Re: [VideoMagia] Reparando um Vectrex
Not sure how it worked on the Vectrex, but I am familiar with Atari vector arcade games (used to own a Tempest and Asteroids machine). In them, they used a display controller that utilized a display list of coordinates, colors, etc and IIRC it even had the ability to do jumps, etc probably similar in concept to how the CTIA/GTIA would work on the Atari home computers with their display lists. Certainly a lot less data to write than a framebuffer or pattern-generated display. In the case of the Asteroids game, it's resolution was around 1024x800ish, pretty high res for the day. I can imagine that they employed a similar vector generator on the Vectrex. On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 1:47 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 03/24/2017 08:34 AM, Alexandre Souza via cctalk wrote: > > Well...there is some description in english, google translate is a > > very useful tool and the post has a pertinent video. I cannot view it > > as spam. Anyway...sorry for bothering :) > > I rather enjoyed the Vectrex story--and yes, Google translate works > pretty well. > > I remember when the Vectrex came out--and I wondered how well an MPU of > the day could keep up with drawing relatively complex game displays, > since, unlike a raster display, the vector display has to be > continuously regenerated. It clearly worked. > > Thanks for the narrative, > Chuck > >
Re: Intellivision reset switch
On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 10:16 AM, Richard Sheppard via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > May depend on the model, but mine has a spring under the plastic reset > button in the top of the case and one of those metal domed tactile switches > on the PCB. > This matches my recollection of the system I had. The type of metal domed switch made famous by the Atari 2600 joysticks.
Re: Beautifully-posed photos of various kinds of retro kit
Looks great! On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 6:52 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > From the Apple ][ up to PowerMac G4s. So, possibly a bit new for many > of you folk, but I enjoyed them and thought others might too. > > http://podstawczynski.com/retro/beauty_shots.html > > -- > Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven > Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com > Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven > UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053 >
Re: determing date on TI 99/4 computers.
Depends on if you're talking about the 99/4 or 99/4A. The 99/4 was black and silver and had a chiclet style keyboard and is rare. The 4A had a black and silver finish first, and then later switched to beige I imagine in an effort to curb costs since they were being undercut pretty badly by Commodore. There's a pretty good article about TI's home computers that I've been trying to find that lays out a pretty convincing argument for why the 4A was not successful in the market despite early success. Basically a costly recall of the power supplies wiped out a lot of their profits, and the system was too expensive due to the insistence of using as much in-house parts as possible even when there were much cheaper components available in the wider market, for example the CPU (Z80 or 6502). On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 1:00 AM, Ed via cctalk wrote: > There is a white or beige one > > then there is the black and chrome one? > > which first? and dates please? > > This is unfamiliar territory for me. > but need to pay homage to these > in a museum display here. > > looking for good hi res scans of > adv. material etc. for display?? > > thanks ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) >
Re: determing date on TI 99/4 computers.
On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 10:45 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 6 September 2017 at 16:55, Geoffrey Oltmans via cctalk > wrote: > > > There's a pretty good article about TI's home computers that I've been > > trying to find that lays out a pretty convincing argument for why the 4A > > was not successful in the market despite early success. > > https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/heroic-failures/ > the-texas-instruments-994-worlds-first-16bit-computer > > ...? > That's a good article, but not the one I remember. The one I remember was about three pages long and mentioned the AC adapter recall in particular.
