RE: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread tony duell
> And the annoying and inconsistent use of incandescent bulbs for the power > indicator and optical tape detector in > the 9830 . . when the main display is LED. Indeed. I had to replace the former (but not the latter) in my 9830. I am told the LDR in the tape sensor can give trouble too, and

Re: Rescue update: DEC RC-25s + / was Re: DEC cartridge ID

2015-05-30 Thread Paul Anderson
Great save! On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 8:27 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: > So Rob and I got onsite yesterday and ended up taking away a small haul of > DEC equipment. > > - Three RC-25 drives with a dozen-or-so cartridges. We know at > least one drive works. > > - We were quite excited

Intel absolute object file format specification

2015-05-30 Thread Eric Smith
Various Intel manual reference an "MCS 80/85 absolute object file formats" manual, order number 9800183B. Does anyone have this? Note that this is a pure binary format, not the well-known "Intel Hex" format.

Rescue update: DEC RC-25s + / was Re: DEC cartridge ID

2015-05-30 Thread Brent Hilpert
So Rob and I got onsite yesterday and ended up taking away a small haul of DEC equipment. - Three RC-25 drives with a dozen-or-so cartridges. We know at least one drive works. - We were quite excited to see two 11/83 boxes, one of which was working with one of the RC-25s, runni

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Brent Hilpert
On 2015-May-30, at 3:13 PM, ben wrote: > On 5/30/2015 4:00 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: > >> If I ever get around to building a NIXIE clock, I was going to try >> putting a motion detector in it to turn the display on/off for the >> sake of longevity of the displays. > > An alarm would be nice too. B

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread ben
On 5/30/2015 4:00 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: If I ever get around to building a NIXIE clock, I was going to try putting a motion detector in it to turn the display on/off for the sake of longevity of the displays. An alarm would be nice too. Ben. PS: On the web some where, they have all transist

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Brent Hilpert
On 2015-May-30, at 9:19 AM, Jules Richardson wrote: > On 05/29/2015 08:53 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: >>> I'm almost certain that they're from old gas pumps - maybe the >>> displays are just more readable in bright sunlight than LED? (there's >>> a sticker on one of the PSU boards with a 'shipping dat

IBM System/34 available in sweden

2015-05-30 Thread Pontus Pihlgren
Hi I was just offered an IBM System/34. It's not my thing and I thought there might be some international interest even. Documentation and software included. Contact me for details. /P

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Brent Hilpert
On 2015-May-30, at 8:19 AM, tony duell wrote: > >> JOOI, does anyone know when Panaplex 7-segment displays started going the >> way of the dodo, to be replaced with LED displays (and, on the back of >> that, what were the advantages of a Panaplex-type display over an LED one?) > > It would appear

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Johnny Billquist
On 2015-05-30 19:40, tony duell wrote: LEDs themselves weren't all that much more costly than the typical pilot lamp. I recall sending $1 cash to Montsanto and receiving 2 red (was there any other color?) LEDs in return in 1969. Is there a good reason why filament lamps were used on minicompu

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Brent Hilpert
On 2015-May-30, at 8:14 AM, tony duell wrote: >> calcs that used the smaller versoions. In calcs, they were largely >> superseded by vacuum-flourescent displays >> which were easier to drive, had a longer life, and could also be made with >> bright, large digits. > > I am surprised about the li

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Jon Elson
On 05/30/2015 12:40 PM, tony duell wrote: LEDs themselves weren't all that much more costly than the typical pilot lamp. I recall sending $1 cash to Montsanto and receiving 2 red (was there any other color?) LEDs in return in 1969. Is there a good reason why filament lamps were used on minicom

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Chuck Guzis
On 05/30/2015 10:40 AM, tony duell wrote: Is there a good reason why filament lamps were used on minicomputer front panels until the mid 1970s? Things like the PDP11/45, Philips P850, etc all used filament bulbs, not LEDs. I can think of a few reasons. First, a filament bulb has the effect of

RE: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread tony duell
> > LEDs themselves weren't all that much more costly than the typical pilot > lamp. I recall sending $1 cash to Montsanto and receiving 2 red (was > there any other color?) LEDs in return in 1969. Is there a good reason why filament lamps were used on minicomputer front panels until the mid 197

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Chuck Guzis
On 05/30/2015 08:19 AM, tony duell wrote: It would appear that in the early 1970s LEDs were very expensive. I have been looking at the HP5930x HPIB units and in many cases the status indicators (power on, listening, etc) are filament bulbs + driver transistors. I can think of no advantage to u

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Jules Richardson
On 05/29/2015 08:53 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote: I'm almost certain that they're from old gas pumps - maybe the displays are just more readable in bright sunlight than LED? (there's a sticker on one of the PSU boards with a 'shipping date' in 1999) Funny, I was about to mention that use. I remember

Re: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread Jules Richardson
On 05/30/2015 10:19 AM, tony duell wrote: JOOI, does anyone know when Panaplex 7-segment displays started going the way of the dodo, to be replaced with LED displays (and, on the back of that, what were the advantages of a Panaplex-type display over an LED one?) It would appear that in the ea

RE: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread tony duell
> JOOI, does anyone know when Panaplex 7-segment displays started going the > way of the dodo, to be replaced with LED displays (and, on the back of > that, what were the advantages of a Panaplex-type display over an LED one?) It would appear that in the early 1970s LEDs were very expensive. I ha

RE: Panaplex display history

2015-05-30 Thread tony duell
> Panaplex and other 7-seg gas discharge displays were used in calculators up > to the mid-70s. Actually one of the > last uses in a calculator might be the HP-9815 (1975/6): > http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/eec/calcs/HP9815A.html > They were mostly used in desktops for the sake of

Intel DEBUG-86 listing?

2015-05-30 Thread Eric Smith
Did Intel ever publish a listing of DEBUG-86, as they did of their Series II monitor for the 8080/8085?