote: There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are values in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs a 1.44MB floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. I've looked and gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + TEAC drive (though a greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... If these are the old 360k diskettes, then you'd be out of luck the USB route.. But an imager would be on the order of $30 for the greaseweasel, or similar, and another $40 for a working 5.25" drive and a few hours of your time to set it up and figure it all out... So anybody copying the disks for < ~$100 or $150 would be cost effective for this person... If somebody DID make a 1.2M USB floppy, it would seem likely that they OUGHT TO include the 360K option within it, . . . But, if 1.2M USB drives exist, or ever existed, they're R@RE I HOPE that the USB 1.4M drives handle 720K, . . . The harder part is converting XYWRITE files into something more mordern... In his further detail private message, He seemd to understand that he might have to get a replacement copy of XYWRITE (he said that he gave his to Goodwill a few months ago), and do a load and SAVE-AS for each file. Yes, it was always fun trying to explain to people that COPYing the Wordstar file was NOT the cause of the "corruption of the last letter of each word". Fortunately, THAT one was trivial to deal with. I don't know anything about the file structure of XYWRITE. [This reply was delayed by a power failure] -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On Fri, Mar 11, 2022, 8:34 PM Fred Cisin wrote: > I got more details from the guy with the disks. They are apparently > "360K" PC floppies with XYWRITE files, and he wants to load the file > contents into a "modern"? word processor. So hopefully, somebody can > help him, with a simple COPY *.*, and I think that he now understands > that he might also need to get back a copy of XYWRITE to turn the > file content into something usable. > > >>> It was mentioned that he would pay someone to do this. Why not just > >>> tell him to buy a $20 USB Floppy from Amazon and copy them himself? > > > On Fri, Mar 11, 2022 at 7:25 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> > > wrote: > >> 5.25" USB floppies seem to be scarce now! > >> I didn't do any serious searching, but neither Amazon nor eBay showed > any > >> obvious (on first page) hits. > >> Some of the early USB drives, even if 3.5", MIGHT separate controller > and > >> drive enough to be modifiable, . . . > >> I would GUESS that the "modern" ones are too "integrated". > > On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Warner Losh wrote: > > There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are values > > in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs a 1.44MB > > floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. I've looked and > > gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + TEAC drive (though a > > greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... > > > > If these are the old 360k diskettes, then you'd be out of luck the USB > > route.. But an imager would be on the order of $30 for the greaseweasel, > > or similar, and another $40 for a working 5.25" drive and a few hours of > > your time to set it up and figure it all out... So anybody copying the > > disks for < ~$100 or $150 would be cost effective for this person... > > If somebody DID make a 1.2M USB floppy, it would seem likely that they > OUGHT TO include the 360K option within it, . . . > It ought to... but that's not defined in the standard... But, if 1.2M USB drives exist, or ever existed, they're R@RE > I HOPE that the USB 1.4M drives handle 720K, . . . > That's what I hoped when I bought it, but no joy. Even trying nonstandard format values was no help. It would only read 1.44MB. Warner > The harder part is converting XYWRITE files into something more mordern... > > In his further detail private message, He seemd to understand that he > might have to get a replacement copy of XYWRITE (he said that he gave his > to Goodwill a few months ago), and do a load and SAVE-AS for each file. > > > Yes, it was always fun trying to explain to people that COPYing the > Wordstar file was NOT the cause of the "corruption of the last letter of > each word". Fortunately, THAT one was trivial to deal with. I don't know > anything about the file structure of XYWRITE. > > > [This reply was delayed by a power failure] > -- > Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com >
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
There are no 5.25" USB floppies. Well, not 100% true (there are values in the identifier strings that tell you it's a 1.2MB floppy vs a 1.44MB floppy), but as a practical matter, you can't find them. I've looked and gave up... That's how I wound up with my kyroflux + TEAC drive (though a greaseweasel is a better choice these days)... If these are the old 360k diskettes, then you'd be out of luck the USB route.. But an imager would be on the order of $30 for the greaseweasel, or similar, and another $40 for a working 5.25" drive and a few hours of your time to set it up and figure it all out... So anybody copying the disks for < ~$100 or $150 would be cost effective for this person... If somebody DID make a 1.2M USB floppy, it would seem likely that they OUGHT TO include the 360K option within it, . . . On Fri, 11 Mar 2022, Warner Losh wrote: It ought to... but that's not defined in the standard... But, if 1.2M USB drives exist, or ever existed, they're R@RE I HOPE that the USB 1.4M drives handle 720K, . . . That's what I hoped when I bought it, but no joy. Even trying nonstandard format values was no help. It would only read 1.44MB. Well, it requires two different data transfer rates, two write durrents if you want to WRITE, enough smarts to recognize what it sees, and software that supports both sets of format parameters. Nevertheless, designing a 1.4M without 720K support or a 1.2M without 360K support would seem to be unclear on the concept. And, a properly designed 1.4M should be even able to handle BOTH PC 1.4M and Mac 1.4M. I'll cut them some slack on not supporting 160K, 180K, 320K, or being able to provide lower level access (INT13H equivalent) for non-PC formats. (Although that is obviously what I would want) There was a time about 30 years ago, . . . a couple different companies took tiny single boards, such as Ampro Little Board, stuck them in a box with a floppy drive, and custom software that included communication through serial port, and marketed them as things such as "MACINTOSH drive for PC, AND OTHER, disks"! -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: Looking for computer and individual to read old floppy disks
On 3/11/22 19:57, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > There was a time about 30 years ago, . . . > a couple different companies took tiny single boards, such as Ampro > Little Board, stuck them in a box with a floppy drive, and custom > software that included communication through serial port, and marketed > them as things such as "MACINTOSH drive for PC, AND OTHER, disks"! I've got a little FAX-to-printer box (passthrough from PC) has a 3.5" floppy integrated and a NEC V40 CPU running the thing. On a lark, I ported CP/M-86 to the thing for yucks (has a serial port for debugging). Let's also not forget the Micro Solutions Backpack drive, which interfaced to a PC printer port and came in both 3.5" and 5.25" flavors. Had a 16KB DRAM buffer, an 8051 MCU and a DP8473 FDC with about 256 bytes of NVRAM for configuration. Using the printer port, you could send controls to the FDC and send and receive data from the buffer RAM. It could even handle 8" single-density floppies, if you had the right cable. We sold a couple hundred of those things modified for Japanese CNC use. --Chuck
Found SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION FOR ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA WARRICK WORKS DATANET -30 REALTIME DATA ACCUMULATOR AND DISTRIBUTOR ... AUG 7 1964
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION FOR ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA WARRICK WORKS DATANET -30 REALTIME DATA ACCUMULATOR AND DISTRIBUTOR ... AUG 7 1964 Sent from the all new AOL app for Android
Found! Ge 115 computer brochure
Found! Ge 115 computer brochure where can I find the computer? Sent from the all new AOL app for Android