Re: Tips For Soldering a Surface Mount PLCC Socket
The way a lady at my work did them was to crack out the bottom piece of the socket to give better access to the pins. She didn't typically put the bottom piece back in since we used the PLCC socket to plug into an emulator pod so there was no need for it (shoulder around the POD connector wouldn't allow it to fit too deeply into the socket. I suppose if you just dropped the bottom of the socket back in place before plugging in the chip that would probably be sufficient. On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 1:23 PM, shad via cctalk wrote: > Hello, > in my experience SMD components doesn't need a presoldering operation at > all, because pins are already stained or golded, thus very solderable. > Plus the extra heat could let the pin move inside the plastic, or add > somehow excessive thickness when positioned on the PCB. > In my experience the best option is to clean well the PCB with a > desoldering wick, then add some flux and touch the pads with a thin > soldering iron and some AgPb wire, to dilute the no-Pb alloy on the pads, > which is harder to melt than Pb alloy. > Thanks to flux, surface tension will be low and Agpb alloy will form a thin > layer with no oxide. > Now position the new component, it should seat well in position, without > excessive height over the PCB. > Now with thin iron, heat two opposite pins letting the alloy to melt, and > the component will be held in place. > Now proceed in order with all pins. > > Note: use lower temperatures (<380C, less is better), good quality flux and > AgPb are required for comfortable operation with low risk of damage. > > Andrea >
Re: RIP Jerry Pournelle - Firsts
Wow... that really doesn't make him look good at all! On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 11:47 PM, Eric Smith via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 7:43 PM, Charles Dickman via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 1:15 PM, Shoppa, Tim via cctalk > > wrote: > > > He seems to have been the first to mention ARPANET in a popular > > hobbyist-type context like BYTE. (Leading him to get kicked off ARPANET!) > > > > Yes I remember reading something like that too. I would like to know > > the story of that. > > > > http://www.stormtiger.org/bob/humor/pournell/story.html >
Re: RIP Jerry Pournelle - Firsts
On Fri, Sep 15, 2017 at 12:50 PM, Jim Brain via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 9/15/2017 10:49 AM, Geoffrey Oltmans via cctalk wrote: > >> Wow... that really doesn't make him look good at all! >> >> >>> It does not surprise me. Not that I knew the man, but it seems in > general, our heroes are more blemished and our villains more redeemable > than we want to remember or admit. > > On a more practical note. If I were a writer, had an audience, and > managed to snag an account on the coolest network around, I'd probably have > flaunted it as well, with the same end. > > I didn't either. He answered a couple of questions or posts on one of the RoundTables on GEnie for me when I was on there ages ago, but that's the only interaction I've had with him. He seemed fairly likable on there as I recall.
Re: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC
On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 11:16 AM, allison via cctalk wrote: > >> > IDE disks format usually meant high level only. SCSI could be either > depnding on the specific controller and media. > > Seems like the omission of low level formatting of IDE drives had more to do with preserving the servo track data, (and maybe aforementioned firmware/bad sector data) yes? Were any earlier MFM/RLL voice coil/servo controlled, or were they all stepper drives?
Reviving ancient MFM drives (was Re: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC)
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:17 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > On 9/28/17 7:38 AM, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote: > > > What is it that usually fails when the drive can't read the servo info? > The data on the platter, or? > > I've never dug that far into it beyond fiddling with Micropolis trying to > mechanically get it to > find the servo tracks and calibrate to track 0. > > One of the problems is schematics and documentation on the servo systems > are extremely difficult > to get. The little that is on bitsavers is all I've come up with in 25 > years of searching and there > is practically nothing useful elsewhere on the web about fixing servos in > old 5" disks. > > It could be heads, media, positioners, component aging in the analog > section, etc etc.. > > > > Speaking of I've got a couple of old MFM drives (10 and 20 MB of a variety whose name and model #'s escape me, I wanna say Tandon, but not sure). They seem to work fine when I initially format and partition, but as they run for a while, they get more and more unreliable. It seems to be a function of how long they've been running for rather than a predictable pattern of bad tracks sectors? Are there any good sources of troubleshooting info at the controller level for these old drives?
Re: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 7:36 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > What I find perplexing is the acronym "SATA" for "Serial ATA". The name > would imply that a drive can be connected to a 5170, but I'm not aware > of any SATA adapters for the 5170 PC/AT. > I'm sure you're probably aware that a command set was part of the original ATA and has persistently been enhanced over time. I think that it pays more homage to the command set part of the specification rather than the physical interface.
