December 2015 - vcf-midatlantic

Need Yamaha C1 EPROM images
by Ethan 15 Dec '15

15 Dec '15

Longshot but looking for the bios and 3rd chip EPROM images from the Yamaha C1 286-10 "music" laptop. I posted the floppy disk dumps that are pack in including some developer dox (including pinout of expansion connector!) in both disk image and zip format online. I also posted the EPROM dumps that I have -- I noticed text from the Copyright notices is corrupted so I'm thinking my issue with the computer is the eproms are going bad. There sems to be a lot of flaky/dead units out there (when I can find them.) I think the machine is strange enough not to be able to use other generic bios copies. Link of floppy files and my (prob bad) bios dumps: https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/geek/Software/Yamaha_C1_Laptop/

3 4

SOL-20/CUTTER ALS-8 ROM Images Wanted
by william degnan 15 Dec '15

15 Dec '15

Hi - I have a copy of the ALS-8 ROMS, but the last two of 4 are bad. Does anyone have a ROM image of the ALS-8 ROMs (1702, 2708, 2716 preferred) ? Intel or Motorola is OK. The original ROMs are 9216's FYI but I don't have a burner that works with these, nor the ePROMs. I would be equally thankful for a text file containing a log dump from Teraterm or text terminal program running a system using CUTTER/SOLOS to perform a RAM dump of the C000 Cfff page of a system with ALS-8 populated somehow -- Bill

1 0

How do I change list distribution type?
by Joseph Oprysko 15 Dec '15

15 Dec '15

I thought that when I signed up for the list, it would send me the individual messages as well as the daily digest, but apparently it just sends me the daily digest. How can I correct that? -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

2 2

Getting Data off old Atari Floppies
by Herb Johnson 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

David Riley: >> Chuck's advice was to do what he did: make a plywood box, >> put a 25W bulb in, and "bake" it in there for a few days >> (sans vinyl jacket). That won't get you above warping >> temperature. Please don't bake any plastic-based media >> at 300F. Did Chuck say why to do this, what this baking would accomplish? The previously referenced Web page which discusses baking audio tapes says: "The purpose of "baking", is to drive out all the moisture that the tape binder has accumulated, which is what caused it to go sticky in the first place." I do not know that this applies to diskettes and the binders used on their surface coatings. another Web page on baking tapes is: http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html ..and one Google search hit for "guzis bake diskettes" says, Chuck baked *10-inch tape reels", not diskettes; and the thread was about baking TK50 tape cartridges. Read the thread. https://www.mail-archive.com/cctalk@classiccmp.org/msg04318.html [Re: TK50/TK70 Info, Chuck Guzis Fri, 28 Aug 2015] another "hit" is on the mark: here's an exerpt. http://marc.info/?l=classiccmp&m=137627575108631&w=2 [classiccmp list Re: MFM floppy disk write precompensation Chuck Guzis, 2013-08-12 2:18:15] Sure, remove the cookies from the jackets, bake them at 140F for 4 or 5 hours, then apply a good-quality synthetic auto paint sealant--Klassic seems to be pretty good. No abrasive polishes, please..... That seems to provide a slick enough surface to keep the heads from grabbing the oxide--at least for a few reads. The alternative is disaster....Basically, you want to prevent the heads from "grabbing" the oxide. Once that starts, you're looking at a circle that you can see through. Get yourself an old box of Wabash floppies (any size) and play around......[end excerpt] --------------- Kyle Owen, good student he is, did his homework, and corrected my assumption that the Mylar would buckle - it's much more temperature tolerant, which you'd want for a stable magnetic backing. Thanks, Kyle! In any event, I did an uncontrolled experiment. Briefly: several minutes of baking an 8" diskette envelope (probably PVC?) and the diskette media cookie (Mylar coated with oxide) at 110-120 degrees F, did not seem to immediately distort (melt) either cookie or envelope. But minutes into a 180 degree spike, turned the envelope to a waffle, and put noticeable distortion into the cookie. When cooled, the cookie showed some distortion - I could not say it was sufficient to cause read errors. Of course the envelope was trashed. Again - I'm not convinced baking floppy diskettes, will solve any problems with mold or "moisture", which occurs more often than "flaky" diskettes. Chuck Guzis - who has informed me many times through the decades on matters floppy - seems to use this method to re-bind magnetic coatings on diskettes. and that's consistent with the same method, used to re-bind magnetic coatings on a certain class of 1970's audio tapes, some old DEC magnetic tapes, etc. This was informative discussion, thanks! Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