Re: Reviving ancient MFM drives (was Re: formatting MFM drives on a IBM PC)
On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 3:05 AM, Christian Corti via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Thu, 28 Sep 2017, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: > >> Speaking of I've got a couple of old MFM drives (10 and 20 MB of a >> variety whose name and model #'s escape me, I wanna say Tandon, but not >> sure). They seem to work fine when I initially format and partition, but >> as >> they run for a while, they get more and more unreliable. It seems to be a >> function of how long they've been running for rather than a predictable >> pattern of bad tracks sectors? Are there any good sources of >> troubleshooting info at the controller level for these old drives? >> > > Well, that's normal. The usual procedure is to let the drive warm up for > 10-20 minutes before formatting. And it is also normal for some models that > they must be reformatted after, say, a couple of months or years, depending > on make and manufacturer. The Rhodime 50MB drive in my IBM 8550 is such a > beast. My procedure is to run Norton CALIBRAT to reformat the drive > losslessly. > > > Good idea. I'll give that a shot.
Re: The origin of SCSI [WAS:RE: The origin of the phrases ATA and IDE ]
On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 1:50 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > You could well be right--I do recall that there was "Mac SCSI" and then > the slightly different "Everyone else's SCSI". I ran into this when > talking with some SMS/OMTI engineers about an ST506-to-SCSI bridge board > that I have. Their reaction was "Oh, that's Mac SCSI--you want real SCSI". > > Supposedly the Mac Plus SCSI implementation is slightly broken/non-standard (or at least draft standard), either in its drivers or the SCSI controller chip, so maybe that's what they were referring to.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire (TV series)
I felt like Cardiff also had a resemblance to Tandy/Radio Shack as well, since they were in the electronics business before getting into computers. On Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 3:24 PM, tom sparks via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > I have just finished watching [Halt and Catch Fire]( > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series)) > I've tried to Identify the companies the show represents > > early 1980-1985 (Season 1): > > * Cardiff Electric = [Compaq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq) > Joe MacMillan, Gordon Clark, Cameron Howe > > 1985-1989 (Season 2-3): > > * Muntiy = [PlayNET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayNET) / [Quantum > Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link) / [Habitat]( > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)) > Cameron Howe ( founder ), Donna Clark > * MacMillan = [McAfee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAfee) > Joe MacMillan ( founder ) > * Unknown? = [NSFNET Regional networks](https://en.wikipedia > .org/wiki/National_Science_Foundation_Network#Regional_networks) > Joe MacMillan ( founder ) > * Gordon Clark computers = [Dell](https://en.wikipedia.or > g/wiki/History_of_Dell) > Gordon Clark ( founder ) > > 1990 -1995 (Season 4): > > * Comet = [Yahoo! Directory?](https://en.wikiped > ia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Directory) > Gordon Clark ( founder ), Joe MacMillan > * Rover = [AltaVista?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltaVista) > Donna Clark ( intervestor ) > > > Issues I had was: > > * Hollywood hacking: [packet sniffer](https://en.wikipedia. > org/wiki/Packet_analyzer) = bloodhound > * Amiga computer: poor portrayal, looked like a DOS computer > >
Re: Visicalc Addendum
On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 9:00 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 18 October 2017 at 01:33, Fred Cisin via cctalk > wrote: > > "Entry in my journal: First complete VisiCalc in a package was October > 19, > > 1979. I received a copy the next day as I recall." > > > > http://www.bricklin.com/history/saiproduct1.htm > > > > So, Murray gave us a few extra days to prepare for the party. > > > > > > BTW, "conception of the idea" is what is commemorated at Harvard! > > SHIPMENT is a more objective measure, but vaporware is a tradition. > > Hey, good discovery! > > I'm glad to see that once again we have validated that all innovation in the computer revolution happened in Silicon Valley.