1 0

Getting Data off old Atari Floppies
by Herb Johnson 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

> One thing I really don't like about old floppies is that for certain > brands etc of 5.25" floppies (and possibly 8" floppies) the media turns > to mush and will get all over the drive heads (and destroy the disk) My experience is, the magnetic coating crumbles. Friction turns the fragments into what might be called "mush". I confirm bad experiences cited with "Wabash" branded 5.25" diskettes. > Supposedly (Based on info from Chuck Guzis/sydex, though I've never > tried this myself), if you dismantle the floppy by cutting open the > vinyl case and removing the "cookie" inside, and put it on a baking > sheet and bake it in the oven at 300F(?) for maybe 8 hours, they can be > made readable again. You may need to apply some sort of sealant to the > outside of the disk after baking. This is, to be polite, flawed advice. There may be some confusion about "baking" 1/4" audio magnetic tapes - I have no details about that process. The diskette Mylar cookie will distort with heat - period. So will the plastic envelope. Distortion temperatures are likely above, 120, 130 degrees F. I don't know the minimum. Storage above room temperature is not recommended. I won't say "try this to see" because someone will mess up their oven and blame me. If you try this, use all possible caution and do NOT leave your experiment unattended. I am not responsible for injury or damage to you, your oven, and certainly to your diskette. My previous post in this thread, has a link to a Web page on my site, which discusses recovery methods I'm aware of. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

7 12

VC Forum joining VC Federation
by Evan Koblentz 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

A poorly-kept secret plan is now official. :) Erik Klein's Vintage Computer Forum will soon be part of the Vintage Computer Federation. Erik will continue running the forum on the Federation's behalf. The only public change will be the address: it will move from http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/forum.php to http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/forum/ .... of course there will be a redirect while people get used to the change. Erik asked me to announce here that he's looking for additional forum moderators. He's picky about selecting the right people :) but anyone interested should email him at webmaster(a)vintage-computer.com or send him a private message through the forum.

3 4

The RIFA Cap Says: PFFFFFT!
by Systems Glitch 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Just had one blow in an old ECL monitor, releasing tons of stinky capacitor smoke. Had to take the monitor outside to let it finish smoking. I know these are "X2 safety rated" devices, but what does that really mean? "Keep two handy cos they fail a lot?" Seems to me that not blowing up would be a great safety feature, something you wouldn't relegate to cheap rice paper in epoxy. Thanks, Jonathan

3 3

iMac
by chrisjpf33＠gmail.com 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Does the doorstop iMac at InfoAge provide a true value of these things?

6 7

New board member: Erik Klein
by Evan Koblentz 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Folks, Earlier tonight we announced that Erik Klein's VC Forum is becoming part of the VC Federation. With that deal, the Federation board -- myself, Jeff Brace, and Corey Cohen -- voted to add Erik himself to our table. Although the non-profit Federation will own the forum, Erik will continue managing it. Erik will also be our west coast representative, especially re: an event that we haven't yet formally announced, but which is partially cited on the Federation web site. ;) (We really can't talk about that until things are settled with the venue and various partners. Trust me, we'll shout it from the virtual rooftops when it is official!) Erik joined this email list a couple of days ago. Please join me in welcoming him!

3 2

Getting Data off old Atari Floppies
by John Heritage 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Hobbyists, I went to VCF East 2014 and I remember a really good presentation on the best practices for getting data off of old floppies.. things like assuming your first read may be your only successful read, etc.. Can someone point me to a web link or send me the tips for restoring data off of old floppies? I have a # of old floppies including (I believe) snapshots of an Atari 8bit BBS I used to run with my father. Some floppies are in OK condition, others not.. and I need to know the order of operations for preventing damage to 'future floppies', etc.. Should I be cleaning the drive after every single disk? what's the best way to clean the drive?, etc... I plan to use a USB or RS232 to SIO type adapter and probably the Atarimax APE software (windows or DOS, tbd) as the 'destination', Thanks much :) P.S. Bonus points if someone can tell me if a 1050 is suitable for doing all of this work.. My old floppies are a mixture of 810 format (single density) and 1050 (dual density). I also think some 810 disks were written in happy drive format, but I believe a 1050 will still read them, just not as fast as a happy 810 drive would.. John H

7 6