Re: Visicalc Addendum
On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 11:51 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > ?? > VisiCalc was written and developed in Massachusetts. 3 thousand miles > from Silicon Valley. > > Right. That was sarcasm on my part, since we have been repeatedly told by armchair historians that we have Silicon Valley alone to thank for the state of computing today. ;)
Re: Visicalc Addendum
On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 1:09 PM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Is that like the notion that we have Stallman to thank for Open Source > software? > > > Exactly.
Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 61, Issue 27
> -- Forwarded message -- > From: "Ethan O'Toole" > To: Murray McCullough , "General > Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 11:11:49 -0400 (EDT) > Subject: Re: Coleco & Atari > > old? 1983. Coleco ADAM, my favourite, and Atari 600XL, not so much. I > still > > have my ADAM. No not why. But isn’t this why we all belong to > classiccomp. And > > $600. How quaint! BTW(sorry), it had an update on CP/M called CP/M Plus. > > Gosh, I miss those old days. > > Oh man, the Atari 8bit is second to the Adam? IIRC the 800XL and Floppy > Drive cost less than the Coleco Adam kit. You didn't get a daisy wheel > printer, but you got better sound and a much larger library. > > I grew up on the ColecoVision, neighbor had the Atari 5200. I used to say > the ColecoVision was better when younger but now I have to say I think the > Atari 5200 is better. > > Have yet to own an Adam, but I always thought of the Adam as something of > a failure? There was a large number of them that shipped DOA or close to > DOA as well due to power supply issue (in the printer) ? > > > The ADAM was a well-designed system with a great set of launch software hobbled by a rollout/gamble for the Christmas buying season that didn't pay off. If they had a proper release to work out the manufacturing issues they would have been a lot more successful I think. Nevertheless, any system in the wild you come across should work just as well as any other vintage machine by this time. It's my favorite machine pre-Amiga/ST/IIgs/Mac.
Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"
On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 12:58 PM, william degnan via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Did anyone attend VCF South East this past year, there was a large table > run by a keyboard vendor. Just keyboards, laid out like tusks from poached > elephants. > Lol! I love it.
Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"
On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 11:35 AM, Guy Sotomayor via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > …are the bane of my existence and should all rot in hell. > > Sorry, I just received an email from a “keyboard enthusiast” who was > looking for > various IBM 327x keyboards and wanted to know if I could help him and I > needed > to vent a little. > > I sent him a polite “no way in hell” response but I’m still angry about > it. These > terminals are hard enough to find. And more often than not, the keyboard > is > missing because some “enthusiast” thought it would be cool to convert it > to a PC > keyboard. ARG! And of course the keyboards that they want are the > “typewriter” > keyboards (all of my 3278 terminals have the “data entry keyboard”). > > In their defense (and yes, I think they are awful no good people), I guess you can't fault them too much since up until fairly recently a quality mechanical keyboard was either too expensive or practically impossible to source for a modern computer, what with the obsession with flat square keycaps with next to no travel, etc. At least now we are starting to get some decent lower cost options in the marketplace as new. Maybe these new keyboards will dissuade people from destroying rare artifacts.
Re: Re: Keyboard "enthusiasts"
On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 2:31 AM, Ed Sharpe via cctalk wrote: > ah do they don't just collect just loose keyboards they 'snatch' > keyboards leaving the rest of the carcus to of the terminal to rot?? > > > > I suspect that the problem may be two-sided. Could be there are a fair number of people that stash an old computer and toss the keyboards thinking they can just use some off the shelf one later.
Re: An NTSC Atari looks good on a PAL TV. How come?
On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 2:06 AM, Terry Stewart via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi, > > The PAL vrs NTSC TV standard complicated things when collecting home > computers from other countries. > > In New Zealand we are on PAL. PAL Atari 800s are rarer in the world that > NTSC ones. That being the case I recently settled on an NTSC one for my > collection. Hooking it up to a couple of my PAL TVs (via composite video) > I was surprised to see a reasonable colour image. I then dropped in a UAV > video enhancement board and was surprised to see a very good colour image! > > I'm assuming it's because composite input into "relatively" modern can > handle NTSC and PAL? Is this a reasonable thought? The UAV is not an NTSC > converter, and even the inventor was surprised this worked. > > Those interested can read about the adventure here: > https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2018-03-06- > Converting%20-NTSC-Atari-800-for-PAL-using-UAV.htm > > > As others have said there are many sets on the market today that can do either/or because supporting one vs the other is a "gimme". However, one thing you may run into with PAL vs NTSC is that many games depended on the video refresh timing of 50 or 60 Hz to work correctly and were hardcoded to work with one or the other instead of determining the correct timing at runtime. This can cause incompatibility problems with some software. Another issue with other systems with more display memory (i.e. Atari ST or Amiga) is that the PAL screen resolution tended to be a few lines higher which can crop the image off at the bottom when running software designed for PAL in NTSC mode. The timing problem is a real issue with a lot of C-64 software that you run across since a lot of it on the 'net assumes PAL, so I ended up converting my Commodore 128D to a PAL system with a PAL VIC-II chip and the various load option changes (oscillator, etc). Problem I have now is that I'd rather use a CRT monitor, and most all that were sold in North America can do only NTSC, so I'm stuck with black and white.
Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...
On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 1:39 PM, Toby Thain via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 2018-03-28 1:51 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: > > On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk > > wrote: > >> The rock has been lifted (again) > >> > >> DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? > > > > Some of us... > > > >> Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is man-centuries of work with > all but the most expensive equipment. > > > > Quite. Maybe someday 9600 dpi scan heads will be cheap, but not soon > > enough for most of us here today to care. > > > >> That's why it hasn't been done. > > > > Indeed. > > I wonder if you could use a photographic enlarger and a flatbed scanner to > do this. > > > >
TRS-80 Fragmentation
It is obvious that the TRS-80 line of computers suffered severe fragmentation with differing architectures: TRS-80 Model I, III, and 4(P) are all obviously of a mostly compatible architecture. TRS-80 Model II and 16, 68k based "business" machines TRS-80 CoCo I, II, III (Dragon) TRS-80 PC-x, various rebadged machines from Sharp, Panasonic, or Casio TRS-80 MC-10 (a Matra Alice) TRS-80 Model 100, 102, 200 (rebadged Kyoceras) So, obviously there were several good sellers in there, and of course for every good seller there's at least one bad seller. The PC line were mostly replacements for calculators that were programmable, and the Model 100 derivatives were mostly used as appliances rather than general purpose machines. Aside from that, it seems like Tandy more than most went off in the weeds with their own wide variety of machines instead of settling on a common architecture. Do you think that if they had, say, revised and extended the Model I system to color/80 column that the rest would have been mostly redundant?
Re: Rick Dickinson, ZX Spectrum designer, RIP
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 4:15 PM, Liam Proven via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Thu, 26 Apr 2018 at 23:04, Fred Cisin via cctalk > > wrote: > > I'd go for a bike over a car any day. Well, when I was young, anyway. Now, > I'm getting kinda stiff and creaky... Because of all the bike crashes and > the scar tissue. > I don't know what it's like around your home, but most places in the US aren't terribly bike friendly. Since the advent of texting and smart phones even less so. Still, I keep thinking I should trade my one way 4 mile car commute for a bike ride... my fear of being struck while riding on a short half mile long section of limited sight distance hilly roads between home and work gives me some pause. We are starting to get some bike lanes and more bike friendly roadways around here though (as well as some paved greenways). I did in my younger days bike extensively around town, not so much anymore since I've got kids and a wife that count on me. :)
Re: TRS-80 Fragmentation
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 7:18 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > D'ya mean like an automobile company making more than one model? Surely > there is no need for Toyota to make both a Corolla AND a Camry! > > Hmm... not really sure about that comparison. After all, it's not like the Corolla and Camry need different fuel and/or travel on separate roads. Plus, I expect that despite their many differences there are probably quite a few fundamental similarities (similar stereos, HVAC controls, brake components, etc). The Model 1 was a wild venture into a field that they knew little about, > and didn't know what to expect. > Ask Allison about what they expected. > It turned out that what they made was surprisingly close to correct for > people like US. > Well, other than 16 lines by 64 characters of B&W, and a memory map that > was not compatible with CP/M. > I guess they fixed that by the time the 4 came along. > But what about pocket computers, PDAs, calculators? Have to come out with > some offerings there. > Well, like I said before. I think you could easily dismiss the calculators and PDAs, since they were more of an appliance (i.e. create text documents that are easily interchangeable with other machines). Heck even a lot of the early PDAs could create spreadsheets that were compatible with Lotus 1-2-3, even moreso in some cases they were built in applications. > > Would they have been more successful if the model 2000 had been a PC > clone, instead of "better than"? > Well, in some respects they eventually managed to do that with the Tandy 1000s... some incompatibilities aside.
Re: TRS-80 Fragmentation
On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 8:06 AM, geneb via cctalk wrote: > On Thu, 26 Apr 2018, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > Then they upgraded the model 1 to reduce the cords and cables, and made >> the Model 3. I don't know whether the resemblance to the Northstar >> Dimension was deliberate. >> >> > I think the primary driver for the Model III was that the Model I would no > longer pass the FCC emission tests due to regulation changes. > > I've heard this before too, which is all the more curious considering that the original Atari 400/800 machines were hampered in their construction due to RFI restrictions by the FCC earlier on that were relaxed later. I wonder how much better off Atari would have been if they were able to fit a simple metal shield instead of that crazy cast metal PCB enclosure. I have also heard that the CRT sold for the Model I had some safety concerns? I think that was just a rebadged RCA TV set with the tuner section removed? Supposedly the RFI restrictions is one of the reasons that Apple didn't include an RF modulator under the hood (and presumably TI on the 99/4(a)).
Re: TRS-80 Fragmentation
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 10:53 PM, Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > I see that the actual fragmentation is about how each and everyone got in > touch with computers, personal or mainframe or whatever! Me, I was in > junior high and usually understood everything in the math class by the > first 15 minutes, after which I would become restless (bored) and the > teacher would send me several buildings away to inquire about the room > temperature of the computer room, which hosted an HP3000 system with > several terminals (that included primitive graphics capabilities via serial > connection!). It was 1978, and I learned BASIC right there. Afterwards, it > was Apple II and their Franklin clones as a freshman, running UCSD > Pascal... in 1982. Later it was the Z80 card in the same computers, > running CPM, but just for the sake of using the Z80 assembler tools. And > we were using also the said Apple II to impersonate card readers that would > send jobs to the IBM 4381, as a sophomore... My dad bought me an HP71B > calculator in 1984, and that really was when my numerical math skills > progressed. I still do that for a living. And the height of my BS > years... getting to run MATLAB in an IBM-AT with a math co-processor. > Later, as a teacher, getting my first BITNET email account in 1987, > learning XENIX, wiring phonenet for the Mac network at the university, then > as a grad student (1989) using VAX machines at UW-Madison, but also Apollo > machines, Sun 4/50 machines, and HP-300 machines... and in1990, I > telnet-ed to UCSD to run jobs in a Cray at UCSD... whoa, such memories... > Don't get me wrong. Like you I learned a lot due to all the variety of differing machines that were available in the market early on. From a business perspective I don't think it made a lot of sense however to have so many internally competing models. Of course then, I guess you could argue that Atari probably had the most cohesive set of computers, but that didn't necessarily translate to great success. I guess that did mostly work for Apple with the II line, save for the major III distraction.
Re: Identifying bad RAM on Amiga 1000 WCS board
On Sat, Apr 28, 2018 at 6:34 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi, All, > > I've been doing component-level diagnosis of a bad Amiga 1000 WCS > board and since I was unable to find this information anywhere, I > thought I'd post it to the list so that it's in the hands of more than > one person. > I wonder if one might be able to use the excellent Diagrom in place of the A1000 ROMs to do some testing. At least then you might be able to put some known patterns into the WCS to read back and see if they make sense.
Re: Last of the TRS-80's
On Tue, May 1, 2018 at 6:11 AM, Peter Cetinski via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > I am trying to ascertain what the last computer released by Tandy/Radio > Shack was that had the TRS-80 name on it > > > > I think it was the CoCo 3 in 1986 > > > > Kevin Parker > > The CoCo 3 was Tandy badged and never had TRS-80 nomenclature. I believe > the honor of last TRS-80 labeled computer falls on Tandy Radio Shack’s > first PC clone attempt, the TRS-80 Model 2000 released in 1983, shortly > after the Z80 based Model 4 and MC68000 based 16B in the same year. The TRS-80 Model 100 was also in 1983.
Re: how good is the data reliability with CD ROM and DVD RAM?
On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 7:13 PM, Charles Dickman via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Below is a sampling of disks recorded between 2001 and 2009. It is > likely that the disks of the same type were from the same package > because I don't use many disks. They were stored without much care, > but in a spaces tolerable to humans for reasonable periods. > > Imation CD-Rrecorded 2003/12/29 readable > Imation CD-Rrecorded 2004/01/02 recoverable errors > Imation CR-Rrecorded 2001/12/18 recoverable errors > Imation CD-Rrecorded 2005/07/15 recoverable errors > Imation CD-Rrecorded 2001/12/24 recoverable errors > TDK DVD-R recorded 2006/02/05 recoverable errors > TDK DVD-R recorded 2009/09 unrecoverable errors. The > edges of the disk have a strange faded coloration. > TDK DVD-R recorded 2007/10/07 readable > Memorex CD-Rrecorded 2005unrecoverable errors > > > Probably a good idea to use something like RAR with parity. I know I have downloaded some multi-segment binaries in RAR format from usenet with several missing segments and as long as I had the parity file set it could successfully recover the entire archive.
Re: how good is the data reliability with CD ROM and DVD RAM?
On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 12:54 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > IMIHO, a grievous error by making things too physically small. The > standard SD card is easy enough to pick out in a deep-pile carpet. Not > so, the usual black-colored MicriSD. The dog might well eat it without > even being aware of having done it. > > Are there such things as "microSD" to "standard SD" adapters that allows > for insertion of standard SD into mcroSD slots? > I agree. Most sold today come with a microSD to SD adapter.
RE: Desktop Metaphor
I’ll throw in my two cents to say that I’ve used a fair number of GUIs over the years both commercially available and FOSS, and I’d say that Windows 95’s UI blew the doors off of anything I’d used up that point in terms of usability. Nobody IMO can fairly compare it with the previously available X based desktops. The Mac was good, the Amiga was good, but there was a lot more flexibility in how Win95 operated, and that’s probably why (along with familiarity) that it has been so oft copied up to this point (Mac OS X’s UI notwithstanding, which is also quite good).
Re: Astounding Asking Price
On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 10:53 AM Rob Jarratt via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > My jaw dropped when I saw this: > https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223201002247?ul_noapp=true > > > > It looks nice externally, and it has the pedestal, which is nice, but the > seller has not even give the spec or posted pics of the innards and it is > "untested". At that price I would expect a bit more information.. > > > > As it happens, I am trying to fix my 350 at the moment. > > > Would it make you feel bad if I told you I threw away a perfectly good 350 with the pedestal as pictured in the early 90s? ;)
